Nanook

bigmamma78, I forgot to respond to part of your earlier post. I'm almost 50 so my hair started thinning prior to my surgery. I haven't lost any hair since my RNY but my bariatric group puts us on a chewable supplement/vit that we take four times a day and that's it. As far as shots my daughter had a B12 shot once and you get bloodwork done every few months or so to see if you are deficient in anything. Take care and stay positive! Nancy.

Thanks Nora, I understand your fear I had it also and changed my mind at the last minute to have the lap band but didn't know enough about it when I had it done. It does seem to work for a lot of people especially those that are large portion eaters. As long as you gather all the info you can beforehand and know the pitfalls that people can fall into as well as the comps you should do fine! Good luck to you Nancy.:thumbup:

Nora, Some people believe that people who are large portion eaters do better with the band. I was more of a sweet eater and the band did nothing to keep me from eating sweets. Even with restriction and keeping up with my team with fills etc...I still was able to eat around the band and ended up gaining weight. Now that doesn't mean it will happen to everyone but it happens to enough of us that revision to RNY or having RNY in the first place would be a better choice for us. Just discuss this with your surgeon and get as much info as you can before your surgery. Good luck to you, Nancy.

Tina, I haven't gotten any bills or insurance statements yet. I think just the fact that I had to stay in the hosptal two nights should tell you it's going to be a lot! I'm guessing $30,000 to $40,000 but I could be totally off. If/when I get a statement I can let you know. If it's something you really want to do usually a good surgeon's office knows how to word things to get approvals. I had the same surgeon put in the lap band, take out the lap band and do my RNY. Let me know how things progress with you and take care, Nancy.

Thanks and good luck to you too!!

Peggy1011, Everyone who has revised from lap band to another surgery has a different story, we don't really know yours. I had the band for 14 months, never lost weight, developed GERD and was able to have my band removed and it was covered through my insurance. I was so disgusted with WLS at the time it was removed that I said I would not revise. Had it removed in October of 08 and during that time started putting even more weight on and got even more depressed until I decided to go ahead with revision to RNY still a bit unsure of the results even though my own daughter had it done less than a year after I was banded. I had to go through the same hoops to get the RNY and even more since I was revising so it wasn't easy. I also joined a support group prior to my RNY and found that to be helpful to me. Having a daughter who lives at home go through RNY with ups and downs and being there to take care of her during that time helped also as I knew what to expect and sometimes to expect the unexpected! I've actually done well with my revision and don't regret it a single bit. My daughter had what they call a minor complication with a stricture but they stretched her new stoma during two endoscopies. Removing the lap band was easy revising to RNY eight months later a bit more painful and the recovery is longer. I'm only post-op 10 weeks but have dropped over 50 lbs and I feel much better now. So I waited to revise and so in some ways it wasn't because I was afraid of RNY but afraid of failing at yet another WLS. Now I look at it as I chose the right procedure this time. So take care and it's normal to have second thoughts, Nancy.

failedforme, I understand your frustration but as someone who was not self-pay I obviously can't totally relate. I don't think that the lap band helps everyone and weeding out who will do well and who won't is a very important step some surgeons/patients seem to be missing. I had the lap band and never did well except on Medifast prior to surgery and ended up gaining it all back and felt very depressed and like a failure due to it. I finally had mine removed but it was covered by insurance due to the GERD that the band caused and also due to failure to lose weight with the band after 14 months. I've now revised to RNY and have now chosen the correct procedure for me and it's working. I hope you can come to some resolve with your situation as I know how much stress and pain a failed WLS can cause a person. Good luck to you, Nancy.

Tina, Hi haven't spoken with you in a while! Yes, things are going well now that I've revised to the RNY. I know that it was just too hard for me to lose with the lap band and am glad that I decided to switch, plus it was covered. I kind of feel like I need to hang around here in case there are others that have similar problems like I had and can't figure out why they're not losing too. Not everyone can lose with the lap band. So far the weight is coming off at a normal pace, I think and hasn't stopped. There is a honeymoon period that lasts about six months and I'm still in that period and am very thankful it's still working!!! Anyway take care and know there's still hope!!! Nancy.

We were all wondering about you Mitchell and how you were doing. Glad to hear you're out now and that they were able to remove it without too much trauma! I also hope your insurance was able to cover your procedure(s). Keep us posted on how things go from now on and we wish you a speedy recovery, Nancy.

If you think of your new pouch sitting on top of your stomach like a funnel the food will sit there for a while even if you have chewed a lot. Certain foods, (sliders) will go right through as will liquids. This is also why you are to wait to drink after you've eaten because drinking will help flush the food out of your funnel quicker. Other foods are more difficult to eat after you have restriction for a lot of bansters like hard boiled eggs, dry proteins like turkey or chicken breast and bread and bread like textures. Eating protein foods first is also important as it helps fill you up and is important to eat to remain healthy. You will/should feel fullness (saety) from your new pouch and not your old larger stomach. It's almost like they're reinacting a gastric bypass without the bypass part. Hope I helped, Nancy.

I can relate to all of you and it's very frustrating especially when you see it appears to work really well for some but not for you. Eventually after you've done all you can do to work the band it's left to you and your doctor to decide what the next step should be. I had mine for 14 months and after surgery the only time lbs dropped on the scale were right after surgery my first post-op appt. I was in the right frame of mind but something was keeping me from being successful. It wasn't until I was trying to figure out "why me" that I found this forum. I wasn't dropping after that initial appt. and eventually started to gain weight. Every time I gained they just put in another fill to the point where I had so much restriction healthy foods would not go through and I couldn't help but eat around the band or starve! It was a very depressing thing for me and I lost faith in myself and WLS. After having problems with GERD and being put in the hospital for it my surgeon removed my band. I did not want to revise, I thought nothing would work for me! Then after my band was removed I started putting weight on very quickly. My old size stomach was back. My cravings had never left. My daughter had previously had RNY and dropped 150 lbs so I decided to give myself one more shot because I couldn't live this way anymore. So eight months after the removal I revised to RNY and it was covered by my insurance. So far so good, I'm not going to say RNY is easy as pie as it's very hard at first and much more painful and a longer recovery but for someone who had lost all hope before and was pretty much devestated after her first weight loss surgery failure it's worth it in the end. It's working and I feel like I was a tough case, maybe I just picked the wrong surgery in the first place who knows? Good luck to all of you and be up front and proactive with your doctors about this. We all had the same goal in the beginning and that was to get healthier by losing the exess weight. Take care, Nancy.

I'm almost 20 years older than you and probably had/have more comorbs than you do. Along with hypothyroidism I had type 2 diabetes, was peremenopausal, depression/anxiety and on meds for those, sleep apnea, HBP and high cholesterol. I was going to have the RNY in 2006 and put it off while my dad was ill and after he died went back to the surgeon and at the last minute switched to the lap band instead, partially due to the fear that most people have with it. I don't know all the "whys" because I did go to my group for fills and maintenence but I was never able to lose and only gained back the weight I lost on pre-op. Tended to eat around the band with "sliders" to fill up. Either I'm one of a kind or people aren't that willing to stay here after being that unsuccessful on the band. I also developed pain from GERD and it was removed 14 months after I had originally received it. Eight months after it's removal I revised to RNY and so far so good. I'm losing where before I couldn't and can't explain it except for the fact that the restriction is there right from the beginning, the bypass part helps also with malabsorption and also with my type 2 diabetes in "remission". Knock on wood I'm a happy camper and glad I finally decided to go with RNY. Like one of the posters mentioned above I was more a sweet eater and not a big portion eater so that maybe where the line is drawn for picking from the two procedures. Good luck with whichever one you choose and hopefully you will do well! Nancy.

NurseMelly, that's good that they did that. Maybe it's something new as I wasn't on it when I had my lap band done in 2007 and have the same surgeon still. I'm on this for six months myself but better safe than sorry!! Nancy.

After my daughter and I had our RNYs they put us on a preventative medication called "Actigall" or "Ursodiol". I wonder if they only do that for bypass patients?? Nancy

HH you and RM need to get a room! But in my gracious opinion I don't think people who are scared or nervous about gastric bypass will every change their mind no matter what a doctor says. It was very difficult to give my daughter permission, well she was 18 but still to have her gastric bypass and she was over 350 lbs and six feet tall. It's much harder to allow someone you love to have something that drastic but I knew that's what she really wanted and she felt would be her only way to successfully lose weight and change her life for the better. It also made it silly for me not to choose RNY after not being successful with my lap band when I was too scared to have RNY in the first place. Good luck with your decision and whatever WLS you and your husband choose, I know it's not easy, Nancy:thumbup:

You know there are fat mothers that come here for support, but your momma's so fat that when she wears red they think she's the Kool-aid man! OK so I see that's already been done before, I'll have to steal another one!

Wow a lot has happened since your last post but it seems like things are moving in the right direction. I know I had the saline removed for about a month before the band was removed and there was still GERD pain and restriction. So hopefully you will know what is going on in there after your procedure tomorrow. That's wonderful that your endoscopy will be covered. Please let us know how that goes. I didn't have mine performed until after my band was removed so it sounds like they're doing something right! You're not the only one who is going through this or has gone through this after having smooth sailing for a while with the band and then suddenly "major comps". I'm sure there are plenty who can share their stories with you. I had no intention of revising to any other surgery but hadn't done as well as you had with your band. My 20 yo daughter had RNY done less than a year after my lap band and lost 150 lbs and after I put on a few lbs after my removal I started thinking maybe there was something out there that would help someone like "me" who seemed hopeless especially where the band was concerned. Anyway 8 months later I revised with the RNY. I hope things go well for you and that you are covered by insurance but that they fix the problem so that you will be healthy again. It can be a scary thing to be in a situation like this and there are a lot of people here to support you and wish you well! Good luck and keep us posted on how things go, Nancy.

Sorry Mitchell that you're going through this especially after 3 surgeries and having issues with your insurance company. I grew up just outside of DC and would have thought you could have many opportunities to find a good surgeon but I see your insurance company is holding you back. That is exactly where I had my pain and why I was in the hospital overnight to rule out my heart. I knew it was a band issue so I called my primary to make an appt. to see if they could send me to have some type of x-ray/test done to pin point the problem, this was per my insurance company since I knew after 14 months of my band not working that it was time to take it out and especially with the pain I was enduring constantly. So even though I was trying to go by the steps the insurance company suggested I do my primary told me to go to the ER of my nearest hospital and that included spending the night in the hall of a crowded hospital with lights above my head and a nitroglycerin patch on giving me major headaches I stuck it out and was released by the attending who said it was GERD due to my band and put me on protonix. This was in the fall of 2008. So forward two weeks and my band is being removed and due to that ER visit it sped things up quite a bit for me. So it appears to me you have to be the "sqeaky wheel" and do whatever is possible to get it covered by a good surgeon and whatever repairs you need covered also. I know I needed an endocopy performed after the removal to check for damage and I didn't have nearly the complications you appear to have. Anyway pain is always scary and it's there for a reason so I wish you the best of luck and hope you get things taken care of take care, Nancy.

Chocolate and most candies, yogurt mixed with sugar free coolwhip, one of my downfalls!

Mine was removed due to GERD and the fact that I wasn't losing weight with it and it was covered by insurance. The pains I had with GERD were so bad I was put in the hospital to make sure it wasn't my heart and of course it wasn't. I'm sure everyone's situation and insurance company differ but it can be covered, good luck, Nancy.

Fanny I asked my daughter about your spelling and she said that it was correct if you were in England, which I'm sure is what you meant by the Queen's English. I am constantly bugging my daughter how to spell words and she'll first ask me if I'm in England or the US. She's a linguistics major and it really pisses me off!!!! Nancy of da north

Good article Cleo's mom really puts it into perspective! Nancy:thumbup:

I agree with pretty much everything you said Restlessmonkey. People have a way of making obesity into a "moral" issue too. And even those that are obese or fat or once obese or once fat can be the worst of all haters. Since I have been both thick and thin I know no matter how thin I get it can come back on and so I hope never to be that judgemental about another fat person as long as I live! But I have found that I had a "drive" that couldn't be controlled with the lap band when it came to food, especially sweets that has subsided, for the time being with my revision. So choosing the right procedure is important as sometimes that urge is much bigger than we are. Nancy.

I have my own theory on loose skin and I'm sure what most people have mentioned prior play a roll like genetics etc... I had always been chubby as a kid but when I was 18 I dropped about 100 lbs in less than a year. I didn't have what I called "loose skin" the scary kind that no one wants and what plastic surgeons seem to remove. I gained it back over a period of time and lost it again. Still no major loose skin and I was still in my early 20s. Then my first pregnancy and I popped out fairly quickly, my stomach that is and had loose skin afterwards and a few years later had my second and last child and really put on weight. Since that last pregnancy I've had loose skin so I kind of think it might also have to do with how fast you put the weight on not just how fast you lose it. My daughter has a lot of loose skin and she had her surgery when she was only 18, the RNY but she had put on most of her pre-surgery weight in a few months due to some major depression issues. So I'm no expert but have lost a lot and gained a lot but didnt' have the really bad loose skin until my last pregnancy when I put on a lot of weight rather quickly. Just my 2 little cents, Nancy. PS thank God for spanx!

I seem to have the opposite issue at GNC, I wish they knew more about bariatric surgeries and protein supplements etc...at least at the one I go to! I did ask the last time I went in there if there were a lot of bariatric patients coming in for the protein drinks and the girl said there were. I don't have a problem telling them that's why I'm there. Nancy