ParrotheadCathy

I've had mine for almost 9 months with no problems but there are posters on here who have had their bands for years with no problems. I've corresponded with a woman on the "I'm here to help" thread who has had hers for either 3 or 5 years....can't remember which.

I do one of two things when I eat out. I either immediately divide the food on my plate into two parts and eat one part. Then I get a to-go box for the other part and have it for another meal. OR if there is something good on the appetizer menu, I often just order that. For example, Olive Garden has an appetizer that has 8 grilled shrimp on 4 small, thin slices of toasted Italian bread. I eat the shrimp, maybe 2 pieces of the bread and all the stuff (chopped veggies and stuff) on top of the shrimp.

Have you considered a gastric sleeve (GSV)? That would eliminate the need for fills since it relies totally on the surgery itself. I know there are threads on this website about it. I never really considered it but if I was facing the costs of extensive travel for fills, I think I might have.

Bat wings you can work on with tricep presses. But that loose stuff that basically is covered up by your bra probably isn't going anywhere. I know there are surgeons who do a "bra line lift" just for that reason. I've still got a ways to go and already have a problem there.

Bandit, who is going to do your fills? The band alone is just the start (which I'm sure you've figured out). If you don't have a bariatric surgeon in the Caymans, you're going to have to figure it out or you will be paying airfare every time you need a fill, not to mention if you find yourself too tight even 24 hours after a fill. A lot of the Mexican surgery options include the airfare, etc. in the cost of the surgical package, but I think after that you're on your own. For example: I live in a big city (Atlanta, GA), and I was in a car crash just a month after my surgery and the paramedics wanted to take me to the hospital because they saw that I had pretty fresh surgical scars on my belly...but when I told them it was from lap band surgery, they freely admitted that the hospital the City transports crash victims to wouldn't have a doctor on staff that works with lap bands. I opted to sign the release, ride home with the wrecker driver, and go see my surgeon the next day. These are things you have to figure out before you travel for this surgery. The post-op care is the bigger part of your care because it is ongoing for pretty much forever because even once you reach your goal, you are encouraged to "check in" and have your fill level "topped off" every 6 months.

I wouldn't get too whipped up over this until the rest of the paperwork is submitted. The insurance companies really don't want to pay for anybody's surgery so any excuse is good enough. "What, we're missing a piece of paper?!? Well, we're not asking for it. Just deny the claim...." If, after meetings and submitting paperwork, they still deny then I would insist on WRITTEN DETAILS as to why they think it is not medically necessary.

I was concerned over post-op care, so I went with a local surgeon. yeah, it cost me more as a self-pay, but my doctor is just "up the street". If you go to Mexico for the surgery, research the surgeon really well, and have LOCAL follow-up care arranged BEFORE you actually go have the surgery. Many docs don't want to care for a patient who had the sugery elsewhere...

RestlessMonkey (I haven't seen any posts from her lately) went in for surgery THE FIRST TIME and woke up without a band because her liver was too fatty. The doctor didn't have enough room in which to work. She redoubled her efforts with the pre-op diet (after admitting that she hadn't stuck to it as advised) and the second attempt was successful. I was told by my surgeon that the pre-op diet isn't about weight loss, that it is designed to shrink the liver. Do you know that you have a fatty liver or are you just presuming? Either way, this is one of those questions you need to discuss with your surgeon.

Haven't seen that brand, but I buy the Arnold's Bakery product that is a match for it. Love them. I don't really do sandwiches, but that's my way of having a burger on a bun!

I eat rice fairly often. I cook my wild rice in the amount of water per the package and add chicken granules (you can buy jars of this on the spices row, or on the row where they sell broth). I don't use much salt since the granules are a little salty. I get really good chicken flavored rice and have no problems eating it.

Listen to Kiz and TapShoes....you're too tight. Call the doc this morning and get in as soon as they can see you. A small unfill of, say, .2cc could make all the difference between where you are now and being able to eat and drink comfortably.

Above all else, we all need to remember that we can love our family and friends, spend tons of time with them BUT WE DON'T HAVE TO SUBSCRIBE TO THEIR BAD HABITS. After all, it helped put us on the operating tables!

The band is made of an inert material....not "silicone" per se. I have read of a few unusual complications but rejection of the band is one I haven't seen. There was a man posting on here at one point who had to have his band removed because of a sensitivity to some component but I don't remember more than that. But with as many posters as there are on here, and another internet site I frequent, that's as close as I've seen to "rejecting" the band.

That 6 month diet may have to be supervised. Find out FOR SURE. Also, find out if the lap band surgeon you have in mind can supervise the diet. Some insurance will require some other doctor to be the supervising doctor. I didn't have to do this as a self-pay. I know others have done this, have managed not to drop below the approval weight limit and can tell you more.

I use Berocca and I love it! 50 cents per day roughly doesn't seem outrageous to me. Now, it is not a multivitamin, but I don't have iron issues, etc. I believe if you take a Flintstone chewable or gummy you have to take 2 as opposed to the kid dose of just 1. That would make them cost a basically twice as much as if you were buying them for a child.

When I've gotten stuck, it's been pretty much instantaneous! I can't imagine it taking 3 hours for you to feel it. But that is where the pain is when you get stuck.

The bottom line is: You can eat around a lap band. For that matter, you can eat around gastric bypass. If a bandster doesn't eat as instructed, the results will be less than optimal. Complete honesty with yourself is so important! If you say to others you're losing slow and don't know why, but in fact know for yourself that you've been snacking regularly between meals then you know the answer even if you don't want to admit it. For me, yeah, I've been successful at losing weight more than once. But I've also ben REALLY successful at losing 30 or 35 pounds and then falling off the wagon and regaining the weight very quickly. But my band experience is that about 3 months ago I would absolutely have been off the program completely and not looked back. But as long as I don't graze/snack between meals, the band won't let me eat a whole pizza or a sack of fast food crap. So I've continued to lose. You can argue the fill schedule with your doc but I'm betting he/she won't budge. My doc does the first fill after 4 weeks but it's an aggressive fill (for me, he took me to 4.6cc but had to remove 1cc because it was just too much). Then it was a fill every 4 weeks until I hit the green zone. I didn't lose anything in the 4 weeks post op...going from liquids to mushies to real food was enough to stop the weight loss but that's why they call that period bandster hell. The success of the band is absolutely the responsibility of the bandster.

The only possible negative I can think of is if you don't get the surgery....you would have a hit on your credit report from the loan application you've already made. But since you're self-pay, it's not like the insurance company is going to deny you and that would keep you from going forward.

Elfiepoo, I'm not quite 9 months out. Do I experience hunger? Yeah, if I wait more than 6 hours to eat -- which is my gap between lunch and dinner during the week. My doc told me to eat a small snack, about 60 calories, of Protein or fruit around 5:00 PM. If I do that, I'm good to go. As I was instructed, I eat 1,000-1,200 calories per day. I walk a minimum of 3 miles every day. That means I get up at 5:00 AM to walk. Yeah, I'd love to stay in bed until 6:00 but I love losing weight more. I don't get home until 7:00, have to prepare dinner for my family, clean up after dinner and by then I have no interest in heading out to walk. 5:00 AM works for me. You said: "This is becoming a serious issue with me because I'm not going to go through surgery, put a foreign body into my stomach and deal with all of those issues, just to be told I still have to "go on a diet and exercise program and 'suck it up' re: the hunger." I can do all that without spending $20k or going through surgery." Well, yeah, you do have to diet and you do have to set an exercise program. The band isn't a magic trick after all. But I can tell you absolutely 100% that if I didn't have this band, about 3 months ago, I would have fallen off the wagon completely and I'd be gaining right now instead of continuing to lose. The band stops me short. I can't go face down in a pizza or a sack of fast food. I do not snack, except for the 60 cal maximum late in the afternoons Monday - Friday because even with the band you could eat (graze) all day long an effectively defeat the band. It's normal to have misgivings before taking such a serious step. But think it through. Remember this, too. In a community as large as LBT, the squeaky wheel still gets the grease. The people with problems and complaints stand out. Why? Because a huge number of people who are quietly succeeding simply have never gone looking for anything like LBT. A lot of people do better with fairly constant supervision....they failed at Weight Watchers before but the combination of Weight Watchers and the band makes them feel secure and that's what they've chosen to do. I personally hate Weight Watchers and the canned explanations that simply don't apply to everybody. I do better on my own. Lastly, pay attention to what Brockbabe says: Until you get enough fill in your band to have decent restriction, you will experience some amount of hunger. Certainly less that just going on a diet but it's there. It lessens as you get closer to and finally in the Green Zone. My first fill put me at 3.6cc. Some other doctors are less aggressive and give 1cc at a time and as many as 8 weeks between fills. My first fill was at exactly 4 weeks and then every 4 weeks until I hit the Green Zone.

TheCooley is correct .... overloading of Protein can strain your kidneys, which isn't good. I was told to eat 20-25 grams of protein at a meal. No snacking unless I know I will have to go way longer than 4-5 hours between meals, in which case I can snack and it can even be on protein if I choose but not a lot (a boiled egg is, what, 7 grams? an ounce of low fat cheese about the same?) That adds up to 60-75 grams of protein in a day and perhaps a bit more if I have a snack and it's protein.

Most insurance (that covers the band) will cover you with a BMI of 40 or higher even without comorbidities. Your BMI is 42.6 by my calculation. So I would call the insurer (or the base hospital coordinator or whomever) and ask what the criteria are and what you need to do to get the surgery approved.

Lindsay, I hate to say it but you're making excuses for not going to a support group. You'll get hungry? An ounce of low fat cheese, a boiled egg, a piece of fruit...any one will hold you for an extra hour or so and the calorie count is quite low. In exchange for that, you get to talk to other bandsters, hear their questions which may elicit answer which may just happen to apply to you. Trust me. It's worth it. My doctor's office has a support group and the office has a fruit and cheese tray and cold bottled Water for us. Ask if yours does the same thing. AND..... GO!!!

I don't like "regular" yogurt but I LOVE Greek yogurt with honey. Another poster on this site suggested it to me. I was very leary because I really, really don't like yogurt but she promised me it was different. I tried a version that was vanilla flavored and that went right in the trash, LOL. But the honey was fantastic. I buy Greek Gods Greek Yogurt with Honey at Kroger. But Fage and Chobani are two other brands and I think WalMart carries one or both of those. Grits. yeah, I'm a Southern girl alright! I cook them in the microwave, add a little Promise "margarine" and a little bit of shredded low fat cheese and really enjoy that.

Exercise. You need to do it anyway, so use it to your advantage.

Post Restless Monkey described it well. Take a plastic bag and squeeze it up to a small opening. That's pretty much what your band does. That in turn will pull down on the area where your esophagus attaches to your stomach. As you get more fills, this effect is a bit more pronounced. If you eat too fast, take bites that are too big, or don't chew well, the food likely will not make the traverse from the esophagus into the stomach easily (or at all, occasionally). And, yes, you will know if you are stuck. It is quite uncomfortable and sometimes even painful. You can't really make it move. DON'T take a drink of Water, because that will just sit on top of the stuck food. Move around, stand up very straight with your arms over your head and move your arms some. This works sometimes. If you start "sliming" -- producing alot of salive/mucus -- that is to smooth the way for the stuck food to move. Sometimes it will go on down into your stomach. Sometimes it comes back up. When it comes back up, that's a productive burp. That is NOT vomiting. Bread, in particular, can be a problem. take a slice of white bread and take a chunk out of the center of the slice and squish around with your fingers. It makes a sort of doughball. Something similar can happen when you chew it up. And that ball can sit at the top of your stomach. I can eat bread, but slowly and in very small bites. Toast, crackers, croutons .... that's different because they are not soft.