ParrotheadCathy

Sadly, if there is a written exclusion for weight loss surgery, there is no avenue of appeal for you. I know that I read on here where someone actually appealed to the insurance commissioner of their state and was told there was nothing they could do to counter a written exclusion. My policy has a written exclusion so I went the self-pay route.

My experience with laxatives is ALWAYS that nothing happens for days, I keep taking it per box instructions.... and then what you experienced. I refuse to put myself through that again. If it happens again, get a Fleet enema. It's a very small bottle of saline, works INSTANTLY and no after-effects. Post surgery, I started using a Vitamin that effervesces in Water (sort of like Alka-Seltzer but you drink it when it's done fizzing). I mix it with Crystal Light AND A TABLESPOON OF BENEFIBER every day. And in spite of being told that constipation was pretty common post surgery, I've never had another problem. I don't go every day, but I'm not eating nearly as much food as I used to, and there is no discomfort attached to the fact that I don't go every day.

Don't know where you are, but a lot of docs don't want to take on a patient who had surgery in Mexico. Look up Fill Centers USA on the internet and use their locator to see if they have anything near to your location.

Not really but, what's the old adage about Chinese food? You're hungry an hour later. not to make light. I would suggest a Protein snack.... an ounce of cheese, some peanuts, or maybe half of that Protein Bar.

Folks, be aware that almost all docs have a preference for what you use during the pre-op phase. And pre-op diets vary dramatically from one doc to the next. Some docs are all liquid. My doc was 2 shakes (made from a powder purchased in his office) and 2 lean meals per day. You'll want to follow your doc's specific diet because, as Restless Monkey will attest, if you don't do what you're told you could have a rude awakening on surgery day .... wake up to find your liver didn't shrink enough and the doc didn't put your band in at all.

I was down for a TOTAL of three days (including the day of surgery. With nearly 3 weeks between surgery and the wedding, you should be fine. My only question would be what demands will be on you in that time frame related to finalizing details for the wedding?? You don't want to have a high demand on you right after surgery in case you don't bounce back quite as quickly as I did.

Shi, low-fat cottage cheese is packed with Protein....12-13 grams in a half cup. Low fat cheese has about 7 grams per ounce (varies a little per brand). EASY way to cook meats (and they come out juicy, which is a plus for us!) Take a sheet of foil place a boneless/skinless chicken breast or hamburger patty in the center For chicken, add a tablespoon of chicken broth; for the beef, add a little worcestershire sauce and Water Top chicken or beef with a few slices of potato, some carrot, some broccoli, a little onion and garlic, a little salt Fold foil shut, place packet on baking sheet and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. Note ... you can cook fish the same way but don't put any vegetables with it because they end up tasting like fish. Just put a little butter flavored spray, seasonings and a little lemon juice (or lime), and bake at 350 for about 15 minutes and then check for doneness. Fish cooks QUICKLY.

It's very easy for me to say your daughter needs to work on her communication. And not just with the surgeon's office! She's PREGNANT. If she has questions or problems with that she has to communicate that as well. Otherwise, who knows? I'd suggest some counseling for her. She's got to learn the skills of being self-expressive and developing communication skills. Having your band work for you as it should means you have to work your band. You have to be able to sit down with the medical staff and say "I get stuck every time I eat" or "I have acid reflux or heartburn" or "I can eat everything that gets in my way and plenty of it". Only with her input can the medical staff work with her. That being said, normally you have to have all the Fluid removed from your band during pregnancy to ensure taking in enough nutrition to support the baby.

That's why they call it "hell".....it's not easy. But the good news is that each fill takes you closer to good restriction. The first one or two probably don't make enough difference for you to really be aware of it. I know I didn't really feel much of a difference after my first fill, which took me to 3.6cc. It was another cc after that before I could say "yep, it's there and it's working". You have to keep trying to do your best. Practice eating small bites, chewing well and eating slowly because that will serve you well when you start feeling restriciton. Eat Protein first and eat at least 20 grams at a meal. If you get hungry in less than four hours snack on a small amount of, you guessed it, PROTEIN. A 1/2 cup of low fat cottage cheese, an ouce of low fat cheese, a little deli sliced turkey (perfect because of the convenience). Protein will make you feel more full for a longer period of time than anything else you can eat so take advantage of that. And, the best thing about bandster hell? Yeah, it does finally go away.

Heck, I'd have been POed if I'd had to have in-patient. There was absolutely no reason for that at all. I was home by 2:30. Took a walk (about a 1/2 mile) a couple of hours later. Never took a pain med, nothing.

Tyme....with a BMI well over 40 you should not have any problem getting approved. EVerybody else, it seems like a lot of insurance won't approve unless you have a BMI of 40 and no comorbidities, but a lower BMI if you have at least two of the accepted comorbidities (Type II Diabetes, sleep apnea, high blood pressure are the ones I know of). But some require that you have a certain level BMI or higher for a specific period of time (for example, my friend had to have a BMI of 37 for at least two years). I always tell people to CALL THE INSURANCE COMPANY and find out exactly what the requirements are on your policy so that you have a better understanding of the whats and whys of the approval process. If you are told your policy has a "written exclusion" for weight loss surgery or weight loss treatments, you're out of luck. You cannot even appeal that to the insurance commissioner in your state. In that situation you really have no choice except for no surgery or pay for it yourself.

Once you get to real food, which tastes incredibly yummy after liquids and mushy food, you truly can pretty much eat as you did before surgery.....but if you do, you're gonna gain. If you want to hold steady or lose, you have to do it on willpower until you get at least a couple of fills. You'll read posts from people who are disappointment in themselves or the band in general because they aren't losing and because they can eat quite a lot of food. Yeah you'll have some small amount of restriction but not enough to make it really feel like you have some help. That's "hell" ... to go through the surgery and then find that at least at first your band isn't really helping you out much.

LiveFree.....hotdogs....either veggie or meat that are in casings can pose a problem. Buying at the grocery, look for those that say they are SKINLESS.

Not a poor loser, Diva ... if you were, you wouldn't have been kind enough to send out the congrats! And I appreciate it. I can name the things I've won in my life and it's a VERY short list...a hotel room at my high school reunion, a pair of Buffett tickets once, an alarm clock (yeah, I know, weird but whatever) and that's it. Seriously. Did I even think once about the possibility of winning this iPod? HECK NO, LOL.

All my faves have already been mentioned. I'm a pretty decent cook and can give you simple recipes if you like. Just private message me and let me know what things you like and I'll try to provide easy cooking recipes....

Chrissy....I'd be pretty darned confused too! So don't feel bad. Only you know the answers to these questions....so ask yourself. 1. Have you made a concerted effort to lose weight in the past? 2. Have you been successful only to regain weight? Now, if you're like me, you've tried to lose weight more than once, probably starting at a young age. I would suggest going to see a different surgeon entirely. Go to the free seminar and talk to the doc and/or staff and decide what YOU really want to do. Good luck with whatever route you choose.

Thanks, Susan! When I got the PM early yesterday morning, you could have knocked me over with a feather. I never win anything! Alex has asked me to post a picture of me and my Nano when I receive it, so I guess will have to finally figure out how to post a picture, LOL!

What Restless Monkey said. The reality is that you have to eat 3,500 calories more than what it takes to maintain your current weight to gain a pound. That's 21,000 extra calories. You might have a little that's actually body weight, but I point a finger at Water retention. Check with your doc about a cause for sudden water retention. As obese individuals, we are more prone to heart conditions, etc.

You are either too tight or you are taking bites that are too big/not chewing well enough/eating too fast. My suggestion would be to cut your food (all of it, before you start eating) into bites the size of a nickel. Take a bite, put it in your mouth, put down your untensil, chew well (about 20-25 times with Proteins especially), swallow. Only then should you pick up your untensil to take another bite. If you eat this way and don't feel stuck or slime or PB, then that's your problem. If, on the other hand, you still feel stuck, slime, or PB, then you need a slight unfill. Ask for .2cc to be removed. It's just a little but it can make a HUGE difference. The weird thing is you can get a bit of an unfill and later get filled to that level or even a little more and have no problem....

I have a shoe question. I have Haglund's Deformity on my left foot (had it on my right but it's been fixed, but after all the complications, I'm really not willing to have another food surgery). Basically, Haglund's is a significant build-up of Calcium underneath the achilles tendon where it covers the heel and goes to the bottom of the heel where the tendon attaches. My specific question: Is there a way/source to have the INSIDE of the back of my shoe made where I could truly run in it without getting huge blisters?

I can eat all of those things but some people have a problem with rice. As far as the chips go, just consider that they really are "slider" foods and are something you would do better without so really eat them only occassionally and call them a big treat! Steak, pork ....ANY dry meat can pose a problem. I eat my steak rare to medium rare, marinate it often and as long as I chew it well, which is pretty important for anything you eat. I often cook my pork tenderloin as a roast either marinated with Italian dressing or in some chicken broth to keep it moist. Spicy foods....gawd, I would die if I couldn't eat hot peppers. I can my own sliced jalapenos because I eat so darned many of them! Grow them, can them, eat them, LOL. I cook with other peppers but don't usually eat peppers raw, which is a personal preferance rather than a necessity. I will say that the Band is not meant to deprive you or make you suffer. All things in moderation. Go for whole grain when you can. For instance, I usually eat long grain wild rice rather than white rice. More questions you think I can answer, just let me know!!

I vote for dehydration! I keep a glass of Water at hand all the time. I drink water consistently right up to the time I eat my meal, do not drink with my meal or for 30 minutes after. Then I immediately start drinking again. At first it was a little harder than I thought it would be but you do reach a point where you actually crave the water if you aren't drinking it. Note that I said I drink right up until the time I eat my meal. I was told by my doc that as long as I stopped about 5-10 minutes before I prepared my meal, I was fine. Things I do to make sure I get in plenty of water. (1) I mix up a large container of water (equal to two drink bottles full) with a package of Crystal Light, with a tablespoon of Benefiber and my dissolvable Vitamin and I drink that in the car on the way to work. Finish it at my desk if I have to to but the longer I do that, the more I find I have finished it before I get to my office. (2) I keep a glass of iced water on my desk at all times, next to me on the couch when I'm sitting or the stove when I'm cooking and even by the bedside. If it's close at hand you will drink at least some of it. (3) If I'm going to be out and about for a good period of time, I take bottled water with me and at least drink part of the bottle while out. I used to be a terrible Diet Coke addict, drank it constantly, to the tune of at least a couple of cases a week. Water doesn't taste nearly as nice but I got over it. Now I find that water suits me just fine. It's just an adjustment, I guess.

Okay, I'll give a shot to answering this. "Restriction" is not something you feel. "Restriction" is what gives you a premature feeling of satiety....the feeling that you've had enough to eat after much less food than would have given you that feeling pre-surgery. Getting stuck frequently means one of two things to me... (1) you are taking bites that are too big/not chewing well enough/eating those bites too fast OR (2) you're too tight. Try cutting all the food in your meal into bites no larger than a nickel. Then take ONE BITE and put your utensil down. Chew well, perhaps 20-25 times, until the food is broken down. Swallow. Then and only then should you pick up your utensil and take another bite. If you still get stuck eating this way, then #2 applies. Other signs you are too tight involve things like a nighttime cough, a lot of heartburn or even acid reflux. I had none of those symptoms but I was getting stuck at every single meal at least once, and often more than that. A very slight unfill of .2cc solved the problem. I can eat without suffering, my weight loss has picked back up and I didn't even consider blaming being too tight for my weight loss slowing down.

I love my internist (my PCP) and he's one of the top 100 docs in Atlanta....BUT he freely admits he knows very little about lap bands and if I were to ask him a technical question, he would just tell me I needed to talk to the surgeon's office. I think part of being a really good doctor is not to try to handle things out of the scope of your practice. Why would your PCP even attempt to address a band issue? Baffles me! Thank goodness you didn't let it sidetrack you for long. I mean, I was in a pretty serious car crash in March (just over a month after surgery) and took a hard hit across my abdominal area. Lots of bruising almost immediately. But I wouldn't even let the ambulance take me to the hospital because I figured the chance of getting an ER doctor who would even know what could possibly go wrong with a lap band or be able to determine if anything had happened related to my band was somewhere around slim to none. l just went to my surgeon's office the next morning first thing and told them what happened.

At first, I was very aware of liquids and very mushy food passing through the stoma (band). Now, almost 8 months later, I am occasionally aware of very cold liquids (like ice water). I think that's pretty typical.