Hey all i have a question and i'm curious how you all feel about this. I got the band on 2-3-10 i'm so happy i did. I have lost 18 lbs now. on my follow up visit the dr told me my insurance co aetna will not pay for a fill for 90 days. This brings me to may 3 or whenever after this the dr. can do it. I am doing ok. The band went on empty and there was some restriction the first two weeks probably because of surgery and swelling. I have been mindful of what i eat but i worry that by may i wont be use to eating so little or might do something to compromise the size of pouch since i could eat way more then i am. Has this happened to anyone and do any of you have any advice? i'm still thrilled to have my band but kinda down that i have to wait so long! I have only lost 1 lb since my Feb 23 appt. Thank you for your time :sad:

Can you afford to pay for the fill yourself? That is a very long time to wait to start the fill process.

Good luck.

Mimi

thanks for your reply, yes i was thinking about it i also thought it was a long time. i would at least like to start it even if its always 90 day wait i think its important to start it. thanks mimi!

I think if you can afford it--get a fill....it helps so much and usually takes a few months to get to proper restriction!!

wow! kudos to my two repliers your weight loss is awesome, I cant wait til its me! lol..thanks KK i think i will just pay for the first im dying to get under way on this. Just with the initial weight loss i feel great but have a long way to go..:sad:

I have Aetna also and they are only making me wait one month...

I agree, I think you should try to pay for your first fill out of pocket. Maybe the Dr can give you enough that would give you good restriction until May? You may be surprised that you don't need them as often as you think. I had surgery in September and then a fill in both October and November.....I didn't have my third fill until last week. Good luck with whatever you decide. Insurance sucks sometimes!!

With respect, I am about to say something very different from your previous replies: it may be worth waiting. We are all different. Here in the UK, my NHS surgeon fitted my band on 17 December 2007 and I didn't get my first fill for 6 months! I experienced some restriction from just the band and my surgeon, in his wisdom, thought that it would be the best plan to leave things as they were for as long as possible. He warned me that although we bandsters beg and plead for fills and more restriction at every follow up appointment, too much restriction can actually cause weight GAIN.

Apparently, if we are too restricted when it comes to calorie consumption we will crave calories (much the same sort of mechanism kicks in as that terribly misnamed "starvation mode") and we are often motivated to overindulge in liquid calories instead. Apparently this is a big risk - too much restriction can be as counterproductive as too little.

I have reached a healthy and normal BMI with only one fill in two years - of 2ml. Please don't think that I am disrespecting other bandsters who really DO NEED more ccs in their band, but some of us may need a lot less and may find that more than a minimal fill can actually work against our weight loss efforts.

I too have to wait 3 months for my first fill but not because of insurance but because my Dr. My Dr does not do any fills till after 3 months. Let me tell you, Doing this without any fills is very hard, I do notice that when I eat too fast or eat somthing too big I do feel it! with that said I do watch what i eat and I'm still lossing slowly ! Good luck to you

I think I would question the insurance company. The makers of the LapBand suggest 6wks post-op so who are they to make you wait. If we could do this on our own we wouldn't need the LapBand in the first place..Insurance companies make me mad...Grrrrr lol Sometimes the squeaky wheel gets the grease so call them and see if you can get them to budge on that 3mnth thing...point out that the manufacturers say 6wks post-op.

Hey all i have a question and i'm curious how you all feel about this. I got the band on 2-3-10 i'm so happy i did. I have lost 18 lbs now. on my follow up visit the dr told me my insurance co aetna will not pay for a fill for 90 days. This brings me to may 3 or whenever after this the dr. can do it. I am doing ok. The band went on empty and there was some restriction the first two weeks probably because of surgery and swelling. I have been mindful of what i eat but i worry that by may i wont be use to eating so little or might do something to compromise the size of pouch since i could eat way more then i am. Has this happened to anyone and do any of you have any advice? i'm still thrilled to have my band but kinda down that i have to wait so long! I have only lost 1 lb since my Feb 23 appt. Thank you for your time :thumbup:

I had my surgery on 2-15-08. My doctor will do the first fill at 6 weeks, but because I was going out of the country I decided to postpone until the first part of May for my first fill.

Doing so will not hurt your band or your pouch. Since you have little to no restriction, things pass through easily.

I did not lose much weight during that time, it's true, but my goal was to heal.

I'd suggest making your appoint for May now, before the doctor's schedule fills up. I also like the idea of asking the insurance company why they don't follow the doctor's recommendations.

When I had my band put in on Jan 12, 2009. I had to wait 90 days before a fill, it was what my dr did with all of his surgeries. He said it allowed for all the swelling to go down and for my body to heal.

There was times I wanted it filled, but in all I did fine waiting my 90 days.

Lisa