I'm extremely frustrated.

I had my surgery May 6th, and have only lost 22 pounds according to my surgeon's scale. I also only have 2cc's in my band, out of a 10cc band.

My first fill was with the place I got my surgery at, and I was told by my doctor that I would have free fills for the first year, well I tried to go back to get my 2nd fill from the place I had my actual surgery at and they told me my insurance wouldn't cover it. So I called my doc, and he said we can do fills in his office and he will just bill insurance as an office visit. So I have had 2 fills in his office now, and both times he has only given me .5 of a cc, and both times, I have felt NO restriction.

I feel like he is just treading water until I have to pay for fills. I am eating right, walking now, and under a lot of stress in my personal life. Not to mention, anytime I have questions, my doctor points me to the nurse, the NEW nurse, who has never had the surgery, or studied any of it, she is learning as she goes. I feel like I'm the teacher and she's the student almost because she has no knowledge, and I get so sick of sitting there after a fill listening to her when it's all stuff I already know.

I need advice. I'm not sure what to do. I know it's nice to have free fills for a year, but at what cost? I'm starting to wonder if this surgery was a good idea for me. I feel like I get taken advantage of in every aspect of my life.

Also, the first place where I was originally told I would be getting my free fills at for the first year, they numbed me before a fill and I had no pain, my doctor does not numb me and I have nightmares about how bad it's going to hurt. Not to mention he won't let me see him for another fill for 2 weeks after I get one, even though I know I need one, and they hurt terribly, it's almost not worth it to even get one.

Your weight loss seems to be going great. You are averaging 7lbs a month (which they say 1-2 lbs a week). So far I have lost 42lbs since my surgery 3/29. Which they keep saying that is awesome. Try not to have too high of expectations. You are going great.

As for the fills, my doctor does .5-1 per time. He does not want to fill too much because it puts the stomach into shock.

Just ask for a more aggressive fill........my surgeon is all about what I want. Just remember, with an aggressive fill you will be VERY tight. 2-3 bites of anything and you are full for 3+ hours. But you must also remember that the lapband isn't a fast weight loss surgery - it's slow, but steady.

Yes, yall are both right. I think I'm just being impatient and I'm glad he is taking his time to be sure I'm not 2 tight. It would not be fun if I couldn't even drink water.

If your doing fills in his office and not in the hospital he is probably not doing a fluro x-ray right? If thats the case he really cant see the restriction your having so he is taking it slow is my guess. Just take smaller fills and go back more often. Whenever you start getting hungry between meals, go get another fill. They are free anyway right? Get one every other week!

Small fills are a GOOD thing. Take it from someone who was overfilled the first time with 3 ccs at once. I was MISERABLE, couldn't even swallow my spit. I had to sit in the hospital the next morning for over an hour waiting on my doc to get out of surgery so he could remove 1cc. Now, here I sit, at 3 ccs in my band and I think I'm overfilled again, or at least swollen to the point that I can't drink much of anything. I've taken two swallows of coffee and I can feel it sitting on my stomach, so I need to go in this morning for another unfill... Fun. Guess 2.5-2.75 is my number for now.

If your doing fills in his office and not in the hospital he is probably not doing a fluro x-ray right? If thats the case he really cant see the restriction your having so he is taking it slow is my guess. Just take smaller fills and go back more often. Whenever you start getting hungry between meals, go get another fill. They are free anyway right? Get one every other week!

Yes, I agree, better free and slow than 150 each and miserable.

Small fills are a GOOD thing. Take it from someone who was overfilled the first time with 3 ccs at once. I was MISERABLE, couldn't even swallow my spit. I had to sit in the hospital the next morning for over an hour waiting on my doc to get out of surgery so he could remove 1cc. Now, here I sit, at 3 ccs in my band and I think I'm overfilled again, or at least swollen to the point that I can't drink much of anything. I've taken two swallows of coffee and I can feel it sitting on my stomach, so I need to go in this morning for another unfill... Fun. Guess 2.5-2.75 is my number for now.

Yeah, that does not sound like fun, I am so sorry to hear that! I hope things work out better for you!!! I guess I'm thankful I'm not 2 full and i can still eat and drink pretty much whatever I set my mind to. Let me know how everything goes for you. Thanks for your reply :biggrin:

He had to remove about a third of that .5 cc. Its actually good tho, cause last night I ate diner and was only able to eat part of what I could a couple days before and I was full for a long time. Usually I'm hungry after about two hours of eating.

My doc, in Houston as well, put a 10cc band in on August 11th at 0cc. I went in for my first adjustment today and they did the x-ray/barium swallow to judge how much to put in. I'm sitting at 2cc and felt no real discomfort during any of the procedure. I can tell I'm a bit tighter as I can feel liquids now where I couldn't before. Just had to pay an $35 copay.

The lapband plan is a two year weight loss goal plan. some weeks you might not lose anything and the next week 2lbs. It is intended to be 1-3lbs a week, no more.

Also, is your doctor using fluro to do the fills or just doing blind fills? The fill doesn't take long and I have never felt it was painful. Be patient, you are doing great!:biggrin:

If your doing fills in his office and not in the hospital he is probably not doing a fluro x-ray right? If thats the case he really cant see the restriction your having so he is taking it slow is my guess. Just take smaller fills and go back more often. Whenever you start getting hungry between meals, go get another fill. They are free anyway right? Get one every other week!

My doctor does them in his office and has a fluro machine to do fills. A doctor's office can have the fluro machines and it doesn't have to be done in a hospital to have these fluro/xray machines.

My doc just does the fills. I've never been xrayed or anything... He is a specialist, so I guess he knows what he's doing, right? I have been overfilled twice now... that makes me a little nervous...

I want to ask about the insurance part of it. You've had great answers about the fills. I've been overfilled, too, and it was no fun. Many doctors will not do fills less than 2 weeks apart. They want any swelling that may have occured to go down and sometimes it can take a while for retriction to kick in...why I have no idea!

The way my insurance worked is this...I have an HMO. They contract with my surgeon since the HMO does not have a bariatric doctor on staff. My surgery and post op care, as much as I needed, was covered for one year. I had to pay office visit co-pays each time I saw the surgeon.

After the one year, when I want/need to see the surgeon, whether for a check-up or fill, a pre-authorization from the HMO is required. So, I call to make the appointment, and the surgeon's office submits the request. When they hear back from the insurance they call me to finalize the appointment. I pay my office visit co-pay and receive the service.

So during the first year I just had to call and could be seen quite easily. Now it is not so easy, but it doesn't cost any more. If your surgeon is billing an office visit for the fill, yours might be similar.

I want to ask about the insurance part of it. You've had great answers about the fills. I've been overfilled, too, and it was no fun. Many doctors will not do fills less than 2 weeks apart. They want any swelling that may have occured to go down and sometimes it can take a while for retriction to kick in...why I have no idea!

The way my insurance worked is this...I have an HMO. They contract with my surgeon since the HMO does not have a bariatric doctor on staff. My surgery and post op care, as much as I needed, was covered for one year. I had to pay office visit co-pays each time I saw the surgeon.

After the one year, when I want/need to see the surgeon, whether for a check-up or fill, a pre-authorization from the HMO is required. So, I call to make the appointment, and the surgeon's office submits the request. When they hear back from the insurance they call me to finalize the appointment. I pay my office visit co-pay and receive the service.

So during the first year I just had to call and could be seen quite easily. Now it is not so easy, but it doesn't cost any more. If your surgeon is billing an office visit for the fill, yours might be similar.

Well, I didn't have any co-pays, like ever. I have yet to pay anything for the surgery or any of the office visits. I have really great insurance.

But what I think it is... I think either the place where I was getting the fills may not be billing my insurance correctly, or my surgeon kind of stretched the truth to get me into the surgery so quickly. I really have no idea. All I know is that I was promised free fills for a year at the place I had my surgery and first fill where I was numbed and had ex-ray after, and now I have to go to my surgeons office to get them done with no ex-ray after and no numbing and I am feeling like his team used me for my insurance. I'm going to continue going every 2 weeks to get fills, but I really feel like they knew it was going to happen like that and did it anyway. I know they make a ton of money off my insurance.

I don't know, maybe I'm wrong, but my opinion of my surgeon has done a complete 360 since before and after the surgery and I'm feeling used and abused.