My surgery date is 8/15 but since being on this site I have become less certain this is what I want to do. I am overweight, BMI of 36, but otherwise no health issues at all. I'm worried that I will go from a "healthy" person to one who is suffering from constant pain, tiredness, gas, acid reflux, esophageal erosion, etc. Seems like everyone has similar complications and complaints. While I'm so glad I found this site, I'm kind of wishing I didn't until after surgery! Ha. I want my kids to have a mom who is active, healthy and thin but not at the expense of being debilitated by other symptoms. Does anyone know if insurance covers band removal or additional surgeries related to band complications? I have Aetna. I also worry about going bankrupt dealing with treatment of complications. Ugh. Lots of worry. I guess I should utilize my "patient advocate" who has not contacted me once....

I think you're going to see a high proportion of complications on a site like this. Because if things are going well, what would you post about? I've had my band 5 years and I've had complications - a leak (mostly covered by insurance but I'm in Australia so can't speak for your insurance company), but more important than that, I've lost 100% of my excess weight and kept it off in that time. No reflux, no pain, no constant tiredness (quite the contrary in fact), no bs. The band gave me my life back, plus some, in more ways than just weight loss.

If not for my leak I probably wouldn't have come back to this site. Then would you have heard of my story? Or the stories of the MANY thousands of others for whom the band has worked?

So read the complications and know of the possibility of them and then put them in context. Complications are not as common as this site would make them seem. My suggestion is ask your insurance about what they do cover in the event you do suffer a complication, but always balance that out with what you're NOT seeing, which is people who were like me until recently, who have the band and are out there living our lives without having to talk about it in a forum like this.

Thanks! I had my EGD and they discovered a hiatal hernia so that's good as far as insurance coverage goes. I'm moving forward and will have the band put in on Thursday. Thanks for the response. I'm down 10 lbs just on pre-op so I'm excited to continue. Just scared of the actual procedure. I'll get over it. Ha.