:help: Hi, I am just starting to realize how terrible I really look and how hard it is on my family. I already know how terrible I feel but the hopelessness has been going on for so long now that I'm scared that the lap band will just be another thing (a very expensive thing) that leaves me worse off than before. I've read a lot of posts and I get a mixed mesage:omg: I mean, I really don't have any desire to experience a PB, ugh! Still, to do nothing means I can look forward to just what I have now..... and to diet again means to gain even more weight and more pain and probably a heart attack.... so what do I have to lose? about 110 pounds.

I have been considering Dr Kuri in Mexico..... has anyone else been to him? Rett

I thought of having this op in terms of "if you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten". Dieting just doesnt work, I think the scariest thing about the operation is perhaps the fact that it might work - then you really would have to give up your vices, the comfort eating, the easy eating etc.

I guess nearly all bandsters will experience a PB at some stage, me included, but at 5 months out, I've never even come close. I eat a totally normal diet, nobody who didnt already know me would have any idea that I had a band and I just dont have a bad thing to say about it. I've had no problems. And its working.

I just wanted to say thank you for the positive imput. You are right, if it really does work there are a lot of issues that have to be dealt with, some, in fact, that were instramental in prompting the upward gain in the first place. It is a great thing to have a forum like this because all of us need support from someone who understands what we are/have been going through. Thanks again. Rett:)

For me, this whole thing is not about looking pretty in a bathing suit-- Although I think we're all entitled to that, too-- It's about extending my life and dealing with health issues so I can be around to watch my 3 year old grow up.

It helped me a lot to research the net and read, read, read. I just read "Weight loss surgery for dummies" (from Amazon.com) and it has some good info. Good luck on your journey no matter what you decide!

Do your research. Take a deep breath - and jump. You'll have good days and bad days, but the good will FAR outnumber the bad. In three years without surgery you MAY lose a few pounds, you may not. In three years with the band you may have lost those 110 pounds. You may have only lost 50 pounds. I'm in WEEK 9 and have lost 27 pounds.

I don't know about Dr. Kuri but if you're considering surgery in Mexico check out Dr. Roberto Rumbaut. www.bariatricsurgery.com He costs a little more than some Mexico docs (do you really want a bargain basement priced surgery?) but he's done over 4000 lap band surgeries and I don't know how many RNY surgeries. He's highly respected in the WLS community by doctors, patient's and Inamed, the manufacturer of the lap band, and has taught the lap band procedure to LOTS of doctors now performing the surgery in the U.S. He has a less than 1% rate of complication - which is a pretty darned good statistic - and on top of everything he has an excellent staff, uses an incredible hospital, is very friendly and responsive, AND has a lap band himself, so he knows where you're coming from! lol

Good luck on your weight loss journey no matter what you decide.

Hi! My name is Sunny this is my first posting and even doing this I'm nervous. I'm looking at all these postings some good some bad and I don't know what to think, but what I do know is I'm tired of being fat.:funnypost: I live in Chicago and if anyone knows about Chicago they know about the EL train and sometimes there's no escalator, no elevator, just stairs and I am the unlucky one that has to climb them everyday and before I get half way up those long stairs it feels like I'm going into the light.:faint:

Well, anyway I really want to get the lap band, but one of my biggest concerns is the insurance my job doesn't offer it and I'm in a situation that I have to rob Peter to pay Paul if you know what I mean. I a full time student a mother of 4 of the most beautifulest boys you ever want to see.

I've never been small when I was a child "thin was in" an thick was out. Now I've over did it in the thick dept and it's taking it's toll on me.

I mean how do you find a Dr. that does this kind of thing? As I'm reading these postings it sound like anybody with M.D. behind their name can band.

What insurances that are not a flop will cover your banding from beginning to end?

When you read about it sounds like a piece of cake, but to read the comments of other people who actually got it done I don't know .

I need to go before the Lord and pray about this one, because I don't want to be the woman on the Insider "The woman with Lap Band surgery goes wrong".

I love myself , but I've tried every diet out here and it's just not working for me. And I want to be around for a while without having health problems to due to me being overweight.

Sorry about my posting being so long, but I just have a lot of concerns.

Kaiser Permanente is covering lap bands from begining to end. In order to get approved you have to go through a psych eval and have one co-morbidity. So if it costs you 400.00 to join, you are money ahead. I was just banded in April and I am a slow loser because I am still having to deal with some behavioral issues, getting the surgery didn't cure my lack of motivation for excercise or my desire to swallow high calorie foods. But I am working on it and slowly making progress. It's all about being healthy, seriously. I want to live long enough to see my grandchildren.