Okay ...I had my band put on feb of 2005...any weight I lost was before band...guess the liquid stuff did me in lol....anyway here is the story...I have had eight fills...or maybe seven in one year done lost count....Each time I go in it cost my insurance company 600.00 and me 25.00.. Now their were three of us women who have the same insurance...and thier husbands work with mine.....they also both had lap band...and they are not losing either. I have a large band...I am now at 7......I have had two friends who have had theirs removed....we all went to the same Doctor....so tell me ....do I have a problem here or what?

I'd be interested to know who your doc is and if when you do your fills you can tell there is actually saline still in the band. Does he use flouro ?? It's possible if you have the Vanguard you've just not gotten to the point of restriction yet. I've heard that's an issue with the larger band. Something definitely doesn't sound right. For several patients to have the same complaints, I'd be more likely to blame his technique than the band itself.

That does sound a bit iffy that all 3 of you have the same problem. What kind of diet are you eating? How many calories? Protein before carbs? A lot of losing weight has to do with the diet your eating as well, the band can only restrict the amounts, not the actual calories. But I'm sure you know all of this. Is there not another doctor you can see for a 2nd opinion? You have had your band well over a year you should have hit some sort of restriction by now.

Like it's been said here a thousand times before: you have to get the fill level right before the hunger subsides and the weight loss begins. Maybe if you ladies have the bigger bands you need more fills. If, however, you are restricted and eating just a little and still not losing weight, that is weird. The band won't do it for you though just because it's in there, if you feel restriction and eat according to the restriction, how could you not lose weight? I don't get it. Maybe flouro is the way to go for some more info............

I'm with Kat. Maybe you need a 2nd opinion.

The Vangard band is larger and often takes more saline to get some restriction. BUT, it seems kind of fishy for so many to be having the same problems.

Find out HOW MUCH is in the band, not just how many fills you've had. Just because he's adjusting doesn't mean he's adjusting much. He may be a conservative doc that only puts a certain amount in with each adjustment. I've seen some who have their fills on a schedule, some who only put X amount of cc's in per fill, some who do both. If that's the case you probably don't have any restriction.

If you don't want to, or feel you cannot seek a 2nd opinion.....ASK your doctor what his policies are on fills. Does he only put something like 0.5 cc per fill? How much is in your band? Would he be willing to fill you until you can feel restriction?

Right now I am up to 7cc I have a large band but eight fills. in a year it is to much I would think...also one time when I went in for a fill he didnt even know what kind of band I had...it wasnt even on my chart...he had the nurse call the hospital.....and he just pokes and guess's when he gives fills......

Yeah I think you should find another doc. for a diffrent opinion, this one doesn't sound like he has much bedside manner.

...and he just pokes and guess's when he gives fills......

If he just pokes and guesses, how does he know that he's hitting the port or how much he's still got in there and how much is in there TOTAL?

IMHO............get a 2nd opinion. He sounds like he doesn't have a good understanding of the whole thing. AND, to be your doc and not have an idea what size band you have? Come on?!

Missymaxie,

At $600 dollars a pop, it might be to his advantage to keep you coming in for more fills - IF he is more concerned with money than with your progress as a patient. I'm not accusing anyone, just a thought (and not a very nice one).

Hope

Sounds to me like you're dealing with a doctor who is enjoying making money on fills when he doesn't really know what the heck he's doing. Find another doctor - QUICK! This guy is wasting your time.

Has he ever drawn out the saline that's in the band before adding more? This is standard practice to verify that your band isn't leaking. It's possible that he punctured your tubing and you're not even getting anything to the band itself. Geesh. Find another doctor!

For $600 that MD should have reviewed your chart BEFORE you came into the exam room and, if you're not losing weight and have no restriction, HE should be questioning what's wrong and investigating further. I would advise first going to a GI specialist and having an esophagram to determine the state of the band now and then, if all is OK, report the surgeon to the insurance company and ask them for another MD in the area who does fills.

The same doctor that did your surgery did mine. I personally have 6 friendsfamily including myself that he has banded. Out of 6 - 3 have been removed including myself. 1 has lost no weight and was told by him that she needs to lose weight on her own before he fills her. The other 2 have lost weight with it, 1 has got to goal and the other has not.

Get a second opinion! Shawn

My doctor told me the larger band has problems with fills. The band itself has pockets built into inside, like sections. Each section fills with saline, but sometimes it gets "trapped" in there. When doing a fill they remove what's in there. Sometimes all of it does not come out and the doctor has to "guess" if it leaked or if its trapped. He explained this to me and told me I wouldn't need the larger band.

I would get another opinion. $600 is not the average cost here for fills, the most I've seen is $275 under floro. You might have to be rebanded with a smaller band, or more saline added to give you restriction.

Good luck

Even if he is doing fills without flouro, he should be pulling out what is currently in there and telling you what that is. Then, he should inject that amount back in and add a little. This way you KNOW if what he had put in earlier is actually still in there, versus the possibilty of a leak in the tubing/port. IF that is still in there and he adds more, he should tell you just how much more. But, after this amount of time and fills, I believe I'd ask for a flouroscopy to actually view what is going on in there. Something isn't right with this picture at all. HE should be concerned that after this amount of time and fills that you're not showing great progress. Now, next question. Are you focusing on eating hard proteins first with your meals?

My opinion.... CASH IS KING and the doctor knows it. I wouldn't trust him b/c he knows insurance will cover it and if he'd be willing (opinion) to stress you out with your weight loss while milking the insurance company 6 - 8 times per year ($5k). His work ethics is definately questionable.

Since we will never know for sure what exactly he is doing or not doing (medical records are falsified..trust me, I know first hand, I'm a medical consultant and I do chart audits and private investigations) unless OIG (Officer of Inspector General) and your state's Insurance Commissioner got involved and conducted an investigation and maybe pull together patient records..did statistics of all patients, zoning in on patient's complaining of the same issues, you probably should look for another doctor. If you do look for a new doctor, he/she should be big in the banding community.

A doctor with a high success rate of weight loss from his patients, with happy results from fills...may not be as reliant on the constant insurance money.. instead, more interested in the success of his patients, hence getting more referrals and making more money.

Everything I said above is opinion and based on my experiences in the medical field...

I know that not every doctor is crooked. There are thousands of exceptional doc's out there, but then there are the opposite.

This isn't the first time I'm hearing this being said on LBT, in fact I read this same kinda story on 3 different occaisions in the past 2 weeks. It kinda makes you wonder.....gotta question leakages.... and non working bands, multiple surgeries, corrections......... should probably compare and contrast foreign country surgeries v/s USA surgeries to see if there is a major difference between the two..

Mexican based docs are prob not worried about money cuz they are all cash anyway and they just want to perform the surgery well and get you on your way, thinking you'll never probably come back, v/s USA docs who need the continued business and income and ... well, you get what I'm saying.