I am considering lapband.

Can someone walk me through the process from start to finish..

Do you need a psych eval for lap band like you do for GB? How long does it take from referal to approval to surgery?

How is the weight loss? I know it is slower then GB, but how much so..

Ok tons of questions. SOrry but thanks in advance!

Hi mememe...well, all doctors seem to be different so we'll all probably have different answers to your question. Here's my story...

Attended a seminar about lap-band in February 2006.

Scheduled an appointment with my surgeon about two weeks after. I think I scheduled my surgery date at that appointment. I had work committments so I had to put off my surgery by a month otherwise, I could've gotten a date within a few weeks.

In the meantime I had a follow up appointment with the surgeon to see how my weight loss was coming along.

My pre-op stuff included a pysch consult, an EKG an upper GI and a full blood panel.

I had a pre-op appointment with my surgeon and we discussed everything one last time.

I had surgery in April of 2006. Like I said...I could've had surgery in March but had to post-pone.

Now, I did not have any insurance hurdles which many other people struggle through. Thank goodness my state requires insurance to pay if the surgery is considered medically necessary.

I am considering lapband.

Can someone walk me through the process from start to finish..

Do you need a psych eval for lap band like you do for GB? How long does it take from referal to approval to surgery?

How is the weight loss? I know it is slower then GB, but how much so..

Ok tons of questions. SOrry but thanks in advance!

On 11/6/06 I discovered there was such a thing as the lap band. My insurance would cover it but it required a six month medically supervised diet. I researched docs in the US and Mexico and after extensive research I realized I could go to a doc I didn't really care for in six months or I could go to the doc that had everything I was looking for in Mexico.

On 12/1/06 I scheduled surgery and on 12/6/06 I had surgery.

I wouldn't change a thing about how I did it.

I couldn't agree with you more. I too had Anthem BC/BS and with a supervised diet they would have covered but every surgeon within 200 miles from me had done less than 150 lapbands and I just didn't feel comfortable with that so I too went to Mexico and my surgeon had done more than 6000 and the hospital was fabulous and so was the whole experience. I wouldn't change a thing. As far as the process I'm sure if you go through insurance your probably looking at a minimum of 2 months from what I've heard and as much as 6 months. I think all surgeons are different. The surgery itself for me was only 40 min. and the recovery was immediate for me. I was working day 4 and riding 4wheelers on day 10 all day long. You just need to do exactly what your specific surgeon tells you to do and you'll be fine. I didn't have any pain issues and any problems so far and I'm 9 months out. My weightloss really stalled the last 2 months but come to find out I was eating between 500 and 700 calories a day and I wasn't eating enough. So really follow your surgeon's directions. Good luck and welcome to bandland.