I was banded in January of this year and the good news is I have lost 70 pounds (still need to shed at least 30 lbs). The bad news is that I slipped badly and in May, the doctor fixed it. I was okay for a while. The band felt pretty tight after the fix so I never got a fill and now, a few months later, all the same symptoms are happening again when I had the slip--reflux at night (very bad), can hardly eat anything without having pain, etc. It's VERY upsetting and discouraging. I really thought this was the answer for me but the complications have been miserable.

I can't live like this, it's miserable. I'm afraid to eat anything solid at this point because it doesn't seem to pass through my system for hours. I can eat a few ounces and 12 hours later it still wants to come up.

I don't want a bypass but I am so afraid I will regain all the weight I've lost of I simply have it taken out.

Also, I am a self pay and the additional costs of the fix and all the tests are even more now than the original surgery and I am so concerned about money, to say the least.

Anyone have comments or suggestions?

:help:

I wonder, does insurence pay for a different type of surgery if you have your bad removed? I mean I lost about 65 pounds out of the 100 so technically i am stiff obese but would the insurence company consider me obese enough for the bypass or any other weight loss procedure?

I've slipped again--it's the second time. Going in for revision Thursday. I don't want it removed, I want him to fix it or put in a bigger band.

Ugh!

Please let us know how it went when you get a chance, Shewhoknits. I hope you're healing up well!!

The question of whether insurance will pay depends on your insurer and how they look at banding. When I lost my band my BMI was just about 30, and the insurer denied me a new band on the grounds that I was no longer medically qualified. But a different insurer approved it right away, on the grounds that it was an implanted medical device that needs repair.

Go figure.

I wonder, does insurence pay for a different type of surgery if you have your bad removed? I mean I lost about 65 pounds out of the 100 so technically i am stiff obese but would the insurence company consider me obese enough for the bypass or any other weight loss procedure?

My insurance covered my revision 100%, but; I had to do the "MD run" as I like to call it again. That means, psych eval, Nut, cardiologist, pulmonary, and primary MD. I was a "light weight" too...my BMI at day of surgery was 35.2

Bands are really great, but unfortunately, not for everyone! My doc said absolutely not to another band after mine eroded. If it had slipped, I dont think I would have kept it either, call me pessimistic, but I see it as a sign of worse things to come. I know there are lots of people who were rebanded after a slip and are doing fine, though! I would seriously consider VSG, or DS, (duodenalswitch.com) The doc can tell the insurance co that the band is not working for you and causing you bad complications and request a medically necessary revision to another surgery.