Should people barely over 200 lbs or below 200 get Lapband or any WLS...?

[TQUAD64 9]

Yes, people who are barely over 200 pounds should have access as well as those that are slightly below 200 pounds.

The medical field should drop the BMI to 34 as a requirement with no com-morbid.

[ashleyb 0]

I think they should be able to have it. Personally I think if you need to lose more than 50 lbs you should be able to get it. We all know diets don't work so why make someone wait until they are 100lbs overweight to get something that will work. I wish I could have gotten my band before I got so big, it would have helped me not only physically but emotionally, it's is just so hard being fat in today's world.

I agree with ya on this. I am 5ft and 217 right now im waiting on my band..I have no health problems other then being obese. And with my hight I am obese. I'm having the surgery to loose the weight and keep it off!!!!

[skini_mini 1]

I was just banded two days ago, on 2/3/09, and the last thing I remember before the surgery was my surgeon saying, "Now if she qualifies for this, then all of us do" because I'm 5'3, 205 pds with very mild sleep apnea. My insurance paid, approved me right away, and now I'm home resting.

When I went to the pre-op classes and everything, everyone looked at me like I was crazy, but its impossible to 'judge' someone's needs because they don't look as fat as you think they should. Weight loss is a struggle for everyone; its bad enough being judged by "thin" people, its slightly irritating to be judged by my fellow "large and in charge" folks.

[lisafitz 18]

I also know how you felt I am 5'5 and when I had my sugery I weighed in at 214 lbs everyone looked at me like "wow" why are you having this done.

Even the nurses and etc when I was laying on the bed waiting to go in next for my surgery....it was weird but I know more people now that have issues with health that are not over 300 lbs and are in the 200's I think it is awesome that we have the help also. Who knows I could have kept going and my health could have worsen ....I had my lapband 6 months ago tomorrow lol Feb 6th will be 6 months I am down 34 lbs losing very slow no skin going to the gym 4 times a week two dance classes and two workouts I love it and learning how to eat right and slow up on chewing and eating too fast....it is a learning process and well worth it

good luck to you

[MiFive 0]

I experienced similiar situation with a few of the staff in the hospital. They said I looked too small to have this type of surgery, and was asking me all types of health history questions.

In my case, I have been 100 lbs overweight for 13 yrs and im considered obese.. I had tried all types of 'diets' and exercise programs only to lose 10 lbs.

My Dr talks alot about the many hormones in the stomach and how there is much research being done.

The Doc says that this is why I will lose weight once and for all with the band.. 'hormonal inbalance'

He also mentioned that there will one day be a pill available for just this situation that will replace the lapbands.

This comes with many lessons, and leaning how to savor each moment in our lives and every tiny morsal is a big lesson to me.

[lisafitz 18]

Yeah I will get from people "O how much weight have you lost" I tell them 34 lbs and they look at me like "how big were you" like something is weird.....I think everyone only relates weight loss surgery with people they see on those health shows.....they don't understand that a person 75 to over 100 over weight has problems as well. But I am so glad I made this choice I am so happy I am learning how to eat right I feel good and I still have a long way to go. It's nice I haven't been on high blood pressure meds since Oct just getting weight off eating right and excrise awesome.

[Jachut 487]

I think we have a big problem with defining healthy and normal these days. One the one end of the scale we have models/acresses/celebs providing unrealistic goals and franky, not healthy weights in many cases. On the other, we have several western nations of massively obese proprotions.

Our views are skewed by it. What we call skinny, is healthy and normal and what we call normal is actually often a BMI of between 26 and 30 - overweight. We're used to seeing people with plenty of fat cover and we've also made huge efforts to accept our bodies as they are, to shun that media image an in so doing, I think we've gone a bit far the other way. There's nothing wrong with loving yourself at any weight of course, but convincing yourself you dont need to lose weight when your bmi is 29 is what people have done, and while from some standpoints that's a healthy attitude (who needs to be weight obsessed!) its skewed people's views a bit. They look at someone obese and see only slightly overweight.

200 lb for me even at 5ft 10 was quite substantially over my healthy weight range! It was overweight by any chart you consult. 245 when I actually got banded was "seriously obese".

[Kellster 1]

I'm torn when it comes to this question. The logical side of me agrees with the NHI that sets the bar at a BMI of 35. The human side of me disagrees. I have a BMI of 51 or 52 depending on how tall the Dr thinks I am, and I'm blessed because being overweight is my only health problem. So I sympathize with people who have lower BMIs with no comorbidity that want surgery. But then I go with my roomie to her Dr appt and see a ton of what I consider moderately/manageable overweight people signing up for surgery and I question their motives. If I was 230 lbs I probably would not have the surgery, that's too much risk for me personally. Yet I don't know their stories, so how am I to judge?

I think that the limits are there for insurance approval for a reason - the medical necessity of surgery and the risk of surgery are taken into account. However, I do think it's great that people can elect to have the surgery and pay for it on their own if they so wish. We do live in a world that judges based on appearance, I can't deny that. So rock on with your bad self, just be sure to take all the precautions you can - whatever your BMI is.

[lellow 1,713]

Private health insurancers in Australia will pay for banders with a BMI of 35 and up with no co-morbidities, and BMI 30 and up with co-morbidities, pretty much as long as the bariatric surgeon is willing to do the surgery, really.

I believe they are of the view that it's best to band a patient with a history of not being able to lose weight rather than wait for them to gain to a point where their health is seriously compromised. To the insurers here, it's better to pay for the band than to pay out for obesity-related health issues long term. The band has an excellent success rate, and I'm sure they long ago realised their initial investment was saving them heaps in the long run.

So in that respect, insurance here is different from the US. It's not uncommon to see people with BMIs of just over 30 having the band here in Australia. I saw a girl at my Dr's clinic yesterday, who looked in her early teens, who told me she'd lost 7kgs (about 15lbs) since surgery. She looked like her BMI couldn't have been much more than 30 when she started. She then told me she'd been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, and is already off her meds because her levels are completely normal now. The band did for her what medication couldn't - it put her diabetes into remission.

At a BMI of 37 pre-surgery (with only about 60lbs to lose) I was told constantly that I didn't look like I needed WLS. But I'd been this heavy for the last 20 years and had tried EVERYTHING to lose weight. Nothing worked and every year I put on more weight.

This surgery has done what nothing else has managed to do - which is help me lose weight and keep it off. Why should I have been denied the help I needed simply because I have less to lose than others?

Edited February 7, 2009 by lellow

[Jachut 487]

Actually, the band has demonstrably better results for lower BMI patients too, it tends to be less successful for the super morbidly obese.

Also, consider the fact that your eating habits and exercise habits tend to worsen the heavier you become, you dont get to a BMI of 60 generally on the same calories in/out equation that got you to 30 however many years ago. There's a lot to be said for doing it when you've still got some sort of hope of overcoming the habits and changing your lifestyle.

Not that that cant be done at higher BMI's of course

[lellow 1,713]

Very true, Jacqui.

[MacMadame 81]

The logical side of me agrees with the NHI that sets the bar at a BMI of 35.

The logical side of me agrees with the rest of the world who sets the bar at a BMI of 30. :cursing:

I mean if we are going to say that a BMI of 30 is obese and obese is unhealthy and that diets don't work for the obese, the same way they don't work for the morbidly obese, then how can we logical deny these people WLS? Either 30 is obese or it isn't.

[Jachut 487]

there was a show on here Medical Miracles or some such and a guy was on who'd lost over 180lb. The state of his body, eeek. There is NO way its not more sensible to enable people to lose weight before they need $50,000 worth of plastic surgery to not look like the elephant man. It was extremely sad and although the final result was good, he was scarred terribly.

[lellow 1,713]

was also thinking this morning about how I only eat about 1 and 1/2 cups of food these days - and that, plus exercise, has helped me lose 55lbs so far.

And yet there is NO WAY I could have lived my whole life trying to eat less than 2 cups of food a day without the band, so, no, 'eating a little less, dangit' wouldn't have worked for me. I needed to eat a lot less - so little in fact that my husband frequently notes that my 3yo eats much more than me.

Why is it that I should expected to do that on my own?

It would be just as difficult for someone like me to eat so little without the band as it would be for someone who is 200lbs + overweight. So to me, if the only way you'll get to a healthy weight range is to eat less than 2 cups of food a day, hell, you're a great candidate for the band, no matter what you weigh.

[Susanbee 0]

I think that this is not our choice but theirs. I know that I wouldn't want to have the life changing lap band put in unless I really needed it. If I could have lost the weight without the band then that is the way to go. Also at one time I weight 200 pounds and that was before I weight 270 and needed the band. If I got the band at 200 maybe I could have got healthy faster