Hi all! Just starting on my adventure of joining "The Lap Band" group! Went to see the dietician day before yesterday. And I will see the Dr. in a week. Can you tell me about how long from the initial visit that you received the Lapband?:confused2:

It took me about 3 months to get the lap band. The first thing I did was to attend a seminar. After that it went rather quickly. My insurance was great also, so I did not have to do the six month diet like a lot of others.

From the first consult with the surgeon to having surgery took about six or seven weeks. Altogether with referrals, insurance approvals, other appointments, ect. it took about four months. I really think it depends on if you are paying or covered by insurance, what your insurance requires for prerequisites for surgery (sleep studies, nutritionists, ect.) and also how booked up your surgeon is, and also what your surgeon's requirements are......it sounds as if you almost there though, good luck!

My Surgeon said he'd have me ready in 8 weeks..well l'm at 12 weeks now, still waiting for my insurance company to say OK..appartently they are usually the biggest hold up...no reason for them to move fast l guess:redface:

3 weeks to wait for the seminar; 1 1/2 months to wait for first appointment (I did the psych eval and pulmonary eval in there; after the seminar, everyone and their uncle called for appointments, and I waited until 11:00 or so on the Monday following to call in.); 4 weeks to wait for insurance approval; then, I didn't want to have the surgery for another month after that (travel, medication scheduling). So for me, 4 months.

Started my process april 5th and I will be banded sometime in November. 8 months

Hi, it has taken me (so far) since November 2007....which included initial consultation with surgeon, a slew of testing (stress tests, endoscopy, upper GI, psych etc.) supervised diet of 6 months, diet history and finally letter of surgical necessity. I finally have my date of Sept. 2 (only because I have to be out of the country in Aug. and the docs do not want you out of the country for atleast 6 weeks after the surgery.

My insurance (cigna) required the 6 months supervised physician diet, or else the process would have gone easier.

Hope this helps you.

I went for my first evaluation and consultation April 22 and was banded July 10. Much of that time was waiting on insurance approval. I have UHC and they denied my claim the first time and we had to submit an appeal. After waiting the required three weeks for the appeal to reviewed, we called and they never received it so it had to be submitted again. After another two weeks, I got the approval on June 20. During that waiting period, I was able to have all the tests and evaluations done so was ready to go as soon as my doctor had an opening. I'm so thankful I didn't have to go through the six months of doctor visits to discuss my weight.....I've done that for years! Good luck to you!