Serious Problems

I'm wondering how many of you out there had problems with your band that required surgery or even an ER visit. I have insurance for the next three months and can't decide if I should continue with my surgery to be banded. The chances of me getting called back to work are good, where I would have insurance again. I just don't know what to do. I have waited a year now and it feels like it has been riped out of my hands. Any opinions will help. Thanks!

if you question aftercare costs DO NOT GET A BAND! aftercare is very expensive.

sleeves offer much better weight loss and no aftercare at all. they are safer long term as well.

My insurance doesn't cover a sleeve, only if it is a revision. That was my first choice after attending many support groups and doing some research. Did you get your band here in the U.S.? It is freaky thinking about some object wrapped around your stomach. I am going to talk more with my surgeon and insurance company in the coming days.

check with your surgeon.  Some WLS clinics offer "packages" that include the aftercare for the first year.  I had to self-pay, so that was an option that was important to me.  Also you may want to look on OH.com for your state to find other lap-banders that have been with your surgeon.  I did have to go to the ER about 3 mos postop (needed an unfill).  My surgeon was so cool... met me at the ER waiting room after hours & then walked me over to the WLS clinic to do the unfill.  No checking in at the ER, no LONG wait, and no ER fees. 

I do love my lapband, and I have no regrets.  Our insurance would only have paid for the RNY bypass.  I think MidWestern Girl's type of surgery sounds like a great option and maybe your new insurance will cover it.  I was worried about the whole "foreign object in my body" thing.  Freaked me out a bit & almost lead me to the RNY, but I really do not feel any different now.  I cannot "feel" that it's there.  The port you can feel if you press down, but it's not anything freaky.  But these are all things to consider. 

If you have any reservations, it really may be best to wait until you're on your new insurance plan to see what they cover.  It'd be a shame to get the band and then not be able to afford the appointments for the adjustments.  Making the final decision on the type of surgery to have is one of the hardest decisions. 

Take care and keep us posted!

My insurance didn't cover the lap band.. so I am self pay- that also means I self pay for any problems.  I opted to buy additional insurance from my Dr to cover me for a year.  You might want to check if that is an option for you.

I have had some problems that made me glad I have such great health insurance, though I wouldn't call them serious.  To me, serious means something life-threatening or disabling.  But anyway, my problems were:
1.  2 ER visits because my band was too tight and I had chest pain that made me worry I was having a heart attack (an unfill solved that one)
2.  a band slip (a complete unfill and rest period fixed that, but I had to have an upper GI x-ray, which could cost you $100-$200 depending on where you live)
3.  my port flipped into an inaccessible position (don't know why), so I eventually had surgery to reposition it.

Despite the events described above, I have no regrets about being banded and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

As someone else mentioned, self-pay patients are often offered a package price that includes the surgery and a year (or whatever) of aftercare. 

Based on some comments you made elsewhere on this thread, I'm guessing that Midwesterngirl responded by telling you to have VSG and (slight possibility) telling you that the band is an evil object sent here by the Devil himself (or something along those lines).  She is entitled to her opinion, but keep in mind that she has pretty much dedicated her life to bashing the band.  Someone whose input is 100% negative is just as suspicious to me as someone whose input is 100% positive.

You mentioned that the idea of having this object around your stomach freaks you out.  Would you feel that way about another medical implant, like an artificial knee, an insulin pump, or a cochlear implant, that greatly improves both your health and your quality of life?

Jean

Jean,

I am very happy for your weight loss.  I wish you would consider that maybe MWG had REAL problems with the band and is trying to tell her story.  Her response to the original poster was not rude or crude at all.  I think that a prospective bandster needs to know the good, the bad and the ugly.  I certainly try and inform prospective bandsters about the hell I went through.  Trust me, during the 1 1/2 years I had the band when I was hanging over a toilet vommitting blood I did think the band was an evil object sent by the devil.  I, like MWG am not afraid to tell people that, however, she is not a bad person for giving her perspective.

Just my 2 cents.

Julie

What Jean said!!!

Could not have said it better myself!

Kelly

edited to add a bit!

I'm wondering how many of you out there had problems with your band that required surgery or even an ER visit.

A lot fewer than you would think from reading on here. People post more when they have problems! The only scientific peer-reviewed study I actually know is a German one (Stroh and Monger) and they found that out of the over 4000 bandsters they assessed, after 5 years of being banded,  8% had complications but the rate for slips was only 2.6% and for erosion 1%. Slips MAY require surgery, erosion always does.

Of course, some people do need surgery after being banded. But that applies to any wls, not just the band. But it is far from being the norm as some anti-bandsters would have us believe. Well, in Europe and Oz anyway! I don't have US figures.

I am guessing from other comments that MWG has chimed in (she has me blocked).  If she or anyone else has thrown in the old chestnut about the enormous percentage of band removals within 5 years, please note even if she is able to cite a study,  most of them were probably from bands placed over four years ago when a new, more effective implantation technique came in.

Kate

Kate,

Please see my response to Jean.  I wanted to say the same to you, but didn't feel like copying and pasting.

Julie