Newbie here

Hello! I'm looking for a good doctor in Shreveport to do adjustable lapband. Anyone know of one? I have 3 heart valves leaking, constant back aches and my feet/legs tend to swell alot. I'm about 90lbs overweight and I know that I'm suppose to be more than that but with my heart like it is I don't know if I'd survive gaining more weight! I was skinny - to - slim until I turned 34 and then it hit me: 70lb weight gain in one year. I know that I'm hypoglycemic although it's hard to get a doctor to listen. After the 'low-blood sugar' epidemic of the 90's doctors tend to not want to listen, I guess thinking that the patient is looking for the easy way of saying why they gained weight. I wasn't overeating, as a matter of fact I was eating less when I gained the weight. I got up at 7 am and was on the go all day with only dinner around 6 and maybe a snack or two. Most of my snacks are of fruit. No doctor would listen to me, that I was eating just one meal a day. So here I sit, fatter than I've ever been and very miserable about it. My heart flutters, bangs and chokes, gasping for oxygen. Imagine what it does when I try to walk! I'm going to push my insurance to cover the lapband and hopefully I'll be approved the first time out of the starting gate! I hope Cigna is good at helping. Thanks for letting me vent!

Dr. Merriman in shreveport does the band. But let me suggest to you Dr. Kenneth Jones. He does open RNY and is the best. Talk to him and he will tell you why open is better. Also insurance companies approve open RNY more than the band. The success is higher.

I'd rather have the band but will do the RNY as a last resort, I guess! Thank you for your reply.

Hi Laura, Dr. Andrew Hargroder did my and my husband's surgery and I highly reccomend him and the hosp! He is in Plaquemine, LA. (Just outside Baton Rouge) We did a lot of research and decided he was the best. We live 30 miles south of San Antonio, TX and are convinced the 9 hr drive was worth it. We both had Lap Rny's. I don't know if he does the band. I believe he has done about 200 of the surgeries. Good luck, Leah Booth

What is LAP RNY? Open RNY? open meaning to cut open? LAP meaning to have small incisions? I'm getting lost here and I see it's time for me to do more research so I won't be lost anylonger!