Confussed!!! HELP

thanks so much this is making me feel a little better I am somewhat blue today because I dont wont to make a mistake.  With my proceedure I get 15 fills free then I would have to buy  any additional.  My doctor stated that those are enough fills for 2 and 1/2 years

 
I probably had 50 fills and unfills in the 18 months I had my band.

Aftercare is seriously expensive for a band.  Anything that goes wrong mechanically with the band and you are self pay for yet another surgery.  Bands are expensive, don't just look at the surgery cost, look at future costs.  I've easily spent $25K in band surgery, aftercare, and revision to a sleeve and those are MX prices, it would easily be double that in the US.

Look at Maria, she's had something like 15 fills in a year and she's not even at her sweet spot yet.

There is no way to say 15 fills is good for 2.5 years.  That is impossible to say.  With the new mega size band people are getting more and more fills just to get a bit of restriction.

Hey there :) I am a Band to Sleeve decider and mostly for the costs myself. I would recomend the sleeve in Mexico with Dr Aceves if money is a concern at all. I almost went to him myself (for the Band total costs 8900.00 room for myself AND family plus hospital stay and all tests included!!!), had the appointment and everything however my INS decided to be helpful and return a call with an approval lol. With the Band it seems that having the proper restriction in the key and this might mean going several times over the first few months. Plus as your weight drops you will need to get resized if you will. I hope this helps in any way and I wish you the best with whatever you choose :)I think you are making a great choice in having WLS and this site is AMAZING for support :) Again good luck and maybe we will see eachother on the Sleeve board too!

Any Questions feel free to private message me!
Mellie

One thing that I would also say is to keep in mind that you may not need tons of fills.  We all react differently to the band.  One of my main concerns about the band was maintenance.  I have great insurance, so it wasn't necessarily the cost of the fills, but more of a feeling of being enslaved to the fills and unfills.  Well I've had great restrictions without any fills...I skipped my first fill and plan on skipping the second one.  It would be wonderful if I never got a fill and was able to keep making the progress that I have been.  So that's just something to keep in mind.  I wish you the best of luck! 

It is true you might have alot of fills or unfills but I am self pay person and Im one of them people that dont have to get fills right now.

Im three months post op and I have not had a single fill yet and Im losing 1-2 pounds per week, Im staying full from anywhere 3-6 hrs at a time.

I do agree the lapband can be expensive and you need to have a back up plan in case something does go wrong .

I can get  money from my banker at any time if I need a second surgery and plus my doc does if anything happens the first yr with the port or the band he will replace anything and do everything for free.

Ask how much your fills are after you reach your free ones.  My doc only charges me 75 bucks since Im self pay . But you should reach your restriction time your first yr is even up .

But, everybody is different just because one person has had 20 million fills or unfills does not mean you will be like them , as the same way you might not be like me going without fills.

Im getting ready to skip my third fill because I feel I just dont need it and you might be one of the lucky ones like me it all depends.

Look into everything though and see what is best for you , you are the one having the surgery not us

Good Luck !!!