RESTORe

I remembered last night at work how I had much from pain all the air they pumped in during after the endoscopy then I did after the procedure.  The ride home after the test was not good but the procedure was fine.  They are suppose to pump air in with both so I am surprised that I didn't have pain after the procedure.

Janine- I was just the opposite.  I didn't have any discomfort with the upper endoscopy but I woke up with pain after the "surgery."  My abdomen was swelled from the air they pumped in and I was passing gas (air) all day..lol..sorry about that detail. 

That is exactly how it is suppose to work.  I didn't have pain and little of the other.  They said that if the do the sham they just go down and look and measure but I would still think that would involve all that air.

I just emailed the people at clinicaltrials.gov about the RESTORe trial. I found the description and locations and they are having a trial here in Dallas.  How long did it take for you to hear something from them? Do you know how many people they have already enrolled? I am having a devil of a time finding a surgeon in the DFW area who doesn't have a full patient load and is even willing to see me for a consult. According to the one WLS surgeon I have seen, my best bet for revision is an Endoscopic procedure. Did your insurance pay for this procedure, or was there even a charge? I would hate for mine to decide this was too experimental to pay for. Sorry for all the questions, but I have regained almost 100 lbs and I am very desperate to have this problem fixed.

It took me only a day or so to hear back from them, so hopefully you should get an email tomorrow.  From the day I emailed them to my surgery date is was less than 2 months total.  Because this is actually a clinical trial, and because they are doing research on the surgical device, you are not charged for the procedure.  The only thing that they will attemp to bill your insurance company is the initial endoscopy to see if you physically qualify.  The catch is that only 2 out of 3 people will actually have the procedure and they won't disclose if you were one to have it done until at the end of 6 months.  Actually, they pay you to participate.  At 2 weeks, 6 weeks, and 3 months you get $75 each time.  At the end of 6 months you get $250.  If you were not one to have it done, then they will offer it to you free at 6 months.  Good luck and keep me posted! 

Thank You so much for all the information!!!! You have answered almost all of my questions. My insurance will not have a problem covering the endo, they covered the Barium Burger with no problem. My hubby is in the process of getting his plastics approved, and I promised him it was his turn, but if I can get this done (even the sham, at least I know I will get it for real in 6 months) he won't have a problem letting me go before him. I don't even care about the money, since I am willing to pay any amount of money (outside of what the insurance pays) to look and feel the way I did at my lowest weight.  I just hope they are still taking people here in Dallas!!!!!

I have no idea how many people have been recruited so far.  Sorry-I missed that in your last post!

I was looking at older posts and saw this thread on RESTORe.  I know we have posted to each other on other threads more recently, but I wanted to carry this thread forward with a question to you and any others who are in the study.  If I get the "sham" procedure, when the 6 months are up and the study is unblinded, will they still offer me the procedure if I've lost some weight?  I'm concerned because I will just barely qualify on the BMI (mine is currently 30.8), so I've been advised not to lose any weight before I have the procedure.  So that begs the question, do I still have to qualify on BMI if I want to have the procedure after 6 months (assuming I get the sham procedure initially)?  Anyone know the answer? Betsy

Betsy- It's my understanding that it will be offered to everyone who had the sham at the end of the 6 month period.  As far as having too low of a BMI, that's something you will have to ask the research nurse.  My best guess is that yes you can still have it then even if you lose weight because you're no longer part of a study and are not slotted into any requirements at that time.   I know it's all relative but I WISH my BMI was 30.8..lol.  I'm at 38 now.

I hope that's the case.  I will ask the study coordinator as soon as I hear back from her as to whether or not I'm qualified for the study.  This waiting is killing me... Betsy