how to get a revision

I have had my band for 2 years and 3 months  .my weight was 258 and the lowest i got down to was 202 . i have had fills and have had some fluid taken out but. i still an hungry . i think i have 5.5 cc in my band. the doctor took fluid out in nov. and i have gained 20 pounds. the last time he did a fill he had a hard time getting in to my port it was very painful and it took like 4  for tries the doctor said   my port had flipped. the doctor  wants me to have a revision but i am not sure about my insurance,i know the doctor said it had to be 2 . when we talked about it it was before 2 years. can anyone give me any help on this please.

First you need to contact your insurance to see if they will cover it and what requirements they have. If they don't cover it then you may have a problem, there are lots of us out here who are stuck with non functioning bands because our insurance doesn't cover revision. So start there and see where you are. Good luck!

What kind of insurance do you have?  Is it a group policy?  Private policy?  If it is Medicaid what state are you in?

As Karen said the first thing you have to do is call and see if you even have WLS benefits.  Then you need to ask if they have changed over to a 'once in a lifetime WLS" as most ins co's have.  Then you take it from there.

Hunger is usually from white carbs, it's a blood sugar thing.  Since your weight is still up there a bit I am guessing your diet has white carbs.  That does mess with your blood sugar and cause hunger.

yes i do eat carbs. i know i need to work on that !!sometimes i am at lost  of what to eat.

You are a vet.  You know the answer to this.  Protein and NO white carbs.  Eat a little, crave a lot.

If removal is medically necessary the insurance companies can sometimes be convinced to waive their one wls per lifetime rule. Others will allow the removal only but not the revision. As others have said, call your ins. company. Another thing to do is to get several weeks of food logs together that show good clean eating so that your can have your surgeon go to bat for you. If you are not having physical problems then they often want to see you demonstrate that you are fully participating in a reasonable eating program and still not losing weight. As the previous poster said you will want to cut all white carbs in order to see if that helps with the hunger. They cause me to want to eat the garage. Once I get into them I am an eating machine until I detox.

Good luck, which ever way you go.

I was banded at 257 and got down to around 205.  I started having issues with fills (I had other stuff before this) at about two years too.  It got more and more painful with each fill.  They said the port was tipped and I had scare tissue.  I went in at 2 years because the PCP wanted the band removed but, with the PA and NP helped I tried to save my band for 18 more months.

When I gave up due to all the complications and pain from the post when doing any work/exercise and went back to see about getting it out again.  The surgeon came into see me this time (went thru the NP last time.)  He suggested moving the port and trying again.  He didn't have a clue what he had told me/her 18 months before and what I had been going thru.  I told him I was done with the pain and trying and that I had done everything he was telling me for 18 months.  So He finally said he would take it out.

When he got in there, he would have had to remove it and not just move the port.  The reason for all the pain was the port was tipped AND incased in a pseudo capsule of scare tissue and had adhered to "inside stuff"  Every time I lifted something or worked out it was pulling on the innards it was attached to.  Every time they tipped the port to access it they pulled on the innards it was attached to and they were stabbing thru the scare capsule.  The lidicane didn't work as it was meant for the skin and tissue between it and the port.

The last time I was in after my sleeve, the PA talked to me about another lady she had complaining of the same thing as me and wanted to know what they found.  I told her it was OK to tell her all about my issues.  Hopefully it will help some one.

My insurance went to once in a lifetime about this time.  They agreed to remove the band after the center verified all the problems I had with the band.  Than I had to fight to get the revision.

Good luck and I hope all turns out well for you.

Call your insurance company and ask if revisions are covered. If they are, you may have a chance. If not, will have to be self-pay. If ins. does cover revisions........is still iffy. The think is, even if the band does not work for you, some ins. companies want to wait till the complications start. They don't want to do a revision until it is deemed "medically necessary". :-(