If the procedure will be life saving, then it is all good.
If this is an elective procedure, and you can afford to pay for it without harming others (for example, you still will pay your rent and gas bill…), then it would not be objectively sinful.
Most health insurance will pay for the lap band or the gastric bypass if your doctor says you need it and you can only qualify if you are 35 or over in your BMI (body mass index). I would recommend that a person seeking bariatric surgery look for a “Bariatric Surgical Center of Excellence”. In other words, you would want someone who specializes in this type of surgery.
I had lapband, my BMI was 50 when I had surgery (lap band) I have lost 55 lbs. since Sept of 2008. My friend has gastric by pass last July of 09 and has lost over 100.
Yes, lapband is safer. It is done lapriscopicly. You have 5 small holes in your belly and one of them will be the “port” where you get your “fill” to tighten the band. You cannot leave the office until you are able to drink a half glass of water easily.
I also know that Medicare will also pay for it. The insurance companies look at it this way, “we pay 15K now or 500K for quad heart bypass”. As for sagging skin with lapband, very minimal. I go to the gym and work out. Because the weight comes off slowly …the sagging skin has a bit of snap left in it. I am 52…someone who is 30 yrs younger will fare better.
You will have a change in your diet. Bread of any kind will be impossible to eat…donuts, anything heavy cake like will “pack” up inside your new pouch and back up your esophagus. Trust me, you will know when you are full and you will stop eating. Forget soda or anything carbonated…rice is also a “packer”. There are things I do miss eating…but I sure don’t miss that 55 lbs. My knees don’t hurt, I can get down on the floor and get up again without 10 men and boy helping me up. I breathe better. My clothes are falling off and loose. It is a good feeling. I am not tired, and winded, and blah.
I will note: some insurance companies will not go with lapband if your BMI is over 53. In that case, if you want it, you will have to go on the Adkins Diet to get the BMI down and they will pay for it. Otherwise they will only approve gastric bypass.
There are many steps you have to go through first. You have to have your primary care doctor sign off on it. You then have to have blood tests, ultrasound of your belly area, a psych visit, a chest xray, obgyn visit, and a test where they stick a tube down your throat (I forgot the name of the test). If you have a hernia and it is “inoperable”, a good bariatric surgeon will not do a lapband, they will suggest gastric bypass.
Lapband is reversible. Gastric bypass is not. Either surgery you will have to take bariatric vitamins for the rest of your life. No big deal they taste like sweet tarts.
Either surgery is a “tool” for use in weight loss. If you don’t follow the guidelines and “stuff” yourself, it will not work. It takes me close to a full hour to eat. Also, you get a card from your doctor to present to restaurants that you had bariatric surgery and need to eat off the “child’s menu”. Alot of restaurants are very understanding and will comply.
You don’t have life a fat life anymore. It is not vanity. It is life saving when all other methods have failed. I still can eat a cheeseburger only I ask for it with no bun. I eat “flat” crust pizza and can only eat one slice.
Holly, if this is what you want to do…go to your primary care doctor and ask him for a referral.
