Matt Z

That is not a generic term, if it stated WLS, then maybe. Reach out to your surgical team, doesn't have to be your surgeon, any one else assigned to your case should be able to address this issue.

It's going to be case by case, but if the approval request is worded correctly, listing "sleep apnea" and not "mild sleep apnea" as well as leaving off the "no cpap required" they might be able to slide it through. Don't forget you can appeal if they do deny. Seems most appeals get approved. The eval isn't just for issues you may or may not have at the current moment, but to assess if you are able to mentally handle the stress that will happen during your post op recovery. I was quite ready as this is my second go round with WLS and it was still very mentally stressing with all the changes. Reasons you wouldn't pass range greatly, that would be a very good question to ask the psy, maybe *after* the eval.

The apps are wonky, best experience is to use the actual website itself.

Congrats and good luck!

Don't worry about talking about poop here... it's not TMI, it's normal, acceptable conversation around these parts, LOL odd right? Yes, pre and post op diarrhea is normal. What surgery did you have btw? It could be a symptom of diet intolerances and not just the typical symptoms from a mainly liquid only diet.

It gets better. Boy does it suck for a few though, but just remember, you are working on rebuilding the foundation of the rest of your life... it's going to take some work, effort and discomfort, but it's 100% worth it to make sure you get the job done right. Hang in there!

Are you a sleeve patient or a lap-band patient? Your account still says "lap-band". So, this could be a few things depending on what surgery you actually have and this is why making sure your account is accurate helps everyone out. If you are a band patient, that pain could be caused by Ulcers caused by the band, it could be band migration, band slippage, etc. If you are a sleeve patient, it could be staple line failure, staple line irritation, etc. If you are a revision, it could be issues with the staple line at the band scarring having issues. All of these need to be addressed to your surgeon/pcp/surgical team for review as they could be potentially very serious issues. Please take the time to talk to your doctor about the pain you are feeling.

You are still healing, so the pain is normal. The noises are normal as well, things should settle down once you are good and healed. Side note, take a moment to go in and update your stats/surgery, you are still showing up as a lap-band patient. You'll have to log into the site on a computer as the phone apps still don't have the options to make those changes.

I'm a recent Band to RNY. My revision was performed on the 21st of March. Very happy with the change! No real advice, you've been through the surgery before, so this time around it's really not any different, they used the same incision points for my revision, so no new scars, recovery wasn't much different than it was with the band as far as pain and mobility. Surgery was longer, and recovery in hospital was a few extra days, but all in all, it wasn't different enough from the band installation in many regards. If you've got any specific questions, please make sure to hit the quote button so I get alerted to your reply, or you can send me a private message and we can chat there. Congrats and good luck!

Appeal the new decision and be sure to point out that the procedure was already approved. 9 times out of 10 the appeal will be approved. I'm pretty sure it's just a money saving technique employed by the insurance companies to try to limit having to pay for the surgeries. Like pretending to walk away from buying a car to try to get the dealership to lower the price, the insurance company might be trying to see "if you are serious".

This is what the pre-op psy exam is supposed to help flush out. Get to some addiction counseling / AA. Several bottles of wine a day, sadly, makes you an alcoholic. You seem to be accepting the addiction to wine, now you need to step up and get some help. Alcohol is in no way a healthier option than food, I don't see how you can justify wine as being healthier. 2 bottles of wine puts you into the 1300 - 1500 calorie a day mark, and with no protein or other required nutritional value... it's pure empty calories. So it's really no better than soda from a "health" standpoint. I hope you do get some help... this is bad on a few levels for a non-altered person, worse so for a WLS patient.

Honestly... I wouldn't go to a dresser/barber, just cut that down to a 0 or 1 and you'll be good to go, no need to spend 10-15 dollars to have someone do a 1 level buzz and an edge trim.

Ditch the wig, get that buzzed down to an even closer cut and just rock the hell out of it!

Always try new foods at home, for this very reason. Sounds like classic dumping syndrome.

AH, Chart View... forgot about that... yeah my goal is at 0 lbs as well LOL

If you all are only eating 500 calories, 6+ months post op... you aren't eating enough calories...

You can also blend those soups that might be a "soft food" soup and make it suitable for the liquid phase.

I took a full 2 months off for both my WLS's. The first time was due to a long drive and I wanted to be 100% sure I could deal with driving for upwards of 3-4 hours in 1 stretch. This last time with the bypass I took 2 months because I knew food would be a different experience, so I wanted time not only to heal, but to get into being able to eat and figure out what foods would cause what reactions. Everyone is going to be different, I could have gone back, pain wise, after the first 2 weeks, but with the massive diet changes and the lifting restrictions, I opted to play it safe and stay out longer.

LOTS of folks report flavor and texture issues post-op, lots report those get better as you heal and your body has a chance to recover. Check into Tespo vitamins, or the patches (super controversial, but I've been using them for 8+ months now and my labs are all coming back good and stable)

Are you on Mobile or the Website itself? If on Mobile, those features still haven't been properly updated/configured. It's a work in progress that the site developers are working on. If you are on the website itself there are 2 options. Click the drop down next to your name near the top left and select "My Surgery" *OR* Select the "Patients" drop down and select "My Surgery" On the My Surgery page, you can adjust and edit your pre and post op status On the left of the My Surgery page you have the "Progress" option, that's where you can go to add in updates to your weight, this tracks on the Tickers if you create one, access Tickers from the "My Tickers" option in the drop down next to your username in the upper right. You can also go to "Account Settings" from the drop down next to your name and on the left side of that page, you have the "Signature" option, This allows you to add / edit the information that appears below each of your posts. Hope that helps!

Where did you get this graph from?

GasX really only helps with buildup inside of your digestive tract, the issue though is, MOST of the gasses trapped in there... are inside your abdominal cavity and NOT in your digestive tract. User the Incentive Spirometer they gave you (if they didn't, ask for one) every hour, when you do, at full intake, hold it for a tick, bear down into it slightly, this increases pressure inside your abdominal cavity and helps force the gasses to pass through into the bloodstream for removal/processing. Just don't bear down too hard!

Never just accept a bill if you feel it's wrong, I had an incident where I ended up in the ER for almost 9 hours for gallstone pain, the doctor on duty tried to charge me for 9 hours of his time... even though I only saw him for 5 mins, everything else was done by the nursing staff. I fought it, BCBS investigated and that doctor charged all the beds for the same time... and that ER had like, 20 beds, so this dude was trying to defraud the insurance company for hundreds of thousands of dollars, a night. So, if it looks off, it very well could be, appeal it, ask for documentation to prove 2 were there, and why and the actual work performed, you have ever right to find out exactly what and why was billed for your surgery, sometimes you just need to keep pushing back until it gets dealt with.