Oregon Rose

Hi Linda- Headaches, irritability, and depression are common on a VERY low carb diet. It is not "carb withdrawal." Your body needs carbs in order for tryptophan to cross the blood-brain barrier. The end result is serotonin. The problem with carbs is that most people eat way too many and eat carbs with no nutritional advantages such as Fiber, Vitamins and minerals. VERY low carb diets do result in headaches, irritability, and depression. The key is balance. Not too many, not too few. Since you are on a pre-surgery diet, I suggest you call your doctor's dietician and talk to him/her about your headaches. Perhaps they can tweek your pre-op diet so you feel a little better. My very best

I'm just about decided to have a sleeve gastrectomy instead of the options my insurance company is willing to pay for. If there anyone out there who has had a sleeve gastrectomy for at least 2 years or more? If so, would you please tell me your experience with hunger vs time. I've heard at first you aren't hungry at all. Does hunger increase over time? If so, how much? Are you hungry to the point of wanting to eat a lot more frequently? Thanks so much!

Has anyone had surgery from Laparoscopic Associates of San Francisco? (Dr. Josart and Dr. Cirangle) Please tell me about you experience, how many days you spent in the hospital, did you go to the hospital hotel, cost, etc. Thanks

I went to ObestityHelp.com, but couldn't figure out how to find the surgery anniversary dates you were talking about. Could you please be a lot more specific about how to find these surgery anniversary dates? Could you also explain to me how to send a message to someone personally instead of the whole group? Thanks so much

I have a written copy of the policy statement on bariatric surgery. If you qualify, they will pay for Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass, Lap Band, and Vertical Gastroplasty (an outdated technique.) They consider sleeve gastrectomy to be "experimental." During the time that I have been satisfying their "6 months of medically supervised weight loss" requirement, I have been researching all of these various surgeries. So now that I have completed that all of the requirements and have qualified for bariatric surgery, I find that they won't cover the proceedure I want. I have read a ton of articles in the medical journals (primarily Obesity Surgery and Surgical Endoscopy.) It is clear to me that sleeve gastrectomy has weight loss comparable to Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass without the surgery risks and without the long term gastrointestinal problems such as dumping, diarrhea, malabsorption, etc. The problem is that there aren't any studies reporting results over 4 years old in the literature. The reason my insurance company won't cover sleeve gastrectomy is that it is "considered experimental." :sneaky2: I was wondering if anyone with BCBS of Texas has been able to get around this problem. Best wishes

:tongue2: Has anyone out there gotten BlueCross Blue Shield of Texas to pay for a Sleeve Gastrectomy? Thanks!

How much does it cost to get it done in Mexico? Who is the doctor and where is the doctor? How much experience does the doctor have doing sleeve gastrectomies? How confident are you that the sanitation and safety precautions are up to U.S. standards? Thanks for your reply:001_rolleyes: