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Call your surgeon's insurance administrator and the insurance company. You have to stay on top of this. Call every couple of days as necessary. Take names, dates, phone numbers and good notes. Turn around is usually about 2 weeks. Good luck!

Please call your doctor and ask for different, better nausea meds. You need to be able to drink you Water and Protein shakes. Take good care of yourself!

Without birth control...... When you least expect it, your're elected!

You have to rest and let your body heal after this major surgery. If you are having any pain, take your pain meds--pain slows down recovery. Many spend most of the first week sleeping. You will likely be tired and have low energy for weeks, perhaps longer depending on your age and condition. Go to bed earlier at night and try to fit in a day time nap. Take good care of yourself.

I didn't get it the day after surgery either because I couldn't have any water. They were waiting to see if my pouch was leak proof before giving me anything. I was on the morphine pump that day though and slept most of the day so it wasn't an issue. I can miss a day here and there without consequence, but after 2 days I start to notice changes. I was thinking after I wrote the above posts, they might have given me 2 30mg caps on the 2nd day. Not sure if that was because they are a smaller size or if their pharmacy didn't stock the 60 mg. In any case, I resumed the 60mg when I was home on the 3rd day and haven't had any problems. You'll be fine--and even better when you start to see the pounds drop off! Good luck!

YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY!!!!! Hope you will keep us posted on your journey! Wishing you all the best!

My PCP ordered some blood tests because the surgeon's office wouldn't share the results of their blood tests. (now we know why health care costs so much) She had an EKG done to check my heart. That was it. It depends largely on your clinical history. The PCP is just checking that you are in good overall health before surgery and that there are no issues the surgeon and anesthesiologist should note.

It seems like you have a good solution. Ask if you can go back to taking the capsules at some point, say when you start on solid foods. They would not be larger than your bites of food. You'll be fine. I am doing so well post-op that my psych is considering lowering the dose of Cymbalta if I continue to do well.

Yes, I have been taking 60mg Cymbalta long term. I have never opened or crushed the Cymbalta or any of my cardiac meds since my bypass and have not had any problems getting them down or having them work. I just allow about 15 minutes between pills to give them some room. Some people find that taking pills with warm Water makes them more comfortable and may speed up the dissolution of the outer covering. The only pills I have been unable to take are the horse-pill size large Vitamins and Calcium pills. I am using chewable and mini sized pills instead during the first months. Good luck!

You can set your cell phone to vibrate and remind you to drink or have a shake. Seems like you are making great progress! Way to go!

Glad all went well. Take good care of yourself!

I had multiple rounds of ulcers years ago, then was given the antibiotics for h. pylori and never had another.

Are you getting help for your depression? Have you discussed your eating problems with your surgeon and NUT? These are the things that will help your weight loss and lift up your spirits.

I found no studies showing that Biotin stops hair loss, just anecdotes, so no statistical support for it. No point worrying about hair loss as there is nothing you can do to stop it. Stressing won't help. Just take good care to meet your post-op dietary requirements and treat your hair gently. Go easy with heat and styling aids.

You're an inspiration--and a very pretty one at that!

I've read several things that indicate the protein shots use a type of protein (collagen?) that cannot be utilized fully by our bodies and thus does not assist in meeting our protein requirements. Please check your labels to make sure you are getting quality whey isolate protein.

Today I bought new shoes in a size 8 medium instead of size 8 wide! YAY! I can buy regular shoes again!

You may not feel hunger and your taste buds may be snoozing for months. The only cause for worry is if you start responding to head hunger, thinking it is real hunger. That's why it is critical to stick to your eating plan and measure EVERYTHING you eat and log it. Always have your Protein first. A good alternative to the sweet flavored shakes is the savory flavor of Unjury's chicken Soup flavored Protein Drink and the warmth is very comforting as well. You can also mix unflavored protein mix with chicken, turkey or beef broth. Instead of mixing your other Protein drinks to a shake consistency, try spoon stirring to get them more like flavored milk. Carnation's Breakfast Essentials (only the sugar free version in the blue box) makes a good chocolate milk/hot cocoa drink. With 1% milk, it's about 21g of protein. You can also mix protein in with Crystal Light; try diluting the CL a bit more to lose some of the sweetness. Best of all, in a few weeks you can reduce the number of protein drinks when you start getting more protein from regular food. Remember, this too shall pass!

Try small amounts of things, one at a time, until you know whether any one of them is problematic.

Try searching previous posts for stall and you will find lots of tips. Congrats on your success to date!

I wonder if there are different requirements for PPO vs. HMO? I have the HMO.

Yes, UHC requires the 6 month program. Your surgeon's staff is probably making the same stupid mistake mine did, almost costing me my surgery. They call the ins. co. for a verbal verification of the requirements and get stupid answers from ill-informed people at the phone banks, rather than taking the time to read the official UHC Statement of Medical Policy in their files. Below is the link to UHC's Statement of Medical Policy on Bariatric Surgery which gives their requirements for surgery. I received it from a UHC employee during my appeal. Note the bullet points near the bottom of page 3, but read the policy so you get the big picture. My ins. administrator relied on a verbal check of UHC's requirements with some clerk at their 800 number, instead of reading the document in her file, and didn't tell me about the 6 month requirement when I started the program. Upon completion of my class work, they submitted my request for surgery. I was approved by the contract manager for UHC and then 2 days later, UHC revoked the approval when they reviewed the file. I went ballistic and ultimately involved the medical directors at UHC and the contract manager as well as the COO of the hospital that owns the bariatric center and a lawyer. It took 45 days, but I finally won my appeal with records of a past 6 month program years ago. You might not be so lucky if it happened again. Be sure you get very clear written instructions as to what is required for that 6 month program to avoid the problems I had. Keep very complete notes of all conversations, including names, phone nos. and dates. Send me a PM if you need more help. https://www.unitedhe...ric_Surgery.pdf

Lighten up! Once the meds kick in and your emotional condition stabilizes, you will be far more able to eat according to plan and exercise, without emotional distractions. That will enable you be much more successful. Just be a little patient and kind with yourself for a couple of weeks! Good luck!

I did not need ANY pain medication except the first day after surgery, not even a Tylenol. Good for you, getting your life back on track!

Today (10/11/13) the Los Angeles Times published the results of a study published by the New England Journal of medicine that shows that the surgeon's skill has a huge impact on the complications stemming from surgery.. Surgeons ranked in the bottom 25% of the skill ratings had 4 times the patient complication rates of surgeons ranked in the top 25%. Similarly, mortality rates for the less experienced were much higher at 0.26% vs. 0.05% for the experienced surgeons. The key determinant of a surgeon's skill was found to be the number and frequency of gastric bypass procedures performed. Practice apparently does make perfect! The most skilled surgeons averaged 157 gastric bypasses per year and 241 bariatric procedures per year. Total number of years in practice, being at a teaching hospital and other factors were less important. http://www.latimes.c...0,2063803.story This suggests to me that patients in non-urban areas should strongly consider surgeons in larger communities or at regional medical centers that do many more surgeries per year.