Rainydayz

Hi. I found out this was vagus nerve pain. Look it up because I can't really explain it well. But it happens when I eat too fast or too much.

I would be careful also about using all the specialists that the surgeon's office recommends, UNLESS they are all in the same office. I had one surgeon recommend a separate psych to me and I made the appointment and after i was in there with her she told me that I would have to come back 3 MORE times at $200 each time in order to get a clearance for bariatric surgery. I found a psych on my own that charged $175 for one visit of 45 minutes and got my letter when I walked out. So just be careful.

OK, I don't know about BCBS. I have Aetna. And I have since found out that I don't need a referral for a specialist. But what I was talking about was I going to ask my PCP to write referrals for all the other doctors just in case I needed them. I don't know how BCBS works. But I would certainly be checking before hand because I know insurance, no matter which one it is, tries to get out of paying everything they can and if they can. Better safe than sorry right?

Hey Shirley. Good to see you're on track! I just popped over from the sleeve board to check up on you guys! I haven't had surgery yet but am approved and will be getting my date this week. I hope you keep on with the good work and keep on feeling great!!

Someone on another site posted a long release form that they said is from a lapband doctor. Part of it reads: As doctors, we are nearly always told, “I am willing to take the risk of dying from this surgery because it is better than going on like this” and “I don’t want to be a model. I Just want my health back”. All but a very few of these people later cry about the fact that they did not lose all the weight they wanted to lose. They are unhappy even though their health is improved. Many of them come back and want other cosmetic tune-ups like liposuction, tummy tucks and skin removal from their arms. Kaiser Permanente does not have a cosmetic surgery benefit. Save some of the money you are not spending on food for these elective procedures. Read and understood _________________________________________________ Has anyone actually seen this form and signed it?

I'm not saying I agree or disagree with it. I just want to know if this is a release that is being put out there for patients to sign. I have my doubts as to its authenticity.

Ever since I decided to start this process in earnest I have been reading non-stop about it. I've read articles and visited every message board I can find. I don't think anyone REALLY knows how/why this thing works! I've actually read articles written by doctors that say stuff like "by some mechanism we don't fully understand..." Etc. etc. I've read that it causes restriction: OK, but what does that mean exactly? That I can't eat white meat chicken and raw vegetables? But those are the HEALTHY things I thought. Why would I do something that causes me to not eat healthy things? Oh, they say, it only causes you not to eat them when you are too tight. OK, so what happens when you are NOT too tight? Oh, then you can eat whatever you want, you have to use your willpower then. WTF? Why would I do this to my body (and pocketbook) when it just boils down to using my willpower in the end? Is it just an expensive and risky way to force myself to go on a month-long liquid fast? It would be cheaper and safer to go to a fat farm where they don't let you eat for a few weeks or go on the Optifast diet. I've seen people say that the restriction means that food stays in your pouch longer and makes you full longer. Then I see someone say that their doctor told them that it only stays for one minute. ??? And if it only stays for a minute anyway then why can't we drink with meals? I've read it's because it will wash the food out of the pouch and through the band faster and we will get hungry faster. So if it only stays a minute anyway why can't we drink after a minute and not wait 30 minutes? When you get "stuck" it means that something is too large to go through the opening the band creates right? But in order to feel full the food has to stay in the pouch for a while so that means it HAS to be too big to get through the opening at first right? That's why milkshakes and pudding go right on down. Does digestion start in the pouch? Does food get reduced in the pouch enough to go through the band or does gravity just cause it to slowly trickle down and if it's too big then you either have to vomit or have your band unfilled? What happens when you vomit? Does stuff from the bottom stomach get pushed back up through the band? Or just the stuff in the upper pouch? I know when I vomit now it feels like stuff is coming from my feet to come back up. What about after the band? I'm so confused right now. I know these are really questions for the doctor but I don't go for another 2 weeks and that's just to the nutritionist. I figured people who had the procedure might know how it actually works but honestly, it seems like I get different information from each person. And yes I realize it goes in a human body and it's just a tool. But really, how does it work? I know exactly how my screwdriver works and it's just a tool and I'm a human using it. I'm beginning to think it IS magic and therefore works differently for each person depending on their level of pixie dust. I just need to step away from the Internet and chill out.

Did he say why no Protein Drinks? I cant' imagine you would be able to get the protein you need after surgery for a while without them. And even then, many say they are never able to eat many meats. So how does he want you to get protein?

I'm still on the fence between the band and the sleeve. I'm way more educated on the band so far but am going to a sleeve seminar next week. I've started all my prelim. stuff so I could just as easily switch over to sleeve. My insurance will cover both. Why did you pick band? (Other than the insurance wouldn't cover it.) Thanks!

I've decided on the sleeve. I went to a seminar and talked to some people who had it. I've been reading a lot on the sleeve boards. So I guess I won't be here anymore. But I might come back at times to check on folks like Shirley and ElfiePoo. Thanks guys and I hope you all do great!

My insurance plan specifically says they will cover repair or replacement for a defective or slipped or eroded band. After two years they will cover another surgery if adequate weight loss is not achieved despite following the drs. plan. To rest your mind I would call the insurance and ask them specifically.

Is that because of the band or other reasons?

Oooh that sounds good. I'm always looking for easy peazy recipes like this. I haven't tried this one yet. I have a pork loin thawed out, I might it try it for that.

I've heard of the Plication thing they're doing now. Sounds interesting but my insurance considers it experimental. They will only pay for RNY, band, sleeve, biliopancreatic diversion and duodenal switch. I can't be self-pay and I'm not considering any malabsorption procedures so it has to between the band or sleeve.

Yeah. Too bad. I'm curious if the crazy insecure "friend" ever crawled back.

That sounds exactly like me a few weeks ago. I know I don't want the problems associated with the bypass so the choice is between the sleeve and the band. I had decided on the band because of the reversibility of it. But now I'm reading so many posts from people who have had it "reversed" that are still living with problems created by the band. If I'm remembering correctly someone here still has phrenic nerve pain from the scar tissue and someone else could not have theirs removed because it had eroded too far into their stomach. Over on the sleeve board there are more stories of people who abandoned the band and got sleeved because of problems with the band. Like I said before I haven't read one post of anyone that regretting the sleeve and wishes they could reverse it. (At least anyone who is over the recovery period). If you know of any please let me know where to read about them. I want to have all the info.

Great advice. The more I learn the more I'm leaning toward the sleeve.

Yes I know what a sleeve is. What makes you think I thought it could be reversed? You must not have read my post closely.

if you were dx with sleep apnea do you still have it after losing weight? Did you use a cpap mask? How long? Did you have to have another sleep study after a certain amount of time? I just had my pre-surgery sleep study and I am not looking forward to ever having another one! I don't know if I have apnea or not so I really hope not. One thing I found humorous was on the morning-after survey it asked if I had trouble falling sleep last night and if so, could I think of anything that happened that day that caused me to fall asleep later than usual. I wrote "Yes. I someone put wires all over my face."

Thanks for all the input. I'm still undecided. I have a sleeve seminar scheduled so I can ask more questions. My main concern is the slipping, erosion possibilities that seem to grow as time goes by. Plus I don't like the idea of having to crush meds and not take any time-released meds the rest of my life. But with the sleeve I worry about the fact that it is not reversible even though I have yet to find someone that would reverse it if they could, plus the recovery is harder. Still trying to decide.

I've been looking at pics of people having sleep studies. It looks like Frankenstein's monster. How in hell does anyone sleep with all that crap all over them, even on their face and mouth? I can't stand anything touching my face when i sleep. I can't even wear those breathe right strips because I can't stand the way it feels on my nose. I can't sleep on my back. I toss and turn a lot so they'll probably be in there all the time fixing all the wires. They expect me to get to sleep like that then they'll wake me up between 5:00-6:00 a.m.!?? Good grief, if I could go back I swear I would have never told them that I snore or feel tired during the day. Not the way I like to spend a Friday night. OK, whine over.

check out obesityhelp.com. There is at least one pregnant women on the sleeve forum right now and there are several discussions about others.

Shirley you certainly have more than your share of challenges. I admire your attitude and I'm sure you will be successful! Hang in there!

OK, llrya I think I see where you're coming from. It's just that it sounded like you were saying that battling a food addiction was easy compared to a drug or alcohol addiction. I think that's a disservice to people in the battle. If I'm giving my all trying to do something and barely making it I don't need someone telling me that it should be "easy." I would rather people recognize the difficulty of my fight and provide support and encouragement. I apologize if I mistook your language. If I understand now I think you are saying that we should not have a defeatist attitude. Absolutely I agree. But I also don't want people telling me how easy it should be while I'm hanging on by my fingernails. I'm just not into the tough love approach.

I can only speak to what I've seen first-hand. I knew someone who was addicted to pain-killers. When she got clean she refused to ever even take an aspirin again. She went through child-birth drug-free because she didn't want any pain meds she was so afraid of getting addicted again. I quit smoking cold-turkey 6 years ago. I tried many times before that but I found myself in situations often that other people were smoking and I would take "just one." Well that just one turned into me smoking a pack a day again. I have relatives that were alcoholics. They know they can never even taste alcohol ever again. We couldn't even have cooking wine in the house. So it's not hyperbole to say that while most addicts can shut out the addiction completely, food addicts can not. We were addicted to carbs, calories, fat whatever. We still have to have some of those to live. You knew a heroin addict who could handle pain killers without becoming addicted again. That's great. That person must have a very strong will. But did they have to take pain-killers every day? I'm just saying that that is the kind of will that ALL food addicts must have EVERYDAY to overcome their addiction. Not that it can't be done. That's why there are support groups - to help bolster our will. Maybe it's easy for you, and that's wonderful. But there are people who struggle with their will every day. I would never downplay their efforts by saying it is any easier than a drug-addict's struggle. It's bad enough that much of society still think that all fat people are lazy and stupid, let's not do it to each other.