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I use almond bc the carb count is less. Also Bc my ds is allergic to dairy and it prevents me From buying 2 kinds of milk. I also think i may Have a lactos issue bc cows milk upsets my tummy. To me, almond tastes fine but I do not drink it plain, only in my shakes. I dont use the rice in my shakes...its very thin and watery.

I was the same way you are.. Before my surgery was approved I was panicking they would not approve it. I have Horizon BC/BS and had no other medical issues and was approved (I have since found out I have sleep apnea though). You have other medical problems so it shouldn't be a problem for you to get approval. Just wanted to let you know you are not alone with the insurance approval anxiety. Good luck Lisa! Lisa

Hi Jeff, I've been researching Dr Rohrscheib for about a week now, and I haven't found anything negative so far. I haven't actually met him myself, but his receptionist was very informative and friendly. She didn't rush me through my questions, and sent me an info packet very quickly. My husband's insurer is BC/BS of IL. and his particular plan doesn't pay for the lap-band. We just changed to bcbs a couple of months ago, prior to we had health alliance, and they didn't cover lapbands in my plan at work, or his. They can tell you over the phone if you call the 800 number on your ins card. The cpt code rohrscheibs office gave me to check for ins coverage for the lapband is 43659. Congrats on the 50# loss so far, That must feel pretty good! Good luck, and best wishes for insurance coverage

So im 4 months post op n down 83 lbs..I also just found out im pregnant!!..how did you ladies handle it..I dont want to gain the weight back

I followed up with my NUT and gave her the example of what I am eating she said any Calcium (yogurt, 1-2oz soft cheese, milk ect) does not count as a meal and I can add Protein powder to it for my daily goal but I should have 3 servings of calcium a day and as for my meals - it is normal that I can "hold" 4-5oz right now but she wants me to aim for 1-3oz instead bc my pouch is still healing. I have stopped eating as I was before & started doing only 1-3oz 1x a day and just protein shakes the rest of the time. Sent from my Z970 using the BariatricPal App

People often ask me what's it like post op. I'm almost 4 months out. My explanation. Have you ever been around a baby when it's being fed? Yep that's me. They eat one bite yay, then the second. If my tummy decided it didn't like the first, even if it did 100x before. You guessed it out it comes. So the story of my new life. Finally able to eat eggs and sausage for a few weeks. The inside of a sausage burrito from McD's. This morning "roo" my pouch says nope I no longer like that. After working a 10 hour shift at one client on my way to a 5 hour client now I just want to go home and hug my specially devoted trash can. Ugg. So I regret my decision, not one bit, but some "roo" cooperation would be nice Sent from my 5054N using the BariatricPal App

There is a very high turn over- a lot of the $$ you see advertised is for sign on bonus's which are nice to get you in the door. They have to put up with a lot of BS for very little $$ in the long run.. I speak from experience.. doctors are cheap- they dont pay well

I am having surgery September 4, and going back to work the 12th but it's bc I can sit most of the day & not do anything strenuous.

Hi Everyone! I know - long time, no hear! I still check in on the group every once in a while, even though I rarely post anymore. Most of you probably don't even know who I am! But I was banded on 1/23/03 and unbanded 7/04 due to 40% erosion. I was banded in TJ by Dr. Lopez. Since my band loss my weight is pretty much back up to where it was before my 100+ lb loss with my little band buddy... *sniff* Oh, well, someday, somehow I will find a way that works for me to lose and keep it off. I'm still paying off my banding, port repositioning, and de-banding, so another surgery isn't in my immediate future. If I get fed up before I find a way to do it on my own I will probably go with the vertical gastric sleeve. But again, my insurance won't cover that, either, so this time I'm going to save up the $$ before the surgery. ugh... Anyway, I know some of you still cook, even though your portions are much less, and I am hosting my first ever in-home party (not counting my own Slumber Party that a few SD bandster friends attended)! If any of you are interested in coming to the actual party (Escondido, CA) send me an email and I will send you an invite. Otherwise you can shop from the comfort of your own PC if you like, and still take advantage of the guest special without actually having to leave your house! http://www.pampered chef.biz/ mreyes?showId= 1207950 NOTE: Please place your order prior to my Show closing date: Sat 06/30/07 If you get prompted to enter a hostess name when you place your order, please use: Donali Again, if you'd like to come to the party itself, drop me an email and I'll send you an invite! The party is on Wednesday, 6/27 at 6:30pm in Escondido. We'll have food and drinks (she'll be cooking something yummy for us!), and there will also be an on-time prize drawing. Come and socialize! Get a free meal! lol Happy shopping!! Donali

I am Y member, and plan on working with a PT after my surgery. You might want to check your Insurance Company. I have Bc/Bs of Pa, they will refund me partial of the membership fee, if I attend certain amount of days at the Y in a years time.

Not for me. Actually my doc let me advance my diet as tolerated. Since I am diabetic my blood sugars were doing a rollercoaster. So by day 10 I was eating mushy/soft food like fish, mashed potatoes and such. It really helped to get my BS under control by getting back to a seminormal eating schedule. I haven't looked back. I go next week for my "four" week checkup. It is really being done at six weeks but that is okay cause then I can get a fill. So transitioning from liquids to mushy/soft was very easy for me. M

No regrets whatsoever. I wanted the sleeve but my surgeon would not do it bc of GERD. I am very happy with rny.

Yes pressure on the stomach helps. I don't use my spanx bc they are a little too tight but I hold a pillow on my tummy when I get up or have to cough.

I am RIGHT with you!! I had my band removed in 2014 bc it just did not work. My insurance is also Highmark BCBS. I have started the process of revision (even thought it's out!). I am waiting to see how things work out with my approval. ... Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

On the bus going to my last Dr. supervised weight loss appointment. Tuesday is my pysch eval (hopefully my Dr. will do it) and then I get to send everything to my Dr. for insurance approval. I'm so excited right now and really hoping everything turns out the way I want it to. Fingers crossed that BCBS Fed approves me. :-)

My only complaint is some pretty intense diarrhea. I guess bc I'm only eating liquids maybe my stools are liquid. I'm around 20 lbs lost

Wish someone would have told me that you lose all your weight via explosive diarrhea followed by a hot/cold sweat that you feel like you'll pass out, bc then I would have passed on getting this surgery done. Is this something that lasts forever? I've been trying to follow directions with drinking enough Water and getting Protein in....I did eat maybe 8-10 soft macaroni elbows like 3 days ago which is when all of this started. Is it too late to get my stomach back? How does anyone live a normal life like this? I'm supposed to go back to work next week, little do they know I'll be working from the restrooms I guess. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I'm not a drinker- haven't for 9 years due to the meds I take. But was wondering- DO people drink after having BS? I always thought it was a no-no.

With my first fill I could eat just about anything and have NO problems. I just had my 2nd fill a week ago and have now have 5cc in 14cc band. So, yesterday my husband and I wanted to go out to our fav chinese place. I LOVE their crab bake and I thought ooohhh I have been doing SOOO good I want to try it. Plus I though crab and cheeze good protein Anyhow I took 3 bites and got this AWFUL pain in my chest. I though uh oh...I'm about to throw this up....I ran to the bathroom and sure enough up my food came.....it really threw me for a loop bc up until now I havent had that prob. Anyway it scared me enough that I have gone back to soft food......so I guess no crab bake for me. I dont even want to think about trying meat.

So I'm looking to do the powder mix for Protein shake bc it seems cheaper then the pre made. Does anyone have a good affordable suggestion for two week pre op diet ???? I see the surgeon tomorrow to find out when my surgery will be!!! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I agree that I would not take an I dont know answer from your PCP.....but your lap band doc is prob going to say it is gas pain. Your right it would be odd to have gas pain 2 weeks out but not impossible. Also it could be some sort of pain due to where your port is but if it is not near your port then you can rule that out as well. (the port should also be attached to your abdomen wall not your costocartilage (or muscles over your ribs bc they are thin muscles) Again not impossible for your doc to have done that for some reason. Refered pain from organs on the left is your spleen but unless you have had problems with that before you can rule that out as well...... Another avenue that is prob important to look at is a rib out of place. Question-does breathing make the pain more noticeable/worst/ or relieve it? Most people dont think of this because this is not what an M.D does. Bc of the surgery your body has been pushed around and the gas that your rib cage is not used to can push a rib ever so slightly out of place and cause an unbelievable pain. This can be relieved by a visit to a chiropractor usually with one adjustment with instant relief of pain. Just thought I would give you some things to think about!!

I did write my diet history already. It's harder than it appears at first. Define attempts? Oh I have about 330 of those in any given year. It starts in the morning and ends at about 5pm feeling totally defeated. On the other side I do have serious attempts like when I lost around 55 pounds on weight watchers. It just never works for me long term. I honestly don't know anyone who is overweight who hasn't tried to lose weight at some point. The reason I was worried about the diet plan and also the previous 5 years of spotty medical care where I wasn't weighed every year for the past 5 years without a 12 month gap is because that's what the doctor's office told me about some plans. They said a lot of insurances make it nearly impossible to qualify and if you do they dont make it a fast process. She said a lot of insurances will ask for the person to follow a 6 month medically supervised diet. (as if we have never tried to diet before grrrrr) When I read BC/BS MA policy on getting the lap band it seemed quite easy. Just qualify with the BMI and be willing to be enrolled in a program for after care and that's about it. Even the doctor's office when she saw that told me it looked easy but she had never worked with that insurance company before. She said, hopefully it's as easy as it appears.

Been saying it for years. Exercise has many benefits and I'll keep doing it as long as I am allowed and able, but the calorie burn, at least to me, isn't what it's about. When I hear things like...."I burned 650 calories in 30 minutes".......my BS detector goes off. Not that the person stating that is lying or knows it's not true, it's just the equipment tells them that, and of course we want to believe it. Heck, I used to believe it. http://www.salon.com/2015/01/27/your_exercise_equipment_is_lying_to_you_partner/

I have 2 questions that I'm looking for some information on. I was told that after the gastric sleeve you can't take an NSAIDs anymore? But when I do research some say u can just not every day, others say not at all, and some even say they were never told anything about it. I ask bc I'm having major back issues. I'm really inflamed all throughout my spine and they suggested taking an anti inflammatory but I didn't think I could so I looked into natural supplements and they say turmeric is really beneficial for inflammation so I was thinking of trying that but I'd really like input on taking, ibuprofen or aleve etc... My other question is about weight loss. I had the surgery out 29th of last year so I'm almost a year out and I've only lost 50lbs and I still Need to lose 40 more. I started noticing at about 6 months out I was able to eat more and more I wasn't getting the full feeling like I was the first couple of months like if I took one more bite I'd throw up but now it's not like that. I'm still controlling what I eat but the feeling I get when I knew I couldn't eat anymore really helped. And I'm not staying full for very long anymore. Any input on this would help. I need some insight on what else I can do to lose the 40lbs. I keep hitting plateaus and I'll go down 2-3lbs then up 2-3lbs does anyone else deal with this? And I'm still losing a lot of hair but that I knew could happen. Thank God I started with thick hair! Any opinions or thoughts would help! Thanks so much, Bridget

On 4/11 I walked into the hospital to begin my pre-op/ pre-admission testing. Just a quick one and a half hours later and I was walking out a bit perplexed. I know surgery is a very serious thing and of course understand that I have to explain my medical history to the hospital so they can properly treat me. However, do I have to repeat myself 2-4 different times?!?!? Is it wrong of me to have been annoyed by this fact? Now don't get me wrong EVERYONE was super nice and professional and great to talk to. I just wish we could have sped the process up and done one big gigantic group interview. I mean you guys are asking almost the same exact questions. Then filter out the questions no one else needs and you can come into the room by yourself and ask those. Otherwise, let's get this show on the road here people! Nothing beats the next part of my day - going to my surgeon's office for my pre-op appointment.There were times during this appointment when I wished I was a ninja :ph34r: so I could sneak out of there without him looking. He made me so nervous. I swore at times it felt as though I was being interrogated. "Remember Kristina, if there is anything you need us to know, now is the time to tell me." OMG what do I need to tell you. Do you want intimate details of my life?!?! Do you want to know that I stole a make-up compact when I was 14 years old? That I cut classes in high school and got caught. I mean I felt like this was SUPER over done here. "Ok well if anything comes up, if anything changes, you let us know right away." Maybe he was being this way because I am a fairly healthy person besides the fact that I have about 100 pounds of FAT sitting all over my body of course! Which in the long run does not make me very healthy at all. I have high cholesterol but it is not being treated bc my primary doctor didn't think it was necessary with the surgery in the works. What do you want me to tell you Doctor Chau??? Needless to say I walked out of the office feeling a little strange! Most importantly, I found out that I will need to be a participant in the wonderful Liver Shrinking diet for at least one week. I have already begun the diet in a small way and switched my breakfast for a protein shake. I am undecided as to when I will incorporate my lunch in the mix. I went food shopping over the weekend and bought a ton of fresh fruits and veggies to start using those as snacks as per the diet. I EVEN TRIED COTTAGE CHEESE FOR THE FIRST TIME! MIRACLES DO HAPPEN!!!! It really isn't that bad. All these years I was afraid of it due to it's appearance. And they say you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover. SHEESH man am I guilty of that. I am sorry to have judged you Mr. Cheese.