Search the Community

Yay I got the call yesterday and got my surgery date..June 13th 2022. Tbh I almost gave up. I have complex PTSD and being in control is one of my coping mechanisms. So this whole process of not knowing when I was going to have surgery and having to wait for each step has been beyond frustrating and put me in a bad head space. I lost a work promotion because I didn't know when I would be out. The person I was going to take over for has decided to wait a year before moving up. Because of this my supervisor has decided to open up the position to everyone next year..so at min I have lost the pay increase for a year if not the promotion all together. My apartment lease is coming up for renewal and if they up the rent too much, I will have to move....without being able to hardly lift anything I had done 6 months of a Dr. lead weight loss program as a last attempt to avoid going the surgery route. Luckily the ofc I used also has surgeons so I had records already on file for the 6mnth weight loss attempt. Then I also had to pass a psych eval (150 questionnaire and a visit with their mental health clinician (to rule out eating disorders), nutritional eval, fitness eval, lose 20lbs, a barium swallow (Dr wanted upper endoscopy but had one last yr), They normally want a sleep study but since I use a apap machine that met that. My insurance made me speak to one of their nurses who could either recommend the preauthorization the Dr submits either be approved or declined. While the nurse was great, and hour conversation when all I am thinking is don't mess this up, was stressful. Every time I got one thing done I had to wait about 14 business days to do the next. I literally called and left several messages with my Dr's coordinator begging her to call me with a surgery date. So June 13..the day before my daughter's birthday. Luckily she is supportive and we are going to celebrate before I start my preop diet. I was able to call my apartment management and they are sending me the renewal documents so if I needto move I can do it before the surgery. Unfortunately there was nothing that can be done about the promotion though my job is now conducting cost of living surveys due to inflation to see if they need to raise pay across the the company. My health insurance company stlllhas to approve the surgery. But since all the paperwork is in order and the criterias are meet that will be no problem. Sorry just really needed to vent. Thanks

You will get to your fluid goals one sip at a time! Trust the process of healing. Start as soon as you open your eyes. Try a variety of flavors if you don’t like plain water. Gatorade zero and Propel are my favorites after cold water. Also herbal teas and broth count. Before you worry much about food the priorities are protein and hydration. There are tons of bari vitamins out there. Immediately post op stay away from gummies as they can get stuck and they have sugars and not a lot of quality vitamins. Some companies have sample packs. Bariatric Advantage has them. You can also email company directly to ask. In a pinch you can take 2 Fred flinstone vitamins. Centrum has a liquid adult version. As you get more comfortable with your hydration and protein the rest will follow.

Welcome. It’s ok to feel scared & nervous. It’s surgery. Food likely is something you depend upon as an emotional support & that is going to change & you will be changing what & how you eat. Things like how much pain you will experience after surgery is very individual. You may have a lot of gas pain or nine at all (I didn’t after my sleeve) but there are things you can do to help the gas escape your body. You may experience surgical pain for a couple of days or a week but again you’ll have access to pain meds to help. You may have muscular discomfort & struggle to get up & down for a little while or you may have very little at all. Pre surgical diets differ a lot too. Some are two weeks, some are just a couple of days. Some are all shakes. Others 2 meals shakes & 1 meal protein & vegetables. Mine was keto so … (I have done shake diets before & for a couple of months at a time.) The first challenge to the pre surgical diet is the psychological loss of the crunch & chew comfort of solid food. This can increase your head hunger & cause a lot of emotional turmoil. The second is the withdrawal symptoms (headaches, nausea, tiredness, etc.) from cutting out caffeine & sugar. This usually lasts less than a week. These things are small & are only a couple of weeks in duration. Nothing when you consider the big picture of your whole life & your health. The surgery is an opportunity to makes big changes but you have to be psychologically & emotionally ready. Don’t be afraid to seek support from a therapist (one who specialises in bariatric patients & disordered eating are best). A lot of people have found therapy extremely helpful. Yes, you are on a low calorie restricted diet & eating small portions to begin. Initially it is to support your healing. Then to make you look at the nutritional benefits of what you eat but within a few months you’ll be eating more & a greater variety of food. By maintenance you’ll be eating the portion sizes we all should be eating (not those giant plates two & three times more than what we actually need & lead to our obesity). And you’ll be consuming only the calories your body needs to function effectively & maintain your weight. You’ll discover your relationship with food will change. I still enjoy eating & the taste & texture of food but I see it as something my body needs to function & not as something to comfort & soothe me emotionally - because I’m bored, sad, happy, angry, etc. I’m not continuously thinking about what & when I’ll eat next. It’s that maxim of eating to live not living to eat. All the best.

This part of the journey can be really hard. Try focusing on the reward at the end. What really helped me also, was burying myself in Instagram stories of bariatric patients' progress photos and with those who have reached their goals. Their pictures are truly incredible, and so inspiring. I also agree with Bariatric Hero, try completing a shake first, then take your medications. Hopefully that will help. You got this! You are doing great! 🙂 Is your surgery Monday 5/2? In all honesty, I may have sucked on a french fry from my kid's happy meal. Not one of my proudest moments. I kept repeating to myself during my week pre-op liquid diet..... "I'm shrinking my liver. I'm shrinking my liver. I'm shrinking my liver."

I tried the bariatric pal once daily multi vitamin with iron. It is so much more palatable than the bariatric advantage. The smell alone was worth switching. The Bariatric Pal does not have that awful smell and seems to be a little smaller...but that could be because the taste/smell of the others is so bad it is hard to get down.

What did the ER say? I never experienced this post-sleeve. That doesn't sound normal. Call your bariatric surgeon and try to get in to see him/her. How far post-op are you?

You are right this is hard! But worth the effort. My doc started me out sipping 1 ounce every 15 minutes, it seemed crazy at first but the small sips were comfortable. I am 3 weeks out (RNY) and drinking 52-64 oz a day comfortably now. I keep my drinks varied. Plain water is of course the best. As far as food goes, go slow. Introduce 1 food at a time 1-2 tbls. at a meal. I was on clear liquids for 2 Wk post op. Most of us went from clear liquids to purée. I am using a lil baby spoon and a lil seafood fork to keep my bites small. As for vitamins, they are very important post op because our nutrition is so limited. You can try a Bariatric High Protein Meal Replacement like Bariatric Advantage for a lil extra nutrition in your protein drinks. Talk to your doc or dietitian Re your challenges. This will pass. Keep trying, but go slow.

My surgery was 4/25. GasX was recommended by my Bariatric team. I tried it the first evening and it didn’t seem to help. I then had an extended issue with vomiting so I didn’t continue with the GasX and now it has mostly passed.

Also from my research i thought the affordable care act covers bariatric surgery in North Carolina. I would double check. Tho idk if What you have on your profile would get covered that Duodenal Switch thing.

My insurance doesn’t cover WLS. I am making arrangements to be able to pay out of pocket and started the process at Duke in NC but then the surgeon said she wouldn’t do the surgery since my insurance wouldn’t cover the surgery due to risk of complication and high medical bills. Has anyone else experienced this??? I have an appointment with WakeMed BARIATRICS on May 10th, I explained to them what happened at Duke and they seemed surprised by it and said they except self pay. I am just terrified that I am going to be be crushed again for the 2nd time in 3 weeks and don’t know if I can take it. Any advice??? I have checked in to ACA insurances and multiple agents said none of the policies cover WLS.

I know it's really common to be cold after bariatric surgery. I've been cold all the time MY WHOLE LIFE. Now that I'm down over 100lbs it's becoming impossible. Today, I'm wearing a silk long sleeve undershirt, a long sleeve knit shirt, and a fleece, plus dress pants, thick socks, and short boots. I AM SO COLD! It's especially terrible when I have to sit still during work. Has anyone found a good solution?

I have just started my journey for bariatric surgery, but it's approved. I still have to go through the nutritionist, psychiatrist, etc. However I have told everyone and I don't care if they agree with my decision. I'm doing it for me and not anyone else. Very determined!

Unfortunately you will not find a plan that will cover it in Texas thru the affordable care act (obama care) I have done lots of research on this specifically because here in Florida its also excluded... These are the states where its covered. Your option would be to move to one of these states temporarily, Establish residency, get healthcare, get your surgery and leave. If you notice most southern states are excluded because people in southern states tend to be overweight when compared to northern states. (according to multiple articles i read about bariatric surgery. This is my backup if i end up needing a revision is to move. South Dakota seems to be the easiest from the research i did.

There are a few Bariatric Weightloss forums on Facebook that have “stores” for gently used clothes in all sizes. One of them is Bariatric Family. Might not hurt to see if there is one in your area. I have done it a couple of times. The clothes are always super nice

I'm really struggling with being hungry, but I come back to this forum a lot, and I read the bariatric handbook from my surgeon's office, and I remind myself why I'm doing this. I'm not going to give up or cheat or walk away from this. I've come so far, I'm not screwing it up now. BUT, it's still really hard. I'm HUNGRY!!!! But I'm working, watching true crime, watching Netflix and Hulu, and whining to my husband LOL I know I'll get through it, but this part REALLY really stinks.

I was an avid home cook and baker before surgery and am happy to announce I still am after. There's plenty of things we can cook and eat post op still once you're back to eating regular foods. I do protein pasta with a protein of some kind, I did almond flour crust Pizzas, I've done veggie bowls, omelets, burrito bowls, bariatric friendly cake and brownies, broccoli cheddar soup. My fave right now is a bariatric friendly Cobb bowl since I can't eat raw leafy vegetables yet. It has baked peppers and kale, wild rice, avocado, red onion, cherry tomatoes, cheese, boiled egg, olives, vegetarian bacon and a dijon lemon garlic vegan dressing I make. Here's a pic of it. One bowl has about 22 grams of protein, good amount of fiber too. Sent from my SM-G975U using BariatricPal mobile app

check out the blog "The World According to Eggface". She's a long-time bariatric patient and is very active in the international bariatric community. She also loves to cook, and she has recipes on her site for all the different phases.

I’m 3 weeks out from surgery. May 16. Gastric Bypass. I’m 60. 5’6. 43 BMI. With so many co-morbidities ! Diabetes, high blood pressure. Arthritis in knees and ankles. Last weekend I got very down, thinking if I hadn’t been successful before long-term how was I going to be able to do it now. If I had slowly been losing since this whole process started last July when I had my first consult I would weigh less now as I know wls is just a tool and not a magical solution. I talked about my fears, ordered a bariatric cookbook and got on here to read to see if anyone eles was going through something similar. I didn’t find anyone who wrote word for word what I was feeling but I read supportive things, really just what I needed to read, to think that yeah ok I got this. My daughter said that she’d be worried if I felt invincible beforehand because acknowledging my shortcomings beforehand seemed more healthy. It helps not to keep things bottled up because that’s when the fears snowball for me. I had my doctor phone appointment last Thursday. I forgot to ask how long they recommend being off work. I was readying myself to have to do a 2 week liquid diet but doc said it wasn’t necessary, just for me to lose as much weight before surgery as I could. Which lead to me thinking about how I hadn’t lost anything really during these months of pre-op. and self-doubts. I appreciate all y’all writing about everything. The good bad and ugly. The overwhelming sentiment seems to be: why didn’t I do this earlier. That’s where I want to be. Now, working on tapering off of caffeine! Thanks for being my buddies.

I was also told to stop taking vitamins a certain amount of weeks before surgery. But in reality taking bariatric vitamins before surgery is a waste. You will literally just pee most of it out. The body can only absorb so much and the rest goes out in pee.

I was told I would have to stop taking vitamins a few weeks before surgery. But, why would you want to take them? The only reason to take bariatric vitamins is because you can't absorb vitamins due to a malabsorptive procedure or you can't eat enough of a variety of foods due to a restrictive procedure. otherwise, mostly vitamins just aren't necessary

Can you take bariatric vitamins before your surgery? Sent from my SM-G996U using BariatricPal mobile app

Well this just makes me sad. You're in your honeymoon phase with your sleeve and you're already thinking about the possibility of revision. And being self pay, and the steps you'd have to take to get said revision. It shouldn't be this way. I was curious about The Affordable Care act and what Obamacare covers. So I just looked into it. It covers substance abuse in every state. But only select states cover bariatric surgery. It makes no sense. I hope the pain in your chest turns out to be nothing, especially not acid reflux and you have a long and happy marriage with your sleeve!

Hiya Gnerdie, Only have a suggestion for you. I have found the Facebook site 'Bariatric Support Australia' a very good means of information. I live near Melbourne in Vic so I cannot recommend anyone. I wish you well on your journey.

Thanks to whomever recommended The Bariatric Mindset book by Kristin Lloyd, it is a great book and just what I needed! I'm journaling again, back into daily meditation (this works best for myself to help with emotional eating.) It has some great tools that I've heard of before or read about or have even done before but have forgotten to include them in my toolbox. There's knowing and there's doing.

you would need to call doctors in your area because none of us know where you live. Start calling bariatric centers that you insurance will accept to see if they can fit you in. for me from when i completed all my pre op testing to surgery date was about 3 weeks. ( I am in Florida)