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WOW! i'm kind of floored! well in my opinion you should probably look for a different surgeon.... there are many out there who are just as qualified and successful as yours who are also tolerable. and who knows? if you're truly doing what you're supposed to and you've gained the weight back, you may find out that your original surgery wasn't successful because of something the surgeon did or didn't do! so it's good to get a different opinion in that case too. so sorry this happened to you. sometimes i think doctors (especially those who practice in this capacity) should be required to take sensitivity training from time to time! as you can probably tell, i have not had wonderful experiences with the medical community either. one thing i might also suggest is that you don't do this quietly. as someone already said, this guy will move on to someone else... he is probably not hurting for money and won't miss yours (i know that's blunt but just stay with me on this.) a professional and straight forward letter to this doctor, the other surgeons in his practice, and to the office manager might be in order. i wouldn't be slanderous or show too many emotions or you might not be taken seriously. just state clearly what happened and conclude briefly how you felt about it and that because of this instance you will take your business elsewhere, and that you will also recommend the same to others who are considering bariatric surgery. i bet you will get some sort of reaction if you do that.

Hey! I haven't had my pre-op surgeon appt yet but at the nurse practitioner appt I definitely had a bunch of questions. Here's a few: - Based on my body type, etc...what percentage of excess body weight could I expect to see in the best situation? - What exercises are best post-op? Do you usually suggest Water aerobics, yoga, etc? Which are better than others to help promote healing? - Is there an emergency line that I can call specifically for bariatric patients? - What type of clothing should I wear post-op at the hospital and at home following the hospital? - How long do you expect me to stay at the hospital? - How much movement can I expect to be doing during the first few days post-op? - What are the signs and symptoms of something going wrong post-op?

Not really, he had a lot of experience working with other Bariatric surgeons and he had performed a lots of surgery so far I haven't found any bad review, he face time me and took the time to discuss his credentials, experiences, surgery pros and cons, he asked me clinical questions, very professional he didn't look in a rush to end the conversation, spoke about obesity, I think he was great! I will have my surgery on June 3rd and because isn't a lots of info on him I am thinking about documenting my experience and share my thoughts with others.

What is a Band erosion? This is when the Band actually erodes into the stomach. It is a more serious problem, and generally requires removal of the Band. Band erosion is thought to be related to placing too many sutures (or too tight sutures) at the time of Band implantation. Surprisingly, Band erosion is often unnoticed. Occasionally the port will become infected if bacteria track along the catheter out to the port. Other times patients will stop losing weight. Diagnosis often requires an endoscopy. http://www.laparoscopy.com/pleatman/Lapbandfaq.htm A band slippage usually requires the patient to return to the operating room for repair. A band erosion is related to the pressure of the band being wrapped around a hollow organ. Over time, the band may erode through the stomach wall and if this occurs, reoperation is required. A band slippage usually requires the patient to return to the operating room for repair. A band erosion is related to the pressure of the band being wrapped around a hollow organ. Over time, the band may erode through the stomach wall and if this occurs, reoperation is required. http://www.boone.org/bhc/?booneorg=/bhc/cms/1/bariatrics/lapband.html

The very first visit I had with my bariatric doctor, they clocked me at 182. It was so scary because I didn't even realize how bad it was. It certainly explained my headaches and dizziness at the time.

If you are out there and have had surgery in Mexico (I'm having mine in Jan. by Dr. Kuri) and you have/had fills in MN/metro area - or even Wisconsin - please let me know. I'm able to locate doctor's or bariatric offices that do fills - but most only do them for their own patients. Also (at least on the phone) they are down on people that have had their surgey in Mexico. Any Happy-to-serve-you-and-take-your-money fill doctors in MN/WI? Along with another "to-be-banded" I am going to try and set up an appointment with a fill doctor - just to discuss the situation. I think it would be worth it in order to feel confident if something comes up after we are back in the good ol' U S of A. Imanotlean but Iwannabe!

Actually, I postponed it. There has been so much drama involving the Midwest Institute of Bariatric Surgery that I have been going through that I have chosen to seek my surgery elsewhere. Nothing like waiting till the 11th hour huh? lol! I have reasons to believe that they falsified some documentation that they submitted to my insurance company for the approval and don't want to take my chances of it not getting paid for post surgery! So we're looking at the entire approval process again. Hope to have surgery by February/March. Thanks again to everyone for your support!

I don't know how open you are to traveling but there's a place in San Antonio, TX that advertises the sleeve for $9,990. It's Sage Bariatric. https://www.sagebariatric.com/sleeve-surgey-9400/ They have a ton of accolades and awards and John Pilcher has some really great YouTube content. Their office was one of my top choices. The only reason I didn't choose them is because I didn't want to travel after surgery and found a wonderful surgeon closer to home.

Go to NYtimes.com and read the Jan. 3, 2006 article by Elisabeth Rosenthal - "Europeans Find Extra Optionss for Staying Slim" - It's very interesting and talks a lot about the US surgeons and why they think the way they do. Also quoted in this article is Minnesota's very own Dr. Sayeed Ikramuddin (surgeon) from the Univ. of Mn Hospital - Chief of of bariatric surgery is quoted in this article. Read it! Patti

I'm in the same boat. I knew my insurance required the 6 months. I tried to get them to count my recent months doing Weight Watchers but since I didn't see my PCP each month it will not count. That really bummed me out. So I have my first appointment with the bariatric dietician/nutritionist this coming Monday. I'm probably looking at September for soonest possible surgery. I am weaning off diet soda now - have gone from about 5-6 every day to only about 1-3 a week right now. Drinking lots of water (never did that before) and experimenting w different protein drinks. I hope these 6 months go fast!!!

Sorry to ask this here, but I’m scared. I don’t know what to do or have anyone else to ask. I’m what I call “irregularly regular”. Irregular in the sense that I never know when I’m going to get my period. Regular in the sense that it always lasts for 3.5 days, four at tops. Last month, I got my period and it lasted for almost two weeks. That has never happened to me before. I figure it might have to do with my recent weight gain (about 30 pounds since July) and the related hormone changes. I haven't felt "healthy" for a while now. After my period ended, I was fine for about two weeks. Then I got my period again. I’ve had it now for over a week and it’s very heavy and there’s more …”material” than before (not a ton but noticeably more). I’ve had a little bit of dizziness – my shrink says that’s a side effect of Wellbutrin, but over the weekend, I had a few dizzy spells. (Haven’t had one since, though.) I did some research on the internet and though my flow is very heavy (for me) I’m not changing my pad every 6 hours, so maybe it’s not that an extreme a case. I think the blood loss has made me a little anemic and caused a little of the fatigue and dizziness so I started taking an Iron supplement today. I had a little bit of cramping yesterday and today, but I took an Aleve and I’m fine. There’s no pain or anything otherwise weird. I just can’t seem to stop bleeding. I’ve just about convinced myself that I have cervical cancer or something. As far as I know, none of this runs in my family. I haven’t been to see a doctor, mostly because I’m chicken. I’m 31 and have never had a gyno exam. (I rationalized it by saying I’ve never been sexually active, so I didn’t need to.) I’m also in a tricky situation because my company switched to a new health insurance carrier effective Jan. 1, but Blue Cross is taking forever to do the paperwork, so I don’t have a member number, a group number, a PCP, or anything. I’m waiting for it any day now, but who knows how long it will take them? I’m really scared, but apparently not scared enough to be smart about this because the second I have my insurance info I’m going to see the PCP about a referral to bariatrics. I’m afraid to mention it to my doctor because she will be someone I’ve never met and she may want to do all kinds of history and testing on me before she’s willing to do any kind of referral. I’m all twisted up in knots. Have any of you experienced anything like this? Any advice would be much appreciated.

my bariatric dietician gave me a liust of protein supplements. They were the exception to the clear liquids. They told me to go ahead and drink them. I have a chocolate flavored powder I mix with 4 oz. milk twice a day. Ea. serving delivers 20 Gm. protein. It is whey based. I got it at Wal Mart Supercenter. Some approved supplements are egg or soy based.

Everyone tolerates different foods. There's no reason why popcorn should be banned from your diet. It may be more difficult to digest which could lead to pain, but only you can determine if your pouch can tolerate it or not. As your diet progresses from liquids to pureeds to regular food, you should add high fiber/grains/nuts/seeds back into your diet. I've had some pts tell me they eat it and they're fine. You should avoid movie theatre popcorn and those buttery microwave popcorns as they are high in fat. Airpopped plain popcorn is a low kcal snack, provides fiber, but like all other foods, watch your quantity. Hope this helps. bariatric dietitian

I did well the first year and half when I they repositioned my band, but since then I have stayed the same and have not lost anymore. I am hoping to get into the bariatric surgeon soon and they will do the surgery all at one time. I don't know alot about the sleeve but that is what my doctor recommend to be. What made you choose to have the sleeve?

My mom and I have had some talks like this... i was honest and told her the things that i wish had been different as a kid, such as healthier eating and family exercise. But i also told her that i was an adult and could no longer blame them for my stuffing my face with oreos. Its always easier to blame someone else than take responsibility for your own actions. You need to think about your own relationship with food any why its there. For me i always sabotaged my diets. Why? Because if i was bigger i felt i knew who my friends were and i thought pe op le would expect less of me. Not healthy. I'm still working through that. And yeah coming to a bariatric forum and calling a size 16 "gross" was very insensitive. Many of us dream of the day we can shop in a regular size store.

Here's some of the Protein I've ordered. We're using them extensively during the liquid / mushy phase, trying to get enough protein in. Mikey's supposed to have 100+g a day, augh!!! Beneprotein (powdered, tasteless whey, 20g a scoop, add to anything): http://www.resource.walgreens.com/search/search_results.jsp?_dyncharset=ASCII&term=beneprotein&section=A&%2Fsearch%2Fsearchbase%2FSearchOptions.resultsperPage=5&_D%3A%2Fsearch%2Fsearchbase%2FSearchOptions.resultsperPage=+&_DARGS=%2Fcommon%2Fnavigation%2Fheader_fg.jsp.1&x=0&y=0 Nature's Best products. I LOVE the Isopure Zero Carb RTD -- 40g protein. I don't really like the taste of the smoothies, but they're 50g protein, amazing!! http://www.naturesbest.com/index.html?section=Shopping&catsec=208&-session=thisSession:66E77B3BDD1AD9D09A6A6584CEA7A0E2 (I buy 'em at Vitamin Shoppe or online.) Bariatric Eating has GREAT protein stuff... I've liked everything I've tried: http://store.bariatriceating.com/proteinpowders.html Our staple protein -- the one we use the most -- is just powdered whey protein (chocolate & vanilla) from Walmart (near the Slimfast in the pharmacy area). 20g per scoop. I use 2 scoops per shake. Good luck getting it all in!!

Whew. This has probably been the busiest month I've had in years. But I wanted to take some time to reflect on my year since my band repair and Celebrate a small joy. It's been one crazy year - almost to the day - since my 2005 surgery. This time last year, I had my band access port replaced to a lower profile port, the access area moved to a different part of my body - and my tubing repaired due to a leak. (And I just found out from reading my medical records, I had some never-before-mentioned-to-me minor surgical things tweaked during the '05 procedure.) In other words I was practically rebanded a year ago.(I was banded 5 years ago originally, but after major league complications, I struggled mightily to achieve and maintain any real loss with my band. But almost one year ago to the day, I began a sort of "second chance" with the band.) Since my doctor insisted I treat this as a new band as if I was "brand new," that's what I did. I tried life almost as a "new" Banded patient again. One year later, the experiment didn't quite work as we thought. But I am grateful for some of this past year's progress. No, I'm not considered much of a success after only losing 51# -52# of my 70# goal in all these years but although I may have to now consider other non-band & surgical options to get the weight off, I am trying to reflect on some of the positive things that have happened at least in this past year. One difference - with the newer band I once again felt, at least for a time, some real restriction which was really good. It's helped me to have some renewed success and to help deal with the Monster of "Head Hunger" vs "Real Hunger". That's a good thing as a popular domestic diva might say. But now I'm overdue for a fill. Once I get some things settled and situate myself with a new fill doctor I'll be on my way again. Stay tuned. The positive stuff? Well after a busy 2-week period including an out-of-state trip and then some parties and events, I had a small Non scale Victory (or "NSV"). Well, non-scale victories are the only ones I have since I haven't had a "SV" since I got my weight into OneDerLand. But hey, a girl has to take her joys where she can find them. Here's what happened: I had to go shopping to find things to wear (most of my clothes seem curiously big, and although the scale isn't moving much I think my tummy tuck is finally starting to 'kick in'). As a shopped I saw a Clearance Rack for regular (non plus sizes). I rarely can find anything good on the sales rack in larger sizes (A silent curse for the tiny size 4's who can always find something good on sale or clearance :phanvan ) Well, as I browsed, I saw a great dress and grabbed my normal size 16 and put it over my arm. When I peered at it later, I realized that size 16 might be too big after all. This is a major relevation. Some of the thinner among you can't possibly fathom this - but eyeballing a size 16 and having it possibly be too big? Omigawd, that's a big deal for someone like me. I had to make myself hold the dress up and keep looking, because in my head, I didn't believe it, although my eyes were clearly telling me the dress was just too large. On a good day I'm a 16 in jeans, especially with slimmer-fitting brands. [ Background: Now keep in mind I'm a Professional Fat Person - I sometimes feel like being fat, or fighting fat is what I seem to concentrate so much of my energy on. I mean, I'm the girl who can't get her BMI under 30 after having had WLS 5 years ago :rolleyes so my weight is a constant struggle. So after dieting, exercise, LapBand surgery and then a "Well, Dang, I had LapBand 4.5 years ago, why am I waiting? Tummy Tuck" operation- I am usually a size 14 / 14W or so. Sad but true - after all this money, time and effort - honestly I'm grateful just to be able to get to the "regular bigger sizes." Habit still makes me head for the Plus Sizes & Womens Sizes clothes rack. My larger frame means they usually fit a bit better. And really, I'm a Size Tall so there are no regular sizes in Jeans/pants for me, but hey, that's life, eh? But being taller makes my rather uneviable heavier weight a bit more tolerable as I have a larger frame to space my fat out on.] So I'm in the store, right? After arguing with myself for the longest, I drag myself back to the dress rack so I can pick up the same dress in a size 14. I avoided dresses for the longest due to the hanging pouch of skin at my belly. Now that's been minimized quite a bit. So this is the first dress I've bought since my Band Repair and my Tummy Tuck. And although I didn't lose a pound (actually like most TT patients, I initially gained weight due to swelling & Fluid retention) I think my abdomen is finally starting to look trimmer. I have to convince myself to pick up the size 14 but since it's the only one left in that size, I do get it. I really had to quiet my self doubt just to grab the Size 14. Later in the dressing room, I go to pull it over my head and wiggle into it, only to realize it's too tight. I'm crushed - literally. Then I realize two important things: #1. It has a hidden inner zipper which I never bothered to undo - once I unzip it, the dress slides down and fits. #2. Although it was on the Size 14 section of the rack, the dress is tagged as Size 12. Yep, me, NewSho - Professional Fat Person managed to get into a Size 12 slinky silk spaghetti strap dress. I couldn't believe my eyes. I had it on, and it wasn't ripping or splitting. When I saw myself in it, I almost cried. The lady in the next fitting room probably thought I was having a Nervous Breakdown but I was so full of emotion. I never thought I'd see a size 12 again - and although this wasn't my real size, it felt great. I just twirled and twirled and twirled around in the fitting room - I couldn't believe it! Now reality is - I'm not delusional - I can't wear size 12 jeans or shorts. But this dress actually got on my body. Honestly, I need a Boob Lift but until then I have to solve any breast-related issues with well-engineered bras. So this dress does call for a bulletproof strapless bra. Plus my butt really is a size 14 - that should have been the size I should have bought but since the Size 12 actually got on, looked OK and since it was on clearance - that baby came right home with me. A beautiful little silk slip dress in size 12 - and I actually got in it. It was worth its weight in gold. Me? In a 12? Even for just one night, it was so exciting.:confused: I wore the dress to the party that night. There was lots of media & TV coverage of the event, but I felt confident. It did the job, but after losing some weight (and after treating "The Twins" to a much-needed Boob Lift) I would look GREAT in it. But for right now, just getting in it was the victory. I'm still fighting the war but it's nice to win a battle now and then. Thanks for letting me share this. It ain't all gloom and doom over here, all the time. And though I'm always fighting the Battle of The Bulge, at least I got one good shot in this war. :clap2: Happy Band Journeys To All, New Sho (a.k.a. "I ain't a size 12 but I got to play one on TV, just for one night :kiss2: ")

I am sorry to hear about all your problems with your lap band. One individual in our bariatric support group had a lap band to RNY revision. His band began eroding into his stomach. So it had to go. When they did a RNY, his pouch was slightly smaller than most RNY patients because of the scarring. It meant he had to eat a little less than most. He lost a lot of weight and was very pleased with his revision.

My insurance sent a denial letter for my lap band removal, calling it bariatric surgery. But, the letter also said pre-certification wasn't required for outpatient stays, which I was. So we're submitting and hoping fot the best. If they deny, I plan to fight until the bitter end because my health, and life, was being put at risk from my band-related complications.

OOPS, I forgot to include the website in my PM. Dr. Frank Veninga/North Texas Bariatric & General Surgery 4333 N. Josey Lane Plaza II - Suite 207 Carrollton, Texas 75010 PH 972.939.8218 FX 972.395.1789 website http://www.bariatricsurgerydallas.com/index.html

Same thing here as I responding at 2:30 am. I'm pretty sure it's the bariatric vitamins for me. Pre surgery I wouldn't ever take b vitamins because I already had issues with hot flashes and sweating from my head. The bariatric vitamins the doc has me on have 8333% of recommended daily allowances (based on a 2000 cal diet) of B12. I think I'm just jazzed up on B vitamins and not used to having energy. Can't shut the mind down.

Everyone is different. The first day of surgery was miserable , but I walked 2 miles on the bariatric floor. I was cleared for liquids and was on lorcet on day 2 - not as spacey as the morphine made me feel. I took no narcotics after I went home the next day. I went back to work at 2 weeks, at a reduced schedule and easied back into full speed by 4 weeks. I lost weight quickly at first but am losing 1-2 pounds a week currently. It will take a long time for me to get to goal but I feel so much better I rate it a success. This is not as good as some , but I am not ketotic and miserable. I hope this helps.

My doctors office is pushing the Bariatric Advantage products for my 2 week pre op diet ..do you have any recommended websites I could view for alternative? Those products are so expensive. I'm thinking I can do ketogenic (sp) without those specific products. Sent from my SM-G900P using the BariatricPal App

How much Protein do you intake a day? How much are you exercising? Protein is vital post bariatric surgery. When protein intake is not adequate the body compensates by breaking down lean body mass. As lean body mass diminishes your metabolism slows down. Everyone loses at a different rate. The more overweight you are typically the greater your loses will be for the first several months post op. Make sure to follow up with your nutritionist and/or surgeon to see what they recommend to upstart your weight loss again.

Hello, I just came back from my drs. today and he gave me kinda bad news. He is leaving the office he is with and is not sure if in his new position whether he will still do bariatric surgery. So what does this mean for me? It means that he is referring all of his patients to Dr. Brody. I have heard good things about Dr. Brody I am just use to Dr. Brodsky. I am really going to miss him. :D