Search the Community

Just had my sleeve done with Dr. Elias Ortiz at his Bariatric center in Tijuana. 2 nights in the hospital, 3 nights in the Grand Hotel Tijuana, shuttles to and from the San Diego airport. Wanted for nothing the entire stay. Was wonderfully cared for! $4500.

I don't know of any specific doctors, but I see you're in California like me. Stanford Children's up north has adolescent bariatric surgery and they list their doctors who do the surgeries with their hospital too. I know Stanford is a great hospital and family who have gone to the hospital (non-bariatric reasons). Here's a link to their bariatric page for adolescents. I wish your son and you the best in this new journey! https://www.stanfordchildrens.org/en/service/bariatric-surgery

I had the same surgeon and i was canceled back in January it really sucks. I don't know if you are through Kaiser but you can call your bariatric case worker and see if they can get you in at another facility i know west la and a few other facilities are still doing surgeries and there are cancelations all the time. My friend who was canceled did this and got in a few weeks later. It's worth a shot. Good Luck and hope you can get something figured out.

Congrats! A lot of people who do bariatric surgery never make it out of the obese category!! Woohoo for you!

I know that I wouldn't have been ready to do the surgery when I was a teen, but that doesn't mean that he isn't. But it's a lot of work. Here is an article about teens having bariatric surgery from the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/24/health/obese-teenagers-bariatric-surgery.html If you can't access it, let me know and I will try to summarize. There are also medications that can help that could see if he's ready... but he'd have to be compliant with the medications, and in order for them to work, you have to eat less, so if he has bingeing issues, it won't help. It is certainly better to have surgery when you're younger and don't already have co-morbidities, but you have to be mature enough to change your eating habits, which can be hard if all your friends are stuffing their faces with junk food. Good luck!

With a job loss, you might qualify for state insurance, and most medicaid insurance covers bariatric surgery now. I wish you hugs and luck, hang in there it is just a bump in the road, but the road is still there.

Bariatric advantage has a chewable multivitamin with iron and calcium citrate chews that are both pretty good. The fruit flavored calcium chews are sorta like starburst candy. I take two of each a day and 3 month labs were great.

Hi SummertimeGirl! These are sites that I have looked at to get ideas for recipes for when I move on to soft foods & modified regular diet: https://www.barilife.com/bariatric-recipes/page/5/ https://bariatricmealprep.com/bariatric-protein-shakes/ https://bariatricbits.com/bariatricnutrition/recipes/ I will check out Bariatricqueen, thanks!😁

https://www.barilife.com/bariatric-recipes/page/5/

https://bariatricmealprep.com/category/bariatric-recipes/recipes-soft-diet/

There are numerous brands and flavors of high protein drinks, both ready-made and powdered. I find the plant-based shakes more palatable than the whey based. Try a variety of products. I never heard of the one you posted. Try Bariatric Advantage, Purely Inspired, Genepro, Orgain, Quest, etc. Walmart usually has a good selection or you can google search for "high protein shakes". ALWAYS read the nutritional data before buying. You want something with at least 20 g protein, and low sugar/carbohydrate. There are even high protein soup powders. I've tried the ones from Proti Diet, and Bariatric Advantage. Stay away from protein bars. They reinforce a snacking-candy bar habit. Unfortunately, they and other snack type food are sold on the bariatric merchant sites, but they are on the slippery slope to returning to old bad habits.

I am currently on my pre-op diet and I’m not a fan of protein shakes. This is one item I’m using to get my protein in. It’s sold on Bariatric pal as well as Amazon

Try a variety of brands and flavors, both in ready-made shakes and powders. I prefer the plant-based protein shakes to those that are whey-based. Orgain makes a killer Chocolate Salted Caramel, and Purely Inspired is good in Strawberry, Chocolate and Vanilla. Bariatric Advantage even has some soup flavors. Isopure is clear fruit-flavored protein powder, which I mix with Crystal Light or other sugar free flavored drink I.e, half a glass of one mixed with half a glass of the other. GenePro makes a flavorless protein powder that can be added to soup, coffee, pudding, etc. There is endless variety! Walmart usually has a fairly decent selection. You can order products online. Do read the Nutrition Data before buying.

I'm happy to join in too. I'm 7 yrs post op. Had some regain at 18 months post op. Went Keto and lost regain plus some, but have fizzled out and STILL have 25 lbs to go until ultimate goal as current BMI is around 30 (need to change my profile info still). I remain on a tight diet and am essentially still keto, but I'm considering putting Keto to the back burner and focusing more on high protein-low carb-lower fat which is more of a 'bariatric' type diet long term. I am desperate to make the scale move in the next 3-4 weeks and see some good losses. I will ALWAYS identify as a bariatric patient and sadly this will be a lifelong battle for me. But I have all the tools I need. I actually just spoke to a NP today from my clinic to suggested I start FIERCE tracking which I haven't done in about 6 years.

I can't speak for everyone, but given the bariatric community is composed of mainly obese to morbidly obese individuals, even if undiagnosed, I would bet the vast majority of people have some sort of fatty liver, liver disease, NASH, etc. My surgeon said virtually as much at one of our appointments. I also asked her about whether she would abort the surgery if my liver was too fatty (she would), but she said that she had no worries about me, because I'd been losing weight prior to surgery (which it looks like you are), I did the pre-op liquid diet for 10 days (sounds like you are going to do at least some length of liquid diet), and she said generally people who have livers too fatty to actually do surgery have BMIs in the 60s. You don't have your stats listed, but assuming that is you in your profile picture, it doesn't seem that you are in that category.

I am scheduled to have VSG on 9/21 with Dr. Illan. He is one of the best bariatric surgeons in Mx. and comes HIGHLY recommended. He has a provate FB group for patients that he, his nutritionist, and his patients t coordinator are heavily engaged in. I scheduled about 6 weeks ago and have been extremely impressed with the process. Cost for VSG is $4900, which includes valet to and from the airport, pre-op testing, surgery, 2 nights at the hospital, hotel for 1 night, meds, etc. The only thing not covered is my flight and the extra night I'll be staying at the hotel (by choice). If you're considering medical tourism, I definitely recommend Dr. Illan and Hospital BC. Sent from my SM-A205U using BariatricPal mobile app

Follow the plan given to you by your surgeon or nutritionist/dietitian. If you didn’t get one, find a bariatric nutritionist/dietitian and get a plan. Post-op nutrition is tricky because you need to get in protein, vitamins, and minerals essential to life, but you can’t eat very much. The foods must be nutrient dense and are often very different from what you were eating pre-op. For me, 500cal a day was not enough post-op, I kept getting dizzy when I ate that little.

I am scheduled for surgery September 25th (original date was July 3rd). What are your dates and stories or concerns? Mine is so overwhelming, I felt the need share the happiness, blessings and fears. 🙏Pre-op labs, upper GI, and stress test start September 23. My biggest fear is not passing one of the tests to be cleared for surgery. I had to reschedule once already due to newly revealed diabetes and liver disease that showed in my PC doctors labs (the rule is only one time 2 weeks prior to pre-op date to reschedule or I loose my deposit). My A1C was 0.9 to high to be cleared for surgery. I am grateful requested these test way ahead to see where I stood and also receive medical care to go safely into surgery. Long story short, I had none of these specific medical issues prior to getting Covid in February. So, that being said, I am fearful of what may show on the Stress Test (heart concern due to Covid and no insurance to test ahead), if my lungs are good (Covid fear again), the upper endoscopy (I have had GERD in the past unsure if there is damage) and finally as I said previously newly diagnosed liver disease which I am unsure of the status of how bad it is yet. The A1C is the ONLY thing I feel I am in control of to some degree. Monitoring daily and logging my numbers have shown to be on average below 145 daily since May 29th. In addition to following my Doctor's low-carb, high protein and no sugar diet along with prescribed Metformin. The testing show 3-6 months previous. So I am hoping putting 4 months between these tests will greatly reduce my A1C. I will re-test about 4 weeks prior to surgery. I will be doing the surgeon requested liver shrinking diet (like most of you have) 1 month prior to surgery. I am positive if I am proactive in following it as prescribed that the A1C diabetes test will be one less thing to be concerned about. Have any of you been diagnosed with liver disease and done this liver shrinking diet and not been able to have surgery? The surgery out-patient not in the hospital so they will only preform laparoscopic surgery. Hence, my added concerns. 🤦‍♀️ Have any of you had surgery recently at Blossom Bariatrics? My procedure will be done in Las Vegas at Blossom Bariatrics. Due to the fact I am a cash patient my options are fewer. I unfortunately, have no health insurance and my family is refinancing their home so that I can get this procedure done. That scares me, adds to my pressure to do everything right, and makes me feel loved/blessed all at once. Sorry for so many details but I felt the need to share a lot of my story. Thank you in advance for sharing. 😄

Was just curious if anyone has any favorite websites they follow that helps give them ideas for meal prep/plans/etc? I'll go first. One site I really like is Bariatric Queen. She breaks everything down to shopping lists for the week, recipes for said meals for the week, macros, etc. I really like it and think you will too. Anyway, curious to hear about some of your favorites. https://bariatricqueen.com/

I'm 48 and in the beginning phases (dietician visits and tests) of bariatric surgery. I am probably getting the RNY. A lot of posts that I see are from younger women (which is great!), but I'm concerned that the weight will come off slower now that I'm older. Especially since menopause is probably around the corner. Could you share your stories (successes or challenges), so I could get an idea of what things look like for women close to their 50's. Thanks!

Ugh. Oh no! I’m so sorry! Don’t give up. You’re husband will get another job. My husband lost his job last December. We were on insurance through the Marketplace —- which did cover bariatric surgery. When you get your new insurance they’ll probably take all your notes etc and hopefully you can pick right up again. Hang in there!!

I put on 40 lbs since my VSG in 2018. I filled out a health questionnaire for Mexico Bariatric Center. Just got approved from one of their Doctors. Not sure if I want to try and take this off traditionally or try the revision. I think it's 3 times the price here in the USA.

No experience with the procedure in Mexico, but I lived in Tijuana for a short time and after that would stay at the Hotel Ticuán, which has rented an entire floor to one of the bariatric clinics (maybe Hospital Jerusalén? not sure) as a recovery floor. If anyone has questions about the city itself (safety, transportation, where your spouse/partner/SO should eat, etc.), please don't hesitate to reach out. Tijuas is one of the most misjudged cities on Earth.

I had a gastric sleeve done on May 13, 2021 by Dr. Fernando Garcia. I went with Tijuana Bariatrics to get the whole travel package. They picked me up from San Diego airport, drove me across the border and to the Marriott hotel in Tijuana (very nice). They picked me and a couple other women up the next morning to go to the hospital for pre-op labs and then surgery. I stayed one night in the hospital (there were options for hospitals varying in cost. I chose the least expensive one and was very happy with the cleanliness and staff). I went back to the hotel the next day (you can stay another night in the hospital if you want to) and they drove me back across the border the next day. Some people choose to stay one more day than I did but I was good to go and anxious to get back. Great experience with all the staff and doctor. Saved me thousands of dollars.

Talk to your surgery team and see if they can recommend an ob/gyn who is familiar with bariatric patients. That would be your best bet to keep weight regain low and vitamins on track. You could also call some ob/gyns who are listed on your insurance and just ask the office staff if this is something the dr/NP is familiar with, or you can have them work with your surgery team.