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The more weight you lose before surgery, the better. I think most people do a food funeral or two...a big goodbye to something they love....but it's actually pretty silly. I've eaten pretty much everything I've ever eaten, just much smaller amounts and a lot of it I don't like as much anymore. Have a food funeral or two...but don't go crazy. Stick to your diet as much as possible. I never did bed rest. LOL. Not even the day of surgery. Day I had my surgery, I walked over a mile in the halls of the bariatric wing. I pretty much got back to life. Lay in a supply of your favorite protien drinks, sugar free jello, bone broth, tea, Mio...stuff you can have right after surgery.

I think I would seek out a different BS. Get a different opinion. Thats what I did.. i figured there is no place better than the Mayo Clinic. Im not sure where you live but. Reach out somewhere. You are only 38 years old. Acid reflux is extremely damaging to your esophogus. You are at risk for developing Barretts disease or eventually cancer. I think i would definately seek out more information. The Dr at Mayo Clinic in Phoenix is definately worth consulting. You can have all your records forwarded to them for review. Have appts through zoom. My bariatric journey started in 2013. The last 3 years fighting acid reflux and a sliding hernia has severly damaged my esophogus. From a stage 1 to a stage 4 in just 1 years time. It has to be fixed. Acid reflux is a very serious issue

This is so frustrating! I've been jumping through hoops since last SEPTEMBER to get all my appointments scheduled, and I'm almost at the last step: the EGD, after which my doctor will schedule my RnY. I just learned that neither of my insurance companies consider the EGD to be medically necessary. I'm double-covered with my husband's insurance because it's free at his work as long as it's secondary coverage, and my own insurance specifically excludes bariatrics. The actual RnY has been pre-approved through my secondary coverage. Both companies are different branches of Blue Cross, so maybe that's the issue? I'm really annoyed because it's a HDHP, so my out of pocket was already going to be substantial, and paying cash for the EGD means I could have done self-pay elsewhere months ago! Anyone else have trouble getting the EGD approved? My doctor said that this is becoming a common way for insurance companies to avoid some of the costs associated with bariatric surgery.

I would ask your doctor for a recommendation. At least, that's what I did. And you may not have insurance to pay for it if your BMI is too low, but most places will let you pay out of pocket as long as your health doesn't make it a safety issue for you to have the surgery. I would try a major academic medical center, or at least find out if where you are going is bariatric center of excellence. Also, many people go to Mexico or Blossom (in Las Vegas) if cost is an issue.

I am a great yo yo dieter. So at 66 yrs old, I've finally come to the conclusion that if I want to keep my weight off I need a new approach. WLS fits the bill on that. I've scoured the internet and feel fairly informed. My doc agreed that WLS would be a good option for me. I have Kaiser insurance but I may not quite meet their qualifications. So my question is - Is there a bariatric surg. program in the Portland, Or area that will take a marginally non qualifying person? I won't have insurance so cost will be a consideration. Thank you for any info you can give me.

What happens if you move out of the area where your surgery center is? I don't plan to move but if I had to move near to my parents to help take care of them as they age, it would require a flight to get back to my surgery center. Would a different bariatric center be able to provide follow up care?

I have found myself in the same situation. I had the gastric sleeve in 2013. My weight loss was 95 lbs. but over the past 4 years I have regained 30lbs. Now I have an 5 cm sliding hernia severe acid reflux stage 4 esophagitis. I have had 3 endoscopes to dilate the stricture. 4 biopsies if my esophagus and stomach to test for Barrets syndrome. A couple of weeks ago I met with the Bariatric Surgeon from the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix Arizona . My only option is a gastric bypass. This bypasses the acid producing part of the stomach. Sure fix …along with a hernia repair. So now I will be restarting starting this journey again with my remaing 55 lb goal. Taking nutrition and counseling through zoom. Its a bit scary but Ive walked this path before. So positive thinking! The Dr says there is enough stomach to make the pouch so it will be almost like resetting the time clock. But we all know this is all risky when messing with our bodies. If I had to reset and knowing what I know now… I think I would have gone with the bypass which is the tried and proven method of surgical weight loss.

Oh Lordy! I hope the OP found a bariatric treatment team that understands vegetarian diets. My team had an entirely vegetarian plan option and guess what some of the first foods were? Beans. Brown Rice. Oats. Potatoes. Hummus. Why? because they have a terrific metabolic index...are loaded with plant based protien...and have FIBER. (they're also much better tolerated right after surgery than meat by many folks) I'm not a vegetarian, but I like the Mayo Clinic Diet and the Mediterrainian diet....so my pre and post surgical diets were sort of a hybrid that included a lot of vegetarian influence. (I still eat meat, but I also eat a lot of beans, oats, nuts, seeds, etc) Thankfully, I had a team that did their homework on different ways up the mountain and didn't suggest keto was the only way or that carbs were the devil. Whew! So thankful for that! Cause the diet that many of ya'll describe is not something that I could have survived. I remember posting some of my sample menus...from my freaking dietician....a few weeks out and getting slammed by people here for the things (and amounts...1200 calories by end of first month) I was eating. A month out of surgery, I remember existing on refried beans with lowfat cheese and salsa....black beans with salsa and canned chicken....split pea soup....tofu chili with white beans....tofu chop suey over a small amount of brown rice....steal cut oats with dried cherries. Fruit. My clinic was absolutely fine with fruit as tolerated, but they wanted whole fruit, not just the juice. I ate a lot of baked oats with blueberries, strawberries, pecans and low calorie maple syrup. I ate 100 calorie whole grain english muffins with peanut butter. I ate boiled potatos with lowfat cheese or nonfat yogurt. ****, I poured caramel Premier Protien shake on my oatmeal and liked slurping it warm. But you know what I didn't eat? Sugar. White flour. Processed foods. Prepackaged sweet carbs. Stuff that spikes your insulin. I also didn't add animal fat like butter. Most of the stuff I ate was pretty low fat with the exception of tiny amounts of olive or grape seed or sesame oil. All of my carbs in weight loss phase were full of fiber and not processed. I ate a little fruit everyday. I added a lot of herbs, made sauces replacing sugar with splenda, I put every kind of vegetable and fruit in my kitchen in the smoothies I drank....and a glob of nonfat greek yogurt or tofu or chia seeds for protein. My clinic was activingly fighting the notion that super restricted calories and keto in the first months after surgery were necessary. They did things very differently than I hear routinely described here. I know we're all gonna have a different experience and I know for MOST of you guys....a super restricted calorie diet in the early days and keto, keto, keto, carbs are the devil....is what you were taught is the only way. And I know for most of ya'll...it's what worked and what you believe like a religion. I'm here to tell ya... There are other paths up this mountain. I'm working on being tolerant of everyone's preferred path. Anyway you get it done....you deserve serious kudos and I'm proud of you all. But I've gotta say.... it can be easy to feel defensive when post after post after post here...is so negative about what worked terrific for me and others like me. A few of us have lost weight successfully and maintained really well...on a diet that includes a buttload of (unrefined) carbs and a pretty high calorie allowance started early in the process. What's more...as a group, it appears we're having really good luck not regaining. That's no small thing. Keep an open mind about your carb eating brothers and sisters. We do ok with this whole process, too;) As always...to each their own. Peace and best wishes to all.

Sorry I can’t offer any help in regards to a revision to bypass & rheumatoid arthritis. I did find the article below about managing methotrexate side effects. (I was interested because I have a non bariatric friend who takes it for RA too.) May be worth another conversation with the bariatric surgeon in regards to the suggestion that taking folic acid can reduce side effects. Repairing your hernia may alleviate some of your reflux issues too. It’s unfortunate that while it’s helpful managing arthritic pain, methotrexate can also cause weight gain. ☹️ https://www.arthritis.org/health-wellness/treatment/treatment-plan/disease-management/methotrexate-managing-side-effects

she's wrong. Of course some people have complications - you can have complications from any surgery, not just bariatric surgery. People have died from tonsillectomies, after all. But most bariatric patients don't have issues, and complications when they do occur are usually minor and "fixable". That's not to say no one ever has major complications, but they're really uncommon. And the mortality rate for gastric bypass is 0.3%. It's even less for sleeve. So you have at least a 99.7% chance of not dying. as far as untimely death, you're a lot more likely to have an untimely death from complications due to obesity than you are from bariatric surgery. yes you are on a very limited calorie diet for the first few months, but it's medically supervised and they do labs every few months during that first year, so they can catch things before they become problematic. Plus you're taking lots of supplements - protein, vitamins, minerals - to prevent major problems, too. I had follow ups and labs done every three months my first year. After that, you're eating more normally, so you really have to be closely monitored only during the first few months post-op. I think your friend is dealing with some very dated information - or complete misinformation.

I am hoping ins approves the revision from sleeve to bypass. I have severe GERD and also a hiatal hernia. When I had the endoscopy done in Nov 2019 there was also a stricture and ulcer. The prescription PPI worked until it didn't, he upped it to twice a day and it worked until 3 months ago. Now I'm back to needing Tums as well as the prescription almost daily. I like your post. I only have a regain of 35 lbs, so losing that would just be the icing on the cake. If I can get rid of the reflux I'll be so happy. I can't imagine doing this for the rest of my life! Tell me, what things can you eat that you couldn't after sleeve surgery and what about dumping. The bariatric surgeon I met with last week said they consider it a good side effect to help patients know what to be careful of or avoid altogether. Good luck!!!

Hello, in the early stages of researching my options and coverage. Appears that neither my nor my husbands insurance covers bariatric surgery. It looks like this is fairly standard for Florida insurance plans (and that many other states have mandated its coverage, but not some of the southeast states). Have many people had success with their employer insurance in Florida covering it?

Just thought I'd post about how this process has gone for me over the past "almost" year as today I crossed a big milestone (at least big to me). 198.8 - which when I think about it - I haven't been this weight since 2007 when I was doing weight watchers and had lost 40lbs. I think back over this past year it's still a little surreal. At this time last year, I was finishing up my insurance pre-reqs of meeting with a nutritionist and therapist for 6 months. I had already started to transition my diet to two protein shakes for breakfast and lunch to prep for my pre-surgical diet. I was nervous, scared and not 100% sure that I wanted to go through with bypass but also beginning to realize that I couldn't lose the weight on my own or I would have already. My surgery was at the end of August and the two weeks of fluids before hand was really hard, but honestly - I was really proud of myself for doing it and grinding through what I couldn't imagine doing before. Those two weeks, to me, helped to set me up for what I could expect after surgery. The day of surgery I almost told my husband to drive me back home. It was my first time anywhere since COVID hit and that alone was kind of terrifying to me. I remember being wheeled back to surgery and the anesthesiologist talking to me and asking me if I was excited. My response, "No. I'm terrified." But he gave my hand a squeeze and kept reassuring me that it was going to be ok and the team was great. Once I got in the surgical room it seemed to have the same kind of vibe - the team was more excited for me than I was. I just don't think I could get my head wrapped around this procedure working. That I would lose weight and that my life would change. I think it all still felt very unreal - even as they put me to sleep. Recovery - overall wasn't the most awful thing but it wasn't great. I ended up in the ER a couple days later due to dehydration. What helped me the most was an abdominal binder that they gave me when I left the hospital. I left this on for about three weeks until things stopped feeling like they were shifting or pulling. While the pain wasn't too unbearable, the reality that drinking, eating and for a short time peeing was a chore. Trying to get enough fluids was hard. Drinking the amount of protein I needed to afterwards was impossible for me. I had to measure out 3oz and a time and set timers throughout the day to help me remember no to drink water for a half hour before and a half hour after. Once I started solid foods it was also difficult for me. Trying to figure out what I was ok to eat (that didn't completely turn my stomach) and learning that crab, tuna, salmon would be my go to food for awhile. Adding in cheeses, eventually chicken and turkey on top of the protein shakes I was still doing. After three months things started to get a little easier for me, my check up with the Nutritionist went well although she wanted me to get my calories way up. So I started to incorporate things with more fat into my diet. Nuts, peanut butter, avocado were just a few things that I started to try. I think it was around this point where I realized, ok... this is starting to work. I was seeing weight come off and while food was a struggle I was walking around the block and having an easier time of it. My breathing was easier, sitting on the couch was easier, my back was hurting less, my clothes were starting to fit better. As time went on I continued to add things to my diet, fruit, veggies, and eventually some carbs. Were there things that did not agree with me, absolutely, but I learned from trying them and adjusted my diet. I waited to buy clothes until about two months ago. I had to go into the store to try on pants because I had no idea what size I was. I fit into a 16 and 14... which blew my mind. At my highest I was a size 24 and even that was tight. I've since ordered a bunch of new things which also helps me to see the difference in weight. Things I still struggle with - drinking enough water. Losing hair - I still have a good amount but had a 2 month stint where I lost a lot. I still am freaking out when I see more than 10 hairs coming out on the brush but I have a ton of new baby hair growing back in. Making sure I'm focusing on eating enough protein and not drinking with meals. Going to the bathroom - it's either all or nothing for me. 😂 I usually weigh in after I go though - seems like a solid strategy in my mind. The things that worked for me: ProCare Health Bariatric multivitamins with Iron (1/day). Their sea salt caramel calcium chews (2.5/day). Biotin gummies - no idea if they helped but considering that I didn't lose soooo much hair I'm just going to keep taking them. And if you're still with me - A big thanks to everyone who posted on here before my surgery. I was definitely a lurker but your stories helped to prepare me and give me confidence as I went through this myself. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Now on to celebrate being in ONDERLAND again and I'd still like to lose another 30-40lbs - which I know the surgery won't get me there for the full amount (at least from my doctor's perspective) but I'm going to keep working at it and chipping away to see where I end up.

I like my fitness pal. I've used it for about 9 years (I haven't had surgery yet). I don't like all the ads, but it doesn't bother me enough to use the paid version. Some people on here have complained that it says you're not eating enough after bariatric surgery, but all you have to do is not mark your day "complete" and it doesn't care. They have a huge database of foods and the recipe builder is pretty easy to use.

I had my Gastric sleeve done on 6/14/21. Surgeon gave me a list of Bariatric multivitamins so i went with Fusion mixed berry, they’re the chalky ones and im suppose to be taking 4 daily. I’ve only taken them twice and both times i vomited right when they get to my stomach.

I second going to see a therapist who is knowledgeable about bariatric therapy together. Hopefully that can help you guys communicate and get at the root cause of what his issues with surgery may be, as well as tips for addressing or working through them. It isn't really fair to you if he's getting on you about weight, but then also gets upset when you try and get healthier, especially to the point of giving what sounds like a veiled ultimatum to you. Improving your health is important and hopefully you guys can find some common ground so that taking steps to improve your health doesn't result in the relationship falling apart. Best of luck!

I don't know if it makes a difference, but I had the bypass and found that my taste hadn't changed at all. I drink primarily Premier chocolate protein shakes. Cafe Latte is also good once you can do caffeine again. I do like the Bariatric Advantage protein powder they sell here in the store. I've only tried chocolate and strawberry but both taste good and don't upset my stomach.

I'm sorry this is happening. Can you discuss what his concerns are? Is he afraid you won't be able to enjoy going out to eat with him anymore? Or that you will leave him once you are thin? Or that you will have a lot of health problems afterwards? Or something else? It might be something to discuss with a therapist who is well-educated about bariatric surgery. If he is unhappy with your weight and unhappy with your efforts to do something about it, it really puts you in a difficult spot.

I started my phone calls to BLossom after my insurance denied my surgery locally. I learned that many insurance companies do not cover VSG because they are deeming it cosmetic. Ridiculous! So I googled bariatric surgery without insurance. of course, Mexico came up and others in US, but BLossom appeared the most professional. Some of the websites of others literally looked my ten year old made them. Once I got the courage to call and ask questions, I had a fastTrak coordinator. Blossom is top notch from the first phone call. I watched every video they had on youtube. I felt like i knew everyone ahead of time. THey provide blood work, ekg, stress test, EGD to check esophagus all before surgery. During surgery, they repair any hernias that might be there since obese people usually have one. The night of surgery, a night nurse comes to the HOTEL and gives you IV fluids and checks on you. Day after, another in person IV treatment and central line is removed. Everyone is so kind and supportive. I am SO glad I went. I am only 4 days out and even though I am tired, I have no regrets. BTW, when I went 6/11-6/17, covid restrictions were lessened, so your companion can come to visits and surgery now. In our hotel, I had groceries delivered so i had my shakes and food for my daughter.

Hello all, This will probably be a bit of an odd post. But my best friend had bariatric surgery a few months ago, and they’re 4 month post op now. Their birthday is coming up, and obviously they can’t have your traditional cake and stuff (still can’t have carbs or sugars). However, I still want to make them something for their special day. Does anyone have recommendations or a recipe for a dessert type of treat that is carb free, sugar free, etc that would comply with what they can eat? Thank you.

I've had wicked reflux and vomiting over the past few months, down 13 pounds which I think is from vomiting dinner almost every night. Anyhow, I had my endoscopy today and it's as the bariatric surgeon suspected. I have a hiatal hernia (6cm, not sure what that means in relation to the hernia) and they stretched my esophagus starting with a 10mm balloon, up to a 16.5mm balloon. Endo-doc says the pylorus is definitely narrowed but he could get the scope in there. SO... I am scheduled for the hernia repair and "anchoring" my sleeve in place on 6/22/21 and then... I don't know. My surgeon said if the pyloric opening was too narrow I might need a revision but I don't know if she'll do that on Tuesday or not. If she does, I have no idea of what a post-op recovery period or diet would be like (and we have summer vacations planned). I guess it's wait-and-see. I am just SO looking forward to being released from the horrors of the hernia, waking in the middle of the night with my throat and mouth filled with acid, and keeping my food INSIDE me, where it belongs!

Also, this can happen anywhere...I'm not blaming Mexico....but it's a good warning for folks to remember that they really need to line up post surgical support at home. If you feel like something might be wrong, don't wait. Get treatment promptly. https://www.abc15.com/news/region-phoenix-metro/bariatric-surgery-in-mexico-turns-deadly-for-phoenix-woman

Hi y’all! I’m Brittany. I’m a stay at home wife and mom of two littles. I suffer from hypothyroidism, Hashimoto’s, PCOS and a benign pituitary tumor, all of which affect my weight and overall quality of life. I have wanted to have gastric surgery for upwards of 11 years, but the timing was never right. After several failed attempts at losing weight, I finally decided it was time to get serious about surgery. I joined a couple of bariatric pages on Facebook, and just sat back and watched for several months. I initially reached out to a surgeon here in San Antonio, but after learning that my insurance wouldn’t cover the surgery and realizing the cost of the procedure out of pocket, I became very discouraged. However, I had read many testimonials of people who went to Mexico to have their surgery performed. I kept hearing of one place in particular, Oasis of Hope in Tijuana. After doing loads of research, I decided to reach out to them. Within a couple of weeks, I had my surgery date for June 1st! I began my pre-op diet 30 days before surgery. The LSD was a total of 25 days, and the clear liquids phase was a total of 5. The liquid phase is NO JOKE. That ish is ROUGH. 😆 I’m now 17 days post-op and have lost a total of 31 pounds! It’s a struggle to get my protein and liquids in, as I still haven’t learned the tricks to making sure what I’m eating doesn’t cause discomfort. I am quite fatigued, and am considering going to have IV therapy to get me over this hump. However, I’m still so happy with my decision, and I am so excited to see what the future holds!

I had a bad day yesterday and I feel much better today. I am 10 days post and think we will continue to have good and bad days until we get used to all of this. We will get through this together. I am glad I found my bariatric family so we can support each other. Sent from LadySunshyne using BariatricPal mobile app

Thank you I will call my bariatric surgeon Sent from my U693CL using BariatricPal mobile app