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I completely agree with The Greater Fool above. It's not a matter of whether you are too young to have the surgery, but whether you have the right mindset and are ready to commit to a new way of eating for life. Some people in their 20's are ready, while some in their 50's are not. You have a tremendous opportunity by taking this step so early in your life, before you have developed a host of medical issues connected with obesity. You have the chance to enjoy a long and health life with bariatric surgery. Take advantage of it!

I'm with you. I renewed my commitment today. I have 58 lbs left to lose. Let's get this done!!!!

If you have insurance coverage through your employer there's no guarantee that bariatric surgery is covered. Your employer gets to pick and choose what's covered and if they want to save money on premiums they may exclude things often considered non-essential, including bariatric surgery. I discovered last October that my company's PPO policy did not cover it, so i complained to HR and they got it included in the plan effective our next open enrollment date, which was Jan. 1. There may often be exceptions made if your doctor says your life is in danger if you don't have the surgery, but those are rare. So if your insurance says they don't cover it, go to HR immediately and ask them why it's not included in your coverage.

Someone on another blog recommended syntrax from Bariatric choice website. I personally love premier protein and so did the other person who recommended Syntrax, so maybe you will like it maybe not.. I guess it's all trial and error.

Hi.....welcome to the forum. Opinions and tact will vary. i am glad to hear that we have another new bariatric sister on her way to healthy. Congratulations. I had my surgery here in Chicago with Br Bipan Chand. Loyola University stole him away from the Cleveland Clinic, but you and I both have benefited from his expertise He was instrumental in developing the bariatric surgical program there, and then here. So, you should be fine. I wish you good luck and good health. You are in good hands.

My mother had Gastric Bypass with duodenal switch 26 years ago, she turns 70 this year. I promise you, she wouldn't have made it this long if she did not have the surgery. Them saying that people dont live long after bariatric surgery is patently false.

I have a card in my wallet that I can hand to food service that says I have bariatric restrictions. That way they have to let me have 1/2 portions or order from children's menus. I'm surprised too that they took that I think if you completely restrict the occasional treat you'll go crazy and pig-out. Sounds like you did well and do sweat it!! Good job @ your inches and lbs lost!

My pcp is very supportive of my going to mexico and helping me when I am back but local bariatric surgeons won't help. That is how they try to force us in northern tier states to pay twice as much for the same surgery in my area than if I had it done in texas and four times as much as the typical cost in mexico. There just isn't the competition in my area to drive prices down.

Sometimes it feels like I am doing the job of the office workers in my doctor's office! I realize that I am the one who wants this surgery. I am the one who wants things to move along as quickly as they can so that I can get to the place I need and want to be at. Yes, I am impatient. But I seriously wonder sometimes what would happen if I left things to happen when they happened. ( I would probably not like that answer) Take for example today. I have posted before that I have had a 4 week space where nothing has happened because I had to wait to get into a pulmonologist for clearance. It has been the LONGEST four weeks of my life in many ways. I feel like time has dragged by. I have wanted to do something to move this process along, but all I could do was wait. Well next Monday is the long awaited appointment. Even then it isn't "it", as this is only a consultation. Any tests will have to be scheduled and performed at a later time. ( Yes- I am going to push to try to get them scheduled next week) I decided that I would call my bariatric doctor's office to see where things stood on everything else. Basically find out if anything else needed done, was there any other clearance or paperwork I needed to have. First thing mentioned was my diet. This has gone round and round...It was once mistakenly said that I needed a 6 mos. diet before authorization. Well that information was incorrect. My insurance did clear it up with the lady in my surgeon's claims office, but apparently in is still notated in my chart somewhere. So once we got past that she said they still had not received my PCP letter of recommendation or last 2 years medical records. I was a little surprised. I saw my PCP on 8/28 for a check up on my leg. While I was there he asked if I had a surgery date scheduled yet. I said no, because of the pulmonary check. I also commented that was my last clearance, and that I hoped all my records and his letter had already been sent. Obviously the doctor has no idea what his staff does because he seemed like he was looking forward to me having this surgery too. ( in a weird way) Anyway, I called my PCPs office after speaking with the surgeon's office and left a message that they never got the records and letter. A few hours later the lady in the records office of my PCP called me back and said she had never received the request for the records or letter from Dayton Bariatrics!!! WTF?????She was very apologetic and said she would gladly send them over just as soon as she got the request and release I had signed and turned in back on 8/6. She even gave me her fax number so they could fax the request over and not have to wait for it to be mailed. I then called back the surgeon's office and relayed the information. She said she would get right on sending it over... So Wow. It is a good darn thing I am being so anal about this because who KNOWS what delays I might face if I didn't stay on top of it. I can only imagine now what I will probably go through once everything is ready to submit to my insurance. I would probably feel better if I could just do it myself!! LOL I know from all I have read on here that I am hardly the first person to go through this. I also know I am not the only patient any of my doctor's have in their practice. But if I did not stay on top of everything I am responsible for in my job, well I probably wouldn't have it for long. Oh well, lesson learned. I know what I have to do to get where I want to be.

Bonjeanie, as I understand it the MGB is really not considered a safe and effective surgery. It's not done much at all these days. However, there are lots of other options and almost all of them can be done laparascopically. I know there are many, many doctors who do both RNY and lap-banding who will do one on top of the other if necessary. Your best bet is to find an experienced laparascopic gastric surgeon and talk with him about your specific case. It may be a good idea to talk with more than one, if you can. You might start by looking at the OH website (obesityhelp.com) to locate bariatric surgeons in your area. Good luck!!

Looks like we got a great answer from the OH board. This was just posted in response to my same question. Post Date: 1/6/10 9:00 am ASMBS Insurance Committee Updates Jaime Ponce MD, FASMBS Chair, Insurance Committee New 2010 CPT code for Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy has a new CPT code effective January 1, 2010: 43775 -- Laparoscopy, surgical, gastric restrictive procedure; longitudinal gastrectomy (i.e., sleeve gastrectomy) The relative value of this CPT code is set by CMS and it will be 21.56 (work RVU) which is between the laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding and the gastric bypass roux-en-y relative value. Medicare will not be covering this procedure at this time. Bariatric Coding Email Hotline The ASMBS Insurance Committee in response to multiple requests from our members and their office staff have decided to offer an ?Email Hotline? for bariatric coding questions. We have accumulated previously asked questions and will be able to adapt answers according to your specific case in question. In within the Committee members, there is significant expertise and will do our best to answer your coding question. Please send your questions to the following email: insurance@asmbs.org SOURCE: http://www.asmbs.org/Newsite07/EmailArticles/ASMBSInsuranceC ommitteeUpdates.pdf

HI... I'm new here too. My journey started last January when I first talked to my GP about getting a referral to the bariatric program at our local hospital (things work a little differently here in Canada), and my doc was so excited that I asked about it I thought he was going to fall out of his chair. It took a few months to get into the program, but now I have appointments once a month with different people (my nurse, my surgeon, nutritionist, mental health, etc). I know there are a lot of hoops to jump through ... just had my gastroscopy last week. All good! ... but I'm hoping that I'll get a surgery date sometime in the spring or summer. I have a wonderfully supportive husband and 2 great kids (7 & 5). Most of my friends and family are supportive, but some have accused me of 'taking the easy way out' (haha... as if). I'm looking forward to getting to know people on here, and following their stories.

I have struggled with my weight my whole life. Im 29 and weigh 255 pounds. I have finally scheduled my informational session for bariatric surgery in January. From there I will get a consult with a surgeon. I am having to follow steps in order to get my insurance to pay for the surgery. I'm stuck between Gastric Sleeve and Gastric Bypass. What is everyone's opinion on the two? What are some things that can help me through this process?

Hi I am 6 days post op on liquids now for almost 21 days - I am gazing longingly at the cat's food at this point - & if I have one more Bariatric Advantage Shake or broth or pudding or pureed whatever I am going to puke!

My primary care doctor told me that there is a very high percentage of bariatric patients who become addicted to alcohol after surgery. He said that basically one drink for us has the same intensity of five drinks for someone without the surgery and that it is easy to become dependent on that. I don't know if he has any studies to back that up. But it seems to make sense to me.

My diet consisted of 4-5 meal replacement shakes plus sf jello, popsicles and clear liquids and broths for 14 days. My nut said if I felt I had to cheat to eat good protein. I did cheat a couple of times but it was a bite here and there with a chicken breast of beef roast. I would definitely call your surgeon or Bariatric place. The whole reasoning is for the shrinking of the liver. I have seen posts where livers where too big and in the way and Dr closed them up and didn't do the surgery. I took my preop very serious as to not cause complications while under. They will probably tell you everything is ok but to be safe I think I would stick to clear liquids, jello and broths until surgery. Good. Luck and keep us posted.

There are vitamins called bariatric choice at a store call Sprouts (I'm not sure where you live). They are specifically made for people that have bariatric surgery. It's a chewable multivitamin, and it doesn't taste half bad. They are also available online through Walgreens.

What MD are you using? The one in San Antonio? Sent from my iPhone Im using Dr Garcia at Tijuana Bariatrics.

This is from the Journal of the American Medical Association. It is entitled, "Prevalence of Alcohol Use Disorders Before and After Bariatric Surgery" at http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleID=1185618

Just continue following the instructions your bariatric team gave you and it will happen. My hair loss started at about 5 months and continued for about 3 months. Luckily, I had a lot of hair to start with.

The reason one person can have UHC, Aetna, BCBs, etc and have it covered and another person can have the same company and not have it covered is the insurance companies cover what your employer contracts with them to cover. I work for UHC and UHC has a bariatric exclusion written in our contract. I have a friend that works for a title company and they have coverage through UHC and it is covered. It's based on what your employer contracts with the insurance company to have covered.

I started with a phone call to my insurance company and asked specifically what the process was. They were extremely helpful and sent me via email a list of the qualifications and process. That is how I found out I had to use a Bariatric center of excellence for the surgery and they also provided me with a list of those. Just give them a call.

For my multi, I take either a Vitamin capsule my doctor's office sells or Bariatric Advantage chewable multis. I also take Vitamin D, Cal-mag, Biotin, a B-complex, additional pantothenic acid, selenium, Co Q-10, and chewable Iron on alternating days. Everything listed is something I found I simply did not meet minimum requirements for over a long period of time. (I track nutrients on Fitday.) Now I meet or exceed the USRDA for everything but potassium, which my doctor monitors (and will Rx supplementation for if needed). The Co Q-10 is a supplement he suggests all patients take daily---preferably for life. ETA: Since surgery, I have not been able to tolerate pills---at least, not pressed tablets. So, every supplement I take is either a chewable, a powder-containing capsule (breaks down before it tries to pass through the stoma) or a gelcap (same idea).

I would think that your surgeon's office should have papers for the psych. My appt. was about an hour and my surgeon refers people to 2 psychologists that work within the bariatric program. The psych I saw asked mostly about my life, support system, past weight loss experience, etc. Everything was related in some way to weight or surgery and she didn't ask any of those off the wall questions like "do you like tall women?", lol. And yes, I actually had that question in a psych eval for a job!

Have a band of belly fat in midriff area that I cannot seem to get rid of. 15 yrs out from surgery March 1999. When I had my tummy tuck done, the doctor did not do this area and suggested lyposuction in 2002. Does anyone know if any of the advertised belly fat reducing supplements are safe for bariatrics to use and do they work? Thanks