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Hey Donnie - Thank you for sharing. I started noticing weight gain. So I found another bariatric doctor (because mine conveniently left state) and he did an endoscopy and found it. The thing is it had been eroded for awhile so what I dont understand is why didnt my surgeon find it. I hated my band. It hasnt done half of what I was told it would. And I was a self pay for it so I feel like its money down the drain. However, I spoke with my insurance company this morning and they say with a medically necessary letter the surgery could be approved. My doctor is already working on it so hopefully I will know something soon.

You are only 8 days out. Did your doctor give you any directions? I am suppose to be on clear liquids for 2 weeks then when I get approval move to full liquids for a few weeks before I move to mushy food, then soft food then regular food. This should take close to 10 weeks. Your sleeve is still healing, what kind of food are you putting in it? Are you just doing protein shakes or eating real food? Also, the IV fluids cause weight gain, so if you had an IV for a few days that's going to take time to leave your system. Your stomach is still swollen and it takes well over a month for your stomach to full heal inside, so maybe someone else knows better than me, but I had several nutrition classes and they scared the heck out of me with the fact I should not be eating real food or solids because it could cause so many issues. Good luck.

I am revising band to bypass later on this month. My doctor is not a fan of going band to sleeve because the sleeve is typically positioned over the scar tissue from the band, which has an increased chance of leaking versus him being able to work around the tissue to create the bypass pouch. He also thinks with me having a hormonal co-morbidity that causes weight gain, I can use that extra push of caloric deficiency. That being said, tons of people go band to sleeve with great success! The biggest deterrent I see from the sleeve is if you have any problems with GERD or acid reflux, they often don't suggest the sleeve because it can make those worse causing people to ultimately revise to bypass to help alleviate the reflux. Your doctor can help you make the best informed decision for you, but in the meantime, there's plenty of revision experiences on the board, so I'm sure other people can give you better insight! Good luck!

Do the pre op diet. It should work for you because you have a month. I drank 2-3 Protein shakes, an apple 2x a day, one meal of 6 oz of lean meat and green veggies. I lost 10 lbs in 2 weeks. Some people lose faster. I have aetna and I was told no weight gain. They told me only aetna patients have to worry about that. My first visit I weighed in at 253 and then my next one I was 256. I panicked and cut down tremendously. I was at 249 when they submitted for insurance approval. I did not lost a lot of weight, but it was not a gain.

Okay. I just finished reading her next post where it clarified that she had not told him she had weight loss surgery before he bought the Valentine chocolates. Sorry for jumping to conclusions before having all the facts! My surgery was just 9 days ago (gastric sleeve) and I'm feeling irritable (not hungry but mourning the taste of foods that caused my weight gain in the first place). Just started eating pureed foods and can't eat more than 2 ounces without my stomach hurting. I have a "First Bite" class to go to at my surgeon's office tomorrow. I'm assuming it's with their nutritionist. Hopefully I'll get some help with what and how much to eat so my stomach won't hurt. Please keep me in your prayers.

Well, I think we can say your surgeon was irresponsible, but your main concern is your weight gain--well DUH stop eating sweets and whatever you want to! Get on a diet. You aren't restricted. Your stomach will stretch. Normal sleeve procedure is to remove 80% or more of your stomach, leaving the relatively un-stretchy part. You are more like a regular person than a sleever, and there was no point to having your surgery. Sorry if this sounds harsh, but it's the truth. Just get on an Atkins-type diet and start exercising. You aren't sleeved, you just have a small stomach which can and will stretch.

Im feeling for you! I have read that it is between years 3-6 where people have the most weight gain. Hang in there! Does Protein first help you? How many cups of food can you eat at one setting at this time? Still drinking all your Water? Good luck....I am only at 6 months, and can eat about twice as much as in the beginning...

yep - I begged my gyno to take me off it when she couldn't guarantee that my weight gain would stop - after I gained 40 lbs!

Thank you for the kind words. I wrote this once but apparently it got lost somewhere in cyberspace. The worst part of the TT was not being able to exercise. The first week or so I wasn't hungry at all...then watch out. I felt like I could eat ANYTHING and EVERYTHING. My PS has me on low carbs because for me carbs=swelling. That is how I have managed to keep my weight down. Low carb always worked for me. My PS said to expect a 4-5 pound weight gain because of the lack of exercise. Of course for me that was completely unacceptable so I pushed myself on walking and dieting to not gain the weight back. So far I am fluctuating between 140 and 150. Yes that is BIG swings. When I eat low carb I am around 140...when I don't...well you get the picture. I figure I will be able to go back to more carbs when I start running. I don't eat processed carbs just my Kashi go Lean, WASA crackers, whole wheat bread, and yes...my downfall...popcorn! Congrats on the running. You will be running your 5k on my bandiversary. I am not sure how I am going to Celebrate but it won't be with food! I will be visiting my family in WA without my wonderful DH who has been stuck to me like glue since my surgery. SO perhaps I will sneak out and run a 5K to celebrate! Shhhh...don't tell but I ran 1 mile this morning and it felt FABULOUS. Uggghhh...I missed running soooooooooo much.

I also got pregnant 8 month into my journey and I was very upset more because I was being selfish about the weight gain but things worked out after wards, I only gained 23 pounds which I lost 2 weeks after delivery plus more. It did take me about a year to re-evaluate myself and get back into it but that the great thing about the band you can continue where you left off with the proper adjustment. Enjoy it and worry about it later, thats the mistake I made I was upset the whole time that afterwards I felt really guilty about not wanting to be pregnant. Good luck.

First off I gained 5 lbs this week. Not lost. Gained. :tounge_smile: Medications - Up until last Saturday I had been talking the following medications. Benicar - Blood pressure medication Antenolol - Blood pressure medication Furosemide - Heavy diuretic (water pill) Klor-con - Potassium pill (counter balance to the furosemide) It's great that I am able to go off these medications now and that my blood pressure is doing so well. My blood pressure reads on a continual basis to be in the middle of the normal blood pressure range. With my legs over the last week I have had a minuet amount of swelling not the measurable amount that I had in the past. I also have not worn the compression socks that I have so I will wear those over the next week and see if that makes a measurable difference. What I am not sure about is going off the Furosemide. I know that some of the weight I gained this week is water weight but I just don't know how much of that is. It's something I have to work through. Exercise - I have to say this has been a decent week for exercise. Of course walking every evening after work but also I have been good also in getting out at lunch time to walk. It feels great to know that I am pushing myself harder with this but I can tell that I still need more. I am going to have to add some additional exercises to my daily program to continue my weight loss. Food - I have made some bad food choices this week. There has been a couple of times that I snacked on stuff I shouldn't have and I know that I am eating more then I should. This has to change and is changing starting today. I can tell that I need a fill and I do have a scheduled fill on the 26th. I just wish it was sooner to help me with this hunger that I have been getting. I have to be strong once again and have the will to keep working at the weight loss. I am so close to breaking that 400 lbs mark and continue on down. Overall - Overall this week is a wash to me. Off medications and doing good with walking but bad food choices resulting in a weight gain. I have to really step it up more this next week. I have had a steady weight loss since the middle of October. In the middle of October I weighed 465 lbs and today I weigh 415 lbs. So yes that is a total of 50 lbs since then and since my highest weight in January of 2008 I have lost a total of 70 lbs but I have a lot more to go and need to keep focus on what it is I am doing. I guess this is my two steps forward and one step back week. Now get moving forward and don't let this discourage me is what I have to do now.

During the time that I planned my meals post Gastric Sleeve I never ventured off the "reservation" so to speak. My diet has consisted of dense proteins as these things gave me nutrition and filled me up. The added benefit was, they also helped maintain my weight goal. In my last post I described a slight weight gain that I'm having difficulty taking off. I recently visited my surgeon for my regular six month check up and while all of my blood tests were good my A1c went from 5.6 to 6.5. Diabetes that I have lowered with WLS has come back. I realized that I changed my diet from all dense proteins to a mixture of dense proteins and fruits. Post surgery I did not eat fruits or vegetables ( my choice) as I found the proteins to give me adequate substance and to be filling. A family member had WLS and her surgeon told her to eat fruits and veggies. I went along with her meal plan and it had a negative effect on me. I gained weight and my A1c was elevated. She on the other hand has maintained her goal weight and her blood tests including her A1c are in the normal range. What do I take away from this? Could there be metabolic changes in our bodies post WLS that either assist or deter our abilities to switch diets or to lose weight after a regain? I asked my surgeon and he wasn't sure himself. Since we have many people on the forum who are staying atop the newest science as it pertains to Weight Loss Surgery maybe someone could help me shed some light on this subject. As always, I appreciate the advice and I wish everyone success with your new found health.

You know what's funny? I've lived in the same county for 18 years, and even owned a retail shop here about 9 years ago. The shop had a group of regular customers. Right after we went out of business, I became a stay-at -home Mom, and instantly gained 70lbs. For the last 9 years, I've hardly ever gotten the: {"Hey! How are you, long time no see.. miss the shop..."} But now that I've lost 69 of those pounds, suddenly people are SEEING me! My habits haven't changed, but the weight gain had made me unrecognizable. It'll be really interesting if I again become invisible when I get to goal...

How do you expand/stretch out your stomach? I will be 3 months post op on the 20th of February and I just want to make sure I'm not doing this since I am eating a little more solids. SW 280 CW 235 5'6 and believe it or not I have no goal weight yet. However, I want to get to my ONEderland. Maybe 180/160. Sent from my SM-G955U using BariatricPal mobile app

I had my surgery in November 2009. I spent 5 weeks in the hospital due to complications with a previous gastric banding (Molina Band). During that time I could not eat anything, was on TPN almost the entire time. Everything came out fine, I managed to lose 100 pounds, down from 238 to 138. Now, after 2-1/2 years I am gaining, gaining, gaining. I don't know how to stop it. I have considered OA, just to try to understand how I could have gone through all that I did with the surgery and then gain the weight back. Sometimes I panic and sometimes I just think I should let it go. I am going to be 50 years old in September . Can't stop myself and I really need some help from someone who has gone through this. HELP!

I was aware of my weight gain but I just tried to ignore it. When I finally realized how much I gained I was upset only with myself. I know I have caused harm to myself. But I can't cry over my past the surgery is a new beginning for all of us. Stay encouraged your surgery day is coming.

Hi- I have been considering WLS for the past year. I have been overweight for about 10 years. Most of my weight gain has been caused by the hunger that has been driven by the medication I take. I don't have insurance, because in Canada it is difficult to get insurance. I have saved my money and now I am going to meet with my doctor. Overall I am healthy; no major illnesses, except for the Bipolar. My main depression is driven by my weight to be honest, so I REALLY want to get WLS. My fear is that because I am bipolar, I will be denied. We don't do psych consults here, but just the same...I am very nervous. I see this proceedure part of the solution to help get myself on track. But I am afraid to be let down. My question does anyone who has WLS also suffer from serious mental illness or bipolar, and did you have problems getting the WLS? Were the doctors concerned by your mental illness. As a side note for the most part I have been stable for the last year. Was anyone denied based on mental illness? I am very committed. I just need some feed back...and more importantly hope.

I was also on fertility meds in order to get pregnant. It took my husband and I a few months..although we weren't taking Clomid I had to weight gaining issues. You might want to try a different fertility drug..I used Femera, it may be the drug..I have heard a few of the ladies that I speak to about fertility issues gain weight on Clomid although I am not sure if that is what the problem is...I got a fill in November 09', we found out we were pregnant in Dec 09..I did not get unfilled my entire pregnancy and had no issues..I would suggest getting a fill and seeing if that works..and I would talk to you doctor about switching meds if Clomid hasn't worked yet..Femera was great, I had zero side effects and only had to take it for a few months..Best of luck and keep us updated :cursing: I really hope you get your Positive soon.. Also wanted to add that while I was on fertility drugs I still did other things that I feel helped us get pregnant..some things I suggest doing if your not already doing them...I tested every time I went to the bathroom with OPK's, they are little sticks that you put in your urine to see if you have ovulated..they helped wonders...because even if your taking fertility drugs you can ovulate early or late..in my case I was late..also we used Pre-seed every time we had sex, it is amazing stuff..it is a lubrication that you use that helps the sperm get closer to your eggs...even if you don't need lubrication I would still suggest getting some..also make sure after every time you have sex to at least lay down still for 15 minutes..don't jump up and go clean up..You can find the OPKs on Ebay for very cheap, and don't hesitate to use the Dollar Tree pregnancy tests they are awesome and work!! The pregnancy tests on ebay also work well too..if you have any other questions please feel free to email me xaSpenx@hotmail.com Hope this helps :huh2:

Don't beat yourself up. It was one day, one slide. The weight gain was likely just due to sodium. Even if we eat according to plan, sometimes, the scale goes up (can't help myself I weigh every day). 50 lbs is fantastic! You will be fine, and if the time comes you have another 'oops', it's OK. As long as they are not every meal every day - you will be good. :-)

I went through a nutrionist as well in fact I don't even think my pcp knows about my surgery yet. I had been going to my pcp for weight loss help and she recommended I take my IUD birth control out because she said it may be causing weight gain. Well what do you know 2 months later I was pregnant. I had been thinking about the surgery for a while and the fact that I now had to wait 9 months or longer bummed me out. So anyway during my pregnancy I kept trying to find an in network Surgeon that would do it without the 1 year post birth waiting period most of them asked for. Found one but then was hit with another waiting period since the insurance wouldn't pay for the surgery unless I completed a wellness programs for at least 6 months. Anyway long story short my nutritionist was good at working with insurance companies so she said we only needed 4 months and would use the data from my pcp for the other 2 months. I ended up starting the program my 8th month of pregnancy, delivered naturally with no issues and got the surgery 2 months post birth. I'm only on day 4 post op and I'm a little upset I can't breastfeed anymore but I'm happy overall. I was able to get it done and the insurance paid all of it because I met my deductible from the hospital birth. In conclusion sorry for the long story, be patient and it will work out. You just have to go to weigh ins periodically and record your food input. I wasn't good with that so a lot of time I'd be filling in a few days at a time. You do learn a lot more from a nutrientist like the other people said and they also know the loopholes for the insurance companies. Sent from my SM-N920T using the BariatricPal App

I finally decided to actually join VST. I've lurked on the forums for about nine months as part of my decision-making process. Unexpected things happened when I finally talked with my doctor here, and I ended up being added to a study in progress here in the Middle East. So instead of having to pay the whole shebang myself, I only had to pay the hospital part. That definitely swayed my choice toward surgery. So here I am. April 4 was sleeve day, and other than some pretty incredible nausea afterward for about three days, everything went really well. I had no pain medication at all, much to the surprise of the nursing staff here who are accustomed to giving morphine every four hours on the dot. No thanks. No drains, and no other complications either. Whoo hoo. I guess the biggest surprise is how quickly my attitude toward food changed. I thought a lot about what being sleeved would mean before the surgery, and actually had a grief response at the idea of not being able to eat as before. I didn't really think of specific things I would miss, but rather that I would miss eating itself. My husband (HWHN) and I are Culture Vultures and Foodies... for about the past 30 years. I couldn't imagine how that would work for us if I couldn't eat. So I imagined how I would feel and got all emotional. Reality is that I'm now completely turned off by foods I used to love. I have been reflecting on the change - I HAVE to eat rather than I WANT to eat. It's so different. Sometimes I get "mental hunger" but thanks to reading the forums I expected that, and given what I do, took a little mini self-quiz and recognized that the mental hunger comes when I'm Bored, Angry, Lonely, or Tired (the bane of addiction). That was a bit of a shock, since I would never have said I was addicted to food. Other than the initial weight gain during/after diagnosis, I've remained at a stable weight... too much, but stable. ;P Never would have said I'm addicted to food, but the mental/psychological struggle tells a tale. So I'm getting back to doing some things I loved and let go. Swimming, photography, writing, and reading what my mother always used to call, "Penny Horribles." (Novels with no redeeming value except to pass time pleasurably) And... HWHN and I had our first official date post op this week, and it was great. He orders what he wants, and I nibble off his plate. Beautifully done cube of rare roast beef and a sliver of Manchego cheese. Heaven. Tonight is my regular doctor visit, and I know I've lost weight because of my clothes, but I don't know how much. I don't keep a scale at home. I want the amount to be a surprise, and I want to gauge where I am in the process by how I'm feeling about myself, not by the numbers on some stupid torture instrument. Had enough of that. After 96 days, I'm down 6 sizes and coveting those pink skinny jeans. CE

Ok so I'm only 3.5 months post op vsg, so I'm obviously not planning on getting pregnant any time soon. Just some concerns and questions on my mind. I still want 2 more children, and I was wondering about the weight gain during and after pregnancy. I reeeally don't want to lose all the excess weight only to gain some of it back or (God forbid) half/all of it. I'm so scared and feel like I should have waited to get sleeved until I had my children. But- reality kicks in and I realize my health would have made it impossible for me to have them and raise them with being almost 300 pounds and God knows how much more I would have gained! So my question is to you ladies who had pregnancies after vsg; did you gain alot and did you lose it afterwards or what happened exactly? Did you feel like the sleeve went to waste and there was no point? This is my worst fear; to realize that the opportunity to lose the weight quickly wasn't used to its full potential. Sent from my SM-N910C using BariatricPal mobile app

OK, so I have UHC as my insurance right now. But my current plan does not cover the surgery. I am switching to a plan that does cover it, but that will not be effective until Jan 1. In the mean time, I have been going to regular NUT visits (I have been working on this for over a year now, do to insurance changes). Over the last 3 months I have seen some weight gain, and my GP finally referred me to a vascular center. This new Dr. gave me the diagnosis of lymphedema that has gotten inflamed because of outside issues. These outside issues mostly revolve around stress (of a few different types and happened at the same time). I was told by my NUT that for most insurances I need to be at or below my starting weight in order to have surgery. Right now, because of the lymphedema, I am above my starting weight. since lymphedema does not have a "cure" and there is treatment, but it takes time for the treatment to be effective. I was also told that WLS will help with the lymphedema Does anyone have any advise on how I should proceed in the process? I was planning on having the surgery in Feb/Mar with the new ins.... is that now going to be delayed?

This is normal. I had my surgery 3 weeks ago on Dec 29th. I know that it feels like it will never go away, but it eventually will. Gas X does help a little. What I found that helped me was, when I would burp, I would bend over. For me this just helped expel more gas so there wouldn't be so much sitting on my stomach. Also, don't worry about the weight gain. I have been playing with 5 lbs since surgery. Just make healthy food choices and don't eat when you are not hungry. The mental hunger is the hardest thing to overcome. Good luck.

I love that show too. My husband has such a weak stomach I have to watch it in private. The lap band show has not aired here yet, next week I guess. I TIVO them, so I know I could not have missed it...I hope! I think the psychiatrist has NO idea what it is like to be overweight. I know that weight gain/loss is a huge psychological hurdle, but she seems to think everyone is going to sabatoge their surgery. Maybe they will, but they will die without it. Thank you for starting this thread, I love this show, but can't ever talk about it with anyone!