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ALM.com https://www.ALM.com/how-to-avoid-weight-loss-plateau-after-bariatric-surgery/

Scheduling my surgery currently ???? & I am paying $8900 in Mexico. My insurance does not pay for bariatric surgery.

Hi @@laurenella82, I am in the Washington DC area. I am going through the Providence Bariatric Center, Dr. Rickford.

Start getting in better shape now. I walked, lifted, and did as much as I could 5 times a week getting ready for surgery. Started practicing eating slower for lunch. Watched many videos, talked to people who had been through it. Oh, but best work was preparing for the mental changes with my therapist and worked through this book: http://www.amazon.com/Emotional-First-Aid-Kit-Practical/dp/0976852659/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1436729032&sr=8-13&keywords=bariatric+book If you drink, like I did, you need to assess how to wean yourself off. Ditto cigs, and slowly cut the caffeine. Don't try to cram it into the final week, you will feel horrible, just put it on a calendar and do it in a controlled manner. Followed the pre-op diet to the letter Shopped two weeks before surgery for the foods I would need for the first two weeks. Revised my will and power's of attorney just in case something went wrong Tried pureed meal ideas before surgery so I had some meal plans. The result of this work - flawless surgery, up and running a day later, no real drop in energy, and ready for the change. Its been a great ride. Off BP meds/CPAP and the sex is incredible, but that's in a different forum (look up sex, oh my god sex in the men's room if you need motivation).

Cigna is awesome. They covered the whole thing. I had to have 90 days of Dr visits. I had to have a bmi of at least 40. They are awesome !!! I called them and made sure they told me it was covered. Go on cigna.com and search for bariatric and their policy comes up. It tells u what they ask for. Good luck!! Oh I'm in New York.

And it may sound sneaky but I have known of cases that are billed as Hiatal Hernia repair instead of bariatric surgery especially if you have one of the insurance plans reluctant to cover VSG or RNY, and sad to say even in this enlightened age, there are insurance providers that think Bariatrics are only "Vanity Surgeries". Wish they could walk in my moccasins, they would quickly see the error of their ways! Oh I was fortunate that Medicare/Medicaid only asked for need and a BMI over 40, I sure didn't need the co-morb I already had, my presurgery BMI at first consultation was nearly 52. And not to be rotten about it, my current one is 31.1 9 months out. So your could say my life turned around JUST in Time, now at edge of mere overweight, instead of obesity and morbid obesity. 👍🌸😝🌺, as small or smaller than I was in 1967 when I got married. Long Time Ago!

hello, Dec 20 will mark 3 years since my LAGB surgery. I lost about 40 lbs and stayed the same for sooooooo long. Got my last fill in June. And within the last couple months (started school, started going to gym more, activity level increased greatly, less time to eat) I have really started to crawl out of my slump and start using the the band to it's full potential once again. I have lost about 25 lbs in the last 8 weeks or so. My problem is, I always had a bit of GERD issues, but the past month or so (and even more the past week or so) have been having a lot of it-I usually start coughing when it starts, and can't stop coughing until I take zantac or pepcid. I can take tums for a lot shorter period of relief. (I really have an issue with PPI's and will not take them) I do not want to get an unfill b/c I am losing weight for the first time in years and am very happy with my new, improved body. Also, I can eat anything, just small amounts, and have had no trouble keeping anything down when I take small bites and chew. Reflux is mostly in the AM and when I dont eat for much more than a couple hours. I have vomited, but only 3 or 4 times since I got the fill in June and it was because I was stupid and ignored my signals. I have an appt with my Bariatric nurse on friday, any advice/anecdotes/words of wisdom would be appreciated. -Carlie

Here's an article that explains a little more on the importance of protein after bariatric surgery... http://www.disabled-...urgery-food.php Also, protein helps wounds heal faster as it is necessary for tissue repair.

Yesterday I made an appointment for next month. I asked for labs. My last labs were.... 8- 2011, My surgery was 1-11! I thought I had one for a year....... after one year I never heard from my Bariatric team again.

I found that for me, it was theraputic. I have always stood by my philosophy that no one, other then those who have taken this journey, can even begin to understand what its like. I journaled to give my family a tiny glimpse of what I went through, of how I was feeling through all of this. Well and I love to write lol. As I read back I find that so many things I felt then, I still struggle with today. I sometimes wonder if this journey ever ends, or you just keep marching....regardless, I think I'll keep marching Posted January 29, 2011 So my ex and I walked into the seminar, meeting, whatever you wanna call it. You have to attend at least one meeting to be eligable for the surgerym so this counted 2 fold. I will admit, I shocked a little when I saw the size of the chairs that were out. It was almost insulting but I guess this was for um...people of size, but come on, I wasn't one of them....was I? The room had I'd venture to say...70 or more people. All sizes were there. New people, people who had the surgery recently, veterans, you name it. The lady who started the meeting, seminar, whatever, told the audience that she had bariatric surgery about 2 years ago. Then showed a before picture. Impressive. I had learned through the course of the night that almost ALL of the team members had it (the "team" is the whole group you work with, a nutritionist, head shrinker, insurance liason, social worker, Dr etc) I found that bit of info...interesting. She introduced the team members one by one (of course more then one team) thewn announed they would all be talking. Ok, honestly, I was bored already. The ex was listening with intensity. I was making paper airplanes. I hate this. You know its just gonna be the same stuff they say at the private meetings! The only time I really focused was when the Drs were up there. That was of interest. After everyone, and I mean EVERYONE finished the lecture portion, they played a little game (for lack of a better word) They put a picture up on a big screen in the front of the room of a former fatty and you had to look around the room to see if you could find them. No one could! Then they would set out in the aisle. Wow. It was unbelieveable. They had a Q&A after. This was my oppertunity to really dig deep. "Excuse me, but don't like 1 in 300 people DIE from this suregery?" All eyes turned to me...whaaaat? It was a ligit question!! I remembered my research!!! Of course the doctor has an answer for everything, even though I was trying to trip him up, giving myself an excuse not to continue this process. But the more I FINALLY listened, the more I thought, maybe...just maybe this was the road I should be traveling. Although I was scared I thought I should take another step and meet with the team, you know, hear them out. What do I stand to lose? I made appts that night with several team members. Oct 2nd I was set to begin. Begin what? I wasn't sure yet. *note for today...now I know it was to begin a new life This was posted later that same night... Wow, I made a huge mistake last night. My son and I went to the gym. We felt great when we left. So we went home and he did some cleaning while I cooked dinner. chicken Egg Foo Young Muffins with sauce, rice and steamed broccoli. Experimenting has been fun. Reminds me why I like cooking. So anyway, he and I ate dinner in the den, my daughter had gone upstairs. Sometimes she likes to cook with us, other times its all about Facebook and her friends. I guess maybe tiredness started to wash over me. It HAD been 12 hours non stop... but I ate too fast. I was SO sick the rest of the night. I was nauseous, crampy, my head hurt. What a nightmare! Lesson learned, I will never eat fast again! Slow, small bites it is, as dictated by the "Bariatric Bible". I'm still paying today. I couldn't even get a Protein shake down for Breakfast. Ugh. Like the turtle and the rabbit I will try to remember...slow and steady wins the race. Have a good night everyone

where did you get yours done? I'm scheduled with dr garcia with Tijuana bariatrics... Sent from my SM-G900T using the BariatricPal App

March 16, 2016 Hello! If you're reading this you might be considering getting your surgery in Mexico at the Mexicobariatriccenter. I am post op sleeve day 6 right now, have a fever of 102.5, and am feeling pretty crummy atm. FYI: I am a nursing student in my 4th block so I have some understanding of pharmacology and the importance of sterile/aseptic procedures. The positives: Price was about $4300 plus airfare, incidentals, tipping, etc. I estimate I spent close to $5k in all. Hotel accommodation and staff at the Hyatt Place in Tijuana was great. They will give you as much chicken or beef broth, sugar-free lime popsicles, or various flavors of sugar-free Jello that you want. Surgeons and the Anesthesiologist were professional and did a first rate job. 30 minute ride from San Diego Airport to the Mexico Border and another 15 minutes to the hotel. The hospital is only 10 minutes away from the hotel btw. Negatives: Oh..... where to start.... Mexico Bariatric Center has outsourced their aftercare to a third party. The "nurses" responsible for helping with post-care are no more knowledgeable than Medical Assistants, although they do have a little medication administration training. However, their severely limited training, and understanding of bacteria becomes quite evident when witnessing their attempts (or lack there of) to prevent the spread of bacteria. Here are just a few examples: I never once witnessed a "nurse" use the hand sanitizer on the wall or wash their hands upon entering my room. I did witness my "nurse", Cesar, blow into his gloves to help open them up before sticking his hands in them. That sort of thing would probably get you fired in the United States. IV ports were frequently not cleaned or were simply given a quick single swipe of the alcohol pad before injecting medications into them. Those IV ports gets dragged all over the place and probably have little microscopic bits of feces and drug resistant bacteria on them. Which is a little like mainlining feces directly into my blood stream. When I told them I wanted them to do it correctly they would respond with "It's ok, don't worry, don't worry." And they'd just keep on doing what they were doing, as if my objections were completely irrelevant. Eventually I had to call and speak to the hospital administrator to have my "nurse" replaced with someone more competent. INTEGRITY is not something I found a great deal of with the non-management staff members. Perhaps placating (i.e., lying) is par for the course over there, but it was common enough that very quickly I realized I couldn't trust anything I was being told on face value. Please understand that this was a big issue that reoccurred on multiple occasions. Trusting the staff to do what they say they are going to do, or when they are going to do it, is a huge mistake. This includes the drivers as well. I can't overemphasize this enough.... to be fair, the management was great though, however they have nothing to do with patient aftercare. The third morning after the surgery several of the patients had been cleared to go and we were driven to a "Pharmacy". The "Pharmacist" behind the counter was selling anything and everything. He was trying to get us to buy different antibiotics than the ones we were sent home with. I don't think he realized that not all antibiotics work on all bacteria and you can't just take whatever. He did give out free samples of vitamin-B shots and Viagra for those who were interested. Did I mention this was the pharmacy the Mexico Bariatric Center sent us to? I ended up buying a few items while I was there only to discover we had been charged 300-400% more than the pharmacy at the grocery store across from the Hotel. The driver will then offer to take you and the other patients on a "tour and some shopping". These stores inflate their prices for the patients and provide a kickback to the driver (and most likely the Mexico Bariatric Center) just like the pharmacy did. PAIN MANAGEMENT! Unless you are willing to pay the extra $1000 for the pain pump that comes with either morphine or Dilaudid you will be offered the ghetto version of pain meds (e.g., Ketorolac, tramadol). Although these medications do help offset the pain they do not provide the additional benefit of the euphoric feeling from narcotics. They will offer you all sorts of ridiculous reasons whey they don't want to give you those medications and if you don't have a background in pharmacology you may actually start to believe them. But, they are lying to you. Remember, if you spent the extra $1000 you could have all the narcotic pain meds you wanted in the form of a patient controlled pain pump. I honestly believe they tried to keep people in enough pain that they would agree to spend the extra money. One "nurse" told me that they wouldn't give them to me because of the nausea. However, they give you meds for nausea. "Doctor" Sing tried to convince me that the reason they don't give narcotics is because people are less likely to do their breathing exercises..... Ummmm.... the #1 reason people don't do breathing exercises or participate in their aftercare not a lack of motivation or education on the benefits, but is lack of pain management. That's not my opinion, that's a fact. It was just one stupid excuse after another. The additional pain I (and many other patients) endured as a result of these penny pinching, dishonest, dimwits would be criminal in the United States. You'll get plenty of narcotic pain meds if you choose to have the surgery here in the states. I was advised by that I do not need a passport, by Leili Kohan my patient coordinator, to enter Mexico because their company has a special medical pass, which lets them get across the border without the long wait times. Leili was adamant about that. What she failed to mention was that in order to re-enter the U.S. you definitely need one. I was fortunate in that I ordered a passport just in case otherwise I would probably still be in Mexico right now. Summary: I am glad I had the surgery despite what I have and continue to go through. I wouldn't be opposed to having some other type of surgery in Mexico at a later date. I would absolutely NOT RECOMMEND the MEXICO BARIATRIC center. Additionally, make sure that narcotic pain medication (e.g., Percoset, Vicoden) will be available and have them put it in writing stating you get a full refund for all services rendered if this is not the case. Trust me on this, unless you're one of the rare people who felt absolutely fine, you are going to want narcotics.

GIRL!!! I'm waiting for my insurance card too. I have HIP medicaid as far as providers you have to go onto the Health Plus website and look up participating hospitals and providers for bariatric surgery. I am getting my surgery dome by Dr.Nishamura South Nassau Hospital (LI).

Ok thanks! i have checked the Health Plus website and can't find any providers for bariatric surgery...so I've got to call them which I will be doing TODAY!! lol thanks for the advice and when r u getting your surgery done?! congrats! :bolt:

I don't know when I'm having the surgery I am going through all the pre surgical testing but i hopr before the end of the year. I had a set back because i lost my job and insurance so I have to start all over again with the new insurance medicaid. I don't know If you close Health Plus when you applied for medicaid but it's better to pick United Health Care or HIP ad managed care because they have many bariatric surgeons who accept them.

In the B Vitamins, aside from what you get in the multi- it is best to just do a B12- that Vitamin is not absorbed from food in the sleeve. My list is Muti vitamin- look at what is in a bariatric one from Bariatric Advantage or Celebrate and find the equivalent to two of them if you dont want theirs. Calcium - carbonate requires more stomach acids than we have after surgery, so that is why the recommend citrate- you need 1500 mgs a day B12- sublingual is advised- they have this at Trader Joes. Those are the main ones- and you dont want to become low in anything as it really hard to rectify. The thing is, though this is not a malabsorption surgery your intake of food will be dramatically less, thus the need for vitamins. I have heard that skipping this can really lead to low energy, exhaustion, etc. I have also heard it is pointless to pic your Protein shake etc. before surgery as your taste buds change. I have a bunch of samples I will be trying in the next two weeks as I start my liquid diet tomorrow prior to my 5/9 surgery. I have set of a box also- i have my vitamins, my magic bullet for pureeing food, my shakes, my shaker/blender, my crystal light if I want to spruce of the flavor of my Water, etc. This place is a great resource and you will find threads everywhere to add more info. Good luck!

Bariatric advantage has a program for 90 day supply free...it's called the recover program...they just sent mine. Then celebrate vitamins has their own program I signed up for..they send u vitamins every 90 days for a year from when u apply. I got those today

I was wholly unprepared for the psychological aspects of the journey to bariatric surgery so I sit down to write this in the hopes that you might not make the same mistake that I did in taking this so lightly. When I first started out, I thought this would be similar to the journeys of the other weight loss attempts in my life so I totally discounted the psychology. In fact, I did not even want to think about matters related to the mind. It was the pre-op diet that forced me to take a very long and deep-seated look at the exact cause of my obesity; food is love, relief from clinical depression, and medicine. The realization hit me a week and a half into this pre-op diet that I am no longer going to be able to use the medicine that worked so well. I am a survivor of almost twenty years of verbal and psychological abuse from peers, teachers, parents, and co-workers. Food was what was simultaneous keeping me from suicide and basically killing me. If ever more morbid a paradox existed, I am at a loss for thinking of any. Even the times when I was thin, I always knew if things went downhill, food was merely walking distance away. I have had a range of emotions from anger and hatred towards those whom abused me, to hope and forgiveness. I write this a day and a half before my surgery as I go through a treasure trove of old digital photos of me in different stages of my life. I also went through and organized all of my music. It was something that necessarily had to be done because it's an important part of closure that I never did. I looked at the albums of photos with the two women whom ever had the courage to love me at one point in time or another. I kept them because I was grasping at straws to keep from going over a cliff. I hoped that one day one of them might be a part of my life again. However both are married now, and hindsight being 20/20, they would not be ideal mates for me nor I for them. I looked back on those photos with a mixture of pride, happiness, and sadness. Purging the photos gave me the closure that I needed. Love was possible twice, it will be possible again. I want to stop the cycle of self-loathing. I am not going into the operating room out of self-disgust, I am going out of self-compassion.

Good golly why does society think bariatric surgery is taking easy way out? Wish I had a quarter for every time I was told to concentrate and the pounds would fall off. You're just laxy, ain't nothing lazy about,pulling a body this size around. Like perpetual power lifting but you're using the wrong muscles for a wrong purpose. Just don't eat, yeah but then your body thinks you're stabingband it shuts your metabolism down. Besides the relatives telling me all this, the only exercise they ever got was jumping to conclusions. I guess you have to,love th e m, even put up with some cause you wouldn't choose them like friends. What you don't need is belittlement, deprecating remarks and general hoohah from them all.

Hearts of bariatrics Mz Shay

1...an Exercise specialist is available through my bariatric center and is available for reference. 2....look online, there are A LOT of recourses and online personal trainers and personal training apps. 3.....WALK and do some strength in the arms...that's really where to start. Good luck =)

Unfortunately all insurance policies are different. I would call the insurance company a couple different times to get multiple explanations from different people that work there. Sometimes someone can just explain things better than others. My prior insurance company would not cover bariatric surgery. In 2001, it was recommended for my severe GERD, my records had shown the need, but it was denied. I tried appealing the decision without success. Fast forward thirteen years and multiple failed surgeries, again it was denied even with many specialists stating that it now was my only option. As of 2015, my employers insurance carrier was changed. I was prepared to again battle it out with an insurance company and stressed about it daily. It was submitted to the new carrier on 1/9/15. Today, I called to verify it was received and found out it had already been approved as of 1/13/15. I was (still am) in shock. I'm hoping you get a similar surprise soon.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Hit the Starbucks and hit it hard. I know caffeine can make us hungry, but it can also contract those blood vessels in your head causing the headaches. See if you can tolerate some hardcore coffee/espresso (or no doze) and see if it helps. When you're over the headaches, back off the caffeine and resume normal bariatric diet. We used to put our migraine patients on caffeine drips in the ER. Please everyone don't kill me for suggesting something outside the program, but I think this might help.

Who did you go through? How was it? I have mine there in 3 weeks through Ponce Bariatrics.

Some family doctors are not supportive of bariatrics. If that is the case you can always find another one who is. Congrats on getting the process started!