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The three month period is suggested, not required. Big difference. the three month period is to allow for preparation and education - things like preop testing, sessions with an RD, that kind of thing. Do you have H M O or P P O? Just be aware, many surgical offices CALL Blue Shield to verify that you have the bariatric benefit and to verify requirements. Unfortunately, many of their Provider Services reps don't both to look up the policy and will say you need to do six months because that's what they're used to. Demand (politely) that the office refer to the policy online directly for policy requirements.

For some reason it hasn't posted. I am going to try again. Am-I-Hungry-Bariatric-Surgery-Workbook-Key-Concepts.pdf

In my bariatric practice, the Nutritionist is a registered Dietician who specializes in Bariatric patients. Our surgeon defers to her in the areas of what to eat and when. My plan is 4 -5 meals daily at least 3 hours apart. Each meal to have 3 oz protein - eaten first, a multigrain or fruit serving (2 each max per day - not to be eaten at the same meal) and any quantity of green veggies. At 6 weeks I was supposed to be eating at least 800 calories and at 7 months I'm around 1200 or so. Of course it wasn't until 12 weeks that I could fit in anything but the protein and only 1 - 2 oz so I still supplemented with a protein shake daily. At almost 7 months, I eat only real food as I can' stand protein shakes any longer. They make me gag.

Alot of overweight people have sleep apnea or sleep disturbances and don't know it. They like to rule that out or your insurance may request it for Bariatric surgery!

I went through SW Bariatric and had a great experience. Lots of support and loved my doc and nurses. My doc did the surgery at NAMC and U highly recommend that hospital.

What did I do in the first seven days post-op? I followed my bariatric team's orders to the letter - liquids only, high protein and low carb -- and that was for four full weeks, not just the first seven days btw. Why would I think I know better than they do? My track record proves that I'm not good at making smart choices with respect to food and my health. Why would I override the health and medical judgment of the people who I trusted with my life? I really hope the person above who is talking about eating ice cream, pizza, prime rib and coke 10 days out of surgery is a troll, and based on that hope I'm not responding any further to them. When did I start losing the lbs? Not really sure, I stayed off the scale until my post-op 4 week weigh-in. Why would I stress myself out by getting on the scale so soon after major surgery? That's a trauma to the body that is going to cause weird metabolic responses, and I wanted no part of freaking out over it and getting tempted to toss my team's plan for me out the window. I'm glad I stayed on plan and resisted temptation to just do what I felt like doing. Minus 200 lbs, went from a size 6X to a 6 (okay really more like an 8 or 10 but in some brands I can wear a 6 so I like to claim it!). My team knew what was best for me, I trusted them, and it worked out great.

>>An RN should NEVER EVER access a lapband port unless under the direction of a band doc, in the office, and in a controlled environment. Contrary to the information out there Inamed does not certify anyone to give fills. There is no certification process, according to Inamed, for giving fills. I asked them about this once before when there were alot of supposed certified people out there giving fills in hotel rooms. Inamed told me they did not offer any certification classes to anyone for this. Only docs are cleared to do fills. It is under the docs supervision and his discretion to allow an RN to do a fill.<< We will have to disagree on this point. Inamed most certainly does certify RNs to do fills. *I* personally have been invited to a certification class from Inamed. I will be going the next time the class is available. They have certification classes every few months. I was scheduled for the last one but was unable to make it at the last minute. I will be attending the next one. I believe what you are referring to is that they won't certify just any RN. I have to be referred by a physician, and I am. A GI surgeon in my area is referring me. Matter of fact, he'd like to attend as well as he may consider doing fills. He is not a bariatric surgeon but a GI surgeon. He'd be great for fills, especially those not banded in the US or if someone's doc moves or retires. Their patients have a hard time finding a fill doc. I have no desire to do fills, but I would like the education. RNs access ports for a living for goodness sakes. Portacaths? Docs don't do it, RNs do. RNs are absolutely qualified to do fills with additional training, they typically have more experience accessing various types of ports than your average doc. When you go to an ER and the ER doc doesn't know how to do an unfill the best choice if your surgeon is not available is to ask for a chemo nurse because they have the expertise in accessing ports. It's what they do for a living. Nobody should be accessing any port for any reason unless in a controlled environment such as an office setting. I got my information and invitation from Bart Bandy (yep, that's his real name) to the certification class. He used to be the owner of Inamed. After he sold Inamed to Allergan he is now the Sr. VP for Allergan. It is the sales manager for Allergan that was giving out bad info on who may attend the certification class. I believe Bart Bandy corrected him on this info quite some time ago, such as about six months ago. There is an Inamed certified fill nurse in Arizona. She and her paramedic daughter are both Inamed certified, neither work for a doc (the RN is a RN Midwife and works out of her own office, no MD available in her office) and she went to the certification class. The information you received is quite frankly, incorrect.

I feel your pain! I gave up my diet coke when I first started the bariatric surgery process and quit cold turkey. It sucked for about 10 days. I did great and didn't have diet coke for over 1 month, no problems. Once I found out it would be another 5-6 months before I would have surgery, I decided to enjoy my diet coke while I could. I start my pre-op diet on 10/28 and will stop my diet coke 10/23. I am not looking forward to my diet coke withdrawal and my carb withdrawal back to back. This will be an interesting 3 weeks leading up to surgery. We can both do this! Just keep your eyes on the prize and tell yourself it is for a healthy you! Hang in there and keep in touch!

Hi everyone! I am currently 4 weeks post op and was told to start my vitamins this week. I have the bariatric advantage multivitamin chewable and the calcium chewables....to put it bluntly, I hate them. I cant even smell them without gagging. Not to mention the calcium is so spicy on my tongue for some reason. Did anyone else have this issue?? Also, does anyone just take ones that you can swallow? I swallow pills just fine and if that's an option, I would sooo prefer it! Let me know! Sent from my SM-G965U using BariatricPal mobile app

Best wishes on Monday ! ! ! Most of that plan is super strict, and pretty rigid. I've been drinking caffeine since being about 6 weeks out. I drink soda and have for 18 of my 25 months post-op. All with the go-ahead from my surgeon and nutritionist. Our losing plan was strict, but maintenance is much more lax. The no caffeine rule applied only until I could drink enough clear fluids to compensate for the diuretic effect of caffeine. As for ulcers, the risk for marginal ulcers is slim to none with VSG and/or gastrectomies unless the patients has had a history of ulcerative conditions. This is well documented in studies with VSG and gastrectomy patients that did not have it performed for weight loss. The low risk of ulcers with VSG is the main reason that NSAIDS are allowed with VSG and not with RNY. As for Vitamins, with the calcium citrate and your multi (the multi needs to have iron), do not take the citrate and multi within 2 hours of each other as the calcium counteracts the Iron from being absorbed. I'm glad to hear your nut discourage Gummie vitamins as they are not a complete Vitamin for most adults. I still take chewables, not only because they work for me, but because I kind of just suck up the chalkiness and move on. They go down easily, and well, they have not ever failed me on my labs. I choose to use Celebrate Multi complete (includes Iron), and their Calcium Citrate Plus 500 (which contains Vit D and Magnesium). I have been allowed to remain on this regimen in my pregnancy, and my labs have remained stellar in the pregnancy since the formulation of Celebrate actually beats some of the more potent pre-natals on Iron and Folic Acid counts. You can order samples from Bariatric Advantage, and Celebrate Vitamins to see which ones you might like to use. I personally hated all the BA supplement/vitamins. With the Celebrate, I'm able to take (chew) just 4 chewables per day. I'm further out and only need 1000mg of Citrate, and take 2 of the Multi completes per day. Early out, I had to take 3 of Calciums because I was to take 1200-1500mg per day in the early months because my intake was so low. I use a sublingual B12 2500mcg from WalMart, and pop one under my tonuge 3-4 days a week.

I had my surgery in Mexico ~four weeks ago and had my first post-opp visit with my US Bariatric doc yesterday. I'm having my first fill in May. Well...more like my one and only fill. He says he will give me "one good fill" of 9cc (band is 10cc). Has anyone heard of doc doing fills this way? From what I read, everyone gets many little fills. He says he's making the band do what is suppose to do and he does this with all his LAP-BAND® patients. I'm contacting my surgeon in MX to discuss but wanted to see if anyone had their fills done this way. Thanks!

So far, I have not found a place to host my group. Although I do attend a group called Lawrenceville Wings (you can find it on yahoo groups). I do attend the Emory group and I think it's awesome. They are not promoting a specific surgery and right now there are far more lap banders than RNY patients. Not sure who gave you that bad information. //I was banded last August and have been a miserable failure of a bandster ever since.//Sorry about your success or lack thereof. You can message me with questions, comments or concerns you have about your band and your program. You can also read my blog at Mick's Corner for more tips on what I eat, how I exercise and what I do to be successful. In the end, this process is 30% what you eat (measuring your portions, not drinking and eating, eating healthy foods, etc.), 30% moving your body more and 40% attitude. That means 70% has nothing to do with the band. Most of the success rest on our shoulders to make healthy choices, move our bodies more and to be positive. Emory allows you to attend a support group meeting for free. You can find out about them at Emory HealthCare - click on bariatric department. My preference was to attend the RNY group sessions because those patients DO NOT CHEAT. It seemed like the Lap Band patients whined about not being able to eat certain foods and the RNY patients just didn't do that. I found them more helpful. I like that Emory rolled the 2 groups together because the post op instructions we follow are almost the same. There are minor differences but, in general, we all follow very similar rules: - Measure portions - Don't drink for an hour after eating - Take a daily Vitamin - Increase our daily activity - Eat a healthy well balanced diet - Chew food thoroughly - Take small bites I try to focus on the similarities and not the differences. There is also a Lap Band group that meets in Atlanta. They are on Yahoo Groups as well. Although, they meet at a bar & grill. I don't find that a support group meeting at a bar & grill makes the healthiest eating decisions. So I don't attend many of their meetings. Hope this information helps.

Band_Groupie, you are so right. I guess I got a little excited renewing my commitment to the band. I like the idea of taking it one month at a time, and not just targeting a certain number! Thank you again I really needed that!

nyteacher125: I thought the same thing. All being medical professionals, I was hoping for a little more understanding in scheduling with the Bariatric Center office. My chief/boss seems happy for me, which I'm grateful for his understanding and willingness to work with me. But I work in Anesthesia, and we are require to have so many CRNA's during certain hours of the day. So leaving early and/or coming in late is really hard to accomplish. Valentina: Thank you so much for the info! I feel a bit better knowing that maybe I can figure out doubling up (or more) my one on ones on the same day. No hernia or ulcer to complicate scheduling further. I'll definitely ask about multiple surgery dates, that's a great idea. The Bariatric Center near me is a Center of Excellence, but it does not offer on-line seminars. I'm hoping to find someone in their office who is willing to work with me. The ladies I talked to at the info session were less than helpful. I'm trying to remain hopeful that I can find just one person at the center willing to understand my scheduling issues. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Since I only have 4 chewables, I find it easiest to take them after my meals. I rotate between taking 1 calcium in the morning after Breakfast, and then another one 2-3 hours later after lunch, and then after my late "lunch" I take one multi, and then after dinner I take another multi. Sometimes, I switch it up because I carry my multi in my purse, and some days I eat breakfast and lunch out so I pop my multi after those meals, and then take my calcium at home. It just kind of depends on my mood I guess is the best way to explain my regimen. For me, it's the easiest regimen I've found in 2 years post-op. Early out, I had a different regimen and it was just way too many pills, I even tried a couple of different liquid calcium citrate, and those were just a hassle, and super thick. I did try citracal petites, but that had me taking 5-6 pills per day, 2 hours apart, and my cell phone alarm was going off all the time with a reminder to take some pill or chewable, and it was just too frustrating. There's other stuff out for people to try. I know Bariatric Advantage makes a lozenge of sorts, and then there's the crystal UpCalD calcium citrate that can be dissolved in fluids. I'm honestly just lazy when it comes to supplements, and if it's an inconvenience, I know myself well enough to know that I'll slack on taking them. I know that sounds horrible, but for me, I chose VSG because of the lack of malabsorption and need to take hoards of vitamins. It's my one true weak spot post-op so I had to find something that worked for me and my lifestyle.

Due diligence is my thing. I do it for a living, and I make a nice one at that...so that said let me tell you my story short and sweet. 7 years ago at the age of 34 I was having major medical issues. Surgery after surgery, and finally my Dr. said Lisa what are you going to do about this weight? He gave me a doctor who was a colleague of his who did bariatric surgery. Lapband specialty. OK I thought maybe I will go and see this guy. I waited a year...then I went to see him. I loved him, he had a great practice, people were nice office chairs fit my big butt I was happy! Then he gave me the list of things I had to do..and the prep and the doctors and I checked on it some more..and I wasn't ready. Only a part of me was cheering...do it do it do it..the other half was saying...ummm I don't know...surgery...another one..complications...failure. I have personal friends I know who had the band, the 4cc one years ago and they not only failed but they had major issues...that was nearly 15 years ago...things have changed...but still. I wasn't ready. Then this January, newly married my husband facing a hip replacement and both of us over weight. Happy in love and overweight. WE went back to see the doctor and this time I was ready. I was all in. My hubby was all in, and we have never looked back! True it's only 5 months...(nearly) but I could not be happier! I am much healthier, I can walk and run I take the stairs now! It took me 3 years to get here from the time I first met the surgeon and 4 years from the time I was given his number. So take your time and be sure it's the right surgery and the right time for YOU. The band takes 100% commitment pre-op and post op. If your not ready to give that 100% your not ready.

WOW! i'm kind of floored! well in my opinion you should probably look for a different surgeon.... there are many out there who are just as qualified and successful as yours who are also tolerable. and who knows? if you're truly doing what you're supposed to and you've gained the weight back, you may find out that your original surgery wasn't successful because of something the surgeon did or didn't do! so it's good to get a different opinion in that case too. so sorry this happened to you. sometimes i think doctors (especially those who practice in this capacity) should be required to take sensitivity training from time to time! as you can probably tell, i have not had wonderful experiences with the medical community either. one thing i might also suggest is that you don't do this quietly. as someone already said, this guy will move on to someone else... he is probably not hurting for money and won't miss yours (i know that's blunt but just stay with me on this.) a professional and straight forward letter to this doctor, the other surgeons in his practice, and to the office manager might be in order. i wouldn't be slanderous or show too many emotions or you might not be taken seriously. just state clearly what happened and conclude briefly how you felt about it and that because of this instance you will take your business elsewhere, and that you will also recommend the same to others who are considering bariatric surgery. i bet you will get some sort of reaction if you do that.

This was published the day of my surgery. I found it incredibly accurate and informative. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/27/health/bariatric-surgery.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

When I started my weight loss odyssey, I was doing so blind so to speak. The surgeons office I was seeing at the time, the scale didn't go past 550. So I was looking around and came across the site below. I purchased their XL-700 scale and have been using it since to get my weekly weigh in results. It's a great scale and has been a great help to me. I was able to see my weekly losses and gain a confidence boost each week seeing the weight go down. So if you're in the market for a scale this is a good company to look at. They have quite the variety of bariatric scales, and they're affordable. http://www.oldwillknottscales.com/obesity-bariatric-scales.html **I am NOT affiliated with the website.**

Well, here I am day 9 out post op and I have found that the whey protein doesn't seem to like me much now... I haven't found any way to make it that doesn't run right through me.. I tried it will the almond milk and gagged, Tried it with soy milk, gagged... and water? Yuck. Bariatric advantage makes a liquid protein at 15 and 18 mg one ounce servings that I think I am going to try..

I had a fill before thanksgiving (had a total of 7.5cc in my 10cc band). It was fairly tight and about a week ago I began having reflux. I should have listened to that little voice in my head telling me to make an appointment for a slight unfill. This weekend I was only drinking liquids and felt like I had something stuck. I began vomiting (even after swallowing my own saliva). I went to the ER and luckily the chief surgical resident has been working with my bariatric surgeon for the past few months and was unable to help me........a complete unfill .....to let my stomach rest until I can see my doctor this week. I am keeping track of everything I put in my mouth and will still follow the band rules. I haven't worked this hard for the past two years to start gaining back even one pound back.

Your program nurse can dial it up to the pound for you. I'm unsure how it worked for everyone else, but when I began the process back in June.....once I weighed in on my initial first of 6 monthly diet sessions....that was the weight & bmi that counted for the whole deal. The nurse explained that I qualified in every way, shape and form because the current insurance criteria were to have a bmi over 40 or over 35 with comorbiities (mine were: high blood pressure & sleep apnea). She calculated how much I could lose prior to the surgery and still qualify.....it was a large amount. I only lost about 1/2 that weight. She said that even if I dipped below the 40 bmi or 35 w/ comorbiities during the next 6 months that they would be submitting my initial weights with the package and I would be fine. In other words, she encouraged me to lose as much as I could pre-op. I ultimately went over to another surgeon/program (which had the same structure) and did a self pay in order to cut months off the wait time. Please verify with your program's nurse/administrator and with your insurance plan's bariatric patient advocate. The other experienced folks will hopefully jump in with advice and experience, too. As funny as it sounded to folks......I had the same question. I new I could go into beast mode and lose a bunch of weight in a short period.....even though it seemed unlikely. Best wishes to you.

I am so sorry to hear you went through this once and gained your weight back. It is my worst fear. I cannot answer your question because I just had my bypass in Sept. I am down 111lbs with 34 to go to get to goal. If I were in your shoes I would definitely meet with a bariatric center of excellence team to discuss options. They are extremely supportive and have the right team of specialists to answer your questions and support you during the next phase of your journey. I would call your insurance company and ask for the bariatric centers of excellence that they support. That would be my very first step. I wish you all the best and if you ever need anything or have questions please feel free to reach out.

You are not alone, there are soooo many of us out here, looking for advice, support or just someone to listen, that understands what we have gone/are going thru. My bariatric team seems to ‘be done’ with me since the surgery. I’ll ask a question, and they will return the message with ‘you may need to see your PCP’. I feel abandoned by them. My insurance company even placed a call to them to return my call, and they still have not. I’m 10 days out, still bloated, minor pain, but I’m probably ok. 😊

Thats awful that you call and getting the wrong information. Im sure it happens everywhere all the time however, when it comes to policy information reps should always be up to date....considering this policy changed 6 months ago...they should know by now. I finally spoke to a rep who IS up to date. She ensured me that there is no longer a specified # of months within their bariatric surgery policy, which means its totally up to your provider (surgeon) if they decide they want you to be on a MSWLP 1-12 mo's which in most cases they do to help shrink the liver. I asked her how I can best transfer this CORRECT information to my provider and she gave me her extension however calling would be difficult, so my best bet would be to just call them and let them know I spoke with the rep and was informed of this change and the updated policy.....which i did before!