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I think being aware is one thing, knowing what could happen is another, and believing it will happen to you is different as well. YES being banded comes with plenty of chances of failure, complications, slips, flips, erosions, and so on. Any WLS surgery comes with complications. Are your chances of developing complications highly decreased if you work with an experienced and well educated bariatric surgeon? Yep. Are they decreased if you follow the rules? Of course. It comes down to how much risk you're willing to take. Are you willing to risk trying to diet and exercise on your own? Is having WLS a risk you want to take? I was young when I got banded, 18, and while I knew about all the risks, I also knew I couldn't do it on my own. While I was never a huge yo-yo dieter or someone who spent ages and ages trying to lose lots of weight, and the fact is that I did not WANT to become a yo-yo dieter or someone who went into my late 20s still morbidly obese. Being fat had changed my life for the bad and I was tired of it. My main problem was portion control and the band was advertised to do such. Has it? Definitely. I'm down 112lbs in 9 months. But along with success stories comes even more failures. My advice to you is to weigh the pros and cons of surgery. Whether it's the band or the sleeve, sit down and really think. If you decide to wait, why don't you try to do diets that bandsters or those who are sleeved follow? Maybe put yourself on a cup of food a meal diet along with exercise. Will it be harder without WLS? Surely. But you could at least relate to us who have had WLS and can come for support. Good luck with whatever you decide Do what is best for you.

This one is easy for me. My pre-surgery education was amazing. Very through. A whole binder of information and a 4 hour orientation. I had a band, and I was told One YEAR. Lose th weight. I have also seen on other bariatric sites and books tht say 6 months. I love my wine. Did I say I love my wine? And my work puts me in social situations. I've been ordering water with a lime over ice in a rocks glass. LOOKS like I am drinking, but not. And to have the little glass helps. A few days ago, I put my Ocean Spray Blueberry cranberry juice in a wine glass. My husband as shocked I was drinking wine. :-) No one would know. I guess it all depends on your goals and boundaries. Is it really worth it. I do miss my wine, see above. But I am waiting for at least 6 months. Hope that helps.

well i weighed myself today and i have lost 55 lbs since my sleeve surgery March 5th. I haven't been doing my walking due to high pollen count that is kicking my butt. I peaked my weight at 442lbs summer of 2011 and by the time i decided to visit the bariatric clinic at Jacobi i got down to 431lbs oct. 2011 ....after my surgery i weighed 417ibs now im at 362lbs. Still got alot to go but one day at a time. so all together i have lost 80 lbs since last summer.

So glad you asked these questions. As you can see there are a lot of us who are now in the best shapes of our lives. I am 4 years out. I work out 6 -7 days/wk. I also heard similar comments from friends, trainers and even a bariatric MD. Getting my band was the best decision I ever made for my health and self-esteem. My story is a lot like yours. If you interested you might find something of use on my blog (in my signature below). Good luck.

I'm newly banded - so I end your sentence with ~a renewed sense of confidence. I am determined to succeed with this tool. It's working already!

Hi! There is a doctor in IL that will do fills. He is in Downers Grove, IL. His name is Dr. Vitello. I emailed him, and he responded quickly. This is what he said: Yes I still perform lap band fills. The fee without fluoroscopy is $75, assuming I can get access to your port without xray. If we ned xray the fee is $150 plus the hospital bills you $125 for the use of xray. If your interested just email me. DrVitello His contact info is: Dr, Vitello (Downers Grove, s.w. of Chicago) contact by email at jvituic@comcast.net Also Midwest Bariatrics in Nina, Wisconsin supposedly will do fills. I don't have a phone number. I've also heard about this one, but have had no luck contacting them: Surburban Surgical Care (n.w. Illinois) 888-639-7353 $250 Where are you located? I'm in Iowa City, Iowa. Hope this helps, Donna

Honestly, this thought scared me too. At 28, there is nothing in my life that is PERMANENT. It's hard to think about 60 years down the road. However, WLS supposedly began as a treatment for stomach cancer so we aren't the only ones who have been down this road. But, because of this, I was leaning towards the band for a while. I'm indecisive and I like reversible. Then when someone described the band as having a foreign object in my body, possibly forever, that changed my mind. Plus, two different bariatric surgeons recommended sleeve over the band. It's scary, I know. That's why I'm so glad I found this place!

Getting it done in Decatur Texas...Dr Scott Stowers at my Bariatric solutions...they are very wonderful an make everything about this process great

It's not that I have an answer to why I'm right but maybe I made it seem like this has been going on for days or a week but it happened 2 days and I'm not sitting at home only eating bad things it was two things and no matter how I say I don't think it's a eating problem it's a metal break down I had. And I just don't like being judged on one post. No one's asked how I've been doing besides that Noone knows that I work out and I meet all my Water and Protein and calorie requirements. And maybe I'm being sensitive but that's how I am I've been over weight my entire life I have thin skin and all these comments to me seem like hate and attacks so I'm trying to let everyone know yes I cheated yes I know it's bad yes I read everyone's comments and yes I fixed the issue and yes I did everything I'm suppose to I'm mentaly prepared for the rest of the week and removed all the negativity that caused me to. I thought people would understand the struggle and encourge me by saying stop your hurting yourself and it'll get easier but instead I feel like I've been insulted and made seem like I'm one of those people who thought this would be an easy fix. NOTHING ABOUT THIS HAS BEEN EASY and I thought my bariatric community would understand and boy was I wrong. I didn't want to deal with this alone because not everyone knows I had the surgery. But thanks.

What variety will you be having? in the long run, you'll have,our friendship no matter what. So welcome, tell us more about you. And don't be. scared, I had a very bumpy road to my surgery, but you,know what! I'll never be sad I did it. I am 72, red-headed, pretty spunky, still it beats death all hollow and I feel I dodged that mortal bullet. I had an RnY on September 5th, 7AM at the Ohio State University Hospital-Wexner Medical Center in Columbus Ohio. . My surgeon was Bradley J Needleman MD, chief of Bariatric Surgery and Metabolic Weight Loss, full professor in the Medical College, the Top Dog in a wonderful,kennel of supporting doctors. And I cannot help but sing the praises of them all. I had a rough bumpy road getting my surgery and it still is not Total smooth sailing⛵I developed a Stomal Stricture and 5 evil post-surgery ulcers which are being difficult to resolve, but they are resolvable. My surgeon , my endoscopist who is his junior partner and myself are a team and we will beat this yet. Am I sorry I didn't have a VSG? Nope, I already had history of GERD, gastroenterologist had already discovered 1 baby ulcer whom I named Hector while on average PPI, so swiched to what he called the Ferrari,of PPI,Dexilant. Why would I want an surgery that would worsen my GERD? Why would I want to throw away the vast majority of my nautral stomach to do it? And although I now am functioning with a reduced in size, a turkey egg in truth, I could be rejoined back together back together, worse case scenario. Oh a stricture is not fun, won't tell you it is, but still is far better than dieing on an operating clinic table at the Cleveland Clinic , my 1st cousin JuneEllen , GERD can lead to Barretts Esophagitis which can and often does lead to Esophageal Cancer. So another mortal bullet my surgery helped me dodge, been 2 years, she was 68, would have been 70 the 18th of last month, when I turned 70 we joked about it, made plans about how we would celebrate her 70th, God I miss my JuneBug! Nobody should have to die like that! And thanks to my RnY I won't. Sad someone has to die to help secure your own life. Strong history of diabetes on my Daddy's side, weaker on Mama's but both died diabetic. 💓disease,yes that also, my son , my older boy, died at 31 of an undiagnosed asending aortic aneurysm, so that was another loaded gun aimed at me. He did not have full Marfans but a Marfanoid-syndrome, possibly. True Marfans is a dominate entity, neither my late husband or I had the disease, but in a rare sequence of events, he and I both. had subtle flaws that added up to this conclusion. I have an aortic root dilatation, one of the facets I passed on to my son, I have a very good cardiologist who's keeping an eye on my cardiac health. I married a man with hereditary kidney disease in his family tree, my 2 remaining children get checked often, but my family tree is not straight trunked there either. One first cousin almost lost a kidney because of a kinked kiney artery, his daughter had also problems, so did another first cousin in California's son. Both my parents had 3 kidneys, as do I. And all my kidneys are functioning right now but have an urologist watching mine. I tease him and tell him. he's" on retainer" but he is very good. It is nice to be able to joke about such things. My PCP gets peeved with me Cholesterol-low side of normal Thyroid -a little low but doesn't need replacement yet BP- low normal Heat rate nice and smooth Lungs-asthma, some COPD, and sleep apnea. My dad had it bad, look up Pickwickian syndrome, this is the type of apnea surgery doesn't cure, if so, Uncle Snuffly and I have been a couple for over a year, have him on as I text . I had bad nightmares before him, maybe when I stopped breathing? My Blood Sugar is always on the low side of normal. And the esteemed Frederick Charles Carroll MD puts his hands on his hips. " I am less than 50, my test values are worse than yours. It isn't right, I tell you, it isn't right! YOU SHOULD BE BROKEN DOWN BY NOW!" But like the Energized Bunny🐰(snicker snicker) I just keep going and going! Last time, in August, right before surgery, I smiled sweetly and said "Sorry-y about YOUR LUCK!" So if you ever want to talk more, I hang out,on Bariatric Pal a lot. Almost always find me near my cellphone, use it instead of computer, most,of the time works well.

The Protein shots are not at all the same quality as isolate protein. Its certainly good if you can't get the other Proteins in but whey and isolate proteins are best as they have the essential amino acids. So while this may be ok to help get numbers up, you might want to consider high quality protein for most of your intake. Found this on another post - Collagen based protein is not a great choice for bariatric patients because it just simply doesn't have the essential amino acids that we need to survive. In other words, its just junk, pretty much like potato chips and soda. There's just not enough nutritional value in it to meet the high demands for protein that our surgery requires to keep us healthy.

I've seen a lot of your posts and I have to agree with a few others. Maybe having another session with the therapist will help to calm the anxiety you feel. It doesn't mean your not ready by taking that step, it just means...hey, I need to talk with a professional that deals with bariatric patients all the time. No harm in that. I've been in therapy for 8 years, and I count on it now as my outlet to get out whatever is worrying me. That said, I've got a 4 & 6 year old at home. I'm not scared to die in the or from this..I'm scared to continue living the way I've been for 6 years and fearing the outcome for THEM instead. See, for me, I'm doing this for me yes...but I'm also doing this for them. I'm at peace with it. I hope you can get to that point also. Good luck.

Hi, I have been lurking around for a while and I finally have a date.:clap2::clap2: This Wednesday at 12:30. I am self pay so I was able to get in really quick. I am soooooo excited. I never thought I would say that about having surgery. My doctor is Dr. Brady with Southwest Bariatric Surgeons in Austin, TX. Tammy

Finding research on this issue is very hard and most of what I have found is very vague. I found this a few minutes ago but it doesn't explain why. I am going to keep looking. I seen something yesterday that said black women have more of a Type B fat cell than other's (not more fat but more of a certain type of fat) studies show that we actually have 10% less fat than our counterparts when we go in for surgery. I am assuming with this Type of fat it may be better to do a malabsorptive type of procedure instead of the band? My theory so don't quote me on it. Comparison of outcomes after laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding in African-Americans and whites Parikh, Manish; Lo, Helen; Chang, Christopher; Collings, Dinee; Fielding, George; Ren, Christine 2006 Nov-Dec;2(6):607-10; discussion 610-2, Surgery for Obesity & Related Diseases BACKGROUND: Race may affect outcomes after bariatric surgery. This study compares outcomes in terms of weight loss and comorbidity resolution between African-Americans and whites after laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB). METHODS: Data from 959 patients undergoing LAGB between July 2001 and July 2004 were prospectively collected and entered into an electronic registry. Propensity score matching analysis was used to match whites to African-Americans on the basis of age, gender, and preoperative body mass index (BMI). Preoperative comorbidities (diabetes, hypertension, obstructive sleep apnea, hypercholesterolemia, and hypertriglyceridemia) were also compared. Operative time (OR), length of stay (LOS), comorbidity resolution, and percent excess weight loss (%EWL) at 1, 2, and 3 years were analyzed. All data were updated through May 2006. RESULTS: A total of 65 white LAGB patients were matched to 58 African-American LAGB patients on the basis of age, gender, and preoperative BMI. The preoperative mean age and BMI were 37 +/- 19 years and 47 +/- 7 kg/m2, respectively. A total of 55% of the white group and 64% of the African-American group had one or more comorbidities (P = NS). Median OR time and LOS were similar in both groups: 50 minutes and 23 hours, respectively. The majority of patients in both groups had major improvement or resolution of one or more comorbidities (61% whites vs 77% African-Americans, P = NS). There was, however, a significant difference in %EWL between whites and African-Americans at each time interval (49% vs 39% at 1 year; 55% vs 44% at 2 years; 52% vs 41% at 3 years; P < .05 for all values.). CONCLUSION: Despite the disparity in weight loss with the LAGB in African-Americans and whites, both patient populations experienced a similar improvement/resolution of obesity-related comorbidities id: J0125081, year: 2006, vol: 2, page: 607, stat: Journal Article,

I'm not sure if you will get any responses right now about Renew Bariatrics, but if you use the search tool here on BP you can find threads from the past, which might give you some insight about your topic... Best wishes. https://www.bariatricpal.com/search/?q=renew bariatrics

Did you see Dr Shillingford? Sent from my SM-G920V using the BariatricPal App Sorry I'm still trying to figure out how to reply to people. Yes, Dr Shillingford did my surgery on 10-24. Sent from my SM-G930V using the BariatricPal App I have a consultation in Orlando on Nov 10, but if too high (I think they charge ~15k), I may go to Boca Sent from my SM-G920V using the BariatricPal App I can only speak for my experience with Dr Shillingford and his office but they did everything to make my life easier. I had an initial phone consult with Nancy and she schedule a phone consult with Dr Shillingford. I did my two week pre op diet and the Friday before my surgery I went down and had an appointment with the Dr just to meet him and his staff and go over any questions/concerns I had. I went and did my pre op lab work the same day and then on Monday I had my surgery. They made it very convenient to only have to drive down once. His staff Nancy and Elba are amazing. I can email them and I know I'll get an answer within a few hours. They are super kind and knowledgeable. Also depending on if you go down on the right weekend. A woman from the hospital does a seminar on Saturdays. She goes over everything to expect. Unfortunately I went on a weekend that she didn't have class... the great thing is that she came to my hospital room and sat down with my husband and myself and went over everything. The hospital is good. The bariatric staff was really nice and took really good care of me. Bariatric patients have their own wing and everyone gets their own room. Also visiting hours are 24/7 so if someone is accompanying you, they can stay in the hospital with you and you don't have to pay for a room at a hotel if your budget conscious. Anyway that's enough ranting for now. If you have any questions please message me, I'm most certainly happy to talk with you about the Dr and what to expect with him! Sent from my SM-G930V using the BariatricPal App

I'm interested in finding out about how people actually pay for their surgery. Anyone willing, would you please indicate the following: 1. Surgery type (RNY, Lap-Band, Revision, Sleeve, etc.) 2. Self-pay, "government" program (ie, Medicare, Medicaid) or private insurance 3. Amount billed (grand total, not itemized!) 4. Amount YOU personally paid 5. Geographic location (either region or state) 6. If you had insurance, did it cover bariatric services? I'm curious what percent self-pay versus those who have insurance & those with insurance, but no bariatric coverage. Thanks in advance for anyone willing to participate...I'll be happy to post the results, so everyone can see any "trends" found!!

I take a lot of medication daily for my medical needs so adding in my vitamins wasn't a big deal. I discovered the Bariatric Advantage chewable calcium citrate and those are like chewy candy, the texture of Starburst candy chews. Now chewy candy is my favorite and I really, really missed it. Adding in 6 calcium chews, 2 chews 2 hours a part, 3 times a day, is perfect for me. It is like I still get my chewy candy treat multiple times daily. It is something I actually look forward to instead of more pills. If you can find something that works for you like that, it will help you not feel so bogged down by a pill schedule. My husband laughs because I get excited when it is time for my calcium. Heck I even keep them in my grandma's candy bowl on my kitchen counter because they are my "candy" now.

The one thing you will soon discover is that there are many different protocols for bariatric programs. Some doctors are very conservative and basically have patients following the same vitamin/supplement protocol as bypass patients. Some simply recommend a multivitamin. It's good to hear different opinions here on the forums but ultimately you need to follow the instructions you get from your doctor/nutritionist. These are the people you have entrusted with your care. They are the ones responsible for making sure you have regular bloodwork and recommend any adjustments. If you take any other supplements outside of what is recommended, they are the one should discuss and review that with. Develop good communication with them to make sure you are doing what's best for you.

Good Morning, I am the practice manager at the Comprehensive Obesity Management Program (COMP) at Greater Baltimore Medical Center in Towson, MD 21204. Please feel free to call us at 443.849.3779 for information about our program. and lap band surgery. When choosing a bariatric center look for a Center of Excellence and find out in advance which programs are covered by your health insurance provider. I hope to hear from you. Jeanne Gayle Practice Manager COMP at GBMC 443.849.3779 main office line www.gbmc.org/bariatrics

I don't think it is insane at all, especially considering that your future insurance won't cover bariatrics. Just be sure you choose a dress with simple lines that can easily be taken in. You might want to consult with a dressmaker about which styles will not tailor well, since you are likely to lose 40-60 pounds by your wedding day. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I wouldnt get another fill. Ive been there. I thought the tighter I was the more weight I would lose and that just wasnt the case. I had to end up getting an un-fill. I found I wasnt able to get enough calories in to substain my workouts let alone lose fat. Its been 10 months for me and I just hit 45 lbs lost. For many of us it is a VERY slow process. If you are one of those people you must just learn to accept that. The band does about 15% of the work. 70% is your diet and te other 15% is your exercise. 5 bariatric surgeons told me this in a seminar I went to before surgery. I didnt believe them. I really thought I could work out hard and lose weight quicker. NOT true. I lose maybe half of a pound a week and I do all the right things.

Oh-oh, we were on different wavelengths. My reference to being educated was in the sense of knowledgeable about WLS, not about formal education. I was curious about your stance as a professional on the politicization of WLS. Many who have formal schooling or native intelligence are wildly narrow-minded. The reverse holds, too. I suppose I lean toward ignoring the dolts partly because my surgery was long ago enough that the surgery itself has taken a back seat and partly because other things going on in my life take up the time and energy. If, however, I encounter a true Neanderthal or Luddite, I'll be to storm the Bastille to defend the honor of bariatrics and the people who love it.I completely agree FatKellyRN>soontobe<SleeveKellyRN

Good afternoon, Usually as long as your bmi doesn't lower, the insurance company wants to see that loss of weight. Losing weight shows that you are trying. As the gentlemen stated above, you still may want to speak to your bariatric team or nurse just to make sure. Sent from my SM-G360P using the BariatricPal App

Today was my last monthly appointment of the six required by insurance so my doctor's office will be submitting to insurance in the next couple of days. Fingers crossed. Surgery is scheduled for July 18. We also used today as my pre-op appointment and went through everything. Thanks to this forum I felt very prepared to have this meeting and came prepared with lots of questions. One thing I have noticed is how much variety there is on surgeon preferences. Here are some highlights of how my surgeon handles things: Pre-op Diet: One week liquid only, 800-1000 calories and 60-80 grams of Protein. Incisions-uses steri strips so no need for stitches to be removed Does not use a drain unless necessary based on how things go, averages one every two years so low likelihood Does the leak test during surgery rather than next day before you go home. Says he would rather know during so can fix right away than have to put me under again to fix. Should be released by 3-4pm day after Will be released with pain pills, anti-nausea pills and pill to help prevent ulcers Will not give bariatric specific Vitamins. He said blood work will determine any deficiencies over time but as long as eating a proper diet a multi-Vitamin should be sufficient Can't wait!!