Search the Community

PAR, that's a very slippery slope you've tried to manage and it is one best left alone. The best way to discuss these things is in one of the support groups where everyone, including the employees, open up about their experiences. They generally tell their beginning weight and what they have lost to date and sometimes show the before and after pictures. This is where you will get the true gist of what is working for whom. Some people have larger amounts of weight to lose and it takes them quite awhile to get to the point that you might not consider them to be overweight. Everyone is different and not all bariatric patients wish to keep working to get thin. Some just want to get enough weight off to help them deal with their medical problems. I'm not that familiar with the band but from what I've read on here, the weight loss is slower than with the other surgeries so you can compare the bands with the VSG or the By-Pass. The surgery is a tool to assist patients with their diets, it's not a miracle cure and it won't work unless you stick to the diet and we all know that not everybody sticks to the diet. So, you can't look at that particular Bariatric Office to see if the surgery is successful. This forum is awesome and you can see by the posts people make, that they are getting out of the surgery exactly what they put into it. Some people have better results than others, it's just one of those things. Another thing, are you having the lap band? If not then you should be directing your questions more towards the people that have the surgery you plan on getting. I had the sleeve on Feb. 10th, I've lost 46 pounds and I feel its the best thing I've ever done for myself. Good luck.

In complete agreement with above posters. Meet with Bariatric surgeon and team. Learn all that you can about the procedure. I was able to gain information by following medical twitter and the bariatric thought leaders that post some of the latest data on metabolic changes that surgery brings. Also I found a great podcast by Reeger Cortell ARNP, called "Weight Loss Surgery Podcast". In the past 6 months I only experienced one unprofessional encounter, and that was with Cardiologist during appointment for cardiac clearance. Was scheduled for this next Monday but got the call today to postpone 2 weeks as I'm just getting over bronchitis. Reset for 11/4. Good luck to you! Let us know how things are going!

Ok just trying to help. I have always paid my bills on time and assumed you would too. Just wanted you to know I did NOT mean to imply that you could get out of paying the bill. Personally I've got cash ready for when the hospital bills me; I had thought I'd be self pay, so I'm kind of in a reverse situation from yours. They didn't make me pay anything up front except my $150 deductible. I'll owe around 1500 when they get around to billing me for it; since they didn't ask me to pay up front for my bariatric surgery, I'd hoped that a similar situation for you might give you time to gather the funds. Sorry if I made it sound like you should not pay; that was never my intention. That's stealing.

Congratulations for getting to this stage! I know for me, this period is the hardest to stay patient. lol. I echo what others have said - every program/hospital seems to be different. My last clearance appointment was on June 6. The bariatric coordinator called me a couple weeks later to schedule the surgery. It's been scheduled for July 21,

aleach, I'm glad you found a therapist that you like who is also a good bariatric support person! I don't like the one who leads our support group, but I can tolerate her for the length of the monthly meeting. I found someone else who is a better fit for me, which is what we all should do, IMO. Find the person who makes you comfortable.

Just got back from Mexico with my partner. I had my surgery in NY. I had a bmi of 40 so insurance covered it. She only had bmi of 32 so we went to Mexico after we spoke to my bariatric surgeon about it. We are both nurses and even my surgeon supported medical tourism. He says they are just as qualified. We used Fernando Garcia. He is an accredited bariatric surgeon. he does about 10 sleeves a week which is more than my surgeon in NYC. We were in an actual hospital. She received blood work, x-Ray, EKG and check up from 3 doctors (2 worked with Dr. Garcia and one was an internal medicine doctor.) we also met the anesthesiologist prior to the surgery. Everything happened just as they said it would. The hospital was simple ( Florence hospital) but clean. The hotel (Marriott) was great. Everyone spoke English and answered all of our questions. she had her surgery exactly 2 weeks ago and went back to work today 12 pounds lighter. as far as the insurance coverage after you should call your insurance company and also ask your primary doctor if they can follow you after the procedure to monitor the surgical site and lab work. They will also know what they can do within insurance guidelines. Feel free to pm me if you have any questions. We were very happy wih our choice.

Yes there are 3! My insurance wanted me to use one of them b/c they are all "in network". Amy Elizabeth Martin Great Falls (406) 455-2821 More InfoRNY, LAP-BAND® Benefis Bariatric Institute 37Dale Mortenson Great Falls (406) 452-0877 More InfoRNY, LAP-BAND®, Revision Benefis Bariatric Institute 12David Rohrer Great Falls (406) 771-8411 More InfoRNY, LAP-BAND®, Revision Benefis Bariatric Institute 96

Does anyone have any experience with Dr. Goyal in NJ? He operates at Overlook Hospital in Summit with an office in Union. I'm going to his Seminar in a few weeks and would like to know if anyone has had their surgery by him (NJ Bariatric Center). Other drs you were happy with? Ones that are good and take Aetna (in Network) would be appreciated and in Central, NJ (I'm not asking for much here, am I?!) Thanks!

Hello my name is David! I weight roughly 340 lbs and have been pursuing bariatric surgery since June of 2015. I just came across this forum and wanted to introduce myself. I just had my sleeve procedure yesterday at St. Alexius Medical Center in Hoffman Estates, IL. I Plan on sharing my journey here And using this forum as an educational resource. If anyone else on this forum happens to live in the area of Illinois I would love to hear your experiences with the surgery as well

I'm currently pre op, surgery on the 8th of July, someone mentioned to me once upon a time to calculate my BMR. I've always heard of bmi, but not bmr- which tells you how many calories your body burns per day and can be adjusted depending on how much weight you need to lose. Not sure if this applies to bariatric patients or not, but might also be a helpful tool. http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

I still would like some more info on Dr A and going through Bariatric Pal. Where do I even start?

Honestly? That's what got a lot of us this fat to begin with. I'm planning on avoiding those foods as much as I can til I'm in maintenance. They're trigger foods for me. My nutritionist/surgeon puts their patients on a strict low-carb, high-protein plan, and that seems to be the case for most bariatric patients, from my research.

don't know a thing about LV area, but I am in reno and we have a great team at Western Bariatric. They are part of the centers of excellence, so if s.nev doesn't work come see these guys. Western Bariatric Institute :: Home i believe, or just google it.

I have Cigna and I started with one bariatric clinic and ended up choosing another. The first told me that Cigna is very strict and to not gain a pound or I would be denied. They also had a chart to fill out that had a box for diet and exercise, and that if both were not filled out, it wouldn’t be approved. The second clinic did not mention a thing to me and even allowed a visit with my primary care doctor to be counted as my first month. We talked about dieting and obesity, but not like I do with the weight loss clinic. I am not sure what was in the notes but I can’t imagine it was much. Cigna approved my claim in 48 hours due to being 37 and already having a knee replacement. Age: 37 Height: 5’6 BMI: 37 VSG scheduled for 4/16/18 GW: 160 MFP: Fit4LifeAR

I've been making Soups from the Bariatric Cookbook and freezing them for when I go back to work and come home too tired to think about preparing meals. I've learned that advance preparation helps enormously. I've also learned that TV food commercials are not good for me.

Thank you all for the support. I think talking with a bariatric therapist is probably a good idea. I'm just not sure how to find one. I am planning to attend a support group (hosted by my nutritionist) later this month. I will ask her if she can recommend anyone. It's good to know I'm not alone. I still feel a little crazy though.

I began my journey back in December and now my gastric sleeve surgery date has finally arrived. Back when I first started out and was attending pre-op appointments, nutritionist visits, getting various tests and lab work done, and generally jumping through a lot of hoops, it seemed like I'd never get to this point. Now that I'm here it almost seems like it's all happening too fast. I've done a lot of reading on here and other bariatric surgery forums in the past few months, but I never felt a desire to participate until now. I'll be heading to the hospital soon and I'm feeling emotional. Everyone seems to be so different in how their recovery progresses and I have a lot of anxiety over not knowing how I'll feel when I wake up and for the first few months. It's also daunting to be making such a big decision that involves a serious and irreversible change to my body. Still, I can only hope it will be better than the life I've been living. I'm only 24, but I'm physically disabled (from birth) and I've spent most of my life overweight to obese due to low activity levels, a poor relationship with food and nutrition, and a lack of positive coping skills to deal with my anxiety and depression. I'm tired of physically feeling heavy and how the weight exacerbates my disability-related pains and mobility issues. I'm tired of the slow creep towards various comorbidities. And I'm tired of looking in the mirror and being ashamed of what I see and how I got myself to this point. I also don't want food and eating to rule my life and my feelings anymore. I am scared. But the stories I've read about here and elsewhere online have inspired me. I think I'm finally ready to change my life. Wish me luck.

Care Credit is pretty strict about who they will finance now. The years of "easy" financing even with bad credit are pretty much over, and most doctor's offices now will not finance surgery for anyone. It makes sense - they are in the business of medicine, not in the business of accepting financial risk. So they take credit cards, Care Credit and a few other surgical financing companies. I guess I would either postpone the surgery, pay for it and then get immediately back into a tight budget to replace the money or see if you can get a credit card (which will likely have a high interest rate if you can). I work for my bariatric surgeon and we get calls like this all the time. It is very sad, but getting financing for an elective surgery with poor credit is extremely difficult now. I wish I had better news for you. :hug: You are facing a tough choice.

Does your doc recommend any Vitamins? My plan listed Centrum chewables, Flintstones Complete, the Bariatric Advantage Multis. I tried the Opurity chewables and couldn't handle them so I went to the Flintstones. I feel like I'm 8 again, but I can easily get my two in per day. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Here are some more that I found... http://ww2.khou.com/Global/story.asp?S=2126357 http://www.lapsurgery.com/BARIATRIC%20SURGERY/Before&AfterPics.htm http://www.inamed.com/products/obesity/us/patient/lapband/photos.html http://www.inamed.com/products/obesity/us/clinician/lapband/photos.html http://gastricband.com/html/stories.html http://www.whyweight.com click on success stories http://www.obesitydoctors.com/NY/BeforeAndAfterPictures.htm

My surgeon recommended Slim-Fast Optima for the pre-surgery diet. 3 per day along with a Bariatric protein shake or 4 Slim-Fast Optima per day if you didn't buy the Bariatric shakes.

My insurance doesn't cover Bariatric Services either, but because my BMI is higher than normal they overrode my plan and it is covered. Check with your PCP to see if they can put in a referral to see if they will cover it. Good luck! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I think that there are very good doctor's in Mexico and surgeries are and can be very successful. I work in a hospital that has a Bariatric Program and I work closely with the medical director of that program. He has mentioned to me that people who get banded in Mexico have trouble at times finding doctors who will assist them with complications (although rare) and fills because of the liability they are afraid of. And that is coming from the bariatric program themselves. But other people I see on the board have no problems at all finding fill doctors. So, go figure!

Yes, they bypass is more prone, or predisposed to, ulcers than the sleeve (just as the sleeve is predisposed to GERD.,) but they are a different sort of ulcer than what you have. The bypass tends toward marginal ulcers around the anastomosis (junction) between the new stomach pouch and intestines. This is because the part of intestine that is now immediately downstream of the stomach is not resistant to stomach acid like the duodenum - the upper part of the intestine immediately downstream of the normal stomach, which gets bypassed along with the remnant stomach in the RNY. Consequently, that anastomosis is very sensitive and prone to ulcers, which is the root of the "no NSAID" rule that permeates bariatrics - you don't want to take any medication that could irritate that anastomosis (there are other meds that may be limited, too, but NSAIDs are the most common class.) What I would be concerned about is what caused your ulcer, and whether that cause would be relieved (or exacerbated) by your surgery. Similar to your hiatal hernia and GERD - fixing the hernia will likely correct your GERD and you will be back to "normal" - no more predisposed to it if you get a sleeve, but still possible. One of the problems with the bypass is that it leaves you with a blind remnant stomach and upper intestine, which can't be easily monitored with an endoscopy, so if something develops in that blind section, you may not know about it until things have progressed more than you would like them to progress (possibly to a cancer.) Some express a dislike for the sleeve because if they have a resultant reflux problem then it could lead to Barret's esophagus and possibly cancer, which is a fair concern; however, that is something that can be easily monitored endoscopically if those symptoms develop, and can be treated; problems that may develop in the blind stomach or intestines of the RNY may not be caught until it is too late to treat effectively, so there is a trade off there. You are somewhat caught in the middle, with some contraindications for both of the common WLS procedures. This is where some serious talk, and understandings, with your medical team is appropriate to really get a good handle on your problems going into this, and how those may play out in the future. I/m not so sure that I would be comforted by the matter that the surgeon may be able to work around a problem (such as an ulcer) if that problem is likely to reoccur 5-10 years in the future, and possibly worse - the surgeon is out of the picture by then, but you aren't. There is another alternative that might be worth considering, which would be the duodenal switch - it uses a sleeve, so it doesn't leave a blind remnant stomach, but due to its' malabsorption component, they typically use a larger version of the sleeve which is less prone to GERD problem. Your surgeon may not offer it (it's a more complex procedure, so many surgeons don't offer it) but it may be worth looking into to see if that fits your need. Good luck,

Ha.ha...that's funny Both my band surgeons has been thin....however, I've seen a few other bariatric surgeons that were obese.... My current surgeon who I think is "fine" is not rail thin, told me that IF he had to go down the path of bariatric surgery he would choose the lap band, he does both Sleeve and RNY... There are MANY bariatric surgeons that have lap bands..