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You would be one of the very few, I am losing most of my friends pre surgery, and kicked hubby out yesterday... On the farting, it's a true story. Anew bariatric friend I met in the hospital was walking with me, I wasn't passing gas, and she said something and made me laugh. I started tooting, and we passed a. Nurses station and laughed some more. I tooted All the way past it...it was a scream!!

Hi, Tina, Dr Kim did my inverted sleeve 4 years ago. Hes a great doctor! He doesn't beat around the bush when it comes to your health. He cares about his patients and doesn't sugar coat anything. He is straight forward and I like that in a surgeon. His office was always so nice to me. I've lost 90 pounds and have kept it off. The after care support is amazing with support groups once a month you can watch online since you live so far away. There is also a private patient only Facebook support group that is very encouraging as well. We do lots of fun things together each month. The key to success is staying connected to a support system and to have WLS friends that used the same bariatric office makes a HUGE difference! They have a hiatal hernia program if you have insurance. Its a discount program. Give them a call. You will not regret it!

Hope you don't get a large bill from them after your HH discount program. Insurances aren't paying for the HH repair anymore especially if you have an exclusion on your policy. They have found out bariatric surgery is being done at the same time.

And my Bari-Bud @Orchids and Dragons in Texas, a shout -out here! She was my friend Presurgery , she is my friend still. She has perked me up when I am full of Whim-wahs, she is a cool head of reason in the Bariatric wars of life. May you all find your own Orchids and Dragon, sure you can go through all this aline, but it is SO MUCH BETTER when you have a friend, especially, one who has gone through the same things.

I had my gastric sleeve over a year and half ago. It has been wonderful. My mom has finally decided to have the surgery too!! We were so excited. Then she calls her primary insurance that she has through her employer and they do not cover weight loss surgery. She has Medicare as a secondary insurance because of her age, however the bariatric center said Medicare doesn't cover the surgery either. She has called Medicare twice to check for herself, but keeps either getting transferred around to various people or getting put on internal hold. I thought I could reach out to this community to see if anyone has had experience with Medicare paying for this. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

As @ShoppGirl said, if it happens, it's temporary. Even if you do lose some, you'll get past it. As to what, if anything you can do about it, there are some things that may help? Research on this is kind of sparse, but collagen, as well as biotin (a.k.a. vitamin B7), supplementation may help. Collagen is the main protein found in bone broth, so you could get extra protein from the bone broth, and potentially help ease the impact of post surgical hair loss. If you don't like or want to use bone broth, you can also buy collagen powder that you can add to other foods. Some collagen supplements have B7 in them as well. There are a few minerals such as iron & zinc that are also helpful. In addition, vitamins C, B2, B9 & B12 are important to hair growth. In short, make sure you're taking your bariatric multivitamin and it should keep the shedding to a minimum.

I also started mine as soon as I got home. I have the Bariatric Advantage (god what a long name) Innovations Advanced Multie EA. *whew* And I let it sort of dissolve in my mouth, it takes like one of those old fashioned candy bracelets to me, so I love them. I got a B injection last week. But I want my own B (Complex-Lipotropic) vial at home *angry face* I am not afraid to inject myself, when we used to use injectable B Complex Lipotropics, we lost weight more easily than when we did not use them. And we felt a tad more energetic.

Has anyone purched or used these cookbooks? Which ones would you recommend? Thanks

Lisa you are going through stages of grief. This is a process and I hope you can find a therapist to help get through this. It's not just about eating. It's about depression. Perhaps you can talk to your PCP or bariatric doctor about the depression. It is really super hard to lose a person you love so much and to see him fight as hard as he good and to lose the battle at the end. I'm talking as a therapist bc I am a therapist.... talk to us as much as you need too. Everyday.......

P.S. people used to throw this statistic around on these boards all the time, and i have no idea if it has any hardcore medical research behind it, but common belief was that about 30% of RNY'ers dump. It's less common in sleevers, but they can dump, too. I don't know how accurate that statistic is, but just from what I've been able to tell from hanging out on various bariatric boards for the last six or seven years, that wouldn't surprise me. It seems more people DON'T dump than do.

Welcome Melbel and all the other newbies. I too am new. I go for my first appt. with the Bariatric Center February 14th. How ironic is that!! Valentines Day!! My date probably won't be until July. Meanwhile, I be online here getting support :-).

I feel just like you do - and have similar height/weight. I went to the seminar last night and was not impressed. I felt the surgeon was pushing other bariatric surgeries, not lap band. He said absolutely no sugar, no milk, no caffeine. Sheeesh...why not just cut those out without getting a band. I don't think it's realistic to cut out these two foods completely!

sugar free chocolate pudding. I'm a nurse and crush meds for my patients and it's worth a try. Spreading out the meds could effect the strength of the med. Sent from bariatric pal app

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

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.

Thanks Everyone, I really need this type of support. My after surgery was not quite what I expected. I wish you all strenght and great success. Not trying to be "Debbie Downer" but this experience didnt work out the way I imagined. The truth is that I did it in the hopes of helping my marriage out (or so I thought). It seems that the opposite has happened. And before anyone jumps to conclusions, No, it's not cause of I'm being unfaithful or even wanting to be. It seems like my husband has lost complete interest in me and that devastates me. I've received MANY great compliments but instead of feeling flattered, I feel angry that it's not coming from my husband. Everyday I work on my self esteem. It's funny though cause I really do feel better but for some reason I let his actions (or lack of) take over. I love my husband so much and I really thought that I would have his support. I have been blessed with wonderful co-workers that have had other bariatric surgeries and offer me advice. I am learning a lesson and that lesson is that I have to make myself happy and not depend on anyone else for it. GOOD LUCK ALL, and thanks again for your comments.

I think it is the Joint Commission that hands out Center of Excellence ratings. It might be worth a call to Joint Commission to report the poor care. But before that, maybe you just want to give a little heads up to the office of your intentions unless they start giving you better aftercare. Center of Excellence isn't just about doing good surgeries, but doing good follow up, as well. Do a little homework and find out what the criteria are for Bariatric Centers of Excellence. Discuss this with the office MANAGER. If they want to keep their rating, they need to take care of issues - not just knock off patients who have problems. If the office manager is unwilling to listen, go up the chain of command.

Just another quick note. After many years of dieting, weighing and measuring my food, counting every calorie and carb, eliminating all wheat, sugar, and refined carbohydrates, etc...I am of the firm opinion that what goes in a person's mouth is not the deciding factor in body size or shape. Does it make a difference? Absolutely. Can you look at a larger person and assume larger calorie consumption and a complete lack of self-discipline? Not in my experience. In fact, some very reputable medical research indicates that many people who struggle with obesity eat fewer calories than others. The obese people who get attention on television describing how they eat a dozen eggs, a pound of bacon, and a loaf of bread for Breakfast are not representative of most overweight people--and that kind of sensationalism just pumps up the self-righteous, condemning attitudes toward people who are larger. We are dealing with a medical condition that most often has strong genetic and metabolic roots. When I see a client that comes in to my office weighing 350 pounds, I don't look at that person and ask "Why do you eat so much junk...why did you do this to yourself...why don't you go on a diet?" I feel the same kind of compassion that I would feel for a person struggling with any other health problem. If I'm going to ask anything, it might be, "Does anyone else in your family have a similar problem?" While this doctor may specialize in bariatric surgery, the fact that he is making assumptions about what you are eating based on your body size, suggests that his thinking is in the dark ages. I hope you find someone who will offer you the compassionate care that you deserve.

I checked my RTD shakes in cooler bags (they contained fresh milk) along with my Bullet blender. TSA always opened the bag, but I think it was the metal in the blender that set them off. Nothing ever disturbed. Bariatric Advantage has powdered shakes in individual bottles ready to be shaken with Water or skim milk. Easy to carry through security, although TSA advised to take the bottles out of my carryon and place in the tray so that the plastic bottle shape didn't upset anyone. Skim or 2% milk was fairly easy to find in an airport, if you can have that on your plan.

Source of Life liquid Gold has made my lab results perfect and I love the taste. Hated the chalky Bariatric Advantage multi. I wanted the best Vitamin possible and a compound pharmacist friend recommended the Source of Life. I do add calcium citrate and Biotin.

Never heard anything about spray vitamins or if they're recommended for bariatric patients. Did your bariatric team recommend them? Seems interesting. I take liquid iron supplements and I seem to absorb the liquid form better.

Hello! Thank you all for the words of encouragement and the the leg advise. I am taking Magnesium now. I see my bariatric doctor in 2 days for my one year check up and labs. I will talk with her about it. My daily intake: I have a premier Protein shake on the way to work. Morning snack is a fruit or nuts lunch is Chili or salad or tuna dinner is whatever we can find at home or when we go out (we carpool and my husband is not on any particular diet) So if we go to Taco Bell, I get a taco, toss the shell and eat the rest like a salad Otherwise - we grill steaks 2-3 nights a weak (emptynesters - we can have steak every night) Rib eye steaks make me dump so I have to get either a Filet Mignon or sirloin. End the day with a Protein Shake or sugar free pudding. That is a typical day - I don't have much of an appetite BUT some days - I can't get enough to eat and usually end up with a tummy ache by the time I go to bed. When will I learn not to eat so late? UGH! Today I'm sick with a cold/flu for the first time with my new tummy and I'm researching what I can take, cold medicine wise. I haven't been sick in 2 years. So I will be searching this lovely side for any advise. You have have a GREAT day! -Kim

First, I think that when someone betrays a trust, that is painful on so many levels. Not just the betrayal itself, but all the repercussions from it. What your sister did was disrespectful of your privacy, of your positive desire to help yourself, and just plain disrespectful in general. That said, I had a co-worker who barely even knew me announce that I had surgery at a luncheon, without even knowing for sure that I had. She just assumed since I had lost so much weight. I was furious, flabbergasted, stunned and speechless. What kind of person would do such a thing??? But since I HAVE had success, I have now become the poster child for bariatric surgery. There are two who have now had surgery as a result, and two more that are scheduled. So the negative turned into a positive. I've set an example and helped others to make their decision. I guess that makes me feel pretty good.

TWI is exactly right. My insurance is one which will deny you if you lose too much during the 6 month diet. My primary care doctor was wonderful in understanding this and helped me manage those few pounds that I would lose and gain back during my six month ( or what turned into 12) diet. He said that with me losing some and then gaining, it showed to my insurance that I was making an attempt;however that I was not being successful. My bariatric office was also good from the beginning about knowing what exactly my insurance would need and amounts. In fact, during my first attempt, they let me know that I would probably get a denial because of having the one year that was one BMI point too low. Everything that they advised me was dead accurate. If your center is a Center of Excellence, then they can probably tell you down to the penny what your out of pocket costs will be along with all requirements since they perform so many procedures. I left the seminar, knowing exactly what portion my insurance would cover, what extra requirements ( physical therapy, nutrition , 6 month diet, and 3 years of records), and even down to my copay for the nutritionist .

I am currently finishing my Master’s in Psychology and I happen to have a focus on Addiction Counseling, I hope to easy your stresses by elaborating a bit about the metabolic relationship of nicotine within the blood. Once imbibed nicotine metabolizes to cotinine which is generally what is tested for in most lab tests. And I am sure you are aware the different tests of urine, blood, swab, and hair follicle. The body can detox from nicotine technically in 5 days with heavy fluid flush and I high intake of Vitamin C. However, what is left is the mental/emotional attachment. The same receptors in the brain that function towards the reward center are now totally confused and are also depleting. The brain is now off balance and throwing dopamine at various levels causing emotional responses such as aggression or sadness. And some have even experienced flu like symptoms. A heavy smoker or a person that has smoked for a longer period of time will have more reward receptors to nicotine and therefore take a bit longer to adjust. But there is a bright ray of sunshine heading your way. You’re at day 13, and that my lady is a fantastic goal…one I am currently trying to reach myself (I smoke too). You should start to notice soon your taste buds will become more sensitive, your breathing has increased greatly, and your sense of smell is getting more sensitive by the minute. The average withdrawal symptom a person receives lasts technically 4 to 5 minutes and no longer, however with that information just know the more recent the quitting withdraw attacks can occur back to back. During this time I would suggest chewing peppermint gum or spearmint .Peppermint reacts to the same receptors in the brain as nicotine and the same flushes of withdrawal that occur in the tongue are masked by the peppermint gum. Not to mention this gives something for your mouth to do, creating a new habit. As with any addiction the emotional attachment should be addressed and this would be the time to ask yourself why you are attracted to cigarettes? what do they provide? My self personally, they have always been there like an old friend. Through even stressful or happy event they were there. But they are also the ones that have brought a lot of stress to my life when I ran out..lol I can tell you, you are the only one that can set the goal to truly quit. Your surgeon or family can tell you, you must quit getting the surgery. But if you are not the one to say enough is enough, then you will be right back to smoking soon after surgery. I know you most likely know all the benefits and risks there is to this type of surgery and smoking. If you are a smoker, you have a 75% increased risk of blot clots, stroke, or cardiovascular troubles. This too is a life changing event and one that anyone who is a smoker and seeking bariatric surgery must come to grips with. You’re not alone, just reach out. If you feel like you are going to cheat, or the stress is getting too much hop on her and I will gladly help talk you down. Heck, you got a 13 day head start on me but I’ll be your quit buddy! I wish you all the best of luck and I know you have it in your to quit and have a successful surgery.