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The adjustable gastric band (Lap-Band or Realize Band) is not all that new any more. The Lap-Band has been approved for use in the USA since 2001, the Realize Band since 2007, and other brands of bands have been used in the rest of the world since the 1980's. I had a band slip (resolved with a complete unfill) and a port flip (corrected with surgery), but I loved my band. You're correct that band surgery is reversible, though I wouldn't recommend doing that unless it was to treat a complication. Just because it's reversible doesn't mean that the band is easy to remove. RNY (gastric bypass) is also reversible, though not easily. VSG (vertical sleeve gastrectomy) is not reversible, and only the "switch" part of DS (duodenal switch) is reversible. Good luck with your decision. It's good that you're doing research. I suggest thatyou carefully weigh what other bariatric patients and a bariatric surgeon tell you, and pick the procedure that feels right for you, to meet your weight loss needs and your post-op lifestyle. Jean

I started doing all my pre-op doctor appointments in March 2014. I had Cardiologist, Endoscopy, sleep study and Psychological visits all done in 3 1/2 months. The only problem found from all appoinments at that time was a mild case of sleep apnea and they discovered a few PVC's while I slept during the study. So went back to cardiologist and he put me on a Holter moniter for 21 days. On the the 16th day doctor called me in for immediate visit with some new results from the moniter. The night before he saw A-Fib not PVC's which has resulted in having to take Eliquis, Flecainide, and Beta Blocker meds. Also I just had an Eco Cardiogram which results were fine. So at this point feeling a little discouraged because my surgery should have been in next few weeks. I do understand thats why they do all these different doctor visits/tests so there's no surprises during surgery and beyond. Basically I was wondering has anyone else had this type of delay and how long did it take for surgery clearance from cardiologist and Bariatric Surgeon. Any input would be appreciated. Thank you.

that is very worrisome! is there another bariatric doc near you?

Andrea, I understand you may have to travel, but I'd consider finding another surgeon. If your surgeon needs proctor, it MIGHT be that he hasn't placed the new AP band and he needs a proctor to go over placement with him (it's a little different), but it most likely is because he isn't certified by Allergan/Inamed yet, period. And that's okay, he's not necessarily incompetent, he's may just be brand new to banding. He may have done tons of various laparascopic procedures and maybe has done hundreds of bypasses, but he likely hasn't done many bands. But that's a consideration. Given the history of his pushing and pushing you to have bypass done, I'm leaning toward him not having done many bands. Do you want to be someone's first or second band ever? I *might* if I was comfortable and confident with the surgeon when I interviewed him. Based on what you've told us of your conversations with him, I would NOT be comfortable with his confidence in his own abilities or his own willingness to learn and try the latest advancements. Seriously, GO FIND ANOTHER SURGEON. I know you have kids, many of us do. I understand you may work, many of us do, I know it must be hard to arrange, but Andrea, this is your body and your new life you are dealing with here. Find a day or two that you can set aside to travel to an appt. Really think about this, please. From what I understand being Allergan/Inamed (Allergan is the newer name) certified to place the band is not state by state. It's one time. You can call Allergan and ask them if your surgeon is certified. The website is lapband.com and you should be able to find a link to look him up. What is his name, BTW? You can look him up on obesityhelp.com and on tha American Society of Bariatric Surgeons (asbs.org) to see if he's a member. Please do these things, or PM me the name or post it here and we'll see what we can find out about him to see how much experience he has.

Do you have a surgeon already? I didn't have to do as many things as you list but the bariatric coordinator at the surgery center had people for all my insurances requirements.

With one third of the adult American population being obese, it is no surprise that there are florence, Italy, Austrian researcher Philipp Hohensinner and his collaborators discussed the role of bariatric surgery in improving and possibly reversing the premature aging phenotype of previously morbidly obese patients. http://acsh.org/news/2016/07/28/bariatric-surgery-may-reverse-obesity-associated-premature-aging/

I struggle with the same thing. I am definitely still low energy. My surgery was 3/9/16. I think it is pretty common to be totes the first few months. I guess no one posts they are too tired to work out in Instagram. I have done workouts, but I was super tired the next day. Everyone keeps telling me it is still very early on. I have a bariatric small group training I do that really helps. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Hi all, I had my 8 week visit with the Dietician today and have been progressed onto 'normal foods'. Yayyy! I've lost 12.5kg (28 lb) since my Op & feel good. She was happy with my weight loss, but slightly concerned how quickly I'm losing and queried whether I have been eating enough. I assured her that I have and don't let myself get too hungry. I've only been walking 2-3 times a week and she doesn't recommend upping the ante just yet as I'm still recovering. She said I can try toast, crispbread, soft drink & I alcohol (keeping in mind it will affect me more). I also told her how I've eaten chocolate and wasn't scolded- just told it's a 'sometimes food' and to know my limits. It was pleasantly refreshing because some people in the bariatric community talk like it's the antichrist lol I can hear the US weight loss patients collectively gasp at how much free reign I'm allowed. I have faith in her professional advice as she works closely with my surgeon, who is well regarded in my state & has trained most other GB surgeons in the city. What I am wondering is whether other people have been given the same advice. I don't really have much contact with other GB patients in Australia, so can't compare. I wonder whether pre & post op diets are that much stricter in the US because insurance companies fund the surgery costs, therefore want the patient to drop weight super quickly? I might be way off....I don't know much about US insurance. I just know that I paid hospital cover for 12 months and was instantly approved for surgery, whereas it seems like the process is much more complicated in America. So glad to be progressing on to the next stage in this journey.

My pre-op journey has seemed to drag on forever. Monthly weigh-ins, a very occasional appointment. I was all psyched up as I finally had my cardio appointment scheduled, labs scheduled, next nurse practitioner appointment scheduled. Then came the phone call. A very strange phone call from the cardiology department, sounding like they had no idea why I was even coming in. Then another phone call. This one from the Bariatric Department. It seems that when cardio got my referral, they made my appointment with the WRONG DOCTOR!!! How does this happen? It seems to me that if Bariatrics is making the referral that it would be pretty obvious why I'm coming in. So, now, my cardio appointment has been pushed back a month. Because it got pushed back, my nurse practitioner appointment got cancelled! So, I went from full speed ahead to still in the Water (my famine). Very down, wanted to eat everything in sight. But!!! I stuck with my diet, kept going to weigh-ins. And this morning...another phone call. Due to my last weigh-in being in November and the holidays coming up, the patient advocate didn't want to take a chance of my appointments being "lost in the madness" (his words). So now I'm feasting with three appointments in September, two in October and my last weigh-in and follow up in Bariatrics to send everything to the insurance company in mid November! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for December surgery. It seems that it would make a nice circle as last December is when I decided to have RNY surgery.

Ok, so I went to the weight center in the fall of 2011 and went through all the classes, psych eval, nut, weigh ins, etc and paid my surgery track fee....Then found out that my husbands bcbs ppo national account had an exclusion on bariatric care. I even went and was was diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea, which i am glad i got the CPAP as I am sleeping better and my husband says I am not snooring as much as in the past, plus on this account! So, I wrote a 6 page letter outlining my history....Please don't worry after you read this, but when I was almost 20 I was crossing the strret in college, of course in the middle of the night with all the athletes before spring break trips for sports and I was hit by a 55 mile an hour car crossing the street. I broke my back, pelvic, had Filled up with fluid in my legs and the hip I was hit on, plus fracturing my skull and damaging my neck. No worries, I survived, but was told I would never be able to play sports like I did because of the injuries and were bad, but that didnt stop me. i learned to re-walk and care for myself....then the following season I wanted to just try to play soccer knowing I had ,issed softball all varsity sports, so I didnt want the driver to determine my fate.....Coach and the team were so excited to see me dressed.....I walked out on the field took one pass to me and as I crossed half field to kick it in the goal, which would have been easy for me....i kicked and felt a horrible pain through my body...shruuged it off, asked for another one thinking I could pass and low and behold body told me H..LL NO. I hugged the team and said sorry I just can't do this. The trainer drove me back to the lockers and that was the last time I was ever on the field until I had children...but before children I had surgeries to remove fluid off my hip and legs, but it will always be there. I was healthy at 180 lbs just not as muscular as I was in the past. So having children, wasnt sure that could happen based on the drs reports. So my husband was told this on our first date because I decided I didnt want him to get connected unless he was aware, yes he laughed...i already went through a long relationship and he was different than anyone I had ever been with..he says its because of the accident and I say its because he made me laugh. Ok, got preg for our first, deemed high risk...now the drama, the found a fibroid growing beside our baby...i was watched every week. Anyway was put on bed rest, the day of the c-section was def a comedy show, i had 2 surgeons in case I needed emergency hysteroctomy but when they said our new son was fine, they asked if they could take pictures of the fibroid as it was large, we asked them to remove it, but it was too dangerouse and I could die from blood los, etc so they tucked it back in my uterous and my life has never been the same. I couldnt loose the preg weight due to the pain on my back...so the dr told us if we wanted another child now or never...so they helped us get preg for our second...the fibroid grew, we ended up aving an emergency c-section 7 weeks early and our daughter was 5 lbs, again too dangerous so tucked fibroid back in. Anyways, i finally had enough....went in for an eval for the hysterectomy and after them saying no more and we couldnt get preg again, surprise of our lives we were. Thought we lost the baby cause I was bleeding and they didnt expect the baby to make it. A nurse at my work gave me shots to help me along....needless to say, our third was taken emergency c-section if you couldnt guess but she was over 8 lbs abd healthy...me on the other hand not so much....the re-oppened me that night as I had a major infection. I was then packec at home for months to heal, but we had our last baby...tubes tied as well. Now to heal, 2 yrs ago I had an ablasion to stop the horribly female cycles due to the fibroid, but it didnt help with the size....i am getting to my question, but figured you needed this background....so now its been 10 yrs, our son just turned 10 but had the fibroid for 11yrs, now its pushing on my bladder and I drip all the time, uterous is pushed uo as its inside the wall, constant back pain and it pushes on my pelvic and back.....so, this 6 pg letter was just captured in this paragraph...but it was to my husbands company as we would out there is an exclusion for weight loss. Needless to say, I self paid all the previous apts but stopped going as we wrote the letter to see if they would waive the exclusion...YES after 5 months of follow my husbands HR team overrode the exclusion and worked with BCBC to approve me. Now my letter said verticle sleeve, but they wrote a note that after review they approved the bypass......NOW what...they are working on how to notify the drs and Heres my question.....what are my chances of getting the sleeve? Can i loose over 100 lbs?? Also my uterous is enlarged so i am worried about bypass and only wanted sleeve! I dont know when I will be able to go back to the dr, but now that I have ben waiting and got the news wasnt sure what your thoughts are on getting them to agree to sleeve versus bypass. Thanks for listening! I read all the discussions and guess this is my largest post. Thanks again for your time.

So I'm sitting with the bariatric coordinator now and she is scheduling my surgery July 7th!! Finally a date set in stone!!!! So ecstatic! just thought is share with you all!

I'd be jumping up and down - sending emails - voicemails till someone called me back. Heck, 3 weeks ago when I finally made the desicison not to go with lapband, but the sleeve instead - i called the bariatric coordinator to make them aware, called my insurance company to make them aware and to double check to see if there were diferent qualifications and hoops to jump through, there were none - so I was about to just drive to the bariatric center (True Results) and speak to someone face to face to make sure they have this changed in my files so when they send it all for insurance next week - we'd all be on the same page.....they called 8 days later to inform me they got my messages and have switched surgeons, surgery and hospital so when i come in next week - all will be up to date..... You really DO have to stay on top of everything.....it's your surgery, therefore I own it 100% to know what my insurance requires, and to check it off as everything gets completed.

I bought some random brand whey Protein, but it was in vanilla. I actually like it better than the fruit flavors so far. I prefer chicken broth, but beef broth isn't bad. I had this idea that I was really gonna like vegetable broth (No idea where I got that idea), but I had it and it tasted like boiled mashed stinky carrots. I could barely get it down, and that was pre-surgery when I could stomach almost anything! All the broths I got were the reduced sodium. You could get broth and maybe add some unjury Protein Powder to it to add some protein, I think I'm gonna try that in the next week or so. Some places will have sample packs. I know my bariatric clinic sold nectar brand protein in many flavors in single use packets. I have grabbed a couple flavors and they've been alright so far.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step and I have taken that step! Saturday I attended a surgical information seminar and today I called Grand Health Partners (bariatric clinic) and have my first appointment scheduled! I meet with the internist on August 16 to review my history and then she will order labs/testing to get this process started. I am excited! I am NERVOUS! I am ... I don't know what I am, LOL

Dr. Sabapathy is the PsyD (clinical psychologist) associated with the program. He does testing, generally required for insurance approval, but I don't know if self pays also have to see him just for the benefit of the mental health side or not. He's nice, a bit too positive IMO (kind of cheerleader-ish), but that's probably exactly what a lot of people need. He's very rational and he was part of the program when I had my first surgery there in 2006 so he is definitely well-versed in the bariatric neuroses. His specialty is pain management, though, IIRC. Here's the third listed: http://www.shawneemission.org/health-services/bariatric-surgery/our-physicians.html

yahoo - just called the insurance company and it is covered - no need to do another 6 months or anything - so I just have to confirm with True Results to switch surgeons to one that performs the sleeve and I should be good to go....phew. after talking with the nurse at the insurance company who specialized in bariatric care - she agreed 100% that if I am not able to chew my food throughly NOW, then it will be much worse if I got the band, as I'd be miserable and since the insurance only covers 1 surgery per lifetime, I better get one that will work for me. I feel so much better...again - thanks for everyone's support!!

Jenna I have about 100 pounds to lose as well. Im super excited though I've done my hw and feel great about my surgeon and the hospital and all the after care available for free afterwards (visits to the bariatric nurse at no charge, free support groups initiated by the bariatric program). Its also a baratric center of excellence and makes me feel good about the stringent requirements by the surgeons and hospital.

Most surgeons have an information session where each of the procedures are reviewed and explained in great detail. I would suggest taking your husband to one of these meetings. He can also research the different procedures online. There's a lot of good information on the web. If your surgeon's office or local hospital has a support group for bariatric patients, this would be an excellent resource. You and your husband can actually talk to people who have had the different surgeries and hear their stories. I know my husband was nervous about me having such a major surgery, but he was also incredibly supportive. I did my best to educate him about the different options, which helped alleviate his fears. These boards are also very helpful. There are so many helpful people here. Good luck to you both. Keep us posted on your progress.

I hope all goes well for you. Do you know if your insurance is going to cover? I don't know yet. When I made the appointment they told me they thought it did, but when I look at my insurance online it is blank where the bariatrics is listed, so I don't know. T.

I had the greatest idea for opening a new chain of fast food restaurants this morning. It would be a post bariatric surgery patients dream come true. The only thing on the menu would be high protein meats and fish, cottage cheese and Greek yogurt, sugar-free Jell-O and putting, some fancy flavored ricotta cheese desserts, veggies and low carb fruits. We would make our own delicious protein smoothies. There would be absolutely no bread, pasta, chips or even liquids of any kind served. The salad bar would offer customers a scale for their use so they could measure their own portions.,Every day would also feature a couple of high-protein low-carb hot meals. I would call it The Pro Shop. That should read *pudding! Damn autocorrect

He has a nutritionist, but she's been pretty useless. It's her information that he gave me. Maybe I should look into seeing one here in my town and working with her, though she undoubtedly has little to no experience with bariatric surgery patients. Small town. One of the problems I ran into is that he'd tell me one thing and then her packet of info would tell me another. Like milk. It's listed on her diet guidelines, but he doesn't want me drinking any milk. I'm not drinking it as a beverage, but I am using it on my hot Cereal and in my Protein shakes. Anyway, I just thought of a good response when he tells me something I am eating shouldn't be in my diet. "If that's not suitable, then give me better lists of what I can and can't eat during this time, because frankly, I'm just trying to survive without breaking any big band rules." So how much does your surgeon talk to you about food?

I got banded on 8-1-12. I understand your excitement and nervousness about the insurance. I have been trying off and on for 20 years to get some kind of bariatric surgery. I found out in April that the Cigna my company paid for this year would cover it. So I was in a crunch to get the approval and all the testing and jump through all of the hoops before they changed it again the end of August! haha. But its mine now and they can't take it away from me!!! The surgery went great, but then if you want this and need this as badly as I did, anything short of excruciating pain would be worth it!!! I am only 4 days post op and I can feel the differences already. My skin feels looser and my face looks different already. I have to lose 170 lbs to reach my goal weight. I feel better already. Good luck on your surgery, keep us updated. I'm so excited for you!

I've been doing to the docs since July 24 (first appointment was made in June, but, as we all know, it's a waiting game). I have my endo (re)scheduled to 10/3 (the first facility didn't take my insurance 😠) and my pre-op with my primary on 9/30. My surgery is set (as along as all tests are good), for 10/28/19. I've lost 36 plus pounds on my own. I watch everything that goes into my mouth and I exercise. I also obsessively go on this site and facebook grounds about bariatric surgery and watch my 600-lb life when I'm not feeling motivated enough (I will tend to go for a nice, long walk after seeing their struggles). I read stuff every day. I feel like I'm obsessed! The date seems so far, yet so close. What is everyone else doing to prepare for the big day?

I recently had my blood work done ( I am not schedule for surgery until late 2014) However it came back that I was positive for H. Pylori and my PCP said that the Bariatric surgeon should be the one who gives me meds since he ask for the test. Any thought about this anyone: I find it a little strange that my PCP want treat me :-( I want to get this resolve because I am sure I will not be able to go thru with surgery until I test neg I am so glad that I started these test 6 months in advance would hate to have found this out a week before surgery PLEASE HELP any advice .........is helpful

I used the Bariatric Advantage as well. I'm a chocolate lover, and I have to say, I did not love the chocolate but the vanilla was very palatable especially if you add sugar free Jello or flavorings, ice and the like. And if you actually have all you are supposed to (4 with milk or 5 with water) your body will be very happy with the complete nutrition it is getting. (Your brain is something else entirely). I did not have a choice in the matter, as my surgeon likes a level playing field. Everyone gets BA or Optifast. I had Optifast years ago and did not care for it. My brain was REALLY hungry until around day 9 when I had a total emotional meltdown. Then the next day and from there on out, I was fine. I just didn't care any more. After surgery I had three more weeks of that, so I was on liquids for a total of 5 weeks. (one week of that was Clear Liquids post op.) If you go with B.A., you will need 3 canisters (about $200). Also, If they haven't told you yet....if you drink coffee, get detoxed well before surgery. You don't need to go through caffeine withdrawal while you're trying to recover from surgery. (you can have it back later, don't worry ) My two cents.