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Thank you guys so much !!!! That's what I thought I will be calling the surgeon's office tomorrow and ask for something else. The thing is, doing the paperwork, I even put down that I had had the bariatric surgery cuz they wanted you to list all your surgeries in the past 5 years and I even put down under the medications that I take the bariatric vitamins and calcium. I guess it's so easy to just get so busy in your life that you just kind of forget these things but I'm glad I looked at the prescription when I got home and thought about that. I am so very thankful to have all of you help me when I am just not thinking straight Loving Life

That's good to know.......the medical staff has indicated they can repair the hiatal hernia during bariatric surgery, but nothing was mentioned about the abdominal one. I hope to be able to get a tummy tuck once my weight has stabilized, I've heard they can combine it with a hernia repair. My only issue with waiting is it's uncomfortable to even try situps, it doesn't feel right!

"transference" in an interesting notion, but based on my current experience, I've become convinced that there's a brain chemical explanation for my alcohol increase post-bariatric...... First off, let's acknowledge that heredity has a lot to do with addiction. Some of us are just born wired to fall prey to over drinking. Study: If neither of your parents were alcoholics, you have a 1 in 10 chance of developing alcohol issues. If one parent was an alcoholic, your odds move to 1 in 2, and if both parent were alcoholics, your odds move to 4 in 5. ack!! Guess who drew that last lucky straw! AA calls it being born 'allergic' to alcohol. Second, alcoholism is a scientifically provable brain chemical disorder; not some kind of moral failing or weakness of will-power. Here's a snippet from a great video that really helps explain. Third: There have been studies which link vitamin deficiency with an increase in alcohol abuse. I'm describing this study from memory, but it goes something like this: Back in the 50s, they did a study where they placed rats in a cage with a bowl of water and a bowl of alcohol and then fed them Puppy Chow. About 10% of the rats turned into alcoholics, which is in line with the general US population. Next they re-ran the experiment with a new set of rats, except this time, they extracted all the vitamin nutrients out of the food. About %85 of the rats turned into alcoholics. Finally, the re-ran a third time, but with Puppy Chow mega fortified with vitamins, specifically B and C. None of the rats turned to the alcohol. When I read this study - true or not - I was inspired. It made a connection in my head. What is one of the major issues facing post-bariatric patients? Vitamin deficiency. And who hasn't been a very good boy about taking his bariatric vitamins for the last two years.... the exact time frame where my drinking went from the occasional bender, to daily drinking? Me!! So two weeks ago I started getting really serious about my vitamin intake, including getting B-12 injections every two days. Wow! what a difference! My craving went from a scream to a whisper. This last 12 days of sobriety has been a piece of cake compared to all my other attempts (none of which lasted more than seven days before giving in to the cravings). Your milage may vary, but if you are struggling with managing your alcohol cravings, give b12 injections a try. Hopefully it makes the same difference as I've experienced the last two weeks (knock on wood) I'll keep this post updated and honest.

Hey guys, This may be a tough subject, but if it can't be discussed on an anonymous forum where we regularly discuss our bowel movements and farts, were else can it be discussed? I've kind of hinted at this in a couple of my previous posts, but four weeks ago, my issues with alcohol had gotten to the point that I finally had no choice but to start attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, as well as various addiction treatment options provided through my health plan. For background on what I'm talking about, see: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/popular-weight-loss-surgery-roux-en-y-gastric-bypass-linked-to-alcohol-problems/ According to some studies, the odds of a post-bariatric patient having alcohol struggles goes up 28%. Wow. I've done a couple of searches on this board for alcoholism, and come up with basically zilch. Given the increased odds, how can that be? I can't possibly be the only one on here who can directly correlate my increased drinking to the date of my surgery. I bring this up, mostly because it's what I'm living right now, and I have a lot of information to share and well as unanswered questions. NOTE: I'm 13 days sober since making a few key changes in my vitamin intake, which has me very excited. Would love to start a discussion and share with anyone out there who is struggling. PM is fine as well. -ds

Also staying fully hydrated helps you pass things through your pouch and makes it "less sticky-ish." That was from Dr. Alvarez the bariatric surgeon. If you are at all dehydrated, it may take a couple of days to really replenish your fluid levels. To me, it makes all the diff in how I handle food and post prandial nausea. Also, if you're having issues with protein, use meat lube (low fat, low cal, low carb gravies, soupy stewpy things like your chili and for god's sake, don't overcook eggs! LOL.) Also soft cooked white flaky mild fish is usually pretty easy for most people, as can be soft scrambled eggs with yogurt or lite sour cream mixed in to make them creamy. Beans and cheese, or canned beans mashed with some yogurt or cheese go down easy. If it were me, I'd stay away from the obvious slider culprits. You're losing well now, but that habit is hard to shake and your weight loss WILL level off and you could potentially stall out. Sorry you are struggling.

I won't be surprised if most doctors and hospitals still have their own "bariatric program" They'll probably be similar in length just to stay competitive. Ultimately a lot of customers/patients are going to be looking at going to whatever place can get them to surgery day the quickest.

And the doggie emoji I accidently hit at end , let it stand for pounds/kilograms burning up like smoke, don't advise anyone to restart that habit, F-in-L died of Small-cell. Lung ♋ cancer in 1988, as a caregiver, as a daughter in law, not a pretty way for someone you 💘 love to die. I don't know I could be,mean enough to wish it on my WORST ENEMY. Even Phyllis-Anne who told me I was foolish, silly, and a,little deranged to seek major bariatric surgery at our age of 72, and because I was insisting it was pushing younger more deserving people out of the way. And THAT STUNG, we had been " friends" since 4👭 in pre- kindergarten Sunday School.🙏 Needless to say, didn't see👀 her again, heard from a mutual friend she recently died, scrawny 💃and slender, mean, as always. Her only. pregnancy, maybe gained to 130, never had to walk the📉 obesity pathway. Guess we only shared calender 📆age, nothing else.😪😟😬💨

I did not have to do the two week liver shrink diet, I just had to lose a certain amount of weight pre-surgery. I am now on the clear liquids and the info provided by the surgeons office is conflicting and confusing and my nutritionist is out on a family emergency. A clear liquid diet normally includes gatorade and apple juice and tea with sugar. Bariatric patients are always sugar free. I feel dizzy and lightheaded and I don't know if I can get through the day with only broth and sugar free liquid. Will watered down apple juice be a problem for the surgery?

**Update!!! 1) Leg cramps are gone! Feeling great again. Loaded up on black beans & nuts this wknd & they totally went away within 24 hours!?! Wow that was fast! 2)My bariatrics office called me, they got my labs back and they looked good the Dr said! Just a little short on magnesium! So, yes that was the leg cramps. I’m otherwise doing well there. Wheew! Thank you all!!🙏🏼🙏🏼😍 Jen

YOU MUST READ THIS if . . . Your health coverage comes from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, Texas, Montana, New Mexico or Oklahoma in 2019! (And probably should read it even if you're not!) Why? Those 5 companies are part of HEALTH CARE SERVICE CORPORATION (HCSC) and they are making a major change which affects anyone insured by them in 2019 who is considering having bariatric surgery. The HCSC Bariatric Surgery Medical Policy no. SURG716.003 is going to become effective February 1, 2019 and, believe it or not, they are eliminating any formal requirement that patients engage in supervised weight loss for a particular time frame (e.g. 3, 6, 12 months, etc.) prior to surgery. READ MORE HERE: BIG NEWS! Several insurers are going to REMOVE pre-surgery supervised diet requirements

YOU MUST READ THIS if . . . Your health coverage comes from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, Texas, Montana, New Mexico or Oklahoma in 2019! (And probably should read it even if you're not!) Why? Those 5 companies are part of HEALTH CARE SERVICE CORPORATION (HCSC) and they are making a major change which affects anyone insured by them in 2019 who is considering having bariatric surgery. The HCSC Bariatric Surgery Medical Policy no. SURG716.003 is going to become effective February 1, 2019 and, believe it or not, they are eliminating any formal requirement that patients engage in supervised weight loss for a particular time frame (e.g. 3, 6, 12 months, etc.) prior to surgery. READ MORE HERE: BIG NEWS! Several insurers are going to REMOVE pre-surgery supervised diet requirements

And "kg kids " the surgeon I consulted today, not my bariatric one, does metric *127 KG* Please celebrate this one diamond in the Carbon of my life, okay?

Hi Bariatric Pals, I'm coming up on my one-year-surgiversary (11/22) and I'm already feeling hungry all the time. I wasn't expecting to feel hungry this soon after surgery. I was under the impression I wouldn't feel hungry for YEARS after surgery, but here I am feeling hungry all the time less than a year post-op. It's concerning to me because I haven't lost any weight in the last month and a half and I feel just as hungry as I used to feel before surgery. How do I manage my hunger properly? I know I don't drink enough water and I could probably track my food a bit more. I have been indulging in bad food lately, too. I try to drink protein shakes but I just don't like them. I prefer savory food. Should I start from the beginning and try to just eat 800 cals? Should I go back to the very low calorie diet I had to do for a month before surgery? I've called my nutritionist and asked her for advice but she hasn't really said anything beyond "make sure you're eating enough protein and eating small meals throughout the day." I've even asked her if I should follow the "reset" diet and she doesn't seem to have any preference one way or the other. I eat a small meal or snack with a lot of protein every 2 hours and I get full fast - it still doesn't take much for me to feel full, thank goodness. I just get hungry more often, especially at night before bed. Any advice?

So I dropped off the surgical notes, blood results from the hospital, CT scan results and blood work done by my bariatric surgeon to my primary doctor's office and asked them to have him review and put in my file. I haven't heard back from my primary so I called today and talked to one of the medical assistants who said, "You need to come in for a face to face with the doctor." So now I am going to my primary on Wednesday. I know my bariatric surgeons office is looking at the blood work from a nutritional standpoint, but from what I looked up on WebMD what they told me isn't right. My iron is low and my ferritin level is very high (they said to take iron, but I shouldn't be taking iron) (and the medical assistant agreed). So now besides having a possible IPMN on my pancreas there maybe something else wrong. We shall see.

OK.. Here comes the tough love I haven't had surgery yet, so if you are thinking you haven't done this yet so you don't know.. I will respond you are right, but i am a few days out and will be in the same seat as you by the end of the week. Think about all the reasons why you did this? The good that will come out of it in the end. Think of all the things you want to do that you don't or won't because of your size. I will give you two of my things that i will focus on after surgery for when i am feeling just like you are. 1. It sucks to have season passes to Universal and NOT fit in the seats. You know I bought season passes to Disney because they accommodate bigger people? My Goal is to renew my Universal Pass this month JUST SO i can ride EVERY RIDE in the park at the end of next year. 2. I take ballroom dancing as a hobby, more so because my son is a professional dance instructor and I got tired of him asking me to try it for 7 years. But i did, now i love it, but i REFUSE to wear one of those amazing bejeweled dresses for competitions because of my size. I went to a competition in September in Miami that my fellow students were competing in and my son was competing in, wishing i could participate. Next year! I will Participate. My point being.. focus on the reasons that led you to decide to get this done. I too have no health issues, heck i didn't even have a PCP until i decided to do this and that is only because my EKG came back that i needed medical clearance, so i had to go find a doctor. From what i have been reading here within 2 weeks or so we will be back to normal. Think of this as a vacation from normalcy LOLOL.. Anyways, I am here to listen, and can try to help for as long as needed.

So my appointment at the PCP went perfectly fine. There I was, all prepared with a speech in my head of how to tell him of my decision that i wanted weight loss surgery and that oh I must of shrunk because they measured me at the surgeons office and height is different. I get in there and Dr. has a med student with him.....so that threw me off. Dr. decided to discuss my labs and asked if there was something I wanted to tell him. I must have looked at him puzzled because then he told me that he saw another lab order in there from another Dr. So that broke the ice. He then explained the different surgeries to me and the med student, which one he felt would benefit me more and why. Luckily it is the one I wanted. LOL He then told me that if he were to recommend a Bariatric Surgeon, without a doubt, he would recommend Dr. Gagne that he is one of THE best in the country at the bypass, his reputation is impeccable, his results are fantastic, he ran one of the best bariatric programs in the country at one point. So hearing this truly made me feel even more comfortable with my decision. He also said he is behind me 100% with opting for surgery.....that's great...would have been nice if he had recommended this a couple of years ago though! LOL So he very willingly filled out all of my paperwork that Dr. Gagne requires and on my way I went. I got home, looked at the paperwork and realized oh ****. I forgot to tell them about my height being wrong and now my BMI is wrong on the paperwork I have in my hand!!!!!! This morning I called and spoke to the nurse explaining everything. Of course she laughed at me (in a good way) and so I need to stop on my way home to get the height notated properly in the file and for the form to get re-done. Could I have waited until my next visit next month? Probably, but I can't let things sit...my anxiety does not allow that. If I had let it wait, my mind will play that game of "the worst possible thing will happen and I won't get the form re-done".

Check out Blossom Bariatrics in Las Vegas. They have a fast track program for self pay/out of state. https://blossombariatrics.com/fasttrack/ I had my procedure with Blossom. I live in Las Vegas so I didn't do fast track but they have a very good price.

So this picture plus the bbq protein chips are my favorites from my 3 months of bariatric subscription boxes.

They give you two bariatric discs since you are taking them twice a day. And one disc of the multi vitamin.

So you have to take two of the bariatric formula ones a day? With that are you using more than a months supply in 30 days?

So my surgery(VSG) is jan2019 I'm sooooo ready for change but I'm soo afriad at the same time. I dont have much support from family [emoji22][emoji22][emoji22]my parents are scaring me saying plp usually dont live long after bariatric,I'm soooo ready for a new lifestyle but I'm afraid to death Sent from my LG-TP450 using BariatricPal mobile app

I recommend Dr. Ungson or Dr. Esquerra at Mexicali Bariatric Center. They are the preeminent DS surgeon’s in Mexico and will gladly tell you how many DS surgeries they’ve done. Note that they perform the true standard of care DS surgery. They do not do the misnamed “DS” surgery (aka SIPS, SADI or Loop) that has poor results (malabsorption ends at 12 months, leading to insufficient weight loss) and is considered experimental in the US.

How are we all doing May sleevers? I have had a bit of a stall the last two weeks but got on the scales today and have lost almost 2lbs so breathing a bit easier today! I was a bit scared because I read a post on here about a lady that got to 6 months and then her weight just stopped dead and she lost nothing more, even though she was over a year out, scary! I have been slacking a little bit with my drinking and getting protein in, I really need to keep my focus as although I feel fabulous losing 74lbs so far, its not where I want to be. Onwards and upwards with renewed determination!

And a little " There go I except for the Grace of God, if I hadn't done this Bariatric Intervention!", don't have to PREACH it, your life, actions and weight loss should be sufficient! And All 💘 from Central Ohio and ME!