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Thank you Suaniya, mine was 3 mos. for the insurance. Today is day 6 I have drank my magnesium citrate and waiting for any effects. I feel good I worked this morning then did my final pre-surgery workout session one hour with my PT of circuits and cardio. I felt my self tire faster than usual but still had a good workout. I'm not lethargic or exhausted as people have described. I am constantly drinking Water to try and keep my body going. So far the evening headaches are mild and other than 8pm hunger grumbles I am holding steady. HW 330 CW 235 Surgery date 1/19/17-Sleeve

I have a friend who is being treated for the Morton's Nueroma. She was seeing one podiatrist who recommended surgery to have them removed. he would have preformed the surgery through the top of the foot. Because she switched insurance in the process she had to see another Podiatrist who treated her with shots for about 8 weeks or more and has now asked to wait a month to see if it gets better. If not then he will do surgery only he will go under through the bottom of the foot. She has also been taking lyrica for pain which is suppose to be like a Vitamin for the the nerves and is not suppose to cause any side effects however I had to take thie at one point and gained 10 pounds in a week from retaining Water. She is currently taking 2 pills a day that is for reducing edema and high blood pressure. If you do not find anyone else on here but have some more specific questions let me know and I will ask her. Good Luck! I know how bad/painful this can be from watching her suffer.

I had the same symptoms as you. I am almost 2 years post op. I had a tightening and couldn't keep anything down and it was about 2 months after my last fill. I had an upper G.I. done, there was no slip, but my docs are very conservative and they took fluid out. I did gain about 10 pounds, had to weight 6 - 8 weeks to get another fill, but have now taken most of the weight off. It may not be a slip, but you may want to get a slight unfill. Best of luck to you!!!

There's a time limit on long you have to edit a post, so I've made a second edition of our master list so that we can continue to add June Sleevers as needed. Please disregard the old list. Thanks! ***JEWELS OF JUNE*** JUNE 1 nraeh prairiedawn soon to be skinny kwikwits Good Goose DaniellaRN biglittleb Juney JUNE 2 SCW2011 AmandaG. JUNE 3 JUNE 4 JUNE 5 JUNE 6 GreginMI Day Dreamer mnbsleeve Neanie in Texas Always singing Valentina sleevetina Adri JUNE 7 Meandmylittledog mjs6172 LeslieT slimsinger Hubie emsnewlife JUNE 8 Yorkie Fan MsNewBooty pyt1908 JUNE 9 A New Me wannabskinee JUNE 10 Bevgonnadothis Crabadams72 Special K AnnSpeaks Brightstar JUNE 11 mina JUNE 12 JUNE 13 ejsmith TonyaG Hopeful24 Patti Sue JUNE 14 JackieOMonroe gonnagetthere FlawedMan MrsPositive MoreThanAPrettyFace JUNE 15 Aarik moongirl JUNE 16 anonynurse imawhodat JUNE 17 Jax AmandaDulaney JUNE 18 donniej Dannymac Alejandra1975 JUNE 19 JUNE 20 mac LissaD Lovely Lo VSGDestiny NewSkinnyChick30 Douceur72 kpbrighton mybutterflies JUNE 21 ASBgirl purplepeace79 jcollins510 Sylvia21967 SleeveGirl-TX JUNE 22 RebaC Cassie805 JUNE 23 Penpen kekerene Deerpark2010 juzmejnee JUNE 24 exoticheart MissJo88 JUNE 25 lyndynojoJUNE 26 LaurenKoreaJUNE 27 bleelawry shordee0751 Terry in Loxahatchee StephieLynn Jinjin sungbyrd loris JUNE 28 coffeetx 2girliemama JUNE 29 DivaDee84 JUNE 30 ChubbyBritneySpears Rainydayz MenagerieNik YellowRose

Hi everyone, Its early in the morning on Thanksgiving, four days before surgery and I wanted to check in because I owe it to myself to be honest about how I am feeling. I am struggling, not with the decision I made to have surgery, but the truth about the challenges I am facing moving forward. I started to ask if anyone had challenges with their pre-op diet, but I know the answer to that question does not matter because I am. I feel a little silenced or maybe ashamed because if I admit to my family I am scared and self-sabotaging then I will be forced to ask myself if I am doing the right thing. I was doing well with the pre-op diet until two days ago...Tuesday. I have a form of anemia that makes it difficult for me to absorb iron through food. I noticed I have increasingly more tired and I found out Saturday my iron levels are low again, 6 months after my last iron infusion, and a part of me feared that I would need to post-pone surgery for another round or go in early for blood transfusions. In meeting with me hematologist late Tuesday afternoon, he told me I did not have to do either and since they draw blood every day in the hospital, they could do a blood transfusion there if necessary. I have been through a lot healthwise, many surgeries (8), including a gastric sleeve six years ago. The irony is I stepped on the scale and I was the exact weight I was, 368 lbs before surgery in 2013 and although I had a great deal of success the first time, but then as I said in my story life happened. Even though the weight itself was shocking because I felt like I failed in only losing 4 pounds during the first week of my pre-op diet, I don't think panic really set in until I met with the check out receptionist. We were talking and laughing about my relief of not needing to delay my surgery....then without knowing it, she dropped a bomb on me that I did not really recognize how much it affected me until this morning. When I said I was having a second sleeve, which I had gotten over the embarrassment of admitting, she told me that she had a friend who had her third sleeve some time ago, and she had not seen or heard from her since. My gut reaction was - hell no, no way I am doing this a third time, but in the back of my mind, I began to wonder. Am I ready...will I be successful...is this worth it to go back a third time....then finally, maybe her friend died after her last surgery. The reality is the cavalier way Miss 'size 10' talked about her struggles in what she described as ballooning due to a medication, my guess is that her friend decided she was not the right person to share her struggles with. I cannot even remember he name but I already regret sharing mine. I am aware of how desperately I battled depression, how I came back from the brink after two suicide attempts after surviving a horrifying violet attack, and I was grateful to be at the point ready to have surgery. Then I came home and started self-sabotaging. I am not sure it was intentional, but I was extremely exhausted and had two doctors appointments that day and had missed two of my shakes. I had larger meal, not like before, but enough to make me horribly sick. I had not eaten any basic carbs in more than a week. Yesterday I was so fatigued, had burning pain in my knee from an old injury, but since it is too late to take NSAIDS, I used flexeril, which made me feel even more out of it. Yesterday, I still felt out of control and had half of hoagie, which then made me feel worse about myself. My normal unconscious reaction was to head for my go-to foods, SUGAR, thankfully not an ounce of it existed in the house, except for fruit. I took two (non-benzo) anxiety pills and took a nap. I reached out to my surgeon and asked if I now had to change my surgery schedule. He calmly told me no and to just use the pre-op diet to get back on track. This morning (well technically middle of the night) I woke up and realized all week I have been looking for signs I was making the wrong decision. My nutritionist had given me this negative self-talk wheel that I really forgot about even though it is stuck to my bulletin. When I looked at it, my behavior patterns started to make sense. The truth is I am scared, and I need to give myself permission to feel that and grieve. Its Thanksgiving and fortunately, I am not cooking and will not be around a lot of food. For the past few years, I have been a part of big Thanksgiving celebrations, due to emotional struggles, but my adult daughter usually brings me something from her dad and his family celebrations. This morning I woke up and realized how much of my life I have missed out on living in a prison that I not only created, but am the warden who locked away the key to release myself. I want to start living again and not just existing. I know what to expect and that having the surgery will not take away my problems. It is just one tool in my journey to health and better living. Today, I am thankful for the opportunity to begin losing the pounds of pain I have carried for far too long. I needed the last two days to remind that this journey is not going to be easy, but it will take a conscious effort every day to choose to strive for a healthier life for me. Hopefully, this time next year I can look back on how I feel today and we thankful I made it to the other side. Thank you for sharing this journey with me, Mya

I am in Houston and was Sleeved on August 10. Time flies post surgery, just be diligent about what you are supposed to do. This is a tool to help you change your life. It doesn't do all the change for you, you gotta help it out. Think of it like a hammer, you couldn't possibly hit a nail into the wall without a hammer but a hammer can't hit it into the wall by itself, you still have to swing the hammer. Work with the sleeve, do what is required of you, make the changes you need to make, and all will be well.

I just had my surgery on 3/10, and the Dr. knew that I had a small hiatal hernia, which she said she would fix during the surgery. She did just that. I am going back for a post-up visit on Friday, so I will hopefully get some more information then, because I am having some occassional pain in that area, and I am not sure if it is where the hernia was fixed, or if it is gas.......... Good luck to you!

I had almost complete numbness around incision for lower body lift...I never had any pain from it...It was the inner thigh lift that I had difficulty with...incisions got really tight at one point, about day 10 and surgeon removed some stitches for me...which helped alot! But lots of discomfort from thighs...As long as you have drains in NO shower...as, water and soap can get into the drain hole...I had a nurse saran wrap my drains and she showered me at about day 6. I am having some healing feelings now....sharp burning pain that hopefully goes away soon!

I have had 4 doctors over the last 10 Years and none of them had me go through the hoops that you are going through.

Hello everyone! My surgeon asked me to do a sleep study and so I did, which indicated that I needed to use a CPAP. fine. Prior, I was hardly ever tired. I went to bed at 930-10 and woke at 630-7. I've been on the cpap for two nights. I've tolerated the mask well and worn it for more than 7 hours each night. But....for the last two days I've been exhausted. What gives? I thought this was supposed to help me feel better?!? Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I was really hungry about day 10 I mean to the point I couldn't sleep. I remember being so mad at someone for saying it was only head hunger and to deal with it. I talked to my dr and started pureed foods about a tablespoon at a time. Now I really don't get hungry. In fact if I am busy busy I will not even notice the time. I do have acid problems, I am on two meds for that. Now I am 10 weeks out and sometimes my tummy will growl and I know I need to put food in it. But most of the time I eat because I know it is time to eat. And I feel an empty feeling more than a hunger feeling. So around 2 or 3 hours I will eat one or two small squires of beef jerky and I am good until my next meal.

Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I had surgery exactly one week ago and have lost 10 lbs. This is definitely the fastest I have ever or will ever lose weight. LOL It slows down from here big time. The first week after surgery should be called the Golden Week. Haha.

I am taylormomof6 with a new user name. I had gastric sleeve 10/24/2013 at KMC, paid for by Kern Family Heath Care, Medi-cal. I did have to pay $1000 program fee and $65 for the nutritionist, the rest was covered, including all tests and the psyc. Kelly runs the program and is great dealing with insurance. I was approved within a week of submital. I'm thrilled with my decision and have lost a total of 111lbs and counting. I still have 34lbs to get to my goal.

YES! I am two weeks out and I'm so hungry. It's actually better today since I'm back to work (sedentary, work from home) so I'm distracted. I'm eating about 550 calories a day and I could eat more. I've heard it gets better once you can eat solid foods, so I'll know more tomorrow. Also, I had a lot of pain and gas the first few days, but now it doesn't take very long for me to drink a protein shake (longer to eat a yogurt, but I also had a tooth removed, so that is painful), maybe 15 minutes. It took me almost an hour the first night home to take 10 pills but now it's less than five minutes. I can drink a swallow of water that feels like a real mouthful, but I still can't guzzle or drink a full glass in one breath like I used to.

Hi all. First post here! Long story short--I have a 10 year old lap band that I'm having nothing but trouble with. My doc said I could revise it to either a sleeve or bypass. Right now I have Aetna, but by the time I do the 6 month diet I will be on Medicare and the doc doesn't know if they cover revisions. Anyone out here have any experience with this? Thanks!

Hi I am 7 weeks post op & have been walking for exercise up to now. I got cleared to start with 10 lb weights & increase as tolerated. I am wondering when did anyone start any workout classes in their local gym classes? I really want to pick up some classes too. Thank you

I am being banded on 2/19. My doc wants 10 days of low/no carb to shrink liver. What should I be doing now to make life easier afterward? Is there anything you guys wish you had done? Is there any item that you would have purchased? I run my own business and need to do any and everything to minimize downtime. I already have my list of about 100 things I want to do once I get my weight down. How long were you out of work? My job requires me to walk, talk, and drive a car, that's about it. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Hi, I have ben banded for almost a year on Nov. 19, and i have lost 99 pounds since then, but to be honest that is mainly because of general exercise and diet and working out with a trainer twice a week. Sicne surgery I have only been to be filled three times. We had to rush to get my and my fathers (because we did them together) done because our insurance was changing Dec. 1 and we had everything approved. So we were never appointed a case person, to help us. I found out i was approved and too weeks later was in the OR. We literally had surgery and left three hours later with a packet of Protein powder an prescription to liquid vicodin. We had no further instruction, but to eat mushie food for a week. We had no idea when to go back to the doctor, and ended up just making a fill over a month later. I am not impressed at all with the office. I have had a few times in the last year when i needed to see a doctor and the office reply was that i could not get an appointment for almost a month, The worst of the times was when i had gotten a stomach virus and vomited for a three days strait, when i was better and able to eat again my band hurt so bad it felt like some one stabbing me on the inside, and when calling the office to see the doctor was told it would be three weeks to be seen by a nurse practicer or over a month to be seen by my surgeon. I ended up going to my normal doctor who fixed me all up. So for the real problem now. Sorry for the rant but you needed a back story as to why i cant just go to the doctor. I had my last fill and visit in April so my band is not super tight. Since last Thursday I have not been able to keep anything down and have terrible acid reflux. I just spit up everything that i eat or drink, I called the office to get in, but it will be two weeks and I would really like to eat something before then. Thanks for any help!!!! Jordan

Hi. I wanted to write in to get some advice regarding the (first) meeting with my surgeon. Some background about 16 months ago due to a knee problem I started swimming daily and eating better; lost 30 pounds. Five months ago out of nowhere I had a blood clot which caused stroke like symptoms. The treatment for the clot is going well but requires taking blood thinners. Hopefully my March tests will indicate that I can go off the blood thinners. Lost 5 pounds before attending screening session. Nurse practitioner said the doctor might put me on a liquid diet once I met with him. In the six weeks since that meeting I have lost 12 ponds. I had a great meeting with the surgeon and asked lots of questions. At the end I asked whether he would be putting me a liquid diet. He said that from feeling my abdomen that he could do the surgery today without a liver shrinking diet. However, to reach a lower goal weight he recommended I jump start weight loss by doing a specialized 500 calorie liquid diet. The hospital sells the shakes at their pharmacy though you don’t need a prescription to take them. At this point I do not have a surgery date. The doctor said he may be booked until April. I had an appointment with the nutritionist and she said this particular doctor likes this liquid diet. She is not a huge fan. The liquid diet consists of 5, 100 calorie shakes. The Nut said she sometimes has someone do 2 shakes and one sensible meal for two weeks before the surgery. The Nut said she would tell the doctor we were holding off on the liquid diet at least until I meet with the NP in March. One thing I did not like about this brand of shake is that the Protein level was low (10 grams) versus the higher levels of Whey Protein Powder. Given the facts what would you do? Start liquids today, wait until you had a surgery date, do two weeks before surgery? If I stop loosing weight I might change my mind; but for now doing a liquid diet for 2-3 months just seems excessive.

Omg - love your dog! I have 2 furballs too! Skunks bad here last few days and I worry about same thing! I have no sleep issues though - I can't drag my ass out of bed after 9-10 hrs! ????

I am the opposite. I am gaining weight pretty quickly and I am pregnant with twins. I lost 100 pounds with my band(July,2009). I had my last fill April, 2011. I have gained about 15 lbs since last fall (I weighed 165 in October and now I am 180). I also got married last fall and I believe that I have gained due to the fact that I needed an adjustment prior to getting pregnant...sometimes I worry about slippage/erosion causing weight gain...I still feel restriction though...I just eat more often. I am scared that I am going to gain too much weight. I know I am pregnant but it is hard to see that scale moving up. Anyone else out there tell me what it is like to gain weight while banded...I never gained weight before...I would see the scale stop moving down and get an adjustment. At 165 lbs, I wore a size 10, and I am wearing a medium maternity pants, so maybe it is just the babies...I don't know..advice, please.

I am 10 ish weeks and def can't eat like I could...but I really feel most of it is the baby, nausea and all. I am less than a yr out also and this wasn't planned...wanted to wait until next yr, but suprise! I have found that in the morning I eat very little, and for lunch it has to be something that goes down very easy and usually it's not protein but it's all I can handle for now...hoping we both can eat better a little further along!! Good luck!

Hi Shanna, Like you I am also a Registered Nurse, been fat all of my life, tried every diet only to lose some weight and gain it all back and I also think this is the best WLS to have. For the last 10 years I have researched every WLS procedure and have settled on the Sleeve. By nature and trade I worry because I know of al the possible complications. Now that I have been approved I am thinking more about the " what ifs". However I know that if I don't get the weight off now at the age of 52 I will more than likely have serious health problems in the future. I have a 20 year old daughter and I want to live to see her become an old lady!