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I am really trying 2 stay positive about this whole weight lost process thing . How do i ignore that the weight is not coming off when im counting calories, protein, n im execersing . Its tearing me apart bc i know its only a tool but i dnt think mine is working. Then im reading how everyone else is losing n being happy. I hear be patient. Well when u try something new n u see a difference that gives u motivation 2 keep going it gives u hope that u can do it. But when u dnt see the results or the weight go down what do u have... I have tears, fears, frustration, n headaches . I go 2 the doctor 2morrow im going 2 show him my food journal n request fill number 2 :-( tiffany

WOW!!! Congrats!! So excited for you!!! Which BCBS do you have? I have BCBS-Fed

I also have Fed BCBS, and initially was approved for a RNY but have had issues with gastric polyps in the past and the surgeon wanted to do a scope and just look to see. Well they found a WHOLE bunch of polyps this time so they fell the better choice for me would be the SG. Now they have to start the approval process over again. Was it a problem for you to get the approval for the SG from Fed BCBS?

oh!! I won't! I'm here to ask lots of questions! I think I have a bunch of stuff already done, for that "passport checklist" thingy required for the insurance co.. "hoping and praying" that the 4 month 3x a week cardiac rehab classes & weigh-ins with exercise routine, monitored by both my cardiologist & the nurses, (also was paid for by BC/BS since end of Nov.-March) included nutritional counseling, exercise physiologist, mediterranean diet (my cardiologists' fav, lol!) and aggressive meds..yikes, I'm even seeing a bariatric weight loss dr TOO, with appetite suppressants and even THOSE don't help, for heaven's sakes!! and I've continued the program at phase III level, paying "out of pocket" on my own, while being weighed monthly since April/May and still being weighed at the cardiologist's (saw him April 18th).. I just started seeing the dietician prescribed by the endocrinologist, since starting the metformin 2 months ago, so I'm due for bloodwork again which I will be doing tomorrow, since I'm seeing her on the 26th. My last visit with her, was when she told me I had a BMI of 35, so when I called the insurance co and they said the 35 BMI was accepted with the ONE complication, I figured since I had even MORE than the one, it wouldn't be an issue. The deal is, I have to pass the cardiac stress test again. BOO. no fun. then, the endoscopy, which I've never had any of those things done before. ewwww.. those things are entrances and exits, you know??LOL! just kidding! Guess I better get used to it! It's easy when it's "other people" when you are an RN, but when it's YOURSELF? omg.

At my follow-up, I asked if ibuprophen was off limits. (I have a bad knee injury that ibuprophen helps for pain). My doctor said ibuprophen was ok, so long as it is ground up first. I use Goody's (aspirin & acetominophin) which comes in those little powder packets. BC is another brand but read the ingredients. BC contains caffiene. Goody's does not.

Hi my name is rose I'm new to all this but I'm post op day 3 and have the most uncomfortable gas pains and I walk a lot! I see I'm struggling with fluids and broth bc I'm not hungry so if anyone has any pointers please fill me in???? I did the sleeve and I'm happy with my choice but I feel like this week is gonna be hard bc I'm on clear liquids and I'm allergic to Aspartame, so my choice are limited! Please help with ideas on staying hydrated and energized!

To the OP. I would seriously spend the money and do a consult with a different doctor. It is NUTS that you had ANY fluid in your band at the surgery. I did not get a fill until about six weeks in. I am in BC and my doctor is helpful, but it's a little far for you:(

Yea iv always told him. He has never cared ab the number in a neg way. He loved me the same at 150 then at 278. And as my weight goes back down I tell him every pound I lose bc he is happy for me

The following is a condensation of a series from the Investor's Business Daily explaining 'What Caused the Loan Crisis': 1977: Pres. Jimmy Carter signs the Community Reinvestment Act into Law. The law pressured financial institutions to extend home loans to those who would otherwise not qualify. The Premise: Home ownership would improve poor and crime-ridden communities and neighborhoods in terms of crime, investment, jobs, etc. Results: Statistics bear out that it did not help. How did the government get so deeply involved in the housing market? Answer: Bill Clinton wanted it that way. 1992: Republican representative Jim Leach (IO) warned of the danger that Fannie and Freddie were changing from being agencies of the public at large to money machines for the principals and the stockholding few. 1993: Clinton extensively rewrote Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's rules turning the quasi-private mortgage-funding firms into semi-nationalized monopoies dispensing cash and loans to large Democratic voting blocks and handing favors, jobs and contributions to political allies. This potent mix led inevitably to corruption and now the collapse of Freddie and Fannie. 1994: Despite warnings, Clinton unveiled his National Home-Ownership Strategy which broadened the CRA in ways congress never intended. 1995: Congress, about to change from a Democrat majority to Republican, Clinton orders Robert Rubin's Treasury Dept to rewrite the rules. Robt. Rubin's Treasury reworked rules, forcing banks to satisfy quotas for sub-prime and minority loans to get a satisfactory CRA rating. The rating was key to expansion or mergers for banks. Loans began to be made on the basis of race and little else. 1997 - 1999: Clinton , bypassing Republicans, enlisted Andrew Cuomo, then Secretary of Housing and Urban Developement, allowing Freddie and Fannie to get into the sub-prime market in a BIG way. Led by Rep. Barney Frank and Sen. Chris Dodd, congress doubled down on the risk by easing capital limits and allowing them to hold just 2.5% of capital to back their investments vs. 10% for banks. Since they could borrow at lower rates than banks their enterprises boomed. With incentives in place, banks poured billions in loans into poor communities, often 'no doc', 'no income', requiring no money down and no verification of income. Worse still was the cronyism: Fannie and Freddie became home to out-of work-politicians, mostly Clinton Democrats. 384 politicians got big campaign donations from Fannie and Freddie. Over $200 million had been spent on lobbying and political activities. During the 1990's Fannie and Freddie enjoyed a subsidy of as musch as $182 Billion,most of it going to principals and shareholders, not poor borrowers as claimed. Did it work? Minorities made up 49% of the 12.5 million new homeowners but many of those loans have gone bad and the minority homeownership rates are shrinking fast. 1999: New Treasury Secretary, Lawrence Summers, became alarmed at Fannie and Freddie's excesses. Congress held hearings the ensuing year but nothing was done because Fannie and Freddie had donated millions to key congressmen and radical groups, ensuring no meaningful changes would take place. 'We manage our political risk with the same intensity that we manage our credit and interest rate risks,' Fannie CEO Franklin Raines, a former Clinton official and current Barack Obama advisor, bragged to investors in 1999. 2000: Secretary Summers sent Undersecretary Gary Gensler to Congress seeking an end to the 'special status'. Democrats raised a ruckus as did Fannie and Freddie, headed by politically connected CEO's who knew how to reward and punish. 'We think that the statements evidence a contempt for the nation's housing and mortgage markets' Freddie spokesperson Sharon McHale said. It was the last chance during the Clinton era for reform. 2001: Republicans try repeatedly to bring fiscal sanity to Fannie and Freddie but Democrats blocked any attempt at reform; especially Rep. Barney Frank and Sen.Chris Dodd who now run key banking committees and were huge beneficiaries of campaign contributions from the mortgage giants. 2003: Bush proposes what the NY Times called 'the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago'. Even after discovering a scheme by Fannie and Freddie to overstate earnings by $10.6 billion to boost their bonuses, the Democrats killed reform. 2005: Then Fed chairman Alan Greenspan warns Congress: 'We are placing the total financial system at substantial risk'. Sen. McCain, with two others, sponsored a Fannie/Freddie reform bill and said, 'If congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system and the economy as a whole'. Sen. Harry Reid accused the GOP ;of trying to 'cripple the ability of Fannie and Freddie to carry out their mission of expanding homeownership' The bill went nowhere. 2007: By now Fannie and Freddie own or guarantee over HALF of the $12 trillion US mortgage market. The mortgage giants, whose executive suites were top-heavy with former Democratic officials, had been working with Wall St. to repackage the bad loans and sell them to investors. As the housing market fell in '07, subprime mortgage portfolios suffered major losses. The crisis was on, though it was 15 years in the making. 2008: McCain has repeatedly called for reforming the behemoths, Bush urged reform 17 times. Still the media have repeated Democrats' talking points about this being a 'Republican' disaster. A few Republicans are complicit but Fannie and Freddie were created by Democrats, regulated by Democrats, largely run by Democrats and protected by Democrats. That's why taxpayers are now being asked for $700 billion!! If you doubt any of this, just click the links below and listen to your lawmakers own words. They are condeming! [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68D9XrqyrWo&feature=related]YouTube - Fannie & Freddie: The Real Story Behind The Economic Crisis[/ame]# http://www.youtube...com/watch?v=pIgqfM5C8lY# [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9juJr8CSY4&feature=related]YouTube - How democrats lied to America, while using community reinvestment act and acorn to destroy the American financial system.[/ame]# Postscript: ACORN is one of the principle beneficiaries of Fannie/ Freddie's slush funds. They are currently under indictment or investigation in many states. Barack Obama served as their legal counsel, defending their activities for several years. Please share this with everyone you know. Send it. Print it. Talk about it. America needs to know!!!

I just want to scream right now! I'm done everything I need to do... have been finished for nearly two weeks... and when I met with my surgeon last Wednesday, he told me that my packet would be with the insurance coordinator by Thursday and off to the insurance the same day... so why is it Tuesday and not only has nothing been sent off... no one answers their phone or returns calls?!?! I did actually talk to the insurance coordinator yesterday who proceed to tell me that she wasn't sure what to do since I had double coverage and this is being covered by my secondary since it's an exclusion from my primary (I called and informed her of that on her voice mail on THURSDAY morning when I asked her to call me so we could discuss this and how to submit it)... She told me yesterday that she'd given it to the bariatric surgery coordinator and that I needed to speak with him - I left him a message yesterday morning and have called several times since - no return call. Finally today, fed up I called and requested to speak with the office manager only to get her voice mail as well... all set to leave a message but her voice mail is full! You'd think I'm talking about some small mom and pop operation but NO - I'm dealing with MedStar which is one of the biggest medical operations in the MD/DC/VA area! I even started to give them benefit of the doubt - maybe they went ahead and submitted to my primary insurance company without calling me back... so I called my primary to find out - NOPE! They can't submit without a surgery date and I know we haven't scheduled it because they're still passing my file back and forth and no one's calling me back! I'm seriously one more unreturned call from finding a new surgeon! I'm so pi$$ed because this whole fiasco has potentially set me back weeks and my whole thing was that I wanted this to be done by the end of September so that I could be 100% myself by Thanksgiving which is when we start decorating for Christmas in my house (Christmas is a HUGE deal to my family).

I was told by my PCP that the only kind of oral bc that I could use was jolivette the mini pill because it doesn't contain estrogen. The surgeon ok'd it but reading your posts makes me wonder if it's effective. Is anyone else on it?

Hi I am having a bad couple of days if I'm honest. The scales have hardly moved over the last few weeks despite eating sensibley and getting plenty of exercise. I know the bands not a magic cure or anything but neverthe less I am feeling disappointed and frustrated. Anyway, the last few days Ive eaten chocolate and my healthy food plan has gone right out the window. Of course now I feel even worse :smile2: what a surprise! I would really appreciate some encouragement /support from any of you out there to help me keep on keeping on with what I know is a long road ahead of me. Thank you! Julia xx

Hi I had the balloon put in 3 months ago and have lost 2 stone. It was very uncomfortable afterwards for about a week but has all settled down now. I tried orlistat and reductil and neither worked as nothing else did. My doctor wouldn't refer me because of costs but luckily I had enough money to go private. It cost just under £4,000 in manchester spire hospital. I was so fed up of being fat after having my kids I had to do something drastric

Appetite Increased By Action Of Ghrelin Hormone Leading To Accumulation Of Abdominal Fat 5/21/09 Appetite Increased By Action Of Ghrelin Hormone Leading To Accumulation Of Abdominal Fat The ghrelin hormone not only stimulates the brain giving rise to an increase in appetite, but also favours the accumulation of lipids in visceral fatty tissue, located in the abdominal zone and considered to be the most harmful. This is the conclusion of research undertaken at Metabolic Research Laboratory of the University Hospital of Navarra, published recently in the International Journal of Obesity. Ghrelin is a hormone produced in the stomach and the function of which is to tell the brain that the body has to be fed. Thus, the level of this secretion increases before eating and decreases after. It is known to be important in the development of obesity, given that, on stimulating the appetite, it favours an increase in body weight, explained Ms Amaia Rodr?guez Murueta-Goyena, doctor in biology and main researcher of the study. However, researchers at the University Hospital of Navarra have discovered that, besides stimulating the hypothalamus to generate appetite, ghrelin also acts on the tabula rasa cortex. They observed how this hormone favoured the accumulation of lipids in visceral fatty tissue. In effect, it causes the over-expression of the fatty genes that take part in the retention of lipids, explained Ms Rodr?guez. It is precisely this accumulated fat in the region of the abdomen that is deemed to be most harmful, as it is accompanied by comorbilities, visceral obesity being related to higher blood pressure or type 2 diabetes. Moreover, being located in the abdominal zone and in direct contact with the liver, this type of fatty tissue favours the formation of liver fat and increases the risk of developing resistance to insulin. It is associated with hypertension, high levels of triglycerides, resistance to insulin and hypercholesterolemia: visceral fat favours the metabolic syndrome, the researcher pointed out. Ghrelin can show itself in acylated or deacylated form, the difference being in the octanoic acid present in the composition of the former, according to Ms Rodriguez. Previously it was thought that only the acylated form was active in the process of weight increase, but many studies point to both hormones being biologically functional. Future development of pharmaceutical drugs This discovery of the twin action of ghrelin on the organism opens the door to future treatment for obesity and which, for the time being, is limited to in vitro studies in cell and animal models, the University Hospital researcher pointed out. This inclusive perspective of the functioning of a hormone is necessary in order to design effective pharmaceutical drugs. There are many hormones that intervene in the control of appetite in the hypothalamus and, at the same time, can act on other organs, such as the liver, the muscles or fat, for example. Thus, the medication developed should block the action of ghrelin both on the hypothalamus and on the accumulation of abdominal fat. At the same time, stated Ms Rodr?guez, it has to be taken into account that this hormone also acts on the liver and favours the capturing of glucose in the muscle. They observed that the concentration of acylated-form ghreline in the blood increases amongst obese persons and particularly when these, moreover, suffer from diabetes. Thus, obese persons with diabetes have greater tendency to accumulate visceral fat than normoglycemic obese persons. This is a little-studied field which has to be investigated in order to develop pharmaceutical drugs which annul this action of ghrelin. Blood analysis and stimulation of adipocytes The research undertaken at the Metabolic Research Laboratory of the University Hospital of Navarra principally involved the analysis of the blood of 80 patients, both obese and thin, and in the stimulation with ghrelin of the fatty cells from surgical operations. First they analysed the ghrelin levels in the blood. Then, based on the biopsies of visceral fat obtained from 24 patients subjected to various operations, the adipocytes or fatty cells were separated and subsequently stimulated with hormone, which enabled the researchers to evaluate the changes generated in the genes that favoured the lipid accumulation in these isolated adipocytes, explained the researcher. Source: Oihane Lakar Elhuyar Fundazioa

orthostatic hypotension. was told to drink more and add salt to everything I can. but I blacked out at Walmart this weekend so I am demanding a prescription to fix this. I drink a ton. unacceptable bs. Sent from my SM-G930R4 using BariatricPal mobile app

Well after visiting with the surgeon she recommended the sleeve because I have no other ailments ..like diabetes or high cholesterol etc...she said sleeve has less risk so after thinking about it and talking to my husband I've decided on sleeve. It does Co cern me bc the stomach is bigger....but I'm really going to give it my all and hopefully it'll work.

I've done ok on the depro shot. I did gain some weight after I started the shots but it was more from being on Weight Watchers and then I got off the program and started back to bad eating habits than the actual shot. My Gyn told me I could gain 10 pounds on it though when I first started it. I have looked online and the only non hormal bc is the paragard IUD besides just over the counter prevention that isn't as reliable. I hope my gyn office gets back to me quick, my next shot is 4/19/12. I hope I can stay on the depro shot but I guess if to have this surgery I have to go off it I will. Thanks for all the suggestions/comments. I've done ok on the depro shot. I did gain some weight after I started the shots but it was more from being on Weight Watchers and then I got off the program and started back to bad eating habits than the actual shot. My Gyn told me I could gain 10 pounds on it though when I first started it. I have looked online and the only non hormal bc is the paragard IUD besides just over the counter prevention that isn't as reliable. I hope my gyn office gets back to me quick, my next shot is 4/19/12. I hope I can stay on the depro shot but I guess if to have this surgery I have to go off it I will. Thanks for all the suggestions/comments.

Oh that sucks! I wish there was some way of determining how you will react on a BC before you have to take it for three or four months and freak out the whole time.

@brandnewme2013 yea im st that stage of not being able to drink anything while i eat but i was thinking of making a buffalo chicken salad to kick my craving. And i was told to keep my ground food moist always bc if i dont i feel like a big lump in my throat and i end up vomiting :-/

Hi everyone ! Im 3 weeks post-op and craving spicy food ! Especially buffalo chicken ! Is it bad to have spicy foods ? I dont remember my doctor ever mentioning this but my mom who had the surgery about 15 years ago said it was bad for me. Does anybody know ? ALSO, im at the gound foods stage. I have to measure 3oz of ground meat plus 1/4cup of mashed potatoes. Does anybody know if its okay for me to add like the broth over the meat to make it moist ? Bc i figured 3oz and thats it no adding anymore not even the broth.

Stinky :tongue_smilie: I have Anthem BC/BS and have been approved -- so they do have policies that cover the procedure. My husband's employer offers several plans from which employees can choose. Can your current policy be upgraded? It would be more expensive and you may have to wait until open enrollment (usually at the beginning of each year), but it would definitely be less expensive than self-pay. (Just make sure it's covered before you switch.) As someone else mentioned, buying a separate policy may also be a viable option. Again, expensive and they may require a six month (or more) supervised diet before considering it. All of those things aside, you seem to be asking, "Am I worth it?" I say we each are. But if you aren't at the point where you can tell yourself that, consider this: you have a family. They are counting on you to be around for a long long time. The healthier you are, the better able you will be to take care of them. Best of luck to you.

LizC, I am freaking out! I can't even express how much I LOVE Water and although I'm pretty much drinking all day, I still don't feel satisfied as if I actually drank water! I asked my surgeon in my 1 week post op and I think he saw the desperation on my face or something bc he somehow grinned and said that should get better soon.... I CAN'T WAIT!!!! thank God for hope!

I got the basic chocolate bc I dont like coffee. I hope they're good too!

I ordered some of the sample packs but didn't get the Crystal Blue bc I had no idea what it tasted like. What does it taste like? Also anyone- does the lemonade taste good and is it thin like lemonade? Not thick like a Protein shake? Thanks! Johnathan

Carrie, I'm sorry for all you have gone through. I read your OP and felt it was a bunch of BS that they continued with your surgery, infact you could have a lawsuit. We do a lot for our families and are easily persuaded by only hearing positives. I'm glad you chose to tell your story here and I hope that you are able to find some support elsewhere. Perhaps through a therapist, because what happened to you had to be traumatic.