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Thank you so much for the info!! That's a long waiting period! I wonder if it would have helped to have my PCP submit a referral right away. Hmmm. My consultation is next Thursday so I guess I mine as well wait and see what he has to say before I do anything else. Best of luck to you! Keep me posted on how you're making out! Do you know the name of the Miriam bariatric facebook support group? I heard it mentioned at the support group I went to in September but I forgot the name and tossed the handouts. I joined another facebook group but there is a lot of negativity and it would be nice to connect with people closer to home.

Hey guys! I downloaded this app not expecting all these posts! Then I found this thread and figured why not share my story so far. I was sleeved on November 1 It was a rough week before this, I had so much anxiety. I would cry at random because i was so scared being that I've never had an operation, let alone broken a bone before. I cried all the way to the OR and all I here is my mom tell the surgeon "you take care of my baby", now I'm bawling, thanks mom. Once in the OR the doctors introduce themselves and promised I'd be ok and they that they were going to give me something to feel better, they knocked me out, lol. Then, waking up. From what I remember I was woken up after surgery, "kassandra kassandra wake up the surgery is over" and I was wheeled into recovery. There I was like "what the hell did I just do" "why did I do this". Then my parents walk in and I started crying again, lol. I was only in recovery for about 30 minutes I would say then wheeled into my room. MY MOUTH WAS SO DRY, of course still no fluids allowed, not until the next day after the leak test is conducted. So, I was given some mouth swabs in ice, heaven. I was up within the hour, my mom asked if I wanted to try to walk, so I tried. Walked out my room into the hall and then some and came back. The pain wasn't so bad but they had given me one of those clicky buttons that would administer my pain medication, dilaudid. Wow do I wish someone would have told me dilaudid was going to intensify my nausea. Weird fact: I had diarrhea on this day. That night, was rough, I couldn't sleep at all. They RN on call even put Benadryl in my IV. Still awake. The nausea got really bad. I got up from my bed, unplugged the IV machine from the wall and went into the bathroom. I turned the faucet on and started gagging and dry heaving over the sink. Nothing came out but I guess my body needed some sort of release. This whole time I was thinking to myself if I was going to pop and internal staple and die. But once I was done I wet my face and waddle right back into bed. Next day, I felt more sore than pain and all I kept thinking about was lemon jello. Oh and! So many people come into your room at night so be prepared for having your BP checked like 3 times at night or having either your surgeons team at 5 am to see how your doing. So I went down for leak test. I was handed a small cup of this clear liquid, not the best tasting thing, and you are told to sip as this camera is looking through your body to your insides. Leak test over! Now where's my lemon jello?! Lol Back to my room I go, next? I get my catheter removed, wasn't too bad. Then my tray of "Bariatric Phase 1" things comes in. Included was LEMON JELLO, lol, a sugar free lemon icy, 8oz bottle of water, sf cranberry juice, chicken broth, tea and unsweetened ice tea. All that fuss about this jello and I couldn't even keep it on my tongue, so I went for the icy and water. 1 oz every 15 minutes. At this point I was more paranoid of hurting myself and my pouch I didn't want to over do it and I was still nauseous at this point. I could've went home this day but I was kept another day for observation because of it. The next day, still nauseous was I was allowed to go home finally! I was discharged right before lunch. I was sent home with some pain medication and some nausea pills that dissolve on your tongue. So now I'm home, full clear Liquid diet until phase 2 and I couldn't be anymore exited for some bland mashed potatoes.

I have no appetite. food hurts when it is going down. I often throw up after I eat. I lost more weight. I became malnourished and anemic. I lost more weight. I am always sick now. I am losing more weight. I think I am dying. Call your bariatric surgeons office. !!!!!!

I'm not sure what specifics are going on in your situation. Are you pre - op? How far out from surgery are you? Are you having a stall or weight gain? Pre op. Not so sure you can do anything to make your stomach smaller. If this is a stall. Look up breaking the stall on this site. Stalls are normal. If you feel your stomach may be stretched, contact your surgeon's office. Many arguments out there about the ability of stretching your surgery . I won't touch on that. Clean you out? I've heard of people doing a diet cleanse to start over a diet. Look into it if you feel it will be beneficial to you. It's normal to be able to eat more as you get further out from surgery. The restriction is still there. It's just different. Kind of a reboot is going back through a liquid or soft food stage for a week... Helps to notice the volume you are able to hold and where you feel restriction at this point of your surgery. Go back to bariatric basics to continue weight loss I still log my food. I eat high protein andI add as much veggies as I want. It helps me to feel full. It keeps my calories down and my weight loss is back on track. Hope you are doing well, Jenn

Something to be aware of. Reality is with any bariatric procedure, you will gain weight by eating "around your surgery" It's easy to eat several small meals throughout your day/night with no effect on feeling restriction pain. Grazing food will/can increase caloric intake and cause significant weight gain.

@Danny Paul, I have Keystone Health Plan East right now, part of Independence Blue Cross of Philadelphia. We are self employed, so we have an individual plan through a broker. Our policy excludes all weight loss programs and bariatric procedures (except a $150/yr max gym reimbursement w/proof of attendance). We recently moved closer to Reading, PA, so we are in Berks County now, and apparently out of IBC's coverage area. So we had to switch plans during open enrollment anyway, but we were already considering it to try to find a plan to cover me for this. We found out that no matter if we get our plan through a broker, like we have been, or through the healthcare marketplace, that No individual or small business plans from any insurance provider in PA offers bariatric coverage anymore. So, we can't even pay extra to get the coverage. You can only get it if you work for a Co with 51+ employees - which I cannot work except for helping my husband with office stuff from home a few hours per week - and he is a 2nd generation painting/carpentry contractor doing this for 30 yrs, so him just getting another job is not an option. PLUS, it's not guaranteed the Co you work for has the ins plan that covers it either. The employer has to choose that coverage allowance when they choose the plan for their employees. PA is one of several states that doesn't require it. Also, you can get it covered usually via Medicare (not old enough yet unless I get SSI/SSD - have begun applying for SSD, but will likely take a few years if I do get approved and I'm not waiting that long to have the surgery...) And, it is covered by Medicaid, but we are above the income limits for that. We discussed so many scenarios for ways to get coverage (all surrounding states do cover it, so should I move to MD/DE/NJ for a year, rent a room, get ins there, and get it paid for? But in the end all of that what such a hassle and took me away from, well my family of course, but also my doctors and everything else. Just too much work. In the end, my husband said he was willing to take out a loan for it. I didn't even ask because I felt it was too much - but even though this is only one step in trying to help with all my many issues, he could see how it could be a catalyst for helping make everything else a little better. So he thinks it's worth it, which kind of blows me away. Obviously I think it's worth it, but always worry about my "issues" being such a burden on my family. Right now I am feeling really blessed by their support. So, let's just hope lots of people need their houses painted this winter so we don't have any slow spells and we can make our loan payments!! Sorry, I this is probably way more than you were asking...

LOL! You're all good. One of the nice things about bariatric surgery is the instant gratification (or almost anyway.) When I hear of people losing like 100 pounds in 3 months and even getting to goal weight in 6-8, I am getting eager to get going.

I can’t do the shakes at all. It isn’t just the taste, but they make me queazy. My doctor approve for me to do these instead - see GenePro flavorless protein and Bariatric Choice Liquid protein (I like the berry flavor). Amazon delivers them fast if you are a prime member Or you can pay a little extra for delivery.

I would love to hear of some cases or studies where healthy people underwent caloric restriction and didn't lose weight. (Controlled, measured, counted environment.) Shoot, I have a family member that has a pituitary gland problem. She is only 4'8 and has all kinds of hormone/metabolic issues, and even she could lose weight on an 800 cal. diet. She just couldn't stay on it. Regardless, we can control the "calories in". The invisible part is the "calories out". The body can choose to burn 4000 calories a day, or 800 (just throwing numbers out for example... I don't know the actual limits). THIS is the mystery piece that makes it seem like the math doesn't work. I think they are still trying to figure out how to get the body to keep the metabolism up under caloric restriction.. and so far, bariatric surgery works the best.

I have Bariatric timer, Monitor Your Weight, Water Drink Reminder, My Fitness Pal, Medica Reminders, and Baritastic

BAROS is Bariatric Analysis and Reporting Outcome System. At my 6 month check up (at 7 months) I got my score, without really knowing what it is. My surgeon was very happy with my score of 7.9. I did some research and and found this form. Has anyone gotten their score?

Yes, it's a completely different product. Mixes very nicely with everything. What didn't you like about Bariatric Fusion?

I hated Bariatric Fusion meal replacements. This is different?

Tuesday is right around the corner so when you start getting protein you’ll feel better. I couldn’t get enough water in the beginning either. I called the bariatric nurse and she told me to try the best I can and she knows it’ll get easier each day. She did remind me how important fluids are. Dehydration is a serious problem. Be sure you are tracking your liquids. I tracked more carefully and realized I was getting more than I thought. Just keep sipping all the time. Remember the popscicles or whatever you are taking in counts as part of your oz’s of fluids. It’ll get better. The first week is the most difficult. Sip sip sip sip

I'm having trouble finding a good Protein Powder. I tried Bariatric Fusion and found it gross (especially the chicken soup). Premier Protein is just way too sweet for me. The Caramel is revolting, and the Banana and Cream is drinkable but soooo sweet. Everyone says Unjury is the best. If I don't like Bariatric Fusion or Premier Protein will I like Unjury? Am I doomed to find all Protein shakes undrinkable? Everyone keeps saying how great Premier Protein caramel is and I really find it disgusting.

OH yeah, I know it's from lack of protein. Even my home nurse that came on Friday said to just do water/liquids. They don't seem to be concerned with the protein till Tuesday. There is no way in hell I'd be able to walk the 30 minutes they want either??? Not with lack of calories. I'm not hungry so that's good. What all did you guys do about trying to get in the 64 ounces of liquids??? Our dietician has been hard core when she talks to me about YOU HAVE TO DRINK 64 OUNCES a day. I'm averaging about 40 and that's it. I just can't get anymore into me, LOL. I talked to one of my other health workers in the Bariatric team and she was ok with just the 40oz so that made me feel better, but I talked to her on Wednesday. I think I'll call back on Monday to see what she says, maybe she'll let me have some protein shake before Tuesday.

Hmm... that is strange. This is a bariatric jello by Bariatric Advantage, but I guess it would be no to that too.

No I have not had any type of bariatric related surgery. My gastric bypass the schedule for January 23, 2018. I’ve had heart surgery in the past and hernia repair is well a few other things I had a hysterectomy in 2013 due to cancer. I wish that I had thought that bariatric surgery was and option for me back then because I may not have had some of those surgeries anyway. But I can’t live in the past I have to look towards the future so as of now bariatric surgery the beginning of 2018 and hopefully much better health moving forward.

I bought the tespo and Bariatric bundle. Haven’t set it up yet because I’m only a couple of weeks out and was staying at my parents house. The only issue my dietician saw was that it’s short 1000 IU of vitamin D and has no biotin. I can supplement those though.

I take the bariatric fusion. They have them in orange cream flavor on amazon and I like them a lot. They are the only ones that don’t taste bad to me.

I have had several herniated discs in my lower back and my neck for years. I had one back surgery to release a pinched nerve, which helped, but didn't fix everything. Before bariatric surgery, I had back pain daily, and sometimes by the end of the day I could barely move. I used to take Ibuprofen all the time just to be able to function in my job, but a few years ago I had to stop taking that because of kidney problems. Since I stopped Ibuprofen, I was taking Tylenol and Tramadol a couple times a day without much relief. As I began losing weight, and getting out to exercise more, I started noticing that I didn't have as much back pain. One day I realized that I hadn't taken any Tylenol or Tramadol for about a week, I never missed it! Losing weight and exercising has helped my back pain so much, I feel a million times better and don't suffer with the same level of pain on a daily basis. Carrying so much extra weight around has a lot to do with all the body aches and pains I had for years. I still occasionally have some back pain, which comes with the territory of having the herniated discs, but it is nowhere like it was before and I can recover from it more quickly than I used to. I feel certain that losing weight is a major factor in relieving much of the pain many of us have when obese. It also increases range of motion and the ability to exercise effectively. I wish you the best of luck, I hope your pain gets better. I know how it feels to live with it.

Hi Did you have to have the stone removed before proceeding with the bariatric surgery?

The biggest thing I don't like is that notifications don't seem to work right. I'll get a push screen notification that somebody "liked" something but when I open the app there's no way to find out what it was. There are no notification highlight numbers like in Facebook or many other apps. I go to the menu in the upper right and find that there is an item listed there called "notifications" but when I click on it, it is always empty. I see a thumbs up under other people's posts that I can click to "like" something, but it won't show me who else has liked it. And, there is no such thumbs up symbol under my own posts at all to view who has liked the post. I'm fine without having to add "friends" like in most social networks as we are a unique community. However, it would be nice if users could have their own page or "wall" to post their stories, , their procedures, their stats and progress updates. You would think a bariatric surgery app would make it easy to do that and to track. It would be nice to go to other people's pages and just see that, if they choose to enter it. Or to see the macro stats of all users. I think the app administrators would do well to make some upgrades and invest in a re-design.

My way to bariatric surgeyim new to the bariatric surgery and im excite im getting the gastric sleeve I hope I chosen the right choice I've struggled with my weight my whole life in 273 with a bmi of 51 In looking for support and new friends who Ben threw it with good pointers thanks Sent from my SM-J327T1 using BariatricPal mobile app

Oh and I’m already attending my bariatric support groups meetings.