Search the Community

I had Medicare through UHC and was approved the same day! They didn't waste time. However, my Dr office was slow and I waited 2 months, 1 week to have my surgery. Good luck!

My opp was a week ago and there is no way to say this in a pretty way, so here it comes: You will be very grateful if you bring baby wipes with you.( I never expected a constant diarrhea but it went on for about 6 days.)

I stopped losing weight at about 3 weeks post op, and the scale hasn't moved since. It's been holding steady and pissing me off. How long do I need to wait? How do I get the scale moving again????

I had surgery 8/27/14 and lost 10 pounds the first week. I am three weeks out today but the scale has NOT moved in the past two weeks. I am tracking my food intake with My Fitness Pal and I am getting plenty of Protein.....eating ONLY things on the "approved" diet list (only about 700 calories a day!).....even joined a gym and am working out almost daily (walking a mile on the treadmill and 20 minutes on the elliptical machine). Even people who don't know I had surgery say they notice I am losing weight. I can tell a difference in my face, my stomach, my backside.....my watch is looser, my rings are looser, my shoes are looser, my pants are looser. How is it POSSIBLE the scale is not moving?????? Experienced sleevers -- HELP!!!

Hi There. I was banded in Oct by Dr Meyers at Day One. I have not had any negative experiences there. I went to the info seccion in June and met with Dr Meyeres a few weeks after. I didn't think my insurance was going to approve me and kinda write the idea off around mid-summer. I was kinda shocked when the woman who works with the insurances called me in August to say she was expecting a decision soon. I honestly figured it was not going to happen. They have info sessions on Saturdays - check it out. Surgery was fine - no issues and my fills were relatively quick (except for the first but thats cuz I'm a wuss who almost fainted.) I keep thinking I shoudl go in for another fill. Their website gives some info but the info sessions are wonderful becuz you meet the doc, see and play with the band and meet some folks/staff who have been thru the procedure.

I am also 5 days post op and am experiencing the same thing. I had band and plication and wasnt sure if my stomach was cramping/ digesting/ or I was hungry but I think I have figured out that I am getting pretty hungry and it hurts when my stomach rumbles/growls. I am trying to "eat" every 3-4 hours to help this by trying to get 4 shakes and then soup in the middle of afternoon/night if needed. I think it is odd bc I feel like i was less hungry on the 2 week pre op diet when I was on shakes only for 7 days and the pain of hunger feels worse now. I hope this gets better!

Mine is scheduled for December 23rd as well! 2 weeks 2 days!

My biggest suggestion is don't weigh for a month! Most of the people I have known have stalled about 1 week in and then dropped significantly about 1 month out! Don't focus on losing, focus on healing! Drink lots of liquids and walk as much as you can! I am 3 weeks out and it has been a breeze. I'm back to working out (just walking right now, but running soon!) and getting plenty of fluids. I feel great and my clothes are fitting just wonderfully! My big loss in my signature is from being banded previously. I had my revision on 12/28. Good luck! SW:327 CW:239 GW:155 Heather in Texas

Hi! Surgery went well. Spent Wednesday (27) to Friday (29) in the hospital- my IV blew so my nausea & pain were hard to control that Thursday so I spent the extra night there. Was sent home on liquids & purée as tolerated. I'm doing well. No pain or complaints. I lost 13# the first week, but nothing the 2nd week. Just hanging in there and learning to feed my body. I see my surgeon & nut on Thursday for my 2 week check up. Thank for checking up on me! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I got my lapband 3 years ago, and it's working great. I lost 50 lbs and am keeping it off. I'm getting my overies removed next week and my lapband dr. says I have to have all the Fluid removed before any surgery. He's afraid that if I throw up it might make the banc slip. I throw up all the time, and it's never slipped. It's a 2 hour drive to get the fluid removed, so I'm wondering if I really have to do it, or if my general dr. can remove the fluid.

I had my vsg/gallbladder surgery on January 10th 2017 @ 2pm. I had a couple complications during surgery which required for me to have a laparoscopic AND open surgery. I woke up from surgery with a pain score of 20+. The pain was so serve that I just wanted to be knocked out the whole time. I was given morphine(the whole hospital stay) which is a pain med I was already on for going on 6 years (chronic back pain/6 slipped disc)but just a little extra(which I was hooked up to a med machine)through my iv. So I followed instructions and walked as much as my body would allow me. I couldn't even sleep in the hospital bed because I was having issues breathing (when laying flat) and I couldn't keep getting in and out of the bed to go potty so I slept in the chair(recliner) that was by my bed. I stayed in the hospital a total of 3 and 1/2 days, with no meds. I feel better everyday(thank god) but now that I am almost two weeks out I'm still having some pain but its way better than before(its around a 6 or 7).... Sent from my LGMS550 using the BariatricPal App

I felt the same way. Stopped Diet Soda on Saturday and had a headache for three straight days. Today is the first day that it hasnt hurt. It was awful. Tomorrow is my clear liquid diet and then nothing after that until surgery. Had my last meal tonight. toast, eggs and hashbrowns. So badddd.!

I am new to the site. I had to find some new friends that can help me with this new journey. I am very excited. I had to pay cash. My insurance had a clause stating by no means it would pay for the surgery so I opted for the LapBand. I am doing the OptiFast Diet two weeks prior to surgery. The no Diet Coke is what is killing me. My main concern is all the extra skin when the weight does start coming off that I will need another surgery that I will probably have to pay for and I don't see that happening. Any suggestions? The nurse told me it is basically your genes will decide and the elasticity of the skin. I pray it will go back. It is great to be here. Bye.

Completed my 1 week of pre op diet. 1 more week to go...

Hang TIGHT!!! It all will come together if you do what you seem to be doing. Like was said DON'T stuff yourself. I'm 3 and 1/2 years out and I just now get around 800 to 900 Calories on most days but not all days. I will say that I got below my goal weight in 6 months. I did gain 8#'s but I have maintained my 124#'s for 3 years. I can say I really didn't have any stalls, but I had Strictures starting at my 6 week appointment and continued until Jan 2015. I think that is the reason I lost so fast as I couldn't eat much food. I did have a 3# gain early on but I lost that the next day. I'm not telling you this to brag just trying to help. Keep doing you and you will be successful!!

Been having great lap band experience and weight loss of about 3 lbs a week thus far. Two weeks ago, got 2nd fill. My doc has issues locating my port, usually digs around with a needle for about 35 minutes, lots of poking and such, making fills a pain and an annoyance. The issue is that since 2nd fill, i've been having the worst of both worlds. Weight loss has stopped. I can still eat just as much as before this fill, I still get hungry. Basically, the only thing this fill has done to assist me is keep me full longer. The downsides are: constant pain swallowing and when I wait too long to eat. My chest/center of back between shoulder blades are always sore when I swallow and during the 1-2 hours of digestion....it's this gassy, burpy sensation but I can't burp, just feel the air rolling up my center and then stopping at the band, creating a horrible, painful pinch, that comes and goes, like a contraction. I grimace, have to grab something, etc. Taking constant Gas-X strips only helps a little bit. So please please pretty please, i need you out there. Obviously I need another fill to get at least some restriction and resume weight loss. But this pressure and pain is getting old. I would love some input, some stories, ANYTHING. This is the first negative thing to happen since banding and I don't want my outlook to go south.

Mine is three-pronged: First meet with psychiatrist/psychologist for initial questions. As others have said, they were very surface questions. I suppose if you REALLY divulged a lot, they would go further. As with most therapists, it's all in how much you share. Second was answer what seemed like 500 question test - think high school test, fill in the bubbles with a number 2 pencil. Questions were BIZARRE - do you feel you are being watched? Have you been abducted by aliens? Third was meet with psychiatrist/psychologist for follow-up after test. My results were normal (I like to point this out to my hubby!!), so it was, once again, a superficial conversation.

I really in a funky mood today, was yesterday too. I've decide to not have any junk food for a whole month and see if that really helps. I have such a sweet tooth. I don't mind the chips and stuff, but I don't let anything sweet set in my house for more than a couple of minutes. I need to wien myself from all sweets. I don't care for ice cream either it more of the cookies, cakes and some candy. Chocolate candy is a big weakness. I will be keep my sugar free candies, they are the cinnimon disks. I have to stay strong. I have not lost any weight for the last month. I really thought maybe I had the way I have been running to the bathroom to void all the time the last couple of days. Maybe it will take the scales a couple of days to catch up. I have been wearing my pedometer the last few day to see how little I walk. I want to a weeks worth of stats and then do a average and see if I can increase my steps by one hundred step per day for the next week. I want to get alot more active. I really disappointed in my DH cause he told me when I start this journey that he would walk with me. It hasn't happen yet. Maybe when it gets cooler he will decide to walk with me. I'm trying real hard to have a really good week this week. I'm keeping track of my food intake and will excerise every day this week. My excerise is peddling on my peddle machine for at least 10 minutes a day. I know that doesn't sound like much, but with my bad knees and my inactivity it is a big thing for me. WILL DO GOOD THIS WEEK. NO JUNK FOOD AND WILL EXCERISE EVERYDAY. THURSDAY 4289 FRIDAY 2345 SATURADAY 2149 SUNDAY 2952

The first time I heard about lapband surgery was from a dear sweet lady named Theresa passing through my life--leaving behind in her wake--a hope that things could change for me. I did look up the surgery then--but my insurance didn't cover any part of it--and self pay in this area was so high--it was unthinkable for me--even with the changes I now know it brings. So--a few months later--I was on the path to gastric bypass--which my insurance does cover--ever more nervous and getting more frightened as I heard first one then many side affects/risks--which I had to decide if I was willing to take for the drastic change I needed to make in my life if I was to live to see my small children grow. My history with surgeries and complications being as it was--I was VERY sceptical of the numbers I was given--I know that some of it was just to filter the serious from those who were not--but 1/50 was a number that really made me uneasy--as the other times in my life the numbers game showed my in my favor i.e. 1/500 or 1/300--and I still ended up being that 1 percent with complications. I know we all go through a tremedous amount of inner turmoil in making decisions that can affect the length and scope of our lives. Many thoughts and fears, hopes, and dreams. I was no different-- and I had hit that moment in my life where It was do something--or be lost to myself. I am sure that if I had gotten through it--I might have had another of those moments...we all come to our own crossroads--this was mine. I decided to look up the lap band procedure one more time. This time--I really started digging--and comparing for me--which one would give me what I needed most--as well as be affordable for us. Comparing what I could--researching where I could--I looked more deeply into all of it--obsessively (my husband's word). I finally found a dr with terrific credentials at a more affordable rate for me to handle--which I needed if I was going to self pay-(another story there believe me). I had more than a week of sleepless nights (not unusual for me anyway) thinking of the hope--and the chance lap band could give me--and finally told my husband--this is it. He said to give him some time--so we could figure out the finance part of it--lol problem there is once I came to the conclusion that this was it--there was really no stopping me-- I gave him 4 days--then called and booked my appt for 2 weeks out. He had that long to figure out how we could pay for it. When I told him that I booked the appt--he laughed--he thought I was kidding. I had never been more serious. Healthy and young still at 30--even at my weight--I was starting to have more issues with joints, and been warned of pre-diabetes--I could see the road ahead of me with out some action. I had dieted and lost 60, 80 lbs more than once--only to have them return and bring friends--over and over for the past decade or more. I have been heavy since the onset of puberty-- progressively more so at I get older--I just couldn't let it keep happening--this is where it had to stop. I started the liquid liver shrinking diet the day I booked the appt-- and promptly lost all control--like some switch was flicked in my brain or something--eating a bag of doritos-and whatever else I could get my hands on that day and the next. I finally got a hold on myself the third day and managed to stick to the pre-op diet losing 12.5lbs by the day before my surgery. I spent every one of those days researching on the yahoo boards-- asking questions of all of the post banded people who woould answer and reading every post along the way--finding that others often asked questions I hadn't thought of yet--but was glad to know the answers to. When I got to TJ--I was nervous--but exceedingly well informed on what to expect, and everything went very smoothly. I met up with 3 other women having the surgery and their support--I had also arranged to bring with me a very dear person for support. So we all shared info and stories and got to know one another through that first day while we all went to pre-op testing and checked into the hotel for the night before surgery (included 3 nights in the price for the surgery), we all got to enjoy a really super "last supper" as we thought then at a restaurant called 'los arcos' MMMMMMMM yummy! and we met with the surgeon and his team for question time and basically for them to explain more on what to expect. I found it funny almost to learn that I had already gleaned in my research most of what they had to say--and after meeting with them and finding out what order the surgeries for the next day would be in--we were free to do as we pleased--in this case--we all met in the restaurant of the hotel to chat some more--I found myself being able to field a lot of the questions that some of the others still had--ironicly enough. (told you I am obsessive--lol) The next day--we had surgery and everything went very quicly--I woke up after surgery to some nausea--and sipped some water and slept a lot. The next day--I walked to the pharmacy to pick up my prescription and then it was off to the airport to fly home. My friend made sure to get a wheelchair for me--which I didn't think I needed but by the time we got across the airport I was thankful for--and I was pre-boarded on the plane for the 2 hr flight home. I spent the evening at home-- resting as much as possible. The next day--I drove my friend the 7 hours home, and spent the rest of the week with my daughters (2 and 4) up at her house--chasing littles and visitiing with family. Drinking fluids--Not so easy since everytime my family gathers-- there is a barbeque--lol. I progressed well for the first six weeks--my appetite returning with a vengeance after the first week--and struggling to eat like a bandster should and not always winning the battle. By 6 weeks out--I was SOOOO ready for my first fill--1.5cc--I was disappointed in myself because I had only managed to lose 10lbs (actually 20 but with no restriction--gained 10 of it back by the first fill) but determined that this was going to work. I had very little restriction still--but forwarned is forearmed--I knew there was a possibility that it would take 3 or more fills to get there--that was part of my choice in picking the band--and that I REALLY needed to work on my patience--gee wonder why that was so hard--I know that it took years to get to this point--what made me think I could change it all overnight? So, as soon as a second fill was allowed I was there! I managed to lose 3 lbs between my first and 2nd fills. But after that second one--I felt the restriction--not immediately--it actually kicked into high gear about a week later--and by this third fill I got--I had lost another 15 lbs! Now I am losing steadily and happily. I have continued to live on the support boards, and exercising (yes--you guessed it--almost obsessively--mostly walking 4x a week for at least an hour) So that is my story--basically anyhow-I left out the depression I was going through before, and the bandster blues after as I mourned food, (and wanting to throw my hubby from the 2nd floor window because he just didn't understand what I was going through--bandster rage--it passed--lol)--he never knew that part until yesterday--you should have seen the look on his face when I laughingly told him he narrowly missed a few broken bones at the least.(it really was a true ally mcbeal moment) -I am sure there are people making the same decision I had to make here on this board--and others in other places on a daily basis--I can only say--ASK QUESTIONS! Be proactive--don't settle for what you can get if you really want something else. You are worthy, and smart and should be proud of yourselves for making a choice to take your life into your own hands and make it happier and healthier and longer than ever. I, for one, would not go back for an instant! If anyone wants to ask questions--please feel free to email me I am by far not the most experienced person on the board--but I am here:). Whatever your choice--it is YOUR choice--and you make the best of it. I wish everyone well in their journey--and reasearch. Hugs, shrina 7/12/05 Dr. Kuri 274/226/125-150 3 fills Dr. McKeen 2.4cc currently

I had surgery the end of April and by the first few weeks of June was feeling really good no longer sore and able to do anything. But recently we went on vacation nothing big but a long 2 day drive and a lot of time in the car after we got there, I was feeling fine but on the way home another 2 day drive my mussel that they cut through for the surgery started to get sore. I have been home a week now and it seems to be getting more sore everyday. Its not unbearable but i defiantly feel it. I was just wondering if anybody else has has this happen? I don't recall doing anything that would make it sore but who knows I am thinking maybe just sitting so long in the car could be behind it?

I drink in excess of 80 ounces of water a day, coffee is extremely limited (and decaf), I don't like the taste of citrus post-op and we can't eat tomatoes in our house due to the fact our daughter has a bleeding disorder and tomatoes make her hemorrhage. Sorry, I'm some what frustrated with the fact that I'm still hurting and if the ER doc had thought about the fact I had no symptoms of a bladder infection instead of telling me about all the dire things that the symptoms I had could mean (ex- bladder cancer), I might have been able to have had this taken care of already. But, my son is getting married next week and I can't afford to take time for the surgical procedure that was suggested before the wedding. So, I'm on a medicine to dilate my ureter so that some of the pressure will be relived and maybe the stone will pass. The Dr said that it would take around 5 days for the med to start working. I'm still on day one. ????

Hi...I did not get final approval for my surgery until one week before my pre op visit. I was stressed also. One thing that helped me was talking to the insurance company every day. I also was planning in my head for an appeal if I was denied. I don't know if the Drs will schedual or not unless they are fairly sure about the insurance approval. Good luck and don't give up.

Okay so I was banded on Jan 11th 2010. The first four weeks I lost 26 lbs and was so excited.....and in the last week I haven't lost a thing! This happen to anyone else? I'm only eating between 550-750 calories a day...how is it possible to not be losing? Going next thursday for my first fill hopefully.

I too am getting banded tomorrow! I'm fluctuating between being really excited and being pretty nervous. What I am nervous about the most is getting weighed in tomorrow at the hospital. I lost 11lbs in the 2 weeks I was on my pre-op diet. Perhaps I'm being paranoid, but I am wondering if the scale at the hospital shows a 1-2 lb difference, will they refuse to do the surgery? What if the scales are just calibrated differently? Anybody have any words of advice?

My insurance finally kicked in, and i have my sleep study and heart appointment next week! And i'll hopefully have a nutrition and psych appointment set up by the end of this week! I'm so...anxious/nervous/excited. lol. Anyone have tips or pointers they could share with a newb? ^.^