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I think a great majority of weight loss individuals suffer from an anterior pelvic tilt, even though they don't know it. The weight of the belly naturally pulls the hips down in the front. Nevertheless, and ignoring that specifically, I've had back problems for the last decade, maybe more. I have disc degeneration, spinal stenosis, and disc bulges from L4-L5 and L5-S1. For the most part, I had a dull pain (Maybe 3-5 out of 10) on an average day. If I did lots of physical work (Working on my car, landscaping, building stuff out of wood, working on my home, etc...) then the next day I'd be 7/10 in pain. I would say a half dozen times I "threw it out" and it was a solid 10/10 in pain, I couldn't walk, had to crawl and sleeping was agonizing just to get into bed... But, pre-surgery, I was told to eat right and consume smaller servings. I don't recall exercise being on the table. Nevertheless, I was doing a lot of walking anyways. Walking is pretty easy to do (Being relative here) and the fresh air (Well, we don;t have fresh air in California, but you get the point) was good for me. I would think that if that causes you too much pain, you could either concentrate on upper exercises or water aerobics which usually takes the pressure off joints. I would say though, more important than the back issues, is to make sure you get your eating under control so that you don't have a huge letdown/withdrawal after you get the surgery. I think it's normal for people to eat a few of their "forbidden fruits" before surgery, but it sounds like this might be more than that. I hope everything works out for you!

I cant have the tv on for 10 mins without seeing pizza, fried chicken, steak, junk food. This pre op diet is hard enough on its own! Comcast is trying to kill me I swear! Does seeing the stuff you really like but "can't or shouldn't " have get easier post op? These cravings right now are crazy!

I am struggling and so frustrated. I had my last period the day of my surgery 5/2/18. I have not had one since. I am 48 years old, wondering if the surgery triggered menopause. I have PMS symptoms every month which are getting worse. I feel sad, depressed, cry too easily and get angry so quickly. I am upset because my weight loss is so slow and am afraid that I won’t lose the weight I need to. I lose 1/2 lb to a 1 lb a week if I am lucky, seem to stall frequently. I know I need to increase my exercise but just feel so miserable that I can barely get through the day. I feel like a failure, I weighed 206 on the day of my surgery and weigh 184 now. 22 lbs in 3 months when the doctor says I should be losing 10 lbs a month! Today is rough, crying and trying to work is difficult. Thanks for letting me vent❤️

I am 63 and half way through the Supervised Medical Weight loss management. I have lost almost 20 pounds, focus on changing my attitude of food. I am trying to start this lifestyle change as I hope to get the surgery early 2019. However, my insurance is up in the air about if they are going to cover and bariatric surgery. I plan to keep going and I enjoy reading that others have gone through the gastric sleeve procedure with positive results.

I'm doing good 10 day post op it's getting better walking every morning 30 minutes just tiered of liquid phase ready to move on to the purée phase. One issue I'm having is a lot of itching around my stomach area I will call my doctor office in the am im

My insurance required a 6 month supervised diet program, had to have frequent phone check-ins with one of their nurses to assess my readiness during that 6 months, and it required me to choose a "certified" program - which has nothing to do with an actual professional organization certification, it's the insurances own certification program that the practice has to apply for. I was so frustrated, I had to choose a program that was over 70 miles from my home rather than my local hospitals program which is <10 miles from my home. I had, like most everyone else, considered the option of surgery for a long time, and when I finally made up my mind, I wanted to do it sooner rather than later and I was devastated to find out I had to wait 6 months, even though I had been seeing my primary doctor for weight loss pills for months, and I had documented weight loss and gains over the years. Now, in retrospect, these requirements turned out to be the best thing that could have happened for me, with the exclusion of the insurance nurse phone calls - I didn't feel like I got any benefit from that. I am so happy with my surgeon and my practice, I just can't speak highly enough about their care, their program, and the hospital they use. I had the option of the duodenal switch surgery at this practice, which I am very happy with, and would not have had that option at my local hospital. And I feel like I was very well prepared for the surgery and the changes that come with it during that 6 months in which my surgeon required educational classes and follow up with their team of nutritionists. I'm not sure I would have adjusted as well to the lifestyle changes without that time of preparation, education, and support from their team. Having talked to others who participated in different programs for bariatric surgery, it seems like they didn't get nearly the amount of education for post-surgery that my program requires. Some have already started re-gaining weight after 1-2 years, which I can't predict if it will happen to me, but I feel like I still have an open line of communication with my practice and a lot of support when I have questions or issues. I often wonder when I see people posting about "cheating" on their plan within mere weeks or months of their surgery what their programs preparation requirements were and if it has any correlation to post op outcomes like compliance with diet. (This statement is not directed at anyone, it seems like these types of posts are fairly frequent here, and I'm not judging, but truly wondering if an intense preparation period makes a difference in outcomes)

So why do patients face longer wait times to receive bariatric surgery compared with surgeries to treat other life-threatening conditions such as cancer and heart disease? . One big reason: Many insurance companies (including Medicaid) require those seeking bariatric surgery to lose weight before their surgery, even though there's no data or evidence to prove preoperative weight loss affects long-term success. Patients with complex medical histories enrolled in Medicaid experienced the longest delays. Nonwhite patients also waited longer... Smokers and patients with high cholesterol or psychological disorders also had longer wait times for bariatric surgery. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/07/180730090141.htm How long did it take before you had your surgery? How long did you wait calculated from your first visit to your date of surgery? What requirements or obstacles did your insurance carrier impose? Supervised weight loss attempts? Were you told that you had to lose weight during those attempts… and that any weight gain would impede your path to surgery? Did you have to meet with a psychologist, nutritionist, and attend required bariatric surgery classes before your surgery was submitted to your insurance for surgery approval? For those who were self-pay… did you circumvent your insurance carrier because of the obstacles/delays imposed by your carrier, because your BMI or other insurance mandated requirements did not make you “eligible” or because you had no bariatric benefits?

I have finally started to lose my weight and have now lost 30 pounds. I am so happy about this.

Just for clarification - you can press the button on the pain pump as many times and as often as you want / need to. It will only administer the pain medicine at the interval set by the doctor writing the order and the nurse programming the pump. For example, if the pump is set at 10 minutes, you can push and push the button but it will only give you medicine every 10 minutes (or when you push it if it has been longer than 10 minutes since you last pushed it). The amount you receive is much much less than you would get every four hours by IV. By giving smaller doses much more often, the pain can be controlled. I've had both morphine and fentanyl pain pumps over the years and they all work the same. Most of the time it is set at 10 minutes but one time I had it set at 8 minutes. You can also ask your doctor (or ask the nurse to ask the doctor) to change the amount administered per push or decrease the time between doses. Everything can be adjusted to meet your needs.

I get what you are saying and I'm glad it will work out for you. I have student loans and a car loan, so my budget will not support anything like that at this time. I'm very lucky with the insurance I have. I know not everyone has great insurance, especially with the ACA crap. I have a pre-existing condition and it is covered by my insurance. I'm extremely lucky that this is the case. The medicine alone for my condition is extremely expensive. I plan to elaborate about my medical history, but I'll mention part of it here. I have Crohn's disease. I've been on medication since 1990 for it and have had three major abdominal surgeries to deal with diseased sections of my intestines. I've taken many drugs, but the only ones that seem to work (for a while, anyway) are the biologics, such as Remicade (taken for over 10 years; now I have antibodies to it), Humira (taken for just over 2years; now I have antibodies to it too), Cimzia (did not work in over a year of taking it) and now Stelara. Stelara is the second most expensive drug sold in the United States, behind Harvoni (for hepatitis C). The way Stelara is administered is the first dose is given by infusion at the doctor's office. It is given intravenously over the course of several hours. Attached is the explanation of benefits from my insurance company. Since the infusion, I have received the first self-injected dose (I give myself one shot every two months until it does not work any longer (or I lose my insurance)). I've heard these are $20,000 per shot! I'll post the explanation of benefits once it is paid by the insurance company. Without the insurance company paying for the surgery, I would have to opt out and find another way to lose the weight. Notice the "Amount You Owe" column. I met my deductable and out-of-pocket for this year back in March. Everything for the rest of this year will be covered at 100%. The second image is what they pay every six months for my C-Pap supplies.

My experience: I'm not sure how long after surgery I woke up, but I woke up very groggy and half-lucid (that's typical of me with general anesthesia). I didn't have any nausea. They tell me I spent two hours in the recovery room, an hour longer than they anticipated because my main room wasn't ready yet, and that I was awake for this time, but I don't recall spending that much time in recovery. For me the recovery room was mostly sleep with short, 30-second bouts of wakefulness as the nurses told me something, and then right back to sleep, so the whole thing could have been three minutes or three hours and I wouldn't have known. The grogginess continued for about five hours...I'd be awake for a short time, and then sleep for 20-30 minutes. I've had more painful surgeries, but I did a poor job of managing the pain initially on this one. I had a pain pump with morphine, but they never told me how often I would be able to hit it. My only experience with morphine in a prior surgery was that they let me have a single dose and cut me off. Here, my pump would work once every ten minutes, but they didn't tell me that, so I was expecting morphine = long time between pumps, hours even, so I was holding out after my first hit for WAY too long; the pain built up to about a 6 before the nurse told me I could use the pump every 10 minutes, and the pain worked up to an 8 or so before I got a handle on it. I'd definitely ask what the plan for pain management is after surgery, and stay on top of it. About five hours after surgery ended (I was told the timescale later) I was lucid enough to send out texts to people, carry on intelligible conversations with family and nurses, and about an hour after that I was up and walking a bit with a lot of nurse assistance.

48 and I was sleeved 7/31. I wish I had done it 10 years ago.

55 at time of Sleeve on 8/23/2016. 2015 weight 300+ (based on photos - didn't get on scales then). Highest recorded weight 275 in April 2016. Current Weight 155 and still losing (sort of - trading fat for muscle mass). I was in the hospital one night. Surgery Tuesday, Discharged Wednesday. Did the grocery shopping on Friday (made the husband and kids carry stuff in and had a kid at the grocery store load the bags in the cart and car.) Went to the gym and road a recumbent bike for 15 minutes on Saturday. Went back to work Monday. (I work from home T, Th. Fr). So, where am I now - I am a nationally ranked foil fencer in my age group (50-59). I can deadlift 195 pounds and back squat 215. I went from a size 24 to a size 6 or 8, depending on the manufacturer. I haven't had plastics yet, but have had a consult and my plastic surgeon says I'm probably carrying 10 pounds of fat and skin that will disappear with the tummy tuck/panni. My body fat is at about 30% which isn't bad for a post-menopausal woman whose had two kids. I had little pain, but did walk every hour when I was in the hospital (each time they woke me for vitals, I got up and walked a lap of the floor.) My only regret is waiting until I was 55 to do this.

Hi all, Sorry in advance for the TMI I am 10 days post op and I visited my dietician yesterday. She said since I was eating yogurt and pudding and keeping it down, I can slowly introduce purée into my diet. Yesterday ate puréed chicken and mashed potatoes (about 3 spoons of each). I seemed to be fine yesterday (I ate around 5 pm). However, I woke up at 4 in the morning and it felt as if my esophagus was burning and I had a weird taste in my mouth (close to vomit). I woke up in the morning and my stomach has been in knots and I feel cramps. Throughout the day it went away. I have been drinking a lot of water but I’m not 100%. I didn’t eat a thing except hot chicken broth and water. I’m not even hungry. Has anybody ever had this problem? I see the doc on Tuesday. How long did it take you (if any amount of days) to adjust to the purée diet? Pudding and yogurt I never had a problem with during the liquid stage.

If you don’t have any crazy issues I’d look for a surgeon who will do it all at once including repair a hiatal hernia if you have one, which I’m sure you do. I had my band for 10 years and had the revision and hernia repair on 8/14. I do not recover well after ANY surgery so there is no way I would go through with it if I had to wait. If you are in Dallas or even if you’re not Dr Scott Stowers is amazing!

Wow guys, those are great responses. I’m 3 weeks post of going on my fourth. For me waking up in pain post op was dramatic. They had me waiting 20 minutes for my pain pump. I was in agony, so much so before I past out I asked the nurse why she was making me suffer. They didn’t have the pain meds ready for me when I got out of surgery and the anesthesia wore off. Once I got to recovery room ; the next day. I spoke to the charge nurse, the director of nursing, and patient advocates. To me it was traumatic, I was screaming.Make sure you speak to the anesthesiologist and let him know to have your prescription ready once you leave the OR ( operating room) CrankyMagpie- im sorry your going through that. Ask your insurance if 20lbs weight loss is a requirement of the surgery. I was only able to loose 10 lbs and we still moved forward. You may want to look at a different surgeon.

I had my sleeve done on 8/2. I took off through 8/10 and worked from home through 8/17. I’m going to try to go into the office on 8/20. I am in IT so no lifting or walking. I get tired when getting ready to go out and grocery shopping or walking for 30 minutes. My boss is great and said that if I can only make it half days for the next week it’s okay. My brain says go, go, go but my body says no, no, no. Good luck!

This is monumental, after 10 months I can finally tolerate lettuce. It no longer slimes up...lol

Omg!!! I’m SO glad to have come across this thread; I just got my date! 9/10/18😍😍 I have created a Facebook group for September 2018 sleevers at the link below if any of y’all care to join😍 https://m.facebook.com/groups/2157638997846802

Didn't you feel weak and dizzy? I do, I am 19 days into a 4 week +, I try to fulfill my household responsibilities, work until I get dizzy, have,to sit down and rest.I am on a 1000 calorie-100gram protein-70 gram diet. Never was diabetic, except for obesity,i was judged in good health, passed all my specialist consults but I could no more juggle buzzsaw blades as to continue working,if I was still employed. I know every,person is an individual but there is something at odds here!

I was worried about the puree stage as a vegan. But I started to think of how I can add protein to what I am making and realized I could make a high protein smoothie with 47 grams of plant based protein. I add fresh fruit and spinach to my ninja. What ever your favorite fruits and veggies will do. For protein, I add a scoop and a half of vegan protein powder (30 grams of protein). My favorites are 22 Days in strawberry and vanilla and Amazing Grass in chocolate peanut butter. To this I add 3 Tablespoons of hemp heart (10 grams of protein). Since one cup of unsweetened soy milk has 7 grams of protein, that's the milk I choose. I am taking a capsule form of healthy hair, skin, and nails which I open and pour in along with a packet of powdered matcha that I pick up at Trader Joe's.

Macadamia, self pay was actually a lot easier than I imagined. I was forced into it because even though the surgeons at Mayo said it is necessary I have VSG before they could repair my hernia, my insurance doesn't cover it. Our insurance is changing in January to another company that excludes it. We would have a good case to fight it, even if they approved it immediately, we would have been looking at late June 2019 for surgery after all the typical insurance requirements. Meanwhile my hernia prevents me from driving my car because it's by my belly button and off to the side and rather large. Fortunately my husband's SUV steering wheel tilts up enough and I can position the seat at an angle that my short legs can reach the peddles, but stomach not smashed up against steering wheel. Compare this to - I looked online to get prices, surgeon reputations, etc. Narrowed it down to 4, talked with 3, made consultations with 2 in July. Picked one, got scheduled for September. Got my EKG, lab, and met with nutritionist. All testing, surgery, appointments we're $10,000 total. We were fortunate to have family members pitch in, but we could have financed through Care Credit for 0% interest or a personal loan.

Your doctor is a Healthcare Provider. Emphasis on the PROVIDER. My PCP wasn't convinced that surgery was the way to go for me either but I insisted on it. I didn't want to take diet pills - I didn't want the potential side effects and they aren't effective long term. Go in with an arsenal of information about how WLS is the most effective weight loss solution, how it is a safe procedure, how you are informed about the sacrifices that you'll have to make when you get it (no more binging, gulping, no NSAIDS, limited caffeine and alcohol) This is what I had to do. It was a 45 minutes appointment of him telling me what to do to lose weight followed by me telling him that I've done all that in the past and continued to get heavier and heavier. I told him that I had no indication that my future would look any different than my past because I'd DONE all that. I didn't want to try again only to be 10 years older and 50 pounds heavier and back to looking at weight loss surgery. He is to provide healthcare for you. He WORKS for you. Be determined. Let him know you are well informed about the healthcare choice you are wanting to make and that you need his help. Tell him straight up if he isn't going to help you with the healthcare choices you've made that you will find another healthcare provider to fit your needs better. Good luck!

10 days post op of band removal and YES I can eat and tbh I feel So much better for have engery now no reflux n sleeping better... and yes I have put weight on but that is my tastebuds that have come alive again so I know I will not diet again but going to to now try my best to eat healthy and have joined gym [emoji33]... so fingers crossed all will work out good BUT am I glad band is out I hear you ask ! YES I am as feel more human and health is improving ( amazing to sleep al night without reflux ) x Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Long time lurker, first time posting in anger :) had gastric sleeve 31May, have lost 37 Kg since , approx 81 pounds( starting weight 167). Struggling lately, have a surgeon who is always on holiday or indifferent. Age 43, 6 foot 3, live in australia The good bits since surgery, Weight loss Hypertension under control ( no more medication) Was borderline diabetic, that is all good now Sleep apnea is better Fitting in my clothes from 10 years ago No hunger or even The bad Too quick weight loss Recovery time after surgery was 3 weeks , that means ihave no leeway with further sick leave Constant nausea , especially when drinking water and any food Barely able to meet 1000 calories ( at most can have 80 gms meat with 1 tablespoon rice at any given time) , with my height i should between 1200-1500 In last week had a case of first kidney stone , spend the night in ER, in last two weeks my calories intake has plummeted, the only way i even get to 800 is by drinking juice ( i know i am not drinking enough water) My gall blader wasnt taken out, i have been pushing surgeon to put me on actigall, but he is indifferent and has suggested that this is a practice not done in australia. Iam concerned as i cant afford another surgery from time off from work perspective.. Is what iam experience fairly normal ? Nausea , lack of hunger etc