Beginner questions

[StacyS 2]

Hello,

I am a newbie, to the fullest. I dont have a date or anything like that. In fact, I am to attend the manditory lap band seminar on 5 Jan and then will be able to schedule the consultation with the surgeon. But, I've been reading a lot of posts and had a few questions....

Do you have to lose weight before you get surgery? I've been seeing people say they've lost like 30lbs and they havent even gotten banded yet. I'm sorry, but if I have to lose weight like that before the lap band, I'm not sure I'll be able to.

Do you have to go through all the pre-opt testing, like the psych eval and the nutrictionist appointments? What are the requirements before getting approval?

Thanks for any advice... I'm super anxious and feel like I cant wait any long to get the procedure done!!!!

Stacy

P.S... how do you get those cool weight loss tracker things?

[Pamela B. 0]

Hi I'm a NEWBE Too I have my labs,simanar,patient hub updated,everything EXCEPT my evaluation my dr. wanted you to have all of that done BEFORE the consult...so right now I don't have a consult date but my evaluation is Jan.19th,2011 I am on a waiting list #23 but I'm not on a preop diet or anything yet but I'm KINDA whatching what I eat I am tring to lose 15 lbs in 1 month it maybe inpossible but I'm tring to get my muscles in shape a little before the surgery.The dr told me to call them after I get the evaluation done...Then I can see the dr for consult then nutritionist,etc.I hope I pass the evaluation I'm a little scared

[StacyS 2]

Hi I'm a NEWBE Too I have my labs,simanar,patient hub updated,everything EXCEPT my evaluation my dr. wanted you to have all of that done BEFORE the consult...so right now I don't have a consult date but my evaluation is Jan.19th,2011 I am on a waiting list #23 but I'm not on a preop diet or anything yet but I'm KINDA whatching what I eat I am tring to lose 15 lbs in 1 month it maybe inpossible but I'm tring to get my muscles in shape a little before the surgery.The dr told me to call them after I get the evaluation done...Then I can see the dr for consult then nutritionist,etc.I hope I pass the evaluation I'm a little scared

So, you had to get all your lab work done before you even saw the doctor? How did you know what kind of labs you needed? Why would they have you go through all of that if you dont even qualify? What kind of evaluation are you having done?

[hazeleyedstef 0]

hey every dr is different to what they want for the surgery..some drs require u to lose weight before, some just ask that u dont gain...my dr required clearance from a pulmonologist, cardiologist, endocrinologist, sleep study, psychological and nutritional evaluation and blood work before they would even submit to insurance. Best thing is to go to the informational and get all ure ?'s answered. as for the weight tracker click on one that u see (like the one below) and it will bring u to the website where u can make ure own...hope this helps and if u have anymore ?'s lemme know

[Quilter at Heart 0]

Hello,

I am a newbie, to the fullest. I dont have a date or anything like that. In fact, I am to attend the manditory lap band seminar on 5 Jan and then will be able to schedule the consultation with the surgeon. But, I've been reading a lot of posts and had a few questions....

Do you have to lose weight before you get surgery? I've been seeing people say they've lost like 30lbs and they havent even gotten banded yet. I'm sorry, but if I have to lose weight like that before the lap band, I'm not sure I'll be able to.

Do you have to go through all the pre-opt testing, like the psych eval and the nutrictionist appointments? What are the requirements before getting approval?

Thanks for any advice... I'm super anxious and feel like I cant wait any long to get the procedure done!!!!

.

Stacy

P.S... how do you get those cool weight loss tracker things?

Hi Stacy,

I am right where you are. I'll be attending the seminar on the 13th of January - have absolutely no idea what to expect. The lady I spoke with said that my insurance will pay 80% but I don't know what 100% is so I still have no idea! I am looking forward to some answers myself.

Jaleena

[honk 780]

I had a eval with a Nurse, Nutritionist, and a Psychologist before meeting with the surgeon. The nurse said I needed to loose 30-34 pounds prior to surgery.

While I did loose that weight prior to surgery; when I met the surgeon and he felt my abdomen and said he could do the surgery even though I had only lost 20 pounds at that point. FYI some doctors do a percentage of your body weight so one person could need to loose 30 pounds while another only 20.

I really recommend watching a surgery on YouTube (a real one not the cartoons). There is no blood so it's not gross. A big reason for loosing weigh/the presurgery liquid diet is to shrink the liver. In the surgery video they fold the liver over on itself; so you can see if the liver was not pliable there would be a problem.

I had to attend 3 group sessions on eating habits; which was really helpful. The big thing to remember is that at least half of the battle is mental with the band. I needed to address some of my food issues which include crackers, Cookies, sweet childrens Cereal. One thing that was big for me was feeling like I was trying and loosing weight but loosing it for good. That after I had the band I would have help keeping it off. My doctor said since band patients loose on average up to 60% of their excess weight; the more you loose before surgery the lower your goal weight could be.

Requirements depend on your doctor/insurance. Because I was recovering from a mini stroke I had to get approval from my neurologist, hemotologist, have blood work, heart ultrasound, meetings with Nurtitionist, 3 group therapy sessions on eating, appointments with the nurse and surgeon; classes on post surgery eating, presurgery meeting with Anesthesiologist.

[Quilter at Heart 0]

I had a eval with a Nurse, Nutritionist, and a Psychologist before meeting with the surgeon. The nurse said I needed to loose 30-34 pounds prior to surgery.

While I did loose that weight prior to surgery; when I met the surgeon and he felt my abdomen and said he could do the surgery even though I had only lost 20 pounds at that point. FYI some doctors do a percentage of your body weight so one person could need to loose 30 pounds while another only 20.

I really recommend watching a surgery on YouTube (a real one not the cartoons). There is no blood so it's not gross. A big reason for loosing weigh/the presurgery liquid diet is to shrink the liver. In the surgery video they fold the liver over on itself; so you can see if the liver was not pliable there would be a problem.

I had to attend 3 group sessions on eating habits; which was really helpful. The big thing to remember is that at least half of the battle is mental with the band. I needed to address some of my food issues which include crackers, Cookies, sweet childrens Cereal. One thing that was big for me was feeling like I was trying and loosing weight but loosing it for good. That after I had the band I would have help keeping it off. My doctor said since band patients loose on average up to 60% of their excess weight; the more you loose before surgery the lower your goal weight could be.

Requirements depend on your doctor/insurance. Because I was recovering from a mini stroke I had to get approval from my neurologist, hemotologist, have blood work, heart ultrasound, meetings with Nurtitionist, 3 group therapy sessions on eating, appointments with the nurse and surgeon; classes on post surgery eating, presurgery meeting with Anesthesiologist.

What was the point of having to loose weight to do the surgery? I'm a little confused about this - if you don't mind, which state are you in?

Thanks,

Jaleena

[StacyS 2]

I agree with Jaleena. I actually had to GAIN weight in order to hit the 40 BMI since I didnt qualify at 37 BMI due to the fact that I had no co-morbidity complications (I'm a healthy fat person). So, here I am, trying to gain weight over the holidays, rather than lose, and then they're gonna tell me I need to lose 20-30lbs before surgery? That makes NO sense to me.

I know every surgeon is different and I'll get all my questions answered at the seminar next week, but I dont understand.....

I'm in California!!

[Quilter at Heart 0]

I agree with Jaleena. I actually had to GAIN weight in order to hit the 40 BMI since I didnt qualify at 37 BMI due to the fact that I had no co-morbidity complications (I'm a healthy fat person). So, here I am, trying to gain weight over the holidays, rather than lose, and then they're gonna tell me I need to lose 20-30lbs before surgery? That makes NO sense to me.

I know every surgeon is different and I'll get all my questions answered at the seminar next week, but I dont understand.....

I'm in California!!

Hi Stacy,

I'm in NC - so we're on opposite sides of the country!! When do you see the surgeon? I am just beginning the adventure and still have pretty much no idea where this is all going to go. My BMI is 44% and my weight 291 - so just a little more than a month away from 50 - my doctor is very concerned. I go for a stress test tomorrow - guess we will see what the heart has to say about all of this!! lol

Take care and keep in touch!

God bless,

Jaleena

[Boo_68 6]

Every Surgeons office is a bit different...as well as Insurance Companies (some require a percentage of weight loss to show your commitment to the process) Once I went to the seminar and scheduled my first appointment I had my Psych Eval, Nutrionist Consult, Official Weigh In and Pictures along with my first visit with the Surgeon...all in the same day. I had a 3 month wait in between the Seminar and Appt...but was scheduled for my surgery within one month afterwards. I had all my blood work about a week prior to surgery date. It might be a little different, I didn't have any co-morbids...but started with a BMI of 44.5. Good luck with your journey!

Also...My surgeon was telling me at my last appt, they changed the BMI requirements. 30 BMI with Co-Morbids and 35 BMI without.

[bwhitty 1]

Welcome!

I first called to see what my insurance covered, attended the seminar, filled out paperwork. Then *Dietician *Psych Eval *Mamagram *Weight History forwarded from my GP *sleep Study *Blood work *EKG (I had taken phenphen) *THEN finally met with the surgeon once his assistant had all the required paperwork from appointments and my GP. He did require me to lose 10% of my weight (his assistant gave me a diet to follow for the fastest results). From Seminar to Surgery I was down 21lbs, 5lbs short of the 10% but 1) he wanted to make sure of my commitment i.e. making the choice to lose some weight before hand 2) shrink down my liver.

Best of luck! Its a good journey to be on

[StacyS 2]

Well, I go to the seminar next Wed 5 Jan, and will see what they require. I spoke to my health insurance and will only be required to attend the psych eval, 5 year history from GP, and proof that I have attended a supervised weight lose plan for at least 1 consecutive year... So, I'm very excited!!! Thank you all for your stories!! I'll keep you posted on my progress after next week!

[MaggieB 6]

Alot of it depends on if you have insurance or not. I had insurance that covered the procedure but the insurance had requirements - psych eval, sleep study, meet with the nutritionist for 3 consequtive months, meet with a weight loss physician (not the surgeon) for 4 consequtive months, 2 years of documented weight history - my BMI was around 40-41. The surgeon and physician both "encouraged" me to stay at my weight - they didn't want me to gain or lose anything during all of this preliminary stuff. The only pre "diet" I had to do was right before the surgery - I was on full liquids for 3 days.