Any other European sleevers?

[elicat 2]

I've enjoyed reading a lot of your posts. It looks like almost everyone is in the US and dealing with insurance requirements and similar journeys towards and after surgery.

I live in Italy and things are completely different over here. I'm wondering if anyone else on the forum is in Europe and what their experiences are like?

For instance, we have national health care here. I saw the surgeon of my choice for an initial consultation with only a referral from my GP, then got referrals from him for all necessary labs, exams and visits which I will need to bring back to my "prehospitalization" appointment. At that point they evaluate all the results and do things like EKG and full blood panel which are required before any surgery. Unless there are red flags in any of my test results, I'm already on the schedule for October. Cost to me for all of this is only my co-pay for the outpatient visits. Nothing for the surgery.

The only preop dietary requirements are low carb for two weeks prior. There is no use of Protein Shakes afterwards. Protocol is Clear liquids for three days, full liquids for a week, pureed foods for a week then soft foods for a week. They use baby food to add to the full liquids for Protein (meats) plus milk - so lots of Soups - then pureed real foods for soft. Thank god because I cannot manage to drink a shake. It was my biggest fear before the consultation - I couldn't gag one down even if surgery depended on it. They don't seem to be so focused on the protein replacement here and get you back to real foods as soon as possible.

I love my surgeon and he is considered one of the top in the country for this procedure, and luckily in my region so not far to travel. He thinks I'm a great candidate and I hope none of my labs or exams prove him wrong. I can't wait!

[Alexandra85 33]

Ciao! I'm getting sleeved in Belgium on August 17th. I already had all exams and a consultation with s surgeon.

[elicat 2]

Salut! Are you doing yours in the public system or privately? What's the post op diet like in Belgium?

Glad to meet you and good luck, it's coming up soon!

[Alexandra85 33]

I will be doing it in a private hospital and I have kind of insurance that will cover most of the costs. As to post-op diet I have no idea... I didn't ask about it yet, I think they will let me know after the surgery. As for pre-op diet I'm required to drink only water/diet drinks and 3 Protein Shakes a day for a week. :c I will start next week Tuesday... :c

[elicat 2]

Thanks for the perspective! Good luck on the liquid diet. I can't wait to hear how things went and what your post op diet looks like. Make sure to come back and fill us in, please :-)

[Alexandra85 33]

I actually quit sugar and caffeine after talking to my surgeon (22nd July) and lost 3 kg so far without any diet- just eating what I want as much as I want. I also try to walk as much as possible- I figured out that recovery will be much quicker if I will be in a relatively good shape.

[Melanie89 56]

Hiya im from UK I'm having bypass 14th September on the NHS because I have high blood pressure. I was asked to lose 6.8kg before and iv lost like 5.5kg I'm pretty much there but struggling a bit but I am striving for that goal.

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[Alexandra85 33]

I wanted to ask- did your surgeons recommend any supplements? I found this barinutrics Multivitamin supplement online and was wondering if anyone tried it.

[Melanie89 56]

No no he hasn't just I need Iron tablets to bring my Iron up

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[Alexandra85 33]

Now I really wonder why there are so many different approaches to this surgery... My surgeon told me that there is a possibility of deficiencies in Vitamins D and B so I was planning on taking a multivitamin complex for bariatric patients. Unfortunately I only found ones for gastric bypass patients- that might be too much of a good thing.

[elicat 2]

Hi there Melanie! I'll be following you into surgery about one month later. There sure do seem to be a lot of different approaches but I'm starting to think that more of them are administrative and actuarial than medical. "Insurance wants me to to... " etc. I have a biology background and have spent a fair bit of time reading the medical literature in English and Italian - what I take away from it is that the diet protocols come down to individual surgeons' preferences but the requirements to lose weight, etc. beforehand seem to be more on the paper pushing side. Most of these best practices in each system have to do with cultural norms about what constitutes disordered eating and healthy diets.

Interesting that on the Italian system I didn't need to have a comorbidity even at a very borderline BMI. My surgeon put his thumb on the scale so to speak in order to push me the last few kilos into being accepted. His judgement was enough.

[elicat 2]

BTW to answer your question, no talk of supplements yet but I think that will be covered during my prehospitalization day.

[Alexandra85 33]

I also don't have any weigh related illness but I'm at BMI 40,7 and that was enough for my insurance to approve the surgery.