PRE-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A

Hi, I haven't been banded yet but have just heard you can't take advil once you have the band. Does anyone know why? I take advil for very bad menstrual cramps and it is the only thing that helps me. Tylenol doesn't touch it and I don't wanna resort to narcotics for them. I can't imagine having to suffer through cramps because they are so bad for me. The thought of that makes me think i shouldn't get the band. And i really want the band. Thanks

Hi i've been on this journey for some time, and it is hard to beleive that i am coming down to the end. I remember going to my informative class in May, started my Nutrition classes in July, and then got accepted to the PREP study in August. it is a study to see if more intense involvement will help increase the success of the lapband. I was given a Diet/life coach that for the first two months i had to see in person every week, now i have to talk to her on the phone weekly and visit every 3rd. I must say that I know that this is a journey, so i am taking my time and enjoying the journey. I've spent months learning how to eat and work with the lap band. I will be a part o…

I have been trying to get approved for over a year.....got new insurance and finally got approved....I go to my surgeons office today for the first visit and start my 6 months of going to the doctor.....I am scared now I guess you could say so any great advice would be appreciated.....Thanks this site is wonderful!!!

Last week-end kicked my butt, Ya know what I mean? Week-ends are hard because you are off track with your daily routine. SO, this week-end I planned it out and low and behold I dropped in weight. You can check out my website by clicking on my pic and my website is right below it. I have lost around 60 pounds in around 2 months!!! I was banded on the 5th of Feb.

My family has tricare prime because my dad is retired military, I was wondering; every who has had the surgery done with tricare prime, what was required for your approval? I was also wondering how long it took for some of you to actually get a surgery date. Were you required to do the 6 month diet? :laugh:

I got a call from the surgeon's assitant with a surgery date. It is april 10th Good Friday. I am hoping this will be a good friday for me. I think our next step is it has to be submitted to the insurance for approval, Tricare requires a surgery date before approval. Then I guess I do the two week pre-opt stuff. Does anyone know what all I will have to do? I think I have to drink liquids for two weeks but I am not sure what procedures I will have to have. Please keep your fingers cross that the insurance will give me the green light! This has been a long year and a lot of test and hurdles for insurance to say NO!!!!:)

I went for my first visit on Friday. It was the longest appointment of my life -- took 3 hours! At any rate, I can see it is the first step in LONG journey. However, I do like that the clinical coordinator laid out exactly what the steps are. I have to have been a non-smoker for 3 months -- If I can stay on the wagon, that will happen in May. I need to try to loose 10 % of my body weight, which is 21 lbs. Have to go to a nutrition class (March 20) and an orientation (April 1). Need a psychological eval, ekg, right upper quadrant ultrasound, sleep study, upper endoscopy, & uuper GI series. The nice thing is the Bariatric Center takes care of setting up all of my…

Hello I have a bmi of 36.2 and i have gerd and my triglierides are very high about 600:confused_smile: for my 2 co-morbid conditions do you think I would be approved I have cigna.I have 2 months left of dr visits to finish my 6 month temps to weight loss all my other test r done.

I am soooo excited. I am scheduled for my lapband surgery on March 24th. This whole process was actually pretty painless. My insurance is going to change on April 1st. I called Dr. David Kim's office on February 20th, got all the forms filled out. The Dr.'s office had the packet submitted to my insurance on Feb, 24th, and by the end of our consultation appointment on Feb 27th - the insurance approved the surgery! The dr.'s office was so helpful and just on top of it. This liquid only diet is pretty difficult. It's not so much the hunger- it's just the desire to eat- to chew. haha. And why is it, that now more than ever- Red Lobster, Olive Garden and all those good r…

This is my 1st post. I have completed my 6 month diet required by my insurance company as well as the blood work and EKG. I was supposed to be having a consultation with my surgeon next but..... I got a call this morning saying my blood sugars were high and I needed to to another blood test. Actually it will be a like 3 tests within 5 hours I guess. Also, the Dr wants me to get an adominal ultra sound. I know I need to be patient but I just want this done already. I wonder how long this will set my surgery back.

Hello, I could need some input. I am planning to have the lap band surgery (no date yet, not even decided which clinic, because both are good I think), but I am not sure how to organize it. I have to fly to Toronto (about 2 hours) and have nobody I could ask to come with me (just moved to Canada). I called the clinic and they told me, that I need to stay in the Toronto Area for about two to three days. Since I think it's less stress for me going by myself instead of going with my husband and the baby, I am thinking about asking the clinic to organize 24 hour care for after the surgery. But I still be one day all by myself and would need to fly back home alone. Stup…

I usually make my protein shake with about 10 oz water and 2 oz 2% milk but today I was out of milk. So I grabbed my coconut coffee creamer and added that instead. Then I added the chocolate protein powder and gave it quick spin in the trusty ol magic bullet. I'm here to tell you it was SOOOOOOO good! Yummy yummy!!! You should try it!

Today is day three of my little lap-band journey. I was getting up to take a shower and took a glance in the mirror and realized my right pupil was fully dialiated. It is as big as the color part of my eye. My left eye is normal. I freaked out... called my doc and she said I might be having a stroke!!! (Anxiety went thru the roof!!!) She advised me to call 911... I didn't feel like I needed the whole fire truck and ambulance sha-bang so my bf just drove me to the ER. When I got there they took my vitals, did an EKG, and admitted me. Everything was coming up normal so then they opted to do a cat scan. Soooo many people came to look at my eye and asked me billions of…

As of 1:37 this afternoon, my insurance is approving me for surgery! It's been quite a long road to get here, but I'm so happy it's working out. My surgery date is set for July 6, which works out great since I'm a teacher and will be on summer break during the recovery process. :w00t: They even approved me before I finished my 6 month diet. I had some records of being on phentermine for 5 months about 4 years ago, plus years of Weight Watchers records, so I guess that sufficed as evidence of attempts at a supervised diet.

In preparation for my lapband surgery, I was asked to have a barium swallow test (aka Upper GI). Boy, I didn't know what to expect. :crying: Well, I found a really informative site that describes exactly what happens during this test. I tell you, I felt like I was on a sci-fi episode. I drank crystals that reminded me of pop-rocks to create gas in the stomach, then a milkshake-like substance which was barium , and finally drank a thin liquid (had to drink it almost lying down from a straw). Overall, the actual test took no more than 15-20 mins. The doctor took pictures of my stomach as I swallowed the thick barium, more pics when she gave me a 2nd dose of gas induc…

My doc has me doing the pre-op protein shake (replacing 1 meal) - I have the Bariatrx Banana and really clueless how to make a smoothie!:thumbup: Had my first one yesterday and I am wondering how on earth I am ever going to choke it down...was disgusting... Hoping I made it wrong and can get some advice please. I am using 3 scoops, and he said mix with skim milk or water. I blended it with ~ 10 oz skim milk and it was really foamy (yuck). Thanks for any advice!

My surgery is 3/19/09 and I am so excited I have been on the pre op diet for almost two weeks. I wanted to know if I can have one last burger and fries a couple days before surgery. What do you guys think?

Hello everyone. I started my pre-op diet today and I really like the drink but there not very filling By 3:00 today i was so angry b/c i couldn't eat and I was hungry. So I had 5 saltine crackers which was 50 calories, So i think i made a good choise. But I wish the drinks were more filling. I'm allowed 1500 calories a day and Im allowed to eat 1 meal a day and then 4 of those drionks through out the day. I hope It is better tomorrow. I have my surgery in 1 week and i dont wanna a fatty liver so I need to stick to this. Any advice or Words of encouragement would be great!!! Ashley

I was denied the sleeve by my insurance company, resubmiting for Lap Ban. Lap was my first choice until I heard about the sleeve. Hope to get my approval soon. So much red tape:crying: Paula

:w00t: Looks like its a green light for me, for now! The nurse said I could do the 3 month post-operative diet( we have Aetna) instead of six, they have a psychologist on staff, so those appointments are scheduled for a couple of weeks from now, and everything will be submitted at the end of the three month diet. The insurance chick at the office seemed to think Aetna would approve rather easily, I hope shes right! I cant wait to get started! One more hurdle jumped!

I've been reading peoples post-op comments and have seen a lot of mentionof shouler pain. what would cause shoulder pain?

So my doc requires a "practice" pre-op diet, and I've been on it two weeks. I cheated a tiny bit, and my home scale said I was heavier than I started, so I was feeling pretty bad, and scared that they'd say something about it. Well.....I got there to see the nutritionist for my follow-up, and I had actually lost 10 pounds. Maybe its time to get a new scale, lol. So, she declared that I had passed, and I have an appt to see the surgeon next Friday (the 20th). They will schedule my surgery at that appointment!!! So...YAY!:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

OK, I go for surgery next Tuesday. I was told to go on a one week low carb diet. I understood that I could eat just about anything except complex carbs such as bread, Pasta, etc. I have also read a lot of people saying that they have lost weight on the pre-op diet. Well, I know I am not good at this, so I've kind of given it a trial run. I started the low-carb diet a week early. It's been a week, and I've not lost anything. Zippo. I don't know if I'm doing it wrong, and I am terribly concerned. I tried to email the lady in the clinic, and she just kind of said the same darn thing she said before. I mean, she literally cut and pasted what she'd emailed before an…

Well, I just wanted to introduce myself to my bretheren who are getting baned on the 21st. I can't believe its only a couple days away and I stuck to the no solids diet...man I could use some taco bell or a burger :huh2: Anyway...good luck to all, we will make it through this!

My PPC recommended that I have the band. Did my phyc & nutritional consults within 2 weeks and they gave me a positive report to the Dr. That was about 6 weeks ago. Finally Dr's office calls and schedules an "educational" visit for April ?? (forget). In the meantime, I have had mixed feelings. I am about 100 lbs overweight, but otherwise in pretty good health. I enjoy eating and alcohol, obviously too much. At the end of my nutritional consult she handed me a folder and said "This is the rest of your life". When I got home and read "The rest of my life", I said wow, do I really want to make this trip. On the other hand, I would like to be trim and fit, move…

Hi folks - I am 4 months post op and I still have a case of 25 strawberry Optifasts (never opened), about 18 vanilla and 12 chocolate. I'd love to give them to someone on the pre-op diet as a gift. I live near Tyrone Mall and will be happy to hand them over. Just respond with you e-mail or phone.

Does anyone have any suggestions as far as books they have read that helped them through the whole process? I appreciate any input.

How long did it take for you to receive insurance approval. I have been at this for 5 months and am just now getting my psych evaluation in a week and a half. As far as I can tell then I have to wait for my insurance to approve, is that right? How much longer do you think I will have to wait? I am so ready to get a surgery date scheduled I am going crazy!

I live in Alberta, Canada and I was wondering if anyone in Canada had gotten banded? I know they have the clinics in Toronto but I'm not sure if there's anywhere closer? Also, I've heard everyone saying that their insurance covers a lot of the costs, but as far as I read, the wait for the insurance-covered surgeries can be up to 5 years whereas the self-pay ones are much cheaper. Is this true? Just wondering because I'm seriously looking into getting this surgery but am confused as to where I can or who to talk to about it.

Okay I am approved (yippee!!) for laband surgery at a bariatric surgery center of excellence (a requirement for my insurance) BUT here's the problem, the doctor who is slated to do my surgery is an amazing gastric bypass doc who hasn't ever done lapbanding before. He is getting certified and has a proctor coming in to assess his skill level and I will be one of his first 5 patients. I am comforted because he's been doing bariatric surgery for over a decade *but* i am of course nervous because he's never done THIS procedure. He is the chief of surgery at a very large teaching hospital where he does his bariatric surgeries so that makes me feel confident about his skill…

If anyone has a letter to send to the insurance company for pre-approval, would you please send it to me at nvydt1990@yahoo.com. It is greatly appreciated.

Hello - I had started this journey back in January - and my husband and I decided that we would take a spring break vacation with our 6 yr old daughter. That vacation (a cruise) is fast approaching. When we get back I start my 2 weeks of liquid diet. And then have the surgery. Anyone else plan and go on a nice vacation just prior to surgeery? Did you 'binge' at all while on vacation? Or were you able to stick to a sensible low-calorie diet? I am a little afraid that I might overdo it...

This is just a whiney little post because I am feeling sorry for myself. Yesterday, I had the upper GI thing done where they sedate you and put the tube down your throat. Well, they must have scratched the inside of my throat pretty good cuz now I feel like I have one heck of a sore throat and I still have the headache from the anesthesia. Over all, not such a great day to be at work. On top of it all, I only got about 3 hours of sleep total last night.:thumbup: Just wanted to share and vent a little. Hope everyone else is having a better day! Elgrad

:thumbup: I am so excited!! I don't know how I will ever fall asleep tonight! I completed the entire 2 weeks of pre-op without even cheating once. During that time I've went to a baby shower and made complete dinners for my family every night. ....I am in the ZONE! Hope everyone else is doing well and I wish everyone the best.

Hi Everyone, I'm on month 2 of my 6-month supervised pre-op diet (required by Aetna HMO). My insurance required that I see a nutritionist which I did a week or so ago. She went through my food journals, asked lifestyle questions. So we started talking about lapband...since she understood that I was there to fulfill the pre-op requirement. I was telling her that I had done everything to lose weight without long term success. My biggest fear, I shared, was that I might be kind of like an Air Fern....where I didn't require food or Water...and that even after I got banded I would not lose weight. So she suggested metabolic testing to find out what was going on. My …

Hi! I'm going in for my lap-band tomorrow and am wondering if anyone has any advice as to what I should bring with me to the hospital? I've read post that people are taking GasX after the surgery, is this something they give you or something you bought before hand?

Has anyone had to take the 500 ? personality test as part of their psych evaluation? I was told it would take about 2 hours and then I meet with the psychiatrist. Goodness what is the deal? They should automatically "pass" you if are dedicated enough to sit for 2 hours taking a test! Any words of advice because I go for the eval tomorrow morning. :mad2:

Can someone in the NYC/Westchester area refer my to their Psychologist that did their Evaluation and that takes Aetna. The NP at my WLS group referred me to one but she does not take my insurance and its $160. They did tell me I could use someone else as long as they can do the evaluation and write the letter for the insurance company. I am not sure if i should use the person referred by my WLS group, as i am sure she has the upmost experience in writing the referals or go with someone else that would be covered by Aetna. I dont want to screw myself over and get denied this procedure by the insurance company either:cursing:

I am so frustrated right about now and just need to vent. My scale as of yesterday showed that I was -12 lbs. since starting my 14-day pre-op liquid diet. I have been dam near perfect -- I have not cheated at all. My family so impressed with how well I've been doing and with my motivation and attitude. I got up this morning, really wasn't even hungry and didn't even attempt to have a shake until noon. I weighed myself first and the frickin' scale says I've gained 6 lbs. since yesterday!!! Again, I ask, WTF???? I'm SO MAD!!! I know I haven't done anything but I don't want it to appear as if I've been cheating when I haven't. I'm just going to suck it up and not…

If we are not allowed to do this please let me know.. I have Chike and Nector ( large bottles ) that I need to sell. I bought several and tried these 4 and dint like the taste so now I had these large jugs just sitting on my table. I would like to sell them and so I can buy another flavor. I also have a few boxes of meals for right after the surgery that I didnt use. Anyone need some??

I'm getting banded this week. I keep reading that I can't have any carbinated drinks. I'm curious as to why? Also, will I be able to swallow prescription meds? Any other good tips for pre and post. I'd appreciate anything you can tell me

Hi everyone, My name is Laurie and I am a morbidly obese woman! The insurance I now have covers weight loss surgery and I am going to use my insurance for myself for a change instead of my children! I am about 200 lbs overweight. I've done the research. I went to the info seminar at the hospital here where they'll do the surgery. Hopefully someone will be able to reassure me that I've made the right decision. This is a new procedure for this hospital, the bariatric center hasn't been open even a year. The surgeon who does the procedure is very experienced in laparoscopic surgery but has only done 17 lapband procedures, the lady at the seminar wasn't sure how many he …

Hi all, Just thought we should Celebrate the things we won't/don't miss about being obese. For me I won't miss, Thighs rubbing together Not being able to wear what I want Squeezing into bus seats Not being to go on all the rides at amusement parks Huge food bills! Being tired all the time! Have a nice day everyone! KiKi XX :confused:

I've got a few questions for him, #1 being whether I need to wean off my sustained release med. I'm going to have DH come up with some questions too, but do y'all have any suggestions for me to ask? I'm terrible at coming up with questions when I actually HAVE the pen & paper with me, I always think of them when I'm driving or drifting off to sleep. LOL

Hi, Well im happy i have a date, it is April 14th. Also have approval from insurance. I guess what will make this interesting is I am going to central Mexico on 4/4 and landing on 4/12! I am afraid to read what the pre-op diet is gonna be. I am thinking about all the authentic and amazing food I am going to be missing out on during my trip. Peso is 15 to $1 right now. I'll be missing out on $4 feasts! haha. But i decided its worth it. :biggrin: Any other April 14 peeps? thanks, e

My question is for the ladies... has anyone noticed that once they lost their weight that unwanted facial hair also went away or am I just stuck with it forever? I was told that with my PCOS that as I lose weight the level of testosterone that i produce as a woman will lessen and therefore won't have a problem with facial hair. Has anyone noticed this with their weightloss?

Hello to all...I am two days from surgery!!! As you see in the title, I've lost a few pounds and that's what has kept me going day to day. It's exciting to see the scale drop and more exciting to already be wearing clothes that have simply bulged in the past and now have room to let. The protein intake is the most important aspect of the entire diet. If I slacked on that, the scale reflected. I want to encourage everyone who thinks they're struggling to hang tough and give success a chance! BTW -- my protein shake last night was 1 scoop of vanilla powder, 8 oz. 1% milk, a tblsp of sugar free instant pudding mix (banana cream) and about 8 ice cubes -- all in the blender...…

Yeah...:thumbup: I am so excited to finally be going for my Last appointment for 6 mos required diet..2/27/09 20lbs weight loss is what I did in 6mos.. It really did go by faster then expected.. I just wanted to share that info with all you... I will keep everyone posted when I submit paperwork for approval this Monday 3/2:smile::tt2: fingers crossed everyone Can't want to be on the Band wagon..

Hi there I'm new to all of this. Just started considering lapband. Has anyone out there had a lapband after having a Nissan procedure?

Is anyone else on a liquids only pre-op diet? I'm soo excited about my surgery on Friday the 13th and I'm self-pay so I'm determined to not cheat no matter how tempting! I am allowed protien shakes, soup and broth, jello, etc. but I'm not sure I'm going to make it through the week :confused: Does the liquid portion get better after being banded?