Alex Brecher

I just signed up for a new health insurance plan on the New York state health exchange. I'm saving over $300 per month. Have a $0 deductible (I had a $2000 deductible previously). My new plan includes full dental and vision coverage (which I never had previously). My new co-pays are almost non-existent (I had high co-pays previously). All in all I have much better coverage for a lot less than I was previously receiving. The only caveat with my new plan is that I can't go out of their network. They offer zip, zero, zilch if I go to a doc out of network. Thankfully every single doc I use happens to be a member of my new plan. I'm willing to stay in-network if this is the tradeoff. All in all, I'm very very pleased with the new Healthcare coverage!

Hmmmm.... I see you feel like seeing the fur fly again. Me ?! Spirited debate is allowed and even encouraged. Attack the message, not the messenger.

I just posted a new member POLL on Obamacare here.

The health care you receive and how you pay for it are critical issues for you if you are an obese patient, a weight loss surgery patient, or a potential patient. How will you be affected when some provisions of the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) come into effect in 2014? Mark your answer and let us know how you feel in the conversation below! Also, feel free to ask questions and discuss Obamacare – we can all stand to learn something!

We don't look at revision as a "type" of surgery. You "revise" from one surgery to another surgery. We plan on adding a feature in the near future which will allow you to list all your WLS surgeries on your profile. In the interim, members should select the latest surgery type they revised to.

Good suggestion! We had a Spouses forum on one of our previous sites and shut it after a few months due to lack of interest and use. I've recently received more requests for this than usual. I'm going to add a Spouses forum shortly and hopefully it'll take off this time around.

Future app updates will respect forum permissions and only show you forums you're supposed to see. Thanks for the suggestions!

Great suggestion!! It annoys the crap out of me when I click on a link and it opens a browser instead of working natively within the app. I added this to our app's internal feature list, thanks!!

We're going to address this in future releases of our app.

Please refresh You should see it under General Weight Loss Surgery Forums -> Other Types of Weight Loss Surgery -> Gastric Plication Surgery Forums

This issue only appears on our iOS apps, not Android. We won't be able to fix this now since it's an issue with the actual app. I'll update this thread once our next iOS app is released.

We created the Veterans Forum with this exact purpose: http://www.bariatricpal.com/forum/357-lap-band-veterans-forum/ . We have one for each procedure.

I noticed this on reddit the other day. Seems like Quest is going to fight the case. “Quest has been named in a lawsuit regarding our Fiber count. It is our belief and conviction that this lawsuit is without merit. The things a plaintiff states in a lawsuit are just that — – his statements. He doesn’t have to prove them to put them in the lawsuit. He just needs to write them down. Proof is another matter. We believe that what is written in this lawsuit results from not understanding the current state of fiber science. We are fighting this case to make it clear to our customers and partners that our label information is 100% accurate. Make no mistake, Quest Nutrition will not back down in the face of what we believe are attacks based on lack of good information. The outpouring of support from our customers and supporters on this issue has been overwhelming. We’re very grateful for the support, and we want to assure everyone that we are committed to bringing the highest quality products to our loyal fan base. We have nothing to hide and we look forward to a very visible public refutation of these unfounded claims.”

The general views on drinking have changed radically over the last year or so. I highly recommend following your surgeons guidelines! That being said, I personally drink before, during and after most meals. I don't drink large amounts. I always sip and never gulp. I normally consume 0 calorie drinks, such as Water or tea. Studies have shown that solid meals are more satisfying in both Gastric Banded and non-Gastric Banded individuals. However, a solid meal with accompanying water did not alter meal satiety. You can read a previous post I made on this topic. I included a link to a study by (the very famous) Dr. John Dixon on this same topic at the end of my previous post. This study says it is not as important (liquid with meals) as was previously thought. Maybe some things work for some people, and maybe less for others. This study's results don't surprise me. What I wonder, though, is whether it really would change most surgeon recommendations about not drinking while eating. Drinking while eating can lead to stoma stretching (taking in more volume at once). Also, drinking while eating makes the meal less solid and therefore emptying faster through the band. The study finds that satiety doesn't change after an iso-caloric meal (so, e.g., three hours later the feeling of hunger might not be altered); but what about a real-life situation: during a meal that's not of pre-determined size? The person might eat more at the meal because she fills up slower if her food and water make her meal more liquid in the stoma and therefore pass through more quickly so the stoma doesn't fill up as fast. It's a bit confusing

I believe I'm able to replicate. Thanks!

DO THE MATH 164 Studies, 161,756 Patients Over Nearly 10 Years: What Does This Add Up To? BARIATRIC AND METABOLIC SURGERY IS EVEN MORE EFFECTIVE THAN PREVIOUSLY REPORTED AND GETTING SAFER! A new meta-analysis of studies carried out between 2003 and 2012 shows higher remission rates of diabetes and high blood pressure and a lower mortality rate than previously reported. The study, published online in JAMA Surgery, is an update to a meta-analysis of studies conducted between 1990 and 2003 and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA, Buchwald et. al.) back in October 2004. Researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis reviewed outcomes from nearly 162,000 patients in 164 studies (37 randomized clinical trials and 127 observational studies), over almost 10 years. They discovered 92 percent of patients in randomized clinical trials experienced diabetes remission after surgery, slightly higher than the 86 percent remission rate found in observational studies, but significantly higher than the 76.8 percent remission rate found in the 2004 JAMA study. Remission rates for hypertension were about 75 percent in both the randomized clinical trials and observational studies, while the remission rate in 2004 was 61.7 percent. Body Mass Index (BMI) loss five years after surgery ranged from 12 to 17 in the new study. Before surgery, patients had an average BMI of 45.62. "With the 2004 study, we now have 22 years worth of data from over 180,000 patients and 300 studies," said study co-author J. Esteban Varela, MD, MPH, MBA, Fellow of the ASMBS. "The data continues to prove bariatric surgery is not only safe and effective in providing significant and sustainable weight loss, but is the most effective treatment today for diabetes, hypertension and an array of other diseases and conditions in people with obesity." In the new study, 30-day mortality rate was 0.08 percent, down from the 0.3 percent reported in 2004. Complication rates ranged from 10 to 17 percent and the reoperation rate was about 7 percent. Complication and reoperation rates were not reported in the previous meta-analysis. By procedure, gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy resulted in the greatest weight loss, but had a higher rate of complications and mortality than adjustable gastric banding. Gastric banding had the highest reoperation rate (12% in randomized trials), while gastric bypass had the lowest at 3 percent, followed by sleeve gastrectomy, which had a reoperation rate of 9 percent. The new meta-analysis included sleeve gastrectomy, which was not available in the 1990s. Of note, sleeve gastrectomy had comparable weight loss to that of gastric bypass at 5 years. "This is but the latest study to validate the high degree of safety and effectiveness of bariatric surgery," said Ninh T. Nguyen, MD, FACS, President of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) and Vice-Chair of the Department of Surgery at UC Irvine School of Medicine. "Today we are performing operations that are as safe or safer than gallbladder and hernia repair surgery." According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 78 million adults were obese in 2011–2012.1 The ASMBS estimates about 24 million people have severe or morbid obesity. Individuals with a BMI greater than 30 have a 50 to 100 percent increased risk of premature death compared to healthy weight individuals as well as an increased risk of developing more than 40 obesity-related diseases and conditions including type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer.2,3

I can't seem to replicate on my end. Not having issues with edits.

I believe we might have fixed this issue. Please let me know if it's resolved on your end.

This issue is now resolved. Thank you very much for bringing it to my attention!

I moved this bug report/request over to the Assistance & Suggestions. I'm not subscribed to the other forums. It was just by chance that I noticed your post. I'm going to see what I can do about this issue. We've resolved most of the big ones and it looks like this might need to wait until the next major update is released. I'll let you know.

It seems to be working fine on the app. It's an issue with our mobile skin.

We have a little bug with that forum. It should be resolved in 24 hours.

I unpinned, thanks.

Wow, great news! Sounds like you'll be on the other side in no time. Good luck with your consult.

Congrats!!