MyGastricSleeveLife

Liza - yes, I would check with your surgeon. Mine said I had to stop 30 days before and 30 days after because birth control pills increase the possibility for blood clots. We just have to use condoms or something else during that time to prevent pregnancy. I would check with your doc to make sure. Every doctor is different.

I haven't had my surgery yet (set for Monday), but I had to stop my birth control pills last month to help prevent blood clots (have to be off of them 30 days before & 30 days after surgery). I just got my period a few days ago, but it's NOTHING like normal. I think my body is just messed up because of being on birth control for the last 8 years straight & now being off of it, and also because of my low-calorie pre-op diet. I've had quite a bit of brown blood and a little red, but it's more like spotting than a regular flow. It's been really annoying & I'm hoping it's done by Monday for surgery, but I'll deal with it if it's not. I've read some other threads on here where people have said their periods are really messed up after surgery. I'm hoping mine will regulate again once I go back on the pill, but who knows what my body will do during the 30 days in between!! Good luck!! oh - and I wouldn't see a problem with tampons. They told me if I have my period in the hospital, they'd give me mesh panties with a pad on them, but after I go home it's okay to use tampons again. As long as your doctor didn't say anything against them, I'd think they'd be fine.... but follow your doctor's instructions if he did say not to use them.

I just wanted to chime in that everyone is different and people have to do what's right for them. For me, that was to pay more and have the surgery done locally. I have absolutely no issues with doctors in Mexico, but for me personally I have more peace of mind knowing that I have a doctor locally who I can call and see anytime and who is right here in case anything bad happens (which I pray won't happen)! I trust my doctor completely & don't care that I'm spending more. I'm self-pay & his charge is $14,500 (ended up being $15,100 bc of administrative fees) which includes everything for the actual surgery and a year of follow-up care. We are financing it, so we will actually end up paying more than that over time. However, it is what my husband and I feel is best for me. Again, I'm not saying there is anything wrong with those who go to Mexico or even to another state from where they live. We all have things we do that we feel are right for us & I think it's great that there are even options available like Mexico out there because I know the surgery would not be possible for some people otherwise. We all need to do what's right for us. As far as them having more experience & therefore being "better" though, I don't think that's necessarily true. My doctor does surgeries almost daily also. Any doctor has the same chance for mistakes and complications no matter how many surgeries they've performed.

Ditto here..... I had an appointment with the dietitian at my surgeon's office before I started my pre-op diet. She's the one who explained things about pre-op & post-op diets in detail and gave me samples of some vitamins & shakes & such. The bariatric coordinator at the hospital also gave me samples and told me about some different brands of stuff. I bought one container of Chike protein shake mix at my surgeon's office, but ordered some other protein samples online too through Chike and through other places (found the thread on here about samples).

Thanks everyone!! I appreciate it! The hospital just called to confirm time of surgery - I have to be there at 1:30 PM & surgery is at 3:30 PM. I should be out of recovery & in a room around 7 PM they think.

Had my last pre-op appointment today & everything is all set for surgery on Monday afternoon. They did a body analysis that showed my weight to be 266.5 (my scale this morning said 266.4), which is down 7 lbs since starting my pre-op diet & 13 lbs from 4/29. It showed my BMI to be 39.9 - I'm 5'8.5" tall - and my fat percent to be 49.8%!! Yikes!! It said I have 132.5 lbs of fat! Needless to say, I am SO ready for Monday to get here to have my surgery and start my way toward a healthier life!! On a really happy note, I've been stuck between 274-280 lbs since January even with diet & exercise, so seeing the scale drop to 266.5 with the pre-op diet is amazing to me right now!! My husband is going to take my pictures & measurements on Sunday to use as my starting point & then he wants to do pictures & measurements every Sunday to keep track of my progress! I think he's just as excited as I am about the surgery, not because he cares how much I weigh but because he knows I care! Have a great weekend everyone! See y'all on the other side of surgery. If all goes well I'll be discharged on Tuesday evening. Michelle http://mygastricsleevelife.blogspot.com

I have one that I signed up with before surgery at Gold's. I'm not sure if he "approves" of me doing surgery, but he has agreed to still train me afterward. I am planning on asking if he has experience with other Bariatric patients though because I know that might make a difference in what he has me do after surgery. The Bariatric coordinator at the hospital said that the head trainer at my gym has done a lot of work with Bariatric patients, so I can always have my trainer talk to him about what to do too. I would just suggest making sure they've worked with other Bariatric patients and/or feel comfortable training you.

I bought a bottle of "Mango Peach" and "Grape Frost" I put both in my fridge and tried a teeny sip of the Mango Peach just because I didn't want to waste it before surgery since they're kinda expensive for what they are. I liked it okay, but it did have an aftertaste. I figured I'd save them for after surgery and try to mix something with them at that point. I think I might just stick to mixing beneprotein with broth or crystal light instead of buying more Isopure. I'm not sure yet though. I didn't want to buy too much since I didn't know if I'd like it, especially since people say that your taste buds change after surgery too!

Good luck!! My surgery is on Monday (5/14)

Oh - and in case I wasn't clear about it, the Isopure that is clear liquid is already liquid & not a powder like the other Isopure.

There is an Isopure product that is a clear liquid that has 40 g of protein in the 20 oz bottle or 15 g (I think) in the smaller plastic bottles. I bought some of the larger glass bottles at GNC last week to have for my clear liquid stage. I found the smaller ones on Amazon, but never ordered any. I've heard it has an odd aftertaste & some people don't like it. Some people say they mix that Mio drink mix or crystal light with it & that takes away the aftertaste. I only bought 2 bottles to see if I can tolerate it after surgery before buying more.

Amazing!! Great job!!

My surgery is set for this coming Monday. They just told me to bring my CPAP machine with me to use in the hospital.

Hi. My surgery is on Monday too. I've had a 14-day pre-op diet (which has been mostly liquids) & do just clear liquids on Sunday.

You can try vitamin E lotion and/or pills for the tummy stretch marks. I have a friend who lost a lot of weight & she opens up vitamin E pills & rubs the liquid from the pills right on her belly & looks great now!

I am self-pay and had to get all that done too. I didn't need a sleep study because I already have sleep apnea & use a CPAP machine. I did need blood work, EKG and pulmonary function test since I have asthma, and I needed clearance from my primary care doctor even though it's not going through insurance. My EKG was abnormal, so I had to see a cardiologist & he had me do a stress test just to make sure everything would be okay for surgery. My surgeon's office offered to have me pay them $500 extra to have them pay for all those tests & blood work. However, as it ended up they only ended up paying for my blood work & everything else had to go through my insurance because of trying to get it done faster. Therefore, I ended up having to pay them $200 extra for my blood work and then I have to pay all the other things through my insurance. Personally, I understand the other tests because they want to make sure I'm healthy enough to withstand the stress of surgery. However, I really think they should have a way to work all that into the price of the whole thing. My insurance is crappy and we'll have to pay a lot out of pocket for those tests we had to put through insurance. We're just going to take our time paying those off though. According to my surgeon's site, they don't include those things since each patient is different and some don't need the same tests done. I wish they would've been able to do everything through them for the $500 extra like we originally thought, but oh well. I'm just glad I got them all done now. Again, for me, I'd rather have the peace of mind that I'm "okay" to have the surgery done in the first place.

Yep. Got it. Yeah, that limit of 5 per 10 minutes is annoying, but I guess it's to help ward off spam requests. I played a game on my laptop while I added them & kept going back every few minutes to add more. :-)

Wheetsin - thanks for consolidating the list!! I tried adding you earlier, but it said your name didn't exist there. I just copied & pasted from your earlier post, but maybe it was being picky or something!

Robindei - lol - no problem! I love computers & enjoy walking people through things like this. :-)

I use my phone and my laptop and sometimes desktop. When you go to the site, you should originally see your "home" which has a menu on the left side with "track food" "track exercise' etc - then in the middle of that page you should see a box with your calories & such and under that is a "news feed" if you have friends on there, the news feed will show different things about the friends like when we enter exercise or finish our food log for the day or weigh in. To add friends, it is kind of tricky. You have to go to the Community Tab and then there is a little sub menu where you choose "find members" - when that loads, there is a spot where you can put in someone's user name to find them & then you have to click "add friend" to actually send an add request. I hope that helps. By the way, I'm mygastricsleevelife there.

I always mix mine with more liquid than it suggests because it's too strong for me otherwise!

I posted on another section about them yesterday because my dietician told me about them, but I haven't tried them yet. From responses I've gotten there and on my surgeon's support group, they are just like other stuff - it is different for everyone. Some people like them & some don't.

Just to clarify.... biotin is a vitamin supplement, not a hair product (at least I haven't seen hair products with that name). :-)

Nancy - these aren't the shakes, they're just vitamins. The shakes have protein too. These are only $45 for a 30-day supply (which is 60 packets since you do use two per day). However, I spent about $40 on a 90-day supply of a bariatric multivitamin and $55 on a 30-day supply of calcium citrate chewy bites because I don't like the plain chewable ones. Therefore, for me, if I can get the multivitamin AND the calcium citrate I need for $45 per month it's great. I still need to look into things more & I'm still new to all this & am researching different products. I think, from what my dietician said, they've had the shakes for a while, but these powdered vitamin packets are something that are fairly new.

I'm right with you! I'm on Day 9 right now - 5 more days until surgery. I'm SO glad I'm on the downhill slide of the pre-op diet, but it seems like it's getting harder the closer I get to surgery! Hang in there! We can do this!!