Emilie1

I should be getting my insurance approval this week. I am going to be starting my own self imposed two week preop diet next week. Today for dinner I had one chili dog with the bread and everything, and one hot dog with just chili no bread. I relished the hot dogs like I would never get to them again even though I know that I will, it just won't be the same when I get filled up after two bites. Sunday I will be having egg rolls as my very last meal. If all goes well (with insurance)I will be banded Oct. 13 in San Antonio,tx by Dr. Cavazos. I love this site thank you all for listening.....

Hi, I am not banded yet, but can tell you what they say about carbonation, it is a no go after surgery. The bubbles strech out your new pouch. Different Dr. have different oppions on caffine, but sodas a no all the way around as far as I have seen. I was a big soda drinker myself but due to some kidney stones I weaned my self off. Every now and then I sneak a sip, but try hard to stay away. Don't let the soda thing stop you, you can overcome it. If you really think about what is soda and what it does to your insides. ( Ok so I don't really know what it does to your insides and my husband drinks nothing but diet soda and beer, and he seems ok.lol) I am sure others will post with more scientific information. What ever you decide to do good luck. This is an awsome site to ask quetions and vent or what ever else you need to do. It will help you make the right decision for yourself.

RM, it is ironic that you compare it to a pacemaker for your stomach, because my DH actually has one of those. He has sever gastroperisis due to being diabetic his whole life, so his gatro. Dr installed one to turn his stomach on so he can digest what he eats. As far as my choice for the band I have had a bmi over 40 for five years. I always said that I was a very healthy fat person. Well in the last year my BP has been creeping up, and so has my sugar levels. I also know that I can loose the weight. But have watched about everyone of my siblings loose weight and turn around and gain it right back. I am getting the band to use as a tool. I don't have the co morbidities but know they are knocking on my door step. Good luck with your decision....it is not one to make lightly.

You are not pregnant, are you? That is how I reacted to some smells with all of my children.

I am not banded yet and am a little confused. When do you know when to go on liquids to prevent swelling or irritation? Every time you PB, or only if you PB a bunch? Oh yea, and if you live far away from your surgen, can you get an emergancy unfil at the er?

Katie, I am so there with you.....obsession is the right word for it. I have a date for my surgery, and my preop appt. , but don't have my insurance approval yet. It should be coming any day now. I just keep thinking that it is not real. I am ready though, I have a busy week planned for my surgery, so I am not going to have time to dwell on what I have choosen to do to myself after the fact. I hope by keeping busy I won't get hungry either. I think that would be like my biggest downfall if I was at home trying to recover and I was hungry. I would be so tempted to eat. I also read on this site every day for at least an hour. And when I can't sleep at night(because I am so excited about it) I read around on here till I get tierd. Good luck with you and your surgery.

Jessica, What kind of problems did you have? My paper work was submitted on Aug.27 and I was told to wait 20 to 31 days. Do you have any suggestions on what I should ask when I call a check on it. Anything to help it along? Thanks for your info.

I too am doing the band diet with out the band, or as I like to call it practice for when I am banded. Can I loose weight HELL YES, I can (I just can't keep it off LOL) and that is exactly what I told my PCP when she mentioned WLS. I said I like to eat to much and could loose weight when I was ready. Well my kids helped me get ready this summer and here I am waiting for approval. It should come in the next two weeks. An way by cutting my portion sizes, stopping all soda, and most fast food I have lost 31lbs so far. Oh yea I chew like I am never going to eat another bite of food. Eating gets boring fast. The only thing I have not done is the liquid diet part, ok so I admit I am terrified of it, but I promiss that as soon as I am approved I will practice it also. I don't need to the two week liquid thing because my bmi was only 43ish. (Now it is almost below 40) I am still going to practice it because I just have such a hard time wrapping my mind around it, and I would like to know exactly how bad it going to be for that first 5-9 days after surgery where all I can have is clear liquid, no protien even till my first post op visit. Sorry this was so long, sometimes I just start to ramble.

I to have to travel to my surgen. I asked my surgen if I could do my preops in my home city. I was able to do my upper gi and my psyc eval in my own city. I am all about my kids so I think I could have easily taken my own child to my first visit. The first visit was quick and to the point. I think that the post op appt. would probably be ok also except you are not suppose to lift more than like 10lbs so you have to think about that. Talk to your surgens office and find out what to expect. Also as far as your insurance goes find out what there pre qualifications are. Many require a 6 supervised diet and other hoops to jump through. I would call your insurance and ask specificly what you need to qualify. See if they can send you a list of the qualifications because I hear they sometimes forget to tell you something and when you don't have it they will denie you. Having your qualifications in front of you can also help you get the information together for your surgen to send in. Also get to know your insurance advocate well. They will be the ones that will send your paper work in to the insurance for you. They will also request the info they need from your PCP. My surgens office was taking to long to request the info from my PCP so I requested it my self to be sent to them, it probably saved me two weeks. The more you know the more you can advocate for yourself. Also look on LBT and find people in your area that have been banded by your Dr. you may even find someone who can help out with child care for a few hours while you are at the dr. Good luck........

My question before Mcain picked a VP was how could you not vote for him with the world the way it is now. How could you choose Obahma with his little experience? Yes, he talks a good talk, but when push comes to shove and Iran has a missle pointed at Isreal who do you want to be in charge, someone who has been there or someone who wants to go and have a chat with Iran before he decides what to do. Not that has anything to do with VP, but I think she is a great choice and is not lacking all that much more experince than Ohbama.

Hey Mindy, I am still waiting for my insurance approval. It should come any day one way or another. Anyway, I was wondering about that papaya enzyme. What does it do for you? I have been having some non-band stomach issues due to eating the wrong kinds of food, like my meat is taking a long time to digest. Not sure if my body got use to the chewing and then I did not do it enough or what, but needless to say that is why I am up right not talking to all. Just wondering if those enzymes will help a non-banded stomach. I am definatly going to have some for after the band. Emilie

I not yet banded, but hope to join that world by the middle of next month. In the mean time I have been eating(or at least trying to) like I already have the band. Well so far I have been doing fairly well. I have lost about 30lbs since the beginning of June. Well I can see the difference in my body, but I am shrinking more on one side than the other. I don't think that it is too noticeable but whenever I look in the mirror I can see it. It looks like about two inch difference. Exercise is not the problem, because I don't get nearly enough of it. Any ideas?

Hi, I don't know how much you weigh, but you are right about extra skin. You are young and have more elasticity even if you have some extra skin it won't be as much as some people 10-20 yrs older(usually). The other reason for doing the band vs bypass for me was that you have more control, it is reversable, you do not have as many problems with malabsorption. You will still need vitamins, but you won't have to worry about dumping(ok so I don't really know what that is but I don't think that it is plesant) All that being said, I am not banded yet but am looking forward to it. Good luck, research, research, research and then pick what will work best for you.

Ohgary, I usually don't chim in on these discussions, but would like to share my view. If you read around on this site you will see how you need to eat to make the band work. Make no mistake it is work. Restless Monkey is right there are easy ways around it that if you are not committed you will subcome to . I personally am not banded yet, but when I decide that this was the tool I needed to aid me in weight loss I began eating like I had the band already. I cut my food into small pieces and chew, chew, chew, and when i am done chewing I chew a little more. By the time I have had a cup of food I am tierd of eating and satisfied with the amount I have eaten. I am not full, but am also not hungry. It has taken three months to get us to the idea that I am not going to starve on 1/3 to 1/4 of what I am use to eating. I eat what ever I want just in very small portions. I also don't dirnk for one hour after eating. You need to be able to practice what you see on here and prepare yourself before you just jump in. Good luck on what ever you do decide.

So this is one area where I may not be able to follow my surgeons orders. I talked about it with my psychologist and she said she did not see why I should not be able to have coffee after surgery. (I know she is not a nutritionist and probably does not have any business giving advice in this area.) I only drink one 12-16oz cup a day which is not a lot, however if I don't have it I get a terrible migraine by about 10am. I know that is some kind of addiction, so I will stay away from coffee as long as I am on the pain med. and I don't get a headache, but after I don't need pain med anymore all bets are off for the coffee.

So no beans the first week, what about just the broth strained of course, from your own homemade beans (or a resturants)?

I have never thought of sugar and what it does to your body the way you put it. I don't do sugar free food, but I do add it to my coffee, tea and lemonade. I don't drink other sugar free stuff, but have to have at least 32oz of lemonade a day for my kidneys. I don't like real sugar in my drinks and never have.

I hope to be joining you in band land by the middle of October with Dr. Cavazos. Good luck to you today and I will be waiting to hear how it goes.

How do you like him? How many times did you see him before your surgery? I am planning to have my surgery on October 13th if insurance goes through fast enough. I will only see the doctor one more time before surgery and that is the Thursday before for my pre-op visit. Does that sound normal? Thanks for any helpful info in advance. And let us know how your surgery goes.

I have met all the qualifications and am just waiting for my surgeon to get my psyc eval. If insurance goes well I will be banded on October 13th. As far as not gaining any weight before then I have actually lost 24lbs as of this morning. If you practice eating like a person who already has a lapband you almost can't help but loose. I chew my food so much that I get bored eating before I even eat half of what I use too. It is still hard to get motivated to exercise, but I hope the motivation will come when I loose more and it is not like exercising with an extra person attached.

I would also check on the BMI thing, but I personally have started eating in the lapband fashion, small bites and chew chew chew just to practice and doing so I have lost 20lbs but I am still a BMI over 40 and I am going to keep it there until insurance approval. Goodluck!!!

Jen, Hey I have talked to the insurance company about a million times and they have not asked for anything from other insurance companies, but I also have no co-morbity issues just plain old fat. I have a BMI over 40 and it has been that high for five years. Do you need to do the supervised diet and wherer in Texas are you?

What does pre existing mean? I also have CIGNA and have yet to file, I am still trying get all of the paper work in from various Dr's. My psyc eval was on Aug 13 and she still has not sent the report to the surgeon. I am also waiting on my PCP to send the last three years of medical records to the surgeons office. If I had waited till the surgeons office requested them it seems that I would never get the surgery. I would have thought that they would start requesting things after my first visit so they would be ready to submitt it when I was done testing, but that was not the case. Oh well good luck and me know what else CIGNA has to say. Thanks

When you really need your time just let them know that you are leaving your phone at home. Don't take it with your. Do it for more and more time each week till they are use to not being able to get in touch with you. Also it sounds like you have three full time jobs. That is alot and you really do need to schedule you time in there without interruptions. Good Luck.....

The same thing happen to me. Just ask your Dr if you can be evaluated by someone out of their practice. Call around to other Bariatirc Dr and find out who they use for their Psyc evals and then see which ones your insurance covers. If they don't cover any of them than just start calling ones that your insurance does cover and see who will do it. My Dr. had a letter to the psychologist explaining what they wanted. Just look out for the psychologist that wants you there for like three visits. Also as far as the 200 goes for out of pocket that sounds about right. My Surgeons psyc eval was 300 others I called when I thought I was going to pay out of pocket were between200 - 600. I would think that you can do the same with your nutrition consult. Good Luck.