Stevehud

Well insanity and all, I got the word a few short hours ago. I HAVE BEEN APPROVED!!! Tuesday as in 5 days from now, I have the 10:30 am slot in the operating room. Its amazing I went from angry and depressed to excited then right to scared lol

Are you a failure ? NO! Should you be here? If it helps you, why the hell not! But as to the rest, I don't know almost anything about why this has happened to you. The only thing I can say is sometimes the way we write things can make others feel like we don't want help. and maybe people get..confrontational about that. S Like when you say you know more than the shrinks, I understand you a have been through a lot and are frustrated beyond measure and deservedly so, but wording it that way might make someone leery of trying to reach out and offer help. I will say that there is a lot of coddling here, but hell who doesn't need that sometimes. I don't think anyone would say you don't belong here.

nothing wrong with finding your new self. way to go man.

the Russell stover stuff was expressly forbidden to me by the surgeon and nutritionist because the are full of sugar alcohols which is sugar , your body turns them into sugar more slowly so they don't cause a high glucose surge in your blood but the sugar is the same once it does hit the blood. So might as well just have the real one.

So I went today met with the surgeon, the nutritionist again had pre-testing done, bloodwork, ekg, etc. So if we get the approval either tomorrow (Thursday) ot Friday they are holding a spot in surgery for me, for Tuesday next week. lol 6 days and I just find out. So I will be letting you all know soon.

my surgeon and nutritionist have me off coffee and tea decaf or not for 6 months to start. decaf tea and decaf coffee still have caffeine in them. so I will make do.

I will say I am glad to have tried so many flavors and brands of powders before my surgery, I know what I tolerate, what I hate and what I really really like. I will give one little guideline, chocolate, vanilla strawberry etc don't mix them with Water, use skim or 1$ if youre allowed, fruit flavors like the Syntrax nectars fuzzy navel, twisted cherry or pink grapefruit etc are great with water and an ice cube or two in a blender to keep them cold, very nice especially in the mornings. Fior those of you with a taste issue or an allergy issue, if you know its not the whey your allergic to i.e. dairy. then I suggest you look up abouttime products yes its one word. they have these ready to mix plastic bottles that you pop the top. fill shake and go, they call them, fill shake and go..also available in packets. But they only have 4 things in the whole product whey Protein isolate ( actually its microfiltered for smoothness, soy lecithin, some natural flvors, and stevia. as a result the flavors are extremely mild, tasting. you can see the video taste taste tests on my early blog pages on my blog below.

ok so here's the scoop the insurance company now wants me to have another appointment with my nutritionist of course at the farthest point from my home lol, right away on Wednesday, so we book that appointment and immediately after it I am meeting with the anesthesia team and pre surg team just in case..lol Now here's the good news, the company I work for which I getting bought, is having the buyout delayed for a month, so now I have more time to have this surgery done. of course ill lose all the money in my out of pocket and deductible etc but all in all not a horror show. AND I found out our new benefits will be under blue cross blue shield of Texas which does have my surgeon as an in network provider.. so I would still be able to do all my follow ups. worst case we blow off this insurance company wait until February ( which will piss me off but I would live at least, and we could re-file under the new insurance company. So its not as bad as it was. But we are still hoping to get resolved this week. ill keep you all informed. I truly thank you for all the support.

Like I said Jess you've done awesome, Im inspired by how well you've done truly. I just wanted to know more about how you enjoyed and handled the Matrix. I know that at different stages we can use different Protein types, for immediately after surgery I was simply going by , as you say, my doctors and my nutritionist guidelines of no sugar or carbs for awhile and then only after Proteins, which makes sense.

Just great posts ladies, you are why this place is truly a godsend to us all.

Jess are you sure about the Syntrax matrix I mean at your stage this could be totally way off base, congratulations by the way you have done wonderfully! As is said I do a lot of taste testing and the people that make the syntrax products , Si03 is the name of the company, they sent me tons of syntrax nectars to try I had asked for matrix but they said in an email " Syntrax Matrix Products are not Weight Loss supplements, they are Meal Replacements, and as such do not meet Bariatric guidelines for post surgical usage." Now you are well past normal post surgery so It probably doesn't apply to you. Blerdgirl- first, every surgeon is different evidently. I know in the hospital and for the first 2 days after surgery I am not to have anything besides Water or Clear liquids. No Protein or anything until day 3. My surgeon even went so far as to tell me the nurses in the hospital may offer me Protein drinks, but do not take them. Now again that's just me, but It seems that a lot of people on here do not take protein on the first few days. I know you asked about sugar and carbs the issue I have is if a mix has say 10 carbs per use that could put you at s high as 40 carbs for the day, which is a lot for a bariatric surgery patient. Sugar and carbs derail weight loss faster than a drive through window. Also sugars and carbs are a huge contributing factor to dumping as well. Basically I can tell you 3 things my team ( surgeon and nutritionist) are adamant about. 1. Always protein first then carbs or sugar if you absolutely have to. 2. Weight loss supplement protein mixes and drinks are different pro Meal Replacement shakes or powders. ( more on this, 90% of protein powders are marketed to weight GAIN, They are designed to add bulk to people doing bodybuilding and heavy heavy weight training. Which is something a bariatric patient most certainly does not want. Many protein powders etc will say on the back in small print..This is not a weight loss product". 3. stick to whey Isolate protein only, hemp, soy, and other Proteins are not readily absorbable in a sleeve patient, they take too long to be absorbed and by the time they would be they have already past the point of digestion, they can also make traveling through your intestines and lower GI tract , rougher than you would like. You may want to post a question to the forums in general, and ask " how much sugar and carbs should I have? I think you would get a lot of good answers. Just as a caveat, I take in less sugar and carbs in my pre op diet than whats in those shakes.

just be sure whatever you chose to avoid all the sugar filled ones I can from above there are several mentioned here that are way to high in carbs and sugars. You will not affect good weight loss if your intake of sugar is still continuing.

Leila if you have a little time, I do a lot of taste test videos on my blog I taste quite a lot of Protein drinks and mixes, I am adding a few more today. They are flash based so they may not run open an I-pad or i-phone but I can always post them to youtube so every one can watch them there. if you want to check them out , they are at http://cuttingthefatwithaknife.blogspot.com thank you. there are a lot of flavors you can try that might meet your needs. just be careful not to use protein powders made for weight lifters these are weight gainers not for weight loss. keep your spirit up!

so here is the first update.... My surgeons office called. The peer to peer review is..cancelled. Yesterday I had to go and get a weigh in in a rush from my pcp to show the three months of consecutive weight loss care because we had moved up the date of my nutritionist meeting from dec 1 to nov 26. So we had to show care in December. so I did that and faxed that off to the insurance company along with some other minor stuff and the insurance company decided they don't need the peer to peer, they say they escalated the decision to the same doctor who denied me the first time for him to review this "new" paperwork, and will have a decision either today or Monday. .its amazing how they keep stringing me along. Knowing damn well , each day pushes them closer to having to pay nothing. If they string me along just 6 to 7 more days the surgery will not happen until well after the new year, which means a new insurance, new surgeon and hospital all new appointments and testing, and probably 6 to 9 months on a waiting list as well. which pretty much would mean the surgery will never happen and then I will be not only fat , but look like a jackass as well. anyway ill keep you all informed. man its f***ing depressing.

I was tempted to end my diet last night and grab mcdonalds or something on the way home. But I didn't want to let the insurance company win twice. Yes the peer to peer is tomorrow and I will find out then what my fate will be. I believe I would get the ok if I went though the whole appeals process, it is just that I do not have time to do so. Also my HR person brought up the fact that the insurance company knows I wont be on their rolls again next year and maybe they are trying to save money by dragging out this process until I wont have to bother with them anymore. Which I would not put it past an insurance company to do. Thank you all for being behind me. I will let you all know how this turns out tomorrow. keeping my everything crossed until then.

So as you can see by my post title I am absolutely beyond angry. After doing so well busting my butt to do m pre op diet, meeting all these goals. it turns out my company is being bought out, so I and my surgeon have to push hard and fast to get my surgery in before the end of the year due to change sin benefits for the new company taking over. Well we submitted just before thanksgiving. I have Tufts Cigna Carelink, its a joint insurance through both tufts and cigna. Well they decided to deny my surgery today. Why you may ask? well they said I don't have 3 months of continuous care . Which is bull because I do. And they have all the clinical notes of same showing it. But my surgeons office says cigna pretty much denied every first try outright. So now I have a peer to peer with my surgeon and their doctor who denied my surgery on this Friday. Here is the real problem. Now if this process goes any longer all the money I have spent on testing etc all the time off, all the sacrifices will be for nothing because while my new insurance may indeed cover bariatric surgery ( its a BCS plan) It does not have my surgeon and team in its network list. Meaning I would have to start from scratch with another whole team. So I'm thinking of just blowing up this whole diet tonight....f&^% all the work i've put in, ....sorry im really almost overcome with anger, I honestly do not think I could do all this prep work again. and the new company would never give me the time off to do the surgery, they would make me file for FMLA leave which I couldn't do as I couldn't afford to be out of work without pay. So the whole thing would be one giant waste of time and energy. I am not normally a pity person, but I do not see a light at the end of the tunnel at this point in time. And if there is a light its likely to be followed by a train. sigh Thanks for listening.

Hello all, earlier in October or early November someone posted a picture of a Water bottle marked out with a sharpie with the times of day on it and how much you would drink at that time to help with hydration . Does anyone have a copy of it. I have looked around and cant seem to find it. Any help would be appreciated.

starches like sweet potatoes or Yams even are simple starches and as such as readily turned into sugar. After so many weeks of non sugar filled items, you gave your body a huge dose of good old glucose. When it hit your blood stream it kicked your bodies insulin production into high gear and your endocrine system moved adrenalin to the bloodstream to help the blood filter the insulin and sugar out, a side effect of this is flushed skin, increased heart rate or palpitations, sweating, irritability etc. Dumping is very much related to too much sugar and not enough protein to balance out how your body deals with it.

By the way if you want the sleeve to just keep you from eating a lot or eating badly, you should not have surgery. Until you can come to grips with why you eat the way you do, you wont succeed. WLS is about changing your lifestyle, the very basic things that you do everyday. You want to eat a chocolate bar, the sleeve wont stop you. If you eat slow enough you can graze right around the clock and gain weight. You have to want to diet and exercise forever. Read a lot of the posts here. You will learn a lot about what is required of you.

personally I bought the nutria ninja the blades are better ( the nutria bullet has a problem with blades chipping and leaving metal in your drink.) One thing is you mentioned using raw nuts for Protein after surgery?? Maybe you should ask your nutritionist, since nuts, ground up are not liquid, they are still solid food and will tear up your sleeve and digestive tract . By the way Vegetable protein is normally very high in non-soluble Fiber which may cause you problems as well. There is a reason why nutritionists have you use whey Isolate and not hemp or soy protein, they do not digest well in the short time they are in your sleeve.

so you went from oxycodone, the active painkilling ingredient to Percocet which is oxycodone plus acetaminophen ( Tylenol) and that worked better? Hmm that's strange.

for me personally don't care what procedure someone has as long as it works for them. I do not wish this lifestyle ( not the right word I know) upon anyone. My whole reason for even mentioning that my surgeon wont do lapbands anymore. Was sort of as a response to why lapband forums were sowing less use may be because the lapbands themselves are used less. Certainly not to put down anyone who uses a band.

Its very disconcerting to be honest. I went to my team today to see my nutritionist in our last meeting before surgery. While we wee talking the surgeon knocked on the door , he wanted to see how my weekend was ( he had seen me last Thursday) and to mention that I weighed in another pound and a half down from last Thursday. My surgeon is even going to do a monthly Q and A session on my blog! Now obviously he will not be answering totally specific questions just general ones about WLS etc. It seems like I am in the minority with my relationship with my team. I just hate that other people here have had to deal with so many problems. I know someone mentioned that a lot of people have problems with Mexico, I have to admit I am one, but not because of the care, because of the after support. There just isn't any per se. I think so many here will agree, that the surgery is just the procedure, but its the living with it, that we have to be good at.

I apologize to mr-sto, due to the site making it look like his post. My bad. I did want to respond to the person who said lap band was a permanent change to your body? well it isn't, its completely removable and you are back to normal human function. to say you discount studies because abc news reported it, is like saying I can rob a bank because I didn't like the cop who told me I couldn't. You say well its old band or old procedures, well current studies shows between 19% and 35% of lap band patients have their lap bands removed and a full 50% of those who did were revisioned to another method. To say that doctors don't like lap bands because they have to see you again? Seriously? That worries me. I must be the only person on earth who happened upon a whole team right in the same place, I see my team that's surgeon, nutritionist, np etc. we already have sent in forms etc to meet with my team 15 times post surgery in the first year. They do the blood work, they do everything from weigh ins to recipe info to medication guidelines, the surgeon does surgery on thursday and Friday only mon and tues he sees pre surg until non then after noon and on Wednesday he see's post surg patients. Evidently there really is just a huge variance in care from practice to practice. That's appalling to be honest.

Mrsto- first off I do not Allege my surgeon said what he did. This is not a trial. He said what he said, you can believe it or not that's your right, but please do not cast aspersions on ME. thank you. I have never put the band down. I will say this I have Never heard of any person getting a band on top of their sleeve, a band on top of a full bypass is similarly moronic. But since you want to challenge me, here are just a few stats for you. Oh and on the personal note, I know of 4 people who have had wls. Hardly a large enough sample I agree, but 3 of those had lap bands 1 had full bypass, out of the three lap band patients they have all had theirs removed within 2 years of surgery 2 have since gained back more weight than they lost. The one person with full bypass lost the most weight by far and has kept it off without complication for over 5 years now. That's my personal experience and it in no way reflects anything but that. Now as to that data : The following 3 studies directly reported on the percentage of failures, which were as low as 14% and as high as 68% of patients... % of patients with unsuccessful weight loss after a specified amount of time Studies # of lap band patients in study % with unsuccessful weight Year tudy Study A 201 After 14 years - 68% 2014 Study B 32 After 3.6 years - 62.5% 2014 Study C 200 28.8% 2014 - See more at: http://www.bariatric-surgery-source.com/lap-band-surgery-failure.html#2_Types and The percentage of patients requiring reoperation is extremely high... up to 50% of all patients require lap band removal. - See more at: http://www.bariatric-surgery-source.com/lap-band-problems-lap-band-complications.html#sthash.oAYNeJuq.dpuf According to ABC news Nearly half of patients who have laparoscopic gastric banding for obesity eventually need to have the devices removed because of erosion or some other malfunction, researchers say. Among 82 patients followed for at least 12 years after lap-band surgery at a single institution, 49 had at least one reoperation for complications or device failure, according to Dr. Jacques Himpens, of Saint Pierre University Hospital in Brussels, and colleagues. They also reported online in Archives of Surgery that 41 had the bands removed during follow-up, with 14 then undergoing Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery. In all but a few cases, inadequate weight loss or device breakdown was the reason for band removal. Now as I said personally whatever works for you is GREAT! My method isn't better than yours for you and your method is not the best for me.