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I think everybody is different. My small pills I only cut in half the day after surgery. Missed a couple days worth and then got back on them. The only one I was cutting in half was the horse pill, Metformin. The nutritionist said that some drugs come in liquid form and if you have problems you should ask your doctor to find out if there is a liquid form that can be prescribed.

Also, I found liquid vitamins/minerals at vitacost.com... I got a high potency multi vitamin called Buried Treasure, and I found a liquid Cal/Mag/Zinc that is pina colada flavored. They taste okay... better then I expected for a vitamin.

The last time I saw the nutritionist she gave me a sheet that showed the minimum recommended dose for each vitamin/mineral. Biotin had a recommended minimum daily dose of 30 mcg, but there is no upper limit (the amount that could be dangerous). The Biotin I ordered from vitacost.com has 5mg (5000mcg).

Anybody that feels embarrassed to go to the sex shop should check out Amazon.com, click on Health & Personal Care and then click on Wellness. The box that it comes in will look like you ordered a book..... and from what I've heard their prices beat most stores. The only thing I would say to beware of is that after you use Amazon, the next time you sign on they will make suggestions on new purchases based on previous purchases and it could get embarrassing if someone else signed in on your connection and found that.

These stories make mine sound mild. The most embarrassing thing a doctor ever said to me was about 10-15 years ago. I consulted with a very reputable surgeon in my area about doing gastric bypass (actually, at that meeting I told him that I'd her on Dateline about a WLS they were doing in European countries where they were putting an inflatable band around the stomach-he had never heard of such a thing :-). Anyway, he asked about diets I'd been on and I told him that I was currently on weight watchers... and then he asked me about what I can eat in a sitting and I told him that I can eat a lot without feeling full... example would be that the week-end prior I'd eaten two whoppers and a large fry. His response was, "I'm pretty sure that 2 whoppers and a large fry is not part of the recommended weight watchers program." I was in my early 20's at the time and was stunned by this comment. He spent an hour telling me why I shouldn't get the surgery and why I should modify my eating habits instead... then charged me $150 for the consultation. My personal opinion is that doctor's that don't understand the complexities of obesity have no business doing WLS. My current GP is a fit and handsome guy in his late 30's/early 40's... you know the kind that make you think, "I can't believe I come here once a year and have this guy shine a light at my fat, hairy butt!" He is so incredibly supportive, has never said a nasty thing to me about my weight, when we review my labs he just says, "You know, any amount of low impact exercise you can get will help these numbers." When I told him I was going to try to get approved by my insurance carrier for lap-band he said he would support me in any way he can, has given me his direct line at work in case I have something come up that I really need to go over with him. He amazes me and I already felt lucky to have him as my doctor... but after hearing these stories I feel even luckier. As for pregnancy... when I got pregnant 5 years ago at the weight of nearly 350 lbs I started seeing an excellent ob/gyn who told me fat or thin doesn't matter. Some thin women have easy pregnancies, others have complications... it's the same for overweight women.... if complications arise, you deal with them.

Anybody else been having or remembering more of their dreams since their surgery? I have and they all seem to have a similar theme that I can't quite put my finger on after I wake up. I was wondering if I'm the only one.

I'm with this girl! My doctor's pre-op diet was non-existant and post op was pretty lenient. liquid of any kind for 1 week, mushies the 2nd week... by the time I had my post op f/u at the start of the 3rd week I was already allowed to start trying solids. When I had my pre-op appointment with the dietician she told me that if I absolutely couldn't make it 2 full weeks without eating something then I should be sure to chew, chew, chew and when I thought I had chewed enough to chew some more! I'd like to point out that my surgery was at a Bariatric Center of Excellence, not some chop shop just out to make a buck. Having "bragged" about my liberal post op instructions I will now say this, for the first week while I was on my liquid phase I lost 12 lbs. When I took the leap into mushy food something happened to me... it was horrible.... I got HUNGRY!!!! And I mean REALLY HUNGRY!!! I tried for 3-4 days to control myself and make sure that I was limited to mushies, but then I just had to eat. The problem with this is that your body is healing, and when you start feeling post op pain it FREAKS you out because you don't know if you did something to yourself by eating something you shouldn't have. The other problem is that not only has the scale stopped going down, it has wandered back up a little. I tend to think that the doctors that have their patients on such a restrictive diet for such a long period of time are going a little overboard... but I have no medical degree so what do I know. Besides that, it's such a great jump start to the weight loss whereas I now know I can comsume regular food, but I am still 4 weeks off from my first fill and am struggling to maintain the weight I had lost on the liquid phase. After saying ALL THAT I will suggest going to the mushy list, pick something out that would be edible if some kind of liquid was added and get out the blender. Good luck!!!!!!!

It's kind of sad that you felt it necessary to post this. This forum is a place where people who struggle with weight issues go to find support. The great thing about it is that we can be as anonymous as we want to. The things we say here are being vented to people who don't know us, and this allows us to get responses from people who are not biased to our situation. Nobody is perfect, and I can see by the original post that V has her own issues, but to be called out like this in what should be considered a "safe place" is pretty darn crappy. So clearly you have your own issues to want to anonymously cause someone this kind of humiliation.

I would never have considered having gastric bypass... even with a fairly low mortality rate (but higher then lap band), the side affects were too severe. Dumping? That can't be good! Just the simple thought of having my stomach mutilated and stapled back together in two different pieces made this a NO WAY surgery to me. For some time my medical insurer covered bypass but not lap band and I still would not consider having it done. Plus, I have a couple of family members that have had bypass and both have gained all their weight back because the pouch stretched out. My friend was told with lap band if the pouch stretches the band can be emptied and given time the stomach will go down below the band and then the band can be refilled... I don't know if that's true, but that is what she was told by someone who has been doing band fills for a long time and who has a band herself.

For carpal tunnel surgery, the tongs would have been a great idea. For the lap band.... I definitely didn't need them, especially after the first day. It's amazing how fast you're up and around after this surgery... my personal opinion is only purchase things you KNOW you will need immediately after surgery... the rest can wait until the next day when you're up and around. The list that's posted for items to purchase is a great reminder of things you might forget about. ps... what a cute furbaby.

... and I am also taking 2 flinstone vitamins per day.. but there are lots of different kinds of kids vitamins that I like better. I have tried several of them in an effort to get one that my 4 year old will take.

I also recommend unjury... and that is after trying several others from GNC, WalMart and a couple different ones I got through Amazon. I would say be careful that you don't over buy!!!! I initially bought Unjury samples, and then hit walmart while I was waiting for the samples to arrive...I got a 5# container of Vanilla whey Protein. Then I got 5#'s more of chocolate from Amazon, and 2#'s of fuzzy navel from Amazon. By the time I realized I liked the Unjury the best I had so much protein powder that I couldn't justify buying the kind I really wanted (unjury)!! I did get a soy protein isolate, the GNC brand, just last week because I needed some unflavored and didn't want to wait, but I was not impressed because it made my drink rather gritty. I have been using the fuzzy navel powder in my SF drinks (crystal light & walmart store brand single serving powder raspberry & cherry) and that is pretty good. But do youself a favor and don't buy tons of it because you'll be all stocked up and you'll realize that after the first week post op you won't need to use that much. If I knew then what I know now, after trying the Unjury samples I would have purchased the office/travel packs in the kinds that I liked and would not have bought all these other huge containers of powders that I'm not even using.

You can get Viactiv pretty much anywhere... grocery store, rite aid, costco (I'm not certain that walmart stocks them). I would suggest getting a variety... when I used to buy these they came in caramel, strawberry cream, chocolate, vanilla and then some, I'm sure. I bought a big box of chocolate and liked them at first, but reached a point where they would make me gag. The ones I liked best were actually the store brand at Rite Aid-the caramel flavor. I'm not banded yet, but I want to be completely prepared when the time comes. I should get banded at the middle end of February. I can't wait to begin the process. There is a thread here for what to buy to prepare for surgery, but I would warn against over-buying. Better safe then sorry is only the case if you have lots of money to throw away, or you have nobody to rely on for help immediately after the surgery. Most people are well enough the day after surgery to get out and pick stuff up if it's needed. I posted a thread a while back about not over-shopping before surgery. I went gung ho in preparation for surgery and am now in posession of many things that I have no use for.

All I can say is, OH MY GOD!!!

I do try to take the comments as they are intended... a compliment. But it is insulting for the fact that it reinforces that people do see me as unattractive the way I am right now. Speaking of stupid things men say....several years ago my ex-boyfriend and I had broken up, it had been a while and I hadn't dated at all so I checked out some personals (yahoo or something like that) and I struck up a conversation with this guy. We chatted back and forth by email for a few days and then scheduled a meeting to have a real time chat. During this on-line conversation he tells me that he wants to meet up with me so I tell him that I want to think about it. I hate the element of surprise on a guys face when he sees me for the first time, so I had to figure out how I was going to deal with that. So I decide to email him and tell him that I am quite overweight and I just wanted him to be aware of that before we actually went through with the meeting. The next day I got an email from him and in his response to me he stated the following (or something very close to this): "You said you were an el tubbo, well how much of an el tubbo are you? You can't be too much of an el tubbo because you described yourself as attractive." I am LMAO as I type this because enough years have passed to allow me to have this response. I forwarded his email to a good friend of mine and her response was, "I believe the correct response for this guy is 'Bye-bye el jerko." I emailed him and said, "I think it is better that we don't meet." We never had any contact with each other again. After it was all said and done I felt like I'd dodged a HUGE bullet!

Good points. I guess it goes back to growing up fat and always hearing, "You have such a pretty face." When you start out hearing that at a young age it kind of shapes your attitude.

I was banded a couple of weeks ago and I have been shocked by how many people, intelligent people who I consider my friends, have said to me something to the affect of, "You're going to be so pretty after you lose all that weight." Like, you are ass ugly now with all that fat hanging off you, but once that's gone you will look good. Anybody else come across this compliment? Do you feel the same as me, or do you take it as a true compliment? I try to take it as a compliment as I know it is intended, but I cannot help but feel like it is such an insult.

Group plans cover you because it is insurance offered by an employer, it has nothing to do with a pre-existing condition clause. A pre-existing condition clause states that when you become insured you will have a specific period of time after coming on coverage with your new insurance plan where you will not receive coverage for any condition you have been treated for prior to coming on coverage. The look-back period (meaning how many months from your effective date your insurance carrier will review records to determine if you had received treatment prior to coming on coverage with them) and the review period are set periods of time. For example, in the state where I live it is common for medical insurance carriers to have a 9 month waiting period for a pre-existing conditions with a 6 month look-back. That means that for the first 9 months that you have coverage if you receive medical services your insurer will request records from your doctors office for the 6 months before your effective date so they can see if you have ever been treated for that same condition before. If they find that you were treated then they can, and most likely will, deny any claims related to that condition. There are situations in which the pre-existing condition clause is waived and I won't even get into that or I might be here all night. The reason that I am mentioning this is because the person who is getting WLS immediately prior to getting group coverage will be subject to the waiting period of her new plan (if it has one), and that means that if the new plan has coverage for obesity treatment she may have problems receiving coverage for that during the first several months she is covered. I should also note that I am only familiar with the laws in the state where I reside, and these probably vary state to state. The purpose of waiting periods is to protect the insurance carrier (thereby protecting it's existing members) from people choosing to get and pay for coverage for a short period of time after they find out they need medical treatment.

Any way to post this so it stays somewhere close to the thread that includes the pre-op shopping list?

Here's the situation. :smile: Banded on 01/03/2008. My doctor's post op diet consists of 1 week of liquids, 2nd week mushy/pureed and liquids, starting 3rd week begin incorporating solids. Per my doctors instruction I did 1 week of liquids and stuck to it fine. Day 8 was the first day of mushies.... great. Day 9--hunger finally kicked in. Real hunger. So... I fell of the wagon so to speak. I ate stuff not on the mush list. I have a theory that my band does not know what texture the food was before it got to my stomach--and I took extra care to chew chew chew. Here's what I'm asking. People who have been in this same situation-ate real food just a week or so after surgery-- have you/did you have any complications that were associated with that action? Band slippage, etc? I'm not looking for lectures, or the reason's why I should not have eaten. I am strictly looking for people to tell me what their own experience was if they did the same thing as me.

What-exactly-are your questions? Getting information from a seminar is one thing... but before you spend too much more time pondering all these previous diets you need to call your insurance carrier to find out 1) Is Lap Band covered, and 2) What do they need from you in order to get it covered. As for the psych eval... I'm not sure what you're getting at. You will have to get a psych eval done and many lap band providers will have a psychologist in their clinic that you can have the evaluation done by. But again, you will want to know what your insurance carrier wants from a psych eval if it is going to be covered by then. Generally they are looking for proof that you are of sound mind to choose to have this surgery, and that you understand the WLS is a tool and is not a quick fix.

Lucky you... your insurance pays 100%. Check back with your insurance company to find out if pre-auth is required. If they require you to go through your primary care doctor or if you can just go straight to one of their participating providers. Find out who all their participating providers are and check with them to find out who you feel most comfortable with. Personally, my insurance carrier would have allowed me to start with the lap band doctor, but I actually had my pcp's office submit the preauth request on my behalf. Different insurance company's have different rules so it's important you know what your carrier wants. One new thing: Go to the home page and scroll down to Support Groups. Under this section they have the different support groups listed and there is one section that goes by age. There is a link to people in their 60's.

Maybe a new thread could be set up warning that there are people on this site trying to drum up business so if you see something just be aware of that. As for the insurance run-around. I still don't believe most insurance carriers are trying to get out of paying for a surgery that is a contract benefit, but they have guidelines that they have established that they are following. Personally I think the problem is related to a disconnect between Customer Service-who relay's information to the members, and Medical Review who establishes the guidelines and is responsible for following those guidelines when they review cases. So here are some suggestions to go into checking on coverage with your eyes open: Know what your contract says-is obesity treatment and WLS a covered benefit? You should be able to find this information in your contract benefit booklet. When I'm asked I tell people to check the exclusions section first. If you do not see obesity treatment specifically listed as an exclusion then there is a good chance that it is covered. Next check the surgery section to see if you can find anything out. If you do not have a benefit booklet or after reviewing your benefit booklet you believe that WLS is covered then check with Customer Service to verify coverage, if pre-auth is required, and if so what is needed for pre-auth approval. Make sure you note the date and time of your phone call and the name of the person you're talking to (first name, last initial). They may also be able to provide you with a tracking number that is a reference to your phone call with them. If you find out WLS (in this case lap-band) is a covered benefit then you might consider checking on-line at your insurance carriers web site to see if they actually have their pre-auth criteria posted. My last suggestion is that if you are told you need to submit a pre-auth then you should make them tell you EXACTLY what they want. Don't just accept, "We need proof of a 6 month medically supervised diet where you either lost weight or didn't gain weight." If they tell you this say, "Who can supervise this program? My pcp, specialist, dietician? What information will I have to provide to prove that I have been on a medically supervised program?" Etc. If you get the impression that the Customer Service Rep that you're speaking to is wish-washy, not confident that s/he knows what s/he's talking about (hints to this would be putting you on hold while they check this out, saying they have to check with someone else, lack of confidence in their tone of voice) ask for this information to be sent to you IN WRITING!

That's what I would say to this. Before I accepted the fact that I was just notified about a 6 month delay I would talk to the supervisor and the supervisor's supervisor at my insurance company. I would even write a letter to the CEO of the medical insurance company (which actually is what I did) before I would accept this. I work for a medical insurance company, and I do not believe that it is the policy of insurance carriers to try to get you to give up so they don't have to pay for something. They have policy and procedure and if they didn't want to cover WLS they would just exclude obesity treatment (unless coverage is mandated in the state where they are located). Any reputable insurance company does not play the kind of games people think they do. I'm sure there are some out there that are willing to play these kind of games... but really I'd guess most don't. I'll get off my soapbox for now and just say that when you make a phone call to a medical insurance company they are probably somehow recording your call. Either with a tracking on their system, or an actual voice recording... and often times both. In speaking to the supervisor I would reference prior phone calls where you were never informed of the 6 month medically supervised diet and that you would be near the end of this now had you been informed in the beginning. I would start the medically supervised diet, but would continue to fight this until it became clear I couldn't win (or you complete the 6 months)... and I would make them be REALLY clear about what they want you to provide as part of the pre-auth submission. I consulted with a case manager while I was going through the pre-auth process and she told me that I needed to have a monthly office visit where I am weighed and it is discussed what I am eating, all tracked in chart notes by date. Mine also required a 5 year weight history showing that I was at least 100 lbs overweight that entire time, but that is something that my doctor did at all my regular office visits and physicals. They'll also require a psych evaluation, and if for some crazy reason the insurance company doesn't require this then the surgeon should. Best of luck to you!

Pillows are also good for people with animals that jump up on them unexpectedly. I asked my friend on the way home from the hospital how I was going to keep the cats from jumping up on my belly while I was sleeping and she suggested putting a pillow over my stomach. Excellent suggestion! I have 3 cats so every time I sat down for the first several days after surgery I would put the pillow over my stomach. I figured this saved me a lot of grief... and kept my cats from being thrown across the room (j/k). Also, some people say don't waste your money on liquid Tylenol. I bought it, and I have used it... it's bright red and called rapid rush I think. It doesn't taste too good... but it works faster then a pill does for pain relief. It's no worse then any other medicated syrup and I always just have the Water ready after I swallow the med. One other thing that I got from the list that I didn't use.... Gatorade. But my husband was happy to take care of these for me. I kept myself well hydrated by always having a Special K Protein water by my side (I bought the powder version to add to water and saved myself some money). I used broth every day for the first few days--got sick of sweet. But I didn't go overboard when I purchased these. I also agree that a heating pad is a good investment, so if you don't already have one it's not a bad purchase.... you just may not need it following surgery.