twinkle101

Great points Drmeow, I feel the same way. I want which ever surgeon I chose to have a lot of experience performing the procedure. I have my consultation later this week with a surgeon. So far I've decided to pass up the other two surgeons who spoke negatively about the bypass. I hope to have better luck this time around.

I am so grateful for all of your feedback! Although I will continue to do my research, I feel better toward choosing the bypass over all else. I too suffer with acid reflux, which is already miserable, no desire to worsen it. I have a consultation with one of the surgeons who down played the gastric bypass during his seminar, but also reassured how meticulous he is while performing the surgery. I will still go to the consultation, but will also seek out another surgeon recommended by the site for gastric bypass. Madeleine Renee brought up a good point, perhaps their negativity toward the gastric bypass is due in part because of inexperience (scary). After reading your responses, it CERTAINLY makes sense why insurance does not cover the gastric sleeve. You guys have no idea, how much better....and confident (about making a decision) I feel after reading your feedback. Thank you so much. I definitely will be following up!

So far I have been to two bariatric seminars. Each time the surgeons, had negative information to share in regards to gastric bypass in comparison to the lap band and gastric sleeve. They repeatedly spoke about the complexity of the surgery, life long commitment to taking supplements and the increased possibility of leakage from stitches. I had originally settled on getting gastric sleeve, but found out my insurance does not cover it. This leaves me with two choices lap band or gastric bypass...or maybe I will need to come out of pocket for the sleeve. The doctors have kind of scared me away from the bypass. Does anyone mind sharing why they chose gastric bypass over the sleeve? Just curious and wondering if anyone had similar experience as me.

Sunstorm14760, my surgery date is also November 19!!! I am surprised, but the process was relatively easy, I was expecting a date no earlier than December. I hope that we can keep in touch I begin my pre-op semi liquid diet Nov 5th.

What is your date in November? Mine is the 19th good luck.

I started doing food funerals before my first appointment with my surgeon. About two weeks of it and I made myself so sick! I was ready to get focused after that.

My surgery is set for November. All that is required now is to begin the two week liquid diet before surgery. I know the journey won't be easy, but I still feel as if I'm getting a new lease on life!

I think it's normal. I set my surgery date today (scheduled for November) and I was so elated. But I'm sure as I move closer to the date, I may have a few doubts, maybe even a bit afraid, but deep down I know I've made the right decision. It's going to get real when I begin the two week partial liquid diet. I'm ready though, as I'm sure you will be too!

I'm responsible for 10% of the surgery cost, and I have to meet my $100 deductible by the day of surgery. I had to pay $150 total to see the psychiatrist and nutritionist. I think you will see that it's different for everyone.

I'm lucky cause my insurance is through my work which is at the health organization I'm having all this with. My surgeon isn't "with" the organization so I have to pay the in-network fees for him but everything else is covered.

I think it depends ... I have Aetna and so far I have paid $30 copayment for surgeon consult, $30 copayfor psych evaluation, $250 for NUT, I am not sure how much my copay will be for medical testing. But once insurance approves I will have a $250 deductible.

A lot of surgeons who are lesser experienced tend to push the sleeve over bypass because it is a more complicated surgery to perform and it takes longer, so if they are all about the $$, of course they want you to do lap band or sleeve which take less time to do. My surgeon is one of the top in his field and is even an inspector in deciding if a place meets the requirements for a Bariatric Center of excellence, and he says that by far, roux en y is the gold standard. It has decades of strong data showing it works and long term it stays off. It's proven to give patients 70-90% off their excess weight lost when the diet and program are followed where as the sleeve was 60-80% and the lap band was generally around 50%. It's a "trickier" procedure and if you are looking for someone to perform one, you want someone who has done at least 4,000, because the first couple of thousand they are just getting their craft fine tuned. GERD is another consideration as people who have never experienced GERD prior to surgery often do post op with the sleeve. Then there's the fact the sleeve and lap are just purely restrictive so if you don't eat in large volumes, this might not help as much as rny which also has the mal absorption which contrary to popular belief doesn't mean bad things. One of the positives of mal absorption is less calories are made available to use for energy and less fat and sugar can be absorbed so those are really good positives if you are like me who loves sugary foods. The possibility of dumping syndrome will also keep you from testing that boundary because it is absolutely unpleasant. So all that together is what made me go from sure I was going to go for sleeve to full on definitely doing rny. The track record for sleevers who switch to rny after not achieving their goals is another. I only want to have to do surgery once and I want to do it right the first time so I never have to go through it again.

My copy for monthly visits to my surgeon are $50. Not all insurances have coverage for obesity (except surgical treatment) so I know some who pay this part themselves. (The charges for these monthly visits at my surgeon's office are $167)
I paid $200 for the scope ( around $2000).
I have had to pay about 250 to meet my 750 deductible during the process.
On surgery day i have no copay, but I am responsible for 10% (coinsurance) I believe it will be around 2,000 for hospital/ surgeon fees and around 500 for anesthesia. The total charges for gastric bypass are about 31,000 so not to bad. ????????
I am not sure of my max out of pocket so I might not have to pay all of my 10%- I need to get on my plan documents to double check!

I have Aetna. I have a $100 copay day of surgery. My patient coordinator told me that according to my insurance that the most I can pay put of pocket is $500. My surgeon's office will bill me within a month of surgery. I have to pay $350 at my pre op appt, which will cover my 6 months post op appts.

It seems to me that happens in any medical treatment I've had. So far, I've only had a $100 fee that had to come straight out of pocket, but I've just begun my process. So far I haven't been told of any other costs that won't be covered other than my co pays. And every insurance is different so it's hard to say. I won't be surprised if I have more.

I was banded for 4 yrs, lost 80 pounds, but a slip occurred and had to have it removed a month ago. My heartburn and reflux worsened with the band. I initially wanted the sleeve, but due to my already existing reflux and heartburn, bypass was recommended. There is tons of long term data, and bypass gives me the added peace of mind that I will be less likely to develop diabetes which runs in my family. Bypass can be reversed, but sleeve can't. I feel very comfortable with my choice.

Congrats to you!!! I will be beginning the process this week. I know it won't be easy.

Yes, I would definitely get some other surgeons' input on which they feel is best for your particular case. My surgeon has quit doing lapband b/c he's had to remove so many. He does both sleeve and bp and has done a lot of them. My guess is that the sleeve is quicker to perform, less meticulous and the doctor who pushed it over bp has not done many bypasses, at least recently. That would be a big drawback to me. And I wouldn't want a surgeon doing a bp on me if he was pushing the other so hard.

I am so grateful for all of your feedback! Although I will continue to do my research, I feel better toward choosing the bypass over all else. I too suffer with acid reflux, which is already miserable, no desire to worsen it. I have a consultation with one of the surgeons who down played the gastric bypass during his seminar, but also reassured how meticulous he is while performing the surgery. I will still go to the consultation, but will also seek out another surgeon recommended by the site for gastric bypass. Madeleine Renee brought up a good point, perhaps their negativity toward the gastric bypass is due in part because of inexperience (scary). After reading your responses, it CERTAINLY makes sense why insurance does not cover the gastric sleeve. You guys have no idea, how much better....and confident (about making a decision) I feel after reading your feedback. Thank you so much. I definitely will be following up!

So far I have been to two bariatric seminars. Each time the surgeons, had negative information to share in regards to gastric bypass in comparison to the lap band and gastric sleeve. They repeatedly spoke about the complexity of the surgery, life long commitment to taking supplements and the increased possibility of leakage from stitches. I had originally settled on getting gastric sleeve, but found out my insurance does not cover it. This leaves me with two choices lap band or gastric bypass...or maybe I will need to come out of pocket for the sleeve. The doctors have kind of scared me away from the bypass. Does anyone mind sharing why they chose gastric bypass over the sleeve? Just curious and wondering if anyone had similar experience as me.

I will be having the RNY in a few weeks. I have horrible reflux and my dr said the sleeve was not a choice for me because of that. I have no desire for the band so this was my option. I do like the fact that this procedure has been done the longest.

I second all of the above. I went to seminar sure of Roux-ny. Reflux and chance to lose the most weight. Didn't have it yet but still feel that I made the right decision.

I am surprised as most surgeons advocate strongly for bypass.

it's a more complicated surgery, but it's been around for years and there's a lot of long-term research on it. I went with it because of that (it's the "gold standard"), and because I had acid reflux (which often gets worse with the sleeve).
I don't even think my surgeon does lapband anymore - and I had zero interest in that. It's too prone to complications.

p.s. you'll have a lifelong commitment to Vitamins regardless of the surgery. Yes, there are more Vitamins to take with the bypass, but I'm not finding it all that difficult, to be honest.