Search the Community

This is a repost in California forums, Sorry: Hi, my name is Ray and I am in the process of getting banded. I have had my first meeting with my Surgeon (Machado), did the blood work, xrays, and met with a nutritionist today. I have to get an evaluation and have no idea where to find one, they provide one at the Machado's office but doesnt go through insurance. If anyone knows where I can go in Sacramento, please let me know. I have BC/BS. Thank you, RG

Agreeing with clk,ya gotta lose the scale for now. I am 2 and a half weeks out. I dropped 14 lbs in my first week then stopped. Had to make my mom take my scale home with her the day b4 yesterday bc I was driving everyone,including myself crazy! My doctor quickly moved me to soft foods and I stalled at a week and a half out! But I am only getting like 350 calories a day and about 40-50 grams of protein,maybe 30-40 ounces of liquids. The weight has got to come off sooner or later! Just keep doin what you're doing girl. We will get there! Btw,I love my warm teas! So soothing to my sleeve! Love Chamomile. =)

Yes Tibbie!!!! I've already got our bikinis picked out! Do u want the pink or the purple one? JK , but I am looking forward to not tugging at my clothes self-consciously bc I'm so low on self esteem. Those days will soon be over

With BC/BS IL, they use your original BMI before the 6 month non-surgical program.

What HH said in regards to doctor's in the USA not treating patients for follow-up care who had surgery out to the country is complete BS. Also, Mexicali is completely safe and has had no incidents of violence in the recent past because I have done my homework and besides I have spent time there over the past few months as well as others that I can put you in contact with to put your mind at ease. I have traveled all over the country and to many areas of Mexico and have only felt unsafe in TJ. HH doesn't know me from Adam but seems to have some kind of issue of being the authority on everybody else as well as trying to undermine my personal experiences with his criticism. I have told you from own MY personal experience that I have received excellent care from Dr. Aceves and his staff and I have been there and am speaking from personal experience which HH is not. Dr. Aceves has performed over 3,000 WLS and the hospital is state of the art. Only a lawsuit minded individual is worried about having legal recoase. If you go to a good surgeon instead of a hack you don't have to worry about such things. Obviously HH didn't do his homework or he would have not made such a mistake. There is an old thread I can refer you to that will totally enlighten you in regards to this individual if you so desire please message me personally and I will provide references from Dr. Aceves patients as well as the thread info. that will make you laugh your A** off.

I'm still in liquids and purée stage and I'm terrified to move to food bc I'm scared I'll overeat and go back to my old habits. I don't trust myself.

I'm going next week to test for gastroparesis. I don't have any symptoms. I'm just frustrated bc I think the meal I ate on Sunday just sat in my stomach (heavy) and that's why food was in there. Now this is delaying everything!!!

My surgery was November 2017 (VSG) and I've had issues with breakthrough bleeding on my usual pill, and still despite changing pills about 3 months ago. My provider thinks it could be an absorption issue, which I don't know if I necessarily agree with considering I had VSG and not bypass, but anyways... Has anyone gone to the Nexplanon (arm) birth control after surgery? Thoughts on it? I'm half a** looking into it (aka kind of not really) but wanted to see if anyone had personal experience on here going from pill to arm implant.

I’ve been a single mom ( sole custody no other parent) since I was 4 months pregnant. My son now 19 months has an auto-immune illness. I work 10 hour days and am in my Masters program. So finding time to workout eat right and all of my doctors appointments on top of my sons weekly ones has been challenging to say the very least but hopefully worth it. I don’t have my exact surgery date yet but December is the target. I want to go to cedar point again, buy a bathing suit (which I haven’t done in almost a decade). Wear shorts instead of pants when it’s 100 degrees out bc I don’t like the way I look. Sit comfortably on a plane. But most important of all be around to watch my son grow up.

Hiya.I'm on day 9 of the pre op diet lost 14lbs and it is NOT easy I have surgery on Wednesday so it's preparing me for my entire life to cut back and it's about self control keep busy but in a few days you won't care about food. Hang in there for me weekends are worst but you can do it. Good luck Sent from my SM-G901F using the BariatricPal App Thank you! Good luck on your surgery!! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App Awww thank you so much. Very nervous but very prepared and excited. I'm day 11 on the pre op diet and I'm okay little dehydrated. Keep your 2 litres of water going that also helps... good luck also x Sent from my SM-G901F using the BariatricPal App Thanks for the water tip bc I'm definitely behind on my water intake. Since your getting surgery Wednesday, and I get mine next Tuesday. You and I could be surgery buddies Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

How are you doing now @@GenaW828 ? My husband is doing a lot better. I only had actually SAY once that I was irritated bc he was eating unhealthy food in front of me. After that he got the message and has been super supportive. My doc is pretty lenient with the pre op diet and I think that was my problem. So I made it more strict for myself, only allowing Protein shakes, certain Soups, and one piece of chicken a day. Since putting that limit on myself I've done a lot better!

It seems like everytime I put something in my stomach I get this tight feeling, not like a restricted feeling bc I have nothing in my band but like a bloated feeling.....then I burp and it happens everytime. Is that normal or is it just something that happens to us bandsters??? Anyone come up with a way to decrease it a bit??

. I had my surgery last Monday and Charlotte was my surgeon as well. My insurance had a cap of $20k and I had to pay some directly to barker. I'm having a very hard week and yesterday and today especially have been very emotional. I've broken down in tears several times bc I'm feeling so hungry and just over all overwhelmed.

Congrats!!! This is random, but do you (or anyone else who sees this) obsess over the surgery? Wondering if it will be approved, worried that something will change, etc.? If so, how do you manage it?! I literally have a hard time sleeping now bc it's always on my mind! ALWAYS!

U will always need supplements bc u never absorb the nutrients from ur food that's definitely true

i totally and completely understand your fears, smammas!!! my doc also prescribed me an appetite suppresant. are you getting your band back, or do you have any info. on that yet? yes, the reflux goes away immediately. mine actually went away when he unfilled me. i needed to have the band removed bc my stomach swelling didn't go down and he said i was at risk for other issues if they didn't take it out. but after 90 days of healing, we can discuss putting it back! today was my first day eating solids in 2 weeks! i had cerearl this morning and one small bowl, just like with the band, was enough!!! so, so far so good!!! :thumbs_up: thanks for your thoughts! take care of YOURSELF, dianne!!! thank you so much for your thoughts! :frown: myself, i have lost over 90 lbs. but to reach MY goal, i need to lose over 50 more... to reach my "ideal" weight, i need to lose 80 more. sooooooooooooooooooo, i have a long journey still in front of me. good news: it's not as long as it was 2 years, and 93 lbs. ago!!!!

Yes I have both. It was a hard recovery bc liquids of all kind bothered me...lol. Now I'm on soft to solid food and I'm down 17 lbs.

I take my birth control back to back so I haven’t had a period since maybe 2008. Was still on BC but my uterus said eff you. It wasn’t bad but especially annoying when you’re super drugged and wearing their massive pads and mesh undies [emoji85]

This thread is very enlightening bc I thought I was doomed with straws lol Then when I had my negative experience with one by accident, that just cinched it! I like straws bc before WLS, they were my primary tool for drinkibg so much Water daily and since WLS, water has been sooo hard to get in, having to pick up my buba barrel and sip sip sip ....I much rather suck lol ha.. Hopefully after I heal more, I will be able to use a straw again

I have hunger too. I am 11 months out and like you it is worse at night. Try to budget your calories to save room for an evening snack and then find something that fills you up. Some of my snacks are a light cheese stick or babybel, or strawberries or watermelon bc they are very filling. Sometimes if calories allow I will have a protein drink and that really fills me up. Also making sure you get in all your water helps.

I have only been banded for a week, so I have not had any fills yet but I hear the flouroscopy is better for finding the port. I am now praying it is bc you have me scared . I am not one for needles but if I was in your situation I would try the other way and if you can't you can always just say to yourself "it hurts to be beautiful". My mother used to tell me that when she was brushing my hair as a child. Now I totally see that with eyelash curlers and such tools she was right all along. :tt2: Good luck!!

I copied and pasted, below, some of my early posts from the first few months after band surgery. I was so enthusiastic and on board with my new lifestyle. I was fully committed to learning everything I needed to know in order to succeed. I did not want to hear anything from anyone who was saying their band didn't work out. There were people who posted that they followed band rules and lost their band due to slips, erosion or esophageal dilation. I countered that very few complications are band caused. I suggested that perhaps they over ate, ate too fast...you get the picture. I was wrong to do that. It's true that early in our band journey we NEED to hear positive reinforcement that we made the "right" decision. That's why you won't see me post negative information on a post from someone who is doing well, newly banded or had decided to band and isn't asking for help deciding. If I posted in a way that seemed insensitive or overtly negative anywhere but on the complications forum, I apologize. I try to avoid that, but I'm human. I believed, as many of you do, that if I did all the right things, I'd keep my band for the rest of my life. I cannot convey the disappointment and even grief I'm feeling over the impending loss of my band. I'm also feeling a lot of anxiety about post removal. That might be bleeding thru in my posts. I'm in constant discomfort, unable to eat much of anything and generally not feeling very well at the moment. My point in this post is to encourage everyone who has WLS to listen, sympathize and file away posts about band complications. As I've stated in more than one post, the information might help you save your band one day. I don't want to scare anyone. I just want to share my experience within a community that might benefit from it one day. Don't be afraid to read my message. It can't hurt you. This was 2 months post op: Tonight I am going to a play with friends...I subscribe and we go out about every two months Nov-July. Yesterday I figured I should try on some of my smaller (size 24) clothes to see what I should wear. NONE OF THEM FIT! THEY ARE ALL TOO BIG! I am between a 20-22 so all the 24-26 and 3x are going to the donation pile or to my ebay collection. I went to the Talbot's outlet and bought two pairs of 22 WP shorts, very nice for $27 including tax. I now have one pair of jeans, a pair of capris and two shorts that I can wear. We always go to Maui in October and was trying on my dresses that I take with me and got into some of my Blue Ginger dresses I haven't been able to wear for a long time...some of the others are way too big.... Any way enough rambling on! Happy day for me! My first fill: I got my first fill today and it went very well...no pain and so far so good with water. I lost 5 lb in almost 5 weeks and due to travel plans in September and October opted to go ahead and get it now. My surgeon's office does them under flouro and it took about 10 min to do...port was flat on the abdominal wall and very easy to access. It did feel weird as she was numbing me up, but other than that couldn't feel it. I am hoping to up my loss to about 1.75 lb per week or 7-8 lbs per month with this fill... whew...glad to have that under my belt! A post on accountability: This morning it occurred to me that I have not lost any weight since the 30th of August. My first impulse was to post something on the forum regarding a stall, frustrated, etc, but then I got to thinking about it HONESTLY. I have not logged my food since the middle of July! I looked back and I remember thinking that this is so easy, I don't have to log every bite! WRONG! I lost consistently (even without a fill) 1-1.5 lbs per week while logging. Since I stopped logging I have lost a total of 6 lbs in 6 weeks, but nothing for the last two weeks. I don't think I am eating as much as I am burning, but how do I know??? This could be the 20% stall, but without documentation of my intake, I cannot really tell. My highest weight was 290 about 2 years ago. 20% of 290 is 58 and I am down 51 lbs from that weight so it is close enough to be called that, but most likely it is what I am eating, rather than how much. I have been eating more carbs... There have been numerous social events, so I have been drinking a bit of wine... And I have had some dessert... here and there... So now I recommit to journalling my food intake so I can assess why I am stalled and what to do to change it WITH SOME CERTAINTY.... I have lost an inch or so since the stall started, so it isn't really a stall, but a great opportunity to refocus my efforts towards meeting my goal of 1.5 lbs per week on average. I do have restriction and I need to do a better job of utilizing it to my advantage. Me, defending the band: Many folks who are anti-band will use a study that was published in 2003 and followed lap-band patients from 1997-2002...that would be like car and driver only reviewing cars made from 1920-1970 and holding them to today's standards of road-worthiness... The bands in use today are much more "user-friendly" and the surgeons who "install" them know a lot more about the causes of complications like those cited in the early study and MOST complications are caused by overstuffing the pouch and eating around the band (grazing, sliders etc) as well as over zealous docs who overfill bands. Go to the WLS failure forum, complications forum or regrets forum and read about the issues the people who have chosen many different surgeries experience, then you can be satisfied with your decision, whatever it may be. I also question why certain individuals feel the need to hang out here and tout their surgery. If they were as knowledgeable as they claim, they would be publishing a book on their surgery, pointing out the benefits vs the risks, and it would speak for itself. Here is an example of a study on VSG and it's failure rate...I found this doing a quick search and now it is out there and will be quoted by the VSG haters to support their position.... The exact failure rate of sleeve gastrectomy is unknown. Using the Spanish National Registry for bariatric surgery, Sanchez-Santos et al[7] reviewed 540 patients who had undergone SG either as a primary or staged procedure over a six-year period. The authors reported excellent overall outcomes; however, 15 percent of the subjects were considered failures based on weight recidivism in the first three years, with 3.3 percent of patients submitting to a second bariatric procedure. Younger age, lower body mass index (BMI), and thinner bougie size were attributed to improved sustainable outcomes. Similarly, Himpens, in an article by Deitel et al,[8] presented his early five-year results after sleeve gastrectomy at the First International Consensus Summit for Sleeve Gastrectomy in 2007. In 46 such patients, he reported a disappointing 37 and 23 percent inadequate weight loss and second procedure rates, respectively. More recent unpublished presentations by Himpens indicate failure rates as high as 30 percent in five years.[9] Studying the Austrian experience with SG as a stand-alone operation, Felberbauer et al[10] reported a seven-percent failure rate at three years based on a cutoff of 25 percent excess weight loss (EWL). Applying the traditional 50-percent EWL criteria, the failure rate increased to 25 percent.[10] Me supporting a struggling poster: Good for you Tanya....that is why the forums are here, to share and hopefully keep us from getting too complacent and not utilizing our chosen tool. The side note that I have been meaning to post since the day after I wrote this is that though I haven't lost pounds, I have lost a full size, so it isn't about just the weight. Perhaps it is time for a fill or a talk with your nutritionist to help you to get back on track... Congratulations on your recommittal and I will look for you to post your success!! This was me the first year. I was afraid to hear what might go wrong, just like many others. This is a support site for ALL banded people, not just those who don't have complications. Seeing the words can't hurt you, but ignoring signs of trouble can. Just an FYI to those who keep calling me a "basher", "full of bs as usual", "100% incorrect"...every time you call me a name, I will respond politely. I will also continue to post. I don't back down when attacked, but I refuse to attack back.

Cool idea! Especially for me bc I forget all the funny things my kids say.

I am trying for the 2nd time to get approval from bcbs illinois..for the lapband procedure. The last time, they said I needed 1 yr of documented medically supervised wt loss attemps, and more co-morbidites. I am now another yr of high blood pressure, ..I tried to do the wt loss for a yr..but failed.( ONLY DID 4 MONTHS) I got THOSE records, got a cardiologist to do tests on me, which show damage from PHEN-PHEN, got a letter from him and from my Orthopaedic surgeon, saying has I would benefit from the surgery, because of my severe arthritis and risk factors for cardiac disease, Listed everything possible I have wrong with me, weight related...and now I am waiting to hear. My question.....DOES ANYONE HAVE EXPERIENCE WITH BCBS OF ILLINOIS? HAS ANYONE BEEN APPROVED?? I ANXIOUSLY AWAIT. THANKS!!

OMG yesterday and today were awful! I told you guys yesterday that I had a new protein shake from GNC, the one that tasted like cherry cream soda- well it didn't agree with me. Actually nothing has been agreeing with me! I talked to the nurse and she said to try switching my birth control pills to nights and try to get down as much protein as I could. I told her that I just couldn't do the shakes right now.. did anyone else get sick during the pre-op diet? I was sick with a little 36 hour stomach bug 2 days prior to starting the pre-op diet and I think the illness and the protein shake just don't agree. I will not be drinking those GNC shakes again.. I HATE throwing up. Yeah, I know might need to get used to it for a while but here is the deal- I have had three kids and with each of my kids I had morning sickness that lasted all day (and night) for 8 very long months. Yes, each kid! So while I can do it, I prefer not to! Anyway, on my pre-op diet today I had a steak with steamed broccolli and lots of tea and water. No protein shake. I took my BC pill tonight. I guess we will see how it goes. I feel like something is wrong. In October (when I was going to do the lapband), I was on the shakes for a week- no problems.. I mean NO PROBLEMS! This time it is just different. It is like my stomach knows I am getting ready to get rid of it and it is trying to punish me. Did anyone else have issues like these? The nurse said to stay low fat, low carb, high protein this weekend and if I can't keep a protein shake down on Monday to call the office. I have a pre-surgery appt with the surgeon on Wednesday to go over everything. I am so nervous that with all that is going on they will postpone the surgery or worse we will go ahead but they will find that my liver has not shrunk enough to do the surgery. I am private pay- I can NOT mess this up, you know? Just hoping that with a break this weekend, maybe it will all fall back into place , my stomach will settle, and I can do so well during the next week that there are not issues with the surgery or my liver! Thanks for listening, if you have any thoughts I would love to hear them!!