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I'm in Silver Spring and will be having my bypass surgery at Sibley Memorial Hospital in February 2019. I believe they have a support group, and I would definitely like to participate. I would like to know about other DC area support groups that have worked for people. Perhaps we could organize a monthly informal meetup?

It seems like the recommendations for RNY gastric bypass and Duodenal Switch surgery patients appear to be those that my surgeon follows. Supplementation after gastric bypass should include calcium citrate 1,200–1,500 mg/d, which can be taken in 2–3 split doses, 4–5 hours apart for optimal absorption. Minimum Vitamin D intake of 3000 IU/d, titrate to >30 nl/mL. Calcium citrate is preferable to calcium carbonate due to better absorption in the absence or reduction of gastric acid. Supplementation after BPD and BPD/DS should include calcium of 1800–2400 mg/d and minimum Vitamin D 3000 IU/d, titrate to >30 nl/mL. After RNY and Duodenal Switch, there are a lot of Vitamins required daily. The calcium tablets are a major inconvenience because they taste terrible (just like eating chalk), must be spaced apart throughout the day and one has to take so many of them. As a result, I had one individual in our bariatric support group meeting say they were no longer going to take Calciums. I even cut mine back a little. But when I had my annual blood tests, they found I was on the low side and recommended that I take more Calcium. THEY GOT ME. I WAS CAUGHT. So I went back to their required dosage rates. I guess the main point is that after these types of surgery, the requirement to take supplements span for the rest of our lives - PERIOD, NO EXCEPTIONS.

I’m a teacher, had the bypass! Please wait until the summer, I know it’s hard but there’s no way I could have returned to teaching 2-3 weeks afterward. Feel free to message me if you have questions

Hi everyone. I am currently on the waiting list for gastric bypass but I'm switching to the lap band. I have no medical problem beside being obese. I feel as though getting the gastric bypass would be more for my vanity then anything else. The lap band makes me feel more comfortable like it's going to help me control my eating. And I was wanting to hear from people who have had it. What is it like? Can you feel your port? Does it hurt when they fill the port every month or how ever often they fill it??? Can your husband fill your port? How much weight are people loosing? And how fast are you loosing it? Any complications people have suffered?? I know it's quite a few questions...but I need knowledge!! I'm 22yrs old 5ft and 217lbs. BMI of 42.2 Thanks so much Ashley

I am NHS, I saw my GP in July, saw the surgeon 3 weeks later in mid August, then waited for approval from the PCT, got that at the end of November, saw the surgeon again 11 December and agreed with him that I would have the operation in March as it suits me to have it that month, though I could have had it in February! The NHS funding is for the op, and all aftercare including any counselling or dietician work as well as the fills. I feel this is an acceptable time to wait, and I know I am lucking living where I do to get this support. Now just waiting for the op!

I was sleeved July 2015 but within a few month acid reflux so bad but took till 2020 to get surgeon to run lots of test. Well I had a hernia at the top of my stomach so even swallowing saliva the acid would shoot up into my mouth. Well still thanks to covid had to fight to get surgery done plus fight insurance saying it was 2 nd wls and they refused. Now this was January 2020 but by time insurance would pay half it was covid and hospital wouldn’t allow surgery as was cosmetic. Well my fillings in teeth feel out than I lost 7 teeth and dentist wrote letter to insurance saying it was from stomach acid. So finally got mini bypass on Dec 23,2021. Been a nightmare since because I lost so many more teeth that I have dentures and I had great teeth before surgery pearly white straight from braces years ago to none on top and 4 missing on bottom. Plus 4 more hernias all in intestine and a 1” tear in my intestine landing me in hospital for 6 weeks. I can’t eat much and also afraid what I eat as those 6 weeks in hospital scared the garbage out of me. I was in a medical coma and had 2 surgery’s to fix tear. I’m afraid to do the scope to check since tear happened 3 days after the scope to see if any more hernias.

Im right there with you my friend....having my revison on the 19th. The way I look at it the band failed, no way id do the bypass so this is my only option. I guess I look at it this way, do nothing stay fat, do the revision and at least I have a better chance of losing the weight...have to at least give myself a chance. Whatever you do, good luck

hi i have been banded for 10 months now with only 18lbs loss. i have a 4cc band filled to 4cc with no restriction.i went for 10 fills over the 10 month period. sometimes when the dr. pulled back on the syringe the proper amount would be there and sometimes it wouldn't. i had an ugi in may which showed no restriction as per the radiologist. the nurse practioner said that everything look ok i need more fill. i am an x-ray tech and would often taken pictures of the band and also fluoro films too just to see if i have any restriction and nothing. i do have an appt. with the dr. on aug.5 to see what is going on with the band. i do want to maybe discuss bypass. any thoughts???????:confused2:

Thank you dear Leatha g. and Karey, I just fired-off my message to Don Mills and copied Duke WLS Center. . . I am going to do just as you both said, diet, and keep praying my very favorite Bible verse....Deut. 31:8 "...do not be discouraged." I'll keep you posted. ------------------------------------ FYI -This is what I said to Mr. Mills: My 30 month old 10cc newer Vanguard system has a TOTAL leak in the location of the band's membrane but there are no other issues like erosion or slipping. It just will no longer hold Fluid. Duke Medical Radiology and the WLS Center in Durham, NC (same group that put on my lap-band) did the contrast radiology work today. Anyway, I was told by their wonderful PA that I should seriously consider leaving it broken in place rather than removing OR replacing it because it's NOT that the Vanguard has caused band slip or erosion issues. It's just nicely sitting there empty. I am currently 29.2 BMI with 30 pounds from my goal 24BMI which is to have and maintain a normal weight = 18.5-24.9 BMI. Repeatedly at Duke WLS I have been told that statistically I am a WLS success and should give myself credit. Credit or not, I am still struggling to be at my normal weight. By example, it took over 3.5 weeks to get an office appointment after I felt the lack of restriction (happened all at once) and another three working days for radiology. . . so in that month, I regained 9.5 lbs back and now weigh 181.lbs. Ok, I now fully realize I have a problem and I am going to try VERY hard to stabilize, but I have always been very grateful for the good folks at Duke and my band and now it's just gone forever... I can't believe it? I am healthier than I have been for most of my life and this is the worst news. I am to come back to Duke WLS on November 17th to talk to my new Surgeon, who was not available today, and go from there. So here is my question. Even if there is risk of removing it because it's "major surgery" and there are now adhesions around the piece parts, why would I want to just leave it hanging around like old broken buried and abandoned underground cable? Why would Duke WLS Center not want to go ahead and replace it ASAP to continue to help me on my weight-loss journey? Is there more to the "risk" story than I currently know? Am I missing something? IS there an issue at Inamed with replacing the band or with the procedures? I know I want another Lap-band but please what do you know or think about this matter! IS IT PROBABLE that a replacement CAN BE DONE AT THE SAME TIME when the broken Vanguard is removed? Does it take a different course to remove and replace than standard lap procedures? Is this a higher-risk surgery than the first one? Please any information would be most helpful and deeply appreciate. PS: What is the Inamed Vanguard MTBF and warranty? ;o) Sincerely,

Hiya I am now seeing a UK surgion after my origional surgion vertually abandoned me (and others) But the thing is i have had to wait for appointments and funding i did offer to pay private for my much needed x ray but was not allowed as my band was NHS funded. I have coped purly by eating sloppys and feeling very ill and tired hair falling out and skin irriations i did suffer a visisous chest infection from november to feruary. I had to have a unfill in january so i could take meds for the infection but my band is still very tight. Everything is now sorted and the New surgion has fiannaly recived written agreement for funding. So should be getting a x ray any day now. I just want to know whats going on im sure all is not weel.

you can actually kill yourself. i read about a woman in the UK who has bypass and she continued to binge eat and the food began backing up into her esophagus. eventually she stretched the esophagus to the point where the excess food in there suffocated her. obviously, a very rare occurrence, but i cant imagine what that must have felt like... the inquest said it was over a period of months that she did this to herself.

I had the band removal (I was banded 2009), hiatal hernia repair and got sleeved the same day. So far so good! Easy recovery and on my 14th day. Its not the bypass but it was more than one issue taken care of. Hope this helps!

Yes!! Are you the guy sitting next to me that likes venison? I was so glad we had other bandsters there last night. Ususally it's just me. I find the group very helpful. Sometimes it is hard to watch the bypass people shrink so rapidly. My brother just had surgery 4 months ago and has dropped all his weight. I just refuse to go there...I have to use the tools I have. Keep comming back! Victoria

I had surgery in 2005, lost about 30lbs after surgery, and now am 30+ pounds at my highest weight before surgery. Last fill 2006. Never went back because I am ashamed and don't think this is working for me. I am considering converting to full gastric bypass. What should I do call and go in for a fill? Make a consult appt with my surgeon? ( I really don't want to do this) I don't care for my surgeon. I am so discussed with myself. I think I need a heads up. Please advise. Thanks. Michelle

I don't like pain. Surgery is painful, and gastric bypasses are major surgery. If I were in your shoes, I would try to find another surgeon in my area who would be willing to take on another surgeon's patient. If I couldn't find one, I'd go back to my original doctor. You might get a disapproving look. You might not. Explain that you were discouraged and afraid, but now you're ready to do what you can to make the band work for you (but this part applies only if you are really ready). I'm newly banded, but I've done a lot of reading and have learned that fills are fickle things. The first one doesn't usually give restriction to people. I was told to expect four to six fills (or more!) before mine would be where I need it to be. Maybe one fill wasn't enough for you. Don't forget that nutrition is important, too! If your surgeon didn't give you instructions on how to eat after you were banded, do research or call your surgeon's office! There's a wealth of information available in this and other forums. Find a nutritionist who specializes in bariatric surgery. Exercise!! If I did all of this and the band still wasn't helping me, I would consider other surgeries, but not before. Mainly because of the anesthesia, cutting, and recovery time :confused: Really, this is how *I* would approach it. You have to weigh your options and consider what is best for you. Lap-bands don't work for everyone; neither do bypasses. Sometimes it's because, for whatever reason, the particular method was incompatible with the patient's body. Sometimes it's because the patient cheated the system, which is possible with ANY weight loss procedure. You HAVE to follow the rules or you're not going to be successful. You HAVE to go to follow up appointments to make sure you're doing well and things are working as they should. *hugs* I understand feeling out of control and spiraling into a bad place. That's how I got to be 300 pounds. There came a time when I realized that what I was doing wasn't helping me at all. I had to pull myself up by my bootstraps (that was hard), admit to my mistakes (even harder), and decide what to do about the situation. It sucked! But I did it. And you can too. (Sorry for babbling and/or incoherency. I'm tired!)

I don't know if I have any "good advice", but I might be able to put things in perspective a little. First of all, I know you want this weight to just go away fast, but I think you are doing just fine (there's always room for improvement) and you shouldn't let this get you down. Perhaps your weightloss is slower than some, but losing slower will do a lot of good things for you: you skin won't be baggy, you will have time to develop muscle tone, you will be able to adjust to the new lifestyle instead of starving yourself/just being on another "diet", and mostly importantly those that lose slower are twice as likely to keep it off as those that lose quickly with drastic measures like starving themselves. I TELL YOU ALL THIS BECAUSE THIS IS WHAT I NEED TO TELL MYSELF WHEN I FEEL LIKE I'LL GO CRAZY. I was banded november 30th and have lost 25ish lbs and wish it would go faster, but i have to realize that slow and steady wins the race. If you really want to amp things up there's always the traditional advice of playing around with calorie counting (more or less depending) and uping the exercise, but you're smart enough to figure that out so i don't want to lecture you

Hi Kathy, I am in the Fayetteville area and have been checking into a site at Duke currently. I am in the very beginning stages of this right now...researching. I have many friends who have had bypass which I just feel is not for me at all. I am very interested as to how you traveled to Mexico and did all this. How long were you there etc. We have two doctor's here who may beging banding but I prefer not to be their trials. I have read alot on the boards here last night and see what a battle it is to get insurers to pay for this. Seems to me they would save a ton of money in the long run. Currently I have no medical problems but feel sure they are on the way. anyhow, thanks for replying and congrats on your new found life. Any side effects from the band? Lisa

I have an an appointment next month with my surgeon to discuss what we are going to do. Hopefully they will do bypass since it sounds like they won't do the sleeve with Barrett's Sent from my SM-N920T using the BariatricPal App

I am a Band to Bypass revision. My Surgeon advised against Band to Sleeve due to the increased potential for staple line issues due to the scaring caused by the band. There were others surgeons in her office that would do it, but she won't do them. I trusted her inputs and went with the bypass. And yes, logically you will lose weight at a slower pace, simply because you are already used to the restriction. Now, that's not to say it's not going to be amazing or "slow" by any means. But you have the potential to not lose as quickly. Going from no restriction and no malabsorption to both is clearly going to be more of an impact than going from some restriction and just adding malabsorption. But, either way, it's still worth it. My band was not causing issues, but it took them WAY longer to get it out than it should have because it was totally encapsulated in scar tissue. Now, revision to sleeve, you are not going to get any of the malabsorption, just a different type of restriction. From what I read when I was researching Band to Sleeve, it can be rather slow. Whatever you chose, Good Luck!

Good evening! I had band to bypass revision on May 3 and I LOVE IT!! I am so happy with my "decision". Mine wasn't so much of a decisions as it was...if you ever want to eat again you need to get the stupid band out of you. I was very successful with my band and lost 110 pounds in 9.5 months but then right around my 3 year anniversary I started having major problems. I was completely unfilled but I kept throwing up quite regularly. Any time anyone would question it, I just made one excuse after another without realizing it: The food was too tought, I ate to fast, I didn't chew enough, etc. Finally I had resorted to eating three things: Hershey's with almonds, cheese puffs, and Pasta with alfredo sauce because those were the only things that would go down with out being rejected by my band...which we soon nick-named the "anti-gravity band"...cuz what went down was inevitably coming up!!! (TMI...but any of us revisioners have been there and done that!) After craziness with my insurance company I finally had my revision done by Dr. Stowers in Decatur, TX. The recovery was very easy for me. I was back to work as a high school science teacher 6 days after surgery. The first two weeks were pretty easy because it was just liquids. Weeks 3-6ish were a little more difficult as I transitioned to soft foods and then to real foods. I was getting nauseated all the time. Every time I ate I felt like I was getting car sick. However, that has seemed to fade unless I eat too much fat. I have avoided sugar at almost all cost except for the piece of cheesecake on my birthday which sent me over the edge. Dumping for me is a lot less about running to the bathroom (though I was in there for a while) and more about my the heart pounding in my chest. From what I have read everyone's experience is a little different but for me I know when I have too much fat or sugar because my DH can put his hand just barely touching my shirt and feel my heart beating. I can feel it in my ears and it is awful. This might sound bad but I am done counting calories, grams of Protein, and everything else so I don't. I eat things that are healthy (though I am having a really hard time even wanting meat...it disgusts me right now!) and I eat small amounts but I don't fret like I did with my band. I have lost 27 pounds in just under three months. However, I was fairly close to goal and only have 13 pounds to go to get to goal so my BMI was not very high. Both my doctor and I agreed that I would take the weight off slowly because my rapid weightloss with the band caused me some medical issues. I will tell you that your tastes buds are going to change. I thought they were crazy when they said you wouldn't crave sweets, but I haven't wanted a candy bar, doughnut, or ice cream since surgery. Salt on the other hand...that is my new "transfer addiction". I can't get enough! Please let me know if you have any questions. I still feel like a newbie myself but I will do my best to answer any questions you might have. Good luck!

My doctor doesn't let his patients start on the pureed stage until Weeks 3 - 4. The amount of calories he expects us to max out at due to our restriction (mine was a bypass) roughly works out to around the same amount the Mom_of_Chaos mentioned. If your doctor gave you a post op diet to follow, I'd check to see if the calories were supposed to be limited. If it is not clear, but sure to call your doctor's office and ask. I know the first 3 to 5 weeks after surgery is a time of healing and adapting so I'd ask sooner rather than later about the number of calories you can consume, but that is just my own thought. At least you would have peace of mind based on checking. Best of luck!

I'm travelher on my fitnesspal. If you want to add me you can go back to the beginning and see what I was eating In The early days. My surgery date was oct 4. I'm assuming you are around a month out so take a look at November.

I have also been obese since childhood. I remember being on and off diets since the age of ten or eleven. I do get hungry but not in the same way as before surgery. I am not constantly thinking about what things I am going to eat and my cravings for most foods are gone. I do still occasionally crave things but the compulsion to give in and buy them is much less and easy to resist at this point. I felt bypass was right for me as I have been obese my whole life that I can remember.

Thank you! You're the only person that I've heard from that gets it! I have 3 friends that have had gastric bypass and don't understand how I could possibly not have a bit of restriction. Have you been losing the weight this time around without the restriction? I'm losing, but only because I haven't had a carb in 7 weeks! I'm worried about long term...

I WAS WONDERING IF THIS SOUNDS RIGHT---- I HAVE BEEN LOSING FLUID OUT OF MY BAND VERY SLOWLY SINCE DECEMBER ..MY DOCTOR SAID HE THINKS THAT MY PORT IS LEAKING A VERY SLOW LEAK THAT WOULD NOT SHOW UP UNDER FLUORO ( I AM AN X-RAY TECH) WHICH IS RIGHT. I NOW NEED PORT REPLACEMENT SURGERY ON 8/28. MY DOC SAID THAT HE WILL INJECT METHALINE BLUE INTO MY PORT TO CHECK WHERE THE LEAK IS IF HE DOES NOT SEE IT HE WILL STILL REPLACE THE PORT. WAIT A MONTH GIVE ME A FILL WAIT ANOTHER MONTH TO SEE IF IT IS STILL LEAKING IF SO THEN IT IS THE BAND ITSELF AND ANOTHER SURGERY IS REQUIRED. HE SAID THAT HE NEEDS TO DO IT THIS WAY BECAUSE OF INSURANCE REASONS. ALSO IF I DO HAVE TO GO IN FOR BAND REPLACEMENT THEN I CAN DECIDE IF I WANT BYPASS SURGERY INSTEAD. ANY OPINIONS......:confused2: