Search the Community

You're welcome! I had gastric banding in June 2009, and had it removed last year June. I realized that I wanted to get another WLS in May 2022. So, I called Aetna to see what my out of pocket expense would be. When I had my band removed last year, my total out of pocket cost was $50. I'm not sure the final cost for this surgery, as it will be based on the # of days I will stay at the hospital. I want to get the gastric sleeve, but not sure. My surgeon may recommend gastric bypass, due to the issues I had with the band. I still have concerns about that---I don't know how I feel about rerouting! I chose the same surgeon who did my gastric banding. I set up the appointment in May and I've been completing all of the necessary clearances and pre-op items.

Welcome!!!! I had the sleeve in 2018 and now getting a revision to a Bypass at the end of August. Personally I wish I got the Bypass in the very beginning. I have severe GERD and a twist mid stomach of my sleeve. I started the revision process March of 2021 and now getting the surgery. It was a long process because they have a program for revision patients called "Back on Track" and it requires 12 weeks of dietitian visits.

I have Aetna Choice POS II and it paid for everything connected to my bypass three years ago (aside from my annual deductible). They did require six months of a structured weight loss program. I had finished one six months earlier (a last-ditch effort to lose weight), and they counted it even though it wasn't right before surgery. I would also note that Aetna turned me down the first time and my surgeon had to call them directly before they finally approved me. Good luck. It's worth it, no matter how long it takes to get approved!

congratulations! yes the hunger will go away. Are you having the sleeve or bypass? I had the bypass on November, and my hunger shut down for 2 weeks. Now i feel "hungry" but not like before, and a protein shake shuts it down. Its all mental and it is easy as you progress, good luck!!! Sent from my SM-G973U using BariatricPal mobile app

I use a third party insurance company that I know doesn’t cover it. I was thinking to research and then during enrollment period (November) switching to that certain plan & going from there… theoretically it seems like that could work but I’m not sure I guess.

I am getting a revision from Sleeve to Bypass at Mayo Clinic.

I had a very long timeline. LOL. I started orientation in January 2020, started a 10 week class March 2020 (which got cancelled) Classes resumed July 2020 (online). Finished my classes in August 2020 but had to wait because my A1C levels were still too high with a retest in January 2021. Again levels too high, August 2021 my levels were good so I was referred to the surgeon. Had orientation with the Bariatric clinic in October 2021 and met with surgeon November 2021. Appointment with Internal medicine was December 2021 and meeting with Psychologist January 2022. It took a couple of weeks for them to schedule me due to having to take care of patients who got their surgery cancelled and needed rescheduled. I got my surgery date late February 2022 for surgery April 2022.

I am scheduled August 29th for a revision from sleeve to bypass! I start the clear liquid diet August 15th and I am beyond nervous for that! My sleeve back in 2018 required no strict diet other than drinking magnesium citrate the night before. August is such a busy year for us as well! Birthdays and the big MInnesote State Fair. I am a faithful state fair goer...and it always runs from August 25th until Labor Day. I am contemplating on going just for the walk and to keep myself busy but the smell of food will definitely torture me! I've been reading a couple of member's liquid diets and it is far more flexible than mine. Sample menu is 4 protein shakes daily, 32 oz of Liquid IV, and 16 oz of regular orange juice. That is required for a daily meal. Then between is water, broth, sugar free jello and popsicles. I can have decaf coffee and tea as well as sugar free drinks but a lot of sugar free drinks still has 5 calories.

It is a not uncommon result of rapid weight loss (not just from surgery, but that is the most common means of accomplishing rapid weight loss,) maybe 10% have that problem, give or take? My surgeon routinely removes it when doing the DS as he doesn't want some other surgeon going in there and getting lost in the altered anatomy (which is weird for them, not so much for the bypass folks.) With the sleeve, he leaves it alone unless he feels stones in there when he is doing the surgery. So, I still have mine, but my wife, with her DS, doesn't, and we haven't noticed any great difference beyond what the WLS is already doing (there's always changes when you alter the body's default condition.)

My insurance covered nothing. Also I work in the school system so once the decision was made I was anxious to get my surgery done as close to the beginning of summer as possible so I would have the summer to heal and miss as little work as possible. I am taking on a new position in the 2022-2023 School Year and was told that frequent absences would not be good. I'm leaving a situation where I was part of a team and easily covered, to a position where I am alone and have to have a substitute. I saw my surgeon for the first time on April 29, 2022. He explained the sleeve and the bypass and ask if I had a preference. I had done some research of my own and wanted the gastric bypass RNY. He agreed that was the best choice for my case with my co-morbidities. I was given the tests that I would need to take but he used a lot of my existing tests because I was self pay and I already had a Psychologist that was ready and willing to write a letter, so I didn't have to wait for that. I went back May 27th with all my clearances and tests done and he made it my pre-opp appointment, knowing I was anxious to get it done soon. We scheduled my surgery for June 7,2022. I went in on June 7, 2022 and had a routine surgery with no hiccups. I was released from the hospital June 9, 2022. Follow- up with my surgeons PA (Just as awesome) was a week later and I saw the dietician then to. I talked to the dietician 5 weeks after that and she checked to see how I was progressing into soft food. I will get to start slowly adding solid food on August 4th but I will hold off until the weekend in case it doesn't go well. My next appointment with the PA and the dietician is in the office on September 15. I was able to return to light duty on July 11th. No heavy lifting but lots of walking (4000-7000 steps a day). I actually ran a couple times and didn't die!!! I hope this helped😊

It's common for the Gall Bladder to go sour post-op, I'm not sure they know why. It often resulted in a second surgery removing the GB. My surgeon made it a practice just simply to remove it with Gastric Bypass. Knowing this I had a long talk with my surgeon that I didn't want my GB removed just because. I got him to promise that he would not remove it unless it definitely deserved to be 86'ed. As it turned out, he removed it because he said it was necessary. Knowing me, he had ready pictures of good GBs and my GB, and the reports on my GB. He had me dead to rights. I can't say I've noticed that it is missing. :shrug: Good Luck, Tek

I have CareFirst! Needed 6 months of medically supervised weight loss (I didn't lose weight, though) and I had to produce medical records from the last 5 years showing that I'd been very overweight for a while. Here's what I remember it looking like: October - initial consultation, determined I would not need a sleep study which I think is unusual November - dietician visit 1 December - dietician visit 2, endoscopy January - dietician visit 3, psychological evaluation February - dietician visit 4 March - dietician visit 5, mandatory life after surgery virtual classes Mid-April - dietician visit 6 -- submitted to insurance -- was approved in about 72 hours Late April - final check up before surgery to get sign off, got May 20 date Early May - pre-op appointment May 20 - surgery

Although I did not have a sleeve or bypass, I sort of had a combination. I had a SADI-S, which is a sleeved stomach with bypassed intestines. It's a single anasthamosis duodenal switch. I had not heard of the procedure when I met my surgeon. I had planned on getting bypass, but he suggested this because I was paying out of pocket, and at the time insurance didn't cover it, and I had over 200 pounds to lose and he calls this 'the most powerful operation. " I decided to go for it and I'm very glad I did. No regrets whatsoever! My husband just had the same surgery in May and he's lost about 100 so far. (jerk lol). Now we have insurance that covers it. Our insurance didn't cover any wls at the time though The surgery was still fairly new when I had it, so most insurance didn't cover it anyway, but my husband's was covered. Sent from my Pixel 5a using BariatricPal mobile app

July 12, had Lapband out, gastric bypass done. On week 1 1/2 post op. Still in the liquid diet phase. One thing I didn’t know it the awful changes with body odor. It is hideous.

All my paperwork was submitted today to my insurance company to get the prior authorization needed for my surgery. I talked to my insurance company yesterday to make sure the bypass was a covered benefit and (thank you Jesus) it is. Because I’m having a revision from VSG to RNY a lot of my requirements had already been met. I had the VSG 18 months ago so I’ve kept up with all my post op appointments with the dietitian since then. My psych evaluation can be used from the VSG surgery for the RNY. I just had my endoscopy this past Tuesday. The only thing left is the prior authorization and I feel pretty confident I’ll be approved based on my medical diagnoses (GERD, hiatal hernia, sleep apnea…) I start my liquid diet on Monday. Only two weeks to go!!!😬

My date is also August 16, for a gastric bypass. I will also have my hernia repaired at that time. I don't envy you having to go back to school so quickly, hopefully you'll have no effects and will have your energy up.

I Was hoping I would bypass all of that... Sent from my SM-G991U using BariatricPal mobile app

They've been pulled from the market in a few countries, they can get "stuck" or move around, and like the lap band the procedure is not permanent and will result in a higher rate of regain than a permanent procedure like the sleeve or bypass. Read here, it's been linked to 18 deaths: https://www.medtechdive.com/news/fda-18-deaths-linked-to-apollo-endosurgery-intragastric-balloon-weight-loss-treatment/576874/ It's a new device and I would be wary of it. There are already a lot of red flags that it is ineffective and potentially dangerous.

Re: seeing someone, I have a therapist I see regularly (even before the decision for surgery) - and he’s been very helpful. How did your info meeting go? Met with my surgeon yesterday and have a surgery date for next month. I was surprised when she recommended sleeve for me (I was sure she was going to say bypass) - but we talked through all the pro’s and con’s and settled on the sleeve. Hope all is going well.

So it seems like my weight is stalling since a few years out from post OP (got gastric bypass in 2018), I was having issues with swelling and inflammation mainly in the lower half of my body and some of my upper arms, only to get an appointment with a lipedema specialist to find out if I have lipedema. Long story short, I have stage 3 lipedema. So the doctor (Dr.Amron) told me that lipedema is hard to treat, it's a misunderstood condition and not all of the treatments are covered. So I will probably have to pay out of pocket even though my compression garments and compression pump might be covered by insurance. I'm glad I got to the bottom of it, I've been suffering since I was 13 with this problem. I'm glad it's getting close to getting taken care. I have a question though, anybody else that has had lipedema treatment did it help and how did it benefit you?

Aug 16th is when my VSG is scheduled. I was preparing myself for bypass … but my surgeon actually suggested VSG after we talked and said if we need to go further, a revision to DS (since I’m a high BMI) is her suggestion. But she’s optimistic that I will be able to meet my health goals and do well with VSG - so now the countdown begins. She will do a hernia repair and also check out my liver while she’s in there - and biopsy if needed. Not looking forward to the 8 day liquid diet… or blood thinner injections - but I am looking forward to all the benefits to come. I’m 48… slightly concerned my thyroid will be a challenge with loosing, but I have managed to loose 50 pounds in the past year (15 of that the last 3 weeks) so I think I have a good momentum going into this. Looking forward to seeing everyone’s progress!

When I was going through this early post op phase, there was a group on one of these forums from a particular surgeon who did very well with combining the sleeve with extreme dieting, and he got overall very good results with even very high BMI patients (lost track as they all disappeared, so have no idea how they are doing now, however!) There was one guy on there who was very similar to my stats who was following this program and got to his goal weight at a bit over four months. Wow, but so what? I was working on slowing things down at six months to ease into maintenance, and wasn't doing any of that extreme dieting. I wonder now how well that guy is doing - did he learn how to maintain his weight over the long term, or was he one of those who "gained it all back"? It really isn't a matter of whether you can do better, or lose faster, but can you meet your goals, and maintain yourself in the long term? This is a marathon, not a sprint. so what happens to you over the next 5, 10 and 20 years is a lot more important than how you lose over the first 4, 6 or 12 months.vsg Overall, the bypass has very similar performance to the VSG in overall weight loss and rate, so there isn't much to choose there - one might lose a bit quicker with the bypass owing to its' malabsorptive component, but that dissipates after a year or two and you are metabolically in the same basic place that you would be with a sleeve, but you still have the added nutritional deficiencies to make up for. Have there been some challenges in maintaining my weight over time? Yes, much the same as there would have been had I gotten a bypass (my second choice was the DS, which does make weight maintenance easier as it is metabolically a stronger procedure, but I felt that it would have been overkill for my needs then, and still do.) We see just as many come through here who struggle with being "slow losers" or "gained it all back" with the VSG as with the RNY. With the VSG, I do have a bit of GERD, which is easily controlled with low level OTC meds (some are not so lucky, others are more so and have no problems.) OTH, I do not miss having any of the comparable RNY potential side effects - dumping, reactive hypoglycemia, marginal ulcers, bile reflux (pretty rare these days with how they structure RNYs) low iron requiring periodic iron infusions, osteoporosis (already have a family tendency towards that, so don't need more risk added,) or the other limitations in medication and medical treatment options as I get (even) older that come along with a bypass. These are not insurmountable problems if one needs to go with a bypass owing to preexisting conditions, but are things that I don't think are worth risking for whatever very small difference there might be in weight loss performance. I don't miss that at all. YMMV

I'm not sure if I have bumping syndrome or not but am to scared to really find out but I don't limit what I eat just how much and what kind. I was told 9 grams of sugar per meal. I think if you take everything you like you won't be as successful at least I wouldn't. I eat bread just not a lot I eat pizza just not a lot I eat ice cream just eat the bryers carb smart. I made cake and cookies with monk fruit sugar instead. I found sugar free cookies. And I think I'm doing good it's been 8 months since my bypass surgery and I'm down a 116lb and have 14 left to go. Sent from my SM-A716U using BariatricPal mobile app

Does anyone have any input for me regarding the cost for gastric bypass surgery at the OCC in Tijuana? I’ve been thinking about weight loss surgery off and on for a couple of years now, and more recently have been considering OCC.

I went through the same thing a few months ago due to a hiatal hernia that had become almost strangulated. The 'reason' for my surgery was hernia repair, and that is what the insurance company approved. As my surgeon said, "we went in to fix the hernia and a bypass just happened".