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my bariatric center gives you a binder with all the required info, doctors names, labs and such and we are required to take it to every appointment. Found it very nice and convenient.

I had to research vitamins myself, too! I watched a lot of YouTube videos about bariatric surgery and nutrition. Very informative stuff out there! I decided to go with Barimelts vitamins since I’m horrible at taking pills. I like the Barimelts since I can just chew them up. And they taste pretty good, too! I’ve had excellent bloodwork since my surgery so I know they help. I adjust what I need based on what my bloodwork results are. I also decided to add the chewable probiotic since I figured it couldn’t hurt.

Agreed, your team should be telling you which vitamins you will need to take. Then, adjusting based on your blood work results. I get my multivitamin from Amazon and my Calcium from Walmart. (That is all I take) But there are tons of places, just google "bariatric vitamins". I can't say I have ever seen them at my pharmacy though but never looked VERY hard or asked.

Congratulations on the weight you lost thus far during pre-op. Generally, I think that dieting will only get you so far. The bariatric surgery will take you the rest of the way. So don't be too concerned that you have stabilized or hit a stall. Just concentrate on maintaining the 42 pound weight loss that you have achieved thus far.

Now or whenever my dr let's me take them Bariatric Advantage because they have a form for your dr to fill out and fax back and will give you 3 months free and you can do it for additional 3 months free just resend form but when I finish those I think I will switch to fusion cause you take less and are cheaper my dr likes either brand and he's very picky on what you take

Hi Helena, I also went thru a 6 month supervised diet program connected with the hospital I went to and it was good to have the diet and all the tests done by the bariatric center. It was very convenient and I developed a good working relationship with the staff. The diet was kind of a formality for insurance purposes but I did lose close to 10 pounds so that was good. I don't think you have to worry about losing too much - it just shows you are serious about doing what it takes and will use the band as tool. I'm envious of you only having a 12 week diet - it took me 9 months to get all my pre-op testing done. (hectic life) I felt like I was having a baby but just like a pregnancy, the results will be totally worth the wait. The surgery was no big deal at all. Good luck to you!! Smilliegal

Hi Everyone, Happy Saturday  I'm in the process of ordering online. I'm really feeling Procare bariatric chewable one a days vitamins . Instead of advantages bariatric vit... Is there anyone with frist hand knowledge of this brand? How long should I wait before wearing compression waistband?

I'm in Alliance (30 minutes from Canton and 45-60 minutes from Akron). Going through Akron General (Cleveland clinic) bariatric center.

My surgeon sells a powder Vitamin specifically for wls patients, here's a link: http://www.barilife.com/bariatric-vitamin-products/bariatric-multi-vitamins.html Personally I find them very gritty and nasty and can't really recommend them due to that, but they do have the numbers you need. GNC sells a powdered Multivitamin for men called Mega Men that a friend of mine takes. He loves the flavor -- he does the vanilla. http://www.gnc.com/Powdered-Multivitamins/family.jsp?categoryId=4394053 You would definitely want to account for all those calories though! I used a double dose of Wellesse liquid multi-vitamin after surgery, and found it very easy to tolerate: http://www.amazon.com/Wellesse-Multivitamin-Absorbing-B-Complex-16-Fluid-Ounce/dp/B004YB429Q/ If you can tolerate a chewable, I recommend the Trader Joe's High Potency Chewable Multivitamin -- it tastes good and is much cheaper than just about anything else on the market. Plus it has a lot fewer calories and carbs than most multi's, including, ironically enough, those marketed specifically for wls patients. And by the way, I think seven months out is way too early to call your surgery a failure! Definitely you want to get back on track with your vitamins, that's important for your health, but also, if you haven't, give a scathingly honest and detailed look at what you are eating -- my dietician, surgeon, and exercise physiologist all say that if you aren't losing weight, it can 99% of the time be traced back to what you are eating, rather than supplements, exercise, hormones (yes men are subject to hormonal fluctuations, thyroid problems and so on too), etc.

Bariatric fushion is chewable and an all in one. take 1 chewable 3xs a day for the sleeve.. works great and better than taking 5 pills 2x a day Chris

I completely agree with all of the above. Buy only what you think you'll need for the first few weeks. My tastes change almost daily but there are some protein powders that I never could stand. Also, vitamins. Ughh. I can't tolerate any of the bariatric vitamins so far.

Only a hug, a pat on the back, a reminder that Bariatric surgery can stop or at least slow down the Diabetes Monster. Every blood lab I have drawn I worry mine will come back like yours. My PCP shakes his head " By all that is holy, you should be diabetic by now!" darn dude sounds disappointed, does he really want all the extra work it would ensue? Peeved him my BP is better, cholesterol lower, pulse Ox higher and better than his, I have COPD, don't smoke and I'm maybe 35 years older, and then I have the audacity to not turn diabetic, I'm losing weight like a house afire. All his Doom and Gloom was for naught, and looks like I might even outlive him! He is starting to develop a mid-age paunch, should I get in his face and read him the Riot Act.? if he doesn't know,it by now, KARMA IS A FEMALE DOG! (snicker-snicker!)

I'm on my 4th week of Optifast and I love them. They are a little pricey and only available through distributors. Check out their website OPTIFAST - weight loss, weight management, improved health, renewed energy and self esteem

I got my first appointment with the surgeon at Fairfield Bariatrics today. The secretary said that they had verified my insurance and I am covered. :tt1: My first appointment is on July 3rd 2008 and I cannot wait. I received my benefit package from Oxford Health and it said that as long as the surgeon authorizes the lap band procedure, then it is covered. It also stated that I don't need to see a psychiatrist. Everything is going really well and faster than I expected. I am a little scared but mostly I am excited. I even got more hours at work so I will have more money. I told my friends at work and they are all being so supportive. So are my kids. I am sooooo happy :cool:!!!!

Your lettter has a lot of good content. I particularly like the next to last paragraph about the insurance company itself discriminating against you. I did not have to write a letter, but I included one in my packet anyway, just for extra justification. In it I mention the family history of obesity and how it affects my life and all of my medical conditions that have resulted from being overweight. Feel free to use some of this content if you want to. I wish you good luck and good health. Here is my letter. I Xd out proper names for this post. This letter is a heartfelt request for BCBS to approve bariatric surgery to help me lose a significant amount of excess weight that has caused me many chronic health issues and has seriously affected my quality of life. My adult life started at 108 pounds at graduation, at a time when I was both anorexic and anemic. The reason for that was deliberate. I did not want to be morbidly obese like the rest of my family, many of whom weighed over 300 pounds. My oldest brother died of a heart attack at the age of 47 – at a weight of 420 pounds. My mother died at the age of 67 because of an abdominal aortic aneurism. She was 5’2” and weighed 320 pounds. My father survived two heart attacks and eventually died from a stroke. Two of my sisters have been large from childhood and currently weigh over 300 pounds as do many of my cousins. Since my late 20’s I began having problems controlling my weight and I consequently yo-yo dieted for three decades. Boy-oh-boy, I feel like I tried everything that came along, from South Beach, Sugar Busters, food Combining, Weight Watchers, Richard Simmons, even the Dolly Parton Diet, among many others. Remarkably, I did have 50 pounds of success with the Atkins Diet twice, and gained it all back much quicker than I lost it. For about 15 years I have been taking medication for chronic high blood pressure while working physically demanding jobs. On 9/11/2010, I suffered a Cardio Vascular Accident. Due to outstanding care at Xxxxxx Xxxxxxxx Hospital in Xxx Xxxx, Illinois (where I met Dr. Xxxxxxx Xxxxxxx and changed to his medical practice), damage was minimized. The most significant lasting effect was loss of balance and altered proprioception. This has rendered me to be a moderate fall risk and forced me into an early retirement from federal service. I am unable to leave my home unassisted and can no longer drive because even though I can see, people and curbs and cars are not where I think they are. In 2007 my right knee had to be replaced. At that time, my weight was around 180 pounds. I gained even more weight during recovery and eventually had to have a partial replacement of my left knee on 11/7/2012. Osteoarthritis is another issue that has hijacked my health. My vertebrae have degenerative disc disease and my body is failing to support my current weight which fluctuates from 220-235. On 2/14/2013 I had a three level ACDF. I also am being treated by the Xxxxxx Xxxxxxxx Pain Clinic for thoracic radiculopathy, sciatica in my left leg, and femoral nerve impingement in my right leg (which is exaserbated by my overhanging 53” belly). In order to get around, I must use a cane, my walker, or someone to assist me because I cannot stand for more than a couple of minutes without high levels of pain in my back, sides, hips and legs. Also, this belly has affected my posture so much that standing up straight, although it can be done, is painful in its self. Turning over in bed is painful because my weight is difficult to maneuver with this pendulous belly. The skin under the overlap gets red and irritated, so I am using medicated powder per doctor’s orders. At the time of the CVA, I was diagnosed with pre-diabetes, another condition than not surprisingly runs in the family. I am still taking meds for this condition to prevent transfer to full-on diabetes. My cholesterol is chronically high, so I am taking Lipitor for that. Due to chronic digestive troubles and reflux, my primary care physician, Xxxxxxx Xxxxxxx, ordered an EGD on 2/22/2012. The findings then were: Irregular GE junction, Hiatal hernia, Acute gastritis, and Reflux esophagitis. The attending physician, Xxxxx Xxxxx, prescribed Omeprazole to relieve the reflux. Since the stroke, Dr. Xxxxxxx has had me on a 1200 calorie USDA Pyramid diet (allowing for a Mediterranean chef in the house). Dr. Xxxxx asked me to follow a 1000 calorie diet with adjustments for preventing reflux (i.e. no soda, citrus juices, caffeine, fried foods, etc . In spite of my best efforts at diet and exercise, my weight continues to rise. I am in pain every day, and my home has become my prison. I am taking Bupropion to battle depression and anxiety as I tend to have much worry about becoming a wheelchair-bound invalid. My weight issues have not been resolved even under my doctors’ care and concern, and I fear that I am becoming my mother and facing a premature death like hers. Surgical intervention will certainly produce positive outcomes for me. I am not big-boned, but a naturally petite person who is carrying another person around her waist. I will follow my doctors’ orders and be the best patient ever. Your consideration is appreciated and I look forward to being a much healthier me in the future. Thank you so much - you are saving my life.

I use a one a day chewable for bariatric patients. It's Procare Health. It's chewable and not awful, but you can also swallow it and receive all the benefits. In addition I take b2 and calcium (1200-1500 a day, spread out). I hated all the chewable calcium I tried, I finally went with a "petite" kind from Wal Greens.

Ok, Here's more for an additional appeal. In 1991 the NIH put out a consensus about the surgical treatment of obesity. They did not mention a supervised diet as part of the criteria for patient selection. The article is here: http://consensus.nih...sity084html.htm Those patients judged by experienced clinicians to have a low probability of success with nonsurgical measures, as demonstrated for example by failures in established weight control programs or reluctance by the patient to enter such a program, may be considered for surgery. Another statement came out in 2004 from the American Society of Bariatric Surgeons. http://www.asbs.org/...e_Statement.pdf "Bariatric surgery candidates should have attempted to lose weight by nonoperative means, including self-directed dieting, nutritional counseling, and commercial and hospital-based weight loss programs, but should not be required to have completed formal nonoperative obesity therapy as a precondition for the operation. So, you have done as much or more than what the National Institutes of Health and the American Society of Bariatric Surgeons say should be the standard diet attempts for patient selection. Find out what the next level of appeal/review is in your state. Your policy should have it written within. FIGHT for yourself. They want you to give up.

Sades, It's not as easy to get a second opinion for bariatric. Once you are someone else's patient and have had the surgery, other Docs aren't really interested in the problems you might have that are caused by another Dr. I am going to get a copy of my x-ray though and if I am not happy with the answers I get on Thurs. I will decide from there on how to proceed. You were lucky your Dr. was honest with you. Mine MIGHT be telling me the truth but until I can alleviate any doubts, I need to keep asking questions until I understand this whole mess. Sounds like you're doing fairly well, all things considered. I'm glad you're not having a terrible time of it and hope once my turn comes, it's easier the second time around. Thanks for checking in with me. Judy

All of those foods sound like they'll be fine if they're permitted on your plan. The only thing I would add is that when you are trying new foods, try a small bite, chew it well, and then wait for a few minutes to try another so you can clearly see how your new sleeve will accept it. Also, as far as the wendy's chili is concerned, I'm not sure how it is. I would probably elect to make my own instead. You can control what goes in it, make healthier Protein choices (my hunch is that they don't use the leanest beef), and get something that will most likely taste just as good, if not better....and you'll have plenty left over! There are several recipes out there for "Wendy's style" chili that have been adapted for bariatric patients. Also, look for the ricotta bake if you like italian food. It was a lifesaver for me during the soft food phase. Congrats on your success so far! Keep it up! Best of luck!

"THOU SHALT NOT?" Somewhere in the dark mists of my distance past, the term “reverse psychology” entered my awareness, especially as applied to child-rearing. The idea was that if you told your child “Please slam the door when you leave the house,” the defiant devil in that child would shut the door quietly in opposition to your instruction. I don’t have human children and never observed reverse psychology work magic in my childhood home. No matter how firmly you told my brother not to brush his teeth, his teeth went unbrushed. Telling him to jump on the bed would trigger a marathon jumping session (causing the box spring to violently part company with the bed frame) instead of a peaceful bedtime story. And I was no angel – I rewarded my mom’s laissez-faire attitude towards teen dating by involving myself with the worst losers I could find. Despite all that, I know there’s a kernel of truth in the concept of reverse psychology. If you told me I must never, ever eat chocolate again, I’d get started on a chocolate binge before you even finished your sentence. And if you told me, “Thou shalt not even think about potato chips,” my every waking and dreaming moment would be filled with potato chips. Unfortunately, this principle doesn’t work in both directions, at least not for me. If you told me, “You must eat nothing but ice cream this week,” I’d be happy to comply. I’d grab my car keys and ice cream scoop and race to the frozen foods section of the nearest supermarket (after a quick stop at Baskin Robbins). Author and eating disorder expert Geneen Roth tells a story about a mother who worried about her daughter’s weight. Even when the mom locked sweets up in a cabinet, the daughter managed to smuggle sweets into the house and hide in her bedroom to gorge on them. When the mom took Roth’s advice to give the child free access to sweets, the girl tired of them and began to make healthier food choices within a few days. This was a clear case of what I call Forbidden Food Syndrome, in which forced abstinence increases the person’s desire for the “bad” food. I don’t doubt that Roth’s advice in that case was sound, but in my personal experience, food rules aren’t the only cause of secretive food hoarding and gorging. My mom’s food rules had more to do with good manners than with nutrition. I had to take at least one bite of each food on my plate, chew with my mouth shut, ask for permission to leave the table, and dirty no dishes after supper. Other than that, I could eat whatever I wanted, in any quantity. Even with that much freedom, I would hoard and binge on sweets, alone in my room, at every opportunity. I wasn’t eating out of defiance, but neither was I eating for “good” or healthy reasons. Even at age nine, I was eating for emotional reasons – comfort, numbing, entertainment, you name it. As an adult, I have a better handle on my emotional eating than I did at age nine. I’m well aware of the food-obsessed Jeannie who will run without hesitation right into rush-hour traffic if a brownie might be waiting for me on the other side of the road. I know intimately the defiant Jeannie who insists on eating a piece of garlic bread even though she knows that the third or fourth bite could easily get stuck in her esophagus or stoma and cause a lot of discomfort. I have to monitor myself every day in order to maintain the delicate balance between choosing not to eat a piece of birthday cake because eating it doesn’t serve my weight management goals and choosing to go ahead and eat the entire cake simply because I know it doesn’t serve my weight management goals. Sometimes I feel like a freak because I have to deal with issues like this. I watch “normal” people making carefree eating choices and enjoying complete eating freedom with no awful consequences (or at least, that’s the way it looks to me), and deep down inside, I hate those normal people. They’re not yoked to this heavy burden of disordered eating like I am. It’s just not fair. But I’m gradually relaxing about my eating issues enough to be able to listen better and to hear more messages from my normal friends and acquaintances, and to realize that they too struggle with things like Forbidden Food Syndrome from time to time. I have a disgustingly healthy co-worker who told me once that she can’t eat chocolate because it gives her bad migraine headaches. She avoids chocolate, but she confessed that she wants it all the more because she can’t have it, and when she tells herself it’s OK to eat one small piece, she finds that she can’t stop – she eats three, five, seven pieces even though she knows she’ll pay for it sooner or later. She doesn’t pay with obesity, she pays with pain. She doesn’t know the pain of obesity as I do, but she and I struggled with the same basic problem. Little does she know how valuable her chocolate story is to me. It reminds me that I’m really not a freak – I just have a more intense and widespread eating problem than hers. It’s a matter of degrees. She’s five degrees off-center while I’m 45 degrees off. Neither of us is perfect. We both have to work at making good choices – not just in our eating behavior, but in every piece of behavior that could have good or bad consequences for us or for our family and friends. To my mind, this is just part of human existence, part of the responsibility that adult humans bear for maintaining a civilized and (we hope) peaceful co-existence with each other and ourselves. All this may be too philosophical for you, but I’m telling you about it because thinking about my eating problems this way has helped to put them in perspective, and putting them in perspective makes them a lot more manageable. Perspective is the art of seeing things in correct relationship to each other. As I wrote in Bandwagon, without perspective, my computer’s monitor looks ten times bigger than my neighbor’s barn across the road. In fact, my computer monitor is tiny compared to that barn. Without perspective, my weight management challenges seem enormous. I lost all that weight in just one year, but my maintenance job goes on forever. But consider the alternative. I could go back to obesity. I could have a stroke and become a human vegetable, reliant on others for everything from speech to toileting. I could lose my limbs to diabetes, reliant then on others for everything from tooth-brushing to transportation. I could suffer cardiac arrest and die at age 60. Or I can work at maintaining my weight and my health, with a huge payoff of mobility, independence, and longevity. So…back to Forbidden Food Syndrome. Although I’ve said that reverse psychology doesn’t always work with me, I must also say that one of the reasons I chose the band was that living with it would allow me to choose from a wide variety of foods I like. My nutritionist told me I might have problems eating certain foods, like celery or pasta, and I was willing to take the chance because life without celery or pasta still looked pretty good to me. But when my surgeon, speaking at the bariatric surgery informational seminar I attended, said that gastric bypass patients need to avoid all foods that are high in sugar, fat, or simple carbs because of the possibility of dumping, I mentally walked into a barbed wire fence and backed right off. At the time, I had one gastric bypass friend who didn’t dump, but the bypass patient who spoke at the seminar reported that he does dump, and when he described a typical day’s eating, I thought, “That’s not for me.” That guy was justifiably proud of his weight loss and didn’t mind a limited list of food choices, but I knew that limited food choices would send me running straight for the junk food if only out of sheer boredom. The night of that seminar, I hadn’t eaten a chocolate chip cookie for several months, but just the idea of giving up cookies forever made me want to stop at a bakery on the way home. I chose the adjustable gastric band, and the breadth and flexibility of my “OK Foods” list is one of the things that makes my post-op life enjoyable. I do overeat from time to time, but not because of Forbidden Food Syndrome. Taking foods off the Forbidden list has robbed them of some of their power over me. As a pre-op, I would attend a co-worker’s birthday party and eat two pieces of cake (Forbidden) because I’d been avoiding cake and missing it so much. As a post-op, I recently walked through the break room at work and saw a birthday cake on the table. I briefly wondered what flavor it was (impossible to tell from the decorative frosting, whose neon colors can’t be found in nature) and told myself I could try a little piece of it later, on my official break. Lo and behold, come break time I was quite hungry and not in the mood for cake. I wanted my chicken salad, and when I was done with that, I had no room for cake, so I went back to work without another thought about birthday cake. Now, that’s freedom!

Does any live in Mass. and have Medicare. I was wondering what the requirements were. I called the insurance company and they didn't seem to know anything. I think I have a 6 month medically supervised diet program to complete. Has anyone done that and what is it that you had to do for that. Has anyone been really close to the 40 BMI with no comorbidities since all mine are just borderline. My BMI is now a 41.5 but worried if I loose to much then I won't qualify for the surgery. If I qualify then I will be going to Burlington Mass. but doing my pre surgery appointments in the Danvers/Beverly hospital. Of anyone out there has used them for bariatric surgery or is going to use them I would love to hear from you. My niece went through them and did fine.

@@AvaFern thanks. now I am wondering who was your bariatric surgeon? I had Uchal from St.Vincent's and had surgery at Southside.

Yes there are nutritionists who specialize in bariatrics. Your doctors office would be a great place to ask for recommendations.

I contacted an insurance broker in my area that delt with medical policies and he gathered all the information for the top 4 companies in my area. I asked for desriptions of the policies and what was and was not covered. I did have to pick a top tier policy (a Platinum policy) and I pay out of pocket every month but I don't pay for my group policy at work so it did even out for the most part. I chose BCBS and the plan I chose covers the sx if I met the guidlines and I did .... I completed the requirments and now I ma scheduled. I do have a $1000 bariatric surgical fee but I can live with that ...... hope this helps ...

Has anyone read "The Emotional First Aid Kit a practical guide to life after Bariatric Surgery "? I am reading it now and it has some really good info about pre and post op emotions.