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I knew when I was starting to feel unhealthy after being so sedentary during the pandemic and I wasn't even enjoying my food anymore, just shoveling it in. I had developed asthma and GERD in a short period of time and had gained back the last of the 100 lbs that I lost 6 years ago. I had considered bariatric surgery a few times, but I was always too scared. Now I'm too scared of being unable to keep up with the activities I enjoy (travel and hiking) to not have surgery. But I'm still scared of surgery!

I knew when I realized that my weight was standing in the way of me doing things I wanted to do in a meaningful way. Also...I checked my insurance and found they had started covering bariatric surgery.

The one I use I purchase from Bariatric Advantage. It’s called Nectar Medical Unflavored. It has 10g of protein per scoop and it easily goes into everything without leaving an aftertaste. I use it in grits, soup and drinks.

I know someone from another bariatric group who takes RA drugs and has lost a lot of weight. She has been put on steroids now and has stalled, but not everyone with RA has to go on steroids too. There are lots of monoclonal antibody drugs. Are you not taking one of those? Are you seeing a rheumatologist? Or was this your PCP?

It could be a number of things, most common this far out would be a hiatal hernia that could cause these problems. Is your protonix once a day, or split into two doses, morning and evening? If it is consistent with the labelling, try taking it in the evening, as that is where your biggest problem seems to be, or splitting it morning and evening (if it is two 40mg pills.) Short term to help with the overnight problem, try elevating the head of your bed 3-6", or elevate your head and torso with a wedge pillow, or sleep in a recliner if you have one - anything to get your upper body (not just your head) angled down toward your stomach. Avoid eating anything 2-3 hours before bedtime. These are classic DIY reflux mitigations that the gastro will probably also suggest. You can consider going to the ER and hopefully they can get some of the tests done necessary to diagnose your problem (likely an endoscopy and/or barium swallow imaging. The may also just send you home with a larger dose of protonix or maybe a switch to dexilant and possibly carafate. An urgent care clinic may be able to help, particularly if you have one affiliated with your hospital - they may be able to short cut getting the tests done that you can then take to the bariatric surgeon (who would likely order the tests anyway. Many hospitals run these clinics for just this purpose - not really an emergency, but too urgent to wait a week or two for an appointment. This may save you a couple of weeks. Don't worry about insurance coverage as if a revision is needed, it would not be considered a second WLS (which some insurance limits) but as corrective surgery for you complication. Good luck in getting some resolution soon (er, rather than later)

Yes, I am flying home today (day 5 after surgery). I booked a bunch of extra days (my bariatric team recommended just 2 nights after surgery) because I was scared of flying while unwell. But honestly I could have comfortably flown on day 3 or even 2. Right after surgery and on the first day after surgery I was freaking out about how terrible I felt and I couldn't imagine I would recover well enough to travel within a week, but it really does improve exponentially everyday. Having said that, I had a pretty textbook surgery, no complications, and water + babyfood was going down without issue for me on the very next day after surgery. My biggest struggle was the gas pain and shoulder pain (from the gas) and overwhelming tiredness. It is good to let your surgeon know you are traveling so soon so they could provide you with compression stockings, anticoagulant injections, or stronger pain killers just in case.

So sorry to hear about the pain and suffering you are going through. I know that your GI appointment is a month away, but if the GI doc is any good, s/he may be able to diagnose your problem and help you. I have chronic nausea and gastric cramping. I visited my bariatric surgeon, PCP, and a GI doc. They all ran tests but the GI doc did the most thorough job. Both he and the PCP suggested prescription meds for me which have helped ameliorate but not resolve my condition. If you can, ask to be placed on your GI doc's cancellation list so you might get seen sooner. And you can call the office every once in awhile to ask if any appointments have opened up. Best wishes to you.

I had my sleeve 8 years ago and have been battling severe GERD for two years and serious weight gain since my hysterectomy just last December. Now, I am miserable and weak. 10-20 tums a day, unable to properly take my medications because I throw them up. Cannot eat because I throw it all up too. Just ordered some syntax iced tea and protein soups. I’m taking 80mg protonix daily and wake up choking on my bile bile at night. My PCP dismissed me. Saw her PA and at no time did she even look down my throat. Got a referral to a GI and they called to have a consult in a month! A consult! Only! Called my old bariatric surgeon and he’s not in my insurance network and I can’t afford him. Called one in town and have an appointment on the 9th. But if it requires a revision, I don’t know if it’s covered on my insurance. I’m losing hope. I feel like everyone else has since I’ve been dismissed at every turn. My brain is fuzzy, my eyes are sunken. Work is hard. I pretend I’m fine and eat at company meetings then go quietly to the bathroom to throw everything up. I’m miserable. I need an answer but no medical professionals seem to be in a hurry.

Like ShannonLea101 I have also been lurking. This is one of my biggest fears with getting the sleeve. I currently have a lap band, and over time I am becoming increasingly dissatisfied with it. I want to make the transition to the sleeve. The surgery center called my insurance, and my previous employer had elected not to cover any bariatric procedures. My new job starts on the first and I'm very hopeful. There should be a law that companies have to disclose anything that they have chosen to exempt before someone takes the job. I do have some concerns about the sleeve. The appeal to the band was that it was reversible. I'm afraid I'm going to be miserable, or that I will miss eating. Frequently with the band, I will have to stop eating due to restriction, but I'm still hungry. Not head hunger, but real hunger. Or, I won't be able to eat much and an hour later my stomach starts growling. Am I going to be hungry? Am I still going to want to eat before I go to bed? If I know in advance, I can mentally prepare. I had such high hopes for the band.

I had RNY, but my liver enzymes were elevated the first year or so. My PCP said thought it was probably fatty liver, but then I read online (some reliable medical site) that elevated liver enzymes were not uncommon after WLS because the rapid weight loss can be really hard on livers. I had them re-tested later, and they were normal - so I think that's what was going on. Not sure why this possibility didn't occur to my PCP, but maybe she doesn't see many bariatric patients. I'm not saying this the cause of yours, but I think it was in my case. In any case, mine are normal now. EDITED to add I just re-read your post and you said your liver was enlarged. So your enzyme levels may be due to something else. I don't know if my liver was enlarged since that was never checked - but my enzyme levels were definitely high.

Hello. It’s been a while since I posted here but I have been busy figuring out how to get past a months long stall and some sugar addiction. First, I found out that I have lipedema which is a connective tissue disorder. It’s an abnormal collection of fat that is no longer in it’s original spongy condition. It is literally scar tissue and adhesions under the skin that do not let go of fat easily. I have huge amounts of it on the lower body and some on my arms. The change that worked for me was specific exercises using a vibration plate on the fat deposits and other mechanisms that can be found on the internet. Second, I ended up switching to healthy keto and that made a great difference in the movement of the scale. I’m down a few pounds now and I no longer have the sugar cravings. I also have gotten better about setting limits on other people monopolizing my time. I’m prioritizing myself and it is really starting to show. I’d be happy to share more if anyone is interested in the connection between stalled weight loss after Bariatric surgery and the condition known as lipedema. It’s not a broadly known condition but it is starting to get attention. I can share some of the resources that I have used in the past few months. To learn more, start here: https://lipedemaproject.org

I also had mine the 27th! And have struggled with small panic attacks the night before and morning of surgery as well as immediately after when I realized oh my God what have I done, I just had my completely normal healthy stomach removed... And I have had feelings of regret often, especially when waking up in pain. But my bariatric team prepared me for these feelings and said it is to be expected and very normal to feel that way. They had me write a list of all the things I look forward to, my goals, and why I am doing this operation in the first place. Consulting that list when I feel bad really really helps and snaps me out of that dark place! So maybe you can share with us what are the top 3 things you look forward to most? Mine are: 1. to be able to hike and run and kayak and do all the outdoorsy things I have been or felt too fat to do 2. to buy clothes I actually like, not just what fits or is "slimming" 3. to be healthy for my loved ones

I would just keep asking questions, and keep doing your own research on here and by watching YouTube (I recommend Dr. Matthew Weiner). That's what I've done to keep myself sane during this 6 months I've been waiting. I have found the wait to be incredibly frustrating because my surgery center is understaffed, so I have to wait a long time for the scheduler to call me back for the next appointments - like weeks! So I've just read everything I could. I think I would feel a lot more scared if I hadn't read so much. The Mayo clinic (Mayo.org) is also a good resource. They have good health information on everything, including weight loss surgery. Also ASMBS.org (the bariatric surgery professional group).

So I initially went in to start my bariatrics process at the hospital in February of 2020. They estimated the time was 6-8 months start to finish (surgery). This was right before the pandemic hit. Now being in Canada by March everything was starting to shut down. Panic was in motion and my initial consultation in Februarg followed by a group orientation in late February was all I had got to do in person. The next appointment I had wasn't until July! Like you it was on zoom. That I believe was a consult with the social worker. Basically someone who talked to me and asked me a bunch of mental health questions. Mostly to see if I was of sound mind, not super depressed or suicidal and if I was mentally prepared to go forward with surgery. She had one follow up over the phone a month later then signed off on her end. Next was the dietician who did what dieticians do, ran me through a PowerPoint presentation about the 3 food groups. I was given a little homework to do over the next 6 weeks. I had to fill dietary sheets saying how much I drank that day, what I had for breakfast, lunch and dinner plus snacks. Times and a note about what type of food that was (ie protein, carb, vegetable). Just basically making sure I understood food groups. Once submitted she reviewed them and another couple weeks later we went over it on the phone. She made some corrections, went over food groups AGAIN.. and gave some suggestions on what I could have to balance a meal. She discussed briefly the phase 1 pre-op diet, phase 2 liquid diet and phase 3 pureed diet. Gave suggestions and ideas about what to eat, to avoid etc. Nothing you can't find online with a little research. Finally she signed off. Then the 2nd wave hit in November and everything shut down again. Fast forward I finally did my second doctor consult in January of 2021 and he reviewed the dieticians notes and social workers and then signed off. Throughout this entire now year that had gone by I was only ever initially weighed in and measured the first month. Blood work done that first month. A year had past and no updates to either were requested. More time goes by and I did a surgeon zoom meeting and he just asked me basic questions. I think the most in depth thing he asked for was to visibly see my stomach and move my head around so he could see my neck function. Then I had a brief phone call with pre-op questions. Finally a surgery date in May was issued. Again a third wave hit and that was cancelled. Finally I had my surgery July 23rd 2021.. nearly a year and a half after starting the process. That's socialist free health care for you though.. so I guess I can't complain. Anyways that's the process I went through and I too was concerned at no point they asked for updated blood work or weigh ins. There was no real monitoring of diet aside from just telling the dietician I understood and showing her a brief demonstration. Throughout that year and a half I fell off the advised diet a bunch of times. I was very dedicated at first, then the delays discouraged me. The additional delays and run around and feeling like this is simply never going to happen really made me fall off. By the time my May surgery date came around I was eating like I ate before, I kind of just didn't care any more. I was also drinking a lot of calories. At some point I fell off the diet drinks and went back to regular and with no bloodwork monitoring or being held accountable, I drank myself into diabetes type 2. Which was found a 3 weeks before surgery when I was checked for the first time ever at a clinic for my blood sugar, which was a 26.8 on the meter. My own fault entirely, but had they done more in person check ups and diagnostics they might've noticed I wasn't losing weight, my sugar levels were getting high. Maybe steps could have been made to help me be accountable and stay on track. After all I'm an addict to food and flavor, leaving me for a year and a half with no support to do it all on my own just didn't work out for me. So I do hope your process goes faster and smoother than mine. But you are not wrong in being concerned by the lack of in-person check ups. Do yourself a favor and speak up and don't just stay silent like I did.

So I've tried some rigorous diets in the past. My weight has fluctuated around 450-470 for years. Twice I've got down to 320-330lbs. Both times I basically did a self induced gastric bypass diet (not a healthy one). But basically liquids, very very little solids and a lack of nutrients. The first time I lost 120lbs in the first 6 months. I didn't step on a scale once while doing it, I just noticed my pants getting bigger. In fact I had no idea how much weight I had lost, the day I decided to check I expected to be 30-40lbs down. When I seen over a hundred pounds gone I was baffled, I thought the scale was broken. That made the next couple months very easy to continue and motivate myself to keep going. Now, again not promoting my diet of choice, it was very unhealthy. I used to joke about it being my cigarette and water diet because I would eat soo little. So of course when I bottomed out at 320lbs and I was in the gym 5 days a week and trying to eat a 1200 calorie dietician approved diet. I was super frustrated each week when I weighed and wasn't losing any weight. Two months went by and i hit 315lbs in the morning but by evening I was back up to 320-323lbs. A cycle of endless repeat and no reward. It was probably caused by the muscle mass I lost along with the weight from not eating barely any nutrients or protein throughout the first few months. Despite exercising and trying to regain muscle even at 1200 calories a day I was eating more than my body was burning off. Eventually I got frustrated and fell off and bounced back up to 360lbs. I was proud I kept a lot of the weight off for a good two years but I eventually went back up to 450lbs. I won't go into the second time because it was a repeat of a lot of the mistakes I made the first time. The same end result and the same discouragement that brought me back up to 470lbs. That is why I decided to go for bariatrics. Because I could lose the weight myself but I couldn't do it healthily, steadily and keep it off. Obviously the older I get the harder it gets to put your body through hell to try and be skinny. I can't speak from post-op surgery because I'm only 1 wrek post-op. But the reasoning for my rant was to say. Both times I found the best strategy was to not weigh myself regularly. It's hard not to want to see the results, but I found discouragement was the worst remedy for trying to keep going. Starving yourself for a week or two and seeing 1lb or less just makes you feel like this isn't worth it. This is pointless or hopeless. Something isn't right. What am I doing wrong? I found the best result was when I just set my mind to what I needed to do and didn't worry about what the scale said. While I fully intend and encourage you and myself to do things healthy and not try to cheat to success. I do not plan to step on a scale unless my doctors office really needs me to, and I might even then ask not to know the results. At least for the first few months. This battle is hard enough without the constant self doubt and feelings of failure. I wish you all the best!

So my insurance apparently is run by people who've had bariatric surgery, because the only prerequisites are a surgeon consult, a nutrition class, a psych eval, one support group session, a letter of recommendation from my PCP, and about thirty pages of forms to fill out between all of them. There's no medically supervised diet, no long run-up, no "prove you can do this by losing N pounds in M weeks". Super easy, and I'm done with my prereqs in two weeks flat, so now the insurance coordinator will go approach the insurance for authorization and after they get that, surgery is 3-4 weeks away. But here's my dilemma: I haven't had much "individual" time. The nutrition class was 10 people, the support group like 50 people, and the psych eval was literally 22 minutes long. The surgeon consult was 15 minutes long. Everything was via Zoom. At some point, they're going to have to bring me in and weigh and measure me, right? Theoretically there's going to have to be a bunch of medical clearances? A nutritionist with whom I'll work? Someone to talk to me about my prescription medications? Someone to go specifically over my dietary requirements post- (and pre-!)surgery? I feel like there's about ten people I deal with, each of whom has some portion of responsibility for me, but nobody can answer the questions I have, and I feel like I need to go out and find my own nutritionist, my own psychiatrist, because it looks like it's just the surgeon. Am I overthinking this?

Finally got home from Tijuana today.... surgery was Monday 7.26.2021 with dr. verboonen at V Bariatrics (Obesity Goodbye Center). Ever since I got to the hotel yesterday. I've been sipping Powerade, Gatorade, Water, broth, SF popsicles nonstop. Is that okay? Or am I supposed to only consume during set times throughout the day? Also how did you get comfortable? Best thing to make scars dissapear ? Trying to plan ahead I am on full liquid diet right now, but go to purée on Monday/Tuesday next week.... what are your favorite recipes? When did you notice that initial bloat go away from surgery? I'm 2 lbs down from surgery date but my stomach is stuck protruding out bc of being so sore.

I also used to put 250 even when I was over 300! I just renewed mine a couple of months ago and I was 100 pounds under what used to be the low lie.

All insurance is different. Mine accepted medical records from another doctor prior to satisfy part of the required visits. That’s a question for the bariatric coordinator I believe. Ooh, and it’s six visits not six months (at least it was for mine) so that only takes five months from your first visit. Hopefully that will help. I had one visit with my primary doctor that qualified so I had to do 5 visits taking 4.5 months from first appointment to surgery date.

I was incredibly hungry during all of weight loss phase. It was too early for what you ate, and that's concerning....because endangering yourself this early on is bad news for being able to make health protecting choices in the future. While probably not world ending (honestly cheese and refried beans were on my soft foods list)....it makes me think you need more support than you're getting. I know some people experience a tremendous decrease of appetite. I was not one of them. I was every bit as hungry as I'd ever been and more so.....so I totally feel your pain. Please be concious that you need to follow your instructions carefully so you don't injure yourself. Causing a leak in your stomach suture line will result in a hell of a long hospitalization, and VERY serious potential problems. You don't want to go there. You don't want to risk the smallest chance of it. It's that bad. I wouldn't be me...without plugging the bariatric therapist...so I'm gonna say you should see if your clinic will give you a referal. Lots of folks are resistant to this, but it's just not a bad idea. What could it hurt to give it a try?

How did you feel? I have had some mashed potatoes. I’ve slowed down which my bariatric coordinator told me to do. But I don’t know if it’s bc of being on liquids for the past month, and it’s getting to me. I’m ready to go to the puréed stage. But I’m nervous and don’t want to over do it. But I understand about feeling like you’ve failed. How many days post op are you. Can you possibly go to the puréed? I’m ready to try this ricotta bake. However, I will say I didn’t feel that great after eating mashed sweet potato tonight. And I had about 2oz

This has been one of my greatest NSV's so far. I have never told the truth on my license, and it says 350. Last time I had it renewed I weighed 393. Now I'm 126 pounds less than what driver's license says! I'm gonna tell the truth next time ha ha. Sent from my Nokia 7.2 using BariatricPal mobile app

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Probably even more funny is that I’m basically unrecognizable in the picture AND the description. In addition to weight loss, I also stopped coloring my hair. So weight is wrong, hair color is wrong and the picture is over 8 years old (Due to the pandemic, I renewed it last year without having to appear in person) Good thing I won’t get carded for alcohol 😜😜