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Unfortunately there is no magic skin poofing button. LOL I wish! I have lost 152lbs and have a lot of the same issues with chaffing. Even so without long history of having that skin problem documented most insurances will not cover removing it, because they say it's cosmetic. I say BS. I had a terrible time with my bat wings....they were very large and even though I had gotten to my optimal weight I still had residual fat and tons of leftover skin and no matter what I did, nothing helped. I did not even realize how badly it pulled on my neck. So I pain 5950.00 to have them removed 5 weeks ago. I have to do the same with my stomach and breasts because everything is hanging low pulling on my spine. I have osteoarthritis of the spine and have had 6 back surgeries so far. Hoping to hold off another one. Anyway, you think insurance would cover these things given Morbid obesity is a metabolic disease. Yikes! It will cost me another 18K to have both my Abdominalplasty and breast lift with augmentation. That is the bad news.....the good news is there are excellent surgeons out there who can do this kind of work if you can raise the funds to do it. It is the only way I know of taking that skin off your body. It simply will not go away without it.

Yesterday I had my pre-op visit with my surgeon. While in the waiting room, a lady came in and they gave her money back (check payment for Vitamins, Protein, ect.) Which means she had went throught the pre-op liquid diet... why would a surgery get canceled?? Just wondering bc I'm scared Sent from my SM-G935P using the BariatricPal App

PS a lot of why they are behaving the way that they are is bc they are scared! They don't want you to change and not want to be with them anymore Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I'm hoping for June 2017. I'm off in the Summer, and i want to be sure I have LOTS of recovery time Sent from my SM-G930T using the BariatricPal App Are you a teacher/professor? Or working for a school district? Asking bc you said you are off all summer.. You have a bit of time ahead of you as well. Have decided on which of the procedure you want? I'm still on the fence.. one day sleeve another bypass. Smh probably decide once I meet with the surgeon.. Sent from my SM-G900T using the BariatricPal App I am apre-school teacher in a private school. I am definitely going for the sleeve. I don't want the bypass. I have read great things about the sleeve!! Sent from my SM-G930T using the BariatricPal App

@@kelliev2015 Mainly I think the reason are BS. They are one size fits all crap recommendations based on Gastric Bypass patients. I found that I wasn't take my Vitamins as regular as I did pre-op because I hate fake sweets and nothing is worst than nasty fake sweet vitamins. So I stopped take the chewables and went back to my normal vitamins which were super high quality. Just ask your Dr about it and see if you can get a real answer and not a canned one.

Hi I'm sorry to hear about your complications. I will pray that everything works out for you. I am new to this group and I am just curious being as to what is normal pain after gastric sleeve? I had my surgery 8/1 and I am currently on a puree diet. However I feel that I may have recently eaten something that may have been "too heavy" for my stomach to handle. Last night I had ground beef with some broth. I have been craving some meat, I needed a changed from my liquids and Soups so I figured it would be okay. But I feel a lot of weird pains in my stomach and it's not coming from my incision area either so I'm really scared. I have to also point out that for the past two days I've had weird pains off and on after doing some extensive house cleaning where I was bending down a lot. Is this pain normal? Can anyone please share their opinions/experiences with pain post op? I've been trying to get a hold of my doctors and nurse all day now with no luck so I'm debating whether I should go to the er or not. I've haven't been throwing up, or have had blood in my stool. I have been feeling dizzy but I think it's bc I am panicking just a little. Should I be worried and go check myself out or are these pains normal to have on week 3 post op? Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Crappy knees? Check. Hurt to bend? Check. Knee replacements in the fairly near future? Check Ongoing need to exercise to help with weight loss and overall health? Check, check, freakin' check !!! I'm in the same boat. Sometimes it feels like the boat is taking on Water and the sails are shot full of holes. I have zero medical training other annual first aid, CPR and the like. So take anything I ever say with a grain of salt.......and extreme skepticism, lol. I'm just a fat guy trying to get less fat, more healthy and stay active up through the nursing home years and beyond. When I was pre-op I was told, "Great news, fella, you have a high enough BMI that there's no risk of you falling below the minimums for insurance to cover the surgery......so....we need to see you lose some serious weight prior". Lucky me, right ? The fact that I never used insurance due to their bs delay tactics and shenanigans is an entirely different story. I did engage in the pre-op challenge of losing weight and dropped 55 lbs prior to surgery. Due to a back injury (the final catalyst that helped me make the decision to have wls) I was sorta hemmed up and not really able to do much in the arena of exercise. My only real hope at weight loss was to work on the other side of the equation.....reducing caloric intake. I began with their recommended low calorie diet, but soon moved into more of a low carb approach and did so with an eye on total calories, too. The scale began to move along nicely, even though my own movement was minimal. Once post op the weight loss continued at a better clip and exercise was easier to do. The more progress I made.....the more progress I could make....and so forth. Knees suck, though, and I didn't heed my doctor's warning. Gym work was too fun and I continued to pound the treadmill and elliptical like a beast. Enthusiastic newbie overkill occurred. Now.....ten months later I'm having significant daily issues with the knees....both are beyond the timeframe the ortho docs said would be my" replacement age". I wish I could go back to the month after surgery and approach it differently.....I would have joined a different gym....one with a swimming pool and used it for frequent lap swimming. As it is, I've been sidelined from cardio for over a month and it sucks. The stationary bike is about it for the time being. I may still do the swimming pool, however, that spot is miles out of my way and has a prohibitive lap swim schedule. My work hours over the next few months are amped up as well. Careful weight training and stationary bike as well as much walking on the job are the ticket for me know. Please.....please.....carefully consider the recommendations for aqua fitness. The water is where it's at in terms of safety.

I'm in the middle of that now actually. I haven't gotten as far into the process as you, but I felt the same way about the surgeon with my first consultation. Although I'm doing the sleep study through the first surgeon, I'm doing everything else with the second one who took the time with me and didn't rush me in anyway. The second surgeon is willing to take the sleep paperwork bc it was from a bariatric program. You have to go with who you feel comfortable with. I'm scared of getting the surgery; I've been dragging my feet on it for about 10 years. Now, I make sure I'm with an experienced surgeon who takes the time for me. Good luck!! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I'm in TX, BMI was 34 and was self pay and bc I was self pay I only had to wait two weeks after meeting my surgeon for my surgery date. Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

So why does it bother him bc he doesn't want to be there to help? Tell him to get over it.... Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I'm hoping for June 2017. I'm off in the Summer, and i want to be sure I have LOTS of recovery time Sent from my SM-G930T using the BariatricPal App Are you a teacher/professor? Or working for a school district? Asking bc you said you are off all summer.. You have a bit of time ahead of you as well. Have decided on which of the procedure you want? I'm still on the fence.. one day sleeve another bypass. Smh probably decide once I meet with the surgeon.. Sent from my SM-G900T using the BariatricPal App

I'm eating soft foods right now, some meat if it's soft... I'm eating about 4 ounces. I just feel like it's a lot bc I was getting full at 2oz Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Hello All! My name is Alexandria, I'm switching from the band to the sleeve. I have the band in 2013 was unsuccessful made me become so depressed that I got fed up with it. I swear I had tried everything underneath the sun yo make this work. Fast forward: TODAY!! I had my band removed and in three months I will be going for the sleeve. I am nervous and excited I can't wait to fall back in love with myself all over again. If anyone has any advice on how to be as successful as possible with the band and ways to improve eating habits, work outs, basically any I'm open for any and all suggestions and advice Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I'm a bit more cynical. I had to do a 6 month supervised diet program, that was mandatory from my insurance. I ignored it and even gained weight +7lbs until the pre op diet. Personally I suspect the supervised diet is meant to dissuade people seeking the surgery. 6 months is a big commitment and I have met people who dropped out bc of it. My insurance is bad ass and covered 90% of the cost, but if they discourage people from following through with the surgery, then more profit for them. sleeved on 08/09 day of surgery- 268 lbs

Don't hurt yourself bc everyone around you is a a$$ get rid of the candy bowl, and instead of grabbing the food find something to do with your hands like color, write, play a game, workout, step outside Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

We r allowed to eat one meal a day 300 calories, I like to eat mine at lunch bc if I eat at night my eating monster comes out... shakes for the other meals, then we are allowed to eat veggies or a piece of fruit, I love apples they are so sweet. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

No I get blood work tomorrow and see the dr on the 24th. @@casenior I cancelled my barium swallow bc it would of been my 4th swallow test. I am tired of all the radiation. I messaged the dr today and told him he needs to figure out something else. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I've been having problems at work with this one lady; we will call her D. She was pretty cold to me when I first started working there. Months later, her and another coworker (we will call her E) bullied me pretty badly because I used to listen to my headphones while they loudly discussed how they felt about gay people. I am a Christian, but I DO NOT agree with anyone calling gay people faggots and damning them to Hell. Only God has the right to judge them. I actually love LGBT people. They are great and fun to be around. But my coworker D called them faggots and sissies. That really bothered me, so I decided the best thing for me to do was listen to my music with my headphones. I'm not a confrontational person, so I didn't say anything. D and E claim to be Christians and read their Bibles every morning. They talk about God all the time. But I was taught that we should love each other and not judge one another. Funny thing is, whenever there's a donation round each year, they NEVER give any money. I always give at least $10 to the African American teens who want to go to college, but live in bad situations and are having a hard time achieving an education. Whenever the donation rounds come, D always turns her nose up at the thought and says, "I need this money more than they do!" (Which is not true. She will spend $10 on a box of Krispy Kreme before she ever gave her money to someone who is struggling.) Anyway, about the headphones. E always used to listen to her headphones and sing as loudly as she could. So that made me think that it was ok to listen to mine, so I could drown out my obnoxious coworkers. So when they started bashing gays again, I would put my headphones on. One day, the phone kept ringing. And instead of D getting up and answering it, she let it ring. She told E that I was listening to my headphones and not paying attention. Well, the ringing was E's mom trying to call. (Family members are actually not supposed to call on the work phone.) But E got mad at me and said she was sick of everyone not answering her calls. So I had ENOUGH! I said, "I hope you're not mad at me. I didn't hear it!" And E had the nerve to say we aren't supposed to listen to our headphones. WAIT WHAT? So all this time, she ignored us with her music, we weren't allowed to do it? Oh no, I see. It's only bad when I do it! So I straight up told them why I listened to my music. And they said, "Well that's our opinion! We can talk about how we feel!" So I told them that it's unethical to talk about religion, sexuality, political views, etc. in the workplace. And they got SO MAD. I ran out crying that day. And for about 2 or 3 months, they talked about me so much. I even heard them whisper, "That white girl ain't gonna do nothing." It hurt me pretty badly. Finally, E moved out of our room and upstairs to take another job. I was so happy. But D was still here and I guess I felt that it was ok because now she won't have anyone to pick on me with. Well, she's still pretty cold to me. But I found out that she is unhappily married. She's also in her 50's and weighs over 300 pounds. I feel like maybe she's just unhappy with her life, so I started to feel bad for her. Well, a month later, I found out she likes dogs. I love dogs, so I felt like this was the perfect opportunity to bond with her, because I really hate when there's animosity in my space. So, I approached her and asked about her past with dogs and she was telling me how one of her dogs died and she vowed to never get another one because it hurt her too much. I felt so much sadness for her when she told me this. I felt that it was my duty to fill that void she had in her heart with another dog. I told her about getting another dog and she agreed to get one that needed help. So, I looked online for a dog in need. I found one; let's call him Z. I got this dog because he was free to a good home. The lady giving him away said she needed him gone ASAP or that she would place him into a shelter. So I told her I would take him. Well, D couldn't bring him home yet, because she was having her carpet replaced with hardwood. So I told her I would let him stay at my house for a while, until she got her house in order. I got Z his shots, got him groomed, and I kept him fed. When it was time to give him to D, I was already attached to him. My mom was even more attached. But I promised her I would find her a dog, so I gave him to her. She fell in love with him quickly. I was so happy because I felt that I brought happiness into her life. I was also hopeful that it would make her like me. Boy, was I wrong. When I decided to get this surgery, she would argue with me daily on why this surgery was a bad idea. She would tell me that I would fail because there's a reason I'm fat. She said, "You can lose weight on your own. There's no reason to get this surgery. You like to eat, so how do you know this surgery will work? I know of many people who failed with this surgery. I even know of people who have died." Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't it seem like she wants me to fail? I mean, she would raise her voice at me and talk bad about me on the phone to her family! I was shocked! After what I did for her, and she still treats me this way! Well, I voiced to her that I no longer wanted to discuss this with her. But now we have another coworker; let's call her K. Well, K is awesome. She's my "boo thang"; that's what I call her, lol. She's super cool and down-to-earth. She thinks this surgery is a great idea and is even thinking about getting it because of me. Well, anytime I talk to K about the surgery, D gets VERY quiet. I even saw her have a nasty look on her face when I was talking about it. Does anyone know why this woman hates me so much?

@@WLSResources/ClothingExch In Germany the insurance companies require all of this stuff. The thing that makes me mad about this is, that insurance companies can deny coverage even though the patient did as required. Like I said: it's like playing the lottery here. The worst about it (IMO) seems to be the emotional turmoil the patient ist in when doing this program. The patient might be denied coverage if he/she doesn't lose enough weight on it and the patient might be denied coverage because he/she loses too much weight on it ("see, it works without surgery" which is of course BS because what is a time span of 6 months when it comes to weight loss and maintenance?).

My practice has us stop ALL Vitamins and supplements the week before surgery....anyone else have this rule? Curious BC I never read about this in any of my book, I don't think. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Djmohr, I might give that a whirl, thanks. Maybe not for 2 weeks bc out was hard enough the first time, after surgery. But a system reset sounds like a helpful idea.

Yes. Can we make it private bc I haven't told anyone. I'm sure many others are in the same boat as well Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I have to lose about the same (essentially half my body weight) and I decided to go with the bypass. It was an extremely hard decision, though, I nearly drove myself crazy with the what ifs. In the end, I decided to trust my doctor's guidance, and I also had to admit that I -- personally -- needed absolutely all the help I could get with this effort. And I didn't want to wind up with a revision surgery BC my GERD got worse, not better. But that's just me. I have my surgery on Thursday, 4 days away. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Hi - it's helpful to read your message - simply because I haven't had the surgery yet - still looking for a surgeon - and knowing that you must stick to a plan after is important - and is a good thing. You had told me about the surgeons in Richmond (I'm orig from Vanc) and I did contact them but have to be resident of BC and 2 year wait. I finally saw my doc last week and she referred me locally - but referral was declined due to the fact the surgeon doesn't do sleeve - just band. Not interested in that. So until I hear back from my doctor about other possibilities I may have to go to Montreal after all. She didn't like the idea as no after-care and I agree. There are topics online about all the people going out of province or country for this surgery and then coming back home and having to fall on the system without having a local surgeon to help if there are issues. Quite confused now - I don't want to wait 2-3 (and that's the lowest wait, Alberta has longest waits in Canada I believe) so want to do self-pay. I don't think the Richmond clinic does self-pay. How are you doing with the surgery now? Do you feel back to normal? Has it been difficult?Normal is a relative word, but I am happy with my new normal. Family and friends have also adapted well, and there are no issues about how much I eat. They accept the small amounts on my plate. My health is great, I'm sorry the waits though, because I agree that not having aftercare is rough. Sent from my SM-T280 using the BariatricPal App

Idk why this keeps coming up? Search alcohol and it's all the same on here also do a google search or no take an anatomy class! Point blank you want to drink then do it see what happens, see how you might be lucky a few times but then one day, one day you wake up with a clot in your liver, you wake up with stomach pain so bad it's hard to get up bc of a cyst, let's not forget the kidneys! One day you could wake up with kidney disease not bc it was inherited but bc you drank alcohol!! Vitamins forget that they won't help you after you pop them in your mouth... But go ahead drink them sips of alcohol see how lucky you can be!!! It's only up to you not us Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App