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I finally got word from Anthem BC/BS... I was denied. They gave a whole list of reasons. I'm floored. The insurance person at my Doc's office assured me that all of the i's were dotted and the t's crossed and she saw no reason it should be denied. Well I guess you live and learn. After spending the cost of the consultation plus $300 "program fee" the only thing getting lighter is my wallet.

After many years as a lap band patient, I am at the end of my rope. I had my original surgery in June of 2002. Since then I have been through 3 doctors. One resigned, I fired one, and a new one since I relocated. Additionally I have had 4 surgeries all related to the lap band. Lets see, my first fill resulted in a raging infection that was treated for 6 months unsucessfully. Ultimately,my port had to be removed until the infection cleared up. That took another 2 months. All of this time I've had no restriction! Then we started again and I got up to two cc's and my port flipped. Another surgery. We start again and the tubing disconnects form the port. Another surgery!! Now we move on to a new doctor and he wants to put in a new port because the old one is on a angle and "hitting" the port for a fill is near impossible. Another surgery!!! We start again!!!! I get back up to 1.75cc's and my husband and I hit the road for 6 months. The doctor tells me to see him when I get back, which I did, and even though I had not lost any weight in those 6 months(I wasn't tight enough) he refuses to give me a fill. I get slightly annoyed to say the least and after a few words with him, I ask for my records and never went back!!! Still only 1.75 cc's. We relocated to South Carolina and after searching for a bariatric Dr. I find one that was somewhat reluctant to take me as a patient with all my previous problems, but finally agreed to see me. I really liked him and we arranged for a fluroscopy to see what's happening , and before I can get it done, I get a letter saying that he had resigned and relocated to another office 300 miles away. OH BOY!!! Should I be surprised?? Well. he has a partner and I started seeing him last October. This Dr gave me a fill under fluro in October, I feel nothing and I tell him so. Another fill in Nov....nothing... I tell him I think I have a leak.... I feel nothing! But he says no I don't have a leak. OK, I'm thinking maybe I just haven't hit my sweet spot yet. I get another fill in January of 2.8ccs and actually feel a restriction!!! ALLRIGHT now we're cooking!!! Finally! Well........2 days later...guess what....I FEEL NOTHING! I finally talk him into putting a little contrast in there and under fluro we find out that the inner ballon is leaking. Very slowly, but its leaking!!! YIPEE!!! I'm relieved to know that I'm not losing my mind!! So I ask the DR about a revision. But, because of all my previous surgeries with the lapband, it would be a BIG surgery!! I am not willing to put myself through a major surgery with no guarantee of leaks and flips and infections not happening again, so I'm sure you can understand why I am fed up.....and.....I AM DONE with the lapband and am resigned to live with the appliance sitting in me doing nothing. :cursing: In closing let me say, I do know several people that have been quite successful with their weight loss with the lapband, unfortunately, I am not one of them. Than you for taking the time to read this. Colleen

so proud of CG .. She is a true "spotlight" in the bariatric world. I think she is a star . I have been inspired and motivated by her "no bs" attitude.. for over a year. Kudo's to her.

Fellow Canadian here congrats on getting your date. I get sleeved May 25. What part of Canada? I'm in BC

Don't feel bad, I downloaded it but ended up deleting it!! I can't figure out how to use it, it want me to eat 1,700+ calories a day??? How can I Change it to my 600-800... I am using a livestrong app and I can enter in how many calories I want per day and then I log in what I eat throughout the day. That way I don't go over the 800 calories I have set in! It's been very helpful bc it also has a pie chart showing me my % of protein and carbs and etc. I don't know if my fitness pal is just not working correctly on my phone or what...

I read your posts about wanting information about BC doctors and bumped this thread to help with that information.

L8BloomR: In the context of this one thread, I can understand why you thought I over reacted. The same tired argument has been going on for a long time and much has been said by the same people that has either suggested or specifically said that we should support George W. Bush because he is the President. They seem to believe, as some of the very vocal right wing journalists discussed in this thread, that to not support Bush is to be commiting an act of treason. I was at the point when I posted my scarastic remarks, just completely fed up with the ridiculousness of that viewpoint.

I had the same. I went back to work after 7 days, but could have waited about 2 more days. You will start to feel better day by day until one day you all of a sudden feel 100 % again. That happened for me at about week 3. Just take it easy, you just had surgery and try to walk and drink your fluids. My back was killing me bc I was sitting in the same position. when i reconfigured my setup, I was not in pain anymore. I used a couple pillows to help me out. I didn't sneeze or cough until 3 weeks po. I held it in bc it hurt sooo bad. This was especially hard for me since I have bad allergies and sneeze everyday! You will be fine, it takes time. Good luck!

Yep, I agree with everyone else - sounds like migraine to me too. The best OTC med I've used for them is Exedrin Migraine - here's the problem, Exedrin is part of the ANCID group of medications which lap bandsters are supposed to avoid. They're hard on the stomach and so are hard on your esophagus and the band. My doctor said taking these meds OCCASIONALLY is OK, you just have to watch how frequently they're used. When I feel a migraine coming on, if I take the Exedrin Migraine quickly enough I can avoid the headache or (more often) extremely suppress it so it isn't as painful or doesn't last as long. With a bad headache, I too have to retreat to a darkened room and lie PERFECTLY still, sometimes for as much as 12 - 24 hours. And then, as if it wasn't bad enough to lose one day to a migraine, I get what I call a 'phantom or shadow headache' the next day. It's not really a headache, but my head doesn't feel quite right, almost like a hangover, but not. I know - how vague and unhelpful can I be here? Sorry. I'm not sure of the chemical make-up of BC powder so I'm not sure if it's an ANCID or not, but you should find out before you start using it. I HAVE heard from several people that BC Powder works well for migraines, but they also say you have to be careful when you take it or you can inhale a bit of the powder as you pour it on your tongue. It makes you cough like crazy and gives you a scratchy throat when it happens. Just a heads-up on taking BCP. Sorry you're having headaches - migraine or not. You really should see a doctor just to be sure there isn't something else going on there.

@@gowalking - When I dug deeper into the numbers, I think this is total crap. They are comparing apples and oranges. They were damn lazy. They have huge gaps. They don't know if the population of self pay (since this data from Canada where a very large segment of the population would rather self pay than wait for socialized medicine). If you add in the self pay WLS patients, that would lower the percentage of self-harm down to the population at large. There is no control for demographics. He's comparing unemployed self-soothing fat people to the total population and saying this proves the surgery will make you four times more likely to kill yourself. Sorry, total and complete BS. However on FOX news or CNN the headline will be "Have stomach surgery? You will probably kill yourself." Absolutely irresponsible.

Hello fellow Calgary poster. What you described is exactly the diet I was given, except replace Ensure with Glucerna. This is the standard AHCIP recommendations. No dietitian in the WM program will deviate. They face serious consequences advising anything else like losing their license and effectively making RD education (4-6 year degrees) worthless. A lot of people here don't understand why such a long diet and to be honest it confuses me as well. I'm sure it will confuse them even moreso when I explain my situation too. I dunno if Glucerna is even available in the US.. I lived there for 27'ish years before moving to Canada and never even bothered with diet shakes/meal replacements. Nonetheless, it's been the most disgusting thing ever. I am supposed to be on 5-6 Glucerna a day. I had a really hard time even swallowing any kind of it, I'd just regurgitate it while trying to drink. I can manage the chocolate but it has to touch the back of my tongue first and go down -- cannot touch the front of my tongue or else I'll throw the stuff back up. My wife even jokingly suggested a feeding tube. I had a hard adjustment, having only 1-2 Glucerna a day, my dietitian freaked out after Day 2 when we talked and verbally threatened to derail the surgery if I didn't comply with her diet. I told her I'd just wind up lying to her then if I can't be honest without her going crazy. Being fed up with this I did a ton of research on the diet, shrinking liver, and others who had it done with staged fibrosis of the liver plus type 2 diabetes. I noted wildly differing opinions, but there were consistencies with meat. So, within a week, I was eating 2 string cheeses a day (0 carbs), 1-2 Glucerna (as I could keep down), broth drained from regular chicken noodle soup, and now my wife has made me home made lean ground beef meatballs, substituting bread crumbs with almond meal.. no carbs. I only eat a couple maybe once or twice a day, but it's more than enough. Then I mix Beneprotein into the broth to make sure I'm exceeding my protein goals. A month into this diet I've had my hBA1c done, vast improvements to my blood sugar (maxed at 7.9 a year ago, 5.7 now and will likely be well under that with my next done in June), just had a fibroscan and liver function tests last week during hepatologist appointment all showing great improvements to liver function, down to normal, inflammation gone.. liver softened 50% since the diet started. I've lost over 60 pounds since starting the pre-op (most of that in the first 3 weeks), shrunk my liver, improved diabetes, etc.. all while ignoring the dietitian. Saw my surgeon who said I was doing fantastic, seeing him again in 2 weeks..just a few weeks before surgery, have no doubts he will be thrilled with my progress again not knowing I've done my own thing. It's not something I recommend, but if you truly understand the premise of this diet, I think it's not absurd to. 3 months liquid diet is what's absurd. Here's the kicker too.. yes, it uses that shoddy sugar substitute, yet 26 grams of carbs in every bottle of Glucerna. This is supposed to be for people who are diabetic? 6 a day? That's over 150g of carbs a day. Why??? 3 months of misery for something that doesn't even make sense. I think in essence it's punishing people who don't lose enough weight in the program before meeting the surgeon. I will make sure post-op they know how stupid that is. The fact that you can't even talk sense to them is ridiculous. Still, this is, much like the real world, a race to see how much you can bend the system to give you what you want, with the irrational goals of others having competing interest with whats best for you. Forcing me into Glucerna 6 times a day wouldn't have worked, and would have just caused me to be malnourished going into surgery because I'd still not be able to drink more than 1 or 2 in a day. All this lady would do is try and derail/postpone my surgery until I complied with the nonsensical diet. Yet I'm dumping weight and shrinking my liver while having far less carbs than they wanted, plus less calories. Because I have so much more energy I'm also on a proactive vitamin schedule, meaning going into surgery in fantastic shape.. meaning easier recovery post-op and easier job ahead of helping myself be malnourished. Now, post-op I will again listen to what my dietitian wants and will adjust things accordingly again. At least they aren't so anal at that stage. Being forced into this diet inadvertently helped me understand more about portion control too. I'd much rather have portion control and be shrinking my liver and dumping weight this way than be forced on that god awful Glucerna crap a half dozen times a day. Not to mention it's near $10 per case of 6 bottles, so $10 a day for 78 days.

I would ask your NUT bc diet snapple is listed on my post-op diet as an acceptable liquid. I have one about 1-2x per week.

A friend of mine told me that she just took a little bit of what the family ate and ran it through the blender. Like lean ground turkey browned with a tiny bit of low sugar spaghetti sauce. And then throw it in there. Low fat or fat free refried Beans with a tiny bit of soft cheese. Just mash it up really, really well. Cottage cheese and some no sugar applesauce on the side. Soft scrambled eggs with a tiny bit of cheese. Just make sure its mushy. Steam some green beans or carrots and toss them in the blender. You could make chili and toss it in the blender and have blended green beans on the side. Just make sure it's not too spicy. Baby food fruit isn't bad at all. I tasted every baby food that I ever fed my kids so that's an option if you run into issues. For a treat I still take unsweetened applesauce, add some splenda and cinnamon and microwave it for a few seconds. That is really tasty. It really depends on what's allowed for your Stage 2. I have my book in front of me for planning meals and I know I will be super excited to get to eat food again. I'm planning on having some oatmeal, letting it cool, adding Protein powder to it for a treat. Ummm a really good website is theworldaccordingtoeggface com. She is 4 years out from RNY and has a lot of really good recipes and ideas for food. You should check her out.

Yes. The clothes I bought just bc they fit...not bc I liked them!! No more doing that!

Why couldn't u just pull the strings out of the celery? I do that anyway BC they weird me out. I'm way OCD

I do a case-by-case basis. There were times when I wished I had not told someone that I had and times I was really glad people knew and supported me. Several people at work know, several family members but not all (THANK GOD!) and several friends. I have NO trouble sayig it has been eating less and working out more. I was a little nervous at first when people would say I looked so good. I felt like they were just saying it bc they knew. I was also suspect of several friends that said I looked great. I thought....did so and so tell them. I am less that way now, after a year. Now I say - THANK YOU!

Hi Bill Sounds like we will be at Emmanuel with Dr. Almanza at the same time. I'm a patient...vsg...What are you having. For one thing, this story is totally fake as there was no such surgery done on that date... I have forwarded the info to Dr. A, his staff, and the site admin. Another fake story was posted on ObesityHelp by a Maria S she altered the details, but mostly the same...total BS! These posts are part of a smear campaign by a poster who gets kickbacks from the mx dr she supports. She attemptst to instill fear in anyone who uses Dr. Almanza. I think it was removed as it could in no way be substantiated. Go back and read NJSleever's posts----doesnt ring true....I am a nurse (17 years ICU) and what she said DID NOT ADD UP whatsoever. If you ask njsleever her for info she cannot, will not provide it. If you'd like to talk please PM me and we can exchange phone numbers. I cannot give all details publicly as this serious case of slander/libel is under investigation. As a man in business, you can certainly understand that all a man or woman has is his or her good name. Bill, I hope to hear from you and it sounds as if we will be meeting in a few weeks.

I confess that I bought some delicious cupcakes for my daughters college signing ceremony. Then ate one ( it took a couple of days). Then I went back to order her graduation cake and my hubbys 40th birthday cake...and bought another cupcake. Most of it is still in my fridge. But it is sooo good! Funny, bc I've never been a sweets person!

Thank you..I been doing good besides a bite of mash potatoes it's not easy I dont get my Proteins im at all Sent from my SM-G930P using the BariatricPal App Definitely work on the proteins. This is VERY IMPORTANT. You need to keep your muscles well fed and prevent loss of lean muscle mass, and I believe that adequate Protein helps with hair loss. Other people on here can probably support this. As I understand, PROTEIN and HYDRATION are the 2 most important things. If you're really struggling, call your doctor. Good luck! We're here if you need us! Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using the BariatricPal App

I'm not suggesting giving up exercise. If you draw real benefit form it, just do it! BS. "Being lightheaded" is not normal.

I have fallen in love with frozen carnation instant breakfast. I make 3 bottles at night and stick them in the freezer to have for the following day. They are so good and creamy. Better than making it in the blender with ice bc nothing is being added. Yum....

I think a lot of his to do with BMI. Another person who is using my surgeon has to do a week of liquid diet. I use fairlife protein replacements and it has 30g and they have other options with 42g. I just prefer the 30g bc it is smoother and tastes like chocolate milk. Typically they give you a surgery date prior to starting the liquid diet though! I hope you get your date soon.

Day 1-pre op liquid diet, had naked not sure if this is good option but have not found protein powder. I had planned to go to smoothie king but when I got there the are closed for remodeling 😟bought naked smoothie blu monster and jello but it’s red and told not to eat red stuff. Felt a bit woozie after lunch and had beef broth and will go to bed as soon as I can Bc too much temptation for food plus feel exhausted now😂will report on day 2 tomorrow-maybe some input on what y’all r doing for liquid diet , ty! 😉

OMG! I had the EXACT same thing happen. That's why I saw my gyno at the end of the year. Totally ruined my Christmas by the way. She put me on a round of BC pills (with progesterone), but I honestly felt a little crazy on them. Very emotional. She said my uterus was enlarged and did a biopsy (I wouldn't recommend that BTW, VERY painful).

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.