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As far as the sleep machine goes... They will send it home with you and you bring it back a few days later. It records all your information and they just plug it into their computer and read it. If you don't like bulky stuff on your face ask for the pillow instead of the Mask before you take it home. The pillow is a small little thing that goes under your nose as opposed to the whole mask that goes over your face. Hopefully your insurance covers the machine because I'm pretty sure they're going to tell you you need it. I swear It's their way of making a little extra money. I graduated 8/12/16. They took awhile to call me to schedule with the therapist and doctor (2 weeks past from graduation and I still haven't heard anything) I had to call and request a call back which happens pretty quick. Unfortunately they were booked so I had to wait two weeks for both appointments, each one was one day apart but they want you to have both before you can see the surgeon. The day before my doctor/ bariatric doctor appointment they called me and said he called off sick. So that put me back another 2 more weeks for the rescheduled appointment. Just don't miss the appointments and hopefully they're not fully booked like they were with me. After I walked out of the doctor's appointment they said I would hear from the surgeon's office within a week. From my experience and everyone else I know you get this call within a day or two most the time it's the same day you hear from them so when I waited three to four days and still didn't hear anything I had to call the Kaiser office back and sure enough they forgot to send my file over to the surgeon. She said she would do it right then and there ...no more than an hour later I got the call. That was on a Wednesday, the surgeon scheduled me that Friday Oct 21st. The surgeon gave me his first available appointment which was November 30th. I asked to be put on the cancellation list being that I'm a stay-at-home mom my schedule is completely open. He actually ended up having a cancellation that following Monday LOL. I had my surgery Monday October 24th. So it came up fairly fast on me. So be sure you ask to be put on the cancellation list!

Yes I'm from Chicago, my doctor is dr.lufti, he did my lapband so I consulted with him may 1st about revision surgery, I had my hopes on the gastric bypass, but he wants to do the sleeve. I have a day long appt at his office on next Wednesday to get a trans nasal endoscopy, psych and nutritionist. I hope that I will not be much longer than that! I'm ready to do this surgery.

It's a trade off we've all made here! Head hunger sure does play funny games with us! I must admit, I've been on solids since November 16th, and I can count on one finger the number of times I've had red meat (a hamburger)--I just can't bear to continue to chew and then pray it goes down well without pain! I've fallen back on the softer foods, chicken, fish, beans--but beef and pork are out completely for me. I wasn't crazy for them, but it makes cooking dinner for my husband a little harder (he does his thing and cooks me my little bit--what a lover!) :hungry:

I am really happy for you to have put your anorexia/binging issues to bed (I remember your posts from way back). Do you feel that having the sleeve then gastric bypass then a third op going back to having a sleeve has contributed to the issues? I don't see it as a diet at all. I got that word out of my mind soon after surgery. I just follow an eating plan not diet. Diet to me means denying yourself things... eating plan means putting the best foods into your body to get the best health and wellbeing out of it. I don't deny myself anything but I do CHOOSE to eat healthy. Kate

Thanks Kate! Actually I had the bypass then the sleeve. Not bypass, sleeve, bypass. I know. It's a little weird. I have a sleeve now. What contributed to my anorexia was that I already had an eating disorder before i had surgery and the surgery made me worse. Having been anorexic in my past the wls made it easy to be again. And I took it too far. And I relapsed. It was bound to happen. Having a bypass and then converting to a sleeve contributed to me having a severe stricture for almost a year. Those surgeries created a ton of scar tissue. I also had an exploratory, my gallbladder out, and an endoscopy. I ran the gamut. But my eating disorder was there before surgery and sooner or later I would have had to deal with it. I'd say 99% of people who are obese have an eating disorder of some sort. The surgery can most definitely help but also worsen those issues. Most people regain weight because they still have disordered eating and then their wls restriction lessens after time, they go back to their old behavior, namely, dieting. Which causes weight gain. And the whole cycle begins again. No one fails at wls. They fail to address their disordered eating. That's the real issue here. Your way sounds good. As long as you don't feel deprived... then it sounds like you've managed to find stability and happiness. That's what matters.

I know they have a grocery list for post ops. I'd ask them for that. Even if you don't go to Aceves they will give it to you anyway. My favorite Protein Shake is whey Gourmet Choco/Peanut butter. It's good! You can mix it with Water, shake it in a water bottle and it's still thick. Or, you can mix it with Soy Slender chocolate and it's chocolate-y-er. ;o) That's Elisabeth's find. The Protein powder itself has about 20-23gms of protein (I forget), 120 calories, and 3gms carbs. Absolutely a perfect ratio. For the clear liquid stage if your surgeon requires one, nectar products, unjury, or Isopuke are best. Meds... depends on your doctor. I can tell you what my doc wants, he prefers Nexium but a lot of people get other PPIs because Nexium is so expensive. Some take Protonix (covered by most ins), prevacide, or prilosec. The absolute best way to lose weight is to take FULL advantage of the first 6 months. Your stomach is as small as it ever will be. You can hardly eat anything. Exercise like a crazy person during that time and you'll lose faster. We don't really have a honeymoon period like bypass folks do but we do have an easier time of it the first six months. MOST of all, cut out all white carbs. Not all carbs, all WHITE carbs. That will get you down in no time. Between small quantities, low white carbs, and exercise, that's the ticket. Aceves... if you are interested contact their coordinator Renee. Reneekohlpath@gmail.com She's a wealth of information. I think she's been sleeved for a long time now, I don't remember how long for sure. Really do your research and see which is the right doctor for you. No one doctor is the best fit for everyone. I like him, I trust him, but you have to look at the whole picture. Aftercare, etc.

Dumping most often occurs following gastric bypass surgery. After eating sugar, you can get pain, diarrhea, sweating, fast heart rate..it is usually not associated with banding, but would call your doctor if it persists

I have been told I have a fatty liver, but never had a biopsy. I have read about liver functions returning or improving with weight loss. But really NOVEMBER is ASAP???? They may want to wait that long so they may be able to see improvements by then in your liver functions??? If they were too concerned they would make room for you before that date.. Try to stay positive!!! I hope I have helped!!!

I cannot speak to Cigna, but I have also not heard of anyone who was able to bypass any length of time requirement. Mine is 12 months MD supervised program. The important thing to remember is that they will be laying out a lot of money for this procedure and they want to know that you can follow a physician's advice and orders. The goal of the MD supervised weight loss is not to then say they won't pay for it if you are able to lose weight with the program, but to teach you good eating habits, etc. One other word of advice, if there is also a weight loss requirement with that 6 month program, you MUST lose it. My insurance company requires 5% loss of excess weight in addition to the 12 month program. I was sick over my 12 months and because of meds I was on, I gained quite a bit of weight. I was then able to lose about 20 lbs (of almost 30 that I had gained) before I applied, but I was denied because I didn't lose the original 5%. My insurance takes your starting weight at the beginning of the MD program and then you have to lost 5% of the excess of that. I have to make it to 335 and apply again.

KimmieJean...you CAN do this!! I was banded the week before Christmas (a little over 6 months ago) and have lost 53 pounds so far! My doctor said that banders lose much more slowly than bypass patients and not to beat myself up. (I wanted to lose MORE quickly!) He also said that lap-band patients can typically lose up to 40% of their excess weight at the end of a full year post-op and that I had lost MORE than that in less than 6 months!!! So that made me feel better. Remember - the first 3-6 weeks are primarily for HEALING...do NOT expect miraculous weightloss during that time...so if weightloss does happen - you will be pleasantly surprised. We all have good days and bad days...the day I tried to eat steak was a BAD day for me - and yes...I cut it into microscopic pieces and chewed the heck out of it...it just didn't want to go through...so ...well, let's just say that it did't stay there very long! I have found out what I now can and can't eat basically by trial and error...and I've certainly made my share of errors!! One MAJOR adjustment I've had to (STILL) re-learn and remind myself about is to eat SLOWLY....and to CHEW MORE...as a nurse, I've always had to eat really fast and run back to the unit...so at 57 years old, this is a NEW lifestyle for me....so is chewing 25 - 30 times with EVERY bite! I never had time for that before...now if I don't make the time - I pay the price! I DESERVE THIS!!! SO DO YOU! Take the time to listen to your doctor/dietician/nurse practitioner, and don't get discouraged easily. Whatever happens will pass...eventually...the plateaus, the uncomfortable feeling if you've eaten too quickly, not being regular, etc. Oh - be sure to monitor how many days you go after surgery without a BM...that was a HUGE problem for me my first week post-op. I kept taking the liquid pain meds to AVOID having pain - I really didn't have all that much pain - truly...but didn't want to chance it. Long story short---I went 6 DAYS without a BM....and was in agony trying to finally go. I will spare you the gruesome details...but will say that you will need to pay attention to that area and don't wait like I did before you try to intervene...like stool softeners, Milk of Magnesia, etc. Something I found that worked for me was something called PEDIALAX...get the STRIPS..not the liquid. (The liquid requires you to drink the 30cc and then follow it with 8 ounces of water...at that stage I couldn't dring that much!!!) Because it's the pediatric formula it is gentler and so I took two strips - they dissolve on your tongue - and by 11 the next AM, I was a new woman!! Feel free to ask me or any of us veterans anything ...my personal email address is: gailmdavis@marykay.com GOOD LUCK!!

I started my journey to get approved for roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery through Oklahoma Soonercare (Medicaid) insurance two years ago. It has been a lot of paperwork, a lot of doctor visits, nutritionist visits and dieting to get that final approval! I received that phone call I had been waiting for last week! I now have a preop visit with the actual surgeon in March 2014. I am happy to share how I got approval thru Soonercare to anyone interested! It's not easy but can be done!

The surgeons at Johns Hopkins strongly advocate for gastric bypass if you have diabetes. Bypass is more likely to cure it. Are you talking to a surgical center of excellence for weight loss surgery?

So its been since November 2013 since I got my band. I have been very bad due to my Soda habit.... food I could care less about... How do I kick it? I am trying but the craving is so bad I give in. Yes I Know its not good for that band , in fact mine is slipped. What do I do??

I like you have UHC and weightloss is an Exclusion! I have called and called until I was blue in the face. The exclusion is because of the underwriters of the policy per my employers specifications. I did go to the people at HR and has several other fellow employees regarding this and there has been no change. All they will say is NO not at this point but we may include it in the insurance for next year. Tell me what sense it makes to be a hospital that does lapbanding and RNY bypass but the employees cant even get the flippin surgery!!! That is about the dumbest crap I have ever heard. I would love to be doing whatever the precerts they will require if it is included in next years policy but who knows what they will want you to do. Have a drs appt Fri will ask him to start documentation on a supervised weightloss program so that way I will have that for 8 months if they only want 6mos I will be covered. Best of luck with approaching your HR department to see if they will approve it via an appeal from you. Keep me posted please!

Hey everyone ! im new to this havent been banded yet my date is for november 14th , i had recently sent in everything i needed now im just waiting ! love this site and really enjoy reading everyones journeys its so inspiring . i know once i am banded i have somewhere to go for support

Hi, I had my gallballder removed in 2000. Almost a year later developed pancreintitus (sp?) due to either a stone being left when gallbladder was removed or another one formed (unsure of which) It was HORRIBLY painful!!! The pain you described is exactly what I had. Unfortunatly, I have had to be hospitalized 3 more times since then due to having stones in my bile duct. Fortunatly I have not developed panc. again. I was banded in Oct 07. I didn't want the bypass and it was a good thing because my surgeon didn't recommend it in the chance that I formed another stone (he said with the bypass they wouldn't be able to perform the procedure I have to have done to remove the stones) Occasionally I have bouts of the same pain but thankfully they go away. I've done alot of research and found thru that research and thru discussions with different docs that some people who have a history of stones can also have "sludge".. meaning that you may have a blockage that can cause the same pain as a stone but it eventually passes. Angela

I went to the initial seminar in October and had my first doctor visit at the end of November (it was rescheduled due to a snow storm). I got the list of pre-op requirements that I had to complete at that visit and that included blood work, EKG, chest X-ray, and psych eval as well as attend a support group and a pre-op education session on exercise. I finished all this by January 14 and the only reason it took that long was because the holidays delayed things at some offices. My info was sent to my insurance company about two weeks later and was approved in one day. I then got my date, which is March 18. So, the total time was about 5 months, but it really could have been sooner, I just wasn't in a huge hurry. I used that time to do my research and make sure this was something I really wanted to do.

I know exactly what u mean.. and lemme tell u IT GETS BETTER .. i did my surgury in 2008 on november 24 a few days before thanksgiving and it was hard but i got over it..and soo muchhh HAPPy then i have ever been,, try to stay strong.. do things to forget about food :thumbup:

I have completed my 6 months of medically supervised weight loss. I am weighting for my tax return so that I can go to the exercise specialist, dietician, and nutritionist. I still need to see the psychologist. I will more than likely have to go through pre-op testing again because I last did some of it on August 26. So I am really worried that this is all too good to be true right now. So with that being said, how much longer do you think it would be until I can schedule my surgery? Or at least, can anyone tell me if they were near the point that I am right now, how long it took them? I didn't think I would ever get to this point. I am really wondering though, I am currently 5'9" and I am flirting with 340lbs. I have a larger bone structure and I was wondering what a good size for me to shoot for would be. I kept saying I would love to be a size 10, but I'm wondering if that's too little. I currently wear a 24, sometimes 26 pants, and a 3x top. I also know that everyone is different. My sister had the gastric bypass back in 2000, and she was a 5x, she got down to a size 18 and looked unhealthy. I am worried that I will do that too. Any input will help right now! This is just all over the place, but I was practically typing what I was thinking at the time! Sorry!

I was at a meeting with a woman who lost 100 lbs with the bypass then gained it all back. she was looking into getting banded.

I am going to have the sleeve. My mom and sister both had the bypass. My mom 18 years ago and did great. She does have the carb dumbing/diarrhea. She also has a ton of gas and burping. Also she takes a ton of Vitamins through out the day. I personally think she has some issues with bone density as she has fallen and broken her wrist several times now. She also doesn't exercise or lift weights. That being said, I am going to have the sleeve because I didn't the deficiency aspect of bypass. I also didn't want to deal with bathroom issues the rest of my life. Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

It is massive! i have lost 75lbs. That is modest by some standards, but 1/3 of my pre-bypass body weight. Two things re riding: On my Royal Enfield, max capacity 170kg, my partner and I can both go on it together, but before we were combined a bit heavy! On my Triumph Bonneville, which we use for longer trips with my wife pillion, it used to cause her pain in the tendons at the top of her thighs. Now - not at all. She worked out - she needn’t spread her legs so far apart to get her knees either side of my backside!!! Generally - I am fitter, stronger, healthier. I am walking uphill, climbing stairs, lifting weights a bit - I feel the difference as I fling the bike around.....

Hi all I started my 6 months pre op diet on the 1st of this month so I am looking at having the gastric bypass in or around March time I think all being well is anybody able to explain the whole process please on what should happen from now and my surgery please? And also if any one is able to give me any advice or helping tips for the stage I'm at would also be very very helpful I am currently weighing in at 19 stone and feel so miserable so really hoping all goes well for me on this chance to being slim & healthy. Thanks in advance to anyone kind enough to leave me a reply xx

I've recently started adding bananas to my protein drinks because quite frankly, I was getting sick of them and getting nauseus (sp?) when I drank them. I told a friend of mine who had the Gastric Bypass and you would have thought I told her I was putting 5 lbs of plain sugar. She was just in shock that I would do such a thing! Am I doing something wrong? I told myself that it was because we had 2 different surgeries, and that's what made her react the way she did. I thought I'd ask the experts here on the board. Thank you!

Hi, I'm sorry but I have to respectfully disagree that one must eat only "healthy" foods with the band. I myself do eat smaller portions of what I was eating before, which was a varied diet of healthy and some "unhealthy" foods and I have lost nearly two pounds a week for the last six months for a total of 45 pounds down. Of course bandsters can't gorge on ice cream and milkshakes and chocolate all day long and still lose weight, but I enjoy all foods and do not eliminate any food at all. I eat pizza, hot dogs, chips, fries, everything. I also eat fish, whole grains, vegetables, Beans, and fruits. Everything I eat is in a very small portion and I don't second guess what I eat, only how much. Everyone is different but for me, I don't eliminate anything. The only thing I would say is if you eat huge amounts of ice cream or chocolate or other soft sweets (mousse, cheesecake, etc) and you don't think you can ever stop, then the band is not for you. It's really easy to drink milkshakes or eat a 1,200-calorie piece of cheesecake (yes, Cheesecake Factory cheesecake contains an average of 1,000-1,200 calories per slice!!!) with the band. That being said, I have still enjoyed ice cream and dessert in limited amounts since I got my band but I'm able to limit it because my sugar craving post-surgery is greatly reduced. As for band vs. bypass, I agree with all the other reasons listed such as adjustability, less hanging skin, greatly reduced death rate during surgery (1 in 2,500 as opposed to 1 in 100 for GB), no malabsorbtion, no need for supplements the rest of your life, etc.