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Ah, makes sense then. I have GERD too, have you tried Prilosec? The generic form is Omeprazole, I've had a prescription for a few years so all I pay are co-pays. Re: The revision - have you looked into some type of support group or counseling to work on underlying issues? If you "went back to old habits" after the sleeve, the same might unfortunately happen after a revision. I know a few people personally who have had bypass surgery, lost a ton of weight, and put it all back on a few years later.

This is why I told no one prior to my sleeve surgery. Best thing i couldve done. After the surgery, I did tell some close friends when i went on a girls trip and boy did the judgements flow!! Now that I'm considering sleeve to bypass revision, i told my mom i was "considering" it and she called me a few days later and told me i was gonna die on the table, yada,yada,etc. Told my boyfriend i was "considering" the revision surgery, he flipped and went on a "join the gym" rant. So back to dont ask, dont tell for me. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using the BariatricPal App

i just got back from lunch with my friend that had bypass surgery...i don't know what she ate that triggered her to dump...but i didn't see anything good about it...pretty scary that ur body reacts that way if u eat the wrong thing....

Stuff is no joke. Been up for past two hours with stomach cramps. Ugh Every so often with caution .... you can say that again! HW 242, SW 236- (Bypass 12/20/17) GW#1- 199 [emoji736] (2/11/18) GW#2- 180 [emoji736] (4/2/18) GW#3- 160 CW 175 5’6”

I became lactose intolerant after RNY gastric bypass surgery. This condition lasted for a couple months. I used "Muscle Milk Light (vanilla creme) Protein powder blended with Water and a half a banana.

Woow congratulations..its my one month surgiversary aswell.. I lost only 8kgs.. my progress is too damn slow.. i had mini gastric bypass.. anybody here wid very slow progress like me.. need support.. thank u Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I was approved today for my revision. I had a sleeve done in 2017. HW 255, LW 160, CW 210 😒. Anyway, I’ve had this horrible GERD and put off my revision all through COVID, I have Barrett’s esophagus, I’ll vomit from the reflux, bad teeth, and sores in my throat. So I’m getting this done, pretty nervous!! So my questions are- (wish I asked my dr, I was so nervous at my appointment my mind was blank) what is the diet like compared to the sleeve? Same? What does the restriction feel like compared to having a sleeve? I still have some restriction but can eat way more than I could the first year out from my sleeve. I’m hoping for weight loss along with getting this GERD resolved. So this is a fresh start I’m grateful for!

So my last nut class and weight management was Wednesday July 20th is haven't had my edg yet but the guy at my surgeons office says that he can put my down for August 26th then he was like I see you had your last class I said yes he was like well we will submit your paperwork to insurance and if everything goes well and I get approved they will do my bypass surgery on August 26th so now I'm freaking out on this waiting game I'm trying to stay positive I hope everything works out and I get approved I really need this surgery I've done everything to lose weight on my own since I was 6 but I've always gained double back, I suffer from high blood pressure, osteoarthritis, and a bad back injury from being hit by a drunk driver which requires me to get back injections every month which don't work my bmi is 50 so I'm hopping I can get it done. Please keep me in yalls prayers and positive vibes Sent from my SM-N920T using the BariatricPal App

So I had the appointment and I am extremely satisfied. What he lacks in bedside manner, he makes up for in knowledge and push to get it done right. I only had a few questions and he answered them thoroughly. The staff are the real workers in the process and they were all lovely. I think I will have surgery late November early December. So I have the next several months to get my act together.

I have been set the target of losing 30lbs 10% of my starting weight. It's been stressing me out a little because after 2 months of supervised DE I've only lost 6lbs. My NUT told me not to stress out too much that it's not set in stone. My original target date for surgery was November but I want to have it after the second week in December so I can have the time off.

I've got BCBS of IL, PPO through work. I also did the cost estimate on the BCBS website, and it basically said I only had to pay my max out of pocket for the procedure. I then checked my policy and confirmed that gastric bypass is covered. When I reached out to my insurance, these are the requirements they gave me in order for them to review my submission for approval. You'll notice that BCBS IL did away with the 6mo required diet back in Feb. 2012 (I pulled the current BCBS of IL medical policy on bariatric surgery and it notes when changes were made at the end of the policy). I've attached the policy PDF with the predetermination information at the beginning. "For a member to be considered eligible for benefit coverage of bariatric surgery to treat morbid obesity, the member must meet the following two criteria: Diagnosis of morbid obesity, defined as a: Body mass index (BMI) equal to or greater than 40 kg/meter (* see guidelines below for BMI calculation); OR BMI equal to or greater than 35kg/meters with at least one (1) of the following comorbid conditions related to obesity that have not responded to maximum medical management and that are generally expected to be reversed or improved by bariatric treatment: Hypertension, OR Dyslipidemia, OR Diabetes mellitus, OR Coronary heart disease, OR Sleep apnea, OR Osteoarthritis; AND Documentation from the requesting surgical program that: Growth is completed (generally, growth is considered completed by 18 years of age); AND Documentation from the surgeon attesting that the patient has been educated in and understands the postoperative regimen, which should include ALL of the following components: Nutrition program, which may include a very low calorie diet or a recognized commercial diet-based weight loss program; AND Behavior modification or behavioral health interventions; AND Counseling and instruction on exercise and increased physical activity; AND Ongoing support for lifestyle changes to make and maintain appropriate choices that will reduce health risk factors and improve overall health; AND Patient has completed an evaluation by a licensed professional counselor, psychologist or psychiatrist within the 12 months preceding the request for surgery. This evaluation should document: The absence of significant psychopathology that would hinder the ability of an individual to understand the procedure and comply with medical/surgical recommendations, AND The absence of any psychological comorbidity that could contribute to weight mismanagement or a diagnosed eating disorder, AND The patient's willingness to comply with preoperative and postoperative treatment plans." I'm sure your surgeon has an entire program already put together to meet pretty much all of these requirements. My surgeon is Dr. Jonathan Wallace at Suburban Surgical out in Hoffman Estates, and their practice is a pretty well-oiled machine at this point. I just had my initial consult with Dr. Wallace on 8/9, and I've already had my insurance confirmed by them and multiple appointments set up (first set of labs, psych eval, and two required nutrition classes). Hope this helps! I'm just starting my journey but I've done a TON of research already, if you can't tell Current BCBS IL medical policy on bariatric surgery as of 3.15.17.pdf

Same here! I'm hoping for a late October/early November surgery date This will be my early xmas gift to myself this year.

Hello everyone! I thought it would be helpful to have a detailed account of my experiences from first pre-op meeting through surgery (have a date but have not yet been sleeved) and perhaps beyond. These are my experiences which I think are fairly typical though yours may differ. Much of this same information is available here on bariatric pal but may take a bit more digging than I hope to lay it out here. So, let's begin. May of 2012: I began to seriously consider bariatric surgery and began hunting around for information and resources. It was then that I found Bariatric Pal. I thought my mind was made up about getting the lap band but after reading numerous posts here, I also began to consider gastric sleeve. The band seemed simplest and safest to me. After reading many, many posts here, I learned that that was not only untrue but that the band simply didn't work for most people. June of 2013: I finally got up the courage to see a surgeon about the surgery. After seeing him I was sold on the sleeve. It has a great long term success rate of an acerage of 60-70% (depending on the study) excess weight lost for five years or more. He highly discouraged the band and simply said it just doesn't have the success rate and he is not recommending them. August of 2013: I learned that my insurance at the time would not cover the sleeve, band or any other bariatric surgeries or weight loss programs. I was very upset but renewed my determination to lose weight "on my own". I did. I went from 385 lbs down to 305 and felt like a million bucks. I was absolutely positive I would shrink all the way down to my then goal weight of 225. Hah. Mid 2014: I ballooned back up to about 365/370 and began experiencing extreme knee pain, occasional chest pain, increased sleep apnea and rising blood pressure. My quality of life sucked. December 2014: I had a total right knee replacement. It was horrible. My weight prevented from attending the inpatient rehab clinics that I wanted to attend which had weight restrictions. I wound up in what was essentially an "old folks" convalescent home that made me feel old and invalid. I was ashamed to be there. February 2015: I severely injured my replaced knee while leaving physical therapy. I tore my hamstring and the tendon which attaches to the knee cap. It sucked and I know it was largely due to my weight. The injury still has not healed properly and I continue to feel very handicapped and I am only 48. I can not run at all and standing and walking long distances is out. I again renewed my efforts to lose weight. I went from about 375 to 345 by May and was feeling pretty good. May 2015: I learned I had a diaphragmatic hernia which is like a hiatal hernia but not as close to the esophagus. I had it repaired, which went well but developed an incisional hernia at the site of the laproscopic repair. My efforts at losing weight again turned around. It was at this time that I renewed my intention to get bariatric surgery. I came back to bariatric pal and researched Mexico. July 2015: I was just about set to go to Mexico. I did a skype consultation with Dr Altamirano in TJ and joined his FB group. I began putting the money aside in hopes of going in Mexico for surgery in December. I had strong reservations about Mexico at first but got over it after much reading on here, the consultation and the FB group. Still, I worried about follow up care if there were complications. I had new insurance at work but it still did not cover bariatric surgery. November 2015: I learned from some folks on here that they bought an insurance plan off the Obamacare insurance exchange and used it to cover their surgery right here in the U.S. Some of them even had it as a secondary insurance policy and it worked. My interest was piqued and I began exploring the exchange for an affordable policy that covered bariatric surgery. Some of the others I referred to had success with BC/BS of Illinois and I learned that Illinois requires companies participating in the exchange to cover bariatric surgery. Since I live in Illinois, this was great news! I found a policy that covered the surgery at 100% after a deductible of $3500. Steep but doable. The premium is $398 per month. January 2016: Now we're getting to the meat of the potato. I bought the plan off the exchange, receiving no discount, and it took effect on Feb 1st of 2016. It was the BC/BS IL PPO Silver Plan. Pretty good coverage after deductible. February 2016: I called the insurance company to verify benefits, and they were confirmed. I learned that they did not require a six month diet, or many of the other things that many insurance companies require. They simply said the require a "letter of pre-determination". I also learned that they do not cover the hospital or the surgeon that I initially consulted with. I researched their website and found out that Elmhurst Hospital, and their surgeons were covered. Hallelujah, I live in Elmhurst! I will pick up here later with details of my visits so far!

Hi, all! I'm new to bariatric pal and my consult is August 2. I will be setting a tentative surgery date along with scheduling tests my doctor requires. I've been educating myself on bariatric surgery and gathering information for a few months now. I'm still deciding between the gastric sleeve procedure or gastric bypass. I'm a patient care technician and I started my job back in April. I don't plan on having my surgery earlier than December, but I'm worried that requesting time off for an "elective" surgery would make me look like a bad employee. I also will only have 6 PTO (I work 9 days in a two week period) days saved by then and I'm sure I'll need at least 2 weeks off. My benefits are through this employer, so I want to stay in good standing and honestly? I really love my job. I believe the most time off I will need is 3 weeks. I hope to go back in 2 weeks and light duty for 1 week. Do you guys think my employer will have an issue with requesting time off for an elective surgery? Could I lose my benefits if I'm missing those three PTO days? How do I go about this process? I just don't even know where to start.

Could you do it right before christmas or New Years and use some of that holiday towards your recovery? I bet a lot of people go on vacation around that time too, so it wouldn't be unheard of. Did you tell them what you were having done? You could just let them know you are having surgery. And maybe if you need more days than you've accumulated you can take unpaid leave? Since I work on the computer from home, I'm not planning on taking any time off. I told my supervisor I may end up taking 1-3 sick days (or perhaps half days) but planning to be fully back by Thursday and my Dr was supportive. I didnt't have to do that, but I have so many things going on at work and I feel like it'll be a good distraction for me. I know your situation is different, and I have no idea how the recovery time for bypass is different. But I hope you'll recover quickly and that your job will be understanding about it!

I'm with Dr Garcia November 22! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I don't think your protein snack is a problem. There are two phases to gastric bypass surgery. These are the weight loss phase and the maintenance phase. The approach is different between these two phase. I am 4 years post op RNY gastric bypass. This describes the approach that I am using in the Maintenance phase. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery2.pdf

Hi everyone! My name is Pam, I'm from the Dallas area, and I was sleeved on 6/25/2013. My husband was sleeved on 5/6/13. It all started in August of last year. Two of my co-workers had VSG done during the same week (unbeknownst to the other!). Both of them weighed significantly less than me. Call it my wake up call. I had to finally accept the fact that I am morbidly obese at a BMI of 45. I went home that evening and told my husband I was interested in this "new" weight-loss surgery. I had never been interested in the bypass because I couldn't stand the thought of dumping syndrome. The sleeve surgery sounded perfect. To my surprise, he not only approved of my interest, but said he was interested too! We went to a seminar held by Dr. Nick Nicholson. That evening, we made our decision. My husband even told me he wanted to go first. He said because he had more to lose. I think he didn't want to chicken out after he saw me go through it! Since his surgery, he has lost 84 pounds, including pre-op diet. I have lost 44.8 pounds, including pre-op. I started my pre-op diet when he started his, so I lost quite a bit more than I would have otherwise. Reasons for wanting to lose weight (besides the obvious): We have 3 children: two teenage daughters and a 7 year old daughter. We have hardly any energy to do fun things with them, especially the youngest, who has ADHD. Going out to see fireworks last night was a big family outing for us! I am so excited and happy. I know this time I will succeed and get to my goal of at least 150 pounds. I want to have energy to give my children quality time. I am also grateful to have found this forum. I also attend a support group at work. I am a nurse who works for a health insurance company. We have a LOT of nurses who have had this surgery, especially since our insurance covers it. It is great to meet twice a month and compare notes.

Hi Everyone! I meet the surgeon for the first time tomorrow (well today)!! I'm so excited and scared at the same time. This has been a long journey so far and I still have a ways to go. I'm hoping for a surgery date in November as I have 2 more visits left with nutrition. I'm also nervous that the surgeon is going to say I need to have the bypass versus the sleeve (what I really want) because of my starting weight So I wanted to get some ideas on important questions I should ask the surgeon or questions that maybe you wish you would have asked but didn't! And did anyone's surgeon recommend 1 surgery but you chose another? I would definitely appreciate your responses Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I was being treated with Janumet and was getting close to needing insulin. I had to stop the meds the day before surgery. I had the bypass on Aug 10th and never went back on them. My blood sugar has been under control for 11 weeks. I thought it might change once I was back on solid food but it's still in remission which is what the surgeon called it. Sent from my CPH1607 using BariatricPal mobile app

November 3 is my surgery date too! I'm very excited and can't wait to get it done.

I was 35 bmi, no diabetes and 49yrs old. I had sleeve at doc's recommendation. If I'd had diabetes, he would have recommended bypass. I'm 7months out and no regrets.

Hi Everyone, I was wondering if any of you have allergies to soy and dairy? I had surgery (Gastic Bypass) on Dec 22. and knew it would be hard because of the allergy intollerances to soy and dairy but figured I would do ok with egg white protien and or brown rice protien or even bean protien. But as it has turned out I can not do any of them...I am struggling to get in Protein and was just wondering if anyone else has had this problem and how you dealt with it? I am able to eat half a slice bacon or half an egg at a time, but as you can imagine, I can not get in enough protien that way, as I juggle trying trying to get in enough Water versus the food! It has been a long haul and I am worried I am not doing very well... Any help would be greatly appriciated Thanks Shi-

Because of my history of crohn's disease and feeding tubes my Dr. will only to the sleeve. I was hoping for bypass. I am disappointed. I also have a hernia and an enlarged node on my pancreas. I'm irritated.

First, congratulations on being lucky enough to have insurance pay for either procedure. . .secondly, the choice is strictly yours. The band or gastric bypass is a personal choice. . .however, i've seen a lot of folks have a lot of problems with the RNY. . .infections causing tons of hospitalization, increased depression (hope your insurance can pay this if it should happen) higher mobidity rates (one person I know died 2 weeks after having it from complications - sorry) But again, the choice is definately yours to make, your the one who has to live with it. . . Good luck and the best to you!