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Hi, I am now planning to have surgery in Mexico as a self-pay after being denied twice by insurance. I am wondering what type of medical follow ups are usually needed after gastric bypass? I have a nutritionist at home that specializes in bariatrics so feel that I'm ok there, but what about hands-on medically? Are there any stitches that have to come out etc after returning home? For anyone who chose to go to Mexico, can you please share your post-surgery experiences for follow up care? I will be able to contact my surgeon as needed with any concerns etc, indefinitely and will stay in Mexico for 6 days after the surgery, but I am wondering about any medical things I would need to have done when I return home where I have to be physically present. My US surgeon (before insurance denied me) is not supportive of my decision to go to Mexico, but I feel comfortable with the surgeon and hospital I've chosen - but I think it would be awkward to have to go back to the US surgeon after surgery in Mexico. Thanks so much!

wow, im so proud and happy for you sweetie, im stalled also sometimes i wish i got the bypass

If you can't take ibuprofen for menstrual cramps and Tylenol doesn't work what else can we take? I am 2 months post-op of gastric bypass. Called Dr office but nurse never called back yet... I'm using heating pad but cramps seem more intense than usual.

Hi. We're right near each other. Im scheduled for November 11.

I'm not going to tell you to not do it... but, I would NEVER do it again. 1. The sleeve wasn't an option for me, it wasn't approved yet when I had the band installed, it was band or bypass, and I wish I went bypass back in 2011. 2. I had no hair loss with the band. I had no hair loss with the bypass either. 3. The stuff I should have been eating, I had issues with. There wasn't anything I "couldn't" eat, but things like grilled chicken, lettuce, leafy greens, all hurt to eat or would get stuck and I'd have to regurgitate it. 4. The first few months were great... then things just started to get problematic, I never had a psychical issue with the band, no erosion, no slippage, nothing of that nature, the band just stopped being effective, and there are PLENTY of reports like this. 5. Best tool was getting the band out and revising to the bypass. Honestly best thing WLS related that I've ever done was to dump the band and go with the bypass. Also, 2 of the major manufacturers of the band have either stopped production or sold off their lines, those companies no longer make parts for the bands. Something to think about. Why any honest surgeon would still be pushing these horrible little devices is so far beyond me it's not funny.

I’m getting my gastric bypass on 12/28. I will be celebrating the new year with a tiny glass of water. 😊

Hi all! What a great site! I had 3 doc visits and just met my surgeon las week. No date yet, I have to get an. EKG , labs, psych visit, 2 support group visits, upper endoscopy,sonogram of Abdomen and a nutrition consult... I mad all the appointments yesterday!! I have a 6 month wait for my ins co need to be monitored first by pop.. I'm 248 lbs at 5'1 and been heavy all my life! I'm 39 yrs old and very healthy, on no meds... Anyone wanna be buddies??

Congrats to you.. I have my last Nutrition appointment in November ... I'm Hoping for a date in December !!! :girl_hug:

Steph! You are doing fabulous. You are 50% to your goal. That is damned remarkable considering you had surgery in November. I am interested in this TV series as well. I have learned that we need to eat to live not live to eat. I eat everything in much more moderation. I find that if I don't deprive myself and allow myself to have just a little than I won't binge. I have started to ask myself questions before eating. Am I really hungry? Am I eating to live or living to eat? Am I eating this for any other reason than hunger? Do I really need this? Sometimes the answer is Yes to Do I really need this? But more often than not, it is I can wait or just a little. I seems to work for me. I gotta tell you the head has not caught up to body changes! Cindy

Hi guys, Have been a little absent in recent weeks - have been busy with work and trying to get consultants here. So I have finally made a decision having seen a consultant. I am going for the gastric bypass - just waiting on fund approval from insurance and then should be good to go. hope you are all well x

Mouse, I'm with you and I feel your pain. You have 6 days, you will drop the pounds, I'm sure of it. I'm on day 8 of a 30 day liquid pre op liquid diet. I'm allowed pudding, yogurt and cottage cheese but that sure is disgusting after a while. Instead of chicken Soup broth, I've ordered pho a couple of times and just eat that broth. It's yummy. Like you, my doc takes weight loss as an indicator that the liver is shrinking. If you're compliant, you will succeed. Also like you, my doc will cancel if I don't lose the weight, I am required to lose 23 pounds and my pre op start weight is 232. My first week I only lost 3.5 pounds so I've dedicated myself to the gym from now until 11/25 which is the day before my surgery. (Minus Sunday's :-)) mentally this is really difficult, but I just think about how fast time flies and I try to focus on Xmas coming up. By then, we will be on mushy/solids and will have lost 20 plus pounds, right? (Ish) time flies doesn't it, can you believe it NOVEMBER already? Holy cow. Well just blink, and it's December. Blessings to you all. Xoxo

I'm only 1 & 1/2 mo. out but it is the greatest thing I have ever done. It is work in that you have to watch what you eat still but the amount you eat is limited. I was lucky enough not to have any problems with the surgery itself. As a matter of fact it was the easiest surgery I have ever had! There really wasn' t any pain (except the gas pain OUCH) it was more like sort of sore or uncomfortable. The fill wasn't any trouble either. They deaden you before they stick you. I was afraid of the gastric bypass surgery... they just do too many things to your body that can't be undone. Good luck with your decision!

Howdy again! Well, I am writing this on Thursday, June 1st. It has been eight days since my banding. Well, Sunday, 5/28/06, came and went. I awoke a bout 9am and got dressed. I felt the pain still from stiches and had diarreha bad. I had decided to take another Immodium tablet, but this also handle the gas problem I was going through also. I went to church and saw several people who asked how I was feeling. I expressed my concern about the pain, the diarreha, and what I was eating. The service proceded well until the Come Forward for prayers. I went forward to Pastor Doug and asked for continual prayers and I just started to cry uncontrollable. While he was praying for me, I just heard that little voice speaking to me -- which I believed was the Holy Spirit. He said that God Loved Me and would be there for me. It was the peace in which I heard it. I want you to know that I always pray for Pastor Doug -- as I trust me as I do Pastor Walker -- that they are men I listen to because of their belief in God and how he leads us all. After service, I went to the movies and saw The Hedge. It was a good movie, but I don't know if I would get it on DVD. That's is another story. I went back to the hotel and spent most of the day with Shawn. We just watched tv most of the day and played on our laptops. Took my pain medicine and fell asleep. Monday, March 29, 2006. It is memorial day. We must have slept late to about 10am. I played on the laptop some more, while Shawn watched "The Price Is Right!" My God, how Shawn does love Bob Barker. It is one of his deepest dreams to be on that show. Who knows -- he probably will be on it one of these days before Bob Barker retires. Mostly, just rested and decided to get a new blender just for my Optifast diet packets. Well, I did have the chololate Optifast...which was delicious....aded some cold skim milk instead of water to it. Well, we are going back to the apt on Tuesday about 1pm. So, Shawn fell asleep and I prepared for bed. Gosh, I am hungry, but I am afraid to get something to eat because I might get another case of diarreha. Sometimes, I still wonder if I was sure I should have gotten this lap banding. :think Oh wonderful, it is Tuesday and I got up early. Shawn and I went to Vic's place -- I had a small cup of grits and runny soft egg -- a little bit early for "mushy" food. It still tasted good. We went back to the hotel and we got our stuff together. I loaded my Tracker with my clothes, my laptop, and medicines. Shawn loaded his stuff into the Ford Contour. I checked out at the office. It was a nice hotel, but I don't think I would want to spend another week at a place like this. The office isn't readily available -- it is only open 11am to7pm each day except Sunday, when it is closed. Well, I got home, but Shawn decided to go shopping for some reason. Anyway I dropped off my stuff and went to the movies. I went to see a horror movie, but I ended up coming back home after I developed diarreha. It was about 3pm and Shawn was home. I went to sleep for a few hours -- about 4hrs. We decided to just stay in after getting some groceries amid my thought to have an Optifast shake. I didn't have the shake, but I did have an individual mash potatoes and it tasted good with the little gravy they put on it. Well, I knew I would be busy on Wednesday morning into the afternoon. I woke up at 8am and got dressed to go and work out at 8:30am at Lifetime Fitness w/ Megan, my personal trainer. My God, it felt good to get there, but I felt strange. It was about 8:20am, I saw Megan and advised I would walk for 10mins to warm up. I was a little light headed, but figured it would be ok once I got into working -- boy, was I wrong. Before we started, I asked Megan to weigh me. I weighed in at 380lbs. A loss of 9lbs per the prior week's weigh in. (I get weighed two more times with surprises!) About 5mins into the workout, I began to get really light headed, but pushed on. After 15mins, I did something to my right shoulder, but Megan showed me how to stretch it and the pain went away. We continued for another 15mins, as we were almost done, but I was too light headed to finish. So, I told her that I would see her on Saturday. She knew I was going to Dr. Veninga's office to see Barb for my "one week follow-up." It was about 9am, so I got a protein shake w/strawberries and whey protein. It tasted really good. I waited until 9:30am and left for Dr. Veninga's office. I was stil light headed but not as bad. I guess my body was still adjusted to the lack of food it was use too. It was undergoing retraining on what it would be getting and how much. After meeting with Barb, she weighed me. I weighed in at 374lbs. If I used the weigh-in from Trinity Medical Center's D.S..U. weigh-in of 392lbs. That would be an 18lbs loss. (Ok, I chuckled. I loss weight, but a six pound difference). She advised me of several things, especially, I should not have been on a "clear liquid" diet for those three days out of the hosptial. I did express my concern of taking the Immodium and Gas-X tablets. She said that it is ok, but once it was cleared up not to take them. (I would notify the office anyways if I took anything or was contemplating taking for other issues). I had to see Dr. Feinstein at 1:45pm, so I had about 2hrs plus before I saw him. I decided that since I was feeling light headed still to take a nap. So, I went home and slept good. Shawn wasn't back yet, but I left the apartment to go to my appointment. It was strange to go back to his office as you might want to note that Dr. Feinstein was the original one who said I would have been a candidate for Gastric bypass (only this was said in 2002). After filling out a new patient packet form(s) and paying my co-payment, I got to see Dr David Feinstein. He has changed little, but his office is now added other services -- not going into those. He was surprised to see me, but was very nice. He had a new intern doctor in his office and was following him around -- he was in on our session -- I didn't mind this. I gave Dr Feinstein glowing adulations. He looked at my "old" medical information -- telling me my blood sugar levels of over 4 years ago. I advised him that his assistant didn't have a chance yet to do the blood tests and other pre-visit tests for the doctor. So, he and the intern left and the assistant came back in to do the tests. My blood sugar was 155 and my blood pressure was 126/78 (both were great!!!). She weighed me at 376lbs. (that was a surprise when I told her the prior two weigh-ins). Now, Dr Feinstein began to ask questions and was surprised when I advised I had gastric work done, but not the bypass. It was the lap banding done on 5/24/06 ... just one week ago. I also, explained that I had weighed in and had three different results, but some average about 375lbs. I will take that weight loss of about 11lbs to 18lbs. The doctor advised me to keep measuring my blood surgars and fax it in next Tuesday before making any adjustments in my medicines. Well, I left his office and decided to go to the movies ... so, I went to see "Keeping up with the Einsteins." A delightful movie about the young man coming of age and how they "spend so much money" to "keep up with the jones" syndrome. It was hilarious. Well, it was time to go home and I slept most of the day. Shawn went out for a while and I was playing on the laptop when he got home. We watched a new TV showing deal with the best game shows of the past. It was a good show. Well, I ended up going to bed. Well, I will end this entry and begin the new one on the day it was written. God still Loves you Ron! Ron Sutton Banded 5/24/06 - 392lbs. Avg weight loss in 8days, 18lbs.

I had a follow up with the surgeon's office today. They submitted my info to insurance last week seeking authorization. 2 hours before my appointment, they got the call that I was approved! I really thought they might have to fight a little. My BMI is 40, but they required 5 years of obesity. I've been a yo yo dieter since I was like 9 years old. When I looked over my 5 year history with the doctors office, there were years I was in a decent range and then years I wasn't. She said it went through smoothly though. I have thought about surgery many times over the past 15 years, but I always decide against it. In November of last year, I decided enough was enough, it was time to pursue. I felt so discouraged though when they said I had to wait six months and do the supervised diet. My first appointment wasn't until January. The six months wasn't too bad. I was wishy washy a bit during that time. Do I really need to go this route? Is it too extreme? Will it even work for me? And it gave me enough time to come to a firm decision that this is the right move. I only recently told my husband about it. He probably thinks the process went very quickly. They gave me a surgery date of July 20th today. However, I think I need to change it and go the following week if they can. I'm supposed to go away that weekend and I doubt I'd be up for that. I'm considering cancelling our trip instead. I'll see what my husband says tonight. I really am excited! I can't believe my life is about to change! I get to be ME again and break out of this awful prison shell of a body!!!

Hi! I am 10 days post gastric bypass surgery, but I am really scared because I am able to eat a lot of yogurt and I’m scared I stretched my pouch! Is this possible or am I spiraling?

Well, I've only recently explored eating out (I'm 4 weeks post-op) and I can tell you right now the main thing you are going to be looking for on a menu is Protein, protein, protein. The things that I have ordered while eating out: (at a BBQ sit down restaurant) smoked turkey sandwich (not deli turkey, real sliced turkey) without the bun and I did order fries on the side but gave them all away (at Red Robin) the ensenada chicken platter with one chicken breast (you can have one or two) didn't eat the salad and took half the chicken breast home (at Boston Market) I took some turkey and the smallest scoop of mashed potoates from my daughters plate (at Qdoba) mexican gumbo (no rice, cheese, tortilla strips or sour cream) I brought it home and calculated out how many WLS servings were in it and figured I could portion it out into 6 different meals. I had 3 over the course of two days and took the other 3 and froze them in ziplock bags I am going to be learning how to do this in a whole different way. If you are looking for some great inspiration check out www.theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com she is a bypass patient who loves to cook and will re-invent her leftovers into a new dish. Other things you can do is offer to share a dish with someone, ask for a to-go box right off the bat, etc. Eating out can be tricky at first, but it is definitely workable! You can't stop enjoying life and become a hermit crab just because you had WLS. You will still enjoy eating out but it will just be different. I am enjoying being satisfied with SO MUCH LESS food now, I love it!

What a fantastic birthday present! I turn 30 in November so this is a big step. I get sleeved 9/3! I too have only told a handful of people and feel alone...not all support this step

I've had 3 fills now (4cc's total) and I don't feel any different! I actually gained weight at my last visit! I do my portion control but stay hungry. In November I will be 1yr out from surgery and I am only down 30lbs I feel very discouraged.. Anyone else facing this issue?

I had the band put in 9 years ago. I had a lot of heartburn and throwing up. I was thinking of have the sleeve as my sister lost 100+ lbs. I've decided to have gastric bypass as I was told I would not have acid reflux with it. I'm due to have surgery in the next month or so.

I'm having the same dilemma though am also leaning towards the bypass. The sleeve seems like a good idea because it's a simple operation but so is the lapband and in the long run that turned out to work not so well. I think a lot of the places that used to push the band are now pushing the sleeve for the same reason the band was attractive

My dr referred to the bypass as the Gold plan and also said that since I have reflux I should have bypass. Sleeve will make reflux possibly worse

I'm having the same decision. I went to True Results in Houston and I was advised to get a Lap Band. I did my researched on the Lap Band and didn't like what I found. True resukts only do Lap band or Gastric Sleeve. So I changed my mind and started the paprework to get sleeved. Today I found out that I was approved fr the sleeve, but now I'm having some serious doubts. If I'm going to get a WLS why don't I go for the gusto. I also have a sugar addiction, so I can see myself wolfing down hard candy after I get sleeved. I made an appointment to see a doctor who specialize in Gastric Bypass. Decisions, Decisions, Decisions.... The only good thing is I know I will get approved for whatever WLS I choose.

My endoscopy results were not as good as I wanted. I have Barrettes esophagus which are pre cancer cells. I wanted the sleeve today my surgeon said I can't get the sleeve because of Barrettes so now I have to have the bypass. My surgery date is August 18th. I'm a little disappointed.not having the sleeve. I'm so worried about dumping syndrome. I'm if I don't eat fats and sugar I should be alright. Can someone tell how they are doing with the bypass surgery. How long where you out of work?

Hi to all, Yes, God is awesome. This is my story. I live in New-Brunswick, Canada and just 4 months ago, the government was not paying for the lap band surgery put the other gastric bypass were. I had to pay 1,600.00 and the government would of paid the same amount. Plus I would of had to go to Moncton in orther to have the surgery and Moncton is 2:30 from here. So it would of mean miss my work (hard to do, I'm a ressource teacher), I didn't have the money first of all for the surgery and even to pay the gaz to go. I went to my regular appointment at the diabetes clinic and guess what? A new Dr. was coming to Bathurst which is 10 minutes from my place and the government decided to pay entirely for the surgery. I went to see Dr. Savoie the new surgeon and he gave me his OK. He said I would be the perfect candidate for the lap band surgery. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. I can really see God's hand on that. clempier New-Brunswick Canada

Sending thoughts and prayers! Have you had your gallbladder checked? Keto doesn't have to be all fat all the time, but a little bit of fat shouldn't make you miserable. If you've got gallstones or gallbladder problems, it can cause problems digesting fat. As for the reflux, sleeves can make that much worse, and I've heard of plenty of people needing revisions from a sleeve to a gastric bypass for that very reason. Hope you get some answers soon!