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Hello! I posted about a month ago, asking questions about banding. From there I prayed, and researched (more) and decided the band is exactly to tool I need to succeed with my weight loss goals. I've so confused about all the insurance stuff. I called member services and they said the surgery is coverage and gave me a link to the clinical policy bulletin which reads... Aetna considers open or laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB), open or laparoscopic biliopancreatic diversion (BPD) with or without duodenal switch (DS), or laparoscopic adjustable silicone gastric banding (LASGB) medically necessary when the selection criteria listed below are met. Selection criteria: A. Presence of severe obesity that has persisted for at least the last 2 years, defined as any of the following: Body mass index (BMI)* exceeding 40 My BMI is 53 (good lord), and I have high BP. It also says naturally that you have to over 18 and done growing, attempted weight loss in the past without success in long term reduction, and meet either criterion 1 (physician-supervised nutritional and exercise program) or criterion 2 ( multidisciplinary surgical preparatory regimen). I am working with a weight management and bariatric surgery center near me. I have to complete consults, and tests with all sorts of different people on the team including attending support groups, and lose 5% of my body weight before surgery - it's a 3m process. So I'm assuming this meets criterion 2. Aetna words it like this: Criterion 2. Multidisciplinary surgical preparatory regimen: Proximate to the time of surgery, member must participate in organized multidisciplinary surgical preparatory regimen of at least three months duration meeting all of the following criteria, in order to improve surgical outcomes, reduce the potential for surgical complications, and establish the member's ability to comply with post-operative medical care and dietary restrictions: Consultation with a dietician or nutritionist; and Reduced-calorie diet program supervised by dietician or nutritionist; and Exercise regimen (unless contraindicated) to improve pulmonary reserve prior to surgery, supervised by exercise therapist or other qualified professional; and Behavior modification program supervised by qualified professional; and Documentation in the medical record of the member's participation in the multidisciplinary surgical preparatory regimen at each visit. (A physician's summary letter, without evidence of contemporaneous oversight, is not sufficient documentation. Documentation should include medical records of the physician's initial assessment of the member, and the physician's assessment of the member's progress at the completion of the multidisciplinary surgical preparatory regimen.) Sounds like my program right? I called my Aetna AGAIN to be sure they cover this surgery and she again assured me that it is covered so long as I meet the criteria and to bring the criteria to my NP consult. I know I have to wait to be approved after all my testing etc, but I'll (like anyone else) be so gutted if I'm denied. Anyhow, I'm waiting for June 30th for my NP consult and I'm so excited!! I've been reading everyone's stories and looking at before and after photos and I'm so impressed with the lot of you!! So inspirational. :confused:

I have been jumping through hoops I feel like since November of last year to get this surgery approved and different requirements kept coming up. I'm with stay well medicaid by the way. Anyways all my information was submitted today to see I will get approved for an early June surgery. Is anyone else having a similar experience or is anyone waiting for approval now? If so how long did it take you to get to this stage and get approved?

Hey everyone! I'm Sierra. I'm fifteen years old and a sophomore in high school. I know there is a lot of controversey over teenagers doing weight loss surgeries but, hear me out? I am not completely oblivious to the struggles all people go through when they have a weight loss surgery. I have witnessed my mom have the gastric bypass surgery a few years ago. that made me aware about these types of surgeries and it showed me that, it was definitely not an easy thing to go through. my mom was 400 pounds, before the surgery, now, shes 234 pounds. and that's after she had a baby. i am very proud of my mom and all she has accomplished in her journey to get where she is today. two years ago, i was really looking into these weight loss surgeries, three to be exact. gastric bypass, gastric lap band and the gastric sleeve. i had come to the conclusion that, i think the gastric bypass is a bit extreme and i don't really want it. you have to be at least eighteen years old to have the lap band done and who wants to feel that thing inside of you. then i realized that since the gastric sleeve surgery was so new at the time, the doctors and professors were unaware of the death rate.. that scared me enough to the point where, i completely backed down, from all of them. but, here i am two years after the fact.. i have a ton of medical problems, some include; diabetes, bladder issues, fatty liver disease, PCOS (polycestic ovarian syndrom), depression, high cholesterol and high triglycerides. and a bunch more. i've had these medical problems for quite some time, but they have never been this out of control.. i take at least 14 pills a day to try to control these problems.. but it seems as if they're not working like they should.. my pedetrician asked me this very question the other day, "have we ever thought about gastric weight loss surgeries?" "i feel like, we should look into them again, since you have diseases that won't allow you to lose weight as hard as you try, maybe we can try to get rid of them altogether by having a weight loss surgery" she said. I'm not going to lie, i got pretty exciting, here i am, not only getting rid of my diagnosises, i'm also not going to be that, 198 pound 15 year old girl, nobody wants to hang out with. (: so, as of right now, i have an appointment with healthy weight and nutrition at childrens hospital in columbus on july 23rd. i'm excited, but i would like some advice from people who have actually had this gastric sleeve surgery before, message me on here or feel free to comment below. Thanks! -Sierra.

So, I went to the seminar last night. The surgeon said the following statistics 1 in 150 people maintain significant weight loss when left to thier own devices...less than 1% eek! Note: surgery failure = 25% regain BYPASS = 20% SWITCH = 10-15% SLEEVE = 20-25% So, I am looking for long term inspiration. I am fascinated at the Before&After thread. But I'm curious about the long "termers" Sent from my SM-G920V using the BariatricPal App

I was sleeved 1/21/13, prior to surgery I found out I was diabetic and started a very carb-free diet so from November 8th to surgery date I lost 27 pounds. Then since surgery I have lost 14 pounds in the first week, not much weight in 5 weeks and 3 days. I would love to share MFP name with someone who can take a look at it and tell me what I am doing wrong. I have a fit bit and I am burning more than I am taking in. I started running\walking 2 miles a day 4-5 times a week. I am getting my protein in, water in and exercise in. I know I may be in a stall but for over 4 weeks I have not lost a pound?? This is so discouraging! My clothes are loose but how could I be losing inches and the scale is not going down?? Even if I put the scale away for sometime I would have pulled it out by now. I just do not know what to do?? HELP!

Hi my name is Morgan. I had gastric bypass back in April 2013. My highest weight was 279 and at my lowest weight I was 159. I've gone through a really rough time past 6 months or so and I am up to 180. I want to get back down to my goal weight of 130. Does anyone have any tips? I'm so desperate for help of any kind or advice or someone to talk to about it. My email is mleec16@outlook.com. please email me if you have any advice or tips or just wanting to talk would bring my spirits up so much!

i met with the surgeon today and i was ready with all the reasons i wanted the lap band and not gastric bypass. i had a list ready because i was under the impression that must dr's push gastric. my primary doc does. but to my shock and amazement the surgeon said i was a perfect candidate because of my eating habit and was told to start thinking of a surgery date. imagine my amazement walking out no fight no argument just ok set up an appt truly everyone's journey is different.

I am 3 years post-op RNY gastric bypass. One of my projects after surgery was to construct an underground shelter. As a result I moved a lot of gravel and cement landscaping blocks. So a couple years ago I moved 100,000 pounds of gravel by hand along with around 60,000 pounds of concrete blocks and then last year I moved about the same amount. After surgery, I found that I had a lot more stamina [ability to perform physical labor] than before surgery. I am 67 going on 68 years old and I developed the stamina of when I was in my 30's.

I am not sure if my profile is still active, I'll have to go back and check. I used to belong to lapbandtalk.com which I beleive ws rolled into here. My surgery was 2008 and it was hugely successful. I went from 270 down to my goal weight of 195 in a year. My wife with the full bypass went from 300 to 160 where she has been for about 8 years. We were featured as successful examples in a commercial for our local hospital. I was feeling so good I rekindled my love of running and finally finished the lifetime goal of a marathon in 2011. Shortly after that my back began to fail and my weight went up a little, but still way below that former high. I eventually needed spinal fusion surgery and I couldn't do much physically for a long time and my weight ended up as high as 240 again. I still have the band and it is set to a pretty good place, I have to be careful what I eat, but I did manage to gain weight again. Part of it was depression not being as physically capable. I don't think I waited long enough. 16 months after surgery I am finally feeling like I can do physical things again and have finally motivated myself to try again. Here we go round 2, this time I only need to lose 25-35 pounds.

Day 6 status post roux-en-y gastric bypass surgery. The past five days of a clear liquids diet has made it abundantly clear to me that if I thought I had turned a new leaf, I definitely hadn't. Me: I'm hungry Ed: Oh, that food smells so good, doesn't it? It would be so good to take a bite. Look at it, just sitting there. Me: I'm going to turn away and not look at that Ed: Yeah, but whoops! There it is again. One of your kids left a perfectly good bowl of noodles drenched in Alfredo sauce just sitting there. Oh, the thought of eating it! Me: Distract! I'm going upstairs! Ed convinced me to just try purees a few days before I was supposed to. I did. It went okay, so he talked me into advancing the diet to purees a day early. I countered and decided on full liquids (liquids you can't see through but that still go through a strainer, like milk). Except he talked me into cottage cheese at night, just for fun, and I struggled to resist him. Me: One cup, and that's enough. Ed: Fill you up! Fill you up! Oh, it feels so good to fill you up! Don't you love that stuffed feeling? Don't you feel better now? Go take another cup. You can, you know, it's legal. Me: But I felt sort of full even before I finished the first one. I won't have a second one. Ed: DOOOO IT! Get up! That's right! Go over there and get another one, and make sure you pack it tight too! Level it off so it looks legal. There. Make an excuse now. Me: (to my daughter) "And I even get to have seconds! To think that this would have been two bites in the past -- haha! -- sigh." I don't want to eat another. Ed: But it does look so good. Really savor it. That's how you can justify it. You have 30 minutes to eat and it's only been 15, so you may as well. Me: But it doesn't taste so good any more. And I feel full. Ed: EAT IT! Me: Okay. And then later when I was in my daughter's room: Ed: Look! It's those powdered rice crispy things. What are they called? Puppy chow? There's three on her desk -- no SIX! Jackpot! You can take them without her looking. Do it! Me: I am not going to take them. They are soooo not on the diet! Ed: Take those three! There. You got them. Now the other three, right back there. She can't see you. Me: Why am I doing this. I'll throw them in the trash can. She noticed I'm doing something. Ed: No you won't. Walk out. Hide your hand. Real casual like, by your side, as if nothing were in it. Me: I'm going to dump them in the trash when I get out. This could really hurt me if I eat them. Ed: Eat them. Just chew them up good. Me: But the carbs! It's pure refined flour and sugar! Ed: Eat them! Good, good, now another... and another... Chew them slowly if that makes you feel better. Me: God. I hope I don't get dumping from this. How can I have cheated the first day I'm off clear liquids? Ed: Except you weren't, right? We ate that baby food meat for two days now, didn't we? Me: I feel so awful. Ed: There you go. You blew it. You didn't need any more food, but you had it anyway, didn't you. Didn't it feel good though? Me: No. It didn't. I feel horrible. Ed: You should. You never really will learn. You're going to start a blog, aren't you! You think you'll stick to that daily schedule you made today? You won't. You'll get bored like you always do and walk away. Sure, sure, maybe you'll get published some day, or maybe you'll just help someone. But really, you're going to quit like you quit everything else. You probably just gained back some of those pounds that you lost. And you didn't exercise today either. Hah! Fat lotta motivation you had for that, right? Me: But I thought... I was at least trying... Ed: But you failed as usual. Put it off. Screw this. Go to bed like you always do. Me: Okay. I'm not trying to shift the blame. There is no other person who is "forcing" me to eat the way I do. These are conversations I have in my head all day long. However, I've begun to read a book called Life Without Ed (Jenni Schaefer, 2004). In it, the author describes how she became the patient of Thom Rutledge and conquered her eating disorder by process of separating herself from these thoughts that had become so very internalized to her and later, as a separate "being" was able to end the relationship she had with the eating disorder/ED/Ed. I'm hoping that by blogging along as I read the book, I can experience some of the recovery that she has. Although the author describes a cycle of "starving, bingeing, then purging," it is just as easy for me to substitute the words "eating until I can't feel any more." Too easy. I have sought help for the craziness that causes me to eat when I'm not hungry, to eat until I'm stuffed, and then to eat more, but I'm told this is not an eating disorder. Like hell it isn't! So for now, those of us who don't binge and purge or starve ourselves, those of us who just have a problem with "poor food choices," or "portion size" and "not enough exercise" can go through the motions and get ourselves weight loss surgery. But why do so many of us not reach our goal, or gain so much of the weight back, eventually? Because we still are in the grips of disordered eating, or whatever you want to call the process that makes us want to eat when we're not hungry. I didn't even know that another way of eating existed until I had my third daughter. If she is not hungry, she will not eat. Plain and simple. She "saves up her hunger" when she knows she is going to her dad's for visitation, because she doesn't want to disappoint him by not eating. You see, if she forgets and has a snack after school, then she literally cannot eat dinner at his house, and ends up having a late dinner with me when she comes home. Or she will just skip dinner altogether, since she doesn't like feeling full at bedtime. One time I found a third-eaten Reeses Peanut Butter Cup laying on the counter. I had just enough restraint to ask her what that was all about before I devoured it in one bite. Her answer? "I took a bite and then I wasn't hungry any more." I gave birth to this child? Seriously? She definitely has her dad's genes, those of the calm observation that "If you just stopped eating after supper, you'd lose a lot of weight. It worked for me!" And of course it did. He snacked out of boredom or because he liked the taste of the food, but he really could take it or leave it. So he left it, and reached his goal weight within a month. If only it were that simple for the rest of us. But I see that I've gone on a rant, so I'll just shut up now and go to bed.

Pixelsmack, Have you researched the gastric sleeve? Maybe this would be an option for you. I am a 45 year old female. When banded I had a bmi of 53. The band was my first and only consideration for WLS. I have Kaiser insurance and Kaiser was pushing the bypass to me and I am completely against it. I know several people who have had bypass and all but 3 of them have gained most of their weight back. One of them is in ICU with liver failure brought on by her bypass 6 years ago. One of them died and one other has had serious complications and multiple surgeries to repair these complications. I chose the band because of the low risk associated with it. I will use the band to its full advantage for weight loss and I will not give up. It will work for me because for me it is the only option I am willing to put my body through. I had my surgery in Mexicali, MX done by a surgeon who has performed over 2000 of these proceedures. Everything went well and I have no problems and I am loosing. Good luck to you and don't be discouraged. If I were you I would make gastric bypass my last option. Try the band first. Banded 4/17/09 Start weight/surgery weight/current weight/goal 330/319/288/170

Hi Everyone! I am back with an update. I am having my band removed on June 4, 2015 and six months later will have the gastric bypass procedure. I did lose 34 pounds with the band, which is awesome. The weight loss has helped me be more active. However, I am almost seven years out and I am having band issues, which include port pain which is not associated to a fill; loss of a lot of fill Fluid within weeks of a fill; and being stuck which landed me in the hospital. So, to the banded veterans, are you having your band removed or is it removed already? AND are you having another WLS procedure? Please share. Thanks,

Lost 100 pounds through my band seven years ago and maintained but regained 50 due to two pregnancies and a major slip. Just revised to mini bypass last Friday. Very happy to have had my band but very happy to revise also!

Hi there everyone!!! Well, I am going to be an official bandste in just 13days!!! Finally, on November 3rd, I get to join the lapbandland!!!! I am just so excited!!!! I can barely wait!!!!!:cool:

http://gastricbypasstruth.com/145/how-gastric-bypass-surgery-patients-can-lose-35-more-weight

There are two of us under the thread "October Surgery date." Mine is October 28 and the other is Oct 20th. She is also a revision from lapband to bypass. We should follow each other

How awful!!! I can't even imagine. When I worked in a GI clinic I saw a few cases like this. That is why I decided to never consider bypass surgery. I will keep Jessica and her family in my prayers.

Hi Joan, I had my surgery November 5th. I had Dr. Moon. The surgery went fine except that he "nicked" my spleen and had to put a couple of stitches in it. I was in the hospital for 4 days. It was a slow go for me. I don't know if it was my age (50) or just that I just had a slow go at it. I couldn't lie flat in my bed for a week after. I had to sleep sitting up on the couch. That is expected though, the sleeping in a recliner or any other comfortable position you can fine. :-) I just now started losing some weight. I wasn't really following the program for the first month and a half and didn't lose anything. I've had 2 fills since then. I now have 5.5cc in a 10cc band. It has given me restriction. I lost 8 pounds last week (mostly Fluid I'm sure) and 2 pounds this past week. So, I'm starting to see results. I'm now following what Colleen has told me to do and keeping a journal of what I eat. Makes you more consious (sp?) of what you're doing. Anyway, I wish you well with your surgery and you will go through all of the feelings as the time approches. Scared, excited, nervous, can't wait, anxious and all the other normal fears. Don't worry, go in with a possitive attitude and a determination to make this thing work and you'll be fine. Just like me! :-) I had all the above emotions too and almost cancelled, but am glad I didn't. So far that is. haha Take care. Blessings, Dianne

Do you currently have issues with heartburn? Do you take NSAIDs (ibuprophen, aleve, diclofenac etc)? If you suffer from any kind of heart burn now, there's a greater chance that sleeve will make it worse. I you take NSAIDs on a regular basis, the sleeve is for you because you are not dealing with such a small pouch as you do with bypass and is safer with sleeve.

It depends on how much u have to lose. If under 100 pounds I'd do the sleeve if over I'd go with bypass. I had bypass and it's been very helpful in reaching my goals. If you're child bearing age and plan to have a child I'd do a sleeve. I find sleeve you lose quickly but it's much easier to gain back as it doesn't appear to change your blood sugar levels like RNY gastric bypass. If you're diabetic do the RNY. There are many variables. Best to discuss with your surgeon. I initially wanted the sleeve but my surgeon said you're very big so better to do the bypass. I've reached a healthy bmi and feel amazing but I take my vitamins and have my protein daily.

Hello my name is Lorrie and have just found out about the gastric sleeve Fri. by my Dr. so reading all I can about it before going to 1st meeting. My sister had a gastric bypass many years ago and after watching what she went through I never wanted any thing to do with weight loss surgery. I now am at a point in my life that I want be healthier to enjoy life!

This brings up a good point, the cost for 4 weeks in the hospital was $10,500 yet that complication fund pays him (according to his own stats) $50K per each complication. That's a big profit. Is he a doctor or an insurance company? I agree completely, I never blamed him for the leaks or liver laceration. I made it really clear that all doctors are going to have leaks and complications eventually. It's not the leak, it's the costs involved. That wasn't my issue. My issue is when she originally wrote THIS: Since when is bypass safer than a sleeve? Since when is a bypass leak safer than a sleeve leak? That's just untrue information. This is where we will have to agree to disagree. It is as I wrote earlier, what matters to me is different from what matters to you. That's how life works, we all HAVE to find a doctor that meets our individual requirements. We did that and that is all that matters.

No, this is not a board to push one doctor over another. It does happen to be that many here were operated on by Dr. Aceves but he has nothing to do with this website. I know I never suggested you go to Aceves. I never suggested ANY doctor to you. I just told you a bit of what I know about Joya, that's all. So unless you can show me where I pushed him on you I'm not really sure how you can suggest that this board pushes any given doctor. I have never ever claimed that Aceves was the only good surgeon. I have always pushed research, LOTS of research. Rumbaut is excellent as well. There used to be another one but his location is so bad and dangerous that I do not suggest him and he's been having a lot of problems lately. People coming home and having to have emergency surgery to fix something that went wrong. The person that had the liver issue with Dr. Joya posts here. She's been posting this morning. It's in her OH profile, or it used to be. She does not blame Dr. Joya for the liver issue... it happens. It's a risk with this surgery. Her issue was that nobody told her she would have to pay the additional $1200 until the day of her discharge and they were not open to her leaving the hospital until it was paid. They were very limited in forms of payment they would take. Had she known this up front when the complication first happened she would have had more time to prepare and take care of the additional bill. He had no complication fund before that. And speaking of the "complication fund," most of the good surgeons in Mexico cover complications themselves. Consider this, he claims complications happen in less than 1% of his cases. $500 x 100 is $50,000. The liver complication was $1200. That would mean he's making a pretty good profit on his complication fund. Complications are very unlikely to cost $50K in Mexico. Again, in my mind it goes back to ethics. You are okay with this and that's fine. I am not, I see it as an issue of ethics. It is not a matter of my doctor is better than your doctor, it is a matter of I require different things from my surgeon than you do and again, that's okay. That's why there is no surgeon that is a one size fits all kinda person. We all require different things from our surgeons. Leaks... they happen. So be it, all surgeons have them eventually. Nobody is downing Joya for having a leak. That wasn't the issue. It was his telling someone that leaks are basically easier and safer with bypass than sleeves. That person also posts here. She had her consult the day before surgery with Dr. Joya and he encouraged her to get a bypass instead of a sleeve. She was in a mad dash the night before surgery to research bypass. She ended up with a sleeve. She is also the one that explained about the person that had a leak and was still battling it 4 months later. The person was there while she was. I have to say, I stand behind my original post. I've been reading WLS boards for a long time and after time you can see trends with doctors. Some doctors have more issues than others. Some are flat out liars. Over time you see trends on various doctors. Dr. Aceves is probably the one in Mexico that does the most sleeves so you are going to see a lot of his patients posting. It's the way it is, it will be the same on any board where a lot of Mexican sleeved patients post. That doesn't mean he has anything to do with this board, he simply does more sleeves than other doctors so I'm not sure it is fair to jump to the assumption that he has something to do with this board. Really, it's kind of unfair to the man IMHO.

Well, the truth is that I've some problems since I've had the lap band and it doesn't seem to be working for me and I might need the extra help you get from gastric bypass with the malaobsorption (sp) part etc... I was scheduled to get the bypass but chickened out at the last minute and got the lap band instead. Does that make sense? I'm happy it's working for you but it just really hasn't for me and I'm sure there are some of us out there that it just doesn't work out for. Thanks, brandyII.

Congrats !! I am scheduled for my bypass in September 20 !! Sent from my SM-G955U using BariatricPal mobile app