Hey everyone!

My name is Mandy and I am new to LBT I went to my seminar earlier this week and have my consultation scheduled for July 12th. I am from the Northern Virginia area and am currently a college student studying to be an Elementary School Teacher I would love any advice to calm my nerves. I am hoping to get the surgery covered by my insurance, Aetna, or else I wont be getting the surgery. The office I am getting it done at has a 100% approval so far so I am hopeful! I would love any feedback on pain after surgery and foods you can and cannot eat! Any information or new friends of support for my journey would be greatly appreciated!

I've been reading here for quite a while and for me the pain was minimal. My biggest problem was dealing with all the drugs they pump you with. I was in shock for about a week over all the anesthesia, meds and oxygen they gave me. The pain from surgery was nothing for me and I went back to work the next day but I also work from home.

I've read where many people take one to two weeks off before they go back and sometimes some people have some pain in their shoulder from the gas they pump in you? There are also folks who suffer pain from the incisions but people are all different in their pain tolerance you know?

Good luck with your career choice. My daughter graduated last year and just finished her student teaching requirements. She's teaching science, physics and biology in a local charter school starting in August.

tmf

I forgot to post this link. This is a basic manual for bariatric patients and may not conform to your doctors wishes so take it all with a grain of salt:

http://www.peachtreebariatrics.com/docs/Gastric-Band-Patient-Manual.pdf

hi! i tried to go thru insurance, but was denied and ended up doing self pay. i was out of work 4 days. i stayed 1 night in the hospital where my pain was managed, so I was happy with that. i had some gas pain when i got home, but all was managed by taking my pain meds, walking, and gas x. by day 5 post op, i was feeling pretty good and by day 9-10, i was feeling pretty much back to normal. the 1 thing (maybe TMI??) is that I got a yeast infection after getting home from the hospital due to all the antibiotics they pumped into me for surgery and after....however it wasnt a big deal, as for food, it seems every doctor is different and you will get a plan from your doc and/or nutritionist. good luck!

Look at the back of your insurance card and called said information number yourself. They will be out to tell you whether your particular insurance policy covers weight loss surgery. Personally I would not rely on the doctors office to find out I would rather look into it myself.

Thank you all so much for your responses! To clarify, I know my insurance policy covers weight loss surgeries but I have to wait on approval for myself specifically. I will definitely work closely with the dietitican at the office on additional food info!

Thanks Again,

Mandy

my pain was hardly noticeable. i took the horrible pain meds for 2 days, then didnt need them. It felt like a badly pulled muscle on my left side for 10 days. i went lite Xmas shopping 3 days after getting the band. The only foods i really have trouble with are raw broccoli, dry chicken or dry pork and can only do about 3 bites of potatoes, bread or chips. . I had a bad episode after 3 small sips of a strawberry restaurant margarita ( Low end tequila ?), other than that , rarely any probs, just have to remember "eat slowwwwwwwwwly !" ( I 'm so stinkin' thrilled with my weight loss i dont even care about what i cant eat ! 42 lbs since December !) Good luck to you !

my pain was hardly noticeable. i took the horrible pain meds for 2 days, then didnt need them. It felt like a badly pulled muscle on my left side for 10 days. i went lite Xmas shopping 3 days after getting the band. The only foods i really have trouble with are raw broccoli, dry chicken or dry pork and can only do about 3 bites of potatoes, bread or chips. . I had a bad episode after 3 small sips of a strawberry restaurant margarita ( Low end tequila ?), other than that , rarely any probs, just have to remember "eat slowwwwwwwwwly !" ( I 'm so stinkin' thrilled with my weight loss i dont even care about what i cant eat ! 42 lbs since December !) Good luck to you !

Pink, I want to ask your permission to plagiarize your comment, "I 'm so stinkin' thrilled with my weight loss i dont even care about what i cant eat !"? That is so me and I want to put that in my signature at the bottom of my posts.

tmf

@Pink,

Thank you so much! It's good to see an example of the kind of weight loss I might see but I do know eveyone is different! & thank you for the examples of food, I look forward to not caring about the foods I can't eat LOL