I finally, after 5 mos. had to go back to my PCP b/c I was out of my thyroid meds. I hadn't told him b/c I have concerns about ever being able to get private insurance, should I need it. I'm self employed. But lying isn't good either, so I decided to fess up.

He was pissed. Said that he has patients (I believe he was referring to 1) that got the sleeve and could not stop loosing weight. He tried to keep his composure, but obviously he was mad that I didn't ask his opinion. He recommends the lap band b/c it is 'temporary' and can be reversed and seems to hate this surgery b/c of its permanency and says that I'll have trouble getting enough Calcium, B Vitamins, and D vitamins b/c once the stomach is cut off they become harder to absorb.

I thought that is why I didn't get the bypass, b/c this surgery didn't have those issues. I thought once I could eat more that those problems would be more manageable.

I didn't really argue points with him about lap band b/c he didn't seem to have the time. He did help me figure which vitamins to take with which, but wondered what you all thought.

He is a nice guy, and I understand. But he was obviously caught off guard and not happy with me.

ohh that must have been very difficult for you, it seems like you have good communication with him. we forget PCP are people too, and make mistakes, i agree you did catch him off guard, give him some time to think about it. i disagree that people who have the sleeve "can't stop losing weight" this may be a temporary modification and a RD can help with this, dont worry about that. the most concerning thing i read in your post was "the band is temporary" you should never go into wls thinking it is "temporary" when i decided on the band it was my intention on keeping it for life, but unfortunely it was not the case. i called my pcp last week when i sent him some info since i needed a letter of medical necessity to submit to insurance. he called me and we spoke, basically he didn't know what the sleeve was, but he knows my obesity struggles, he also knows that i am not a RNY or DS condidate. (i did get down to goal weight of 126lbs with the band) While he was not sure what hte sleeve was he did support me after he read the info i sent him. doctors, people etc all have their favorite "WLS" there is no "perfect" solution for everyone or every surgeon. if i didn't have complications to the band i would have had it for life, but that was not to be and now i am looking into having a sleeve....give your pcp some time to adjust to the news....he may come around when he has looked at it objectively or at least support you for the choice you have already made, he is there to help you....

Mila

He is pissed' date=' because he wanted to recommend you and get a kick back. PCP's get a really nice kick back from weight loss surgery referrel.

Don't kid yourself, don't be a fool, its all about the money!!!!!![/quote']

TRUE!!!!!

Malabsorption is an issue for bypass patients but not for sleevers. I am quite surprised your doctor is so misinformed. My surgeon takes out more bands than he puts in due to the complication rate and tries to dissuade new patients from the band. The maker of the band has been buying up a lot of ad time to counteract the bad publicity the manufacturer has been getting lately. Not to bash your doctor, but a change may be in order.

I went with the band after research by my wife, support from this forum, and from knowing three people who had complications with the LapBand. Good luck to you.

I agree that it sounds like you need to consider finding a different PCP. At least I know I would if my PCP made me feel like I've done something wrong, when I obviously haven't. I need a provider who is on the same page as me when it comes to my health. Granted, I guess I'm lucky in that we have a LOT of primary care physicians available at multiple locations of the same health care system to choose from. In a small town, this probably isn't an option. (I live in a small town with a population of 2000, but I work in a big city about 30 miles away.)

On a side note: I'd be pretty miffed at my PCP if she had told me her mis-informed "opinion" on the surgery after the fact. That's not why I am paying her $$. (Although my PCP was totally on board with this. She didn't refer me, just knew that I was looking into this.)

Malabsorption is an issue for bypass patients but not for sleevers. I am quite surprised your doctor is so misinformed. My surgeon takes out more bands than he puts in due to the complication rate and tries to dissuade new patients from the band. The maker of the band has been buying up a lot of ad time to counteract the bad publicity the manufacturer has been getting lately. Not to bash your doctor' date=' but a change may be in order.

I went with the band after research by my wife, support from this forum, and from knowing three people who had complications with the LapBand. Good luck to you.[/quote']

I mean I went with the sleeve and not the LapBand.

My PCP was all for it. He'd seen my constant struggle with gaining, losing, then regaining. Might help to have you surgeon send your PCP information on what to expect with the sleeve. Medical advances happen so quickly it's hard for non-specialists to stay on top of everything. If that doesn't help maybe you can get a referral to a more supportive doctor. You need to be comfortable going to you doctor.

Shel in Kansas - Sleeved 5/21/13

doesnt matter what he thought or felt, its unprofessional for him to become angry with your medical choices. right or wrong about the sleeve procedure, he should not allow personal emotions to get in the way of treating you. the basis of trust is respect and it was disrespectful of him. i hope you can set some firm boundaries with him when you educate him about the sleeve, or find a new doc who respects you enough to act professionally with you.

I guess I'm really lucky because my Primary Care Physician had the sleeve about 3 years before I had mine. He looks amazing and has been my biggest cheerleader. He had some complicatios, but says that even with a difficult road, he would recommend it to anyone struggling to get and keep the weight off. I feel like the doctors that bash it really don't understand it.

My PCP has counseled (ie: nagged) me about my weight for years. When I went to her to talk about bariatric surgery I was prepared for her to not be supportive. I am not really sure why... Perhaps because she has always been 100lbs soaking wet with boots on! I was ready to walk out the door for good, but to my surprise, she was all for it! I am ever so grateful for that.

Thanks for your responses. Honestly his feedback has made my week hard and it did cause some worry in my head. Because I do trust him somewhat as a doctor' date=' and I'd like to keep getting my thyroid meds from him. What he said exactly was Vitamin D deficiencies, B12 deficienies, Iron deficiencies - similar to what someone just said a couple threads up. He did totally understand the procedure and drew it out for me - like I didn't know the surgery. But he is totally oversimplifying the lap band in my opinion - calling it a temporary surgery. I don't consider it temporary when it grows to your stomach. He made it sound like a hair barrette.

I think you can't have any alteration from the body and not expect a downside. So since he is my doctor I'll respect his opinion and be more careful on my Vitamins. I really didn't do well with my vitamins for a long time b/c I kept getting sick on them. But now that I can eat more I seem to be able to tolerate them better.

What I would say, however, is that he seems to not understand what it is like to be overweight your whole life, basically, and not be able to find a solution that is workable. I mean, even weight loss drugs that make you leak grease out of your ass? Pleaseeeeeee......no thank you. I gave up a long time ago on weight loss - after trying every diet I could stomach. This has given me hope again.

Also, if I should find myself in a situation where I can't stop losing, I think I'm at an advantage b/c my mind and my body are really good at working together to gain weight. In fact, I am losing so slowly now. I would say gaining weight is a strength I have, easier for me than losing. lol

Even if it true what he is saying, I don't think those comments alone would have kept me from having the sleeve over the band for many reasons, but certainly because of financial reasons. The band was not workable for me b/c it seemed like a constant expense of maintaining/replacing, etc. No thank you. This was a whopping $14k, but I won't have to keep spending that same money over and over again, or even more for revision surgeries. Also the bypass seemed like something that might have to be operated on again later as well, as I read about people that are having those reversed b/c of nutritional deficiencies.

I also don't really understand why vitamin absorbtion is an issue since we didn't alter our intestines. So while I'm confused about that, I'll assume there is some reason I don't quite get.

My iron was low on my bloodwork, and my Vitamin D. They were both barely low, but low. But I'm always a little anemic so I was not surprised. What did surprise me is my cholesterol did not go down and my bad cholesterol went up. Perhaps my next bloodwork will make more sense. My diet is getting more varied with more fruits and veggies worked in, so perhaps that will help. My triglycerides went wayyyyy down. And I'm taking my vitamins more faithfully now.[/quote']

I'm sorry that you experienced this with your dr. My experience was that I was banded for nearly 3 years and due to many complications with not being able to eat I ended up in starvation mode with B12 and D deficiencies as a result of the band. This is why I got the band removed and was then sleeved. At least with the sleeve you can still eat and get a lot of vitamins from foods. Luckily for me I now only have a D deficiency (like a gazillion other people).

Good luck and I hope you do what's best for you.

My PCP has counseled (ie: nagged) me about my weight for years. When I went to her to talk about bariatric surgery I was prepared for her to not be supportive. I am not really sure why... Perhaps because she has always been 100lbs soaking wet with boots on! I was ready to walk out the door for good, but to my surprise, she was all for it! I am ever so grateful for that.

That's fantastic.. you know one of the most understanding doctors I ever had was 100 pounds soaking wet. She was very sympathetic to my plight with my weight as she said she struggled constantly with hers but in the opposite direction. She told me: "we're both battling against our genetic predisposition, all we can do is keep fighting"

What a bummer to have your doctor react like that! It makes me feel even happier that my PCP was supportive (she found out after the fact also).

Kind of stupid of him to berate you when you've already had the surgery. I could understand the reaction if he felt he had to be so hard on you to keep you from having it, but after it's done, it's his job to help you stay healthy. Losing weight will make you healthier, so it just seems wrong of him to have that reaction.

Some doctors are really insensitive though. You may want to consider changing doctors if it keeps up.

My insurance required a letter of necessity from my PCP which he screwed up by the way. It took me 3 extra months to get the thing straightened out. Now I am on day 2 of my 3 day liquid diet and my surgery is on the 24th at noon. Wish me luck. BTW I canned my original PCP and now I go to a lady doctor who was sleeved 3 years ago and supports me 100 percent. So can your doc and get a new one. You don't have to have the same PCP for life.

I would never trust a dr who recommends the lapband. Complication rates are highest with the band and sure it's temporary.. Just as the weight loss is temporary too. Your doc is very WLS naive.

I had a lot of vitamin deficiencies with my band due to it making me sick all the time. Just got my blood work back two months post op with sleeve and everything is great. People kill me with the permanency argument. I am 100 percent sure I will not wake up one day wishing I could go back to being morbidly obese and pre diabetic.

It is really shocking how little some primary care doctors know about the sleeve surgery. My original PCP still thinks that I had gastric bypass and was having issues with malabsorption and thought I couldn't take certain pills etc. and so wouldn't prescribe me antibiotics, etc. I tried to explain to him several times that I had had the sleeve surgery and not gastric bypass but it didn't seem to click. Finally I had to switch to another primary care doctor that understood.

I'm sure your PCP is a nice man but you are going to need someone who understands and empathizes with your surgery in case issues arise down the road.