Hello. I am going to go ahead and get "THIS" post out of the way.

I am a 30 year old man and have been obese most of my life. Probably since high school, and I am just fed up with being fat. I dont even know what I weigh. The last scale that was able to weigh me clocked me at about 475 lbs. I am 6'4 inches.

Today is the first day I have really heard of this procedure in detail. I met someone at church today who is 40 years old and he had the surgery 18 months ago. He said he was about my size. To make a long story short, church started and I could not really ask that many more questions to him. So I turn to those here.

And am I loaded with Q&A with probably more to come. To make things easy, I will number my questions. Here goes.

1. Has anyone had any experience with Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield. I dont know if they cover this procedure and cant call till tomorrow morning. I do know they cover gastric bypass. Something I dont want to do.

2. Is there any kind of mortality rate associated with this kind of surgery. I know with bypass 1 of 200 people will die from it.

3. I have a voracious appitite. Does the surgery help control that appetite?

4. What can and can not be eaten at the begining, and what cant. What about in the middle and toward the end.

5. Is the band supposed to be removed after weight loss has been achieved?

6. How long did it take to complete all the psyche evaluations, and the preliminary stuff to the date of the actual surgery?

More questions will probably come up. So be prepared.

Thanks!

Hi,

I am having surgery in 8 days but I am sure I can answer a few of your questions...

I have not read of anyone dying because of the surgery, I have heard of a few people dying from underlying illnesses, mostly heart problems that were not caught in time.

Before the surgery they put you on an adtkins like diet- 2 - 3 weeks before. Now I have heard that some have had no pre- surgery diet. But this is to help shrink the stuff around the liver and make it easier to work around. Right after it will be Clear liquids for up to 2 week so your stomach can heal. You will slowly work you way up to solid food. About a month to 6 weeks later you will most likely be able to eat solid food. You will get full a lot faster, and you can overeat, but then you will just end up throwing up or PBing. You can do serious damage if you do not listen to you stomach when you are full.

After about 6 weeks of no weight loss and more critera of no loss of weight you will go in for a "fill" in which the band will be filled with saline to make you have restriction. This might take a few fills to hit what they call the "sweet spot" this is when you can eat very small portions and still lose weight.

The band is permant unless there is complications or you wish to remove it.

It took me 3 months to complete all of my appointments, sum 30 appointments total..It was stressful, but at the end well worth it.

There are so many people on this board and you will get a wide variety of stories and opinions, so here is mine.

Also here are the differences (in my opinion) of what the procedures are and why I chose the one I did!

I have done some extensive weighing of the options, I found out that once you do the gastric bypass, you can not do anything else. The gastric bypass is a "quick fix" which is you lose the weight quickly. But once your body recovers and 3 or 4 yrs down the road if you have not changed your eating habits you will gain a lot of the weight back. I have read some recent articles in people magazine of people gaining all the weight back plus more 3 to 4 yrs later and they can not have banding or any other surgery. I have heard so many sad stories of complications and deaths that it scared the crap out of me.

With the band it is a continuous life time changing procedure. It is reversable, and yet while you are learning to eat right 3 to 4 yrs down the road if you find yourself gaining, you can go in for a fill to get yourself back on track. Yes the weight loss is gradual, but it helps your body adjust as you learn better eating habits. I have heard about complications, but most are relatively minor and can be quickly corrected. I have heard of no deaths that are directly from the surgery. And only 2 that were because of underlying illnesses that were not caught before the procedure.

And this is why I chose the procedure...

Good luck in what ever decision you make...

Baileym

Hope this helps!

Baileym

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June 14th

Hi Del, and welcome.

1. Has anyone had any experience with Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield. I dont know if they cover this procedure and cant call till tomorrow morning. I do know they cover gastric bypass. Something I dont want to do.

I can't answer any insurance related questions, as I was self-pay.

2. Is there any kind of mortality rate associated with this kind of surgery. I know with bypass 1 of 200 people will die from it.

There is a mortality rate associated with surgery, period. The Lapband procedure mortality risk is reported as 1% at this site. http://www.lap-band-surgery.org/What-are-the-general-risks.cfm

3. I have a voracious appitite. Does the surgery help control that appetite?

The band is positioned to rest on the nerves that signal fullness, helping to reduce hunger. However most people need fills before their hunger really feels under control. Fills reduce the quantity of food you are able to consume, as well as reducing hunger.

4. What can and can not be eaten at the begining, and what cant. What about in the middle and toward the end.

After surgery, most docs have their patients on liquids for 2-4 weeks, followed by 1-2 weeks of mushy foods, and then on to solids. All doctors' protocols differ in this area. Once you are on solid foods, you can eat any foods that you can tolerate. Once you reach some restriction, most people find they have problems eating bread, rice, Pasta, and fibrous foods like asparagus. Some people have no problems with these things, but have problems with others. Your journey will be unique to you.

Things you will definitely have to avoid after banding is anything that is a stomach irritant, particularly NSAIDS, like aspirin and Aleve. These substances can burn holes in the stomach lining, causing gastritis, and you may experience band erosion (where the stomach walls erode around the band, absorbing it into the stomach.)

Contraversial substances are carbonation and alchohol. Some docs say no, some say it doesn't matter, some say in moderation.

5. Is the band supposed to be removed after weight loss has been achieved?

No. The band is intended to be implanted forever. It is removeable, if necessary, but most people regain all their lost weight after the band is removed.

6. How long did it take to complete all the psyche evaluations, and the preliminary stuff to the date of the actual surgery.

All my testing was completed the day before my surgery. Again, I was self-pay, and had the procedure done in Mexico.

Let us know if you have any other questions!

Things you will definitely have to avoid after banding is anything that is a stomach irritant, particularly NSAIDS, like aspirin and Aleve.

Is this true of all people. I mean right now, I have no aversion to any of these. I am able to use them now with no discomfort.

YES, it is true of ALL banded people. You have no problems now, because you have a whole cavernous stomach to buffer the adverse affects of aspirin. However, just because you do not feel any adverse affects right now, does not mean you have not experienced damage, even with a whole cavernous stomach to buffer the affects.

Once you are banded, a very, very small portion of your upper stomach becomes the initial repository of everything you swallow. This is a RESTRICTIVE procedure, which means what you swallow does not go immediately down into the rest of your stomach, but is held in the upper portion, helping you feel full. If an aspirin got caught in your pouch and was held against the pouch wall for any length of time, it's going to start burning through.

Some people, with the close supervision of their doctors, use these medications. Probably mostly baby aspirin for heart patients. But you need to be carefully monitored, because like I said, you may not FEEL any damage being done, even though it may be going on. You also need to be conscientious about flushing your pouch with lots of Water after taking any kind of medicine that might be a gastric irritant, to make sure it is not sitting in the pouch. Actually, you should do that with any medication.

Donali, I'm really worried here because nobody has ever mentioned avoiding medications. I took a Motrin yesterday. Not one single word about avoiding pills from my doc. Where are you getting your info, and where can I get the full book?

My biggest complaint about the band is the vast difference in information. I wish doctors would be more consistant. I'm supreised INAMED doesn't require each patient to sign off on receiving a booklet. If I didn't happen upon this post, I'd never know about aspirin. What about Tylenol, Motrin, anti-anxiety meds, thyroid med?

Right after surgery I was taking liquid Children's Motrin and Tylenol. Now I can take regular pills. Even took a large Vitamin today, although I'm only taking my big Vitamins till they're gone since I was told to try Flintstone's chewables.

Regarding the mortality rate, Dr. Ortiz said it's zero in Mexico for 10 years now while gastric bypass is one in 50.

Baileym,

What tests did you have done? You mentioned having 30 tests. I'm just curious. Thanks

I think I said 30 appointments, this includes follow up, results and what not!

Here is what I can remember off the top of my head!

I have met with Dr. Deol (surgeon) 3 times.

1. Nutritionist- 2 times

2. Psychiatrist- 2 times

3. Cardiologist- 3 times

4. Pulmonary specialist- 2 times

5. sleep Apnea Specialist- 6 times including 2 overnight tests

6. Internist- Dr. 1 time

7. Beaumont Hos. 2 appointments

8. My PCP-at least 4 times for follow up blood work, letter, results and things.

There is 25 here, I am sure I left some out!

It was definitely a full 3 months!!

Hope this helps!

Baileym

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June 14th:)

I had my surgery in Mexico. My plane landed at noon. I was done with all the pre-op stuff and in surgery by 3:30 p.m. They took me from the airport directly to the lab where I had blood work. Then to X-ray. Then to the cardiologist for the EKG and other screening tests. Then to the nutritionalist. Then to the hospital. My entire experience started Wednesday and I was flying back home on Saturday.

Again, my only disappointment is the lack of information provided to me. However, I was given information from my Mexico doctors that other people weren't given.

The greatest advice I can give is to compile all the info from your doctor, from other doctors, and from all the posts on these boards. Actually, that's the second greatest advice.... the greatest advices is to get banded!

This coming from a girl experiencing bad port pain today. I'm one month post op and experiencing this pain for the first time. I had 2 weeks of hell after the surgery and I have problems with my port incision. Even with all that I love my band.

Deliriou5, don't let the length of Baileym's list intimidate you. Most people probably don't have anywhere near that many appointments.

I just had the following:

1 - required seminar held by surgeon

1 - PCP for physical, which included an EKG

1 - Lab visit for bloodwork

1 - Psychological evaluation

1 - Nutritionist meeting

1 - surgeon preliminary appointment to determine my qualification for surgery

1 - preop appointment and class about two weeks before surgery

That was the whole gamut, and if I hadn't had insurance problems the process would have taken less than three months. People who have conditions like sleep apnea and so on can probably expect more testing. My co-morbidities were limited to high cholesterol and blood pressure, which were evaluated at the physical.

I'll be very interested to hear what Anthem says. Are you in PA? Good luck!!!

I wish I could have been as lucky as you Alex. I guess I was one of the "Lucky"ones with a ton of testing..

I went into this procedure thinking it was a quick couple of tests, never realizing how much it actually was!

It seemed everytime I got an appointment out of the way, I had to make a follow up to it! It was quite frustrating, but well worth it in the end...

I agree, it is not standard for every person to have this... I have SEVERE asthma and they had to get that under control, I also found out I have prolonged QT interval of the heart. I thank my surgeon because I would have never found out about the heart problem.

I am having issues with my sleep apnea guy, we do not seem to get along, it feels like a power trip to him, I think.. I am getting a sec opinon after the surgery.

He alone was like 6 appointments.

So yes it is up to the doctor and the individual. I really didn't mean to intimidate anyone!

With my BMI range it was a MUST to do the sleep test, but again it was the surgeon's decision.

Baileym

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June 14th