Pre op questions for all! newbie!

[wadew1976 0]

:embarassed: Hey all I have been battling my weight for over 5 years now. I have locked myself up in my house for all this time not wanting to even go in public. I have been on endless diets and so hungry and tired all the time! SO this surgery is definitely what i need. Im an emotional eater so im a little afraid i will lose my mind when i cant eat that burger and fries. I have my surgeon appt on may 23rd to get all set up and my psycologist evaluation on June 11th then after that schedule surgery. Im 30 5'10 300 pounds and miserable. Im scared to death to get surgery so any comforting comments would be appreciated. I would love to hear your stories. Please let me know. Thanks!

[isabelle290 0]

I feel for you. I started having weight problems at five years old. Lost, gained, lost, gained. Then after having kids, got up to 286 and can't lose any of it. I am an emotional eater, too. My surgery is tentatively set for July 5. I know it will be hard not to be able to eat at times, but it is harder carrying around this weight. I know the few times I lost all of the weight, I felt incredible and I am so looking forward to that day again. Hang in there! Think of how much better life will be!

[wadew1976 0]

Thank you! I know when i was thin i felt great and was out and living so I cant wait til that day once again! Did you have an appt with a pscologist? How was that what did they ask? When did u get your surgery date?

[ja9va 0]

Hello Wadew and Isabelle,

I am scheduled for my band on June 7. I to have had those thoughts of what if I can't eat this or that again? How will I handle it? But I feel like I have to make this choice to make this cycle of yo yo and emotion stop. I have been on a diet all of my life, from middle school! I have been successful and probably the longest time keeping it off was a year, but then wham, life happens and I start gaining again! Over the past year, I have been unable to focus or keep on a diet, stopped going to the gym out of embarrassment, because I know so many people there that knew me thinner, and I am afriad they will all make fun of me or say" what happened to her?" Probably my paranoia! But like you both said, I know How I felt thin, and it was great. I want that again, permenently.

Good luck to both o fyou. Keep in touch!

Janine

[wadew1976 0]

Well said! Im glad to see others who have my same phobias. I sometimes think why am i so obsessed with my weight? I know when i go into public i feel like people are staring and making fun of me and most the time its just stupid! Im always beating myself up after falling off diets and im just burned out with the whole process! I want my band to be done and overwith!

[twinklesprinkle 0]

I am scheduled for June 6th, but waiting on cost info, , and feeling very afraid i won't be able to do it >Anyone know the cost breakdown when not paying by insurance. The doc is a friend so he is doing his part as a courtesy. So i have to pay for the surgery room and anesthetic only. They quoted 14,000, is it really that much for the use of the surgery room and the anesthitic alone??? I am not staying overnight as my father is a doctor so he is going to watch over me. I will stay at my parents house for recovery. I have gotten so excited and am afraid of not being able ot get it done. I have so much in college loans already and taking on a 14,000 loan with a car loan and college is so much for one person just finishing college in July and not even taken an employment position as yet.

[dialit 0]

wadew...have you considered going to some counseling before banding with a focus on developing new alternatives for emotional eating?

My thought is this...the band is a tool to help you control intake, but there are "ways around it"...grazing, high fat foods (nothing sooths a weary soul like chocolate!).

Its probably going to be pretty important for you to have a plan, alternatives, and for you to have already started using these before your surgery. In fact, how you plan to handle your emotional eating will probably be a large part of your psych interview (certainly was in mine), and already having a strategy in place and being practiced will show your commitment to the lifestyle changes we all have to make, along with our band, to succeed.

[UP Musky Hunter 0]

WadeW - Be sure that you are considering banding for the right reasons. Social pressure, TV ads, weight loss commercials, all direct you one way, but this procedure has to be about you. You have to want it for the right reasons. Doing any type of weight loss surgery for other reasons (the public expects it, my family will like me more, My job will be better, etc) won't leave you with a desire to achieve all you can. This is truly about you.

If you are truly ready to eat less, feel better, move easier, etc. then keep moving forward. There comes a time in each of our lives when it is okay to be a bit selfish and understand that you are important to yourself. Take the time to do the exercise, take the time to learn about your weight and how to help control it.

There are still no easy answers. Even the lap-band. It's a good choice, but still not an easy one!

Hang in there and as always......

Journey On!!!!

[wadew1976 0]

Ya im doing this for myself. I have tried the diets and im just so hungry all the time. I delfiintely need to change my ways and get healthier. Im afraid that im gonna keep getting heavier and end up with health problems. I do have an appt with a psycologist on the 11th of june so I will talk about it then too. I HATE exercising more than anything and the funny thing is i get more hungry after i exercise and end up eating more! Im at my breaking point im so obsessed with my weight and dont even wanna wake up most the time because i will eat! Thats not a good way to live!!

[ja9va 0]

Wadew,

One step at a time. I am glad I read what the others are saying because I know what they mean. I eat out of boredom or for different feelings. But I also know, like you that I have tried other plans and this is only another tool. But my mind is ready! I really enjoy exercise, once I get started into it! I have fallen out of it so much, that it is just a struggle because of the extra weight. but I am walking and hopefully building up for more. If you do't like to exercise, walk, each day add. it is not that bad.

When I went to the psyc eval, I felt very emotional but serious. I had to complete several survey questions. some of them were about what you knew about nutrician and eating habits. others were a bit tricky. The correct answers, or the ones that result in you being a good candidate is if you have succeeded in losing before and if you know what is right, not that you can't ever do it. Like UP stated, they may feel you are not ready. Just be honest with it.

lets keep talking!

Janine

[ja9va 0]

twinklesprinkle,

I wish I could tell you what the cost would be, I have heard $15,000 for the entire procedure, including surgeon. Everyone is so different. I have Fed. BCBS, that approved the surgery, but I got nervous when I heard that I would have a large out of pocket and then with the fill costs that I did not even consider. I heard that can be from $30 -$550? I called my sergeons business office and they made me feel better. I see my doctor on Monday, I can't wait!

Did you join the June bandsters post? My date is June 7. We can share our experiences, the post is getting full of banders in June. Maybe you are there already and I am having a senior moment!

Talk to you soon,

Janine

[enterprise01 0]

Ya im doing this for myself. I have tried the diets and im just so hungry all the time. I delfiintely need to change my ways and get healthier. Im afraid that im gonna keep getting heavier and end up with health problems. I do have an appt with a psycologist on the 11th of june so I will talk about it then too. I HATE exercising more than anything and the funny thing is i get more hungry after i exercise and end up eating more! Im at my breaking point im so obsessed with my weight and dont even wanna wake up most the time because i will eat! Thats not a good way to live!!

I could have written that! I'd rather take a beating than exercise. And I hate it when people say, "don't you just feel so much better after exercising?" Hell, no. I feel about a thousand times worse than before I exercised. I only feel better in comparison to how completely miserable I felt while I was exercising.

Anyway, I had some of the same doubts and concerns that you have. My friends were all very worried that it would be mental torture for me to have something that restricted my food intake but not my cravings. I'm happy to tell you that by some miracle the band does actually have an effect on your brain chemistry. When you have a decent amount of restriction, you don't have the constant cravings and mental hunger. I can make it through the day without obsessing about food. I only think about food when my stomach starts to growl. Before the band, when I woke up in the mornings, my first thought would be "what can I eat today." If I wasn't eating, I was thinking about eating. I still have occasional cravings, but they are not overwhelming and constant like they used to be. And now, if I crave chocolate and have a couple of bites, the craving is satisfied. In the past, I could eat the entire town of Hershey, PA and still want more chocolate. I don't know exactly how or why the band affects brain chemistry, but it does, at least for me. My guess is that it either has something to due with the band pressing on nerves or it somehow alters the amount of hunger-inducing hormones that the stomach produces and/or releases.

Another benefit of the band is that since I'm not spending so much time cooking, eating, going out to restaurants, etc., I'm getting a lot more done around my house. In the past 5 months, I've completed every project that has been ignored for the past 5 years. The band also saves me money. I used to spend $300-$400 a month eating out, and now it's around $50 a month. In 4 years, the band will have paid for itself (I'm a self-pay).

The band is not an easy or a quick fix, but it has given me hope that I can overcome my weight problem. And sometimes, even just a little bit of hope will take you a long way.

[isabelle290 0]

I am going to Mexico b/c of an exclusion on my policy. You don't have to jump through all the hoops there like you do here w/ psy evals, etc.

[wadew1976 0]

I could have written that! I'd rather take a beating than exercise. And I hate it when people say, "don't you just feel so much better after exercising?" Hell, no. I feel about a thousand times worse than before I exercised. I only feel better in comparison to how completely miserable I felt while I was exercising.

Anyway, I had some of the same doubts and concerns that you have. My friends were all very worried that it would be mental torture for me to have something that restricted my food intake but not my cravings. I'm happy to tell you that by some miracle the band does actually have an effect on your brain chemistry. When you have a decent amount of restriction, you don't have the constant cravings and mental hunger. I can make it through the day without obsessing about food. I only think about food when my stomach starts to growl. Before the band, when I woke up in the mornings, my first thought would be "what can I eat today." If I wasn't eating, I was thinking about eating. I still have occasional cravings, but they are not overwhelming and constant like they used to be. And now, if I crave chocolate and have a couple of bites, the craving is satisfied. In the past, I could eat the entire town of Hershey, PA and still want more chocolate. I don't know exactly how or why the band affects brain chemistry, but it does, at least for me. My guess is that it either has something to due with the band pressing on nerves or it somehow alters the amount of hunger-inducing hormones that the stomach produces and/or releases.

Another benefit of the band is that since I'm not spending so much time cooking, eating, going out to restaurants, etc., I'm getting a lot more done around my house. In the past 5 months, I've completed every project that has been ignored for the past 5 years. The band also saves me money. I used to spend $300-$400 a month eating out, and now it's around $50 a month. In 4 years, the band will have paid for itself (I'm a self-pay).

The band is not an easy or a quick fix, but it has given me hope that I can overcome my weight problem. And sometimes, even just a little bit of hope will take you a long way.

WELL SAID THAT JUST MADE ME FEEL 100% better!

[IndioGirl55 32]

Hi Wade

I understand hating exercise - I do too... And being afraid not to be able to eat. food is my friend and I am afaird to give it up too.

I am going for my 1st consultation w/the surgeron on 5/31. I have been going back and forth about doing this for a few yrs - It took a freind of mine to tell me "if this is what you want to do and you think will help - then do it" I am old enough to be your Mom and I have been struggling with my weight all my life - get a few pounds off then in a yr or so gain it back plus some. My biggest problem is Portion Control. You would think that i grew up not having enough to eat -but that's not the truth. I think it's from my Mom and others wanting to control what i put in my mouth - So once I became an adult - I figured I could eat when, where and how i wanted. (heck all that control made me sneak food as a kid).

From what I can gather on these boards is that this will help as a tool but it's not that magic bullett that we all are looking for. It hasn't been invented yet Keep crusing these boards and ask questions - Everyone here is very supportive and helpful - Heck I have already connected with a woman in my area who has just been banded and we are going to get meet and talk on the phone. Most of the people i know have had the bypass surgery - so it's great talking to others who are banded or who want to. Good Luck -