Njbudman81

I figure I'd post this on here if anyone had any questions. I had mine done in mid august and am having great success. If you have been thinking about it ask away.

vzwire

I also had the sleeve surgery 2 years ago. I was 290 lbs at time of surgery. Today I weigh 175. All weight was lost within the first year. The surgery, recovery, and entire journey to the new me has been wonderful with zero complications. The doctor took me off of my blood pressure pills the day of my surgery and within the first month my BP was perfect. Blood tests today show I am completely healthy with zero nutrition risk.
Absolute best personal decision I have ever made.
Congrats budman on your great results!

1loosemoose

Is this surgery typically covered by insurance? I would guess it depends on whether the patients life is at risk wih their current weight?

vzwire

Depends on the company you work for. Most all insurance companies will insure weight loss surgery if the "buyer" (the company) is willing to pay for it. I am very blessed to work for Verizon, and we are insured through BCBS. All I had to pay was my family deductible. My company invests heavily in its employees- and believes our health is important to the company's growth.

vzwire

One more thing to specifically answer your second question- my company had it written into the policy to require the insured to be at a minimum 40 BMI (considered obese) for the past 5 years to qualify. All I had to do was go to my family practitioner to get him to send my last 5 years of weight records to the insurance company. I was at exactly 40 BMI for 5 years. 5 days later I was approved for the surgery.
A week later I had to take a psyc eval (this is standard to make sure you aren't cookoo and incapable of making sound decisions- like life altering surgery), and I also had to visit a nutritionist so that she could teach me how to eat with my new smaller stomach. The very next Thursday I had my surgery at 7pm. At 7am the next day (Friday) I was released.

Recovery- I cut the grass on Saturday, returned to work on Monday.

I lost 40 lbs in the 1st month. And the best thing- you are never hungry. As a matter of fact- if it wasn't for my wife, I get so busy doing stuff on weekends I would totally forget to eat. I know some May reply to this flaming me thAt "40 lbs in a month is not healthy". Don't bother- the entire process is monitored by a doctor, and I repeat again- ZERO COMPLICATIONS- and I am as healthy as an 18 year old althlete according to all tests I take every six months. I'm not even required to take these thorough tests anymore, but I ask the doc to do it anyways just to be sure.

corwin1968

Are there any long-term nutritional rules you have to follow (ie, supplements, avoid certain foods, etc..)? Are there any limitations on physical activity?

vzwire

You can eat whatever you can tolerate. For example- I live in the south. Grits are a breakfast staple. Love em, but if I eat them until full, ten minutes later they expand in your stomach and I become VERY uncomfortable. Due to having such a small stomach I stay away from all "filler" foods- breads, rice, etc. if you can only eat 6oz at a time, it tends to be nothing but proteins.
Well, I do always make sure I save a few bites room fo dessert!

Njbudman81

Actually the insurance situation has changed with obamacare. Now all insurances including Medicare and Medicaid cover it. All you need is to physically be qualified. My insurance (blue cross personal choice) required me to go to nutritional meetings and a few other things. Now they want you to go to support group meeting on top of everything else. As far as more detailed insurance questions I can ask my wife. She actually does that for a living.

Njbudman81

As far as nutritional I eat high protein because you don't eat as much. I found a program that send me a month supply of vitamins and premade protein shakes every month. Luckily my insurance pays for that too.

Njbudman81

As far as work and recovery. I had surgery in august. I have a very physical job and was told I would be out till November. I bugged my doctor to let me back at the end of October and that was a huge mistake. But if you sit at a desk you should be off a month. i had my surgery on a wed stayed the night and was released the next day. I was walking the mall that weekend. But you can't push to hard or you'll hit a wall. That happened to me and I broke out in cold sweats in the mall.

slorollin

I had gastric bypass 8/2012. It has been a wonderful thing for me. After losing 145lbs my type-2 diabetes is gone, blood pressure 120/75, cholesterol at last check was 168. I've maintained the weight loss and feel great. And I eat the good stuff, filet mignon, crab cakes, calamari, oysters, shrimp, prime rib, etc. As a previous poster said I can only eat about 6oz. total at a sitting, so I get 2-3 meals out of a single crab cake. I rationalize that if I can only eat a tiny amount I'm going to eat the best of the stuff I love.
The forum here has had may postings regarding weight loss surgery and invariably there are people that know people that know other people that have cousins that know people that have had horrible experiences. I'm sure that some of them exist. For me it has been a 2nd chance for which I am grateful and am determined not to squander.

Njbudman81

Yeah I'm down 135+ pounds in 8 months

nkfrench 

To me "the good stuff" includes whole-grains, vegetables, fruits, lots of fluids and not so much of high protein.
Oatmeal is a favorite breakfast; a steak dinner needs steamed vegs and potatoes and fresh hot multi-grain bread; big salads with a bit of salmon or chicken; etc.
Fluids - coffee (or iced coffee), hot tea, limeades, diet colas, tap water.
My favorite bike rides are generally pretty intense and I have to be diligent about fueling and hydrating especially on longer rides.
At some time I would like to get back into Masters competition either swimming or on bike.
I wonder if the smaller stomach would cause problems with long hard exercise and that type of eating/drinking ?

While I've struggled with my weight my entire life, I am below the quoted BMI threshholds and I do not have diabetes or high blood pressure. I bet insurance won't cover me.
I am able to lose weight and keep it off with careful diet and regular exercise - it cuts my appetite and burns calories and motivates me to be healthy.
It's when work and volunteer responsibilities get out of hand that I tend to gain weight. LOTS.

DWhitworth

Not in Missouri (as far as I can tell) Our small business policy of about 8 years was cancelled recently because of Obamacare, so my wife and I used the Healthcare.gov website to get a new policy. Our old policy did not cover any weight loss surgery and none of the new plans offered either. They specifically say they do not cover weight loss surgery.

Stupid shortsighted policy...

DaveW

slorollin

It would be difficult to maintain your health with that kind of diet after bariatric surgery. While we have been conditioned to think of those preferences as healthy choices. There is too much bulk, fluid and carbs in those choices for someone with a stomach the size of a peach. You have to get the protein first.

Wbaumgartner17

I'm scheduled the first week of June for RN-Y.

Insurance will cover all but the out of pocket deductable. HAd to go through the wickets of support group meetings, psyche eval, and well as having a BMI >40 and Medical issues from being larger than I should be.

One nagging question, has anybody tried an extended multi-week/month tour? (ie; Trans Am) Can it be done safely nutritionally?

slorollin

I asked my surgeon the same question. He told me that he has patients that run marathons. It takes time and lots of baby steps to get to that point.

indyfabz

I am sure it's been done. I haven't had WLS, but I have done three long, self-contained tours, including one of nearly four months, and numerous shorter tours ranging between two and nine days. In mountainous/hilly terrain with a full load, you are going to burn many thousands of calories/day unless, perhaps, you are riding short daily distances. I have to imagine that if you cannot eat a lot at one sitting you are going to have to "snack" more frequently than someone who has not had weight loss surgery. For me, the worst feeling in the world when touring is not rain or cold or headwind. It's trying to climb some 13 mile mountain pass low on energy.

arex

I'm preparing to pull the trigger on a gastric sleeve...at this point, in my condition, I'm not seeing much of a downside, and everything I hear sounds great.

Dunno if anyone else has posted this yet, but as I understand it, insurance will cover if you've been at a consistent BMI of 40+ for a couple of years, OR a BMI of 35+ with TWO weight-related complications (BP, diabetes, arthritis, heart, etc.). This may vary between insurance companies, or Obamacare may have leveled things out, I dunno.

InTheRain

So why does this work? Is it because your stomach is so small that you eat so much less? I've seen a few friends that have had the sleeve. They lost a lot of weight. About half have put it back on and had to have a second surgery to remove/reverse the sleeve. Does it still come down to willpower and discipline of not overeating and getting exercise? I'm not excited about considering the surgery. I've been able to lose weight without it, only to put it back on again. There is no guarantee with the surgery, right? I would hate to fork thousands of $$$'s (I could buy a nice bike, right?) only to see the same results (success and failures) I've had thus far with diet and exercise.

indyfabz

When talking about private insurance, I believe it still depends on the terms of the particular plan. I am sure some insurance companies see the surgery as a preventative (i.e., cost saving) measure. Cover the surgey now for people with chronic weight problems and possibly avoid the long term costs associated with weight-related health problems down the road. It's akin to private insurance covering smoking cessation products and services. Personally, I would try nearly everything under the sun before choosing to have my body surgically altered.

arex

The gastric sleeve is irreversible. You might be thinking of the lap band procedure.

arex

A lot of us have tried nearly everything.

Personally, I'd love to exercise the fat away, but my destroyed knees and back injuries (yes, multiple) kind of preclude it. I bike-commute to work, but it's only a couple miles one-way...I don't think I could handle much farther. My diet, all told, really isn't too bad, but my current level of exercise doesn't burn much of it off, and things are getting worse, the more weight I gain. I need to turn things around before I up and die.

InTheRain

I'm sure you are right. Can you still gain back your weight with the gastric sleeve... or do you just get too sick to actually over eat?

arex

It's my understanding that it's possible to stretch your stomach back out by overeating, but I'd have to think you'd almost have to be trying to do so, or else have so little self-control that you allow it to happen.

Having yet to have the procedure myself, I couldn't say for sure, though...it may be a lot easier or a lot harder to KEEP the weight off than I think it is. However, speaking for myself, if I could get back down to 220 or so (a target weight suggested by a doctor who's seen my underlying musculature in an MRI), I would work my ass off to not let the weight come back.