What is the tipical wait for a surgery date once you get into the Dr.s office ? I have read many of the post and some are saying they were put on a 6 week diet. Do all doctors do that ? If thats the case my BMI would probaly drop temporaily below 40 cause it's at 43 now.

Just wondering I have been wanting WLS since a friend of mine and one of my cousins had it done and they are doing fine 3 years post-op.

Any help with this question would be greatly appreciated,

Gina

gina - docs are different. but more important, so are insurance companies! most of them require a supervised diet - and it's more like 6 months, not 6 weeks. but only your insurance knows!!!

good luck! and keep us posted.

Thanks for your help

I'm sure the insurance wants to give you time to make sure that you're committed (after 6 months of dieting, I'm sure some people decide to continue on that path)

yes i had to lose some weight to shrink my liver so the surgion could do my procedure

I had to do a 6 month dr supervised diet...it was an insurance requirement. I didn't lose enough to go under the 40 BMI and I was around 43 when I started the 6 months. Now, I was told that the supervised diet was required also to show that you can follow dr.s directions and procedures as well as not being able to lose enough weight to regain your health.

Surgeons are all different...if you're self pay, they may require your to lose 10% of your weight to shrink your liver (makes things safer as well as easier on the dr during the surgery) or they might just tell you to NOT gain any before your surgery date...mine was the not gain kind of surgeon.

Good luck, honey...let us know what's going on!

Angela

Thanks so much everyone for your thoughts. I just wanted to know what to expect going into this,cause I've done research on the types of WLS for a couple of years. But now that we are going to have insurance that will cover the surgery I'm getting kind of excited and don't want to be too disapointed with a a hurry up and wait routine. I know from reading many of the posts, I've got a long row to hoe. )

I had Just shy of 4 months between my initial consult and my surg date. . .I also had 23 years of documented dieting to back me up (yep docs had me start at 7!) Good Luck and keep us posted

Ask your surgeon's office. When I went to the mandatory pre-appointment seminar (they wouldn't schedule with a doctor until you attended) they laid a pretty accurate timeline. I had my seminar in late September, saw the Dr. the first week of November and had my surgery Dec. 21st.

My insurance didn't require the 6 month supervised diet and my surgeon required a 2 week pre-op diet but every program is different.

All doctors and insurance companies are different.

When I had my WLS( 5 years ago) I was a self pay. I had Kaiser at the time and they would only do it open...NOT an option for me!
Once I met with Dr....I was on the table with in 2 weeks Ü


~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Susan AKA:SasMnky!
myspace.com/sasmnky
obesityhelp.com/member/sasmnky/
340/298/188/170
Before/atWLS/Current/Goal!
Working on getting those pounds Off again!
WLS 7/04 @298/ As Low as ... 150

Thanks again everyone, I've got the ball rolling and have paperwork being mailed from a surgeon's office that offers, bypass, sleave and lap band so I can make the best choice for me. I will keep everyone posted as the process continues.

Best wishes to all...................Gina ;o

Hi Gina! I had the RNY gastric surgery in 2001 and gained the weight back. The stomach pouch, regardless of what they tell you, does stretch back. If you research the internet you will find a lot of people who had success with RNY but you will also find a huge amount who only lost half their weight or less and then there are some who gained it all back. I know the lap band has the lowest success rate. The best long term success rate of any gastric surgery is the duodenal switch. I am having mine revised to this. Not only does it shrink your stomach, which all the others do, BUT, it ALSO makes your metabolism like a thin person's. You do not absorb many fats and starches. Yes, you have to take vitamins for the rest of your life, but you have to do the same thing with the other surgeries. I have read 2 case studies of all the surgeries and the DS has the best long term outcome(85%) of excess weight loss. RNY has 50-70% wt loss but a considerable amount of weight gain long term out. Lap band was the lowest of all. The case study also said being obese and staying obese is much riskier than having the surgery and comparing the risk factors of the surgeries themselves, the RNY and DS (Duodenal Switch) -- the DS actually was like half a percent safer, not much difference there. But if you are going to go thru the trouble and expense, might as well do something that will work long term out. The DS - you can eat a lot more food, there is no vomiting back up of food and no sugar dumping--you can eat normally. Some people say well, there is diahreah....I researched that too. Just at first, during recovery. After that if you experience that, the doctor give you probiotics or if you have constipation (which most people do with the RNY) you take MOM. Milk of Mag. The DS is a more complicated surgery, the newest surgery and not a whole lot of surgeons do it, but you can find one. I am going to have my done with John Husted who was on the Discovery Channel, who lived in California but recently moved to Somerset, KY. Lucky me.

GinaG: Regardless of what kind of surgery you decide to have, or what your insurance will pay for there can be complications and side affects with each and every one.....But, they all can work. Surgeons can fix you so that you can't eat as much, but..........they can't operate on your head!!! Most of us didn't get fat because of how big our stomach was, but because we have a sickness about food. It became our best friend, our comfort, our everything....finally our worst enemy. With me my obesity was so bad that I couldn't take care of myself, family and my health was going downhill rapidly and at 56 I knew I was headed for death at an early age or a slow lingering unhealthy useless life if I was lucky for the next 20 years. So.....why write all of this.....do your homework.....read about them all, ask questions, talk with those who have had each kind, make sure your doctor is qualified.....but most of all remember that you will have to deal with HEAD HUNGER and FOOD ADDICTION the rest of your life with any of these surgeries. Some handle these surgeries better than others and some don't handle them at all and think that they are a fix for obesity. NO THEY ARE NOT!
They can and will fail. Be proactive about WLS and don't rely on it alone; have a plan in mind for after the surgery and try starting on it now before the surgery and start trying to deal with the triggers in you life that got you to this place. I realize if my RNY fails for me it is not because it wasn't a good surgery, it was because I didn't use it as a tool to lose weight, but a quick fix. Good luck my dear! We will be here for you.

Hi Pat,

I am interested in learning more about the duodenal switch procedure. Would you let me know what material you specifically reviewed?

I also live in Kentucky just outside of Louisville.

Thanks!
Debbie