Bariatric Surgery

Hello, I am on the fence if I should have the bypass surgery or the sleeve surgery my doctor had suggested the bypass. Also I am afraid I will not be able to afford the protein and the vitamins I will need to take; are they really expensive?

What is a the best hospital for weight loss surgery?

There really isn't one "best" hospital, even if you narrow it down by state.  The choice of surgeon is actually usually more important than the choice of the hospital, anyway, so me both really good and very questionable surgeons might use the same hospital.

Many insurance policies require that you use a "Center of Excellence" surgeon/hospital.  If you have insurance that will cover the surgery, start with the surgeons who take your insurance in your area (even if it means an hour drive or so to expand your options). Once you have a list of surgeons you can search here or other places on the Internet to find reviews and qualifications of each.  You can also post on the OH forum for your state and ask if anyone has used any of the surgeons you are considering.

Lora 

It depends on what types you buy.  You can buy extremely expensive special "bariatric" vitamins for $40 for a 3-month supply or you can buy Centrum multivitamins for $15 for a 3-month supply.  The same applies of calcium.  You can get inexpensive tablets or you can buy pricey (and yummy!) calcium citrate chews.  (Many of us mix our calcium doses and use chewables for just one of the 3 or 4 doses in order to keep the cost down.)

You can buy expensive protein powders or you can buy inexpensive ones from places like Walmart.  With protein powders, it is really mostly about what you can tolerate in terms of taste and texture rather than price.  It can be difficult finding one you like at ANY price point!  

UNless your surgeon is one who discourages protein shakes, you are going to need the protein shakes for a period of time Jo matter which surgery you choose, so that really isn't a consideration when picking a surgery.

With RNY, you will need roughly twice the dosage of multivitamins as with a VSG, but will also need calcium (3-4 times per day), iron, B12 and possibly some other vitamin supplements as well, depending on your lab work. I only pay $12 for an almost 6-month sup oly of B12 sublinguals, but some people pay that much for a monthly injection every month.  You CAN find very reasonably prices vitamins, especially if you take advantage of sales.

This is really a minor consideration in the overall scheme of things, even for people on a very limited budget, and you should try to focus much more on which surgery is appropriate for you based on what they're going to do to your body (and potential complications and side effects), especially since the protein shakes will only be for a short period of time (unless you choose to continue to drink long-term them because you like them).

If you use the search function (small magnifying glass at the top of the page), in search on "bypass or sleeve quote or something similar, you will find literally hundreds of discussions of the pros and cons of each surgery to help you make your decision.  The BEST surgery is the one that will best help you address the problems that you encounter with controlling your weight, not what worked best for someone else.

Lora

Lora, thank you so much for your reply and your information you were very helpful. I was thinking I was going to have to take tons of vitamin which would run into hundreds of dollars. Thanks so much

GenieR

A lot of people fret about the cost of vitamins. But think about how much money you now spend on food. You'll be eating much, much less after surgery, and should be saving a lot on your food budget.

This is exactly how I thought about it.  I'm coming out ahead moneywise when I compare the vitamins vs. my old food budget.  When I add in the medications I don't have to take anymore (3 a month at a $75 copay, plus 3 others at $10 each, in my case), I'm saving a ton of money.  

Hello Grim_Traveller

Thank for your reply you made perfect sense and I need this surgery so your right why fret over the cost of the vitamins. Thanks for your help.

GenieR

How much weight do you need/want to lose? Do you have any co-morbs, like diabetes, high cholesterol, arthritis, GERD? Do you take any meds that you can't reasonably expect to not need after WLS? Do you have any conditions that mean you need to be able to take NSAIDs? (Google them---you'll be surprised at all the things that contain NSAIDs.) How committed can you be to take vitamins and minerals multiple times a day, every day, forever? How good are you at sticking to a diet, and how well have you lost weight in the past, when you did stick to a reasonable diet?

These are the sorts of questions you need to ask yourself in order to figure out which form of WLS will work best FOR YOU. (And there's a third option you didn't mention, but you should research as well, called the Duodenal Switch.)

Hello MsBatt,

Thank you for your reply the info you have supplied me are the questions I ask myself everyday. I am very determine & committed to this procedure which means I will do what ever I have to do to follow my doctors directions to the T. I guess I just a little scared and need info from people that have been through the procedure; it is one thing to have a doctor or nurse to tell you what to expect but I would like to know from some one that has first hand of what it's really like. I want to get as much info before I go into this surgery so thank you for your help.

GenieR