ReduceReuseRecycle-Me!

It really sounds like a leak. Vomiting is a sure sign. Be firm and have the med people triple and quadruple check for it.

I believe that what we are talking about here is really "fat-STORING hormones". Hormones are not stored. They are released as needed or on schedule (like our monthly visitor) and used right away. But there are hormones that hold on to fat for whatever reason and I believe us lucky ladies have more of them that men do. We get all the breaks.

I have UHC through my husband's company and before I even had booked an appointment with my surgeon, his insurance-liaison people called UHC for a pre-approval. I also called UHC myself to find out if they had any prerogatives (such as 12, 6, or 3 month supervised diet programs) that I needed to do before being able to submit for final approval. They told me that all I needed was my PCPs approval letter. I asked the agent at UHC to double check that for me and she did and said that was all I needed. So why am I worried then? *(Because life has taught me that when you are told one thing, you find out there is always something else. My patient advocate told me the insurance wants a 5 year weight history (*even though I checked with the insurance and they said just the PCP letter) which I am unable to get. We live in Nevada now, but we moved here in 2011 and when I contacted my old doctor in Connecticut, they are unwilling to get me my records at this time. They'll get to it, is what I was told. Then there is my son. 22 and he only went to a doctor when he was sick after age 16, which wasn't too many times. I do have his pediatric record and that shows when he started to go up in weight. So the patient advocate said we could write a letter stating everything and hopefully it will be enough. Oh, well, I've rambled enough. Did I help anyone?

My son and I are December-sleevers also, but it's funny how every doctor's office procedures are different. We saw our surgeon once to introduce ourselves and for him to verify that we were good choices for the surgery. Then we met with our "patient advocate" who gave us the list of everything we would need to do for pre-pre-op testing (all of which he set up for us) and he told us what we needed to show insurance so that they would approve it, including a letter of approval from our PCPs and a 5 year weight history. We have completed all the hurdles and I'm waiting to hear from the advocate that he is submitting it to the insurance. We won't meet with the surgeon again until the surgery is scheduled.

I know exactly what you are going through. I feel like I am in limbo right now in my steps to the surgery. I jumped all the hoops and my nutritionist said we can start the first phase of the steps we have to take to the just shake diet (2 weeks of it prior to surgery) but I don't have a surgery date ye,t so I don't want to "give up" food yet. So, yeah, I've been eating whenever, whatever I want, which is so bad. I've done that my whole life. I am pretty sure, though, that when I know the date of surgery, I will be able to buckle down. You will be too, I'm sure.

Snrussell09, you will only be able to "eat" tiny amounts for several weeks and it won't be solid food. It will be months before you can eat food you used to, but then, again, only tiny amounts. We who have fought the food monster our whole lives must start thinking of fueling our bodies, not feeding them.

I have been overweight my whole life and don't remember what I weighed in highschool, so I went on what weight I was really happy at and felt good, and that was 170. I am currently 264 so that's almost a hundred pounds. 170 is still overweight for me (5'5") but I believe I am large frame and my calves have always been large. That sounds stupid, but even as a child in the 60s my mom had trouble buying boots for me because the higher ones wouldn't fit my calves. I also have wide feet (EEE) and I feel those are sort of indicators, at least for me.

I believe the comorbidities have to be directly weight-related.

Hey, rainbows, the docs can fix that nasty hernia while they are in there. Hopefully, the inflamation turns out to be nothing to worry about.

jillb5, I know what you mean about not sure if you have gone through it or not. The question docs usually ask is, when was your last period and if it has been a year or more, you are through with menopause. Some women think once you start menopause you are never through with it but that is not so. Menopause is literally, the pausing (end) of menses. Once no period for a year, you're done. Good and bad news, because after menopause, no more hormones, so now your body has to change in ways you are not used to, but those tales are for another time. I had a partial hysterectomy in 2007 due to massive blood loss (fibroids). I kept my ovaries which meant I still had to go through menopause, but without the monthly curse, I had no way of knowing if I had finished with menopause or not. Just not bleeding to death each month was the greatest thing ever. It was weird that I also stopped experiencing the other usual symptoms, as well, such as, breast tenderness, irratability, food cravings, etc. Small blessings. Yup, your metabolism is supposed to go down in menopause, but instead of no carbs, choose good carbs and no refined anything (sugar, flour, rice).

Jeolousy. I know, you're saying no way, but look at your before pic. You are adorable! Think how awful that person's life must be to feel she has to put down total strangers to make herself feel good. You would never do that and that puts you in a better place already. Be strong!

JMarshall, I'd also like to say, I can see you making a difference in the greater world, as well as your own world, some day. I love the group photo (on the bench) and, please take another "after" photo for your profile and this time...smile! You are very handsome.

You are awesome and a moving story teller. Your mom must be happier for you today. My son is 22, 6'6" and 420 pounds and he and I are getting the surgery together, so your story helps him see the light. Keep up the fight!

Very rewarding and uplifting. You will do awesome on your journey!

High hopes and happy thoughts winging their way to you. Hope you are doing better very, very soon.

Thanks Kathy, much needed boost.

Question: The picture on your profile, is that you? Is it current? I ask, because I think you look quite attractive in it. I'm 52 and in my whole life, I only had one license photo come out relatively human-like(lol). Get your license done and as Shrinkydinkme said, go back in a year and proudly say, "take my picture again!"

There are things we have to do to get insurance to accept our claim. All of the different tests we do are to show the surgeon that we are viable candidates for the surgery. It may be that the psych evaluator believed there was reasons enough for you to go into therapy during your WLS journey; some reason that made him/her think you really needed on-going psych care or the surgery would not be enough for you to be successful. If your past is effecting you today and it is the reason you are overwieght, that past is never going away. The surgeons want everyone to use this weight-loss tool to the best of their abilities. For you, psych therapy may be the best addition to your weight-loss tools (next to the surgery, of course). Best of luck to you.

My paperwork will be submitted to insurance soon and we are anticipating a December surgery. Will repost when we get our date!

I thought that would be the hardest part, getting the approval letter from my doc, but, there I was, sitting on the table, dangling my feet, while he wrote a note out on his prescription pad and my surgeon's office said it was acceptable. I was shocked.

You would think that theire would be hard and fast rules to follow to get this surgery. There are not!. My insurance told me they just wanted a letter of approval from my primary care doctor. No other requirements. It's my surgeon that has all the requirements, including losing 10 percent of excess body weight prior to surgery. The use the first weight they took the day of our first appointment. Other insurances require different things, like 12, 6, or 3 month supervised weight-ins/nutrition visits.

Officially, for surgery, I have to loose 10 percent of my excess body weight. For me, that is 14 pounds and that will be in my two week shake only preop diet. We were told that from now to surgery we could not gain any weight. That is hard right now because food and I are having a serious farewell party!

All together, ours will be about two months time. Sounds like no time at all, doesn't it? We did all our hoop jumping in two weeks. We had to wait for a doctor's letter and now we are waiting to submit to insurance. We anticipate surgery in December. Our first surgeon visit was October 10, 2012.

Hey, all. Haven't posted in a while. I have finished my list of mandatory dos and my son also. We did everything together. We are waiting for the approval note from my son's PCP and then we will be submitting to insurance. We do not have the 5 years of weigh in history though, because my former doctor's office is currently going through some staff changes and they actually told me they would get to my file transfer when they get to it. Nice, huh? Anyhooo, I was told by our nutritionist that we could start the first part of our cutting back program. They do a 3-stage before surgery diet. The first part is calorie reduction and meal substitution for one week and we could do that as long as we wanted to before we actually got our surgery date. We do a two week shake only diet up to the surgery. My problem is now, more than any other time in my food-filled life, I am thinking only about eating. My son is doing awesome preparing himself for surgery. He is exercising, cutting back on his food intake, chewing the mandatory 30 times and taking at least 1/2 hour on his meals. Who IS this kid? Not me! Last night, I couldn't keep my eyes open, but all I could think about was getting up to get something else to eat. What the hell? I really never was this obsessed before and I cannot seem to get a grip. ANY suggestions would help. Thank you all.

When did you have your surgery and have your told your surgeon?