hopeliveshere

Ive been dieting since i was 15 years old (i am now 30). I have tried everything from south beach, weight watchers, slim fast, master cleanse, dexatrim, stacker 2, hydroxycut, and a few more. I had my greatest success when alli (the otc version of xenical) came out. i lost 40lbs with it but eventually put it back on and more. I never had a problem pooping my pants on it lol. as long as you stay within the guidelines you are pretty much good with that. But i recently gave alli another try in january of this year. I lost 6pounds in 1 month and that was it. Now ive put 8 pounds back on. Its time for me to get off the diet rollercoaster.

I attended the weight loss seminar this past thursday. got great information and met one of the surgeons. Finally got thorugh to my insurance company this morning and they do cover the surgery and 3 nutrtional visits.what are the nutritional visits? I have a surgical consultation on May 2nd. very excited for that. My insurance company requires that i have a 6month drs note detailing my weight and i have to attend to bariatric support groups but that is about it. The surgeon said i need to bring a referral from my pcp when i come to the consultation. What is the referral supposed to say? If i complete the insurance reqirements and all the testing needed how long does the whole process take?

wow thank for that info. i did meet dr merola at the seminar i went to on thursday. He did talk about the lap band and how it takes numerous modifications, which is why i was leaning toward the sleeve. i am supposed to have a surgical consultation on may 2. Did you happen to meet dr castro as well?

Congrats! glad to hear everything went well. wishing you much success.

Good Luck! cant wait to hear your progress! wishing you a speedy recovery

I would love to hear your experience with the hospital and the doctors. I am going to a seinar next week for dr stephen merola and dr armando castro. Thank you

Does anyone know anything about magancare insurance. I have it throught my exhusbands job. I believe it is local 888 union. I cannot do much research online b/c i do not have a home computer and many sites at my job are blocked. i cant find anything on the magancare site about bariatric surgery, the 800 number is like talking to the wall i cant seem to get a live person. The only thing that i was able to find on the website was that the surgeon i am looking into is "in network". Anyone know the requirements for this company? TIA!

I just booked a space at a weight loss seminar for april 18 (im very excited). I mentioned this to my bff and she basically attacked me. She started saying how i dont need it and im only doing it to improve my looks ( which is way off base) and that i havent been dieting seriously. and i have. true i do not have any other comorbidities but i have many reasons why i want to do this which im sure you all could understand. she starts saying how im gonna have so much recovery time and im gonna have to do this this and this. How do you deal when someone is totally unsupportive of your decision? She thinks she knows everything about the world. should i just cut her out of the loop of this decision?

well i just started checking out hospitals. My bf's neice just got sleeved about a month ago at Lenox HIll. I looked that up and its says that my insurance is out of network there. So i looked at new york hospital queens and the dr there is in the magancare network. So now i am going to see about going to the seminar. Self pay is out of the question for me. I can no where near afford it unfortunately.

Thanks everyone for your helpful responses. I tried to call Magnacare yesterday and just could not get through to anyone. I was on their automated system for a half an hour at least and could not find what i was looking for nor could i get through to a live person. im going to try to visit their website. and i did locate some seminars in my are. Ill just keep pressing forward

i live in queens, new york.

Hello all. I am new to this website and have been considering vsg for quite a while now. I am 30 years old and i am 5'3" my highest weight is 255lbs. I am currently hovering around the 247 mark. I have struggled with weight since i was a child. Name a diet and I have probably been on it. I have tried weight watchers, slim fast, south beach and a host of diet pills including dexatrim, stacker2, hydroxycut and alli. My greatest success came from the alli pills in oct of 2009. I went from 230lbs to 189lbs.After the birth of my second child who is now two, i just cannot lose any wieght. I restarted the alli pills in Jan and have been yo-yoing with a 6lb weight loss. My BMI is 44+. I have no other co morbitities (that I am aware of) besides for having high cholesterol. I do not take medication for this. I think that vsg will give me the tools i need to succeed finally on this journey. However, I have no idea where to even begin. I have done research on the procedure itself so far. What is my first step? Do i need to go to visit my regular dr and discuss this with her or do i start the search for a surgeon first? Does anyone know anything about Magnacare insurance covering the procedure. Looking forward to getting to know everyone in the community. Thanks in advance for your help