blondiebabs

I went to a psychiatrist because the psychologists here wanted you to take the 500+ questionnaires and charge an extra $160 for it on top of your copay for the actual eval. The psychiatrist was easy breezy, he just asked me some questions about my family health history, my health history and weight loss efforts, got a feel for my general knowledge of weight loss surgery. Nothing too invasive. You can ask them to send you a copy of the letter that they write, I did, it was actually interesting to read.

I started this process in the beginning of June 2014, I had a 6 month pre-op diet. The only thing that was frustrating for me in the process was actually finding a dr in my area to do the psych eval that took my insurance and didn't charge you an arm and a leg extra for testing. But one interesting thing I found during that process was that psychologists tend to make you take the lengthy testing, and psychiatrists do not (well here anyway). I called the hospital to make sure that was ok and they said no we aren't trying to make you take a test. lol whew! Psychiatrist it was! The psychiatrist mailed the hospital a letter but I asked him to mail me one too. And when I finished the last weigh-in I had my PCP finish filling in and sign off on my PCP recommendation letter and got a copy of that. I faxed both the PCP and psych eval along with all of my supervised weight loss log sheets to the hospital all together, so that they wouldn't be trying to piece everything together and it could get sent to the insurance company more quickly. I had been told it could take up to a month for the approval/denial, but one week after faxing everything in my phone rings... I almost didn't want to pick it up, seeing it was the surgeons office thinking such a fast call was a denial. Good news!! A couple of days before Christmas even! She was calling to say they already got the approval and to set my date. She suggested a date earlier in January, but since I have to give my work notice, make plans for my dog, etc I asked for a date in February. So my official DATE is February 9th!! Woot! How I'm going to handle people has me more anxious than the actual surgery. Like I know one particularly nosey person in my office will not be able to help but be intrusive, and if past history is an indicator, pretty rude about it. I've imagined several different scenarios that may happen after I have the surgery and start losing weight, and how I'm going to handle her, and others, and try to be professional about it. lol It's been a journey, and a new one is going to start soon. =) I start my preop liver shrink diet on January 26th, that will be interesting.

@@laurenella82 lol!! Yeah, the woman walked into my office this morning and saw me drinking a Protein shake and says "oh new year new diet huh" and I just said "Nope, same thing I've had for Breakfast for two years" and she just said "oh". heh People are gonna be people. =) But thank you, congrats to you too!! We'll be on the other side of it soon. @@BLERDgirl Thank you!

That is awesome you are running! I can't even try to run without feeling like I'm gonna break a hip. heh Do not let it derail you or keep you down. I know that some days I weigh more than others, I've had days that I've had a 5-10 lb fluctuation, and it's usually Water weight. So maybe you are really down on weight, but carrying some extra water on the day you happened to weigh in. Whatever it is, just keep up the great work!

@@babelfish5 THANK YOU! @@Elode That is exactly what I plan to do! I can't help but try to think of non-informative snappy quips though. lol @TEXASLADY52 That is so awesome! I have read so many stories here about people who struggled with the insurance part, so I was determined that I was going to try to not deal with all that. Whew! THANKS AGAIN!! It's super exciting!

@@AlessandraMarie I'm not crazy either, however like @@Inner Surfer Girl said, they can be very helpful. I've found seeing one myself more helpful than I could have ever imagined. When you deal with people bombarding you with negativity and making fun of you and other things you mentioned, it is nice to have a non-judgmental environment and someone who you can use as a bouncing board to talk about those things with and how it makes you feel, as well as your frustrations with trying so hard and not losing weight. I know those frustrations well myself. A psychologist is just talk therapy, they do not try to medicate you and label you.

I found a lot of inspiration and helpful tips on this website. Also there are a TON of vloggers on youtube that document their journeys, the good and the bad. I found those soo helpful. There are a few vloggers that had their surgery years ago and so those are really inspirational to see their journey from the beginning to now. Good luck!! =)

I would just read the fine print and see what is in it besides the b Vitamins. If there are a bunch of crazy chemical fillers that you do not recognize the name of google them, and you may see nothing that can be harmful, if so then it may not hurt. A diet dr I went to for months gave me B12 shots that I could administer myself at home, and had other amino acids and vitamins in it, and it was great, I loved them, they gave me a boost of sunshine, feel good energy. But there wasn't anything crazy in them. And I can't say they actually contributed to weight loss, they just made me feel better.

I have State of FL Avmed and it took 1 week, however they had warned me that it could take up to 4 weeks.

During my physician supervised diet months I weighed myself daily, it helped me keep on track, but there were a lot of days where it'd be up, up, then back down. There were even a few days in there where I'd weigh 9-10 lbs more than I did the day before, usually it was just Water weight, and it'd be back down the next day. It's normal. =)

@@AlessandraMarie it sounds like maybe, if you do not already, you should talk to a psychologist, I do not say that viciously, I see one weekly myself. Everyone here is supportive of your journey. Perhaps you can start your own thread with your specific issues and needs, state what area you are living in, and others will see your post and be able to give you more feedback specific to you and help you out, everyone who reads the original post of this thread isn't necessarily going to go through and read the entire thread and respond to you. You should give it a try, I know people here have been helpful to me when I've asked questions in my own posts. =)

My initial consult with the surgeon was at the end of June, I think around 6/26/14, however I had taken the hospital's required seminar at the beginning of that month, and got my "passport" with all my insurance requirements. I had a 6 month physician supervised diet. I completed the diet in December, and faxed my diet sheets, letter from my PCP and psych eval to the hospital the same day I had my last diet appointment. A week later, the day before Christmas, the insurance rep at the surgeons office called and said they had gotten approval for the surgery and tried to set me up for a date in January, but I needed to give my work notice, so I had her schedule me for February 9th. So about 8ish months from beginning to soon to be end (new beginning).

@@VGB I know what you mean, I hate when people at work take pictures of me even though I ask them not to, and when I see them on the work shared drive I don't even recognize myself. My surgery date is Feb 9th too. =)

@@Sharpie thank you!! I had just searched "Gainesville" in the forums and did not realize this was a band group, I'm having sleeve, but still in gville. haha =)

I just downloaded a couple to my Kindle but haven't tried any recipes yet, flipping through them there seems to be some good ones. Weight Loss Surgery Cookbook: Simple and Delicious Meals for Every Stage of Recovery The Good Life Weight Loss Surgery Cookbook

I'm in Gainesville as well, my surgery is scheduled for Feb 9th.

I have 14 days of 4 Protein drinks or bars and I can have one small meal a day, I have to keep it at 1200 calories a day, high protein and low carb. They gave me a schedule of what time to have my drinks/bars & meal each day.

I'm personally not on the shot, I take the Marlissa pill, but every single person I've known who was on the shot got knocked up the minute they came off of it. I don't know if that's the general consensus, but for a handful of people I know it's the case. So I wouldn't ever let there be a lapse. But in general all of them seem to affect me differently, I've tried several different pills, sometimes after a few years my body gets sick of one particular brand and things start getting bad and I have to change to a different brand. Some brands I hate right away and if things do not improve I ask for something else, others like the Marlissa have been good after the initial startup month of hell. If you are having issues like worse PMS symptoms, cramping, super bloating, heavier periods than normal, etc, after giving your body 2-3 months to adjust, I'd look into switching to something else.

I just got my date yesterday, I'm scheduled for February 9th. =D I have to start the liver shrink by Jan 26th.

I've been looking too, I found that amazon has some good deals on the isopure (well it seems like good deals so far)

NSAIDs are anti inflammatory drugs, asprin, aleve, and a whole slew of others are on the list. It was one of my biggest worries about surgery was not being able to take them. All sinus medications are not NSAIDs, I take sinus and allergy meds daily but I do not get the kind that are mixed with any kind of pain reliever or other cold remedy meds, for example Aleve Sinus. I just get the straight generic phenylephrine hci 10 mg for my sinuses, it does relieve swelling in the sinuses but not anywhere else in your body so it wouldn't be considered a NSAID. http://www.nsaidslist.com/

I've clicked the link from my page a couple of times as well, but I think maybe it doesn't work or something. =)

Hello, Would you please add dr Geoffrey Roelant, he is the newest surgeon at North Florida obesity center. http://northfloridaweightloss.com/surgeons/geoffrey-roelant/ Thank you!

Hello! I am close to being done with my required 6 month diet. I only have 2 weigh-ins left, mid November and mid December and I'll be done.... EEE! So I'm looking into getting the required psych eval done in November, however I have super limited choices of providers that are covered by my insurance. I have the state of Florida AvMed plan and I have to use a PsychCare contracted provider if I only want to pay my normal copay amount. I currently have a fabulous psychologist that I go to, however she cannot do the eval. I'm taking her my list of people I can choose from next week, but I thought I'd ask if anyone here has experience with any of these people. Or if there was someone else you used and paid full price out of pocket. This is for Gainesville Florida. Sooo my options are: Bernard Bulcourf Bernie Marrero Jacqueline Orlando Susan E Davis Virginia Sloan One of my friends did go to Dr Orlando for her evaluation, and her feedback for her wasn't the greatest. Any feedback will be great! TYIA!