kiss-my-kitty

I believe it. After a five month stint on alli I believe I lost a sum total of, oh, let's see... eight pounds?

Thank you for your welcome and input! coolrn2000 - I worry about that. :/ I had my son in late July of 2006, and I believe it was the morphine that made me so sick. It took about twelve hours for it to work its way out of my system. But I will definitely mention my reaction to the meds and such to my doctor and surgeon. I was wondering - is there any specific wording I should use when talking to the doctor? Anything I should mention? Is it common to be turned down by a doctor? I really worry about that. The one big argument in my favor, aside from wanting to lose weight, of course, and no longer be morbidly obese, is that heart attack, heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure and diabetes are very prevalent in BOTH sides of my family, from my great-grandparents to my grandparents to my mother and father. Being morbidly obese only increases the risk and would make those conditions worse... which is why it's also very important to get this weight off, asap!

Hi everyone! My name is Jenn, and I am very excited to be here. For years I have battling my weight, with little success. Despite watching what I eat, getting in physical activity what I can, even trying out alli for five months, I cannot seem to get out of the ten to fifteen pound range I am stuck in. I am 5'6'', and I currently weigh 297 lbs. Thankfully, I have no health problems. I have decided that the lap band is something I seriously want to do. I have thought about lap band off and on over the past two years, but since I did not have health insurance for part of that time, and was pregnant from Jan. 2004 - Oct. 2004 with my daughter, then breastfeeding for a year, then pregnant with my son from Nov. 2005 - July 2006, and then breastfeeding for fourteen months, it wasn't really an option. But now... NOW is an option. NOW is the time. My husband and I are content with two children, and I had a tubal ligation after having my son to ensure that we do not have any more. My son stopped breastfeeding a month ago, and now that he is almost sixteen months old, I doubt that he'll go back to it. And, best of all, we have health insurance coverage. GOOD coverage. So far, I have made two steps, two good steps I think, towards the lap band surgery. First, I called my insurance provider, Pennsylvania Capital Blue Cross PPO. I was told that provided that I meet the criteria of BMI, the procedure will be covered, barring my annual $1500 deductible and a 10& co-payment. Second, I made an appointment to see my primary care physician to specifically discuss the lap band surgery. So, where exactly do I go from here? I was seen regularly by a doctor for check-ups and minor illnesses and such from my childhood until I was eighteen. There was a break for about a year and a half while I was living on the other side of the state, but then we moved back, and I became pregnant with our daughter, so I had nine months of routine check-ups and weigh ins. Ditto for when I got pregnant with our son, exactly one year after having our daughter. I do have to have my doctor submit a letter/call to my insurance to authorize the procedure. Do doctors generally do that without much fuss or squawking? I'm very excited about the lap band surgery, but I'm trying not to get too excited, because I have fears of running into a crappy doctor that won't want to authorize the surgery! Lastly, the surgery itself does not make me too nervous, except the fear of going "under" for the anesthesia. I had a (necessary) c-section with my son, but obviously I was awake for it. However, I was very sick from the spinal and pain relief medications, and was half unconscious and vomiting for twelve hours after the surgery. So, I figure that if I can handle the kind of after-pain and discomforts I had with a c-section, which is pretty major surgery, what with being sliced open and all, I can surely handle the pain from a less invasive surgery with tiny little incisions! Anyway, enough of my ramblings... thank you to anyone that reads this and responds!