Neri

Just wanted to give an update here in case anyone else is looking for the same information. My surgeon's office told me that once everything has been handed over, UPMC Health Plan returns with their decision in 48 to 72 hours.

Is there anyone who has UPMC Health Plan and has already gotten their approval? If so, how long did it take between your last check-in and when you got approval? I'm trying to get an idea of when my surgery might be so I can plan accordingly.

It's a shortened version of my usual username, Nerisyns. Nerisyns was the name of one of my favorite Dungeons and Dragons characters. It then became my handle on a couple MMORPGs, and eventually became my username for just about everything.

You sound like someone I'd love to be friends with too!

I'm a 26-year-old, weird, and awkward paginator who would rather stay home and play video games than go out. I'm quiet and shy, but get to know me and you'll find someone who loves to laugh and make people smile. I love to be creative too by writing, drawing, and crocheting, even though I feel like I'm not any good at them.

So just as an update, I did see my team today. They were concerned by the weight gain (even though I've been losing since Metformin), so they put me on a new medication saying they wanted me under my starting weight. Here's hoping that it works!

I actually have Insulin Resistance, not Type 2 Diabetes, but it's close enough that I was put on Metformin. I was talking with my doctor today and suggested Victoza, but they apparently don't prescribe it there. Go figure. But thank you for the suggestion!

Thank you. That certainly helps me feel better

So my insurance wants 6 months of medically managed weight loss. Keyword there is "loss". Thursday I go in for my 4-month check-in, and the papers that get filled out each visit will continue to show a weight gain. It was only about 2 or 3 weeks ago that I was put on a dosage of Metformin that doesn't make me sick, and I've lost about 3 pounds since then. Yet my forms will still show a 17 pound gain from when I first started my journey (Started at 360, ballooned up to 380, then got on Metformin and now at 377). I know I still have 2 months still to lose weight, but I'm afraid insurance is going to deny me and all my work will have gone to waste again, all because I wasn't back on Metformin until now.

Congrats!

Of course! I'm here for you!

I'm sure it's rough, but I know you can do it! I can tell you're an incredibly strong person. And if you ever need anyone to talk to, you can always talk to me.

You look amazing! Congrats!

Good luck!

I never did say how old I was either, did I? I'm 26. But still, isn't it so nice to go into a facility that is so much more welcoming? It just feels safer. At least, to me it does anyway.

Thank you. I'm definitely going to be sticking around here, and staying with mental health services. Like you said, the mental part is instrumental to success!

If you want the bypass, push for the bypass. A good surgeon will want you to be informed on your choices, but then respect your decision.

I'm only halfway through the six months of visits I need before a request can even be sent to insurance, but I decided I wanted to tell my story so far anyway. I'll update here as things go on. I just want to give a bit of a warning, however. For those of you with triggers, there is talk of mental health and suicide. On with the show, I suppose. I've been heavy since I was a little girl. Big boned, yes, but also more than my fair share of baby fat. But at the time, it was nothing too concerning. "It'll disappear when she gets older," people would tell my parents. If only that were true. By the time I was about 12, that baby fat had turned into even more fat. My mom, who had also gotten heavy after the birth of my younger brother, decided it was time for a change. She and I started Atkins. But that didn't last long. Sure, we both lost a little, but a long stall coupled with cravings made us stop. As a teenage girl, I became a lot more conscious about my weight. I started trying everything. Weight Watchers, counting calories, Atkins again, even starving myself. But nothing worked. I would lose a little, then regain it and more. It was rough being a 200+ lb girl, especially one that ended up gaining three big issues. The first issue was that I became a boredom eater. The second was that I had become a binge eater. This compared with the first was a problem meant when I got bored, I would binge. But there was yet another problem under all of this. I wanted to die. Failures in my weight and other unrelated areas of my life such as school, caused me to spiral into a deep depression. I slept most of the day and had almost no friends. Not even the voice in my head was a friend of mine. Whenever I started a binge, I would hear it. "Yes. Eat, little piggy. You're so fat and ugly, and a failure. You deserve nothing, not even love. No one likes you, so just eat yourself to death." I wanted to commit suicide not by any normal method, but by slowly destroying my body. Eating until I was so big I died of any number of issues. I knew a few people cared about me, my parents and at least one person at school. That was another reason for trying to die slowly. I wanted them to become so disgusted with me, that they wouldn't care if I died. This carried on into my first two years of college. And then I had a psychological breakdown. I won't go into what happened, but I ended up seeing both a psychologist and a psychiatrist. Together we started to work through my issues, silencing the voice in my head, dealing with my depression, treating anxiety, getting me to be a functional part of society. I was seeing an OBGYN during this time as well, and I was diagnosed with PCOS and the insulin resistance that came with it. That seemed to be a lot of the reason why I couldn't lose weight. But what was left for me to try? Another diet? I felt like nothing worked. I tried Nutrisystem, but the food was gross and I was unhappy. But due to the psychological help and a name to what's been plaguing my weight (and the love of my fiancee, who I met after receiving help), I no longer wanted to die. I wanted to live. I wanted to see 30. So two years ago I turned to weight loss surgery. I planned to have the bypass done, but right off the bat, I wasn't too fond of my surgical team. I felt like a number to them. My surgeon I would only see for maybe a minute each appointment if I saw him at all. But still, I stuck with it until my sixth appointment got canceled. It was late December. He had gone on vacation. My PCP, who I had been able to see for some of the check-ins, had a full schedule so I couldn't see her. No one would do the check-in. I had to start all over again. It was at this point that my mom suggested I try Keto. It worked for my Uncle. It was working relatively well for her. I decided why not. The reason why I shouldn't have was because I gained an obsession with numbers. In Keto (at least the way I understood it), the general maximum grams of carbs per day is 20. I felt guilty if I went over 5. In a sense, it worked. I lost about 30 pounds. But at this time, I also started to abuse laxatives because I wanted to keep seeing that number on the scale go down. Still, much like everything else I had tried before, I hit a stall then started to regain. Frustrated, I gave up. I went back to my old ways, figuring that I had screwed my body up too badly to be recovered. Then, three months and a change in insurance ago, I got curious. Would my new insurance cover bariatric surgery? I checked and saw that it would. That day, I made a decision. I would get on the path to surgery again. And this time, I would complete it no matter what. I found a new surgeon with a new group. It's one that actually specializes in obesity medicine. Half of my six appointments are actually with the surgeon, and he explains things in more detail than I got before. The other half is with a nutritionist who is actually knowledgeable about the dietary needs of bariatric patients. I feel like a person, not a number. I feel actually informed. I feel more ready for this surgery. In October, a week after I get married, I will be having my last check-in with my surgeon. Then everything will go to insurance. I'm ready.

I haven't had my surgery yet, but I've decided to go with the sleeve. For me personally, I like the removal of part of the stomach and reduced ghrelin. Also, I like the idea that if later down the line I want to switch to the bypass, I can.

Congrats! You'll do great, I just know it.

1. Longevity 2. Health 3. Family 4. Looks 5. Mobility The first three are really close together for me, so it was hard to choose the order. My main motivation for doing this was so I could live longer and healthier for my fiance. I feel like he deserves to have someone to live a long, healthy life with.

I really like that analogy! I hope you don't mind if I borrow it for the next time someone tells me that surgery is "the easy way out".