ssflbelle

I went to the WL Dr on June 17th. He told me I also had to do a 6 month supervised diet yet he didn't give me a diet. I had been following NS on my own for a year started at 390 and had lost only 44 pounds . The DR told me the NUT was not available the day I was there and to continue to follow the NS program. This past Monday I saw the NUT. She asked me a bunch of questions about my previous diets and my physical limitations. She then explained the post op diet I would have to follow after surgery which will not be until 2016. When she asked if there were any questions I said yes what diet am I suppose to be following for the supervised 6 months. She asked me what diet the Dr gave me and I told her he told me to continue with NS. Well then that is what you follow. I told her I wasn't happy as it wasn't giving me good results and I was expecting another diet from her. She asked me if I wanted the surgery and when I said yes then being on NS will prove to the insurance you have difficulty losing weight. This attitude of the NUT and the surgeon is not sitting well with me. I personally feel NS is too high in carbs for me as in addition to their foods they want me to eat 5 additional carbs. I think on my own I will reduce that down to 1 carb per day as I really would like to lose more weight before the surgery. What pre op 6 month supervised diet are you all on?

Sandy May I ask what kind of a supervised diet were you given for the 6 months? Have you been losing? Did the Dr or the NUT give you the diet? I went to my NUT for the 1st visit as I am suppose to follow a 6 month supervised diet and she gave me nothing. She said she doesn't do that. All she did was tell me what I am suppose to do after surgery in 2016. She asked what diet did the Dr give me and I told her he said to stay with NS.I have been on NS on my own for a year and have only lost 44 of more than 200 pounds. When I told her that she said well that is what you should do than as we want the insurance to see you can't lose well on a diet. I was in shock and so confused as I thought the idea was to begin to change eating habits and lose weight before surgery.

I went to see the NUT yesterday expecting to receive a diet for the next 6 months and she gave me nothing. I was so shocked after she had explained what the diet was I would have to follow after the surgery. I told her that wasn't until 2016 what was I to follow now. She said she doesn't do that, what did the DR say. I told her he said to keep with NS but it isn't working like it should. She said well that is what you want to show the insurance so you can have the sleeve. I was shocked!!! I thought the 6 month supervised diet was to help you change your way of eating and lose weight in preparation for the surgery. I would love to know from those who have had this surgery and had to do a 6 month supervised diet if this is what happened to you as well or were you given a diet to follow. I realize a lot of you haven't been to the Dr yet so would love to hear what happens when you do see the Dr. Hopefully you will not be as shocked as I was.

Good luck for all those who are starting. I am also new. I went to see the WL Dr on June 17th and was told I had to do a 6 month supervised diet. I have been on NS since June of last year and only lost 44 pounds and have over 200 to lose. I told him I was very disappointed with such a small amount of weight lost. He said I would have seen the NUT but she was at a wedding so I would see her at a later date. He suggested I continue with NS. I went to see the NUT yesterday expecting to receive a diet for the next 6 months and she gave me nothing. I was so shocked after she had explained what the diet was I would have to follow after the surgery. I told her that wasn't until 2016 what was I to follow now. She said she doesn't do that, what did the DR say. I told her he said to keep with NS but it isn't working like it should. She said well that is what you want to show the insurance so you can have the sleeve. I was shocked!!! I thought the 6 month supervised diet was to help you change your way of eating and lose weight in preparation for the surgery. I would love to know from those who have had this surgery and had to do a 6 month supervised diet if this is what happened to you as well or were you given a diet to follow. I realize a lot of you haven't been to the Dr yet so would love to hear what happens when you do see the Dr. Hopefully you will not be as shocked as I was.

I am just starting and I entered the wrong weight. I entered what I weighed at home and when I got to the Dr's office I was 3 pounds less. How do I change the starting weight?

That would be wonderful Alex, I really appreciate that you willing to do this. I have downloaded the kindle for pc on my laptop. What additional info do you need from me and should it be in a private email to you?

I became a member here on June 14th and purchased the book at a discount from this site. It is a PDF book. I started to read it and when I closed the PDF it went back to the first page. How do I get the PDF version to stay on the page I last read? Now Ih ave to search through the book and try an remember where I left off. A little frustrating but I am sure that is because I do not know how to use the PDF version. There is lots of info, very well written and a lot of it I never saw any where else online. I want to be able to also book mark certain sections so when I get my surgery in Jan I can refer back to the book. How do I do that? Thanks so much for writing it and any info you can give in regard to my reading it questions.

I am in The Lake Worth area near the County Airport on Lantana Road.

Dr Bass use to be in South Florida as I went to see him in 2008 for the lapband. My insurance at that time wouldn't pay for the fills so I didn't go through the surgery. He was very nice and his staff was friendly but he was over an hour 1/2 away from my home. This new Dr is only 30 minutes away.

Hi Fellow Floridians I am in Palm Beach County and just starting the journey with Dr Vaughan. I saw him last week and will be seeing the nutritionist on Monday. I have to jump through the 6 months supervised diet. Does this site have friendship requests? Sure could use some friends as I have no family.

I have been on MFP since 2012 trying to lose weight on my own. I started at 497 and have managed to get down to 355. I saw the Dr for my first consultation last week and on Monday I will be seeing the nutritionist for the 6 months supervised diet that the insurance is making me do. I didn't have any Dr supervision for the 142 pounds I have all ready lost. Stupid move on my part. I still have another 200 pounds to lose so I will be here for a long time. I have no family and all my friends are obese and I haven;t told them I a doing this. They would never understand. I sure could use all the support I can get both here and on MFP. On MFP my id is ssbeadlady My profile says I have been here since 2008 as I tried for lapband back than but insurance denied me the surgery.

I also am just starting the 6 months supervised diet. I meet with my Nutritionist on Monday for the first time. I have no idea what to expect but hope some weight will come off during the next 6 months. I tried to get the lapband in 2008 but was denied. Now I am back on the site again. This time trying for the sleeve I don't remember much about the site but am trying to learn my away around here again as I am hoping this will be a good resource for help and support. Being new to the site is there a way for invites to be sent to become friends.

Yes the one fill is a major concern of mine too after all this other crap with the denial of surgery and testing is taking care of I will be looking into how much the fills are and see if I can afford them. I have the WLS coordinator looking into everything as well as well as an insurance guru (that is what she calls herself). SO hopefully if nothing else I will not have to pay for all the testing. The WLS office called my insurance before hand and told everything was fine and then when they got all the testing results and submitted the info to the insurance to get approval everything fell apart. Even the Coordinator agrees this insurance is under Medicare and if Medicare pays they should pay. I really can't write much more about this as every time I do I get aggravated again and I can't do that as it affects my health. So this is the last I am writing until I hear good results. I will pray for you and hope all will pray for me that we get all these situations taken care of and quickly.

Well I also have United Health Care but it is through the Medicare advantage plan as I am disabled with numerous physical problems in addition to a BMI over 50+ I was denied and not only that they will not even pay for all the testing I had done. Before I even saw the WLS the consultant told me all I had to pay was $500.00. BS!!!!!!!!!!!! UHC stinks!~ I will be appealing, this is unbelievable that I would be denied with all the complications I have.

Congratulations. This Obesity Law firm you speak of, did you have to pay for the service? If so, would you mind emailing me privately and letting me know what the rates are. I have a Medicare advantage plan through United Health Care and I was told that whatever Medicare paid for the Advantage plans had to pay for. I was not only denied the lapband surgery but now they will not pay for all the testing I had.

I heard they would pay for only one fill. But get this I have a Medicare advantage plan with UHC and they denied the lapband surgery and all the testing I had. I am going to appeal it but I have this strange feeling I am going to have to pay thousands of dollars for all the tests I had and I am disability and don't have that kind of money. What a shame they would rather me stay morbidly obese with all my complications than pay and help to get me well and back into society working.

Sorry you got denied I know how that feels as I just got denied today by MEDICARE ADVANTAGE PLAN through SECURE HORIZONS through UNITED HEALTH CARE. MEDICARE approves lapband but an MEDICARE AVANTAGE PLAN doesn't this made no sense to me and I have been on the phone almost all day long with the various Insurances and the Drs. I still haven't heard back a thing. I have a BMI of over 50 with HBP, spinal stenosis, 2 bulging disc, 1 herniated disc and half of a right hip bone, can't walk without canes, must use a scooter for shopping and I get denied. I am so pissed!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They will NOT win I WILL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CM as the organizer of a meetup group I can start 3 more I believe for the price of the one. That ability is only good for 4 more months and it does take some time to get a meetup group established so if you are wanting to do this I would like to suggest that we get into and maybe plan this out. Email me privately if you wish. Amanda C

Thanks Mrs. Flipflop. I haven't had the surgery yet so that was with WW and Nutrisystem. It has taken me three years and a lot of won't power. I won't eat this or that. LOL I was able to get a Medicare advantage plan insurance in May and I am hoping they will pay for the surgery. I have finished all the evals and I am just waiting for a surgery date. I will be having a radio frequency neurotomy to my back on Sept 18th which hopefully will allow me to walk again without canes. If I hadn't lost the weight I did I never would have been able to have that procedure done. Once I am walking I hope shortly after that I have my lapband and get started with the rest of my weight loss journey.

I have had this rash off and on for years in my arm, breast and stomach folds. Each time I get it I use corn starch and in a day or two it is gone. If you use it after a shower be sure you are super dry as the corn starch will cake up and make a mess and not work like it should. During the summer I take a large swatch of soft T-shirt type fabric and place it in my belly fold and that also seems to help to prevent it from happening.

HI Cm Congratulations on being banded. Dr Larson was the first Dr I had contact with in regard to lapband surgery but JFK at the time was not a Center of Excellence. Do you know have they become one yet? Since they were not at the time I was intereted back in May 2008 I had to go to Dr Bass in Hollywood. I am still waiting for my surgery date. What a shame that the psychologist your not crazy about is running the support group. At one time I believe there was a group of people from another message board that tried to start up their own support group in Lake Worth but for some reason it broke apart. As far as starting your own I suppose those of us in the county and near by counties can all get together as a group maybe with meetups.com. I haven't been to a support group yet so I am not sure what they are all about, but I wonder if there is information they give out that we in our own group wouldn't know about? If your interested in starting a meetups WLS group feel free to email me privately, I will be glad to help as I experience with meetsups. I belong to one in NC even though I live in Florida and I am sure the coordinator would be willing to provide help too. Amanda C

I have an BMI of 59.6 and my Dr stated I was a good candidate for the lapband and he would do it. Which surgery does your Dr do more of the rou-en-y procedure or lapband. Sometimes I have heard that the Doctors don't want to follow up with all the fills that are needed with lapband patients. Many have lost 100's of pounds with lapband and I wouldn't let him tell you want he wants you to have. It is your decision and if he will not do lapband see if you can find another Dr who will. What do the rest of you think?

My Dr never gave me a test either. At the first meeting she said "so tell me about yourself" and as I did she asked questions. We have a few issues that need to be discussed and worked on so I will be seeing her a few more times. Serenity55 do you use JAWS or Zoomtext to read the messages here. Perhaps the Dr could put the test onto a disc for you and you could use the JAWS and Zoomtext program to read the questions and you can type out the answers. Also some of the Libraries in our County have SARA a reading machine like a copy machine that will scan the questions and than read them to you. You can record SARA reading the questions and than answer on another tape. You might want to check if your Libraries have SARA. Just a few ideas other than having your best friend read them for you. Amanda C

Hi all South Floridians I saw Dr Bass in Hollywood on July 22nd and he oked me for the lapband but wanted me to have several evaluations and a Nutrition class. I had off 2 weeks from work and was able to get the blood work, Psychological evaluation and the Nutrition class done but have run into a snag with the Cardiac evaluation. Seems the Cardiac Dr didn't like the looks of my EKG and wants me to do a Thallium Stress Test. I am waiting to hear when that will be scheduled but I have the Dr follow up visit for Sept 9th. So I suppose the test will be done soon. The WL Surgeon didn't ask for a sleep apnea test but my pain Dr did. I will be having that done here at home this Friday. I never heard of an at home test but I sure do like that idea. So if any of you have that test coming up check into having it done at home. I hope the Thallium Stress Test will not prevent me from having the WLS. Did any of you have that test and then weren't approved for lapband? I'll keep you all posted when I know more. Amanda C

Hi Everyone. The cardiac evaluation was the last thing I had to do but we have run into a problem. :thumbup: It seems that the Dr didn't like the looks of my EKG as it seems to show a problem he said "with the back of your heart and that you might have had a mild heart attack" What that means I don't know as I never felt like I had a heart attack. All my other evaluations were good but this one, so we have a bit of a set back. The Dr wants me to have a Thallium Stress Test. From what I understand this is a test involving an injection of some sort that would simulate that I was exercising and after the injection I have to be put under a camera like machine for a few hours. Does anyone know what I am talking about or had this done to them? If the outcome isn't good would this prevent me from getting the Lapband surgery? I don't know when this test will take place but he has me scheduled for Sept 9th as a follow up visit for after the test. Needless to say I am a bit concerned and upset. One good thing about the visit was that my Blood Pressure was 130/70. :smile2:So the BP pills are working. Any infor about this test beyond what I know would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Amanda C