salinasmaya

Hello All- I am new to the forum, and I am in the early stages of seeking WLS. I was curious at to what insurance companies look for in the five year record. Are they looking for a long history of weight issues in general, or are they looking for a history of having the 40 BMI? Thanks.

Hi LisaMarie- I agree. If any other part of us was broken, we would get more consistent care I think. I guess because it has to do with the very core of our health- nutrition and food that they want to be careful. That is how I try to see it. I think in my doctor's case, he really does not know me, and he sees me gaining huge chunks of weight and he wanted to make sure that I am not being impulsive with this choice as I seem to be doing with my eating. When it comes to weight loss, I just think of my body as a broken machine. MY siblings are much bigger than I, and they do not want to do the surgery. My whole family is obese on my mom's side, and tiny on my dad's side (we are all Hispanic) and I got all my mom's genes. Then to top it off, I am apple shaped, so I still wear my less obvious looking maternity wear because I cannot get waistbands on pants to correlate with my thighs and legs. But I am just so glad that WLS seems to be something that can help us all who struggle with obesity. Another question to put out there for y'all: Once you hit a 40 BMI, do the co-morbidities still have to be present or is the 40 BMI reason enough for drs. to pursue WLS. (I figure it will differ by dr. and insurance but I am curious as to what some of your doctors have told you.) Thanks.

Thanks for the comments, the welcome, and the information on the psych evaluation. That is good to know. I went in for some blood tests today to see if my numbers have changed from last year. I gained 23 lbs this year (!), so it will be important for me to know what happened internally. Sad to say, I hope there are numbers in there that will make my dr. take notice. Last year my cholesterol was a little high, but not high enough for medication. Well, off to read and learn some more from you all.

Hi all- 33 y/o woman from Central Valley, CA. I talked to my Kaiser Dr. this week about weight loss help. I went to the appointment completely ignorant about the different WLS. He said NO to gastric bypass (my BMI is 39.1) and he put me on Meridia. I mentioned lap band at the end of the appt, and he was okay with that as an option and he said we would look at that after 6 months of supervision. I feel like I was all over the place in that appt. So being a teacher, I am here to educate myself completely in case it comes to lap band. I hope to learn from others because I do not want to be ignorant when I go in again in August for a check up. One big question I have is that I was wondering what this psych evaluation is about if it comes to it? Is it an ongoing thing or a one time thing? What do they want to determine vis a vis this evaluation? Thanks so much.