FLbandgirl1985

Hey there! Just wanted to add my 2 cents!! I am a thyroid cancer survivor and the girls I work with call me the "thyroid queen" because I know so much about thyroid function, thyroid meds, etc.! I just want to say that those who stressed how important taking your medication is are 100% right! Once you develop hypothyroidism (low functioning/sluggish thyroid) you generally have to take medication for the rest of your life (there may be very rare cases where you can stop, but generally the rule is it's a lifelong med). I think the 1 pound is totally a coincidence - it takes about 4-6 weeks for the medication to take it's full effect (thus your doc will give you a lab slip to do in 6 weeks each time he adjusts your medication). Your thyroid produces hormones that EVERY cell in your body need to function properly! It's extremely important! There are basically 2 different types of thyroid medication: Synthetic (i.e. "Synthroid") Or Natural (Armour Thyroid, Westhroid, Nature-Throid --- it's "natural" because it's made from porcine thyroid glands aka "desiccated thyroid") After I had my thyroid removed I was on Synthroid for a few months which works for many people, but I was not one of them, I continued to have depression/anxiety, memory loss, fatigue, excessive weight gain, dry skin, cold intolerance, etc. so I was switched to Armour Thyroid and all my symptoms are gone (except for the weight problem, but that was an issue before my thyroid cancer, and I did lose 30 lbs after starting Armour) - I've been on it for 2 years and my levels have stayed very consistent. Anyway, my point is that if after being on Synthroid for awhile if you don't feel an improvement do some research on natural thyroid medication and see if it might be right for you... One more thing, you said your TSH was 4. something? After I had my thyroid removed they didn't give me any medication because of this special kind of radiation treatment I had and my TSH got up to FIFTY (the higher the number the more hypothyroid you are). I felt like an 80 year old! It was horrible! Anyway, I could go on and on about this subject all day LOL - if you have any other questions let me know!

I asked my surgeon about NSAIDs (Non Steriodal Anti-inflammatory Drugs) like Ibuprofen, Motrin, etc. and he said it was fine - he said there is a risk associated with taking them (ulcers -- and I think it maybe increases your risk of band erosion?) but the risk was so small it wasn't worth suffering through my period every month. I have pretty bad cramps so I definitely use NSAIDs during that time. I will definitely probably try to use Tylenol for any headaches in the future though instead of popping ibuprofen...I am planning on trying to take it only when absolutely necessary and use Tylenol for anything else...

Co-morbidities are medical conditions that increase your risk of death and are made worse by your obesity or are thought to be caused by your obesity, such as: Hypertension (high blood pressure) Hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol levels in the blood) sleep Apnea (where you stop breathing for short periods while you are asleep) Degenerative joint disease (joint pain/damaged joints, like your knees) I'm sure I left something out, but I hope this gives you a good idea of what co-morbidities are....

Mine is in my signature line. I love reading everyone's blogs, it's been great!! :thumbup:

Hey everyone! I just found out on Thursday that my insurance co. pre-approved me for surgery! I am being banded by Dr. Fusco on 10/26/09 - I'm so excited!! Any fellow Dr. Fusco patients?? He seems very skilled, I was definitely impressed with him at the Seminar. Ok, well I hope to hear from some of you soon!! :thumbup:

Congrats!! I just got approved on Thursday, oh happy day! LOL :thumbup: Do you have a surgery date yet??

Hello Everyone...if your name is not here why dont you copy and paste then add your name and date! Happyloser 10/1 bethany329 10/1 Timmers 10/1 Lindac80 10/1 Marfar7 10/1 Ca7696 10/2 Opus03 10/2 RedboneLA 10/3 ihavehope3 10/3 Viking_girl 10/5 leetie 10/7 Jtreece 10/8 MommyOf1 10/8 Suz-Q 10/9 Noodles 10/9 SharPei 10/13 Guy 10/13 Cshytle 10/13 MoniqueD 10/14 Jenfromtheburg 10/14 ncarreras 10/14 angela677 10/15 Kme 10/15 Nooshie 10/15 munkee'smommy 10/15 Oliverdog 10/16 danyett 10/16 We3601 10/19 Onikenbai 10/19 Deekel 10/19 Mzcancer 10/20 Soexcited 10/21 erenstar983 10/21 pina3940 10/21 jenrobbar951 TBA HDmama 10/22 Crazychica133 10/26 Sarah1285: 10/26 Idahlem72 10/27 Daria77 10/27 Barley 10/28 4girlfamily 10/29 TxCloverAngel 10/20 nc_liz 10/20

My surgeon and his staff are awesome!! The insurance specialist called me yesterday and said that when she sent in my information for pre-approval the ins. co. sent back a denial saying that as of Oct. 1st they require a 12 MONTH physician supervised diet history!! My insurance coverage is through a very small ins. company in that is only in the county I live in and they are only contracted with one surgeon: mine (luckily he is very skilled and has been doing LB surgery since 2003). So when they got this news from the ins. co. he was really annoyed and he went and had a meeting with the insurance company's board of directors and told them it was ridiculous! He talked them into reducing it to a 6 month diet and he also talked them into approving my surgery WITHOUT the 6 month diet because they had totally dropped the ball in notifying him (esp. since he is the only LAP-BAND surgeon they even work with!!) of their new requirements and I've been working on getting this approval since early September. So basically he fought for me and they approved it! Isn't that awesome!?!?! WOOHOO!!!!!!!!! My surgery is October 26th! I can't wait!! :thumbup:

Thank you everyone! I appreciate the info! That makes a lot of sense and it's what I was thinking, but I just wanted to make sure I was on the right page. Thanks again!:thumbup:

Thanks for the info everyone! I met with my nutritionist on Wednesday and she told me I wouldn't be able to swallow anything bigger than an aspirin but what you all said made perfect sense...I will just cut them down smaller if I need to (as long as it is safe to - I'm mainly talking about vitamins).

All surgeons are different, I know my surgeon requires: Clear liquid diet x 3 days before surgery (the first 2 days I can have 1 meal per day besides the clear liquids). The first week after surgery I am on a full liquid diet (I can blend up Soups etc.). Then the next 2 weeks after that I am on "mushies" (anything I can mash up with a fork basically) and then after that I graduate to "regular" food (for the most part). You seem a little confused about what you can have - have you checked with your surgeon/nutritionist? I just met with my nutrionist this week and she gave me a full list of what I can have in each stage as well as lists of types of food I can buy and meal examples as well as Protein requirements. Don't hesitate to call your doctor! :smile:

Hey Everyone, I've been reading through the rules for deducting the cost of lap band surgery on my taxes and my only question is: If I am paying for the cost of surgery with a credit card (CareCredit) can I still deduct the cost? Since it's basically a loan I wasn't sure if that still counted...I know this may be a stupid question but I just wasn't sure. Thanks!

What can you take once you've been banded? Can you take smaller tablets, do you have to crush them? Is that only post-op for a period of time or permanantly? I'm just wondering because I take a Multivitamin and some other supplements and I'm wondering if I'll be able to still take them after I'm banded, I thought I saw someone mention something on here about tablets getting stuck.

So I think I've been through the full range of "pre-banding" emotions! I was super anxious and excited and couldn't wait, then I was nervous, scared and questioned if I was making the right decision and now I'm just excited and ready! I am totally at peace as far as the process and how long it may take. I feel well educated and informed about what I'm about to go through. I hopefully will have an answer by either Friday or Monday as far as finding out if I have pre-auth. I have a BMI of 38 and a diagnosis of Hypertension - from what I understand, I meet my insurance company's requirements (I have Health First Health Plans, a local company) and they do not require a 6 month diet. The insurance lady at my surgeon's office has given me a couple of mixed answers, first she said I needed either a BMI of 40 or 35 and a co-morbidity, but today she told me my history looked good but we "may have trouble" - so who knows? I feel pretty confident about things, but we'll see! If I get approved right away I may be able to have surgery as soon as October 19th! WOOHOO!! :tongue2:

I'm supposed to provide a 2 year diet history that will be attached to the letter of medical necessity that my primary care physician is going to write for me. What did your list look like?? Just trying to figure out if I'm on the right page with mine...