outside*looking*in

Jayme is this your first cruise? Don't worry about what to eat. There are plenty of choices and you don't have to eat everything but can try whatever you like. They always offer a dieters selection. I have not been banded (yet) but have been on many cruises. As a matter of fact, it was on my cruise in September that I decided to come home and research the band. It felt like food was the biggest part of the entertainment and I got sick of being entertained! You will be fine - there are healthy choices - you just have to choose them. Hope this was helpful.

:huh2:Well - I just wanted to come on and thank everybody for the advice. After a lot of research and soul searching I have decided to give WW a solid try for a year and then re-evaluate my decision to NOT have the band surgery. I feel it is just too great a risk (not death) being a self-pay that I will have to have additional surgery or the possibility of band removal. I would love to be able to do this and would if my ins picked it up, but, I can't put my family through the ups and downs financially and having the potential of it not even working for me. I wish you all luck and maybe in a year I can see how skinny you all have become. BTW, I posted my decision on the WW board and what a bunch of negative Nancy's:mad:....I don't think some of them read the message fully before they started putting down lap-band and ME! Wow,,,,,I think I will have to look elsewhere for support. :cursing: Good luck to you all.

sorry - I guess that should have went to wandac

Cassieme - I am just curious, did they put you on coumadin? I was diagnosed with a blood clot after c-section and had to do coumadin therapy. I noticed that I was loosing my hair. My doctors say it is not coumadin but have heard a lot of people with same problem!! bty, I do not have a band yet - so it is not the lack of protein!

Hi - I tried but my doc would not keep me on it long (like 2 week supply) HELLOOOO I can't loose 100+ in 2weeks! I did make the hunger go away and I had more energy. Like a little high.

Thanks BethL....The office you use is actually one of my top choices right now. They are a little far for me since I am in St. Augustine. Maybe you saw me (and my husband) at the meeting we hi-jacked:wink2:. My ins won't cover it so I will be self-pay. Do you know anything about the chareges for fills and what not with them? How have you done so far? It surprises me that Dr. Koppman and Marema are not mentioned much on here because they say they were rated #1 with ObiesityHelp.magazine or something like that. Do you know of any other support websites (other than OH.com) Thanks for the info. I look forward to tracking your progress.:thumbup:

Sorry...... I know that once you finally get it in your head to go ahead with this, you are ready now! I am ready now and I have to get my husbands head around it since I am asking him to pay $18,000 for it! So - yep,,,,it sucks to wait on the insurance, but the bright side is that they will cover it. And maybe the will give you credit for time served?lol:biggrin:

Hi - Has anyone been banded by these doctors in St. Augustine. They are supposed to be a great group (US Bariatrics) but I have not been able to find any chats going about them. I am curious to hear from thier patients. I have been to the seminar. I have also been to the support nutrition group for Dr. Cywes (by accident, thought I was attending the seminar but got it wrong - though it was a great experience:thumbup:) I will be self-pay. Would love to hear from you. Thanks

I know for a fact that our ins. does not cover it. I called the ins. and even had my husband (policy holder) speak to his HR dept, about the other ins. offered through his company (to to re-up anyway). They used to offer it but since so many people had it done, they were losing money on the policies. They decided to take it out of the policies (the company he works for did). Even with medically neccasry, co-morbidities, appeals, - it won't matter in my case. You should call your member services and just ask! I waited a long time to call mine over fertility issues and it turns out they paid to see a specialist and to have testing done, a month after my last visit with the specialist, I was pregnant! If I had not been so scared to start that conversation, my two kids would not be 10 years apart! I will be selfpay and I have not talked to my PCP yet either. It is worth it to me! You are right with me on the issue of being over weight since a child. I have no idea what I will look like as a thin person. To be honest, if I only get down to 200-220, I will still be happy - just knowing I will more than likely not gain it back. Best of luck to you:thumbup: MAKE THAT CALL!

I am also in the early stages. I know that my ins does not cover it so I will be self-pay. My husband is okay with it but would be more okay if ins covered it. I feel like I have been dieting to just NOT gain weight in the past few years! I have been overweight starting at 8y/o. I can't imagine myself below 240?? I weighed that much by the time I was 12y/o. The one time I was smaller, I was a senior in HS and weighed 170ish. That lasted for about a minute and I got there by being "love" sick. I too wonder why we feel ashamed to ask for help? I am guilty of it. Or are we afraid of what others will think about our asking for help? I just figure I have got to do this for me. The people who are not supportive of it were/are probably not supportive of my being this fat either. So :sneaky:'em!

I have been thinking about getting this done, then started researching, then seminars, now I am ready. My husband is being supportive but he wants to learn more about it. We have to self-pay so I think that is our biggest issue. I have told some of my side of the family. Heck, my Mom is the one who first said I should look into it. It is my husbands side of the family that I am not sure about, espeacially M.IL. I know they will question it but talk more behind my back to each other than to my face. We recently moved a few hours away from them so I am thinking of not telling them and waiting to let them see the results at a family get together. Same with my friends. :wink2: