Hi guys, I was just in with my Company Dr today and asked her what she would think of me getting a band, and she basically told me that I was being ridiculous, I was too young (I am 30) and I would end up fatter than ever from it in years down the road I didnt have to tell her what I was thinking but I did want her honest opinion, and now Im so mad I did. I had my mind m ade up and I had my finance sorted and surgeon picked. I have 70lbs to lose and i cant face another diet.. She told me to do a micro diet :confused:and do pilates. I am so mad i could puke

My doc said to me "if you would just get up at 5am and jog everyday you could lose the weight". I felt like telling him to get up and jog with two 60lb sacks strapped on his back and front and see how long he keeps up the jogging. The good news is I went through with it anyways and I am down almost 70lbs since FEB. Of course, now he is all okay with my weight loss. You have to do what you think is right for you.

My Dr. told me I wasn't big enough for lap band. Then I asked about a breast reduction and he told me my BMI was too high. I told him you can't tell me I'm too fat for one surgery and not fat enough for the other. He gave me a bariatric consult but told me I would probably be turned down by the insurance. I was banded a few months later. I wouldn't ask her opinion next time - tell her "I meet the guidlines for the band. I want a referral." Or, switch doctors if you can.

Sometimes you need to tell them what you want, not ask them what they think. I've started using my doctor mainly as a referral service, rather than a medical consultant.

After years of being halfway told to do this or that to lose weight, (a lot of which you folks have also been told by your own doctors), what I loved () was the smug jerk telling me to "Eat as I do. I only eat grapes and berries. And look at how much weight I've lost." The guy is half my age, and looks like hell. If eating grapes and berries made him look like that, I'd rather be fat. And he only lost about 20 pounds. I have a hundred more than that to lose. If I was only eating grapes and berries, I wonder if that would include the vines, thorns, and leaves, too?

So when he transferred to a new clinic, and I had to select a new doctor, I chose one who respected me, who actually listened to my questions, and who said, "You know what you want and will do better than I do. What referrals do you need?" And he's been great. I made an appointment, went in, and said, "I'm looking into having weight loss surgery because dieting isn't working for me. My insurance is very specific on which clinics they'll approve to do surgery. Can you give me a referral to this particular clinic?" And they did. I had my consult appointment within a week or two.

I'm finally down to the last few weeks before surgery, and I am MORE than ready to get it done.

Good luck!

Dave

Your doctor sounds ignorant. People who have been thin all their lives don't truly understand the desire obese people have to lose weight. Or the amount of work they have put in to trying to lose weight over the years. Do what you feel is right and as a nurse, i agree with the previous poster, get a new doctor if possible. Some doctors tend to be omnipotent and think they are always correct. Unfortunately for them, they are only humans too and sometimes their bedside manner is lacking in the sensitivity area. Good luck!

Every doctor I had would say things like "I'd like to see you lose some weight" or "How about we get you down to xx lbs". Honestly, if it was that easy or I could have done it on my own, I would have.

Anyhow, as I type this to you I have five bandages on my and I'm up sitting at my desk, at home, in minimal pain from the surgery at 10:30 this morning. I was overweight since I was ten, obese at 20 and morbidly so at 30.

I looked into LB for almost five years, found the doctor I wanted, ask him for a PCP to use that worked with him and self paid for everything (thanks to my crappy insurance). Don't be discouraged, overcome the obstacles you need to and have it done.

Please, please remember this is a tool and you will have to change from the inside out. This is 95% mental but honestly, without the tool I would have the mindset I have now. This is the first day of the rest of my life, it is a new life and I left all my old habits behind. Without something a dramatic as this, it is true, I may have been able to lose the weight, but it would not be like this.

Good luck and chin up.

I am meeting with my PCP next week and fully expect this as well. I have only met with my surgeon so far and of course she is all for it!

Hang in there!

Thank you all so much for your replys, Its so good to be on here and have so much support. You see I will not be approved in Ireland as they dont hink I am big enough, but I have dieted all my life and cannot keep the weight OFF :cursing:I have a bmi of 33, but I also have prolapsed disks in my back and because of this I cant exercise, put on more weight, get depressed, eat more, put on more weight, back gets worse, still cant exercise... you see where Im going with this?? But because of my job ( i am a bus driver) We are medically monitored very closely and this Dr has the last say if I am medically fit for work or not.. At the moment I am not.. And I want this band so much but i have to do it in secret now or I could get fired.... Why is everything so damn hard??! Im trying to make my operation date and have enough recovery around the day I have to go back to see her and then I just have to bounce back into her office :tt2:as if nothing ever happend and I dont have a band in :thumbup:Should be fun !!!

While I work in Human Resources in the US I have no knowledge of Irish Labor or Employment Law. In the US we have the HIPPA law which basically says you have the right to control who knows your personal health issues. I do not however know where the line is drawn regarding health issues when someone works in public transpertation. I do know that in the US for example airline pilots must take drug tests.

Anyway, I wonder if you can actually keep a major surgery secret from the company doctor. Even though I understand you will be paying for it yourself. It seems like you are really in a catch 22; your current physical condition is affecting your ability to work; but the doctor doesn't support your having a tool that will improve your physical condition. What a tangle!

In regards to you're being to young that's stupid. When I turned 30 I started exercising went on a major diet and lost probably 150 pounds. At 38 after months of horrible knee pain I went to a doctor and I weighed 364; I had gained back 200. So now at forty I have finally had weight loss surgery, most difficult decision in my life. I am willing to give my all to loose weight but I want it to stay gone!

Wow. Thanks for that reply Yonk, You see I had my mind made up, I was set to go! Im getting the money put into my bank account on Tuesday morning and I had my Surgeon picked. My sister who is traveling with me has started annoying me asking me questions and just being annoying and now this Dr says I'l basically ruin myself if I get it done... and now my heads all over the place and I wish i didnt tell anyone and just went on my own to do it. It's ok for them to have high morals where this is concerned but they are both tiny and have never had a weight problem. Im sick of being treated like a second class citizen by people exactly like them and when I eventually make up my mind to put an end to my misery for good, it's these people standing in my way!!! Im soo mad.. i dont know what to do now. How did you get on with your op Honk? I was just putting it down to being minor surgery, like getting your gall bladder out (which i had done and sailed through) but when you say its major surgery it scared me again.. i must sound so weak

My surgery went really well. I did'nt mean to worry you. I am calling it major surgery because you do have anasthesia and my doctor (and most in the US) make 5 incisions though they are small. Compared to some stories I had very manageable post op pain. I did take a week off of work. Two days after surgery I was feeling well enough to go to stores and walk around (my mother did the driving); and on day 4 I was at the gym. At the end of the week I was doing an hour on the treadmill (but I had been on an exercise routine prior so my body was fine with that). I was more worried pre op than I needed to be. I even watched surgeries on YouTube not at all gross as there is no blood. I recommend people watch one of the surgeries because it hits home why you need to follow the post of diet. Your stomach needs to heal from where the band is attached. When I lost weight 10 years ago the band was not approved here in the US. Truethfully I wish I had done this years ago when it first became available.

Hunnybee, how could you hide the surgery? You will have a port that is palpable. If you are medically monitored, the doctor is sure to see the new scars and feel the port. How could you explain that?

I was in a job here in the States for 20 years that had an annual physical. Some things could be hidden, but I don't see how you could hide this.

2nd question, if they don't examine you, then why would you be fired if you proceed even though she was against it?

Do you have an employment contract (I know those are more structured in Europe than they are in the US)? Or perhaps even a Union (Organized Labor) agreement? That might have a clause about medical implants/surgeries. I was thinking this morning; what if anything could they say if a male or female had chest/breast implants?

Does anyone out there have a contact with knowledge of Irish Labor Law? As I mentioned previously I work in Human Resources so this strikes me as a professional question that I don't have an answer for; and I HATE that.

My doctor said no to the surgery last year, now he says yes and is all behind it. The technology is getting better and our health changes. If you don't get approval now from your doctors, check later.

Hunnybee,

I didn't realize Ireland was still in feudal serf mode where their 'employer' owned their bodies and could tell them what to do with them. I'd contact your Labor Relations board.

.

Is your company doctor's referral required for you to have the surgery?

If not, take her opinion for what it is worth: exactly the same as anyone else's opinion.

Not everyone--even a physician who should be--is well-versed in obesity, its causes, and its treatments. It's an emotionally charged topic, and everyone has an opinion. Just because a person is a doctor doesn't mean the opinion is well-informed.

My PCP was lukewarm about banding at best. He has one other patient who's banded, who's had dismal failure. Know what? Since seeing my success, he asks me a thousand questions each time I see him: what has made it work for me, how I eat, what I do, how I supplement....he's taking in all this information, and learning. His other patient is now doing much better because he's better able to give him guidance. And he's recommending banding to other patients.

If you don't need your company doctor's approval, consider filing the opinion away, and proceeding with what you have determined is best for you.