Feeling A Little Guilty...only A Little.

[LizTex2587 212]

Alright, here is the deal. When I spoke to my primary care physician about bariatric surgery (at the time I was considering the lap band), he made it clear he was not a fan of that at all and encouraged me to just make a greater effort at losing weight all on my own. I totally get that, it's not like I can just get sleeved and let it do all the work for me...for true success and long-term results, I have to use the sleeve correctly as the tool it was meant to be! When I told my mom that our physician wasn't all that crazy about me getting the surgery, she made a very valid point...He may be a doctor, but he is not the one that has to live in your body... To top it all off, I only have until April 2013 to get this done if I am wanting insurance to pay for it. I turn 26 in April and will no longer be covered on my parents plan, so if I am going to do this, it needs to happen soon. Well, I am scheduled to be sleeved on the 14th of January and I'm super excited...I have not lost very much weight at this point, I'm kind of taking it slow, but when I went to see my pcp he gave me a very stern lecture on getting my weight down..."we've got to get you serious about losing the weight"...All I could think was " well, you are about to see how serious it's gonna get!!" Truth be told I feel a little guilty about not letting him know my plans, but hey, he's only my doctor and it's my life. Maybe he will dismiss me as a patient for going against his medical advice...maybe he will just give me another lecture...i dunno. But either way, I'm getting sleeved and I am going to lose weight and be healthy! So there! lol

[Louisiana Girl 14]

LizTex - I'm surprised your pcp would be against the weight loss surgery. I would think that he would support you in your desire to be healthier. Not everyone can do it on their own -- no will power, other issues. Whatever the case, I could never do this on my own. I could not be happier and healthier since my sleeve surgery! Good luck! You will be glad you did this!

[LizTex2587 212]

LizTex - I'm surprised your pcp would be against the weight loss surgery. I would think that he would support you in your desire to be healthier. Not everyone can do it on their own -- no will power' date=' other issues. Whatever the case, I could never do this on my own. I could not be happier and healthier since my sleeve surgery! Good luck! You will be glad you did this![/quote']

I think he just feels like it's something drastic that shouldn't be done until you've exhausted every option...he agreed that there are people it works for, but he wanted me to try just plain diet and exercise...I've tried that many times and lost some weight but never anything truly substantial, and I've always put it back on. I truly think I need this, and that it will help me train my body to use food the right way = as sustenance...I'm a total emotional eater and well, I just won't have that option once I'm sleeved.I will have to redirect those emotions to another outlet....anyway, I didn't mean to go off on a tangent, but yeah I was a little surprised as well when he shot the idea if wls down.

[Oregondaisy 2,019]

Just went to my IRL support group and the nutritionist gave a talk on how less than

5% of people are able to keep the weight off if they lose it with diet and exercise.

You're doing the right thing. You're going to be thrilled with your sleeve!

[OneManWolfpack 180]

Liz, I agree with Oregondaisy in that if your doc believes in evidence-based medicine, then using statistics like the long-term failure and weight regain of diet and exercise alone versus surgery is something that shouldn't be overlooked by him.

But having said that, maybe he's just following a conservative (and entirely reasonable) treatment plan that ensures you really have tried several other options and that you're fully capable of adhering to the relatively permanent change in lifestyle/eating behaviors that WLS entails. Maybe it's because you're "only" 25. (although, in all honesty, I wish I'd done this 10 yrs ago myself!)

In any case, I think at some point you still do need to fill your PCP in on what's going on. After all, you still could develop other general medical issues even after a successful sleeve (severe acid reflux, gallbladder issues, Vitamin deficiencies, etc, etc.), that your PCP should be involved with, and keeping him in the loop on your surgery can help with earlier diagnosis and appropriate treatment of those issues, if needed.

Just my 2 cents from being recently sleeved. Best of luck to you in reaching your goals. Hope to see you here with us on the losers bench soon!

[catryem 14]

I still haven't told my pcp....lol I will tomorrow when I make my follow up appointment with him..

Best of luck to you!!

[TwinsMama 483]

LizTex - I'm surprised your pcp would be against the weight loss surgery. I would think that he would support you in your desire to be healthier. Not everyone can do it on their own -- no will power' date=' other issues. Whatever the case, I could never do this on my own. I could not be happier and healthier since my sleeve surgery! Good luck! You will be glad you did this![/quote']

Mine would not either. It took 2 years for her to finally be on board. I was over 300 lbs the entire time but I have no co-morbidities.

[TwinsMama 483]

Liz' date=' I agree with Oregondaisy in that if your doc believes in evidence-based medicine, then using statistics like the long-term failure and weight regain of diet and exercise alone versus surgery is something that shouldn't be overlooked by him.

But having said that, maybe he's just following a conservative (and entirely reasonable) treatment plan that ensures you really have tried several other options and that you're fully capable of adhering to the relatively permanent change in lifestyle/eating behaviors that WLS entails. Maybe it's because you're "only" 25. (although, in all honesty, I wish I'd done this 10 yrs ago myself!)

In any case, I think at some point you still do need to fill your PCP in on what's going on. After all, you still could develop other general medical issues even after a successful sleeve (severe acid reflux, gallbladder issues, Vitamin deficiencies, etc, etc.), that your PCP should be involved with, and keeping him in the loop on your surgery can help with earlier diagnosis and appropriate treatment of those issues, if needed.

Just my 2 cents from being recently sleeved. Best of luck to you in reaching your goals. Hope to see you here with us on the losers bench soon![/quote']

100% agree with this. I eventually had to ask my PCP how many more "diets" and pills we were going to try before we (meaning her) realized it was not working. She just kept telling me I was so young...sure I'm not that old but I'm well over 30 and already had not one but 2 kids...after a while she "got" it.

Also Liz, is your PCP from the US? Mine is from the Mid East and she often would say its just not something they do often there, there has to be something natural that will work for me. So she had some cultural biases as well.