Hello,

My name is Maureen and I am a 45 year old woman from Olympia, Washington. I have been overweight ever since I can remember. I have always been on a diet even from a young age and still obese. I am currently over 330 pounds and 5'2". I am afraid to step on the scale. My BMI is over 60 and I am concerned for my health. I have high blood pressure and severe sleep apnea. My biggest fear is dying and having to have 6 firefighters carry my body out of my house.

I went to my pcp and requested to have gastric bypass back in August. She sent in the paperwork and I was approved to move on in the process. I have Group Health as my medicare advantage. I finally had my consult with the bariatric case manager and she sent out a questionnaire for my psych eval. It specifically asked if I have depression and or bi-polar. I have both, but have been stable since being medicated 7 years ago. I am concerned that I will be denied my surgery due to this. I am hoping not because at this point it is life or death. I have changed my medication to lamictal (spelling) which is not suppose to cause as much weight gain as my previous medications.

I am excited to be part of this forum and have been reading your posts for over a month. Thank you for all your information. You sound like a very supportive group of people.

Thanks for listening,

Maureen

Hello' date='

My name is Maureen and I am a 45 year old woman from Olympia, Washington. I have been overweight ever since I can remember. I have always been on a diet even from a young age and still obese. I am currently over 330 pounds and 5'2". I am afraid to step on the scale. My BMI is over 60 and I am concerned for my health. I have high blood pressure and severe sleep apnea. My biggest fear is dying and having to have 6 firefighters carry my body out of my house.

I went to my pcp and requested to have gastric bypass back in August. She sent in the paperwork and I was approved to move on in the process. I have Group Health as my medicare advantage. I finally had my consult with the bariatric case manager and she sent out a questionnaire for my psych eval. It specifically asked if I have depression and or bi-polar. I have both, but have been stable since being medicated 7 years ago. I am concerned that I will be denied my surgery due to this. I am hoping not because at this point it is life or death. I have changed my medication to lamictal (spelling) which is not suppose to cause as much weight gain as my previous medications.

I am excited to be part of this forum and have been reading your posts for over a month. Thank you for all your information. You sound like a very supportive group of people.

Thanks for listening,

Maureen[/quote']

Welcome! Waiting to hear about insurance is crazy, isn't it?

Welcome I was 334 pounds I understand how u feeling. I had surgery sept 26.. and I weigth 290 rigth now im very happy with the desicion of bypass. Please keep going to your appointments and dont give up.. I did not pass my syquiatric evaluation because of my depression.. so they send me to take 6 months of counseling and to learn how not to take my stress out on the food.. I did. Im blessed that I did everything they ask me for.. and I didnt give up.. I was about to.. but then again I looked at the mirror I said to myself.. I really need this surgery.. So im not giving up.. Dont give up.. mami.. Pray and be calm.

congrats and good luck on your journey

I would not worry about having depression and or Bipolar disorder. I have both and generalized anxiety and panic attacks. I was diagnosed at age 12 so I have been in meds for 20 years and in counseling. If you are taking your medication and participating in regular therapy you should be ok. In my case my own psychiatrist did my eval not one ordered by the surgeon. If you are not in therapy and the eval suggests it would be necessary and you don't comply then you could be denied.

Thanks to everyone for responding. I appreciate your words of encouragement. I'm just going to keep on doing what I need to do in order to get this done.

Maureen