Hi everyone im planning on opting for the Sleeve procedure but don't know where to begin. Any advice would help so much!!

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Edited July 2, 201610 yr by niamayhem

how much do you have to lose? what stage are you at in process?

In many states there are bariatric centers of excellence. They are like one stop shopping. Everything is in one spot. Getting bariatric surgery can be a complex road. The insurance companies, the surgeon, the dietician, the psychologist, the hospital, the pre-op testing, the training. So it is good to get all the specialist in one place to deal with it. So you might search the internet for a bariatric center of excellence near you. They generally provide free seminars. You need to be in touch with your primary care physician to start the ball rolling.

Start with your insurance -- get your member benefit handbook and see whether bariatric surgery is covered and if so what the requirements are.

If it is covered, then you'll probably need to work with surgeons that are approved by your insurance plan, so you'll likely look at the directory of approved medical providers to figure out which surgeons you can use. Call the surgeons' offices to see if they offer introductory seminars or consultations. The surgeons will typically have an insurance coordinator who can answer questions about exactly what you need to do to qualify (if you qualify) and what the timeline will look like.

If you are not using insurance, then how you proceed depends on whether you want to use a local surgeon or do medical tourism (usually Mexico). If you are going to use a local surgeon, find a surgeon associated with a bariatric surgery center of excellence nearby.

This is all assuming you are in the United States -- your profile doesn't show me where you are located so that's just a guess since most people on this forum are in the U.S. If not, there are separate sub-forums for different countries, you may want to find the sub-forum here for your country and post your question there. Good luck!