Underage (17) and Bariatrics?

[fumplins 6]

Hello!

I'm so incredibly new to this so hopefully I'm placing this in the correct area! Anyway, I am 17 and severely overweight. I recently decided I wanted to peruse surgery. My mother is supportive, my brother wants to do it with me, and my grandmother (whom opinion mattered the most) thought it was a great idea.

I am in the 400 (yikes) and feel like I genuinely have no future for myself if I don't lose the weight. I want to go off to college and I want to be someone and I feel as if this weight is holding me back.

I recently called to attend a seminar and a meeting with my pcp on oct 24th.

I'm worried; it takes 6 months plus a wholeee bunch of tests. I never really kept up with a pcp, I was a very introverted child and pushed doctors away because I didn't want to accept my weight. So I have absolutely NO history of tracked diets. (I did them but never kept up or have evidence of them).

Do you think it will actually take 6 months?

Will I need to track my diets with a pcp? ((What if I fail them?? Can I not get my surgery then?)

Having my age AND WEIGHT in consideration is this a good idea?

Can they decide surgery isn't for me after 6 months?

Sleeve or bypass?

I really want the surgery so I'm at a loss

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[QueenOfTheTamazons 634]

It all depends on your insurance company so that is the first place to start. That being said...

If they say 6 months they mean six months. I started my bariatric process with a surgeon who was 1.5 hours away. Because of this i asked to do my preop diet plans with my pcp. I went every month. When it came time for my approval, that 6 months was what held me up. My chart notes did not have the specific verbiage the insurance company was asking for, so they denied me. It took two months of fighting to get an approval.

Moral of the story. Do what the insurance says is required... even if you dont like it. There are no short cuts. You need to obey their guidelines to the letter, so they cannot find a reason to deny you.

Also, there is a good chance they will not perform the surgery on a minor. You may have to wait and start the process at 18.

[swimbikerun 1,038]

There have been surgeries and at least a couple studies done on younger people having surgery. Seems the results were quite positive.

As the advice given already, check with the insurance, check with as many docs and programs you are able to. They will give you the criteria and help you from there.

Best of luck!

[LipstickLady 25,682]

If there is any way to get it done, DO IT. Jump over the hurdles, dive through the hoops and take this chance to improve your life NOW. Many insurance companies require two years of documented weight loss attempts. Start that NOW. Even if you can't get surgery done until you are 19, you are still way far ahead of the game.

You are young enough to get this issue under control now. I am rooting for you!

[ocgirl15 667]

I had a very good friend that had bypass at 20. She is now 40. That operation allowed her to LIVE! I also encourage you to pursue it. These hurdles and obstacles are just part of the process for most of us. The regret I typically hear from WLS patients is that they wish they hadn't waited so long. I am also happy you have so much support from your family. That is awesome!

[heidikat72 935]

First, I applaud you for wanting to get your health under control now and not waiting. As for the 6 months - I also had a 6 month medically supervised period required by my insurance. I'm thankful for it. It gave me time to get all the testing done (testing that will give the surgeon all the info he needs to make sure your surgery goes safely) and let me work on starting the lifestyle changes before surgery - both eating changes, activity changes and mental/emotional changes. Trust me - that will make your recovery process so much easier (I was 442lbs last december when I started the process and then had surgery this past june). You can do your 6 months medical weight management with your PCP, but if your bariatric center is close it might be better to do it through them especially if they have a registered dietician on staff that you would meet with every month. The bariatric center will know exactly how each of the monthly visit reports needs to be written up to satisfy the insurance company. And meeting with a registered dietician will let someone with some knowledge review your food diary and help make suggestions.

Start using a program like myfitnesspal now just to see what your baseline eating habits are. Some people don't like to log, I find it valuable for me. It helps me be accountable to myself! and when you see it there in front of you, it makes it easy to see the things you need to cut out of your diet or things you need to adjust. Logging and meeting with the dietician monthly (as well as starting some very mild activity) helped me lose 78lbs before surgery.

And finally, this is as much a mental change as it is anything else. If you can find a counselor who works with obese patients or bariatric patients (your bariatric center may have some they can recommend) start meeting with one. They can help you work through the root of your overeating as well as help you come up with different coping mechanisms other than turning to food. Plus, going through this process in general tends to cause a lot of other emotional issues to come to the surface so you'll need someone to help you through that.

I am so glad your family is supportive - it is important to have at least a couple people in you life supporting you on this lifelong journey!

[fumplins 6]

@@QueenOfTheTamazons - Hello, thank you for responding! The hospital, and insurance does offer my surgery at my age thankfully. I totally I get I'm super impatient, but it's worth the 6 month wait so I'll have to put on my big girl pants

@@LipstickLady - Thank you so much!

@@ocgirl15 - Thank you! That's actually really cool, I know some family friends that wished they knew about the surgery before and got it then instead of waiting for so long. Thank you for the support!

@@heidikat72 - Thank you for your response! My mom actually also agreed to counseling throughout most of the journey also! You definitely have a lot of great points, thank you so much for respondong, very informal

[QueenOfTheTamazons 634]

If you have dieted before, write up a time line with dates, program type and outcomes. I submited that to my ins and it was instramental in my approval

[sweetzcp 30]

My insurance required 6 months also. I didn't quite let it bother me and started the process in April. The Bariatric clinic that was doing my surgery followed me by assigning me to a nutritionist. My surgery was initially scheduled for October but denied by the insurance company because my May visit was canceled. The insurance company wanted six months of consecutive visits and would not count April. So They started from June and required 2 additional visits. I am now scheduled for December 27. So when they say six. They mean it --- do not miss any,

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[giglag1227 2]

They'll do the surgery if your parents sign off on it. You're still a minor so legally your mom still gets to make most of your medical decisions. And yes, 6 months means 6 months. I started the process a month ago, have already had all the required appts, signed off by psych and the nutritionist..my but insurance says I have a 4 month wait so I wait.

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