I had my first consult last month and found out I have to wait 6 months (which I'm finding out is the norm for some insurances) and also have to see the nutritionist for 6 months, and a cardiologist, psychiatrist, pulmonologist and gastroenterologist.

Well, I haven't seen the nutritionist or cardiologist yet, the psychiatrist went well but the pulmonologist is making me do a sleep study.....has anyone else had to do this?

Then, my gastro wanted me to have an endoscopy - which I did - only to find out that I have a hiatal hernia and gastritis!! Surprise!!! Has anyone had this problem and will it affect the surgery?

Looking forward to April 2010....seems so far away.....

I had my first consult last month and found out I have to wait 6 months (which I'm finding out is the norm for some insurances) and also have to see the nutritionist for 6 months, and a cardiologist, psychiatrist, pulmonologist and gastroenterologist.

Well, I haven't seen the nutritionist or cardiologist yet, the psychiatrist went well but the pulmonologist is making me do a sleep study.....has anyone else had to do this?

Then, my gastro wanted me to have an endoscopy - which I did - only to find out that I have a hiatal hernia and gastritis!! :thumbup: Surprise!!! Has anyone had this problem and will it affect the surgery?

Looking forward to April 2010....seems so far away.....

i have my sleep study tonight. they told me i needed it because i have daytime sleepiness, and i explained to the doctor i'm tired during the day b/c i dont sleep a lot at night, because i work full time and i'm a graduate student - everyone in my program is tired during the day, we dont all have sleep apnea. so he told me i didnt need the sleep study. then when they reviewed my file they told me i DID need it. so inconvenient. i had to make my appt asap b/c the nurse told me i wouldnt see the surgeon until it was done - which was the WRONG informaton, but it was too late to reschedule and i have a midterm tomorrow. i am NOT looking forward to tonight at ALL. at least they have a tv but i am not happy about this.

I also had a hiatal hernia. My surgeon said it's very common with overweight people:glare:. I don't know what your surgeon will do, but mine does it as a "twofer". He fixes the hernia while doing the Banding. He said it didn't make sense to go in there and not fix it. I don't know anything about gastritus I'm afraid.

I had my first consult last month and found out I have to wait 6 months (which I'm finding out is the norm for some insurances) and also have to see the nutritionist for 6 months, and a cardiologist, psychiatrist, pulmonologist and gastroenterologist.

Well, I haven't seen the nutritionist or cardiologist yet, the psychiatrist went well but the pulmonologist is making me do a sleep study.....has anyone else had to do this?

Then, my gastro wanted me to have an endoscopy - which I did - only to find out that I have a hiatal hernia and gastritis!! :thumbdown: Surprise!!! Has anyone had this problem and will it affect the surgery?

Looking forward to April 2010....seems so far away.....

I did my sleep study last night and it wasnt so bad. it was uncomfortable to sleep but i was able to. the people there were GREAT which made it easier to deal with. they put the sensors on my head which means i had all kinds of pasty stuff in my hair. but they had a shower. in the middle of the night if you have sleep apnea they come in and put a mask on you, but they didnt do it to me so im guessing i dont have it. waste of time, but one more hoop to jump through for the surgery! good luck!

I had my first consult last month and found out I have to wait 6 months (which I'm finding out is the norm for some insurances) and also have to see the nutritionist for 6 months, and a cardiologist, psychiatrist, pulmonologist and gastroenterologist.

Well, I haven't seen the nutritionist or cardiologist yet, the psychiatrist went well but the pulmonologist is making me do a sleep study.....has anyone else had to do this?

Then, my gastro wanted me to have an endoscopy - which I did - only to find out that I have a hiatal hernia and gastritis!! :thumbup: Surprise!!! Has anyone had this problem and will it affect the surgery?

Looking forward to April 2010....seems so far away.....

I was in the exact same boat as far as the pre-op testing. My insurance wanted 6 months documented work with nutritionist. I had to have all of the same pre op testing and 2 sleep studies. The first one is to see if you have sleep apnea and the second to see if when you wear the "cpap" mask it helps the amount of apnea's you experience during the night.

After all the testing I was found to have sleep apnea but only a mild form and the Doc felt after the surgery it would fix itself. In the past 20 yrs when I have lost significant weight, my snoring stops. If he would have insister we treat for the sleep apnea, I would have had to wait another month after the initial 6 months!

Almost to the day, 6months later, I got my date. 11/12

EXCITED:thumbup::thumbdown::thumbup:

Welcome to the club. I think everyone has to jump through all of these hoops unless they want to pay out of pocket for the surgery.

The hoops are not necessarily bad. The sleep study may prove you have sleep apnea; the pysch may show depression due to your weight. These are further reasons for your insurance company to approve.

Fortunately, my insurance company is only making me wait 3 months. I am using that time to see how much weight I can lose prior to surgery so I can concentrate mostly on keeping it off.

I had to jump through most of them and I was self-pay! I didn't have to visit with the nutritionist or do the psych. evaluation. But I had to have an upper GI, a sleep study, blood work, chest xray, and cardiologist clearance. My cardiology clearance ended up including a stress test rather than just an EKG.

Sleep apnea is a comorbidity which strengthens your application for coverage. If you do have it, it means you'll get a CPAP and should actually sleep better when you do get to sleep. Not a bad thing, right??

All the testing is to determine that you are healthy enough to undergo surgery (remember, it is general anesthesia) AND that you have reasonable, achievable expectations as to the result of the surgery.

I feel lucky. I went in for my first dr visit Aug 20... by the end of the following week I had done my nutrition visit and psych eval done (surgeon brings these folks to his office once a week) and all my pre-op labs (just barium swallow, blood and EKG). They submitted the paper work to insurance on a Thursday and it was approved on a Monday. My surgery was Oct 8 (cause it fit best in my schedule). I didn't have any health risks other than being fat, so I know that helped, but boy am I thankful.

I had zero pre-op tests. The only thing I had to do was a phone consult with nut to go over what to eat pre-op and post op stages.

That was the best thing about being self-pay.

2 1/2 years ago is when I first started the process of a 6 month medically supervised diet and then making and visiting all my appointments, I waited to see the cardiologist untill last. I was all hyped at getting through everything and just biding my time, that is until I went to the cardioligist. I had the stress test, then immediately was brought into another room for a echocardiogram, then a nuclear stress test, then a hospital visit for a transesophageal echocardiogram, then another echocardiogram, all to find out that I had a deformed heart valve. I had to have open heart surgery,:Yawn: a valve replacement and 1 bypass. It was actually the testing that saved my life, as I was not symtomatic, at least to the point where I could just brush off my symtoms as from being overweight.

Many of the medical people I talked to during my heart surgery ordeal actually said that more times than not, many lives are saved because of pre-surgical testing, and what they find and then correct before a heart attack or other condition hits.

When I started the process again this past summer, I did have extra cardiac testing than what is normal, and quite honestly, I was VERY fearful, but everthing was a-ok, and I will be having by surgery Nov. 24!!!!:laugh::thumbup:

2 1/2 years ago is when I first started the process of a 6 month medically supervised diet and then making and visiting all my appointments, I waited to see the cardiologist untill last. I was all hyped at getting through everything and just biding my time, that is until I went to the cardioligist. I had the stress test, then immediately was brought into another room for a echocardiogram, then a nuclear stress test, then a hospital visit for a transesophageal echocardiogram, then another echocardiogram, all to find out that I had a deformed heart valve. I had to have open heart surgery,:Yawn: a valve replacement and 1 bypass. It was actually the testing that saved my life, as I was not symtomatic, at least to the point where I could just brush off my symtoms as from being overweight.

Many of the medical people I talked to during my heart surgery ordeal actually said that more times than not, many lives are saved because of pre-surgical testing, and what they find and then correct before a heart attack or other condition hits.

When I started the process again this past summer, I did have extra cardiac testing than what is normal, and quite honestly, I was VERY fearful, but everthing was a-ok, and I will be having by surgery Nov. 24!!!!:laugh::thumbup:

I am so happy for you! Thank GOD, you had all the tests "we" usually complain about having. I am glad you did all of them and followed through! Good Luck and I wish th:thumbup:e best for you