Hey everyone. I'm 5'2 and weigh 184. My BMI is 34. I'm on Medicare; you have to have a BMI of 35 for Medicare to pay. Any suggestions for me? Paying out of pocket is not an option. I loaded up on cookie dough last week...I've almost polished off one package but it is killing me and I have to gag it down. I stepped on the scales today hoping for 190 or close, and I've lost 4 lbs!!!!!! This is driving me nuts!

Anyone know of something heavy I can stick in my bra when I meet my surgeon????? j/k....MAYBE! ARGH!

Blessings, Michelle

Have you checked into the other requirements to qualify for the surgery? Most insurance companies require a phsych eval as well - with your history, you may not qualify at all. I wouldn't try to gain weight until I was certain I met ALL the requirements.

Never mind everyone. I've decided if denied insurance coverage for it, I will pay out of pocket. I will be on psychotropic drugs until the day I die, if they refuse me on that basis alone, then I guess it wasn't meant to be.

Blessings, Michelle

Just wanted to say that just because you have to be on psychotropic drugs forever does not mean you would fail the psych eval. For most conditions treated w/these drugs, the psychologist would just want to make sure your symptoms are well managed through your medications. I will be on Lexapro forever for Generalized Anxiety Disorder and this was not an issue at all in psych eval. And, in the seminar, my surgeon says that even in the case of bipolar, the WLS are successful so there is no reason to deny based on this. I do believe she said that depending on your mental disorder, though, they may recommend gastric bypass instead of lapband. I can't remember in what instances, but because lapband is so reliant on the patient's follow-up for fills and following rules, if there is any doubt that the patient is able to do the followup, then they would want them to do gastric bypass because this is more of an 'automatic' weightloss.

I apologize if I sounded like I was saying you would not qualify - I really just meant that it's a possibility - just like for all the rest of us. To this day, I'm not sure what the psychologist was looking for, but I was terrified that I would not qualify based on that alone.

Good luck in your endeavors. It certainly sounds like you have had a tough go.

Would it help me at all if I could prove my ability to follow rules and instructions? Based on: I've had the same psychiatrist for about 8 years now; I haven't been hospitalized since 2004, I've followed my medication regimen to the T, and I have my own psychologist as well...although I only see her if I feel I really need to. I have also been successful in the past with cognitive behavioral therapy in my therapy sessions.

However, I am bipolar type 1 and back when I was skinny, I was very manic prone, although now I'm more depressive prone partially due to my weight, insecurity, and low self esteem that comes with any disease mentality/functioning/coping skills. Back when I was hospitalized in 2004, they added a diagnosis to me: schizoaffective disorder. Basically, I hear voices every day of my life, which is why I will forever be on an antipsychotic every day...and I take it without fail...if I miss even a single dose, I hear voices telling me to kill myself and go to hell. So I have to be on those meds no matter what. My life depends upon it.

I really want this band...I want to be a good role model for my preteen obese son, I want to be around to see my grandkids and play with them, I want to be able to stop my blood pressure meds, and I don't want to wind up with diabetes like both of my parents, who are also both obese.

For those of you reading this, you're probably thinking I'll be denied for sure...I'm not giving up though; I'm going to see this through. I don't depend upon the band to be a cure all or a quick fix...my mental illness has taught me there is no such thing. I want to use it as a tool to help me make better choices about what I put into my mouth and help me lose enough weight so I actually feel like exercising more. Right now I'm at 2 hours a week of Water aerobics. I was doing my treadmill, but have to force myself to even get on it twice a week.

Ahhh...sorry to ramble, yes I've had a tough go, but it's not over yet. I'm determined and ambitious and I'm ready to fight!

Blessings, Michelle

Michelle,

I'm so sorry you came to this site looking for support and were met with viciousness instead. Ironic that they don't believe in karma, isn't it?

Whether it's ten pounds or a hundred most people struggle with weight and I don't see how one is any more important than the other. They both have an effect. I hope everything works out for you and that one way or another, you lose your unwanted weight!

Take care.

Dude you don't weigh enough. Case closed.stop using our tax money for a surgery that isn't 100 percent needed. If it was they woulda approved you. Odd that your told no then low and behold you go back weighing more?? Come on.

Also my insurance aka kaiser would not even let someone with your type of medical issues be approved. These surgeries have high suicide rates as well as RNY....look into something safer.

Please don't gain weight, use ankle weights, they help way easier and then that way you can "miraculously" loose that weight before surgery =P

** So I retract everything I said there lol. I don't mean to be rude but like most I believe that you aren't heavy enough to have surgery BUT that is my opinion and it is definetly not your decision/choice to listen to it which is understandable - In saying that, this is weight loss surgery not "I want to loose 10lbs and then I will be my goal weight surgery"

Also I have one question, your first post you said you could never afford to be self pay and then all of a sudden you can?

Edited December 17, 200916 yr by Sarah.R

Thank you to all who have been helpful and supportive. And for the final record, I don't plan on scamming anyone. I've decided to give it my best shot; if I happen to gain weight between my first appt. and now, then so be it. I'm going as-is and if insurance won't approve me, I will research ways to pay for it on my own. I firmly believe in "where there's a will, there's a way" and I will find it somewhere! :-)

Blessings, Michelle

Also my insurance aka kaiser would not even let someone with your type of medical issues be approved. These surgeries have high suicide rates as well as RNY....look into something safer.

Thank you for your (I'm sure) well intentioned advice, but you know nothing of my health condition other than what I've said here...my SIL has had several suicide attempts prior to her gastric bypass and she was approved for that. I also know of others in the same boat that were approved. Can you actually provide me with a link saying that people with mental illness were denied the band? Please provide me with the link so I can continue my own research.

Also, as far as qualifying, didn't I just say I would pay for it out of pocket? Please read before responding so rudely.

Blessings, Michelle

Dude you don't weigh enough. Case closed.stop using our tax money for a surgery that isn't 100 percent needed. If it was they woulda approved you. Odd that your told no then low and behold you go back weighing more?? Come on.

OK, I know that I'm simply prolonging the argument, but I cant help chiming in again. This baffles me.

In Australia, you can get banded from a BMI of 30, given the right history.

Would you say now that you're much heavier that you couldnt have benefitted from this surgery way back when you were "not heavy enough"?

And if you didnt need the surgery back then, why didnt you lose the weight? How come you got fatter?

I get the anger on the tax issue (even if I dont agree with it, political opinions are valid on all sides) and I certainly get the view that gaining weight on purpose is self destructive, but I simply cannot understand the hypocrisy of obese people saying the surgery isnt needed when patently, they themselves have failed utterly to control their own weight. It simply makes no sense and it absolutely smacks of thin discrimination.

I just want ONE person to explain to me why they're happy that they managed to get REALLY fat before they had the surgery and to tell me honestly that they didnt want to lose weight way before they got to this stage. I want one person to explain to me why, if a BMI of 34 is so attractive and healthy that they didnt choose to stay at that BMI.

If you would have no issue at all with her having the surgery if she were self pay, I could get that. But the feeling coming through is that at a BMI of 34, you consider her a lightweight who doesnt have the same level of need as you do (meaning you in a collective sense).

Dare I say that there are people in this world who would resent YOUR surgeries because they think fat people are lazy slobs who ought to simply eat a bit less. Its for this reason that I just dont understand this closing ranks against the lower BMI patients.

Edited December 17, 200916 yr by Jachut

** So I retract everything I said there lol. I don't mean to be rude but like most I believe that you aren't heavy enough to have surgery BUT that is my opinion and it is definetly not your decision/choice to listen to it which is understandable - In saying that, this is weight loss surgery not "I want to loose 10lbs and then I will be my goal weight surgery"

QUOTE]

And this is just as ridiculous! Please enlighten us as to how you went about managing your weight when your BMI was much lower? I for one would certainly love to hear about how successful you were and how you didnt even need a band.

This is not a 10lb problem - my BMI was 36 on the day of surgery and I had to lose 100 lb (yes, one HUNDRED pounds) to get it down to 22. to say that this is a 10lb weight problem is obviously just intended to be rude.

Is this all just a case of some of you just wanting everyone to suffer as much as they have had to? Or are you seeing it as a case of the thin girl whining about being fat? Because no matter how good it may seem in comparison to being much more fat, it is not thin and its not healthy.

Edited December 17, 200916 yr by Jachut

I totally agree with Jaqui. Pure discrimination against someone who is trying to get healthy and lose weight. It is always great to be sitting in the conductor's chair telling someone else what they should or shouldn't be doing. Take a look in the mirror and be sure you aren't throwing stones. An unhealthy weight and lifestyle isn't just restricted to the very obese. It happens to people of all physical frames. It is just as annoying and just as depressing to someone who is low bmi but still considered obese as it is to someone who is high bmi. Take a look at the BMI chart. Lower weight is still in the obese and overweight category.

Oh, and don't get me started on taxpayers. I have worked hard my entire life and served my country in the military for six of them. I pay my taxes faithfully. I would rather help someone like this than what my taxes actually go for most of the time.