snowfie9

I'm more concerned about my stretch mark scars to be honest. they are old and they are NUMEROUS. my skin's gonna end up looking like ripping desert sand before I"m done. I can just tell.

I can remember being younger and thinking I would never find a man who'd be interested in me. And then I met my husband and he thought I was the most beautiful woman in the world (at 250lbs). There are men who like larger women. There are men who don't mind larger women. I don't want to even slightly imply there's something wrong with you but maybe you are not as approchable as you think? Granted my husband is the only one who's ever flirted with me. I never got unsolicitated "come ons" even before we were married but I'm also pretty sure I give of a vibe that I don't want "that" kind of attention.

I've been floating around the board for the last week researching VSG and I'm 95% certain that is what I want to do. But I wanted to come around and officially introduce myself. Hi. My name is Dawn and I'm chronically obese. (Hi Dawn.) I've always been overweight, even as a child. The last time I was less than 200 lbs (at 5' 10") I was 13 years old. I remember it very well because I was living with my father for a few months and my stepmother, who was appalled when I told her how much I weighed (she asked), put me on a diet and I had to lose 25lbs just to get to that magic "Onederland" number. I can still remember my father saying "There is no way in hell my 13 year old daughter is going to weigh more than me." (and he's a fairly burly guy himself) Fast forward almost 25 years and multiple diets and weight loss attempts with varying degrees of success, I have now migrated to the 300s. I have horrible sleep apnea. My weight goes down, my weight goes up, my pressure is never right and I never get a good nights sleep. It's just a matter of time before I develop diabetes (I'm actually surprised I haven't yet), heart problems, severe joint problems. About two weeks ago I was reading a story about a woman who was entering menopause with 100+lbs to lose and I came to a realization: I have no reason to expect the next 12 years to be any different than the last 25. And I sure as heck don't want to be 50 years old and 100+lbs overweight. I need to change and I need to do it now. I've been fighting this battle all my life and I am so tired. I'm tired of fighting fair. This is a battle for my life and my health and I"m ready to fight dirty. I'm ready to bring out the big guns. I'm ready to hit obesity below the belt. I'm ready to start living, instead of just waiting to die. I don't care about how I'll look. I don't care about loose skin or sagging jowels. I just want to be able to DO things. I want to go hiking and travel and be active. I want to go to plays and other events without worrying whether I'll fit my huge behind into the seats. Anyway thanks for listening. I'm sure I'll see you around.

Welcome welcome! There's always room for one more. Is Dr. Acevedos in Mexico? That was one thing I really did not want to do. Not that I think the quality of care would be less in Mexico neccessarily, I just really don't want to fly a couple thousand miles, get surgery, and then fly back wtih my stiches and everything. There's (from everything I can tell) a very decent bariatric center about 45min drive away (I could even take a train instead of drive). That beats cramped airplane seats any day of the week. And I'll be with my family the whole step of the way.

Heh. I know what you mean Virty. I'll take a bumpy road over being stuck in a muddy ditch any day. I'm just spinning my wheels here.

Thanks for the heads up. How long did it take for your insurance approval to go through?

Congratulations and good luck with your surgery. It's strange how a person can have all the information in the world about how something affects your health and still end up trapped in a bad cycle. Medical professionals who smoke, for example (and I"m sure there are plenty who do). If I may ask, what kind of doctor are you in UAE? Are you a general doctor or a specialist? I look forward to hearing more from you.

My insurance thus far has been pretty good (but then again I've never needed surgery either). I am going to break down and cry if I have to wait 6months for surgery. There is so much I want to be able to do this summer and I just know I won't as long as I'm still like THIS. I wonder if I can document my past supervised diet programs and get that waived. I really hope so.

Wow. I do hope you find a resolution soon. I'm really dreading the insurance dance and I haven't even started yet. I'm really want to be done and over with surgery and get started with living. I'd probably be crying if I had as many delays as you have.

Wow that's really cool. I am actually looking forward to the psych evaluation. I don't know why.

I have, up to this point, been focusing on research for the lap band. After some consideration I decided that maybe VSG would be a better choice for me and I'm curious how the surgery compares to lapband. I've heard lapband is a very short, laproscopic surgery and they can have you in and out in a couple hours. Is VSH more involved? Is it still outpatient or does it require a hospital stay? I have an appt with my Dr on Thursday to discuss this but I want to make sure I have all my ducks in a row and bring my best argument (in case she's one of THOSE doctors that look down on WLS in general).

Thanks Tiffykins. I was originally pretty jazzed about the idea of the lapband but now I"m leaning more towards the sleeve. It seems to boil down to whether I want long term effect/complications/maintenance. Or short term effect/complications. The sleeve may take longer to recover from, but it may be a better long term solution. My insurance will cover either.

Crud. That's going to be a tougher sell to my husband. Still...the hospital I'm looking at is within walking distance of his work so maybe not.

I am considering WLS for the first time in....ever. I don't consider it the "easy way" out so much as coming to the realization that in the battle for weight loss, I always lose and will continue to lose. It's a battle that seems rigged for failure. I'm tired of fighting fair. I'm ready to fight dirty. I'm ready to stack the deck against weight loss (instead of the other way around). I don't know yet exactly what I'm going to do, but I'm going to do something.

Chew some sugarfree gum. People say you should chew gum to mitigate hunger but it never worked for me. But chewing gum to mitigate thirst or banish "swamp mouth" always works. It should be something strong and flavorful. I chew Orbit (the ones in the wrappers, not the ones in the blister packs). I don't know how that meshes with the surgery, I haven't had any yet. But I know thats what I do when I have dry mouth.

I cannot even imagine being surrounded by such negative people. It almost sounds like they want to sabotage you psychologically! Of everyone I've told, a couple have been skeptical, but no one's tried to paint me as a failure or shame me out of it. Good for you for not listening. Hope it works out.

Here's what decided it for me. Do you think that anything will change if you DON'T get the surgery? If you do then by all means pursue other options. If not... I spent years telling myself I didn't want surgery because it would be like admitting I was a failure, that I had given up. Then last week I was in another forum that I go to and someone was telling a story about how she needed to lose over 100lbs, had always been overweight, and was hitting menopause and was considering bariatric surgery. It got me to thinking. I'm about 12 years from the big "change" myself. Everytime I diet or join a weight loss program I get really jazzed and tell myself this time it'll be different. This time I'll do it. And I never do. It's like trying to learn to ride a bike and ALWAYS falling. I realized that nothing was goign ito change. 12 years from now I"d still be as overweight if not more so and I really REALLY do not want to waste another year wishing and hoping as I grow ever larger. Banding isn't a magic fix. At best it's training wheels. I'll stil have to do the work. But it may give me the ability to make it to the finish without falling. It's not a failure. it's nothing to be ashamed of. Where do you think YOU will be in 12 years? Do you really think it will be different? Then get out there and God bless you. If not...

I am seriously considering lap band surgery and it is covered by my insurance, but the Dr I want to go to does not bill insurance himself. I would have to pay upfront and file the claim to my insurance myself. Has anyone ever done this? Is it difficult? Do they make you jump through hoops? I've downloaded some information but not enough to tell me what I need to file and when. I still need to hash that out and I was just curious if anyone else had done it and if it was difficult.

Perhaps it is possible that only one or two in ten reach the DESIRED weight. But that doesn't make what weight loss they do achieve not worth the effort. I need to lose 120lbs. If I end up only losing 100, I'll consider that a monumental success. Whether I get as low as everyone tells me I should be or not.