jessiperez10

Thanks everyone!!!!!! I appreciate all the feedback!! I'm making an appointment with my regular doctor next week to get a referral. I know it will take them forever so I'm gonna go ahead and make the appointment and see what happens!!! I'll check back in!

I have a fractured L1 that healed but still hurts and chronic back pain from soft tissue/nerve damage. I also had the knee surgery and was told that if I didn't lose the weight I would eventually completely destroy my knee. I don't sleep well, my husband said the more weight I gain I snore horribly.. I wouldn't be surprised if I don't have sleep apnea. My son has it too. I started having horrible chest pain from the weight and take pain meds like mobic to dull the pain. My whole body just hurts... my ankles and feet swell now, my knees swell, my hips and back constantly hurt and I can barely walk some days..my shoulders and elbows hurt and my arms, legs, hands and feet constantly tingle and have weird sensations like falling asleep. I am also have horrible menstration issues and I have been going to the doctor for many of these problems for the past year. My doctor's great suggestion was "lose weight to lose weight" ... I was told that female hormones are trapped in my massive belly fat... my stomach is disgustingly huge..like being pregnant... and that this is preventing me from menstrating and I have to lose this belly fat in order to lose weight. To me, it doesn't sound like my doctor is going to help..I have been checked for thyroid problems and although I have 95% of the symptoms of low thyroid like low body temps, sweats, chills, hair loss, etc... nada. I'm just at my end... I want to have this surgery so bad. I feel like its my ONLY hope...

How many of you actually gained the last few pounds needed in order to qualify for the surgery? I have a friend who recently went through this and she told me that its not uncommon for some people who are close to go ahead and gain the weight in order to hit the 40% BMI mark. On a related topic, how many of you didn't need to gain the weight because you found a loophole or other way to get the surgery approved. If so, how did you do it? Back story, my weight was never an issue. Even after the birth of my first son, I bounced right back with no problem. When I was pregnant with my second son 8 years ago, I was in a car accident while 8 months pregnant. I ended up with chronic back pain. At that point, I began to gain. The strong back I had always had was gone and I didn't recover. I managed to get down to about 160 but couldn't get below that. I'm 5'3-5'4 depended on who measures me. After my third son was born, I tried really hard to lose the weight but again and again could only get to 160. I got an IUD and my weight spiralled out of control to 230. I went on pills and shots to try to lose weight and tried jogging and working out. I managed again to get to 160 and no further. I managed to keep it there for a few months until I had a knee injury and had to have surgery. I could no longer jog and my weight spiralled out of control again. I would lose 12 lbs, gain 15, lose 10, gain 20... its been horrible. Even when I lose a lot of weight, my belly fat was always dangerously high. I am so tired of this.. its been going on for 8 years. I tried crossfit and paleo and only lost 4 lbs in 1 month that all came back in 1 meal. At least point, according to Triwest, I lack 15 lbs to qualify since my blood pressure is normal. Its waaaayyy higher than its ever been but normal for them. I don't have diabetes either. What to do? I know that I could just keep trying but I'm almost 30 now and I know that this high belly fat is going to kill me eventually. I don't eat unhealthy but even eating healthy the weight just continues to seep on. In fact, if I eat unhealthy, I have horrible gastro problems diahhrea and lose weight - crazy I know. So, what do I do? Do I keep struggling on and know that getting below 160 without this surgery will be impossible? Or, do I go ahead and gain the last 15 lbs and get some help???? I'm so tired of this... I just want to stop hurting, I want to stop crying over it, I just want to know that I will still be here when my kids graduate. I hurt all the time and its exhausting. If I could lose the weight, I KNOW how to keep it off. That is not the issue. At this weight, my knee doesn't allow me to do much without hurting and I think if I could get this weight off my knee and back would feel INCREDIBLE! What do you guys think??

I'm really new here. How did you get approved? Did you go to your regular doctor first and then they referred you to a surgeon for a consult? What happened in those appointments? What did they do to determine if you were eligible? I'm not even sure what to expect or where to start...