dustout

Hello! I'm a 23 year old male from Oklahoma. I'm ~285 pounds and 5'9" (BMI ~41. UPDATE: Lapband doctor says I'm 5'11" in shoes... still above 40 BMI though barely). I've tried dieting many times in my life. I've been overweight for the majority of my life. I've tried my own methods of dieting like eating healthier foods, less, and general exercise. I've tried Weight Watchers, Atkins, diets suggested by doctors, and Phentermine. I have high blood pressure which is being treated by medication and was diagnosed with 'Probably' Multiple Sclerosis in January '07 after an episode of optic neuritis. The MRI was consistent with MS. I'm also taking medication for that. I have symptoms of sleep apnea as well (morning headaches, snoring, weight). High blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, bone & back problems, sleep apnea, and diabetes all run in my family. I am a Computer Engineering Senior at the University of Oklahoma. I started considering Lapband recently for a few reasons. First off, my physical health has become a problem lately. Until last November I was very healthy other than my weight. When I had my episode of Optic Neuritis some other problems started revealing themselves. The Multiple Sclerosis. The high blood pressure. I realized some of the sleep apnea symptoms too. I figure that MS is a big enough problem for me so I need to treat the rest of my body as good as possible and my weight is NOT helping. I've tried dieting and phentermine but I need a more extreme method to help me lose so much weight. My diets have been only slightly successful (10-20 pounds with all regained after a few months). I want to be healthy and have an ideal weight. I want to be able to fit in desks more comfortably, run up to my friends, and feel more comfortable with my body. I want to reduce the effects that an MS attack on my mobility will have on my movement. Weight + problems with getting around = bad! Not only would excess weight make that problem worse, the MS would make it harder to lose that weight then! Anyways, I'll try to update this post to keep everyone updated on my progress. Beginning Weight: 280 lbs Insurance Company: Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO (bills go to Connecticut) Click the link below for Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield policy on Lap Band bariatric surgery ( Updated 6/17/07 ) scale here. Anyone have any suggestions at all? I hate just waiting... 7/12/07 (286 lbs) Insurance Pre-Approvial Info. Call Missing --------------- At 4pm I finally call Dr. Keith's office to see if they've called insurance yet. They have not. I informed them of me being somewhat in a hurry and they said to call back in a couple business days. 7/17/07 (286 lbs) Insurance Pre-Approved! Appointments made. --------------- I call back and they inform me that they still haven't called insurance to begin things. I remind them of my hurry and they forward me to the actual person who handles calling insurance. I was sent to voicemail so I left a message. A couple of hours later I got a call back and was informed that my insurance, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, and my policy covers the procedure and that for insurance to cover it, it must be medically necessary (I fit that for how they describe it and my PCP says it is for me and wrote a referral letter), and I must have a psych evaluation and pre-op before they will authorize me. They scheduled an appointment for the dietician on July 25 at 10:15am and pre-op talk/surgical consult with my lapband surgeon Dr. Keith at 12:15pm on July 27. The psych would call me in the next day or two to schedule an appointment for that. 7/18/07 (286 lbs) Psych apppointment made. ---------------- I got the call to set up the Psych evaluation early today. We scheduled it for July 27 at 11:15. It's going to be tight fitting that right before the pre-op. They said that if I reminded them of this they should be able to get me out in about 45 minutes to get to my next appointment. It's only about a 5 minute drive to the next doctor from the psych place. I'm a bit nervous about the psych but reading posts on here made me feel better. They emailed me a PDF to fill out with lots of questions (T/F, multiple choice, patient info., etc). I'm actually a little worried about how POSITIVE my answers are. Like I answered FALSE to 'I've been depressed any at all in the last 3 months'. I mean, most people get depressed some but I really have been quite happy the past few months. I'm not working or going to school this summer so I have lots of free time to hang out with friends. I hope they just don't think I'm covering things up. Life is just REALLY good this summer! Things are just all going well lately! 7/24/07 (287 lbs) Annoying insurance letter ----------------- I got a letter in the mail today telling me all the things I need to send into insurance that my pre-authorization request lacked. Apparently when my PCP referred me and wrote a letter to my insurance company, my insurance company thought he was the surgeon. I have to try and make sure this gets cleared up and that messes don't form. I don't know if they think my PCP is the surgeon OR if they have both my PCP and my real lapband doctor as separate claims or what... I just don't want any delays due to any stupid little mistakes on who the doctor is and stuff. YAR! I have a feeling this may get confusing over the phone. Tomorrow morning is my Dietician appointment. Wheeeeeeee! 7/25/07 (? lbs) Dietician Appointment ----------------- Will update after this.

Updated 7/24/07. I added a few backed entries that I forgot to post here. Also, can a MOD update the main title so it doesnt have the 'Updated 6/1/07' thing on it since I can't change that? It makes it look like the post is dead. Thanks!

Updated 6/6/07.

My doctor referred me! I'm so excited. He filled out a little form recommended bariatric surgery and specifically lapband saying I was not responding to other treatments. I gave the form to the secretaries and they said they would get it in the system and call the Lapband place to tell them. Should I do anything else with the referral part like ask the doctor to write a letter to insurance since insurance wanted the referral in the first place? It's "in the system" now but I've heard others mention writing an actual letter. He took my spreadsheet I made of all my weight loss attempts and other various stuff. So should I call my doctor and ask if he can write a referral letter to insurance, or should I wait until I get further along in all of this? I meet all requirements for this although I want to make sure my insurance stuff goes as smoothly as possible as I'm HOPING I can get this surgery before college starts back up. Or at least very early in the semester so as to not cause too many problems there...