heather113076

Hi everyone! I will have BCBS of Alabama beginning Jan 1, 2008. I know that they require a 6 month medically supervised diet. I was going to go ahead and get started on the diet this month even though I still have UHC insurance. Do you guys think that is ok or will BCBS make me diet from Jan-June? I am also concerned about losing weight while on the diet. I am afraid that if I do the diet and lose 40 or 50 lbs on the diet(I will be doing weight watchers) that BCBS will say "we are denying you for lap band surgery because you have demonstrated an ability to lose weight on your own". Am I being paranoid? Any advice you can give me is appreciated. I have not yet had my consultation with the lap band dr. That day is Jan 16, 2008. I have attended a seminar(Nov 17) and been researching lap band for the last year.

My seminar was Nov 17. They discussed Lapband AND RNY gastric bypass. There was a LOT of information and the doctor answered a LOT of questions. At the end of the seminar we were able to make appointments with the doctor, try the protein shakes and vitamins. They had a woman there that had had lapband surgery and a woman there that had RNY gastric bypass. We were able to ask each of them questions. After the seminar we were invited to stay for a lapband and/or gastric bypass support group meeting. I stayed for the lapband support group meeting and learned a LOT from the people that had already been banded. Attending a support group meeting is a requirement of my surgeon's office also.

I have not yet had lap band surgery but plan to after the beginning of the year. Does lap band(or can it) cause gallbladder problems?

I see a lot of people posting about gas and gas pain etc. I have not yet been banded-right now I am doing the 6 month diet required by BCBS and I hope to be banded in June/July 2008. With this gas that you refer to-is it just after the surgery or is it a "side effect" of the band? When "passing" this gas is it in the form of flatulence or burping ? I hate to sound stupid but I just assumed it was flatulence until I saw a post where a person was talking about constantly burping.

quote [i had the same fear- what if I lose enough weight where they say you can lose weight without the band. The dr told me, you have a BMI over 50, you're not going to lose enough weight in 6 months to put you out of the morbid obesity category. Wouldn't think the lower BMI's would either- because likely with your diet history they will see- losing the weight is not the bigger issue, it's keeping it off] Yeah my dr told me that I would have to lose 133 lbs in 6 months to have my bmi drop below the requirement. Luckily my dr is in the BCBS network. I am clear on the 6 month diet being 6 FULL months and not just 6 visits. I am going for my first visit with my regular dr on Jan 10, then for my initial consulation with the surgeon on Jan 16. I will be doing the phsych eval and other tests in the meantime to take my mind off having to wait another 5 months. THANKS to everyone for the advice!

KTBEE- dont feel bad for needing time for yourself. Time away from your husband and son. I think that is healthy and keeps you sane-especially when you have children. I have 4 children and once per week I go across the street to my best friend's house for a "girls night" even though all we do is have dinner, watch a move and/or talk.

Hi all! I am in Odenville-a little town about 30 miles east of Birmingham. I plan to get the band, pending approval from BCBS, in June/July 2008. I am currently doing the 6 month diet. I have my consultation with Dr. Schmitt on Jan 16. I am excited! :whoo:

I would like it if we could add friends. There are several people on these forums that are around the same "point" in their journey as me and I would like to keep up with them. I have a hard time remembering names and being able to add friends would be nice.

Hi Rachel. My name is Heather. I know exactly how you feel and I can relate to you 100%. My husband isnt in the military but he sounds like your hubby. He tells me that he loves me just as I am etc but I dont love me the way I am. I am a size 26 at 343 pounds and my goal is to get down to 140 lbs and be a size 8. I am currently doing a 6 month "medically supervised" diet that my insurance(BCBS) requires. I hope to be banded in June/July of this year. I have my consultation with the surgeon on Jan 16. Good luck to you on your journey! I would love to keep in touch and keep up with how things are going for you. A little side note: BCBS only started paying for LapBand surgery in April 2007-until then it was considered "investigational" so maybe it was the same with Tricare.

I moved this question to the Pre-Op/Post-Op section.

Why do Christians, well I should say fundamentalist Christians, find it so upsetting when someone says "I don't believe what you believe". They go into a rant and preach, preach, preach to the person that made the statement. And that is OK according to said fundamentalist Christian. It is OK for them to throw their personal beliefs down the throat of the atheist or the pagan or whatever. But when the atheist or the pagan or whatever says "well I believe this or that" the fundamentalist Christian gets offended and says "YOU CANT CHANGE WHAT I BELIEVE!!". Nobody wants to change anyones beliefs. I am quite certain that the founding fathers came to this country to practice their religion without fear of persecution as their religion was different than their homeland. This country was founded on the priniciple of "freedom of religion". If the founding fathers were Christians(and I believe they were) they wanted people to be able to practice whatever religion they followed without fear of persecution. I believe in God yes but I do not believe Jesus was the son of God. I dont really follow any particular religion. If you do then that is fine with me because ultimately at the end of the day your religion does not matter to me. When I go to the annual Christmas luncheon at work and the CEO asks us to bow our heads and pray I just sit silently(because he prays to Jesus). It does not offend me that he prays to Jesus because that is his religion. My point is that NOBODY can make me believe the same as them nor can I make anyone believe the same as me. If you dont agree with someone's religion that is fine but dont go telling them they are wrong. And I understand that you are so happy and at peace with your religion and that is great! But just because I believe differently than you do does not mean that I am not happy and at peace with my religion. My husband believes in Jesus(he does not attend church) and we decided to let the children make up their own minds about religion. Right now our girls go to church and they believe in Jesus. I tell them no differently, I dont tell them they are wrong and I dont try to change their minds. I figure the older they get if they question their beliefs they will "look elsewhere" so to speak. Now as far as religion in schools go this is my personal opinion. I dont believe ANY religion or religious practices should be allowed in school. BECAUSE if you allow Christianity in schools then Hinduism will follow, then Buddhism and I have NO PROBLEM with any of those. My point is this~ eventually you will get someone that practices Satanism(not to be confused with Paganism people) wanting to bring some kind of relgious practice into the school and to me that is NOT acceptable for my children to be exposed to that. That is where I draw the line. They can find enough evil in the world by turning on the news or picking up a newspaper. And you cant tell them no they can bring it into school, not if you have allowed Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism etc into the school because Satanism is an "organized" religion just like Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism etc. As far as politicians go I will say this: I believe in honest politicians like I believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy.

Dear Mom, I still blame you for the beatings me and Holly received at the hands of our stepfather. I mean it isnt like you didnt know it was going on, he was beating you too. When you and him would get into an argument and you would kick him out me and Holly would just dance around our room because we were so happy to be free of him. Then he would come back with his "I'm sorry. It won't happen again" crap and you would let him come back in. It wouldnt be long before he was back to his same old crap again. Then finally you divorced him. Our life was so hard-going thru winters with no heat except for little electric heaters. Having to go 3 or 4 days without electricity and we never had air conditioning in the summer. Then you started drinking worse. Everynight you were getting drunk. Now here it is 20 years since you divorced that evil man and you are still drinking-every night. You seem to have this mindset that since you are 52 your life is over. You could still have another 30 years or longer if you would just stop drinking! I dont know what to do to get you to see that you are killing yourself. Love, Your oldest daughter

Thanks Kaninag for the info! I am doing WW and I have my first visit with my PCP after the new year. I just got my new insurance cards yesterday so I can go register and read the requirements. I also have a friend that worked for BCBS and I am constantly asking her how they handled things when she was there. Apparently BCBS just recently started covering the Lap Band surgery b/c when she was working there they did NOT cover it. Thanks again for the info!

I will be starting weight watchers as my "medically supervised diet" for BCBS of Alabama. I will go to my first meeting on Dec 6 and continue for the next 6 months! I went to my regular doctor today to make sure she can and will do the "supervision" of the diet and she said yes. I am glad b/c I really love her-she is a great doctor and a wonderful person! Anyhow I have my first consultation with my lap band doctor on Jan 16. My sister is going to-we work at the same place, we attended the seminar together as well. We are doing this journey together. I am very excited and just anxious for July to arrive!! Today I weighed in at 348 and my BMI is 57. I would like to get down to 140 but Im not sure that is realistic-what do you all think?

I will be going to the dr to have it supervised, I was just wondering if they would count it since I am not yet on BCBS. If I start the diet this month I still have UHC insurance, beginning next month I will have BCBS.

Transformer~ thanks for the info! Sleepygirl~ Keep me posted on your progress. One good thing for me is that my sister works at the same place I do so we have the same insurance and she is wanting to get the lap band as well. So we will be doing the Weight Watchers together and getting surgery sometime around the same time as well. As a matter of fact we have our first consultation on the same day(Jan 16) with the same doctor.

Hi everyone. I found this forum by a google search and I read some threads and signed up. I attended a seminar on lapband Saturday Nov 17 and am very excited to start this journey. I did find a detour however, my insurance BCBS of AL requires a 6 month medically supervised diet. UGH! So I hope to start that beginning Dec 1 and finish up July 1 and hope to have surgery by August 2008. I really wanted to get the surgery after the beginning of the year but it wasn't meant to be. I firmly believe everything happens for a reason and I will not let this get me down! So I am confused as to whether or not I should actually attempt to lose weight while on the diet. Right now I am at 340 and my BMI is 57, I am scared that if while on the diet for 6 months I lose say 50 lbs then the insurance people will be like well you did well on this so no surgery for you-does that make sense? What do you guys think?

Can someone tell me how to add the weightloss measurer from Tickerfactory.com to my profile? Also do you all see my picture when I post this? If not can you tell me how to make it show as well? :help: THANKS! Heather

My left leg is swollen, I went to a vascular doctor to find out why because it started during my pregnancy and never went away. The doctor advised me that it is because of the fat on my pelvis. It put pressure on the veins and the fluid can not flow through my body thus causing the "build up" of fluid. I have been told losing weight will cause the problem to go away. Has anyone else had this problem and did it go away once you lost weight?

I have tried compression stockings and it does not help at all! I'm sorry to hear that there is no cure for yours. All of my veins are there and healthy, its just the weight on my pelvis that prevents the movement of the fluid. It has been about 8 years since I have worn a knee length skirt and about the same for wearing shorts out in public. I really am hoping that the weighloss will "cure" my problem. Thanks for the well wishes!

Hi all. I hope to be banded after the new year when my new insurance takes effect-I am attending a seminar this Saturday! I have some questions that I hope someone will answer for me.:help: Can someone tell me about the port? Is it "hidden" under the skin? I hate to sound stupid but I am really new to all of this. How long were you out of work after surgery? I work in the Premium Tax dept of an auto insurance company so for the most part I sit at a desk and work on a computer, I'm just wondering how long I will need to be off of work. Do you keep lap band forever or is it removed after a certain amount of time?

Does Having A Tummy Tuck Effect The Port? Does Anyone Know If A Tummy Tuck, Thigh Lift, Arm Lift Etc Are Considered Reconstructive Surgery By Insuarance Companies After Lap Band?

We are in Odenville, Rebecca is my best friend for 19 years-we live across the street from each other now.

Put a pic of yourself on your profile! I know what you look like but nobody else does.

Does anyone know if an insurance company will pay for Cosmetic/Reconstructive surgery after lap band? I have been told by some that they may pay for a tummy tuck due to the fact that infection could set up since the skin will "flap" over the pubic area and no air gets to the area. I dont know if this is true or not. I am seriously considering lap band after the new year when my new insurance goes into effect. My new insurance will pay for the lap band.