animallover1247

I've had the same meter since I was diagnosed about 12 or 13 years ago. It even has a crack in it and still works. The only thing I've ever had to do is change the batteries. It's a One Touch Ultra but now I think they have the One Touch Ultra 2. I'm not sure of the cost but back then I think the meter was about $60. I like it because it shows averages, you can mark your sugars before/after meals, sickness, etc.

Same as dmmjtj, going on vacation. If I didn't have vacation days and had to use FMLA, I would not have been able to keep it a secret.

February 16. Hoping not to have any complications!

I had never heard of " Fat Doctor" until I saw it on BP. I found the episodes on You Tube as well and started watching them about a month ago. I like them but I wish he would feature some patients who have had VSG surgery but now I think about it I think he only does bypass surgeries. He is very compassionate and nonjudgmental towards the morbidly obese. Wish there were more of him in the world...

I was not saying my plan required this or anyone else's plan requires it, all plans are different. I was just telling the person IF they have a choice between seeing a psychologist or a psychiatrist with their own particular plan, the psychiatrist visit is only an interview rather than testing and an interview if they see a psychologist. Yes, you are correct if they currently have a professional they are seeing then yes, they can write the letter. However, in my particular case my therapist is a LPC (Licensed Professional Counselor) and she was not allowed to write the letter becasue she is not a psychiatrist or psychologist, which is what my particular insurance required. @@Imsojaz, if you happen to see a psychologist, you can have your own person do it instead of running around. @@animallover1247, are you saying that your own medical plan required the battery of written forms or that all plans require it? For my "psych eval" six and one-half years ago, my own therapist wrote a letter, all of seven sentences. No muss, no hocus-pocus, no nonsense, no rip-off.

You are welcome! I was trying to save you some money and time. Yes, your surgeons office should have told you where you needed to go. I was the one who called and asked if it had to be done by a psychiatrist or psychologist otherwise i would have never known becasue that specific detail was not in my insurance policy either. Out of the people I've know to have the evaluation done by a psychiatrist, none had testing. I am sure this is the way you need to go, even if you have to travel to have it done. Good Luck

If I were you I would make sure to contact a psychiatrist to have the evaluation completed. If you call a psychologist and ask for an evaluation for bariatiric surgery, you will have testing that needs to be completed in addition to an interview. With the testing they typically they use what's known as the MMPI. This can be very expensive and may not be covered by your insurance. However, if you make an appointment with a psychiatrist, you will only have an interview. I only had to pay my standard co-pay for a specialist. The interview only took about 30 minutes whereas the testing and interview with a psychologist takes at least a couple of hours.

I completely agree with @because. They are scared you will get skinny which is where they want to be! Let it roll off of your back. You are choosing to be proactive and do something about your weight, which is more than what they are doing!

I haven't had surgery yet but when I saw my endo last week I told her I was having WLS. I remarked this would be different for me becasue I have a bad habit of skipping meals even now and that causes me to eat more later. She told me there was not a problem with skipping meals as long as you don't go over your calories per day. I asked if skipping meals slowed your metabolism, she said NO. I have found articles that support what she she said and ones that don't. My surgeon said I could stay on a particular medication after surgery, she said no way. With all this different opinions its hard to know who to believe! It's quite frustrating.

Will your insurance pay for those tests to be done again?

Congrats! Where is the pscyh eval, EKG, chest x-ray, barium study or endoscopy? Is he waiving those becasue of your low BMI? Are you self-pay? Usually if you are the surgeon at least wants a psych eval. Just curious.

So glad you had that experience. Mine refused so I had to find one who would supervise me.

I haven't had surgery yet so I don't have any advice to offer you but I do have a question. HOW are you even able to drink diet soda? I thought it was quite painful due to the carbonation????? Am I wrong? This was the experience my friend had so I was just asking....

For anyone who might be interested---- this bariatric surgeon has many videos on YouTube concerning weight loss surgery and related topics.

If things don't change before you have surgery, they will only get worse. I don't know why but life changing events, whether it be WLS or not, tend to bring out the worse in some people. I would encourage you at a minimum to get some counseling to figure out why this behavior is acceptable to you but you both really need to be in counseling. Have you ever heard that saying "we teach people how to treat us"? It is soooo very true. It's similar to parenting a child. If you let them get away with something over and over, they come to expect that is the way it will always be. However, if you set rules and boundaries and are consistent, they know what to expect. If you continue to allow him to treat you this way, this is how you will be treated. I am going to assume that you are having surgery so you can be healthy, have a better quality of life and live longer, right? Everyone deals with bad things happening to them, that's just life. However, there are things in our life that we have control over. Whether you are overweight or not, how can you have quality of life being in emotional turmoil all the time? Your marriage is very new, is this a preview to what forever will be like? This process has been so emotional for me, I cannot even imagine having to deal with something like this as well. I wish you luck. I hope you can find some peace and things work out for you.

Why food Addiction Is Deadlier Than Drinking By John Kiernan 06/23/11 Overeating is often seen as a trifling addiction to addicts. Our writer—who's both a food addict and an alcoholic—begs to differ. Too much food and too much booze are both dangerous—but which is worse? At the end of an AA meeting recently, I mentioned to a friend that I had to go speak at a meeting for compulsive overeaters. He looked at me quizzically and said, “But you’re not fat.” To which I replied, “Yes, and you’re in AA and you’re not drunk.” I’m intrigued by the lack of understanding from people within the recovery community towards addictions they don’t have. And I’m not talking about newcomers but about people with 20 or more years in one program or another. Then again, when I think about a compulsion I don’t share—compulsive gambling, for example—the initial thought that pops in my head is “Why don’t they just not do that?” Of course the answer is simple: “It’s an addiction, stupid.” I seem to remember any number of people suggesting I should stop drinking long before I did—usually people standing over me while I was flat on my back on the floor. After 30 years in various programs, I know that addiction can take many forms. The question of which addiction is more severe can lead to engaging debates. And we all know the answer: Our addiction is the worst and yours is not so bad. From the subjective view of our own experience, it’s true. When I tell people I believe food addiction is harder to grapple with than many chemical addictions, their response tends to be less than respectful. “Food? Puh-leeze! So what happens, they find you in the gutter with a bag of Twinkies? Do they send you off to the Betty Crocker Clinic?” The question of which addiction is more severe can lead to engaging debates. And we all know the answer: Our addiction is the worst and yours is not so bad. I’ve found food addiction to be something of a punch line in other programs. And yet I’ve buried two sponsees in my food program and none in AA. There are dozens of people with food addictions I’ve known that didn’t make it. One of the most poignant situations was an absolutely brilliant guy I knew who weighed over 600 pounds; he died in a fire because he was too big to get out. Research has proven that eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. Studies have shown that about 20% of anorexics will die prematurely due to complications of their disease, including heart problems and suicide. Obesity is associated with a myriad of chronic health conditions—including diabetes, heart disease and cancer. A person who is moderately obese can expect their lives to be shortened by about five years. Recovery from food addiction is, in my opinion, a more challenging road. I am not diminishing the recovery process from alcohol and drugs—it took me a few years to get sober myself. Once I had some sober time under my belt and continued my recovery by working the steps, the day-to-day urges to drink diminished—as I think they do for many with chemical addictions. Also, being forewarned about the dangers, I removed myself from drinking environments and avoided “slippery” places until my sobriety became stronger. But, there’s no getting away from food. Think what it would be like if sobriety involved having three drinks a day—no more, no less. How long would that sobriety last? People who are addicted to food talk about having to “take the tiger out of the cage for a walk three times a day.” Food is much more integrally involved in our psychological make up. It represents mother, love, nurture, reward, and comfort, among many other things. Food is part of our celebrations and traditions and so much of what makes us human. When asked what substance he was first addicted to, Eric Clapton answered “sugar.” Most addicts have at least a decade or two of life before they begin using heavily but food addicts are introduced to their substance as infants. Food is also much more socially acceptable. It is omnipresent in every office and every social gathering. It’s also very easy to want to minimize. After all, there are many people who can over-indulge in food, gain some weight, then go on a diet and take it off again. The great delusion of food addicts is that they can do this as well. There is another quirk to 12-step recovery when it comes to food. Society has mostly come to see the 12-step method as the most effective for recovery from alcoholism and drug addiction. Most recovery programs have adapted the 12 steps into their programs in some manner. There certainly aren’t a lot of groups out there who have been successful at convincing alcoholics that they can drink safely again. If there were, my guess is every one of us would have given all of them a shot before making it to AA. Now imagine that there are hundreds, even thousands, of such alternatives. That’s part of the problem compulsive eaters face. The plethora of “easier, softer ways” that constantly bombard the active compulsive eater is staggering. There is a billion dollar business out there trying to convince compulsive eaters that they can have their cake and eat it too. This extra “competition” contributes to another difference between food programs like OA and chemical addiction programs like AA and NA. People don’t tend to show up to “audit” AA or NA meetings. By the time you’ve decided to dabble in AA, you’ve probably needed it for a long time. But people do dabble in programs like OA. For some of them, it’s another step between commercial weight loss groups and gastric surgery. This means that the eating groups have a far higher rate of “turnover” than other 12-step programs. Another factor with food addiction is how it is often inextricably linked to one’s sexuality.A number of food addicts were either molested or received other types of inappropriate sexual advances as children. As a result, while one part of the food addict desperately wants to lose weight and be “normal,” another part is terrified of becoming thin and attractive. This is one cause of recidivism in many young women—the attention becomes overwhelming and they turn back to the food. The weight doesn’t go instantly from 250 to 600. It moves from 250 to 275, then 275 to 300, and onward—slow enough to allow the mind games to adjust. We food addicts continually learn to accept that which was previously unacceptable. The main issue, however, that makes food addiction harder has to do with how it delivers its pain. At some point in most alcohol and drug addicts’ lives, some critical incident—or series of incidents—happens to cause them to hit a bottom. While this is usually acutely painful, it is the stimulus to get the addict to open his eyes and ask, “What the hell am I doing?” That’s the first step to recovery. Food’s pain is not acute—it is a dull, chronic pain. It allows food addicts (especially the smart ones) to continually keep moving the goalposts. One of my deceased sponsees had a genius-level mind. Had I been able to go back in time to his college years and tell him that someday he’d be 600 pounds, he would have laughed me out of the room. But the weight doesn’t go instantly from 250 to 600. It moves from 250 to 275, then 275 to 300, and onward—slow enough to allow the mind games to adjust. We food addicts continually learn to accept that which was previously unacceptable. Compulsive eating is a slow, chronic pain that makes the sufferer realize that they should do something about their problem, but it doesn't cause them enough pain to make them *willing* to actually do so. Another interesting wrinkle is that the addiction to compulsive overeating can take different forms and each of these forms may need a different approach. Some food focused 12-step programs (such as FAA or CEA-HOW) are very structured, attempting to equate the addictive nature of food with the addictive nature of alcohol. They have a structured and clearly defined approach to abstinence (the food equivalent of sobriety). Other groups (such as OA), which focus more on the process of compulsive overeating, encourage the individual to define their own abstinence. The downside of a more flexible program such as OA is that it’s up to the addict and their sponsor to determine which foods and behaviors cause them problems and which ones do not. While this is good in theory, if the addict does not have a good sponsor or is not honest about their addiction, it is like giving the inmates the keys to the asylum. As a good friend says, “You can’t fix a broken brain with a broken brain.” One of the other problems that sometimes occurs in more flexible programs like OA—even among people working a strong program—is the slow, insidious creeping back toward overeating. It’s not like people in AA don’t have slips—they do. But at least they know they are doing it. It’s easy, however, for someone in OA to have a slip and not know it until they are knee deep in it. Finally, for many addicts, food is “the last house on the block.” Often people with addictions find alternatives when they get recovery from their primary addiction. Food often becomes the “go to” substance for such a switch (the AA Big Book even suggests that newly sober alcoholics who are struggling should turn to chocolate). I think that for some, the idea of having to admit that food is yet another addiction becomes quite threatening. If they start examining their own behavior around food, they might be forced to then have to put down that “last drug.” The one thing I have to keep telling these “crossovers” is that the credits don’t transfer. It’s very difficult for people who might be circuit speakers in one program to hear that they need to sit down and become a newcomer again. In the end, trying to compare which addiction is worse is absurd. There are too many variables that make all such comparisons an apples versus oranges debate. I just hope that food addiction won’t continue to be a punch line. John Kiernan was born and raised in the New York City area and now lives in Los Angeles. His book, Recovering From the Food Relapse Cycle, is available on Amazon. John's website is foodrelapse.com. Please read our comment policy. - The Fix TAGS: AA OA Overeaters Anonymous food addiction. alcoholism dru g addiction John Kiernan Features John Kiernan

You're welcome...glad the article was liked

I agree. The reason why I am so apprehensive about telling her is because about a year ago I told her two of my doctors told me I needed to have WLS because of my diabetes, HPB and sleep apnea. When I said this to her to get her thoughts, her response was "you have to change the way you eat" and that was it. I said yes, I would have to change my diet. I didn't get the vibe she would be so supportive. Regardless I am doing this and I'm sure she wont have a problem with monitoring me even if she may not agree with my decision. Overall I like her and I'm satisfied with the care she has given me but I am almost positive she's had very few if any WLS patients.

I encountered some stupidity like this myself with my PCP who refused to supervise me for the surgery, even though I have several co-moribid conditions so I know how you feel. Don't let those comments bother you. I'm going to see my endocrinologist tomorrow to tell her I'm having weight loss surgery and she will need to monitor me after the surgery for my insulin. She is TINY (in weight and height) she probably doesn't weight more than 100 lbs, no exaggeration. I just wonder what kind of comments I will get from her. We shall see.

I don't know about the tingling and painful scalp but my friend who had VSG definitely had the brittleness and hair falling out. It looked very unhealthy but she was not getting her Protein in either. She had some major hair loss. Again, she wasn't complying with the protein requirements.

I had read some posts on here about surgeons wanting people to lower their A1cs before surgery so I asked my surgeon if my A1C had to be a certain number; he said no, He stated he's operated on people with A1cs as high as 12 and 13%. I suppose it is the surgeons particular preference as to how low they want it to be before surgery. Mine was 5.9, the lowest it has EVER been. I quit eating fast food and ate mainly Protein (didn't quit carbs completely but significantly lowered them). I also exercised some but not to any large extent.

@Nurse_Lenora- Congratulations! What a relief, hu? I'm sorry this is in blue but I dont know how to get it to black. How long did it take for the insurance to approve you and do you have any co-morbid conditions (if you don't mind me asking). Thanks

Six months of a supervised diet with my PCP which required monthly visits, consecutive. Chest x-ray, EKG, nutrition class, psych eval, and letter of support from PCP. Surgeon requirements were a seminar, blood work, endoscopy, test at the end of the nutrition class, and a pre-op class.

A doctor recommended I take a probiotic called BACID. It's a bit pricey, about $33.00 for 100 tablets and you have to take 2 a day. I'm not sure why but Walmart doesn't keep it on the shelf with the rest of the Probiotics (maybe because of the cost). They keep it behind the counter at the pharmacy and I have to ask for it. However, you can order it from amazon. You can go on there and check out the reviews. I've used it for years and it has helped me.

What troubling side effects have you experienced? Just curious. I have not had surgery yet. I want to tell you my experience with fast food. I was on a statin for seven years to control my cholesterol. One year ago this month I was taken off of the medication because I was having chronic muscle pains, which is a known side effect of the medication. My muscle pain never went away so the doctor wanted to put me back on the medication. I refused. I told her I would risk the heart attack. I stopped eating fast food and I had never fried any of my foods at home either. After only 45 days after I stopped eating the fast food, all of my readings for my lipid panel were normal. I just had my blood work done again last week and my numbers dropped even more. My total cholesterol was 146 (from 172) and my triglycerides were 84 (from 147). My reading were not even that good when I was on the medication and now I have no need for the medication. Of course everyone is different and there are other factors that can influence ones cholesterol levels like genetics. However, for ME, there was no mistaken how detrimental the fast food was to my health. The good part is that I don't miss it, I don't crave it and even if I am starving I have no desire to stop and get it. It's not as hard as I thought it would be to stop.