animallover1247

Yes, loose skin can add to your weight. How much loose skin do you have? I have to say the only extent that I am familiar with it is watching "Skin Tight" on TLC. The people on the show have lost MASSIVE (up to 240 lb loss) amounts of weight so it stands to reason the skin weighs a lot as well. For a 44 lb weight loss I'm not sure how much loose skin that would equate to but I am sure someone on BP can answer your question. i think doctors recommend skin to be removed like 12-18 months after your goal weight is reached.

How long did it take to get your insurance approval?

How long did it take for the insurance to approve you?

How long did it take to get approved?

@Sophie74656 I feel the same way as you. When I see these posts of those who have lost too much weight, I have to chuckle because I've NEVER had that problem and I am 100% sure I likely never will. This is a concept that is completely foreign to me.

I was concerned about this as well so I asked my surgeon. He said as long as Vitamin levels are kept where they are supposed to be, there should not be any issues. I do know someone personally who had problems with their teeth after bypass but whose to say it wasn't rule he didn't follow like he should have. I would make sure to get regular dental checkups.

@smallbird Yes, you are correct, that is the goal. I am on three fast and slow acting insulin, another diabetes medication and two blood pressure medications, in addition to all of my other meds for different medical problems. I am a walking drug store! I I haven't had surgery yet but I have been able to stop a good portion of my fast acting insulin (all of it if I eat little carbs) so I am hoping I will be able to stop all of the insulin completely after the surgery or after some weight loss. It costs a fortune to be fat!

@smallbird After surgery how are your supposed to take medications such as BP meds like accupril? I haven't had my preop class yet. Thanks

I have acid reflux. I am on Nexium 40 mg. I did not want to have bypass. My surgeon is fine with the sleeve. He said even if the GERD worsens it can be controlled with medication. One of my main reasons for having the surgery is to get off of all of this medication but I am willing to take the chance as opposed to having bypass. I will say, however, I do have a hiatial hernia that will be fixed during surgery and this may take away the need for the medication. The bypass scares me but its a personal choice.

@@swimbikerun I sent an email to the person who violated HIPPA and let her know how upset I am. She told me she didn't have the information I requested not to be called at work in front of her. She apologized but she can't take it back, the damage is done. I told her I only hope some policy is put into effect so this never happens again. I have a job where I am bound by confidentiality; I know very personal information about my clients and I would have never called someone at work if they hadn't told me it was okay. UGH.

I have had nothing but problems with my surgeons office from day one. Any kind of problem you can think of, I've had it: ---Having to ask 6 (yes 6 times) for a copy of my blood work so my endocrinologist wouldn't repeat it. Received it to days after I needed it. ---Not sure if they were supposed to call and get preuth for my endoscopy but they didn't and the insurance denied it. They are saying I owe over 6 grand. I have appealed it with the insurance. Hopefully it will be resolved. ---I have asked three times for my "in depth body analysis" that is supposed to let me know areas I need to work on. Never received it so I stopped asking. ----Went for my preop testing. The surgeons office never sent the orders over so it caused a major wait for me. 4 hours for a chest x-ray and EKG.Some of the wait was the hospital though. --- After three weeks of them having my paperwork, it still had not been submitted to insurance so I sent an email on Monday. She submitted it after she received my email. I sent her an email to let her know to call me on my cell and when she heard from the insurance company and if I couldn't answer, please send me an email . She said certainly. --- For some reason they had me in the computer as having federal BCBS and mine is not federal. I never told them it was federal and they have a copy of my freaking insurance card! They submitted my personal information to an insurance company I don't even have insurance with!!!! --- Next. she told me I did not have my 6 months of consecutive PCP documentation, that was not true. She told me I had two in one month. That was not true. I had to clarify my exact dates. Still don't know what the problem was with that. ----But the worse thing of all is I specifically put on my application DO NOT contact me at work. Well what did she do? She called me at work to ask about the flow sheets and my insurance. We have caller id. The caller id shows up on every phone in my small office, name and number, and they asked for me,of course. I am so angry. My confidentiality was broken twice not once but twice. I know people make mistakes but this is beyond ridiculous. I am beside myself with anger.

Thanks for the comments. I did email her and told her how angry I was. She told me she didn't have that information in front of her and apologized. I told her while I understand that people make mistakes and it was not intention on her part but my confidentiality and HIPPA rights were violated. I further told her I hope they put some kind of policy in place to where this never happens again. The reason I chose this surgeon is because he is VERY experienced. No surgeon I could go to came close to having his experience, which is having performed over 16, 000 WLS. I am ready to have surgery so I am conflicted about having to switch to someone else. I see the surgeon one more time before surgery. Oh yeah I forgot to add something...my surgeon found some polyps and did a biopsy. He told me someone would call me with the results. That was at the end of October, I never heard from anyone. I would normally call myself but I was so disgusted with them. I hope if there was a problem they would have called me. I'm just not sure exactly what i should do.

Im having my own issues with my surgeons office so I get it. Today they called me at work when I specifically put on my application NOT to call me at work. We have caller id. So much for me trying to keep this from my coworkers. Could you please clarify what the doctor told you about your hair loss and Protein? I didn't quite understand what you were saying. Did he tell you because you didn't follow protein guidelines it resulted in the hair loss? I hope you don't have problems finding another surgeon.

I agree. Premier Protein is my favorite.

Sassyfrass23 I had my endoscopy back in October and some polys were found. My surgeon said someone would call me and let me know the results of the biopsy and guess what? I have NEVER heard from them. And yes, I would normally be on top of something like this like white on rice but I can't tell you how disgusted I have been with my surgeons office. I don't want to even talk to anyone there. It has been one problem after another with them, mostly them telling me they are going to do something and to this day they haven't gotten done. When you have to ask for something five times through phone calls and emails, you get a little inpatient. To make matters worse, it hasn't been one person, it has been three people and three different issues. One person has been great and very helpful but that's it. I figure if something was abnormal with they would have called me. I HOPE SO ANYWAY. I am a very patient person but this has driven me a bit insane. If my surgeons was not so experienced, I would switch.

Can I get some feedback on how long it took your surgeons office to submit the documentation to the insurance? My surgeons office had all of my paperwork and could submit on 12.21. I received an email on 12.30 (because I had called them) and was told my file would be sent to the person who does the submission. Fine. On January 11th, I called the insurance company and they had never received anything. So I sent an email asking them to resubmit if they have because the insurance did not have any documentation. If they hadn't, I asked how long would it take because it had been three weeks. I did get an email back and it said she had mine along with MANY others to submit. I feel like I may have made her mad. Was it unrealistic for me to expect my paperwork should have been submitted at some point during those three weeks?

I agree with the above reply. There's many people who have similar issues and are cleared for surgery. What they are looking for is to make sure you are stable and addressing your problems...and you are through therapy and medications. The psychiatrist or psychologist who performs the psych evaluation may ask to talk with your therapist since therapy is ongoing with you, or they may not. There really is no reason to stress yourself out over it. Now if you had those issues and were not doing anything to address them, then I would say you should worry but that's not the case

Hmmm..I've never heard of a surgeon who has said no to doing a sleeve, even at your weight. Do you have diabetes or GERD? If so this may be the reason he rejected you. I do know of one person who was over 400 lbs who wanted the sleeve and the surgeon told her he would do the VSG surgery but she would have to later convert to the bypass. Sure enough she lost about 100 lbs and could't lose anymore so she had the bypass in December. However, there have been many who have lost significant amounts of weight (100+) with the VSG surgery. So I think if you really want the sleeve and not the bypass I would seek another consultation with a different surgeon. Some surgeons and insurance companies though may require you to lose a certain amount of weight before surgery so keep that in mind as well. Additionally, if you have ever seen my 600 lb life on TLC the surgeon on that show has intended on doing the bypass on a few patients but when he went in had to convert to doing the VSG surgery.

Well, to be honest I am not sure of the exact date my paperwork was submitted. I received an email on 12.30 stated my file would be given to the person who submits to the insurance. I called the insurance company on January 5th and they had not received anything but it had only been a couple of days with the holiday. I think it should've been submitted by now so I will be calling them tomorrow. I hope my paperwork is not sitting on someones desk gathering dust bunnies! If my paperwork has not been submitted, I will be calling my surgeons office. I haven't told work yet. I'm sure they know something is up because of me taking off to get all of the pre-op requirements completed. I didn't see the need until I was approved by the insurance. I am really glad your work has been so supportive,I think the support is priceless. Not sure how my co-workers are going to act.

Every surgeons office is different as to when they schedule your surgery. Unfortunately mine does not schedule before the insurance is approved. If this was the case, I would have a date right now My surgeons office said it could take up up FOUR weeks to hear from the insurance. I think that is an exaggeration. She probably told me this so I wouldn't call and bug the crap out of them! So just call and ask them. I'm conflicted as to how much time I need to ask my employer to be off work. What about you? I'm sure whatever time I ask for I could end up needing more.

I have only recently started watching this show and I did catch the premier this week. One thing that resonated with me from the show was her sisters attitude toward her. She told Nikki she didn't want her children to have any contact with her because it was emotionally traumatizing to them. I am aware those were not the exact words used (because I can't recall the exact terminology she used) but the meaning is the same. It's bad enough that others attitude and thought processes continually perpetuates the stigma attached to morbidly obese individuals but this was worse because it was a family member. Furthermore, if she thinks she can shield her children from seeing fat people she is sadly mistaken. Moreover, the other issue with the sister that made my ass crave stove wood is her telling Nikki when she did see her she was scared she was going to die and would never see her again. Well if that's true why would you distance yourself from her rather than embrace the time you had left with her? I am glad she was able to forgive her sister and mend the relationship because that would've been a hard one for me. I think she was doing it for herself more than she was her sister.

Nerdyscared1 I can related to many things you said in your post. Why do you think the insurance will deny you? I think you should qualify based solely on your BMI. Do you have any co-morbid conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, or sleep apena? If so and you jump through the hoops, you should not be denied. I am anxiously waiting for a decision from my insurance at this moment although I am not too worried. It would definitely cost them less money in the long run by not having to pay for all of these meds due to my obesity. The 6 months absolutely goes by fast. Use the time to research and learn as much as you can.

How long have you had the CPAP? Has it only been one month? I have the same problem as you. I will wake up and I have unknowingly taken the mask off at night and thrown it in the floor. Of course I can't say for sure but not only will your doctor look at your stats, so will your insurance company. I must have a 70% compliance rate or they will not pay for the machine. I've had mine since May and I have always met the goal. I am waiting on them to approve my surgery and I'm sure they will look to see if I have been using my machine. Insurance companies are always looking for a reason not to pay. If you get up to use the bathroom, you are supposed to turn it off and then back on when you get back in bed. I know it's hard because I HATE my machine but it does take some time to get used to. OCKPirates link has a mask that doesn't look bad at all! You will have to find something that works for you and give it some time. You will have to make a conscience effort to put it on before you go to sleep. Even after surgery, you will still need to use the machine until the weight is lost but even people who are not overweight have sleep apena.

Bufflehead is correct, it all depends on your surgeons office because all of them have different requirements. I had many blood tests done and met with the surgeon for about 10 minutes. He listened to my lungs and belly and that was it. The nurse did tell me what tests I would need (x-ray, endoscopy and EKG). I expected it to be more involved than it was.

So let me get this straight....your doctor wants your to lose 38 lbs a month?! You are already losing 25 lbs per month and that's not satisfactory? I really hope you don't let this get you down. I'm sorry but that doctor is damn insane!