sassfordays

Glad you got it! How did you do it?

I am dealing with nerves regarding reaching out to the surgeons office. I have been doing research for a long time, I have probably watched hundreds of hours of youtube videos from all different kinds of perspectives, tons of reading online, just trying to find as much info as I can. But I have this fear of reaching out to the surgeon's office and I'm not even sure why. Have any of you been there? Any words of encouragement or personal anecdotes? Thank you.

I bet it is so nice having friends going through this with you. That's gotta be reassuring!

I had such good results while on the meds, down like 80+ pounds and then for some reason my insurance decided to suddenly stop covering it. Combined with some of the other stuff that was going on, that was just too much for me. My life was imploding, and then the pandemic really hit, and I was just...how do I manage all of this at the same time? I also am not particularly sensitive when it comes to bedside manner. I would much prefer the surgeon be technically a wizard, but standoffish and not particularly talkative, than warm and friendly but new/inexperienced. The more times you do a particular thing, the better you are at it, so that makes total sense. Have you met with your surgeon? If you have, did you have a bunch of questions for them? Can you think of any questions you recommend finding answers to? I usually try to do enough research before I contact the professionals that I pretty much understand all aspects of the situation. I am a researcher by nature. Also when I met with the surgeon before I kind of got answers to the big questions I had that were specific to myself and my own situation. Now, I think I'm just anxious in general.

Thank you for the input everyone. I had actually started looking into it a while ago, met with a surgeon and started working to complete all the steps they required. I was seeing my PCP who happens to consider weight management a passion of hers, so we were meeting monthly and discussing everything. She had offered a medication to help me, and I had such fantastic results that I felt like I didn't need to continue actively pursuing surgery. I was eating well, making good choices, exercising a lot, and losing at a healthy rate. Then without warning my insurance decided to stop covering the medicine I was on, which was a big hit but I still felt okay. Then some other life things happened and, well, here I am, having probably gained back everything I lost. I had gone through all the steps I needed to, got the blood tests and everything, I was just working on my six months (or however many it was at that time) of documented meetings with the doctor. Now, I feel more anxious, and I'm not sure why because I also feel like my success with the stuff I was doing made it clear to me that I can do this, and be successful. I think I have had a pretty serious increase in anxiety overall lately (have an appointment with a therapist set up to discuss this specifically), and I am wondering if that isn't why I am struggling now. Did you go with the first surgeon you consulted with? Or did you end up looking around? The first surgeon I consulted with a few years ago does not still have a practice open where I went, so for insurance I will have to find another one anyways.

Do you know for sure you will be asked to travel before your doctor would clear you for traveling? If so, could you just tell them you had a medical procedure done, and are not cleared for travel yet, and provide a note from your doctor? Sometimes I don't like providing medical notes because even that can provide more information than I care to share...sometimes the letterhead tells what type of practice it is (dentist, optometrist, surgeon, family medicine, psych, gyno, etc.) and at the very least, it will have a doctor's name and someone who was really nosey could do a web search and find out those details. I could understand not wanting to share a doctor's note. What are the covid rates like where you are? Could you report that due to those you don't feel safe to travel? I hope you find a solution that you are comfortable with.

Well, I know that sometimes with insurance, a specific doctor may be "in network" but that doesn't mean that each hospital they have privileges with is in network, and I know that some hospitals may be in-network but that doesn't mean every doctor at that hospital is considered in-network, so I was trying to use their provider search to find an actual surgeon who was listed as in-network, just to try to make sure I had all my bases covered, and get myself set up for success as much as possible. I suppose I was just making it more difficult for myself. Thank you. :)

I am working on trying to find a bariatric surgeon in my area (Pittsburgh, PA) who is considered In-Network for my insurnace (Aetna), and having a little bit of a hard time. I don't know what exactly to search for on my Aetna member portal that will provide me with a list of In-Network bariatric surgeons, and so far doing a google search for local bariatric surgeons, finding the names and then searching for them in my Aetna member portal, isn't providing me with much of anything. Is there an easier way to do this? What am I doing wrong? Or is it just that there are no In-Network bariatric surgeons near me? TIA for any help..

Well thank you to both of you who responded. You gave me really good information. I'm not sure why when I log on the Aetna website, and search any of the surgeons associated with these hospitals, none of them come up, but this gives me a direction to go. Thank you for holding my hand like a child lol I don't know how I was missing all of this

That provides information about the Aetna quality providers etc, but I don't see where it leads to physician names.

Even if it's "just" water weight, it's weight that needed to come off, right? [emoji2368]

I've seen several people say comfortable long dresses with pockets and soft, comfortable sports bras. Also have small medicine measuring cups available so you can accurately track your fluid intake, and do it in small amounts.

I have not had the surgery yet, so I can't speak from that particular place. However, I know that surgery is really hard on the body, even when done in a way which is considered "minimally invasive". It could be that you are still processing through the physical trauma of the surgery, and it's causing a lot of weird emotions. Also....having this surgery can be really emotional. Even if it's not the type of anxiety that's easy to link back to the surgery, it doesn't mean it's completely unrelated. I can imagine how there would be a lot of anxiety after the surgery. Lots of "unknowns". Lots of questions. What is my healing experience going to be? Am I going to have any difficulties or setbacks? Am I going to have all the success I hoped for? I would imagine the first few days after surgery could be pretty nerve-wracking. Also, your hormones are a mess right after surgery. All of this to say that I don't have any evidence or experience with this specifically (I DO have pretty serious anxiety disorder, fwiw), but that it doesn't surprise me at all that you're having anxiety. I had a recent unplanned hospital stay, and there was no surgery involved, but after I was released I spent a few days just being amazed and afraid of what felt like everything. Again, I have anxiety, so that wasn't completely unexpected but for a few days it was much different and more severe than my usual anxiety. Sometimes I think that increased anxiety is just a sign that the brain is working overtime to process through something that feels like a major change to us.

Do any of you know why a healthy BMI usually looks so malnourished and ghoulish?

One more pound is so frustrating but that is do-able. You've got this!

My guess is Willie. He looks like a sweetheart

I haven't had surgery yet but I have been toying with the idea of kickboxing. Since I haven't had the surgery yet and I'm still very overweight, I wasn't really sure whether it was something I should try yet. What was your experience like prior to surgery? Sent from my SM-G950U using BariatricPal mobile app

This is a genius idea. Thank you for this!