frauhowe

I can't find any information on how to remove myself from this site, can somebody please tell me how to do this?

I found a cool consignment shop in Avon, MA called The Shrinking Closet. It's the only plus sized consignment shop around, and although plus sized folks in all stages of weight loss (or not) are welcome, they specifically came up with the idea for people that have had surgery and are going through clothing sizes at lightning speed. Pretty good idea considering the cost of having to replace your entire wardrobe every couple months! I haven't had surgery yet, but thought I'd put the word out that this place exists. It just opened in August.

Tuesdays, Thursdays & Fridays 5-9pm and Saturdays 10-5 508-232-7633

They'll postpone. I was rescheduled for a thyroidectomy for the same reason. They won't put anyone under who's health isn't in its tip top condition. I was so mad because it was only a mild case, barely more than the sniffles, and it was my first surgery and I was scared to death. It would have been all overwith but I had to carry on a few more fear filled weeks. In agreement about antibiotics too, they should never be taken for virusus and I don't understand why a doctor would prescribe them for that. I have this argument with a friend all the time, she takes antibiotics for every little thing. She'll build up a tolerance to them and then when she REALLY needs for something them they may not work.

Same with mine. I'm told by someone else with the same plan as mine that if you lose enough to drop below 40 you're basically told "continue on your current successful weight loss regimen." (hey you, stupid blue cross lady…it’s only successful if it’s PERMANENT!!!) I’m officially one week into the 6 month diet. So I have to lose SOME weight, but not TOO much or I’ll disqualify myself. At a bmi that hovers around 42 I'm walking a fine line here. On the plus side…at my first appointment last week my blood pressure was up for the first time ever. A-HA, the beginnings of my first comorbidity? (listen to me…I’m actually “pleased” to get a comorbidity, anything that will help the chance of approval. How sick is that!? This is what the insurance company has made be become). Don’t get me wrong. I don’t deliberately want to sabotage my efforts, it’s just that everyone knows what the odds are of a person gaining it back, so I’m not overly confident that this diet will be any different from any other. I’ve been yo-yoing for years, I’ve had plenty of experience at being a fat chick. But the insurance company thinks they know me better than I do. If I could do it on my own, I would have done it a long time ago. I was always under the impression that yo-yoing is more unhealthy than a slow steady climb.

Few things infuriate me more than people who think it’s okay to stick their noses into my personal business. "why cant you just eat right and exercise" I got one of those. My response? In the best dopey Gomer Pyle style voice I could manage, I slap myself in the forehead and said “well gee how come I never thought of that!? Boy, you’re smart.” (some people must have some reeeal fancy book-learnin) “My coworkers have me under a microscope watching everything I eat or drink and offer unwnted comments all the time.” Next time they do that ask them who appointed them diet police and ask to see their official badges, otherwise shut up. Ask the balding guy if he’s tried Minoxidil for his receding hairline. Act surprised when he looks embarrassed.

I haven't begun any testing yet but I'm sure they'll want me to undergo the upper plumbing torture. For people who have been through it, which is worse - upper GI barrium swallow or endoscopy? Either procedure scares the crap out of me :sad:

"real men don't (fill in the blank)" I hate that phrase. What is a real man as opposed to....what? When my husband says it it makes him sound insecure and I just want to smack him upside the head LOL Don't worry about what other people think, what business is it of theirs anyway? Do what you need to do, and if that means seeking help, don't in any way think of yourself as less of a man (whatever that means)

I'm torn on this decision as well. I'm only at the beginning of my journey, my 6-month monitored insurance diet starts in September, but so far the only people that know is my husband who is very supportive of me, and my mother who thinks I'm going to fail because she doesn't think I have the right attitude. She thinks that I think it's a cheat and that I'll still overeat and stretch my stomach out and gain it all back. So I shouldn't have told her anything, she always bursts my bubble. Because I have social anxiety disorder, it's hard for me to get close to people so I only have a couple of friends. One I know would be supportive but the other I'm afraid to ever tell her about it. I've been gradually learning that this "friend" is not a very good one, she had gastric bypass a year ago, and it was always clear to me that she had self esteem issues because of the way she criticized everything about everyone - for example when we got together if she saw an overweight person she'd make comments (and I'd be thinking...."hello you're over 500 pounds who are you to judge!"). I once tossed a "hey I should do it" comment out there, kiddingly at the time. Ever since then she's made comments of how she disagrees with anyone who doesn't really "need" the surgery having it done. Apparently the doctors' requirements of +40 bmi are not good according to her standards. She says it should only be reserved for people who are many hundred pounds overweight. I know what she really means by this is that she wants me to be bigger than she is. Who is she to say what other people should or shouldn't do regarding their own health? Anyway I'm afraid of telling her I've become serious about my decision to do it because I know she'll think I'm only doing it because I'm jealous. How did I start off on a rant about that? I gotta get new friends. Anyway back to the topic at hand. I don't know how I'm going to handle my work situation. I originally wanted to get banded BECAUSE of the more gradual weight loss, it would be easier to explain away the loss to just diet and exercise, but I think I've changed my mind and am leaning more toward standard bypass now. I don't know how I'm going to handle the questions, but the first person that accuses me of taking the easy way out (which I know will be my uncle because he's an obnoxious ass to everyone) will get a slap upside the head LOL! A live support group setting will be of especially great importance to me, I live with a bunch of naysayers.

Dr. Lautz....that's going to be my guy too. As far as hospitals go, the Brigham is top notch. I was born there, had my thyroid and gallblader removed there, I wouldn't go anywhere else. I too am just at the beginning of my journey. I booked an appointment with my primary for Sept 4th to get my 6 month supervised diet under way. I haven't gone as far as booking the initial consultation with Dr. Lautz yet since I have to get this stupid diet out of the way before my insurance company will even listen, but he is my top choice and luckily listed within my insurance network. At this point I'm actually getting away from banding and leaning more towards standard bypass, but he does both. What frustrates me the most is this dumb diet they make you do! My bmi is 42, which means I'm already hovering close to the magic number so I have to lose SOME weight, but not TOO much because it will disqualify me. I can lose weight, but everyone knows the odds of being able to keep it off. It's going to be a miserable 6 months :crying:

Um, I don't think that's such a good idea. Listen to your surgeon, if he said no food for a certain number of days, then listen to him. There's a reason you're not supposed to consume certain things.

I am indecisive, not only about whether or not to have surgery, but also about what type to have. At first I wanted bypass, then I got scared about dumping syndrome and having to be careful of malnutrition. Then I was all gung-ho for banding, now I'm scared at what I've been reading about long term complications (one website mentioned 60% of people with bands opt to have them removed after 5 or 6 years because of complications??? If that were accurate wouldn't the FDA or whomever have pulled it by now? If it's even close to accurate 60% is really bad!) There are clips on youtube of interviews with band patients that are having their surgeries revised because of sudden difficulties keeping anything down, even after years of trouble-free success. So I don't know what to think anymore or what information out there can be believed. My own primary doctor, when I brought up my interest in surgery, said that there's a high failure rate, but I don't know if she was referring to banding or weight loss surgery in general. I also don't know if she was referring to that failure rate being due to mechanical issues or because of patients doing all the wrong things. I still intend to go through my 6-month supervised diet, which will give me 6 months to keep thinking about it, but at this time I have no idea what I'm going to do. I'm very torn and confused.

My husband works for BCBS of MA, but I'm stuck with BCBS of MN through my own job, which seems a little more strict. son of a......!

Hi everyone, I’m new and just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Laura and I’ve recently reached my decision to have surgery if I can get approved for it. The thought has been in the back of my mind for about a year, but for the past couple months I’ve become serious about it and have started reading books and doing the research, which is how I discovered this forum. I haven’t yet decided which method is better for me (banding vs bypass), there are inspiring pros and terrifying cons to both, so at this time I’m still researching both and am hoping to learn about peoples’ experiences and/or regrets about both procedures. At this point I think I’m leaning more towards banding. I have Blue Cross of MN and since they require me to have a 6 month medically supervised diet program, I figure there’s no sense in even making an appointment to talk to a surgeon until I’ve gotten that behind me, but am I the only one that feels this requirement is ridiculous? I can understand why they do it, but do they really think if dieting worked so many people would need to be considering something as serious as surgery? My BMI is 42.2 and I can just see it now….sure I’ll be able to get 30 or so pounds off in 6 months, but then I’ll be below the required 40 BMI. And then I know what’s next…”sorry you no longer qualify…please continue on your current successful weight loss plan.” (newsflash it’s not successful if it’s temporary!!) Anyone can lose weight on their own, but how many are able to keep it off? Very few, and even the insurance companies know it. Statistics say that the heavier a person is, the more likely they are to regain their weight. That’s what’s so discouraging, is knowing that I have to lose some, but if I lose too much I’ll be disqualified and then chances are the weight will come back anyway. Every time I try doing it on my own I only end up making it worse for myself (lose 5, put back 10, etc.) And then if I do put it back on before applying for approval I’m afraid I’ll get accused of intentionally sabotaging myself just to get the surgery and get denied because of that (do they really think that way or am I just being paranoid?) I’m not currently taking any medications so the insurance co doesn’t see me as a high financial risk yet. I’ve felt fine physically until this past year, when I really started feeling my weight. My feet and knees always hurt because I have plantar fasciitis and chondromalatia (neither of which are on the co-morbidity list). I don’t currently have diabetes, but it’s everywhere in my family on my mother’s side, so my getting it eventually is pretty much a no-brainer. My mother has sleep apnea – I don’t know if I do but I’m told I snore pretty badly (bad enough for my husband to wear earplugs to bed every night). I don’t know if I just make a lot of noise or if I actually stop breathing, I don’t wake up during the night that I can recall, but I usually do wake up feeling tired in the morning. Has anyone else teetering close to the magic BMI number had a problem getting coverage because of this?