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It's been a couple of weeks since I posted, so here's my update. I finally got all of my weight loss study paperwork sent to my surgeon and they told me to go have my blood work re-done before they would submit to insurance, just to be safe. I went and had that done yesterday (they got it on the first stick!), they said it would just be a couple of days then they will fax to surgeon! I'm so nervous about insurance approval now it's ridiculous. I'm terrified they will deny me again bc I only maintained on the study, the weight just wouldn't come off. I would weigh in the morning and have lost 7 lbs, then by my afternoon appt it would all be back even if I didn't eat ???????? I'm so close now, I just can't give up! Anyone else have crazy nerves about insurance approval? I think this is the worst part for me. Sent from my SM-T530NU using the BariatricPal App

That's total BS. Plus you don't call the "Federal Governement" about a HIPAA issue same as you wouldn't call the Federal Government about any other law or statute you wanted to clarify! You should call back and leave a message for the nurse or doctor to call you directly and give you the results. If you leave it up to the receptionist you'll just be jacked around forever......p.s. I hate medical office politics. I have more stories, and not good ones, I could pass along! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I have BC/BS MI PPO and saw my surgeon last Tuesday and they scheduled my surgery for Oct 9. They sent in my insurance papers after the apt, and I had call yesterday from their office telling me what my co-pay would be. I asked her if I was approved and she said "of course," like why wouldn't I be. I was surprised because I thought that someone would call and tell me that I was approved.

THANK YOU! I too have PCOS and I have never heard from another’s experience with IR and PCOS, I can’t even tell you how helpful this is and how much hope it gives me. I too have been eating 1300/1500 calories for years and still gained. In the past it seemed that there was *nothing* I could do to make the scale budge, no matter how patient I was. My main motivation for the surgery was bc I have read quite a lot about how sleeve can immediately improve IR. As soon as the scale stopped last week my first thought was “oh no, here we go again”. Your story gives me so much hope (something I haven’t had in years)! Thank you!!!!

I apologize if this is the wrong area to post, please point me in the right direction if there's a better one. I've completed all my requirements for sleeve surgery under AETNA. The doc was ready to go ahead with my paperwork for pre-authorization, when my husband quit his job and started a new one. New insurance is Capitol BC/BS of Harrisburg. I know they cover bariatric surgery, but for the life of me, I cannot find the exact requirements. Our new insurance doesn't kick in until he's at the job for a month, so that will be Feb. 11. I am trying to decide if I should just pay another month of COBRA and get the surgery done under AETNA, or wait until Feb. 11 and try to get approved with the new insurance. I hate to have to start all over again. I am a mess with this decision. My fear is that the new insurance will make me wait another 3 months or so. I only had to do 3 months with AETNA. Thanks!

Feeling very discouraged today. I called to follow up on the preauthorization for my band removal, and after placing me on hold, the rep came back to tell me they'd decided today to DENY, on the basis that it's "not medically necessary." This, after the surgeon has said it needs to come out as soon as possible. Apparently a badly dilated pouch, with nausea and vomiting, isn't what they consider "necessary" to deal with. :( Has anyone had success appealing for band removal, with no revision surgery? Especially with BCBS Federal Employee Program?

The Anita Blake Series is awesome! And it's like 21+ books lol... I also love Black Dagger Brotherhood, Vampire Academy, Sookie Stackhouse, and the Dark Hunter series'. I'm currently reading the Beautiful Creatures series and its just ok. Books are way too long for the plots, so I wouldn't recommend the BC series. I'm a book junkie too lol... Seriously Amazon should give me free gift cards for as much money as I spend on books.

Yeah that's a really long time. I was sleeved on the 13th, my first was 12 days later, and second was 6 days after that. That nothing is there because you're on liquid is BS, there's plenty there. Especially if you've been eating anything with calories (and reaching your protein numbers) Per my surgeon I was taking colace twice a day, benefiber twice a day and nothing happened. I went out on a limb and took miralax two seperate times (both times led to my only BM). It's something you need to get ahead of or it'll get worse, and approaching 3 weeks without a BM is scary stuff. I would absolutely invest in some colace (stool softener) to help make your inevitable experience less uncomfortable

Omigosh! I'd be going crazy... fingers crossed for you!!! I'm as ready as I'll ever be, I guess. Last night had a pretty big argument with the mister & told him to not bother coming to the hospital... we'll see how that plays out. I won't even see him again until I get out of work tomorrow bc he'll be at work when I get home today & I'll be asleep by the time he gets home. Life here is pretty much normal. No one seems to care. I'm nervous as all get out.

Here goes - Seems that my Husband and I have decided to call it quits after 2 children and 10 1/2 yrs of marriage. No it is not because I lost Wt but because of his family. We have gone rounds about the way my MIL was treating my children. For example my youngest (4) was and does call her Mommy - In order for him to get something from her she would have him call her Mommy or not get what ever he wanted. She would try this with my oldest but I would stress in front of her that this is your Grandma. To some it may sound petty but I cannot stand her so it makes it that much worse. She would not feed my children according to the food schedual meaning Breakfast, lunch or snack until she was hungry or they would have to tell her that they were hungry. I would find out about these things from my oldest son (8) and when I would ask her she would say it was not true and scold him the next time he would go down there. I would also talk to my husband and he would call her and ask her and she would deny it. Anyway so many other things started to go wrong starting with New years Eve. I was to meet him after a day with the kids in Denver to go to different houses to Celebrate. When he called me on my cell phone he was so drunk I decided to just get my brothers kids and go home. I was the baby sitter. Anyway he did not show up until after 1 in the morning - no phone call where he was. He usually just goes to his brothers house. Anyway I found out from my MIL that he was at the dance with her. How sad that the kids and I were waiting for him. He says that he just went with his brother to pick her up at a anniversay dance. I talked to her and told her that I did not like that at all and it was a sign to me of disrespect any way if you are still reading this thanks but it gets worse. Three weeks ago my son fell and hit the toilet rim on his forehead while trying to take off his underwear. I called the hosp and was so upset that I thought he broke his skull. Anyway I told my MIL in the Am about the fall and to watch him and call me if he got sick or acted strange. When I went to pick up my childeren up my oldest told me that Grandma said that it was my fault my youngest fell and I do not know how to watch my kids. This was the straw that broke the camels Back. I went into the house with just the intention of asking her why she would say something like that and I had my son with me. Now she proceeded to call him a liar and said that he was just upset that she told him to sit down. I told her that the child care was not working out because everyday someone - my son - me - my other child is dirty - unfed - wet - you name it. Then she got completely hostile and crazy she starts yelling and telling me that my son was this and that and that is when I told her I would believe my son any day of the week compared to the pyscho family she has. Anyway I am moving my son towards the door and she is still ranting about me having no respect. Granted maybe I should have just bit my tongue but these are my children and I could not and would not let her do this to them. Needless to say that my Husband took her side - He says that my son loves to tell stories and that was one of them. Anyway she has him tied to her - For the last Year she makes him lunch so he goes early in the morning to pick it up and sit with her. He gets home from work showers and goes eats dinner down there. I fix dinner for me and the boys and we eat together Weekends around 4 or 5 in the morning he is back down there. He never spends time with the kids. I see him following in the same steps as his dad. I try everyday and weekend to always do something special with the kids but my oldest tells me MoM why does dad not want to ever be with us? I say I don't know he is just to busy.. Granted I have always stressed to him you have one Mother in this life time Treat her the best. Well he might as well live with her. My gut just wrenches when I think of going home. He sleeps in a different room and the boys either sleep in their room or with me. I wish I could just leave but money and paying off what we owe is a big issue. He is does not abuse me nor with words but he is a yeller. Granted he still gives me his paycheck to deposit in the account but I want so much more. I have tried to talk to him but he says that when I told his mom off that changed everything. I really should have told her more if I knew he was not going to defend his kids My children are no longer with her and are alot happier - clean - fed - and loved His family comes from Mexico and we are different Cultures - it has alot to do with it and through the years I have just blown some stuff off. I hope I get through this weekend stress free:) Thanks for reading this

Hi there. I'm a newbie to this site/forum. Used ObesityHealth for all my pre/post op journey. I hadn't heard of this site though so giving it a go. You can never have to much support! My story, very briefly is that come Nov 2nd I'll be 4years post op from having a VSG. I just turned 31 on the 22nd of August, was 27 when I had the surgery though wanted it forever. I was always the fat kid even in high school when I suffered thru Ana/Mia/EDNOS. Had crazy co morbitities before surgery. High BP (took meds), type 2 diabetes (took needs and SS insulin), high cholesterol and my triglycerides were SO high my Dr couldn't get a read on the blood work-we tried numerous times. I was 6'4" and at my highest weight 435 lbs. I was 410 by surgery. My goal for myself was between 200&180lbs though I went and still go more by inches and measurements and how I feel more so than the scale. I quickly dropped to my lowest post-surgery weight of 220lbs within about 14months. However, I cross addicted and returned to old patterns of EXCESSIVE excersise to fill the other voids in my life I didn't want to face. It was to the point where if I had to work at 9am I'd be getting up at 2:30/3am to workout before work. And I always worked out at home. I'd start with a 15min Oxycise session (an aerobic breathing program that focuses on isometric/isotonic and stretch positions) then I'd move to weightlifting for an hour then a 30-40min session of Hip Hop Abs followed by 2hrs of Tae Bo and I'd finish it all off with an hour of Power Vinyasa Yoga. I did this daily for months on end and often without rest days. Eventually life happened and I started to realize how crazy I was being and tried to adjust. At this point I was happy with my body-in retrospect I was happy with myself but at the time I still saw the fat guy in the mirror who's Dr wanted me down to 170, I would have made peace with 200 at that point bc I was almost art my personal goal. Still, as fit as I was by scientific standards I was still obese, had a Dr pushing more loss and friends/daily worried I was "too skinny" and through all this I never took a breath to actually ask myself what I thought, where I wanted to be and where I'd be comfortable. Yeah, stupid. Then, started going out with friends, experiencing restaurant foods and things I'd never touched since surgery...including alcohol. Started dating and now living with my partner but in my comfort, indulgences and dealing with a back injury that limits my workouts now-prob for the best-I managed to gain back about 90lbs over the next 2 years or so which brings us to present day. I'm back looking for support from others who may have regained and are in the same boat and hopefully finding a friend(s) to lose the regain with. Also hoping to continue to help other post op newbies from making the same mistakes I made. Its quite easy if you're not careful. Anywho, that's my Story and why I'm here. Hope to chat with some of you and see you around the boards. Anyone else in this room in the regain boat?

Hi just read a suggestion on this in another forum...they suggested doing non eating dates or when you go out to eat doing the Soup salad combo bc it goes down easier/ you can put away most of it without looking like you had two bites and pushed ur food around the rest of the time..hope that helps...good luck!

You need to increase your calories a little bit and add some carbs. Stalls also happen bc of it enough calories or carbs. I’ve avoided most of the major stalls by constantly varying these two things. I’ll swing high and low in cals and carbs in any given week. From 800-1200 cals and from 50-120gms of carbs. The trick is to keep your body guessing.

My granny knew a lady who got gastric bypass and drank she ended up dying but it was a every other day thing for her.... So idk it really doesn't seem worth it to me if you are with your friends you haven't seen you shouldn't need a drink bc there are so many things to talk and laugh about, shouldn't need a push to do it Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I have Fed BCBS Basic in Indiana, and recently was denied coverage for a vertical sleeve gastrectomy. They claim "At this time there is insufficient convincing evidence in the peer-reviewed medical literature, in terms of safety, to support the use of sleeve gastrectomy in individuals with clinically severe obesity". I personally know two people that have had this procedure, and were covered by BCBS FEP. I am sending them an appeal letter to them to start with. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks, Pam

We have several things in common - I also live in Arkansas & I'm also 39 years old & I also have federal bc/bs. I went for my first appointment about a month ago with the surgeon. The following week I did the sleep study & psyche eval. I got my call this Thursday to schedule my surgery. I couldn't believe it. My BMI was 40. I also found I had 2 co-morbidities that I didn't even know I had. Well one I sorta knew about. I had some high blood pressure troubles last year when I went through a rough divorce after 17 years of marriage. The doc just assumed that was why & never put me on meds for it. But when I saw the surgeon she told me I needed to go back to my family doc to get on bp meds because it was too high. I also found out during the sleep study that I have sleep apnea & I would've never guessed that. I go Monday to get fitted for my c-pap machine. I'm not sure if that helped me get the insurance to pay for the surgery but it probably didn't hurt. With our insurance I was told that we had to have 5 years of medical records. I was worried about that because I have always been a yo-yoer. One year my weight is only 30-40 pounds overweight & the next year I'd be 80 pounds overweight. I also had to show evidence of trying to lose weight for at least 6 months. I was worried about this because I didn't have any medically-supervised programs. I showed journals of different plans I had done on my own & they made copies of these to send to the insurance companies. She told me our insurance does not say that they have to be medical-supervised. I am still in shock about all this but really can't wait to get started with my new life. My 40th bday is in October & I want to have my weight issues under control for the last time by then. Good luck with everything!

My BC/BS would not cover me at all...the policy states they pay for 2 nutrition classes per year and nothing else toward weight loss. Therefore, next Saturday the 19th, I'm fly to Tijuana, Mexico and surgery is set for that afternoon after my pre-tests. :sneaky: I am excited, but right now on the liver shrinking diet of 40 - 50 carbs (max per day) and high protein, calories do not matter. So far - so good!

Hello I was wondering if anybody knew if BC hospital offers gynecomastia surgery. Thank you!

Dell, hope BC covers the band procedure for you. If not, there are self-payers here that can give you advice. How much weight would you like to lose? Best of luck to you!

I went from 245 to 160 and I just have some crepiness on the belly, no hanging, bulging skin. No washboard abs either, but fine clothed and even showable in a bikini, just not a gorgeous flat young stomach. I have had 3 babies, one of which was a caesarean so I'm counting myself pretty lucky. My thighs are rather wobbly and loose, but they were BEFORE I gained weight and got fat. I just have flabby thighs, so does my mum, so do both my sisters. Which is why my belly has recovered well - I never got particularly fat there in the first place. Arms are fine, boobs are a disaster, again, that's more genetics than weight loss, they werent great when I was 16, now that I'm 40 and have fed 3 babies for about 6 years, they're what you'd expect but easy fixed!

So my weekend is over and tomorrow i head back to work. i thought that this weekend was going to be the hardest and that i wasnt going to make it bc lets face it when you are on the go constantly like i am its easy just to grab an optifast and go. but when you are home all day and have to make breakfest, lunch, and dinner for kids its a completely different situation. sunday was the hardest day for me this weekend bc i had to cook the family dinner for everyone. :rolleyes2: so i made dinner and then i went to walmart until i couldnt smell or imagine the dinner anymore. but the important thing is that i made it and its gotten easier. this is a lifestyle change and i understand that which is why i am trying my damnest to make this work. i am determined especially when i looked at the calandar and seen that my surgery is basically next thursday 9.5 days to go!!!!! back to work tomorrow. just taking it one day at a time. :thumbup:

I am trying to keep my carbs under 40 a day but that leaves me with no Fiber. Anyone subtracting fiber from carbs to get net carbs instead? I can't even eat a Quest bar bc it takes up all my carbs... But it's so much fiber. Nut isn't available right now so I'll just take the group consensus on this! Thoughts? Thanks

Ok feeling better...24 hours since surgery. Was laying at the hospital today, feeling very crappy, and I had a great nurse that told me to get my ass out of bed and walk! I am so glad she motivated me bc I did feel much better. Never thought it would be hard to sip an ounce of water, but you learn quickly not to gulp! Only major complaint is the gas pain that has settled in my shoulder area! Ouchie! Hope everyone is doing well!!

I was told no Advil (ibuprophen), Tylenol (acetaminophen) or aspirin. You can use Aleve or call your doctor for a liquid prescription pain med. My headaches seem to go away much faster now and they are fewer than before I was banded and I have only had to use something once (BC Headache Powders) I'm not sure what medication is in them, but I needed something and knew that this would go down easilly. It helped almost immediately.

I say it's my fault bc if I talk to people about how im feeling I get "you did this to yourself". My husband is very sympathetic however I know he's thinking he was right and I shouldn't had this drastic surgery. I am still happy I did this and I know I'll cross this hurdle in time but for right now it sucks! Thanks everyone! Hugs!!!!