Surgeon and Therapist - Yes...PCP - Not On Board

[hserra 0]

So I recently moved to a new city (okay like a year ago), and I had yet to find a Primary Care Provider. I had already initiated the Lap-Band route, I have gone to the seminar, met with my surgeon and have undergone the Psych Evaluation. All said that I am a perfect candidate and this would be a great thing for me. So next is to go get a PCP. I went to the office that my Surgeon reccommended me to go, assuming that they probably have a fairly good repitoire with each other. So as I am talking to my "new PCP" I realize that he is trying to steer me in a different direction, which is fine, his office started this new "Medical Grade" weight loss food diet, and he is trying to encourage me to try this. I very calmly explain that in my old city, I poured thousands of dollars in a "Medical Grade Weight Loss Diet" and as you can clearly see I was unsuccessful. So after a while of me explaining that Weight Watchers didn't work, two other "Doctor Supervised" diets didn't work, working with personal trainners didn't work, he said, he was still trying to push for that stupid diet in his clinic. By this point I am in tears...so what does he conclude, I am mildly depressed, and if I get on a mild antidepressant, then maybe I would start to loose weight, and be happy. SERIOUSLY???? I am a happy person, I am just 100lbs over-weight, and I want to live my life NOW! Not mess around with this crap "diet" I KNOW isn't going to work for me.

Basically, I had to do blood work for him, to determine other factors we need to address before he would give me his blessing on Lap-Band. Which I guess is fine, I am a new patient, I get that, but he also wants me to under go a sleep Study, which my surgeon deamed as unneccessary. So, I don't know how he would bill it, and I don't have the money to pay out of pocket for all this stuff, my surgeon bills things so that my insurance will cover it.

Anyway, my point being...should I go to the other doctor my surgeon suggested for a "second opinion" and am more likely to have better results getting approval from him, or should I just go along with this first doctors advice? Any suggestions? Anyone else go through something similar?

It's just so frusterating to have these people who don't know me, make a decision like that for me, I know he wants to be thorough, and again, I understand that, it's his job, but when I have everyone else saying that this is going to be a good thing, all he kept pointing out was people from Lap Band and Gastric bypass get mal-nutritious and their hips start falling off...ooh and he said, "Well if you can't control it now, what makes you think you can with a band?"

I AM JUST FRUSTERATED!!!!

Thanks for letting me vent!:thumbup:

Edited June 17, 2010 by hserra

[kagead 0]

I did not have the same experience as you (and I am so sorry you are going through this!) but this is what I'd do:

1. Call the referring surgeon and tell him/her about your experience

2. Meet a 2nd PCP before you do any tests

3. Meet a 3rd PCP if needed

4. Meet another PCP until you find one that is on board

Your PCP will (hopefully) be treating you long after you have surgery and they need to be supportive of and informed about the band. My Dr. is not incredibly informed, but she is supportive and had been very receptive to any information I have shared with her.

If your insurance company has a good physicians referral service, call them up and tell them you are looking for a PCP that specializes in weight management and/or "women's issues" (if you are female!) Hopefully this will put you on the right path.

Good luck to you!

kagead

[hserra 0]

Thanks for the great advice! That's what I figured I might have to do, just keep going to new PCPs till I find one I like, which I liked him, he was a good doctor and doing the stuff he probably should be doing, but he's on his office's diet thing, and so, he's kind of got blinders on, if you know what I mean.

[shelley1057 0]

I had to switch to a different insurance plan to get this paid for and had to do the same thing...keep going to different PCPs until I found one that would be supportive of LapBand. One doc I tried also had a medically supervised diet clinic going on out of the office and felt all I needed was to diet and exercise! I am 150 overweight and have tried every single diet out there. I wanted to tell him unless you are willing to give me phendemetrazine for the rest of my life then weight loss ain't gonna happen. Anyway you just keep going to different PCPs until you find one willing to cooperate with you.

[MommyX1 0]

That doctor wants you to try that "new diet" because he will profit off of it. The company that created that diet is prob paying him good money, not to mention all the office visits you would have to pay for. I would get a second opinion:)

[xrl 1]

forget about his medical diet and move on to another pcp right away - my pcp is the one who recommended I speak with a bariatric surgeon, and I think that's how it should be - prior pcp's just kept pushing the "eat less and move around more" philosophy on me - it's like are you even paying attention? if it were that simple I wouldn't look like this now! - since switching to my current pcp, I have absolutely zero tolerance for physicians that talk around the issue instead of getting on board with real solutions

best of luck to you, I hope you find a good doctor soon

[Moquarius 3]

That sounds very frustrating and that PCP doesnt sound like he is listening to you at all. I agree with everyone else, try another PCP. Good luck!