Would You Make An Alcoholic Stop Drinking Before Rehab? Anger!

[seansmom 0]

Hi there. I am a few months out before having surgery scheduled. In my WLS program, I am required to lose 12 lbs to "prove" to them I can lose weight. I don't know why, but this enraged me. I felt humiliated and degraded. Please note that i am not referencing the pre-op liquid diet--that is for safety issues. I do understand that post-op I will be adjusting to a whole new way of life, but come on, I need my tool! I have gained and lost the same amount of weight so many times in my life. I'm a pro. I've never gotten to "goal" but I can lose weight. I am less angry now and have been successful in losing that small amount of weight, but don't treat me like a moron, Mr. Surgeon! Thanks for letting me vent (obviously still a little anger lingering...) LOL.

Shan

[Dooter 1,457]

Oye!! You'd think they'd get it, of all people! (HUFF!)

(It's not the demand for pre-op weight loss I "huff" over...it's the being treated like a moron part. I HATE when doctors talk down to me like I just had a lobotomy or something. Doctors sometimes forget they are talking to people, not just "patients.")

[hadouni 301]

I see many people post that their surgeons want them to loose weight ( as much as 10% of excess) prior to surgery. I'm glad my surgeon didn't have anything like that. They didn't want to see a huge jump in weight prior to surgery but didn't require me to loose. Sorry... I completely understand where you're coming from!

[doggz109 41]

Yes.....I would tell an alcoholic to stop drinking before rehab. Sorry...I don't see the problem.

[Jerry Weikert 5]

you should feel lucky,my surgeon kept making me lose and lose,pretty soon i had dropped 85 lbs,and he wanted me to lose 20 more,i told them that my insurance was eating me alive,and that if they didnt get me scheduled soon i was moving on,so after a month i heard nothing,i then scheduled an appt with the university of iowa,and within a month i was on the schedule,my surgery is feb22 i can hardly wait.

[DebiC 181]

I was so afraid my surgeon would require me to lose weight before surgery (I did lose 26# on the pre-op) or that my insurance would require it. By the time I got around to deciding on the surgery I was in no state of mind to try on my own, again, for the 100th time.

I can understand their thinking-we want to know that you are taking this seriously, or that you have the ability to follow the post-op diet (which in my opinion is harder than Weight Watchers or some of the other "diets" out there).

But still-they should understand that we are here (most of us anyways) as a last resort-and we don't want to play games or prolong the process.

I'm glad you decided to follow the rules so that you can get sleeved. Good luck on your surgery. Keep us posted

[ILKrista 36]

I can understand the upset... I actually gained more than 10 pounds before surgery & then was told I had to lose it plus some more before he would consider operating. However, I needed the reality check of how I was going to need to be eating for life afterwards if I was going to be successful. The reality is that the sleeve will help you lose some of your extra weight... probably like 60% of it. But if you want to lose more than that, it is going to take some serious lifestyle changes... eating & exercise. You may not like it, but starting those changes before surgery is going to make the weeks following it MUCH easier. Good luck!

[Lissa 2,631]

Yeah, I'd make an alcoholic stop drinking before rehab. I'm actually dealing with an alcoholic hubby right now and MY requirement for us to have a relationship is that he stop drinking, period.

And, yes, I think it's fair for our doctors to require us to show some kind of motivation by losing weight before surgery. The surgeon has only so much time available to do surgeries and he wants to see results from his hard work, just like anyone else. If we, the patients, can't control and motivate ourselves somewhat before surgery, then how does the surgeon know we're going to do so after surgery? I know my doc has a waiting list of patients who want to be sleeved by him.

Now, the other side of that coin is that I think it's ridiculous to expect a long-term obese person to lose 10% of their body weight before surgery. Why do I think that? Because I lost 50 pounds the year before my surgery, then got hit with health problems that packed that 50 pounds, plus more, back onto me. I'd have never been able to lose 35 pounds (10% of 352) before surgery. I did drop 13 pounds on my pre-op liquid diet, which I think shows that I was motivated to lose weight.

I see both sides of it. I just think that some surgeons require more than others, which is fine. But, that requirement has to be adjusted to the patient and the patient's health status.

[Ms skinniness 3,003]

I was required to do a diet before surgery by Kaiser and I loss weight. Referred to the surgeon and then they told me my BMI was too low. Then I pointed out that I was dx as diabetic, and they told me it wasn't in the records. WTF! I told them that I chose not to take the medication of diabetsis. Made another appointment with the doc because at this point, I was trying to gain weight. Then the doctor said that she seen the dx of diabetsis in my records and said it was a go. I couldn't believe the hoops we have to go through for better health. We are now here and I am doin great!

[mesaucedo 207]

This is one of the reasons I decided to do self pay in Mexico.

My insurance wanted me to do a 6 month diet plan before even considering approval. The only catch was that if my BMI dropped below 40 I would no longer be eligible for the coverage because I don't have any comorbidities. It was just so ridiculous.

Insurance companies suck.

[Capt Derel 287]

I agree mesaucedo.

I have insurance but they denied me so I cussed them terribly 3 different occasions. I pay $180 bimonthly and they wont budge. So I called another insurance provider and asked them if I could get a plan that covered the surgery they said sure but you have to wait a year then you have to jump through hoops. Guess what. That guy got cussed at too but I strangled him over the phone. So I said to the hell with them, i will do self pay and when the doc messes up imma goto the emergency room for them to fix me and now the insurance has to pay for it. I am almost paid up to my deductible as we speak. Game on

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