Insurance Questions.. Again!

[Wishnto2beskinny 2]

Ok, i am overly anxious! And I am just curious if any of you sleevers sent in your information and thought you needed the 6 month diet, but were approved without?

My insurance is NOT clear with it and surgeons office "thinks" i may need it but submitting all past diets etc to see what insurance says.

I started the 6 month diet in april with my primary physician but I would love to get started sooner if i could!

[MinaT 669]

All insurance companies are different and all doctor's offices are different. My bariatric group requires the six month diet regardless of what your insurance requires because they found their patients do better overcoming bad habits in advance and learn to be accountable with what they put in their mouth by making them do the journal visits with the dietitian and nutritionist, meetings, psychological testing and visits with their psychiatrist. Several years ago I decided to have surgery and I went to to another place and I cried so hard and was so upset about the six month wait. I had issues with the psychological testing because I was so upset, and then I lost my insurance and quit the program.

I went back to another place a few years later and another 50 pounds heavier. They said 6 months pre-op diet, etc. same thing different group. I got pneumonia that first month and dropped out because I couldn't follow the plan, I was drinking orange juice and it felt like too much to do write my food down. I gained another 25-30 lbs. I decided when I got back over 300 lbs I was done. I pulled out all the old pamphlets and the diet and I found Myfitnesspal.com and started the high Protein & low carb diet and started losing weight on my own. I finally decided to make the call and get an appointment and rejoin the program after I started losing on their plan of low carb, low Protein and after I realized I could chart my food & Water. I lost weight before my first appointment. The six months went fast, I have been approved. I have my shakes for me two week pre-op Protein shake diet, I quit caffeine so I won't have withdrawals after surgery, and I know now why they make you do it. It took a lifetime to get to this point, I have learned tools over the past six months to help me through the next phase, the surgery.

I am sure there are a lot of people that succeed without having to do the six month program, but in reality, we got overweight because we found ways to cheat ourselves and we always went back into old patterns of behavior (many of us are yo-yo dieters). I have followed the program through starting before Halloween on my own and through the program through Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Valentines Day, St. Patricks Day and Easter Dinners with the family. I'm on a better road than I was ever on.

If you have to do the six months pre-op diet, don't just nix the idea like I did. I ended up gaining so much weight, and in worse health and I would have been way on the other side of surgery by now had I stuck with it.

Good Luck.