Depression and Banding / Insurance

[allie4908 0]

Hi guys I have a question. I have not yet been banded, but I am in the very beginning steps of the process. I have been spending countless hours reading and researching about the lap band and realize band and am attending my seminar next Wednesday. I have an appointment to see a surgeon the week after.

Anyways, I have a question regarding past depression. A year ago, I was suffering from a severe major depressive episode. I have always had small depression bouts that would last a month and go away, but this was serious. I dropped out of school (I'm a college student), I didn't have a job, I stopped hanging out with my friends, and I basically shut myself out from society entirely because of my depression. I made it worse by shutting myself out though and deciding to take a semester off. In January, I had a suicide attempt that landed me in the ICU for a week and the hospital for another week.

Immediately following the incident, I realized how many people in my life care about me immensely and how clouded my mind was for not seeking out help and just talking to friends and family. It was a rough few months recovering, but my parents were extremely supportive and my friends had missed me so much and loved having me back in their life again.

I saw a pychiatrist for awhile, who got me back on my feet. I started working out everyday to release endorphins and naturally get my brain feeling better. I take St. John's Wort because antidepressants gave me bad side effects- and it works amaingly, to my initial disbelief! I started eating healthier and immediately realized how much healthy foods can affect your mental health- no matter what your weight! I currently have a personal trainer and am still working out everyday and running 2 miles every night. I feel so much better and it is amazing how much transformation can occur in such a short period of time (8 months seems like nothing to me!).

However, I am struggling with weight loss and my BMI is 41. I have tried doctor prescribed (weight loss doctor in Washington DC) Protein, liquid diets. I have been doing personal training for 6 months now. I started eating solids again (I am completely vegan, except for egg whites and only get my carbs from fruits, veggies, and one pieceo of whole wheat toast in the morning) and limited my portions to only an amount that can fit in the palm of my hand... with no luck. So, I have begun the process to figure out if the lapband is for me!

My main concern though is that although I am emotionally stable now, my surgeon or the psychiatrist I have to see will not agree. I did go through something very serious and I am worried they will think this is too soon or too much to go through. The reason I am stressing out is because I just turned 23 years old and will be kicked off my parent's insurance this December. (For those of you who are wondering that is too soon to set up surgery from now anyways- apparently, my surgeon's office said I will be able to get all of my doctor, endocrinologist, psychologist, and nutritionist appointments in on time and will be able to have my surgery before the end of the year). Once my mom's insurance runs out, I will be out of luck.

Does anyone have any suggestions for me? Am I overanalyzing this or do I have a valid reason to be stressing?

Edited October 23, 2008 by allie4908

[Nanook 2]

My daughter was 19 when she had RNY surgery, the gastric bypass. She has it last May and is now 20. Prior to that she had a similar situation with issues too long to go into but she was in-patient for a week due to her suicidal thoughts and other harmful things she was doing to herself. It was a very difficult period and it happened during her last month of HS her junior year. So let's assume she was around 17 at the time.

Since that time she's been seeing a therapist and also on meds for anxiety, panic attacks and depression. Mainly these affected her in HS as it was not a very friendly place for her due to her size, she is also 6 ft tall and over 300 pounds at the time.

She had wanted to have the WL surgery for a while, and had actually gained much more weight after she was in-patient at the mental facility, not a pleasant time for her, or me but it's about me.

Anyway once she was out of HS she seemed soooo much happier applied to the local state university here and decided to dorm. Ended up switching roommates with another girl and made a good friend and things were honky dory for a while.

Then that roommate's family moved out of state and she eventually had to move to the state university near her parents which kind of left my daughter a bit vulnerable again. By the time that spring semester was in it's mid-point she was getting bad panic attacks again and got a medical leave of absence from school. During this time she was 19 and had decided she really wanted to get the gastric bypass. Oh by the way she was a vegan also during her HS years and slowly after gaining so much weight went to vegetarian and prior to her surgery now eats fish and seafood but no mammals. She seemed to really gain weight as a vegan because she ate a lot of Pasta and it seemed to be her main diet I suppose but I respected her decision to be a vegan. She eats well now and eats a lot of "Amy's tv dinners.

So she's went through the same surgery center I went through to have my lap band, which was fairly new there anyway and with the backing of her therapist and psychiatric nurse and her primary care physician she was approved to have the surgery. She's lost 125 pounds since last April and there's a definite improvement in her self esteem and in her health. She also suffered from back pain.

I think she wanted to be certain she would lose the weight as I had not on the lap band so she chose a more drastic surgery but I backed her up even though it worried me to death and probably always will but if she had not had the surgery I'm afraid of what she may have done to herself so I felt my hands tied.

I'm just giving you this information because you are not alone out there at your age and I know how hard it is especially this day in age to be overweight and how it makes you feel. I think though that working still with your therapist will help and possibly if you insurance is going to run out maybe your parents could get some type of additional policy on you once you've past that certain age. I know some insurance companies will do that but your parents would have to pay extra in their premiums. I just think it's not an easy fix and the more support you have and knowledge you gain prior to any weight loss surgery is very important.

Even though my daughter has lost a lot of weight she is still on her meds and continues with therapy and will for a long time as it's just as it's very important especially with what she's gone through and what she will go through in the future.

So good luck to you and I hope things work out for you and you're feeling much better soon take care, Nancy:smile: