how do i do this?

[harliquinn 1]

im 27 years old and 160 pounds over my ideal weight for my height. :rolleyes2:

ive never seen a nutritionist but have had doctors for the last 10 years or so telling me that i NEED to lose weight. ive done what feels like every diet/program under the sun coupled with light exercise (i have TERRIBLE knees). i lost weight but gained it back and then some!

what do i need to do to get approved for a band?

im so confused as to what the process is! my hubby is in the Air Force and we have Tricare Prime. i only have my extra weight, no co-morbidities (that i know of!). does Tricare cover everything, including fills and the pre-surgery diet that im reading about? or only the procedure itself? or only part of the procedure?

i have no idea what im doing. :hurray:

any help/advice is very greatly appreciated!

[tutornmom 1]

Hi, I was Tricare Prime and I can only tell you what I did. I went to my PCM and said, "I want to have a lapband." She asked me what I had done to try to lose weight and gave me a referral. I was only 115 pounds over weight but I do have some co-morbidity factors. I took my medical history including the comorbidities to my surgeon, they filed the surgery referral, and I was approved. It went really easily for me. I am so glad I did it. I will never go back! God has given me this second chance to be able to feel better and have more energy to work for him and I am going to run with it.

[harliquinn 1]

hi tutornmom! thank you for sharing your experience. i really hope it will be that easy for me!

i called the base today to make an appointment to discuss the lap band and was told that i was due for a physical anyway so they scheduled me for the 25th of this month. i hope i can get a referral. *crosses fingers*

[armywife4life 0]

Hi,

I thought i didn't have any co morbs either except for bad knees, then i got my blood work and everythign was off the charts, high choloesterol, high triglycerides etc. My doc used those wrote everything down and i was approved no problem

[harliquinn 1]

Hi,

I thought i didn't have any co morbs either except for bad knees, then i got my blood work and everythign was off the charts, high choloesterol, high triglycerides etc. My doc used those wrote everything down and i was approved no problem

thank you for sharing! since my mum was recently diagnosed with diabetes, im looking up information for diabetes and PCOS and i think i should definitely have bloodwork done when i see the doctor on the 25th of this month. i *suspect* i may have both PCOS and diabetes (although i dont trust the internet too much for a self diagnosis), so ill bring this up to the doctor. i really dont feel itll be too hard to get approved for it but im terrified that they will want to do the procedure on base (our base hospital does bariatric procedures) and after the absolute nightmare of pain that i dealt with once in the base hospital, i REALLY would rather be referred somewhere off base.

Edited November 5, 2008 by harliquinn