Finding a doctor who can help

Hello all, I am trying to locate a doctor in the Brandon/Tampa area who is willing to help with the preliminary consultations for obesity surgery.  My doctor is very opinionated and is unwilling to help and her advise is to eat less and lose weight.   HELLO!!!  I've been trying for 14 years and have unsuccessfully had a long term weight loss---I lose it and then gain it back! I am 5'4" 225lbs--high blood pressure--diabetes type2--fatty liver--gallstones---and obesity runs in my family.  I have been overweight my adult life (I'm 34).   I would appreciate any recommendations thanks to all! gwenygirl

I would recomend Dr. Small out of Mease/Countryside Hospital. I had a VSG on July 2nd. I live in Riverview and even though he is in Safety Harbor, I found he is well worth the drive. Send me a PM and I can tell you more about him. I was also a self-pay.

Dr. Small is an EXCELLENT choice for a surgeon.  He is highly regarded among his peers and I know several of his patients personally, and every one of them think the world of him.  Dr. Small also happens to be one of our esteemed participants in the Cruise to Lose!  IMO, you can't go wrong - great doc and great guy!   ~ Terri

Thank you to those who have posted!  I will check out Dr. Small as after reading about him, there are generally positive comments and the surgeon who I was going to initally go with, everyone spoke of his "beside manner." I should have been more specific, I am looking for a primary physican who is pro WLS--as mine is not.  I saw her today and she said that I just needed to eat less.  Funny.  Anyways, if you know of a primary care doctor who accepts Aetna and is at least willing to consider WLS as an option, I would greatly appreciate it!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Frank & Terri you missed the point that she needs a WLS Friendly Primary Doctor. Which will then eventually lead to choosing a Bariatric Surgeon. Gwen, if you check out the following website you'll meet several WLS Patient's who live in the Brandon area of Tampa Bay who will be able to help you in your search for a Bariatric Friendly Primary Doctor. I'm abigelf on this board -  http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/OSSG-SUNCOAST-Tampa-2/ Have you've looked above under other Professionals: http://www.obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/professionals/list- professionals.php?type=3&st=FL It also comes down to, that if your using a Insurance Policy. Who will they allow that are in their listing. If self-pay, start calling off the list to see who is accepting new patients. Keep posting questions as we'll be here for you. As no question is ever to silly either. Mike

There are two who I know of personally (I'm sure there are many more - these are just the two I know).  One is Dr. Greg Silver and his Nurse Practiioner, Gail Dobranski in Clearwater, and the other is Dr. Dorothy Christman in Palm Harbor.  Both are proactive with WLS patients and I have known both to encourage patients and make referrals to surgeons for WLS.  Good Luck to you!

I don't have a suggestion for a PCP for you as I don't live in your area, but about your current PCP, I've found that there are usually 2 or sometimes 3 reasons why PCPs feel the way they do about WLS.   First of all, they are uneducated about the procedure and think the surgery is dangerous.  WLS is not dangerous with a proper surgeon.  Most of the time, education can help.  My PCP is an opinionated doctor, but the second she realized who my surgeon was, she was totally on board with the plan.  Perhaps your surgeon could do a doctor-to-doctor to educate your PCP.  Surely you're not the only MO patient your doctor has. Secondly, a PCP may not be WLS-friendly if they have had no personal experience with weight issues their entire lives.  They just don't "get it".  Again, education here can help.  How does your doctor answer the statistic that only 2% of people *****ach the status of being morbidly obese can lose the weight AND KEEP IT OFF long term only by using diet and exercise? Third, sometimes a doctor will be against WLS for that specific patient who may not be compliant and who is going into surgery with the wrong mindset or the wrong impression, such as the surgery will cure obesity and the patient will have no changes to make. I went to my PCP saying that I wanted to discuss insanity.  The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over and expect different results.  You've been trying to lose the weight and keep it off for 14 years!  I wish you luck in finding a proper PCP!!!

I did not read into it far enough. Looking for a friendly PCP. Dr. Fred Bearison in Valrico Fl. He is an Internal Medcine Doctor. He has been my PCP for 10 years. He highly recommended that I have WLS. His # is 813-662-0123. Again I can give you more info. Send a PM to [email protected]


Frank

'Wow!!  Thank you for all the support!!!  I didn't expect to get so many positive feedbacks!  It's funny, I almost thought that I'd be getting "shunned'" as when talking about WL to most folks, they are not so supportive!  My thanks and gratitiude!  I will look at the links tomorrow and I look forward to the support and hopefully one day, be able to support other people exploring the WLS option thanks again!