Need help beginning process

Hello. I just join today. My name is Tamika from Cleveland, Ohio. I am very overweight and want to get gastric bypass. I have been wanting to do this for the last 4 years but I'm scared to talk to my doctor about it. I currently have caresource insurance through medicaid and plan to switch to blue cross blue shield and just wanted to know the procedure to get approved. Also I wanted to meet people in area for support and help with my journey to finding doctor/hospital. Look forward to all responses and to a thinner me. Congrats to all who have had the surgery. Thanx.

Congratulations on your decision..... First talk with your PCP.. you will need their supprot and help to continue on... then call some bariatric programs and get their info packet and start studying up on them and decided where you want to go. Then they will guide you frrom there... all programs are different as to what they require before you can have the surgery...... goood luck and keep us posted..... you will find alot of great info on this site.........diane 225/198/135

Tamika It can be a long process so I would get it started ASAP, I see your from Cleveland, Ohio well they have an excellent program at St. Vincent Charity Hospital it's called the Cleveland Center for Bariatric Surgery there phone Number is 216-592-2801 or you can visit there web site at svch.net thats the program I'm going thru. My surgery is next week May 31st with Dr Schreiber from there program he is listed as a Pioneer in his field and was inducted into the medical hall of fame in Cleveland. They have performed over 5700 surgeries. The office staff is WONDEFUL and VERY Helpful they take care of getting you thru the insurance approval all you do is get what they request such as test or so on and they handle the people at the insurance company. If you have any other questions about there facility feel free to ask me and if I can answer them I will. Jim

So, Tamika, you say you want gastric bypass. Which procedure do you want? Do you know what your options are?? You need to do a lot of research and a personal inventory to discover which procedure will work best for you. WLS is definitely not a "one size fits all" kind of subject. Call your insurance company and ask exactly what is all required to get pre-approved. Some companies may require a 6 month dr supervised diet, psych evaluation, pcp approval, etc. With all that ammo in your pocket, you next see your PCP and hammer them with your knowledge on the subject, convincing them that you are well versed and studied on what you will aspire to accomplish and how you will do it. Ask your PCP if they know anyone to recommend, but have a doctor to select in your back pocket if they can't think of anybody. Then, you get started on your quests to get everything you need to get done. Good luck!