Just turned 15 and want the DS (Please Read)
You sure sound brave and smart for you age! Talking to your Mom is a good start and if you keep reading and learning all you can I bet you could be a great DS'er someday and avoid a world of hurt being obese!
Be patient tho as at your age you will probably get a lot of opposition! Be prepared for that and keep reading and learning! OK?
You might grow taller in the next couple years too. You should tell us your height and weight and about your eating habits too. . .you sre in the right place Sam to learn about the DS!
Be patient tho as at your age you will probably get a lot of opposition! Be prepared for that and keep reading and learning! OK?
You might grow taller in the next couple years too. You should tell us your height and weight and about your eating habits too. . .you sre in the right place Sam to learn about the DS!
1985 Verticle Banded Gastroplasty to DS revision 2010 sw 280 gw 140 cw 188 hw 360
“If the person you are talking to doesn't appear to be listening, be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear.?
Winnie the Pooh
Samuel, the DS requires that you develop certain eating habits. You need to start NOW, first of all it is not healthy at all to go the whole day without eating. You know that. It's also not a great idea to have a big meal at 10pm. You know that too.
You could use some professional help....please speak to your Mom about it.
And start keeping a food log - write down everything you eat and drink, quantities, and what time.
You could use some professional help....please speak to your Mom about it.
And start keeping a food log - write down everything you eat and drink, quantities, and what time.
NYB has very good points. Part of your preparing-for-eventual-WLS education and growth needs to involve getting really knowledgable about nutrition in general (from GOOD sources, not the bull**** diet crap that saturates the American media) and learning how to take care of yourself mentally/emotionally/spiritually. Therapy is a terrific way to do the latter.
If I were advising you there in person like your mom, I'd want to see you enrolled in nutrition classes, seeing a trainer of some kind to get good instruction on appropriate ways to exercise so that you don't injure yourself, and taking some time to work with a psychologist about ways to take care of your mind so that you get control of emotional eating issues. MANY of us self medicate to excess with food, and when you can't do that any more after surgery (for a time; the ability does return), the mental/emotional chaos can be huge.
In particular, the urge to self medicate is all too easily filled with other substances or behaviors, and that is a path to personal hell. Get lots of tools in your toolbox to protect yourself against doing that.
If I were advising you there in person like your mom, I'd want to see you enrolled in nutrition classes, seeing a trainer of some kind to get good instruction on appropriate ways to exercise so that you don't injure yourself, and taking some time to work with a psychologist about ways to take care of your mind so that you get control of emotional eating issues. MANY of us self medicate to excess with food, and when you can't do that any more after surgery (for a time; the ability does return), the mental/emotional chaos can be huge.
In particular, the urge to self medicate is all too easily filled with other substances or behaviors, and that is a path to personal hell. Get lots of tools in your toolbox to protect yourself against doing that.
First, Happy Birthday! Acknowledging that you are becoming an adult - but aren't quite there yet, but as others have noted, making progress beyond what many kids your age have achieved.
Well, here are a few of my thoughts.
1) You're not physically mature yet. Your bones aren't finished growing - especially since boys finish growing later than girls. You don't want to have bariatric surgery before your bones finish growing if you don't have to. Your BMI is high, but not life-threateningly high (> 60, e.g.), and you have no comorbidies (yet) - I think both surgeons and your insurance company might rightfully consider that it is too soon, and not medically appropriate right now. This is not to say that teens haven't been given the DS before - our JessyW had her DS at 17, but her BMI was MUCH higher than yours. And even younger children with Prader-Willi syndrome have been given the DS - as young as 11. But again, they had very severe health problems, and getting their weight under control was of critical importance. Your situation can likely wait.
2) This does not mean you get a free pass in the meantime. You MUST start working on your weight now, but NOT by crash dieting. You need to start incorporating more exercise into your daily routine, and start learning how to eat more moderately. The DS does NOT allow free feeding of carbs, especially sugar, and cutting back on those foods would be an excellent start, even without drastically decreasing your caloric consumption. Get rid of the sodas, cake, cookies, chips and cut back steeply on the breads, pastas, cereals, etc. Substitute protein snacks, vegetables and a moderate amount of fruit instead. Watch the potatoes and corn products as well.
3) You can start looking into your insurance situation. Does your current insurance coverage include coverage for bariatric surgery, including the DS? If not, perhaps you can discuss with your parents that your future coverage should include this if possible. Many companies have more than one plan to chose from, and they may wish to keep this in mind when their open enrollment period (there is generally one month a year when employees can change to a different insurance plan without questions or qualifications) come up in the next couple of years.
4) When you turn 18, your parents' insurance coverage should continue to cover you - possibly through age 26. But your coverage will NOT require their permission for your medical care after you turn 18, even if they are paying for it - you don't even have to tell them. However, deductibles and co-insurance payments are a different matter - they may be responsible for it and you will need to discuss with them whether they can afford it. Perhaps you can start working part time now and setting aside money to help defray those costs. And of course, while you're working, you're likely to be busy and not being bored and tempted to eat!
5) You also need to consider a very serious issue - there is NOBODY who has had a DS longer than about 23 years, much less for the 60-80 years you can expect to have to live with it. We don't REALLY know the REALLY long term effects of the DS. It is unlikely that the sleeve part will have long term problems, but the malabsorption is another matter. Of course, the malabsorption part can be reversed somewhat easily - but it is something to SERIOUSLY consider.
6) Scientists are working on non-surgical "equivalents" of the DS - chemical or protein medications to block the receptors in the gut that might mimic the surgical effects of the DS. Perhaps in 10 years or so (which seems like FOREVER to you, but when you're in your 50s, passes in the blink of an eye), there may be a "safer" and completely reversible alternative, or several of them. Surgery is the best we have right now, but it is likely to be seen in 10 or 20 years as archaic mutilation, like lobotomies.
Anyway, welcome to the DS forum - you CAN'T learn too much about it, and the more you learn, the better prepared you will be when the time comes, if it does (maybe, just maybe, your relatively undamaged metabolism will kick in if you watch what you eat and up your exercise - wouldn't THAT be great?!).
Well, here are a few of my thoughts.
1) You're not physically mature yet. Your bones aren't finished growing - especially since boys finish growing later than girls. You don't want to have bariatric surgery before your bones finish growing if you don't have to. Your BMI is high, but not life-threateningly high (> 60, e.g.), and you have no comorbidies (yet) - I think both surgeons and your insurance company might rightfully consider that it is too soon, and not medically appropriate right now. This is not to say that teens haven't been given the DS before - our JessyW had her DS at 17, but her BMI was MUCH higher than yours. And even younger children with Prader-Willi syndrome have been given the DS - as young as 11. But again, they had very severe health problems, and getting their weight under control was of critical importance. Your situation can likely wait.
2) This does not mean you get a free pass in the meantime. You MUST start working on your weight now, but NOT by crash dieting. You need to start incorporating more exercise into your daily routine, and start learning how to eat more moderately. The DS does NOT allow free feeding of carbs, especially sugar, and cutting back on those foods would be an excellent start, even without drastically decreasing your caloric consumption. Get rid of the sodas, cake, cookies, chips and cut back steeply on the breads, pastas, cereals, etc. Substitute protein snacks, vegetables and a moderate amount of fruit instead. Watch the potatoes and corn products as well.
3) You can start looking into your insurance situation. Does your current insurance coverage include coverage for bariatric surgery, including the DS? If not, perhaps you can discuss with your parents that your future coverage should include this if possible. Many companies have more than one plan to chose from, and they may wish to keep this in mind when their open enrollment period (there is generally one month a year when employees can change to a different insurance plan without questions or qualifications) come up in the next couple of years.
4) When you turn 18, your parents' insurance coverage should continue to cover you - possibly through age 26. But your coverage will NOT require their permission for your medical care after you turn 18, even if they are paying for it - you don't even have to tell them. However, deductibles and co-insurance payments are a different matter - they may be responsible for it and you will need to discuss with them whether they can afford it. Perhaps you can start working part time now and setting aside money to help defray those costs. And of course, while you're working, you're likely to be busy and not being bored and tempted to eat!
5) You also need to consider a very serious issue - there is NOBODY who has had a DS longer than about 23 years, much less for the 60-80 years you can expect to have to live with it. We don't REALLY know the REALLY long term effects of the DS. It is unlikely that the sleeve part will have long term problems, but the malabsorption is another matter. Of course, the malabsorption part can be reversed somewhat easily - but it is something to SERIOUSLY consider.
6) Scientists are working on non-surgical "equivalents" of the DS - chemical or protein medications to block the receptors in the gut that might mimic the surgical effects of the DS. Perhaps in 10 years or so (which seems like FOREVER to you, but when you're in your 50s, passes in the blink of an eye), there may be a "safer" and completely reversible alternative, or several of them. Surgery is the best we have right now, but it is likely to be seen in 10 or 20 years as archaic mutilation, like lobotomies.
Anyway, welcome to the DS forum - you CAN'T learn too much about it, and the more you learn, the better prepared you will be when the time comes, if it does (maybe, just maybe, your relatively undamaged metabolism will kick in if you watch what you eat and up your exercise - wouldn't THAT be great?!).
Well, that's a start, but EVERY plan is different - every employer has some tweak in the coverage. The employer has a smorgasbord of coverage options to chose from, and each one costs money. You will need to see the full coverage document from your parent's employer to know whether the DS is covered - and even if it is NOW, it doesn't mean it will be when you are ready. Just wanting you to understand the complexity of the issue.
The good news is, if bariatric surgery is covered now, it is likely (but not guaranteed) that they will maintain coverage in the future. If it is NOT covered now, that is a red flag, and among your tasks going forward could be appealing to your parent's employer who provides the coverage to include a bariatric surgery rider in next year's plan.
The good news is, if bariatric surgery is covered now, it is likely (but not guaranteed) that they will maintain coverage in the future. If it is NOT covered now, that is a red flag, and among your tasks going forward could be appealing to your parent's employer who provides the coverage to include a bariatric surgery rider in next year's plan.
Also what u said about people usually don't live longer than 23 years, usually becuz people get the surgery at an older age I think, scares me. VSG sounds like my best choice until I'm ready for the malabsorpotion part. It is probably I should make a post over there.
Samuel E.
5'10
300 to 310lbs
A teenager seeking the VSG.
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