Hi new here!

Hi my name is Jessica and Im looking into getting gastric bypass and I have a couple questions! My husband is Active Duty Army and is leaving for Korea in December. I have always been overweight, now at 22 years old, I weigh 253. I cant remember ever being 'thin'. According to everything Ive researched, Tricare will only cover WLS if you are 100 overwight (which I am) and have 2 health problems. I saw that gallbladder problems are included, and I had my gallbladder removed in May because of Chronic Cholecystitis (I was 6 months pregnant at the time). Since I no longer have a gallbladder, can I still use this as a weight related issue? Also, how do you calculate how overweight you are in percentages? I am 5'7 and weigh 253...can someone please tell me if Im 200% over or not? Sorry this is so long, and Im truly looking forward to getting to know all of you!

Hi Jessica, my husband is active duty army also & leaving next week for Germany then his new unit will go for a year to Iraq in Dec. I wanted the DS, but Tricare only covers the gastic bypass, so I just got a scheduled date for Dec. I am trying to do more research on it now, but the only problem I had was getting the Nutrition clearence - took longer than I thought it would. Hope all goes well for you.

What is the nutrition clearance? I will be using tricare as well, but my husband isnt techinally on active duty until Dec (hes going to Korea). We have had tricare in the past (he did 2 Iraq tours with the national guard) and I really liked it. Im just hating the waiting game. I cant get anything started because I cant even get insurance till the begining of december. do you know how long it usually takes to get approved? Thanks for responding!

Do you already have a doctor that takes tricare? They will give you the clearence steps; usually a psyc evaluation, nutrition consult, pulmonary clearence, poss EKG or chest x-ray, and some blood work. I was able to make and get most of my apts done within a month to six weeks, except the nutritionist wants you to understand the changes in eating that come with this kind of surgery & tries to get you to start eating more for this lifestyle, so it can take longer. It really depends on your clearence appointments & how much of a waiting time you have to get on your doctor's calendar.
Ok, so your husband is being 'activated' out of his National guard unit to full time active duty for the year tour in korea, or he left the guard & went fulltime active? My husband has been full time active army for 23 years.
I hope it all goes smoothly for you!

oh ps.. on the main page you can enter your hight and weight and get your BMI - that is what they used for my determination along with sleep apnea.

thanks so much! My husband got out of the guard in april (after  6 years) and just enlisted in the active duty army. so we will still have tricare when he gets home. Thanks so much for your answers. I cant wait to get all of this over with and start losing weight. My doc here in town accepts tricare, Im just not sure if he will give me a referral to a surgeon cause hes really picky about the procedures he recommends.

your welcome. okay that's good that you'll hae full time coverage. I know I was sure hoping for the DS instead of the RNY, so I may try to fight the insurance, or see if tricare will do an exception to policy. praying things work out for us both :)

If you dont mind me asking, what is the DS? Ive heard of the gastric bypass and the lapband..but not the ds. Why would you rather have the DS? Im just trying to learn, not be nosey :)

You're not being nosey, it's fine to ask.
The DS is Duodenal Switch - you can look it up under forums/surgical forums; on here to read about it & it just seems the long term lifestyle is much more of one I would enjoy long term. The DS people tend to loose more weight in the first year, and over 5 years a higher percent of DSers keep most of the weight off & continue to loose. They also can eat more ranges & types of food without as many side effects.
Everyoneis going to react a little different from the surgery they have, so you just haveo research what looks best for you.
I'm still learning too & have just gotten a RNY surgery date of Dec 8th, though I am researching the possibilitys (not any i know of) fmy insurance to take me as an exceptin to policy for the DS.

You can get the 200% over for doing this.Google the metlife table,use the lower number for your height with the medium frame,and multiply by 2.So,I am 5'5, so on the metlife table the lower number is 127,when I multiply it by 2 its 254,so I needed to weigh that to qualify with no comorbids,at my first visit with my surgeon I weighed 286 so I was approved by Tricare with no comorbids.For your height you would have to weigh 266 with no comorbids. I too had my gallbladder removed in May of this year and they didn't count it as a comorbid. You could try to submit to Tricare and see what they say,or (as bad as this sounds) gain 13 pounds so you will qualify with no comorbids. My surgery is tomorrow,