I need some help........

Hi everyone. I am a 26yr old mother of 4 adopted children. I was 14 when diagnosed with PCOS. I have EVERYTHING that comes with PCOS. A year ago I strated the WLS steps. I have completed everything. The thing Im lacking is ins. approval. I have been denied twice. !st time not enough dieting. Second time WLS will NOT help PCOS in anyway. Here's where I need help. I was hoping that some of you that are post-op could email a testimonial about have this surgery has helped your PCOS. Im planning on sending my appeal letter to the ins. company this week and would love to include some real testimonials. Any and all help will be great! Thank you all so much! Angela

Angela~ I do think there are people on this forum that would love to help you. I am too newly post op and still on bcp to know really how the surgery has affected my pcos. Alot of others have had great success with insulin levels, cycles regulating and such. The thing is that this board is not very active. I would try going through some of the previous posts and if it seems like someone has had success...then email them directly and ask for help. Also try the pregnancy message board for those that have pcos and are now preggers. And I would try the main message board too...and post at several times of day, because those posts move very quickly. Good luck to you. I hope you get the letters you need and the approval. I had surgery to help my fertility and pcos and will be trying to conceive again in a few months! My fertility doctor agreed with my pcp and said go have surgery first...then we will get you preggers. I can't wait! Shari

WLS certainly helped my PCOS. My insulin resistance is gone - I have no need for my previous twice daily dose of glucophage! My testosterone levels have returned to normal with no medication. My PCOS syptoms have greatly decreased. My doctor said I'm not officially "cured" but certainly something like it. Good Luck to you!

Here is some help. Go get a letter from your PCP and have her write the WLS surely DOES help PCOS because it's true. Also, I was told that when I lose my weight the dark patches on my skin will disappear. Go to your doctor, and have her write a letter of medical necessity. Then send it into your insurance company~! Good Luck girlie!! MAKE COPIES!

I feel that WLS has definitely improved my PCOS. Before surgery I never had cycles (even Provera had little effect on me), was IR before becoming diabetic. I tried for 9 years to get pregnant. After loosing my weight and loosing my comorbids my cycles returned to the most normal they have ever been in my life and I was able to get pregnant with out medication. Please feel free to email me if you have additional questions you would like answered. Good luck in your appeal! Kristy 21 months post op EDD 8/6/06 27w4d It's a girl - Alice Kay

I was on 2000mg of metformin (glucophage) before my WLS (Duodenal Switch). PCOS is a *LABELED* use for Metformin, meaning that it is accepted treatment for that disease. I had started at 500mg, and been moved slowly up to 2000mg, which seemed to be the right dose. When I hit that dose, I lost about 25lbs with no other changes in my life. (I regained 10 of that prior to surgery) Because PCOS is an insulin resistant disease, this was an indicator that I had reached the right dose for me. I took that dose for well over a year, and then in September of 2005, I had WLS. With the agreement of my original PCP in Florida, I went off metformin temporarily so that we could see what effect the surgery would have on me, and we could either discontinue it entirely or adjust the dosage. Our original intention was for me to recheck at 3months, but my life went through a period of crazyness - my father died, I travelled over 30k mile**** over 20 states & two continents in six months, and moved cross country - and I didn't have my insulin rechecked again until a couple of weeks ago. As of May 1st, my fasting insulin was 2.1 with the range listed as 3.0 to 27. I have been diagnosed with PCOS for 7 years, and probably had it for at least twenty, and it seems to be completely resolved. I stopped having periods at age 18, and didn't have them hardly at all for 15 years. I then started on BCP, and was eventually diagnosed with PCOS> Now, my periods are regular without drugs. My body temperature has returned to normal. I am losing weight at a normal pace for a WLS patient, and my fasting insulin level is normal, or a little LOW. I've lost 100lbs from my highest weight (when I first started on metformin) and 85lbs since surgery. --BT