How do I get started?

I have an appointment with my regular Dr. on 3-16 and I want to bring up the idea of the surgery but I dont want to look clueless.   I have WV medical card and am hoping that I will be approved but seeing other post on here I'm getting a little discouraged already.   I am 29 weigh 260 and I am 5'7.  My BMI is 40.7 which puts me in the "extremly obese" catogory.   I dont have any other "medical conditions" as of now except vericose vains in my legs.  Both of my parents are diabetics and both have a brother that are also.  On my second pregnancy I was boarderline preclampsia (which from what I understand means I will be a diabetic in the future?)   I do have back pains and I have a hard time standing for a long time and I have depression (which I believe has to do with the weight)       What should I say to my Dr.?  Does anyone think I might have a chance to get the surgery done.  (I am leaning toward a bypass, but still gathering info on both if anyone has any advice!)       

I was looking at before and after picturs and just started crying.  I want that to be me so bad.  Years ago I use to be a size 8/10 but in 3 yrs I gained over 100 lbs.   I have tried diets but I can never get the "full" feeling.   I want to be able to play with my 8 yr old and 2 yr old on the playground.   I want to be able to look at my old classmates in the face when I see them instead of dodging them in the store.

Is there any hints of what should be said and not said to the Dr.  What kind of waiting period is there (do I have to record weight management and mental health eval?)   I just want this so bad, I'm afraid I'm going to mess something up.   Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
             Thanks,
              Melinda.

Hi Melinda,

My suggestion is to check your local area for surgeons that do bariatric surgery. They will offer free educational seminars. In my area I have three hospitals that have programs. Go, listen and ask questions. I am sure they will be able to tell you if WV will cover surgery or not and if so what they require. After the seminar they asked any one that was interested to fill out a form and they called me to set up an appointment with the Surgical Weight Loss people; consists of nutritionist, psychologist and an a nurse  that told me what my insurance required and was the one that sent them what they needed. I had to do a 6 month supervised diet with nutritionist and a doctor. Look for one that will answer all your questions and most important has support before and after surgery. Your regular doctor may not know much about bariatirc surgery. Mine didn't. Lucky for me I did not need his referral or approval. Now he has deemed it a success and is happy with my results. I don't think he would have been against it.

pan head

Thank you, I will see if there are any seminars, I never even thought of that.  Come to thnk of it I have heard of one before... I'll go check now while I'm thinking if it!

Hi Melinda,

With me I went to my PCP told him of my concerns and discussed about having weight loss surgery.  he was on the ball and gave me a referral to the surgeon that my insurance required. I went to an information session and had the ball rolling from there. I had to do 3 months multidisciplinary supervised visits with my surgeon and then I had all the required tests needed the surgeon sent me to have even the psych eval and then paper work was submitted to the insurance.  I don't know how it works with medicaid, but going to your primary and asking for guidance is the first step.  Good luck with everything,

Wishing you all the best in your journey.  I can totally relate about how depressing it is. Stay focused and be determined you will definitely achieve your goal to have the energy to enjoy being your children.  

You can read my profile from the beginning. If there is anything I can help you with please do not hesitate to contact me anytime.  

I hope this helps some.

Cira 

Thank you, it did help.  I wasnt sure if I should start with a different kind of Dr or what.  I will read your profile and if there are any other questions I will ask.   I do have one right now.    What are  multidisciplianry superviesed visits? 

My multidisciplinary supervised visits was don through my surgeon. Seeing the nutritionist, the sugeon for weigh ins monthly and also logging in that I was exercising.  They are the 3 or 6 months visits that the insurance requires.  So people meet with their PCP monthky, then a nutritionist at another place. i did all mine in one visit monthly for 3 months with my surgeon.

Oh.  I see.   I always wondered why people had to lose weight before the surgery.

Not everyone has to lose weight before surgery. it all depends on how much you weigh. Most of overweight people have a fatty liver so the doctor will ask a patient to lose a certain percentage of their wieght to help reduce the fat in the liver to make the surgery easier. It is really hard to perform weight loss surgery when the heaviest organ of your body is taking most of the space making it difficult for the doctor.  

Also the insurance and doctor needs to know if you are willing to make all the necessary changes for this life altering change. 

So keep me posted on everything ok.
Take care & best wishes!

Thank you.  I go Monday to ask the Dr for it.  I'm just hoping that she doesnt shoot me down right out of the gate.