Question:
Can anyone help me?!?!

I am at a down fall in my quest to surgery. I know for a fact that my insurance will pay all from consult to follow-ups. But my problem is I need to have one type of criteria, that being, I need to have a doctor documented diet that I have failed. Problem being I have never been to the doctor for weight loss. I've been put on diabetic diets, but never went in for follow ups. I am currently on a diabetic diet given to me by my doctor (in process of being diagnosed) I am having great difficulty with this diet being that my blood sugars are fluctuating massively!! I am going to an endocrinologist soon. Does this diet qualify for my "criteria"? I am sooo wanting this surgery. If anyone is familar with this and could help, PLEASE DO SO!!!!!    — Lori T. (posted on July 21, 2000)

July 21, 2000
Lori, That should qualify you. Your a Diabetic for Gods sake. A diabetic diet should qualify you, especially if you are fluctuating so much. Good luck. Riese Brown
   — Shariesa B.

July 22, 2000
My insurance turned me down because I didn't meet all the criteria. One of which was the diet history thing. What I did was list ALL diets from as far back as I could remember. I carried a notebook with me and every time I remembered something I wrote it down. I did it in chronological order. I included the date,weight,method,lbs lost, for each attempt. I then took this typed list to my surgeon, who used it to get approval for my wls. I was then approved by the same ins co this time. Good luck, I hope this helps...
   — laura D.

July 22, 2000
Lori: My insurance required a minimum of 3 months of supervised weight loss during the past year. So, my doc put me on a diabetic diet, I went in once a month for weighing, and he wrote a letter at the end stating that I'd been on the diet, I had neither gained nor lost, that I always showed up for my weigh-in and blood pressure check ups. This qualified. He also wrote that he thought the WLS was medically necessary for me to lose the extra weight. I had Blue Cross/Blue Shield of North Dakota.
   — Cindy H.

July 24, 2000
Lori, Yes, the diabetic diet qualifies. Any doctor monitored diet qualifies for this. I too, as put on a diet because of my diabeties, guess what, my insurance accepted it. Plus, even though I did not have any other "doctor" monitored diets, I listed out all of my diet attempts, no matter how nominal, and that too worked. But, I still needed to have that "doctor" monitored one. So, my doctor put me on one immediately. I failed like expected, but that still got me in the door.
   — Becki S.