ashleymarif
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I am a 22 y/o female. I have been overweight for as long as I remember. I have been on so many diets...I've lost a lot and I've gained quite a bit. I have been looking towards Bariatric Surgery since I was about 16-17y/o. I never seriously attempted to get approved, I discussed it with my former PCP and he was always like "ashley, I will do whatever it is you want to do." However I never really knew how to go about getting approved. Since then I've switched PCP's and attempted to get approved with my Cigna HMO...which they denied me after reviewing my case for about 3 weeks. They had even asked for further information from my Doctor. This was between 4/30/07-5/17/07. Cigna deemed me not meeting the medical criteria necessary. In other words not having a major health problem for them to authorize this surgery.
At 11 years old I joined Weight Watchers I had lost around 18-20 pounds at the time, taking me from 220 to 200lbs. I remember stopping going to the meetings, I was in the middle of sixth grade and it was so embarrassing at that time to be apart of Weight Watchers. I was praying that nobody would ever find out that I was going to them. Little did I know that that 200lbs was the lowest weight I would reach for a long time. I stopped going to Weight Watchers. By Eighth grade I had joined Jenny Craig, it was more private I thought. I had ballooned up to around 260lbs. at that point. I stayed on that for about a year..I lost at most 30lbs. Throughout High School I attempted Weight Watchers two more times losing some but mostly gaining. I set goals to be thin by my senior year...I set so many goals involving weight and constantly failed. By that time i was so numb to it. Throughout High School I was depressed and continued to be after I graduated in 2003.
In the summer of 2003 and 2004 I started the Atkins diet program weighing in at 290lbs, I thought this was the greatest thing ever, I could eat Bacon, Sausage, Red Meat, Eggs...Cheese...whatever...just no bread. I did so well on it losing about 60-75lbs. I thought I could do it. I slowly started failing this and by the summer of 2004 I was gaining back my weight. I remember I didn't weigh myself after that. I broke my foot because I was so heavy that it snapped from the pressure when I stepped down off of a step. Now I was immobile and huge. Crutches were my worst nightmare so I was getting little to no activity for 2 months or longer. I weighed myself again in January of 2006. I started Weight Watchers again weighing in at 320lbs. I thought I'd try it on the internet then. That was soon a failure as well. After failing that by around March of '06...I thought I'd give Nutrisystem a go.
Nutrisystem was not my favorite by a long shot...and I was soon failing that, with very little weight being lost. By the end of 2006 I was so depressed that I had driven away all of my "Friends"...My best friend of 8 years didn't want anything to do with me. Some friend! I was doing horrible in Junior College, I couldn't find motivation, I couldn't fit into the desks, i was just plain tired of people all together. They are so negative! I figured I had to turn my life around...
I got a move on things...I started going back to Weight Watchers meetings in November of '06 and continued til February. I decided to change my PCP and work with him on losing weight. I decided at that point, that if I couldn't do it on my own, I was going to attempt to get approved for the SURGERY. In that time I visited the Psychologist weekly. I tried Phentermine to try and lose weight, my doctor said Insurance companies like to see that you have taken all the efforts! pssshhh...Like I hadn't at that point.
So here I am today...I got denied after the first letter....but My Grandparents made me an offer I couldn't refuse. They are going to pay for it and I am going to pay them back. I am hoping that this way I can get the surgery done quickly than if the insurance company was going to pay for it. I am not sure though. I have my consultation June 1st. I'm going to Dr. David Oliak in Orange, Ca. So we'll see...Wish me luck and I'll keep you posted.
