5 years of medical reports from Doctors on weight - ThinnerTimes

mindycure · 04-20-2006, 07:59 AM

When I called my insurance company the other day to see what requirements they needed for the WLS surgery, she just said that they would need 5 years of medical records pertaining to trying to lose weight. But I don't know if I have that. I have asked many doctors in the past about losing weight, they would just say to diet and excersise ect, but I don't know if they ever wrote down this stuff. I am just worried that I won't have the right documentation. Anyone else have this problem?

Cinerbelle · 04-20-2006, 08:02 AM

I just had to prove that I had been MO for five years. My medical files had my weight in them, so I just got all those copies and gave them to my new PCP. I didn't have any problems getting the old records...legally they have to give them to you.

mindycure · 04-20-2006, 08:05 AM

well i definatly have that, but on the phone she said it had to show that i was trying to lose weight i think..?

coptergirl · 04-20-2006, 08:05 AM

I had compiled a spreadsheet documenting all of my wl attempts starting with the first I could remember - it went back 25 years since I started dieting at age 10. My doc was impressed that I came so prepared and didn't require documentation from the places like Lindora, Jenny Craig, WW, and my old drug dealer. You might want to ask your doc if the spreadsheet would be sufficient, or if he requires official documentation from the individual attempts you have made.

mindycure · 04-20-2006, 08:14 AM

can you share what your spreadsheet looked like? I can do one up today, but I am not really sure what to put on it.. dates, type of diet? weight? thanks in advance, I think that is a great idea.

coptergirl · 04-20-2006, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mindycure

can you share what your spreadsheet looked like? I can do one up today, but I am not really sure what to put on it.. dates, type of diet? weight? thanks in advance, I think that is a great idea.

My column headings were (of the top of my head): methood (WW et al), from date, to date, weight lost, weight regained, why failed. It seemed to work well from both my PCP and my surgeon...

monkeygrly · 04-20-2006, 09:17 AM

My insurance also required a 5 year medical history. I didn't necessarily spend 5 years on a diet but there was enough documentation of me talking to my doctor about my weight or asking for advice to suffice. I was approved with no problemo.

Dorothy · 04-21-2006, 07:11 AM

What I did was I made a mini novel-ette ( thats what my surgeon called it LOL)
I listed all of the weight loss (diet fads, pills, starvation, Adkins, walking, bla bla bla) attempts I did, the approx dates, how long I was on it, why I quit, how much ( if any) weight I lost, and how much (if I could remember) that I gained back afterwards. This was a very long list, and went back some 10 years ( all I really needed was 5 years of documentation) But I thought the more the better

Then I listed all of the aches and pains (documented by the Doc or not) that I have acquired since MO.
Then I listed emotions, Family history of MO, Cancer, Heart disease, diabetes, etc...

I also put in there that I belong to on-line and RL support groups and listed a few places that I checked out for references to prove that I have done my homework on the surgery etc...

Alot of it I went into gory details I put alot of heart and soul into it, and the surgeon was most impressed !

Hope that helps in some way!

mama2aredhead · 04-22-2006, 06:19 AM

good luck sweetie!!