Hello, this is my first post.  I had RNY surgery 8 years ago and lost 110 lbs.  I kept it off for several years but then there was a life crisis, so over time I put back on 60 lbs.  I had the Lap Band put in a couple of years ago and it has not worked for me at all.  I am on a waiting list for an appointment to see about the DS, and I also have an appointment with my Lap Band doc to consult about RNY revision.  I would rather the DS, but who knows when they will call.

Anyway, all I have right now is Medicare.  My BMI is back up to 36, which meets their criteria of 35.  But I am curious if anyone knows about the co-morbidities.  I see some of the same ones listed all the time, but a couple only once.  I do still have asthma, pre-hypertension, and last year had lumbar surgery for degerative discs and have foot surgery scheduled in a couple of weeks for degenerative joint disease in my big toe.  I saw in one place that degenerative discs qualify for a co-morbidity and also arthritis.  I am just wondering if anyone has had any experience with being qualified per the Medicare criteria in regard to the co-morbidities.

Also, remember this is a revision surgery.  I don't know if that makes a difference or not, either.  The Medicare rep I talked to did not know very much.  Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Thank you, and God Bless everyone's efforts!!!  We need all the help we can get... =)

Sincerely,
Davina

Last week we released two major updates. First was the public release of OH Groups where any ObesityHelp member can now create their own Group. Second was the addition of Activity Tracking to Health Tracker, which provides a robust and easy to use tool to track and monitor your exercise and activity. Today we have added My Meals and an Activity vs. Weight Loss Report to Health Tracker. 

My Meals My Meals allows you to group and store multiple food and beverage items as a custom meal that can be used over and over again. If you have meals that you eat on a regular basis, you will no longer need to log each food item individually.

To access My Meals, go to your Health Tracker in My OH and click on the Nutrition tab. You will see My Meals listed under Nutrition.

Creating a new meal works similar to your Food Log. You can search for food items on the right and add the foods to the meal on the left. A Calorie Breakdown chart and Nutrient Summary Label are also available for each meal.

Once a meal is created you can add that meal to your Food Log from My Meals by clicking "i had this" or you can search for the meal from your Food Log.

When searching for a meal to add to your Food Log, all meals will be returned when "My Foods" is selected in search. So, to "drill down" on meals that you have created, select to only show "My Foods." When a new meal is created it may require up to 30 minutes for that meal to be indexed and become searchable.

Activity vs. Weight Loss Report Adding to the Macronutrient and Export Reports previously available, there is now an Activity vs. Weight Loss Report. This report will allow to compare Average Time in Activity vs Weight over time, providing you with further insight into what impact physical activity as on weight loss and weight loss maintenance. In Health Tracker, click Reports and then select Activity vs. Weight Loss.

We hope these additions to Health Track reduce the time required to log your daily food intake and makes it easier to view how physical activity impacts your weight.   Create your first meal now! If you have any questions, comments or concerns about this release, please post them on the Main Message Board.

I am 48 years old, down 105 lbs. with about 60 to go, and just told I have arthritis in both hips, one hip worse than the other. They also found a labral tear in one hip, thought to be due to the wearing down of the joint.  Two months ago, they gave me a cortisone shot in the hip - it helped for maybe about 6 weeks. Yesterday the doc tells me I have to wait 6 months between cortisone shots, and overall, they would only do so many rounds of that as multiple shots can also cause a problem.  She left me with "there's nothing more I can do for you right now" Gee, Thanks,Doc.

I've had fibro for 25 years and currently taking Neurontin (question if it's even helping), Ultram (takes the edge of the pain), Cymbalta (saw no change in pain level when I started this one 3 months ago) and Trazadone at night.  Overall, I feel way too much pain and fatigue to be on all these meds - say pain management doc months ago and she says there's nothing more she has to offer for the fibro. 

Water aerobics is what I am doing for exercise, but still even have pain moving in the water. 

Any suggestions? 

I have taken methotrexate before and after surgery, but I havent noticed any weight gain because of it.

Sally, it's true that NSAIDs have the potential to cause problems in anyone---but with the RNY, there's the added problem of that huge blind pouch that can't be 'scoped. That's the biggest reason the so many surgeons preach "no NSAIDs" to their RNY patients.