Chronic back pain and hanging belly

As I begin the journey of insurance approval, I wanted to know if anyone has been able to correlate increased back pain with their hanging belly? It worked to get my WLS. I beleive that the restart of my back pain has to do with the weight of the haning skin and the PS says that's a fair possibility. Unfortunately, I don't have any medical back up for it. I have had back pain for most of my adult life so when it flairs up, I rarely go to the doctor. I just pop meds. My PCP is going to add it to her letter recommending the surgery but I was hoping for something more concrete to add. She feels that it is better to do the TT and breast reduction at the same time rather than have to go under anesthesia twice for separate surgeries and is putting that in the letter as well. Any experience you can share would be gratefully appreciated.

didn't work for me and I tried with a lot of documentation.  but it really depends on your insurance coverage and the exact criteria they use in making the determination.

 Jamy I didn't try that but i also had constant back pain from the hanging pannus too.    I tried to get the insurance to pay for a panniculictimy part of my LBL but they denied covering it even though they originally told me that with all my skin that would be covered....they said that my rashes were not severe enough.    But hey....it is worth a try.   Every insurance co. is totally different.     You can al least give it a try...what could it hurt.   Who knows...maybe you will be a lucky one.


Hugs and  blessings ~~~ Vivian

I never had back pain (except associated with my female issues and periods) prior so my case may not help you BUT after losing 130 pounds I started have severe lower back pain for the first time ever in my life. I also had re-occuring rashes and fingal infeections. All of which was clinically documented. I have a great PCP so I didn't have to go to her each time but instead, called and she would document it and call in prescriptions. After 6 months of treatments she told me I need to go see a PS. I was fortunate, I had a great friend to help advise me on my letter for my health insurance. The insurance company asked for all documentation AND pictures before they would submit it to their board for consideration. It was a real ordeal and took a couple of months BUT I was approved and got an abdominoplasty. It was worth the effort. HOWEVER it still comes down to your health insurance policy and coverage. HTH

 Thanks for posting this. I've been wondering the same thing. I have back from my stomach and neck pain from my arm flab. I'll be going to the chiropractor soon to discuss it with him and to benefit from the massages my insurance pays for. 

Several of the major insurance companies will not even consider back pain when making a determination on medical necessity of a panniculectomy... and their clinical bulletins specifically state this (and that there is no reliable evidence that the extra skin causes the pain or that removal of the exccess skin eliminates the pain).  You need to check with your insurer so you don;t waste a lot of time if your is one that takes this position.

My guess is that, if there was anything that really pointed to a correlation, they wouldn't have this in their clinical bulletins.  The fact that you have had back pain for much of your life also doesn;t really point to the panni as the source of the problem.  If you are having rash issues, though, that's anotehr matter.  WIth proper documentation, they will usually approve panniculectomy for untreatable skin issues.

Lora

I went to take to my PA to make a few changes to the letter she did and she said the same thing. So, she wrote about my recurring skin problems. I'm so determined to have it tho, that I might just make it an expensive 50th birthday gift to myself!! Thanks for your post.