New here & have some questions! (PCOS, Cost, ect.)

Hello everyone! My name is Meagen, married with 2 fur-babies, from Indianapolis, IN. I'm 24 years old, am 5'3" (5'4" on a good day ), & weigh about 235 lbs. I'm currently looking into Gastric Bypass for quite a few reasons & have my consult scheduled for February 9th. I'm extremely excited, especially the more research I do. I have been diagnosed with PCOS, which makes it extremely hard to lose weight. In regards to having babies, I've been told by physicians that I won't be able to have a family on my own without medical help & my pregnancy would be extremely difficult. Not to mention that if weight loss is hard/impossible now, I pretty much have no hope after having a baby.

To put it into perspective, there was a period of 6 months where I was religiously watching what I ate & working out 6 days a week & in that time span, I only lost 2 pounds. TWO POUNDS. It was so very frustrating to me & after seeing that, I pretty much gave up. Now I've been told by my physician (putting this in my own words) that I'm pretty much 'too far gone'. This surgery is pretty much my only hope.

Have any of the ladies on here had PCOS & gotten this surgery done? What was your experience? 

Does anyone on here have insurance through Premera Blue Cross? How did that go for you?

Also, silly question, how did your grocery bill change? I just figure this would be a fun perk, if anything at all. :P

Thanks so much for your help!

I have PCOS since my teens. Same height as you and I weighed 219.  I was able to lose 49 pounds on my own in my late 20 's early 30's.  I saw a fertility specialist who said first try weight loss and I somehow was able to get pregnant. Complete shock.  For most of my adult life I had bounced between 205-215.  I had surgery 4 months ago.  

Welcome Meagen.  Isn't it great to have hope?!  Be sure to ask more questions.  My grocery store bill has stayed amount the same.  Even though the shopping cart is emptier-looking, it has higher quality food in it like Greek yogurt, spinach, eggs, lean meat, albacore, beans, and steamable vegetables.  However, my eating-out costs, like pizza and fastfood, has plummeted. 

Thanks so much! That makes total sense. 

While never formally diagnosed...Ive been told I'm borderline PCOS for years (I have many of the symptoms, but no problem getting pregnant).  I too, would diet, staying strictly on plan, and no virtually no loss...it is SO frustrating and so demotivating.

WLS, and the very small amounts I eat help.  I had lapband surgery 6 years ago, and lost 80 lbs (but started having major esophogus issues, needing the band to be unfilled, and causing me to regain much of the weight I lost).

i had the band removed and revised to the RNY on 12/15/14.  I started the pre-op diet 2 weeks prior. On 12/1....I've lost 42 lbs so far.  Much faster than my lapband loss...and MUCH faster than without the aid of WLS.

I have PCOS. The best thing to do is lose weight to lessen the symptoms but its so hard to lose weight! I also dealt with the infertility and and was able to lose about 30 lbs and then able to get pregnant with clomid only. If you want to have babies soon i would postpone surgery... you wont be able to get pregnant right away because of the malnutrition. If you work with a nutritionist and your doc i am sure you could lose some weight naturally and get preggers.  Personally i am glad that i finished building my family before having surgery. I don't want to discourage you at all. This is the best thing I have done for myself hands down ever! Best decision ever. But you are so young and have not had kids (and sounds like you want them) I would think about the timing of surgery. Good luck with everything!

I also have PCOS and one of the reasons I had RNY was to help with the symptoms and my fertility. I could not lose weight before surgery. I lost such an abysmal amount of weight on my own. The same 30 lbs over and over again. I worried I wouldn't be able to lose weight and I'd be the only one the surgery didn't work for.

I am 2.5 months post op and at am amazed at the progress.  While I haven't had my period yet (I never had one before surgery), I did have some spotting last month so I'm still hopeful that this will help with my fertility. I went to a specialist and she also indicated I would need help to conceive since metformin did not work for me. 

I still have another 18 months before figuring out if I can get pregnant, but it seems doable now. 

My grocery bill is actually less even though I always ate high-quality foods, because I get so many servings from one recipe it has dropped. However, all the money I save on groceries goes to vitamins. 

You are young.  Have your surgery, get healthy and then get pregnant.  You will be in much better shape to go through your pregnancy and care for your child.

Surgery is a wonderful opportunity to overcome the weight.  It is only a tool, but it is a powerful tool.  It is much easier for me to lose weight when I never get hungry and when I can only eat a small amount when I do eat.

My grocery bills did not go down, because I buy higher priced foods now.  I also buy vitamins and supplements to keep healthy.

Thank you so much for your input - I'm glad I'm thinking along the right tracks. It feels so good to hear from people who have been through the surgery & know from experience.

PCOS here as well (diagnosed in 2003, but I know it's been longer then that). I know how hard it is to lose weight. I only have a 5 lbs goal weight, and I have been fighting with that last pound to get my surgery. it's horrible. as for pregnancy, they do and don't know what they are talking about. I got lucky "you can't get pregnant, clomid won't even help get you pregnant" then all of a sudden "OOPs you are pregnant with natural triplets" I have two beautiful boys age 9 at home :) stop thinking about getting pregnant. work on your weight. Get yourself healthy first. :) we are all here to help each other.