So my husband is obese, at 6' he's 350+lbs. I have been trying to get him to eat healthy & exercise but being in the oil field & gone for 2 weeks at a time there's no way I can get him to exercise or control what he's eating when he's gone. He wasn't always over weight.
As a teenager he was in shape & as an adult he was too. But when we got together we developed bad eating habits which got worse when I got pregnant. We both gained over 100lbs. I lost the weight after I had our son, he however hasn't stopped. Of course it's easier for me since I'm a stay at home mom. But he still eats garbage & drinks his calories. Plus he doesn't exercise when he comes home.
So I finally got my husband to see a doctor & to no one's surprise he is pre-diabetic & has high blood pressure. I guess that shocked him because he changed his eating habits, starting walking when he could when he was at work & said he would exercise with me when he came home.
Then the doctor put him on weight loss meds. First came Contrave, it worked GREAT! He ate so much less & lost weight. But he slept all the time and at a price tag of $200-$300 a bottle. It was expensive! But to me, I felt it was worth it. But my husband started to hate feeling tired all the time, I don't blame him. So he went back to the doctor & asked for new medication.
That's when she prescribed Saxenda and the insurance didn't even cover that! So at an even higher price tag of $1,000 a pop I said no way! So with another appointment coming up I'm hoping maybe there is another medication he can get that might be covered. But at this rate I'm not too hopeful.
I just have to wonder, why? Why doesn't the insurance company cover weight loss meds? He needs it, he is clinically obese. It's not like he's taking it to lose 20-30lbs. If he loses the weight his blood pressure will go down & he won't be pre-diabetic. I'm also thinking it would be cheaper for him to get gastric bypass ($1,200) than spend $200-$300/month on pills. Isn't that ridiculous? Thanks insurance companies & your horrible, backwards thinking!
Shouldn't we be trying to keep people *out* of the hospital? Prevent people from having surgeries? Lower the rates of comorbities? How is having to pay extremes for weight loss medications helping that?
Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.
I used P90x for a long time and got in the best shape of my life (abs and all) but one day I hurt my back doing it so I decided to just lift weights and run. Now I'm huge from lifting and enjoying my three times a week 3 mile runs. The tapes are great one just has to be careful. Oops, time for my daily run!!
I tried P90X years ago, too tough for me! But I think now they have an easier version.
It's so easy to gain weight, if only it were as easy to lose it. I'm 5'2" & got up to 220lbs during my pregnancy. Thankfully I have lost most of the weight, there are still some stubborn pounds that won't come off. If you can't go to the gym have you looked into workout dvds you can do at home? There are at lot of options! That's what I have done & lost the weight that way.
I started with Shaun T's T25 then went to Insanity Max:30. I then went to the HIIT workout Stronger. I also use FitnessBlender because they have a bunch of different workouts. Good luck!
Thanks so much for the info! I will definitely look into those!
Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.
Maybe gastric bypass would be a good idea at this point, I am assuming your insurance covers that as you listed a price of $1200
They told him we would have to pay $1200 but then told me they wouldn't cover anything. So right now he's working out & eating healthier. I hope he can stick to it because I don't know if pills or surgery would really help if he doesn't change his lifestyle first.
Managed care can be sooo maddening! Not trying to hijack, but here's my I-so-get-it story. My son who was 5 at the time needed some dental work done (caps and a filling); he'd tried in the office at least twice, but was just too terrified. He was so frozen in fear the dentist couldn't even get him to open his mouth. My state has a law that says anesthesia is always a medical necessity for children age 5 and under, but somehow our insurance had found a loophole and was refusing to cover it, despite his dentist and peds cardiologist (he has a bicuspid aortic valve w/ regurg) both agreeing that it was essential to his health. We were fighting over this for weeks, and one morning he woke up with a hugely swollen right face. His cheek was shiny, it was so swollen, and the swelling had started to extend down to his neck. He had 3 abscesses. The dentist saw him the minute their office opened, and put him on an antibiotic; had it been any worse or had the swelling not responded right away, he would have been admitted to the hospital because there was a concern that the swelling would start to impinge on his airway. The dentist actually took a picture of his face and faxed it to BCBS with a "Do you believe us yet??? This kid needs his teeth fixed!" type of message. In our case though, BCBS did finally agree and he was at the children's day surgery center later that week.
Do you have a food dehydrator? If he likes chips you could slice up some thin slices of zucchini, eggplant, carrot, other non-starchy veggies and dry them with whatever seasonings he likes. Or air-popped popcorn with salt-free seasoning or pepper, or with Splenda/stevia and a tiny bit of salt to imitate kettle corn? That kind of thing is crunchy and snack-y enough that it could be a good substitute for chips. (When I get the munchies for salty or sweet snacks, I also have a hard time being satisfied with fruit--although I love fruit.) Home dehydrated fruit is really yummy as a sweet, non-perishable snack also. My mom used to dry a thin layer of applesauce with cinnamon, and it was like an all-natural Fruit Roll-Up.
I personally have a hard time advocating weight loss surgery unless someone is in imminent danger of dying, or unless everything else has been given 110% effort... I've just seen too many horrible complications in my nursing practice. In critical care we have an acronym: GBGB--gastric bypass gone bad. I mean for some it is truly a life or death choice, but for others maybe less drastic measures could have worked.
Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.
Managed care can be sooo maddening! Not trying to hijack, but here's my I-so-get-it story. My son who was 5 at the time needed some dental work done (caps and a filling); he'd tried in the office at least twice, but was just too terrified. He was so frozen in fear the dentist couldn't even get him to open his mouth. My state has a law that says anesthesia is always a medical necessity for children age 5 and under, but somehow our insurance had found a loophole and was refusing to cover it, despite his dentist and peds cardiologist (he has a bicuspid aortic valve w/ regurg) both agreeing that it was essential to his health. We were fighting over this for weeks, and one morning he woke up with a hugely swollen right face. His cheek was shiny, it was so swollen, and the swelling had started to extend down to his neck. He had 3 abscesses. The dentist saw him the minute their office opened, and put him on an antibiotic; had it been any worse or had the swelling not responded right away, he would have been admitted to the hospital because there was a concern that the swelling would start to impinge on his airway. The dentist actually took a picture of his face and faxed it to BCBS with a "Do you believe us yet??? This kid needs his teeth fixed!" type of message. In our case though, BCBS did finally agree and he was at the children's day surgery center later that week.
Do you have a food dehydrator? If he likes chips you could slice up some thin slices of zucchini, eggplant, carrot, other non-starchy veggies and dry them with whatever seasonings he likes. Or air-popped popcorn with salt-free seasoning or pepper, or with Splenda/stevia and a tiny bit of salt to imitate kettle corn? That kind of thing is crunchy and snack-y enough that it could be a good substitute for chips. (When I get the munchies for salty or sweet snacks, I also have a hard time being satisfied with fruit--although I love fruit.) Home dehydrated fruit is really yummy as a sweet, non-perishable snack also. My mom used to dry a thin layer of applesauce with cinnamon, and it was like an all-natural Fruit Roll-Up.
I personally have a hard time advocating weight loss surgery unless someone is in imminent danger of dying, or unless everything else has been given 110% effort... I've just seen too many horrible complications in my nursing practice. In critical care we have an acronym: GBGB--gastric bypass gone bad. I mean for some it is truly a life or death choice, but for others maybe less drastic measures could have worked.
Wishing your husband all the best on his journey!
Wow. I'm sorry that happened to your son! But I'm glad it all worked out. We don't have a dehydrator but he is eating healthier & exercising, let's just hope he sticks to it!
The dentist actually took a picture of his face and faxed it to BCBS with a "Do you believe us yet??? This kid needs his teeth fixed!" type of message. In our case though, BCBS did finally agree and he was at the children's day surgery center later that week.
I mean for some it is truly a life or death choice, but for others maybe less drastic measures could have worked.
OrganizedChaos, LVN
1 Article; 6,883 Posts
I tried P90X years ago, too tough for me! But I think now they have an easier version.