Obesity Surgery WP Blog

Fighting Obesity Is Tax-Deductible
IRS Says You Can Deduct Prescribed Weight-Loss Plans
By Jennifer Warner
April 3, 2002 — The battle of the bulge is about to get a little easier on
your pocketbook. The Internal Revenue Service issued a ruling Tuesday that
officially recognizes obesity as a disease — making physician-prescribed
plans to treat it tax-deductible.
Experts say the ruling may set a precedent for insurance companies and other
government-sponsored programs like Medicare to offer coverage for obesity
programs.
But the new deduction will likely only apply to a small percentage of people
who are trying to lose weight. The ruling does not apply to people who want
to shed pounds in order to improve their general health and appearance.
Fees associated with joining weight-loss programs, such as Weight Watchers,
Jenny Craig, and others, and attending meetings are now deductible expenses
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First off, I would like to take a moment to thank all of you who sent
me e-mails on the first day I signed in. It was so gratifying to
know you cared. It made me feel very glad that I had chosen to join
this group!
I had my 1st visit with my surgeon today. All went well, with the
exception of the two-hour wait in the waiting room! (HA) After I met
with him, I felt even more reassured that this is the next step for
me. I am still very nervous about the actual surgery, but its a ways
off so I’ll have time to sike myself up about it before then!!!
I was also able to talk with a patient who was there for her 1 year
check up. She told me that other than her initial pain and
adjustments to eating, that she had no problems to report. She could
eat any foods she wanted, just in very small amounts! This made me
feel a lot better; I’ve been dreading the baby food stage of this
journey!!! Its nice to know I won’t have to go through that for very
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Hello Group:
I am 2 years 4 months post op. I have a question about medicine absorption.
I need to know. I have to start taking time-release pain medicine or I
should say they want me to try it. My question is if the medicine is
aborsbed in the intestine will I get all the full benefit of the medicine or
not? I told the pharmacy that I have had gastric bypass and she couldn’t
answer my question. So I thought I would turn to you guys for some help or
advice. I hope someone has some info on this.
Thank you,
Marcie

Hi everyone, its been awhile since I posted but I am back and ready
to begin the approval for the surgery process again. It is so
humiliating to have to go through this process but I have better
insurance now so it should be easier.
I am now shopping for a surgeon in the greater sacramento area. Is
this the right area to ask for a potential referral? I look forward
to hearing from you all again.
Thanks,
Audra Wake
dnawake@…

Just wanted everyone to know about my great day. It actually began last
night I had an omlete with bacon and cheese and I ate almost all of it. The
meat of the bacon didn’t bother me which was amazing. Then to top
everything off…I went to Boston Market after work to try something. I got
the turkey and some mashed potatoes. I ate the turkey and a nibble or two
of the potatoes…..of course looking at my plate you couldn’t tell that I
had eaten anything…but I ate alot of the turkey and it went down fine and
I didn’t get sick. In fact…it’s been 20 minutes since I finished eating
and I feel WONDERFUL!!!!! This is truely amazing because I’ve only eaten
meat a few times since my surgery (1/18/02) and it has never stayed down but
about once or twice but I felt awful afterwards. This past week I’ve really
been feeling good and have been trying some new things. I’ve been able to
eat some pork & bean without any problems, now the omlete with bacon and the
turkey. I know I need to take it slow and gradually work things in…but
I’m so happy I can’t wait to try something else.
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Hi everyone,
I am 6 weeks post-op. Within the last week I have been developing hives on my
legs and arms. They itch like crazy! I haven’t introduced any new foods in my
diet. Does anyone know of anything like this being related to the surgery?
Any comments would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks- Heather

I am 49 year old female who has desperately tried to lose weight for
many years. I have been on just about every diet known to man, with
short lived success on some. I now want to have WLS, and would
prefer to have the loproscopy. I am in the Detroit, Michigan area.
Does anyone know of a doctor in my area that does the laproscopy
surgery?
Looking forward to your support and knowledge. Thanks.
Terri

What is “ideal” for a Never-Been-Fatty and a formerly MO person are two
entirely different animals. The charts say that, at 5′2″, my ideal is 126
pounds. Well, the last time I was weighed on my surgeon’s Tanita scale,
with ZERO fat on my body, I weighed 133 pounds. Getting to 126 would be
death! The healthy general amount of fat is around 20%… for me, it is
between 23% - 34% (realistically, as well). Adding 20% would put me at
about 160 pounds… at 5 feet 2 inches tall! I now weigh 167 and am a
petite size 12. Instead of looking at numbers on a scale, find a Tanita
scale that divies up the weight into fat/muscle/water weight and then find
goals that way… working towards having less fat on your body each month
instead of just weight (I would MUCH rather weigh more and have less fat
than weigh less and be fatter).
Also, note that former fatties weigh more at the get-go because our bones
weigh more… we have more bone density than Never-Been-Fatties because of
carrying around so much weight for so long. While this bone density
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We would like to remind you of this upcoming event.
ABBWCARRIE38 SURGERY
Date: Wednesday, April 10, 2002
Time: All Day
Carries surgery…. Florida Medical Center

I haven’t posted for a long time but I really felt a need to post my
one year picture and give an update as I know how much that sort of
information helped me when I was researching surgery and when I was a
new baby with my new stomach!!
So first off, a little information about myself. My name is Stacy
Cronin, I am now 48 years old and live in Ohio. I had a LAP RNY in
Portland Oregon with Dr. Emma Patterson on February 2, 2001. Six
weeks later I moved here!! The morning of surgery I tipped the scale
at 391 pounds!! Even at 5′9″ that was way too much!! I was starting
to have all of the symtoms that obesity brings on in my family, I
wanted to live and enjoy life so I had to make the change that only
surgery could help me do!!
Now, 14 months later, I have lost over 180 pounds and regained a
great life. The picture that I have added to the photo section in my
folder is my “official” one year picture, at that time I was down
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