PCOS and health insurance

[Nickib90]

Hi,

I was just diagnosed with PCOS and my biggest issue is no matter how much gym, private trainers and healthy eating I have done, nothing seems to help! I have tried orlistat and had little reaction to it as I do eat fairly lean most of the time and lost no weight on it. My GP has now said the next step will be weight loss surgery. I was wondering if anyone knows if private healthcare will cover this? I am on full, comprehensive private insurance and saw something about them not covering cosmetic surgery but if this is GP recommended, does that count?

[Hols969]

We need to eat considerably less than non pcos ladies just to maintain our weight so if we ate the RDA we would gain 2lb a month so over a stone a year. I personally find that exercise confuses matters, the only time I lost weight was when I stopped exercising, they believe I was eating too little along with the exercise so I was then storing the fat. We can lose weight but it is slow and you have to keep motivated (I lost 2 stone on the Norah Lane diet in 3 months, along with a couple of ladies who lost 7 stone each within a year, her diet is basically low carb and low GI). I think her book was called the 13 minute diet (they have a Facebook page called Norah Lane PCOS diet, I know she is bringing out a new book shortly) - she used to work for a company called vitaline but no longer does, but she is a pcos expert (not vitaline and she is no longer with that company, - (they had over 400 babies conceived naturally by ladies following this diet) so may be worth joining the FB group.

I would be surprised if any medical insurance would cover a gastric band type surgery, as it is classed as cosmetic rather than a medical condition (even though the weight can cause medical conditions) so you would need to speak to your insurers.

[Nickib90 in reply to Hols969]

Hi Hols,

I will check the group out! have been through dieticians and private trainers, even with that it isn't shifting at all. I went through eating 1000 calories a day and training 6 days a week with no alcohol for 7 months and only lost 21lbs. Obviously that was completely unsustainable, I was starving myself. I am on a low GI, low carb food plan and eating less than the RDA (between 1400 and 1500 calories per day) plus in the gym 3/4 times a week, she even had me try orlistat but nothing is working other than gaining weight at a slower rate than before.

My GP is the one who said I need to go down the surgery route, I didn't suggest, but hopefully if a doctor signs it as a complete medical need due to PCOS it will be ok :S Would seem silly of them to not to the surgery that stops them paying for a lifetime of treatment for something like diabetes and transplants (if it came to that!). I will let you know what they say, incase anyone else is looking for an answer to this too