TiggerFan72

I have anxiety and depression was also cleared for the surgery. My psychiatrist just had to adjust my meds after surgery.
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I have anxiety and depression and was cleared to have surgery. I saw someone other than my regular therapist though. Maybe that's an option for you?
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The purpose of getting clearance or having a "psychological evaluation," required by most insurance plans and some surgeons, is to show that:
- you understand the risks of surgery (every surgery has risks, by the way)
- that you understand that surgery doesn't guarantee weight loss, but rather is a tool to aid you in eating properly to lose weight
- that you're capable of understanding guidelines for eating properly and following other instructions from the surgeon and others in the practice, e.g., the RD
- if your insurance plan is aware that you're in treatment for mental illness, it wants to know that your meds do what you want and need of them, i.e., that you're stable and functioning
That's the extent of what I'm able to say right now. I'm not a medical or mental health professional, nor do I work in a surgery practice of insurance company.
P.S. Lots of people on the site talk about having to fill in pages and pages of questionnaires for an evaluation with a psychologist to whom they're referred by their surgery practices. It seems a load of horsepucky, a new "industry" mining the pockets of patients. A few people have mentioned that the surgery offices insist that they see the psychologists they refer them to. If this happens to you, be firm. I hope some of the site members stop in here to tell you more.
Nothing to get nervous about unless and until something happens that is nervous-making.

Update: My surgeon did a peer-to-peer review and my insurance was approved! Yay!

Whatever the reason, the Lap Band just didn't work for me. However, it has worked for a lot of people. I wish it had, but it is what it is. :-)

This may sound dumb, but exercise really does help to keep your weight loss moving along.
Just a few weeks ago I was on this forum whining about my weight loss slowing down a couple of weeks after my November 9th surgery.
I started swimming for 30 minutes each morning before work on November 29th when I was 412 pounds and after 2 weeks of swimming I'm down to 398. That's 72 pounds since October 26th. The swimming WORKS!
I'm sure if I was walking everyday for 30 minutes it would be just as good. My point is, we need to exercise. The weight loss won't happen by just following our diet plan. Just get up and do it.
Russ

Anxiety depression , no issues
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