Last week, I met with the psychiatrist for the psych evaluation (a pre-requisite to surgery). She asked me if I had any traumatic experiences in my life. I told her yes. (SHOULD HAVE SAID NO, WHO HASN'T BEEN THROUGH BAD EXPERIENCES??)

She asked what they were so I told her that I was with my 8 year old nephew when he was hit bay a car (1989), my other nephew committed suicide (2010) and I lost my father this past July.

Another question was do I have sleep problems. I answered yes. (MISTAKE #2). However, I take phentermine. One of the side effects is sleep problems. Next, she ask me if I eat when I can't sleep. I answered, YES (UGHHH Mistake #3).

Next I took the 30 minute test, and went on my way, thinking that the next call I'd get was to schedule my surgery. Well, she called me back Tuesday saying that before I can proceed, she thinks that I should seek counseling for trauma/PTSD. She said that my test came back inconclusive. She even asked me if I lied on the test.

I was so pissed by the end of the conversation that I told her I would seek out another facility/surgeon to perform my surgery and she was wrong in her findings. Since then, I have realized that night eating is not healthy; even if it is 100 calorie popcorn or a Protein bar and I've stopped doing it. Now, I keep bottled Water by the bed and watch TV if I can't sleep.

I thought about and I've had a change of heart because my WLS doctor is awesome. I saw a counselor yesterday. I felt like a fish out of water but I made it through the session. We talked, he wrote his notes down and asked me if I really needed to be there. My translation was that I wasted his time.

Has anyone else had to deal with this?

@@dohickey01 When you are in a place to begin a new, healthier, happier, safer lifestyle, I believe it is always best to be completely honest. Many of our lives have included traumatic events that, eventually, cause us to begin turning towards food for comfort/peace/friendship/an outlet, etc. If we don't include psych help to deal with our issues that may, in fact, have helped/caused our eating disorder we may never be successful in our weight loss journey. The surgery causes us to eat less for a period of time. It does not resolve our emotional eating issues. When you come out of surgery those issues will still be there and you will still want/try to eat because of them. In my opinion - THAT is even a worse situation causing even greater anguish and, yet another, emotional issue. I say that because you will not be able to eat much, but will still try because of your long standing habit. Also because - if you persist - you will eventually be able to eat more which will cause the weight regain. Perhaps you've heard of the percentage of people who were unsuccessful in spite of the surgery. That may be because they had not dealt with some emotional issues that had to do with eating. I realize many of us just want the surgery by any means necessary, but if we truly want to be healthy, happy and successful in our long-term weight loss, I think we must deal with the deep down issues that may have played a part in the weight gain.

I hope this makes sense and helps in some way.

Blessings to you in your life AND weight loss.

I say lie next time. If you are 100% sure that doing so will not hurt you, as was the case in this situation, straight up lie or lie by omission. The psychologist has a legal responsibiltiy to sign off on you and if you tell her all of that and then do have PTSD she could lose her license for not suggesting further treatment. Give your providers plausible deniability and the process will move much faster.

Think about it...if you had a medical license and you could lose it because you were not cautious enough with a person who has experienced multiple traumas and has a hard time sleeping, wouldn't your response have been the same as her? Now, if you never tell her any of that, she is cleared to sign off on you without having to cover her own butt first. Problem solved for everyone.

The thing is, I only have problems sleeping when I take phentermine. I didn't take any yesterday and I went to bed at 8pm and woke up at 6 this morning!

I understand what you both are saying but I wish she would not have jumped the gun.

Thanks for the input

Edited December 14, 201411 yr by dohickey01