My husband and I both went for our psych evaluations yesterday. We are trying to do everything at the same time to minimize the amount of time that he has to take off work so we can save it up for surgeries. Anyway, it was an awful experience.

I tried to call for two solid weeks, each time I got her answering machine saying she would be out of the office today, May 9th. Well, it stopped being May 9th at some point. Anyway, she never returned my call. I ended up having to be routed to her assistants cell phone through numerous other calls to the hospital she works in. I should've known this would be a sign of things to come. Anyway, when I made the appointment I told her I need to make an appointment for my husband on the same day, and her first reaction is "Oh, you BOTH want surgery?" Like this is some kind of red flag already. Yes, we both want to be healthy and quit batteling obesity...how nutty. She said "You'll need to come in at 8:00 for some paper work, then I'll interview one of you at 9:00, and the other one at 10:00, you'll need to come back at 1:00 for feedback". I said "Ok, I've gotta go pick up my son from school at 11:30, but that'll work fine. It's good we'll be able to switch back and forth because we will have our other 3 children with us as well". She said ok, and everything was set.

Well, I get there at 8:00 for my part of the paperwork and she said "Where's your husband". I told her he was in the car with the kids, and he would come in when I was done. She said "Oh no, the exam part of this takes about 2 1/2 hours, you have to do it at the same time". Um, WTF? She said 'some paper work', not '2 1/2 hour long exam'. I called him up and told him to bring in the kids and we took the exams with three kids, one of them a screaming baby. She kept asking me "Now Jodi, why didn't you know how long this would take? Were you not paying attention?"

I was so confident going in, I have read and re-read on this subject. I have thought about it, and I've even read about all the reasons they would deny someone. No suicidal thoughts, not trying to be a super model, don't smoke, do drugs, or drink, no pychosis ect.... Well, apparently all that didn't matter. She asked why I wanted to lose weight and I said "To have more energy for my kids", in feed back she tells me this is a red flag because I will need to 'push through' my lack of energy to exercise in order to make this surgery successful. Well, I NEVER said I didn't push past it. I have 4 kids, I don't get to just lay around regardless of how much I want to.

She asked me if I had tried to lose weight before and I told her about how I've pretty much dieted for the last 18 years, losing some weight only to gain it back. She grilled me forever about why I gained it back, then she told me that if I lost it with diet before, I should be able to do it like that again. And also, that if I gained it back before, I would probably just screw up with the lap band and make it null and void. Pretty much I should just give up I guess. I wanted to cry so bad. She also said one of my 587 questions (that was all true/ false, no degree of inbetween) showed that I was showing signs of depression. I asked her for an example since I feel pretty darn happy, and she didn't know. She then ended the interview by grilling me on the date, day, name of the hospital we were in, what town we were in etc. I didn't know I looked THAT out of it.

I asked my husband how it went with him. I thought he would do worse since he hasn't REALLY tried dieting for more than a couple of meals here and there, and knows only what he does about the lap band because I've told him. Well, he did "just fine, no problems". She didn't even ask him what freaking day it was.

In the end she gave me the "green light" for surgery, but wants my husband to go to all my doctors appointments with me to take notes because I clearly can't take it all in by myself. :angry

Anyway, I just had to gripe. I didn't know it was going to be so horrible. Thank god that parts over with, one less hoop to jump through! Now I've just got 2 more (consultation and pre-surgery visit), and I'm good to go!

Thanks for listening!

It sounds like the psych evaluator needs to be evaluated. I'm so sorry you got such a run around but at least you got the approval and can check her off your list... forever!

Geez ,

Like you needed that headache with everything on your plate.

You are making the right decision.

I hope both of your journeys are as easy as mine was and is.

edie

wow, what a nut job. I'm glad you got the green light out of her anyway. Good luck with all of the other hoops!

My psych appointment is coming up; I know I should be worried but I am. What type of questions does a NORMAL doctor ask?

I think they normally just are making sure you don't have any major psychological issues. I've found several websites that tell you what they are suppose to look for, here's a good website:

OAC ­ Obesity Action Coalition - Psychological Evaluations

This is a good one too, it tells what will make them exclude someone:

http://www.move.va.gov/download/Resources/BariatricSurgery/NCPRecsforPreOpPsychEvalforwebposting706.pdf

I think it shouldn't be so bad if your psychologist isn't crazy herself. I guess in the end, as long as they pass us that's all that matters. I was really honest in everything, and I think (in most circumstances) it's better that way.

wow she sounds like a nut. if it makes you feel any better during my eval i was asked what hospital, what city, what year etc. The shrink told me that at my particulat hospital that has to be asked of every patient. Goodluck with your band and forget that psycho!

Wow sounds like a nut I think she needs to be red flagged. Glad to see she at least approved you. When I had my evaluation I was in and out in less then 15 minutes. I tool longer in the waiting room. I actually had the girl behind the counter answer my questionnaire lol. When I was in the room he asked me a couple questions and then I told him that I don't really believe in psychiatrists. He said ok and then finished lol.

I would advise filing a complaint with whatever board regulates liscensing these so-called doctors. I'd also advise letting your surgeon know what a nightmare she was. Our psych doc was a gentleman with me, but was cursing like a sailor with my husband. THEN led him to believe all was well and good, and THEN sent the report to our surgeon stating Jon needed follow-up! When we reported his irratic behavior to our surgeon (He wore GREY SWEATS and had his TWO border collies in the office with him) and told him about the swearing, our surgeon wrote him a letter telling him that his office would no longer be recommending him to their patiens.

Sorry it was such a nightmare for you. Thankfully it's over and you're on your way to a healthier happier you!!!! Congratz for suriving this most grulling step in the process!

I would advise filing a complaint with whatever board regulates liscensing these so-called doctors. I'd also advise letting your surgeon know what a nightmare she was.

This is exactly what I plan to do. I only went to her because she is the only one in my town that's recommended by my surgery center. I wonder if they would keep recommending her if they knew how she was. My husband said she even briefly tried to talk him out of going where we are going because she said there is a place that does it closer and wanted to know what our motivation was to do it in another town instead. (My motivation is that the closer place primarily does RNY and I don't want to have them trying to talk me into that instead). Also, she herself is the directer of a weight loss program through the hospital that's entirely diet and exercise related. I think she kind of resents the surgical weightloss methods. At any rate, she was not the best psychologist to do this sort of evaluation.

I am a little scared that even though she said she'd give me the go ahead for surgery, that she'll tell the surgeon something else. She seems pretty out there and unstable. There was alot more to her craziness, but I edited for content since my post was pretty long as it was.:phanvan

Thanks for all the well wishes!

Well, for what it's worth.. my psychological exam included 'What would Laura now tell 13 year old Laura?'.. Try being prepared to avoid all the stupid answers like suicidal, depressed, etc... and then something like that. I guess I did good coming up with a sane answer for an insane question, since they let me get the band!

I'm glad she approved you despite being a nut, and now you're on your way

Wow, my psych eval was pretty easy, I actually liked the lady I saw, and would even consider seeing her if I begin having issues as I lose weight. I've never been in therapy, and never care to be, BUT, if I really felt like it would help to talk to someone, I found it really easy to talk to her, and she had a super comfy office with cushy leather chairs, love seat, and couch.... I had a really good experience, it took about an hour, no stupid questionnaire, we just talked.

I'm so sorry you had such a sucky eval. She sounds like a kook.

after you get your band file a formal compaint with whomever she works for lol

I would definitely let the doctor know about her behavior, and that she is affiliated with a wt loss program in another hospital. Her opinion is clouded concerning WLS since this is the case. That cloudy judgement is definitely portrayed with the personal attacks on you in saying that you can just lose wt again with dieting.....the only reason she's there is to make sure you're not doing this to compensate for something else that's not going to improve with this type of surgery. Anyway, that's my soapbox. I'm glad you got through that without losing hope and patience. Don't let one quack end your journey. Good luck.