Hi everyone, I am new to the boards after lingering awhile back when I was first considering wls

At that time (a couple years ago) after going to the consultation & beginning to start the process, I changed my mind but now after getting married, having my son, etc. I think it might be a better time to do it now anyways, & after several more attempts at several different diets ..again, I need a solution to the constant struggle with my weight.

Fyi, I am 35yrs old, 5'4 & weigh 200 pounds...it may seem less overweight than some people getting wls and I feel like I might hide some of it well (from what I am told) but in the end I am miserable, depressed and discouraged constantly about my weight :-( everything else in my life has been finally great for 3 years now but I still have this void that being overweight and unhappy with myself causes, it affects everything in my life, it consumes me everyday when I constantly start different diets only to fail, & feel horrible and beat myself up everytime I get off track. It puts a strain on my relationship even though it's a great one, I am still hard to deal with when I am always moody back n forth depending on how I am doing with the diet I am currently on :-/ and I get crabby when I am always hungry and feeling deprived when trying to limit my calories/carbs, etc.

I really feel that my weight problem started when my mental illness problem came out & after being put on bipolar meds 15 years ago..I gained weight from certain meds, then lost and gained again, had my first child, then have been overweight ever since with only a couple successful attempts to lose weight only to gain it back from not sticking to good eating habits & exercise plus I always went for a quick fix with diet pills mostly :-/

My concerns with wls are mostly my bipolar disorder, I am definitely an emotional eater, but I feel like my only emotion that causes overeating, binge eating, possible food addiction (especially after quitting smoking), etc. All of those are caused by my feelings about my weight and hating the way I look, I eat to comfort myself, feeling better only temporarily until I beat myself up about failing another diet and being depressed about my weight again.

It's a vicious cycle. But I Think WLS could be the answer finally.

I only worry about the mental part of it with the bipolar, I am stable after being on the right medication for years but there are still symptoms I deal with everyday. And I don't want those to interfere or cause me more distress, but I feel like the constant stress & discouragement I have been dealing with for 10+ years with my weight can't get any worse..only better with wls as a solution/tool.

I want to lose weight like yesterday though lol.. I want to get skinny now & my impatience, always ruins any attempts too..but only because I keep failing, procrastinating, and prolonging losing the weight that way. Every event I want to lose weight for, stresses me out because it comes and goes without me losing weight, I feel stressed and depressed leading up to it..and vicious cycle again !

So, I am considering the lapband (several family members had success with it)..but I have been looking into the sleeve also, not sure which would be best for me until I talk to a Dr again, But I am worried the band might not be enough for me to lose/keep the weight off with my other problems?

I also don't have support from family, they think I am fine how I am, or should be able to lose weight with diet and exercise, etc.

And my husband is supportive in a way but he's fine with how I am and doesn't like my mood swings when I am dieting :-/

Any advice on all of that is appreciated, sorry for rambling..

I had to keep stopping and starting typing the post while my 7 month old needed me too lol

Thanks :-)

I no for me I had to be released by my psych in order for ins to approve mine. In fact I went in the wk of my last preop surgeon app and had a good calm talk with her and she said she would release and she did. She had to make sure I understand what all this entailed emotionally and mentally..and make sure I wasn't in depressed mode..

Yes I am hoping if it comes down to that I can get her to understand why this is a good choice for me, so far I have only told her by email/msging thru the medical center, she replied with "I only recommend weight loss surgery when needed for medical reasons) ..and then she suggested weight watchers and therapy..again.

I already started seeing a therapist today to start addressing the emotional eating, etc part of the problem..

But I feel like I need the lapband as a tool to not only help me lose the weight but to keep it off, it will give me no choice but to stick to a healthy diet, instead of me going back n forth from one diet to the next and the stress of constant failure and depression causing more emotional eating.

I am hoping it is the solution for me, without causing me more psychological problems.

I have bc/bs.. the office manager at the bariatric Dr I am using said she can help me avoid the 6 month diet requirement ..so hopefully any other hoops I gotta get thru won't be too difficult or take too long either.