Psych eval ???

MollyBrown · February 24, 2008

Luvmy2dogs,

First, I love your name, I love my 2 dogs too. Two goldens....

The surgery so far.... Well, it has been the toughest thing I have ever done. Anyone who thinks this surgery is a cure-all, or the cheaters way out has absolutely no idea of what this surgery is about.

The lap-band is a way of life, and you need to work it every day. If you don't work it every day, you will not have the results of folks who lose 100+ pounds. To date, I have struggled to work the band every day. I am not going to lie, I am thrilled with a 30 lb weight loss, but a lot of the folks who were banded about the time I was have lost a LOT MORE than me. I have not been religious about physical activity/working out, and I have eaten things I shouldn't have. But, I am also sure that had I not had the band, I would probably be 10 pounds heavier than I was pre-op. I am determined to lose my 120 pounds. I will lose it slowly, which is okay because slow is as healthy as fast.

The things I have difficulty with: my Dr goes very slow with the fills. I have only had one on a 14cc band and I literally have little to no restriction. The good part of this is that it makes me have to do some of the work, it isn't all the band. My life resembles a more "normal" life in regards to food. This will change as my fills come. Next, I need to be better about Water. You really need to focus on getting lots of Water in between meals and not during. This has been difficult for me because I am a water hound and I really want to drink when I eat. Next, small bites and chew it a lot. At first I was very good with this. I have slackened in this area and as another fill lumes in my future, I really need to focus on this. When we were doing a good job at this, putting the fork down in between bites was really helpful too. Social eating is SUPER difficult. At the risk of sounding braggy, I am an excellent cook and our house is the hub of our family. I am always cooking for a lot of people and it is hard not to indulge in baby back pork ribs cooked to perfection, or the other dinners and appetizers I make. My husband and I also love wine which we have at social gatherings.

The hardest things for me are exercise and social eating. I really need to get consistent with exercise. I have used every excuse in the book to not do it, some valid (injured knee and ankle), some invalid (to tired from work). I need some one to kick me in the butt...

fletcher97701 · April 12, 2008

So I had my pysch eval and I am so nervous!!! I see a counselor on a regular basic as I am bi-polar was diagnosed when I was five and have had my whole life to figure out how to control it! I am on meds and steady and my life is amazing. I am in a very good relationship he is so supportive of my surgery and I have never been in a better place mentally and I am ready to get healthy physically. So my appointment was 2 1/2 hours of that was 1 1/2 hours of strange tests replacing number sequences, and I felt like I was in school again. So the doctor left while I was taking my tests and ran errands, weird I thought. On my test he had written things about me which were good, said I was intelligent and well spoken, then wrote euphoric with a ? mark and that I talk to fast. So when you are bi-polar you can be manic and have bursts of energy that lead to a crash, and I am afraid that is what he thought. I was nervous to have some one evaulating me and having the power to say you are not ready for this surgery! I am so stressed out and one more thing to freak out about!!! Did everyone pass there eval?

gainesvillegirl · April 13, 2008

I was banded on 02/05/08. Had my psych eval about a month prior to that. It was no big deal. Had to pay for it myself because insurance would not cover ($180).

I am a psychotherapist myself, so I wasn't too concerned about the whole thing. It was a 60 min. clinical interview (you know, talking!) and a 15 min. pen and paper multiple choice test. The test did ask a lot of questions that I knew were there to rule out delusional thinking, suicidal ideation, and unrealistic expectations. There were also some questions in there that I perceived to be of value for the M.D. doing the surgery, such as how much information you want about your condition, how well you follow medical advice, etc.

It was not a big deal.

Fanny Adams · April 13, 2008

I was fully self-pay and didn't get asked to do a psych eval. I kinda regret that as I think it might have been interesting to see what came out at that!

MollyBrown · April 13, 2008

Did you ask if they were going to recommend you for the surgery, prior to your leaving the eval? It is okay for you to ask, and they should tell you exactly what they are going to put in the eval recommendation to the insurance company.

So some advice to anyone getting a psych eval, ask the doctor/counselor before you leave the room, whether or not they will be recommending you for the surgery. You are the patient, and in most cases you are paying the bill, therefore they are required to answer your question.

pennyt · April 13, 2008

When I did my psych-eval, I was given the 50 million (that's what if felt like) MMPI assessment, as well as a smaller one that "only" had about 200 questions.

The psychologist requested that I come back for a second appointment so that she could go over the test results, as that is her usual custom. She said that she has just seen so many people stress over what the assessments show, that she likes to let everyone know exactly what the results are, good or bad.

That second visit, was just to go over the test results. There were absolutely no surprises, no trick questions.

Everything she told me was exactly accurate. The assessments showed that I tend to be the nurturer, taking care of others, and giving, giving, giving. She said I needed to take the time to care more for myself, and put my own needs before others at times. It was like, "yes, yes, right, that's true, yeah, right" for everything she said that the assessment showed.

So, as long as you're honest on the assessment tools, you shouldn't be surprised with what the assessment shows. It's not meant to trick you, or to find some hidden mental illness, or to completely exclude you from the surgery. It's meant to help you in this process.