Hello,

I'm just starting out. I have researched for a long time. I have my referral and paperwork in and am supposed to hear from the bariatric consultant the day after Christmas to schedule my First Consultation and my appointment with the Nutritionist. I'm having my surgery done in a city about 1 1/2 hours away and so I chose to use a Psychologist in my city. He called and I scheduled this for early January. They are still scheduling in January for the Consults so I'm hoping I can get in in at least early February if not he end of January. A new highly qualified Doctor is joining the Office so It just might happen.

My psychologist told me I will meet with him for a session and them fill out some tests and then he takes them an evaluates them and sends them on to my Surgeon.

What kind of questions are on the tests? Are there ones I have to careful about answering that will send up a red flag? I have a BMI of 40.8 and have no other health issues except plantar faciitis that I developed when I was pregnant with my first of two sons born in 2005 and 2006. I have orthodics the the PF.

I'm looking forward to the surgery and look forward to a long and healthy life with my husband and sons.

Thank you,

Brenda

I didn't take any tests. Don't worry about "fixing" a test, just be yourself.

I'm going in Jan 2nd for my 1st visit. I'm told they have a shrink and all "on site". I never thought about "the test", I know I'm not right in the head but thought I kept it pretty much undercover??? I too would be interested in "what their looking for" and are there "tricky" questions???:eek:

I think they are likely looking for obvious issues people have that would make them not great for WLS.

I have a friend that I swear to you, I think if she was banded I think she would do serious harm to herself. She will go to a restaurant and quite literally order "page two" of the menu. I have never seen someone put food away like she does. There is nothing on God's green earth that is going to stop her from eating. If she was banded she would eat/purge/eat/purge and continue until her pouch exploded. I'm seriously not exaggerating.

I don't even tell her about my band because I know she isn't ready to give up her quantity of food yet. I hope one day she is, but today she is so completely and totally dependent on food you just have no idea. I've never seen anything like it.

Very rarely does a PhD deny you for surgery. I only know of one person personally and the person had to jump through the doc's hoops before she would sign off on the surgery. Just happens to be that the doc offered every bloody weight loss gimmick on the market. Everything down to phone chats at $100/chat three times weekly. When my friend ran out of money and was going to give up on surgery then the psychologist decided she was cured enough to have a band.

I really don't think that is the norm, I think they just want to make sure you won't be like my friend that cannot and will not give up quantities of food. Some people really are not ready for WLS, they simply aren't. They can get surgery but it isn't going to work. So the bariatric docs cover their butts and make you jump through hoops.

My understanding is they are just looking to make sure you understand the banding process, and that you understand and are ready for the changes you will be making. The questions asked of me by the psych I went to were basically family history, medical history, he asked me to tell him a little about the procedure, and asked my reasons for wanting it. All very simple.

Now, I have read about some doing "testing", etc, but that wasnt my experience. Plus, I went to someone recommended by my lap band doc, and so he completely understood what he needed to do in terms of eval, and believe me, he didnt do any extra (and I dont mean that in a bad way!) My doctor even read the eval comments to me and also said "everyone passes", so I imagine you'd have to be fairly delusional about the procedure and expectations and not ready to tackle the changes to not pass. Now, that was just specific to my experience, I wouldnt be surprised if there are some bad experiences out there with the eval, and not passing, but I'd bet a lot of those would be down to the insurance company having "crazy" requirements etc.

I say don't stress, be honest, and knowledgeable and you should be fine!

Best of luck!

Tina

I agree with Tmarie. This was my experience and it was simply to make sure you are competent to make this decision in your life as well as if you have eating disorder issues. I took the psych 'exam' or questionaire dealy online and then met with their psychologist. I work in psych and like the above girls have said, you'd have to be seriously disturbed to cause them to deny you in that way.