I have my psych eval tomorrow!

I am psyched that I'm having my psych eval tomorrow morning! LOL It will be one more thing I've completed and one step closer! I am not really worried because I think I am VERY ready and informed about what lies ahead but wouldn't mind a comment or piece of advice from you all. Thanks! Marianne C. Hudson, FL

Marianne- Just relax and be yourself. You will do fine. Just a little advice -- don't try to label yourself. More specifically be careful about using psychological jargon to describe yourself. A good example of what I am talking about is saying something like I am a binge eater or a food addict. Many times what one person will mean as a binge eater is someone who overeats (like thanksgiving and Christmas) and someone else will mean someone who eats massive quantities of food in secret and after some emotional trigger. Those are two entirely different scenarios. If the therapist starts throwing out terms like that ask them to describe what they mean before answering. This will keep everyone on the same page and there will be no misunderstandings. Red

....just be honest with your feelings.

Well it went very well. it was nothing like I expected. He seemed more interested in evaluating my cognative abilities than my emotional and psychiatric state. He had me doing simple math probles in my mind, asked me to try to remember some items he had mentioned earlier in our session, and asked me questions that would help him know that I understood the science and biological aspects of the surgery. He asked me what the stats are for morbidity.... I guess to be sure that I understood the reality of what I was doing. It seemed to me that he was looking to see if I was intelectually capable of making the decision to have this surgery. He also asked me questions that I COULD have lied about such as .. have I ever abused alchohol or drugs, was I happily married, do I have a good relationship with my children, did I have a happy childhood. He said that after our session his thoughts are that I am a good canditate for the surgery but that he requires patients to take a 2 hour written test. I will be doing the test in his office some time in the next month and then he will submit the report to my surgeons office. It's a pain to have to drive down there... a half hour drive on my day off BUT.... I'm sure it will be fine and it's just one of the hoops I need to jump through in order to have the surgery. I knew this going into it and am ready, willing and able. I do understand the need for all of the hoops so that makes it easier to tolerate. This journey is SUCH a loooong road. I can see though as I go along that it's good that it is a long road. I am learning a lot as I travel along the long road. -Marianne C. Hudson, FL

I had my eval almost two weeks ago. I kept my info to the Doctor at a minimal. Only gave him what he needed to hear to get my surgery approved. I had a test that was over 500 questions and everything turned out okay. I did this as im a self pay and cant afford to see this guy more than necessary as it cost me $500. My intention is to see someone thru my job where it will only cost me $20 a visit. I know I need to talk about my food issues but I knew this was not the Dr i needed to share my problems with. This is just how I went about it and I know some will disagree. I only am putting off somthing I plan to re-address at a later date with someone I can afford. Please be careful is all im saying ... I dont know how you are paying for things etc but this was my experience and thought you should see another side. The Doc I had to see was one of the ones my lapband surgery had on his list..thats why I saw him. The total cost to see all these specialist is $1,700 not including my upper gi and final consult coming up this month. Anyway, again just another side to the coin. Good luck with your journey.