WLS is NOT for everyone.

These people were not personal  friends - they were  people that I sought out who actually had  WLS to get their views, personal experiences, insight and any advice.   Like I said, I tried to research all I could before my surgery.  For instance, as a result of my research, and considering the fact that I had had 5 heart attacks, a stent, and a pacemaker, I decided to have my surgery at Vanderbilt, even though I live 2 hours away in north Alabama.  Why? Because not only do they have excellent bariatric surgeons, support staff, and aftercare program for life, but they also had excellent cardio teams right there if I needed them.  Yeah, I know, the mortality rates for WLS are really so low that the odds are really good and almost nothing to even worry about - unless you happen to become part of the 1% who die. 

My intent is not to try and convince anyone of anything, or to try and make someone give up on anything, or to even change one's opinion.  The point is that perhaps, in some cases, there is simply not enough emphasis placed on the psychological aspect of  WLS, both by the bariatric community and by the patients so desperately seeking approval to have the surgery.   In the case of the lady who had all the psychological problems after her surgery, including thoughts of suicide, it appeared to me that the psychologist should have seen some "red flags" or something.  While I can't say for sure, it seemed that perhaps the psychologist in her case was not thorough enough. But I can tell you one thing - I was sure thankful that she shared this with me because it really made me take the psychological aspect more serious.  After hearing her experience, I didn't want the psychologist to just rubber stamp "Approved" on my test. If I did have personality traits or tendacies that could lead to psychological issues after surgery, I wanted to know it beforehand. 

As I stated, WLS has been a wonderful tool for most of us. But for some, it has not been what they anticipated and actually created other problems.

Hey Bob,

I hear what you are saying and I could not agree more… But here lies the problem.  The market is flooded with a bunch of quacks.  Sorry to say that but it is true.  I have had unfortunate experiences with a few of em myself.  I would leave the session thinking that the person I just talked to was loonier than me. Their first priority was getting my money then after that was squared away I had to spend the whole session listening to them tell me their problems.  Swear to God…  I left there wanting to jump off a bridge… 

I personally hold no faith what so ever in the psychological exam required.  The original design behind that requirement was to establish if the WLS candidate was competent and able to comprehend what they were about to electively surgically do to their bodies not rather or not they were border line whackos that for sure once they lost 200 lbs they were gonna go postal…  Just was never the original intent. 

We could sit here and wish all day long that each of us had adequate counseling and fixed all our emotional problems before we went under the knife, but that is a fantasy cause sometimes those things just can’t be fixed.  If each and every WLS candidate had to pass a psycho exam given by a psycho examiner… Then there would be no WLS centers cause no one and I repeat, no one would ever qualify…