psychological evaluation

HIYA, I am new hear and am very excited to get to know and here what people my age are going thru. I started my journey about 3 months ago to have the Lapband. I dont see many on here who post about lapband. I would love to here more from yall.  But on to the post. I have to have a psychological evaluation done before i go any further with this. I really don't know what to expect. I mean what types of things will they ask me. I have suffered from depression for many years so i hope that will not count against me. I just am a little freaked about it. Anyone have some advice or some insight they could give. Also I am not sure about the nutritional evaluation, i think i understand what will happen, but still kinda worried. Thanks so much for any tips you guys. Excited to be a part of this group. Nicole

HI!!! Welcome,  Im kinda new here too.   Well I had RNY so i dont know a lot about lap band,  but I myself did look into that option before i had my surgery.  I loved the fact that it was reversable,   but the long term statistics werent nearly as good for the band compared to the RNY.  Although i know a girl that had it and shes doing great so far,  but shes still only 1 yr out.   As far as nutritionally Im not sure what your specific restrictions would be compared to mine....sorry well the psychological eval worried me too,  I just dont like going to those people......  Mine was ok,  he just asked me if i understood the procedure,  what was going to happen,  what i was expected to do,  and asked me why I wanted to have the surgery in the first place.   The psychologist was kinda a jerk,  but other than that it was a breeze.   I had a bout of depression myself,  but it was due to a past relationship desolving....been fine since,    I do know that depression is a hard thing to have when having the surgery,    for awhile after surgery you could possibly have more a chance of going into a depression,   the life style change is huge, and it takes some getting use to. good luck. michelle,  williamsburg va start 245 current 169 goal 140

My psych eval was a JOKE... basically it was to see if I understood what I was getting myself into and if I was a competant enough person to make decisions.

Interesting to hear the variety of responses. My psych in my program has been very helpful. I have suffered from binge eating disorder since my teens and I did about 5 sessions with the psych to work through those issues. We didn't really talk about the surgery much, we talked just to make sure that I would be able to handle the process mentally and that I could handle stress without food. I thought my psych experience was really valuable.

Your story is similar to mine - I'm new here too. I'm scheduled to have the lapband on 3/27(very excited).  My psych eval was just this past Thursday and I was nervous about it too because I have been seeing a psychiatrist for the past year and a half for depression in addition to a therapist for lots of stuff including binge eating. They've both helped me get things under control and I had been discussing the surgery with my therapist for a couple of months, but hadn't mentioned it to my psychiatrist yet when I went for my eval. I told him I was there because I had decided to have lapband surgery and I needed his clearance. He was really good about it and didn't grill me at all. I think as long as your depression is being treated effectively and you are confident about your decision, it shouldn't be a problem. Two tips though - never say you think your life will be perfect after surgery, and don't be afraid to say that the way you look and feel about your body is part of the reason you want surgery. Medical reasons are important, but they know it improves body image and social factors too.   I also had to go to a nutrition class on Friday. That was no big deal. They explained what the stages of diet are after surgery - for lapband they said sugar free liquids and protein shakes for 3 weeks followed by a week of pureed food and protein shakes, then transitioning to solids slowly. They also discussed vitamin, fluid and protein requirements and what can happen if you don't follow what they recommend. My only advice is to not go in there acting as if you had no idea you'd have to change the way you eat - there were a couple of people in my class like that and it seemed like they hadn't given the surgery that much thought or research. I hope this helps and good luck! Suz