I was approved but the psychologist wants to wait for 3 months before submitting it to the insurance company for approval. In the meantime he wants me to lose weight which I have already done. I lost ten pounds since the seminar. He wants me to work on diet and exercise which I must be doing if I lost weight already. He also wants me to get on a regular sleep schedule of 6-8 hours a night. I can sleep that much I choose not to because I always have a headache if I sleep more than 6 hours. I get up several times a night to pee and I use a CPaP. If it comes off I wake up. I usually go back to sleep. He also wants me to keep attending my regular counseling appointments which I had planned to do to begin with. He wants a report of my progress in 3 months. I am thinking a progress on what? I go because I was suffering from depression because of my relationship that no longer exists because he left. I am fine with it. Things are much better now that he isn't here to hound me about stuff. The psychologist also wants me to attend support group meetings. I had planned on doing that anyway...however I have to wait till the one at the end of the month for the local one. Has anyone gotten the psychologist to change their mind about waiting before submitting it to insurance?

I have not had my psych evaluation yet but I can say that I have been seeing a psychologist and psychiatrist for the past 12 months and have been treated for my PTSD and severe depression. They seem to always want you to keep going and returning and have you evaluating no matter how good you're doing my psychologist I have to see every three or four weeks but my psychologist has moved me to seeing every six weeks. I don't think there's any change in the mind of the talking to them and trying to explain to them that it's a long drawn out process that the longer you wait the longer it takes for you to get it done 

I don't understand why the psychologist wants you to lose weight.  That seems like something outside of his realm of expertise.  And did you ask him why he wants you to sleep more hours if that gives you a headache?  It doesn't make sense that he would want you to have a headache.

I'd discuss these issues with him.

In addition, you can request your records from him now if you want, because you have a right to copies of your records, and you can send them to your surgeon or your insurance company or whomever you wish.  It is not necessary for him to actually submit them himself.

If you are seeing another counselor regularly, you can also submit a letter or copies of your records from that person saying you attend counseling appointments regularly and are doing fine.

The psychologist is part of the bariatric practice so the insurance specialist won't proceed without the psychologist saying he is on board right now. I slept 7 hours last night and I am sluggish as hell. I did message the insurance specialist and asked her if she can override the psychologist recommendations with a letter from my regular therapist.

That must be frustrating!

Have you asked him exactly why he wants to see you for three months prior to submitting it? I know you listed getting better sleep & losing weight, however you should ask him exactly what psychological issues you need to address before he will send it through. My psych evaluation was done the day of my seminar, and he submitted it that day, and I was approved for surgery the next day, so I didn't have that kind of experience to give you some guidance. However, if he's wanting to wait, he must have a good reason. Better for you to be 100% (or getting there!) than to rush him.

He doesn't want to see me. He wants me to see my regular therapist for three months. Other than me getting on a regular sleep schedule, counseling for eating right and exercise, I don't know. I sleep however long my body thinks I need to at that time. If I wake up and I'm still tired I go back to sleep if I am not tired I get up.....no matter the time.

Sort of off topic, but - do you have a specialist who handles your apnea treatment? Waking up with headaches and having to get up to pee multiple times a night are classic signs of untreated or inadequately treated sleep apnea. It could be that your prescribed pressure is way off. If your machine has data capabilities (not just hours used, but full data) and you don't know how to get the data off yourself, a sleep doctor's office would have the software to look at the data and tell you if it looks like your pressure needs to be changed. 

This is really important to check on, as having a bunch of untreated apnea events puts you at serious risk for stroke, heart attack, etc. 

Okay, butting out now. :) Best of luck with getting your procedure on track!

My PCP is the one who got me on it but no one has bothered to check my stats in over a year almost two years. I have my machine though Apria. I recently got new head gear a few months back....but that has been the only contact I've had with them.

I heard back from the psychologist today. He wants me to set up a diet, an exercise plan, and a sleep plan with my regular psychologist and follow it for three months then have that psychologist send him a report on my progress....and he won't budge from this. So I guess I am stuck with this plan as much as I don't like it. I feel it's a waste of time since I already have all this in place....and yes he knows I already have it in place.

Wow. He sounds like a NAZI.  First, I DID have to meet with the nut and follow a diet in the sense of learning to eat slower, smaller portions and chew my food more.  I did that for 3-6 months before surgery. but it was with the nut. I was a light weight, so they didnt want me to lose too much and then NOT have insurance pay for it.

I already was exercising.

My psych evaluation was a bit of talking to me, and taking a test in which it was revealed that I am distrustful of authority. Then we had to meet again to discuss the results and the psych cleared me for surgery but wrote a big workup to my surgeon that for me to have success, he needs to make me an "active participant" in teh process or I will distrust him. 

In other words, my psych eval was mainly for my surgeon and his staff to learn how to "get along with me" versus trying to find "something mentally wrong with me."

Sounds like your psych is: a) into a power trip b) like to generate re-occurring business or c) found something that either you or he is not telling us.

Also, I am annoyed that many in the medical community do NOT understand situational depression (i.e. when your love left you). You lost a relationship. You have a right to mourn it and feel upset.  It will pass.  But sometimes, they act like the depression is going to go on forever. Granted, sometimes it does. But other times it doesnt. People are different. They grow and change. And they also learn.  And sometimes, because they have learned, they dont fall into the same mental hell-holes that they fell in before.

I mean, that is the purpose of mental health isn't it?  To learn, understand, get better, and move on. See the potential problem reframed, recognize it is a potential problem, and avoid it.

Wow.