Therapy?

HaPpY HuMP DaY!!!

i haven't had surgery yet, don't have a date yet - i'm working on getting everything done for Insurance approval.

something i read on here when i started researching RNY was to get into therapy before surgery and figure out why i got this way. i started therapy and am going once a week. how many of you went to therapy before surgery and have you continued after your surgery to help you stay focused? did you find that it helped you. just curious.

thanks!

I was in therapy before my RNY for other stuff, not related to my WLS.  But I feel it helped.  A lot of emotions can arise when we can't eat for comfort or to deal with stress anymore.

I have been in therapy for almost a year before I felt I was ready to have WLS and I know it helped a lot!! It was really good to make me understand my relationship with food and what I can't repeat in order for this to work. I am certainly going back now, after the surgery, because there are a lot of emotions that are still there and I have to figure out a way to deal with them without over eating. And those things I just said, I would never have said that if I wasn't in therapy. 

One more thing, here in Brazil it is mandatory to have a psychiatry in your surgeon's team to oversee the hole process. 

I've been in therapy for eighteen years and don't really see an end in sight. It helped my get my psych approval. I was just told to continue seeing my therapist and psychiatrist.

I think it's a HUGE plus to be in therapy. If you can get someone who has any experience with WLS or with food issues in general, it would be great. There's a lot of What have I done? and Where do I go from here?

I have been on both sides of the "chair": in counseling for myself (primarily trauma focused, but the weight issues tied into that) and as a counselor for others who have weight problems with emotional/psychological contributors.  You will read over and over again that WLS doesn't change your brain, and it is true.  A lot of people who experience regain, or even who struggle a lot with their eating after the first few months post-op, find that the "demons" that contributed to their obesity in the first place rear their ugly heads again.  (Most people are so preoccupied with just trying to get their new routine down and get enough protein, water, and vitamins during the first couple of months (and their diet is so very limited) that the old cravings or behaviors seem to disappear.  Many people find that once they can eat a greater variety of foods and life starts to become a little more normal again, the "bad habits" come back.)

Counseling can not only help understand what contributed to the original weight gain, and help you work to address those things, but also help you identify and establish new, healthy coping skills that don't involve food, help you navigate what can be a very emotional rollercoaster ride during the first year (including relationship and body image issues), and help you set goals and/or make changes in other areas of your life.

Lora

I've been working with a Psychiatrist who I see at least once a month and started about 6 years ago (changed providers when I moved last summer though)...Mostly to deal with my GAD and Panic Disorder but the weight issues/food addiction have come up countless times too. Post op I've seen her twice and I feel it REALLY helps to let out my emotions and any food cravings that I find crop up (have never acted upon them, but having them is enough torment). The average person does not let themselves eat into oblivion and get to where we are needing this surgery, and there's frequently an addiction component involved. It's really important to join a support group, work with a therapist, go to overeaters anonymous, anything that will help you work through your emotions you will feel right after and for years to come. There's always the concern also that if you did have a food addiction that if you break that, it will transfer itself into a new addiction (ex: shopping, drinking, smoking, reckless behavior, gambling, etc). Surround yourself with as much support as humanly possible and always seek help if you find yourself wavering.

thanks everyone! your stories reinforced why it's so important to get therapy before AND after surgery. i've got 2 sessions under my belt and i've completed the psych eval. i plan to continue weekly therapy until who knows when. i don't want to end up here ever again.

thanks again!!!