In the process of having surgery near future

[amenius321]

Hi I am new to the forums. I am female, 51 years of age. I am thinking about having bariatric bypass surgery. I am doing to support groups to get further information on the surgery. I have a seminar to go to on the 25th given by the surgical team. I will get more information from the seminar. I wonder if anyone has psychiatric illness and is taking medications for it. I wonder how the liquid diet would work with my medications. I don't want to end up depressed and/or manic during the different phases of getting back to eating regular foods. I would appreciate any feedback on this.

Thanks
amenius321

 

[TwoMas]

Hi Amenius, Welcome. I have chatted with someone on this forum that has bipolar, I think that what it was, and was able to maintain taking their medications. When you go to the seminar make sure to ask the question and be spacific, you can always ask the facilitator after the seminar if you don't want to make it public. I am not sure how to find out which facility is best when you have more than one to choose from, there is only one in my area, fortunatly they are very good. My guess though would be to find out how many they have prefomed, do they have an informtive nutriotion program that helps with meal plans and nutrition and do they have a good post op program that provides for plenty of follow ups and an annual visit that tracks progress and helps with any set backs. I have been very happy with my whole medical team both pre and post op. Good luck on your search and let us know what you decide. Tom

 

[lee0412]

This site should be a good resource for any info but check with all your drs and i mean all. In wa this process included a physchology assessment and they recommend what they think should happen. Just be sure you get a copy of the resuilts of this exam i.e. if they recommend 4-5 more visits this will be reguired..p..lus any other tests etc. The process will help you decide if you want this...elaine

 

[robergnm]

I take meds for chronic low grade depression & have for yrs; I tend to rapid cycle when I get depressed so I'm taking generic lamictil for it. I haven't had anyone tell me they foresee any problems. Granted the weight is part of the depression but the issues with food are the weight problem. I've been informed that I will receive a "pill crusher" to be able to take my meds initially when I won't be able to swallow them.

My goal is to if nothing else; lower the dosage(s) on my meds. I have a high level of confidence that I will be able to stop taking the meds for my hiatal hernia & GERD as well as the cholestrol medication I just started taking a couple of months ago.

The program I'm in doesn't allow liquid diets or protein shakes, etc.; the reasoning is that we will need to eat food for the rest of our lives & need to do so now, too. I was taking some but stopped after my visit with the program's dietician; the way she explained it & then during the orientation (a little backwards) made perfect sense to me.

I've been vigilent taking my meds & taking them at a set time each day; I've set 2 alarms on my cell phone, one for am & one for pm. I can honestly say that eating healthyfood, while a little more prep & time consuming & taking my meds consistently has really helped me keep my depression in check & I haven't felt any episodes of rapid cycling with the exception of the day I had my upper GI series; at this point I was not taking the meds consistently or eating preop diet yet.

Just shy of 2 weeks ago I dislocated my right shouler; this has made things more difficult but this surgery is for my long term health & as long as I follow MD orders, wear the sling & start the PT after my surg on 6-6-12 I think things should go very well.

Ask lots of questions; you certainly can't be alone with this - hope this helped some. Mary - Milwaukee WI

 

[NanaG67]

Mary, I'm curious if you can't have liquids now before surgery, or protein shakes, will they have you on liquids and protein shakes after surgery? You're stomach will be very sensitive after surgery and needs time to heal before jumping into regular foods.

 

[amenius321]

I thank everyone for your suggestions and support. I am in touch with my psychiatrist and she is following me. I have seen a therapist for the past 11 years and she is a good support for me. I hope when I lose the weight that I can get off some of the medications that I am taking. I am on 9 pills for different illnesses. I went to the information group that had Friday. I learned a lot from it. I am about to make the orientation group in twp weeks. This is where I make the doctors appointment and I will find out more then.