BoredCW

EdenDesired, Thank you for sharing that. I considered ECT about a year ago. Does 15 rounds also include maintenance? Did it help you? If so how soon? Did you have to do the rounds one after another? Did they help immediately? How are you now?

I know this is old post, but it was brought back up by EdenDesired's reply. I thought I'd reply just in case someone else runs across this and has the same questions. I have bipolar type II. I've been diagnosed for over 20 years and have tried pretty much all drugs that was for BP/Depression or even thought to have a benefit for BP's. There was some cocktails that worked and would work for a good while. Other cocktails would make things worse. But such is the life of BP. I've had two bariatric surgeries. RNY in 2001. I lost 200 pounds and was stable for about 15 years. I gained it back due to what ever reason, divorce, having to take over the complete care of my father, depression/stress from work, etc... ya know Life. I had revision surgery on June 28th, 2019 from RNY to DS. I was able to go forward with this new surgery only because I had a Pdoc that knew about new drugs that are working now and was willing to work with me to adjust things till we got to the right recipe. There is one main new med, and then re-adding some oldie but goodies that i have tried in the past, but are working better with the one new med. It stabilized me more than usual. Didn't stop being depressed/manic, but it limited the cycles in a major way. As to what my Surgeon and Pdoc thought. Pdoc thought I was stable on the meds and had been for a year, so it was a good idea, but told me I should expect to adjust everything as I shrink. Surgeon didn't have an issue as long as I passed the Psych eval. As to the surgery and the meds, I took all my meds all the way up to the morning of the surgery. I was off of some of them while in the hospital, but as soon as I could swallow pills, I was released from the hospital and I was to continue my meds as normal. 1st surgery, they gave me liquid versions of the medication when I went home for a time. The liquid versions don't taste good. When I was having issues and the cocktail wasn't adjusted well, I looked into ECT and a bunch of other things. ECT was one of my choices if other things didn't work out. Have you considered Ketamine Treatments? It is being used for Resistant Depression and you don't need hospital stay for it. Its doing wonders for many. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/ketamine-for-major-depression-new-tool-new-questions-2019052216673 Be mindful though when finding a Doctor that provides the treatment. Several clinics are setup by non-psychiatric physicians. _kimga_ I hope you're doing well and you are able to move forward with the surgery. Any questions, feel free to ask.

Dr John Rabkin https://www.bariatric-surgery-source.com/advisorycouncil-rabkin.html

I had a central line. It was put in once I was out on the operating table. Had it in recovery for 4 days. They could provide meds and take blood from the same line. Saved my arms from being pricked all the time they wanted blood.

I’ve had the RNY 18 years ago and my depression improved with the weight loss. Some of the meds I was taking dropped off but I’ve been on other meds for decades. Recently had a revision to DS and my moods have been up even under extreme stress. I’m hoping that I will be able to decrease some of my meds as my body shrinks. The surgery is totally worth it. Ping if you have any questions.

Mine was a revision from RNY to DS. It took 9 hours.

This sounds like an awesome Christmas Present to yourself. #Fitfor50's I drink the Premier Protein Drinks. I can find them on Amazon and get them in 12 packs. For each little box I get 30 grams of Protein which makes the day start off well. Lately I've been trying not to become reliant on them and to drink those only when I don't get enough protein at the end of the day. But at the beginning its so much easier cause getting in your protein amount is hard!

I have sleep apnea for several years and have the study about 5 times. I've done a sleep study at home a couple of times. I didn't like the cables all attached and driving home along with the electronic device to record everything. 1st time it didn't get enough info as some of the probes came off my head. The last few studies I have done have been in the office. Didn't get much sleep as they come in to fix any probe that came undone, and wake you up and try a CPAP machine if you need it. They also woke me up and kicked me out as soon as they had enough info. Since I am post-op, I expect to have another study in the near future to be told I don't need the CPAP anymore.

I brought a robe (those gowns don't cover much), small cloth blade fan (the room didn't have good AC and I like air circulation. This can be found on Amazon), Slippers (they had the footie socks with anti slip, but I have really large feet and they barely fit), CPAP as instructed, Cell Phone Charger, Headphones (AirPods, they use the same charger as the phone).

I had one the day after my surgery in the hospital. Trying to gulp down that barium after the surgery was not fun. But it cleared me to graduate from liquids to mushy diet.

I am 8 weeks out from my surgery and lost 50 pounds since. I am going through my wardrobe and getting rid of everything that is too large on me now. I've already donated 50lbs of jeans, and now gone through my shirts. I am worried I will have to do this about three more times till my weight stabilizes. How many times did you refresh your wardrobe during the weight loss period?

I weigh my self every morning. Capture it in my phone for nice graphs.

Yup, even got gallbladder and appendix removed, an unknown hernia fixed that was identified in an office visit and a Liver biopsy. As they were under the hood, might as well take care of everything else that will probably go wrong or is in the area.

Similar process as GreenTealael. Only difference was that since my surgery was a revision, they offered a epidural and that was done in the operating room. They also asked if I would be ok with a direct line in my neck as it would make injections and taking blood easier later. I said yes to both. 9 hours later I was waking up feeling like I was hit by a semi truck minus the broken bones. After recovery where your pretty out of it and I can barely remember much from it other then a nice nurse that hit a button when I said I hurt. They rolled me up to my room where I took inventory. Besides the incision site, I had 3 drains, Feeding tube coming out of my abdomen. What I didn't expect was my right leg and left arm were sore if not in pain. This was due to how I was laid on the operating table. The nurses were nice about it and provided ice packs to help recover. Your Milage May Vary though as all surgeries are different. Good Luck!

Also isn't it nice to get back to food with textures? It was a highlight!

I had about 19 day stall after getting home. Then is started to drop off.. it was a start and stop as weight loss is, but it's been dropping off of me with some pauses once in a while.

I followed my brothers advice who has had surgeries to remove cancer (its what his treatment group suggested) and bought 2 boxes of 15 packages of Nestles Impact. The idea is to drink 3 drinks for 5 days pre-surgery (minus clear liquid day) and 5 days after surgery. Each drink had 21 grams of protein in them so it helped a bunch with getting protein in those 1st days at home. Didn't taste to bad, and I believe its what helped me heal the fastest after surgery. Tricks for clear liquid days that helped me, same thing as a colonoscopy, jello (although you can have the red jello with this clear diet), chicken/beef broth, tea, popsicles.

I am 7 weeks and 1 day post-op. I've lost 48 lbs and average about 6.8lbs a week. I have also been told tall men lose the weight faster. I had a revision from RNY to DS. Granted you need to be mindful that your situation will be completely different from ours. You will lose the weight at what your body is set to do. Just focus on learning to eat again and get those proteins. Hope this helps.

Hello all, Good luck on your surgeries. I am post-op almost 3 mo from a revision surgery from RNY to DS. I'm in San Jose. I look forward to read about all your success.