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Hi my name is Dan. Apologies if I'm breaking any etiquette here but my wife is considering Gastric Sleeve surgery and I have some concerns / questions on her behalf. My wife has struggled with depression and her weight for 10 years + and there have been a number of tradegys in her family including the death of her mother last year from cancer who she was extremely close to. She is currently on the maximum dose of Sertraline (200mg) plus thyroxine and 50mg Amitriptyline for sinus pain. Recently her depression worsened again but the thought of having the surgery done finally is giving her a boost. One of her close friends who suffers from depression and self harming, had a sleeve procedure in March and so far and it's been a huge success. She is like a different person mentally and physically. We also know of another lady who had a sleeve and it's also been a great success. So we're both very keen to go ahead with the surgery but I have heard there is a risk of depression worsening in the short to mid term and there can be issues with malabsorption of medications and estrogen release when losing weight quickly. I'd be very interested to hear of your experiences, particularly if you suffered from depression before the sleeve surgery and were taking antidepressant/s (especially Sertraline) and / or thyroid medication before and afterwards. We'll also be trying to book an appointment with a psychiatrist before she makes a final decision. Many thanks in advance for your help. I'll also share your responses with my wife.

Thanks so much for your responses and kind words. It is really helpful to hear your first hand experiences! It's reassuring to hear malabsorption issues are not so common with the sleeve and that whilst post operation depression is common it usually passes fairly quickly. We also spoke in depth tonight with our friend who had the sleeve operation in March, and this has helped a lot too. My wife has a consultation with a surgeon from Healthier Weight tomorrow. I think we are very close to deciding the Sleeve is the right thing to do but we'll also see a psychiatrist and make sure my wife and I are prepared as best we can be for this major change.