Pre-op diet woes with EDs

[aiekpwld 0]

I hope this is okay for posting. Not exactly the topic or story I wanted to bring up in public, but hopefully some anonymity shall make it a tad less god awful.

I've had a long term eating disorder spanning decades. It's fluctuated in type over the years, but relapse has been more of a familiarity to me than recovery. I wouldn't say I've been in official recovery the past year, but negative and self destructive behaviours have diminished considerably compared to what they once were.

My surgeon was told up front of my eating disorder and issues there, as was the dietician during the consultation prior to pre-ad etc. I work with my GP, mental health professionals and I'm on the waiting list for an ED clinic program run by one of the universities. I feel these are all essential to any chance of successful and healthy progression with getting the surgery.

The problem is that with the surgery, getting the surgery date and it looming so very near, I haven't felt ready at all. It is a culmination of many things currently going on in my life, but the surgery is a significant contributor to stress. This has impacted my pre-op diet routine more than I expected.

First week there was no issue in sticking to the actual diet itself (no swaying to "banned" foods), but the issue was having to force myself to actually have the shakes and eat at all. This then flipped as the weekend came and I ended up having a rather unpleasant reunion with self destructive patterns I haven't seen in a long time (in this case, bingeing and purging). The past few days have been a chaotic back and forth between not eating at all, trying to get back on the right path, and those destructive habits.

I don't believe I have relapsed, but I do fear I am about to have one - this could be because I'm just generally stressed so I am anxious about anything potentially damning to my surgery going ahead (the cycle between this and the habits sparked by those fears and them actually impacting on that is prevalent to say the least).

I don't want to have my surgery date changed, I don't believe that will solve any issues in a positive way at all. I do though greatly worry about not getting a handle on my current actions and what that will do to the surgery. I truly don't want to screw that up, but rationality doesn't really factor into irrational behaviour.

I'm not very sure if I'm asking for advice, if there is any advice to give in this case. Perhaps it's that I just needed to vent some (to which I apologise). I will be seeing my GP this week and I will be bringing it up with her as priority.

I would like to know though, am I something of a loner in this situation, or have there been others who have had the conflict between dealing with WLS and a long term ED? I would be interested in other's experiences if there are any willing to share.

[CyclicalLoser 155]

I don't have what I would consider an eating disorder in the purest sense, so this advice is not from someone who has battled it. I can tell you that when I was going through the process, the psychologist wanted to know if I ever ate so much I purged. I explained there were times where I wanted to, but I didn't. She simply reasked the question, and when I said no I never actually purged, she was fine. I'm guessing they are concerned about self-destructive

I also would note that it is really dangerous to overeat yourself after any of the bariatric surgeries. I had the lap band before, and yes, I did eat way more than I should have, and I was one of the "lucky" ones, but other people had band slips, esophageal dilation, or band erosion. With this and the sleeve, I would presume staple line leaks would probably be the largest danger, but even the best case would probably be a stretching of the pouch or sleeve.

I have a friend who is an alcoholic. At least that is what he would say to you as soon as he introduced himself. He went through the AA program and hasn't had a drink for nearly 30 years. He explained to me that AA teaches "Once an alcoholic, always one". He was very concerned about transferring his coping method (food) back to that of alcohol. He went into the process very conscious of that, and thus far is doing very well with no problems.

So I'm not saying it can't be done, but I would definitely not have the surgery until you can satisfy yourself, and your psychologist that you have it under control. I don't know if they have Overeater's Anonymous (OA) in Australia, but if they do, you might be able to find some people that had ED and had bariatric surgery, and see what they say.

I'm mostly concerned about you causing physiological damage from even a single "binge" episode. I do say to take all of this with a grain of salt, I'm not that far out there myself.

I wish you the best and hope it works out best for your health. One of these days I really want to visit AU, the home of Holden, which brought us the modern Pontiac GTO and the Pontiac G8...I only wish we could have gotten the Holden "Ute" but that body style doesn't do very good over here.

[brightfaith 187]

Hi peachwoodandspring. I'm so sorry you're going through such a difficult time and have so much stress. It's good that you have reached out for support.

I will simply share my experience with a long-term binge eating disorder (from middle school to early 40s at varying intensities) and having had gastric bypass surgery in May. For me, it has been absolutely essential to coping successfully with surgery that I addressed the eating disorder prior to the surgery and spent the full 8 months before my surgery date making all of the changes I would need to live by following surgery, without engaging in eating disorder behaviors. I actually cannot imagine the difficulty of trying to actively manage an eating disorder while recovering from surgery and following the post-op eating plan. While my recovery from surgery has been very smooth, psychologically I have been up and down and am so grateful that I am not also dealing with binge eating disorder right now.

I worry for you if you are to move forward with the surgery after having so recently been binging and purging. You could experience very serious complications, And of course, you also may not get the results you are seeking with surgery. As painful as it may feel, I think it might be worth it in the long run to postpone until you are in a more stable place. I wish you the very best.

Edited August 7, 2018 by brightfaith
typo

[aiekpwld 0]

Thank you for your replies, they have been most appreciated.

I'll be discussing this further with my GP and psychs in depth in the next week or so, because for me I had gone from a good, long term run of stability and change (and was in optimal mental state to proceed) to where I am. Gaining their perspective on things from a professional capacity has its merits, and I'll be bringing up the points you both have brought up as well to get the clearest, most sensible outcome specific to my situation.

I'd be lying if I said it didn't feel a tad ironic to have done a total 180 so close to surgery, but whether this can be a wake up call to double down on approach, or if it means postponing for more intensive groundwork that is less likely to upend itself in real bad times, hopefully an outcome will be there that will minimise any potential risk (because one thing is certain, I do not want to risk my physical state for what my mental state is doing).

Thank you once again for the input. Will update asap.