Revision Surgery with new Depression! Help? Electroconvulsive Therapy

[_kimGA_ 0]

Hi all!

I am currently deciding to moving forward with gastric revision option. I had the sleeve originally. I was 287 lbs the day of my surgery My lowest weight was 130 and im back up to 185. I had a lifestyle, I chose exercise over food to cope. I was strong and I was so happy. Then it all changed!!!!

I was diagnosed as bipolar and throughout the ‘learning’ curves of depression & the medication (which is known for weight gain) i lost my way health and nutrition wise. My depression consumed me and my I was taking meds notorious for weight loss. This along with my first detrimental ‘episode’ led to old bad habit. I see a psychiatrist monthly & psychologist weekly. Ive tried everything to loose weight but nothing worked. So now I want to know about some of your experiences! I am only 28 years old I want to run up the stairs without exhaustion, I’m getting married in the near future, I want kids. I want my lifestyle back I want to be a role model. I want to take my life back , a second chance, and live a happy life.

I’ve searched everywhere but I haven’t found any information regarding treatment Resistant Depression & the ECT therapy.

•Is it possible to do electroconvulsive therapy & surgery??? Has you done ECT AFTER surgery? / BEFORE surgery?

•Has anyone had experience or success as a bipolar candidate? /// What did your surgeon think or say in the matter?

•Has anyone had electroconvulsive therapy ( ECT) and Bariatric surgery??

Edited May 3, 2019 by _GAgirl_
New question

[EdenDesired 1]

I had 15 rounds of ects

[BoredCW 35]

On 5/3/2019 at 3:31 PM, _kimGA_ said:

I’ve searched everywhere but I haven’t found any information regarding treatment Resistant Depression & the ECT therapy.

•Is it possible to do electroconvulsive therapy & surgery??? Has you done ECT AFTER surgery? / BEFORE surgery?

•Has anyone had experience or success as a bipolar candidate? /// What did your surgeon think or say in the matter?

•Has anyone had electroconvulsive therapy ( ECT) and Bariatric surgery??

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.

[BoredCW 35]

3 hours ago, EdenDesired said:

I had 15 rounds of ects

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?

[Jonah 38]

I did about nine months of ECT for treatment resistant depression. I don’t think it is hyperbole to say it saved my life. I started feeling the effects after the first couple weeks. I started going 2 times a week and moved further and further apart as I got better. I was supposed to move into monthly treatment but I had to stop because the anesthesiologists had a hard time keeping my oxygen up during the procedure due to being at my highest weight ever. Now they won’t let me do ECT until I lose about 100lb. This is part of my motivation for wls. I was okay for two years after I stopped treatment. My depression came back and nothing else seems to help. I may try trans-cranial magnetic stimulation since it can be done awake.

As for the downsides of ECT. You can’t drive for 24hrs and they recommend taking it easy for a day. I got pretty bad headaches right after for a day or so. I also had some memory loss, some temporary and some permanent.

It was worth it for me and I’d do it again.

I’m open to more questions if anyone has any. Just message me!