Mental Health meds & Gastric Bypass

[Jonah 38]

Hello,

I’m in the pre surgery stage and I have some very big concerns.

First some background. I have treatment resistant depression, which means the psychiatric medication works less or not at all for me. I have to take high doses to get any results at all. I’m disabled by my depression permanently as it can not be well controlled consistently. The only thing that has helped consistently was electroconvulsive therapy, which they no longer will do because of my weight causing breathing problems during the procedure.

My concern is that getting the surgery will make my depression even harder to treat because of malabsorption. I have kaiser so they don’t cover the sleeve or anything other than gastric bypass. I have a new psychiatrist that I’m meeting in a couple weeks but I have no idea if she will know anything about treating gastric bypass patients.

Has anyone here with mental health disorders had a gastric bypass? How did it effect your treatment? Did you have to change your medication?

Thank you for your time.

[Bastian 458]

1 hour ago, Jonah said:

Hello,

I’m in the pre surgery stage and I have some very big concerns.

First some background. I have treatment resistant depression, which means the psychiatric medication works less or not at all for me. I have to take high doses to get any results at all. I’m disabled by my depression permanently as it can not be well controlled consistently. The only thing that has helped consistently was electroconvulsive therapy, which they no longer will do because of my weight causing breathing problems during the procedure.

My concern is that getting the surgery will make my depression even harder to treat because of malabsorption. I have kaiser so they don’t cover the sleeve or anything other than gastric bypass. I have a new psychiatrist that I’m meeting in a couple weeks but I have no idea if she will know anything about treating gastric bypass patients.

Has anyone here with mental health disorders had a gastric bypass? How did it effect your treatment? Did you have to change your medication?

Thank you for your time.

Hi, I went 2 days without my Venlafaxine (Effexor) which has hideous withdrawal effects. So I was started back on them on day 3. They went down fine but due to surgical issues I wasn't keeping them down.

In hindsight I wish I had seen my dr and got the liquid version even if for just a weeks supply, so pls consider doing this if you can. Good luck

[gabybab 696]

I had the vsg, but can tell you that my depression has lifted some. I still feel depressed at times, but weightloss has definitely helped. I wish you all the best!

Edited September 3, 2019 by gabybab

[BoredCW 35]

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.

[Briswife15 890]

I've posted in the past about my experience with venlafaxine post RNY. I stopped absorbing it, and had to taper off while adding liquid prozac. Malabsorption of psych meds is one reason why my psychiatrist did not want me to do the surgery! I'm doing ok now, about 2 weeks post venlafaxine. Good luck on your journey.

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[CheerfulLoser 72]

Not sure if this helps, but I have Kaiser as well. In the orientation I attended, we were told that they do RNY most of the time, but they will talk about/consider other surgery types. May want to check to see if there’s more flexibility on surgery types with your Kaiser team.

[Bastian 458]

20 hours ago, Briswife15 said:

I've posted in the past about my experience with venlafaxine post RNY. I stopped absorbing it, and had to taper off while adding liquid prozac. Malabsorption of psych meds is one reason why my psychiatrist did not want me to do the surgery! I'm doing ok now, about 2 weeks post venlafaxine. Good luck on your journey.

Sent from my SM-N960U using BariatricPal mobile app

hey @Briswife15, how did you cope with the withdrawals? Mine were terrible I felt like I was trying to walk on the moon, I seem to be absorbing ok though as that horrible feeling has gone. Interestingly I had to come off Prozac to go on to Venlafaxine as I had been on them so long they just weren't helping anymore. Those few days in hospital were pretty hideous going cold turkey off them.

Unfortunately, surgical teams don't liaise with medical teams enough in these situations!

[Briswife15 890]

hey [mention=339061]Briswife15[/mention], how did you cope with the withdrawals? Mine were terrible I felt like I was trying to walk on the moon, I seem to be absorbing ok though as that horrible feeling has gone. Interestingly I had to come off Prozac to go on to Venlafaxine as I had been on them so long they just weren't helping anymore. Those few days in hospital were pretty hideous going cold turkey off them.
Unfortunately, surgical teams don't liaise with medical teams enough in these situations!

I won't sugarcoat it, withdrawal symptoms were horrible! I weaned off the venlafaxine very slowly while adding Prozac at the same time, but even so, I felt crappy. Then I got down to 37.5 mg venlafaxine once a day. Did that for 10 days, then went cold turkey. Felt tired, dizzy, brain zappy, etc. I made it, though! Of course, all was done under psychiatrist supervision!

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[Bastian 458]

18 hours ago, Briswife15 said:

I won't sugarcoat it, withdrawal symptoms were horrible! I weaned off the venlafaxine very slowly while adding Prozac at the same time, but even so, I felt crappy. Then I got down to 37.5 mg venlafaxine once a day. Did that for 10 days, then went cold turkey. Felt tired, dizzy, brain zappy, etc. I made it, though! Of course, all was done under psychiatrist supervision!

Sent from my SM-N960U using BariatricPal mobile app

oh bless you! Yeah those few days without mine were really gross, I felt like I was walking through treacle and like I wasn't in my body properly ugh. Luckily one of the nurses registered I hadn't been having it! Then because I had the volvulus (twisted bowel) nothing could get through anyway, so I spent a week taking the meds and forcing myself not to vomit as long as possible, I could sometimes manage 15 mins so would have absorbed a little bit, but the whole thing was a big mess, meds wise, surgery wise lol.

Well done on getting on to the fluoxetine, they worked fantastically for me for 9 years AND no hideous withdrawals if you have to for any unexpected reason

[ErinshayWV 20]

TMS treatments to get me off of my Pristiq, which I was taking at the highest dose allowed due to drug resistant major depression, of many years duration. We were concerned about malabsorption of my anti-depressant post RNY surgery. So, I was tapered off my Pristiq while taking my TMS treatments (Trans+Cranial Magnetic Stimulation), and after 6 weeks of therapy have had great results. I’m taking a medication to help with my anxiety, but the TMS only addresses the depression.

[Prestonandme 107]

After RNY, I had to switch from Extended Release medication to twice-a-day meds. They are working fine, no problems.