PLEASE help me scare the CRAP out of a DSer who is not taking her vites!!

This is a second hand story...when I signed the consent form for my surgery, it included a liver biopsy.  Not that I cared, but I was curious so I asked why.  The surgeon said, well, it might come in useful later on...well, it actually only was useful once but maybe that was enough to make it worthwhile.  Then he told me he had a patient who never came back even once after the DS.  The office tried to contact him, but no response, couldn't get a hold of him.  Finally, 6 years later, the surgeon gets a form from another doctor regarding history as the patient needs a liver transplant.  Turns out that the totally non-compliant patient was so malnourished that his belly was sticking out like a starving person and having all kinds of problems.  They compared the liver biopsy from the surgery - when he was healthy - and a current biopsy and they were exactly the same.  It had nothing to do with his liver at all.  Unfortunately I don't know anything else about this person...although it was implied that he got back on the program and did better.  I doubt you can come back from that level of malnutrition without some permanent damage though.

It is so difficult when you are depressed to do the right things for your health.  My heart aches for your friend.  Maybe she has someone close to her who can be an advocate and help her get those meds in until the depression is lifted.  Maybe someone can fill up a 2 week pill box for her and get her going.  I understand what it is like to not care if you live or die and in that state you need some help!  I pray she will find the help she needs.

I would suggest discussing in-patient therapy with her doctor that includes a strict vitamin regime along with the psych treatments. 

I'm often told I'm too full of sunshine and rainbows -- but self-sabotaging folks are where I draw the line.  This lady needs a swift kick in the ASS more than expressions of support, Nicolle.  For goodness sake we all KNOW (or should!) what's required of us post-op.  A person in the frame of mind you explain will shrug off all the horror if they know of one instance where someone 'got away' with the behavior. 

Ms Lurker -- I say this with much love in my heart for you -- get your **** together and take your daggone vits/sups, drink your fluids and eat your protein.  If you can't do those things go see your surgeon and inquire about a revision.

Deb

 You can't talk someone out of suicide if they really want to go there. I am thinking about that this week since my cousin killed himself after a horrible summer of divorce, job loss and DUIs. Just didn't see himself as worthy of the love people attempted to give him. 

On some level, she's neglecting herself and that's a sign of mental illness. No message board response, no comment, no story, no yelling.... none will make a difference. Even if it scares her straight for a few weeks, the fundamental problem--neglect of self--will come back. The DS just gives her a quicker way to effortlessly ruin her health and perhaps even kill herself.  Less painful than a gun, less frightening than the razor blade, less nauseating than the carbon monoxide in the car, less difficult than hanging, less expensive than the pills.... just lose one organ at a time....

the eyes to vitamin A deficiency
the mind/intelligence to vitamin B deficiency
the bones to vitamin D deficiency
the bones to calcium deficiency
the skin to  zinc and vitamin A deficiency
the nerves/seizures to riboflavin
....
There's more harm she can do to herself, but I don't think it matters to her. If she was able to find the DS in the first place, it is not a mater of knowledge. It's a matter of self loathing, and that's deeper than any message board is going to solve. 

I'm alarmed that she is seeking your scare stories. This is essentially a plea for you to demonstrate that you care about her, even if she doesn't care about herself.  There is much more wrong here than not taking vitamins.

Rather than give her scare stories, tell her that you cannot help her unless she pursues the mental health care she clearly needs. If she doesn't do that, I think you have no choice but to contact her surgeon's office and confide in them. If nothing else, maybe they'll fire the psychologist who let her get over the hurdle that is supposed to prevent people like this from getting the DS. 

Not that she gives a damn, but she is ruining it for the next generation of DSers. It only takes a few patients like this to make surgeons hesitate to do such a life-changing surgery. 

Well, I dont know what it did for her but Im shaking in my boots! :)

And I havent even had to take one vitamin yet (due to not having surgery yet).

This is the scariest thing I can think of.

Without vitamins, not taking care of yourself, you will die a very painful rather slow death.

And it is totally preventable.

Please take care of yourself.

Thank you all for your stories.  I am totally rethinking this whole thing.  I mean of course I love myself that is why I sought this surgery.  But going crazy is a whole other thing.


Amanda

Amanda, the DS does not cause a person to go crazy.  Please tell me you do realize this.  Nicolle's friend almost certainly had a previous history of depression.  The only thing the DS has to do with this person's story is that she is using it to kill herself. 

Maria, I think maybe Amanda is referring to the story Dina posted about the girl who apparently went bonkers due to vitamin deficiencies post-DS. 

Even so, the DS does not cause you to go crazy, and that story was quite the extreme.

 Well, if that scares you don't even THINK abut the RnY.
cme.medscape.com/viewarticle/520701

EVERY wls has its potential problems.  OUR problems can mostly be prevented by having routine lab work, informed doctors and by our complying with strict adherence to supplement routine.  If you know that you can't do that, then you are right, this--or the RnY, because even though most RnY patients are not told about the Vitamin B problem--is not  the right surgery for you.  And then, with the band or the sleeve, you have all the mechanisms in place to process the vitamins and nutrients...but you cant eat enough.  So you face similar problems there, but based on not eating stuff rather than not absorbing stuff.

Sue