Depressed...any suggestions for how to stay on track?

I'm close to three months post-op and up until a week or two ago I was doing really well with my eating and vitamins. A couple of weeks ago I started getting depressed. I thought it was maybe just PMS but it didn't go away. On Friday it hit me like a wall.

I've struggled with depression my whole life and have been on meds for many years (which is part of the cause of my weight gain). The trouble is when I'm depressed I find it hard to get out of bed, make meals or even be around people. It seems to just sap the life out of me. I have two small kids and I always manage to keep it together when they are around but when I am on my own I fall apart.

I know how important protein and vitamins are. Please don't feel the need to reiterate it. I am still getting probably 60-80g of protein and taking about half of my vitamins. What I need is to know if anyone else has been through this and how they coped. I'm thinking of maybe just trying to get three protein shakes in a day (which will give me 75g) and my vitamins so I don't have to worry as much about the rest. I'm not sleeping well so the tired/emotional hunger is pretty bad but I guess I will just have to live with that.

Any (kind) advice would be appreciated.
 

Hi Jenny, I find it helps to have healthy snacks around and if you don't feel like cooking, how about some fast food.  You can have burgers without the bun and all you have to do is make it to the drive through.  This time of year you can get away with a coat and pajamas (I did it on Sunday to get my double sausage egg McMuffin w bacon - it's not always realistic to be fully dressed when getting breakfast!!  BTW that breakfast was 40g protein - I have an old stomach and can fit a lot in).

Also cooking can be OK if it's yummy as you go along (like with PB cookies or tiramisu - tasting the mix is half the fun).

I also cook stuff like what's in this link, ie it's all prepared even in a foil tray and you just have to set a timer to ring when it's ready to come out of the oven http://www.ocado.com/webshop/product/Easy-to-Cook-Chicken-Le ek--Wensleydale-Fillets-Waitrose/49084011?from=search&tags=% 7C20000¶m=easy+cook+chicken%7Cy&parentContainer=SEARCHea sy+cook+chick_SHELFVIEW

The lazy way is always best for me as I know myself well enough to know that the ambitious stuff doesn't happen when it actually comes to doing it.

Depression is a treatable disease, so please get help.  Post op living is much more fun and productive without such a wet blanket hanging over your head.

Hi jenny, I too suffer from depression and it effects me the same as you.  No energy, I don't want to get off my couch, rarely cook for myself and find it hard to even make myself shower at times.  I am being treated and am on medication too.  The medication helps to some degree but not completely. I do not like to be around other people, and spend most of my time watching tv or should I say looking at it and not paying attention.  Try to keep a bottled water where you spend most of your time and your vitamins and pills in a pill container that has divided areas for morning, lunch, evening and bedtime.   If you need to set your watch or cell phone to ring to remind you to take your vitamins, this helps me I rarely miss now.  If you drink coffee try adding an unflavored protein powder to it.  HANG IN THERE, It will eventually ease off and you will smile again.  Hug your kids, and force a smile or two.  Hope you feel better soon.  Barb

Thanks so much for your kind words. It's nice to know I am not alone. I have been and am being actively treated by a psychiatrist. However, like you, sometimes I have break-through episodes of depression despite the host of medications I am on. This isn't a matter of getting treatment, this is a matter of weathering it out and finding the best way of doing so with my new DS. I've been down this road so many times that I know it ends. It just sucks while I am here.

Another component to depression may be hormone imbalance. I don't know if anyone told you about the extreme hormone swings that you will likely experience post-op but they can be debilitating to me at times. Hormones are stored in fat and when there is rapid weight loss the hormones get dumped with the fat. I have had severe mood swings that are helped with Celexa and lots of prayer. If things get really crazy I have a few close friends I can call and I try and head to our local support group at my surgeon's office. You can always come on here and vent as well.

Have you talked with your psych doctor about your meds?  If they are extended release you may not be absorbing them because of your DS.  When my meds were changed from extended to regular everything got better in about 3 days.

Yup, my depression came back really ugly at 6 months post op.  Get your drugs tweaked.  It's the weight loss releasing hormones.  Or it was for me.  It gets better.  I am now off anti-depressants and excellent at 3+ years post op. 

Also, your protein intake is DIRECTLY tied to your depression.  You will feel like Mighty Mouse when you get in 120 gm of protein a day.  Drink your protein.  Plug your nose if you have to.  This is life or death, it's not optional. 

Dehydration also will make depression much worse. 

Another condition that masquerades as depression is LOW IRON.  Get your labs done and eyeball your entire iron picture, including hemoglobin, hematocrit, ferritin, total iron binding capacity, and iron level.  See a hematologist if you have to.  I just finished my first set of 6 infusions and it's made a life altering difference in my moods.

I know all these things from personal experience.  Listen to me.  I am 52 years old.

Hi,

Just this week I started back on the anti-depressant medicine that I had been taking for years before the surgery. I have similar feelings to you... not wanting to get out of bed, wanting to avoid people, trying to avoid work. I have been trying to make sure I drink more protein drinks especially on days that I am not willing to go out to get food. I don't really cook. The ones I drink have ~27g so if I drink two per day that is pretty good. I am still waiting on my Julian Bakery delivery but they have bread that has 16g of protein so I am hoping I will like that and it will be another easy way to get in my protein. I know I am so sick of tuna, chicken and eggs it gets hard to stomach them at all. I go to McDonalds, Starbucks, etc... and pick high protein options. For breakfast this morning at Starbucks I got coffee and their protein plate. It is not ideal but it is protein at least. Just do what you can and drink fluids and protein drinks. Hopefully this period will pass for you.

Best of luck, Terri