Lap Band and antidepressants

I take Wellbutrin and I can swallow the pill whole. If you need to stay on the Wellbutrin you can get your Dr. to perscribe the regular release version and you can break or cru**** I'd be a wreck if I had to quit taking it. Hang in there sweetie! Paige

Hi Pat, I had been on zoloft for years. I am now on cymbalta as an anti depressant and a pain medication for my fibromyalgia.I am not great with taking pills so the zoloft was hard because if I missed a few days, I had to start all over it seemed. I am sure you know how hard it is to get adjusted to the right dose of meds. Your body is in a bit of a shock now without the two of them. I was on prozac, wellbutrin, and paxil all at once. My present Dr took them all away and sarted the cymbalta. The cymbalta is so good because after only two days you can feel it working. PLUS it is weight neuteral. Maybe you can see about getting this med from your Dr? It might help sonce you would not havde to go through the time of building up to your dose again. Just an idea Michele

okay, so I've never tried this for me but I thought it was worth mentioning; maybe an apothocary would be able to compound your meds for you into another form that's easier to take. I know about them because I used to have to get my dogs meds done that way because she took a med that was made for people and therefore was WAY too big of a dose in a single pill. They chopped it up and compounded it and then recapsulated it for me. I had one in the town I lived in- a hippie town, and there were a lot of people who went there to have their doses compounded so that they could take many doses a day to equal the correct dosage per day instead of taking one big dose a day. I think I remember someone in there getting their meds done into a liquid. If you don't have one in your town (I don't think most towns have one) I was told you can access them online. I think you can have your script sent in to them by your doctor and they dispense like a pharmacy. I'm sorry, but I don't know all of this for sure but it's a little unusual and might be something you may not know about that you may find helpful. I hate feeling crazy and emotional... sorry you're feeling so crappy.

Just a little FYI, an apothecary is simply an old name for a pharmacist/drugstore. Most towns do have them but, few pharmacists will take the time to crush and repack pills into capsules. Michele

I'm so sorry you experienced this. Just having surgery can cause depression. My doctor told me to just skip the dose I would have taken on the morning of surgery. I never had to change to liquids or anything. Some of the pills that I take are like horse pills and I have to be a little careful not to swallow too much water with them, but mostly they've been no problem. I can only imagine what it would be like to suddenly drop an antidepressant. Hope you are feeling better soon. P.S. Wellbutrin XL (whatever the extended release is called) comes in little bitty 150mg tablets & I take 3 of them. They're not bad to swallow at all. 1000mg Glucophage tablets for diabetes on the other hand would choke a horse!

C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S !!!! IT WILL GET BETTER. Shouldn't your doctor have known what you were on that before you had surgery? I am on Effexor and we went over that numerous times with the doc, the last being the night before surgery when he told me which of my meds to take to the hospital and what to take the morning of surgery. I was lucky because I was able to swallow pills after surgery. Not easily, but I was able to swallow it.

Regardless of what it is 'really' called, I've seen the kind of pharmacy that exists to compound meds called an apothecary... I agree that they are not the usual, as my post reflects. "Compounding sometimes involves nothing more than crushing a pill into a powder with a mortar and pestle and then mixing it into a liquid, says Wayne Mitchell, an FDA regulatory counsel and member of the agency's internal pharmacy compounding steering committee." -from the FDA website... it has some good info. You can find these places on the net doing a google search (try "Compounding pharmacists"). The one I'm familiar with is in Eugene Oregon: http://www.broadwayapothecary.com/about.shtml I don't know if they do stuff outside of the Eugene area but you could contact them and ask. There are so many things I find out from everyone on this website. I never thought about trouble with vomiting... it seems like common sense to think of that, but I don't vomit very often so I just didn't think of it. Problems taking meds is another one that I learned by others sharing their difficulties. I'm planning on finding someone to compound my meds so I can avoid the issue at least when I first have surgery. I'm very thankful for everyone who participates in helping each other by exchanging information... Thank you Thank you!

I take Wellbutrin XL. The tablets are very tiny. I keep my band very tight as well. I can take them without problems. Now, any other capsule medication..............that's another story. I take prozac and have tried everything but the liquid. If i take it and let it dissolve before it goes through the band, I get the worst burning heartburn and bitter, oh so bitter taste. It is horrible. I have tried taking it with applesauce, yogurt, but it is the nastiest tasting medicine I've ever tried and I cannot do that everyday. It makes me gag! I also take trazadone, but don't have any problems swallowing that pill either as long as I just take it and don't chug water afterwards because that pushes it hard through the band and that's what hurts. Hope you find some solution! I love the wellbutrin XL, but if you don't have insurance that's a problem. It costs about $300 a month for my dose. It is so nice to only take it once a day though.

I am getting surgery in July. I just started Zoloft . Zoloft can make you gain weight . But my question is I see a lot of pp are on anti depressants. But do they make you gain weight that's one of the side effects or the lapband it doesn't matter . It doesn't effect the Zoloft or anything? Nancy

I am getting my lapband in July, I just started Zoloft Today. But my question was can you still loose the same amount and as quick with the lapband taking Zoloft? Cause I know Zoloft can make you gain weight? I was worried about that?whats your experience with Zoloft I'm getting worried? Nancy