Increase Rate of Suicide after Gastric Bypass
Hello All,
I have started a blog to try and get the message out about the startling increase in the rate of suicide and related problems with nutritional related deficiencies post-gastric bypass that many surgeons aren't telling their patients. The stories that people tell me are absolutely heart breaking. The sad thing is, they are blaming the patients (they call it addiction transfer) when it can be avoided if given the right information. I won't go into the details here, but those of you who are interested or who are experiencing problems or know what I'm talking about can find my blog at http://www.itsnotaddictiontransfer.wordpress.com
I've looked on this site and have seen very little about people with problems with alcohol and addiction. So either people aren't admitting it on this site or they aren't talking about it, since as many as 30+% of post-gastric bypass patients are having these types of problems. Admittedly, when you are in the depths of despair, you probably aren't going to be on a site like this chatting about how terrible things are - you are probably in denial and hiding it. Most people go to a site like this to rave about how happy they are. I know that's what I did my first two years. These problems usually hit between 18-26 months post-op when your reserves have been ultimately depleted, and you are no longer posting on this site.
I promise this is not to sell anything, I am just trying to get the word out and help people who are having problems and hopefully prevent others from developing problems. Many of you already know this, but I link to the latest studies on nutritional deficiencies, increased suicide rates, by the scientific publications, etc. And to all you who are just fine - kudos and congratulations, this is for those who aren't. If you know of someone who has developed a problem after surgery and they are interested in further information they can email me at [email protected].
I have started a blog to try and get the message out about the startling increase in the rate of suicide and related problems with nutritional related deficiencies post-gastric bypass that many surgeons aren't telling their patients. The stories that people tell me are absolutely heart breaking. The sad thing is, they are blaming the patients (they call it addiction transfer) when it can be avoided if given the right information. I won't go into the details here, but those of you who are interested or who are experiencing problems or know what I'm talking about can find my blog at http://www.itsnotaddictiontransfer.wordpress.com
I've looked on this site and have seen very little about people with problems with alcohol and addiction. So either people aren't admitting it on this site or they aren't talking about it, since as many as 30+% of post-gastric bypass patients are having these types of problems. Admittedly, when you are in the depths of despair, you probably aren't going to be on a site like this chatting about how terrible things are - you are probably in denial and hiding it. Most people go to a site like this to rave about how happy they are. I know that's what I did my first two years. These problems usually hit between 18-26 months post-op when your reserves have been ultimately depleted, and you are no longer posting on this site.
I promise this is not to sell anything, I am just trying to get the word out and help people who are having problems and hopefully prevent others from developing problems. Many of you already know this, but I link to the latest studies on nutritional deficiencies, increased suicide rates, by the scientific publications, etc. And to all you who are just fine - kudos and congratulations, this is for those who aren't. If you know of someone who has developed a problem after surgery and they are interested in further information they can email me at [email protected].
I don't want to repeat myself, so you can look at my Latest Posts to see my recent comments regarding my manic-depression. In addition, I am a junk food junkie which I distinguish from having a problem with white flour and refined sugar products. White bread simply doesn't do anything for me and I usually order sandwiches without the bun.
However, when you refer to what you have observed on this site, I wonder what you mean by this site. Do you mean all of OH ? I've looked up the addictions forum in the past thinking it would talk about food addiction but it dealt primarily with alcohol and drug addictions. I never had either one of those but I am aware of people changing their addictions. I know one woman from when I use to go to OA transferred her addiction from junk food to exercise. She swam like a fish but she recognized that she had a problem.
You mention a problem with surgeons. However, with many of us, WLS has actually saved our lives. I weighed over 570 lbs when I first came to OH and my primary, my shrink, and my surgeon all agreed that I would probaly be dead within a year or two if I didn't have the surgery. That was almost eleven years and 240 lbs ago.
You did mention that you aren't going into the details here. I'd tell other OH members to look at the Forums heading and to see what the various forums are. Some of them may apply to you. I regularly post on a few of them. You may not find one forum that is a clearinghouse for everything you need to know. When I first came to OH in July, 2000 there were only ( only) about 17000 members and it didn't have all of these forums. Now I think there are around 200,000 members and over 127 forums. It can be daunting looking up info that applies to you. I do suggest that you try to get past the Main Forum. If you post there, you will get answers quickly, but it's hard to keep up with what's going on there since so many people use it. By contrast, this forum runs a lot slower and you may be able to keep track of what is mentioned here for a week or more. OH can provide a wide variety of support.
However, when you refer to what you have observed on this site, I wonder what you mean by this site. Do you mean all of OH ? I've looked up the addictions forum in the past thinking it would talk about food addiction but it dealt primarily with alcohol and drug addictions. I never had either one of those but I am aware of people changing their addictions. I know one woman from when I use to go to OA transferred her addiction from junk food to exercise. She swam like a fish but she recognized that she had a problem.
You mention a problem with surgeons. However, with many of us, WLS has actually saved our lives. I weighed over 570 lbs when I first came to OH and my primary, my shrink, and my surgeon all agreed that I would probaly be dead within a year or two if I didn't have the surgery. That was almost eleven years and 240 lbs ago.
You did mention that you aren't going into the details here. I'd tell other OH members to look at the Forums heading and to see what the various forums are. Some of them may apply to you. I regularly post on a few of them. You may not find one forum that is a clearinghouse for everything you need to know. When I first came to OH in July, 2000 there were only ( only) about 17000 members and it didn't have all of these forums. Now I think there are around 200,000 members and over 127 forums. It can be daunting looking up info that applies to you. I do suggest that you try to get past the Main Forum. If you post there, you will get answers quickly, but it's hard to keep up with what's going on there since so many people use it. By contrast, this forum runs a lot slower and you may be able to keep track of what is mentioned here for a week or more. OH can provide a wide variety of support.
I am one of those who had serious concequences from having rny surgery. While I believe the surgery saved my life, there was little attention paid to the mental, emotional, and relationship problems it brought on.
I had my surger on February 4, 2004, 8 years ago. I did not have any physical problems at first, but by June 2006, I was suffering from a deep depression and was fighting persisting thoughts of suicide. After an aborted suicide attempt I was hospitalized. My antidepressant medication was changed. This seemed to help...for about a month. Then the suicidal ideas became stronger and more persistent. I attemtped suicide, and required a stomach pump. Because I was the only person in the room who know about the gastric bypass surgery and I was in no condition to tell anyone, they used a tube to pump my stomach that was way too big. I ended up with an abrased esophagus and a hernia. What finally helped me? I left my husband. The more weight I lost the more controlling he was of my time. He would expect me to account for every moment I spent away from home, and started accusing me of infedelity.
When I was preparing for the surgery, I was told about the health benifits that losing the unwanted 200 pounds would bring about. During this time, almost as a side note, it was explained that there were two things the surgery would not help with: thyroid problems and depression. Thyroid problems seemed self evident to me. However I remember laughing at the thought that the surgery would not help with depression. After all, I was depressed because I was fat, right? Well, it turns out that I was fat because I was depressed. The surgery took away my way of coping with daily problems, food. But I did not have coping mechinism in place to replace food. Once the major weight loss was over, the daily problems came back, plus I had a jealous husband who did not trust me anymore (by the way, there was not reason for him not to trust me, there still isn't).
I had my surger on February 4, 2004, 8 years ago. I did not have any physical problems at first, but by June 2006, I was suffering from a deep depression and was fighting persisting thoughts of suicide. After an aborted suicide attempt I was hospitalized. My antidepressant medication was changed. This seemed to help...for about a month. Then the suicidal ideas became stronger and more persistent. I attemtped suicide, and required a stomach pump. Because I was the only person in the room who know about the gastric bypass surgery and I was in no condition to tell anyone, they used a tube to pump my stomach that was way too big. I ended up with an abrased esophagus and a hernia. What finally helped me? I left my husband. The more weight I lost the more controlling he was of my time. He would expect me to account for every moment I spent away from home, and started accusing me of infedelity.
When I was preparing for the surgery, I was told about the health benifits that losing the unwanted 200 pounds would bring about. During this time, almost as a side note, it was explained that there were two things the surgery would not help with: thyroid problems and depression. Thyroid problems seemed self evident to me. However I remember laughing at the thought that the surgery would not help with depression. After all, I was depressed because I was fat, right? Well, it turns out that I was fat because I was depressed. The surgery took away my way of coping with daily problems, food. But I did not have coping mechinism in place to replace food. Once the major weight loss was over, the daily problems came back, plus I had a jealous husband who did not trust me anymore (by the way, there was not reason for him not to trust me, there still isn't).
I've finally taken the time to read your blog. It's interesting and it's your story. I really don't believe a lot of the statistical studies. However, it's hard to tell from the number of cases cited and the percentage of suicides just how bad the problem is.
I just assume that you had problems post-op that you are attributing to the RNY. The only problem with that is that you may have ended up with the same problem even if you had not had the RNY. There are many people who end up with heart problems after WLS and can't understand it even though they have lost a lot of weight. They fail to realize that they had stressed their hearts for years prior to the surgery. Similarly, we may have had mental problems prior to the surgery that weren't manifest until later.
That's not my problem. I've lived with the confusion of my manic-depression which was misdiagnosed as depression for about 10 years. It's hard for me to say when my mental problems began, but I can easily trace them back to 1971. By the way, I was skinny as a kid. I weighed 165 when I graduated HS and 175 when I graduated college in 1972. I was probably already a junk food junkie but my high metabolism along with loads of exercise helped keep my weight down. I was a runner and cyclist when it wasn't popular. Now I can't even walk around my block while using a rollator.
I do suggest that other people go look at your blog. Blogs do provide a way to address many people with your opinions without having to notify them individually. I'm just not ready to take that step. I am leery of trying new things and writing on a blog is too new to me. Heck, I'm losing confidence in doing things I used to think were easy. I wonder if rhe scientific journals have studies about people losing coping skills and other faculties following RNY.. I'm not kidding about this. I used to be able to do a lot more on a computer than I can do now. I used to be able to do my taxes ( or so I thought--I cost myself a few thousand dollars with my wrong calculations). I was never a risk taker and I'm even more timid now. However, it's probably because of the progressive nature of my manic-depression rather than because I'm post -op from RNY. But, then again, who knows?
I just assume that you had problems post-op that you are attributing to the RNY. The only problem with that is that you may have ended up with the same problem even if you had not had the RNY. There are many people who end up with heart problems after WLS and can't understand it even though they have lost a lot of weight. They fail to realize that they had stressed their hearts for years prior to the surgery. Similarly, we may have had mental problems prior to the surgery that weren't manifest until later.
That's not my problem. I've lived with the confusion of my manic-depression which was misdiagnosed as depression for about 10 years. It's hard for me to say when my mental problems began, but I can easily trace them back to 1971. By the way, I was skinny as a kid. I weighed 165 when I graduated HS and 175 when I graduated college in 1972. I was probably already a junk food junkie but my high metabolism along with loads of exercise helped keep my weight down. I was a runner and cyclist when it wasn't popular. Now I can't even walk around my block while using a rollator.
I do suggest that other people go look at your blog. Blogs do provide a way to address many people with your opinions without having to notify them individually. I'm just not ready to take that step. I am leery of trying new things and writing on a blog is too new to me. Heck, I'm losing confidence in doing things I used to think were easy. I wonder if rhe scientific journals have studies about people losing coping skills and other faculties following RNY.. I'm not kidding about this. I used to be able to do a lot more on a computer than I can do now. I used to be able to do my taxes ( or so I thought--I cost myself a few thousand dollars with my wrong calculations). I was never a risk taker and I'm even more timid now. However, it's probably because of the progressive nature of my manic-depression rather than because I'm post -op from RNY. But, then again, who knows?
I think this is good infomation that you are bringing awareness to! Recently I have started research on eating disorders in bariatric patients. There was stunning information that I found from creditable scientific peer reviewed journals, documents, and actual physician and patients. In doing the research, I did see that the suicidal rate among patients who had the gastric bypass had increased significantly in the past 2-4 years. Again, they are not associating it to the "gastric bypass" but the mental health status following suh a life changing event. In no way is the research saying "Gastric Bypass" = Suicide. Which I know you know.
There is so much on addictions that I am hoping to bring awareness to. Gastric bypass saved my life and it continues to save many lives! However, just like any other surgery the consumer must be educated on the whole picture in order to make the best educated decision for them.
Thanks for sharing!
There is so much on addictions that I am hoping to bring awareness to. Gastric bypass saved my life and it continues to save many lives! However, just like any other surgery the consumer must be educated on the whole picture in order to make the best educated decision for them.
Thanks for sharing!
"Winning at a Losing Game"
Hello I had my bypass surgery over 13 years ago and still maintain a safe bmi. I just want to try to bring awareness that many doctors do not consider when prescribing pain meds and/or depression medicine that the r n y gas patients dont absorb properly. We absorb about 33 percent of medication. I will swallow a pill and goes through pouch and directly to lower intestine. No way is the enough time to properly break down medication and absorb for therepeutic releif of pain or help with depression. So many of us are not getting proper amount of depression meds therefore someone may take their own life. I suffer from sever back pain stenosis, ddd, many problem discs and get prescribed pain meds that do not work the way they should so sometime i take more than usual to get the help with the pain and have to suffer rest of month because i took more worrying that my doctor would think I am just wanting more pills. Many bypass patients are considered opiate drug attics and get in trouble with the law when there is a reason for all this. New doctors need to be educated more on the effects of gbs ten plus years down road. I dont absorb iron suppliments therefore had 3 blood transfusions and 3 seperate iron infusions from a Hem/Oncologist who finally said to me to just stop suppliments because wont absorb enough to be therepeautic. WHAT TO DO?/?
Thank you for this information. I had heard some people say that absorption seemed different post-op. This is a huge deal and I wish there were more studies on this issue. Not only pain meds and anti-depression meds, but supplements as well. It seems to just be a guessing game. Doctors seemed committed to treating gastric bypass patient as no different than their other patients....rarely do they discuss the different prescribing practices that should be employed.
I get IV nutrient therapy a couple of times a month, but it doesn't include iron. Iron has to be done separately...as you know! You're right. What to do?
Thanks for sharing
I get IV nutrient therapy a couple of times a month, but it doesn't include iron. Iron has to be done separately...as you know! You're right. What to do?
Thanks for sharing
I'm not sure where you got he information that we only absorb 33% of medication, because I have seen nothing in any medical literature that would support that OTHER than for extended release meds (which those with RNY and DS are not supposed to take, anyway).
I absolutely DO believe, however, that we do not absorb 100% of every medication, and have myself experienced pain medication not working as well post-op (whereas liquid pain medication and IV pain medication work just as well as always). Many people, though, have no change in the dosage of medications they were take in before surgery.
Lora
I absolutely DO believe, however, that we do not absorb 100% of every medication, and have myself experienced pain medication not working as well post-op (whereas liquid pain medication and IV pain medication work just as well as always). Many people, though, have no change in the dosage of medications they were take in before surgery.
Lora
14 years out; 190 pounds lost, 165 pound loss maintained
You don't drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there.
I totally agree I beleive studies should be done to see exactly how much we actually do absorvb of certain medications we take then have doctors aware of dosage changes or even different administration of the medications to rny or any other bypass surgery with malapsorption. What do we do? Who do we aggrivate with this info?
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