Possible explanation for post op depression/anxiety?

Those of you who have been on this forum for a few months may recall that I had a very bad post-op experience from my neck and facelift, and brachioplasty -- specifically, I had panic and anxiety attacks, as well as brain fog and aphasia that completely messed me up.  I canceled all further surgeries and have been struggling to recover since then.

Someone in my circle of acquaintances is having a terrible problem which is similar to my symptoms (though hers are worse), and I’m wondering if it is possible that this is the fault of being on Reglan?  That is her diagnosis, and apparently Reglan has a black box warning from the FDA because of this: http://www.askapatient.com/viewrating.asp?drug=17854&name=RE GLAN

I took Reglan 3 times a day for the better part of a month after surgery to control post-op and narcotics-induced nausea.   I am now on an antidepressant and an anxiolytic for the depression and anxiety.  The anxiety has improved (as long as I take the meds), I can now sleep most of the time without Lunesta, and the brain fog and aphasia are slowly improving.  I’m trying to get my physical strength back by walking every day.  I have not been able to look for a job, and am applying for disability.   I would really like to believe the depression and anxiety was caused by the Reglan – that would mean (1) I didn’t go crazy from my own mental problems; (2) it should eventually go away; and (3) there is something I can do to avoid it in the future.

Anyone else have problems like this and took Reglan?

Reglan is  well known to cause depression and many other mental - type side effects.  It is to be strictly avoided in patients who already have depression. 

Taking any drug frequently, or long-term (and you did both) will dramatically increase the presentation of side effects.

Phenregan is another such drug that can cause a lot of mental clouding and similar issues.  With Zofran available, I have not had to use Reglan in many years.

I did not have clinical depression going into surgery -- I was quite upbeat in fact.  I did, however, have a number of major stressors in my life, which under normal cir****tances I would have been able to handle.  The anxiety and suicidal ideation (and I want to emphasize that what I mean is that thoughts of life not being worth living and suicide were persistently coming into my mind unbidden, not that I had any intention of carrying them out) was completely unprecidented in my life and extremely distressing.  The brain fog and aphasia are still present, 3 months after discontinuing the medication (and the narcotics), but are slowly getting better.

I thought it was from the anesthesia and maybe the narcotics, but I was told that the vast majority of the time, these are cleared within days or weeks.  However, the reported side effects of Reglan are SO spot on to what I experienced, including the long-term effects, I am now mostly convinced this was the cause.

I will NEVER take Reglan again.

Wow!  So good to know, thank you for sharing.  I have Reglan in my med cabinet for migraine treatment and I don't take it very often but I will never take it again. 

I so hope you start to feel better soon and have no long term symptoms.

That makes alot of sense, especially since you had no symptoms before plastics.  I wonder now if getting Reglan caused my problems after my DS.  I had been off my anti-depressants for over a year at the time, but still had suicidal **thoughts** (not anything I would have acted on, to be clear), things that just popped into my head uninvited.  Like the curtain tie-back looked like it would have been easy to make into a noose.  That kind of WTF stuff.  Things that I would never normally think about, that really shocked me. 

I do know that plastics are alot more painful to recover from than any other surgery I have had.  I think that part of the difficulty in recovery for me was the revelation that I had ***done this to myself*** and therefore did not feel I had the right to complain about not doing well.