Introduction from a newbie
Hi. I am new to the forum and just wanted to introduce myself. I have been following this site and you guys seem like a great group of people. I have been considering w/l surgery for about 2 years and have made a commitment to have the surgery. I have had the psych exam, physical, blood work, stomach ultra sound, nutritrican class and have had my first visit with the dietician. I have two more visits with her, that in addition to weigh****chers will meet my six month diet requirement. I am planning on having the bypass, because my metabolism is so out of wack and I heard that it could give me a reset. I have already been focusing on protein and am going to the gym three times a week. I am a little scared of after the surgery and taking meds. I have a lot of prescriptions and am worried about being able to take them. I have two that I know can be taken either by liquid or disolving tablets. How have you all dealt with that? Some of these meds are antidepressants and it would scare me to be off of them.
On the medications, I will tell you that all programs are different. My surgeon says that for the first few months, no pills bigger than an M&M.
Congratulations on taking the first steps to becoming a healthier you. This is an amazing journey. Good luck!
"Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me." --Carol Burnett
Welcome. I had the same worries about pills after. I have a $35 dollar bottle of liquid fish oil sitting unused now because I'm good. I marveled this morning when I took my 9 pills, including vitamins in 3 swallows with no issue. I previously slammed them all at once. I haven't gotten to that point, but it is a non-issue and was really after about 6 weeks. I can also slam water again. I can't down a 16 ounce bottle like I once did, but I can drink it in less than 5 minutes. Don't fear it. Just go slow and adapt as you need. The other side actually has been pretty great for me, so no complaints. Join us!
I had an appointment with a pharmacist from the hospital that I ultimately had my surgery at. She went over every medication that I was on and made recommendations as to what I needed to change those meds too...and which ones I could still take but would have to split. I then took that paperwork to my doctor and he went through it all and agreed with the changes. I too am on depression med. I am on the same med, same dose but had to change from 1 extended release capsule pill at 150 mg to two 75 mg tablets (one taken twice a day) as they are not extended release.
The rest of my meds actually stayed the same, but I have to split all of them.
Tammy
HW: (9/28/16) 369.8 / SW: (3/13/17) 285 / CW: 162.8
Pre-op loss (6 1/2 Months) - 84.8 pounds
M1 - 17.2, M2 - 17.2, M3 - 13.4, M4 - 15.4, M5 - 13.8, M6 - 13.6, M7 - 10.8, M8 - 9.6, M9 - 5.0, M10 - 2.4, M11 - 3.8
If you're worried about going off of your extended release anti-depression meds, start working with your prescribing doctor now. I was seeing a psychiatrist because I'm also on ADD meds, and he talked with the bariatric center to confirm a few things and now has me on a non-extended medication I take twice a day. We moved me to the new meds about eight weeks before my surgery so that we could make sure it would work for me before throwing in the impact of the surgery.
Post RNY (or VSG) when you are losing a lot of weight, your own hormones will be in flux so some anxiety and or depression symptoms can get a little wonky for the first few months. My Psychiatrist STRONGLY RECOMMENDS that I work on getting a high number of steps in each day of my first two months as a first line defense against depression. I'm a fact checker, so he provided me with the studies that show regular walking exercise performs better than anti-depressants alone. (I really hate exercise).
I have surgery next week, and in preparation I'm hitting my pre surgery steps goals of around 4000 steps with my altimate goal being 8000 (I have a sedentary job).
5'4" 49yrs at surgery date
SW - 206 CW - 128
M1 - 20lb M2 - 9 lb M3 - 7 lb M4 - 7 lb M5 - 7 lb M6 - 6 lb M7 - 4 lb M8 - 1 lb M9 - 2 lb M10 - 4 lb M11 - 0lb M12 - 3lb M13 - 0 lb M14 - 2 lb M15 - 0 lb M16 - 3 lb
Welcome Newbie.When I had my tonsils out they had meds changed to meds that come in liquid form.I could swallow all my pills after bypass.No problem.Talk with pharmacist and your dr..They can work together on your meds.I would start early so you can adjust. After a lot of weight is lost you will need to adjust meds again.As well as Cpap machine if you use one.
