Suicide/Depression

Hi everyone.  Just wanted to see how people on here are dealing with depression before and after surgery.  I had a friend who had RNY done about 3 months ago and she just committed suicide yesterday.  I have read there is a slightly higher suicide rate for post weight loss surgery patients.  As someone who also experiences some depression this is quite alarming even if you have no intention of ever doing that.  Thanks.

I'm very sorry to hear about your friend.

I think that some of us used food as a way of dealing with our emotions, and those who did benefit from some therapy (I fall into that camp). Some of us also have a harder time than others adapting to the rapid changes in the immediate post op period. I had to adjust my medications post op because my pre surgery regimen was not working.

I take two medications to manage my depression and also see a therapist to deal with some things I should have dealt with long ago.

OMGosh....I am so sorry to hear about your friend. I also just had a friend suicide, her daught suicided 16 mo ago and she just couldn't deal with it.  I think there's been a increase of suicides and I can see if your depressed and you have WLS would be hard. Again I am so sorry to hear this

I am so sorry to hear about your friend.  It is never easy to deal with.

For me, around 3-4 months post op I felt very depressed.  I didn't realize I struggled with depression before but when your comforts are taken from you (in my case, I dealt with problems with food and alcohol) you can crash quickly.  Also the hormones get all wacky when losing weight dramatically.  I found myself a really good therapist and I've stuck with her ever since.  I would be quite vocal with your doctors about your concerns and if you aren't in therapy, get yourself in there.  It is very helpful. Good luck and hang in there.

I am so sorry for the loss of your friend.  

Knowing my own history, and reading so much here about the head game that goes on during this process, I opted to find a therapist a few months pre-op and I've been seeing her once a week.  She's been hugely helpful to me with keeping my head on straight.  I've also made many efforts to be kind to myself and keep busy - I go out with friends, I go to a lot of exercise classes, I treat myself to a massage once a month, etc.  I feel that all of these things have really helped bolster my mental health.  

Thanks everyone for your replies.  All suggestions are very good advice.  I will talk with my surgeon at my 3 week post op and let him know of my concerns and have already started seeing a therapist.  So thanks again to all!

I have had depression for many years.  I haven't seen any studies showing a higher suicide rate for post WLS patients.  Can you tell me where you read that?

I'm very sorry to hear about your friend.  I hope you're getting treatment for your depression.

Sure poet-kelly  here's some what I found.

http://eatingdisordersreview.com/nl/nl_edr_22_1_3.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/09/28/us-suicide-surgery-idUSTRE68R5FM20100928

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23297762

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Fitness/story?id=3732523

I'm very sorry to hear about your friend.  What a tragedy.

Thank you for posting these links.  I did not know there was a higher incidence of suicide among bariatric patients.  It's very good to know.

There are two significant problems with these studies (well, the various studies that I have seen in the subject... I did not look at all of the links you posted so I don't know how much overlap there is).

1) Most of them do nothing (or very little) to take into account that the percentage of people who have WLS and who are also depressed is many times greater than the percentage of the general population who suffer from depression (but do not have surgery).  So if 80% of the WLS population have surgery compared to only 40% of the non-WLS population, of course you would expect the suicide rate to be higher in the WLS group.  That does NOT mean that people who have WLS and are depressed are necessarily more likely to kill themselves than people who are depressed but have not had weight loss surgery.

2) People who are MO or SMO and are depressed generally have depression levels that are more severe than people who are depressed but are not MO/SMO, and the more severe the depression, the more likely someone is to experience suicidal thoughts.

Note that the depression and weight connection is sort of a chicken-and-the-egg thing... Some people gain weight because of the depression, and for some people the depression is partially because of the weight.  (It is rare, however, for people to experience clinical levels of depression ONLY because of their weight.)

Lora