Friday, November 9, 2018

Bariatrics: Discussing your Depression

It use to be I had depression that I hid. It was beating me up inside and there wasn't a way to properly deal with it. It effected my health, my job, my confidence, my weight, my mornings filled with pain and my need to sleep as much as I could because I thought I needed it.

Recently, I had RNY. This bariatric surgery was long coming because I always thought I could lose the weight. I was somewhat successful because I was down 60 pounds before the surgery and another 30 during the first month. There is a different person that I see in the mirror now. I was shy to say I was getting the surgery and so I told very few friends.

What I didn't expect was how having this surgery would give me a flashback to the old depression I had imagined was long gone. In all the seminars, consultations with dieticians, therapists, and educators, none of them ever said anything about depression. Unfortunate.

I did meet with the PA one month after surgery and told him how I had gone into a nose dive with my depression. It was at about two weeks after surgery when I started to feel dark, when the things I enjoyed were distasteful and I regretted the good things in my life. I even wanted to throw away some of the things I had created, and that is hard to believe. The doctor said I was experiencing "normal" hormonal issues. Wait- I am not talking a simple mood swing here! I know what a crash means and I was heading there.

So here is the question, why don't medical people talk about the depression part too? I was feeling so bad and somewhat desperate to get out of my funk I called my therapist, had a great session. I felt drain but relieve afterwards.

Please remember to discuss your depression with the doctors you see. Make them realize that for us our brains matter too.

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#bariatrics and  depression  #fighting fat  #artist with depression   #creative life  #making it with depression  #bariatric experiences





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