2w post op -22lb, & answers to my weird symptoms.

PCOSYoYo
on 5/27/16 8:28 pm
VSG on 05/13/16

So I'm 2 weeks post opp. I've lost too much( 22 lbs in 14 days. It was 22 lbs in 11 days but I've been able to get more in) and met with the doctor. 

I knew i was losing too much but was having so many issues I just couldn't get anything in . I told the dr it was too much so I'm seeing him again in 2 weeks with the mission of getting to 800 cals a day consistently and trying to figure out why i was so nauseous eating /drinking. I had already changed protien and temperatures of food etc. So he said keep trying to pin it down and report back to him.

The night i met with my surgeon, I had a strange cardiac event. I followed it and documented and when it finaly passed a half hour later it got me thinking.

I am on an anxiety medication that has large interactions with many many drugs, usualy involving heart rates. The doctor and hospital know this. I decided to throw in the meds i was on to see what they said in my interactions list

ALL meds i was on in hopsital and at home caused major interactions ( 3 of them the Same interaction making it much worse) . I was FUMING.

reading the symptoms made a hundred light bulbs go off.


I had been halucinating for days. Seeing creepy things (dead kids in my bed room sitting random places eating cereal and just staring at me.... uhhh... ) , double looking at stuff, hearing things. I had told my husband i thought i was halucinating a week earlier and he caught me a few times getting up at night yelling and running to something i 'saw'. I was freezing, still dehydrated. Some days my stomach felt small, others huge, i was reacting with anything i ate immediately and having to run to the bathroom. It was always worst at bed time - right after i took all of my medications. It got worse when I took my pain meds which I hadn't been taking after surgery. I posted about having a about terrible abdominal pain post op and magically that went away after i figured this out.

Any how. The interaction was serotonin syndrome and leads to coma and death. Causes halucinating, muscle spasm, stomach spasm, heart problems, blurry vision, nausea, digestion issues etc etc etc.
Now, I get the whole " doctor was weighed the benefits and risks" that is on any drug, however i was never told or asked to look for things. And they could have prescribed many other meds that didnt interact.

So I stopped all of the medications and called the hospital. Their response " im not sure why you were given those" that's all. No sorry Or anything.

Since stopping the medications my nausea is gone, I can finally drink a protien shake in about 15 minutes (before it took 3 hours and I'd have to keep pottying.) I can drink water in better amounts, the hallucinations have stopped ( thank goodess) and I'm no longer freezing cold. My heart is back to normal and Im not totally exhausted now.
So yeah. I'm glad I figured out the issue but sad it nearly took 2 weeks and I was creeping to the more severe symptoms when I decided to investigate.

I'll be having a lovely chat with my surgeon when I see him.

 

 Done complaining, hah..hoping I can get all of my energy back this weekend  and start being active and get some healthy weight off now. In 4 weeks I'm down 39 lbs and 34.25" best part is I can finaly move again. Still big, but thrilled I can hold my children again. Defintely helping me keep my eye on the prize.

-Natalie VSG 5/13/16. 5'6" -- HW 283 . SW 266

Post vsg: M1 -32 , M2 -14 , M3-19

kyzze
on 5/27/16 9:31 pm
VSG on 12/29/15 with

Wow! I can't believe that was overlooked. I work in a hospital pharmacy and so I am surprised that nothing alerted someone to the contradictions in your medications, I am sorry that happened to you but I am glad that you were able to figure it out and you are feeling better.

Kyzze

 

PCOSYoYo
on 5/27/16 9:46 pm
VSG on 05/13/16

Thank you. Im glad ypu at least see why im so angry with all people involved.

I've only had the pharmacy once tell me my meds were wrong ( I needed an antibiotic and it conflicted so they changed it.)  Every other time it has been missed. I've had to call and have things changed ( Prilosec to protonix etc )

 The hospital itself really confused me since for 2 days i was on other meds, morphine , phen,   etc that all again, conflicted.

 So the surgeon and the drug Handlers all failed. Most computers will flag things so I don't get it. My RE was the one initially that had to change things because the drug ( celexa) was needing a higher dosage and she wasn't able to prescribe it because of my other meds.

I personally see it as a really big booboo  and im not sure why they aren't treating it more seriously. Il just have to check everything  from now on. Other meds interacted with my inhalers, which they puffed into me in the  hospital during my stay .  Any time i was given new dosages of med within 3-5 minutes everything went crazy. I have text messages to my husband and others that are just insanely puzzling( and very funny)  The meds( nausea one specifically)  made me absolutely unable to function. So weird.

 

 Any how, Thanks for the nice words!

-Natalie VSG 5/13/16. 5'6" -- HW 283 . SW 266

Post vsg: M1 -32 , M2 -14 , M3-19

Darcy G.
on 5/28/16 7:02 am
VSG on 04/07/16

Glad you got it figured out. I had to figure out my own medicine issues as well, though mine were all gut and heart related, not anything with hallucinations. (Which? Would've freaked me out...)

It's a massive booboo, but I read the other day that the third leading cause of death in the US is medical error. So glad you figured it out!!

Program Start Weight 346 | Surgery Weight 282 | CW 217 | 5'-6.3"

High Weight 376, about a year before program. I gave up diet pop(and all pop), dropped 30 pounds without trying, and kept it off. Now convinced Carbonated Beverages. Are. Evil.

DISCLAIMER: My posts often have weird typos... Because I use a tablet or Kindle to access the forums despite how much I suck at tablet typing. Apologies!

Renren
on 5/28/16 10:32 am
VSG on 12/02/15

.  Wow that is so scary. I had a problem 8 days after my surgery because of medication. I was still taking Glimperide, (may have spelled that wrong) it  made my blood sugar drop down to 25. I was seeing double and when I tried to stand up I realized I couldn't move anything on my left side, not even my hand. Hade to be taken by ambulance to the ER. They gave me an IV and I asked for some milk when I found out it was a low blood sugar problem. It was up to around 100 in less than an hour. The ER Doc asked me what the heck were you still on that medication for. Told me go off it now and never take it again. 

   I was told at the surgeons office hat some people still need it for 30 days after the surgery, not sure I believe it. 

5'2.5" Surgery date/ 12-02-15 Dr.Valentine Boise ID

Highest:289 SW/212 CW 122

Goal/125-130

Goal reached at 10 months

PCOSYoYo
on 5/28/16 10:59 am
VSG on 05/13/16

Yeah i removed myself from my sugar meds. I asked originaly in pre op  and was told no, continue it,  and to call to the dr that prescribed them( which is standard)

My sugars plummeted many times for obvious reasons,  but when i was grocery shopping 3 days post opp I was close to passing out -started getting sick, then sweaty/ super hot, and I started making my way out when the ear ringing started. thankfully I made it to my car and was able to call for a ride home.

 The sugar one I can see being a crazy problem for people  and these surgeries. I wasn't a severe diabetic to begin with so I wasn't surprised it happened. 

-Natalie VSG 5/13/16. 5'6" -- HW 283 . SW 266

Post vsg: M1 -32 , M2 -14 , M3-19

Renren
on 5/29/16 10:47 am
VSG on 12/02/15

  It surprised me because I had problems before surgery with my blood sugar getting too high, but never too low , this was a first for me and had no idea what it felt like. I'm glad my Husband was home because I would'nt have been able to get to a phone to call for help. I guess in the beginning when we're still not eating food yet the meds work completely different in our bodys. Glad you are ok

5'2.5" Surgery date/ 12-02-15 Dr.Valentine Boise ID

Highest:289 SW/212 CW 122

Goal/125-130

Goal reached at 10 months

Tizzles
on 5/30/16 3:39 am

I'm glad the hypoglycemia never happened to you while you were driving or anything. It's definitely scary. I'm a type 2 diabetic and I'm not on insulin or anything but there were times where I'd go a long time without eating and my sugar would just plummet..like completely bottom out. One time it got so bad that ***TMI WARNING*** I was dry heaving and sitting on the toilet at the same time because I felt like it was going to come out both ends. Couldn't talk or swallow...I couldn't get peanut butter down so my mother (thankfully I was visiting her and wasn't alone at the time) shoved a Pepsi down my throat and alternated with no-pulp OJ. She was so freaked out she almost called the ambulance. I know what to look for now, how it's going to feel when it starts..with the stomach and starting to get cold/clammy then hot and weird. That incident however was the very first time it happened and I literally felt like I was going to die. I had no idea what the hell was happening.

It doesn't happen often, 4 times total since I was diagnosed back in 2009, but now I keep glucose tablets on me. The thing I am looking most forward to after surgery is either easier to manage diabetes (worst case) or no diabetes at all (my prayer). Just wanted to add my story though. @ OP - glad your meds got situated, but I'm sorry that the medical community failed you. I'd definitely be giving someone an ear full.

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