I have to look into medications that I can take for anxiety and depression after surgery. Im wondering if any of you know of liquid medications for these issues. Also, have any of you found success with crushing these meds into powder??

I take the highest dose of Cymbalta and Buproprion XL - I know I will have to get rid of the XL - extended release.

Any ideas would be great. I see my doctor in 3 weeks and I am information gathering. Thanks!

firstly, I'm not on any of those meds. Second, def speak to your dr.

But I would ask about cutting up the pills rather than looking for liquid or crushing( most taste wicked bad crushed)

my clinic said any pill that can fit through the opening of a straw is small enough, so in the early days, I cut some of my larger ones in half or quarters. Maybe check to see if cutting up the pills will affect them?

You won't necessarily have to get rid of the XL... yes some people don't get the same effect after RNY, but others don't have a major issue depending on what mechanism the manufacturer used to make the medication XL (and other people have success switching from XL to ER, or ER to XR, etc etc).

As for depression, I took standard release Prozac in pill form before and after surgery. No major changes in how it worked for me. But I had to change Focalin dosage (for ADD) as the XR was releasing weirdly.

You don't have to switch to liquid or crushed as long as the pills are small... I had bigger problems swallowing vitamins than I did my medications.

Audrey

Can't speak for anxiety or depression meds but PAIN MEDICINE WORKED TOO WELL for me.

I had hand surgery after cutting my pinky finger half off in a kitchen accident.

They gave me oxycodone-I took that stuff and would sleep for two days, wander around/call people and have CONVERSATIONS I STILL CAN NOT REMEMBER.

Hand surgeon-switched me to tramadol (kind of related to oxycodone). It was better, but even at 1/2 a pill, my face FEELS COLD, and my perspective is off. I think objects are a lot closer than what they are and when I reach for them, I have to keep extending my hands/arms.

So-take good notes on how the medication affects you. And what worked before, might not work now.

While I was in the hospital the nurses were crushing my tyelenol until the surgeon came in and gave them heck and told them to just cut them into small pieces that would fit into a straw.

At about 1 month post op I had pneumonia and by the time I cut all of my antibiotics up, I had to swallow 12 little pieces a day, lol.

Buproprion comes in other forms besides XL so that should be fine. I don't know anything about cymbalta. I have ativan for anxiety that I need only rarely, and it's such a small pill it's never been a problem to take, but it also comes in an under the tongue dissoluble form.

Your doctor will be able to tell you everything.

Hi Nancy!

I have bipolar and had to worry about my meds immediately post-op. So here's my take :)

Cymbalta comes in a capsule, so you can't cru**** You CAN, however, break open the capsule and mix the contents into something like yogurt or applesauce.

Buproprion only comes in pill format. It doesn't taste TOO terrible when crushed, so you could cru**** and mix it in with your Cymbalta. Alternately, you can split the pill into smaller fragments and swallow those with water.

All of my meds were in pill form, so I ended up splitting them in half and taking each pill fragment with a tiny sip of water. It took about five minutes to get everything down, but I had no trouble getting all of my meds in immediately after surgery. By about the third or fourth week, I had no trouble swallowing whole pills.

You're right that you'll need to get rid of the XL med. Bupropion is actually pretty easy to switch to, though; you can take the regular-form pill, but a half-size pill twice a day. I was on that one before having surgery and took it morning and night with no trouble.

Aside from the XL absorption issue, there aren't really any restrictions on psych meds to be concerned about. The only one I'm aware of is with Lamictal, which I used to take; its effectiveness is reduced in the presence of estrogen (such as birth control pills), so I had to adjust my dose during the post-op hormone flood. Other than that, it hasn't impacted any of my mood stabilizers or antidepressants.

Feel free to PM if you have any med questions and I'm happy to help however I can! :)