New ADHD med , starting to question surgery

Sorry for the length of this post, I'm wrestling with some things and it helps to write it all out.

I am preop for sleeve. I finished my first round of the doctors appointments, and they have submitted for final insurance approval. I was feeling very confident and sure of my choice for surgery.

Last week I went to my physician to start ADHD medication. This new medicine is working wonderfully. I have seen great improvement in my impulsivity and my other symptoms. One of the side effects is lack of appetite. I'm not very hungry at all and averaged about 800 cal a day this week, losing 5 pounds! It turns out they use the same medication to treat binge eating disorders.

This is all great but now I'm starting to question if I need the surgery. When I started all of this, I knew that I needed something to help me lose weight. I was convinced surgery was the answer. But now that this medication is working so well I'm wondering if this is all I need to get going on my weight-loss journey. 

Is it possible that getting my ADHD under control, along with the decreased appetite Will get me to my weight-loss goals? Is this all just cold feet? I'm feeling very conflicted.

So I am guessing if you are a candidate for bariatric surgery you are 100 or more pounds above your weight loss goal and/or have some health issues related to obesity... while I think getting your ADHD under control via medication or other means is great, needed and will help I doubt it will lead to elimination of your obesity. Weight loss/decreased appetite is usually an early side effect of any amphetamine based ADHD drugs but most level off over time/use and the weight loss averages I think I've read are only about 10 pounds-ish you can look up the clinical drug studies on your particular drug but they are all about the same... if it eliminated more than that they would be going for FDA approval for it as a weight loss drug for sure... even the weight loss drugs currently on the market result in a loss of around 4-8% of your body weight (a great helping hand for sure but not an obesity panacea sadly.) Getting your ADHD under control will certainly help whether you decide on surgical hel*****t. 

Not sure that helps at all... just a few thoughts.

Best wishes in whatever you decide.

Thanks for your reply! The fact that these side effects are most likely temporary is a good point.  The medicine is called vyvase, and it is not a weight loss drug. I think my hope is by getting my ADHD impulsivity under control, and the fact that I am longer self-medicating with high-fat, high sugar foods and alcohol, losing weight will become much more possible. It has only been a week so I think I need to just give it more time and see how things settle out. 

HW 291 CW 276. 5'7 and 32 yrs old. No co- morbidities yet. 

Hey, I've been where you are!  I have ADHD as well, and have struggled with with weight loss and how much I could fix by fixing the ADD over my lifetime, and for me, the truth is that it doesn't fix it. Sure you can lose temporary weight with the drugs that curb appetites, but it doesn't last forever.  And of course you can get committed, like really committed to doing something like exercising, and you think oh I wont give this up because of the ADD, because now I've fixed that with medicine, but like the surgery the medicine is a tool. You will still go through the plateau that doesn't move, you will still deal with compulsive eating, constant hunger, fatigue, etc.  You might be able to focus more for sure, but you will still have all the obstacles that go with losing over 100 lbs, and the reason so very very few people can do it and keep it off without surgery.  Now I'm not saying do or do not have surgery, but definitely don't put all your eggs in the ADHD medication basket. Medication is one tool in a big bucketlist of ways to attack morbid obesity.  

I've got my meds regulated now, I've got my mind set, my plan and my goals set, and after false starts and years of thinking, and trying to solve my issue every other way, I'm getting my surgery in 17 days.    Id suggest keep persuing the WLS process while seeing how the medication works for you in a longer timespan. And kudos for you for getting a medication for your ADD, it's a real struggle for someone like us to go from unmedicated all the way through making and keeping a dr appt and taking a medication routinely. :)

It does sound like cold feet...but only you can truly answer if you are ready for WLS.

I've never had any drug  prescribed or over the counter REALLY help with permanent weight loss . Sure you can jack yourself up with --even green tea or ginseng but after a while ( short while ) the body compensates .  In my case I felt depressed and immobile when i didn't take the supplements . 

I still drink tea - a lot of it - and i think it helps seed the metabolism and helps me exercise but I do't fool around w weight loss pills .  The only REAL change in my weight setpoint  occurred after bariatric surgery . 

My experience with Vyvanse is that it helped with binge eating for a while, and then I gradually returned to my old habits.  I don't know if I built up a tolerance to it or if it's that the behaviors were so engrained.  The thing about clinical trials is that they usually only look at the drug for a short period of time.  I suspect that's the case with Vyvanse as well.  What we need are studies that look at its effectiveness for binge eating long term, and I doubt that data exists.