Anxiety and Depression after Ileostomy Surgery: Seeking Information on Serotonin Connection

Having access to legal marijuana is a great advantage, but not everyone has that freedom. Using what is available is just a first step, not a lifestyle.

Peace

Nancy

Freedancer, he no longer is able to practice, but money and "sorry" really don't do much for faith and trust.

Nancy

Ya know Geo, some wise, caring folks offered their takes on a subject so close to them and most others of us ostomates.  It helps to know we're not alone.  It help's to know others have experienced similar medical horrors.  Their stories don't make us happy by any means but we might just feel less different.   As much as we know about the human body we may never be able to accurately determine the relationship between physical maladies and emotional difficulties.  Like Bill suggests, PTSD is common with war experiences that might have not been physical.  Some folks might have never suffered a day in their lives and can't function without medication for anxiety or depression.  Others might've been run over by an eighteen-wheeler and became standup comedians.  Then again there are standup comedians who took their own lives because of the emotional pain.  We're different from each other.  We feel things  differently.  Similarly, perhaps, but not identically.  Sharing with others like us here helps.  i hope I can be helpful sharing my experiences.  I don't take any of you folks for granted and, relative to your own discomforts, you're all experts.

Respectfully,

Mike

Hi all,

Such an interesting post. I have a permanent ileostomy and I have had it for two years. I have had 6 major bowel ops in the past twelve months and I have TPN 4 nights a week at home and I have become the most anxious/obsessive person ever. It's so sad as I feel robbed of the person I used to be. I work all week and function well however I am not entirely sure that this is not a permanent act.

I am new to this site so I hope this posts.

Have a good weekend all!

Welcome MaggyMay.  You've come to a good place.  Forgive me but I'm not sure what TPM is.  

I think none of us are who we used to be.  Physically, that is.  I think some of us are wiser, stronger and mentally and emotionally better than before.

Please stay in touch.

Respectfully,

Mike

Hi Mike,

Thank you for your reply. TPN, sorry, it's Total Parenteral Nutrition, so I have home therapy as I lose a lot through my ileostomy.

In a lot of ways, I am stronger; however, some days I don't see that, just the anxiety.

Have a good weekend,

:-)

Hello Maggy May. Welcome!  Thank you for your post and introducing us to the concept of Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN). At first I thought it must be something to do with being a parent. However,  I looked it up on Google and it all became clear that it is when all daily nutritional requirements are given because the body cannot absorb them normally.  I feel its true that we learn something every day and I thank you for that.

Best wishes

Bill 

Hi MaggyMay and Bill,
I was on TPN for the first three months of my
temporary colostomy when I was in the hospital.
At the time, I thought of it as Mother's Milk.
Being it was giving the nutrients that would
come from breast milk. Luckily, I'm not having
it as the source of nutrition needed. Even with
my permanent ileostomy. Though I do have
to be careful of dehydration for not being able
to extract the fluids from eating foods that would
have it that my colon would extract. Just thought
I'd offer a little comment on TPN.

Maggiemay,

TPN is the means my surgeon used to facilitate poisoning me by administering drugs that I had refused to take orally, for which I was on record as having caused severe diarrhea and bleeding twice in the past. They were administering these drugs for a disease (C DIFF) that their own tests that they had taken PROVED I did not have. They obviously KNEW there was no C Diff because I was taken out of isolation, moved to ICU, and the caretakers no longer had to wear protective gear (hazmat suits) that are required when treating a C Diff patient. The harmful meds were put into the "TPN" surreptitiously, which explained my continued bleeding, but I would never have known if I had not seen the ICU nurse adding them to the IV at 3am one morning. When I asked, she innocently told me the pharmacy had forgotten to add the vancomycin and metronidazole to the fluids. I immediately ripped the PIC line out of my neck, which caused a tremendous commotion in ICU. There was blood everywhere, and I was yelling at anyone who came anywhere near me to stay away--DO NOT TOUCH ME. After less than 24 hours, the diarrhea and bleeding had COMPLETELY stopped because they were a reaction to the meds, not a colon issue, and the Mayo Clinic pathology report that was withheld from me stated as much when the surgeon received it six days earlier. I was rushed into surgery two days earlier than originally scheduled--now totally against my will, where I lay in pre-op for 5 hours where they sedated me before I was wheeled into surgery. I yelled, screamed, and cried the entire five hours before surgery and was dosed THREE different times with meds to "calm me down." My husband was NEVER notified, and the Ativan and Valium allowed the doctor and anesthesiologist to "believe" that I was a "willing" surgical patient. When I tried to speak up, even as doped up as I was, the pre-op nurses replied I was "just confused" and on a lot of meds for anxiety, and so I was ignored. The teamwork of lies cost me an entire colon (which afterwards was found to have NO issues other than inflammation caused by an allergic drug reaction), a right ovary (because the surgeon "thought" he saw something--there was NOTHING), and a gall bladder which had a microscopic 2mm stone, so small as to be unnoticeable, and certainly not requiring the removal of a gall bladder. When getting TPN (total parenteral nutrition), make sure that's ALL they are putting in the bag. They believe they have the right to decide for you what course of action you should take and get away with most times claiming standard of care.

Peace

Nancy

Thank you all for your comments.

I am so grateful that each one of you has taken the time to reply.

Thank you!

Hello Nancy. Thank you for sharing your story, which I'm so sorry that you had to go through. Thank goodness, not all doctors are like that and most of them would not dream of prescibing medication without first discussing it with their patient. However, it is by no means unheard of and the practice of giving dangerous medication surreptitiously has increased enormously in recent years in the field of mental health. I believe it needs investigating and sorting out but, as you have hinted, there appears to be a conspiricy amongst staff to keep quiet, rather than blow the whistle. I have noticed it most in residential homes. Particularly those catering for the elderly dementing people who, if they happen  to be too active, too loud, or in any way difficult for the staff or establishment, will be drugged to such an extent that they become like the walking dead. It motivates me to another rhyming verse, which is a parody of the poem 'what is this world, if full of care?: WHAT KIND OF WORLD, IF LACKING CARE, EACH ONE OF US MUST BE AWARE, THAT THERE ARE THOSE WOULD DO US HARM, WITH NO ONE RAISING THE ALARM.  Sorry I have only done one verse at present but, during the day, I will put my mind to pen some more. Thank you so much for the concept and I hope that such horrible 'bullying' never happens again future.

Best wishes

Bill   

Hello, I'm Marilyn from the Philippines. I'm new here on this site. I hope it could be a great help for me as I am only using a plastic food wrapper for my ostomy, an alternative for the ostomy bags themselves. I have so much difficulty dealing with this since I have this stupid thing attached to my skin, plus this improvised ostomy bag that I made. The reason I have an ostomy is because I have Crohn's disease. I couldn't afford to buy that thing because of my financial status, and I am jobless now. I don't have any financial support except from my father's low income. Anyone who can give me their leftovers is highly appreciated.
God bless to anyone of us here?

Marilyn

There is a good chance you need to have your blood evaluated to see if you are getting enough of the right vitamins/nutrients etc into your system. I had a few times when D was nearly non-existent. That was easy to fix but nothing works overnight! Iron is hard to keep in balance if you have issues with certain foods/nutrients getting fully into the bloodstream. I have mine done every 6 months now and if a problem starts to show then I try to fix it and test in 6 weeks -- Dr has been excellent in helping me sort this out.

Don't wait for things to straighten out before seeking someone to sort out the reason....

Hi everyone, I too have suffered horrendously with largely anxiety, and secondly depression since surgery. It has made the battle of regaining good health very hard. I personally believe it is connected to post stress as I have noticed the anxiety heightening when anything medical is even mentioned. Though I am still at a stage that I need reviewing, tests etc due to this being my first year of an ileostomy.

I always say to myself, I didn't sign up for this. They said nothing of all these after effects when an ileostomy was discussed.

But at the end of the day I had no choice, and have to battle through it all. It is in a strange way, supportive knowing, I am not alone.

Oh, I feel for you. I am about to have my surgery and am already on antidepressants. Let me know how you are doing. Where do you live? I am in Florida.

Hi Bruce, I can certainly relate to your story and I have not had my surgery yet.

Oh, you poor thing.. I am about to have a permanent ileostomy on Thursday. I knew months ago I was depressed and my doctor put me on Cymbalta. It has helped and I can even take it on my day of surgery. Try it, just might help. I live alone, so that is also part of the depression.

Geo1958, I've been looking at the same thing.

With increasing science linking the close relationship between serotonin and the colon, I'm amazed that there hasn't been research on ostomy patients and that relationship.

I went in voluntarily because my health was so bad, I had a terrible case of UC and nothing helped, then I got Enteropathogenic E. coli and cryptosporidium last summer from a pool or lake. Too much damage, couldn't recover.

Anyway, I've never experienced depression or panic attacks until after my surgery (which I opted for and was prepared for). I think the medical community would be doing a disservice not to consider the link because it was unexpected and really difficult to work through.