And? Another. Just pile us all in the corner in a throbbing, spasming unit, we'll be alright.

*This time.  A man.  Post coming.  I'm waiting for permission to share his story.

This guy says his neurologist has SEVEN FREAKING POST OP GASTRIC BYPASS PATIENTS WITH SEIZURES POST OP so far.

"Not related!" says the doctor, "not at all!"  They are just "becoming epileptics." 

That's just what my neurologist says, even with my falling down on the floor like a fish into seizures when I never have IN. MY. LIFE. until I was very much re-arranged and very much missing nutrients. 

(Reads the post below this, I am missing nutrients, my body does not work right. In fact, this email just came to me, as I was writing about the Vit-D.  Here I was, "Oh, look - ANOTHER SEIZURE PT! in my email"  What part do we not get?!)

Fuck you, it's not related?

I have to use my F-BOMB for that.  Should I feel guilty for getting angry over this?  No.

I know I have a neurological problem and it makes it difficult for me to process, but this is my equation!

Mal-absorptive weight loss surgery + massive loss of excess weight no prior seizure disorder = seizures?  YMMV, but for too many of us, it is.  Why?  What are we missing? 

If you are having seizures after your weight loss surgery, please fill this out.

 

Comments

[teresa]

You are missing the portion of your stomach/smallintestine that absorbs these vitamins.
You can take supplements by mouth forever and still not get anywhere.
Doctors will not as a rule critique other doctors performance.
You need to find a practitioner with balls who is willing to treat you with IV/IM vitamins on a regular basis.
Don't go into a doctor's office saying "My brain is broken" and expect to get treated seriously.
Write down what you want to say, speak like the intelligent adult that you are and insist upon being taken seriously!

[Nic]

WELL...if we can't take supplements by mouth then we were all lied to flat out. We were told to take them in order to maintain our health.

anyway, I have a seperate problem...as an adolescent I had absence seizures until my hormones regualted...I took medication for three years. So NOW, even tho I believe the seizures I had were related to hypoglycemia, no one takes me seriously because 25 years ago I had seizures. so OF COURSE it has to be a seizure disorder. it could be NOTHING else...even tho every freaking test you give me is 100% normal it must be a seizure disorder...

oh well...
what is medication I don't need, co-pays I can't afford and the $$ for teh tests that my 2 insurances only pay for 80% TOTAL???

ugh...today I am bitchy sorry...
nic

[Souzerina]

That's disgusting, MM...disgusting because neurologists are infamous for being )*)(*^)%. I have a good one, but he isn't treating me for seizures - I have MS and a muscle disease. I've known lots of people who see neuros. Most of them can't settle with the first doc they consult, so don't take that doc's answer. He's simply inexperienced...and dogmatic. Neuros specialize in different areas. You need an open-minded, investigative neuro who has lots of patients who have seizures. Mine, for example, specializes in testing muscle abnormalities. So as tiresome and miserable as it is, consider seeing another...

[teresa]

The fact is that there just isn't real effective long-term followup on post-op bariatric surgery. Possibly because there's no money in it. Possibly because surgeons don't want to acknowledge that maybe they didn't do such a good thing. It may be that some post-ops are more prone to seizures because with variations in surgical technique, some surgeons take more small intestine out than others.
People, they learn to do these surgeries by practicing on anesthetised pigs and dogs. That alone tells me something.
The hospitals treat them like gods because they bring in huge money.
Physicians are taught to practice defensive medicine - you are always under the surface seen as a potential lawsuit. When you go in to see a physician, they are essentially treating you within a rigid framework of "accepted treatment protocols" primarily determined by studies and drug trials performed by drug companies and approved by insurance providers. They are extremely reluctant to think "out of the box" due to threat of lawsuits.
You guys need to find someone who is an original thinker and who is courageous enough to help you because they will have to go against some deeply vested interests in the medical community to do so.
I wish you luck in doing so, this must be very hard for all of you.

[MacMadame]

I was reading about the vagus nerve and saw this "Stimulation of the vagus nerve is thought to affect some of its connections to the areas of the brain that are prone to seizure activity". The vagus nerve is disrupted in WLS patients, particularly bypass patients.

Why aren't doctors exploring this avenue more instead of parroting the "not related" line?

[mm]

I'm looking for information on the Vagus nerve now.

[V.]

can the docs at the Joslin clinic where you are part of the study help at all? Maybe recommend a neurologist or *something*? What does your bariatric surgeon think?

[Robyn]

Hi Beth,

My post op seizures are triggered by low blood sugar. I'm told to have a "diabetic snack" when my sugar falls too low. How am I supposed to know that? I'm told to eat every two-three hours. Yeah. Right. That's how I become morbidly obese and needed WLS.

Talk about a double edged sword. I noticed a cycle to my periodic weight gain.

Seizure activity = eating more frequently = weight gain = Robyn stops eating or *diets* = low blood sugar = seizures start again from low blood sugar. **SIGH**