What pain meds work well for Gastric bypass patients?
Good Morning. I am a gastric bypass patient 13 years out from surgery and maintaining my 150 lb weight loss. I have chronic daily pain from arthritis, degenerative disc disease, cervical herniated disc(s), torn meniscus, labral tear in my hip and recurring tendonitis in various places. I take Hydrocodone/Apap 10mg/325 4 times daily for pain since as gastric bypass patients we are not supposed to take NSAIDS. I get very little relief from this. It is in pill form. Does anyone else that is a weight loss surgery patient have this issue and find that it is due to malabsorption and/or anyone taking pain meds in liquid form get better relief?
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Oh, no I haven’t heard of esketamine therapy. What does it treat? How does it work?
Yes, I’ve had 14 electroconvulsive shock treatments - did nothing except badly damage my memory. I’ve had pharmacogenomic testing and genetic testing. I carry 21 genes for bipolar and I have some crazy genes for my enzyme metabolizers, which make up about only 2% of the population that has mutations or carries 2 copies of the wrong genes. For example, most chronic pain medication like hydrocodone oxycodone and morphine codeine and tramadol have no effect on my pain whatsoever. But what medicines are supposed to work Arkansas Medicaid will Not pay for, so I’m looking at anywhere from $400-$1000 a month. There’s NO way. And did I mention I fell a couple of years ago and broke both my wrists and ruptured both thumb tendons - 7 screws and steel plate in my right wrist-broke it in 3 places - had to have metal removed, carpal tunnel release and thumb repaired = 3 surgeries. Haven’t gotten to my left thumb yet. They both ache and hurt every day all the way up to my elbows. So I constantly use biofreeze and wrist braces when I can to no avail. This on top of chronic pain, fatigue and fibromyalgia. I feel hopeless and I’m only 45......if Mayo won’t at least try to help me, what else can I do?
I have tried ECT with no benefits at all just effected my short and long term memory greatly. No not transcranial. That’s the next and only other option I haven’t tried. I don’t hold out much hope as I really feel like my medication absorption is my main issue. My doctor would like for me to try it sometime in September or October.
@kypaint75 ,
Yes esketamine is the FDA approved form of the drug that comes in spray form. It is approved by most insurances.
Have you tried trans-cranial magnetic stimulation? Or electro-convulsive therapy? Sounds like you are resistant to all the pharmaceuticals that you have been given.
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1 ReactionDon’t know why that happened...?
If You mean ketamine therapy then yes I have tried that as well with no beneficial results. And insurance didn’t pay for that and You mean ketamine therapy then yes I have tried that as well with no beneficial results. And insurance didn’t pay.
@kypaint75, Have you considered esketamine therapy for your depression? It has and is helping many get "back on track.".
Yes, I’ve taken all the appropriate steps that I know to take at this time. However, I will argue the fact that continued care in this area in Arkansas does not offer the care that I need and that is the exact reason that I sought help from the mayo clinic. The mayo clinic offers state of the art mental health and bipolar research and patient care and starts with genetic testing and Pharma genomics testing as the number one step to helping patients heal, get well and go back to normal life. At least that is my understanding from all the information that I have read that is available on Mayo clinic‘s website. As you can imagine my heart soared as I read that information and thought thank God there is finally hope for me. I have undergone Pharma genomics testing with my pharmacist in my hometown and I have undergone genetic testing that I have had sent off evaluated and sent back to me. I know I have several areas that are highly unusual and out of the norm for the general population. I have shared this information with my PCP and my psychiatrist, more than one psychiatrist, with the response that they consider those type of testing to be hogwash that it has no bearing on patient care and cannot help them treat me better in anyway. Add this information on top of the fact that I had gastric bypass surgery and I have done my research and found several scholarly articles referencing the fact that ruin why gastric bypass patients do indeed have difficulty absorbing certain medication’s and they need to be adjusted into different forms for for therapeutic affect and benefit of the patient. Now you tell me how that is getting the best care that I can get for my illness in my area? It’s not and it’s not fair that I can’t find a forward thinking top-notch, stay on top of, cutting edge Technology doctor or clinic that I know is out there and available but for some reason only is available for the lucky who have the right insurance or financial means to pay out-of-pocket, or that even though most days I wish I was dead that doesn’t count as sick enough to get an appointment. I know I don’t have cancer or some other terrible illness that others unfortunately suffer but I also suffer from fibromyalgia and I have an older and younger sister who both have lupus and I know I have something else going on, but again the doctors in my area will not see me I will not dig into my genetics to see or run test to see if there’s anything else going on, and that they could find something that could help me have a better quality of life. As it is right now, I can’t even begin to imagine to live my life like this a year from now, despite the fact that I have a family and children that need me when you feel like your soul is at deaths door and that’s all it desires I can’t see myself from preventing myself from exiting this world. Even knowing that would exclude me from ever seeing any grandchildren I might possibly have and leave my family grief and heart broken. Not to mention the fact that my whole family and everybody I know would consider me to be the most selfish person in the world.
Mayo doesn’t know me from Adam they don’t know how long I’ve lived with this they don’t know that in 2016, I had a miscarriage, I had to go off my bipolar medication because I unexpectedly got pregnant, freaked out at first, consider not keeping the baby, came to my senses thank the Lord, excepted the pregnancy was ecstatic about the pregnancy and then quite unexpectedly and out of the blue lost the baby, wasn’t able to go back to finish my special education work at the end of the school year and lost my job on top of that. I’ve been in a deep dark death pit for over four years and no one seems to be able to help me and my episodes of bipolar depression and mania only continue to get worse closer together and last longer. I am unable to function like I should be for my family for my husband and for my children and I’m not able to work therefore putting us at poverty’s door. If it wasn’t for Mayo Clinic’s such high reviews and level of care I wouldn’t of sought help from Mayo clinic and it wouldn’t be so devastating that I wasn’t excepted or at least had my case heard or the opportunity to give voice to how I live my life and the hope that there would be a chance that I could get better and live a normal life again not just for me but to fully serve my God and for my husband and for my children that deserve so much more than what they’re getting right now. So I’m sorry if I sound a little rude and abrupt but you don’t ever know what someone’s life is really like until you walk in their shoes every day, that is if they can even get out of bed. I’m sorry if I seem a little over the top, I’ve just always been a person that believed there was hope somewhere somehow someway, God would work it out. But at this point in my life, I’m finding that it’s not reality. Instead real life sucks and nobody cares about you except yourself and no doctor is going to go out of their way to put any extra time or research into your case to making you feel better all they care about is getting you in and out and fixed for the moment. I guess I just never imagined my life would be this way. But that’s not your fault and it’s not the mayo clinic‘s fault so I apologize if I have made it appear so. I was just hoping to get some help from physicians that are highly qualified, caring, inquisitive and relentless in their pursuit of health healing and wellness - The a pitta me of what the mayo clinic purports to stand for and offer individuals.
Is there really anything more that anybody in this world could ask for, really?
I’m sure you review 1 million responses a day I really appreciate you taking the time to respond to me. Have a blessed day.
Hi KYpaint, It sounds like you’ve taken the appropriate steps to seek care at Mayo Clinic. Our physician experts have likely reviewed your case with colleagues. Their review led them to determine that Mayo Clinic cannot offer any further treatment for you at this time or care that is different from what you’re already receiving. It may also have been an issue of capacity. Many of our departments receive more appointment requests than we have capacity to accept. You may wish to consider a different Mayo campus or department.
At UAMS.
No, I really don’t have someone that I can talk to about everything. I can’t afford to see my therapist right now and what Arkansas Medicaid will pay for it’s not worth my time. My chronic pain is not from my gastric bypass. And I also got the email saying that Mayo says thank you for applying but they can’t get me in not really much of an explanation as to why other than the fact that I guess I’m poor and have Medicaid and Medicaid won’t pay for anything in my husbands a farmer and we just have been hit hard with Covid and without me working full-time and him as a farmer with three kids we can’t make it we’re so broke right now I don’t know what we’re gonna do. If I could just get in to see somebody who would listen to me and help me figure out all that’s going on and get better than I could work full-time again and help support my family. I thought the mayo clinic was a place like that I had heard such good things but now I’m not so sure. It was actually very devastating news. Especially when my family falls below the federal poverty line for financial assistance. I have a Masters degree in teaching I’m not an idiot we’re just poor. Whoever said money isn’t everything is a big fat liar.
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1 Reaction@kypaint75 Hi and welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. I also live in Arkansas. What an ordeal you have been through. I am sorry that I didn't see your post earlier. I covered the weekend and must have missed it. Where did you have the 13 shock therapies done?
You have so much going on with your multiple diagnoses and your families situation and your pain levels and your mental state...I believe anyone in your shoes would be ready to crack. I can't imagine having all that pressure weighing on me without some avenue to vent or to have some relief. Is there a friend or family member that you have around that you can at least talk to?
I had the same procedure and had chronic pain afterwards as well. Is your chronic pain stemming from you RnY gastric bypass?
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