CHICAGO - Did Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr's (IL-2) gastric bypass trigger a bipolar disorder?
That's what happened, the National Enquirer is reporting today, after Rev. Jesse Jackson asked for prayer for his Congressman son, who has been on leave of absence from Congress and hospitalized since mid-June.
Unnamed sources told the National Enquirer the congressman has been diagnosed as suffering from bipolar disorder. The serious mental condition is triggered by chemical imbalances in the brain, causng sufferers to have manic highs and depressive lows.
Some insiders point the finger of blame squarely at a gastric bypass operation the 47-year-old politician underwent in 2004 because it can restrict the intake of nutrients.
“It is very possible that severe weight loss from gastric bypass can cause a loss of nutrients that can trigger or exacerbate depression, bipolar disorders or schizophrenia,” explained Los Angeles-based weight-loss specialist Dr. Carson Liu.
Jackson Jr underwent gastric bypass surgery in 2004. According to Africasia.com, in March 2005, US Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and radio talk show host Joe Madison were on a panel at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation conference.
"I am sitting next to him – I had not seen Jesse Jr. since his surgery [Jackson had also undergone bariatric surgery in 2004] – and I said, ‘Jesse, what happened? What did you do? You look fantastic!’ He began to tell me about the procedure he went through, something called a DS or duodenal switch. It was the same surgery his sister [Santita Jackson, who has lost more than 200 pounds over several years] had done. And man, did it work.”
But the surgery causes food to be digested quickly, cheating the body from the nutrients needed for health brain functions and emotional stability, experts say. Neither Jackson nor his staff have commented publicly on these speculations.
