Yeah! and Boo! All at the same time.

I saw my surgeon yesterday for my 3 month (and 3 week) check up. I weighed in at 221.5 y’all! Yeah! I thing that is less than I weighed at my high school graduation. Lost another 16 pounds since I was there last, total is 65 since surgery and 73 since my journey started. Dr. is very happy with my progress. My blood work came back good. Only my D and B1(thiamin) are a little on the low side.  Nothing bad – I just need to increase them.
The Boo is that I have been having crazy, kill a kitten, bad moods. I go from bubbly and chatty to not wanting to speak to anyone. Like, I physically can’t fathom the idea of speaking. My jaw gets all tight and just the idea of having to engage with anyone is overwhelming. And I get, not angry, but irritated over crazy small things. I don’t really blow up at anyone, but I have definitely been more short with people. Which leads to me being even more quiet and withdrawn.  The thinking there is if I don’t engage then I can’t get mad, or hurt someone’s feelings.

Anyway, I’ve been working on this theory that it is surgery related and that it will pass. Which is what I expected my Dr. to say when I brought it up with him. What he said was “I’ve never heard this problem from a patient before." He did acknowledge that the surgery was this huge change in not only my body but my life as well. He was really great and suggested that if it continues I may want to see a psych/therapist to see if I can either talk it out, or if I needed a prescription to get me though this.

So starting today I am going to add a Mood Diary to my Food Diary. Maybe in a few weeks I’ll see it wasn’t as bad as I thought. Or that it is even getting better.

Thanks for listening to me babble.

This is very common for many reasons. Huge release of stored up hormones.
Changes in mood and changes in ways of coping with emotions without food.
It is almost a right of passage. Know that it will get better.

Yes hormones are stored in the fat, as you lose weight quickly in the beginning you will have big mood swings.  It will calm down when your losses slow down.

It is def part of the process...many of us have been there! I thought I was gonna chew somebody's head off at least three times a day there for awhile...it does get better though! I think the Mood Journal is a great idea.  Hang in there!!!

Laura

If you go to any of the support group meetings that Crozer holds you might want to bring this up, and I'm betting that you're not the only one with mood swings there - Dr Katz may never hear that side of it but I bet Pat does. We've all gone through them - they're not fun but they are part of the process. They will stop, tho, but right now your body is still adjusting to all its 'newness' - even the guys experience mood swings.

Babble on - and you can always come here to vent - we'll listen.

Yep, me too. Mood swings are all the rage. I even take Zoloft (for OCD) but I still swing with the best of em'. and don't let me hear country music. the bad twangy stuff. My chest tightens, my blood pressure shoots up and I become homicidal. scary homicidal.

The doctor noticed at my last pre-op appt. that my pressure was up for the first time since he started seeing me and I told him it was the country music in the waiting room. He laughed and told the assistant in his Indian accent, "her blood pressure is UP, but she say eetz the country music." and ok'd my surgery.

Check to see what you're hearing when your mood immediately switches.

For me the swings never left.   I should have seen a psych about it 2yrs ago (I attribute it now to the addiction part of WLS - it took away my best friend and I'm STILL pissed) but I thought it would pass and I did the same thing as you, just removed myself from folks so they couldn't irritate me.  I know my B12, D run on the low side since surgery so I DO supplement them and they give me energy yes, but they don't take that nasty feeling away, they just make me more energetic about it.   I've talked to my PCP about taking something, she and my endo just poo-poo me.   I'd suggest you start with a psych.  You've lost enough weight now that body image will start coming into play soon;  begin to learn coping mechanisms BEFORE you need them.

Hi Cherish,

If you can come to support group at barix on Saturday (at 11 am - langhorne), you'll meet a lot of folks who have experienced the same thing.  MOSTLY (but not exclusively) women...  We store estrogen in our fat cells.  When our bodies start releasing that fat at a high rate, all that estrogen floods into our bloodstream and gets processed just as it normally would if it were PMS time.  Just think PMS times 10.  or 100.  That portion of it will eventually pass.

However, many of us (most of us?) are also food addicts who are going through detox from sugar, refined carbs, fats, etc. in the first months after surgery - there's a physical detox component AND a change in our relationship with food.  We can no longer use it to numb ourselves or to run from dealing with emotions.  Without that crutch, it becomes really difficult to figure out how to deal with the flood of emotions.  So even little things become blown out of proportion because we don't have the tools (or practice) in handling them.  That's where the work in therapy can really begin to pay off - helping understand the emotions, why they are things we've run from in the past, and how we need to learn how to develop coping skills.

So it's a complex and multi-faceted thing that is causing this flood of emotions.  You're NOT alone and for your doctor to have "never heard" of it is more than a little surprising, unless he doesn't deal with folks in support groups post-op.  

Recognize that a large part of it is chemical right now and that that will adjust itself in time.  Deal with the other issues as part of your larger "getting healthy" strategy.  And know that we're all here for you and have walked (are walking) in your shoes.

Hugs.

karen

Thank you all for the great responses! You guys really helped me relax and breath about this.

And a special thanks to Karen for all the great info. I am fortunate that food addiction has not been an issue for me. Yet, anyway. I like food, don't get me wrong. My problem has always been that I am lazy, pure and simple. It is easier and quicker to buy fast food than to cook. I am still working on this aspect after surgery as well.

I'm very relieved to see that I was right that I am normal. I can deal a little better knowing that this will pass. Hopefully my family and friends make it out alive. Lol. I haven't exactly been pleasant lately.