4 1/2 weeks out extremely tired all of the sudden???

A thanks to major mom and the rest of you.  You have all made some really good points.  I guess I need to rearrange how Im working my DS.  Thanks for all the great ideas, they are all much appreciated....

HIBERNATION SYNDROME

After WLS, you may be feeling tired and become depressed. When you are several weeks post op, and are either on a liquid diet or you are eating many fewer calories than you were pre op, this depression and inactivity can become more pronounced.

All you want to do is sleep, you may have crying spells, you may begin to believe that the surgery was a mistake, or you may think 'what in the world have I done to myself?

All these feelings are completely normal and, to a certain extent, are to be expected. The low number of calories you are eating produces what many of us call the 'hibernation syndrome' and your depression and feelings of despair,are a direct result.

During the weeks immediately following surgery, our body starts to notice that we are not taking in enough calories. It doesn't know we've had WLS, or that it's the year 2000. Our body is missing food, thinks this is a famine, and struggles to conserve our energy. The human body reacts like it always has in a famine; it makes us depressed--so we don't have the motivation to do anything, and it makes us tired--so we don't have the energy to do anything. In this way, we will conserve as many calories as possible and remain alive.

You can see the practical value of this as our bodies have been living through famines, snowstorms, and other periods of unstable food supply for centuries.

This stage can last several weeks. Our discomfort is compounded as we are, at this same time, trying to recover from major surgery, adopt new eating habits, and deal with a liquid or soft diet. To get out of this stage, our body has to say to itself 'gee, this famine is lasting a bit too long. If I keep conserving my energy with inactivity, I will starve to death. I'd better use my last store of energy (the remaining fat and muscles in our body) to hunt up some food'. At this point, our body will switch from getting energy from food, to getting energy from our fat (and muscle too if we don't eat enough protein) and that is what we want.

In order to deal with this difficult transition period, tell yourself that you're right on track; this is exactly what is normal and to be expected.

Tell yourself that, in a few weeks, this will pass, and you will feel like a completely new person. We all seem to turn the corner about 4-6 weeks post op. Then, your mood will lighten and, with your weight loss starting to add up, you'll feel more positive and have a better outlook on life. Just keep telling yourself that you will not always feel this way! You WILL be back to feeling like your old self. Just give it time!

Wow, its funny how your are talking about the depression side of it, because I finally admitted to my husband that I have been depressed for about two and a half weeks.  I was trying to get over it without saying anything...lol.  Ive heard so many other people talk about it, and I was determined that wasnt going to be me.... Yeah right.    Thanks so much for replying, accept for the depression and my lower back ache, Im feeling much better.  I started drinking more protien shakes, and have really made sure Ive gotten in all my water...  It totaly brought me out of feeling like I might have to go to the hospital.  thank god, thats the last thing I wanted to have happen...

I'm getting "switched"  in a few weeks and this is a great thread!  Anyone want to be buddies?  I need to find out about this Vitalady plan, too.  Anything she endorses is always awesome.

I follow a great haircolor blog called KillerStrands and bought the hairdrying bonnet today.   I bought it for my hair conditioning treatments (under a cap) at home.  It gets great reviews for just regular help with hairdrying though.  It is cheap (under $20?) and just connects to a regular hair dryer.  Perhaps this idea will help someone else.  I'm sure that beauty supply stores might carry this type of thing also.

Get Vitalady's prepackaged vites. She does them in 30, 60 or 90 day packages. You just need to add vitamin K2 which she also carries. You should then be good until you get your first labs back at 3 months.