Before your revision

Did any of you try counseling and find it helpful?
I have been looking into revision for quite awhile now, I just want to make sure mentally I am ready for it, if that makes sense. & also to get a healthier relationship with food.

Katrina

Hi Katrina,
I think you will find therapy helpful. You and your therapist can evaluate your eating patterns and talk about your feelings with food. She/he will probably want you to journal your daily intake of food. It will also help to go ahead and establish a relationship as you will need to see one anyway if you decide to have a revision. I'm also planning a revision. I've been seeing my therapist for almost a year now. We have had many sessions about my revision surgery and my feeling like a failure for putting the weight back on. It's good to get all the emotions and feelings out to someone who is neutral.
Hope this helps.

 Hi & thanks for your response.

After hearing your reply I am kind of excited now.  I don't know when I will be able to have my revision but before I go through with another major surgery I want to be mentally ready. I was not last time. I would also like to be put back on my antidepressant. I should never have stopped taking it. It's just after surgery, I had so much energy and I felt like a brand new person, at that point I felt as if I no longer needed it. 

Thanks!
Katrina

I didn't do any counseling, but I'm a believer that counseling helps.
I have days where I KNOW that I'm ready, but then doubt creeps in, however, I just keep moving forward because I know that this is the right thing for me. I changed the way I had to eat with the RNY and now with the DS will have to make another change by eating lower carbs. This might be a challenge, but I'm certain that I can make the change knowing what the end result will reveal.

 Thank you for your reply.

The thing with me is I just *knew* in 2006 I was ready for my RNY and that it would be the beginning of a change for me. In a sense it was, I did lose weight and felt 100 times better. But here I am almost 3 years later and up 50-60 lbs from my lowest. I know I am not ready for another surgery because I did not change my relationship with food. I was challenged last time and I done great for a while.. I want this to be a permanent lifestyle change. I'm excited to see how counseling goes. It may take a year or more before I can have my revision but I am going to be patient and work on "me" first. 

Yes, I see a counselor associated with a eating disorders clinic..  I originally went there about 6 months before it even occured to me to seek a revision due to an uptick in compulsive overeating on my part.  I have found counseling quite helpful.  Like you have posted, its helpful to at least begin to get a grip on whats underneath the behaviors.  I continue in therapy.  I've lost and regained 100s of pounds in my adult life - I can lose weight.  I want to keep it off.  So I consider this honeymoon phase - "the easy part"  I am very pleased with my weight loss thus far, but I know the real challenge is not now but rather 2 years from now.  Thats part of the reason I need to continue working on me.

As  the weight is coming off, I am freed to explore other related issues in my life that I never got around to in therapy before due to the fact that a lot of my sessions centered on the weight issue.  I spent  many sessions talking about why I gained weight that week - it was all good and I learned more about me and how I cope with life. Now , however, I actually can look at some of the issues beyond the plate. 

By the way, I started my eating plan about 5 months before I actually had surgery and I think it was having that support with the counseling that helped me move away from my compulsive eating behaviors to eating more healthfully.

Best wishes,

Rhonda