Question:
Anyone notice increased anxiety at 10 months post op?

Has anyone gotten extreme anxiety at or around 10 months out? I had had this for almost 2 weeks now & it doesn't seem to be getting better. It feels like very intense PMS that I sometimes get (not time for that though). I have went from 250 pounds to 135. I am only losing about 2 pounds a month now so I thought the hormonal issues would get better. I am getting alot of comments at work now,,,some positive & some negative..which has also put me into an identity crisis. I feel like I am so lucky to be thin this summer & want to be happy but I feel like I'm losing my mind! Anyone else experience problems like this or can offer some advice?? I already take 30 mg Paxil daily.    — Kathy K. (posted on May 1, 2004)

May 2, 2004
Get your thyroid checked!!
   — ZZ S.

May 2, 2004
You should address this anxiety issue with your therapist. If it is any comfort, many of us find that the success of the weight loss brings with it lots of old feelings of the many other times we had lost weight (in fact, none of us having this surgery ever kept our lost weight off permanently). If you combine this kind-of-post-traumatic stress with the re-emergence of hunger and the increased ability to eat greater quantities, it is no wonder that more of us don't experience these periods of anxiety. A good counsellor can help guide you through this phase. Good luck.
   — SteveColarossi

May 2, 2004
Hello, I have my surgery on May 17, 04 and I am already enrolled with a great therapist. We are practicing EMDR. EMDR is a leader in fighting anxiety and PTSD. Read about it on EMDR.com and find a therapist who specializes in it. It is all in the way you percieve. Hope this helps!
   — Brandi C.

May 2, 2004
I agree with the first poster.......get your thyroid checked. I was hyperthyroid for years before it was finally diagnosed and I felt like I was losing my mind too.
   — scbabe

May 2, 2004
I've sort of had a low-level "buzz" of anxiety ever since I hit goal. It's as if there's a loud buzz pre-op that nags at you, When are you gonna do something about your weight, and then a loud buzz you hear while you're losing that says, Are we there yet, arewethereyetarewetheryetareweTHEREyet? (goal), and once at goal, there's just . . . an annoying buzz with no words. I can't really *do* something to get rid of the fear of regain; it's just always going to be there.<P>At around sixteen months post, I asked the Yahoo Grads group generally, Hey, does this EVER get any better (the whole obesity anxiety thing). Basically, some of them told me, No. Other folks seems to roll along without being afraid they'll wake up back at their all-time high weight one morning, but I'm not one of them.<P>I don't know if it's the same thing you're having or not. I basically handle it now by just telling myself I've been fighting obesity for over thirty years, and I never got this far before, so of course it's scary to be further down the road than I ever got before. That's a good thing if it keeps me on track, and a bad thing if it sucks the fun out of things. I don't know the answer to this weirdness, but it's not as bad as it was a few months ago. Bottom line: I'd rather be stressed about morbid obesity at a normal weight, than be stressed about it at my old weight.
   — Suzy C.