Question:
Did anyone else have problems with sleeplessness post op?
I am 6 wks post op and most of the time I can't even sleep with sleeping pills. It seems to be getting more and more frequent. Is this normal? What did you do? — Wendy B. (posted on April 8, 2003)
April 7, 2003
After surgery I would go to bed at night, sleep for about an hour and then
wake up....unable to go back to sleep. This lasted for several hours.
Then one day it just stopped, and all is normal again. So hang in
there..it does pass.
— penciepaws
April 7, 2003
Wendy, Mary is right that it will pass, I went through the same thing.
Dont know why it happens but it does get better hang in there.
— tonyskid
April 7, 2003
Me tioo, it just went away. It appears a frequent occurence. Mention it to
your surgeon and PCP.
— bob-haller
April 7, 2003
When I told my surgeon about my sleeplessness at my one month PO visit my
surgeon thought I was nuts! He said none of his other patients had
mentioned that and he blamed it on my finals (i'm a college student). I
used to sleep like a log (dead to the world) and ever since surgery (almost
5 months later) my old sleep habits have not returned. I noticed that
before I slept TOO much as I was sluggish and anemic and now, I have more
energy and require less sleep. BUT, it has gotten better. I thought that
maybe because I was traumatized at the hospital (morphine overdose, etc by
incompetent RN). I'm not sure. I attribute it to a lot of things but I'm
not sure I'm correct by any means. I promise though, it does get better.
At least it did in my case and it happened so gradually that you barely
even notice.
— Tracy A.
April 8, 2003
I have always suffered from mild insominia but yes, it did seem to get
worse after surgery. I am not sure if its because of the surgery itself or
from being put under anestheia or ? I sleep for a bit and then up and down
some nights. I would say to ask your PCP if it becomes to bothersome and
you aren't getting any rest. Take care, Cheryl
— cherby56
April 8, 2003
I am a little different as I am over 1 year post op. It started about a
montha and a half ago. I can fall asleep around 11 pm but wake up around 2
or 3 in the morning and cannot go back to sleep. It seems like I can fall
back to sleep by the time the alarm clock goes off! I do have sleeping
pills perscribed by my endocrinologist, but they only allow maybe 1 or 2
more hours. It is driving me and my husband crazy! i dont know what to do
anymore. Just try to wait it out I guess.
— Heidi B.
April 8, 2003
Sleeplessness can be a sign of depression, which I've read can be a common
side effect of WLS. If you think you might be depressed, you can do a web
search for "depression self-assessment" and find a lot of tools
to help you determine if you need to see someone about it. (They often have
a question asking whether you've lost weight recently - I'd ignore that
one!)
— sjwilde
April 8, 2003
I' 5 mos post-op and still have trouble sleeping without something. I've
gone to my surgeon and told him about it, but he didn't seem overly
concerned since I kind of blew it off as stress-related. But that was
before I went on vacation. I still had trouble sleeping wile I was on a
week-long vacation, so now I know it's not just stress. It's not really
affecting me physically yet, but I'm keeping an eye on myself. I hope,
like Bob Haller said, it goes away on its own.
— Mrs. Rich
April 8, 2003
For me I think it was excitement. I have survived surgery, was loosing good
and felt wired and happy to be alive. Loosing the weight was the greatest
experience of my entire life.
— bob-haller
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