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When did you feel normal again?



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So I'm 6 days post op. I've noticed a few things. Some are common sense but when you're in recovery, they just don't click. So... I've felt semi normal about 2 days this past week. Why? I wasn't sure until I really thought about it. I am basically starving my body which includes my brain. I feel this fog that won't go away. I've noticed the days that I've consumed more calories I've felt better. So this makes me think that once I consume more calories on a daily basis I'll feel better? What have you experienced? TIA!

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Am two months out and still not "normal"

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I felt less miserable at about 2-3 weeks after surgery. The first week I thought I had ruined my life and I remember feeling very sorry for myself, lol. The second week I accepted that if I had ruined my life, I was now stuck with it, so it was time to buck up and be a big girl. I also was back at work the second week so I had no time for pity parties. By the third week I was eating soft foods, which really helped a lot, and by the 4th week, I wouldn't say I felt normal, but that mental fog you talk about was mostly gone. I think anesthesia also majorly contributes to that feeling, because after plastics I also felt pretty crummy for a few days- like I had suddenly become ditzy and didn't remember things as much.

I am 16 months out now, and some days I don't feel normal. Sometimes I barf, sometimes I get annoyed that I can't eat as much as I want to, and some days I just feel oddly fatigued (which has mostly stopped happening since I started taking the B12, I didn't take for awhile). But, this is my new normal now, and hopefully you will find, like I did, that it's something you're ok with. :)

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I'm a little over two weeks post op and feel good. I think I feel normal. Lol. My energy level is up and I almost feel antsy. Weird huh. I did 23 days of preop that consisted of three Protein Shakes and green veggies until the last ten days was just shakes. I think that helped prepare my body for the low intake after surgery.

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I would say I was feeling pretty normal-ish most of the time around the time I was allowed solid food, 40 days post-op. I'm now 5 months out and feel normal 99% of the time.

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Felt almost normal after 2 weeks and completely back to normal when I started on solids at 4 weeks. I'm 2 1/2 months out and don't even feel like I had surgery. If I didn't get full so quickly and have those little scars on my abdomen, I would think it just a dream! :)

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You will likely never feel your old normal again. As far as feeling good again. It may take several months. After losing weight you will have a whole new normal. And it's a great one.

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NEVER

I mean, I felt better within 2 weeks after surgery but a little over 4 months later and I feel totally different than I have ever felt before. It still makes me laugh that I eat less at a meal than my skinny little 9 year old daughter. But that's a good thing.

You'll feel better soon, just hang in there but what people like us have tricked ourselves into to believing what normal feels like in my experience is tired a lethargic and depressed. My entire life ha changed as a result of this surgery.

I don't feel normal anymore. I feel exceptional.

-Turk

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I felt very weak for about 10 days after surgery and then I felt pretty good.

I was so excited and grateful about having had the surgery that everything else was inconsequential once the room stopped spinning, lol. I have been so damn happy since I was sleeved it isn't funny.

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At three months I felt totally normal - like I never had surgery. When I ate, then I would feel the restriction.

I forget I had surgery until I eat - then I remember.

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It took me a good 3 months to feel like myself again. Not only is your body adjusting to the lower calories, but your recovering from a major surgery. Be patient, it gets better! A year later and I have never been happier.

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I'll throw my hat into the 3-4 month time frame before I felt normal. But I developed a C. Diff infection from a dental procedure 6 weeks post VSG, so that definitely delayed my recovery. The fecal transplant at 3 1/2 months out that cured the C. Diff was pretty much the turnaround point for my health and well being.

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Once I started eating solids I felt good my moods got back to nornal too ... in the beginning I was a mess but now I am good :) takes time and sometimes it will feel like time isn't going fast enough buy u get there and its all good :)

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

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        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

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