Im a 30 year old Mother of two, and I recently had my surgery on Jan 19th, 2015. My family warned me not to do it, but I did it anyway. I am now 6 weeks out and everyday is a rollarcoaster of emotions and sadness. I have a great support system, but I am always depressed. I feel like its taking its toll on my family, my love life and my career. I am also a full time student, and my grades are slipping. If I do not keep them above a C, i wont get my funding. The main reason for my depression is I always feel weak and tired, I cant get enough Protein and Water in. All smells repulse me and i cant eat. On top of it all, I always have a tummy ache. I am also very constipated with gas, so I am guessing it has to do with that. I have been in the ER twice, and I miss the way i used to be. I keep getting UTI's, and i cant seem to swallow those large bactrim pills they gave me at the ER. I go to the Doc for my 6 week check up tomorrow, and I know he will just say "It's normal, give it time". I dont have time, I have a job and kids and responsibilities! I am at a complete loss, so all i do now is pray for relief. Also, they found a 1.1 cm mass on my liver during the CT scan at the ER, just one more thing to add to the mix of my messed up life right now. I did this to myself, and now my loved ones are suffering because of my choice.

You must be a strong woman Brittany ,you have alot going on.Please be kind to yourself.Keep us posted on how your doing.

Honey, that is normal you are going to feel like that at the beginning but hang in there I am 2 years out almost. And I felt like that at the beginning. You will get through it.

Kawanna

I had my surgery on January 15th. I did good at first then one day I lost my appetite and got depressed. I have dealt with the depression, not wanting to eat, repulsion for food, insomnia, and worst of all anxiety. I feel your pain. I would drop to my knees on my couch or my bed and pray and beg God to help me feel better because I couldn't handle the depression and anxiety. I couldn't even go to work, I needed help. The depression has gone away for the most part in the last week. I still have anxiety in the mornings. I don't know why. Although I'm not necessarily depressed now, I'm still pretty quiet for whatever reason. It has my family worried especially since they don't know about my surgery. I guess if I were you I would try an anti-depressant (hard for me to do but I did, then stopped after a week because I felt better and it didn't have time to take effect anyway), I would add Benefiber to at least one drink per day, I would take a gas x strip once a day, and cut out some of the fake sugars in anything that you are consuming. It seems to have helped me with all but the anxiety. I had to make myself eat. Believe me, I know how hard it is to try to swallow something while gagging it back up. But I did it and hated every minute of it, but I'm finding the more real food I eat the better it has been getting. I ate a pure Protein bar which has way more carbs than I'd prefer but my appetite kinda took off after that. My appetite has somewhat returned and I have been eating so much better since then, that was 4 days ago. I am thinking about you and I will pray for you. Please please please keep us updated on how you are doing. We are here for you.

I won't tell you it will get better because you've been told that and you're probably thinking that you need a solution now, not in three months, right?

One thing I would suggest is asking your college if you can take a break. Find out if they have a health service or a counselling service, or get a doctors note to confirm that you are dealing with health issues which mean you can't give your studies your all.

I know it won't solve your problems, but it would give you one less thing to worry about.

The other thing I would say to you is to give yourself a break. You need to stop thinking of this in terms of 'ruining' your family's life. I bet you your family would much rather go through a few months of adjusting to your new life than to lose you at an early age to a heart attack! You are giving your family a gift, which is a longer and happier life with you. And beating yourself up about your difficulties isn't helping you.

Brittany. Believe that many of us have felt the way you have many many times.

I'm 9 months out and at goal and I had two weeks of the blues last month that I thought I was just miserable and would be for the rest of my life.

The doctors office says your sleeve ebbs and flows. I say that no one can prepare you for the true reality of how hard it is to recover, adjust and how much your entire life still revolves around food every day all day. So strange but true.

You need a friend who is going through it too. This forum is great. If you need a person to talk to please message me. I'm a working mom with multiple jobs, kids and a crazy life. Your surgery date is on my my sons birthday month and day. That's why I read your post.

Hang in there. It will get better.

I wouldn't say what you're going through is normal. Everything you're describing is pointing to low water intake. How much water are you drinking each day?

I feel the same. And I feel I didn't get enough info and was left in the dark and not warned how this would effect me. I wish I would have seen this post before 4/22 I feel horrible wish I could go back all to loose some weight wth did I do to myself

You will feel better soon. I promise I felt hopeless like I would never feel better, like I didn't care If I woke up or not...But I got better and you will too