First I'd like to thank everyone's responses to my first entry. I'm new to this but seeing everyone being so nice and supportive gets me emotional. Just 2 more days till my surgery. Very excited and nervous. I'm going to BJ's tonight to stack up and get prepared for these next couple weeks. Just so psyched to begin my journey and moving forward and never going back to feeling this way!

Congrats to you! I am 7 days post op and will share a couple of things I've learned in my short week.

One-- the biggest one-- please have a very solid and understanding person in your life who can help get you through the shocking emotional roller coaster that happens after surgery. The extreme hormones are something I wasn't at all prepared for. I go from being furious, to laughing to (most often) sobbing uncontrollably. I was warned of this but it's a million times more intense than I expected. And I'm actually a psychotherapist so I am trained to recognize illogical emotions and react to them properly. Even so, I have been miserable. So, have someone there who will support you if you're having emotions that make no sense and are way off the charts.

Second, get yourself a body pillow. It will save your life.

Last, do this one for me lol. Go take a bottle of water (or whatever liquid) and chug that sucker. It's such a strange thing to be super thirsty but be unable to quickly satisfy your thirst by chugging water. Instead, we have to take very small sips which takes a long time to finally satisfy that thirst. You won't be chugging liquid again for a very long time, possibly ever, so enjoy it one last time! Lol


June 12, 2017 I had my lap-band removed, my gallbladder removed and received an RNY.

HW: 402, SW 306, CW 303, GW 185

Congrats to you! I am 7 days post op and will share a couple of things I've learned in my short week.

One-- the biggest one-- please have a very solid and understanding person in your life who can help get you through the shocking emotional roller coaster that happens after surgery. The extreme hormones are something I wasn't at all prepared for. I go from being furious, to laughing to (most often) sobbing uncontrollably. I was warned of this but it's a million times more intense than I expected. And I'm actually a psychotherapist so I am trained to recognize illogical emotions and react to them properly. Even so, I have been miserable. So, have someone there who will support you if you're having emotions that make no sense and are way off the charts.

Second, get yourself a body pillow. It will save your life.

Last, do this one for me lol. Go take a bottle of water (or whatever liquid) and chug that sucker. It's such a strange thing to be super thirsty but be unable to quickly satisfy your thirst by chugging water. Instead, we have to take very small sips which takes a long time to finally satisfy that thirst. You won't be chugging liquid again for a very long time, possibly ever, so enjoy it one last time! Lol


June 12, 2017 I had my lap-band removed, my gallbladder removed and received an RNY.

HW: 402, SW 306, CW 303, GW 185

My bad I accidentally sent that! But omg! I will definitely keep all of that in mind and try my best to keep my emotions together when I'm with my family and boyfriend! I didn't know about that. I heard about how little you drink and I've been so thirsty this week thinking about it!

What helped you control your mood swings? Because I think I'm gonna have a hard time with that

I'm just four weeks out and I can drink water easily. It's not forever for some of us. It was a huge concern for me. I used to be able to drink a half of a bottle at once and while I can't do that I can take three huge swallows with no pain as long as my stomach is empty.
Can't wait to hear your journey!

Okay phew good it's different for everyone. You have to drink then wait a half hour to eat right?

What helped you control your mood swings? Because I think I'm gonna have a hard time with that

Honestly, today is just one week post op and I haven't found much of anything to help me. The emotions are still all over the place. Ive been told it's typically 2 weeks or so before you're back to normal. I hope I didn't scare you. Some people have zero problems with the hormones causing emotional issues, some people have only a slight problem and then others like me have a pretty hard time. There's really no way to know how each of us will react, but I think it's better to be prepared for this one just in case.

The most important thing is to have your support person understand that this is a possibility. That way they are prepared and they understand it is only temporary. I was truly, legitimately ANGRY about having lost only 1 pound in the 5 days post op. I was crying and yelling and wanting to call my surgeon and scream at him. Of course I now see how absolutely illogical and ridiculous that was but in the moment it was very real and the fury I was feeling was real. That's just an example. Most of my emotions have leaned more to very sad and crying as opposed to anger. I was crying because I felt hungry and I thought that meant I was too fat and disgusting to succeed at WLS because I kept telling myself I shouldn't feel hungry. Just things like that... completely illogical things. But, as we know, emotions aren't always logical.

So, just have your support person be there for you and show you kindness and compassion no matter how utterly ridiculous your mood swings may appear to them. And if things really do get too bad, your surgical team is familiar with this happening to patients and will be able to help you. Perhaps maybe even prescribing a mood stabilizer or anxiety medication for a couple of weeks if needed.


June 12, 2017 I had my lap-band removed, my gallbladder removed and received an RNY.

HW: 402, SW 306, CW 303, GW 185

I'm just four weeks out and I can drink water easily. It's not forever for some of us. It was a huge concern for me. I used to be able to drink a half of a bottle at once and while I can't do that I can take three huge swallows with no pain as long as my stomach is empty.
Can't wait to hear your journey!

That's good to hear. It's interesting how all of our bodies react so differently. I've spoken to some people who are a lot like yourself. But then others who are years post op and still can only sip. I'm only a week out so I'm too afraid to push it even a tiny bit with regards to how much I can drink. But as time passes and I'm healed, I'll definitely push the envelope a little on that one. I miss my water! There's not much better than gulping a nice cold glass of water after a nice work out.


June 12, 2017 I had my lap-band removed, my gallbladder removed and received an RNY.

HW: 402, SW 306, CW 303, GW 185

Okay phew good it's different for everyone. You have to drink then wait a half hour to eat right?

No drinking for 15-30 minutes before eating and then wait for another 30 minutes after eating before taking a drink. This rule is super important. People who drink with meals tend to have very poor success rates.


June 12, 2017 I had my lap-band removed, my gallbladder removed and received an RNY.

HW: 402, SW 306, CW 303, GW 185