hi everyone, im very new here, decided to join because i had the gastric sleeve about a year ago, September 17th, 2019, and since i left the hospital and went back home to Europe, im not from the states, i started losing weight pretty quickly. the constant not feeling a 100 wasn't a problem for me since i had decided before hand to give myself time and dedicate my time to only this, losing the weight and get myself back to normal. i ever quit my job since i have the possibility of being self sustained for a while. so i just went on, eating very little, resting whenever i could.

everything was going fine, since at the time of the surgery i was 310 lbs and now i am 160 lbs, so 150 lbs are down in a year. however a couple of weeks ago i started feeling faint,couldn't concentrate and i was on vacation at the time and had collapsed a couple of times before that, but i didn't think much of it. drove back home barely with no energy at all, did some house work when i got back ( always resting whenever i could always lying down whenever i could, mostly how spent the last year since the surgery, always saving energy but always aware, always conscious ) until i got a call from my ex boss that wanted me back to work 2 weeks ago. i didn't sleep that night because i started panicking about my future and wondering how i was ever gonna be able to work feeling as shitty as i did, and then i went to the meeting with him, had a coffee, declined his offer because i already decided that i needed to find some place new to work at, since that one was too toxic, and after an hour i felt how my brain felt before it wanted to collapse. so i panicked not wanting to faint in a public place and rushed to my car, got home, as soon as i laid down i haven't been the same since.

i have felt absent, any conversation feels difficult to me, like i am floating, but i am conscious , however not totally present. any physical activity is hell, even though i worked out three times a week before this and walked with no problems. so i went and got my blood work done and hormonal work done, i even got an MRI of my head because i had such bad episodes of feeling like i was literally gonna die, i thought i had a brain tumor. but everything turned out great, everything is normal. the doctors keep on insisting i lost too much weight in one year and that i need to find a balance now, a classic case of malnutrition and starvation. however my brain is still not letting me feel like i am healthy because all the time i am feeling like i am not present. the doctors say that now i am in a state of catabolism, where the body has drained all its resources and it will take time to recover, psychically and mentally. i started seeing a nutritionist that claims that she will help me. it remains to be seen. one thing is for sure i cant live and function like this. its hard for me to tell myself you are healthy , nothing is wrong when i can barely get through the day with ease. i wake up feeling like this, there is always a panic in my chest that i may never recover from this. the doctors even say i need psychiatric help, but i know that's not the case since i need to solve mt psychical state first. i need to tart feeling like myself again asap.

has anyone else ever experienced problems like these? sorry for the long post, i am very desperate for any good advise i may get. god bless you all. here is a pic of me exactly a year apart from surgery and this September, just before i started feeling like this.

On 10/10/2020 at 10:31 PM, Anna N. said:

hi everyone, im very new here, decided to join because i had the gastric sleeve about a year ago, September 17th, 2019, and since i left the hospital and went back home to Europe, im not from the states, i started losing weight pretty quickly. the constant not feeling a 100 wasn't a problem for me since i had decided before hand to give myself time and dedicate my time to only this, losing the weight and get myself back to normal. i ever quit my job since i have the possibility of being self sustained for a while. so i just went on, eating very little, resting whenever i could.

everything was going fine, since at the time of the surgery i was 310 lbs and now i am 160 lbs, so 150 lbs are down in a year. however a couple of weeks ago i started feeling faint,couldn't concentrate and i was on vacation at the time and had collapsed a couple of times before that, but i didn't think much of it. drove back home barely with no energy at all, did some house work when i got back ( always resting whenever i could always lying down whenever i could, mostly how spent the last year since the surgery, always saving energy but always aware, always conscious ) until i got a call from my ex boss that wanted me back to work 2 weeks ago. i didn't sleep that night because i started panicking about my future and wondering how i was ever gonna be able to work feeling as shitty as i did, and then i went to the meeting with him, had a coffee, declined his offer because i already decided that i needed to find some place new to work at, since that one was too toxic, and after an hour i felt how my brain felt before it wanted to collapse. so i panicked not wanting to faint in a public place and rushed to my car, got home, as soon as i laid down i haven't been the same since.

i have felt absent, any conversation feels difficult to me, like i am floating, but i am conscious , however not totally present. any physical activity is hell, even though i worked out three times a week before this and walked with no problems. so i went and got my blood work done and hormonal work done, i even got an MRI of my head because i had such bad episodes of feeling like i was literally gonna die, i thought i had a brain tumor. but everything turned out great, everything is normal. the doctors keep on insisting i lost too much weight in one year and that i need to find a balance now, a classic case of malnutrition and starvation. however my brain is still not letting me feel like i am healthy because all the time i am feeling like i am not present. the doctors say that now i am in a state of catabolism, where the body has drained all its resources and it will take time to recover, psychically and mentally. i started seeing a nutritionist that claims that she will help me. it remains to be seen. one thing is for sure i cant live and function like this. its hard for me to tell myself you are healthy , nothing is wrong when i can barely get through the day with ease. i wake up feeling like this, there is always a panic in my chest that i may never recover from this. the doctors even say i need psychiatric help, but i know that's not the case since i need to solve mt psychical state first. i need to tart feeling like myself again asap.

has anyone else ever experienced problems like these? sorry for the long post, i am very desperate for any good advise i may get. god bless you all. here is a pic of me exactly a year apart from surgery and this September, just before i started feeling like this.

I didn't read the rest of the comments just your story here. I think you may have an anxiety problem, which can lead to something called agoraphobia if you don't get on top of it. However, the best way to know is for you to see your own doctors and discuss your concerns about this. You may benefit from a therapy called CBT. It very much sounds like you start to go into a panic attack from reading your story here but you need to consult with your own specialist (psych) who knows you to see if thats what is occuring. I have known several sufferers with agoraphobia and it started with small stuff for them like this. There are medicines for crippling anxiety but there is also the CBT option where you can analyze thinking along with a therapist if your psych doctor thinks you have an anxiety disorder. I do however want to say you look great here and made amazing progress, but I hope you seek out some professionals to help you so that your anxiety level can get down enough to do activities of life such as work. Anxiety disorders are so undermentioned but they can cause so much misery hope you feel better

Anna, are you taking B1 (thiamin) daily? My dietician/bariatric doctor said it is a MUST everyday even if sick. It deals with brain and nervous system functions, among others.

On 10/11/2020 at 9:25 AM, Anna N. said:

nope , she saw on my blood work that B12 levels were ok and now i am taking it via supplement. everybody just glances over my blood work and hormonal work, sees that they are ok, and just tell me " you are healthy, you just starved yourself for a year and now the body needs to find it's balance " when i feel horrible every single day. i can't focus, no energy, i am not present when i am speaking to someone, it's even hard to go to the kitchen and make something to eat for myself when i loved to cook before this year. i even lost my appetite.

the blood work show some Vitamin D deficiency though. taking supplements for it now. could this be real? did i over do it the first year?

Have you been checked for vertigo?

Hi everyone,

I feel like we are the same person basically at this point. My symptoms and story are near identical and have been hospitalized twice and run every single medical test possible. I am all of the sudden completely out of energy and strength, have edema and ascitis, mentally I can’t focus on anything, go into periods of unmanageable anxiety, depersonaliztion, all In think about is food:’either restricting or binging. The doctors just tell me: eat more and it will be sorted because you restricted and lost too much so they just insist on me seeing the nut more often and increasing calories. I’m doing all they say and it’s worse, and regardless, every single vitamin, albumin, protein, etc level in my -multiple- blood and urine lab tests are and have been within range

Beyond my physical syndromes (where there is a big IBS component that has gotten really bad too), my mind is just off. I have come to realize that this is being caused essentially by and endless cycle of binge eating, panic attacks, dumping syndrome and just compulsive behavior overall. I am today starting a leave at work because I can’t get anything done.

Beyond the specialists and all medical tests I’ve started a psych treatment with Klonopin but all that does is increase the fogginess (but is allowing me to at least sleep a couple hours a night). This has been absolutely awful. I do feel that there psych component is key and is more the cause than consequence of all the physical symptoms but at this stage I’m not really sure what on earth happened to me.

Would love to chat more with some of the folks in this thread

1 hour ago, Palta said:

Hi everyone,

I feel like we are the same person basically at this point. My symptoms and story are near identical and have been hospitalized twice and run every single medical test possible. I am all of the sudden completely out of energy and strength, have edema and ascitis, mentally I can’t focus on anything, go into periods of unmanageable anxiety, depersonaliztion, all In think about is food:’either restricting or binging. The doctors just tell me: eat more and it will be sorted because you restricted and lost too much so they just insist on me seeing the nut more often and increasing calories. I’m doing all they say and it’s worse, and regardless, every single Vitamin, albumin, Protein, etc level in my -multiple- blood and urine lab tests are and have been within range

Beyond my physical syndromes (where there is a big IBS component that has gotten really bad too), my mind is just off. I have come to realize that this is being caused essentially by and endless cycle of binge eating, panic attacks, dumping syndrome and just compulsive behavior overall. I am today starting a leave at work because I can’t get anything done.

Beyond the specialists and all medical tests I’ve started a psych treatment with Klonopin but all that does is increase the fogginess (but is allowing me to at least sleep a couple hours a night). This has been absolutely awful. I do feel that there psych component is key and is more the cause than consequence of all the physical symptoms but at this stage I’m not really sure what on earth happened to me.

Would love to chat more with some of the folks in this thread

Hi! I’m feeling very similar to what you have described... what IBS symptoms are you having?

@kikikiki ascitis is no joke - have you had your abdomen drained yet? Sometimes that is due to liver issues.

1 hour ago, stayklassie said:

@kikikiki ascitis is no joke - have you had your abdomen drained yet? Sometimes that is due to liver issues.

No.. I’ve not heard of this! What is it?

Apologies, @kikikiki I thought it was YOUR post saying you have ascitis! Wrong person. Look up ascitis - it’s not pleasant.

This is going to sound weird, but I think you should get evaluated for ADHD. I have experienced much of what you’ve experienced, symptom-wise, although I’ve not had the surgery yet, I just hear myself in your words. If it is adhd, medication can help tremendously.

11 hours ago, stayklassie said:

@kikikiki ascitis is no joke - have you had your abdomen drained yet? Sometimes that is due to liver issues.

Ascitis is indeed no joke. They scanned me twice and it is still there. Due to the amount (small) and tricky location they haven’t t been able to drain/test. I’m seeing a couple liver specialists but no one has a clue.

IBS symptoms basically loose stool and gas (that really starts acting up when I have anxiety). Are you experiencing this too?

23 hours ago, Kikikiki said:

Hi! I’m feeling very similar to what you have described... what IBS symptoms are you having?

1 hour ago, Palta said:

Ascitis is indeed no joke. They scanned me twice and it is still there. Due to the amount (small) and tricky location they haven’t t been able to drain/test. I’m seeing a couple liver specialists but no one has a clue.

IBS symptoms basically loose stool and gas (that really starts acting up when I have anxiety). Are you experiencing this too?

Not the ascitis but the IBS yes! Ever since I got the sleeve, it’s horrible and some days can’t leave the house...

Have you been tested for COVID or COVID antibodies? Someone I know who is not a bariatric patient is experiencing symptoms eerily similar to yours. As others have said have all your vitamins and other metabolic blood panes tested.

11 hours ago, MariaC6 said:

Have you been tested for COVID or COVID antibodies? Someone I know who is not a bariatric patient is experiencing symptoms eerily similar to yours. As others have said have all your Vitamins and other metabolic blood panes tested.

I was just tested for COVID last week and was negative.