Hibernation Syndrome

After WLS, you may be feeling tired and become depressed. When you
are

several weeks post op, and are either on a liquid diet or you are
eating many
fewer calories than you were pre op, this depression and inactivity
can
become more pronounced. All you want to do is sleep, you may have
crying
spells, you may begin to believe that the surgery was a mistake, or
you may
think ‘what in the world have I done to myself?’
All these feelings are completely normal and, to a certain extent,
are to be
expected. The low number of calories you are eating produces what
many of us
call the ‘hibernation syndrome’ and your depression and feelings of
despair,
are a direct result.

During the weeks immediately following surgery, our body starts to
notice
that we are not taking in enough calories. It doesn’t know we’ve had
WLS, or
that it’s the year 2002. Our body is missing food, thinks this is a
famine,
and struggles to conserve our energy. The human body reacts like it
always
has in a famine; it makes us depressed–so we don’t have the
motivation to do
anything, and it makes us tired–so we don’t have the energy to do
anything.
In this way, we will conserve as many calories as possible and
remain alive.
You can see the practical value of this as our bodies have been
living
through famines, snowstorms, and other periods of unstable food
supply for
centuries.

This stage can last several weeks. Our discomfort is compounded as
we are, at
this same time, trying to recover from major surgery, adopt new
eating
habits, and deal with a liquid or soft diet. To get out of this
stage, our
body has to say to itself ‘gee, this famine is lasting a bit too
long. If I
keep conserving my energy with inactivity, I will starve to death.
I’d better
use my last store of energy (the remaining fat and muscles in our
body) to
hunt up some food’. At this point, our body will switch from getting
energy
from food, to getting energy from our fat (and muscle too if we
don’t eat
enough protein) and that is what we want.

In order to deal with this difficult transition period, tell
yourself that
you’re right on track; this is exactly what is normal and to be
expected.
Tell yourself that, in a few weeks, this will pass, and you will
feel like a
completely new person. We all seem to turn the corner about 4-6
weeks post
op. Then, your mood will lighten and, with your weight loss starting
to add
up, you’ll feel more positive and have a better outlook on life.
Just keep
telling yourself that you will not always feel this way! You WILL be
back to
feeling like your old self. Just give it time!

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hi everyone thanks for answer to my last post. now i have another
concern i am sorryt full of questions. i kniw that as of 2 wks post
op i lost 19lbs. now i feel like i haven’t lost another ounce. my
clothes do not feel any different i figure i shoukd be losing not
gaining i don’t think i can eat enough at this point to gain and
half the time i almost forget to eat. i just started eating ground
meat this week. i had a few instances where it did not agree with
me but i know this stage is basically trial and error. i am just
worried that i coud stop losing so quickly after surgery. i do not
mean to ask silly questions but i didn’t do this to lose 20 lbs and
not feel any better. thanks terry

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