Too much adrenaline after weight loss.

[mathiasinthe314]

So I'm several months out from my VSG - I'm down 210 pounds total so far. I was big most of my life, so I would assume most of my bodily functions were adapted to my former size.

The point is - today I had a particularly stressful situation at work that involved a confrontation with a client. This person was adminent (but wrong) that we had done them wrong and needed to fix it. Despite how many times I tried to explain calmly the reality of situation, it just kept going further south.

Ultimately, what made it worse is that when I became frustrated and my adrenaline dumped, it's like it was still dumping the amount for 450 lbs me and I immediately started shaking profusely and became very aggressive. I felt out of control of my body and emotions.

Just curious if anyone else has experience anything similar after their weight loss.

Thanks.

[Shirl]

I will keep you in my heart and prayers... maybe is does have a correlation with your gastric sleeve, but also sounds like the situation called for Negotiation, and Emotional Intelligence skills we all could use.

When I am confronted with those type of clients, I have learned to defuse the situation by saying that I have to get to another customer, but will follow up as soon as I possibly can. From all the training I have been on negotiation with difficult people is to try to meet where they are, and tell them you need to revisit the situation at a later time when the air has cleared (but don't say that to them) best is to just say that you need to find out how you can best accommodate their needs. In theory, it always seems easy, but to do is another animal.

Don't forget to breathe deeply, and let it go.

[Muted_Tummy]

Wow, had never thought about that. How long did those symptoms last? Maybe it's not amount but u experience it more woth less pounds so u sort of have to relearn how to cope thru the fight or flight response?

[Ann2]

mathiasinthe314 ...

I have never heard that our adrenal glands calibrate their output to our weight. If that's really the case (?), it's new news to me.

But I do know of several other biochemical phenomena with WLS patients (for both men and women) that might also be in play: As we lose weight, we're releasing years' worth of old hormones stored in our fat that flood our systems. These include (for both genders) testosterone. That could have been a factor in your response. ??? Also -- the surgical drugs themselves can make us somewhat unpredictable for months post-op.

I had a similar reaction to yours during a conversation with several friends a couple months post-op. I found myself actually saying (with considerable volume) what I had been wanting to say for many years. It was like my filters all just dropped to the floor.

But no matter what factors contributed to your response (which obviously alarmed you), it sounds like the biggest factor was the actual stress of the situation.

Handling life's big stresses well while simultaneously (1) behaving appropriately, (2) "feeling our feels" (as the kids say) and (3) NOT eating our feels is a huge post-WLS-op challenge -- maybe the biggest challenge we have.

Almost all of us used food to self-medicate our emotional discomforts before WLS. And those tendencies don't go away after we have lost weight.

Finally, I think a lot of us can benefit from counseling / therapy in concert with our surgery and our big dietary and other lifestyle changes. I've found my therapist very helpful these last two years. If you're not seeing anyone, you might consider this resource for yourself.

(Sorry for the sermon -- you probably already know all of this.)

[Shirl]

... sounds like the biggest factor was the actual stress of the situation.

Handling life's big stresses well while simultaneously (1) behaving appropriately, (2) "feeling our feels" (as the kids say) and (3) NOT eating our feels is a huge post-WLS-op challenge -- maybe the biggest challenge we have.

Almost all of us used food to self-medicate our emotional discomforts before WLS. And those tendencies don't go away after we have lost weight.

This is so very true! Thank you Ann for these wise and essential factors we cannot forget.

[WANAGL]

mathiasinthe314 ...

But no matter what factors contributed to your response (which obviously alarmed you), it sounds like the biggest factor was the actual stress of the situation.

Handling life's big stresses well while simultaneously (1) behaving appropriately, (2) "feeling our feels" (as the kids say) and (3) NOT eating our feels is a huge post-WLS-op challenge -- maybe the biggest challenge we have.

Almost all

Finally, I think a lot of us can benefit from counseling / therapy in concert with our surgery and our big dietary and other lifestyle changes. I've found my therapist very helpful these last two years. If you're not seeing anyone, you might consider this resource for yourself.

Therapy has helped me get down to "causes and conditions". I'm so grateful to have the best therapist in the world! I highly recommend having a professional that has knowledge about or specializes in WLS patients.