32F — Struggling mentally after gastric bypass. Did anyone else seriously regret it at first?

I had gastric bypass recently, and mentally I am struggling much more than I expected.
I don’t know if my antidepressants aren’t being absorbed properly, if my pre-op process didn’t prepare me enough for the psychological side of this, or if this is simply part of the early post-op period, but my anxiety has been absolutely overwhelming.
Lately, one of the thoughts I keep coming back to is wanting to have another surgery to reverse everything. I know I’m very early in this process and that making a decision like that right now would probably be irrational, but the thought keeps coming back anyway.
I’m 32, and suddenly I keep thinking: What have I done? Did I really choose to spend the rest of my life depending on supplements and monitoring what my body can absorb?
I’m also terrified of what I’m going to look like after losing the weight. Before surgery I thought about all the health benefits, mobility, quality of life, etc. Now my brain seems completely incapable of focusing on those things. Instead I’m thinking about loose skin, looking older or sick, losing my hair, nutritional deficiencies, and whether I permanently damaged a body that, despite being obese, was still my body and was functioning.
What scares me is how dramatically my feelings changed.
I remember going into surgery feeling confident about my decision. Even immediately after waking up, while I was nauseous and actually vomiting blood clots — which was both surprising and pretty terrifying — I didn’t feel this kind of regret.
And now I do.
I have this horrible feeling that I’ve damaged my body in a way that can’t truly be undone, and right now all the potential benefits of losing weight don’t feel worth what I’ve done to myself.
There’s also a lot of guilt. Some people in my life told me not to have the surgery, and I did it anyway because I genuinely believed it was the right decision for me. Now every time I feel scared or regretful, there’s this voice saying, They warned you. You did this to yourself.
I know anxiety can distort the way you see things, which is part of why I’m writing this instead of assuming that what I’m feeling right now is how I’m going to feel forever.
Has anyone else experienced this level of regret or anxiety soon after bypass?
Especially the feeling of desperately wanting your old body and your old digestive system back, even though you wanted to lose weight before surgery?
Did that feeling eventually go away?
And if anyone here takes antidepressants, did you notice a change in how they worked after bypass? Did your doctor have to adjust your medication or formulation?
I don’t really need to hear that I should be grateful I had the surgery or that I’ll feel differently once I lose weight. Right now I think I just need to hear from people who genuinely went through this psychological part of the process and came out the other side.
Because at the moment, I’m scared that I made an irreversible mistake.

Posted Aug 12, 2026, 3:18 AM UTC

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