Well my introduction above tells a summary of my story, but here are some details...

I have a situation that I haven't seen many people mention on this site. I got sick of being chubby and watching the scale creep up after I graduated from high school, so in my late 20's, after years of dieting (Nutri-Sytem, Jenny Craig, etc.) I decided to do something I had always been against: take diet pills. I wanted to know what it was like to be thin for once in my life. There's a place here in the metro Detroit area called Diet Results, a nasty little hole in the wall clinic run by Dr. Bill Nagler. [I tried to insert a picture of a devil in here but it wouldn't work LOL] This guy is no better than a drug pusher in a back alley, and if not for his medical license, I'm sure he'd be out on the streets selling crack. (Can you tell I'm a little bitter?!) Well, I knew it was the wrong thing to do, but I went in there and paid him a zillion dollars & got on his "program." This "program" consists of him getting you hooked on diet pills... every kind imaginable. (Phentermine, phendimetrazine, benzamphetamine, etc, etc.) You go in, sit in his chair and talk for a few minutes, he hands you some "vitamin energy packs,'' gives you a vitamin shot and then gives you the drugs.  Every few weeks when you start to develop a tolerance to the drugs, he switches them to a slightly different mix. That way you get just enough results to keep you coming back, week after week.... plus these pills are highly addictive... basically they're speed, so you sort of have to go back or you suffer through the withdrawal.

Well after a few short months I went from having zero energy & wearing a size 16 to staying awake for literally days at a time & wearing a size 6! What a miracle, right? NOT! Turns out, and of course I knew this but was in denial, when you go off the drugs, you gain all the weight back! And more.... lots more. I gained 80 pounds in 6 months, no exaggeration. I turned into a total recluse because I was so ashamed of my sudden change from being "normal" to being obese. 

Well anyway, now it seems like no matter what I do, I continue to gain weight. My PCP told me that diet pills can burn out your metabolism. Plus I had thyroid cancer years ago & had my thyroid removed, so I am always dealing with low thyroid issues as well. (Low thyroid = weight gain.) I take thyroid replacement hormone every day...The doctors adjust my dosage from time to time, because they always want to keep your thyroid level as normal as possible. But they err on the side of keeping the levels too low instead of too high, because too high can damage your heart over time. So the burned out metabolism and thyroid issues are kind of a double whammy against me maintaining a normal weight. Plus I love to eat LOL!!

I've been so inspired and impressed by all the courageous people on this site who have struggled for so long and gone through with WLS despite the possible complications. So often I see people say their only regret is that they didn't do it sooner. Well I don't want to have that regret, so I'm going to do it asap. I went to Dr. Mark Pleatman's information session on April 4, 2007, had a consult with him on April 25, and was able to schedule the surgery for May 31, 2007! Since I'm a self-pay, things moved pretty quickly for me. :) Yay!