LouiseF
My journey to better health
Feb 17, 2010
I am about to take a journey. For some time I have been reading and researching, taking stock of my inner resources, outer supports; finances, friends and family. If all goes well, I won't need too much support, but if I don't take this chance I will need far more support as time goes on. I hope to undergo bariatric (weight-loss) surgery in the next few months.
There is a lot of bad science and just down right lies out there about diets and weight loss. Dieting is a multi-billion dollar industry, that only cares about money. In later posts I will share some links and excerpts of good evidence, of why dieting does not work for the vast majority of people. For now, I will share one paper. Aptly titled, Dietary Therapy for Obesity: An Emperor With No Clothes: Dietary Therapy for Obesity: An Emperor With No Clothes, it was published in the journal Hypertension, the Journal of the American Heart Association.
http://hyper.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/51/6/1426
The facts. I am 55, obese with high blood pressure, a hiatus hernia and as a result, GERD (gastro-oesophagus reflux disease). I have gouty arthritis in my right ankle, my left knee has osteoarthritis and I have degenerative disc disease in my upper back.. At 5' 7", my BMI is 35, with the above co-morbidities I am eligible for bariatric surgery. Now I know that BMI is not the best measurement, but that is what is used in health care at this time. I am not a mass of muscle. I can walk for several miles without collapsing, I live a sedentary lifestyle but do garden, haul firewood and other odds and sods. I don't like to exercise for the sake of it, I like to walk if I am going somewhere. I might get a treadmill.
Both my father and mother had cardiovascular disease, both suffered strokes and had heart failure. My mother had type two diabetes that required insulin. My father lost the sight in one eye due to his diabetes (his was a rare form not due to obesity). Both were obese. My aunt lies in a nursing home, more than ten years after suffering a stroke: she is unable to care for herself, feed herself, she cannot communicate.
In my work as a Registered Nurse, I see the results of poor health, these are not all related to obesity, but obesity is a significant component of the misery and pain I see on a regular basis.
My battles with GERD started in the late 80's. At the time I was under stress, but happy. I had gained perhaps 20 lbs, living in student accommodation, working and undergoing post-graduate health care education in the UK. With treatment it resolved.
Since 2004, I have had intermittent heartburn, which I managed with over-the-counter remedies and changes in diet. In 2007, I developed pneumonia and on x-ray, my right middle lobe had collapsed. After several weeks of tests, a specialist told me that this might be due to aspiration caused by the GERD. It took over six months for me to recover. There were significant economic costs attached due to sick time and inability to work full time for several months.
In 2008, the GERD became worse. Prescription medicine was needed. My interest in surgery, to repair my hiatus hernia, began after I had seen three different people with swallowing difficulties in 2008. Two had GERD in their past. A little research on the internet told me I was at risk for more serious health problems, including cancer of the oesophagus.
At the end of 2008, I took a belly-dance class to try and improve my fitness level. It was only when I was standing in front of the mirror that ran the full length of the room, that I realised how fat I was. I knew I was not skinny, but my mental image of myself and what I saw with my eyes were different.
Over the years I have dieted. At one point I lost over 50 lbs and wore size 10 jeans. In 2004, after several years of extreme stress, (death of my parents, family home burnt down, illness, job loss, serious family health issues- nephew had leukaemia, sister housebound with Panic Disorder and other stuff) I was wearing a size 20, my weight had gone up to 240 pounds.
Rather than diet, I started to eat more mindfully. Strangely enough, stopping the use of sugar substitute helped. My weight has stayed about 225 pounds for most of that time. I did drop to 210 with the pneumonia- mostly because I coughed so much, I vomited almost daily.
I have the most wonderful family doctor. When I asked him to refer me to a doctor to see what could be done surgically to correct my hiatus hernia, he was more than happy to do so. I oh so casually mentioned a surgeon's name, who by the way, was known for his practice in benign oesophageal disease, what I didn't tell him, but he probably knew, this doctor also performed bariatric-weightloss surgery. Despite my good relationship with him, I was embarrassed to tell him that I wanted bar iatric surgery. Despite all my knowledge of why diets don't work, I felt ashamed that I had failed to lose weight and maintain the weight loss.
I am going to stop being ashamed and instead go forward knowing that I suffer from a disease called obesity. The causes are most likely genetic, but a toxic environment has aggravated it.
