Tracy A.
I have struggled with my weight for years. I use to be really active and I loved to go hiking and bike riding. I started putting on a lot of weight really fast in the early 90's. I tried to get my family doctor at the time to test my thyroid but he just thought I just needed to diet and exercise so he wouldn't order the blood test. Dieting at that time was a losing battle for me and got very discouraging. Finally in 1994 I went to another doctor and told him my symtoms and he ordered a thyroid test right away. Sure enough my thyroid was way off. He put me on medicine for it and things seemed some better. He just didn't follow up with more test to make sure I was on the right dosage. I got pregnant in 1995 and when my OBYGN checked my blood he double my thyroid medicine. I tried to keep a check on it regular but when I didn't have any insurance and money was tight I didn't get my medicine like I should and the weight piled on.
I don't blame all my weight on my thyroid. I went through some major depression back in 2002. I was in college at the time and during the spring semester I started getting sick a lot. My dad had lots of trouble with his bowels like IBS and I guess I took after him. When school was out in the spring that year I got a job working for Dish Network doing tech. support and I loved it. The six months I worked there though there was something happening all the time. I kept getting sicker and sicker with my tummy and had lots of days I couldn't work. Then my dad died from an accident in August. It really didn't sink in he was gone until about November. I got very sick and had to take a month off from work. I went back in Dec. and worked a couple weeks and got sick again. So I finally had to quit work. It was a very hard thing for me to do because I loved my job, but I didn't want to get fired because I hoped that I would get well and could go back to work.
In January of 2003 I really got depressed and just didn't care about life. I was angry because I was sick all the time and I missed my dad so bad. I have psoriasis and it flared up really bad too which was reallly hard on me. I started have problems from arthritis from the psoriasis. I cried nearly every day. I turned to food for comfort because I just didn't care.
I had to sign up for disability that year and it wasn't until May 2005 I got approved. It was a long hard process and tough paying the bills with only my hubby working, but Praise God we made it through.
In 2004 I finally started to feel like I was coming out of the worst part of my depression. I struggle hard to find something good out of every day. Thats not saying I still didn't have my bad days. I went to counseling to learn to deal with everything and I was on medicine for depression for a while.
Praise God now I don't have to take any medicine for depression. I have been off of medicine for a while and my outlook on life is so much better.
My health in the last couple of years has been so much worse. I have a struggle trying to walk very far. My knees just ache and I hurt in my hips. I found out this year I have sleep apnea and diabetes.
Last year my husband and I started talking about WLS. It was a hard decsion to come to. We really prayed about it and I have done a lot of research so I feel like I am on the right path to getting my life back.
