Monkey_doodle
My story is not an uncommon one of being the overweight child- to the adult who dieted, lost weight, gained weight, lost a little more weight- then regain, tried losing again and again and again. I guess the only fortunate part about my dieting process was I don't recall gaining double the weight back like some people report. (That's not to say the weight didn't creep up and up over the years anyway!) But of course, I did feel the shame anyone feels when they failed at a diet. Always beating myself up because I couldn't stick it out or something. My last real effort was with Weight Watcher's when I was getting my master's degree. It was probably the one time I had a program and stuck to it from beginning to end like a champ- monitoring my portions, intake, exercise, etc. After about 13 weeks- the total weight loss was ...*drumroll please*....a whopping 6 lbs. I was devastated. Most people in the group lost at least double that amount. Around this time I started trying to accept that my body is just not like everyone else's body. I had always felt like something was different about my body but could not place a finger on it. Appetite-wise, I would rarely feel full, cravings for sweets or carbs would be frequent. I was not diabetic but worried I would be facing that next.
Around 2008 I learned about something called PCOS- polycystic ovary syndrome- and discussed this with my gynecologist. She and I agreed that I fit the bill. This syndrome can be accompanied by metabolic syndrome or insulin resistance. Essentially what happens is that glucose is not properly absorbed by my cells and the whole insulin thing- so any excess is stored as fat- hence the poor weight-loss efforts. At this time it was also decided I am pre-diabetic. The endocrinologist I met with was clueless about PCOS and he put me on Metformin- it did nothing to help my weight- don't even know that it supported the glucose/insulin problem- but it DID make me very nauseous. It wasn't until 2010 when I decided to try being a single parent and ended up at a fertility clinic that knew all about PCOS (because it is a huge factor for infertility) that I got more treatment for it- after 4 months- no baby so I opted to try a different route in life. THey suggested surgery for the PCOS (zap some of the cysts on my ovaries) or lose weight. Maybe it was time for me to consider WLS again...but when I first heard about WLS (2004)- I was totally against it and thought it was the easy way out. It took me 5 years to decide it was for me.
My first efforts were just seeing what could help. I never really liked the information I got on the RNY and I had to do all this stuff for the clinic just to see the surgeon- I gave up several months into it because I was not really into the procedure. In 2009 I met a woman at work (who also became my angel!- Laura M) and told me all about the DS. The more I heard and the more I learned online the more I decided it was what I wanted. I started persuing the goal in August 2010 and surgery was March 29, 2011. I am only a couple weeks out now with only my journey so far- I intend to update more as I progress along the DS trail here.
