shannonE
Well, I've been around this website for about 5 years off and on... and have never really made a profile. I figured, maybe it's time. After all, I've become much more involved in community support groups where I live. This site can play as much a foundation for my continued recovery/health as anywhere else.
Anyway, if you don't know me, I'm Shannon and it's a pleasure to meet you. If you do know me... I'm happy you're still here and I look forward to learning more about the journey you've been on since we last mingled!
Chat soon!
~ shannon
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MY STORY...
Well, I'm 30 years old and divorced. I had WLS in 2001 at the ripe age of 21. At that time, I weighed 240 pounds and I'm 5'9. I went to a Dr that I found advertising in the newspaper.. you know... "LOOSE WEIGHT IN TWO WEEKS!! CALL NOW!!!" At the time, I was in a police academy and of course, was pudgy. ...to say the least. I was carrying around about 90 pounds more than the one other woman in my academy and she was taller than I. After about an hour of consideration, I called the number. Within 3.5 weeks I was approved for surgery and as soon as I passed the academy, I was in the operating room.
I lost about 50 pounds over the first 3 months and was thrilled. I loved my new body and felt better about myself than I ever had. The only thing that I had trouble with from surgery was the fact that I couldn't eat. I had never realized the fact that I truely ate to comfort myself. I had no idea... and, since I had no counseling pre-op or really even follow up post-op, I was pretty ignorant to the idea of abuse and addiction. I had no clue that i was addicted to food. I thought I was just overweight... because of my childhood and a teenage pregnancy and this reason and that reason.
What happened next, however, overwhelmed my life and eventually took it over. Since I couldn't eat, I started indulging in other things. I was too poor to shop to satisfaction and I got bored with going out with friends. I became very depressed and wanted to sleep all the time. I started creating excuses and I'm not exactly sure what led to what to get me where I ended up, BUT, what I do know is that I started using alcohol to indulge myself since I couldn't eat.
The cross-addiction.
The complications that came from building a drinking career were the harshest, most demoralizing and riskiest situations one could ever imaging putting themselves in. I absolutely lost my mind in my drinking. I did a lot of really foolish and purely disgusting things. My run of drinking last 5 strong years and in those years, I lost a marriage (that sucked anyway,lol), am still fighting for my children, got TWO DUI's in 6 months, destroyed my stomach and ended up in the hospital with severe complications and hurt a city's worth of people.
And all of this is ok to say... because it's not me anymore. I am trying to acknowledge the disease of addiction in my life and recognize in everything I do. I am not *just* an alcoholic... I am an addict to everything. I am compulsive, impulsive and at times... crazy!
The first steps I had to take was to get sober..and while my story has been mentioned here, I will gladly and confidentially talk to anyone that would like to. After I was done with the alcohol abuse... wouldn't you know... the food thing snuck back in. I began eating every time I would have drank... snacking ALLLLL day.
Now, I am trying to find a balance with recovery between dual problems. Food & Alcohol. Both are distractions or comforts from dealing with reality. I work with local support on a daily basis no matter how busy my life is. I am committed to be healthy and teaching my children about my addictions in hopes to help them. My addictions are an emotional issue and if I'm not working on these things, I'm useless to everyone around me.
Anyway, thats me...and my journey in a very quick nutshell. I'm open to answer any questions and would love to get to know some of your stories as well.
Thank you for your support!!
