Another Weighty Issue

I saw this on my local news tonight. Apparently, the NHS isn't performing many gastric band/bypass ops, despite there being a desperate need for them. They did something like 200 ops last year, but there's about 20,000 people elegible for them (of which I am one). They asked for people to email in their thoughts.

Basically, they read out about 5 or 6 ignorant ones about "why shud we pay cos they stuff their faces?" etc etc and only one sticking up for the operations.

I too used to think overweight people had brought it on themselves. It's only as I've got older and had trouble with weight and struggled with it, that I have realised how complex and difficult the whole issue is.

Eating patterns (healthy or not) are laid down in childhood. Our parents subconsciously often pass on their own eating habits to their children. Now as adults we can learn to identify bad eating habits, but it's a hellova lot harder to change them and replace them with good eating habits, as it mainly operates at a subconscious level. Sometimes gay people "become" gay because of their relationship with thier parents (psychologically proven), yet would you say to them "it's your own fault you're gay, you're choosing it!" ? No, you wouldnt.

Society teaches us that thin is good and fat is bad. when I was a kid, this attitude was just about looks, not health, as it is today. We were taught to assume that fat people ate too much and it was their own fault.

But increasingly, the medical profession is treating obesity like a disease. Patients are offered sympathy, not contempt. I think this is a good thing, and I wish it encompassed the public, too.

There was a doctor on the news who said it's in the NHS's best interests to treat obese people for their weight because of the revenue they'd save when the patients lose weight and often lose other medical problems. He said we treat people who smoke with lung cancer, yet we get nothing back from them (money wise). Did those smokers not "bring it on themselves"? How are overweight people different to smokers? I believe its easier (but not easy) to give up smoking because you dont need fags. Yet everyone needs to eat, so you cannot avoid food.

This is a subject which really hits home with me. Not just because I'm overweight, but because I need an operation on my stomach to tighten the sphincter muscle (genetic problem, runs in both parents families) and the surgeon refuses to do it because of my weight. he's a lovely man and wasnt offensive, but explained that if he repaired my stomach muscle, then all my excess weight when lying down, would undo the operation and his good work! i would be back to square one, with severe acid reflux and on loads of drugs for it. He did say that he would be perfectly happy to do the operation as long as I could get funding, so he could put a gastric band in at the same time. He told me to go to http://www.bospa.org/ and read up on it, then go to my GP if I want it and he will apply for funding from the PCT.

I was terrified at the thought at first. Still am a bit, if I'm honest. But I'm 35 now, been overweight since I was 20, been a yoyo dieter, have manic depression (when u get up wondering if you're going to make it thru the day, dieting is the least of your worries!), I think if I was able to lose weight by myself, I would have done it by now! What have I got to lose?

I stand to gain my health. My weight related issues include nerve pain in my shoulders from my bra straps (so bad it keeps me awake at night), my kneebone rubs on my thigh bone (painful on stairs), I have flat feet (they didnt hurt when i was slim). Plus I have sciatica, IBS (started after my gallbladder came out), severe acid reflux causing gullet spasm (chest pain) and probably more stuff I cant remember right now lol I said to my hubby, if it were just a question of weight, I wouldnt consider it, but my health is so bad right now, I dont think I really have a choice.

I'm going back to my docs on monday to see if he's got funding yet and jolley him along, so we'll see what's happening then.

sorry, this is a bit of an essay :o not many things offend/upset me, but the ignorance of so many news viewers tonight did.

 

Totally with you.

I used to weigh 21stone.

I had a roux en Y gastric bypass surgery in 2000 and lost 8 and half stone over 18 months.

I now can't eat more than a child's portion of food at any one time. If I eat out I either have just a main course and leave half or just a starter. Sometimes - and it varies I can have 2 starters, specially if one is something very small and light.

The bypass not only reduced my stomach to a small pouch but bypassed half of the small intestine - which means that I absorb less from the food that I am able to eat and need vitamin and mineral supplements forever.

I still put weight on again if I don't watch every mouthful that I eat. I gain weight on around 1800 calories - which is less than most people maintain on.

I paid for my operation although my GP was happy to refer me to have it on the NHS, even back then before most people had heard of it there was a 3 year waiting list.

I now have a life again. I also know some people who have had it or something similar done and not lost all that much at all because they start liquidising chocolate as soon as they are able. It isn't right for everyone but the NHS has saved a fortune through me having this done.

Like most things it's easy to be judgemental if you don't have a problem - or are able through watching what you eat to control it.

Just like depression there are degrees. I'm not saying I didn't eat too much, clearly I did. I am saying that if most people ate what I was eating then they would be overweight YES but they would not be morbidly obese as I was.

 

Ive always said anorexia is treated as an illness and help is at hand.

Whereas overeating is not recognised as an illness where Im sure it is for many people.

In this society no sympathy is given to over weight people and how they got there.

It needs some serious attention because these people are screaming out for help but nobody wants to listen.

 

People who've never smoked tell me 'quitting is easy, just stop buying them, you don't need them'.

I know that's not what we're on about, but it highlights a good point I think. Those that don't know what they're on about are always the first to pass judgment.

Any kind of stereotyping really annoys me, because I've known loads of folks from all walks of life over the years, and no two are the same. One of my best friends is very much overweight. Is she just a fatty? Not to me she isn't, she is a jolly lass with a heart of gold and that's why she's my friend. Another of my best mates had a problem a few years ago with drugs. Is he a smack'ead? Not to me, he's a sincere lad with an open mind and a caring soul, and that's why he's my friend.

A while ago I went a bit crazy. Suffering with depression and getting some highly unusual thoughts, I flipped out and did something silly in my car. Does that make me just a loony? I hope not. I'd rather think something had gone a bit wrong somewhere, and needed to be corrected, but I was still me.

So my point is, if someone is narrow minded enough to pass judgment, just ignore them, they don't know what they're on about.

 

Hec- thanks for sharing that, it's very interesting. I cant have the bypass as my lithium wont get absorbed properly, thats why the surgeon suggested the band.

o2- i said the same thing to my MIL this morning! anorexia is recognised and treated with no stigma, but not obesity

Clueless - my hubby smokes, so i know how hard it is to give up, i just assume (maybe wrongly) that as you can get right away from fags it must be fractionally easier to give up, than giving up junk food or moderating what you eat. but i realise how much of a hold your brain can get on these substances, be they addictive or not.

thanks for your opinions/support, i just wondered if the bigotry was nationwide or just in east anglia?

oh, i've just had a fone call from the nhs exercise and nutrition team (who i was referred to before the band was suggested) and they can send me to a dietician in APRIL!! i'll go, but hopefull i'll hear about the band before that

 

Hi Ros

Sorry to hear that you are having so much trouble trying to get the op done and hope that eventually you manage to get down to the weight you dream of being.

Would you mind if I ask you, have you already been checked out for Thyroid problems,PCOS,{Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome}or Glucose Intolerence? at all because they could be a few things that are stopping you losing weight.I am not medically trained in any way,buy your weight problem might be casued by any number of things and not necessarily what you are eating.

If your diet is the main problem then I can reccomend Rosemary Conley's Diet and Fitness Magazines{She is also on Twitter} as a good starting point in following a low fat diet.

I put on weight when I was put on Steroids when we were trying for a family,and then when I started going through the Menapause I put on two and a half stone in weight which doesn't seem a lot but when you are only a short dillan it soon shows.When I used to complain to my Dr that I was putting on so much weight he said that while the cysts I have on my ovaries were still active and pumping out the wrong hormones then I would struggle to lose weight.:(

This last week I have now been diagnosed with Diabetes and am trying to lose weight by exercise and a change of diet before I start on medication.I am not trying to say you will end up with the same condition as me but please be assured there are a few of us that are struggling to lose weight so I thought I would just add my support and if you need any help then I think between us all on here we may be able to help you lose weight without having to resort to surgery at such a young age.

I also suffer like you with IBS and I know that if I have any stress in my life the griping pains can be crippling so you have my sympathy.

Sadly at the moment unless you are a size zero and look like something out of Belsen then if you are overweight you will always have people saying nasty things,although hopefully now the tide is turning and real women are starting to be seen on the cat walks:D

Good luck and if you need any help then don't forget to Shout

 

Oooh this is a tough one isn't it. On the surface it seems perfectly acceptable and understandable, but considering how we are told daily the NHS is lacking in resources it feels like a prickly subject.

If we can clear the huge waiting lists and get the right amount of funding for something like the cancer drugs people can't seem to lay their hands on then yes, but till then, if it were a ballot I would say no. Not, I hasten to add, because I have no empathy or sympathy, or I don't recognise the claims made, I just feel some claims are stronger than others. Cancer can't be cured with a healthy diet and exercise and the health risks related to eating disorders, including obesity can. It's a tough choice.

If we had unlimited funding then................why not, but we don't. It's a fact, an awful one, but a fact nonetheless.

As a country we have some very difficult years in front of us concerning the NHS. If I had the money I certainly wouldn't allow my family to have to rely on it, it breaks down too often.

 

Kandy- thanks for your reply. I DO have polycystic ovary syndrome (its a miracle that i've got 3 kids) and my thyroid is checked every 3 months with my regular bloods (cos of the lithium i take) and as far as i am aware, my blood sugar levels are ok. but my dad is diabetic (old age one) and my mum had an underactive thyroid, so i know to be aware of those things. Sorry to hear about your health issues, I hope you can get them under control. Surgery isnt ideal, i know, but I've got to the point where my will power is zero, along with my self image etc and I really don't feel like I can make much of a difference now. I said to hubby, if I could lose weight, I would have done it by now. Having said that, if anything changes I would be willing to try non-surgery methods. time will tell i suppose, but i am on so much medication for my stomach, its really not good, long term :(

Lollipop - the surgery is very limited because of the money. the PCT's dont take money away from other treatments, thats why not many people are getting the banding done. you have to apply to the pct for funding and pass their "test" to get the money. In an ideal world there would be endless amounts of money spent in the nhs, so this wudnt be an issue. and just to note; if i could afford the op myself, i would go private and not burden the nhs. and like i said, its not just about the weight for me, its more for the stomach muscle repair i need

tonight they said about it again on the news, but this time, they read one email opposing it and loads supporting it! the last one went "the nhs has to foot the bill for lots of things that are self inflicted. smoking, alcohol and drug related problems" too true!!