I was just thinking we should come up with a list of medical issues or just physical ailments we have dealt with (or others close to us) that are related to weight issues. This will also be a good motivator in our weightloss journey - to see what comes along with this kind of weight. Feel free to include any medical issues/ailments others have already mentioned so we can see how wide spread the issue is.
I'll start:
1. Pregnancy loss. Personal experience and close friends experience.
2. Hormone imbalance. Things that shouldn't be happening. Personal and close friends.
3. Lack of energy.
4. Pain in joints, especially when walking long distances.
5. Female organ problems. Close friends who have dealt with it.
So, what have you or someone you know dealt with?
Last edited by LivingWater; 01-16-2006 at 02:51 PM.
My father has diabetes type 2 and heart disease. He has had a heart attack and has had heart surgery twice (resulting in 8 stents in the arteries/veins of his heart). This TERRIFIES me, for him and for what it suggests for myself.
Arthritis in the joints. My friend who is 11 years older is starting to suffer from this. She and I are about the same size.
I know I am facing another test to see if I am developing cervical cancer although it is not a result of the weight per se. I am very uncomfortable with the way the pap test is done in Asia and I know my size has a considerable amount to do with it. If I have another positive result they will do a biopsy in April.
Sorry if this was TMI.....I have my next test this week. I am hoping it will be good news. Please send positive thoughts my way......
PCOS, asthma/allergies, back problems (difficult to exercise with the last two) - me
diabetes - various family (mine and DH's both) - however, my dad has lost a lot of weight by changing his diet and going for a long walk everyday, and is doing quite well as a result
High cholesterol
Boderline diabetes
Foot pain
Cracked heels and callouses
Back pain
Depression
Lethargy
Poor sleeping habits
Heartburn
Generally helpless (at my highest weight I had to ask for help for just about anything phyical)
Hmmm, and I'm pretty sure I was a real b*tch much of the time because I was so unhappy with myself - does that count as a medical condition?
Sleep Apnea - it took years for me to get a proper diagnosis where I couldn't figure why I was so tired and depressed but it turned out I wasn't getting any rest! I have my fingers crossed it will go away as I lose weight.
For me, sleep apnea too. Very scary sometimes and I hope it gets better as I lose. I have high cholesterol, but that's less from the weight and more from family history and the food I was eating.
Lucky- It's good to see someone who's lost most of the weight be able to see the real difference. I mean, you must know those things were related to your weight because your probably not dealing with them anymore, right?
I notice things I deal with that I never dealt with and it's not age. I'm young. I'm going to write in my own personal journal all the things that ail me physically so I can look back and see the difference.
Last edited by LivingWater; 01-17-2006 at 12:09 AM.
Diabetes - My Dad has this, and he's always having problems with foot ulcers. I don't ever want to get it, and it's one of the prime reasons I have for losing weight.
Plantar fascitis - While the orthotics helped with this when I was heavier, the weight loss made it go away completely, and I no longer need orthotics.
I was disappointed that my acid reflux didn't go away when I lost weight. I ended up having an endoscopy that showed I have a hiatl hernia. Also, was looking forward to lowering my cholesterol, and that didn't happen either with my 80 lb. loss--bad genetics, I guess. However, most people I've known who've lost weight have had both problems eliminated. So if weight loss doesn't help your heartburn, be sure to get an endoscopy done to check for other reasons for acid reflux.
My dad had all the above medical conditions I posted about, he will be going in for a triple or quad bypass in a few weeks. i am terrified for him. He was also a smoker, as am I. I'm trying to quit.
Also, while I was pregnant, I had borderline gestational diabetes and pre-eclypsia.
I know I am facing another test to see if I am developing cervical cancer although it is not a result of the weight per se. I am very uncomfortable with the way the pap test is done in Asia and I know my size has a considerable amount to do with it.
Dolly- I hope everything turns out okay- I'll be thinking lots of positive thoughts. I had a bad result come back on a PAP test several years ago that luckily turned out to be basically nothing, just a minor infection. Pelvics are not fun for anyone, but too many overweight & obese women don't get them done because of embarrassment and the uncomfortableness. Nothing like being so espoused to basically a stranger and then feeling like the they are judging you based on your weight...there is no where to hide cellulite or a spare tire or two with one of those paper gowns and the paper sheet they give you for modesty (best description I heard for them- 'they want me to wear an over grown coffee filter & cover up with a cocktail napkin?...and this is suppose to hide anything?!?). Or worse yet, not getting a thorough exam because the doctor thinks there's no point since 'fat chicks can't have a sex life, so why bother' & even if she is, the doctor thinking he 'couldn't possible feel anything through all that fat'. I've been lucky to have good doctors, but I've heard horror stories from friends about doctors who have had those type of attitudes. My worst pelvic, happened to be the one I had when I had received the bad results & had to have another right away- thankfully the doctor & the nurse were great about the whole situation, but it definitely wasn't an experience I want to repeat if I can help if. I had just had a major knee surgery & my knee was immobilized completely so I couldn't bend it at all & I wasn't suppose to tighten my quadriceps muscle (the main muscle on the upper part of the thigh)- that you would use to lift & hold your leg up. As you can imagine, that made for a very interesting pelvic when you have to literally have the nurse hold your leg up for you- and all I could think about was how bad I felt for her considering I weighed around 275 at that time...and she was a tiny little thing, who probably weighed slightly more then my one leg..or at least it felt that way at the time.
The big issue I have with medical problems & weight is when doctors assume every problem we have is a result of our weight. I know things have been overlooked, and ultimately diagnosis & treatment delayed because they didn't even consider another alternative in my case numerous times. My knee problem wouldn't be anywhere near as bad if any of the doctors I complained to over the years considered there might be another cause, other then the pat answer of 'it hurts because your overweight & have had surgery on it' (when I was a teen). By the time I found a doctor who took me seriously, it was so bad that he sent me out of state to the top doctor in the world for kneecap issues for my surgery- neither one of them expected to find I had torn one of the heads of my quadriceps muscle 12 years early, within a few months of the surgery I had as a teen...which explained all the problems I had had with it over the years, when I didn't have any problems with my other knee that had a similar surgery. All those years of being told I wasn't doing my exercises right or that I wasn't doing enough of them by the physical therapist & doctors...kind of hard to strengthen a muscle that isn't fully connected. And don't even get me started on the permanent damage it did to my kneecap & thigh bone, plus residual issues with my hip, back & ankle as a result of favoring the knee. My newest 'favorite' issue is when so many doctors/medical professionals automatically assume that since I have apnea, that if I lost weight, it would go away. It is a possible, but not a guarantee- there are a lot of skinny people with sleep apnea too- but only if you have the more common type, Obstructive Sleep Apnea, where your airway collapses or becomes blocked that has been linked with weight issues. I have Central Sleep Apnea, where in simplest terms, my brain 'forgets' to tell to breath. No amount of weight loss is going to change that since its a neurological problem; yet I've heard the apnea/weight-loss lecture from so many doctors...who get flustered when I point out the problem with their assumption. And for any of you with apnea, there have been several recent studies that suggest the apnea may cause the weight gain, not the other way around...which makes sense if the apnea events prevent you from getting enough restorative sleep. I'll get off my soapbox for now ....but the subject of lack of quality health care because of our weight is a sore spot for me- whether its from our embaressment & reluctance to go to the doctor when we know we should or from prejudices some medical professional have against overweight & obese individuals.
HORRIBLE mood swings
back pains
phantom gall bladder attacks (more and more frequently though i'm finally starting to learn to keep track of foods that cause them)
depression (although i'm pretty stressed out most of the time anyway)
tension headaches
clumsiness
knee pains (which have miraculously gone away by losing the 10 or so pounds i've lost since restarting YAY)
ankle injury that acts up ever so often
loss of healthy self esteem
Weight related medical problems.
How about edema
....but the subject of lack of quality health care because of our weight is a sore spot for me- whether its from our embaressment & reluctance to go to the doctor when we know we should or from prejudices some medical professional have against overweight & obese individuals.
