How gallbladder surgery ruined my health - part 1

You've been reading my posts everyday for about a week now not knowing very much about me and why I'm here posting about my health issues. Giving tidbits of information on alternative health therapies and supplements you may have never heard of. This is going to change as of today!

Even though I was born with a rare adrenal disorder called Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH for short), I have always had a very strong constitution you could say. I didn't get sick or run down during childhood, teen years or early adulthood (unlike most children with CAH). Being on prednisone, cortisone, florinef, and finally decadron made me struggle with weight and appetite all my life. By the age of 14, I was 5' 0", 290lbs with an IQ of 130, and suffering from anxiety attacks.

I was terrified to leave home, I stopped going to school (so I'd have my work sent home and kept an A average all through highschool) and was crying everyday. Until one day while walking outside, an elderly man was walking twice as fast as I was. He walked right passed me because I was going too slow! That was it, something had to be done. So even though I was on decadron and florinef (2 very powerful corticosteroids that make it virtually impossible to lose weight) I was determined to lose my weight. Being in a family of bodybuilding enthusiasts, I began eating a high protein "bodybuilder" type diet. At first I couldn't go for walks, so I did the Richard Simmons Sweatin' to the Oldies VHS tape. After 6-8 months of staying home and following my strict routine of counting calories and exercising once a day. Going to bed with my heart pounding out of my chest and hunger pains so bad I'd have headaches. I managed to lose approximately 60lbs.

I went back to school, by this time I was in grade 11 (yes I had skipped 2 grades) and things were rolling along great. By the age of 16, I was in my 1st year of college weighing in at 145lbs. I had lost 135lbs and was now a size 13, yay! I had changed my whole existence and I looked hot. I was doing a full day of walking around campus, go home, and still have enough energy to power walk for 60mins while eating only 1,000 calories! Excessive you say? Looking back, yes it was, I was always hungry, I would get dizzy sometimes, and go to bed starving every night. But the weight was coming off at a rate of 2lbs a week, nothing too abnormal. Back then, I believed that it was what needed to be done in order to lose weight while being on corticosteroid therapy.

Although my weight loss was successful and I looked and felt amazing. You need to know that my new weight maintenance wasn't successful. After 2 years of restricting myself I was overcome with a powerful desire to reward myself for all the work I had done. My biggest mistake was not rewarding or pacing myself while losing. So I began eating "regular meals" again. I'm not talking about eating out or eating fast food and treats everyday here. Even at 290lbs I never ate out or had fast food and sweets. Believe me when I say, I was never attracted to those types of food and still aren't. No, I began eating portions that would satisfy me, and added chicken and beef to my diet (I was only eating kidney beans, tuna, and tofu dogs for protein). After moving out on my own, I began eating more convenience foods like kraft dinner, hamburger helper, and tuna helper. Because I just didn't care to prep my meals as much as when I was living at home. I was making a good income and wanted to be like everyone else, and buy my lunch at the cafeteria. To me, this was a right of passage, I was never able to buy my lunch at the cafeteria while in highschool, being 1 of 3 children of a single mother, we just didn't have the money. Now that I had my own money, I did!

This is when I developed more bad eating habits and started eating out and ordering in. The weight was coming back and I had stopping caring. Next thing I knew I was 196lbs, then 210lbs, then 250lbs, and finally 288lbs again at the tender age of 26. This time I began having horrible nausea every morning. My nausea was so bad I'd be gagging mid-sentence. I'd gag at least 6 times just walking to my car! I was popping TUMS like candy, and straining to do my work while on Gravol. I was an IT helpdesk analyst, believe me it was hard.

I was scared, I kept going to my family doctor looking for answers. He gave me prescription strength Zantac 150's and ordered stomach ex-rays. I was feeling weak, tired, and had constant pain in my upper back. The tests came back negative for ulcers, and acid reflux damage, but he prescribed me Pariet a proton pump inhibitor (the strongest antiacids possible) saying that my symptoms were probably from the damage years of taking decadron had done. He also told me I had lots of gallstones but not to worry of them. I began taking the Pariet, it relieved my upper back pain, but didn't stop me from gagging.

That day, after being told "something was wrong" with me, I drove home feeling scared. "I'm not sick, I've never been sick, I was told all I'd ever have to do is take 2 little pills every and I'd be like everyone else, healthy!" "This can't be happening to me now, I'm only 26." Are the only phrases running around in my mind. I wasn't equipped to deal with any of this. My anxiety attacks returned suddenly while I was doing groceries. The tunnel vision, the sweats, the dizziness, the heart pounding. I dropped my cart and ran out to my car then home to safety. Ouf! that was a close one.

This is when I became convinced that the gagging was from too much fat pushing up against my stomach and the only way to fix it was to lose the weight...again. Ten years later, I was back at square one: too large to go for walks and my anxiety attacks were back. Why did I let this happen to myself a second time? Didn't I learn my lesson the first time? What was wrong with me? Didn't I love myself enough to stay healthy?

Unable to drive by myself anywhere, I was in pretty bad shape. Believing that losing weight would solve everything wrong in my life (because it had before remember?).

Looking for a quick and easy way to start losing my weight without aerobics. I bought the Greer Childers BodyFlex workout video, guaranteed to give you a full aerobic workout in just 15mins. ok then, sign me up! What a disaster, it was a video teaching you a sequence of strange deep breathing exercises that get you out of breath so your heart ends up beating faster without moving. It even had a disclaimer saying not to do it after eating or you may vomit! Nice! Anyway, I would gag every time! Not for me Greer, sorry...

Then I bought myself the Tony Little Gazelle slider along with The Atkins New Diet Revolution book. For over 2 weeks, I started my days off with a salmon fillet with a slice of melted cheddar cheese on top while riding my Gazelle Edge. That thing was amazing, during my first weight loss journey, I purchased free weights, rowing machines, step benches, and stationary bikes. I'd get tired of them. But I never got tired of my Gazelle. I recommend it to everyone, it's the best workout and replaces going for walks/jogs when it's cold or raining outside.

I was well on my way, I had lost 14lbs in 2 weeks, wow! I was in ketosis and was doing great. Until one day while being driven to work by my partner at the time, I had the worst hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) attack of my life. I was dizzy and shaking and thought I would collapse. We had to pull in to the nearest restaurant, a wendy's, and order 2 burgers and 2 large fries. I ate them all! I felt a little better, but this didn't help my agoraphobia and anxiety. Not understanding what had happened to me just then, I was terrified it would happen to me again, this time with no one around to help me!