Arlene G

I am a 65 year old woman who never in my younger life would have thought I would have WLS. Frame is five foot three inches. I have one daughter, aged 40 who lives in NYC. I am divorced. I live in the Tampa Bay Area. I've suffered from a panic disorder from the age of 17. I used to love exercising because it would ease my anxiety. Loved to do the high impact aerobics of the 1980s and step aerobics of the 1990s. I would suffer shin splints but felt so calm. I maintained my weight from my twenties plus ten pounds. In 1988 I finally became away of what my illness was and started taking Prozac to help with the panic attacks. A couple of years later I started craving sweets. I always liked chocolate, but now I couldn't get enough of the chocolate or couldn't get full. My weight vacillated from 130# to 160#. I would diet down to 140# and up to 160# again. When I turned 50 I hit 200#. Since then the weight has crept up, the unending hunger never stopped and I am now 255#. Ouch. My daughter is constantly in fear that I will die of a heart attack or something worse, and so am I. Finally this past May, I decided to get the Gastric Sleeve if Medicare would cover it. Medicare does cover this WLS. I just want to not be ashamed to be seen by people who I have avoided for so long. I understand portion control and love to exercise, but my knees hurt so bad. Too old here to fall off the wagon and go back to the constant overeating. I am looking forward to this weight loss tool and am so sick of tired of being so heavy for the past 15 years. So many have stated that overeating is in the head and I do believe that. I just want my knees back.