enngeecee

I am 174 cm (5"8.5) and I weigh 105kg (which is about 230lb). My BMI is 34 and I am having a sleeve on the 26th of June. I have MS which makes me suffer from balance problems due to vertigo as well as extreme fatigue. I also can't control my body temperature and overheat (even in the dead of winter) so I find exercise difficult. I also suffer from nausea so eating regularly is problematic - I avoid it if I can which means when I do feel well, I binge eat and then my body hoards what energy it gets. So for me, my specialists are hoping the sleeve will be a kind of re-set for my system, a pre-emptory strategy and that we will be able to help retrain me to eat in ways and with types and amounts of food that don't trigger my nausea, allow me not to be malnourished, put less pressure on my joints and lose weight to get back to around the weight I was before I got sick. This will hopefully increase my quality of life while I am able to be mobile and active and I would give anything for that. So I think each individual should be assessed on their individual need, rather than just whether or not 'am I big enough?' Or not. I don't understand the insurance company thing. But I feel like that might be because I live in Australia, and we can choose our private insurance companies with whatever 'extras' cover we want them to have. Bariatric surgery is covered by my policy. There is only a $5,000 expense to me because of that because I chose to go private and get it done quickly. But Also, our public health system would cover patients who needed this surgery if it was impacting their health severely, so there might be a six month wait or so, but there would be no out of pocket expense. I feel bad that someone feels they have to ask a question regarding their long term health when they have struggled such a long time with it because an insurance company won't cover the expense. Holding people's health to ransom is awful.

Many thanks!

I have MS! My initial presentation was very unusual in that I went deaf, so it took some time to diagnose (2012). As a result, I suffer from vertigo and nausea from my active lesion. I decided to go on medication last year after I started to get more physical symptoms, though thankfully my clinical symptoms have remained stable. (MS is apparently weird like that according to my neurologists). Exercise is difficult for me due to the fact that a) I fatigue more quickly than I used to b)I can have significant problems with my balance c) I am carrying extra weight gained through a high risk pregnancy that saw me hospitalised, fed an extremely high calorie diet and hooked up to drips in order TO gain weight (I was very ill and nearly lost my baby) and d) a combination of steroid medications I have had to take for a bunch of symptoms to do with MS (not my interferons) and for depression and anxiety So my eating habits are weird. I find it difficult to eat most of the time because I feel nauseated. This means I need to take lots of vitamins to avoid malnutrition. I would generally avoid food if possible, but have a lovely husband who makes sure I eat. However, when I am NOT feeling nauseated, I will eat whatever I like! It's ridiculous. I don't think that in my life I've ever had a sweet tooth (I'm a savoury fiend), yet I will crave something like chocolate and must eat it. And as for the food I DO like; shut the gate. I'm like the Netflix and no chill of food if I feel well! Obviously, whenever this happens, I get extremely sick. But it's ridiculous. My body has gone into some kind of starvation mode and just wants to feed itself. Anyway, after lots of tests, and long consultations with all of my specialists I'm going in for a sleeve. The hope is that with the pre-op diet, the new way of eating, the weight loss relieving some of the pressure on my body that my 'metabolism' for want of a better word, will be able to reset. That I will be able to stick to better patterns of eating - fueling my body correctly and helping it to combat this disorder. Im feeling hopeful. I see this as an opportunity to reset and give myself a better chance to make my body stronger and more healthy despite whatever little brain farts it has along the way to make it not as reliable into the future as it should be.

I would love to join the Canberra FB page too if possible 😊 My FB name is Enn Geecee x

I'm from Canberra too! I'm getting a sleeve done with Dr Mosse on the 26th of June. Just going about my business at the moment drinking Optifast shakes, water and eating lovely stir fried vegetables and salads. A question though: I take a women's multivitamin every day at the moment. I can't remember whether I needed to take an extra calcium tablet now as well as post-op? (I know it was a chewable brand I'm meant to grab, but just not sure when I'm meant to start).