Sarah Youngs Riley

My name is Sarah, I am 32 years old, and I have been over weight for nearly 10 years. I started gaining weight when I was about 23 years old. It was very slow and gradual so it wasn't something I jumped aboard to counteract quickly. I was also beginning to experience other problems with my monthly cycles and hairloss. Because I had tried the depo provera shot for birthcontrol for 9 months I attributed everything to that as did my Dr. I waited about 3 years thinking it would finally get out of my system but the problems were getting worse. Without going into too many details, my weight and many hormonal issues became major issues over the next 6 year time span, including conception and miscarriage. When I finally approached a Dr. about weightloss surgery with a BMI of 41 she shook her head and told me it was rediculous. I wasted 18 months doing everything she asked including the monitered nutritional counseling only to learn she would never place my referral to see a surgeon. The only thing I took out of this time period is that I had a condition called Poly-cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) which was an explanation for the many troubles I had been dealing with for years. Unfortunately my endocrinologist would not treat me citing that weightloss was the best course of action to solving these hormonal/ insulin problems and to come back once I lost the weight.Within 3 months I found a new primary care physician, had my referral  (after filing an appeal since my initial referral was denied by the insurance) and finally met with my surgeon. Amazing what finding a Dr. who isn't biased about obesity can do to speed up the process. The next couple of months was just going through the process with the surgeons office (which passed really fast) and then I had my surgery March 10th, 2009. I am now almost to the 6 month mark and have zero regrets. I have never lost more than 3lbs in one week (not even on the liquid diet), but I average 1-1.5lbs per week and am losing it gradually. I have heard that the PCOS can slow down the weight loss. I have lost 41lbs total and am beginning to see some of the changes in my PCOS already with my cycles beginning to regulate. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.