ChrisDee

Start from the beginning? Well, I have been overweight almost my entire life. The last time I remember being at a healthy weight I was 7 years old (and unfortunately I don't remember much from then). I lost some amount of weight when I started playing football in Middle and High School, but after quiting sports after sophomore year I shot back up to a BMI of about 35, gaining over 50 pounds in 6 months which I have been unable to lose since then. My health really took a turn for the worse about 4-5 years ago when I was diagnosed with high blood pressure/hypertension when I was only 19 years old. When I was younger I tried every diet in the book after suffering from massive depression and anxiety in elementary and middle school due to my weight, but after being diagnosed with hypertension I tried every diet in and outside of the book. I had help from the best in the business, since my mother has a PhD in Nutritional Sciences and is an award winning educator in that field. But like I guess everyone else on this board I tried with no results--gaining back all plus more of the weight I lost after all of my dieting adventures. The last couple of years my mom has been pushing for me to get some sort of bariatric surgery, since she knows all of the problems associated with obesity and has become increasingly worried about my health. At first, my attitude was dismissive of her requests, after all I thought 'I'm in my early 20s, I'm not in that bad of shape since despite having hypertension, I had a BMI of about 35-40', but after the last couple years of resistance and my life spiraling further down a path of anxiety and depression, I finally gave in. Since deciding that I would go ahead with the lap band my family and I have spent the last couple of months researching the procedure (actually my mom has been looking into it for years now, but I just started recently) and looking for physicians around town that specialize in bariatric surgeries. We found Dr. David Kim of DFW online and scheduled my first consultation in late December of this last year. Since then we've gone pretty quickly and I just had my surgery yesterday. Although I am only setting up my profile at this time, I have been using this website for the last couple of weeks since I started my pre-op diet for tips and advice. Anyway, my surgery went well as far as I can tell and the doctors and hospital staff could tell. Comparatively to everyone else I was able to observe in the recovery room after my surgery, I was reacting the best and within no time I was feeling loads better and was able to leave earlier than the other banders of that morning. Since coming home from the hospital I've had some abdominal pain along with a whole lot of gas. Sometimes when I speak too much or for too long I have gotten shortness of breath and rising gas and had to remember to take a few deep breaths at which point the problem was resolved. Other than that I am doing pretty well and hope this surgery has a life-changing effect for me. I just want to enjoy life and not have to worry about my health all the time and how others are looking at me when I go to class drenched in sweat on a cold day heaving like a dog. I want to stop feeling ashamed to go outside or scared to do anything even moderately physical. I want to be happier. I hope this works. I need it to.