Lupus and Lap Bands! From Reading, PA

[Birchmoon 0]

Hi everyone! My name's Heather. I'm 32, married, and no kids. I was diagnosed with lupus 10 years ago, and have had a lot of organ involvment. Luckily, I've been alright for the last year and a half...except for having to have my appendix out about 10 days ago. But I'm doing much better now. I'm here because I'm getting the lap band procedure sometime early next year. No date yet because I've still got a few things to do for pre-op. I'm getting there though.

At my highest weight I was 330 lbs. I am currently at 260. I have a lot of health issues because of the weight, on top of the lupus problems. I've got type 2 diabetes, severe sleep apnea, high blood pressure, intracranial hypertension and all kinds of aches and pains in my legs and feet. It will be nice to get a good night's sleep and not worry about losing limbs due to diabetes. Even if my BMI gets down below 40 because I've been losing some weight lately, they still will do the surgery because of the medical benefit. I've lost about 22 lbs. in the last 3 months. All by myself! Hehehe. Joining the gym helped though.

I gained this weight after I got sick in Dec. 1997. Before that I was in the US Air Force loading huge airplanes and flying around the world 3 weeks out of every month...sometimes more. It was great, but my last year in I kept getting sick and couldn't reeinlist. I was diagnosed about 6 months after I got out. That's when I was put on prednisone...the wonder drug if you wanna gain weight. I gained 80 lbs. the first couple months. Then I gained more, and more, and more....until I got up to 330 lbs. :phanvan

I'm more concerned about the health issues than the weight. But I must admit, looking better is pretty high on the list too. I just want to be able to find nice clothes that don't have Winnie the Pooh or some goofy flower pot on it. I've gone from a size 28 to a 24 over the last 3 months. Yeah! But it will be nice to be able to shop in the regular section instead of the Women's or Plus.

Well, that's enough. I've rambled way too long. If anyone wants to talk, I'd love to hear from you.

Heather