I have been obese for 46 years. 152 kg is my greatest weight. In order to lose weight, I "passed" over 100 diets, drank herbs, took "miraculous pills", got hypnotized, and underwent two bariatric surgeries. Pounds of fat disappeared and then returned with a vengeance. When people ask how much weight I have lost, I answer: I think it's probably half a ton in total. Now I weigh 78 kg, but still obese. I am at Poradnikuzdrowie.pl to support you. Here is my story.

1971 - I'm born for the first time

I was supposed to be a Lion, I am a Virgo. Because I'm from a transferred pregnancy. I was in no rush to make my way through the birth canal. Over 50 cm tall, over 5 kg weight. The midwife chirped over me, delighted: what a handsome, fat woman, let's keep it up…. Unfortunately, she "cried out".

1972 - I get sick

I am 1 year old. I walk, but differently than other children. I nod from side to side like ducks as I drop it on my face. Diagnosis - A late diagnosis birth defect called bilateral hip dislocation. Putting thick cloth diapers and boards between the legs does not help. My acetabulum is still flat and my hipbone heads are positioned outside of them. The surgeon wants to "take me on the table", but gives no guarantee that I will walk after the procedure. Fate is favorable. My parents miraculously find an orthopedist who treats such ailments as mine without surgery. A huge table becomes the "king" of my room. This is a special orthopedic lift. It has a wide table top at an acute angle to the wall. They put me in this hollow for almost … two years. A special harness holds my back against the wall. Leather straps hold my legs against the table top. I am not allowed to move them. Three times a week, the doctor moves my legs apart by another 2-3 centimeters. The closer to the "twine", the more it hurts, the louder I scream, the more my parents cry, who cannot even hold me in their arms to cuddle me. For two years, I "count" several dozen "splits" before the heads of the joints jump into the prepared sockets. I "descend" from the lift on my own feet and at the age of three I learn to walk again. While still sitting on the ski lift, I get the best food that can be obtained in Polish stores of the 70s and from foreign parcels.Parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles try to "compensate" me for my illness and suffering. I'm starting to gain weight, but nobody cares about it yet. After all, the child does not move, so how is he supposed to burn calories?

70s -90s - "What have you made of this baby?"

I'm growing. Not only along, but also across. I am "plump" more and more. My mom takes me from doctor to doctor. He hears the same from everyone. First, when I start to move more, I will outgrow "this". After that, I'm in adolescence and I'm not allowed to lose weight. And finally, when I am 17 years old: " What have you done with this child that he is so fat?!" People - peers and adults - call me fat, pig, hippopotamus, spit at me, throw stones and names at me, belts, or graciously ignore me and not speak to me at all. I run away from contemptuous looks in my own way. I bow my head, press it into my arms. Maybe when I don't look people in the eye, they won't notice me …? I create my own world from books and films. Away from the 1000 kcal diet, milk, vegetable, fruit and even more sophisticated. Away from herbal mixtures, "miraculous slimming agents", acupuncture needles stuck in the auricles of the ears, painful slimming massages, hands of "miracle workers" sending me bio-currents and hypnosis sessions. And away from the weight, which first gives hope by taking a few pounds, and then brutally takes it away by adding a dozen new ones. Why am I fat? Nobody explains to me. In the eyes of people I can only see reproaches - " it's your fault that you are like that ". They say loudly:"pretty girl (woman), it's a pity she was so fat ".

November 1995 - I am born for the second time

Two weeks before the second birth. Wake up at 3.00 a.m. It is over 300 km from Warsaw to the clinic in Zabrze. In our car - Mom, Dad, me, fear and silence. Conversation is not sticky. The sentences are tearing. Just like the thin slices of ham in my morning sandwich. I don't know yet, it's my last meal of the year. About prof. For Marian Pardeli, I know that it "loses weight by reducing stomachs by surgery". The message is almost secret. He does not find it on the Internet, because it has not been invented yet. My friend from studies tells me the news. Prof. Pardela is watching my heaps of fat. " So what? Do we operate? Do you have a toothbrush and pajamas?”he asks. Yes. Because I'm both "plump" and desperate. " We weigh you first " - orders the professor. "My" weight is standing in the hospital kitchen. On such a scale, my Grandfather weighed half the carcasses of pigs. I grit my teeth, close my eyes, clench my fists, and climb onto the platform. " 152 kg !" the queen shoutsin the kitchen, and for the first time in my life, I burst into tears in front of people. The first, second and third night in the corridor. The rest are already in the sick room. I'm on another diet. This time the water. Water, water and only water, as much as I want. Brussels flavor on the tongue. Why Brussels sprouts…? Research and tests. I swallow without a word what they throw in my hand, patiently I place the veins under the needles. And more photos for the file. The assistant professor explains what they will do to me during the operation. He sketches a drawing of my future stomach on a piece of paper. I'm 24 years old and scared like a child. My mother gets on the morning train and comes from Warsaw to Zabrze so that I don't run away from the surgery. The day of the operation. Vertical band gastroplasty by Mason's method. I lie on the table and try not to fall off it. The belly cascades to the sides. It is cold in the room as in a freezer. I tremble. The nurse soothes anxiety. " Remember your name. We will ask how we will wake you up”. The ventilator hums near the right shoulder. A heart flickers on the screen. The anesthetist calms you down. " If there are 80 or more, it's ok ". I do not ask if there is less, it is "no hello" … The pressure of the syringe on the cannula in the elbow. I fall asleep … A flash …

Obesity is a disease
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Obesity has been officially recognized as a disease by the World He alth Organization. Obesity has reached epidemic proportions in Poland. Already 700,000 Poles with third degree obesity need a life-saving bariatric surgery. A bariatric patient requires the interdisciplinary care of specialists in the fields of surgery, psychology, dietetics and physiotherapy.

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8 months after the second birth

Weight - 75 kg. I endured. I used my "new stomach" to eat as if I were a baby again. First a few weeks on the water, then juices, pulps and finally, at Easter 1996, the first solid foods. Professor Pardela swells with pride. The assistants rub their hands: " Great case for PhD ". Me, my relatives, friends who know about the operation, doctors - we all live in euphoria. Nobody asks me about emotions, research results. And I am running away from subsequent follow-up visits. I think - what for? I lost weight. I won't be fat anymore. All I am asking is for them to remove the skin bag that was left on my stomach after losing weight. There is a thin scar after 152 stitches today.

1996-2010 - 15 years on the "roller coaster"

"Lean" is disappointing. I don't wear sleeveless blouses because there are bags of leather around my shoulders. Whether it's cold winter or hot summer, I tuck thick compression stockings over my legs to hold the folds of skin on my legs. I look in the mirror and see a strange woman in it. The thief who stole from meemotions and memories, and then she put them in her "center" with unfamiliar big eyes and protruding collarbones. And these tests too. What and how much to eat at once, so as not to stick, not to throw up, not to get reflux. Weight down is euphoria, new clothes, cosmetics, hairstyles and guys. Weight up is hunger, withdrawal, loneliness, depressive states. After all, the weight only goes up. I can't stop it, so I accept it. I am fat and I will not be any different. I avoid doctors. I disappointed them again.

6 months before the third birth.

The weight indicates 136 kg. Jerzy, an orthopedic surgeon, pissed. " A few more pounds and you'll switch to a wheelchair. Woman, you don't have your knees anymore… Do something!”I do. Fate is again. Former assistant prof. Pardeli - Mariusz Wyleżoł, today alone with a professor's title, moved to one of the hospitals in Warsaw. Diagnostics takes three days. Description - staplers grow through the walls of the stomach, between them there are gaps through which food passes. They need to be removed. I am lucky, because I do not have diabetes, heart disease or hypertension. Only osteoarthritis after 40 years of obesity caught me. So we save my joints. We make a decision about the next operation. This time I listen to the doctor more carefully. I won't have a stomach anymore. My intestines will now store the food and digest it. I have to take care of them. Do not eat too much fiber, bacterial cultures, high-residual foods so that they do not digest too quickly. Carbonated drinks and anything that bloats - peas, beans, onions, garlic - must cease to exist for me. From all the food I will absorb only 20 percent. nutrients. Those "bad" carbohydrates, fats, sugars. And the "good" ones - vitamins, minerals. You will need supplements: vitamin B12, iron, folic acid, magnesium and potassium. How much will I lose? " Maybe a lot … Maybe a few kilos … " - replies prof. Lived out. For how long? " I don't know. And I will not promise you anything. You know there is no cure for obesity. The operation will help you lose weight. Then you have to learn to live with and control this disease…”. For the first time I realize that I'm not fat, but obese.

2010 - "I am born" for the third time

Operation. Gastric bypass with distal gastric excision and reconstruction of the gastrointestinal tract on the long Roux loop. The simpler name is gastric by-pass. The operating room is still cold. The table seems to be bigger. The procedure has already been reworked. I fall asleep, wake up without complications.

April 2011

I weigh 68 kg. I use crutches because I don't have the strength to walk without them. A chalk face. Eyes sunken.I can see compassion in the eyes of others. " Probably some cancer is eating her … .". I am sitting in the office of prof. I cry out and cry: " Please do something … I don't want to lose weight anymore ". Change to a high-calorie diet. My dietitian jokes that for the first time in her career she is looking for products with as little fiber as possible. They are needed to slow down the work of the intestines. With a psychologist I "remake" my illness anew. The weight goes up again. When it stops at 78 kg. prof. Wyleżoł is finally satisfied: " It's okay now. It is supposed to stay that way. Don't break it”.

Worth knowing

My name is Magdalena Gajda and I have been obese for 46 years.I understand overweight and obese people who are trying to lose weight at all costs, cure obesity. I have succeeded. Millions of people are still "fighting". To help them, in 2014 I founded the Obesity Patients FoundationOD-WAGA . On the recommendation of the Polish Society for the Study of Obesity, I am also the Social Ombudsman for the Rights of People with Obesity. Our goal is to change the law in Poland in such a way that overweight and obese people have access to reliable treatment and social support, as well as to be treated with respect.I am also the new Managing Editor of the OBESITY section at Poradnikuzdrowie.pl.I and the experts cooperating with me are here at Poradnikzdrowie.pl to support you - with reliable knowledge about obesity and its treatment methods, and also diseases that are a complication of it and many other problems: nutritional, movement, emotional, sexual, social, etc., which are associated with obesity. You can also find information about what non-governmental organizations do for obese patients. Please visit the OBESITY section in the HEALTH tab!

Important

Poradnikzdrowie.pl supports safe treatment and a dignified life of people suffering from obesity. This article does not contain discriminatory and stigmatizing content of people suffering from obesity.

Category:

Obesity