SUCCESS STORIES - Charles

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I had been obese for as long as I can remember. I had tried everything to loose weight, including diets, exercise programmes, various medications, etc. When I was in year 11 at high school I weighed 150 kg. I managed to loose 50 kg at that time but I gradually put the weight back on again.

Just before my 38th birthday I weighed 147 kg, I was finding my job difficult and my health was suffering. My knees were getting sore and I was almost completely exercise intolerant.

I felt surgery was the last resort and so I looked forward to the operation as the start of a new era for me. I also felt a great deal of apprehension, not so much about the surgery, but about having an anaesthetic (obese people are not the easiest to manage under anaesthesia). Ultimately I thought that if I do not do this I will not see my children grow up.

I chose to have a biliary pancreatic diversion operation mainly because I felt there is a greater degree of normality in terms of eating and drinking with this operation as compared to the lap band. The BPD operation has a better long term weight loss record than the lap band.

On the day of the surgery I felt quite relaxed, I remember very little about the day having been under the anaesthetic for six hours. I cannot say that there was anything particulary difficult about the surgery. Some of the pre-surgery testing was inconvenient and following the surgery it was a little difficult moving about for the first few days but I was in very little pain and felt quite well.

Psychologically I still want to eat vast quantities of food but can’t due to my smaller stomach. I found that a little depressing being a comfort eater, but six months later I can honestly say that food and eating are happily low on my list of things to do.

I had a lot of diarrhoea once my bowels started working again and the odour can be terrible. Attention to diet and limiting fat has helped a great deal in this area. In spite of this I can eat anything without too much distress, if I eat fatty food over two or three days then I get bloating, flatulence and some diarrhoea (not to mention much abuse from my work colleagues).

I could not be happier with the results, in six months I am down to 94 kg and very close to my goal weight. I have gone from size 6XL to L and M shirts, and 127 cm to 97 cm trousers. I have more energy than I can remember and feel healthy again. I would do it all again tomorrow if I had to.