To ask the impact being overweight had had on your health?

[KiraKiraHikaru]

I need some scaring. Nothing is working with my weight loss journey. I feel like I need a kick up the ass.

Please tell me some health scares or just general things that suddenly went away or became easier when you lost weight.

eg, my knees hurt. And I’m sure if I lost the weight then they wouldn’t hurt as much.

@Bubblebubblebah Thanks for your post.

I can only report what I have been told by those who conduct these tests.

If as you say, obese/overweight women are less likely to attend these screening sessions then this is something that needs flagging up.

Hopefully, if there are any women reading my post who have been a bit lax at attending these screenings, they might be motivated to attend.
It could save their life.

My MIL is a big lady whose knees were wearing away due to the excess weight she carried for many years. She had repeated steroid injections until eventually they no longer worked. I can remember seeing her suddenly go white with pain. The pain caused her to walk awkwardly which led to her developing very bad sciatica at the same time. She had to use a walking stick, was in constant pain all day and couldn't sleep for the pain at night. At the same FIL died. She eventually had both knees replaced and is still going strong. But she was in pain for years.
I think the key to weight loss is to do some soul searching to discover why you eat too much. Were you brought up to comfort yourself with food, do you show love with food, were you made to finish everything on your plate, do you put your own needs last including looking after your health?
Good luck OP

Mayb they are less likely to attend because they are already self conscious and think staff goes aroun talking about how they can't apparently open their legs....

Agreed

if your eating is emotional and not related to hunger then second nature are quite good but if you really need counselling and are not getting it could you pay privately to see someone who can get to the botton of the ED because unless that happens you won't lose weight as the ED will sabotage it
scare stories don't work if they did no one would drink excessively, smoke or take drugs

I'm 68, been morbidly obese from a young child until 3 years ago. I'm now a healthy weight, BMI 25.2 so still technically overweight.

Having been fat all my life, I had no idea how nice it is to be a normal weight, being able to walk into any clothes shop and know stuff will fit, able to be more physically active, treated very differently by people, particularly health professionals but my health is fucked as a result of my obesity.

Osteo arthritis in my knees and feet means that walking is uncomfortable to painful, it's a struggle to get comfortable shoes because of my swollen big toe joints.

I have reflux disease and a hiatus hernia and continual stomach issues, like nausea, indigestion, pain for which I have to take some nasty medication for life.

Being morbidly obese causes fatty liver disease but I no longer have that now I've lost weight.

This also causes high blood pressure, which then causes your left atrium in your heart to become enlarged, and this causes an arhthymia called atrial fibrillation which is where your heart can no longer beat in a regular rhythm. It is the worst thing I have ever experienced and also massively increases the chances of having a stroke. I have known stroke victims, I'm terrified of having a stroke as there's no coming back from it.

I've had a horrendous procedure to try to prevent the atrial fibrillation where they burn areas inside your heart while you are sedated, you do feel the burning. I'm also on some extremely nasty medication, seriously awful side effects, to help improve the arrhythmia.

Also have to take an anti coagulant to reduce stroke risk. This thins the blood, so any cut bleeds for a long time. There's no antidote for this drug so a major cut could mean I bleed to death.

I have 12 items on my monthly prescription.

The other thing is the huge amount of ugly saggy skin everywhere as I lost weight late in life when my skin was too inelastic to shrink. It's hideous.

My advice to anyone who is overweight or obese is to do something about it in your 40s at the very latest. I bitterly regret not losing weight years ago.

Good luck with your weight loss.

@Bubblebubblebah
"Mayb they are less likely to attend because they are already self conscious and think staff goes aroun talking about how they can't apparently open their legs...."

So how do you think the number of screenings for overweight/obese women (or indeed any women) could be increased?

I have never been obese, just about 10kg over my normal slim weight but I’m short so it really showed. I ended up with back acne, occasional chest acne, poor skin in general eg things would take longer to heal and were more likely to leave a mark. I used to get heartburn and would generally feel sluggish. Obviously my mood was low cause I didn’t look great and I spent a lot of time covering up. My clothes didn’t fit and in particular things my back gained weight which was awful

I’m struggling to do things now like put tights in, bend forward to tie my shoes because my belly is big (I did have a baby 10 months ago but I still have put on weight since then). I used to do yoga but now just find it so uncomfortable. I avoid sex because I’m so self conscious. My arms are wobbly and my face is starting to look bloated. I’m miserable because I’m fat and I’m fat because I’m miserable and I’m just stuck in this loop. I’m about to start medication that is going to make me gain weight too.

Hi OP, have you ever tried this online charity?
www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/get-information-and-support/get-help-for-myself/i-need-support-now/
They have trained people you can speak with and they have online groups too.

By telling them facts. Obesity does mean higher risk of various cancer. They may have worse outcomes so need to find issues early to prevent that.

Not by plopping on internet that NHS staff is going around saying how significantly overweight women have too fat legs to do the procedure. (Which also makes a question of the terminology because significantly overweight is very far from morbidly obese)

I mean there are studies about this very easily available to anyone nowadays. Especially to NHS staff

@Bubblebubblebah "By telling them facts"

And how do you think these could be promulgated?

"I mean there are studies about this very easily available to anyone nowadays"

And do you think the average woman has access to/would want to read or even understand these research papers?

dceg.cancer.gov/news-events/news/2018/cervical-screening-obese#:~:text=In%20a%20population%20of%201%2C000%2C000,less%20effective%20cervical%20cancer%20screening.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3008358/

^ this paper states

"Obese women are at an increased risk of death from cervical cancer, but the explanation for this is unknown"

I too am massively overweight for my height. Friends have (gently) expressed concern and I remember my Mum at this age being taunted on the street for being about this size too. I don’t know how to create lasting change, but wanted to tell you, you are not alone.

And do you think the average woman has access to/would want to read or even understand these research papers?

Your mates certainly should. That was aimed at them. Hence the last sentence after it.

Frankly, if your mates cracked the reason why more obese women die of cervical cancer, they should let someone know. I am pretty sure that it's not because we "can't spread legs enough to have the smear done", but whatever. How ridiculous is that statement... And yet you keep defending it.

Look. The pp was right that this thread won't helping to OP due to other issues and I don't think this discussion should ontinue.
With that, I will bow out.

MIL and FIL have always been grossly overweight thanks to overeating, being overly indulgent and being inactive for their entire lives.
They have bad backs, have had 3 hip and knee replacements between them, have had all sorts of cancer scares and a small tumour removed (MIL), and get regular chest infections.
FIL sleeps with a sleep apnea machine. MIL now has angina and can barely haul herself from the car on the driveway to the front door without seeming like she's run a marathon. She's a major heart attack risk.
Most of all, they have totally missed out on family life for the last 10 years. They can't do anything or go anywhere. They can plonk themselves at the kitchen table and that's it.
At 60 their situation looked poor. At 70+ their situation looks utterly dire - and it's not going to get any better.