In November 2004 I was eighteen stone and getting constant headaches. I went to my GP he took one look in my eyes and told me that I needed to go straight to hospital. Instantly got on the bus and went directly to the hospital, Phoning my family to let them know what was happening. After five days of being tested, poked and prodded and having lots of different machines scanning and testing my eyes the neurologist told me that it was a condition called benign intracranial hypertension which only happens to one in one hundred thousand overweight woman of child baring age. He told me that it was imperative that I get to below fifteen stone. I started going to the gym every day, aqua aerobics three times a week and swimming twice a week, through a patient recommendation scheme which made it more affordable. I was having trouble keeping food down anyway so my meal sizes were two table spoons full five times a day (any more than that and I was physically ill) but I was still gaining weight, the headaches were getting worse and my menstrual cycle was more frequent then anyone would want. I started to get these odd hot flushes where my hands were ice cold and the rest of me was burning hot and flushed. So I went back to the Dr who sent me for some blood tests; the results said that I had an underactive thyroid. I began to take thyroxin and the weight started to fall off. One year after I had first been diagnosed, I had lost two stone and I had learnt to ignore the headache in fact the only time I noticed it was on the rear occasion that I was pain free normally after two glasses of red wine. I decided it was time I got back into a working environment in the June I found a job working as a steward in an arena which was just about to open. After one day of the arena opening I was made supervisor. I lost another two stone in two weeks. I was working so much that I had no time to go to the gym (the price of which had gone up to a fee that I could no longer afford). My weight stayed the same for another six months then I started university. Over the next eight months I lost another stone.
I was thirteen stone, the headaches had been gone for seven months and life was good. My appetite had come back and I was no longer taking regular exercise this was a big problem now eighteen months later I have gained back two stone and the headaches are coming back. I am scared.
When I was losing weight the dietician told me to keep a diary of food and exercise and for one of my courses I need to keep a blog, therefore, I have decided to kill two birds with one stone.
This blog is going to be on my progress as I get back into a regime of healthy eating and exercise. It will follow the highs and the lows of my journey. I will keep a record of what I eat, the exercise I do and my emotions each day and once a week we will all find out my weight and my measurements. I’m not promising miracles just perseverance.
