Middle Age Health Feels like sword of Damocles (Diabetes, cancer scare, HBP, HLDL)

[Anonymous]

Solidarity here, too. I'm 53. I've always had some psych concerns, but no physical illnesses until the past 5 years or so -- and they are mostly arising out of psych med related weight gain. Which has been significant. Almost 80 pounds significant. I was skinny until I went on them. Very healthy my whole life, never even got sick.

But 5 yrs ago: high cholesterol. Four years ago: perimenopause with horrible hot flashes and sleep problems. Three years ago: Covid followed by long covid (cough that didn't resolve for almost two years and debilitating fatigue). Two years ago: Severe obstructive sleep apnea. Six months ago: ortho visit due to pain in knee (arthritis is what he says it is). Most recent annual physical 6 weeks ago revealed: fasting glucose at 99 and A1C at 5.6. Most recent doctor visit also resulted in a referral to ENT/audiology and I need ... hearing aids. At 53!

I feel like my body is falling apart.

I'm on Wegovy now on the advice of my doctor, which is getting my weight down, but I can't help having feelings about the fact that psych meds did this to me, and now we are putting another med on top of it all to fix it. Meds, meds, meds, meds. I hate it. I just want my health back, and I don't see it ever coming back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sugarbusters (book) will help show you the replace a white baked potato with a sweet potato sugar differences. No corn, no carrots, no white rice, no white bread, no white pasta, no white baked potato. Etc.
My husband changed his ## within diet (no beer, etc).

You are very good to be proactive. Add in yoga or meditation to lower cortisol ##s too
Good luck!!

Not OP, but I appreciate this reminder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m sorry, OP. Sounds stressful. I am struggling to figure out how you’re obese if that truly is your lifestyle. Were you obese as a kid?

Not OP. But: We don't all have the same metabolism. With the help of my doctor and a dietician we have figured out that I only burn about 900 calories a day (before exercise). So, the general weight loss advice about "drop your caloric intake down to 1500 calories a day" is a recipe for tremendous weight gain for me. Yes, CICO, but for some of us it is not what it is for others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m sorry, OP. Sounds stressful. I am struggling to figure out how you’re obese if that truly is your lifestyle. Were you obese as a kid?

Your confusion indicates that you are in the habit of “blaming” overweight people for their weight.

We all have different metabolisms and lives. (Your childhood exposures are very much related to adult weight, as are experiences like sexual abuse.)

Try hard to practice compassion instead of judgement.

But then OP answered honestly. (which many many obese people do not). He's eating the right things but too much. Ozempic sounds perfect for him *if* he can tolerate the side effects. Good luck OP-
You keep that body going for your wife and kids, and you obviously have a great mind--I had to look up the 'sword of Damocles'!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t Ozempic made for people like you, OP? Ask to get on medication. Theres no need to be doing all that you are doing.

Can I take with my biologic?

Ask your doctor to find out, and alternative medications if you can’t use Ozempic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Solidarity here, too. I'm 53. I've always had some psych concerns, but no physical illnesses until the past 5 years or so -- and they are mostly arising out of psych med related weight gain. Which has been significant. Almost 80 pounds significant. I was skinny until I went on them. Very healthy my whole life, never even got sick.

But 5 yrs ago: high cholesterol. Four years ago: perimenopause with horrible hot flashes and sleep problems. Three years ago: Covid followed by long covid (cough that didn't resolve for almost two years and debilitating fatigue). Two years ago: Severe obstructive sleep apnea. Six months ago: ortho visit due to pain in knee (arthritis is what he says it is). Most recent annual physical 6 weeks ago revealed: fasting glucose at 99 and A1C at 5.6. Most recent doctor visit also resulted in a referral to ENT/audiology and I need ... hearing aids. At 53!

I feel like my body is falling apart.

I'm on Wegovy now on the advice of my doctor, which is getting my weight down, but I can't help having feelings about the fact that psych meds did this to me, and now we are putting another med on top of it all to fix it. Meds, meds, meds, meds. I hate it. I just want my health back, and I don't see it ever coming back.

Honestly, this is why I don’t go to doctors at all. I’d rather die early than take medications for 50 different things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m sorry, OP. Sounds stressful. I am struggling to figure out how you’re obese if that truly is your lifestyle. Were you obese as a kid?

Your confusion indicates that you are in the habit of “blaming” overweight people for their weight.

We all have different metabolisms and lives. (Your childhood exposures are very much related to adult weight, as are experiences like sexual abuse.)

Try hard to practice compassion instead of judgement.

But then OP answered honestly. (which many many obese people do not). He's eating the right things but too much. Ozempic sounds perfect for him *if* he can tolerate the side effects. Good luck OP-
You keep that body going for your wife and kids, and you obviously have a great mind--I had to look up the 'sword of Damocles'!

Oh FFS. Take your bigotry elsewhere.

Oh, and not surprised you had to Google "sword of Damocles."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m sorry, OP. Sounds stressful. I am struggling to figure out how you’re obese if that truly is your lifestyle. Were you obese as a kid?

I was chubby as a kid, but always inactive -- my parents weren't active for a variety of reasons (dad was alcoholic and kind of absent until i was a teen; mom was bulimic and i think encouraged us to indulge -- think dessert for dinner type thing -- and she had a heart condition so could not to do any physical exercise besides walking). I didn't do any sports other than learning how to swim, but the only pool was an outdoor pool 30 minutes drive from our house.

I really do eat "healthy" -- but way way too much. I could easily eat a heaping bowl of egg salad, baked sweet potato fries, and all the nuts you can imagine. I know I stress eat, but don't really eat when I'm bored, but i definitely have that ache of hunger when I eat so its not all stress eating.

We do keep dark chocolate bars in the house for baking, and I will also snack on those if I'm hungry and can't find anything to eat, but its about 3 squares a day? There's also the kids stuff, like I might have granola or yogurt with honey or similar if I'm craving sweet. I eat a ton of fruit per day (fresh, not dried). And of course we do keep good breads (like french loaves from trader joes) which are bad for me, but I would always pare with a cheese or something; we do eat white rice and potatos for like homemade veggie sushi or baked french fries.

I keep a food log, and during the day its pretty good; dinner and end of day is chaotic with activities and homework -- sometimes I'll essentialy miss dinner and eat something like the kids granola or what not way too late at night -- and my log gets messy as I forgot to write it down

OK, I’m saying this only because I relate and am in the same boat. You (and I) are overweight because of poor eating habits. You are honest about your proportion sizes and you know you are simply eating too much. Many of the issues you are experiencing are due to weight so you’ve got to focus on that one. I’m all for taking the drugs (Ozempic, etc) if you can get your hands on it. But if you can’t, please find a way to take control of your food potions. It’s so hard, I know. I fail at least 3x a week. But it’s worth the persistence. Again, a little tough love maybe but you deserve to feel better - physically and mentally.

[Anonymous]

Stop going to the doctor

[Anonymous]

Totally with you on the middle age crap but I’ve lost 20 lbs this year and you can do it!

Keep it simple - very limited carbs and almost no white carbs (I sometimes had potatoes roasted or baked or a little rice but no pasta, bread, etc), no sugar or added sweeteners or artificial sweeteners except one square of dark choc a day, no more than 2 fruits a
day

Track your food on the lose it app. It will work and if you get past the first few days you’ll get in the groove.

[Anonymous]

Hi OP. One thing I want to say that no one has addressed here is that your biologic could be causing the weight gain. I am a 50 year old female and have an autoimmune disease and have been on Cimzia, Humira, Cosentyx and Xeljanz. I am an obsessive tracker of my food intake (weigh and track EVERYTHING), work out 6 days a week HIIT wearing a heart rate monitor and generally burning over 600 calories per workout, weigh myself weekly on an InBody that tracks muscle and fat, and yet I still continued to gain pounds and fat with every single weigh in. My doctor swears it's not the medicine but I stopped the Xeljanz eight weeks ago to see what would happen and magically lost 10 pounds and 4 percent body fat.

All that to say, continue to watch your diet but don't be so hard on yourself. The biologics are magical but could be a piece of the weight gain puzzle.

And yes, you can take Ozempic, Mountjaro or the other weight loss drugs while on a biologic. I haven't started any weight loss drugs because I wanted to see if it was my Xeljanz first.

Good luck and give yourself some grace, OP.

[Anonymous]

Clean up your diet (no sugar/refined carbs/alcohol/red meat), exercise at least 60 minutes a day (yoga, walking, weightlifting) and meditate. Limit your daily calories to 1200. Drink 64-100oz of water a day too. You'll be surprised at how much better you feel in 1 week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That ain’t no crime

I got a feeling someone’s gonna be cutting the thread…

[Anonymous]

It sounds like your caloric intake is too high. Track it on MyFitnessPal or another free app, and see if that improves things.

[Anonymous]

OP, talk to your doctor about a GLP-1. I'd recommend Mounjaro or Zepbound, which have both a GLP-1 and GIP, whereas Ozempic and Wegovy are GLP-1 only. I've been on both and had better results and fewer side effects with Mounjaro.

These drugs are amazing for many reasons, but helping with food noise and appetite suppression is one of them (as well as reducing inflammation). Assuming the med is compatible with your biologic, it's totally indicated for your diabetes.

I would also ask your doctor for metformin (the extended release version) again to help with blood sugar.