Well - Winter 2013 - (Page 7)

Choose to Lose Photos by Brian Strickland Bariatric program provides care and community. By Stephanie Soucheray M ore than half of all Americans are overweight, and 60 million are obese. Obesity and its related illnesses, such as diabetes and heart disease, are among the leading causes of preventable death in the nation. Health care providers tout the importance of diet and exercise to obese patients, but anyone who has faced obesity knows that losing a lot of weight, and maintaining that loss, is often difficult, painful and sometimes impossible. Teresa Dawson tried for three years to lose the 100 excess pounds that crept up on her in her 30s.Teresa, 40, became overweight after a diagnosis of hyperthyroidism. Before her thyroid condition was diagnosed,Teresa was trim and fit, often exercising multiple times per day. She never thought about her weight until it became a stubborn and serious hindrance to her daily life. “Getting out of a car was hard,” says Teresa, who gained the weight after she received radiation treatments to dissolve her thyroid. “It was like having another person on me. It started to become difficult to get in and out of bed.” Teresa attempted to lose weight the old-fashioned way; she counted her calories and walked five miles each day. Taking a synthetic thyroid hormone didn’t help, so she finally asked her doctor to recommend her for weight loss surgery. “I considered the pros and cons of weight loss surgery,” says Teresa. But when her size 26 pants no longer fit, Teresa knew she had to take drastic measures. She began her journey by attending information and support group meetings at UNC Health Care. Until Teresa attended her first meeting, she didn’t know other people experienced her same struggles with weight. “They showed a video, and it helped me understand why I was in so much pain. Everybody knows what you’re going through, everybody knows how hard things are,” says Teresa. > www.unchealthcare.org 7 http://www.unchealthcare.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Well - Winter 2013

Well - Winter 2013
Contents
UNC Health Care News
Community
A New Generation of Specialized Health Care
Choose to Lose
Healing the Stubborn Wounds
Nutrition
Calendar

Well - Winter 2013