my story I am not missing out or putting unrealistic expectations on my body"

After years of medical issues, our art director Dania finally decided to tackle the feeling of things not being quite right

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I Had been feeling unwell for a while, and after Covid caught up with me in May 2023, my health continued to decline so I decided 2024 was going to be my year of getting healthy. It was easy to write everything off as ‘Long Covid’: the aching joints, inflammation, the lethargy; but by December 2023, I just wanted to feel well. My right shoulder (which had been fine before Covid) had progressed to the point where I could no longer lift my arm. I had learnt to work left-handed but my ability to paint or draw became impossible, as did most day-to-day activities. By January 2024, I was 99.9 kilos and I dreaded looking at the scales. Mentally, I knew seeing 100 kilos would break me.

I was lucky to have a great general practitioner in Dr S. and after listening to my laundry list of problems, (fatigue, nausea, feeling “internally inflamed”, and a frozen shoulder) we started to look at what could be underneath. I was sent for blood tests, calcium coronary CT scans, abdominal ultrasound, and an MRI on my shoulder. They all came back abnormal. One of the major results was my shoulder would require a complete reconstruction as the joint had severe arthritis with tendon tears and ligament damage. I could explain my weight gain due to reduced activity with my shoulder creating constant pain and my fatigue due to the pain keeping me awake, but the results reflected much worse. I had non-alcoholic fatty liver (I haven't drunk alcohol in 18 years), my cholesterol was high, I was insulin resistant. I was anaemic and would require an iron infusions; I needed to lose weight, a lot of weight, from my 1.57m frame. Among many new medications the doctor suggested, the main was a GLP1 for both my insulin resistance and weight loss. Initially I felt a bit guilty as I wasn't diabetic. I didn’t want to be responsible for someone who really needed it missing out. Dr S. assured me that heathwise, I really did need it if I wanted to get well.