I went through High School as a jock, but after HS, I started feeling more tired and less energy. I always snored and starting putting on more and more weight. A lot of weight. I was so used to eating large portions because I had always been thin; as a result of being so active.
So, at the age of 30 I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea and started using a bi-pap machine nightly. By the way, the difference between c-pap and a bi-pap is that the bi-pap forces the air in, and then sucks it out, essentially helping you breath while the c-pap just pushes it in.
Next I started having stomach issues and was diagnosed with IBS, GERD, polyps removed, and Diverticulosis. As if that wasn’t enough, I was always achy and it just seemed to be getting worse. I struggled with this for years. Well about 2 years ago, I received an e-mail. A general health newsletter, but it had some information in it that may have changed my life. It had an article about Fibromyalgia. It went on to discuss many of the exact same issues I have been having. In fact, I had every symptom, except those that typically occur in women.
So I saw a specialist, a Rheumatologist, and she confirmed it. My muscles were deteriorating and not regenerating at night when they should during deep sleep. You see, all those years of sleep apnea, and I don’t recall any dreams. I never reached a deep enough sleep with the mask, to get to a dream state and “REM” or rapid eye movement. This is the time you are in deep sleep. And it wasn’t just the years with the mask, it was many years prior.
I played primarily soccer. Soccer in middle school, soccer in High School, soccer in an adult leagues, indoor leagues and even recreational mixed leagues. I guess you might say I like soccer. But as I kept playing (mostly front line; right wing, striker or trailer) I was getting more and more winded. Until finally, the soreness I would get, would keep me hurting for days. And guess what, I wasn’t getting enough sleep or enough oxygen in my lungs to rebuild my muscles.
So for years, my activity and my energy were slowly diminishing. Leading to ailment after ailment, and no explanation why. Back muscle spasms, leg muscle spasms, I even had face muscle spasms.
So last May, I took the first steps. Funny, but it was something else that led to this as well. I had trouble hearing and was found to have fluid behind my eardrums. A result of allergies coupled with the sleep apnea machine would actually force the fluid up into my head and sinuses. The result was fluid being trapped. So I got tubes in my ears, (this ought to be funny) some kind of “gotomy”. But this lead to my ears constantly discharging. You see, my neck is so large, as well as my tonsils, tongue, etc, the fluid was taking the path of least resistance, my ears. The only solution ny, was to open up the passage way for me to breath. Not your normal 45 years old surgery, but I knew it had to be done. So during Memorial Day Weekend last year, I looked and felt like crap (well I still look like crap though) as I spent my first weekend home after surgury. I would lke to take a moment to thank all the staff at Dr. Phillips Hospital and my surgeon, Dr. Mokris. Thank you all very, very much!
So the day following the surgery, the doctor came in and said he had never had a patient with so little room to work. He removed my tonsils, scraped my palette and shortened my Uvula. The Uvula is the thing that hangs in the back of your throat. Fun stuff. I had one complication after surgery and that was that my blood pressure shot up and didn’t go back down for a few weeks. I weaned myself off of that and at last check, I was 119/78. I also fully recovered in about 5 weeks, so it was pretty quick.
Now, I felt I might be able to take on the challenge of finally losing this extra weight. So I have been doing a lot of research and decided to go with the Body By Vi TransformationChallenge. So here I am today! Let’s see how much I will lose!!!!!
