Susan (38 years old) suffers from the consequences of a stomach reduction

“I don’t know better than that I was overweight. The reason is partly genetic and I was a Brabant foodie and a passionate eater. There is no diet I haven’t tried. Then again I lost ten kilos, then gained twenty again. I wasn’t happy. Pregnancy wasn’t easy As for me, I have PCOS.The hormones I injected weren’t helping my weight gain either.

After my twins were born, I came to the conclusion that I wasn’t the mother I wanted to be. I wanted to be able to run after the kids on the playground, but that’s not possible when you weigh 145 kilos. In addition, I had gallstones, and the internist didn’t want to treat them because they were too serious. “You’re going to need to lose weight,” he said, referring to the gastric bypass.

I registered with the Dutch Obesity Clinic and started the process. Adel Adel: It was said that complications can happen. However, the stories of Hallujah completely overshadowed this voice. And, of course, I also wanted to hear that everything would work out.

The process went well for me. In that first year I lost 40 kilos. I felt better and fitter. But then I developed a double intestinal hernia, in terms of pain, childbirth is nothing. My stomach wall ruptured and I had to have surgery. In the following years, this happened seven more times, in total, I went under the knife four times, and also developed an ulcer for not being prescribed antibiotic stomach protectors.

Where at first I could still eat it all, I got increasingly dumped. Then the food got worse and I had to vomit. I kept hoping: it will get better, right? I would have wanted it myself and shouldn’t have complained so much, I guess.”

“More than 2 years ago, I suddenly lost a lot of weight in a short time. I couldn’t really bear anything and weighed only 48kg. My iron level turned out to be shockingly low, and eating really wasn’t possible anymore. I’ve been tube-fed ever since.” .sometimes i just eat a bit of something but it often goes wrong.i have stomachaches every day and i don’t know what the outlook is.

Investigations are still ongoing. It has recently been suggested to me to switch to a belly tube, but I dare not. I’m afraid it will get worse than it is now.

I’m still working, I’ve fought not to get rejected. When we go away in the day, I’m in a wheelchair. I don’t want to feel sick and focus on the nice little things in life, like playing with my kids, but it’s hard. I said it out loud for the first time in a while: “If I had known this, I wouldn’t have had the operation.”

I might be able to put on nice clothes now, but I still can’t run after the kids. Sometimes I talk about stomach reductions in a Facebook group about what happened to me and people say I want to scare people. This is not the case: I want to educate people, there is a downside to stomach reduction.

Oftentimes I think this is the case for me, for the rest of my life. On the other hand, I’m glad I’m still here…”

This real life is on Flair 16-2023. You can read more of these stories at Flair each week.