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An intro and a cry out for Spoonie friends?

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Health & Wellbeing

' Forum started by spooniedieter, Oct 29th, 2015 at 22:35 PM.
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Oct 29th, 2015, 22:35 PM  
spooniedieter
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Nottingham, UK.
Posts: 4

An intro and a cry out for Spoonie friends??

Hello to everybody, my name is Hannah and I am currently 21 years of age.
I am not an all too interesting person, but this is because I have been fighting an on/off battle with a chronic health condition, that to this day, is still undiagnosed and I am still going through tests and back and forth to the hospital! So, why does this link to anything about weight loss? Well...
One of my most recent tests was a lumbar puncture (spinal tap), that showed I have a raised Intracranial Pressure. This points to a rare condition called Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension )or psuedotumar cerebri).
It is known that in SOME cases, weight loss generally lessens symptoms and can sometimes even put you into full remission. So that is why I am here. Don't get me wrong, I actually don't expect weight loss to help me. Nothing with this condition is definite. Some lose their vision completely, some people, like me, have no visionary problems, some don't even get the headache, which is the number one symptom!
However, I'm not a newbie to dieting and fitness and all this stuff.
January 2014, I joined Slimming World and went on to shift 3 stone in just 30 weeks, I was so proud, and I felt great! But slowly, the weight crept back on, as it always, always does. But it was happening in such an on and off slow process, that I didn't really realise until it was all too late.
I can no longer attend Slimming World, for several reasons, but for the last two to three months I have been trying to regain my focus and get my head back in the game but I keep failing!
So I sat and thought to myself, "what am I missing?" and I realised. It is the community and the group therapy that I was lacking. Sharing stories, ups and downs, highs and lows with all the other people in my former SW group - it helped!
So here I am, wanting to make friends, and swap stories, inspire and motivate, and be inspired and motivated in return. I am here to help myself, but would love to help others too!
I would appreciate maybe finding somebody, with some form of illness or health condition, who might be more understanding to my personal situation. It is hard to feel like you're the odd one out, so to find a fellow spoonie would be great!
My boyfriend, who is my absolute rock, and my favourite person in the world, has now noticed my weight gain, and although he still loves me, I know I wouldn't be best pleased if he gained the weight I have! He's never nasty about it and he will continually support me through every single thing that happens to me.
I want to make him proud, I want to feel nice again, I want to remind him that I am still me, and of course, I want to try losing weight to rid myself of some of my health issues and symptoms! So here we go again...

Yet another fresh start,
Hopefully people willl join me along the way...

Lots of love, and thank you for having me!

Hannah x
 
Oct 29th, 2015, 22:43 PM  
AliCat
Maintainer
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Worcestershire, UK
Posts: 3,240

Nice to hear from you Hannah. I'm a spoonie too, and my weight loss has helped so much! This forum has definitely saved me from quitting many times, and everyone feels like a friend. Good luck with your weight loss. Here to help at any time
 
Oct 29th, 2015, 22:45 PM  
spooniedieter
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Nottingham, UK.
Posts: 4

Awh, thank you so much! Lovely to hear from you
Nice to know I'm not alone, hoping for alot of help and motivation here so I can keep going and hopefully see the health benefits myself! xx
 
Oct 30th, 2015, 12:53 PM  
slimmerchick
Maintainer
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: South West UK
Posts: 64

Hi, what's a spoonie? I was thinking wetherspoons lover but I can see from reading the post that this is definitely not the case! Sorry to hear your story, you will gain a lot from this forum - I know I have x
 
 
Oct 30th, 2015, 16:32 PM  
Bevziibubble
Maintainer
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: UK
Posts: 7,879

Hi and welcome to Social Slimmers! Best of luck on your weight loss journey
 
 
Oct 30th, 2015, 17:34 PM  
AliCat
Maintainer
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Worcestershire, UK
Posts: 3,240

A spoonie is someone with a chronic illness, so called because of the Spoon Theory. Two friends, one of them ill, were talking in a cafe about her illness. She gathered a handful of teaspoons. "This is my quota for the day, that my illness restricts on me - 10 spoons. Getting out of bed uses 1. A shower uses 2. Preparing a meal uses 2, so in a day that is 6. Reading a book uses 1. A doctor's visit uses 2. So now I'm out of spoons! I can borrow spoons from tomorrow but then tomorrow will be even harder." So basically, its the restriction in energy that most of of us suffer due to illness and pain. We have to pace ourselves and plan our days otherwise we run out of spoons and end up bed bound.
 
Oct 30th, 2015, 18:12 PM  
slimmerchick
Maintainer
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: South West UK
Posts: 64

Ah I see, thank you Alicat I had never heard that before xxx
 
 
Oct 31st, 2015, 20:25 PM  
spooniedieter
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Nottingham, UK.
Posts: 4

Sorry to all those who commented and said hello!
Its been a tough couple of days so didn't even think to log on!
Hello to you all and thanks for the support.
Thank you for also explaining the spoon theory for me, I know it does sound odd lol.
 
Nov 2nd, 2015, 12:37 PM  
PaulB
 
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Manchester, UK
Posts: 255

Hi Spooniedieter. My friend Ian was diagnosed with a condition where he was experiencing many visual problems and they put it down to high blood pressure in his head. He had to eliminate all stimulants and lots of foods from his diet. Took him nearly a year but his condition has sorted itself out leaving a small amount of vision loss in one eye. Sounds a horrible thing to go through. He lost 12 or 13 stone following his specialists plan and lives by a set of rules to not re-aggravate the condition. Just wanted to say keep going and don't give up hope. As for the motivation part I got a good free book from guy called James Clear all about sticking to plans and goal setting that helped me a bit. Worth a search if you get some spare time. Mostly common sense stuff like accepting what can be controlled and establishing beliefs to avoid making your day to day choices a matter of willpower. Anyway good luck and there are loads of helpful people here who are great to talk to if you need a boost.
 
Nov 4th, 2015, 21:42 PM  
EmiGem
 
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: Yeovil
Posts: 29

Hi Spooniedieter!
First off, welcome! I'm fairly new here too, but from what I have seen and experienced, this place is full of lovely people and there's an incredible amount of support and motivation.
I too have had many obstacles when it comes to my health. Though I've never heard of the term Spoonie, or if I could/should call myself one. I am currently recovering from an operation to the bones in my knee, but there have been complications which means I've been left in more pain than I had pre-op. Unfortunately I've been told that it's going to be a very long term thing even now after treatment (I had AVN for years before operating) which means exercise is pretty much a zero. But enough about me and my downfalls [emoji23]
I really hope you manage to achieve what you are after and even if you are not so optimistic, I hope losing weight alleviates some of your symptoms!
Feel free to message if you need a chat any time
Good luck on your journey
 
 
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