Obese Patients Seeking Medical Miracles | Our Life

one in five adults in the uk are dangerously overweight our obesity epidemic will kill thirty thousand people this year tonight we look at two radical developments in the treatment of obesity these four women are staking everything on their last hopes of a solution [Music] three will take a newly licensed drug and one will undergo a potentially life-threatening operation [Music] over the next six months we will follow them through the most important struggle of their lives their hopes and fears i was sort of getting palpitations in my chest and their successes [Music] and their setbacks as they battle with their weight i've put on four pounds i just felt as if somebody had taken me last chance away from me the extraordinary story starts in december 2001. britain wakes up to news of a sensational new fat busting pill alison alsop's story offers hope to millions of others i was just over 19 stone and i lost just over seven in the year being that size i wouldn't have been able to run around the field or just let loose for the football too embarrassing too humiliating to do it i wouldn't go anywhere i had no life really alison's transformation came about after taking part in trials for this drug cybutramine marketed as reductive come in hello her gp recommended her for the trials and provided all the help and backup she needed is still monitoring her weight more than two years later everything's progressing doing all right yeah i think we you know doing pretty good at keeping it steady okay there have been other anti-obesity drugs but this one could be a genuine breakthrough it works by tricking a patient's brain into thinking that their stomach is full it can help some patients to feel fuller quicker and so when they eat they still enjoy the food but can eat less and so that helps towards weight loss i was just having a look actually at your um record over the past and you can see that initially we got this fantastic drop and then for quite some months we held it there so i think that's that's really quite impressive so do your blood pressure but there can be side effects evidence of increased blood pressure means patients must be monitored carefully and regularly if we see every month i think i'll just give you that little bit of support that you need that extra bit of focus to keep you on track does it sound reasonable yeah using a drug to treat obesity may seem drastic okay awesome okay four weeks baby but for alison the risks have been worth it reductive has changed her life i am a different person i've got a lot more confidence and i have a lot more fun now the drug has now been approved for use on the nhs all over britain overweight patients are hoping to repeat allison's experience sometimes i just shut myself in the house all day i've lost all of my confidence throughout the last few years i find it very hard sometimes to even go out if i'm walking down the street and i feel people are staring well i i'm paranoid i go around tescos and i think people are staring at me haley campbell weighs 17 and a half stone and carries 70 pounds of excess fat she developed the weight problem only recently but it's already having an impact on her career i was told that i'd never make it as a ballet dancer so i had to set my my sights on teaching [Music] haley runs a small school where she gives dance instruction two nights a week i feel a bit over forward sometimes to be honest either when i think of a ballet teacher i think of a tall slender lady with beautiful arch feet and i'm just not that i would turn out and place behind seven and look up she's now pinning her weight loss hopes on a course of reductio there are many women out there losing weight without any medical help however the benefits outweigh the risks definitely seven years ago i was the weight i want to be now i'd love to look like that again you can see how happy i look in the photo and i'm sure i could be that happy again if i was thin we become overweight when we eat more calories than we burn off through activity and exercise but the reasons why we overeat are more complicated sandra davis is 21 stone and four pounds like many obese people she has an unhealthy relationship with food eating's become a comfort and an addiction i'll eat anything at any time sweet things were my favorite biscuits more biscuits because you can eat a packet with a cup of coffee very easily chocolate bars would go down without much trouble if there wasn't anything ready available i would mix up cake mix and ate that raw raw jellies i've mixed up angel delight and drank that before it's had time to set i'd make myself some cereal in a very large casserole dish if there was any cream left and that would go on top of it as well it is self-inflicted i don't think anybody's fat by accident or you know it is self-inflicted i suppose if he was only a stone overweight you'd think three months down the line i can do this i'll get back to how i was but you start being 10 and 11 stone overweight and it's it's too far to even imagine going back i mean i kind of begin to imagine what it'd be like to be slim sandra's been overweight for 20 years but now it's reached crisis point a shape's affecting her health after working in the salon all day her back is so painful she can barely move i had a real bad episode in october i was totally disabled and dependent on everybody else i couldn't even physically get up to go to the toilet on my own i can't just let what i'm eating do that to me again with nothing else working sandra hopes reductive will finally stop her food cravings and first one down the hatch the position you find yourself in you're just gonna take whatever's available painless here we go [Music] for the obese losing weight is not a matter of vanity it's about life and death even two stone of excess weight poses significant health dangers obese women are twice as likely to die from coronary heart disease and 27 times more likely to have diabetes than those of a normal size the overweight also run a greater risk of depression cancer strokes and premature death problems increase with age but as obese people get older it becomes ever harder to change habits and lose weight [Music] angela york is 18 and a half stone and as a community nurse she knows the risks better than most when you actually put on a uniform you want them to listen to what you're saying the advice you're giving and not to look at you and think what does she know look at the size of her but i usually turn it around and say well i know it looks like i don't bother but i know what i should do i just don't do it lots of women will say that you get tied up with your life my professional life i've been caring for people for 27 years now i'm married i've got four children that i've cared for you just forget to care about yourself my mum's already had two severe heart attacks you can't go on kidding yourself it isn't going to happen to you [Music] like haley and sandra she's now hoping to reproduce alison alsop's results losing four stone in six months on the fat busting pill i really do feel i've really got to make a sweat now otherwise i've only got myself to blame [Music] it would be a huge achievement [Music] but for some even that rate of weight loss isn't drastic enough lynne shaw weighs more than 27 stone and has been warned she faces a premature death her only option now is an operation that will stop her eating and that too could threaten her life [Music] it's the start of february and these three obese women are now on week one of the new diet pill reductive as promised the drug is making them feel fuller quicker that makes it easier to stick to a sensible diet i really do think it does stop you halfway through a meal because you do feel full up and after just seven days sandra can see the effects 20 stone 13 pound that's down five pounds a fortnight in haley also finds that the drug is suppressing her appetite and helping her to shed pounds the weight just fell off me and two pounds a day really i lost a stone in two weeks and for angela too there are dramatic improvements from the start my bun's not quite as big as it was i know that i'm losing it but then you look in the mirror and you think oh i still got huge arms and my back side still looks like you know after 14 days their weight loss is amazing [Music] sandra's lost 11 pounds hayley's lost a stone angela lost a stone and two pounds [Music] but the next week brings news that could jeopardize everything so that's the midday news for today italy's banned a new weight loss pill after the deaths of two women and 50 reports of health problems it's sold in the uk under the brand name reductive it had side effects apparently like raised heart rates and blood pressure and now italy sandra knows all too well about the side effects by her third week of treatment she experienced a frightening increase in blood pressure i was sort of getting palpitations in my chest just really unwell i mean somebody just said to me having a heart attack i wouldn't quite believe them i went straight down the surgery checked the blood pressure and it was extremely high and they wouldn't let me leave the surgery until i'd seen the doctor and straight away he said i couldn't i couldn't have it anymore but even despite the side effects she's desperate to take reductal again it's the only thing that has helped her lose weight i was absolutely gutted because he had been like a marvel i just felt as if somebody had taken me last chance away from me her doctor says she can take the drug again but only if she can keep losing weight and bring her blood pressure down through exercise she now faces a struggle to diet without the one thing that was helping her any program of drastic weight loss carries some degree of risk but the most extreme method of all surgery has particular dangers lynne shaw is aware of them but she sees no alternative if she's to become thin i have always had a weight problem my mum says i started putting weight on when i was about nine eight to nine [Music] the lightest i've been when i met steve i was 12 stone and i was 18 years old the heaviest i've been is just over 32 stone i feel as though sometimes when we go especially people that have known us for a long time i feel as though i have to apologize for the way i am lynn's been on a strict dive for six months but she still weighs 27 stone steve once said to me it's like living with somebody that's disabled everything it affects me going upstairs i can't wash myself properly i can't cut my toenails my daughter does that life it's very hard it makes it very very hard but now she's found a possible answer a local surgeon offering an anti-obesity stomach operation on the nhs it's surgery that will stop the patient eating all but the smallest amounts the risks of being obese are overwhelming generally speaking a lot of people don't realize this it is the fifth most common cause of death in the uk when the patients first come to see me of course it's very important that they understand the risks of what they're going through i give them a booklet we have some videos which i let them have and then they go away and decide anti-obesity surgery is very much the end of the line it really is for people who have tried absolutely everything else um it's not an easy option you have to remember that people die from having anti-obesity surgery i cried for three days after i'd spoke to mike the very first time and when somebody says to you like mr scott said to me how old are you now when i said and he said you'd be very lucky to live till 55. placement of true cars and tools it is a drastic step to take but i think it's one that she does need to take i'm fully behind her because i've seen her go through so much she's lost x amount of stone over the years and put x amount back on through various diets and hopefully this is with the catalyst that stops are going back lynn's been waiting for the surgery for over two years before it can go ahead she needs to have a battery of tests to check that her overstretched heart and lungs can cope i'm apprehensive and when people mention it my stomach turns over obviously there are risks with the anesthetic and because of the weight that i'm carrying it makes the anesthetic even more risky i kept looking at staying saying what if i die [Music] but i don't think it is such a drastic step to have surgery because how long do you wait how long do you put your life on hold i don't want to be a size 8 i just want to be normal i just want to live a normal life i've got a wardrobe full of clothes up there from 14s to 32s i want to throw me 32s away and start living in the smaller clothes to go out and buy a pair of shoes not size nines a pair of ladies size six please with a heel on it's now april 10 weeks since these four women began their quest to lose weight lynn's decided to go ahead with the operation despite her fears and is waiting for a date from the hospital and the three women prescribed reductio have received reassuring news the government has ruled that it is safe for use okay yes thank you all patients have to be closely monitored and their blood pressure must be checked every fortnight it's a big commitment you have to be really sure that it's what you want to do but it is worth it because at the end of the day it takes the edge off feeling hungry and it seems to be working at the end of 10 weeks angela's gone from 18 stone 7 to 16 stone 3 a loss of 2 stone 4 pounds at the same time haley's gone from more than 17 stone to just over 15. but sandra's struggling after being taken off the drug her progress has slowed and after 10 weeks she's only 15 pounds lighter [Music] anxious to make up lost ground she decides to visit a personal trainer deep breaths for me yeah yeah i'm more restricted to what i can do at the moment because obviously i'm still suffering with a bad back [Music] good girl very good hopefully as the training wears on i shall get better show you the doubters tremendous protect the joints and pause good girl okay handles back hands and then we must take people like sandra very very slowly one two three four if straight away from day one we put someone who has basically been a couch potato for the last five years onto a regime that belongs in the military 99 times out of 100 it's going to result in failure one of my six-year-olds said to me the other night when are you going to be like all the mums salsa what do you mean he said not fat six years old because he's aware of what's going on now what did you say i just said oh yes i will be soon angela is also exercising i've been walking a lot tend to go out most days now and try and do at least 30 minute walk there's a small hill i call it cardiac hill because i feel like i'm gonna have a harder time by the time i get to the top usually i do it at night because then people can't see me puffing and panting i'm not really into gym i don't feel comfortable about going to something like that yet that's the big issue for me the fact that i'll have more self-confidence in myself and feel better about myself [Music] hail is now 28 pounds lighter than when she started but while she's feeling the benefit she's finding it hard to stick to the program [Music] on friday night my friend had a bad weekend i went home to spend the evening with her i'm quite a weak person and she was like oh why are you drinking water come on get on the wine girl excuse me gin and tonic not one before long i was drinking glass after glass of wine then her husband came home from the pub with ekebab for me which i ate and i loved every mouthful i've put on four pounds i think um so i'm quite devastated but i can't blame anyone except myself all the patients are discovering that a pill alone won't make them lose weight it may help control cravings but there's no substitute for willpower it's like there's two angelas there's the sensible angela that knows all the reasons for losing weight um and then there's the naughty anchor and i'm not even hungry but i'm craving the most stupid things like chocolate chocolate chocolate [Music] very tempting but i don't want them i just don't want them so i'm not tempting guess what i've done i've eaten three mini egg cakes which is about 450 calories and i've also had a twix i've also had a cream egg so now i'm feeling sick i'm truly cheesed off i'm thinking ah you stupid girl but while they both give into temptation sandra perseveres at the gym the sessions burn off fat and bring her blood pressure down now her doctors allow her to go back on reductive want to be slim yeah i'm gonna [Music] i think the biggest difference now is just the fact that we back's better good girl and i can move about breathe do things that i should be able to do without being in agony very good thank you down to 19 now it's taken three months but she's now lost over two stone thank you for sandra and the other drug users the weight loss continues [Music] for lynn whose operation is now due a change in body shape is imminent i've been asked to phone at three o'clock to see if the bed's available that's brilliant tomorrow she'll undergo stomach surgery it's the same operation that transformed one woman from this to this this is the last time lynn shaw will have a normal dinner with her family she's about to have stomach surgery to stop her eating all but the smallest amounts a drastic measure that will finally help her to lose weight kind of nervous for her because things can go wrong in operations and what have you i don't want something to happen i know it's got to be worth it because she's getting what she wants and what i want in a way because i get to go shopping with them which is lost all her weight and we get to spend more time together she'll just be my mum but then it just means i can get my hours around the better [Music] looking forward to it looking forward to it being over i get very apprehensive going into situations being the size that i am i've not made a will but my children and steve know who needs to get what i have said to me mum and dad if anything else to me please look after them all see you later darling all right helen right lynn now you understand that being the size you are that carries a risk from the anaesthetic yes okay you also understand that because we've talked about it before that keyhole surgery even in the best hands can have some problems this is a difficult operation i cannot say to you hand on heart that you won't have a problem and you understand that yeah i know this is probably a deaf question but you do want to go ahead with this don't you definitely [Music] i just want to be thinner to live life like i think my family as well as me needs to live life there's so many things i want to do it'll be like starting a new life all together the whole family will be affected for the better we are talking about high risk patients lynne was right at the upper end of weight really fortunately for her she has good lungs good heart and i am quite convinced that she's going to do well the operation involves keyhole surgery [Music] an inflatable band called a lap band is fitted around the patient's stomach once in place it reduces the stomach capacity to around one desert spoonful of solids that will be all the patient can eat at one time the band is sewn in place and is designed to stay in forever although it can be tightened or loosened if necessary the reality is these are people with a condition that's killing them and hopefully as a consequence of their surgery i'm not trying to make them all twiggy or pretty or anything like that i'm trying to make them healthy [Music] this is julie white at 26 stone mike scott operated on her more than two years ago now i look at my photographs and think is that really me i can't remember being that big although i know it was i've lost just over 15 stone my eldest son went to australia for 12 months travelling and when he come back i'd lost about 12 and a half he actually didn't recognize his own woman he couldn't believe he could get his arms all the way around me when he gave me a hug this is a skater wall the first time i ever went to see my about the off and it fitted me and it was tight and this is rather crushed but this blouse was the only one i could get to fit me to go to a wedding it's given me my life back this operation i can't explain it or any other than that it's given me my life back julia range is a self-help group people in her area who've also had the operation it's the worst thing you could do ironically they often need more support after the surgery when they're coming to terms with their restricted diet and new lifestyle christine was saying she went through a phase that where she thought why have i done this to myself mentally you will still want certain foods you will go to a restaurant and think oh i'd love to eat that and you don't order it because you know physically you can't so in your head you still want it having this operation is not the easy option that people think it is but with the lap band the results can be very quick and equally as dramatic i was 24 and a half stone when i had it done and i'm 12 now so i'm half the size and twice the woman [Laughter] [Music] the three women on the anti-obesity drug reductil are four months through their treatment the results are not as arresting as with surgery but each patient continues to make progress four months ago hayley campbell was over 17 stone i've lost about three stone four pounds up to now [Music] but the more weight i lose the more confident i get she's appreciating the benefits to herself and her son [Music] i want miles to have a happy active family being 17 stone we weren't active enough he would have grown up seeing a fat mummy sat on the sofa a lot [Music] now it's going to be different as he's grown up he'll know that activity is good and makes you feel good sandra davey is also significantly lighter and now better equipped to cope with her three young children now i'm able to do things and look after them properly whereas before i was actually stuck in a chair so every time i asked for crisps or biscuits it was a case of yes get what you want because i physically couldn't do anything or get them anything myself because i was fat i was suffering as well and would have probably ended up just as fat as me eighteen stand three so that's over three stone now angela york was eighteen and a half stone now the weight's coming off she realizes how it's affected her marriage i had a long long chat with my hubby i actually said to him i felt that he didn't fancy me as much when i was big as he did when i was slim i was quite shocked when he actually admitted that well no actually he didn't i thought you sawed but as i say with hindsight i'm looking in on us oh i don't blame him really poor guy marries a sort of quite slim nine and a half stoner and ends up with an 18 ounce of course he doesn't fancy him out [Applause] [Music] encouraged by her new more attractive shape angela wants to speed up her weight loss through increased exercise no way on this earth would you have caught me in a gym right at the beginning no way and really it was only actually starting to lose some weight that gave me the self-confidence really i went out yesterday and walked three miles around the playing field i've walked 20 miles in eight days i have toned muscles now i really hate this [ __ ] [Laughter] [Music] i've lost three stone in 14 weeks so i'm pretty sure a month after her surgery lynn is still limited to a liquid diet if she eats too much at this stage the band could move and cause damage to her stomach [Music] she's beginning to find the restrictions difficult the other day i found myself wanting to chew the sensation to chew i'm yearning for food nothing sweet no chips nothing like that just something to chew on i can't wait for the opportunity to to be able to eat something she regularly goes to her local slimming club to find out if it's all worth it every week i go and get weighed it's unbelievably nerve-wracking it is horrible what you put yourself through it's awful waiting to be told whether you've lost weight or not [Music] lynn so well done [Music] i've lost seven pound today i believed before my surgery it was the be all and endo now i know that it isn't it has been a big help but i know how much work i've got to put into it i decided that i think it's about time that i did some exercise this weekend we'll go in the baths and do a bit of swimming i've never been to swimming baths for quite a while just walking out to the side of the pool it's like oh what are people going to be thinking when i walk out and people are so judgmental i'll never be able to roll my tummy in enough to loot decent but i think it's time to put me pride in the bag and and do it [Music] and now because i'm doing something about myself if people looking at because i'm big look at him back and think yeah but you don't know how much weight i've lost i would go to a gym but i think at the moment i'm still a little bit too self-conscious so perhaps another six stone off [Music] well done since i had my band on which is about six weeks ago now i've lost nearly two stone i'm absolutely delighted i feel like i'm um a size 12. but as you can see i'm a far cry from that i'm still working on it speak to you soon [Music] six months have passed since these four women started tackling their weight problems they were in the same position as 10 million other britons so overweight that their health was being threatened sandra davey was carrying seven stone of fat so obese she was virtually disabled i can't even begin to imagine what it'd be like to be slim i was 21 stone four pound i've almost lost four stone i'm about two pound off four stone now big small inside sandra's progress has been so good she's now featuring in a promotion campaign for her local gym lovely at one time i would have avoided the camera at all cost yes that's it good lovely and i never thought i'd come this far but now i will go all the way and lose all the fat and as summer arrives she and her family can appreciate the benefits of that weight loss [Music] just doing lots of things i wouldn't have been able to do six months ago have another paddle and wash your feet i shall enjoy today because i know whatever the children want to do i'll be able to do with them without stopping and thinking [Music] get set [Music] even down to things like when we've been on the bleach i can bend down and dry the feet which i wouldn't have been able to do before [Music] with half a stone that goes you tend to do more of normal things that i presume slim people do and don't even think about i can cross my legs i can dry my feet when i get out the shower which i hadn't done for about six months so it was a wonder i hadn't got trench foot just silly things like that that i notice day by day when i go to do things and it's great the weight loss pill reductive gave sandra the kickstart she needed but she puts her success down to her own change of attitude it was definitely the drug to begin with that got me in the slimming routine but it's self-control and determination it's then a way of life and not just something that you're going to do for a couple of months don't be horrible why can't i have an ice cream hey do you know did you want to die right why am i on a diet get thinner to get thinner she's um getting thinner like more thin then we can hug her a bit better [Music] i'd actually over the years accepted the fact of how i looked and had convinced myself i didn't care obviously now i know i did [Music] the only one thing i would really like to do when i've got as slim as i possibly can do is to go out somewhere really glamorous and nice with as little on as possible hayley campbell was 17 and a half stone [Music] i don't want to be classed as obese or morbidly obese as i am now i've lost just over three and a half stone maybe i could have done a bit more sometimes i think maybe i could have lost a stone a month and that's six stone by now i'm still overweight i know that but i don't feel so disgusted about myself i don't feel consciously all the time that i'm stared at by people i feel more confident when i walk down the street i feel more confident shopping because i'm not buying those bigger sizes anymore [Music] probably very much in denial of my real size i was probably 20 haley was never sure of her exact size because she couldn't bear to go into changing rooms she found them too intimidating i'm pleased with the reflection i get in the mirror these days i couldn't bear to look at myself before but now i can definitely see a huge difference the 18th and the a bit bigger on the west as you can see and over the months it's off her waist that hayley has lost the most i've lost that much um i think it's about over 10 inches which is um pretty amazing really i had these a few years ago they're absolutely humongous now as you can see i'll never wear them again i've never felt like giving up um because i know that as soon as i give up i'm going to be 17 stone again just like that [Music] three months ago lynn shaw was in hospital waiting for surgery on her stomach [Music] i feel so much better i just feel absolutely fantastic she's recovered fully from the operation although the lap band is restricting how much she can eat [Music] if i eat and i don't take my time chewing it it does hurt you could always get that one spoonful in before that doesn't happen anymore or else you do regurgitate your food today she's going back to hospital for a post-operation checkup with her surgeon mike scott the results of the lap band are very varied it does depend to some degree on the motivation of the patient but generally speaking the statistics are that about 70 of patients lose 70 percent of their excess weight we better have the moment of truth and pop you on the scales don't we do you know what you weigh lisa do 24 strong 5. all right a bit less than that just about 24 stones 152 kilos something like that so far lin's doing better than the average patient at a current rate is on target to lose more than 10 stone over the next year so you've lost all but four stones that's not bad is it really delighted all right thank you bye now my dream will come over the next 12 months but it will only come with my hard work and i don't know how hard i'm going to work at it at the moment i can say yes and next year i'll be size 16s but come back and see me in 12 months and i'll tell you [Music] six months ago angela yorke was 18 and a half stone and a confirmed chocoholic you only got to see some nice toys it's only kill for them i've lost 60 pounds somebody told me it was half a hundred weight which um it's not very nice thought really she's lost the most weight of all the women but her family have noticed more than just physical changes [Music] it has been a struggle but she's just changed her whole attitude to life who would have said that angela would be going to the gym on a couple times a week six months ago she's a far more confident person tonight back to the old angela you know the angela you know i knew 25 years ago i'm more angela's making a trip she's been planning for two years but has only now found the courage to do i'm about to go up in a balloon with my husband to celebrate his 50th birthday but it's a couple of years late i was concerned about being able to actually climb into the basket and how heavy i was going to be [Music] [Applause] but the girls have been really encouraging so i've been very lucky i've been surrounded by people that have encouraged me [Music] my mum was really nervous yeah she wouldn't even write her weight down on the forum because she was too embarrassed about how big she was so now this is a big achievement for her i think i've been pretty miserable probably quite a count of my family [Music] she's just a bit more sort of fun outgoing she's not so grouchy we all eat healthier now definitely because there's no crap in the ice feel i'm more like the person that i should be i think i've got my self-esteem and my self-respect back and happier for it i remember saying to my husband that i'm still the woman he married even though i was overweight but in hindsight i'm not [Music] with all the beauty treatments thrown in i'm gonna be fit and 50 instead of fat and 40 obviously we all love my mum but i'm just glad now that she's got to the point where she can love herself and i think you're there now won't you [Music] again [Music] you

Channel: Our Life

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Id: 0nI9svHtUiA

Length: 47min 52sec (2872 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 18 2021