310 pounds at 17 years old
Hello!
My name is Steve. For awhile now, I've been overweight. Right now, I'm currently around 310, possibly lower, but definitely above 300 pounds. I don't know if this is a result of my terrible acid reflux and GERD, but I have those issues as well. I'm starting to exercise, eat better, and take better care of myself, and I want to lose about 100 pounds or so. My BMI is 42. My main concern right now though is my heart. I have terrible GERD, some nights it will keep me up all night, I will be so scared I will take an aspirin before I can sleep properly. What scares me about that is, it usually helps. Surely GERD couldn't be put off by an aspirin.
My doctor says my heart is fine, and my halter monitor that I wore because I had to go the ER (panic that I was having a heart attack after Prilosec stirred up my GERD again) is normal. I've got an appointment soon, and I'm just curious if being overweight like this can cause heart problems. I know this sounds stupid, but I like to hear a second opinion. Until I get some GERD medication that won't cause terrible side-effects (with the prilosec, I woke up one night sweating, heart racing, and have since felt like it's palpitating and speeding up for no reason at many inactive times) I can't be sure that it isn't something more serious. Right now, I have pain in my shoulders and chest. It feels pressured and my arm hurts.
Such as a hernia or a vitamin deficiency or something else.
Any response would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
My name is Steve. For awhile now, I've been overweight. Right now, I'm currently around 310, possibly lower, but definitely above 300 pounds. I don't know if this is a result of my terrible acid reflux and GERD, but I have those issues as well. I'm starting to exercise, eat better, and take better care of myself, and I want to lose about 100 pounds or so. My BMI is 42. My main concern right now though is my heart. I have terrible GERD, some nights it will keep me up all night, I will be so scared I will take an aspirin before I can sleep properly. What scares me about that is, it usually helps. Surely GERD couldn't be put off by an aspirin.
My doctor says my heart is fine, and my halter monitor that I wore because I had to go the ER (panic that I was having a heart attack after Prilosec stirred up my GERD again) is normal. I've got an appointment soon, and I'm just curious if being overweight like this can cause heart problems. I know this sounds stupid, but I like to hear a second opinion. Until I get some GERD medication that won't cause terrible side-effects (with the prilosec, I woke up one night sweating, heart racing, and have since felt like it's palpitating and speeding up for no reason at many inactive times) I can't be sure that it isn't something more serious. Right now, I have pain in my shoulders and chest. It feels pressured and my arm hurts.
Such as a hernia or a vitamin deficiency or something else.
Any response would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Hi Steve,
Of course I will tell you to see your doctor about this, but that said, not likely to be your heart at your age, even with a weight problem. Much more likely to be GERD. If the prilosec gives you trouble, one simple test that ER doctors do is a "GI ****tail" that has a few things in it but importantly, Mylanta. Try that sometime to see if the straight antacid helps you.
And regarding your weight, I agree that loss of 100 pounds will probably resolve the GERD, in addition to adding years to your lifespan.
Good luck with your journey!
Best,
Of course I will tell you to see your doctor about this, but that said, not likely to be your heart at your age, even with a weight problem. Much more likely to be GERD. If the prilosec gives you trouble, one simple test that ER doctors do is a "GI ****tail" that has a few things in it but importantly, Mylanta. Try that sometime to see if the straight antacid helps you.
And regarding your weight, I agree that loss of 100 pounds will probably resolve the GERD, in addition to adding years to your lifespan.
Good luck with your journey!
Best,
Thomas Inge, MD, PhD, Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics
Director, Adolescent Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (www.childrenscolorado.org/bariatric)
Principal Investigator, Teen-LABS (www.Teen-LABS.org)
Children's Hospital Colorado and University of Colorado, Denver
Executive Assistant:
Karen Warnock
Phone: (720) 777-3179
Thank you for the reply Tom. You are right, my doctor told me my heart is fine, and I'm now taking Prevacid. So far, I haven't had any major issues with it. However, I still have the feeling of trouble breathing and it can keep me up if I eat a big meal before bed. I'm gonna stop doing that. I've always heard people who lose weight can sometimes fix their GERD and stop taking medicine for it. I was happy to hear that I could potentially finally get rid of this stuff by losing weight.
I try to do about 25-30 minutes every 3 days on a local track with my friends, and that seems to help. Though so far my weight seems to stay around 310-315. I suppose I should also do weight resistance too, or maybe cardio.
I try to do about 25-30 minutes every 3 days on a local track with my friends, and that seems to help. Though so far my weight seems to stay around 310-315. I suppose I should also do weight resistance too, or maybe cardio.
Cardio is deffinetly the best right now! Treadmill (Walking) Bicycling, Swimming, Elliptical are all good cardio workouts and cardio is the best way to help your weight loss. It helps burn the callories. Slowly incline your time, so if your walking 25-30 minutes a day add 5 minutes a day or everytime you go or even every week you go. 1 week your going 25 the next your going 30 and so on and so forth. Keep doing that till you at 1 hour and your able to do it 5 times a week. Trust me it works thats what I do and right now i'm at 50 minutes on the treadmil 15 minutes on the bicycle and I do about 20 reps on most of the weight machines at home. Weights really dont help you lose weight but help you tone and may help with loose skin a bit.
Best of luck to you, I dont know much about GERD but I do know what its like to be overweight so if you ever wanna talk or need advice feel free to send me a Message
Best of luck to you, I dont know much about GERD but I do know what its like to be overweight so if you ever wanna talk or need advice feel free to send me a Message
- In your whole life nobody has ever abused you more than you have abused yourself, and the limit of your self abuse is exactly the limit of abuse that you will tolerate from someone else.
Thank you for replying Corina! I do have a question. I've been trying to push myself and I guess I did it a little too hard and started to feel very dizzy. I nearly fainted, but I also hadn't eaten and I pushed myself very hard and hadn't done exericse in several days.
I got my BPM up to 176, where my maximum is 203. In prior exercise, it never got past 155.
I'm just scared now to exercise again because I'm afraid I'll push myself too hard and faint. I guess the panic disorder doesn't help much. But I really want to know if there's anything I can do to get rid of that feeling. It comes even when I'm doing little exercise too. Like walking at a slow pace where my BPM is about 135-145.
What happened to get it up to 176 was I was doing that ea active game where you do all these really heavy exercises like running in place and doing bicep curls and cardio and everything else. It's supposed to burn 250 calories, but I couldn't even get halfway through it (there were 16 exercises spanning about 20 minutes total).
I don't want this to ruin my ability to get the weight off. But feeling this way everytime I exercise just bothers and scares me.
My heart is fine, I don't have diabeties, and as far as I know, my thyroid is okay. I don't get good sleep. I usually can't get to bed before 3AM or later. I don't get the 10 PM deadline for the "healing" effects and I usually eat after 7PM.
I got my BPM up to 176, where my maximum is 203. In prior exercise, it never got past 155.
I'm just scared now to exercise again because I'm afraid I'll push myself too hard and faint. I guess the panic disorder doesn't help much. But I really want to know if there's anything I can do to get rid of that feeling. It comes even when I'm doing little exercise too. Like walking at a slow pace where my BPM is about 135-145.
What happened to get it up to 176 was I was doing that ea active game where you do all these really heavy exercises like running in place and doing bicep curls and cardio and everything else. It's supposed to burn 250 calories, but I couldn't even get halfway through it (there were 16 exercises spanning about 20 minutes total).
I don't want this to ruin my ability to get the weight off. But feeling this way everytime I exercise just bothers and scares me.
My heart is fine, I don't have diabeties, and as far as I know, my thyroid is okay. I don't get good sleep. I usually can't get to bed before 3AM or later. I don't get the 10 PM deadline for the "healing" effects and I usually eat after 7PM.
If your getting to the point of dizzyness then you are pushing yourself to hard. Just take it easy, dont over do it. and you should always eat before you work out, Drink plenty of water, Maybe you just got dehydrated. Your body is not use to exercise, Start slow and pick it up. Maybe if you asked your doctor about what he thought as far as exercising goes.
I to cannot go to bed early I usually go to bed around 4-5 am.
Hope this helps.
- In your whole life nobody has ever abused you more than you have abused yourself, and the limit of your self abuse is exactly the limit of abuse that you will tolerate from someone else.
Corina and Steve,
All good info. I agree that you are pushing yourself too hard. We exercise Teens who are much more overweight than you are and have not had any serious complications of it yet, but we do have some guidelines!
Let me grab my favorite Exercise Physiologist to join us in this chat, ok? She is awesome and will have the right "prescription."
Keep up the good work!
Tom Inge
All good info. I agree that you are pushing yourself too hard. We exercise Teens who are much more overweight than you are and have not had any serious complications of it yet, but we do have some guidelines!
Let me grab my favorite Exercise Physiologist to join us in this chat, ok? She is awesome and will have the right "prescription."
Keep up the good work!
Tom Inge
Thomas Inge, MD, PhD, Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics
Director, Adolescent Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (www.childrenscolorado.org/bariatric)
Principal Investigator, Teen-LABS (www.Teen-LABS.org)
Children's Hospital Colorado and University of Colorado, Denver
Executive Assistant:
Karen Warnock
Phone: (720) 777-3179
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