Losing weight with chronic illness/pain/fatigue!

Hi! I'm Ryn. I'm 45, I live in NH, I'm a single mom who isn't able to work, and I have about 50 lbs to lose to be at my ideal healthy weight (or 35 to meet my previous average weight). I have no idea how I could have gotten so much bigger in less than a year.

Are you trying to lose weight while pinned under the heavy thumb of a chronic illness? Do you use more spoons for eating than you have "spoons" (Google "spoon theory") for daily activities? Do you start off strong on a good day, just to end up in bed and in agony for the next several days?

Let's get together!

I have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a connective tissue disorder that is the result of faulty collagen; if something is supposed to expand and contract, it will stretch out and eventually stop contracting. (For example, I've had 4 surgeries to shorten my eye muscles, because the tendons became too loose, and I couldn't move my eyes in synchronized, giving me severe double vision.)

EDS causes constant joint subluxations (partial dislocations - like when your back "goes out"), severe fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, insomnia and non-restorative sleep, adrenaline & other hormonal imbalances, early-onset osteoarthritis, depression (as a symptom, not simply as a result of being ill; our brains are formed in utero with defective "glue," causing depression, anxiety, and even autism), and so much more.

Another condition that coexists with EDS is Chiari Malfunction, which is, to simplify, when YOUR BRAIN FALLS INTO YOUR SPINAL CANAL and compresses your brain stem, screwing up your autonomic nervous system. I had surgery for it 3 years ago, but it's just a treatment, not a cure.

Worst of all for weight gain, EDSers have *major* GI dysfunction, including reflux, delayed gastric emptying, slow intestinal mobility, and IBS. So... the only thing that stops your stomachache is eating, the food moves slowly enough to be in your body for up to a week (letting your guts suck out more and more calories), and to relieve the painful constipation, you have to use medication to induce... um, well... the opposite of constipation.

I'm also completely alone, since it's no fun to be friends or partners with someone who is always sick and cancelling plans. Food is my friend, and I pass the time by eating.

I have a treadmill, but if I do more than half a mile at 1 MPH, I feel like dying the next day.

So even light exercise is incredibly painful and exhausting, my digestive system is sabotaging me, and the extra weight makes everything much worse.

BUT I AM GOING TO DO THIS!!!

I will slip, stumble, fall, fail, and then get up and try it all again. I'd love some company.