A woman who was told she could face losing her eyesight due to her weight has turned her life around by shedding five stone.
Gill Worsley from Wigan, Greater Manchester, decided to make changes to her lifestyle after being diagnosed with Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (IIH), reports the Manchester Evening News .
The rare condition is a build-up of pressure around the brain which can cause temporary or even permanent loss of vision, as well as a constant throbbing headaches, tiredness and sickness.
Most cases of the disorder are found in overweight women, although it’s not clear why this is the case. One of the main treatments prescribed for IIH according to the NHS is to lose weight, which can help to reduce symptoms and in some cases can relieve them altogether.
Gill says the shocking diagnosis “definitely made me sit up and listen”. The Winstanley resident lost life-changing pounds over a two-year period, thanks to the help of the Specialist Weight Management Service (SWMS) run by Wigan Council.
Gill says the service helped her to better understand her relationship with food and how it linked to her own childhood trauma, helping her to change her food habits for good.
"The staff were amazing, and so understanding and made you realise you were not the only person who had these feelings or patterns of secret eating, binge eating, then feeling bad and hateful about yourself, which in turn makes you turn back to food for comfort,” Gill explained.
SWMS is one of the programmes run by Wigan Council’s ‘Lose Weight Feel Great’ free weight loss service. Wigan has previously hit the headlines for having one of the highest obesity rates in the country.
“It took three years all together with my weight going up and down a lot at the start, but I feel like a different person,” Gill said.
“Don't get me wrong we all have bad weeks or even months, especially around holiday time, but I know I can get straight back on it now.
“If I had not joined SWMS I truly believe I would still be on that rollercoaster, feeling depressed, upset with myself, in denial about my past experience, covering up my emotions and in a downward spiral of unhappiness.”
