Appointment with the pg

So, there I was… Sitting in the waiting room of my gp. IWhy does it always seem to take so long before it's your turn when you're waiting? Finally, about 20 minutes after the time my appointment was originally scheduled for, I heared my name being called through the speaker and I found my way to my gp's office.

I started by explaining why I was there: I want to lose weight, but I can't do it on my own. We talked about all the things I had tried before (I will save that list for another blogentry) and why I thought that now was the time for me to make the change. Obesity is not healthy: it is one of the leading preventable causes of death worldwide. Being obese you have a greater risk to get all e.g. diabetes mellitus type 2, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, osteoarthritis,obstructive sleep apnea, cancer, etcetera. And of course there's also the socal stigmatization.

I want to live long and be healthy, I want to have kids and be able to run around and play with them without being exhausted, I want to be able to climb a flight of stairs and not be out of breath, I want to be able to do so many things that I can't do now.

We talked about eating disorders (which I don't have) and then my pg showed me the website of the 'Nederlandse Obesitas Kliniek' = Dutch Obesity Clinic (a.k.a. NOK). He told me he had referred several other clients to the NOK who had great results there and asked to have a look at their website over the weekend. If and when I decided I wanted to try this, he would refer me to them.

The NOK is the biggest and most specialized independent clinic in The Netherlands (since 1993) for the treatment of people who are severely overweight. The treatment at NOK is carried out by a team of specialist, consisting of an internist, a psychologist, possibly a surgeon, a doctor, a dietitian, a motion expert and a care coordinator. With morbidly obese people the treatment is in fact a program for lifestyle change, with or without surgery. Patients will learn how to live healthy and how to adjust their life to the performed surgery. Healthy means that we will learn to move and eat normal. As result of the surgery and the healthy lifestyle the weight will reduce and medical complaints and risks will decrease and possibly even disappear. The quality of life will increase. More about the treatment will follow in another blogentry.

I studied the website meticulously and called my gp on Monday and asked him to be referred to the NOK.