Like most people, I gained weight during the COVID lockdowns. I had been going to the gym 3 times per week, but that stopped when SARS-COV-2 started spreading in my city. I've been on so many diets, and my BMI has fluctuated between 25 and 40. Over the last 20 years, I've gained and lost over a thousand pounds through diet, exercise, and various weight loss drugs and programs.
I'm a gay man in my mid 40's living in suburbia. All told, my life is pretty good. I have a partner who loves me and dog who adores me. We own our house outright and own two rental properties. I have surrounded myself with small-L liberals (not loony progressives or woke racists), and live in relative safety and comfort.
The last two years have been a bit rough though. I fell off a ladder and ended up with a pretty bad TBI (traumatic brain injury). I lost my job at a major tech firm because of the TBI. My mom (paternal aunt who raised me from 8 and adopted me at 16) died. Her impending death led me to find that she never really accepted me for being gay, and as a result, I was being given unequal treatment in the inheritance. I never wanted anything but love from her, but this was like a punch in the gut.
More recently, I had a tenant from hell who harassed me. Her boyfriend had cheated on her (with a female prostitute), but she somehow managed to convince herself that me and my partner were sleeping with him, and that we had all conspired to do various things to her. Needless to say, she has a few screws loose. She sent emails and text messages making awful comments about my body, and obscene remarks about what she thinks me and my partner do sexually. She signaled her intention to squat after her boyfriend moved out, despite the fact that she had already moved into another apartment in a neighboring city. She left some belongings in the house, consisting of a few dressers and toys belonging to her toddler. I finally got rid of her, but it took a massive toll on my mental and physical well-being. I got shingles and a cold sore from all the stress. I gained 30 pounds. The sad thing is, state law doesn't protect the landlord from a harassing tenant. If I had harassed her, the law would have protected her, but not when she harassed me.
My health deteriorated so much that I genuinely started to prepare for an early demise from health-related illness. My hope was a massive heart attack that would take me quickly, not leaving me a burden on my family.
The other day, I was just sitting in my car with my dog, and I realized how stupid it is to be preparing for an early death when I could fight for my life! I realized I didn't want to leave my partner grieving and my dog having lost her bestest human.
So, I called up a friend who runs a weight loss clinic and asked for help. I had a consultation, and received injectable semaglutide in the mail this afternoon. I also found a support group on Facebook, more on that later. If you're reading this, don't ask for advice on where to get semaglutide. My friend runs a very small clinic, and cannot handle any more patients.
I'll try to make daily posts, specifying how I feel, any side-effects, and what I'm doing to mitigate side-effects like nausea, constipation, dizziness, etc.
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