AS SHE stands in the sunshine outside her home in Leith, Elaine Mcloughlin looks as if she doesn't have a care in the world. The curvaceous 42-year-old is sporting a stylish new bob, and her face shines with happiness and health. Anyone listening to
her infectious laugh as she talks about the three-hour hike she did at the weekend along Edinburgh's Cramond beach with her husband Michael, 46, and their two dogs would assume that an active lifestyle came as second nature to her. But for Elaine there was a time when taking just a few steps seemed an impossibility.
Last year, the nursing assistant weighed a life-threatening 25 stone and was so depressed that she rarely went out except to go to work. By the time her GP referred her for bariatric weight-loss surgery in Edinburgh in September, she had also developed dangerously high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. Elaine and her family worried she might not make it to the operating theatre.
"When I was given the go-ahead for the surgery, I felt I'd been thrown a lifeline," she says. "But I was terrified I wouldn't live long enough to have the gastric band fitted. As far as I was concerned, I'd been fighting a losing battle for survival for years, and I wasn't sure I had it in me to keep going. But I knew surgery was my last chance."
Latest figures suggest that the NHS in Scotland could be spending £171 million a year on treating obesity-related conditions. And by 2020, it is estimated that a quarter of the UK's NHS budget will be spent on such conditions. The popularity of weight-loss surgery has also soared, with many celebrities now admitting to having gastric bands fitted in an attempt to stay slim.
Until recently, the only specialist centres for bariatric surgery in Scotland were in Glasgow and Aberdeen, but in November the Spire Murrayfield Hospital opened a specialist obesity clinic in Edinburgh, and a further centre is planned for Dundee.
Despite the expansion, demand for bariatric surgery outstrips supply, and with limited funding available on the NHS, many people decide to go private. For Elaine, who was the first person to have a gastric band fitted at the Spire Murrayfield, choosing to pay for her surgery was a life-and-death decision.
"At my weight, I more than met the criteria for surgery on the NHS, but there were limited places available and I knew I could be waiting a long time. Having been given the go-ahead, I didn't want to die on a waiting list. As far as I was concerned, this was my last chance."
Even if you choose to pay for bariatric surgery – which costs between £7,500 and £9,000 – surgeons will still carry out the operation only as a last resort. "To be accepted for weight-loss surgery, people must meet certain criteria," says Bruce Tulloh, a general surgeon at Murrayfield. "Our patients are referred by their GPs after all other means to achieve weight loss have failed. These include working with a community dietician, attending slimming clubs or using prescribed anti-obesity medication.
"Anyone considering bariatric surgery must also undergo intensive psychological and physical tests to determine whether they are suitable for surgery. It certainly shouldn't be seen as some kind of quick fix."
Elaine's battle with her weight began when she was 20, after her father died from cancer. "I turned to food for comfort," she says. "Every time I felt sad I would eat." By the time she married Michael in 1988, two years later, she was a size 18. She continued to overeat as the years passed, often consuming double the recommended 2,000 calories for women a day.
"Over the years, I must have tried every diet and slimming club going. I was even prescribed weight-loss pills at one point. Nothing worked for me. The real problem I had was with portion size, as well as the kind of food I was eating."
Gradually, Elaine became so big that her health and mobility were affected. "The turning point came last summer when Michael arranged a holiday for the two of us in Nairn," she says. "I had been looking forward to spending time on the beach walking the dogs. But I was so big I could barely move. Each step was agony and I couldn't catch my breath. I decided then and there that I couldn't go on like that."
Elaine remembers the moment she got the go-ahead for treatment. "I wept with joy. It was my chance to become the person I wanted to be. Of course, it meant confronting a lot of the issues I had about my weight. I realised I couldn't run away from my problems any more."
Since undergoing bariatric surgery in November, Elaine has lost almost seven stone and has gone from a size 32 to a size 20. It will take her at least another year before she reaches her goal of 11 stone for her 5ft 6in frame, but her life has already changed beyond all recognition. "In a few months, I will be half the person I used to be in terms of size but inside I feel I've grown in so many ways.
"Some people may think that gastric surgery is some kind of easy option, but I put my life in the doctor's hands when I climbed on to that operating table and they gave me my life back. I feel like I've been given a second chance."
PLASTIC FANTASTICGASTRIC banding is the most popular weight-control surgery in the UK, but only those whose weight problem is so serious that it causes health difficulties and who have tried a range of ways to shed the pounds get the go-ahead.
A gastric band is a hollow tube inflated with distilled water to tighten its grip around the top of the stomach. This reduces the flow of food to the bottom part of the stomach, so patients feel full after eating only a small quantity of food – around three small meals a day.
Weight-loss surgery, as with any major procedure, is not risk-free. Doctors also warn patients that surgery will not be successful unless they exercise and eat properly after the operation.
FAT BOY SLIMCHRIS OLIVER, a 47-year-old orthopaedic surgeon at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, had gastric band surgery last year after his weight soared above 26 stone. He had been super-fit in his youth, but long working hours combined with a bad diet had seen him pile on the pounds. He decided on the operation after visiting the Great Wall of China and being unable to walk it. "I thought I'd rather be dead than carry on like this," he says. "I realised I was losing out on life and didn't like the person I had
Since the operation, Chris, who lives in Edinburgh with his wife and daughters, has shed eight stone. He now leads a very active life and has even competed in triathlons. "I knew I could only lose weight through surgery," he says. "I had endured years of embarrassment as a very fat person. No one wants to be obese. I'm so much happier now."
