Woman loses five stone after being told she could lose eyesight in heartbreaking diagnosis

A woman was told she could lose her eyesight if she did not lose weight in a shock diagnosis.

Gill Worsley was diagnosed with Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (IIH) and was told she had to lose weight or she may lose her eyesight. She says this made her ‘sit up and listen more’.

She has lost five stone so far after joining the Specialist Weight Management Service (SWMS), run by her local Wigan Council. She says it helped her to understand her relationship with food and how it linked to her own childhood trauma, reports the Manchester Evening News.

Gill said: “I got diagnosed with Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (IIH). I was told I had to lose weight or I may lose my eyesight. This definitely made me sit up and listen more.

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“At the weight management program, you have both group and individual support, from dietitians, doctors, physiologists and occupational therapists. They helped me realise a lot of my food habits were deep rooted from childhood, and ways to help break these chains.”

Gill added: “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. I was given the support and encouragement to go and see a private counsellor who helped me with a lot of past trauma.

“This made me realise I was hiding behind my weight and using it was almost a security blanket.”

This help she received is one of 11 programme pathways run through the local authority’s Lose Weight Feel Great service. Using this programme, Gill now believes she has the knowledge and skills to lose weight and keep it off in the long-term.

“I have a totally different mindset and attitude towards food now,” she said. “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. 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.

“Some of the people on the programme were going down the weight loss surgery route but I wanted to be able to do this and learn for myself so I can help and guide my daughter with healthy food habits. I am sure this program isn’t for everyone but it changed my life.”