There's a lot that goes into morbid obesity besides overeating and few exemplify this as well as "My 600-lb Life" patient Janine Mueller. The 53-year-old reality TV star shared a shocking backstory of homegrown weight problems, anorexia, amphetamine abuse and fat-shaming. Can this woman find life-saving weight loss with bariatric surgery?
Diet pills at 4
Janine Mueller is one of the oldest patients Dr. Now has treated on TLC's famous Weight Loss Surgery reality television show, and her story shows some major fails in healthcare of the 1960s. The Seattle woman was adopted and when her adoptive mom learned that the birth mother had been large, she began obsessing over the child's weight.
Mother harangued the little girl to stop eating and consulted with a doctor, who put Janine on a diet pill at age 4. Mueller says in those days pills like Dexatrim were essentially amphetamines.
Fat-shaming has disastrous consequences
The "My 600-lb Life" celebrity was on speed and pushed to anorexia before kindergarten. She was a normal-sized child but mom's obsession made her feel like a big, fat disappointment to the family. Her weight gain dominated the relationship between mother and daughter all their lives. How much did her parent's eating disorder by proxy drive the girl to overeat? It's hard to say but it seems to have been significant.
Obesity is killing 670-lb woman
Lymphedema is the biggest problem for Mueller.
Large growths on her legs immobilize her and make it almost impossible for her to travel to Texas for gastric bypass surgery on "My 600-lb Life." At 53, Janine is nearly a senior and with that the disability becomes worse. Younger bariatric surgery patients often have an easier time -- both with the procedure and with weight loss afterwards, typically.
That's why Dr. Younan Nowzaradan encourages people to seek treatment sooner rather than later.
Down but not out
Before the weight loss surgery can safely be performed, patients must lose weight on their own. This seems to be, in part, a good-faith "down payment" that shows the reality TV surgeon that people are serious about following through.
What mother's nagging couldn't accomplish, Janine was able to do on her own. She lost over 100 pounds but it still wasn't enough for Dr. Now to feel comfortable doing surgery. However, Mueller has survived a lot and plans to do what it takes to get the weight off. It seems that like Lee Sutton and Rena Kiser from the last episode, she will be able to do it.
