Alan Shinberg Lost 95 Pounds — After an Incredible Battle With Cancer

Weight-Loss Win is an original Yahoo series that shares the inspiring stories of people who have shed pounds healthfully.

Alan Shinberg is 59 and currently weighs 125 pounds. In 2008, after being diagnosed with colon cancer, he gained a significant amount of weight because of the medications he was taking. He decided to stop taking the unnecessary medications and take control of his health. This is the story of his weight-loss journey.

Background

I spent two years trying to get to the bottom of chronic digestive issues. My mother always had “stomach issues,” and her weight had gone up and down for as long as I could remember. I knew something was wrong with my insides. I wanted, and needed, a colonoscopy, which the VA would not provide nor pay for because I was not yet 50 years old. I was 48. But after two inconclusive barium tests — six months apart — they finally agreed to do a colonoscopy. I tried to call several times over the next few days, and anyone who’s ever tried to call the VA will tell you it’s difficult at best, and nearly impossible at worst, on the first several tries. A week later, I received a letter from the VA. It simply stated that I had an appointment with an oncologist for the following day.

I was diagnosed with Stage 2 colon cancer. I found out via a letter, sitting alone in my living room. I had a very invasive major surgery to remove over a foot of my descending sigmoid colon, and all the lymph nodes within a certain distance. I awoke wrapped in a heavy, blanketed pad, feeling like I was on another planet. Within days, I developed a massive staph infection at the surgery site, and had to be hospitalized again. I laid on my back, sedated for long periods of time, often days, because the 6-inch section of the surgery scar they had to open up to drain was an inch wide in the center, and it had to heal from the inside out. I was never athletic, but doing nothing and being this laid up was not easy.

The VA assumed I must be depressed over this whole thing, so they started feeding me anti-depressants and anti-anxiety drugs like Ativan, and, for good measure, Lamictal for a nonexistent bi-polar condition. For the body, morphine, followed by ibuprofen. For the pain, I took 4 to 5 milligrams of Percocet a day, with an additional supply of Vicodin on hand. I could no longer work. I could no longer afford the home and mortgage I paid, on time, for 15 years, and lost it to foreclosure. This was in 2008.

The turning point

I felt like crap. I was miserable. The cocktail of drugs the VA was giving me was making me a zombie. I had ballooned to 220 pounds. The excess weight put pressure on my spine and knees, and I ended up having to have surgery on both knees. Eventually, due the lack of activity, I added more weight, which raised my blood pressure, so doctors added Gabapentin, Atenolol, Amlodipine and Valsartan. My cholesterol was over 350, so I was put on Crestor. The opiates always made me throw up, so I had to take medication for the acid reflux, and a host of other ones to counteract the effects that the narcotics were having on my digestion: constant constipation followed by bouts of diarrhea. Beyond that private hell in the bathroom was the public hell of having to know where every bathroom was in advance of any car trip. I wasn’t able to tie my shoes or put on my socks. I was sleeping until 3:30 p.m., only leaving to shop or to go to doctors’ appointments. And I now had a grandson I could barely lift or play with.

I finally said enough is enough. I’d read how cannabis and CBDs [cannabidiols] could multiply the pain-relieving effects of narcotics without increased risks. I thought, Why not try? I wanted the same relief, with fewer side effects and danger of addiction. Starting out with a small amount of cannabis, I slowly cut back on my narcotics. I went from taking 6 to 8 Percocets or Vicodin every day (something I had done for eight years) down to 2, then 1, and finally none over the course of two weeks. I was able to be so much more active, and my bowels awoke from the dead.

I then took it even further, and systematically weaned myself off of six other infinitely more dangerous drugs the VA had me on for years, and found I may never have needed them in the first place.

Any cravings for any of the prescription meds was headed off by cannabis, which was, and remains, easy to control.

The changes

I could eat veggies again, and get up out of bed and do things. I had been in the computer business for many years, but having been out of it for nearly seven years, you might as well start over. I got a job at a local office supplies store, and it was very difficult to do. As time went on, though, the fact that I could get out of the house made me feel useful. My back was a big problem, and the VA sent me to physical therapy. After 12 weeks, going three days a week for an hour, I’d lost almost 10 pounds and 2 inches. I realized I could almost reach my toes. Two months earlier, I couldn’t reach my shoes to tie them.

I was driving home from my last PT session the VA would pay for, when I glanced up to see a grand opening for a Fitness gym. I thought it was a sign, and spun my car around. I joined right away. I went religiously for a year, 3 to 4 times a week, and got down to about 165 pounds. I continued going to the gym, even after relocating to a new city to live with my best friend, who had helped nurse me through the cancer a few years prior.

Things were going well until my mother got ill. She was 81, lived alone, started falling, and needed constant help. My best friend and I would take turns driving 90 minutes each way four times a week to take care of her. I ended up moving in with her and lived on her couch for nearly eight months, acting as her chauffeur, cook, maid, and companion. I actually really loved the time with her. We got very close. I had no life then, couldn’t go anywhere, and gained back almost all of the weight I took off.

My mother did pass then, and I moved to Pennsylvania to be closer to my children. I went through the same routine of using cannabis to break what, at that time, now caused me to be fat and lazy: too many opiates and alcohol. So I started smoking marijuana again, and it made it easy to wean myself off of all other substances. I changed my diet, exercised, and started to feel alive again.

As a result of the weight loss, and reinforcement from friends, I started buying new clothes, getting out of the house and meeting new people. One of the people I met last year was Elliott Hirsh, former owner of the Keswick Theater in Pennsylvania, probably best known for his Elliott’s Amazing Apple Juice, Levis Hot Dogs, and Champ Cherry Soda. We hit it off right away.

When I met Hirsh and found out he was single-handedly trying to save Levis Hot Dogs from extinction, I felt a calling. I have a particular fondness for hot dogs. I sort of bought, and fought, my way into the business, and it now takes up a large part of my time.

The after

It felt like a million bucks, and it continues to feel that way. I usually only need 4 to 6 hours of sleep a night, and bounce out of bed to take on the day. I have two wonderful, grown, college-educated children, who are successful in their careers, own their own homes, and thanks to my son and daughter-in-law, I’m a grandfather to a wonderful 4-year-old, with another surprise on the way. When my grandson was 2, I couldn’t bend down to pick him up. At 4, I can now hold him up in the air and spin him around like a top.

The way I think people look at me and treat me is different. Now, I don’t feel the need to start off being defensive, assuming I’m ugly, unappealing, and as if I did something wrong that’s about to get me in trouble.

The biggest surprise is, I feel attractive. Even sexy! People comment on my hats and clothing and my muscles (grin). Grooming was always important to me, but not nearly as much as now. I suppressed my feelings toward people before, and now I’m a flirt. I am single.

With over 50 pounds less of me since last riding season, my motorcycle flicks around corners like a 20-inch Schwinn. The only downside is that some people who’ve known me for a while think I’m too skinny or that my cancer is back. Knock on wood, it’s not.

Food is no longer the highlight of my day. I love to cook, and helping out sometimes in the restaurant gives me the feeling of being a good host, but more for the satisfaction of the pleasure food gives others. I have at least one or two Levis Hot Dogs a week (everything in moderation!). They’re lower in fat than most steaks and pretty low in sodium. In my house, I keep lots of fruits, nuts, seeds, and veggies. I eat more fish, and skip meat some meals altogether. My father was in the meat business my whole life, and I thought everyone had a half-pound of meat on his or her plate every night. Now that was a hard habit to break.

Every morning, I get up around 6 a.m., and try to jump right out of bed. I make coffee and then start my morning exercise routine. I make it a contest to see how many pushups I can do. Currently, I’m up to 200, in four sets of 50, five times a week. Lunges, (I hate lunges, because of my knee surgeries). I walk anywhere within a mile of my house.

The maintenance

I have a routine now. Most mornings I meet with Elliott to talk about strategies for the restaurant franchise. I scour the media outlets for articles on veterans’ medical/psychological issues, cancer treatments, cannabis laws, and research, then work on the nonprofit group I formed, Veterans Abandoned, Inc. I assembled a group of volunteer medical practitioners, attorneys and cannabis experts who know the ins and outs of the VA health care system, and can offer alternative ideas for veterans’ health care needs, so veterans can take control of their opiate dependencies and have options.

What motivates me is knowing that what I learned can be taught to anyone who’s dependent on Big Pharma’s “blanket the world with high-profit pills” approach and then have doctors pushing them like candy. As a veteran, I have a special affinity for those who have served our nation, and yet are now treated like second-class citizens.

I formed the nonprofit group to educate veterans living with chronic conditions such as pain, PTSD, Crohn’s disease, and a host of other issues traditionally treated with pills, that there is another way to live where they’re not incapacitated by toxic addictive drugs, living in-between doctor appointments, and dependent on others for basic needs. That said, please don’t think I’m anti-vaccination or anti-medicine. If you have an infection, you take antibiotics. If I’m in severe pain, narcotics are needed, but not for chronic pain or conditions that would require so much medication as to leave you incapacitated.

Advice

Be around people. Reach out. Don’t isolate yourself. Join a meet-up group. Volunteer if you can’t work. Getting started is the hardest part, but seeing the results is the reward. I get up every day with a mission — first to keep myself healthy, and then to keep myself happy. You have to help yourself before you can help others.

Once I reached my weight, blood-pressure, and cholesterol loss goals (exceeded them really), I felt like I got back all the time I lost being sick, and everyone who knows me sees it. I’m always the happiest person in the room. It inspired me to actively create and promote Veterans Abandoned so fellow ex-servicemen, and women, have the same chance at happiness that I now do!

Need more inspiration? Read about our other weight-loss winners!

Weight-Loss Win is authored by Andie Mitchell, who underwent a transformative 135-pound weight loss of her own.

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