Question: I need help. My health has been going down hill since 2003 and at this point there's just so much going on that I don't know how to improve my health and get rid of all the prescription medication that I must take on a daily basis. I just turned 44 years old two weeks ago.

I was born premature in the Dominican Republic and at the time of my birth there was a major strike in my hometown, therefore I was born at home and was not taken to the hospital to be place in an incubator. I spent the first 20 years of my life very sick with strong asthma attacks. My parents did everything they could and took me to every doctor they heard of, they even moved from the coast where we lived to an interior city, but I was sicker there and they returned to the coast a year later.
They also tried every home remedy and naturist doctors. At the age of 20 years my asthma improved after taking a home remedy, that up to this day I consider it helped me a lot.
From 1992 to 1997 I moved to the US Virgin islands and I never got an asthma attack while living there. In 1997 I moved to Florida and later to North XXXXXXX (USA) to study and with the change in weather the asthma came back, but not as bad as in my childhood. From 2003 to 2012 I was under treatment for the asthma and trouble with my longs getting full of fluids in the winter, to treat the problem I was prescribed Prednisone in high dosis and even though I complaint that the medication was making me gain a lot of weight the doctor would just change the prescription name for a generic name, but later on I realized I was taking Prednisone all along. I put on 63 pounds on that medication and after using it for so long, I have high blood pressure and my pulse is out of control. I also have fatty liver disease (even though I don't drink alcohol since 2012, and when I did, it was one or two ounces of wine on my birthday).

Right now I visit my general doctor once every 3 months to go for testing.
The last test my A1C was high again, and my triglycerides were a little high too.
At this point I need help because losing weight may help me to save my life, but no diet or exercise has helped and I find myself on a plateau where I can't lose no weight.

I am taking medication for the following conditions:
Type 1 diabetes, high blood pressure, out of control pulse, asthma and allergies, gastritis, sleep apnea, back and neck pain (due to a car accident), carpal tunnel, and I am under a lot of stress due to work and family issues, and I suspect I may have IBS.
I am 4'10" tall, my weight yo-yo as I try to lose weight and reduce water retention, bloating, gas and acid.On December 21 I had 171.2 pounds, last week I was 178.6 pounds, today I am 172.3 pounds and my diet is basically the same. I don't drink juices or soda, I am not drinking any alcohol, in an effort to help my gastritis and stomach problems, I try to reduce my gluten and lactose intake. I am a Caribbean woman, our diet is mostly based on rice, beef, chicken, turkey, milk products and lots of vegetables like green bananas, plantains, yucca root and lots of legume in our salads. At this point I am trying to reduce my starch intake as well, but once a week I may add some rice and beans to my lunch meal.

My internal doctor insist telling me that I should get a bariatric surgery (he suggested the Roux-en-Y gastric baypass), but I fear that would be trading one set of symptoms for others. I did visited a bariatric surgeon that agreed with me and said the gastric sleeve would be better for me; but right now I want to find the way to lose the weight without the surgery. I need to find a nutrition program that can help me with my stomach (digestion) problems and that I can follow for a long term (hopefully eating foods that I am familiar with), I exercise 4 times a week, and I am trying to find more time to ride bike, and use my total gym to tone my muscles and target my upper body since all the overweight is on my upper body.

Can you provide any advise to improve my health in general?
I need to lose 50 pounds and keep them off, do you have any nutritionist available?
Is there anything I can do to reduce the pain my wrists and fingers? I work with a computer every day.

Thank you Doctor Saha for your response.
I am not going to tell you that I eat 600 per day, but I don't spend my days eating fast food or eating 3000 calories per day either. I may take my children 3 to 4 times per year to eat out and I may get a treat every now and then, but I cook from scratch all my meals, count calories, pick gluten free, fat free ingredients and the most I can have is 4 slice a week of whole wheat bread. I cook my own salads, don't eat pork, all my meals are kosher, I have months on a diet under 1200 calories per day, I don't drink alcohol, don't smoke, don't drink carbonated beverages, sodas, coffee and I stick to my bottled water every day and use stevia to sweeten a daily cup of tea.

My doctor receives information about my blood glucose and blood pressure because I measure them at home twice daily, log them and fax the information to my doctor's office every two weeks. At this point my doctor knows I am reducing my carbohydrate intake and sticking to a 1000- 1200 calories per day meals. Even on the holidays, I didn't make any celebration, not Thanksgiving dinner or Christmas meal in order to stick to my controlled portions. I am concerned because I am retaining fluids, my legs are most of the time swollen, I am concerned that this bloating, and fluid retention are making my weight swing up and down and I am scare that it may cause me more health problems.
My current doctor knows that I was on that Prednisone and other corticosteroids for so many years. The last visit with the doctor he told me don't get discourage on losing weight because he can see that I had lost some weight and gain some muscle and maybe that is why the lost weight is not showing because he can see more muscle definition. He also check my heals on every visit because he knows about the fluid retention.

At this point I don't even know exactly how much of the weight on the scale is overweight and what is fluid retention. I will continue exercising, but with my feet and legs so swollen that my doctor advised not to be on my feet so much, I bought a recumbent bicycle because I have lower back and neck pain after a car accident on 2011, and I use the bicycle 3 times per week, if I can't use my treadmill.

On my question I gave you some ideas of how my weight seems to change from day to day, but it is so bad that I have clothes in my closet from size 10 to size 16. One day I may be wearing size 12 clothes (like last Sunday) and then there are days like yesterday that I had to wear a size 16. I even go to work with my regular shoes one day and the following day I have to buy bigger and wider shoe size because my feet won't fit inside my regular shoes.
I work seating down, so I don't understand why I get so swollen like that. Most of the foods I eat are raw (vegetables, fruits, salad without dressing) and whatever I cook for me I cook it with little or no salt at all.
I want to know about any way to stop the water retention. Water pills and even the Chlorthalidone 25mg prescribed (twice daily) by my doctor didn't help me with the fluid retention.

Thanks for your help.