A WOMAN from Wrexham has been detailing her journey battling mental health and weight issues to become who she really is.

Zia Thompson, 45, from Gresford, identifies as transsexual and said she has been living with gender issues since she was a child, denying who she truly was which culminated in a severe breakdown in 2011.

However, after a journey of self-discovery as well as dropping 39lbs, she now feels confident enough to be herself as she transitions into becoming a woman.

Miss Thompson said the constant suppression throughout her life led her to be diagnosed with a serious mental disorder at the start of the decade.

“I’ve been living with gender issues since I was a child. I grew up in Northern Ireland in the 70’s and 80’s, in a society that was not very tolerable of people like me.

“I tried to ignore it because I felt shameful of who I was. I felt guilty because of my religious upbringing and I was scared of what people would think and say if I opened up and lived the way I truly wanted to.

“I moved to Wrexham in 2000 due to work, and I lived with mental health issues for a long time. I existed day to day really, waking up every morning, doing what was expected of me and going to bed, but I was completely miserable.

“In 2011 I suffered a severe breakdown and I was completely housebound for a while. I was diagnosed with Agoraphobia and I didn’t want to leave my house, I didn’t want to get out of bed in the morning because I didn’t like what I saw in the mirror.

“I didn’t look after myself at all, I wasn't exercising and I was eating what I liked. I went through anxiety, depression, and I gained weight, all because I was suppressing who I really was.”

Agoraphobia is a type of anxiety disorder in which you fear and avoid places or situations that might cause you to panic and make you feel trapped, helpless or embarrassed.

However, in May 2016 Miss Thompson had begun to make progress with her agoraphobia and decided it was time to start looking after her health, opting to join Weight Watchers.

She said: “I hadn’t begun the transition when I first joined Weight Watchers in 2016 and I was still struggling with mental health issues, but I felt like I could make it to the meetings.

“I would sometimes sit outside the meetings in my car and be so anxious to go inside, but when I did eventually go in, everyone was so friendly, so welcoming and really made me feel at ease.

“I would go most weeks, and I started to see the weight dropping off. I began to feel more confident in myself, more confident to make better choices for myself.

“My group leader Janet Snowden is amazing; she has helped so many people and she has helped me so much.”

In 2018, Miss Thompson began her transition, starting with a social transition in August, which meant she began living and presenting herself as a woman.

She then began a medical transition in October 2018, taking different hormones and suppressing her testosterone. She plans to have a surgical procedure to continue her transition later this year.

She said that Weight Watchers, which rebranded as WW in September 2018, gave her more support than anywhere else for the transition.

“WW, especially Janet Snowden, really supported me as soon as I told them that I was going to be transitioning.

“I came to the realisation that I’m not getting any younger and I knew that I needed to transition because I didn’t want to deny who I was anymore.

“I made leaflets for other members to explain to them what it would mean to be transitioning because I didn’t want them to feel like they couldn’t ask me questions. The last thing I want is for people to think that they can’t ask me about my gender.

“Everybody was really understanding and supportive of me, I got more support from WW than anyone else.”

Miss Thompson explained that while she is still not completely over her mental health issues, she feels much happier than before.

She also relayed her message to people who may be going through similar experiences as her, ahead of Mental Health Awareness Week next week.

“I still live with agoraphobia today; I still have anxiety and my mental health is something that I’m still battling. But I feel much happier in myself and by the end of 2019 I hope I can start really combating my mental health.

“WW is more than just the number on the scales at the end of every month, it’s about how you feel as a person. I feel much happier, and I feel like I have grown as a person.

“All I can say is, if you try to live your life as something you’re not, as someone you’re not, it will only end in disaster.

“Life is too short. You should never just be a person you don’t want to be just because that’s what people expect of you.

“Don’t worry about people think or what people say. Live the life you want to live if it makes you happy.”