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I don't know...I've been in Vienna for a business congress thingy and it was just nonstop and mental. I'm soooo tired. GT, maybe this won't help at all, but I'ma say it anyhow -- the advances they are making in neuroscience and treatments for AIs like RA and MS are truly becoming amazing. So while you do your Wahl approach (of which I entirely approve, I DO think food can heal us when done right!!), be comforted that New Things are coming and they are just for you!!! xoxoxoxo

Sorry to hear about the seizure, scary stuff I'm sure! I hope you are feeling better already though. I wouldn't necessarily connect this to WLS. If you have passed out in the past, that was also likely a seizure. It might be that you just have a mild form of epilepsy that has not been previously diagnosed. Your experience is quite similar to a friend of mine (always quite thin, no WLS, a former ballerina) who was just finally diagnosed with epilepsy in her mid-40s. I personally doubt it's blood-sugar related either. But that's not based on any medical knowledge, so feel free to ignore me entirely LOL. In any case, this is what the neurologist will sort out for you, and you will know what it is and how to treat/manage it. How soon will you see the neurologist? (Are you taking any meds that have seizures as a possible side-effect? Might seem like an obvious question, but there are more that can cause this than people realise. I doubt it's anything to do with the wine unless it was an interaction with something else you might be taking. Half a glass of wine is not even a 'therapeutic' dose in terms of alcohol content, if that makes sense.) Feel better, and keep us posted!

{{{{{GT}}}}} Thanks for telling us. We are HERE for you. I know what you mean about being homeless...but we're not. <3

Just popping in for a quick (((((BIG GROUP HUG))))) cos you all are THE AWESOME. LV, glad you came back out of The Abyss (I know it well, I'm so sorry). OD, happy b-day!! Cheri, your daughter's sweet face made my day, what a doll!! CJ, you look amazing already -- I'm seriously impressed with how that turned out, what a trip. Cathy, glad you were home when you sharted, what a nightmare. I'm still sitting with three extra kg +/- a few hundred grams here and there. Only fasted once this week cos of all the work/social activities. I keep thinking life will ease up again, but going into the holidays will be one cocktail party after another work-wise. I'm going to have to pick some carefully where I can just have a glass of water... First-world problems, lordy. ETA: I forgot to say, GT -- you "sound" so much better now, even with the health challenges. I think the meds are really helping, yes? You seem so much less...Abyss-y, do you feel it too? <3

I have a sleeved friend locally here who is three+ years out and still can't eat sausage or fatty meats/foods or she'll vomit. Same for spaghetti or pasta -- she can literally eat like one or two noodles and be ill. I just can't relate, and we had our surgeries by the same clinic LOL.

Nearly three years into this and I've yet to find something I can't eat. I don't know why, but I have an easier time with my stomach (by quite a bit) post-sleeve than I did before. I haven't thrown up, slimed, etc., once. I remember vividly about a year ago I drank water somehow slightly too fast (though I can normally gulp it down fine, pretty much like pre-op at this point) and it got stuck painfully for a few minutes. That sucked. Anyone still going through that on a regular basis has my utmost sympathy!! That all being said, if I eat too much of anything potato-y (boiled, fried, baked, whatever), I can easily get uncomfortably full, but it doesn't hurt. Just feels like that Thanksgiving oh-god-I-can't-believe-I-ate-that-much feeling from only a few bites. Still surprises me every time. The sleeve feels so normal to me that I never remember it's there until I'm like, OH OOPS I CAN'T EAT THAT MUCH LOL.

Oh god, anything that includes the word 'spasm' in it automatically comes with massive PAIN. I'm very sorry to hear about the issues you're having, I very much hope they find you some answers and effective treatment!! The procedure itself will likely be a breeze in comparison, and twilight sedation is very effective for such things. All the best!

I confessed that I CAN eat anything. That said, I choose not to most of the time. That's the key to success I believe -- making sure to stick to the basics for the long term. Now that I'm nearly three years out, I confess as well that I have to WORK at keeping the weight off, or working even harder if I want to reach my stretch goal. I confess it was easy to lose, harder to keep it off. I confess I've been going to the gym for two years, but I used to go three times a week and lately it's more like one or two -- but I also confess to being a slave to my Fitbit and letting it boss me into at least some minimal daily fitness goals. LOL. I confess to being concerned about a couple of transfer addictions, even though I wasn't a food addict prior to WLS. ?!? One of them I've gotten much more under control and the other is still a work in progress. But I was as prepared and mentally/emotionally ready for surgery as anyone could be...and it's still full of surprises and potential pitfalls, along with being totally awesome. So just keep it real everyone!

LV, you don't have to be in a "right" headspace to talk to us here, you know. I'm in a yuk place too. It's not usually abt food or non weight loss, but it does sometimes use that battleground to duke things out. :-( I'm also not losing, gained like 3kg again. Feel like general failure, and then WL failure just makes it all more vivid. So here's a (((hug))), cos I could use one too.

You look wonderful...and I'm just so glad you're here. <3

Hiya, Brown -- great idea! I will post later what I eat on fast days, but I wanted to give you this great link to read about fasting in general, lots of info and background on how it's good for you apart from just weight loss (also in respect to the getting smaller without the scale reflecting it, which always makes me wonder how that happens...). Anyhow, it's a great article, and at the bottom is a link to the entire series about fasting -- worth a read, especially if you're insomniac like me. http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fasting-weight-loss/ Enjoy!

Hey Brown, do not despair!!! I never reached yet my 'stretch' goal (there are a couple others here as well), and even though I 'only' originally had 90lb to lose, it took me more than a year to do so. And I've been hovering at the same weight now for 1.5 years, despite going Paleo (ish...mostly just very low carb and no grains) 10 months ago and doing 5:2 now for, what?, nearly six months I think? Since early June anyhow. I've still bounced around that entire time between 10 lb! (I hadn't gained or anything, but I was scared I was going to cos I totally stopped losing and could suddenly eat a lot more.) I do weigh every day as well, it keeps me aware of my weight, which I need to do (cos I had trained myself NOT to do so after being anorexic many years ago), and I bounce like a mad woman. I was down around 69kg (sorry I don't always translate back to lbs, too complicated and I lose track LOL) for a couple of days (65 is my stretch goal) and the last couple of days have been like 72.8kg (!! That is over 8lb swing I think). I try not to stress over it cos it will go back down as suddenly as it went up. I just look forward to seeing a '6' in first position and keeping it that way for a while. But I eat usually in the neighborhood of 1800-2000 on 'normal' days and 600-700 on fasting days; too low cal is very hard for me. I'm also needing to get my thyroid back in line -- how is yours, do you know? Hormones are a killer... Anyhow, HANG IN THERE!! You can learn the long haul approach from several vets here... <3

Cheri, hi again! I think my hormones are peri menopausal and completely whacked half the time. Sucks cos yeah, food choices start to feel less like choices... If you're done having kids, an ablation might be a good option? Brown, if you don't like exercise, get yourself a Fitbit. That little tyrant with its smiley-face badges will have you walking around the block extra times just to reach the daily goals lol! 10,000 steps is not too hard to do tho... L-V, thanks. :-) I'm having motivation problems in terms of getting to the dr for bloodwork to check the levels. Sometimes I feel fine and like I can do it all no probs, and sometimes I'm surprised how we humans get out of bed every morning and go out into the wild wooly world... I'm def in the latter mode just now.

Hey GT -- I keep meaning to post this...and forgetting...typical. Anyhow, I do drink also a lot of green tea, and even though I DO love it, I often brew it 1:1 with a peppermint tea bag, as I often drink it cold and that makes it more refreshing to me. Just a thought -- in case you like peppermint tea (and it is good for upset tummies too). Hope you're doing well!! Jane, I am well envious of your big plastics blast. Hope you feel better quickly and then post pics so we can all turn pea green... My 5:2ing is still going relatively well overall...still have not lost a GRAM from it. I am starting to turn the gimlet eye to my thyroid and hormone levels again...

GT, I'd totally get my arms done first too. And my disgusting turkey wattle neck. It's not unusual to have numbness following any kind of surgery that severs nerves (which is basically any kind of surgery anywhere LOL). Six months is pretty optimistic for saying it will go away already, IMO. Sometimes it takes years, and sometimes it just stays numb for good basically. Nerves do take a LOOOONNNNG time to heal and reconnect etc. I had a hysterectomy back in 2007 and parts of my lower stomach are still numb. I have also had some problems with leg nerves going funky and it takes forever for them to get right again, even without any surgery or cutting having been involved. I had a piriformis injury that got my sciatic nerve all in a spasm and even though it is all better now, my right foot still has numb bits from that -- doctor said six months minimum to get that all back. I automatically move that to a year, having had the problem before. Kinda sucks... Happy Monday, all. I'm doing a fast day, here goes nuthin...

I *completely* get this...I have very broad shoulders and back/ribs plus big boobs. My top is one or two sizes larger than my bottom. I am NOT a fan of being hipless/assless. =/ Sigh...it's always SOMETHING, isn't it?! LOL

LOL...I'm in Switzerland...no good cake!! I want American cake or cupcakes, they are VERY hard to find round here... Which is a good thing, really, but gives me something to obsess over...

Ha!! Cake is my obsession too, and I can't even get it where I am, but I DIE just thinking about it... Oy...

LOVE the drawing, coops! And the 159!! Well done you. I've done two fast days this week, post-hols -- 599 on Monday and 630 today. I'll take it!! I am shooting still for the 500-700 range on fasting days to see if that avoids the problems I was having. And let's also see if I ever lose any weight LOL! Looking at my stats over time, I've been in the 70-ish range for over a year now...

Awesome, thanks!!!

Okay, I'm totally intrigued! How much is a sprinkle of cinnamon and salt? Normal salt? I would love to try this, my coffee pot makes about 4-5 American-size cups when we make a whole pot, so I wouldn't like to overwhelm with the cinnamon or salt, but I would defo like to try this!!

Oh, GT -- meant to add, I recently read somewhere (can't remember where of course) about constipation immediately followed by diarrhea, for someone else who had a tough time getting a diagnosis. In the end, the sentence that I recall was, if you have constipation immediately followed by diarrhea, that's THE sign that you have IBS. Did they mention that as a possibility? The SSRI might help with that, if it's the case.

I would like to hear more about the coconut oil too -- I've bought some recently but haven't opened it yet cos not sure what to do with it. I already cook with ghee, so I don't need it for that per se. I was thinking of using it on my skin and/or hair, but seriously -- no clue...LOL. I will have to look for your thread, GT! I've used bupropion (welbutrin) in the past and really liked it, it worked much better than SSRIs for me, though it's not great if you also have anxiety. Cathy, so sorry about the job disappointment. I'm guessing you'll find just the thing, only a matter of time. Hope you are feeling okay now? {{{hugs}}} FYE -- SO impressed about your weight loss. That's amazing! I didn't gain as much as I thought in the US -- after a few days of being back (and still being bad cos I was still on holiday LOL), I logged this morning and found that I was about 71.2 kg the day before I left and was 71.6 this morning. I've been hovering around these 70-ish numbers for over a year now, both when I'm 5:2ing and paleo-ing, and when I'm not. Go figure... That said, I am going to 5:2 it again for a while just to feel like I'm back on the eating-well wagon. Hope you're all having a good Monday so far...! xo

And FWIW...if you do eat meat, eating loads of roast beef (like the sliced fresh kind from the deli, that's still quite red/medium-rare) totally works too. I got my iron levels back up doing that for a spell, rather than have to take the awful supplements (NB: Post-hysterectomy, though...might not have worked before that...).

Hiya GT!! Glad you're back and in the pink (mostly?)!! Yes, I have been intensively studying up on GI and autoimmune issues for a couple of years now. It is one of the reasons our household went gluten-free (Celiacs on both sides of our family) and, for me, entirely grain-free almost a year ago now. My husband's autoimmune symptoms have cleared up remarkably in that time, and his migraines have all but disappeared, which is great. I'm still lobbying my mother to try it, too, for her RA -- especially as her mother is Celiac. Gluten is a major cause/exacerbates leaky gut and other GI problems. It's not just a fad... I also take probiotics every day, but I tend to limit fibre intake somewhat due to it causing digestive issues (for me).