Sydney Susan

Addisons symptoms - <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/addisons-disease/DS00361/DSECTION=symptoms'>http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/addisons-disease/DS00361/DSECTION=symptoms</a> Living with Addisons- http://www.addisons.org.uk/info/manual/adshgguidelines.pdf On first page it says words to the effect of "once treated people with Addisons live pretty much the way they did before the disorder".

This may sound a bit silly (apologies in advance) but my dog had Addisons. It's true that it is a big deal, but it's also very treatable. It caused him all sorts of blood pressure and digestive problems (causes v low tone in muscles of all sorts, including blood vessel walls, esophagus, bowel and stomach, heart), and a few times we thought he was on hus last legs, but once on medication and his mineral levels balanced again he would spring back like a puppy. I didn't even think of that before, but now... Well, if that's the answer its a wonderful thing, because a lot is known about Addisons and you could feel like a new woman v soon. I presume you'll be much better at taking your meds than that cranky old dog was, although we found mixing it with icecream and bacon bits helped. ; ). Good luck with it all. PS: Can you get the Addisons tests finished and results in before surgery? You may be able to avoid it...

Please note code seen on iPhone app, on iPhone 5. This post is ten minutes old (I presume you can see time of this post).

Anniversaries - esp first ones - of bad events are always tough, and there are a few bad events in that awful experience of yours. I'm sure you know that it gets easier with time. It sounds like you have done all you can and now there's only forgiveness and letting go left - they take longer. You have a wonderful hubby, and there's relatively few in this world who can say that in such a heartfelt way as you did. I hope you have a lovely day together and many more happy years. Good luck and take care of yourself... and him.

Sorry to hear what happened to you too Misty - 32 is definately too early to go into menopause, and it would have been really tough on your body - going from relatively high hormone levels to virtually zip overnight. I was 46 when I lost my ovaries, and that was tough enough! Given your comment about patches, it's worth me adding that I was on oral HRT - I never seemed to absorb anything from the patches. As you say, always important to check things out with your doctor. My doctor said av age of menopause is 51 and she wanted me off HRT before then... And although I didn't like it (oestrogen has sooo many good effects on our body), I did manage it without too much fuss. I cursed her at the time, but followed her advice because I knew she held strong views based on sound research. Last week I thanked her for insisting. Perhaps she had done so because I was on oral HRT rather than patches??? Good luck with your health and weight loss "adventures". With all the exercise you do I'll bet you have bones of steel! I can't take oral calcium so keep the dairy up, although that then impacts the reflux... and on it goes. Do you ever get to Sydney? We need to have another Sydney get together and it would be good to meet up.

Check your mask is fitting ok - you might need some help with that. The mask blocks other air getting to you, so if its not feeding air to you correctly, you feel trashed. It's really important to get that sorted out - its a big health risk.

I suspect if your husband was in a coma and you were driving 3 hours to see him, things would have been quite different. Women generally support women pretty well, coming off the back of relationships in which they share a lot about feelings, hopes and fears. - men often don't have those sort of relationships and so don't get the follow up. And the reality is people just don't get it - they can't believe what's happening and the routine of their lives grabs them and sweeps them up. Having said all that, I reckon you and your hubby have good reason to be both hurt and angry about what happened, and there are probably a few select people who need to hear that directly from you. Have you done that? Or could you? The last thing I would like to say is - not everyone is good at "stepping up". In fact most aren't but will respond when asked. It only takes one person to get that ball rolling, and unfortunately that person wasn't there when your hubby needed help. We all hope we have that person in our lives but many, many people don't ... for heaps of different reasons. One of which is that often people assume someone else is able to do it better and probably is. That they don't really have much to offer. Talking about it here... and wherever else you can... is a gift to others. It reminds us all what we MUST do, even if we feel uncomfortable or 99% sure that someone else is doing all the supporting. Although it never hurts to look "inside" and see if that experience includes some feedback that you or your hubby need to take on board, there probably isn't. It wasn't personal - rather an unhappy collision of small gaps and others insecurities. About 10 years ago, when I was working horrid long hours with a nasty b*tch of a boss and a five year old son who desparately wanted more time with mum, a friend with no local family had a difficult birth, and also had 2 other small children. The day she got home from hospital I drove to see her and picked up a frozen lasagne, garlic bread and pre-made salad on the way. Her husband was on the verge of being offended - thinking he could pop up the shops and get frozen food all by himself. I felt really stupid for a moment, and further swamped by my out of control life, but my very smart friend called out "Leave her alone, she's taking the one job off you that she could AND she's checking we're all doing ok". And then she embraced me and my frozen lasagne and said "thank you" a dozen times. No one else had come near them and they were hurting. I vowed from then on to always try to do that one small job for someone else in need, even if it seems woefully inadequate. You just never know. Take care and good luck. PS: Sorry for v long post. Seems to be therapy for me too.

This is not about Plan B (whatever that is... perhaps what we in Oz call RU486, Misty?) but it is related to getting significant dosages of HRT or the pill due to being a higher weight. I've recently been diagnosed with 4 Liver Adenomas (benign tumours but with both pre-malignant and rupturing risk), and learnt these are being diagnosed much more nowadays due to oestrogen prescription - pill and HRT. You can google this and there's lots around. The usual treatment is liver resection, a huge operation! As I was diagnosed with a chronic leukemia around the same time, I was far from keen to hear this... But as it turns out my adenomas are v difficult to operate on so I've gone into a "watch and wait" management mode - a relief on one level but in another way I wish all could be resolved quickly. Don't get me wrong, I'm doing fine, but ut has been quite a shock. I was only a sporadic user of the pill and took HRT for 2 years when my ovaries were removed due to cancer in my mid 40s - not a heavy user by any means. I always assume I'll never win a lottery - either good or bad - but I'm staring down my (possible) third cancer and it makes me very aware that this stuff really has to be thought about. If you are taking significant amounts of oestrogen in some form, I'd suggest a very detailed chat with your doctor. I was angry with mine when she insisted I come off HRT as I approached 50, but it was probably the best thing she could have done for me.

It's not uncommon these days for people who have major health issues - short or long term - to be diagnosed with Post traumatic stress disorder. I think that complete sense of dislocation from everyone else goes a long way to explaining that. It's profound. Your op reminded me of the day my father died, in 1983. I was 22 and living at home as still at Uni. My father had a heart attack early in the morning, as we were all getting ready for work, school and Uni. I did CPR until the ambulance arrived and then travelled with him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. I still recall vividly my brother driving me back home through morning peak hour traffic - me still in my nightie, watching in disbelief as the world continued without hesitation. That's a very small experience c/w you awakening after 19 days to find people had been traumatised but had also moved on to an extent... like a glimpse at a world without you. Yet 30 years later, I was in that car, remembering the early morning winter daylight and my anger and disbelief. These experiences are immensely powerful. I think the answer is that it takes a long time to recover, you do but there will always be feelings that can be evoked very quickly. A little counselling will help, I'm sure. As will time. Good luck.

On iPhone app I can only see VST posts in Current, but I'm hoping posts in Research and other cross surgery areas will also appear there. Until I have posted without freezes, have line spaces showing, can edit, am seeing formatted text rather than code in others posts, and am being notified of "likes" on my posts I'm reserving judgement.... EDIT: post didn't freeze but line space not showing. EDIT 2: Edit worked seamlessly (at last!)

Search for this thread and you'll find more info that you dared imagine... "Lapband Vs Sleeve Vs Bypass Surgery"

OP I did notice you are getting your band out, but my tips were intended for the next 5 weeks or in case the situation isn't fully resolved. You don't have to put up with the sh**t you are experiencing until your op. It's a hazard to your health in multiple ways.

What about propping up your bed, rather than you? A couple of bricks should do it. You really shouldn't need heaps... As long as you are not flat gravity "ought to" do a lot of the work. You sound in a really tough place - so very sorry to hear that. When you are constantly exhausted its really hard to sort out health issues. There are much stronger ppi's than the one you are on - Nexium is the one I was changed to, with 40 morning and 20 night. That would be a good place to start, along with propping up the bed and then using only a couple of pillows (under shoulders and head, not just head). Good luck with it all. Remember, if India can send a spacecraft to Mars, your doctor should be able to help you get a good nights sleep - hold him/her to that!

Could it be reflux? Some develop it after the sleeve who didn't have it before. I had a "honeymoon" from mine immediately after surgery (well, lots better not completely gone) and after a few months it came back worse than ever. Try Mylanta or Zantac (one of the over the counter anti-reflux meds) and see if it improves. If it does, might be time for a chat with the doctor.

It can be tough going but stick with it and you will see results. The most important thing is ensuring your mask fits well and the pressure settings are right - if too low you will end up feeling worse than if you went without, as the mask reduces your air intake in those circumstances. If your sleep apnoea is only mild, a "splint" might suit you better - it brings your jaw forward, opening your airway that way. . The biggest issue with CPAP is non compliance - people not using their machine correctly, long enough or every night. And if your sleep apnoea is mild to start with you may get little if any benefit if you then go on to struggle with using your machine. Apparently compliance with the splint is good, it's cheap and it's somewhat more dignified to wear. Ask your dr about it.

In Aus I paid $2600 for an APAP machine (simr to CPAP but ramps up to pressure when needed rather than constantly). CPAP would have been $2000. This includes the mask, heated tubing and all follow up services (potentially for years, eg extracting reports to give to respiratory physician annually), and is for a top of the range Resmed thing. Only got $500 back on insurance, but can claim the rest towards a tax offset for high health care costs (I always qualify, sigh). Wouldn't mind so much but Aussies invented the darned thing and the head office is 5 minutes walk from me, but virtually everywhere in the world they are cheaper than here.... lots cheaper.

I don't think all meds have to be taken crushed or liquid form - I started back on my tablets (of which I take several prescription tabs, one large) day after surgery. One at a time and v slowly but 7 months out I've never once had a problem.

Thank you Alex.

Nearly forgot this one... Anthony Horowitz (wrote Foyle's War and some other v fine adult tv for the BBC) wrote some terrific books for kids and teens (he writes for both preteens and teens in different series), a lot of it sci fi and with strong male and female leads. Check out the "Power of Five" series, and the first book is a ripper, though they're all good IMO. Gripped my son and I for several years!

I'm a sleeved and on "current" I see (and always have since the 'evil' integration and relaunch day) bands, sleeves and bypass threads. And I'm still seeing: 1. loads of mumbo jumbo code in posts, in place of formatting. It makes heavily formatted posts virtually impossible to read 2. heaps of time outs/freezes when I try to post, that I end up having to cancel to progress and which then usually (not always) have posted when I do get around to cancelling 3. Lack of notification of "likes" of own posts 4. No ability to customise posts I have to wade through, when I think we are supposed to have that some time... Although despite several requests for conformation of this no one has had the basic decency to let me know if that is so or not 5. Line spaces (single, double and triple) disappear in posts, so there are no line spaces between pars - makes long posts difficult to read. I note that these line spaces are visible on the PC version. I'm using the iPhone app on iPhone 5.

And the Rohan of Rin and Deltora Quest books are fabulous for around the 12/13 year age group - good, strong girl character in DQ and strong, sensitive boys in both. By Aussie Emily Rodda.

My 15 yo boy loves Michael Grant's "Gone" series - v scifi and a bit violent but in a Hunger Games kind of way. He asked his Dad and I to read them and we both have - great characters. He's written a new series, titled something like Bzkr (short version of Berzerker, I think). Tom has just read the first book of that and was right into it. Anything that gets a boy reading is a bonus IMO. I think this thread really does have something for everyone. Wow.

Not really beefy. Although I use it to make gravy sometimes, just with boiling water and some herbs, the family refer to it as "vegetarian gravy".

No pain, no vomiting, no dumping, have eaten every type of food. Sleevers don't normally have trouble with red meat, so you shouldn't need to avoid. Have restriction but can eat whole banana (wish I couldn't)... Less of v protein dense foods. Drink alcohol occasionally. I avoid fizzy things but know sleevers who don't. Basically I eat very normally but small portions, and choose to avoid carbs 99% of the time.

I am so tipping off border security about you.