onikenbai

You've had a sore throat and fever for a few weeks and haven't gone to the doctor yet?! Get thee to a physician!

Until you bring up your weight loss in conversation, it is proper etiquette for another person not to comment on it. They are only being polite. You have to keep in mind that you know why you are losing weight; they don't. Imagine the following conversation: A: Wow, you sure have lost a lot of weight! B: Yes, chemotherapy tends to do that to you. (cue crickets) How uncomfortable would that be? If you want more feedback from others, you may need to drop the "D" word (DIET... not that other one!) in conversation to give them a hint of why you are looking so different.

What does the agave taste like? I've seen it in the stores and have been meaning to buy some, but they sell light and amber and I don't know which to buy. Does it have a honeyish flavour? Or is it more molasses-like? Or something completely different?

I've had fibro for a whopping 23 years... since I was 11. It is a vicious circle... the more inactive you are, the worse it gets. This does not mean you should go out and do the ironman, but you should try to do something each day, even if it's go grocery shopping. There will be those days though, when you get out of bed and promptly fall to the floor and have to crawl around the house. Try not to get too frustrated because stress only makes it worse. And for the love of all that is holy, do NOT buckle to the pressure to troop through something even though you are exhausted, in pain and know that you're going to pay for it for the next two days. Gentle stretching really does help keep you moving. I recommend yoga, but keep in mind that the average yoga video may be hard to keep up with as I find the poses move too quickly. Pre-natal yoga videos are about the right speed for me (aka yoga for hippos). The doctors all say that fibro is not progressive, but they aren't the ones who have it. Yes, it's technically not progressive as in it's not going to get worse and worse until you die from it, but you may find over time that new symptoms show up. My IBS didn't manifest itself until I was in my 20s, nor did some of my sensitivities. Just when you think you have things under control, something new pops up. I sometimes think that I got the better deal by getting sick while I was still young. I hear stories of all these people that were humming along merrily with their lives and BANG! they hit the fibro wall and it completely screwed up their lives. I've at least had the chance to build my life around this. I was pretty angry during my teen years that I lost my spot on the soccer team to fibro, and that my violin playing years came to an end much earlier than expected when I kept dropping the bow, but how much more screwed would I be if I had gone to university for music like I'd planned and then lost my ability to play? I had the chance to make education and career decisions around the dumb disease. This book is probably the best of the lot out there: Fibromyalgia & Chronic Myofascial Pain: A Survival Manual, 2nd Edition: Amazon.ca: D. Starlanyl, M. E. Copeland: books You may also want to check out the chat room at Fibrohugs. There's enough people on there to tell you something about anything related to fibro.

I'm friends with my vertigo... keeps me off the ladders at work! I was none too thrilled at the thought of climbing an 18ft ladder to sample ceiling asbestos with chronic vertigo, but luckily my health & safety person agreed that I should probably keep my feet firmly planted on the ground. So which way do you turn? I always feel like I'm spinning to the right. I always wondered if everybody was the same or if some people went right, some left and some all over the place?

NO!!! You don't want to have a "wardrobe malfunction", especially at school. You need a better solution for getting more fibre into your diet. You can buy ground psyllum or flax at the health food store and mix it into a yogurt or something. Start with a small amount and work your way up to a full dose per day. pills really are not the best long-term solution as they can be irritating to the bowel wall.

My father can't take the artificial sweeteners. The results are... um... explosive. He just drinks beverages that don't get sweetened. He's diabetic so he can't take the regular sugar versions of drinks either.

Evil me wonders if you should present him a 10 page tome double spaced, complete with MLA style footnotes. Will he be checking for grammar?

I have it as well. I'm not banded yet but I'm going to be soon. My major problem is that the high pressure in my head is threatening to destroy my eyeballs from the inside. Basically it's lose weight or take the chance of having your retinas detach. Fun. I think I'm the only person on earth who enjoyed their spinal tap... a whole four days of no headache! My neuro also said that losing weight was no guarantee the problem would resolve itself or improve in any way. Thanks. $18000 and the problem might NOT be fixed? Check back and I'll keep you posted.

The Vega line has no artificial sweeteners. I just bought mine the other day... vanilla chai. Haven't had any yet but it smells ok. I'll keep you posted. Vega Homepage | Sequel Naturals

When faced with chocolate, is variety really necessary?

Use chopsticks. They have a limited weight load (unless you're very skilled at using them) and they slow you down. Not so hot for soup though...

I'm out $18000, all due a week or two before surgery.

Man, if your scale is sensitive enough to change when you breathe, I am impressed. Did it come with a plastic enclosure too to prevent changes in weight from draghts too? :mad: Visions of university chemistry are coming back to me and I am in a giant weigh boat with a stick trying to push TARE while I'm sitting on the scale pad. A tad Allison in Wonderland, n'est pas?

Dude, if you didn't notice you had the chicken pox, you are the luckiest person on earth! I had it twice... yes I know you're only supposed to have it once, but I'm just a special snowflake. The first time I had it it was pretty mild and my mother gave a big sigh of relief that I'd got over it without much fuss. The second time around though, I was sick. I had spots everywhere, including the inside of my eyelids! I still have scars from them. If you missed the boat, start lighting incense to the god of chicken pox in thanks.

When choosing to buy an ID bracelet you should be thinking about your lifestyle. I've never heard of most of the companies mentioned in this thread other than Medic Alert. Why? I'm not American. If you travel outside the US regularly, look for a provider that has more coverage so that if you end up needing help in Europe, there is a fair chance of you actually getting it as the Medic Alert branches world wide do actually work as one giant network. You shouldn't really have to worry about where you wear your ID as a paramedic should be checking all four limbs. Maybe an anklet inside boots isn't the best idea though... I agree that the super pretty IDs may be overlooked by accident. I saw one that was basically a charm bracelet the other day and it took me a while to figure out it was a medic alert. I probably wouldn't be ordering that one for me. My father has the sterling silver necklace, and it's really attractive as well as subtle. I have the stainless steel dog tags, which are more practical for my line of work. If you go through a supported company, your ID bracelet should really have only the highlights of what a paramedic/ER needs to know about you for immediate care because the first thing they will do is call the support company for more complete information. I have a long list of problems, but only allergies and major diseases are listed on my ID. When I get my band I won't get a new ID, but I will update my file online. I prefer the supported system to my own USB key because the fire department isn't going to check your keys for a medical USB after they cut you out of the car with the jaws of life, they're just going to throw you in the ambulance and then concentrate on hauling the wreckage from the road (I know this from personal experience). For the same reason I wouldn't trust a wallet card only. I've seen how far those things can fly in an accident. For those with nosey friends and co-workers... a good slap to the hand is never amiss when they pry into things that they have no business sticking their noses into. Or you could choose to go puppy dog style and whack them with a newspaper to the nose. It could be very therapeutic. Yeah, it sucks to have to pay for the annual maintenance of your records, I agree whole heartedly there. But since there's a more than fair chance of me being run over by an excavator or getting clocked by flying auger bits at work :sneaky:, I see it as a quality investment for me.

There's no reason why you can't get back into underwire. I've had a reduction and have scars all the way across and I'm back in underwire. It may take a few months to be comfortable but it's doable. If your underwire was never comfortable then you had the wrong bra or, more likely, the wrong size bra.

Pilates will do it if it can be done with exercise. Don't be fooled by how easy it looks because it isn't at all easy... it's hell. The results are worth it though.

Holy carp fishman! Breathe before somebody gets hurt! I live in Ontario, which means I live under socialized medicine. It's ok, I'll say it, socialized... it's not too scary a word, however if you want to be all PC about it, the more appropriate term is "universal health care". Most Canadians are watching this insanity south of the border, and we sit scratching out heads over the matter with a :thumbup: look all over us. For us, it's like watching a very angry tennis match and we don't quite understand the rules. It has it's down sides sometimes I admit, but I wouldn't give it up for the world. I don't have to worry that nobody will deny me treatment even if I am a complete disaster. That being said, I'm paying 100% for my lap band because I've opted not to go the gastric bypass route that Ontario will pick up the tab for, so I'm out $18K. You know what? I can deal with that as long as I'm not putting tax dollars to waste paying for somebody else's hot DD boob impants. Of course, if that particular person has lost one breast to cancer then I don't mind paying for one boob. Our universal health care doesn't cover it all. I still pay through the nose for dental and I pay for drugs. If I stay in the hospital I pay daily for the TV in my room, and that ambulance ride isn't completely free. But the basics of life are covered... annual physical, ER, my father's hip replacement, and it's a comfort to have. Ok, sometimes I have to wait stupid times to get a service, and I admit that it sucks, but it's still better than not being able to afford to go see him at all. Many articles written in our newspapers suggest that the Canadian model of health care may not be suitable for the US, not because the US could never make the Canadian model work, but because of that little thing called culture. Canadians and Americans just aren't the same. Nobody's better or worse, but we're just not the same and we have different views on some fundamental concepts of society. A big news story for you was Michelle Obama's shorts. A big news story for us was Prime Minister Jean Cretien strangling a heckler with his bare hands, but only because it was so damn funny. There is an article which you all may be interested in: The true measure of cross-border health - The Globe and Mail I have nothing to gain no matter which side of the arguement wins. I am thinking though, that something has to be done in the US. It's a sad, sad thing that so many Americans living in Detroit are marrying their friends living in Ontario just so they can get health care... Wait, it does mean I gain something from the US situation being ironed out... MY taxes may go down.... yeah, in my maple syrup laden dreams.:mad:

On the flip side, if you OVER WASH your skin to make the break out disappear, you will actually make it worse. Your skin will fight like crazy to make new oil to compensate for being washed too often. The best rule I was given for decent skin is to wash your face when you get up, wash your face before you go to bed, and leave it alone in between... except for maybe during the summer when you get all sweaty and a third wash during the day is needed to make you feel human.

Now is the time to get a new hobby, preferably one that does not mix well with food and is incredibly time consuming. Knitting keeps the hands busy. I personally have my stained glass. Working with all that lead came and solder is dangerous to mix with food. It is also very fussy and can take hours on end easily without me noticing the time passing. I just moved and it's my priority to get my glass workshop up and running before I have to start my three weeks of pre-op diet. That way I can spend three weeks in my closet and not staring wistfully into my kitchen. (small apartment... workshop in walk-in closet. I'm not just a freak who hides in the closet for fun)

I would cry. Not because I'd be hurt in any way (because let's face it, we've all pretty much worked up a thick skin on this topic), but because I can. She's expecting that you're just going to shut up and take it like the good little fat girl you are becasue we all know that the fat girls have no feelings. Work up a good bawl and watch her squirm. Sure, it's passive aggressive to make her feel like crap because she made you cry, but she isn't exactly playing fair either. Make her look like a tool in public, go ahead, you have my permission.

That is, it's all over the place and full of air. Plus the occasional non sequitur flies out like a tossed cow, not that I advocate airbourne cows. My surgery is in a little over a month and it seems my brain is determined to be on holiday until then. I might as well tack a giant "gone fishing" sign on my cube to go with my "This station is out of fuel" sign (a small perk of working with petrochemical companies is you can pilfer amusing signs as you're tearing down the gas station). I clearly remember when I was 10 and thinking how awesome it would be to start middle school looking like a normal person, and then when I was 13 thinking how cool it would be to be able to show up to my grade 8 grad looking normal, and then when I was 14 to start high school normal, then 19 to start university normal... you get the drift. Aside from a blip during high school when I stopped eating completely for days on end and worked out obsessively to stay at 140 (and passed out in school and had a vaguely vampirish look with sunken eyes due to my lack of nutrients) I've never known a normal weight. So now I have the prospect of being moderately normal and I admit that I just can't stop thinking about it. This is not good. I have work to do! Your pollution is leaking into the aquifer and tainting the water supply for thousands of people? Whatever... hey, I could shop at ALL the stores in the mall for the first time in 20 years, not just the ONE store that has clothes to fit me. I have been able to keep my mind somewhat on my work, like how I'll be able to get a moon suit that actually fits me so I can work on the juicy contaminated sites, or that I'll maybe be able to get a fall arrest system that isn't a complete feat of mechanical engineering and won't need at least two people to belay... but still it's all about ME. I feel like a freakin' toddler! ME ME ME! Thoughts are all over the place and everywhere but still ME takes up far too much of my thought time. Please tell me this goes away naturally. I don't want to have to hire somebody to come smack me upside the head every 20 minutes, although I'm sure there are co-workers who'll do it for free.

That is, it's all over the place and full of air. Plus the occasional non sequitur flies out like a tossed cow, not that I advocate airbourne cows. My surgery is in a little over a month and it seems my brain is determined to be on holiday until then. I might as well tack a giant "gone fishing" sign on my cube to go with my "This station is out of fuel" sign (a small perk of working with petrochemical companies is you can pilfer amusing signs as you're tearing down the gas station). I clearly remember when I was 10 and thinking how awesome it would be to start middle school looking like a normal person, and then when I was 13 thinking how cool it would be to be able to show up to my grade 8 grad looking normal, and then when I was 14 to start high school normal, then 19 to start university normal... you get the drift. Aside from a blip during high school when I stopped eating completely for days on end and worked out obsessively to stay at 140 (and passed out in school and had a vaguely vampirish look with sunken eyes due to my lack of nutrients) I've never known a normal weight. So now I have the prospect of being moderately normal and I admit that I just can't stop thinking about it. This is not good. I have work to do! Your pollution is leaking into the aquifer and tainting the water supply for thousands of people? Whatever... hey, I could shop at ALL the stores in the mall for the first time in 20 years, not just the ONE store that has clothes to fit me. I have been able to keep my mind somewhat on my work, like how I'll be able to get a moon suit that actually fits me so I can work on the juicy contaminated sites, or that I'll maybe be able to get a fall arrest system that isn't a complete feat of mechanical engineering and won't need at least two people to belay... but still it's all about ME. I feel like a freakin' toddler! ME ME ME! Thoughts are all over the place and everywhere but still ME takes up far too much of my thought time. Please tell me this goes away naturally. I don't want to have to hire somebody to come smack me upside the head every 20 minutes, although I'm sure there are co-workers who'll do it for free.