Glory, my Mom has had a difficult time swallowing for a long time now and when she was in the nursing home it seemed to get worse so they ordered an upper GI. Turns out she had an esophageal ulcer. They put her on prilosec or something like that and within 24 hours the problem started to resolve. I hope your is quickly diagnosed and resolved!!

Anne, hang in there! Only a couple more weeks.

I tried the gentle leader on my dogs. On my old dog it worked just fine but with my younger dog I had troubles. He likes to pull and the only thing that works on him is a pinch collar.

Hey, Allison, you beat me to it. My DH had exactly the same symptoms (described it as trying to swallow rocks!) and the same diagnosis - esophageal ulcer and GERD. He's been on meds for close to 10 years and only has problems when he decides he's better. Men! The ulcer of course, has resolved itself, but the GERD is there whenever he goes without meds. Hope Glory's is something as simple.

I've not found a leash that works on my cats. My kitten (10 months) was in and out all day on Saturday(first time when we weren't out too). I was worried that she'd streak off and get lost, but she was very cautious and actually came in to find me every 30-40 minutes. And to use the litter box - she hasn't figured out that she could go outdoors.

Pat, that's too funny about the cat going back in to use the box! My in-laws use a harness on their cat because the RV parks require all pets to be on a leash outside and he likes to sit outside. He has escaped from it a few times, though.

My mom tried to put a leash on our cat when we were growing up. It was spring and the baby birds were fledging, so she was trying to keep the cat from going after them. It didn't work at all. The cat pretended to choke until we took the leash off.

Glory: I had a similar problem and my condition turned out to be completely treatable. When I finally went to the doctor and did the whole barium swallow thing (be sure to drink LOTS of water afterwards), it turned out that my esophagus had narrowed to less than half the size it was supposed to be, which is why food was getting stuck in it. You are right not to try to self-diagnose because there are a lot of different things that it could be, but most are perfectly treatable. In my case, the problem was due to a build up of cells caused by my allergies. My GI doctor performed a minor outpatient procedure to open my esophagus back up and my allergist prescribed a steroid medication that keeps the cells from building up again and the problem is completely under control.

If you have GERD, that could definitely cause it--that's the first thing they thought of with me. It actually triggered my whole decision to start exercising and eat better. I thought I had GERD and that making some life changes would help. The ironic thing is that it turned out not be GERD in my case, so losing weight and getting into shape hasn't really mattered. Not that I'm complaining.

Michelle: The warmer weather could definitely be causing you to retain water. You may have just gotten a little dehydrated. Eating food you don't normally eat can also cause you to retain water. So the extra weight may be due to the blips but that doesn't mean it's not still just water. When I eat off-plan, I can retain 5 lbs or more of water, depending on how far off plan I was.

Anne: I'm sorry things are going so rough with this pregnancy. Just a few more weeks...

Anne It's the home stretch. Hang in there.
Glory Ouch! I hope they figure it out soon.
Pat One of the many reasons I love cats. (Shhh, don't let my dog hear)

Good morning all,

I had a great day health-wise yesterday. I had a meeting after work so I went to the gym, lifted, went to the meeting, felt good that I had planned ahead and brought a protein muffin and string cheese, went back to the gym to do cardio, and got home around 8:15 for dinner. Even having a lot to do, it gives me extra confidence that I can stay on plan here!

Glory, let us know what the doctor says today!

Anne, hang in there! I'm glad to hear you're finally past the "hump".

Allison, you sound so busy. How's the week going so far?

Jessica, awww, you renew my desire for a puppy!

Have a great day everyone!

Good morning all! I had a lovely weekend with my parents - the weather cooperated, so we spent lots of time in Central Park (as well as a quick stop in the Met Museum). I am looking forward to a quiet Memorial Day weekend though - we've been busy lately. Time to just relax and catch up on movies!

Cats on leashes always crack me up. I see them sometimes in Central Park, since you really can't let cats wander in NYC. They get this incredibly dignified expression on their faces and you just KNOW they're refusing to even acknowledge the existence of the leash!

Glory - hope you feel better. My dad had a swallowing thing for a while, but his doctor got him taken care of with the right prescription and he's been fine for years now.

Lily - sorry you're going through such a tough time. I think it's amazing that you're able to stick to your smoke-free status under all that pressure.

Michele - I hear your frustration. I'm new to maintaining too, and this is when I usually start gaining everything back. Not this time, though! And I know you'll get those 4 pounds right back off.

Have a great day everyone.

Debbie

Anne - good to hear from you! Hang in there! And as for DD...I guess this will not be the last time in her life that she will have to share her mommy with another sibling. You would have had the same period of adjustment for her, so you can quit the guild thing.

And if you would not have gone for the extra sibling, you would have felt guilty for not providing her with a same age companion, right ???

So lay back and enjoy your relative rest. And may I remind you that I asked (and got) the birthweight of my last newborn in belgian chocolates!!! I stayed in bed with her for rather a long time (she was premature & i had to keep her at temperature) and really loved eating chocolate, reading a crime novel and still doing my partroviding the exact right temperature for the baby.


Thanks for the encouragement all,
todays "1 additional good choice each day" is...no wine. I am deadly tired, and normally would have a glass. But i made myself a cup of green tea with lemon.

Have a great day all,
rabbit

Megan - I can kill your desires for a puppy just as easily - on his walk the other day, Carter tried to pee on a plant, but had bad aim and peed on my leg instead!

I had my first physical therapy appointment for my knees yesterday. It's nice to finally have someone take me seriously! Anyway, he said it looks like my kneecap is a little off-center, and strengthening my muscles should help bring it back into place. So now I've got a set of exercises to do twice a day -- no excuses to skip strengthening anymore!

Hi everyone, I had a good day yesterday. I saw my new family physician and she seemed very nice and intelligent. She was careful to look up which med. to order for me so it wouldn't have so much effect on my liver. She put me on Lexapro and I so hope it won't make weight loss/maintenance more difficult for me. Just as I had suspected, my weight is Way UP. (157 lbs.).

I took Shelbey shopping for some new shoes and ended up buying myself new gym shoes too. Then, Shelbey and I hit the gym for a good work-out and swimming.

I managed to stay OP with eating and exercise both. I have set my goal to be back at 147 lbs. by Sept. 5th when I see my hepatologist again. Hopefully, I can stick on plan and lose this 10 lbs. by then.

Hey guys, thanks for all the nice comments. I do feel a little better today. I had the barium swallow exam (upper GI) and it went okay (barium is icky). I didn't meet with a GI doctor today (that's not for a few weeks, they are all booked up), but the radiologist said everything looked normal - no obstructions. Not really sure if that is good news or not!

Went to Original Pancake House after and had 1/4 of a soft squishy apple pancake (mmm apple pancake, I haven't had one since the wild fires in September) and didn't have any problems eating that.

The barium has made me feel QUITE unwell this afternoon (I mean, honestly, there are some side effects they would warn you about, like, I dunno "don't be farther than 15 feet from a toilet the rest of the afternoon, also anything you do will be white and will freak you out" yeah, that would have been nice). Anyway, hopefully I will be able to eat dinner no problem, definitely haven't been hungry the rest of the day - sad too, I have some beautiful cherries to eat!

Glory: Yeah, barium is no fun. I can't believe they didn't warn you about the "side effects"! Shame on them! I don't remember it impacting my appetite (really, so very little ever reduces my appetite) but I remember the other stuff (but luckily the staff at my clinic warned me in advance). Just make sure you drink LOTS of water; that will help wash the barium out and you should start to feel better soon.

Glory, that test doesn't sound like much fun. Hope you're doing better today.

Lily, I hope the meds do what you need it to do. Knowing you, you'll have those lbs off way before your next appointment.

Jessica, I hope the new exercises prove valuable to you.

Anne, you're down to the wire. Hang in there. Just hang in there.

If any of you have read the other thread (No excuses), then you know I've had some difficulty with my foot. Well the doc gave me blood tests and I got the results yesterday. So crazy how I actually LOVE getting these things back now.

Cholesterol was 180
HDL 63
LDL - 94
Uric Acid (they were checking for gout) - 4.3. Up to 7 is normal. When I was 287 lbs my levels were over 8.
Vitamins were all excellent except for Vitamin D, which she says is very, very common.

Everything else was perfect, including sugar. She was quite pleased. And so was I. Oh and when they took my Blood pressure it was 120 over 70. I actually got all teary right there in the office. I remember the years when I was borderline high and then when I had to go on meds because it got too high.

Have a great day.

Robin,
It does make it all worth it when you get good medical results. We all want to look good, but we also need to consider how we are taking care of ourself inside too!

I finally am seeing a movement in the scale this morning-- thank goodness. I haven't been tracking my food lately so I wrote it down yesterday and will continue today.

I cooked delicious dinners the past two nights (last night shrimp and the night before scallops) but I don't have anything planned the rest of the week. I need to plan and shop so I don't go off plan. My dh loves to cook so if I don't have things planned he will cook. He is much better at cooking lower calorie than he used to but he still makes larger portions and I can't control what he is making.

I've been going to the gym everyday but have been limited to 30-45 minutes due to time constraints. I am going to try to stay longer and get a really good workout in today.

Everyone have a fantastic day!

rockinrobin! I LOVE those numbers!

Jay