Crazy Cat Lady Chapter 5 - Trying to recover from the pandemic

f0xh0les

Vitamin B12 and folate (another B vitamin) are both closely linked to the production of seratonin and linked to depression / mood swings. Supplements are 100% the way to go as the quickest fix. 

Forgive me if I am talking out of my hat, but don't the bariatrics people say you have to lose a certain amount of weight before they will do anything? and give you a 'magic diet sheet' that if you follow it is guaranteed to make you lose weight? Or is that the way they used to work?

So if you went, took the sheet, and then used it to do your own thing with no intention of going for surgery, but wanted the piece of paper that told you exactly what to eat and when, then you would have the choice?   Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Weird dreams are just  the worst. First you waste all that time being asleep, then you end up being a lesbian, then feel guilty for the rest of the week for being unfaithful with imaginary peopl, or an ex you have not seen in 30 years.  Dreams are the worst.  What is your mind even trying to do to you??  Brains are weird.

f0xh0les

I am very anti-sleep at the minute, don't know if you can tell.

Sun_Addict

Popping out of lurkdom to say one of my friends was referred to have bariatric surgery despite not being that overweight. Thankfully she declined. There seems to be an obsession with weight at GP surgeries, advice often given by doctors/nurses who need to take a look at themselves first!!

DawnW

Sun_Addict said:

Popping out of lurkdom to say one of my friends was referred to have bariatric surgery despite not being that overweight. Thankfully she declined. There seems to be an obsession with weight at GP surgeries, advice often given by doctors/nurses who need to take a look at themselves first!!

I can identify with this - I am a bit overweight, and confess I always hoped to see the 'fatter' rather than the 'slimmer' nurse for my yearly asthma check, back in the days when it was done in person, as it included being weighed and tutted over, which was obviously far more convincing if the 'slimmer' nurse did it . For the past 2 years, the check has been done over the phone due to the pandemic. I am sure there are some people who have maintained, or lost weight during the stress and lockdowns of the last couple of years, but I am sure there are far more of us who have put it on!

I gather there are certain things GPs have to focus on (maybe for funding reasons?) and weight is one of them.

Buffythedebtslayer

Just sending you love. 

And reserve the right to bug you if you disappear. XXX 

janb5

I cannot quite fathom why any doctor would suggest bariatric surgery when you have already said you were low in mood etc.  It seems like a knee jerk comment to make and really inappropriate..  I would suggest that you put it out of your mind right now and wait to see a doctor re the hormonal imbalance and your troublesome periods.

I am not surprized this dealt you a body blow!  Totally poor performance by GP.

Please don`t be affected by this on top of the disappointment of not seeing your family.  

Send in an econsult or write a letter to the GP`s but knock the bariatric idea on the head! xx

crazy_cat_lady

I'm back! And it's just the next day.
I'm still feeling utterly flat (and fat) at the moment BUT I have planned and written and planned again and I can half confidently report that I have a plan to move forward with my finances. It's not ideal but my life hasn't really been ideal financially for about the past five years. I'm utterly fed up of just wandering along, thinking I improve the situation slightly and then it getting worse again. The replacement fence really was the last straw and although neither of my kids are disappointed with what they got for Christmas I feel incredibly guilty that I couldn't get more. I know I shouldn't, but the hassle of juggling the credit card around and borrowing money and the lost earnings and everything else I think is contributing to the awful stressy feeling that I constantly seem to have. Having an actual budget and keeping spends diaries etc will hopefully help me to feel a little bit better and maybe get me a bit closer to sorting out the mortgage debacle.
Not much else to report. My poor sister who has had Covid since Christmas Day has run out of LFTs and can't get any more. Good job I have a bit of a stash at home so I had enough spare to drop 3 boxes off at hers this morning. Didn't walk as it's been chucking with rain all day. She, her hubby and youngest are all confirmed covid - the other two got positive LFTs yesterday but there's no PCR availability anywhere in England at the moment so she's poorly and can't be bothered but needs to get the older two PCR tested. What another pain in the backside from our ever ineffective government. 
Also popped over to bestie's house for a very well ventilated cuppa and catch up which was much needed. She agreed that my mood is low at the moment, that she doesn't think I should go for bariatric surgery and that I need some sort of goal to work towards which isn't weightloss. We haven't decided what that is just yet but it motivated me enough to get a proper, realistic and workable budget on the go - at least until the cost of living does its next massive leap and there's something else I can't afford to do. 
f0xh0les - I had another weird work dream last night. I popped to the supermarket during my lunch break and couldn't get back in time to teach my next lesson as I was stuck in a traffic jam. Weird because I would never risk the supermarket on a 30 minute lunch break. But the new pillow did the trick and I didn't wake up with neck ache and headache as I've done the past few days.
Thanks everyone else for your kind words and support as always - it is so very much appreciated. I don't want to have to have bariatric surgery and the reassurance I'm hearing from the rest of you makes me think I'm right. It's a head problem and the fat is just a visible symptom of that problem.

TallGirl

I’m more of a lurker but my girlfriend has just been offered some tablets by the GP that’s means to discourage you from eating fat. It needs to be part of a sensible diet and exercise but worth having a look perhaps ask about from the expert you get to see. 

I think you’re doing fantastic with all that’s going on and such uncertain times. Hugs 

badmemory

I too wouldn't go for the surgery & what doctor puts that forward as an early option.  I thought it was more in the nature of a last resort when all else has failed.  It would have been far more to the point if she had sorted out your hormone problems.  I do hope she wasn't one of those doctors who have never had a period type problem in their lives so anyone elses is also none existant.  Would it help you to get angry with her & basically say Up yours I'll do it without you then!

Jellytotts

I've had the Drs comments in the past, the "well if you tried to lose a little" comments.  It makes you dig your heels in.   Unfortunately mine came to a head in March when my gallbladder went tits up and I had several attacks in a week.  I had to go to an ultra low fat (3%or less fat) diet with the prospect of a 2 year wait for surgery to remove the offending gallbladder and all it contained.   The first few weeks were hideous and I felt constantly hungry, angry and depressed.   By week 6 I'd worked out a limited diet I could eat without fear of an attack (I'd go through childbirth without drugs rather than have another gallstone attack).  By week 10 the cravings stopped and anything other than low fat made me want to heave with the smell and texture of it.  Luckily I managed to go private for the surgery so from September I was told I could eat what I wanted.....the thing was my body had no got used to the lower fat stuff (I don't do low fat crap, just basic fruit/veg/meat cooked in a lower fat manner).   I dropped from a size 22 in March to a size 14 now, I don't think I'll get much lower due to excess skin (oh the joys).  It's been a process, but I didn't have a choice, the pain of the gallstones was more than I could cope with and I was running the risk of pancreatic and liver issues too.  It focuses the mind.

I hope you can find a way that works for you.