cjw6 Member

Diuretics are pretty heavy duty drugs which cause your kidneys to lose both water and salt. They can have serious adverse effects. I would be more concerned on focussing on WHY you have ankle swelling- if it is actually swelling rather than fat then this is not normal and suggests a possible underlying problem. It would be…

The steroids from the inhaler aren't absorbed into your blood stream to a significant degree, so they won't affect your weight loss- and taking that regularly will reduce the number of times you have to have systemic (oral) steroids like prednisolone. The pred COULD make it more difficult to lose weight if taken over a…

I work in an emergency dept, so I have a pretty good idea of what you are talking about. The main issue is not just that you are working shifts, but that your breaks are pretty unpredictable and irregular- am I right? Its tough, especially when your colleagues suggest stopping for junk food! I'd agree with the not taking…

Are you doing permenant nights or just blocks of night shifts mixed in with days? I do week long blocks of nights and at other times work a mixture of early shifts & late shifts. I find the constant changing around tough to be honest, but I find nights are the worst for my diet and exercise regime. There is always a real…

But the definition of 'harmful' chemicals depends on the context. Thats kind of the point. Di-hydrogen oxide* is extremely dangerous, kills thousand of people a year, is lethal if inhaled and can destroy homes,buildings and roads if the circumstances are correct. Yet it is also essential for human life and cellular…

Trying on dresses for my cousins wedding. Had 3 dresses I thought looked ok-ish in the mirror. Got my hubby to take pictures from the back and sides to help me decide which to pick (couldn't see the back well in the mirror). Was so horrified by the pictures I cried for about 2 days, pretended to be sick and missed the…

agree with this. Would extend it to if you are breathless on minor exertion much worse than normal, if you are breathless lying flat in bed, or if you have had any chest pain at all.

I think these days a lot of people actually DON'T know what a healthy weight looks like- especially if many/most friends and acquaintances are overweight. We all compare ourselves with those we spend time with- women are probably worse for this. I know when I worked at a place where most people were overweight I put on…

Would it not be better to treat your son with something else? A movie/trip to the park/football game etc etc. I think a lot of us are in the situation we are in because we 'reward' ourselves with unhealthy food, which is a habit we learned from our families. I am determined not to pass that habit/mindset onto my kids.

Erm your bones don't actually use that much energy at all- your muscles maybe.

Exactly. This isn;t something to self diagnose. Hopefully it'll be nothing much, and it MIGHT be nutritional, but there are loads of conditions that can lead to this and some of them are really serious. Get thee to a doctor ASAP!

Every day. I 'like' to start the day with a reminder of what I am doing and why and see how far I have come and how far I have to go. It helps keep me on track and avoid me getting complacent. I only record it weekly(ish) though.

Its not going to kill you overnight, or even cause damage over a week or so, but over time it would probably mean you weren't getting adequate nutrients and lead to muscle wastage and micronutrient deficiencies. So try and not make it a regular thing, but don;t panic!

I'd go for a healthy snack now (maybe fruit, cereal etc) and then the late healthy meal. Its not something to panic over though- its just one meal. It won;t have a massive impact unless you are doing it every week.

Its totally unnecessary. Your bowel is not gunked up with any debris etc- provided you aren't constipated and take fluids and fiber. Your liver is the body's natural detox unit- if anything the 'pills in the yellow box'( lol) are likely to be giving it more to detoxify! How do you think THEY get removed from your body! Why…

Not strictly true, you can change your GP either just by asking to register at a different surgery in your area, or by writing to the PCT and asking to switch. There are some horrible stories on here. I would agree with the poster who said that it must be very difficult to distinguish between the person who is making…

Adrenal fatigue syndrome doesn't exist- its made up. Addisons is an extremely dangerous & life threatening disease- if you have it you need to be on replacement steroids for life or you will be extremely unwell and potentially die. You can't 'avoid meds' or you would become very ill, and you definitely can't 'fix it…

You've not been at it long, give it a bit more time. And try and weigh (and measure) at a regular time each week. Other than that, its got to be the diet- unless you are measuring/weighing everything you eat, I'd bet your 'eating what I want' diet is packing in more calories than you realise. Its very easy to underestimate…

Depends what your health is like overall and how much weight you are planning on losing and how you plan on doing it. I can tell you aren't in the Uk from the 'whether to waste money' comment! If you have other health issues such as liver disease, diabetes, kidney disease or heart disease, are planning on losing a large…

I second that. Perfection doesn't exist, you don't have to be perfect, sometimes good enough is good enough ;-). I'd suggest starting slow, give yourself time and enjoy your babies, there will be time enough in another month or two when you are getting a bit more sleep and baby can go more than a few hours without feeding.…

I've heard of them because I work in an A&E/ER and frequently have people coming in feeling really ill, palpitations, passing out, nausea etc on these pills. I think they are basically amphetamine related. Regardless of what the websites say about thyroid hormones- there IS no T5 hormone (T3 and T4 yes). Would advised…

Your gall bladder doesn't actually make anything- it acts as a storage resevoir for bile salts (produced by your liver) which are needed to help digest and absorb fats. Fats stimulate the gallbladder (if you have one) to contract, which is painful if there are stones in it, or if it is inflamed. Without the gallbladder…

This diet is complete unscientific nonsense and smacks of the half baked understanding of somebody (not accusing the OP) who has flicked through a physiology textbook without finishing any chapters!. Body pH is extremely tightly regulated and the primary method of compensation for acidaemia (acidic blood) is by minute…

Thats one of the big problems with BMI as a measurement. In a similar way, if a person goes into hospital for, say a leg amputation, they will come out maybe 30lb lighter, and their BMI will have dropped loads. Are they healthier? Obviously not, their core body fat is the same, the fat around their organs is the same etc.…

Mine is a nightmare. I work in a hospital and work shifts. It gets crazy busy so we don't always get regular breaks which is really hard. There are always sweets/chocolates being handed round, and on nights (when your willpower is at its lowest ebb) there are usually cakes, snacks, doughnuts etc etc. The combo of low blood…

Not true. Hyponatraemia, and its consequences CAN be caused purely by taking in too much water. (Google psychogenic polydipsia). Unless you are an elite athlete, 'isotonic' sports drinks with electrolytes are an expensive con and full of calories. The only time you really need to take isotonic fluids is if you have…

Thats my 1st thought too- definitely need to start having real food at lunch. If time is an issue it might be worth cooking/preparing a whole load of healthy lunches at the weekend and freezing them/sticking them in the fridge so you can still just grab and run in the morning. eg. soups, grilled chicken and couscous, tuna…

What have you got against legumes? They are a great protein source. Not saying eat loads of salted peanuts, but cutting a whole group of foods out is pretty much never a good idea. Cutting down is fine, but cutting stuff out completely can be detrimental to your overall health (not just weight)

Sugar isn't poison, thats daft. Your body needs some sugar. In fact the only kind of fuel your brain can metabolise is glucose. The problem is our (westernised) lifestyle. We have got used to everything being really sweet and companies like to get us to buy their products so they put sugar in virtually everything. Baked…

Just got in from doing week 1 day 1. Weird, but the interval training seems to make it harder (or maybe I'm a wuss today!) than my usual jog (roughly same distance). Going to stick with it though as I've never been able to run more than about 2k at my fittest and I am trusting that there is some kind of magic to this which…