J is for all the Junk in my trunk

[the_siobhan]

I had the following conversation the other day;

Woman comments on the fact that she can tell I've lost some weight. I say, "Yeah it's because of the whole gallbladder thing. I'm having a hard time getting anything out of my food."

Her: "That's really good!"

Me: "! What? No it's not!"

Her: "Why? You're not happy about losing weight?"

Me: "NOT WHEN IT'S DUE TO ORGAN FAILURE!"

Her: "Oh, when you put it like that..."

The most fucked up part isn't even that I had this conversation. It's the fact that I knew I was going to have this conversation and I was waiting for it. I guarantee it won't be the only time, either.

My culture is seriously messed up.

Comments

[kambriel.livejournal.com]

Quite a few years ago when I was at my thinnest, I was also in this horrible physical state where I literally fainted up to five times in a single day.... something was obviously *quite wrong* inside me, and yet people held that kind of physical ~figure~ up as an "ideal"? Bollocks.

Weighing less is not always what's better for a person, and people should be less superficial as to automatically equate skinny with being the "perfect picture of health".

I hope your gallbladder issues will sort themselves out in quick order, so you can weigh what you *should* weigh, and most importantly of all ~ so you'll feel better.

[hel_ana]

You know, I'd almost be willing to accept people equating skinny with being the "perfect picture of health" if we could get rid of people equating being skinny with being more morally good and being fat morally bad (lazy, undisciplined, etc).

But yeah. I'm currently pregnant and while my doctor is all "you should gain a healthy amount of weight, 25-30 pounds", certain other people (whom I love and am loved by dearly and who mean well, but can't see beyond their own issues) were all "oh, good!" when I lost about 10 pounds in the first trimester and didn't start gaining it back til partway through the second trimester. It's like, seriously? Ugh. ::sighs::

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I had the exact conversation when I had an ulcer that made me throw up all the time. I got told I was lucky because I could eat whatever I wanted and stayed slim. Um. OK.

[elusis.livejournal.com]

I wonder if SomeECards.com makes one that says "Congratulations on your medically-induced bulimia!"

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I can probably tell you how incredibly squicked I was by the number of billboard ads I saw for lap bands in Southern California when I was at C15.

Oddly enough I don't see ads suggesting I can lose 10 lbs quick by chopping a leg off.

[girfan.livejournal.com]

Lap bands? Is that like a gastric band?

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Yep.

I guess calling them lap bands makes them less scary.

[girfan.livejournal.com]

At first, I thought a lap band were musicians who played in a strip club! :O

[hel_ana]

Hopefully she'll actually think about it going forward. A girl can dream, right?

And I hope you can get the gallbladder sorted out quickly, too.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I can pretty much draw a straight line from "eat meat" to "have gallbladder attack". So if I can get myself into a solid routine of eating food that doesn't bore me or drive me crazy doing prep work I should be ok.

[greylock.livejournal.com]

All meat? I always expected red meat, chicken and fish would be different.

So if I can get myself into a solid routine of eating food that doesn't bore me or drive me crazy doing prep work I should be ok.
I take it mock meat don't float your boat?

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I'm still figuring that out. But there doesn't seem to be any kind of meat that won't eventually cause problems. I still have no intention of giving us sushi regardless.

Depends. Some of it I quite like. None of it tastes like meat though.

[greylock.livejournal.com]

But there doesn't seem to be any kind of meat that won't eventually cause problems.

Weird. I always thought it was the fat in meat that *futzd* the gallbladder (even lean meat - maybe it's the richness of iron), but that you'd be at least able to slide by on a lean white fish or something.

Argh.

I did the vege thing for a while, for no reason, and the lack of variety didn't bother me - but I was stubborn.

I still have no intention of giving us sushi regardless.
Sushi is so small anyway.

Depends. Some of it I quite like. None of it tastes like meat though.

There are some chicken nuggets here (Zoglo's I think) that are so close to the real thing it's amazing. But I know what you mean. Faconm *pish* It only tastes good when cooked with bacon.

[eveofdstruction.livejournal.com]

Does sushi actually cause problems? By which I mean to say that my science brain is wondering if it would cause problems when eaten in a day without any meat or other triggers.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I don't really know for sure. Mostly because I don't eat it often enough to have a decent sample size.

I had chicken yesterday and sushi the day before and I am a bit twingy today but nothing close to needing painkillers. If it were a hamburger plus coldcuts I'd be doubled over.

[eveofdstruction.livejournal.com]

Well, you know what this means. More sushi is required. For science.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Well damn.

If it must be done, it must be done.

[eveofdstruction.livejournal.com]

And it MUST. After all, this isn't just any old science. This is your health. Nothing is more important than your health.

or sushi.

[inulro.livejournal.com]

I adore your logic.

Personally, I'm willing to eat more pancakes For Science.

[girfan.livejournal.com]

Everything is better with sushi!

[sloot.livejournal.com]

FOR SCIENCE!

[spikella.livejournal.com]

culture and its inane individuals make my brain go boom

[ravensee.livejournal.com]

2nded.

[redbird]

Much sympathy.

I had enough of that to deal with last year when I had my gall bladder out, and people were saying I looked good three weeks post-surgery when I had almost no appetite and the trip to work was still draining, because all they could see was the weight loss.

ick.

[excess-and-oohs.livejournal.com]

i wonder if you can still order tape worms in capsules.

feel better...

Re: ick.

[lil-m-moses.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine was on Weight Watchers and doing better than expected, so she joked that she had a tapeworm helping her out. Except it turned out that it was actually advanced stage colon cancer. RIP, Laura. I will never joke about tapeworms again.

Re: ick.

[excess-and-oohs.livejournal.com]

:(

i wasn't encouraging it, to clarify :P

[greylock.livejournal.com]

Suddenly, wearing [uedeingudoresu], when it returns with Lewis together, but twilight zone like it is delightful, don't you think?.

[greylock.livejournal.com]

Lewis's parents, door going astray [tsu] [chi] [ya] [u] don't you think?.

[greylock.livejournal.com]

Coming to the point of, in advance, with the cover [ri] probably will list formula by any means at the church of RI, because goes with just the cover [ri], the [tsu] [te], it explains from Lewis.

I've seen this spam before this week. It's really weird. Strangely enough.... it's from Tokyo. I wonder what the point is, and whether it's all to do with the DDOS attacks right now, since it seems to be coming in as I type this to unlocled LJ posts.

Huh.

[excess-and-oohs.livejournal.com]

weird.
are you sure you aren't just on crack? (:
hadn't seen that yet. it knows my last name!

[greylock.livejournal.com]

It does?

I saw it.... Wednesday or Thursday here in someone elses's LJ (they are all public posts too).

How does it know your last name? (Unless your married last name is what is published above in which case I'd chalk that up to coincidence).

[excess-and-oohs.livejournal.com]

yeah, we got no-fly listed for that one. it's common enough, unfortunately. very interesting (that it mentions it in all 3 replies).

[greylock.livejournal.com]

Seriously? Weird. I might just to an translate the other two replies. I didn't want to flood Sio's inbox, but what's two more now they have stopped.

Also, interesting fact: the person's LJ that was spammed this week IDs as queer and tranny. I wonder if that's any link?

[excess-and-oohs.livejournal.com]

i wonder if it's a defcon relic.
like those guys don't have anything better to do (;

[greylock.livejournal.com]

Which defcon?

Should we ask Alan Moore? Apparently he knows the score.

[iamjw.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know that one. Before I was diagnosed as diabetic, I lost 50 pounds with absolutely no effort on my part which is kind of a big flashing red light that something's seriously fucked-up. First, when I called the doctor to make an appointment and told the receptionist this, she said, "Lucky you." Um, no. And then someone at work who was one of those thin diet-obsessed types told me how great I looked and how did I manage it. The answer of undiagnosed diabetes shut her up. I will admit to having enjoyed that.

[redbird]

I had a delightful interaction with a nurse a few years ago. I was being treated for Bell's Palsy (I'm fine now) and the GP had told me to come back in ten days, so I did. This doctor's office always weighs me, which I hadn't been thrilled with before. In this case, she informed me I had lost something like twelve pounds. In ten days. And expected me to be pleased.

Then she took my blood pressure, and I tried to explain "of course it's high, you've just told me something that has me worrying about diabetes." But I expect better from medical professionals: not that they won't have bought into the "thin is always better" stuff, but that they'll be aware that losing more than ten pounds in that many days, without trying, may be a sign of problems.

Fortunately, my GP is sane. She immediately understood why I was not happy with the nurse; took my blood pressure again after I'd calmed down some; and told me to monitor the weight for a month or so, and if it kept decreasing we would do some tests.

(The weight loss turned out to be an idiosyncratic reaction to the medication.)

[eveofdstruction.livejournal.com]

Argghh. I wish I were surprised. I just don't get this. I mean, I get that it happens, but the lack of perspective...

[sola.livejournal.com]

Poor, brainwashed kid, really.

[miss-bontemps.livejournal.com]

You know, I'm used to folks saying, after going through some awful physical ailment, "Well, at least I lost five pounds." to themselves, as a way to bring in a bit of a silver lining to a rather dark cloud.

But, to have someone say "Oh lucky you!"?

D:

[baratron.livejournal.com]

I totally empathise.

When that happened to me, I started referring to it as non-consensual weight loss. That shut a few people up.

BTw,

[theevilchemist.livejournal.com]

I was just reading this and it reminded me of you:

Wine may Prevent Gall Stones (http://www.winespectator.com/webfeature/show/id/Wine-May-Prevent-Gallstones_4865)


I need to look more into this, but from most of the research I've read on Red wine & heart disease/sexual dysfunction. Small amounts of alcohol tend to increase the solubility of wax/lipid/oils in the blood, which in turn results in decrease precipitation and increases reclamation by lipoproteins. Too much triggers digestive and metobolic proceses that start secreating things like enzymes, bile, etc...

This same mechanism that cleans out arteries may clean out gall bladder ducts.

[snickerpuss.livejournal.com]

This reminds me of when ladies at work try to talk to me about how I could lose weight. And I'm all like, "Um, yeah, I already lost 180 lbs. I think I'm good." *heh* It just helped to clarify for me that people are pretty fucked up.