The AF had completely taken over my thinking and the A/D really helped me a lot with everything. I'll probably go off of it in a few months, but I was pretty much homebound when I started it. Now I volunteer for the ARC and take line dancing and am in 2 golf leagues (in the summer!). I use the diliatzem whenever necessary, but was considering Botox at Mayos if necessary (I've been there during 3 successive summers to see my GI doc and also twice was seen in colorectal surgery). I think it is my mission in life (one of them) to give hope to sufferers of AF's because I personally know the agony involved with having one, and most people don't because they have never had one. Good luck and feel free to send me a PM if you wish. BTW, I hate this cold weather and snow. I wanted to go to Florida for awhile this winter, but my FIL is 89 1/2 and has cancer, and we are afraid to leave the area with him only having a few months left to live (according to his doctor's prognosis). My older son (the NIU grad) is now at SIUE in pharm school; he has a chem degree from Northern.
Have never b/4 heard of your doc, but I am not familiar with many docs in Rockford as I live near Peoria. We only know our son's docs. Cheryl

Loosing weight is absolutely common thing !!! I lost 20 pounds , maybe even more : ((. I was a walking skeleton before my first LIS and was scared to see myself in the mirror. It was like watching some strange person in the room - very weird LOL I came down to size 2 and HATED buying new stuff - so I dug in my younger daughter "old clothing" bags in the garage and took out jeans and stuff that could not fit her for years. Needles to say , I celebrated New Year in the outfit she had when she was 12 :( ! Luckily,
I always was buying my girls very fashionable and pricey things so it was very nice outfit LMAO , BUT, still pitiful fact : (((.
To make the story short - I am thinking about going on "fissure diet" as my New Year resolution LOL, since I definitely have some extra now . I guess once one is starved for 2 years , one indulges than too much afterward !!??? Silly stuff

Ditto, Fissy! I lost weight w/o even trying and also hated seeing myself in the mirror! Now I am trying to get off some weight (a little bit), but I would rather be this way than feel like a walking skeleton and continue to hear comments about how thin I was!!!!!!!

That is so true Cheryl ; ))) !!! Any time I kind of get upset that my pants are tight I remind myself that I would rather have some curves than be so scary skinny : (((

Right--I felt like I was truly "wasting away," which was a new (and unpleasant) experience for me! I felt so "bony," and my mother continued to tell me that I looked "bony"!

Ya I lost 15 lbs. when my fissure was at its worst.Now that the worst is over I ate a lot more for the holidays and when think I must have atleast gained 3-4 lbs.I weighed myself the other day and I didn't gain squat.still 6 foot 1 and only 155 lbs.I used to be at 170 and was musclulary slender since I was a gym buff but now my shirt hangs on my body like if I was a hanger :(

I used to work out on a regular basis but the idea of lifting weight or cycling is enough to make me break out in sweat.
I have lost a total of 28 lbs since the end of September!
I normally don't mind losing some weight, but the clothes hanging on me and most of my business clothes look silly now!

Well Chrishell maybe a little shopping can make you look sharp again.Being skinny for a women is never a bad thing as far as how others perceive you.I use to wear Large shirts and I bought some mediums and when I wear it my chest looks caved in.

Eh.... at some point skinny IS too skinny even for a girl . My butt melted away and my "brestacles " got size smaller - I HATED MY LOOK !!!! I looked like prepubescent girl and it was awful - I would almost start crying when I would see myself in the mirror. My daughter told me that other women would kill to look like that and I wondered how crazy those "other women" were I did not have any extra before I got my fissure so loss of weight got me to really underweight condition. I was deficient in vit. D and anemic , among other things ...
I am 5'7 and got down to 116 p - it was really pitiful
I am so happy now that I gained my weight back and even couple of pounds more - my jeans fits great again and I have my cleavage back LMAO

I was too skinny also. Hard for me to believe now, but I looked sickly and was. I felt like I was literally wasting away and hated the idea of having to eat 3 times a day!