Tuesday, March 27, 2007


Yesterday I went to my doctor for a regular check-up. Nothing special (other than a chronic stiff neck) was bothering me, but as usual he complained about my weight. OK so I could stand to lose 70-odd pounds, but I have become very attached to those pounds an it is hard to let them go.

Over the course of seven or eight years I have been seeing him he has recommended nutritionists, Glycemic index diets, fasting diets, etc. Lately he recommended stomach stapling and/or banding. My reaction to both of those was a strong recoil/aversion. Aside from the feeling that taking that route was an admission that I couldn't lose the weight on my own, there was another deeper thing which I couldn't put my finger on at the time. Later that day I remembered what it was. When I was still a teenager my father who lived under great stress as a salesman, developed ulcers, and then one day he had to be taken from the showroom by ambulance because he had developed bleeding ulcers. I guess that is what I subconsciously recalled.

So having nixed surgery he then recommended a new medication Byette(?) which is an injectible that reduced blood sugar and helps weight loss. On the down side it is expensive. So he gave me a prescription and I went to the pharmacy for them to price it and the needles.

Heart attack time!!! Between the two they would cost as much, each month, as the three-month cost for all the other medications I am taking combined. No way I can afford that much extra cost, and have to give myself daily injections, in the stomach, as well

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