amna should TOTALLY do the cut and color. totally totally do it. it will look awesome.

6/18/2011 3:41:26 PM

GoldenGirl I am planning on painting the guest bedroom light gray next week. I don't know what kind of furniture you have in your room but mine is a white "French country" type. I am doing accents of light yellow and little pops of this robin's egg blue that match the sheets I currently own.

I don't think gray is drab, I think it brings out the furniture without doing anything too extreme. Good luck and take pictures when you're done.

6/18/2011 4:55:59 PM

Guh cramps from hell. Can't remember the last time I had cramps this bad.

6/19/2011 10:01:08 AM

Sounds like your birth control ain't working right.

6/19/2011 10:16:38 AM

Unfortunately I don't use the kind that stops your period. I'm too paranoid I'd end up pregnant and not know it with that stuff

6/19/2011 10:51:00 AM

Even if it doesn't stop the flow, the pills should prevent your body from making the hormones that cause cramps (or at least enough to cause that much pain).

If you have regular periods, ponstel is the shit if you start taking it a couple days before your period. Rx only, and after you get the script don't even try to get it filled in the US because it's way cheaper from canada.

http://www.universaldrugstore.com/medications/Mefenamic%20Acid
If you order from them PM me first and I'll give you my referral info so you can save some money. I've ordered thyroid pills from this place and am still alive, so you know they are legit.

I was invited to a bridal shower (no wedding invitation yet?), but will be pretty much unemployed for the next 3 months and just got put on some expensive meds my insurance won't cover. I still feel like an ass cheaping out on a gift.

[Edited on June 19, 2011 at 11:17 AM. Reason : ...]

6/19/2011 11:03:26 AM

i used to take ponstel for bad cramps

it was ok. i get really really really bad ones every few periods. when i was in HS and through most of college, it was EVERY period.

ponstel only sometimes helped. also had an RX for vicodin. which also didn't 100% help. i started taking BC when i was 16 because of bad cramps...it made my periods more regular but never really touched the cramps, hence the RX prescriptions i got.

they've gotten a lot better as i've gotten older (cramps, not the meds...no longer have RX for the meds as i haven't been to the lady doctor in way too long and now i'm too paranoid to go, but that is another story). but i still get really bad ones every few periods.

i woke up at 5AM with horrible cramps this morning (but not the most horrible kind. it is sad that they are bad enough to wake me up and be unable to get comfortable but not the really bad unbearable kind where i seriously want someone to put me out of my misery, so i consider the ones i had this morning "normal" and not "bad" on my scale). really the only thing that KIND OF helps when they are that bad is pinching myself or making the heating pad so hot that it burns my skin so that i focus on that pain instead of the cramp pain. i mean that is crazy right? i need to go to the lady doctor but i'm scurred.

anyway, i am feeling your pain, wolfpackgrrr

6/19/2011 1:21:57 PM

2 things:

1. I'm in love with http://www.asos.com Sooooo much awesome clothing on that site!

B. You really need to hit up Swirl by Daily Candy. It's like Rue La La and whatnot, but I've found it has some really fun designers that I've never heard of. http://beta.swirl.com/invite/erica

WORD

[Edited on June 19, 2011 at 1:27 PM. Reason : e]

6/19/2011 1:26:51 PM

^^don't stress! i had a 2 people come to mine who didn't bring a gift at all and no one really noticed (the only reason i did was because they told me).
i was just happy they came



also ladies.
i have two really cool maxi dresses that are semi see through and kinda tight.
they look AWESOME over bathing suits but i want to wear them out....any suggestions on slips for underneath?

6/19/2011 1:28:42 PM

Spanx slimplicity convertible slip (so good, but it's short so you could see a line if its too tight and your dress is very body conscious)

[Edited on June 19, 2011 at 1:37 PM. Reason : they also make a version you can wear with V-neck dresses]

6/19/2011 1:37:17 PM

^if theres a little line it wont bother me that much

6/19/2011 1:44:43 PM

but yeah it holds and it's smooth so your clothes don't stick to it too

6/19/2011 1:47:05 PM

I thought ponstel only helped sometimes because mine were irregular and I couldn't start taking it ahead of time all the time.

One thing that seems to have helped me is to take magnesium citrate (or other chelate). I take magnesium and a multi-mineral and I don't have to take vicodin every time and the pain doesn't last as long so that's a huge improvement.

6/19/2011 3:42:18 PM

Honestly I'm just being a whiner lol. Usually I get very minimal to no cramping so I have no room to complain. And then I start reading about cramping and see it can also be an early sign of pregnancy which makes me go

6/19/2011 3:46:17 PM

^^ yea same. i bet it really does help if you have regular periods.

i need to keep a period diary i think. and then go to the lady doctor. so i can actually see what the problems are and how often they occur.

someone put somewhere to take tylenol and ibuprofen. i've been doing that today and that seems to kinda help. not at the same time but i alternate. i guess because they help different types of pain?

^ lol paranoid
sometimes i go through that too though.

6/19/2011 7:11:21 PM

take them at the same time

I was the one that put that on here...my doc told me to do it

you'll be fine

6/19/2011 7:14:30 PM

ohhhh thanks

it really seems to help having them just both in my body at the same time. i am sure taking them at the same time will have even more success

i had been alternating every 2-3 hours. my doctor told me (awhile ago cause i am bad and haven't been recently) that you could take more than the daily dose on the bottle. i mean obviously i don't do that frequently but sometimes they are tres bad and i have to

[Edited on June 19, 2011 at 7:16 PM. Reason : .]

6/19/2011 7:16:10 PM

Rx tylenol is double the label dose. They just crank down the OTC suggestions under the assumption that most people are idiots.

Good idea on taking notes. Maybe if I do that the docs will see that I am serious. Haven't been to that kind of doc in a long time, and will have to go to a new one but some won't give out controlled substances on the first visit, no matter how long I've been rxed it. So scared I'm going to run into one of those I just haven't been and have been taking pills I should have thrown away.

I try to go to male docs, they just seem horrified that what should be a normal bodily process causes so much pain, while the women ones seem to think I'm making stuff up. Has anyone else noticed this? The laparoscopic surgery I had to look around that area was less painful than my cramps, and I'm tired of docs looking at me like I'm full of shit when I tell them that.

6/19/2011 7:34:08 PM

Not the same, but I had something similar when I went to the dentist. I had been seeing this one dentist in raleigh that took my insurance, and he was awesome. Knew I was very sensitive and gave me good meds when doing a filling. Then, he left the practice and none of the other dentists there took my insurance. So I had to go to new one for another filling. He didn't give me enough lidocain or however you spell it, and had to stop during the middle of it to give me more. And I had told him how sensitive my teeth are......

[Edited on June 19, 2011 at 7:43 PM. Reason : .]

6/19/2011 7:42:04 PM

on the subject of possible gluten intolerance (again)

it's to the point where i don't even want to eat things with gluten in them anymore... my cupcakes I made this weekend tasted so good but I didn't even want to take more than 2 bites because I've been so sick feeling..

6/19/2011 7:43:36 PM

poor Sam

have you gone to the doctor for it yet?!

6/19/2011 8:19:28 PM

does anyone know of somewhere locally that sells vincent longo lipstick? Sephora stopped carrying it and I'm kinda iffy about ordering it online b/c I'm pretty sure it would just melt and that's $30 down the toilet pfffft

6/19/2011 8:56:31 PM

^^^ That is exactly why I passed on the biopsy. I felt so awful if there was any chance if it helping I wanted to be gluten free ASAP. I think I ate chicken and canned green beans pretty much exclusively the first couple days because I was too tired to cook or think about what I could eat. Then I started feeling better.

It also helps that I love canned green beans, so it's not as awful as it sounds to most people. Plus the massive amounts of salt helped with being light headed, so win win.

6/20/2011 12:21:23 AM

my appointment isn't until July but I'm going to go in the office tomorrow since I need to move it anyway... maybe I can be fit in :\


I've been researching a lot of shiz and there are a few narcolepsy/celiac alleles I'm still not 100% that's what's going on, but I do want to be genotyped because now I'm curious

6/20/2011 2:30:56 AM

Sam, keep us in the loop on the gluten stuff.

like i mentioned, my doctors thought for the last couple of years that i had a gluten intolerance because my mom has a bad gluten allergy (it can be hereditary) and i was showing a lot of the symptoms. little did we know it was actually a sulfite allergy and now that i'm aware of what i'm not supposed to eat, things are MUCH better. i really hope they get to the root of the problem you're having. having stomach issues is no bueno and i can attest to that with all the stuff i've been dealing with over the last few years.

i also gave in and ate something with sulfites in it over the weekend. ummmm holy allergic reaction on sunday. my stomach is still bloated from eating those delicious M&M's and cake.

6/20/2011 7:49:01 AM

could you talk more about the sulfites allergy?

what foods have sulfites and are they particularly bad? or, like a gluten intolerance, its more about your body not being able to process/break down something particular

im curious about these food allergies, i dont have any but just curious about them

6/20/2011 8:57:44 AM

i think i have a sulfite allergy...


i get a HORRIBLE headache EVERY SINGLE TIME i drink a bottle of wine

6/20/2011 9:08:22 AM

the sulfite allergy was diagnosed after i started having weird reactions after eating/drinking/ingesting certain things. it started with dexamethasone (cortisol steroid) last fall when they were testing my cortisol levels for possible Cushings (which turned out to be pseudo-Cushings from my birth control). my joints (especially my hands) got red and itchy and swelled up and my entire body itched really bad. i alerted my endocrinologist (who wrote the prescription for the dex) and him and the nurses found it was weird that i had THAT kind of reaction - it also gave me a lot of stomach problems (bloating, constipation) - just weird stuff they hadn't seen before.

i had started to notice that whenever i drank wine, i started getting weird reactions - insomnia and weird stomach issues. in the spring i drank quite a bit of wine and my hands started to swell and turned red. then i started getting weird pains up my arm and a case of extreme insomnia ensued. the next day i felt AWFUL - moreso than any other hangover i've ever had.

from there i started to do research - i found that wine AND dex both have sulfites in them and my reactions seemed to line up with what everything was saying. from there i did some more tests - i ate shrimp (not supposed to with sulfites) and a few other things (chocolate, stuff with a lot of preservatives in it) to see what would happen. Shrimp by far was the worst - my hands were swollen for 14 hours and my joints hurt SO bad.

from all my research i found that a lot of stuff that has gluten in it, also has sulfites in it. basically highly processed stuff. i have to watch for anything that is preserved - essentially anything canned or dried. i can't have wine anymore - especially white wine but i notice red wine makes me feel icky as well. no more shrimp or lobster. definitely no more dexamethasone. i buy everything fresh and make it myself. i stay away from overly processed foods that have weird names i can't pronounce and i check ingredients for anything in sulfites in it (there's like 6 names you have to keep an eye out for). also anything in casings - sausages, hot dogs, salami, and i stay away from bacon (especially turkey bacon - holy hell i had a bad reaction off that too).

the problem with my allergy is that it's hard to test - i basically found my body operates MUCH better when i don't have sulfites in my system. case in point - i ate m&m's and cake Saturday night which is a no-no and i had a bad reaction (my first in over 2 months). swelling, pain, redness, insomnia, and i also gained 2 pounds in a matter of 6 hours because the sulfites bloat my intestines.

since going sulfite-free and cleaning up my diet, i've been able to put on muscle and lose weight. i don't have the weird stomach issues anymore. i don't feel bloated. the swelling of the hands is what made me the most nervous because i was reading that sulfite allergies can get worse if they go untreated (ie: you keep eating sulfites) and eventually you can go into anaphylatic (spelling?) shock.

the allergy sucks but my reactions suck more so i just find ways around it to deal with it. i've always had some weird allergies anyways - i've have periods of lactose intolerance, i was allergic to pool chlorine one summer, i was allergic to hot chocolate mix for a while as a kid.

[Edited on June 20, 2011 at 9:53 AM. Reason : sorry words]

6/20/2011 9:52:36 AM

very interesting. thanks for elaborating.

would it be fair to say that some of these food allergies make someone HAVE to eat healthier? seems like it but it could be a wild assumption

6/20/2011 10:31:19 AM

Has anyone here tried the GAPS diet? I feel like it could help a lot, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to do it. I loves me some carbs, but I'm getting tired of my intestines trying to declare anarchy.

6/20/2011 10:31:27 AM

Quote :

"would it be fair to say that some of these food allergies make someone HAVE to eat healthier? seems like it but it could be a wild assumption"

essentially yes - especially with weird food allergies like gluten, sulfites, lactose, etc.

i feel like i've always had good control of eating, making right choices and eating healthy things but with my recent issues with certain foods, i really have to watch what i eat and make sure i'm still getting in the right kind of nutrients and calories. for a long time i just didn't feel good for so long i didn't really eat enough and it made my metabolism suffer.

Quote :

"Has anyone here tried the GAPS diet?"

what's GAPS? i haven't heard of it.

i guess you could consider my diet "low carb." i have 1 cup of oats in the morning (made into oatmeal with fruit) and then i normally have 1 more serving of a whole grain, high fiber carb either at lunch or at dinner. the rest of my day is filled with lean meats, 1 serving of whey protein (all natural stuff), 2 eggs, lots of water, 3 servings of veggies, and 3 servings of fruit a day. it's actually not so bad - it forces me to get in my daily allowance of calories. i also allow 2 cheat meals a week - usually on the weekends. i also work out really hard - 3 days a week P90X and 3 days a week running so i found having my diet on track helps when it comes to working out.

6/20/2011 10:41:23 AM

yikes Cass I'm glad you feel better now... that's crazy. I also found out last night my hypersomnia/narcolepsy meds apparently have gluten in them. And there's no generic version of that medicine - it's either Provigil or Ridalin (or another type of stimulant). :\


Wolfy -- definitely. I was looking into what all I would have to cut out and let's just say... I will have to do some research before going out to eat, I will have to have an alternative cupcake batter recipe, and I won't be able to eat regular pasta (quinoa pasta is the jam though, thank goodness).


I just really wanted to avoid taking stimulants for this narcolepsy shiz.

6/20/2011 10:42:08 AM

Repost since I was on the bottom:

Ok Ladies. thoughts...thinking about light grey walls for my bedroom. This is my current wall color throughout my condo.



was thinking along these lines....now stick with the current or switch. I don't want it to feel drab though.

6/20/2011 11:06:23 AM

Guess my answer wasn't good enough.

6/20/2011 11:08:36 AM

Quote :

"You should load pictures of your room into the behr.com room paint simulator and see how it would look according to that."

Quote :

"I don't think gray is drab, I think it brings out the furniture without doing anything too extreme. Good luck and take pictures when you're done."

6/20/2011 11:56:22 AM

^^^, ^^ hahahha yeah i totally answered you GoldenGirl at the top of this page. i said do the light gray, it would look nice.

Quote :

"Wolfy -- definitely. I was looking into what all I would have to cut out and let's just say... I will have to do some research before going out to eat, I will have to have an alternative cupcake batter recipe, and I won't be able to eat regular pasta (quinoa pasta is the jam though, thank goodness)."

Samwise16 going out to eat isn't too bad if you stick to the staples - grilled whatever (salmon, fish, steak, chicken) with grilled veggies and a side salad. avoid creamy soups (they're usually made with flour) or obviously anything breaded. potatoes are fine to eat as long as they're not double baked (even though they are so so good). a lot of places now either offer gluten-free menus at the restaurant or even online. you might have to do some extra research but i always felt i had less anxiety about picking something if i was better prepared.

get the Red Mill gluten-free flour. best.stuff.ever. they have like 80 different brands of flours too depending on what kind of cooking/baking you're doing. the pancake flour is the awesome.

quinoa pasta is A-MAZING. love the stuff - i still prefer it when i do make pasta. every other gluten free pasta is made with rice and sticks like a mofo to the pan.

[Edited on June 20, 2011 at 12:28 PM. Reason : name]

6/20/2011 12:28:03 PM

Sweet, thanks

The one thing I definitely don't want to switch to is fucking buckwheat

yuck.

6/20/2011 3:44:48 PM

Since you bitches wanna talk about vaginal pain and allergies to bread, I will repost my 2 things I wanted to discuss yesterday.

I say bitch with love...bitches

Quote :

"2 things: 1. I'm in love with http://www.asos.com Sooooo much awesome clothing on that site! B. You really need to hit up Swirl by Daily Candy. It's like Rue La La and whatnot, but I've found it has some really fun designers that I've never heard of. http://beta.swirl.com/invite/erica WORD"

6/20/2011 3:47:13 PM

Hahahahahaha

I meant to check out that candy site or whatever that you posted... I'll sign up now

HAPPY?!?!?!?1?!?!?!?!?!1

6/20/2011 3:47:51 PM

FINE I'LL CLICK YOUR DAMN INVITE, ERICA

(i was part of the vagina convo in case you couldn't tell )

6/20/2011 3:48:34 PM

Actually yes...I just did a full spin in my desk chair.

6/20/2011 3:50:37 PM

did I get you a free credit or something?

I like the set up of this site


OH PS. Urban Decay was on HauteLook the other day and I was kinda disappointed with the selection this go round. Still got some good stuff though.

6/20/2011 3:52:46 PM

oh shit i already see stuff on swirl i like

that stephanie johnson shit looks fun!!

6/20/2011 3:52:59 PM

Just what I need! Another ideeli/RueLaLa. I signed up anyways.

6/20/2011 3:57:07 PM

I love this one




and I wish these weren't so expensive..

6/20/2011 3:58:27 PM

When you whores buy something I will get a credit

SEE I TOLD YOU ITS GREAT...I mean I tried to get you to sign up weeks ago!

[Edited on June 20, 2011 at 3:59 PM. Reason : Yeah really I wanted those after crying about not finding some for a wedding...I'll prob buy anyways]

6/20/2011 3:58:30 PM

asos is nice, but i haven't ordered anything because i'm unsure of how it fits and it's ridiculous to try to return anything. also, if you have an order over like, $200 in the US you might have to pay customs since they're in the UK

6/20/2011 4:00:10 PM

That black star/flower headband thing would be super easy to make out of any sort of sequin applique.

6/20/2011 8:30:23 PM

I'm just going to get a real starfish and attach it to my head

6/20/2011 9:04:48 PM

bedazzle it first

6/20/2011 9:07:58 PM