I am not sure how long this has been going on, but it was awhile. I was bloated. Any woman reading this knows this isn't unusual or alarming. What is unusual is how long it went on. I was looking up online foods that make you bloated/gassy and foods that don't. I was cooking differently. We were eating in for most every meal. I was taking Gas-x, I was trying to exercise more. I even tried to eat fewer carbs and sugars and yet . . . there was no change in my pants. My pants were actually getting tighter, WTF!? So for those of you who have known me for a long time, you know that I have always just exercised and eaten what I wanted [in moderation] and I have never been a dieter. So in April of this year I was consciously exercising, eating right and my pants were still getting tighter. All the while everyone is telling me that it's menopause and I look great for my age {thanks!} [and there is nothing you can do about it]. In the back of my head though I am thinking it seems so weird for my pants to be getting so tight if I am not gaining weight.

sooooo IT is actually a GOOD THING .  .  .  

     I was too vain to buy larger pants [bloated]

     too clueless to throw on a sundress [good thing because I wouldn't have felt the pressure]

     and not smart enough to know where my appendix is located [so when I asked my  husband, he wanted to know why and when I told him it hurt in my lower left quadrant when I ate, he made me, right then and there make an appt with an internist for may 14th]

[fun fact: two weeks before this ball started rolling, I hadn't had an internist. The only doctor I ever went to was my gynocologist because I was never sick. I saw my gynocologist on April 10 and had some bad labs and she said, "You know Sara, you really need to see an internist, I don't want to be treating your cholesterol when you need to get this stuff checked out.]