Good morning. For the last few months, my waist has been expanding. I have been trying to lose some weight, but to no avail! Could this be ascites do you think? I have no other symptoms, and my tummy is as flat as it can be after two abdominal ops! Whenever I read about ascites, people say that they look pregnant, whereas I am just "thick" round the middle.
Jenny
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Hi Jenny. You were to see your onc surgeon this month, right? Maybe he can run a quick ultrasound scan on your belly. If there was any liquid, it might show. All the best. Maus
Thickening round the waist is something that happens naturally, usually after menopause, or once the ovaries stop producing any oestrogen at all. Or, of course, have been removed. I used to be pear shaped, but am now more of an apple... even before having gynae surgery for cancer, that change took place between about 60 and 65 years old, at the same time as the curvy thighs and hips started to get much less curvy and thinner... Basically, as we age, we store any spare fat viscerally rather than as 'saddlebags' or curvy hips - not sure how old you are, so this might not be helpful. Ascites, whilst certainly making you look like you're pregnant, also have another feature - if you press your finger into the swelling, it leaves a depression momentarily afterwards, and that is not the case with normal thickening round the waist.
Thanks for the info. I am 70, so well past menopause and this extra tyre has only manifested in the last year. Since a booked bowel op. I will ask questions at my check up.
Scar tissue? Thinking about this in connection with the knickers discussion. I have a range of styles and which I choose is down to which area of scar tissue and or fluid retention feels most sensitive on any day. Rather surprised to have gone back to wearing what I used to before two bowel ops, at least some of the time.
Sounds like good old fatty deposits especially fished out to OC patients. Having met some ladies with ascites it doesn’t sound like it. They were swollen and couldn’t eat, lay down or get comfortable. It also came on very quickly and needed treating quickly
I’m bloated like a weeble which is steroids, cancer and apparently maybe lymphedema.
Thanks LA. Yes, this cancer business doesn't leave any parts of our bodies unchanged, does it? I always follow your posts, and am amazed at the amount of support you are able to give while dealing with so much yourself.
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