Question: Okay, I am a 61 year old female, mostly healthy. (smoker - about 5-6/day) I am very active as I run my own doggie day care. I am constantly walking, hiking, chasing and playing with the dogs I care for. I am also the one who prefers a clean and organized home, so I am always busy is my point. I exercise 6 days a week, or at least I started doing that about 5 months ago. I am the cook and trying to stay on the healthier side of ingredients when doing so. I have always been a slender person weighing between 129-139lbs at 5'5". Until 2007 when I came back from the bahamas with a parasite infection. (Lung Flukes) Within three weeks I put on over 84 pounds and lost half of my breathing ability. I have since mostly recovered and have made it back down to 148lbs, yet have had issues with the breathing. Those are the recent facts and this is my medical question: It seems no matter how much I do, how little I eat, how long I exercise or walk - I have lost the weight but, I keep gaining inches. Only in the torso area of my body, especially the abdominal area, which feels like it is constantly blown up. It feels tight when I stand and even tighter when I bend or sit. I have tried altering my diet, flushing my system, even standing on my head(inversion), acupunture, supplements - well you name it. I am at a loss as to why my body is reacting this way and I am no fool. I was a nurse for 32 years and became one because every single member of my family had/has cancer. Spent my life taking care of myself to be able to take care of them, I stayed extremely healthy until the parasites. I know myself very well and can usually correct most imbalances I might have. Yet, now my body is not behaving like it always has and I could use some advice as to what areas I might look into or what could possibly be a cause. Sorry about being so wordy!

No I have never had problems with either. When I came back with a parasite in 2007, it took them until 2010 to find them. In the meantime they put me through many tests and procedures. There were only two that came back presenting any sort of problems - one was the barium swallow test - it showed that my throat sometimes collapses when I am eating due to damage caused by my ex. The other was the colonoscopy - I woke up twice screaming and they said that they were never able to get the scope in more than about 10 inches from all of the damage. But these are problems I have lived with since 1978 and as much as they can mess with me, I do not believe them to be the root of the problem. I have had no major medical issues or problems other than what I have stated. However, just about any problem you could mention, someone in my family has had it or has it or died from it. Yes, I am aware that people tend to exaggerate, but this time it is true. I am the only member of my entire family that has not had a major illness haunt me. By the way my mother died from adrenal cancer and my daughter was born with a bad thyroid.