Diane

She was amazing - so knowledgeable and so willing to share that knowledge. Hope she's been fitted for her harp and given a luxurious cloud to float on up there, she surely earnt it

There is a number here but looks like it may be quite old http://www.reverseaustralia.com/lookup/0740613831/

In reply to the original question - my circulation (Raynauds) problems are better here because of the weather, but I think generally there is a lot more sugar in foods here so despite eating fairly healthily, I have put on weight since being here.

Try and get hold of some local honey - it's supposed to be really good at preventing hay fever as it's made from the pollens you are reacting to. :wubclub:

Well, saw the scleroderma specialist last week and he burst my happiness bubble by saying he thinks it ISN'T gout, and that the lab must have confused calcium crystals for uric crystals, so it's back to the drawing board I'm afraid - such a shame as reading up on the symptoms of gout it sounded so much like it: the excrutiating pain, weight of the bed covers being almost unbearable, etc. At least if it was gout it is treatable, but sounds like I just have to live with it for months until the calcium deposits have been expelled, whilst dosing myself up with a selection of increasingly stronger painkillers and anti-inflammatories - I'm not happy :no: At least it means I can have a glass of my chocolate port now and again...

Thanks all - am on Naproxen at the moment. Typical of my timing that totally out of season for cherries - I tried to get some cherry juice today and failed, so have got some tinned ones, but not sure if they will work the same! I've got a list of foods to avoid (anything high in purine apparently - so meat, spinach, oats are all on the list) and waiting for things to calm down a bit then will hopefully take something that will stop any flare-ups in the future. I have heard of people having it in their toes (my mum for instance) but never in the knees before, and because I have something else which has many and varied symptoms, when I got this incredibly swollen and painful knee about three months ago, they just assumed it was part of that and didn't do any other tests - so I've been in agony since then :eek:. Thank goodness this doctor thought to send a slide off for analysis and picked up the uric crystals.

So after three months of having severe pain and swelling in my knee, and doctors and specialists telling me it is calcium deposits and untreatable, I finally tried a new doctor who took some samples and has told me I have gout - which, miracle of miracles, can be treated! Hurrah! I have to wait for the attack to calm down a bit before they can put me on the medicines I need so has anyone else had gout, and is there any food/drink I can take to help the symptoms? I am so happy that an end to this damn excruciating pain might be in sight :jiggy:

This happened to the son of a friend of mine. As soon as you get citizenship any visa you hold is cancelled so unless you have an Australian passport you will not be able to travel back. She had to courier his documents (citizenship cert, birth certs etc etc) to him in the UK and he went to London and was issued his passport from the Australian Embassy there. There was another post about a teenager who had booked a trip abroad after getting his citizenship and was leaving within the week, not realising he needed an Aussie passport to get back - I think he managed to get one in about three days here in Adelaide, so if you are in Canberra it should be at least as quick, probably quicker.

Australia also has an extremely high level of teenage depression - in fact I think the figures are something like 7% of 16-24 year-olds will experience depression - higher for girls. It's a very serious issue and definitely something that shouldn't carry such a stigma that people feel scared to mention it. This is a good site for teenage depression issues: http://www.headspace.org.au/what-works/research-information/depression and of course there is https://www.lifeline.org.au/

That's what i would have said - put breed as domestic short-hair or long-hair and it wouldn't be an issue I'd have thought