Azubah

Also -- shouldn't he be in school?

A 14-year-old who was abandoned by her and hates her guts! Good choice!

WOW these people are unlikable. What a nightmare being trapped in that family.

Well, there is that. I had a couple of friends whose parents would put you to work if you came over, and I admit it slowed down on the number of times I'd go to that friend's house. "Oh good, you can help Elizabeth clean her room!" Uh, no, I don't even clean my own room. But on the scale of Parental Crimes, that's pretty low.

Affluent family with minor, ordinary family problems complies with Intervention protocol. Not exactly high drama.

@raiderred1, if I knew the magic cure for screwed-up hormones, believe me, I'd tell the world. As others have mentioned, sometimes a LCHF diet helps not only with weight but with other hormonal issues. I have a super hard time sticking to LCHF, mostly because I like my red wine...which explains why I also watch a lot of Intervention. Sigh.

I've been through the entire preliminary screening for weight-loss surgery, though I chickened out at the last minute and didn't go through with it. They do a standard blood panel that doesn't address hormones at all, and the psychological screening is pretty much just the psychologist checking to see if you're delusional and making sure you understand (or claim to understand) that there will be difficult days ahead.

I agree with others that Cynthia had a bad attitude. But she probably wasn't lying when she said she was hungry all the time. And it's entirely possible that her hunger is physical and not some psychological problem. It's far more likely that she has some hormonal imbalance that is screwing up her appetite control. I get kind of tired of Dr. Now insisting that the surgery works exactly the same for everyone and if it doesn't, then you need psychological help. Weight, appetite, etc., are very complex and poorly understood.

That's harder to do when you don't drive. I assume he lost his license somewhere along the way. I hope he gets it back eventually. It's a pain when only one partner can drive. I wondered if the skin discoloration was acanthosis nigricans. If you look up images of the condition, it seems likely. In its worst stages, it looks like that terrible "pebbled" skin that we've been treated to in all the season previews. It seems to be related to insulin resistance.

Regarding the Suez Crisis -- did anyone watch "The Hour"? It was on Netflix; I don't know if it's still there. It was a terrific show set in England in the 1950s, and focused on an hour-long news show called "The Hour". The Suez Crisis was a significant plot point. Very good series.

Honestly, I really wanted to know how Robby's wife Janet lost the 170 pounds. I need a blended show of Intervention and My 600 Pound Life.

His affect was off. He seemed to be sort of laughing the whole time. That might have been because of his age -- it can be hard to process something that horrible and dramatic when you're a tween or teen. Also, and I Am Not A Medical Professional, but he had a couple of the facial characteristics of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, so he might have had some cognitive issues.

I had no idea webcam porn paid so well. She's covering rent AND drugs.

Yeah, I said to the TV, "Dude, the only thing harder than being a fat guy is being a fat woman. You might want to rethink this."

Oookay. It's a long way from taking care of Grandma in a small house to singing in a drag show. I'm beginning to wonder about Lola. She seems kind of narcissistic. Two hours was ridiculously long. How many times can we listen to "I'm worried about telling my conservative relatives that I'm transgender!" We got it the first time. The tenth time was just tedious. I know this is kind of my hobbyhorse, but a lot of the women on this show seem to have lipedema. If Pauline has it, it would explain why she doesn't lose much weight in her legs and would also explain some of her pain. I get tired of Dr. Now being so dismissive of his patients' subjective experiences. And once he decides he doesn't like you, good luck getting decent treatment from him.

Suddenly disliking a food that you used to like is a common effect of bariatric surgery. If Laura needed more protein Dr. Now should have guided her to the protein shakes and soups that many folks use just before and after surgery. Of course real food is better, but if you just can't stand it, the shakes are better than nothing. My bariatric doctor had a list of products that met the protein/carb/fat recommendations.

It was so interesting how much better Marla behaved with a different doctor! The new doctor told her all the same stuff, but somehow the tone of voice was different. Marla didn't instantly get passive-aggressive. Goes to show how important doctor/patient fit is.

I was wondering where this thread was! I was beginning to think I'd hallucinated the episode.

I am not a doctor, but I would bet a shiny nickel that Ashley has lipedema. If you google some images of lipedema, you'll see her legs are just textbook. And if that's true, then skin surgery is not an option, and the only successful procedure available is water-assisted liposuction. Not many US surgeons perform WAL. I haven't finished watching the episode yet, so I don't know if Dr. Now got around to diagnosing that. I've never seen him do so. Also, regular dieting won't touch lipedema. You can have an anorexic upper body and still have the column-like legs with the ankle "cuff". A whole bunch of these people need a second opinion beyond Dr. Now.

I wonder how many of these people have problems that are more directly related to lipidema and lymphedema than to primary obesity? Sean's flesh was tearing because of the lymphedema. Some other folks have lipidema that never goes away.

I think a lot of Kayleigh's "bitchiness" was in the edit. And he seemed clearly clinically depressed. I guess it would make for bad TV, but I wish they'd do this more like real bariatric surgery, where you have to have a psych eval. The depression might get caught earlier.

I thought she might be favoring the disabled child a bit because the younger boy had his father right there. And perhaps the father is more interested in/capable of caring for the younger one than the older one.