Thank you for all of that info, Burnt Toast! I have read a lot of your posts and you seem to be very knowledgeable about all of this.

One more question, since apparently I need to burn off some fat cells, what is your take on a low carb diet, such as the South Beach Diet, where you pretty much eat NO sugar, not even in fruit, for the first 2 weeks, (than you are allowed either a fruit or a 'good' carb, such as oatmeal) and this low carbing literally forces your body to burn fat for fuel, since it is not getting any sugars for fuel. Do you think this might help? BTW, I did the SBD diet a few years ago, and dropped 68 lbs in 6 months. It was amazing, and I felt great, until I started sneaking in a piece of bread or a candy bar here and there, and then it was full blown back to eating junk, LOL.

Do you think a low carb diet can help me out? Thanks for your help and words of wisdom! I have no choice but to be on pain mgmt for the rest of my life, as I am facing a multi level spinal fusion, plus this cyst will have to be dealt with at some point, and then the problems in my neck, so it looks like me and mary will never be together again. Bummer....