Sickos

[Mark]

Death in the family, hospitalization, flus and colds, and plain old aging are just a few of our afflictions. Cal suggested that we might need a separate "hospital" fred and it seemed like a good idea to me, so I'm starting this one. It is not for nothing that the disability community refers to others as the "temporarily abled." Almost anything can happen to anyone at any time.

There are a few things that should tie in besides individual ailments, such as the recent study that found placebos to be getting more effective (more likely big pharma pills are getting less effective) and pandemic conspiracy theories, etc., but seeing as I live in the U.S., this is probably the closest to socialized medicine I'm ever going to get, so share the pain.

[Mark]

Status report:

Curt just got out of the hospital and seems to be in good spirits.

Pan has recovered from surgery enough to begin dance exercises again.

BO has had an awful cold, or maybe flu, or maybe some other virus, but whatever it is, it was uninvited, unwelcome, and he has been feverishly trying to get rid of it.

Mouse has serious physical challenges complicated by severe writer's block about some really bad stuff we won't know about until Mouse tells us.

Cal's dog Blue passed away unexpectedly and Cal's still PTSD-ed from it, aggravated by economic anxiety.

I'm in undeservedly good health and just made it through a week of a vegan diet, but I woke up with leg cramps and I'm thawing two ounces of beef in the fridge for tomorrow, so that's that. When I was younger I could get by with a small amount of meat (usually chicken) once a month, but now I seem to need meat once or twice a week. Or at least I think I do. Maybe it is a dietary or vitamin imbalance that I could fix some other way besides having innocent animals killed for my immoral consumption. It's locally raised organic beef from the farmer's market, with no antibiotics or nitrates, but they do still kill the poor innocent cows. I've tried being vegetarian or vegan several times before and I never lasted very long. Any raw foodies or other experts here who can help me conquer this so I'd be a bit less of a hypocrite?

[curt]

Twenty some hours after being released from hospital, I've decided to take comfort in a pain killer. The alternative medication I've kept within arms reach has been helpful in keeping me somewhat happy yet it lacks effectiveness in the long run. I have to report back to Doc in the morning. The worst part is the 40K drive into the big city. Lucky for me, Doris will be driving. Doc says he'll clear my nose out on tuesday, next week. Sounds like another uncomfortable procedure but a necessary one. Had I known in advance how torturous this would be, I would've let it be.

More tomorrow.

[Mark]

Good decision, Curt. The pain killer, that is. Interesting--if this is torturous, then the more traditional procedures you were fortunate enough not to endure, must be even worse.

Just finished reading an article about environmental toxins. Most of the chemicals in our foods, household goods, and environment in the U.S. are not tested at all. Here's a tiny excerpt from a very worth-reading article:

Divining the Secret of Deformed Roadkill

http://www.miller-mccune.com/science_environment/divining-the-secre...

The Food Quality Protection Act requires the EPA to "provide testing of all pesticide chemicals." That could take awhile. There are about 80,000 chemicals in production today, and the majority of them are neither pesticides nor pharmaceuticals, according to NRDC staff scientist Sarah Jannsen. Also, there is no mandate to screen inert ingredients, such as phthalates, which have been identified as EDCs; bisphenol-A is another chemical not on the initial list.
---------------------

Phthalates are a common type of those "inert ingredients" that are often found in big pharma medications. EDCs are endocrine disruptors--they might be deliberately inserting them to diminish male sexual abilities so that they can sell more enhancement pills. You never know what an aggressive marketing technique might consist of. Predatory capitalists are people who will arrange to have your family killed just so they can sell you the caskets.

[pan]

Pain-killers serve their purpose. Use as needed.

Fortunately for me the hospital is local so it was 10 minute drive from our house. They really emphasized to me that I should take pain meds anytime I needed them - they put a big emphasis upon pain management - but I had a different procedure done so it doesn't really generalize.

[Mark]

Pain management generalizes, Pan. The prevailing theory here in the U.S. was that pain killers are narcotics, narcotics are bad, so it was better for patients to be in pain that to prescribe pain killers. That began to crack as people became more accepting of nontraditional medicine which, without using pain killers, didn't make fun of or trivialize people's pain and often found ways to alleviate it. I'm just guessing, but I think that as our health care industry became aware that if they didn't treat pain, patients would go to chiropractors, acupuncturists, and other alternative practitioners who would, it decided that returns to shareholders were more important than dogma, and began treating pain again. But there's still a sharp divide. Terminal patients who are fortunate enough to get into a hospice here will be treated for pain, but those who aren't will just have to suffer on the theory that withholding pain killers keeps them from becoming addicted after they're dead.

I'm very fond of pain killers myself, even though I haven't taken any, with the exception of a few aspirin, in years. Funny, long after I'd stop taking them, and long after their expiration date was up, I still hung on to some strong prescription pain killers "just in case," and didn't throw them out until they would have qualified as historical artifacts.

As with any other big pharma drugs, I'd suggest checking them out. If they contain "inert ingredients," they might cause you more pain later on than they're relieving now.

[pan]

Prior to my surgery they gave me one Oxycontin. The Mormon nurse hadn't ever heard the name "hillbilly heroin" for the drug. They also implanted a topical I.V. drip that continuously dripped novocaine to the joint for the first two days after the surgery. Then it was onto Oxycodone every 3 hours. Worked well - only had to call for morphine injection once - unlike my surgery two years ago where I was doing morphine on demand and still was in pain.

The restrictions placed upon narcotics (only 40 per bottle/no refills without a new script) made my first prescription a real pain. At two pills per dose every 3 hours I ran out of oxycodone within 2 and a half days - which fell on a weekend so I couldn't get hold of my surgeon.

The on-call Doc called in hydrocodone which isn't refillable but is a step down so it doesn't require a written script. I was happy with the change as the hydrocodone didn't have the constipative effect as the previous drug did.

Within a week they changed the recommendation from1-2 pills every 3-4 hours to 4-6 hours with a max of 8 pills per 24 hr period. After a couple of weeks I started rationing my pills by splitting them in half so I wouldn't have to call the office and wait until the surgeon was available to get a refill. Now I have quite a few leftover "just in case".

I don't like what they do to my brain function. I like being clear. Primary pain-killer and anti-inflammatory of choice is Ibuprofen. As a dancer/capoeirista/outdoor recreation enthusiast I call it my favorite recreational drug. When I was in a professional dance company my colleagues called it "Vitamin I". Prolonged extensive usage can lead to liver damage so I avoid it unless absolutely necessary now - and I have definitely reduced the dosage.

[Mark]

Okay, that looks like a philosophical difference, Pan. Regarding pain killers, you write, "I don't like what they do to my brain function. I like being clear."

My experience is that having a clear understanding of what's going on can be very painful.

One thing that seems to be agreed upon in western medicine is that psychological pain isn't real pain. Psychiatrists can prescribe tranquilizers, mood elevators, and all sorts of things, but not pain killers. Contrast this with our torture industry which teaches that when physical pain won't break a prisoner, they should threaten to harm the prisoner's loved ones, as the very thought of their loved ones being harmed can be more painful than physical harm to the prisoners themselves. So we know that psychological pain is real and can be more painful than physical pain, and we utilize that knowledge in our torture industry, but when it comes to medicine, we pretend that psychological pain is "all in your mind," and therefore shouldn't be treated with pain killers. That kind of hypocrisy reveals a great deal about our health care industry.

But you're right about constipation and liver damage.

Hoping that big pharma doesn't have web crawlers, I'll predict that the first company to market a line of 100% organic, no-additives, no inert ingredients prescription and over-the-counter drugs, will have a huge market advantage in the U.S.

Remember this "History of Medicine"?

1000 A.D. "Here, eat this herb".
1500 A.D. "Herb not good for you, drink this brew".
1900 A.D. "Brew not good for you, take this pill".
2000 A.D. "Pill is not good for you, eat this herb".

[curt]

Haha, Brew VERY good for you. Curt drank 0.5Litre blonde brew tuesday evening. Curt slept like log. No additional medications required. Brew work so good on Curt, Curt double dosage for thursday evening ; Glasgow Rangers vs. Stuttgarter Kickers in Champions League match warranted higher dosage. Feh. Curt sleep like log again. Funny how meduzeen grows. Pill once helped Curt see life from new perspective. Then power of pill wore off, or, eh, became permanent. Power of herb always good for Curt. Specially in combination with brew.

No, Curt not momentarily medicated. Pain is setting in again. Humor is another sort of pain killer except when you've had your nose fixed and your otherwise very good friend tells you a very funny joke that makes you laugh.

Doc told me today, he will remove the two plates on tuesday. "Plates"? I asked. "Yes, the plates I inserted to lend support to your now perfectly straight (insert Latin words here). I went in for the removal of polyps and came out with a complete nose job, including a septoplasty. Holy forking shit. Oh, Doc also said the complications we had were easily subdued thanks to my choice to have the coblation method applied.

I'm quite happy to have made a good choice and can hardly wait to see what this dude's gonna pull outa my nose on tuesday. Oh, and I'm running outa nose tampons.

Vivaldi would have been an excellant choice. I should have thought of that prior to hospitalisation. Van Morrison accompanied me on one occasion. This time, I had Rush in the bag and couldn't listen to it so had to switch over to Radio which ......was boring enough to put me to sleep. When the music's over, the news comes up and we all fall asleep.

But seriously, folks, this coblation method is where it's at.

[curt]

Holy shit, now I can see the plastic plates and the stitches that are holding them on place. NOW it hurts.

Need to medicate some more.

1.5Litre Blonde, Rapid Vienna vs. Hamburg SV in an UEFA match. ;-)

[pan]

Going to bottle my Hibiscus Flower Trippel tomorrow.....yum!

Stop looking at the mess at the end of your face until after the Doc pulls out those stitches.

I didn't have any stitches pulled - doc used biodegradable thread that dissolved after awhile.

[Mark]

Yeah, it hurts now, but just think of how great you're going to look, in addition to being able to breathe easier. Not that there was anything wrong with the way you looked before. And think how lucky you are that they stopped with your nose and didn't decide to enhance your lips, change the shape of your eyes, reform your ears, and alter your jaw while they had you on the table. All that stuff is billable and surgeons loooove to practice, so you got off easy.

That hospital picture looked like they'd done more than just dissolve some polyps. Got me wondering if you were RFID-ed at the same time. Sure would be nice if there was a way to stipulate that if they decided to do anything more than what was scheduled, they had to wake you up and ask permission. Not that it isn't all good, but I think it was rather presumptuous of them.

[curt]

"RFID-ed at the same time"? Hey, that's MY nightmare! Who told you about it?

They prolly put the damned chip in the middle of my face, right there behind my nose. In the movies, you can cut the chip out. Try cutting your nose off.