The "what's On Your Mind?" Thread -2018

[Alicia88]

Oh, this child! She helped me put the roast together the other day - she put everything in the crock pot - and I told her it tasted even better since she helped. So now, if she didn't help cook it, she says it's yucky and she doesn't want to eat it.

 

[Willowy]

Haha, kids are fun! I have to say I don't think that could last too long, but hey, maybe she'll make lunch and you can take a break .

 

[muffy]

It happened again. Yay for the lions.
Poacher Eaten By Lions He Was Trying to Hunt in South Africa

I hope it keeps on happening until the mighty lions get all of those greedy SOB's.

 

[arouetta]

Not sure what you're saying here. Of the people I know who have life-threatening allergies, none of them were taking immunosuppressive drugs before developing the allergy.
.

It's not the drug, it's the belief the immune system is the worst thing that has happened to humans. Allergies in general are known to be because the immune system is nice and strong and latched onto a food protein instead of a germ. It's parroted as more evidence about how our immune system has outlived its usefulness and is now a danger to us instead of a protector.

 

[Willowy]

It's parroted as more evidence about how our immune system has outlived its usefulness and is now a danger to us instead of a protector.

I guess I haven't heard/read about people saying that, as a general thing.

Yeah, there are definitely times of the year I wish my immune system would just calm the heck down. It would be nice if the immune system could be trained to only attack the things it needs to attack.

 

[arouetta]

I guess I haven't heard/read about people saying that, as a general thing.

Yeah, there are definitely times of the year I wish my immune system would just calm the heck down. It would be nice if the immune system could be trained to only attack the things it needs to attack.

Allergies and the Immune System | Johns Hopkins Medicine Health Library

 

[Willowy]

Allergies and the Immune System | Johns Hopkins Medicine Health Library

? Is there something in there you consider inaccurate? I think it's a pretty good explanation of how allergies work. They didn't say that our immune systems have outlived their usefulness.

 

[arouetta]

What they say is the immune system is causing a bad thing. Ergo, the immune system is a bad thing because it causes bad things.

I just find it stupidly hard to believe that the human body has done really good at keeping itself healthy and that the problems all came from outside, and then once we discovered hand sanitizer now the human body is its own worst enemy.

 

[Willowy]

What they say is the immune system is causing a bad thing. Ergo, the immune system is a bad thing because it causes bad things.

I'm not sure that necessarily follows. Drinking too much water can kill you. Talking about that doesn't mean you're saying that drinking water is bad.

I just find it stupidly hard to believe that the human body has done really good at keeping itself healthy and that the problems all came from outside, and then once we discovered hand sanitizer now the human body is its own worst enemy.

IDK. In 1800 (worldwide), 43% of humans born died before they were 5. That's the earliest we could get decent data; I'm sure things weren't any better in the years before that (one anthropologist I read said she estimated that child mortality was in the 70% range throughout most of history). In 1960, worldwide child mortality was 18.5%. Now we have a worldwide child mortality rate of around 4%, far less than 1% in developed countries. And a collective 70% chance of living to be 70. Maybe weird immune issues are just the price we pay for being alive.

 

[arouetta]

Yes, child mortality has gone down a lot, like falling off a cliff lot. But is that because we got rid of the external problems like no food, bad food, bad water, germs, accidents, things like that? Probably. Almost certainly.

I could see weird immune issues if it were on the small scale. Something can always break in the human body. But it's not on the small scale. Every time you turn around it's auto-immune this, auto-immune that. Immune suppressants are advertised more than alcohol is, which means they expect that more people are going to use their product than the people who will drink Captain Morgan's. Everyone has a story to tell about how their woes are being caused by their own immune system attacking them, half don't even have a formal diagnosis because the disease is not yet known to science.

I complained about having three spots of tendonitis that have not gone away since 2016 and a fourth, new one cropping up and she said something about immune testing if I keep getting new inflamed tendons. (She said PT as well, but that's already been a fail when it came to fixing tendonitis.) Why do I need immune testing for a sports injury?

Immune system issues are the new "vapors". Something has to be wrong because women swoon and faint. How much of these immune problems are because of external factors (like corsets) and how much are psychological (they are supposed to faint) and how many are actually a real problem?

 

[Mamanyt1953]

The blister on the "ring finger" toe is clear as day.

Well, just...OUCH and POOR BABY!

It happened again. Yay for the lions.
Poacher Eaten By Lions He Was Trying to Hunt in South Africa

GO LIONS! Karma is a lovely thing.

and I told her it tasted even better since she helped. So now, if she didn't help cook it, she says it's yucky and she doesn't want to eat it.

Oh, well...that's not the worst thing in the world. Let her help. Every little bit reinforces that helping is a good thing.

I'm not sure that necessarily follows. Drinking too much water can kill you. Talking about that doesn't mean you're saying that drinking water is bad.

That was my thought, as well, although I couldn't come up with near as good an analogy.

Still waiting for my inspection, which was due last Monday. She says that it will be this Monday. We'll see.

 

[Blakeney Green]

I complained about having three spots of tendonitis that have not gone away since 2016 and a fourth, new one cropping up and she said something about immune testing if I keep getting new inflamed tendons. (She said PT as well, but that's already been a fail when it came to fixing tendonitis.) Why do I need immune testing for a sports injury?

If your tendonitis (which is an indeed an inflammation - it can result from injury but is not in itself an injury per se) has resisted treatment for two years and has happened multiple times, I guess I'm just not quite seeing why it would be unreasonable for your doctor to consider underlying causes rather than just repeating same ineffective treatments over and over? What exactly were you looking for from her when you sought assistance with it?

 

[segelkatt]

I am not hostile to the drug, but it is the most heavily advertised of the immune suppressing drugs. I am hostile to the idea that a very, very important part of our body is now considered to be the cause of most illnesses and that most people who live now will only be healthy if they take steps to make that part of the body cease to function.

It used to be that a few fortunate souls got a new organ and had to work around an immune system that functioned correctly, and a few unfortunate souls got lupus because it was one of the rare times the immune system didn't work right. Now, a kid can't have a peanut butter sandwich because another kid across the gym sized cafeteria might smell it and go into anaphylactic shock because the immune system is a horrible thing to have and is the root of all evil. All these other conditions, rather than finding and treating the actual cause, it's all blamed on that bad, bad immune system so we have to make the immune system go away.

Whenever that flu pandemic sweeps through the world, I'm wondering if the doctors will have even the slightest guilty feelings when they see their patients on immune suppressing drugs dying and their patients who refused the drugs and insisted on a real cure living. Somehow though I doubt it because the immune system is bad, bad, bad and must be destroyed, and that thought will still exist after a pandemic.

Edit: It'd be one thing if it's just a very few group of people having auto-immune disorders. But it seems to be half the country now, everyone has something that can be blamed on an immune system being robust and looking for trouble, ie dangerous proteins/germs.



Again, hope the bad meat doesn't give them heartburn. Stand Your Ground most certainly applies here.

Folks, I need preservation technique ideas. My husband brought home two cucumbers from someone's garden, and there's no way I can make enough salads before they go bad. He does not like pickles though. Can I freeze cucumbers? Can I somehow cut them and treat them in a way that lasts in the fridge longer?

View attachment 244761

Re cucumbers: wash them and then dry them thoroughly. Wrap each one in paper towels and then put them in a plastic bag, no need to close it. Your cucumber should last at least a week. This works with a multitude of veggies, including sweet onions which usually rot within a week, mine have been in the fridge for 6 weeks now and are still good. Or how a bout a cucumber salad? Slice them thinly, use a creamy dressing and let sit for a while. Superb!

 

[arouetta]

What exactly were you looking for from her when you sought assistance with it?

Steroids. Both times I went to the primary care doctor, the tendonitis (first time an old spot, second time a brand new spot) had flared up so bad that I was unable to use the entire arm due to the severity of the pain. I couldn't twitch my fingers without crazy high pain in my elbow when the tennis elbow flared up.

If not steroids, then another treatment that would get rid of inflammation. If there's no inflamed tendon, there's no pain.

Edit: With all but the new spot I also saw a previous PCP, and an orthopedic surgeon as secondary to the AC separation.

Re cucumbers: wash them and then dry them thoroughly. Wrap each one in paper towels and then put them in a plastic bag, no need to close it. Your cucumber should last at least a week. This works with a multitude of veggies, including sweet onions which usually rot within a week, mine have been in the fridge for 6 weeks now and are still good. Or how a bout a cucumber salad? Slice them thinly, use a creamy dressing and let sit for a while. Superb!

Did you see the ruler? I'd have to use a garbage bag, lol. My 2 gallon Ziploc bags aren't big enough. Unless I can cut them in half, will it still work?

It didn't show in the picture, but one had some mold so I had to skin the outside in that area.

 

[Alicia88]

Well, just...OUCH and POOR BABY!



GO LIONS! Karma is a lovely thing.



Oh, well...that's not the worst thing in the world. Let her help. Every little bit reinforces that helping is a good thing.



That was my thought, as well, although I couldn't come up with near as good an analogy.

Still waiting for my inspection, which was due last Monday. She says that it will be this Monday. We'll see.

She can help with dinner anytime she's here, but she was at Bible School yesterday while I made dinner. So she didn't want to eat it last night and she didn't want to eat the leftovers for lunch. I think she'll live.

 

[Alicia88]

I want opinions. I mentioned that when the baby was born, we banned the cats from the bedroom. I know they'd never intentionally hurt him, but they're so snuggly, I was afraid of them getting too close to his face and accidentally suffocating him. We decided to keep them out until he was "old enough." I'm trying to figure out when that is. He's 6 months old now, he's somewhat crawling, he's been holding his up since birth, he's been rolling over on his own for months . . . I think it would probably be safe. I think he's old enough to move his face away if they get too close. Or should we keep waiting just to be safe? Could he fall into a really deep sleep and not wake up enough to turn his head away?

 

[arouetta]

I personally think cats have a protective instinct. I had a couple of cats when my daughter was born. (I will also have a little time in purgatory for them as we didn't have money to spay the one so she went into heat regularly - no kittens - and we didn't see she was sick and she died in the middle of the night and the other was given to the next door neighbors when we moved.) The larger fluffier one slept in the bassinet but at my daughter's feet, and the smaller one slept in her crib away from her head. So Aeden should be fine.

 

[Alicia88]

I'm just the overprotective type and I understand that accidents happen so I'd rather be safe than sorry. And Aedan still sleeps in our bed. We keep trying the crib and occasionally he'll stay in there for a couple of hours, but he always ends up sleeping with us. I don't believe in "cry it out" so I'm not sure how to get him to transition. But I think we're making progress because he used to scream the second he was put down.

 

[Blakeney Green]

Steroids. Both times I went to the primary care doctor, the tendonitis (first time an old spot, second time a brand new spot) had flared up so bad that I was unable to use the entire arm due to the severity of the pain. I couldn't twitch my fingers without crazy high pain in my elbow when the tennis elbow flared up.

If not steroids, then another treatment that would get rid of inflammation. If there's no inflamed tendon, there's no pain.

Edit: With all but the new spot I also saw a previous PCP, and an orthopedic surgeon as secondary to the AC separation.

That sounds very painful. I'm sorry you're dealing with that.

But... um... you wanted a steroid?

Corticosteroids | Cleveland Clinic

"Steroids work by decreasing inflammation and reducing the activity of the immune system. Inflammation is a process in which the body's white blood cells and chemicals can protect against infection and foreign substances such as bacteria and viruses. In certain diseases, however, the body's defense system (immune system) doesn't function properly. This might cause inflammation to work against the body's tissues and cause damage. Signs of inflammation include redness, warmth, swelling, and pain."

Isn't that exactly what you were concerned about regarding the immune system?

 

[Alicia88]

One of my best friends is having a hard time right now. Her biological clock is ticking and she feels like she's running out of time. She'll be 31 in October and she has an 8 year old son. She's the one who adopted Marcy. She wants another baby but she's not even dating anyone right now - she doesn't have time to date. She's a single mom with a severely ADHD kid and she's working full time. Most people her age would still have plenty of time, but she really doesn't. Her mom and maternal grandmother both died of ovarian cancer. She's been advised to get a full hysterectomy. Both were in their 40's when they were diagnosed so when the doctors first told her, she felt like she had plenty of time and she could wait a while and have a family first. Well, life happened and things got busy and crazy and now she's panicking. Her son's father was a real piece of work and she really hasn't dated seriously since him. I wish I had some advice for her. She doesn't need to rush into anything, obviously. Sperm donation is an option, but not a very good one. She's already a struggling single mom - she doesn't need a second child with no one to help her. Her mom is gone, her dad . . . that's a long story, but he doesn't help her. She doesn't have any family close by. I would help her out, but she lives 30 miles away and neither of us can afford the gas for me to drive back and forth all the time. Maybe she's just meant to only have one child, but that's not always an easy thing to accept.