Posts by darkbison81

Thomas Edwards82 said:Personally, even though I don't have an allergy to aspartame or anything like it, I feel like crap all day after just two sips of Diet Coke.

And whenever I feel sick like that—and when I start burping like crazy—I check the label on whatever I just drank, and what do I find? Good old phenylalanine.

My solution: I don't touch anything with artificial sweeteners. Period.

Look, since you only feel sick from Diet Coke (and other artificial sweeteners), you can't really pin the blame on phenylalanine. It’s an amino acid found in basically every protein source. By that logic, you should be feeling sick from eating meat, soy, or milk too...

Besides, phenylalanine is only harmful to people with phenylketonuria. In the US, they screen newborns for that condition right at birth because those kids have to stick to a special diet from day one. As Andrew Anderson6 mentioned, if they aren't managed, they end up with an Intellectual Disability.

Anyway, do you go out and poop black after you eat something containing phenylalanine? No. So your metabolism is handling that amino acid just fine.

It seems to me you’re feeling sick from Diet Coke for some other reason entirely—maybe you can't handle the acidity, maybe you just hate the flavor, or maybe it's the caramel coloring...

frozenangler9 said:My mom actually lost her cool today, and honestly, I’m pretty stoked about it. 🙂

Honestly, I’m happy for you! 🙂
Give her my best (you know, the one who called dozens of times last year before she finally managed to get through to the Pain Center 😁).

Maybe just save that one cigarette for later and try cutting back on the others throughout the day🙂

I agree that you need to kick the habit (honestly, sometimes it feels like doing it sooner rather than later is best), but spending your youth constantly hungover isn't exactly a great look for the future...

John Thomas2 said:Everything worth doing in life is bad for you anyway. 😁

It’s either harmful to your health, makes you gain weight, or it’s just plain immoral. 😉

Look, CJ, at the end of the day, who other people think is irrelevant; what matters is what you’re doing to yourself. It’s a shame you’re cranking up your own risk profile like this. And honestly, if you have to choose between having sex and smoking cigarettes, the choice should be pretty obvious, right? 😉

Casey Palmer5 said:Hey darkbison81, here’s a little curse for you: I hope you end up being the first author on papers in both Nature and Science! Is that nasty enough for you? 😁

Casey Palmer5, you want to be my mentor? Honestly, that’s a pretty bold move on your part. I appreciate the confidence, really, I do—it’s almost charming in a way—but let's be realistic for a second. You're stepping up to offer guidance, yet I'm sitting here wondering if we even speak the same language when it comes to getting things done. I don't need someone to hold my hand through every minor setback, and I certainly don't need a lecture. If you've actually got something useful to contribute, fine, bring it to the table. But don't expect me to just nod along because you've decided you're in charge. Let's see if you can actually back up that ambition first. 😘 😍 🙂 😉

Well, that’s it for me, ladies. I’m done. I’m heading off to sleep on the kitchen tiles. 😁 Everything else is just too hot. Honestly, if I had a balcony, I’d probably just end up sleeping out there.

Henry Wilson48 said:If it isn’t a Nobel, let’s aim for a paper in Cell or something along those lines.

Look, if we’re going to make this little town actually mean something, we might as well go big. 😁

🙏 I have to tip my hat to you—quoting Cell 🙏 even though you aren't exactly a biologist.
(Are you taking orders? Because if so, I'll take a Nature paper, or honestly, Science works too. 😁 )

Justin Gonzalez87 said:What even is that? How much of a risk are we talking about—like, what’s the actual probability I’ll end up with a thrombosis? Is it seriously that bad? If it's a certainty, I'm definitely going to be the one who gets hit by it.😁

A clot is basically just a mass of blood that can plug up an artery. If that happens in your brain, heart, or lungs, you're looking at something incredibly dangerous. As for your odds? Honestly, I have no clue. You see people living their whole lives with this stuff without a single issue, but then you see 25-year-old women dropping dead from strokes.
It's bad, plain and simple, as you can clearly see. 😁
Nothing in life is a guarantee, including the idea that you'll be "lucky" enough to dodge it. But if I were you, I'd try my best not to become another statistic. 🙂

Casey Palmer5 said:So why exactly is combining cardio with smoking such a bad move? Is it just an overkill of free radicals or what?

Oh, because Casey Palmer5 clearly has all the answers.🙂
Yeah, you’re basically just oxidizing yourself from head to toe.

Jack Harris3 said:Look, I’m going to be blunt because someone needs to say it: we need to talk about the very real danger of thrombosis. It isn't some abstract medical term you can just ignore while you're scrolling through your feed; it’s a legitimate threat that people tend to brush off until it’s way too late. I know, I know—I sound like I'm lecturing you, and honestly, maybe I am. I’m not a doctor, and I’m certainly not trying to play one. I’m just someone who thinks we spend far too much time being complacent about our health. We live in a world where sitting in an office chair for eight hours straight or lounging on a cross-country flight feels like "normal" behavior, but biologically speaking, it’s a recipe for disaster. When you sit still for extended periods, your circulation slows down. That's just physics. When the blood flow stagnates, you're essentially inviting clots to start forming in your veins. If one of those clots breaks loose and travels to your lungs—pulmonary embolism territory—you aren't just looking at a hospital visit; you're looking at a life-altering crisis. I’ve always been a bit of a worrier, and yeah, maybe that makes me a bit high-strung, but I'd rather be overly cautious than regretful. It’s about the small, almost annoying adjustments: getting up to stretch every hour, staying hydrated, and actually moving your legs when you've been stationary. It sounds tedious, and frankly, it is. It’s much easier to just stay slumped in the couch, but that ease comes at a massive cost. Don't wait for a warning sign that might never come. By the time you feel the swelling or the sharp pain, the damage might already be done. Take it seriously. Move around. Don't let complacency be the thing that catches you off guard.

Look, Jack Harris3 already knows how this works.
Look, let’s be real for a second. Taking that pill alone already bumps up your risk of thrombosis, but if you're pairing it with smoking? You're basically playing with fire. That combination spikes the danger significantly. It's not just a minor concern; it's a serious physiological gamble.

Henry Wilson48 said:You’re totally misreading the situation, Luce... For the last ten posts, you've basically tried to reduce everything in existence down to thermodynamics.

Look, I'm not the one at fault here; Winnie is the one who egged me on. And since science is pretty much dead lately anyway, I figured I might as well take the opportunity. 😁 From here on out, I'm staying quiet—I'll just keep all the secrets of the universe to myself. 😁

(Forget the Nobel Prize; I'm way too old for that nonsense now. 😁)

Henry Wilson48 said:Man, you’ve been writing so sweet to me today and yesterday, Luce. I just can't resist.

Honestly, it’s just this heat. When it hits 95°F out here, my brain basically turns to mush and everything starts moving way too fast. 😁
(Are you actually doing okay? I mean, you’re seriously clapping along to my "garbage tier" jokes. 😁 )

Chloe Nguyen3 said:I’m moving around a ton, but honestly, I smoke so much that my brain is basically just floating in a fog anyway.

This is easily the worst possible combo: (constant movement + smoking) multiplied by (pills + smoking)...

I know what I’m doing, and I’m taking them.
Everything in life involves some level of risk. My gynecologist and I have weighed the options, and we both agreed that the benefits far outweigh any potential downsides.

In certain situations, birth control pills are incredibly useful—not just as a contraceptive, but as a legitimate tool for preventing and treating various health issues.

On a completely different note, I actually really enjoy using those colorful, scented, textured condoms. 🙂

My brother actually picked up some no-name sunglasses about two weeks ago while he was out in France. He got them for next to nothing—they were on clearance—but they actually came with a full certification for both lens quality and UV absorption. So, what you’re looking for definitely exists out there; the real challenge is just figuring out how to track down the decent ones without getting ripped off...

Anthony Long25 said:1. Look, this isn't just some flaw isolated to the medical profession—not by a long shot. But since this is a health forum, that’s clearly what we’re putting under the microscope here.

2. That said, I am absolutely not claiming that things are worse today than they used to be, nor am I saying medicine itself has declined... I'm simply saying that in this specific regard, it hasn't actually gotten any better, despite how much everyone loves to brag about it.

1. That’s exactly why I kept my "civilized" comment brief. Since I can't just strip away the context—and honestly, the whole saga is long, exhausting, and doesn't even belong in the "health" subforum—I decided to step back from the analysis.

2. Exactly. That’s my point (not that I’m suggesting people back in the Stone Age were walking around with access to a CT scan 😁).

Frank Lee6 said:When it comes to those tricky questions, I have to admit I don't have any hard data on hand, and honestly, I don't see the point. Are you actually trying to suggest we'd be better off without antibiotics and vaccines?!

No, like I said, I am all for using antibiotics and vaccines. The issue here is how the data is being presented and the way it's framed. It's about what people are actually being taught (look, I'm probably opening a massive can of worms regarding the state of modern civilization right now, and that’s a whole different conversation...).
Look, it doesn't matter. This topic is way too heavy for such a beautiful day.🙂

Frank Lee6 said:(since you were so insistent on pushing that angle)

I brought up the Neolithic period because that's where my data actually lies.😉
Here’s a bit of a trick question for you:
How much have antibiotics and vaccinations actually contributed to humanity as a whole? (And please, don't bore me with anecdotal stories about single cases).

Just to be clear, I am fully in favor of both antibiotics and vaccination. I just prefer dealing with hard, cold facts...

Frank Lee6 said:P.S. Don't get it twisted—I'm not out here defending doctors or the healthcare system. That’s not even on my radar. I just think things aren't always as black and white as they seem.

Look, it isn't purely black or white. 🙂 Sometimes medicine saves you, sometimes it doesn't. A massive chunk of what we consider modern medical knowledge is actually incredibly old (and that's not even my take; it's what historians of medicine actually study). I recall reading somewhere—I don't have the specific source on hand—that the number of people dying from neurosurgical complications today is practically on par with death rates during the Neolithic era.
Just like anything else in life, medicine can help, it can fail, and occasionally, it can even make things worse. It's not some magic wand...

Personally, I don't have a bone to pick with medicine itself. My dad is a Doctor, so he gave me a pretty honest "welcome to reality" talk with all his insider stories. 😁 )

That said, I agree: breakthroughs in hygiene and anesthesia have been absolute game-changers for medical progress.

Frank Lee6 said:P.S. Are today's builders actually less capable than those from the past just because they can't pull off a pyramid?! If that were true, why weren't there skyscrapers back then? For them—the supposed "experts"—that would have been a piece of cake. 😉

If people hadn't lost all that ancient knowledge, we probably could have been building both pyramids and skyscrapers ages ago, along with pretty much anything else. 🙂

Look, I'm not claiming people are more or less capable today. I'm saying we're essentially the same. As for ancient medical breakthroughs, I don't know much because I haven't really looked into it deeply, partly because it’s a frequent topic of debate in my family, and mostly because I find it far more interesting to see what actual Doctors (specifically those who study the history of medicine) have to say about it.

Anthony Long25 said:Did you guys realize that doctors and hospitals are actually the third leading cause of death in the USA?

Just in the USA?

When you look at the entire recorded history of humanity to figure out whether medicine actually helps or hurts, it’s pretty clear that it works sometimes, but it does a lot of damage quite often. It's just like any other 😉
system. Modern medicine isn't some miraculous leap forward compared to what people dealt with in the past. We have evidence from 4,000 years ago showing people were performing eye surgery—specifically cataract removals using tools remarkably similar to what surgeons use today. Even back in the Neolithic era, they were attempting neurosurgery.
Our only real advantage today is that Doctors actually know how to wash their hands and sterilize their equipment, which helps keep disease transmission somewhat under control.