Posts by rustymoose54

Plus, you have to deal with how incredibly messy and complicated the whole system is here in the States—not impossible, obviously, but a total headache. A massive issue is that a ton of kids in foster care don't have "clean paperwork," if you know what I mean... basically, their biological parents show up just enough to stay on the radar and prevent the state from automatically terminating their parental rights, even though they’ve essentially abandoned them. So, legally speaking, these kids are stuck in limbo because you can't technically adopt them yet.

Anyway, Linda Wilson51, you should check out www.familyaction.org—specifically their forums. There's a whole sub-section where people dealing with the exact same struggles as you hang out, so you can get some real-world advice straight from the source.

Susan Martin24 said:Red Cross says:
Permanent donor deferral:
1. People who have suffered from or currently suffer from... diabetes... are permanently deferred from donating blood...

In Australia, young people with well-managed Type 1 diabetes can actually donate if they want to. I mean, it's not an official ban, but sometimes they just get turned away with some vague excuse like, "It’s probably better if you don't..."

As for Type 2, honestly, a massive amount of those folks go undiagnosed for ages—so I’m betting a good chunk of them end up donating anyway without even knowing...

So, here's the deal—with Hashimoto's, they usually call it subclinical if your TSH is acting up but your fT4 and fT3 (you know, the free T4 and T3 levels) are still sitting in the normal range... or maybe just flirting with the bottom edge of it. Typically, doctors start throwing levothyroxine at you once that TSH climbs above 7 mU/L—assuming you're looking at the standard US reference range of 0.27-4.2 mU/L for Thyroid Stimulating Hormone.

But honestly? It’s not necessarily a bad thing to start on Synthroid even if your TSH isn't quite that high yet... I mean, some specialists actually swear by doing exactly that.

And listen, don't just settle for checking total T4 and T3 concentrations... you really need to get those fT4 and fT3 levels checked alongside your antibodies too.

Oh, and before I forget—total disclaimer: I'm definitely not a doctor. I've just got a bunch of my own health issues to deal with, so I'm just speaking from my own messy experience here...

Justin Fox said:Look, when we're talking about stem cell blood, there’s a clear purpose: medical treatment. So, honestly, it seems totally fine to me if someone—who actually wants this and can afford it—decides to keep it for themselves, freeze it, and do whatever they want with it. It’s an individual woman's call regarding her own placenta and umbilical cord... nobody should be able to snatch away her blood or the cord for some "greater good," like making fancy cosmetics or treating other people. That should only happen if she gives the green light.

ground control to Justin Fox 😬

storing cord blood isn't the same thing as a woman "deciding what to do" with the actual placenta...

women who have their cord blood extracted and stored DON'T just take the placenta home afterward—it gets tossed or used for other things if it's still viable.

nobody even asks the mother what happens to the placenta once they've taken the blood and stored it. 😉

if storing this stuff is a business for private companies, then I don't get why you're constantly bitching about American doctors? Those kinds of private firms don't exist in our healthcare system yet, but it’s not because American OB-GYNs are refusing to collect the blood. They aren't collecting it because they have nowhere to put it! Start a company that specializes in storing that blood and you'll have more work than you know what to do with...

Justin Fox said:On the contrary, it’s about basic principles here. The placenta is part of that woman's body—period—so she should have the final say over what happens to it. It’s just common sense... like how someone can’t just waltz in and take your blood cells because they need them for some "noble cause." Or how nobody can just snatch away a deceased relative's body because an anatomy class needs it or they need organs for transplants. You need consent for all of that.

Honestly, I’d be shocked if I heard they actually accommodated her. I mean, come on... expecting a hospital in America to show any kind of flexibility or compassion? Please. 😲

The placenta isn't "part of the body," Justin Fox😁—not after the birth, anyway. The body expels it (and God forbid it stays inside, the woman would die from sepsis). If someone offered me my own placenta after giving birth, what exactly do you think I'd do with that bloody, slimy, web-like mass of tissue? She was trying to store it "eco-friendly" somewhere, which means at best, she'd have to head out into the woods the day after labor to dig a hole deep enough to bury it. Like, can you imagine? A new mom having time for hobbies like that on day one? Personally, I'd much rather hand it over to medical pros so they can process it into life-saving meds. But hey, people are weird... wouldn't surprise me if some women or guys wanted to tuck a placenta under their pillow to sit there after the birth. It’d probably make the whole house smell, though... who knows.

Hospitals in America—don't even get me started—they barely have the budget to store umbilical cord blood for preventive measures, let alone the more critical stuff. That’s just how it goes in struggling systems; there's zero money for preventative care. Places where blood could actually be stored (assuming the woman was willing to pay for the storage herself) are just completely packed with more urgent supplies.

But yeah, we definitely need to change the laws to let women fund this themselves. I'm with you on that.

Chloe Gray12 said:All that talk about tossing it out or collecting it just to make drugs or cosmetics is total nonsense—someone's out there taking a life-saving medicine and using it for something that doesn't even help them.
Look, blood from the umbilical cord actually has stem cells in it. You can freeze it down and eventually use it to treat all sorts of nasty diseases for the baby or the parents later on. In Germany, they have to give the blood back to the parents if they ask for it, and there are actual companies out there where you pay like $2,000 or $2,500 to freeze it and store it for 20 years (after that, you just pay some tiny little fee to keep it tucked away).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cord_blood

But like you were saying, we aren't talking about keeping the whole placenta, just the blood from the cord... so, theoretically, using the placenta to manufacture meds wouldn't hurt anyone—if anything, it's actually a good thing.

In America, though, storing cord blood is unfortunately impossible right now; I heard about one pregnant woman recently who tried to get it done, but she couldn't make it happen... such a bummer.

To all you skeptics out there who "don't believe" in the dangers of secondhand smoke:

Do you seriously light up when you're in the same room as kids? Would you even think about sparking a cigarette next to a pregnant woman?

Anyway, back to the point: We REALLY need to separate smoking areas from non-smoking ones. Either that, or just step outside—honestly, I have no clue why people find that so damn difficult. If you want to actually enjoy yourself, you gotta make a little sacrifice... 😉 😁

Megan Reed said:I mean, if there’s a recipe online for 'how to synthesize LSD'😁, then anything goes at this point... 😬 though they really ought to just Google what they actually need instead.

Oh, it's definitely out there, but I'm not about to make things any easier for them—let the kids learn how to actually use real literature for once.😁

shadowfalcon33 said:Why just kids though? Don't forget about us adults!

😁 look, you adults can just go sniff N2O in some college chem lab if you're that desperate

Oh great, why stop there? Just drop the full recipe for extracting Codeine from those pills right here... save the kids the trouble of having to hunt through Google and deal with all those annoying translations...

okay, we’re totally veering off topic here, but this is actually pretty interesting

just asking as a total layman—if someone is legitimately dealing with a mental illness and tries to take their own life, how can you even hold them legally responsible? it’s just like when clueless people talk about someone with clinical depression as if they’re just being "spoiled," or act like people with OCD are doing it on purpose... like they’re trying to "help" with useless advice like, "hey, your hands aren't actually dirty, just stop washing them 180 times a day." it's ridiculous...

I get why doctors might be frustrated right now—having to pull someone back from the brink when they're clearly suicidal is heavy—but I just don't get this total lack of perspective regarding the "big picture." I mean, it's not their job to play judge and jury with these patients... what these people need is actual psychiatric care. honestly, if psychiatrists reacted this way, nobody struggling with mental health would ever get the real help they need.

Steven Green2 said:So go ahead, just dive headfirst into all that saturated fat and have a blast... really. But hey, don't come crying to me when you wake up one day staring at some terrifyingly high total cholesterol numbers on a blood test. I’m just saying—and honestly, I've seen enough to know—that your body doesn't actually need that stuff and it's straight-up bad for you. But whatever, do your thing... nobody's stopping you... 😉

hehe, read that again, driftinggull13... maybe this time actually try to wrap your head around it...

Look, here’s the thing—there’s no such thing as "unhealthy food" per se... I mean, if it’s microbiologically safe and won't kill you on the spot, it's just food. The real problem? It’s how we eat. It’s the way we approach our meals, the timing, the sheer chaos of modern eating habits... that's where the damage actually happens. It's all about the lifestyle, man...

Honestly, when it comes to high cholesterol and triglycerides, most people point the finger at "unhealthy eating," but that’s kind of just a side effect... the real culprits are usually these deep-seated metabolic imbalances that were already lurking in your system long before you ever picked up a burger. Man, if you actually saw the sheer complexity of it all—all those biological mechanisms, the endless formulas, the crazy diagrams with arrows and circles everywhere... it’s enough to make your head spin. Just a total mess... 😁 😬

ica said:I need a recommendation for a gynecologist or specialist who takes my insurance—someone who can handle writing prescriptions and getting me referrals for checkups.

Dr. Wahid, over at the Trnje Community Health Center, near the loop area.

Drew Mitchell55 said:Stupidity is basically sacred at this point... I mean, how am I not allergic to anything when I’ve been drinking milk for like 20 years—pasteurized stuff for at least the last 10... easily half a liter a day... 🙄

Nah, you totally are allergic. To pretty much every plant on the planet. You just haven't realized it yet... ☕

🤣

Walter Myers4 said:maybe she's just stuck deep inside her own 🙄 uterus or something?😁

Look, Doc, after a pregnancy that ended in a D&C—and yeah, let's just say it was a rough ride—my pains pretty much vanished. My actual doctor explained that since my uterus is more stretched out now, everything feels different... less cramped, I guess.

Alex White6 said:You just head straight to the ER, they give you an IV and some shots, and you're good to go.😁

My sister’s been dealing with this for almost a year now—she can practically predict the exact day her period is coming. On those days, she isn't going anywhere. My mom usually gives my dad a heads-up that he'll need to leave work early to drive her to the emergency room, and that’s basically the routine.

So, look, if the pain is genuinely bad enough that you're hitting the ER every single month, maybe it's worth actually looking into long-term solutions? Like, I don't know, switching to birth control pills might help—assuming there aren't any medical reasons why you shouldn't.

Personally, I used to get slammed with pain on the first day, but never quite "emergency room" levels of bad. Voltaren Rapid usually did the trick, but then I figured out this little hack: take one in the morning and one at night right before the actual bleeding starts. Then do it again the next day... and by the time the period actually hits, I barely even feel it.

AND NO, IT IS NOT ALL IN YOUR HEAD!!! 🙄

David Reed7 said:those people at Mayo Clinic are total criminals! honestly, you can't even trust doctors in their own damn homes, let alone in a place like that... they're just as shady.
I know a woman who had a few C-sections there, and she was constantly coming home with these horrific infections after every single one!!!!

Look, not everyone has those kinds of experiences—I personally haven't dealt with them being complete monsters.

Do us all a favor and actually name WHICH HOSPITALS we're talking about here, and what the specific issue was. I know a lady who had three kids there, and everything was always perfectly fine, even though her pregnancies were about as high-risk as you can get. So, what's the actual point here?...

So you basically looked at some kids in a small town in Ohio having dark circles under their eyes and decided—on the spot—that they must all have syphilis?! Even though the medical tests came back negative, you’re just out here insisting they’ve got it "regardless of what the doctors say."

That is... quite the theory. No offense intended, but it sounds a little unhinged.

I really hope this whole thread is just some kind of bad joke.

Andrew Thomas10 said:Just felt like I needed to vent about this here—it’s been weighing on me... So, yesterday, by some weird stroke of fate, I ended up at the Mayo Clinic for an ultrasound—and honestly? The guy working there was such a complete creep and just straight-up rude. It was a horrible experience. Girls, seriously, watch yourselves...

There are actually a few different doctors working the ultrasound shifts over at the Mayo Clinic...

Steven Green2 said:All the folks I’ve been chatting with—and honestly, you see this all over those health blogs—always use that phrase "poor insulin sensitivity." So now I'm sitting here wondering... either everyone's lost their minds, or maybe you've got a better way to break it down? If you don't mind explaining, I'm all ears.

Look, the insulin our bodies pump out can be super efficient—meaning it actually does its job of shoving glucose from the bloodstream into your cells—or it can be totally useless. Like, the pancreas is cranking it out like crazy, but it just isn't doing what it's supposed to do.

When things are working right, we're talking about "good" insulin sensitivity. When they aren't, that's where resistance kicks in.

If your sensitivity is "good"—or high, if you want to get technical—you won't really deal with issues regarding weight or being overweight.

But if there's resistance—where you've got tons of insulin floating around but it's basically failing at its one job—then the glucose (which comes from carbs, and yeah, even some proteins) just sits in your blood while your cells are essentially starving. You might actually lose weight in that scenario, but only if the insulin inefficiency is massive and your blood sugar levels are hitting the roof.

Most of the time, though, it's just a nasty combo of genetics and being overweight that triggers that insulin resistance in the first place. Once someone starts targeting that weight loss, their sensitivity goes back up... and these types of patients usually don't start seeing those crazy high blood sugar spikes (which lead to unintentional weight loss) until after years and years of just straight-up ignoring the warning signs.

The OP probably doesn't have that kind of issue anyway...