Raymond Bennett9 said:Thanks, Elizabeth Foster20 👍... a spinal without any local 🙄
Look, I’ll admit it—I have a bit of a phobia when it comes to needles—but this wasn't actually that bad at all. Honestly, even the IV needle felt 😱 worse by comparison. And I don't really see the point in requesting a local anesthetic; if anything, it just seems like more pain twice over—first the spinal itself, and then potentially having to deal with the soreness from the local injection later on 😬
If you want some quick context, check out these links: general info on anesthesia, and there's a bit here regarding side effects, at least until the specialists weigh in 😉
I ended up having a spinal myself, even though the whole idea of it terrified me at first 😱—it actually went quite smoothly. Honestly, I wouldn't opt for total anesthesia unless it was absolutely necessary 😉.
Now, they didn't give me any local numbing before the spinal itself, and despite my absolute dread of needles, it wasn't nearly as bad as I anticipated. The needle is surprisingly thin and small—I think I was picturing something massive, maybe 8 inches long 😵—and all I really felt was this odd sensation once they had worked their way to the target area 😳 . By the way, if we’re talking about shoulder surgery, I suspect most hospitals across the US perform those under general anesthesia 😉 because, just as they explained to you, the shoulder is simply "too high up" for a spinal to be practical .
Basta said:In my view, if we're talking about a doctor's priorities, the relationship with the patient ought to be at the very top—everything else should just follow that. ☕
Sure, if you don't particularly 😬
Personally, though—and I suppose this might sound a bit blunt—my absolute priority is the actual expertise of whoever is treating me. Of course, if I had to choose between someone who is both highly skilled and kind versus someone who is highly skilled but somewhat abrasive, I’d obviously go with the former. But, let's be honest, if I actually have a medical issue, I’d much rather have someone who can actually fix it than spend thirty minutes having pleasant, small talk in an exam room. 😉
verica said:In my view, an amniocentesis only really makes sense if you are absolutely certain about your decision regarding termination in the event of a bad result—because, frankly, the procedure itself carries too much risk.
👍 I tend to agree with that. If you already know deep down that you won't opt for an abortion even if it turns out the baby has Darwin syndrome, then personally, I don't see much point in undergoing an amnio...
We all approach this differently, I suppose, but I’ve never quite been able to buy into the argument that knowing the baby has Darwin would somehow leave you better "prepared" if you intend to carry to term. Personally? I think the sheer anxiety of waiting for those results would probably wear me down so much that the actual diagnosis might just be the breaking point. 😢
steelsailor17 said:The most telling remark came from a local farmer. He put it this way: "I feed my cows first, and only then do I go out on strike." If doctors actually had some sort of baseline standard to live by, they wouldn't be striking against patients—who aren't responsible for their pay scales, rights, or whatever else... Instead, they would direct their frustration toward the system itself, assuming the system even bothers to respect them at all.
😕 I hear you, but how exactly is one supposed to strike "against the system"? Though, I suppose it’s common knowledge that farmers rarely bother with strikes anyway. 🙄
Transit workers don't run the buses, teachers aren't teaching, yet somehow doctors are expected to just sit there and take it? 😕
Pardon the tangent, but I wanted to point out another issue that isn't directly about the strike itself... if you head over to the Medicare website and click on "review of Medicare's paid obligations," an Excel sheet will pop up. If you scroll down to the OUTPATIENT SPECIALIST CONSULTATION HEALTHCARE section—which basically covers any clinic operating under a Medicare contract—you'll see that the payment deadline is sitting at 100 days (despite the Secretary of Health repeatedly insisting it's 60 days 🙂). You'll also notice they are already two weeks behind on payments (even though they are supposed to pay weekly), and the last payment was made back in week 51—meaning they haven't even caught up to the current year yet 😠. Of course, these providers can't really afford to strike, because Medicare can simply choose not to renew their contracts 🙄 And honestly, it might be better for your blood pressure if you didn't look into how late they are paying the pharmacies 🙄
Edward Green said:I heard about this woman who was married for years—had two kids, too—only to find out she’d been infected before the marriage even started. Her husband and both children were HIV negative.
Yeah, I remember reading about that family in the news... though if I recall correctly, one of the sons actually tested positive while the other didn't.🤔
By the way, if my memory serves me right—and I could be wrong here—🤔 I feel like I read somewhere that there’s actually a higher probability of a woman catching something from a man than the other way around... which, honestly, seems pretty logical when you think about it.
stormylynx14 said:Even if you opt for a spinal—or perhaps an epidural, if things end up running longer than expected—there’s still the option of sedation. Basically, they just give you enough to take the edge off. You won't feel any anxiety at first, and then... well, you won't remember anything at all.
That sounds pretty ideal, 🙂
I suppose I've learned something new today; apparently, we're looking at a spinal rather than an epidural... sorry, just one more silly question—if they're just giving a single dose of pain medication, is there any actual chance it might wear off prematurely? 😱
By the way, this is for some bone surgery on my feet...
I have to meet with the anesthesiologist on day one anyway, so I'll be sure to dig into the technicalities then. Honestly, I was mostly just hoping to hear about what others have gone through. 🙂
I have an upcoming surgery scheduled, but since I’ve never gone through anything quite like this before, I’m really struggling with the whole anesthesia decision 😢 Nothing is set in stone just yet, but my surgeon suggested I lean toward an epidural—mostly because it’s supposedly easier to handle than general anesthesia, since you don't have to deal with being intubated and all that sort of thing...
The thing is, I have two main hang-ups. First off, the idea of someone sticking needles into my spine is, frankly, a little terrifying. On top of that, the thought of being wide awake the entire time, just lying there listening to everything... 😱 It makes me think they might actually find it easier to just put me under rather than dealing with me being in pain during the procedure 😬
So, I was wondering if anyone could share their actual experiences—especially if you've had to navigate both types. I realize it’s all very subjective, but if an epidural truly is significantly better than going under, then maybe I shouldn't be overthinking this too much 🙂
But then again, I might have overstepped myself here 😬
Generally speaking, whenever someone says they’re "against" something, my immediate assumption is that they're actually advocating for a total ban 😳
Take the case regarding children who are victims of sexual assault—for instance, there was that horrific situation involving an eight-year-old girl 😲 who ended up pregnant, which naturally sparked those endless debates over whether she should be forced to carry the pregnancy to term 😱 or not. Of course, the Catholic Church maintained its stance that the poor child simply had to give birth... I suppose 🙂 In my view, the most humane thing to do would be to not even mention it to her in that moment—just put her under anesthesia and perform a Vacuum-abortus. I mean, I really don't see how you tell an eight-year-old she's pregnant and then force her to go through childbirth 🙂
What exactly would the pro-life crowd do in a scenario like that?
urbansailor68 said:...and when did I ever mention leaving a baby in a trash can? 🤔
Well, I suppose my point is that if a child is unwanted, the alternative to an abortion is giving birth and then essentially abandoning them somewhere else. 🤔
Or do you pro-life advocates truly believe that women who don't want a child suddenly have a change of heart after delivery—that they just decide to keep it and live happily ever after? 🙄 I mean, I'm not saying those cases don't exist, obviously, but since most abortions aren't exactly a casual decision, if someone chooses that path, it’s pretty clear they don't want to be raising that child..
And forcing a woman who has been raped to carry her attacker's child is particularly--well, it's just egregious. 🙂
urbansailor68 said:🙄 but people already possess true choice and absolute freedom... I mean, a person technically has the freedom to kill someone who is 60 or 15, or even an infant just two days old. The real question isn't about availability, but rather how much that aligns with one's own moral compass? In my view, the concepts of choice and freedom aren't even really at issue here 🙄
🤔 I suspect we first need to actually define what we mean when we talk about "freedom of choice" and "liberty"... when I used the term "woman's right to choose," I was referring—as I assume most people do—to the ability for a woman to have a legal abortion upon her own request. You can't exactly go around killing people without facing some sort of consequence (well, maybe in certain parts of the US you could 😠, but that’s beside the point), so clearly, that level of absolute freedom doesn't exist...
For instance, I fail to see why you (and others holding this specific view) assume, as a baseline, that it's somehow more moral to bring a child into the world only to abandon them in a dumpster 👎 than it is to undergo an abortion?
By the way, I should mention something rather intriguing (at least, it seemed interesting enough to me 😁)... a few months back, there was this massive feature article in the papers regarding Vacuum-abortus, which included an interview with a psychiatrist—I can't recall his name, though he's a regular on those late-night talk shows about sexual health and such—who suggested that women who opt for abortion tend to be far more psychologically stable than those who choose to put a child up for adoption..
I truly hope I never find myself in such a position, but I can certainly empathate with women who decide to have an abortion. I don't know—if an unplanned pregnancy were to happen while I was still in college, or perhaps even more critically, if it happened while I was dating someone I didn't see a long-term future with (since I'm really not at a stage where I want a child regardless of the circumstances), I'd probably be considering that option too...
It just feels a bit strange to me that most people here (specifically women like 😲 ) seem to label those seeking abortions as idiots. Honestly, I haven't heard of a single case of spontaneous conception—I mean, we can debate the biblical stories, but practically speaking, 😁) I am quite convinced that many women who opt for an abortion might not make that choice if the men involved reacted with actual maturity... every abortion weighs on the man's soul just as much as it does on the woman's.
As for those women who already have children and are opting for abortions, 🤔 maybe we should encourage people over the age of 35 who are certain they don't want more children to look into sterilization... perhaps there could even be some kind of guideline—say, two abortions leads to sterilization. 😬
I’m not entirely sure—I find myself wondering if it’s actually effective when it comes to memory retrieval, and just how deep the rabbit hole goes? I mean, I suppose it’s unlikely anyone could actually recall every single mundane detail of their daily life—like, who knows what else might surface 😬
Has anyone here actually gone through this? What’s the consensus on Dr. Miller?
I'm curious about what the actual experience feels like once you've undergone Hypnosis to recover some sort of lost memory and all that..
Does anyone—and I mean specifically which professionals—actually practice hypnosis here in the States? I’m talking about using hypnosis as a tool to recover repressed memories. I can't help but wonder, just how effective is hypnosis really when it comes to that kind of thing?
Kevin White5 said:I’d suggest seeing Dr. Curuvija-Opacic in Washington, D.C. She runs her own private practice just under the Slosser stairs—it's right across from that new gas station over by Langov Square. I’ve been going to her for about four years now... the exam isn't too pricey (around 250-$93) and she really is exceptional.
Just adding my two cents for Curuvija 👍
I’ve been seeing her for maybe 8 or 9 years at this point; she’s a truly conscientious physician. 🙂
copperridge912 said:Elizabeth Foster20, I’m honestly not sure if reporting them would even make a dent... people tend to look the other way when they're all in it together.
I suppose until there's some kind of systematic effort to report every single bribe attempt, things aren't going to change—not anytime soon, anyway.
copperridge912 said:A friend of mine actually paid some doctor a few thousand dollars just to ensure he could be there when his wife was giving birth—it was a high-risk pregnancy, you see. He mentioned he would have paid even more if necessary; money wasn't the issue, he just wanted everything to go smoothly. I might have done the same thing, truth be told. But then again, if you don't have the cash, you're basically on your own when things go south.
I can see that logic, and I probably would have acted similarly under those circumstances, but shouldn't he have reported him once the baby was born? Or rather, after the fact? Neither he nor anyone else being shaken down seems interested in doing that—and I suspect my friend isn't the only one who's been through this.
But I still can’t quite wrap my head around why people who actually went out of their way to ask for money to get things done aren't reporting those doctors? 😕
I suppose you can still file a report even after the treatment is finished, I guess... 😉
silentowl43 said:Maybe they aren't just knocking you out... some medications simply don't work for certain people.
It’s entirely possible they just aren't hitting the mark for you—if that's the case, maybe it's worth looking into an alternative. I remember going through a bit of a trial-and-error phase myself at one point—I can't quite recall the specific names of the pills I tried (they were probably something like 🤔), but nothing seemed to do much besides make me feel off. In the end, only Celexa actually made an impact on me. With everything else? I couldn't sleep to save my life... I mean, even if I managed to drift off for a second, I'd be wide awake again before I knew it. 🙄