Everything runs smoothly for me all week long, but the second the weekend hits—or if I just can't get online at all—the site starts acting up with the exact nonsense you guys described. Most often, I’ll manage to load the first page, but then every single PDF becomes a lost cause. It just sits there spinning indefinitely; no timeout error, no specific error message, nothing. Just an endless loop of nothingness. Then Monday rolls around and everything is back to normal. 😕
Sandra Hayes88 said:Karen Brooks, if you don't believe it, nobody can prove it to you. If you choose not to believe, then you don't believe. That's your prerogative.
Look, this isn't a philosophy seminar. I'm talking about material reality, and frankly, that comparison doesn't hold water. I could just as easily claim some disease is caused by radiation from aliens. Such nonsense is useless. If I have to accept a cause for an illness without anyone being able to demonstrate or explain the actual biological processes, I might as well start believing in psychics. Most mental health issues today can be explained quite logically without invoking imaginary energies; so, if this were actually true, why can't you explain it?
So, according to this logic, a woman with PCOS would have to physically feel this energy to believe it’s the root of her condition. But how is it that she doesn't feel it when the disease is already right there? Fine, I agree—you can't explain love to someone who hasn't felt it. But someone living with PCOS should, theoretically, be able to sense this "famous" energy, otherwise, how can they sense the very thing causing their suffering? Ahhh, right, I forgot. You need to achieve "awareness" and all that other blah, blah, blah philosophy.
Ugh. I wasted an entire year on a guy who peddled the exact same brand of "wisdom." Thank God I got out when I did.
shadowgardener12 said:PCOS happens when sexual energy becomes too intense—basically, when there's an excess of energy concentrated in the sexual centers. The long-term fix is rebalancing, both energetically and hormonally, which involves looking at the whole picture of how we live... changing your lifestyle and finding ways to express those energies more evenly. 😉
Look, give me some actual proof here. Real evidence. A concrete explanation. And please, don't just give me some anecdotal story about your neighbor’s aunt... I need something specific and logical. Anything else, if you'll excuse my bluntness, sounds like pure nonsense, and I see no reason to buy into it.
If you really want, I can sit here and list every single instance where the alternative medicine crowd completely screwed up. The thing is, when they mess things up, the fallout tends to be way more catastrophic.
Sandra Hayes88 said:The pill comes with serious side effects, so Rachel Cook83 has a perfectly valid reason why she "can't bring herself" to take it. In the real world, more people should be like Rachel Cook83 instead of just blindly following whatever their doctor tells them. 🙄
Well, if we’re going down that road... let's look at penicillin. It can have nasty side effects too—it's common knowledge that a significant number of people are allergic to it. By that logic, should I just refuse penicillin indefinitely? You never truly know; an allergy can pop up even if you've never had one before. And since we shouldn't blindly trust doctors, maybe I should just go see a witch doctor instead. Everything can have serious side effects. Literally everything. If you start from that premise, you aren't going to get very far in life.
There’s no point in overanalyzing this further; rustymoose54 laid it out quite clearly enough in her post.
Not exactly a long list of options you have here. 1. You could hunt through these forums for someone else dealing with the exact same symptoms, though there’s zero guarantee the underlying causes are even related. You could try to commiserate, I suppose, but frankly, I don't see the point in wallowing together. 2. You could actually listen to your doctor, but apparently, that's just not on the agenda right now. 3. Or, you could seek out a second opinion, which is what I’d personally be doing.
Of course, you could also do none of the above—even though you've already started down that first path—and just sit there waiting to see if things magically fix themselves. To me, that's just as useless (and honestly, pretty reckless given it's your own health) as trying to find solidarity in shared misery. Take this as some sincere, albeit blunt, advice: pick either option two or three from my list.
I honestly don't see any reason why they shouldn't be allowed, provided they actually have the capacity to do the work—or at least aren't so unwell that they physically can't.
I’m largely on your side here, nimbleskipper13. Look, when I went in for my shoulder surgery, I knew every single detail. I didn't leave a stone unturned; I interrogated them about every little thing. This time, unlike my first experience, I actually lucked out with an anesthesiologist who sat down and cleared up every last doubt and lingering question I had. Sure, it cost me—I went through a private clinic, as I mentioned—but those deep dives with both the surgeon and the anesthesiologist were worth it. We talked about the procedure itself, the anesthesia as its own beast, the recovery process, and even the potential complications. Beyond just talking to my own medical team, I actually consulted other surgeons and specialists too, just so I could walk into that OR fully prepared and aware of exactly what was coming. Once the whole thing was wrapped up, the anesthesiologist remarked that dealing with informed patients is always half the battle compared to those who are left in the dark about what they're facing.
But you have to consider the elderly and the chronically ill. There are people who aren't even that old, but for whatever reason, they simply don't have the strength to fight or dig into their rights—and often, they don't have anyone to do it for them. What happens to them? They’re the most vulnerable group of all. These are the people who won't ask about the specifics of a surgery, nor will they demand to know if their Patient Bill of Rights is being respected, simply because they don't know better or just can't.
Look, frozenlynx33, do me a favor and just move on whenever the topic shifts to my late grandmother or her old sermons. Just keep scrolling. If people with your attitude were around, she would’ve kicked the bucket a lot sooner; instead, she managed to make it all the way to 85.
nimbleskipper13 said:Michael Cox40, if I’m following you correctly, your grandmother had those leg sores—venous ulcers, likely stemming from diabetes—that require specialized dressings like alginate or hydrocolloid. Well, if a specialist (like a surgeon or dermatologist) signs off on it, she is legally ENTITLED to have those bandages covered by Medicare, just like she’s entitled to home health nursing services.
She did have wounds, sure, but she wasn't diabetic. To be honest, I don't know the exact diagnosis, but eventually, it reached the bone, and at that point, there was nothing left to be done. It felt like years of lingering issues that just finally hit a breaking point. Believe me, she didn't have any right to any of that extra coverage, other than a tiny little supplement added to her Social Security check intended for caregiver assistance—and let me tell you, it was a joke. Look, my parents were college graduates; they weren't exactly clueless when it came to researching their own rights or the rights of their parents. That small supplement was the absolute limit of what they could secure. Legally, there was nothing else. But if it had just been my grandmother, as Scott Allen10 pointed out, she wouldn't have even seen that pennies-on-the-dollar amount because nobody in the system bothers to tell anyone what they are actually owed.
I didn't have much time tonight, nor the energy to write, but I wanted to weigh in on that situation nimbleskipper13 posted about her friend. Honestly, kudos to her, because my experience was night and day. My grandmother found herself in a similar spot—not the same illness, obviously, but she required daily wound care, along with various topical treatments and meds applied to her legs. Her primary care physician basically told us flat out that she wasn't paid to come by every single day and that we’d just have to figure it out ourselves. The only options left were to hire a private home health nurse—who are their own separate entity and don't deal with Medicare at all—or just wait for her to pass away. Grandma was living on a tiny Social Security check; if we hadn't footed the bill, she would have died four years earlier. And trust me, she would have suffered significantly more than she did during those final stages. It's hard to talk about "quality of life" in a vacuum, but she had far more of it than if she'd been left to fend for herself with nothing but a once-a-week visit from a doctor. Sure, there are two sides to every coin, and some patients are acutely aware of the limitations, being told directly that their doctor isn't compensated for certain tasks and won't do them. On top of all that, there was never an opening in a rehab facility, and when we checked the hospital, they said her case wasn't for them. So, to hell with Medicare (and that doctor, I don't even know what to say about her), we paid for the care. We don't regret it for a second, but you see, not everyone is lucky like your friend. Some people will just abandon a patient to their own devices, even when they know exactly how dire the circumstances are.
@nimbleskipper13/">@@nimbleskipper13: Look, I don't even have health insurance right now because they dropped me from the unemployment rolls. Technically, I’m still unemployed, but since I couldn't check in with them every single month like some kind of mindless drone, they just cut me off. Now I'm stuck in this weird limbo where I have zero coverage. Seriously, think back to who decided to purge people from the system like that—whose "brilliant" idea was it to pull a move straight out of a failed socialist playbook? It would take forever to explain why checking in regularly isn't always feasible, and honestly, I don't even care anymore. None of the administrations we've had were any good, and I certainly don't see anyone competent enough to actually run things and navigate politics at the same time. That’s why I find myself thinking more and more that moving abroad might be my best bet. Even if social policies in other places aren't exactly a dream—I've spent time in Germany, and let me tell you, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows—at least some parts of life are better organized elsewhere. I only get one shot at this life, and I have no intention of wasting it getting worked up over pure stupidity.
Look, I’m on the same page as everything you just laid out. But here’s the reality: finding a decent "public" GP who doesn't have a waiting room backed up for half a day is nearly impossible. Because of that, women end up opting for private clinics instead. Then, those who are conscious of how the system works usually just ask the public doctor to transcribe the prescriptions they already got from the private one. If the GP Christian Sanchez44 is using isn't part of that group, then the solution is simple: find a new one. I hope that clarifies my point.
As for all this complaining and general passivity, it’s the same story in every sector. In my opinion, the people best equipped to actually fix things are the ones working within those systems. 😉
I have to side with Jose Miller3 on this one. You really need to ditch that doctor—the one you see through Medicare. It’s become way too common at those clinics for them to just hand out prescriptions regardless of whether you're actually seeing a private specialist or not.
rustymoose54 said:Look, I wasn't trying to nitpick your point. I was just throwing out another example to illustrate it. Your math is spot on—except for one thing. That price over >$100 is actually what you pay for a full box of 50.
I get it. Honestly, if I got any of the details wrong, it’s only because I’m just repeating what I heard from someone else. 😉
Look, here’s the breakdown he gave me. I’m a complete amateur when it comes to this kind of stuff, so I couldn't tell you what all the technicalities are—not that they really matter for this specific situation. What actually matters is how these claims are processed, or more specifically, how they handled this particular case.
Just look at this absolute nonsense. A woman—who’s pregnant, mind you—gets diagnosed with gestational diabetes. The hospital gives her some little device for free along with a starter pack of test strips, enough for four tests a day. Naturally, those run out fast, and buying a box of 100 at the pharmacy will set you back $100. So, the doctor does everything by the book and refers her to the insurance board to get a steady supply of strips covered by Medicare. Of course, the board just flat-out denies the claim. The husband ends up buying them himself because, honestly, what else can he do? He's stuck dealing with $100 and having to monitor blood sugar levels that were constantly fluctuating—not that I want to get into all that. The pharmacist asks him why he’s buying them, pointing out that she should be entitled to them since she's pregnant. So, he goes right back to the commission, straight to that crazy old lady who denied the request, and tells her, "Look, they told me she’s entitled to these because she's pregnant." And this woman—this total old-school busybody (probably the last of her generation, so maybe it's dementia, maybe it's pure malice, or maybe both)—just says, "Well, yes, if she's pregnant she has rights, but how was I supposed to know?" The guy nearly lost it. "It's written right there that she's pregnant. Are you illiterate or just insane?" She just stares at him, cold as ice: "You're being quite rude, young man (🙄). Why should I be expected to read all of that?" Fine. In the end, the wife got her strips for free, but man, how does anyone not lose their mind dealing with a creature like that? If it hadn't been for the pharmacist, they would've been paying out of pocket, which is just a waste of money because the woman failed to do her actual job. This happened a few months back.
Just like most people, especially when it comes to their own field of expertise. Lawyers. It’s always lawyers. It doesn't matter what else we're talking about; the conversation eventually drifts back to them. I have a lawyer in my family, and let me tell you—whenever they all get together in one room, it's a nightmare. 😲 )
Look, you can't just chalk up the way most people think to some sort of psychological quirk or mental instability. At the end of the day, they're just regular people. They aren't some different species. 😁
To answer the question: I honestly believe both psychologists and psychiatrists can be of help to some people. But let’s be real—most of the time, they’re just fumbling around in the dark. You can't exactly lay the blame at their feet, though. Even after decades of rigorous study and research, we've barely scratched the surface of what makes us tick. Humans are complicated creatures; we're like intricate, unpredictable plants. 😉
I’d honestly love to find an answer to that question shadowfalcon33 posed.
Just to throw my two cents in—my situation is remarkably similar to Kumek’s. Almost none of those things you listed as "immune boosters" actually make it onto my plate. Most of it is stuff I'm strictly forbidden from eating, and the rest? I just don't like it. It’s not that I’m a total medical anomaly like Kumek might be, but my immune system holds up just fine. By that logic, I guess my diet is doing something right. On the flip side, looking at your first group, I don't touch carbonated drinks and I barely eat fruit at all—certainly not out-of-season stuff. So, if I were putting together a list, it would basically be the exact opposite of yours.
Never again. Speaking from experience, I had the absolute worst bout of the flu right after I got my shot. In my house, nobody gets vaccinated. If someone catches the flu, they just complain for a bit, recover, and move on. It’s really no big deal.