boldpuma89, my previous post was actually meant for you (though it goes out to anyone else thinking about quitting) It looks like the moderators have dropped us right into our own little corner here 😉
Look, there's no pressure, just walk away from that devil and leave it behind. I know it isn't easy, but you'll eventually realize you're a total badass with a rock-solid character. 😉 You also know deep down that once you finally make the call to quit, it’s going to get tougher. But honestly, life without tobacco feels so incredible and liberating (I'm actually writing this for my own sake too, haha)—there's no better reward than being able to breathe with full lungs. Anyway, I'm rooting for you! 👍
You’ve got a thread with the exact same title, and there are two more sitting right above it 😉 The group over there is collectively trying to kick the habit, so take a look at what they're saying... I’d call myself a casual smoker; I’ve been at it for quite a while considering I'm only 22, but I made sure never to let it get to the point where I was totally hooked. Honestly, though, now that tobacco prices have spiked, quitting might actually be easy—there's just no way I'm lighting up again. 😠
Kevin White5, you really hit the nail on the head with that explanation. I actually spent some time picking doctors' brains about this while I was out—I've always been pretty fascinated by the medical field—but most of them just gave me a shrug. It felt like they couldn't even pin down a solid diagnosis themselves.
Shout out to you, granitebadger25! You’ve managed to cover more ground in a few posts than I heard from specialists during three whole months... and don't worry, I have zero plans to move to India. I'm perfectly happy right here in NYC.👋
Take severe forms of sarcoidosis, for instance—you see it among Black Americans in the North, but not in Africa... Or Puerto Ricans living in New York City, but not those elsewhere in the States... Even Irish women living in New York City, but not those back in Ireland...
John Doe, I actually ended up with it because I'm a Woman from Miami living in Washington, D.C. 😛 John Doe, just kidding, ladies! You all are awesome, thanks a million!
It’s really common to deal with throat discomfort, and sometimes you'll spot tiny white patches on the tonsils or the roof of your mouth. People often misread those mucus plugs as tonsillopharyngitis—especially if there's any streptococcus flora present in a swab—leading to a totally wrong diagnosis of strep throat.
Honestly, granitebadger25, I had plenty of those white spots on my tonsils myself. Jesus, looking back now at my old GP—who was such a gem—when I told her how suspicious those spots looked, she actually tried to convince me they were just bits of unfermented food 😲 😕 . I just gave her this blank stare, like, "Do you seriously think I don't brush my teeth???"
So, it's possible I had sarcoidosis without even realizing it. Thanks so much for all the answers; it's a relief to hear that the acute form isn't quite as scary as it sounds. I honestly thought it was just a stubborn sore throat, and truthfully, I haven't had any issues since.
So here's the deal: I went in for full blood work and everything came back perfect. Even my doctor was impressed by how clear my lungs looked, but then there's this throat issue of mine... hmmm... My voice tends to crack quite a bit, especially if I've been singing late into the night 😁 , and whenever I catch a cold or the flu, my throat takes the brunt of it—swallowing becomes a total nightmare . Since all my tests were normal, the doctors figured the erythema popped up because of that throat inflammation I had. They weren't 100% sure, though, since my throat wasn't actually hurting at the time (it was summer, but the inflammation happened back in February), so technically I felt perfectly fine, even if I did have those symptoms 😕
It’s true I was pretty exhausted due to some other things going on back then (I was dealing with some personal stuff, honestly one of the tougher periods of my life), but my medical results were still solid . Apparently, it hits women more often, and goodness knows we go through enough as it is 🙂
Thankfully, the erythema hasn't come back. Like I said, I've never really had major health issues aside from this occasional throat trouble... but what exactly is sarcoidosis?
I dealt with this illness a few years back, and honestly, there’s still so little we actually know about what triggers it. For me, it showed up as these random bruises—hematomas, really—popping up on my legs and other parts of my body out of nowhere. They would just swell up if I even tried to exert myself slightly. I couldn't even manage a walk or go swimming (there goes my summer, ugh) for about three or four months, and doctors told me I had one of the milder cases.
Up until then, I was pretty much a picture of health (I was only 19 at the time), aside from a brutal sore throat a couple of months before the illness hit, which landed me on penicillin and a month's worth of Advil.
The doctors were all in agreement on the diagnosis, but as I mentioned, the actual cause remains a mystery. It sounds a bit ridiculous to most people, but their theory is that the throat infection never fully cleared up, which then manifested as erythema nodosum—basically those bruises on my legs. To be honest, it sounds a bit far-fetched to me; I just don't see the connection between a sore throat and bruising on my legs.😕 Well, I suppose when it comes to the human body, anything can happen. Has anyone else gone through something similar? What did your doctors suspect was the trigger, and did the illness ever come back? (I have to admit, I've become a total hypochondriac; if I see a single bruise on my leg now, I freak out and start convinced myself I just bumped into a piece of furniture by accident! 🙄)
Ugh, I have the exact same issue. My nails grow to a decent length and I’m finally happy, but then they just start peeling... it drives me absolutely crazy!
I even went through phases where they wouldn't even grow out at all; they'd just peel along the entire length while they were still super short... a total nightmare. 😲 Then I discovered Merz vitamins—the ones for hair, skin, and nails—and things have been great ever since. They actually grew quite long and feel really strong now. You just have to be consistent and take them for a few months until the whole nail grows out, but they seriously worked for me. I usually just do a "treatment" once a year. Oh, and you definitely need to wear gloves when doing housework. For me, the peeling was always worst whenever my nails were soaked in water or touching harsh detergents for too long.