Posts by restlessdriver

casualharbor72 said:I pulled a tick out of my ankle joint a few days ago... honestly, I have no idea how long it was attached there...
It’s been eight days now, and this redness has started showing up along with some itching...
It’s just a red patch for now, no target pattern yet...
I'm planning to head to the ER, though I've dealt with something similar before... anyone else had this happen?

You definitely need antibiotics—likely at least two weeks' worth—to rule out Lyme disease.

Especially if you start seeing those concentric rings...

How long are you abstaining before a semen analysis?

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I’m honestly not sure. How is it possible to have no ejaculate? What do the other hormone levels look like, and what was the actual diagnosis?

Roger Fowler said:Fair enough, but the idea that masturbation or sexual activity (with a healthy partner) lowers fertility seems odd to me. Did a doctor actually tell you that? Did you run comparative tests—like a before and after—showing lower sperm counts during periods of frequent activity compared to periods of abstinence? How did you reach that conclusion?...

The latter. I compared my own lab results...

Roger Fowler said:It’s the first time I’m hearing that abstinence has anything to do with fertility, let alone avoiding sports—which actually tends to boost it.

Well, there's always something new to learn...

I might have phrased things a bit clumsily in the second part; I didn't mean avoiding exercise, but rather that engaging in strength training actually helps raise testosterone levels.

Speaking from personal experience here...

Noah Perez44 said:Hi there. I was born with bilateral cryptorchidism and perineal hypospadias. I’ve undergone nine surgeries here in the States and three more in Mexico. It’s clear there’s some lasting damage, but my wife and I have started seeing Professor Dumić, who is hands down the best endocrinologist out there. I haven't really kept an eye on my cholesterol levels... is there any hope of balancing things out with hormone therapy so that sperm production can return to normal?

It’s unlikely you can link hormonal balance directly to sperm production in one simple fix.

Your first step should be focusing on a healthier lifestyle—taking something like Fertile Plus with a good B-vitamin complex, omega-3s, zinc, and so on. Incorporate strength training at the gym, and it's vital to abstain from sex and masturbation for a while if you want to improve your chances of having a child. You really need to get a semen analysis done first to see where you actually stand.

Once you've done all that, you might consider testosterone replacement therapy in the future—but only when you're finished trying to conceive. Given how low your testosterone levels likely are, they're probably affecting your quality of life anyway...

Noah Perez44 said:LH (1) 30.6 H IU/L (ref: 1.7 to 8.6)
FSH (1) 70.2 H IU/L (ref: 1.5 to 12.4)
Total Testosterone (1) 11.2 nmol/L (ref: 8.6 to 29)
Adults: 25 to 325; Inhibin B (9) 24 pg/mL

These are my latest results, and they look pretty bad. Has anyone dealt with something similar or tried hormone therapy...

This looks like primary hypogonadism, given that LH and FSH are spiked while testosterone remains low.

How's your cholesterol looking? Any other labs? Also, have you had any issues regarding testicular health...

I’d definitely suggest finding a solid endocrinologist, especially if fertility treatment is on the table...

Installing an SSD—which can eventually be moved over to a new laptop—along with an extra 4 GB of RAM if there’s an open slot (otherwise, an 8 GB stick), will basically give this machine a second life...

If the technician also cleans out the internals, applies fresh thermal paste, and does a clean install of Windows, all those issues should be a thing of the past.

Kimberly Morris said:Dear Nicholas Myers, brightgull95, and everyone else,

As many of you know from my various posts, I've been dealing with a long list of physical issues that are starting to take a toll on my mental health because I feel completely dysfunctional...

To be specific, I’m dealing with constant low-grade fevers, body aches, bouts of lightheadedness, migraines, insulin resistance, Vitamin D deficiency, frequent diarrhea, and this relentless fatigue that doesn't go away regardless of how much sleep I get or if I engage in light exercise. My immunologist ran some tests, and they ruled out rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. However, she mentioned that my HLA typing suggests a high probability of inflammatory bowel disease, which might explain the nighttime digestive issues (I used to just blame my diet, even though it isn't always the best)... I'm currently waiting on a colonoscopy. My cardiology results came back normal, though...

On the morning of December 20th, I woke up with this intense pressure in my temples. I assumed a migraine was coming, but it wasn't quite a migraine—just this strange, heavy headache that lasted all day. It persisted for a few days before the pressure turned into tingling sensations. This tingling spreads from my temples to my cheekbones and downwards. It gets more intense every day, mostly on the right side... After ten days, I saw my doctor, who suggested it was linked to my migraines and neck issues, recommending I take some Excedrin and get a massage. I tried both, but nothing helped. It’s been about 20 days now of this constant pressure and tingling in my temples...

Today, my endocrinologist called to say that my lab results from seven months ago finally arrived (can you believe that?!!!!). My Vitamin D is still low, but my calcium levels are quite high. She told me to stop taking Vitamin D immediately until we can recheck my calcium levels...

I don't have the paperwork in front of me, but my question is: could these neurological symptoms be related to having excess calcium in my system?
It feels a bit like temporal arteritis, but I'm really hoping that isn't it, especially since I don't have pain while chewing and I'm not even 40 yet... 🙈

Thanks in advance to everyone for reading and for any insight you can offer...

Have you been tested for Lyme disease?

coastalfalcon61 said:Quote: than it is to actually grasp how humor even exists.

boldmason42 says: One thing that honestly leaves me pretty stumped is: humor I mean, I guess it’s almost easier for me to wrap my head around the idea of the Big Bang

That’s an interesting way to look at it... do you suppose it might have something to do with how we're wired?
I can see how people use it and what it's good for, and I realize it can be just as damaging as it is helpful, but I guess I'm just wondering where it actually originates from.

Humor serves a purpose because it engages multiple centers at once, essentially pointing out (un)logic by disrupting established patterns.

The word itself implies that when someone is witty, they possess "spirit." In that sense, humor is just a momentary alignment of higher centers, or at least a more active engagement of them...

coastalfalcon61 said:Conversation can be a useful tool, provided a person can actually control it. If they can't, the tool kind of takes over and goes haywire.
It’s almost like imagining a power drill that refuses to shut off—one that keeps spinning at max speed, and after it finishes the job it was meant to do, it just keeps drilling into every wall it can reach. I think most normal people deal with this kind of verbal struggle. Once they finish saying what they intended to say, they just keep talking to themselves inside their heads until they fall asleep.

While that internal dialogue is running, all your mental resources are tied up in it, which means you can't use them for true free will or conscious perception.
Talking, both externally and internally, triggers thoughts. Those thoughts trigger emotions, and those emotions drive our actions. Most people have almost no influence over this chain reaction. To actually act with genuine free will, one has to break the link between thought, emotion, and action. The first step is usually silence—starting with the outside world because that's easier, and then moving inward. An additional complication is that the intellect can't function without internal speech, and most Americans are deeply identified with their rational minds. Over time, you lose any chance for direct insight and end up forced to perceive the world solely through logic. If you think the intellect is inherently good, just remember that a purely rational person is the one who designs weapons and goes to war. The atomic bomb or the machine gun are products of pure reason.

Furthermore, there is something beyond the individual that listens. It doesn't just hear what is spoken aloud, but also the internal monologue, and it responds by creating circumstances that might not necessarily benefit the speaker if they lack true willpower.

Once, and if, a person reaches a level of free and conscious will, conversation (and the intellect) becomes a useful tool once again—something you can simply switch off once its job is done. At that point, it stops generating endless unnecessary thoughts and doesn't drain resources on constant emotions and actions. When you achieve that stillness and consciously choose a single thought, all those freed-up resources become available to it. That's when a thought gains real power and becomes a law or an intention.

Solitude creates the right environment to free up your perception. It also makes it easier to quiet the internal chatter since there is no one to talk to. This makes it simpler to turn your attention toward the inner component of speech and gradually dial it down.
Interacting with others consumes energy. When you do something for someone, say something to them, or otherwise affect them, you are essentially giving away a piece of your personalized energy. The same goes for how others affect you. These interactions add new elements to your mental inventory, taking up space that could be better used if a person had free, conscious will to decide what stays part of their core identity. At the end of the day, I think every person should try to clear out that new inventory and discard the "energy" picked up from others; otherwise, over time, you just become a messy blend of everyone else's parts rather than your own. Don't forget about the lack of awareness, will, and energy, which, when combined with all these external influences, can turn a person into a trash can where everyone throws whatever they want, even though they were naturally meant to be a container for something useful. After a while, the inside gets so cluttered with junk that it becomes impossible to clean out, mostly because even the shovel you'd use to clean it is buried somewhere deep under the mess.

Regarding this whole idea of resisting what is good... I suppose if free will doesn't actually exist, then there isn't really a choice to be made about whether to resist or to accept things. Most people probably don't have that kind of agency anyway, and it seems to me that when someone does something bad, it isn't even them doing it, but rather some sort of process working through them—sort of like how trash decomposes in a bin labeled "the mind." And if you ask me, the thing that triggers and keeps that whole cycle going is speech, or conversation... which then leads directly to our thoughts, our emotions, and eventually our actions.

And about what you mentioned, that everyone is free to agree or disagree... I think the irony is that almost nobody actually possesses that freedom, mostly because they lack true will, genuine consciousness, or any usable energy. Instead of having freedom, they just have a mind full of mental clutter, and the gases produced by all that decaying junk basically dictate what a person chooses to agree with or reject... in a metaphorical sense, of course.

That's an interesting observation, just explained through a different lens. Thanks. I would only add that I don't feel like every exchange of energy is a bad thing, especially if a group of people is working together toward a common goal or self-improvement. In that scenario, everyone relies on everyone else; if one person falters, they pull the rest down because the "junk" one person fails to clear out affects the whole group. Or, conversely, one person's clean energy can lift everyone else up.

What you're describing—this constant recapitulation and returning of energy—is a bit more of an individualistic approach, a specific technique, much like self-preservation...

Paul Diaz54 said:If talking was useless, we wouldn't have language or the ability to speak—and if solitude was all we needed, we wouldn't be this social species. Honestly, I don't get this glorification of being alone. Is it just fear of actually connecting with people or what? I like my space sometimes, just like everyone else, but being alone 24/7 is more of a mental health issue than some spiritual breakthrough. Seems to me like "spirituality" is often just a fancy word for being self-obsessed.

People *do* resist good. If they didn't, the world wouldn't be such a mess, people wouldn't be crushed by negativity, and those bringing light wouldn't be persecuted—like Jesus and many others. But hey, everyone's free to agree or disagree with whatever they want. 😁

Conversation becomes unnecessary the moment true understanding exists. Thought and speech are merely tools, not our actual essence...

I can't quite agree that we are all free to choose whether we agree or disagree with anything. Our perception is conditioned by external factors rather than a simple choice of will...

People aren't to blame for the circumstances they find themselves in, because they can't influence everything regardless. You turn out the way you do based on how you were taught—your heritage, your upbringing, and other environmental factors. In that sense, you aren't responsible for anything initially; true responsibility only emerges through gradual awareness and working toward the good...

Goodness isn't an inherent human default; it's a product of realization. Some might argue that everyone acts for "the good"—their own version of it, within their own capacity. No one sets out to do evil...

Even Jesus said, "Forgive them, for they know not what they do," referring to the one who acted for absolute good...

When we talk about solitude, we often picture someone who is perpetually alone or a hermit who has physically retreated from society. But the point is that we live in a world where we all interact; solitude as a concept doesn't necessarily require physical distance or being cut off from people...

A person who is comfortable being alone can certainly handle being with others, making both situations equally acceptable to them...

But for the person who cannot stand to be alone at all, that's where the trouble starts—when they simply cannot function without the presence of others...😁

Paul Diaz54 said:Man, that would be nice. Seems like most people just aren't interested in real friendship anymore—spiritual or otherwise. Usually, it's just grabbing coffee once or twice a month and calling it a day. People lately seem obsessed with being alone. I've tried trying to talk about deeper stuff with people so many times, but it just never goes anywhere.

Solitude can be a good thing. Perhaps what you consider "deep" is different for someone else. Maybe for some, depth is just having a place to vent. Maybe they find peace in the woods. Maybe coffee is enough for them. Or maybe you simply haven't crossed paths with the right people yet. Perhaps conversation isn't always necessary. Perhaps the depth lies elsewhere. Perhaps...

By the way, I don't quite agree with you. I don't think people are resistant to Good; rather, I believe everyone is working toward Good in their own way. Some just do it a little better than others...

cosmicviper18 said:The most important question is, how are you actually going to help?

The issue is that we carry these expectations of others, which inevitably leads to disappointment, judgment, and feeling insulted by how people act toward us. You have to break that mindset if you want to navigate life more easily.

Most people are in roughly the same boat—feeling stuck and far too preoccupied with themselves and how they appear to everyone else. They waste a massive amount of energy just maintaining that image.

You’ll truly help yourself the moment you decide you want real internal change. That means stopping to take others for granted and making a genuine effort to purge negativity—or at least accept it and detach from it. It brings up all sorts of thoughts, emotions, compulsions, and habits. It's a long, grueling process, but there is a reward, even if nothing is ever guaranteed...😁

Joseph Green12 said:No, what exactly should I be looking for?
If I go see Dr. Burek to get a broader immunological screening, does that even make sense...

The ELISA test is just the baseline, but it isn't perfectly accurate; you can run into false positives or negatives.

The western blot serves as the confirmatory test used after an ELISA, as it looks for a wider range of antibodies (if I recall correctly, p40 and/or p41 are the most critical ones).

Have you gone ahead and checked with a neurologist or maybe run a Lyme disease test?

The bacteria is called Borrelia burgdorferi, which causes symptoms very similar to what you're experiencing. It would probably be a good idea to rule out the possibility of that condition...

Megan Jones27 said:For some context... I dealt with some strange symptoms last summer that have kept resurfacing this year. They come and go, and honestly, they aren't exactly pleasant. Some of them include... tingling, pins and needles, or a crawling sensation throughout my body—mostly in my right arm—along with weakness and a heavy feeling in my right wrist. Then there’s hot flashes, ears flushing, and an itchy scalp. My heart skips beats quite often, and a few times my heart rate has spiked to around 130... (my cardiologist said everything looks fine, aside from a minor mitral valve prolapse). I also get shortness of breath, along with tightness in my neck, chest, and stomach. On a few occasions, I've had frequent urination, intense thirst, and a very dry mouth. There's also this odd lightheadedness, a feeling of being unsteady, or like I'm not quite in my own body... plus vision issues where one part of my eye seems to blur for a second whenever I blink. It feels like static electricity in the corner of my eye... on top of all that, for about six years now, I've been getting itchy spots on my face that feel like mosquito bites. They come and go; doctors mentioned it might be chronic idiopathic urticaria... my kidneys are fine. During my pregnancy, I was on small doses of Synthroid... I haven't taken it in six months, but I have a hormone checkup tomorrow.

So, that's the "short version"...

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Have you checked your battery levels, or maybe dealt with a tick bite?

Nicholas Mendoza60 said:The cost for an IgM Lyme disease test via blood draw is... 32 milesNegative twenty-five dollars...
Savannah...
Do you think I'm handling this the right way...

If I’m not mistaken, they likely used an ELISA test just because it’s more cost-effective. I decided to skip the ELISA entirely and went straight to a Western Blot when I was in St. Louis... 93 miles When you get the results, you'll see the IgG and IgM antibodies broken down individually. With an ELISA, though, it just gives you a simple positive or negative...

I got bitten by a tick, and since there was a case of Lyme disease in my immediate family, I jumped straight into preventive antibiotics. Of course, about a month later, the symptoms started kicking in and only seemed to get worse—though I had already finished posting my previous update by then. Looking back, the leg twitching was likely just a blood sugar issue, and once I realized that, I stopped obsessively searching for symptoms like a hypochondriac. Everything eventually settled down... it seems most of those symptoms were probably psychosomatic...

You can run an ELISA, but even if the results come back negative, it doesn't necessarily mean you're in the clear until a Western blot analysis is completed...

Nicholas Mendoza60 said:That’s true.
But how reliable are these tests, really?

The ELISA test is supposedly quite unreliable and prone to false positives or negatives. A Western blot is used as a confirmatory test to look for specific antibodies, which makes it much more accurate.

In extreme cases, a spinal tap might be used, but I wouldn't recommend that unless a diagnosis is absolutely critical...

As for the bullseye rash, it apparently shows up in about 70% of patients. Since that skin reaction isn't always present, we can't be certain without specific Borrelia testing.