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Posts by jadesailor14

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Maria Gomez4 said:
Karen Young17 Asks:
I suppose I don't see why I should ever have to resort to prayer just to get someone to explain exactly what I came here for.

Because that’s just what decent people do. I mean, it's not like you showed up to a local farmers market specifically to buy lettuce, only to have a bunch of little gremlins jumping around you trying to hawk their products; even if you did go there for groceries, I guess having a bit of basic politeness wouldn't actually hurt anyone.

Well, exactly. That medical report is intended specifically for your physician, which is why it’s written in a technical language and filled with terminology that seems completely foreign to most of the general public. I guess you should just ask whoever ordered the test what they actually found. After all, that report is only one small piece of the puzzle—it's just a fragment of the full picture. Only a doctor can see the whole thing, since they are the only ones with the actual expertise required to interpret those images correctly.

It feels a bit harsh to make assumptions like that, but I suppose the doctor is actually quite skilled. Maybe you’re just feeling frustrated because of your smoking environment; those surroundings probably aren't doing you any favors, I guess.

It’s probably for the best that his grandmother is the one canceling the appointment, though I suppose I should hope she's actually a physician. But then again, as strange as it might sound, I guess the stomach lining really does need protection if the treatment ends up being overly aggressive.
Look at it this way—if you go by the data available online, like from UC Berkeley, the average life expectancy for an American man following something like World War I was only about 53 years. So, I guess, without those pills—even considering they might be eroding his stomach lining—he’d most likely be six feet under right now, resting under a marble slab and serving as nothing more than a feast for the worms.

I guess I start getting a little worked up whenever I watch my doctor click through the exact same thing for the millionth time, just pounding away at the keyboard with her fingertips like she’s operating some old-fashioned typewriter.

It's probably because that entire generation grew up learning how to use typewriters, so they might actually be better at it than you or me! (And you know, you only use one finger on those old machines anyway).
But look, she isn't clicking and typing like that because she enjoys it, nor is she being paid based on her click count... she's doing it because you approached her for help, so maybe try showing a little respect!

Oh, the arrogance of youth!🙄
Forty is young. That woman can barely get herself organized, let alone retire before 65. She’s got 25 years left to go—she hasn't even hit the halfway point of her career yet.
By the way, a little typing lesson: you actually use all your fingers on a typewriter, 10
If she saw how much joy she could find working for a private firm, she might actually be a speed-typing champion!
But she doesn't have to. She'll still be working tomorrow, next year, and ten years from now, moving at that same sluggish, uninterested pace.
Why shouldn't this doctor show some respect to the people coming to her for help? Isn't the fact that they're coming to her—putting themselves in a vulnerable position—respect enough? It's not like she's God Himself descended to Earth; there's no need to bow down!
Daily water intake: Let's discuss in Health ·
amberskipper3 said:I've been seeing more and more lately—both in the news and in health journals—that the whole "eight glasses of water a day" rule is actually complete nonsense! It’s funny because I used to obsess over hitting that number every single morning, but now it seems like everyone is realizing it's just a myth.
I’ve never quite managed to hit those huge daily water goals, so I just stick to my rule of drinking whenever I actually feel thirsty!
I honestly feel like I hit the jackpot with my skin! I’ve got such a great complexion—no dryness at all, and I definitely don't have any issues with weight. Just feeling really good about it today!
What do you all think about this?

And you're staying healthy too! 😁

I’m totally with you on that!
I actually drink way more than those eight glasses of water a day! I always make sure to stay super hydrated.
I just really need one, honestly—I'm absolutely parched!
That’s just how it always goes!
He’s actually a great choice for me! I’ve got a few extra pounds to lose and my skin gets as dry as parchment, but as long as I stay healthy and avoid any diseases, I'm happy. 😬
wiredlynx33 said:I honestly don't have the energy left to even quote you, jadesailor14... I just want to wish everyone here nothing but health, and especially your father. ☕
Best regards,

Hey, there's no need to be mean! Let's keep things positive.
I really wrote that post with the best intentions! Since I know this disease so well, my heart truly goes out to everyone dealing with it.
There’s really no reason to be upset, especially since you brought my father into this!
urbanorca said:jadesailor14, thanks. Look, I don't have a medical degree, but I've spent countless hours digging into LDN. I've looked at what renowned doctors like Dr. Bihari, Smith, Zagon, and Goohilly have to say, read through several studies, and went through about 200 patient testimonials and stuff.

LDN (usually up to 4.5 mg) is a tiny dose of Naltrexone—a drug typically used in doses of 50 to 200 mg to treat alcohol and drug addiction. Not one single study or doctor claims it has dangerous consequences; there are almost zero side effects (maybe some insomnia). About 70% of people say it helped them, some even claim they're cured (meaning no more "flare ups"), and while about 10% feel it didn't work for them, nobody is claiming it made their condition worse.

There are even TV shows about this; some people call it a miracle drug. A leading TV Doctor in the UK, Chris Steel, made a heartfelt plea ("The NHS would save billions if they used LDN"), and there was even a petition signed by 14,000 people sent to Parliament over there.

But in the UK, about 95% of doctors refuse to prescribe it because it looks like Big Pharma is putting on the pressure to keep this cheap, effective drug from being used.

As for Big Pharma, it's just scandal after scandal—Avandia and Crestor (statins). Some estimates suggest that between 50,000 and 200,000 people in the US have died from those drugs. Now Avandia is banned in the UK. In the US, GlaxoSmithKline had to pay 60 million dollars to the first 700 people who sued them for the harmful effects, and there are still about 100,000 more people waiting in line for lawsuits.

I had massive problems with statins myself, and I stopped taking them three years ago, despite my doctor's advice (if I had listened to the doctor, maybe I wouldn't be bothering you guys here right now). I trust people's lived experiences and my own history with a medication way more than I trust doctors.

But hey, everyone should do their own research before jumping to conclusions. If I had an autoimmune disease or something similar, I already know exactly what I'd do.

You mentioned you spent about 20 hours digging into this!
Twenty hours? Are you kidding me?! Good grief, what is twenty hours even supposed to mean? Honestly, it’s absolutely nothing—just a total zero!
Since you don't have any formal training in this field, you honestly don't even know how to present information properly!
And you can't even get access to those most important threads!

You bet I do!
It’s always so much easier to talk about what we'd do if things were different! I honestly find that opening up about those "what if" scenarios makes everything feel a bit more manageable. What's on your mind?

wiredlynx33 said:I honestly can't decide whether I should be laughing or weeping. This entire discussion about medications and a father battling 30 grams of cancer is just... overwhelming. Does anyone actually grasp the sheer volume of pills—these literal poisons—he had to swallow to manage those 30 grams? It’s no wonder he feels like death. Honestly, if I don't find some other way to cope, I might end up feeling just as miserable. I am practically hysterical while typing this out... the man even shared a video from CBS (which even my mother has heard of) discussing this specific drug... or perhaps urbanorca filmed it in secret just to push LDN on us. Oh, please, tell me urbanorca isn't actually trying to pull this one over our eyes. 😢 What an absolute joke!!
Please, I am asking you—and I urge everyone here to exercise a modicum of logical reasoning—tell me: what is the actual difference between 3mg and the 50mg doses typically taken by addicts or people struggling with substance abuse?? There is a massive, undeniable gulf between those two amounts; I would personally put any pill in my mouth immediately if there were even a 1% chance it could help me. Every medication, especially when dealing with cancer, carries side effects, but every single drug is different in that regard. Just take a look at the instructions for Salofalk to see for yourself, not to mention the implications of taking Medrol!!

I know exactly what my dad had to deal with during those thirty years. It was quite a journey!
I know firsthand just how brutal this disease can be. It really drives home why regular checkups and having a specialist constantly monitoring everything is so incredibly vital. In the end, I even mentioned that my father was honored by many of my friends working at the hospital to lead his service.
That’s pretty grim and heavy, honestly... maybe it's just me, but I can't deny it's the truth!
I know Medrol like the back of my hand from my own experience, so I don't even need to look it up!

I was just saying, use your head!
Please, don't go taking medications based on random advice you find from anonymous people online! I learned this the hard way once when I tried a "miracle cure" I read about on a forum, and let me tell you, it was a total disaster for my stomach. It's always much safer to stick with what your actual doctor recommends.
It's definitely worth asking around! I know plenty of people right here in the States who have tried LDN. Surely there are doctors out there—maybe even some just a town over—who are already helping patients manage it.
Please don't go rogue with your treatment! You really have to be careful because things can go sideways in an instant, and if they do, you'll need someone to step in and bail you out. If the people around you aren't fully in the loop regarding your self-managed care, they won't know how to help when things get messy.
I've heard that LDN might be able to help me out too! I'm not exactly running marathons right now, if you know what I mean—believe me, I'm dealing with quite a few uncomfortable issues lately.

I’m always down to try out any new therapy, no matter how crazy it sounds! I mean, Scott Allen10 knows what I'm talking about. 😬 But... only under medical supervision!
The right way to handle this is by informing the proper authorities and actually standing up for your right to treatment, rather than just blindly buying whatever random stuff you find online.
urbanorca said:Scott Allen10, look, I just want to help people. I’ve spent ages digging into this, and I truly believe LDN could be a game-changer for so many folks.

It honestly breaks my heart to see people—especially the younger ones—dealing with autoimmune diseases. They end up in the hospital twice a year, and you have a 25-year-old girl telling you, "I'm done with everything, I'd rather just kill myself." Meanwhile, there's actually something out there, like LDN, that would most likely help her get her life back on track.

And yet, you’re standing there blocking people from getting the help they need. To me, that’s just messed up.

Angela Wright, I don't know much about that specific law, and yeah, I guess it's the same deal in other places like the UK. But think about it: someone is seriously ill, standard meds aren't doing a damn thing, but an alternative actually works. Now, because of some rule, they're supposed to just follow the law and refuse what actually helps? While their quality of life hits rock bottom or they literally die?

So they'd rather just die because they have to follow the rules? That's pure stupidity if you ask me. I read on one forum that half the people taking LDN in the UK are getting it through mail order, essentially bypassing the system. But let's be real—is any court actually going to have the guts to prosecute a sick person for trying to survive?

I don't get why everyone has stopped reading up and researching how useful LDN can be. Why is everyone so incredibly negative all of a sudden?

You are stepping onto some very, very thin ice here.
I have to ask (and please forgive me if I'm being too blunt), but without formal medical, pharmaceutical, chemical, or biological training,
even with the best intentions in the world, are you really prepared to take responsibility for someone else's life?
I’m genuinely surprised by this. You’re old enough to know better, and since you aren't personally battling a major illness, you don't have that desperate drive for a cure driving your logic.
There is a massive difference between sharing information and encouraging critically ill patients to buy and use medications without any medical supervision.
A huge NO from me.
I am all for new therapies, and I always say every patient deserves choices. Medicine is constantly advancing, and doctors should definitely stay on top of new treatments... but I cannot support the uncontrolled use of drugs by the severely ill.
I totally get the desperation to feel better—believe me, if I could do things I can't do anymore to feel better, I'd do them in a heartbeat. But... we have to be careful not to cause harm.
Just because something worked for Barica and Mate doesn't mean it will work for us, especially since they are just anonymous users on a screen.

Ulcerative colitis is no joke. I haven't dealt with it myself, but my father has been fighting it for 30 years. We've had such hard times; he was even sent home from the hospital three different times because they said he was handling the hospital environment so poorly that he'd be more peaceful passing away at home. It was devastating.
Please don't joke about this. It is a serious disease. My dad is still here (he's been on meds for 30 years, isn't perfectly healthy, and has plenty of other issues, but he's independent!), but many of his friends from the hospital are gone.
Use your head.
Don't get defensive immediately. Neither the moderators nor Angela Wright are trying to be mean; they are just looking out for you and giving you a heads-up.
melloworca6 said:urbanorca, you should see how fast the mods and some other folks jumped on this. 🙂

Too many people come on here peddling nonsense. Most folks on this forum are actually sick, or they're looking out for someone who is. You know as well as I do that when people are desperate, they'll spend their last dime just to feel a little better.

And look, this drug is like any other—it has side effects. You have to be upfront about the downsides, not just the perks. 😉

Honestly, I'm glad you started this thread because I had no idea this was even an option. From what I can gather, the FDA has it approved here in the States, but strictly for addiction treatment. Jane mentioned earlier that getting a hold of it for anything else is going to be an uphill battle. 🤷
I'm going to check in with my immunologist to see if she’s heard of this and get her take on it.

About three years ago, there were some people with MS here in the States who were using it
check out page 71 and beyond in that thread
you could ask them about their experience to learn all about the side effects and how they actually got a hold of it
I don't remember all the specifics 😬 (it's honestly such a blessing when memory lapses cover things up! 😵) but since my concentration is a bit shot right now, I really don't have the energy to go digging through everything again.
urbanorca said:Take it easy, lady, seriously! No need to lose your cool over things that don't even matter.

I just got word that some MS patients here in the States are already using LDN for treatment. This is huge!

You could have easily found that info right here in the MS thread
and honestly, most of those posts are over a year old now

So you basically just... 🙂 discovered...
hot water
meaning it's nothing new at all!

Anyway, I think Angela Wright is absolutely spot on—I couldn't agree more with her! 🙏
silverpuma542 said:lol, why on earth would that apply to an ER visit? 🤣It’s kind of like deciding where you'd rather have an emergency happen—would you pick at your grandma's house, out by the coast, or up in the mountains? Personally, I'd take the mountains any day!
.....

I was chatting with Angela Wright earlier, and I totally lost track of time—I completely forgot that some people just need things laid out for them! 😬
Just to give you the full picture—if you show up on your own at the emergency surgery ward at a hospital like Mercy in a neighborhood like downtown, but you actually live over in a suburb like Silver Spring, they’ll just end up sending you straight over to a different facility like Mount Sinai instead!
I'm guessing you weren't sent out on duty from somewhere like Chicago or Phoenix! 😬 But that's just how they handle things within Washington, D.C.!
dustymarlin10 said:She's asking how that works?
For example, mine listed "Varaždin Hospital"—and I couldn't, sorry, transfer over to the Mayo Clinic...

Are you asking them to leave it blank, or just list the department if they really insist on putting something down?

Angela Wright said:Unfortunately, in practice—like in Washington, D.C.—they divide things up by city districts. I've actually heard stories where people were sent home being told, "You don't belong to this hospital based on your residential area."

It’s true they try to brush you off like that, but they aren't in the right!
My usual response is just, "Oh, really? Could you show me where that says that, or at least tell me which law it is? I mean, not just some internal receptionist rulebook."
Supposedly that municipal thing only applies to emergency rooms, but even then, nobody ever sent me home when I showed up at the wrong hospital!
Angela Wright said:Honestly, who knows... I figure they probably have specific quotas, and if one clinic is packed while another is empty, they just shuffle people around.
Still, you should definitely file a complaint! Remind them that you have the right to choose your own doctor, especially when they're trying to assign you someone you've never even heard of. Maybe reach out to Dr. Mlikotic for some advice on how to handle this.
Don't give up—start making those phone calls right away!

I actually went to a doctor this year who is absolutely slammed, and I even moved my daughter over to her practice too.
Nobody at the Klović clinic said a word about it.
And this is the second time I’ve ended up with an overloaded physician.
Maybe the administrator was just having a rough day, I guess, but I'm not sure what else to say.
You really need to go down there in person and demand your rights!
Eating Disorder Support & Recovery in Health ·
There’s a huge discussion going on over in the women's corner right now about anorexia and bulimia
Here it is:
Visiting your primary care doctor in Health ·
Emily Fisher26 said:Actually, that's not quite right. ......

I'm not sure if this technically follows the rules or not, but it works for this doctor here.
The only catch is that you have to make an appointment with the female physician instead of just swinging by the clinic on a whim.

Either way, I really think it wouldn't hurt him to just ask!
Visiting your primary care doctor in Health ·
The university actually assigns a specific doctor to their students
My daughter is currently a student living in New York City. Even though she already has her own primary care physician, she’s required to see this specific university-appointed doctor for all her official paperwork, like physicals and medical excuses
She does have the choice of whether or not she wants to use the school's doctor for her actual treatment
So, effectively, she’s juggling two different doctors right now

Bryan Wood49, you should check with the university directly—they might even have a list of their official physicians posted online
Kate Collins67 said:I can't even begin to tell you how much of a headache this whole debt calculation thing is—it’s honestly infuriating. Look, I know it’s all supposedly laid out in the contract, but let me tell you, "laid out" doesn't mean "clear." I actually sat down with an independent lawyer to try and make sense of the math, and even she was left scratching her head! If a professional can't give me a straight answer on how they arrived at these numbers, how am I supposed to trust anything? It just feels like a total mess.

And they really lock you in for 10 years? That feels like a bit much!
But hey, knowledge is expensive, and everywhere you go, people get tied down when there's a huge investment involved.

At least you'll have the chance to make some extra cash on the side
if our Secretary's wild idea to scrap this actually happens.
I'm really not a fan of that plan!
And honestly, those on-call shifts are just awful—it's totally not right.
Kate Collins67 said:I’m worth it, so now you see why I have such high self-esteem.☕
And with a salary like this, if I ever decided to quit, I wouldn't be able to pay back my loans in this lifetime.

Unless we're talking about plastic surgery, it’s going to be a tough climb! 😁

Kevin Garcia12 said:Look, I don't know the exact fine print in everyone's contracts, but for the most part, almost all residents are tied down by an agreement stating they have to serve a specific amount of time as specialists at the very institution that's paying their salary during their training. The only exceptions are the "nepo babies"—those kids with "bright futures ahead of them" who don't have any obligations at all, they don't even have to finish certain parts of their residency if it doesn't interest them, because someone else will just swoop in and do the work for them...

Back when I was an intern, I was basically acting as an assistant for laparoscopic procedures—if you've ever actually performed one or even watched one, you know exactly what kind of chaos that implies—mostly because the clinic where I was working was drowning in staffing issues. They had plenty of people on paper who were supposed to be there, but in reality, they were just ghosts protected by bureaucracy... luckily enough, I was "thrown into the fire" in surgery, so I kept myself busy and, hey, everyone survived... 😉

It's the salary, the benefits, and all the other overhead costs the hospital incurs to support a resident during their training, plus a little extra penalty fee, and that's pretty much it...

When you factor in the cost of living and everything else, plus actual tuition and professor fees—just looking at a medical school like Johns Hopkins, it costs roughly $350k-$400k $0.00 per student at today's rates, and on top of that, the student isn't even getting a paycheck; naturally, a portion is covered by the student or their family, while the government picks up the rest, but still...

That's wonderful! 👍
I honestly doubt they’d actually know what to do with that information if they ever found out! 🤣

I am seriously dying of curiosity here—I just have to know, how much is that actually going to run me?
My daughter would definitely have to pay back more than that if she used it for her PhD, but that's still a long way off! Honestly, the scholarship is such a fantastic opportunity, even though the cost of living over there is absolutely sky-high.
But what about here in the States?
Kate Collins67 said:At the facility where I work, the nurses don't even have the authority to filter patients. Every single person who walks into the internal medicine clinic has to get an exam—it’s a direct order from the top brass...
If you get referred to internal medicine because of ear pain—which is obviously the wrong department, by the way—you still end up getting stuck with a full internal medicine exam, and naturally, you walk away without any actual solution to your problem....

Do some digging into those obligations before you jump in; for some people, if you don't handle things properly, you're looking at debt climbing to ten years or over a million dollars.

There are supposed to be some changes coming down the pipeline, but the big question is whether they're going to apply retroactively.

Come on, tell us where you work! That kind of info is pure gold.🤣

I honestly have no idea, this is the first I'm hearing of it.
A million dollars? My goodness, for what?!
I get that there are certain conditions attached, but seriously, what could possibly be worth a million bucks?
Neurobion?
Well, you really are one of a kind! 🤣
Kate Collins67 said:Well, get this—I am absolutely obligated to work for the state. Why? Because my education was tied to a binding service contract. If I quit, I lose everything I've worked for... so much for "free" education, huh?

Honestly, I'm not sure how you're obligated
I know some people currently doing their residency or specialized training, but I haven't heard of anyone being tied down like that!
Kate Collins67 said:I don't work directly in the ER—my role is in the hospital proper—but I frequently have to pull shifts covering the emergency outpatient clinics. And let me tell you, those places can get absolutely slammed. If you’re looking for me and it doesn't look like chaos out front, try swinging by one of the three main units nearby: pediatric emergency, surgical emergency, or internal medicine. There are other specialized wings, obviously, but those are the ones where things actually get busy.

The first one is seriously chaotic, especially on Fridays when parents are dropping kids off before heading out for the weekend. I’ve actually been there with my own daughter because they couldn't figure out what was wrong with her, so we had standing orders to head straight to the ER the second her fever hit anything over 98.6, no matter the hour. So yeah, I've seen it firsthand!
But honestly, you also get parents who are just in a total panic, and you really have to show some empathy for that.
I've been to the second one a few times, and it wasn't a madhouse at all. The nurses there are great at filtering people—deciding who needs to stay and who can head home—and they don't pull any punches about it (though I haven't officially confirmed that)!
I haven't had much experience with the internal medicine one yet.
Brandon Newman95 said:It’s not about that. I'm someone who expects to actually be seen and heard. I mean, after paying through the nose for all these "miracle" treatments, I should have been hospitalized and sorted out within two weeks—not left dealing with improper care while still trying to recover, which shouldn't even be happening. A lot of this depends on your environment, too.
Take my own situation back in the day—I was in my 80s—I caught this atypical viral pneumonia. Thank God I had an incredible primary care doctor; he actually heard the crackling in my lungs and sent me straight to the Mayo Clinic. They barely even caught it there, and get this: they were practically pulling blood from my ear or something. Then later, my dad caught pneumonia too. My GP was the only one smart enough to ask if we had any pets at home. Yeah, we had a parrot that died right after, and we ended up taking it to the local vet. Turns out, we got our pneumonia from that damn parrot. Atypical viral pneumonia, of all things.
And as for you—if the medical field doesn't satisfy you—well, we all know why people go into it, and I don't think doctors are some special breed of humans. You should've known what you were signing up for and what you'd have to sacrifice.
It's like a baby doesn't ask if it's going to be born tomorrow morning or whatever. It just happens.
Doctors, seriously, come down from your high horses—especially you younger ones.

I actually remember hearing about several cases like that back in the 80s; it was almost like there was a plague of those sick birds.
The only good bird is the one you see on a roll of paper towels! 🧐
brrrrrr