Posts by mistyhound2

🤦

Lupus in fabula. 🤦

Steven Ruiz, I honestly thought people like that only got banned on those specific PDFs where they just frantically clone themselves over and over.

Steven Ruiz said:Am I supposed to have been normal? Second? Boss? A little hobbit? etc., etc...
NOBODY was actually doing a good job.
When I was appointed (for the second time) to moderate the diaspora section, I was practically greeted with open arms before I could even manage to perform a single moderation task or take any kind of action...
Everything that ambermason16 wrote above is the absolute truth, I'm afraid...

Well, I already said clearly that all the mods were fine by me. You, Second, Boss (ugh, man, who even remembers Boss anymore?), Hobbit—aka Adex—Gatto... I can't even remember all of them. 😁 Honestly, I never had an issue with the mods on the diaspora board, or anywhere else for that matter. Yeah, I did once, way back in 2002, over on Winona, but everyone was constantly breathing down her neck. 😁 And she wasn't even part of the diaspora group. Look, whoever wants to claim whatever, fine, just try being a normal person for once. Like you guys. 🙂

ambermason16, why are we even shutting this down now? 😕 You basically caused this whole massacre just so you could open it HERE. 😕 Besides, you barely even use it anyway. ☕

Steven Ruiz said:@ Nicole Morales3, you hit the nail on the head. That’s exactly why they both ended up getting penalized.
But then later on, she started going, "Why hasn't Milos been permanently banned, and why did you give a ban to Dead Cold?" And honestly, that whole line of questioning wasn't even coming from her specifically, but rather from a bunch of other trolls and agitators who were just dying to jump back into the fray once the warnings and bans were handed out, just so they could drag the conversation back to the moderators again...🤦

Personally, I don't see the big deal with clones. Why not just slap a permanent ban on that IP address and call it a day? 😕 And why waste any energy on these clones who have nothing better to do than stir the pot? Just ignore them and move on...☕

Look, they don't need to be some kind of intergalactic overlord, though honestly, that would be pretty cool 😁 They just need to be normal. That’s really all anyone expects. This whole PDF thing isn't some sacred text, and I certainly don't believe the moderators on this site are the biggest badasses in the universe either. 😁 ambermason16, with that aggressive "savior complex" attitude and irritating behavior, basically poisoned the well with nothing but dislike and distrust from day one on that miserable PDF. Personally, I never sent threatening messages to mods—or anyone else for that matter—I never used burner accounts, and it never even crossed my mind. To be honest, I haven't felt like posting on that PDF for ages, and it wasn't because of the mods; they were all perfectly fine by me. It was because of those windbags who spend nearly 24 hours a day acting like experts, lecturing everyone, and Googling facts that any sane person could find themselves. Sure, there are annoying users, and sure, there are likable people too. Everyone has two choices: keep typing, or just ignore it and boycott the whole thing. Let everyone decide for themselves. ☕

I’m pretty much on the same page as Steven Ruiz. I honestly didn't realize it would turn out like this—where it looks like just a handful of actual people are talking while everyone else is just some group of clones. 😲Look, I don't have the power to go stalking everyone's IP addresses, but when you see a bunch of "new" users popping up constantly who are clearly just carbon copies of each other, yeah, it's true.

But seriously... I was just venting yesterday in some totally unimportant thread on a random chat topic where someone was rambling about how the diaspora had issues way before ambermason16 ever showed up. She's lost her spark and become incredibly boring... a lot of people just stopped posting or visiting for all sorts of reasons. Some have real stuff going on in their lives, some just got bored, and others are just tired of answering the exact same questions for the thousandth time. Let's be real: most of the questions have been answered ages ago; you just actually have to read the threads. But most of the newbies don't bother reading anything, so they just show up and ask the same thing again. It's annoying. Of course, conversations aren't always the same, especially for those of us who have been hanging around this forum for years. And then, whenever someone—like Stefa or whoever else—starts an interesting discussion, the thread gets shut down. It's pointless... that old magic we used to have is gone. There's no inspiration left because threads get closed, posts get deleted, and people just leave or boycott the whole thing. This forum is dying. And then you've got the mod coming in with that bitchy attitude, completely killing whatever tiny bit of life was left. Honestly, it's a failure of leadership. Why doesn't she try starting a thread herself or actually contributing something? It's her forum, after all. 🙂

wiredangler5 said:From what I can see, Skate Mus and ambermason16 are doing the exact same job, even if it’s invisible to you guys. So, I have to wonder—why is one considered good while the other is seen as bad? After looking through some deleted posts on various topics that both of them have scrubbed, I honestly think some people in the diaspora need to ask themselves what they actually want from these subforums. Are you looking for anarchy, endless off-topic rambling, and constant trolling everywhere you turn?
First, tell me: what would you actually gain if ambermason16 left? What exactly is she doing wrong? How is she holding back your discussions?

anarchy hasn't existed here, at least not since 2002. 😁 whether we have Ironing Man breathing down our necks or not. 😁 This diaspora sub-forum used to be my absolute favorite spot on the site. Now? It’s easily the worst.

The whole "messy threads and constant mocking" thing was always getting flagged before. We don't need Ironing Man to police that. Honestly, feel free to hand me a ban card for my own sarcasm—I won't even put up a fight.

As for the off-topic stuff, it’s everywhere. You want proof? Go look at the other threads in the diaspora section, from the UK topics to the Denmark ones, and you'll see just how much clutter there is. I mean, does anyone actually planning their move to America really care about the weather in Copenhagen or what some former user's vacation schedule looks like in Denmark? Or where some guy who writes a blog is hanging out right now? I haven't seen her deleting those kinds of posts, even though they are totally off-topic. Personally, I think she shouldn't be deleting anything at all—just let people talk. But if she's going to play cop, she should at least be consistent and wipe everything out.

Anyway, that's my two cents...🙂

I’ve gotta vent here, because honestly, I don't usually give a damn about the moderators, but this is getting ridiculous. 🙄 ambermason16 has seriously gone overboard with all this deleting posts lately. Now she's even started scrubbing the chat threads. Today, she actually docked me some points just because she thinks I'm "trolling" in the chat. 😕 😁 Look, it's not even about the points, but if we can't just talk about whatever we want in a casual chat thread—without any insults or hate speech, mind you—then what's the point? 😢 ambermason16 doesn't care about the diaspora subforum, she doesn't join the discussions, and she doesn't even moderate that section... so I have to wonder, what is her actual purpose being there? 😕

Nicole Morales3 said:Man, I wish Jeffrey Torres was my banker. I’d just roll up to the branch with a check that has three zeros on it, and he’d somehow flip it into one with seven.

🤣 Honestly, better he isn't. Otherwise, he might take those seven zeros and turn them back into three. 😁

Ashley Rogers4 said:No matter how you slice it, half of that money would probably just get blown on PlayStations, iPhones, iPads, new tires, 22-inch rims, sticks, Porsches, and straw hats. After all that, the rest of us would still be stuck in the exact same mess we started in.

How much truth is actually in that?

* * * * * * *

Nothing’s changed. A handful of powerful elites run everything else. And when you factor in that greed is basically a contagious disease, you end up right back where we started. The poor stay poor—mostly because they don't know any other way to live—while the rich just keep stacking more on top of what they've already got...

Sam Hall15 said:first off, he doesn't have excess iron, his levels are actually totally normal, and second never should a doctor be treating a lab report instead of the actual patient. look, if one single value is outside the reference range but isn't tied to how the person actually feels, it usually isn't worth digging into—and I'm emphasizing "usually" because not all tests work the same way. plus, obviously, wasting money sending people for useless tests is just stupid, I don't see what's confusing about that...

thank God someone finally said it. 👍👍👍 basics first: you deal with the patient and the clinical picture, then you look at the labs. interpreting numbers blindly is a huge mistake, and unfortunately, plenty of doctors still do it. even worse? instead of actually talking to the person and doing a physical exam, they just order a battery of expensive tests. 🙄and patients? they have zero clue. my advice: if you walk into an office and they don't bother to talk to you or examine you, and just immediately start ordering tests—go find a better doctor!

crimsonsailor14 said:Alright, since we’re already diving into this topic...
So, iron is at 7.4 (normal range is 8.00-30.0), TIBC is 47.5 (49.0-75.0)
Everything else looks fine.
Female, 45 years old, pretty standard diet, never dealt with anemia before, periods have always been regular (and light) her whole life.
Does a result like this mean I need more testing, or is just two months of Levothyroxine 2 enough before a follow-up?

It’s the same old story. Again, just serum iron. 🙄I need other parameters—I need the Hb levels, and frankly, I need the actual patient, how they look, what symptoms they’re actually feeling.

Kimberly Ward said:Look, it’s not like you should go out and scare the life out of a patient, but you can just be straight with them.
Here's my specific situation: back in November, I caught some "weird" virus.
Literally every single one of my blood markers was bottomed out—totally below the normal range. I had this awful anemia and even passed out briefly, plus I felt completely wiped. My hemoglobin was at 88 and iron was sitting at 2.9. And of course, the cough came with a fever, even though my lungs and throat seemed fine. Should my doctor have just brushed me off or sent me to an internist (specifically a hematologist)? Because honestly, that guy was a huge support, unlike my OBGYN (who basically told me in the rudest way possible that I just let myself get too cold and suggested I go see someone privately). She claimed the low iron was purely a gynecological issue.
After everything that doctor said—telling me to just relax and that we'd find the cause of the anemia—I actually felt better because I knew someone actually had my back.

P.S. I'll shoot you a PM with the rest of the story.

Serum iron is the absolute worst metric to use when measuring iron-deficiency anemia. Measuring serum IRON is useless. But hey, most of these clueless doctors don't have a clue. If you're anemic, you're anemic, and the cause is likely some kind of messed up iron balance. That's why you run other tests to actually find the root cause. Finding that is the job of a primary care physician, not some specialist like an OBGYN or a hematologist. You only head to a specialist once the GP hits a wall with complex stuff...

Carol Rivera40 said:Hey, please help me out here...

So my husband just got back from the hospital with his blood and urine results. Everything looks fine on the bloodwork except for one thing—his C-reactive protein is at 35😢. I have no clue what that actually means. I’ve been spiraling down an internet rabbit hole and found stuff saying it could be some kind of bacterial infection
. I also should mention he's been dealing with diarrhea for three days now, and since yesterday, there's been a little blood mixed in. It’s honestly awful... anything he eats and he’s sprinting straight to the bathroom immediately.
He finished the tests and still has to drop off a stool sample for lab work, which won't be ready for a few days
. Does anyone know anything about this? Has anyone else dealt with something similar????

On top of all this, I'm pregnant, and I'm terrified that if it *is* a bacterial thing, he might pass it to me. Is that even possible???

CRP is incredibly non-specific. Honestly, something a lot of doctors (unfortunately) do is just assume a high CRP automatically means an infection. But look, if you cut yourself, your CRP goes up. If you have a bruise or a hematoma, it goes up. Even with diarrhea—which is usually just a virus anyway—your CRP can spike. There really isn't any reason to panic yet...

Chloe Garcia10 said:Hey there.

My mom was recently diagnosed with depression and got prescribed Zoloft. She’s about two weeks into it now, and honestly, the side effects are kicking my ass. We're talking weakness, nausea, shaky legs, zero appetite... I get that some of this overlaps with actual depression symptoms, but the Zoloft seems to be cranking them up to eleven. Her doctor told her to hang in there for three weeks until the meds actually kick in and said the side effects should taper off after 7-10 days, but for her, they just aren't letting up.
Has anyone else here dealt with Zoloft? Did you run into nasty side effects, and if so, how long did you have to suffer through them before things leveled out?
Any advice would be huge.

Fluoxetine really does take about 2 or 3 weeks to actually start "working." Usually, the side effects die down pretty quickly, but if they don't—well, she needs to talk to her psychiatrist. Honestly, there are plenty of much better antidepressants out there than this stuff. Personally, I wouldn't even think about prescribing fluoxetine to my own patients.

holloworca19 I can't even begin to tell you how much this whole situation sucks. Honestly, I’m just sitting here staring at my screen, wondering when things actually started going downhill. It feels like everything is just... broken. You try to make sense of it, you really do, but then you realize you're just spinning your wheels in the sand while everyone else pretends everything is fine. It's exhausting. Just plain exhausting.
So, what gives? Is there seriously zero coverage from on-call doctors during the night shift around here? Seriously. 😁😁

Look, I’m not saying you shouldn't reach out—I'm actually waiting on *you* to chime in with whatever else is going on. Seriously, what are we looking at here? Besides that temperature fluctuation, are you feeling anything else? Any other weird symptoms popping up? Because, look, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but a fever spike like that could be an early warning sign for acute ischemia triggered by some kind of acute thromboembolism. It sounds heavy, I know. And honestly? It’s pretty hard to play doctor over the internet. In medicine, nothing beats actually being there to see things with your own two eyes. You can't diagnose much from behind a screen.

nimblebison16 said:Went for a pre-employment physical this morning and my hemoglobin came back at 177 and my RBC was 5.96
I actually ate right before the test, and someone mentioned that might mess with the results... is that actually a thing?
I feel totally fine, though. I work out pretty regularly—lots of pushups, sit-ups, neck exercises, dumbbells, stuff like that.
I stay active, play basketball too, but I don't take any supplements or anything, and I don't really hit the heavy weights at a gym.
Does anyone know much about this? Maybe you could explain if it's related to working out, what I eat, or something else? I'm thinking about going back for more detailed testing, but if anyone knows anything or has tips on how to get these numbers back to normal before I go, let me know.
Thanks

Eating right before a blood draw won't change your hemoglobin. Just go back and get it checked again.

Sandra Lopez2 said:if anyone could just double-check this for me...

everything looks fine on my blood work except...

my cholesterol is 4.9 and the limit is 5
triglycerides are 1.76, recommended up to 1.70
ALT is 6, recommendation is 10-36

for coagulation, it shows oral therapy range at 1.0, whereas the recommendation is 2.0-3.5

I'm 25, I don't drink, I don't smoke, and I'm definitely not overweight...
any reason to be worried?

thanks🙏

Nah, you're fine. Honestly, you aren't going to fix your cholesterol just by "eating better," and for those triglycerides that are slightly up? You really just need to, I don't know, actually move around a bit. 😁 And for heaven's sake—always get your lipid panel done while fasting! Otherwise, you're just getting fake high numbers.

Megan Adams4 said:hmm... damn, I just realized my ALT jumped from 24 to 41 in five months...

Look, if you were on birth control, we're talking about drug-induced spikes here. It’s really not the end of the world—tons of people deal with this without even realizing it. I honestly don't see why your OB-GYN is insisting on testing; those numbers are basically fine. People always forget this one thing: you don't treat liver enzymes, you treat the actual person and whatever's going on with them.🙂

Scott Allen10 said:Just looking at the diagnosis itself doesn't tell you much—honestly, I don't think it’s even worded very accurately. It's kind of like if someone walked into an ER and just got slapped with "acute stomach pain" and nothing else.
If they aren't going to volunteer any info, you've gotta get aggressive with the questions. You need to know what caused this mess in the first place, what the treatment plan actually looks like, and what kind of testing they're planning if the cause is still a mystery... all that stuff.

Yeah, they definitely butchered the spelling of the diagnosis sensorineural 🤣but hey, I'm blaming it on fast typing. Not like I write perfectly every single time either. 😁

The real goal should be finding the etiology behind the damage. Is it mechanical? An infection? Something toxic? You have to dig deeper than that...

fadedmason said:Lately, for the last few months, I’ve been dealing with these lumps popping up in my groin area—like lymph nodes or something... I have PCOS, and the doctors are trying to convince me that these lumps, which feel like the size of a fist, are actually just my ovaries, and all this pain I'm feeling is coming from them... (I mean, is that even possible?)

Last year, they had me on antibiotics for an entire year, so my immune system is basically trashed now, and I’m just stuck in this endless loop...
Who am I even supposed to talk to?
I didn't even want to go to the medical board review because I just don't have the nerve to be humiliated by them. Besides, they usually only send people who have cancer and maybe a few months left to live, telling them "well, you're going to die anyway"... so I have to wonder where this is all heading... (where did the humanity go?)

Ovaries in your groin? For God's sake, no. I seriously don't believe a doctor told you that. And I don't get it—antibiotics for a whole year? Sorry, I'm not buying that either. No doctor in America is prescribing antibiotics for a full year straight... you must have other things going on.

Gary Johnson7 said:My white blood cell count came back low...

Wait, what? I don't follow...

White blood cells are basically the body's defense force, produced in the bone marrow and various lymph nodes.
In the spleen, you've got the red pulp and the white pulp. In the red pulp, you'll find
erythrocytes, granulocytes, monocytes, and plasma cells.
The white pulp is essentially just clusters of smaller lymphatic tissue.🙄

Nice job on the deep dive. You really went down the rabbit hole with that Google search, didn't you? 🙏 So, sit down... we finally got the group histology results back on the spleen. 🙏