Posts by Douglas Grant26

I was around your age when I dealt with these exact same symptoms. It turned out to be a long-term H. pylori infection. It’s been two years since then, and while my energy levels have definitely improved, I'm still not quite back to where I used to be. I still have those days where I feel completely wiped out, though they happen less often now—usually whenever my stomach starts acting up. I remember feeling like a total zombie; even after just a quick walk, the fatigue would hit me, making it impossible to focus. It felt like constant brain fog.

It’s a vicious cycle. Money might not be the primary driver, but its absence is a massive drawback that even the best workplace culture can't really offset. At the end of the day, building that "great environment" costs money—think training programs, office perks, and so on. If a company can't stay competitive with base salaries, they certainly can't afford the extras; anything else is just window dressing.

The real issue arises once you deal with a company of more than 50 employees. You’re almost guaranteed to find outliers who pull in over $15k while doing next to nothing. Everyone notices this, especially those on the lower end of the pay scale. Even if management tries to weed out those extremes, it's incredibly difficult for the employer to raise everyone else's pay because the overhead on those salary brackets—once you factor in all the taxes and benefits—ends up being well over 100% of the net amount.

I don't recall having any issues more significant than my voice feeling slightly raspy.

Propolis didn't really help me; you can find it in sprays or drops, just make sure you grab an alcohol-free version at first so you don't irritate your throat even more.

I remember during that specific time I had almost no saliva production, which made swallowing even harder. For throat lozenges, I used gelRevoice, and those also help stimulate salivation.

It took me quite a while to get things under control. First, my throat calmed down after about a month and a half or two, but I definitely dealt with that "lump in the throat" sensation for another 4 or 5 months afterward.

During that entire stretch, I was taking a PPI alongside propolis, agave nectar, and some hyaluronic acid tablets to keep my throat hydrated. The agave nectar didn't do much for me, but the tablets and the propolis actually helped.

In the beginning, it was a total disaster—I was stuck eating nothing but liquid food for a solid month and a half. I remember even struggling to gulp down a glass of water; it was maddening because progress felt so slow. Thankfully, it hasn't happened again.

About 2x20mg for roughly 6 months.

Emaner. Once I stop taking it, my symptoms are hit or miss—it really depends on the day and what I’ve eaten. Sometimes I’ll feel fine for a few weeks, and then suddenly I'll hit a week where everything feels terrible.
The worst part is definitely the nasal congestion. I can actually feel my sinuses starting to flare up and tighten, especially when there's a sudden shift in the temperature. As for the throat irritation and inflammation, that's almost non-existent.

A proton pump inhibitor worked for my LPR, but you have to stay on them for quite a while. The downside with a ppi is the nausea

Thanks. That makes sense now.

1. I've set up a sole proprietorship while maintaining my full-time job at another firm. Under current tax laws, being in the highest bracket while employed elsewhere means paying roughly $2500 in payroll taxes and $2500 in income tax annually. Since this type of small business isn't registered for sales tax, there's no 25% sales tax applied to the invoices I issue.
2. What happens once a sole proprietor hits the $300 $0.00 threshold and is forced to register for sales tax? It’s clear they’ll have to start keeping formal books, but what does the actual tax burden look like then? Does the payroll tax stay the same as it was in the highest bracket, or does the math change entirely? If it changes, how is it calculated?
3. In that scenario, you have to add 25% sales tax to every invoice, which means you lose the ability to claim sales tax credits like a standard LLC would, right?

The part that really trips me up is how business expenses work when you already have a steady paycheck coming from somewhere else, and what the legal limits are regarding labor laws.

@urbanwalker72 Is that a bit clearer now?

Could use a little clarity here. How does a sole proprietorship actually function once you cross that $250,000 threshold? I’m working a steady W-2 job alongside this.
Once I hit that limit, do I just start tacking sales tax onto every invoice, and am I required to start keeping full books?
If we look at a scenario where the business pulls in $500,000 a year, my Social Security contributions stay capped at the maximum bracket (around $7,500), so I'd essentially be paying an additional 25% on that $500,000—minus that top-tier flat tax amount since I've transitioned to standard taxation.

Is it just me, or is the effective cost of taking that 25% draw actually lower here than it would be with an LLC? With an LLC, you'd deal with higher costs due to estimated quarterly payments, not to mention the legal headaches of being employed by two different companies simultaneously.

Give me a break. That Snake Diet clearly scrambled your brain.

Jacob Sullivan91 said:Where are you even getting that from? Because over at Mayo Clinic they told me the exact opposite... honestly, eating smaller, more frequent meals is the only thing keeping my blood sugar steady (since it drops because my insulin is spiked too high). I really think he should go talk to an actual specialist. People online post whatever random theories they have about treating IR and diabetes, and half of it isn't even sustainable...

@Jose Edwards16 what was your fasting FEC like?

Exactly. Those symptoms aren't even related to diabetes or insulin; it's just sending him down the wrong path. What was stated correctly is that meals should have a lower GI to prevent those massive sugar spikes and insulin surges. Generally, you're looking at five smaller, low-GI meals rather than just three big ones.

Since he doesn't have high blood pressure, didn't mention excessive thirst or frequent urination as main symptoms, and hasn't lost significant weight, he likely doesn't have a diabetes issue. But if he really wants to rule it out, he should test his blood sugar while fasting and after eating. If it were an insulin or sugar issue, he'd definitely see problems right after a meal...

Check thyroid hormones first, then look into H. pylori.
I felt exactly the same way for over a year—just zero energy, like I had no blood in my veins. Every single test came back perfect until gastritis developed; that was the only real indicator of pain besides the exhaustion.