Posts by Edward Green

How much longer??? 🙂

So I went to get my pupils dilated this morning. I was finally done around 11:00 AM.
Of course, nobody bothered to mention that my pupils would be the size of a freaking pickle jar lid. One of those massive ones.
I stepped outside and just... "UUGH!!!! 🙂
I spent the next little while stumbling around town with my eyes shut, squinting through my eyelashes like a camel caught in a sandstorm just so I wouldn't walk into a wall. i dream of rain
i dream of gardens in the desert sand 🙂

By the time I got home, half my face was aching.
I called in to see if I could come into work later, assuming my pupils would have shrunk back down by then.
My mom typed the number in for me. Basically, I'm farsighted now whenever I have my contacts in. Starting today. I can't read anything; everything looks tiny and I can't push the letters far enough apart. Okay, maybe at about 6 inches away it gets slightly better, so I actually managed to read the newspaper. The letters were blurry as hell, but I did it.

I still have XL pupils.
And I'm still farsighted. With contacts on.
I haven't even taken them out yet.

Is this going to wear off by tomorrow morning? 🙂

I heard you can end up with diarrhea and a fever if the meat's raw.

Melissa Price6 said:won't 😳

Fine. Without contacts, I’m basically carrying the weight of the world on my face. But hey, there's such a thing as a 0.25 prescription.

steelsailor17 said:Just hold a newspaper at arm's length and see who can read it better—you or him. That should give you enough of a hint if he needs to go see an eye doctor or not.

Yeah, but what if he's nearsighted? He'll read the paper just fine then.

I’m out of zinc ointment. No Bill Clinton, either. I'm just gonna head over to my aunt's place to see her doctor.

The carrier. Just a few millimeters deep—barely enough to hide what's actually going on underneath. 😠

I’ve got this sore on my nasal mucosa. It’s been hanging around for maybe 2 or 3 weeks now. I tried slathering it with Vaseline, some ointments, even Hemoprocin because I thought it would help the tissue heal, but nothing is working long-term. If I don't keep it coated, the stinging is absolutely brutal. Every time I talk, laugh, or just move my face, it hurts. Sometimes I just feel it there, and other times the stinging is so bad it practically makes my eyes water.
Should I just go see a doctor or am I stuck suffering like this? I have no clue what the "normal" healing time is supposed to be, so I'm asking. I can't exactly get a good look at it since it's tucked away inside, but from what I can see, it's red and about half an inch wide.

Iron levels can be low. If you don't have enough iron, you simply can't donate blood. 🙂

Maybe just check the Red Cross website instead?

http://www.farmakologija.com/materia/r_at.htm

Yeah, right. It doesn't cause it.

And don't even get me started on the corrupt, lazy, rude, and reckless people who have completely trashed the profession's reputation.

A few specific individuals, yeah. Glad you finally said something smart about this topic.

Try some Codeine. It works wonders because that little bit of codeine actually shuts down the cough.

But yeah, it's addictive. 🙂

Anyone who’s had a risky encounter or been exposed to someone else's blood in the last few weeks is considered high-risk. If it happened before then, and they're actually infected, it'll show up. If it doesn't, there’s no reason they can't donate.

How hard is that to wrap your head around?

gay men are definitely a high-risk group!

Hey rise, sweetheart, when was the last time you actually got tested, and how many risky encounters have you had since then?

robybaggio said:If you're gay, you don't have to try very hard to find sex.

Some straight guys don't exactly have to work hard either. 😉
My condolences.

Okay, someone slept with a guy once and thinks the ban is stupid. But how many guys did that other person sleep with? Use your brain, there’s logic here.

What's the window period? You think if you catch HIV from a guy who caught it from another guy, it becomes an invisible virus?

Let's break this down for the slow learners.
Blood gets tested.
If a person hasn't had any risky sex for a certain period and they aren't infected, great. If they have, then banning blood donation is pure idiocy. And that goes for straight people too.
If someone is infected, it shows up.
But if they had a risky encounter five years ago, and the window period is just a few weeks, it doesn't matter if they were at some massive orgy in a small town back then. If they're infected, it'll be visible by now. If they aren't, they aren't. There shouldn't be an issue with donating blood regardless of whatever risky behavior happened years ago. If they're clean, they're clean.

As far as I know, that donor card doesn't carry any legal weight whatsoever.
Does anyone know if there's actually a way to make sure your wishes are respected over your family's decisions once you're gone and can't speak for yourself?

You don't need some fancy donor card; you just need to make sure your family actually knows what you want. Under US law, you’re an organ donor by default unless you specifically opt out, but let's be real—in practice, doctors aren't going to touch anything without the family's green light anyway.

And quit picking fights with the people who wrote the regulations. It’s pointless; they couldn't care less what you think. Your blood isn't going to help them—it's for helping someone else who doesn't give a damn about policy. 🙂 Use your head for once. 🙂

Grab some Pepcid for your stomach.

Are gay men a higher risk group than lesbian women?

Yeah, they are. Anal sex carries way more risk when you're talking about infection rates, mostly because it causes more micro-tears in the tissue.

Jacob Wilson50, when was the last time you actually got tested?

The guy tested negative and isn't a one-night stand type.
The rule exists because people are IDIOTS.
Someone who had sex with a man once isn't a "risk group."
You're a risk if you've had unprotected sex with ANYONE in the last few weeks—someone whose status you don't know—based on what you know about their behavior and test results proving they're HIV-negative. Or if you've been exposed to potentially infected blood.
If he was hooking up like crazy with anyone, male or female, but it was over a year ago? He’s not a threat. That blood gets tested, and if there's an infection, it shows up.

Any rule that PERMANENTLY rejects someone just because they behaved risky once in their entire life is pure stupidity.