Posts by Linda Gonzalez16

Jerry Martin19 said:aha. since you brought up assisted living, I bet Anthony Hopkins and Morgan Freeman would be perfect for that role.
Can't picture this Jones in this movie at all, especially since it's a thriller...

Look, I already said the genre isn't really my thing. But if you're dead set on a lead, swap Zeta-Jones for Virginia Madsen instead 😁 .
Picture it: Hopkins and Freeman are residents, Al Pacino is the administrator, and Robert De Niro plays the wealthy buyer who decides to tear the place down to build a luxury hotel 😁 . Everyone’s got a deep backstory linking them together—plenty of romance and sharp, witty dialogue... none of that mindless violence or swearing, just top-tier acting from an incredible cast.
By the end, De Niro makes friends for life, even though the facility still goes under. In the final scene, some billionaire mogul buys up the land and sits back waiting for the local zoning laws to change.

Jerry Martin19 said:Looks like everyone just threw their favorite actors into a movie directed by their favorite director. I’d prefer a bit more actual thought behind that...

No offense to electricstag2, but she listed Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Anthony Hopkins, and Morgan Freeman. If I had to guess what kind of roles these old geezers would play? None of them are under 60...

I could totally see a movie about four guys in an assisted living facility sharing life stories😬. Honestly, those actresses would fit right in there. Think along the lines of a low-key indie flick like "Sideways." The only things that don't click for me are the genre and the director😁.
But hey, everyone’s entitled to their own dream movie.

Robert Morris5 said:I didn't actually say I was taking Valium, I meant I took Normabel—you know, that really strong one.
It honestly made me feel so out of it I barely knew where I was, which was pretty intense; luckily, it hasn't happened again.
Thanks for suggesting myoflex, though, I hadn't heard of it before! Ibuprofen usually works great for my pain, but sometimes it causes a bit of blood in my urine, so maybe I was just taking too much of it.

Look, diazepam is just the generic name. Normabel and Aetna are just brand names for the exact same thing.

Hannah James50 said:So, what’s actually the deal with the difference between Voltaren and Voltaren Forte?

It really comes down to how fast it hits you and the dosage. Voltaren (50 mg) is designed for those sudden, sharp pains where you need relief ASAP—we're talking about 20 minutes—since it's a dissolvable tablet. Think sprained ankles, post-op pain, migraines, or even bad cramps. On the other hand, Forte (100 mg) is more for the long haul, like chronic stuff from arthritis, gout, or nagging back issues and fractures. It's a film-coated tablet with a higher dose that absorbs more slowly. Mechanically speaking, they work the exact same way.

blueranger12 said:Gregorio would be the lead—this gritty cowboy riding in from Eastern Europe. Dangerous, bad attitude. He’d meet some high-class madam played by Elizabeth Taylor, and they'd become fast friends. He'd be seeing some young socialite type like Paris Hilton. The local sheriff would be a good guy played by Alec Baldwin. Haircut? Prematurely balding. Then, the showdown happens. That’s a 4, not an 8. An 8 is way too much..

Honestly, I don't know if anyone can top that...🙏 🙏 🙏 . I'm half tempted to just kill this thread right now 😬 .

If you could hand-pick four actors and four actresses to cast the ultimate movie, who’s getting the call? I want to know who’s playing the leads, who’s the villain, what genre we're looking at, and who's sitting in the director's chair.

Edit: My dream lineup—Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Gene Hackman, and Christian Bale (with Kevin Spacey and Morgan Freeman on standby)
- Michelle Pfeiffer, Meryl Streep, Michelle Williams, and Charlize Theron (keeping Meg Ryan and Jennifer Connelly in the mix)
- Director: Clint Eastwood
- Genre: Crime thriller/drama

Sophia Moore28 said:Thanks so much for the quick reply!!! You really helped me out!! 🙏 🙏
It was actually about swollen lymph nodes. So, back to the drawing board to find the cause, ugh... 👎 but thanks a million 🙏 👍

No worries at all. Good luck with everything...

Sophia Moore28 said:Back again, but with different results this time. I got bloodwork done for HIV and some other stuff, and here’s what I got back. My doctor didn't explain a single thing, and I have zero clue what any of this means... so if someone could please break this down ASAP, I'm freaking out.

IMMUNO-ENZYME TEST
Toxoplasma gondii............ IgM .....negative
IgG .....0 IU/ml
Reference values for IgG: <4 negative
>4.. blah blah = what does that mean? Negative is negative, but what is this toxoplasma thing anyway?

HIV 1 and 2 antibodies.... negative
Cytomegalovirus.... IgM... negative
IgG... 1:883 positive
Epstein-Barr virus.... IgM... negative
IgG... 184 units/ml positive

I know what HIV is, but what's cyto... and epstein? And why does it say negative for IgM first, then positive for IgG lower down? What's the deal with that? Is this result okay?

Both Epstein-Barr and cytomegalovirus are viruses that most people carry around. You basically just "pick them up" at some point in life, and in the vast majority of cases, they don't cause any issues at all. Sometimes they show up as mono, or very rarely as transient hepatitis, and they can play a role in fetal development, but that's a whole different conversation. Having a positive IgG antibody titer just proves you came into contact with these viruses at some point in your life and were "exposed"—meaning you've got them living in you, likely without even knowing it. More importantly, they tend to hang out in your system for a long time, lying dormant without causing health problems. IgM antibodies are what show an acute, recent infection, which clearly isn't the case here.
Toxoplasma gondii is a parasite—a microorganism that can be dangerous for women because it might cause issues for a baby during pregnancy. In adults, an acute infection can look like anything from fatigue and headaches to muscle and joint pain, sometimes a rash, or even an enlarged liver, spleen, or swollen lymph nodes (especially in the neck). Those same viruses mentioned above can also cause those symptoms. Based on these tests, I'm guessing you had your lymph nodes checked out.
Bottom line: these results don't show an active, acute infection. Like most people, you've just been exposed to these two viruses before.

An inhomogeneous hypoechoic ultrasound finding on the thyroid might point to an issue, but it’s not a done deal. My take? Go get another ultrasound done by a specialist—either a nuclear medicine expert or an endocrinologist—and get your thyroid hormone levels checked. If things still look iffy after that, we can talk about antibody testing.
Lymph nodes. "Reactive" is actually a good sign 🙂. Just a heads up, SMC refers to the sternocleidomastoid muscle, which runs from just behind and below your ear down to your breastbone and part of your collarbone. You've got clusters of lymph nodes sitting right alongside that muscle; they tend to be more prominent and larger in the upper third of its length, right near the angle of your jaw.

Thomas Fox67 said:Even the lady at the drugstore told me straight up that this stuff is basically meant for horses, but whatever... my doctor is out on vacation at the beach right now and the replacement doc doesn't think my situation is some kind of massive emergency, so I guess I just have to suck it up and wait until my regular doctor gets back from the coast....

Pathetic 👎. With service like that, they're going to stay stuck as "temporary" replacements for a long time.

Nicole Richardson36 said:Is there any way to pull through this without facing some serious consequences?

If they don't get their act together right now, it’s game over. With blood sugar levels like that, combined with a trash diet, zero exercise, and smoking? They're on a one-way street to disaster. I'm talking heart attacks, kidney failure, blindness, diabetic gangrene requiring amputation, agonizing neuropathy, strokes... just listing the potential endgames here. Unfortunately, that's the reality. But people just won't listen. Everyone prays for good health, but nobody wants to put in the actual work to maintain it. At least in this situation, you actually have control over the outcome. Sometimes I honestly feel like I can't even pity people who refuse to change anymore...

redheron said:James Watson84!
Thanks for the quick reply, but honestly, even the top-tier cardiologists around here can't seem to "handle" atrial fibrillation—they pretty much leave it all to me. 😢
All I really need is one decent cardiologist who actually knows how to cure AF. Honestly, they don't even have to be world-class, as long as they can actually fix me.

Yeah, unfortunately, I think you're right. I haven't dealt with this personally, so I can't really give you any recommendations.

Any run-of-the-mill cardiologist should be able to handle atrial fibrillation. As for whether you can actually get cured? That’s anyone's guess—it really depends on the individual case, there's no one-size-fits-all rule.
Dealing with AF means digging around to find the root cause (think echocardiograms, checking thyroid levels, etc.), and the actual treatment plan usually boils down to a few basic principles.
1. If the AF is causing a racing heart, there are meds to slow things back down.
2. If the AF is acute—meaning it hasn't been going on for more than 48-72 hours—doctors might try to convert it back to a normal sinus rhythm. But if it's been lingering longer than that, you have to start on blood thinners to prevent clots, since AF creates the perfect storm for them to form. You might even need a transesophageal echo to make sure nothing is sitting in the atrium. Only after three weeks or so of being on those meds can doctors safely try to flip it back to a normal rhythm and potentially use drugs to keep it there.
3. For chronic AF, people often end up on long-term anticoagulants and heart rate control meds (usually something like a beta-blocker) for good.
On top of all that, you've also got to factor in co-existing conditions, how the AF presents itself, and the specific symptoms you're feeling. It's a lot to juggle.

Amanda Moore79 said:Well, my lab results show an ALT of 10-36 and AST of 8-30. My ALT is sitting at 8.

Switch labs 😁. Seriously. Those numbers look solid and you really shouldn't sweat it. Only a significant spike in your ALT and AST levels—not just a tiny fluctuation of one or two points—actually suggests there's an issue with how your liver is functioning.

Keith Chase62 said:So, what exactly is a fracture *loco typico*? Basically, I’ve got a broken arm myself, and that’s the term they used in my diagnosis.

Basically, it means you've got a classic thumb bone fracture. It’s just medical shorthand for saying the break happened in the most common spot—usually from wiping out and landing hard on an outstretched hand.

Amanda Moore79 said:Mine are actually low—is that just as bad as having high levels?

Nah. You can't really have "low" levels because the normal range starts at zero and goes up to somewhere around 35 or 40 IU, depending on which lab you use and all that.

mistygull21 said:So, is just spotting that one defect enough to make a definitive diagnosis, king? Is it an absolute certainty that the disc is going to pop out once that defect is present?

Look, I’ll say it again: imaging like an MRI is definitely the gold standard here, but you can still catch it on an X-ray. Basically, if you see a concave defect in the lumbar vertebral plate with sharp edges—and depending on how big that gap is—you'll see the disc space narrowing. That’s just what happens when the disc material starts bulging out.

mistygull21 said:An X-ray only shows you what's happening with the bone structure, not the discs themselves. Until you get an MRI, you're basically guessing whether you're dealing with a full-blown herniated disc, a simple protrusion, or absolutely nothing at all.

That’s not entirely accurate. A Schmorl's lesion is technically a type of herniation, just not in the traditional sense. It’s more like the disc material is being pushed through a defect in the vertebral endplate—usually because of some old trauma, though people still debate exactly how it happens. And yeah, you can spot it on an X-ray, even if an MRI gives you the full picture.
As for the prognosis, I'll say this again: there's no set rule. For most people, it doesn't cause any major issues.

Keith Barrett2 said:So that explains why I bloat up from basically everything! Like, my stomach is perfectly flat in the morning, then I eat one thing and boom—instant balloon. Is this because of the bilirubin? Because mine stays stuck at around 40 constantly too. Honestly, I haven't even bothered getting bloodwork done lately because what's the point? Why bother checking every three months when it’s always going to be high and there isn't even anything anyone can do about it anyway?

Nah 🙂. You might be swallowing air while you eat, or maybe you're hitting foods that cause gas (like beans), etc., etc.—but it isn't from the bilirubin.

It might just be an illusion 😬.

Lawrence Wells said:Phenobarbital.

I'm guessing the thought was that you can use phenobarbital to treat—or rather, bypass—those super specific genetic glitches in how the body handles bilirubin. Basically, you're trying to kickstart the metabolic pathways to process it wherever possible.
But honestly, those kinds of issues are just a tiny slice of the whole pie when it comes to why someone might end up with high bilirubin levels in their blood.