Posts by Gerald Kern77

The simplest method is just to start the next pack immediately—without the break—essentially skipping a period entirely. It shouldn't disrupt the cycle. I tried this over the summer after consulting with my OB-GYN, and it worked perfectly fine. Of course, this assumes you're healthy and following a doctor's specific guidance...

Goldie said:it claims 25% in 50% dry matter, which makes it 12.5%
You're right—that seems excessive...😬

It feels like too much to me👎 ... not to mention how suspicious a "low-fat" hard cheese sounds if it isn't hydrogenated. Then again, everyone decides for themselves what they believe and what they eat—personally, I'm fine with fresh low-fat cottage cheese or some tofu.👍

GoldenLocks said:Looking at the ingredients for this light milk from a brand like Horizon Organic—just transcribing here
milk, dairy cultures, rennet, salt, coloring

minimum 50% solids, minimum 25% milk fat in total solids

So, I don't see any hydrogenated fats listed in the composition. As far as I know, those are usually found in margarine (vegetable oils)

As you can tell, there’s no mention of the actual saturated fat content... which should probably be a red flag for you. Plus, having 25 percent milk fat in any diet is pretty much a non-starter.

restlessmarlin6 said:Soy is a better bet for her cholesterol levels—from what I can tell, managing that is more critical than just dropping pounds.🙂

Soy works fine for weight loss, too... tofu has significantly fewer calories than hard cheeses—not to mention soy spreads compared to things like pâté.

Donna Lewis49 said:you can have low-fat cheese—Lite beer style—it's fine
......

Just make a tuna pizza, or maybe one with veggies plus some Lite beer cheese

That is quite possibly the worst advice I've ever heard—those "light" cheeses are usually packed with hydrogenated fats, which are arguably worse than standard animal fats

As far as cheese goes, stick to fat-free cottage cheese—or perhaps tofu

Perhaps this might be of some use....

http://gynob.com/GBUg.htm

Divided into three chapters—The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly—it offers a rather straightforward breakdown regarding ovarian cysts.

I had my first child at twenty—literally squeezed between two college finals.
👍 The upsides? An easy pregnancy, a quick delivery, and a sudden push to finish my degree—I didn't waste any time and graduated ahead of schedule. Career-wise, my climb toward more senior roles synced up perfectly with my child growing up; my absences weren't a major issue for anyone. Now, in what I suppose are my prime middle years, I have an adult child—the generation gap was never really an issue...

👎 The downsides—navigating an early pregnancy during college requires a massive amount of family support. You’re still essentially treating the baby like a toy; you're often too young for that level of responsibility or serious parenting. Early marriages also tend to fall apart—that was certainly my experience—and you definitely miss out on those peak college years...

In my view, having children in your thirties is the sweet spot—you're physically resilient enough for a smooth pregnancy, yet mature enough to actually be a parent. 👍

anon72 said:I wonder why they push mammograms with ionizing radiation instead of ultrasound, which is harmless? Probably just benefits the X-ray manufacturers.

Ultrasound and mammography aren't mutually exclusive—they’re actually complementary. Some things show up better on an ultrasound (especially with larger breasts), but that doesn't replace a mammogram. I go for an ultrasound every six months and a mammogram once a year—standard procedure for anyone on hormone therapy, though I wouldn't be considered high-risk otherwise—so my doctors can compare results and monitor everything. That's actually how they noticed my cysts were shrinking.

Kimberly Nguyen said:They told me I have fibrocystic breast changes and suggested the best fix would be to have another baby—and obviously nurse—as soon as possible.

And what exactly is Yasmin? (I assume it’s a flower with a lovely scent, though...)

Well, I had a baby about twenty years ago, nursed, and those breast issues didn't budge. Yasmin uses a newer type of progesterone—drospirenone—which acts as a diuretic, so there's no water retention or PMS...

Kimberly Nguyen said:Thank God, they didn't find anything—nothing was actually bothering me anyway—but the specialist we saw absolutely terrified us (along with most of the women who visit him), claiming our breasts were just full of cysts and tumors.🙄

Most women deal with cysts, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're dangerous—it’s really just an excuse to stay on top of regular checkups... usually via ultrasound, though mammograms become essential as you get older.

For what it's worth, my own cysts have shrunk significantly since I started taking Yasmin...

Cooling, cooling, constant cooling... whether it’s ice water or just some cubes from the freezer. The logic is simple—your tissue is essentially protein, which means it literally cooks—much like an egg—and you halt that cooking process by plunging it under cold water (a rather vivid analogy from a doctor on TV that stuck with me😉 )

The cardiology department at Mayo Clinic is excellent—Dr. Georgieva is fantastic. As for the costs, I'm not entirely sure since my husband is covered under their insurance plan...

I bought exactly one thing from Estée Lauder—it was my first time, my last time, and certainly my final time. I fell for an incredibly stupid MTV immersion blender back in the day, shelled out $60,000 for it, only to discover it couldn't even whip cream properly.😕 Even the Estée Lauder representative had to admit it was useless for that purpose. The funniest part? This ridiculous gadget lacks any kind of safety feature—you have to unplug it just to swap attachments, because if your hand slips toward the power button, you could practically turn your other hand into mush.😠 A cheap, basic deli slicer usually comes with a safety guard, yet this thing has nothing... anyway, lesson learned, and now I give Estée Lauder products a very wide berth.

The cookware is fine, I suppose, but certainly not at that price point... there are plenty of much higher quality options out there.

Jacob Wood9 said:And who are the biggest consumers of healthcare services? Retirees, obviously.
But who exactly is their employer?

In the past, pension funds covered healthcare costs for retirees—before they were systematically gutted, though that is a whole other saga. Essentially, the fund pays for the basic necessities... but since both the pension and health funds are tied directly to the federal budget, we’re essentially just moving money from one empty pocket to another.

Rachel Kim52 said:I am honestly exhausted by people who insist everything is "FREE" healthcare. Out here, you either pay for coverage yourself or your employer handles it—it isn't magic. In my case, my company covers it, and as I mentioned before, the contribution is actually quite decent. So, it’s not "free"—my firm pays for it, amounting to more than $0.33 a month. If I end up needing surgery, I’ll still be on the hook for costs, won't I? Perhaps I should just ask my boss to report my salary as minimum wage and pocket the difference in insurance premiums—I could stash the cash in a sock under my bed for a rainy day. 😎

Well, bravo... you've hit the nail on the head regarding the core issue—the rising number of people being reported at minimum wage, which inevitably drains the public health funds. Eventually, they will have to define a standard basket of covered services based on a fixed amount rather than a percentage—say, 15 percent of last year's average salary—which an employer MUST pay for their staff, regardless of what the official paperwork says. For anything beyond that, one would look to private insurance with actual, functional policies... if we incentivized that, money would flow back into the system, and we could offer tax breaks to employers who provide supplemental coverage... there are ways to fix this.

Benjamin Murphy2 said:It seems we’ve reached an impasse—nothing makes sense anymore. Apparently, as doctors, we are expected to just swallow the nonsense, stay silent, and let ourselves be trampled. We have no right to a life—after all, we finished medical school, didn't we? Where did we get the audacity to start families or spend any actual time with our children? In essence, we should probably just be robots. That would be most efficient. Better yet, we should live at the hospital, ensuring the valued public is served 24/7 for every minor ailment—including showing up at midnight for some rash cream if they can't sleep.

Speaking of rashes and creams... well, I certainly didn't want to bother the doctors on call (in a small vacation town, no less) over a strange shoulder rash from an insect bite. It turned out to be a staph infection. I ended up paying the price the next morning because, as it turns out, starting antibiotics immediately is vital. Every case is different, and a layperson will naturally err by either overestimating or underestimating their own condition.

I am not entirely sure what the point of this debate is—the market is doing its job. Even now, I am selecting a primary care physician. In major cities, those who fail to perform will lose patients and, consequently, their Medicare contracts... leaving them with nothing but a patient base of retirees who consume most of the referrals and prescriptions. Meanwhile, the younger, generally healthy population knows exactly what their rights are.

As for hospitals, change is inevitable. Everything is shifting toward private providers and private insurance policies—and in that arena, only quality (and bedside manner) will survive.

Justin Morgan5 said:Your primary care physician has to give you a referral for a gynecologist—though you can speed things up by asking that same doctor for a blood panel first. Once you take those results to the OB-GYN, they’ll know exactly which pills to prescribe. They'll just write you a quick prescription for them, which you'll have to pay for regardless of who writes it. 😬

😕 What kind of referral for a gynecologist from a GP?

2 Roger Foster3 - Every patient has both a primary care doctor and a gynecologist through their insurance. You basically need to register at a clinic within the local health system—maybe look through this thread for what other women have experienced with OB-GYNs. That specialist will be the one ordering your blood work and writing the prescriptions—your family doctor isn't really involved in that part—though it would be smart to mention you're taking medication, just in case there are any potential drug interactions.

I find myself agreeing with the points made by jadesailor14 and brisknomad6—I recently purchased glasses at a high-end boutique in a local mall $1067 and ended up returning them just twenty-four hours later because the cylinder measurements were completely off. After some rather tedious negotiating, they agreed to refund me for the lenses—though I kept the frames since they were actually quite nice—but I certainly won't be ordering new lenses from them anytime soon.😉

Sinersul (a sulfonamide) is an antimicrobial—but it is NOT an antibiotic!

Copied from www.pharmacology.com.

"Antimicrobials are drugs used to treat and prevent bacterial infections.

Broadly speaking, we categorize antimicrobials into antibiotics and other chemotherapeutic agents—which includes sulfonamides, trimethoprim, and fluoroquinolones. Unlike antibiotics, sulfonamides, trimethoprim, and fluoroquinolones are entirely synthetic drugs; they simply don't exist in nature. Antibiotics, by contrast, are either natural products or structural derivatives of those natural substances.

Joshua Gray4 said:I had a terrible reaction after taking Sinersul—horrible redness and itching everywhere, plus my eyes and lips swelled up. It was quite a nightmare. 😲
I ended up needing two anti-allergy injections—not exactly a fun afternoon.
I'm also allergic to Sumamed, though my doctor mentioned that’s extremely rare since Sumamed is considered such a reliable medication. Apparently, they belong to the same drug class.

Sumamed is azithromycin.
Sinersul is sulfamethoxazole and trimethoprim... based on the medical literature, they aren't even in the same class.

I have severe allergies to sulfonamides, yet I take Sumamed without any issues at all.