Health Problems

Noodleface said:

Oldbased I use a freestyle lite.

My insurance used to cover the test strips but no longer does. They're kind of expensive so I'd check with your insurance.

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Ya I ended up calling Blue Cross and they shipped a meter to me. True Metrix is the brand and said almost every pharmacy would carry the strips. That was after I bought the Contour Next EZ. So I am going to put that one in the van and use the one issued to me at home.

Frenzied Wombat said:

I had this for a few years and it was scary. Couldn't focus, couldn't recall names for shit, and it always felt like my brain was stuffed with cotton. I went to numerous doctors in a quest to figure out what was wrong, but most blamed lifestyle or getting older and didn't take it seriously. It co-existed with constant fatigue, poor sleep quality, and diarrhea. It ironically cleared up after I had an attack of diverticulitis and they put me on some hardcore antibiotics and antifungals. It's assumed that I had a long term simmering gut infection and/or yeast overgrowth, because after the drug regime my stools became normal, dark circles under eyes lessened, and I could actually think again.. I would start off with some quality probiotics and reducing carb intake, and if it doesn't get better go to the doc and see if you can get something for gut yeast overgrowth.

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It should be stated that taking an antifungal is fairly serious business esp for a male as a few of them possess anti-androgen activity in the brain. Mostly its well tolerated, but it can have serious impacts on the adrenal glands. My point is, its not like an antibiotic which are safe enough to throw around like candy. It may be best to attempt to treat potential latent fungus with other means before going for an oral systemic antifungal med.

ShakyJake said:

Any recommendations on dealing with "brain fog"? My problem is I rarely feel mentally "sharp" or focused -- often feel like I'm in a daze. I know my diet isn't the greatest, but I do take various supplements in an attempt to make up for deficiencies. Physically I'm in good shape, I'm not over weight or anything and I exercise regularly (in fact I feel the most alert after a workout). I just don't know what the problem could be (or if there's even a problem. Maybe this is just the way it is).

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Assuming no depression,

Is this a lifetime thing for you? Since adolescence/puberty at least, possibly young adulthood? If so, have you been cleared for Gilbert's Syndrome? It is a relatively common liver disorder (up to 15% of the entire world population suffers some type of it, pretty big in Germany too). I would definitely recommend clearing yourself from this first and foremost before running out on some antifungal quest.

You can clear yourself by taking any blood test you have had, look at the liver value section of the test, and subtract bilirubin figures from each other to get your unconjugated bilirubin number. But that is not necessary, as bilirubin should be slightly elevated with no other abnormalities in the liver value portion of the test. For confirmation, you just have to confirm the elevated bilirubin again at a later date. I found mine at age 27 or so. Doctor's don't acknowledge it as something that causes symptoms because this was how it was taught to them in medical school back in the 70's and 80's. Modern case studies have categorically rejected this teaching, as normal liver function is pretty important as well as a large swath of people reporting the exact same problems and very cyclical symptoms that they can post on a calendar.

The calendar-chart tracking of fog, among other symptoms, is actually how most afflicted give themselves final non-medical confirmation that the fatigue/brain fog is absolutely caused by Gilbert's Syndrome.

My new friend for 48 hours, every 2 weeks for 6 months.....fuck

What's it do

Pump for my chemo that I have to carry around.

Question for the folks in the know about diabetes

For years I was non compliant. Feet are numb in a couple spots. Once I got back on track with medication and diet the numbness has not spread from those areas. I don't have time to go to a podiatrist unless it's serious

Question is, does becoming compliant and getting better will stuff like numbness slow/stop if im on top of my stuff ?

I know it is irreversible

Noodleface said:

Question for the folks in the know about diabetes

For years I was non compliant. Feet are numb in a couple spots. Once I got back on track with medication and diet the numbness has not spread from those areas. I don't have time to go to a podiatrist unless it's serious

Question is, does becoming compliant and getting better will stuff like numbness slow/stop if im on top of my stuff ?

I know it is irreversible

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I can't speak to whether controlled A1C would lead to improved symptoms but it will certainly slow and prevent future damage.This below is the only treatment I know of for diabetic neuropathy. Plenty more studies available in support of it you can poke around yourself. It is arguably one of the only treatments.

Oral treatment with alpha-lipoic acid improves symptomatic diabetic polyneuropathy: the SYDNEY 2 trial. - PubMed - NCBI

Whither pathogenetic treatments for diabetic polyneuropathy? - PubMed - NCBI

Since its really the only substance we know of that treats the condition, rather than just masking the condition, I'd look into researching that more. I'd say preferably under doctor supervision as I have no idea how diabetic conditions can affect what the aforementioned substance does. But doctors aren't really known for being up on the latest stuff, especially if it isn't a major drug that has been brought to market.

In healthy people, it enhances insulin response. It has many other well-known influences. It is not a vitamin-- more of a drug in terms of its action. If you are going to search for it, its simply known as "ALA"

I lied earlier, there is another known substance that treats diabetic neuropathy but I didn't feel it was worth mentioning. I guess it does ok but this is a substance I'm 100% unfamiliar with so I can't speak on it. ALA is a far more common and is therefore likely more well-studied than this stuff here.

Benfotiamine in diabetic polyneuropathy (BENDIP): results of a randomised, double blind, placebo-controlled clinical study. - PubMed - NCBI

Thanks I'll look into those. I'd say 3 years ago the numbness started, I noticed it creeping up my big toes. Around the time I started my medication again I noticed that it wasn't as bad as it was and it stopped moving. In the past 3 years it hasn't progressed so I'm hoping I nipped it in the bud. I was a bad patient

Went from an a1c of 13 down to 7 now, so I'm in a good place.

Shels waterbed had been leaking even though I patched it a few times and molding the sheets so we ordered a new waveless bladder and zipper cover. Old one had foam in it so I couldn't get it fully drained last few moves and it weighed 150+lbs "drained" due to the spongy water retention in foam. Anyways I drained it and dragged it out of the bed and outside. My heart rate shot up to 170s and blood oxygen dropped to 87. 3 hours later I am cramping in both legs, my heart rate is still 130s and oxygen 92. I feel like total and complete shit. Reminds me of that song that's how you know you fucked up.
I've moved/drained it just like I did today 5 times in the past 7 years was never an issue before. Guess I am not the man I used to be.

Edit-Whoohooo I survived. Obviously.
For a guy who used to bench and overhead toss 100lb bundles of shingles up onto roofs everyday, not being able to do basic shit like push mow a yard or drain a waterbed is complete and uttertasic crap.

I've heard it all now. No name for it but I apparently I have the opposite of AIDS. My immune system is in major overdrive and I have symptoms of tons of autoimmune related diseases.

Been on interferon but it doesn't seem to help. Lots of theories. They send my results weekly to a team at the Mayo Clinic and a former boss of mine gets it sent to a team at USC since they recently honored him. Nobody knows. You could say it's X or Y but nobody has seen it progress that fast and across multiple diseases at once.

Borzak said:

I've heard it all now. No name for it but I apparently I have the opposite of AIDS. My immune system is in major overdrive and I have symptoms of tons of autoimmune related diseases.

Been on interferon but it doesn't seem to help. Lots of theories. They send my results weekly to a team at the Mayo Clinic and a former boss of mine gets it sent to a team at USC since they recently honored him. Nobody knows. You could say it's X or Y but nobody has seen it progress that fast and across multiple diseases at once.

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Any history of military service? Any deployments?

But main purpose for this post was to ask what kinds of autoimmune diseases you are suspected of (even if no official diagnosis) manifesting? Some of us have special interests, or are organizational freaks-- we might like to know a little bit more if possible to allow us to mentally categorize your situation.

Olebass said:

Shels waterbed had been leaking even though I patched it a few times and molding the sheets so we ordered a new waveless bladder and zipper cover. Old one had foam in it so I couldn't get it fully drained last few moves and it weighed 150+lbs "drained" due to the spongy water retention in foam. Anyways I drained it and dragged it out of the bed and outside. My heart rate shot up to 170s and blood oxygen dropped to 87. 3 hours later I am cramping in both legs, my heart rate is still 130s and oxygen 92. I feel like total and complete shit. Reminds me of that song that's how you know you fucked up.
I've moved/drained it just like I did today 5 times in the past 7 years was never an issue before. Guess I am not the man I used to be.

Edit-Whoohooo I survived. Obviously.
For a guy who used to bench and overhead toss 100lb bundles of shingles up onto roofs everyday, not being able to do basic shit like push mow a yard or drain a waterbed is complete and uttertasic crap.

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I didn't even know waterbeds still existed.

Noodleface said:

I didn't even know waterbeds still existed.

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I got rid of mine in 2007 but ya Shels bed isn't really a waterbed so much now. The setup I just nearly killed myself over is a 99% waveless lumbar foam with zipper liner and pillow top cover. About the only thing left waterbed on it is the hardside frame which was redone years back and has a wicker headboard. It's actually very comfortable compared to my gel sealy posturepedic which cost me $800 compared to the $400 spent on hers. Waterbeds these days are nothing like the old ones when it comes to it. You can get softsided tube with memory foam pillowtops and have a temp controlled regular bed that is in my opinion > most mattresses out there but the fad is long gone and carries the thought of the old days of sleeping on a rough ocean.

@Amod can we please change the text on the site to something like this for a few hours just to mess with him?

I wish I had such an ability

jayrebb said:

Any history of military service? Any deployments?

But main purpose for this post was to ask what kinds of autoimmune diseases you are suspected of (even if no official diagnosis) manifesting? Some of us have special interests, or are organizational freaks-- we might like to know a little bit more if possible to allow us to mentally categorize your situation.

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Never been in the military or deployed. Been outside the US a limited number of times, Canada several occasions, Mexico twice on hunts, Europe to the 50th anniversary of D-day in 1994. That's about it.

Apparently my brain is still working OK tho. My long term girlfriend mentioned to the neurologist I was colorblind as can be. I told him I'm not except for some reds, just colors don't "speak" to me and I don't care if shit doesn't match or not.

He gave me a 2 minute test and then set me up to take another test. I passed 100%. The Dr. said I thought you were at least partially colorblind. I said "I am, but the girl giving the test on the computer had the slides named with the number you are supposed to see in the filename, after 2-3 doesn't take much to figure out what number you are supposed to see.". So got that going for me lol. She even had "null" for the ones you aren't supposed to see a number.

One week I'm positive for whatever they look for in blood work for soandso autoimmune disease like Lupus but two weeks later I don't. I've got a long list of stuff that I'm positive for and then later I'm not.

One Dr. did say "not to disturb you further, but your A1C showed you as pre-diabetic" so you need to have that looked into and address it. That's good news considering I"ve been a type 1 diabetic for 41 years.