Health Problems

Kuriin said:

My hubby's on the testosterone gel and I told him about the pellets. He is concerned with prostate cancer as his father died from prostate CA.

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The link between testosterone and prostate cancer isn’t fully understood and there are studies on either side of the argument. I believe there is evidence that if you already have prostate cancer that testosterone can increase the rate of growth but does not contribute to whether you will get prostate cancer.

The two main contributory factors to prostate cancer are age and family history. In fact I’ve heard it said that something like 90% of men that live to be 80 will have prostate cancer. I think there’s a similar rate of breast cancer in women that live that long.

There are some studies that indicate men with low testosterone are at higher risk of developing cancer. I knew an OBGYN that did HRT and his “common sense” opinion was if sex hormones (test and est) cause cancers, why is it that we don’t see 25 year olds with prostate and breast cancer when our sex hormones are at their very highest? In fact, it’s not until your hormones are depleted that you see the sharp rise in cancers.

Additionally, the health benefits from improved cardiovascular protection from testosterone which helps prevent heart disease (#1 killer what what!) outweighs the risk. For me.

I can't say whether or not he should do it but if he's already taking gel, it's worth looking into. I know a lot of people probably only think about testosterone for things like erection and libido but it's so much more than that.

It helps stabilize the mood, it's important for cardiovascular health, healthy bones and joints, helps with joint fatigue and stiffness, mental health (again you don't see 25 year olds with dementia and there are links to sex hormones promoting the enzymes that cleave the proteins that form in the brain in Alzheimers), it helps with focus and it helps with regulating sleep and growth hormone/insulin/blood sugar regulation (ie. belly fat).

Every organ in the body has receptors for sex hormones. And once your sex hormones start depleting, life starts getting shitty pretty fast. Plus it makes you want to fuck, so there's that.

Was chill playing poe other day. Had to shit, so did np. Sat back down, got up 5 min later for a drink. Sat down. 10 min later knee felt a slight bruise sensation way upper knee area. Rubbed and massaged it to no avail. Got worse so was like fuck it, bedtime. Realized I couldn't walk. Went to Er and was a knee effusion, but really bad. They tapped it 3 times in 3 areas. Not fun. Spent 2am till 9am in hospital. Now on bedrest and relaxing. Played some poe last night with leg elevated up but prolly not the smartest thing to do. Lol.

Noodleface said:

Anything over 200 multiple times is diabetic or at least prediabetic. Definitely get on that before you end up like me

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126+ fasting, 200+ postprandial.



You def need to get that under control though meStevo . Diabetes sucks. The worst part is you usually don’t “feel” any different but it’s wreaking havoc on your eyes, blood vessels, erections, etc.

Totally treatable with meds, better option is diet and exercise. Not lecturing, just hope you get taken care of.

Noodleface said:

The main thing really early on is try to cut out carbs. Certain things would shock me how much they raised my blood sugar. If I had Doritos for a snack my sugar was through the roof. It's something a non diabetic wouldn't think about.

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Glycemic Index and Diabetes

Food with high glycemic index will raise blood sugars more quickly. I remember learning that pretzels have especially high GI. Don’t know why that always stuck with me. But yes, stay away from foods with high GI (chart in link).

Kuriin said:

People just don't get it. Neither do nurses. Whenever we get patients who come in HIV -- even undetectable levels -- the reporting nurses will often whisper, "BTW, he is HIV+!!" like it's going to change anything in the standard of care. These people piss me off beyond belief. HIV is manageable with a pill. People do not die of HIV. Diabetes is a chronic, DIFFICULT to manage for most people because it deals with diet management, medication compliance management, as well as constantly monitoring your blood sugar.

So, whenever I get these douchy nurses giving me report and say shit like that, I calmly tell them, "I'd rather have HIV than diabetes.". Fuck diabetes. Get your sugar in check. You want to keep your toes, feet, and eyesight.

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I'd get the same thing in surgery if they were Hep or HIV+

I'm like, do you think I was planning to needle stick myself if they weren't?

You forgot erections on your list btw. That's what I tell my teenage patients. Want to keep your boners? Stop eating so many flaming cheetos.

Noodleface said:

I'm terrified of losing my toes. What actually leads up to that? When should I be concerned? Read horror stories about toes just falling off in socks. To be fair it's usually homeless.diabetics or old people I hear about

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Check your feet every day and DON'T ignore sores, or redness or anything along those lines.

Diabetes Foot Care

Loss of circulation means loss of oxygen to the tissue, so you're starting point is unhealthy, deoxygenated tissue. With the loss of circulation comes a lowered immune response. White blood cells simply can't get to the sight of an infection because of the increase in swelling and the narrowing of the vasculature. Think of an ambulance trying to get to an accident on a congested highway. It's slow.

Compound that with the fact that many diabetics will develop neuropathy (loss of sensation) in the extremities. A small cut or a small infection goes unnoticed and is painless. So many diabetics will ignore it and think it will go away. This of course leads to a bigger infection. So by the time I've seen them, they have a big, necrotic ulcer which is basically dead tissue that wont heal. We start them on antibiotics and debride (cut away the dead tissue) and hope for a recovery. But now because of the lack of oxygen I talked about in the first paragraph, we have a delayed healing process and sometimes the wound may not heal at all. Without the protective barrier of the skin, the wound is susceptible to bacteria the entire time. If an infection settles into the bone (osteomyelitis) you lose the toe, if it goes further you lose the foot, further than that you lose the leg.

My dad lost both his legs below the knee because of this and ultimately died a short while after. It's a sad and terrible disease. Take care of yourselves.