Health Problems

sleevedraw

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Wait, what's wrong with Omeprazol?

Long-term PPI use is associated with a heightened risk of certain types of cancers, chronic kidney disease, dementia, pneumonia. Not proven to be causational, but there is a correlation.

Also osteoporosis and fractures, but that is also true of Gaviscon and traditional antacids.
 

Sludig

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Just got insurance letter approved for my back surgery, still scared of it, December first tentatively.
 
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Gurgeh

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Long-term PPI use is associated with a heightened risk of certain types of cancers, chronic kidney disease, dementia, pneumonia. Not proven to be causational, but there is a correlation.

Also osteoporosis and fractures, but that is also true of Gaviscon and traditional antacids.
Gaviscon is a fairly small dose of anti acids. It's main effect is to make a sort of paste on the top of the stomach liquids, preventing it for moving up. It's half a teaspoon worth of sodium bicarbonate which won't cause that much trouble, especialy if you just take it before bed.

Nothing like Omeprazol and other ppi that basicaly decrease acid concentration in the stomach by 100 to 1000... I'm not sure how proven you need it be. It's correlatated AND the mecanism is fairly simple: lower stomach acids causes malabsorption of nutrients, bacteria overgrowth in the wrong place which will lead to all sort of problems in the long run.
 

Goatface

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anyone know if a doctor can order a ct scan for kidney stones if i am not having any symptoms? called my insurance and ct scans do have to be approved unless in the er. when i called called my urologist's nurse on the 19th , she said if blood/pain gets bad go to the er and they will share info etc and made appointment for 31st.
last time i saw him, had blood in urine like 2 days before and was clear the next day and he wasn't to concerned, so thinking would be a waste to go see him unless can get new scans. wouldn't be that bad, but his office is 90 min away.
 

sleevedraw

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anyone know if a doctor can order a ct scan for kidney stones if i am not having any symptoms? called my insurance and ct scans do have to be approved unless in the er. when i called called my urologist's nurse on the 19th , she said if blood/pain gets bad go to the er and they will share info etc and made appointment for 31st.
last time i saw him, had blood in urine like 2 days before and was clear the next day and he wasn't to concerned, so thinking would be a waste to go see him unless can get new scans. wouldn't be that bad, but his office is 90 min away.

It will depend on your specific health insurance. Some health plans do UM on CT scans, others do not. Call up the number on the back of your health insurance card and ask if "prior auth" is needed for a CT abdomen. Saw that you called already, my bad.

Likely you will not be able to get a CT unless you've had an ultrasound or KUB (standard X-ray) first, especially when asymptomatic. There is significantly less radiation exposure with the KUB and none with the ultrasound.
 
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The_Black_Log Foler

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Long-term PPI use is associated with a heightened risk of certain types of cancers, chronic kidney disease, dementia, pneumonia. Not proven to be causational, but there is a correlation.

Also osteoporosis and fractures, but that is also true of Gaviscon and traditional antacids.
Define “long-term”. Was having a similar issue to pharmakos pharmakos - cough, throat feeling a bit rough. I’ve really abused my body with alcohol and food over the past year in an attempt to cope with a new job that pushes 80 hour weeks and a constant high bar for performance.

It ended up catching up to me with what I believe is acid reflux. I’ve been on Pantoprazole for a month and a half now. It’s helped but I’ve not been hardcore enough adjusting my lifestyle. Still drinking maybe twice a week, still eating shit food.. So I’m not doing myself any favors. Had an endo last week. Doc saw my briefly after said everything looked good. Just some minor acid reflux.

From my research it takes a long time to heal and you have to be very strict on diet.. I don’t want to take these PPIs and Gaviscon forever.
 
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The_Black_Log Foler

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I’m sure it was discussed while I was away but I suck at searching. Are these full body MRIs a scam? From my research it seems like they can tend to over diagnose with them and try to address stuff that wouldn’t have ever been a problem. Apparently lots of people die of old age and have tumors, cancer etc in their body - doesn’t mean they should have addressed these things type of deal. I’ve only seen one anecdotal story of benefit from someone I know whose wife found she had a brain tumor, a bad one, from one of these scans. Other than that it seems like these things just open a can of worms and they doctors using screening schedules based on age/life style etc are a better choice.

Curious to hear thoughts Izo Izo , sleevedraw sleevedraw , Gurgeh Gurgeh
 

Izo

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I’m sure it was discussed while I was away but I suck at searching. Are these full body MRIs a scam? From my research it seems like they can tend to over diagnose with them and try to address stuff that wouldn’t have ever been a problem. Apparently lots of people die of old age and have tumors, cancer etc in their body - doesn’t mean they should have addressed these things type of deal. I’ve only seen one anecdotal story of benefit from someone I know whose wife found she had a brain tumor, a bad one, from one of these scans. Other than that it seems like these things just open a can of worms and they doctors using screening schedules based on age/life style etc are a better choice.

Curious to hear thoughts Izo Izo , sleevedraw sleevedraw , Gurgeh Gurgeh
Our health care system is 99% public and 1% private. We scan on symptoms and screening programs, obviously. If you want to get in the magnet other than that it's private scanners or mr tourism. Works fine as a whole imho.
I'm sure american doctors with student debts love you guys magnetized more often.
 

Kithani

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I’m sure it was discussed while I was away but I suck at searching. Are these full body MRIs a scam? From my research it seems like they can tend to over diagnose with them and try to address stuff that wouldn’t have ever been a problem. Apparently lots of people die of old age and have tumors, cancer etc in their body - doesn’t mean they should have addressed these things type of deal. I’ve only seen one anecdotal story of benefit from someone I know whose wife found she had a brain tumor, a bad one, from one of these scans. Other than that it seems like these things just open a can of worms and they doctors using screening schedules based on age/life style etc are a better choice.

Curious to hear thoughts Izo Izo , sleevedraw sleevedraw , Gurgeh Gurgeh
Much more likely to cause you anxiety and/or undergo a biopsy you don’t need for your incidentaloma than do anything beneficial but nobody can say it would NEVER be beneficial. You would basically never be able to prove this works in a study because even if it did work the study would have to be so mind-boggling large to actually show a mathematical benefit IMO

Good example if you have a bad brain tumor you are royally fucked whether it is discovered today or discovered six months from now when it causes symptoms. If your friend’s wife had a good outcome she didn’t have a bad brain tumor
 
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Kajiimagi

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I’m sure it was discussed while I was away but I suck at searching. Are these full body MRIs a scam? From my research it seems like they can tend to over diagnose with them and try to address stuff that wouldn’t have ever been a problem. Apparently lots of people die of old age and have tumors, cancer etc in their body - doesn’t mean they should have addressed these things type of deal. I’ve only seen one anecdotal story of benefit from someone I know whose wife found she had a brain tumor, a bad one, from one of these scans. Other than that it seems like these things just open a can of worms and they doctors using screening schedules based on age/life style etc are a better choice.

Curious to hear thoughts Izo Izo , sleevedraw sleevedraw , Gurgeh Gurgeh
In my case, I would have LOVED to have a full body mri. I highly doubt all 7 of the back surgeries I had were caused by a bad back, and not the tumor that was pressing on my brain. Won't know for sure for at least 7-8 months (time for body to get over next round of chemo). Consider me a .00000000000001% case though, I told my wife I would not have approved a brain scan if I was my insurance as the math wasn't there.
 
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The_Black_Log Foler

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Much more likely to cause you anxiety and/or undergo a biopsy you don’t need for your incidentaloma than do anything beneficial but nobody can say it would NEVER be beneficial. You would basically never be able to prove this works in a study because even if it did work the study would have to be so mind-boggling large to actually show a mathematical benefit IMO

Good example if you have a bad brain tumor you are royally fucked whether it is discovered today or discovered six months from now when it causes symptoms. If your friend’s wife had a good outcome she didn’t have a bad brain tumor
This is a good take. It was really the conclusion I came to. The juice wasn’t worth the squeeze per se.
 

Kajiimagi

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This is a good take. It was really the conclusion I came to. The juice wasn’t worth the squeeze per se.
that's actually what I was trying to say (poorly) even though in my case it could have been worth it.
 
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TheNozz

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I was on Nexium on and off for nearly 4 years, I hope to Christ I didn’t do any long term damage. The scary thing in restrospect was my doctor told me way back in 2019 there was no harm in continual use.

the problem I kept having was that I was getting rebound hyper acid secretion every time I’d try to go off and it was agony, even when I was only taking one dose once every 4-5 days

the best workaround I could find was using baking soda water whenever I had an acid attack and after about 4-5 months of this while going cold turkey off Nexium, the RHAS largely has gone away but it does flare up now and again
 
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TheNozz

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So, anyone else here caught that fucking norovirus bug that’s been going around?

I’ve been shitting my guts out for nearly two days
 

Kobayashi

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anyone know if a doctor can order a ct scan for kidney stones if i am not having any symptoms? called my insurance and ct scans do have to be approved unless in the er. when i called called my urologist's nurse on the 19th , she said if blood/pain gets bad go to the er and they will share info etc and made appointment for 31st.
last time i saw him, had blood in urine like 2 days before and was clear the next day and he wasn't to concerned, so thinking would be a waste to go see him unless can get new scans. wouldn't be that bad, but his office is 90 min away.

Fuck insurance, see if you have a place nearby that has cash prices. This place used to publish their prices online and even offered discounts/specials on the weekend.


I did the whole insurance process for a CT scan, showed up to my appointment only to find out insurance canceled it the day I showed up. Had to go back to the doctor, do yet another bullshit pre-test, then finally get my scan another week later once insurance was fully satisfied. All that extra hassle for the right to pay 3x the cash price out of pocket since I hadn't yet hit my deductible for the year.
 

Gurgeh

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I was on Nexium on and off for nearly 4 years, I hope to Christ I didn’t do any long term damage. The scary thing in restrospect was my doctor told me way back in 2019 there was no harm in continual use.

the problem I kept having was that I was getting rebound hyper acid secretion every time I’d try to go off and it was agony, even when I was only taking one dose once every 4-5 days

the best workaround I could find was using baking soda water whenever I had an acid attack and after about 4-5 months of this while going cold turkey off Nexium, the RHAS largely has gone away but it does flare up now and again
You probably want to do something like this to mitigate whatever damage's been done :
I don't have any study or anything to back it up, but my guess is that PPI or antibiotic do damages to the gut microbiome, that everyone agrees on. This isn't permanent but a lot of people have a really shitty diet, which make recovery potentialy impossible : like they don't eat nearly enough vegetables and fruit, and they don't consume food with friendly bacteria, as they eat over-sanitized and hyper-processed food only. So their gut microbiome that wasn't great to begin with, ends up even worse and doesn't recover. If you destroy your gut microbiome, it shouldn't be catastrophical, but if you don't bring at all a wide variety of bacteria from your food, you don't give a chance to the proper microbiome to resettle.

I think the concensus is starting to be fermented food at least twice a day, and 30 different vegetables / fruit per week is a good(optimal?) way to keep your gut in good health.
Best if to get like milk kefir for the breakfast, some sauerkraut or kimchi at one meal, and some kombucha / fruit kefir at some point in the day. Every day. And try to go out of your way to get stuff like unpasteurized cheese, or any kind of fermented food.

Gut in bad health will fuck you up. It's linked with pretty much everything bad.
 
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ToeMissile

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I was on Nexium on and off for nearly 4 years, I hope to Christ I didn’t do any long term damage. The scary thing in restrospect was my doctor told me way back in 2019 there was no harm in continual use.

the problem I kept having was that I was getting rebound hyper acid secretion every time I’d try to go off and it was agony, even when I was only taking one dose once every 4-5 days

the best workaround I could find was using baking soda water whenever I had an acid attack and after about 4-5 months of this while going cold turkey off Nexium, the RHAS largely has gone away but it does flare up now and again
I had pretty bad reflux for a while when I was younger, it caused a heital hernia that I had an endoscopy to fix maybe 15 years ago. I was put on a pretty heavy Ranitidine presription for before and after the procedure, then an OTC amount later. Ended up taking those for around 3 years IIRC. Of course they discontinued it for increased cancer risk. Hooray.

I'll get little flare ups on occasion and will take a famotidine for it. I find that consistency in the times I eat helps a lot to keep acid in check.
 

Captain Suave

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Anyone here on statins? My LDL turned out super high this year despite my otherwise being in pretty good shape, good blood pressure, diet and regular exercise, etc. I'm not super stoked about being on perpetual medication but I don't really want a heart attack or stroke either.

What are people's experiences? Side effects?
 
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