Medical Questions I'd Like Answered...

Neeeek · Post by **Neeeek** » Wed Nov 12, 2014 7:21 pm

So...I tripped and hurt my ankle. Is there anything other than trying to stay off it I should be doing? Currently, I've got my foot sitting in a bucket of cold water, and was wearing a bandage all night.

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Wed Nov 12, 2014 7:58 pm

Ice pack, elevated, ibuprofen, doctor appointment?

ACOS · Post by **ACOS** » Wed Nov 12, 2014 9:03 pm

Rest
Ice
Compression
Eelevation

and yeah, anti-inflammatories for pain.
depending on how swollen it is, maybe a week or 2 before you can walk properly.

Neeeek · Post by **Neeeek** » Fri Nov 14, 2014 12:24 pm

So my toes are now bruised. They don't hurt or anything. Just discolored.

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Fri Nov 14, 2014 2:02 pm

Neeeek wrote:So my toes are now bruised. They don't hurt or anything. Just discolored.

Not unusual. When blood cells decompose they release a bunch of pigments. These pigments still move around in compartments. Toes are downstream, so if you had some blood get crushed, the pigments would flow down to the toes and then stick there.

If you want to make it go away faster, elevation of the feet and massaging should help. But it's going to be a while even so - the feet are the worst supplied part of the body as far as blood circulation goes.

-Username17

Neeeek · Post by **Neeeek** » Sat Nov 15, 2014 7:12 pm

FrankTrollman wrote:
Neeeek wrote:So my toes are now bruised. They don't hurt or anything. Just discolored.
Not unusual. When blood cells decompose they release a bunch of pigments. These pigments still move around in compartments. Toes are downstream, so if you had some blood get crushed, the pigments would flow down to the toes and then stick there.

If you want to make it go away faster, elevation of the feet and massaging should help. But it's going to be a while even so - the feet are the worst supplied part of the body as far as blood circulation goes.

-Username17

Ah. That was sort of what I thought, but really had no basis for thinking so. Anyway, it seems I fractured my fibula. This whole not walking thing blows.

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Sat Nov 15, 2014 7:21 pm

The fibula is kind of splinted by the tibia and usually doesn't need to be screwed together or held in traction unless one or both ends have been displaced. Still, you're probably looking at a month of suck.

-Username17

Neeeek · Post by **Neeeek** » Sat Nov 15, 2014 8:22 pm

FrankTrollman wrote:The fibula is kind of splinted by the tibia and usually doesn't need to be screwed together or held in traction unless one or both ends have been displaced. Still, you're probably looking at a month of suck.

-Username17

Yeah. It's not that bad. I mean, I walked about a mile and a half on it before they put the splint on yesterday, without crutches or other support. Hopefully, once I get a real cast sometime next week, I'll be able to walk on it.

Orion · Post by **Orion** » Wed Nov 19, 2014 8:52 am

So it turns out I have narcolepsy. Other than taking large amounts of amphetamines and GHB (which is what I'm already doing), does anyone have any helpful advice?

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Wed Nov 19, 2014 11:18 am

Orion wrote:So it turns out I have narcolepsy. Other than taking large amounts of amphetamines and GHB (which is what I'm already doing), does anyone have any helpful advice?

Once you're taking medication to keep you awake, you're doing most of what medicine can do for you. If you are also depressed, you can take anti-depressants. But while narcolepsy goes hand in hand with depression often, it isn't 100% or anything. If you are not suffering from depression in addition to the narcolepsy, absolutely do not take the anti-depressants.

Lifestyle wise, don't do things that would disrupt your sleep schedule. No late night caffeine, no heavy alcohol consumption, don't smoke cigarettes, that sort of thing. Figure out a way to not have to drive a car or be behind the controls of any heavy machinery, because that can go badly. Some people black out for periods around their comas, so take copious notes like the guy in Memento (tattooing prompts on your arm optional). You can be one of those assholes who has a recorder and records notes for themselves in the middle of conversations.

-Username17

koz · Post by **koz** » Fri Nov 21, 2014 3:21 am

This question comes mostly in relation to this: does smoking weed actually help glaucoma? I mean, I'm not a doctor, but I'm not sure how that would help an eye condition.

fectin · Post by **fectin** » Fri Nov 21, 2014 3:56 am

It's loss of nerve function, based on eye pressure. Weed drops your blood pressure and famously affects nerves. I don't know any specific mechanism, but it's very plausible.

Meikle641 · Post by **Meikle641** » Fri Nov 21, 2014 4:37 am

My father got a medical license to use for pot for that, and a couple other things. It helps him.

Count Arioch the 28th · Wed Dec 10, 2014 9:39 am

My piss has been green for the past three days. What does that mean?

DSMatticus · Post by **DSMatticus** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 11:11 am

In general, the only worrying color of piss is pink or red, because that could be blood. All of the other colors of the rainbow are usually the result of an excess of some vitamin or another (also I think some food and drink dyes can sometimes kinda sorta make it through you to color your piss). Someone else can probably be more specific than that.

It is possible to overdose on certain vitamins (almost exclusively a problem for people taking supplements), so if that's a thing you're doing it might be time to take a harder look at what you're putting in you. Even if the thing that's turning your piss green isn't problematic, you might also be getting too much of something else from the same sources. But if you're not taking supplements it seems very unlikely that you'd be at any risk.

Count Arioch the 28th · Wed Dec 10, 2014 11:22 am

Yeah, I don't do supplements. I follow my cravings (I went on a kick where for three days I couldn't get enough onions recently, but I don't think that caused it. Last month, I couldn't get enough squash).

angelfromanotherpin · Wed Dec 10, 2014 12:29 pm

My dad's piss went green once and it turned out to be a UTI.

fectin · Post by **fectin** » Thu Dec 11, 2014 2:10 am

Feeding someone this stuff:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bromothymol_blue
is a fairly classic prank (though obscure). Drank any stouts with people you don't trust recently?

Count Arioch the 28th · Thu Dec 11, 2014 8:08 am

fectin wrote:Feeding someone this stuff:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bromothymol_blue
is a fairly classic prank (though obscure). Drank any stouts with people you don't trust recently?

No, I've been sober for about a year now.

Lago PARANOIA · Post by **Lago PARANOIA** » Thu Dec 11, 2014 4:33 pm

As a researcher, how far are you ethically allowed to go before your research is considered stalking?

For example, say I was doing a retrospective study on teenagers who were exposed to a fracking chemical in their infancy suspected of causing brain damage. Not only did I conduct periodic medical examinations but I also went through medical records, report cards, social media sites, interviews with friends and family, etc.. Where is the line drawn and what are ethically safe areas? If I violate them, how bad of a person am I and what kind of legal and professional liabilities am I subject to?

virgil · Post by **virgil** » Thu Dec 11, 2014 4:46 pm

Lago PARANOIA wrote:As a researcher, how far are you ethically allowed to go before your research is considered stalking?

To my knowledge, studies like these require informed consent; it'd likely be looser for public records, but most of what you're referring to doesn't fall under that. I'm not sure what repercussions there are for ignoring ethics committees, but I suspect it strongly depends on who decides to get offended.

Orion · Post by **Orion** » Thu Dec 11, 2014 4:52 pm

I Am Not A Scientist Or A Lawyer

I don't think most the review boards have a special category for "stalking."

As far as I know, "stalking" is a legal term usually treated as a subtype of harassment. It might be forbidden by an order of protection ("restraining order") or it could rise to the level of criminal harassment without a judge's order if they told you to fuck off and it's egregious enough. There are other crimes like tresspassing or fraud if you're actually breaking into people's homes or hacking their accounts, but as far as I know there are no laws against talking to whomever you want about a subject and following them around in public as much as you like.

So you'd just be looking at the generic research guidelines, which generally do require some disclosures to participants in experiments. I'm pretty covertly observe happenings in a given location or instantaneous snapshots of people's profiles. I have no idea if longitudinal studies require you to notify your subjects but it almost doesn't matter if that's an ethical mandate from the review board, because it's a practical necessity. There's no way you're going to get someone's school records and medical records without their consent, because the doctors are sworn to secrecy by HIPAA and I imagine that schools probably have some kinds of privacy laws. Even if there's not a law, schools have policies.

EDIT: To clarify my point, TLDR: Before you even worry about the rules that govern research specifically, note that many of the things you're talking about are straight illegal in themselves.

TiaC · Post by **TiaC** » Thu Dec 11, 2014 9:06 pm

virgil wrote:
Lago PARANOIA wrote:As a researcher, how far are you ethically allowed to go before your research is considered stalking?
To my knowledge, studies like these require informed consent; it'd likely be looser for public records, but most of what you're referring to doesn't fall under that. I'm not sure what repercussions there are for ignoring ethics committees, but I suspect it strongly depends on who decides to get offended.

In this case, since they're teenagers, you could get consent from their parents instead.

Count Arioch the 28th · Sun Dec 14, 2014 3:42 pm

What would cause persistent chest congestion? Every time I have lied (lain?) down to sleep, I can't because I can hear snot rattling around in my chest loud enough to prevent me from sleeping. Mucinex does nothing to improve it. This has been going on for about three weeks now. Otherwise, I am not sick or have any other symptoms of respiratory sicknesses.

Now, with the exception of my teeth (which are crooked but in excellent shape), my entire digestive tract is pretty fucked. I have difficulty swallowing due to scar tissue buildup because of my reflux which is caused by a hietal hernia which I can't get fixed (last doc I saw said I was a "poor candidate" for surgery and I have no idea what he meant for that). I'm starting to wonder if when I force food down my throat if I'm not aspirating stuff and that's why I have congestion...

fectin · Post by **fectin** » Sun Dec 14, 2014 4:37 pm

Count Arioch the 28th wrote:last doc I saw said I was a "poor candidate" for surgery and I have no idea what he meant for that

In the future, ask. If you don't get an explanation that you understand, strongly consider getting a different doc. You're essentially paying a general practitioner to tell you about his (expert) opinions; you're not getting what you paid for if you don't understand those opinions.

You don't need to walk out with a med-school degree, but you should want to know what assumptions he's making and be able to reproduce his reasoning well enough to bring another doc up to speed if yours gets hit by a bus.

I know that's not always feasible, but it's worth trying for.