Medical Questions I'd Like Answered...

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Maj
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Post by Maj »

Iduno wrote:
Maj wrote:Is this a trick question? You stick a thermometer in your mouth and wait until it beeps.
Oh yeah, I can buy a thermometer. It's entirely possible that a person who barely remembers what they are doing isn't the best person to take care of themselves.
Noted. I have a lot experience with peeps like that.
erik wrote:Or for the price of a thermometer you can take an Uber to an airport and start coughing. Just ask em what the temp is when they scan you.
We obviously live in very different places because an Uber to the airport would cost me 100x more than a digital thermometer at DollarTree, or 10x one at Walmart. I also live in the land of decent health care for broke people; I could walk into my doc's office and ask them if they'd take it for me.
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Post by deaddmwalking »

Iduno wrote:How do you tell if you have a fever when your "normal" is headache, being tired, and allergy-related illness? It's hot and humid now, so the sweating might be from that.

Edit: I'm not even sure why I want to know. I can't do much about it either way. Knowing why I feel like crap doesn't help, but I still want to know.
There are lots of reasons you can feel bad, and if you're feeling bad all the time it's probably something pretty fundamental to your lifestyle.

When you get a blood test, they usually look at your number of white blood cells. A high number indicates that you are fighting an infection (or just did), so it'd make sense that you'd feel bad as a result. But if there's no indication of that, there can be a host of other reasons you don't feel bad. In addition to the 'normal' things they look for, ask for them to measure as many vitamins as they can. You can feel bad due to a vitamin deficiency, and there are medical reasons you might have a deficiency even if you eat a proper diet.

Think of how silly it is to feel bad if you could find out that adding more iron to your diet would improve your energy levels and you did nothing?

I'd also suggest you try to evaluate the quality of your sleep. If there's anyone who sleeps with you, find out if you snore. If you're overweight and/or approaching middle age, there's a good chance that you are suffocating yourself at night and you might benefit from a CPAP machine. A sleep study might be expensive depending on your insurance situation, but it could make a big difference.

When you begin to develop a chronic condition, it's easy to feel that 'this is normal'. Usually you start feeling worse and worse slowly enough that you feel that 'this is normal'. If you feel tired and run down, but everyone you ask ALSO feels tired and run down, you might think 'that's how it's supposed to be at my age'. Don't make that assumption! It's possible to actually feel GOOD at any age. If you don't, try to find out why. Sleep, diet, and exercise are the three big ones that you can probably directly manage, but they're also REALLY hard to figure out if you're doing them right.

Get the blood test first because that's a good indication into a host of problems, but if you don't see anything obvious, approach them in that order: sleep, diet, exercise.

A FitBit can give you a sense of how well you're sleeping - that's a good starting point for hours slept and quality of sleep. Most of us spend too much time looking at blue lights that disrupt our natural sleep patterns. Trying to darken rooms 1-2 hours before you go to sleep and avoiding screen time (or using blue-light filters) may help you feel ready for sleep. Malatonin is available over the counter and may help you fall asleep faster and potentially get a more restful sleep. I don't believe it is habit forming, and it doesn't impact the type of sleep you get the way some medications do.

Your diet may need to change before you can begin an exercise regimen. If you don't feel energetic it's hard to do more physical activity. I personally appear to have a genetic predisposition to a lymphatic disorder and I have had a lot of benefit from adding a small amount of MCT Oil to my daily coffee. Everybody is different, so what works for a lot of your friends may not work for you. That said, a lot of people do benefit from adding protein and/or fats to their breakfast. A high-carb/low fiber cereal might be the 'normal' breakfast for a lot of America, but you might feel full longer with oatmeal or adding a hard-boiled egg. This can also help with regularity - my daughter has been seeing a gastroenterologist and he wants people having a bowel movement twice a day - in the morning and evening. If you can find what helps you 'go' make sure you include it in your diet. For my daughter, the 'Naked Juices' seem to help a fair bit, but getting plenty of fresh fruits really makes a difference.

I have one friend in his mid-50s that started taking just about all the supplements. He figures most of them are garbage, but if he takes them all, as long as they're not actually HARMFUL, maybe one or two of them make a difference. It seems to work for him. I'd prefer a more scientific approach, but you might think of adding one or two supplements for a couple weeks or a month to see if it does ANYTHING; if so, you can add a couple more that might help and if not, you can stop taking them as you experiment. From an evolutionary perspective, your ancestors (who starved a lot) also ate a lot of weird stuff (because they were starving), and some of that MIGHT have benefits (in small quantities). Eating a highly varied diet might be beneficial; if it's not practical then supplements probably make sense as a stop-gap measure.
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Post by Iduno »

Blood test sounds way out of my price range. As for my insurance, it's nearly half as good now as it was as an intern during the summer in college, except my employer has strongly hinted that trying to use it again involves me being dismissed for "unrelated reasons" because I live in a right to work state.

Edit: Also you mentioned sleep. I've been off my PTSD meds for a while, because insurance doesn't believe they are necessary. On an unrelated note, there are 2-3 nights per week right now that I'm awake most of because of recurring PTSD-related nightmares. Probably sleeping ~20-30 hours/week currently.
Last edited by Iduno on Fri Mar 06, 2020 5:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Grek »

That is about half as much sleep as you should be getting, so you probably have your answer.
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Post by deaddmwalking »

Iduno wrote:Probably sleeping ~20-30 hours/week currently.
There is no way you can feel good on an average of 3-4 hours per night. If you need medicine and you can't get it, I'm not sure what the solution is. I'd certainly recommend you try taking Melatonin for a week or two to see if it makes a difference. While it won't address any medical causes that make it difficult to stay or fall asleep, there are a lot of things you can do to improve the quality of your sleep. In no particular order, things that are likely to help:

1) A cool mist humidifier
Dry air can cause a lot of discomfort while you're sleeping. If you wake up to drink a glass of water during the night, this can help. The 'white noise' also can help mask other sounds that might cause you to awaken.

2) Having a routine that you stick to
You can't go from running from a bear to a deep sleep - your body doesn't switch gears instantly. Training your body to prepare for sleep makes it easier to GO to sleep. If you do the same things at the same time prior to bed, your body will start learning that those activities mean to switch gears. Your body has a natural circadian rhythm, so try to pick a bedtime and stick to it. If your body knows 10pm is sleep time, not 1am on Monday, 3am on Tuesday, 7pm on Wednesday, that makes a big difference.

3) Eat/Drink/do vitamins/Melatonin 30 minutes to an hour before you sleep. That should give you a chance to use the restroom so you're less likely to need to wake up in the night for that.

4) Avoid stimulants (like coffee) 6+ hours before bed, and reduce/eliminate alcohol consumption (especially right before bed). Nightcaps don't make you sleep better - they may help you fall asleep faster, but they don't contribute to restful sleep.

5) Stress/an active mind is probably the number one reason beyond all those other things that make it hard to fall and stay asleep. Anything you can do to reduce stress in your life is worthwhile. If you can't get rid of the things that are stressing you out (like a bad boss), find some coping techniques (like meditation). You have to quiet your mind before you fall asleep.

6) If you're tired throughout the day, it might be important to skip naps until you get on a good sleep schedule. That 1-2 hours of sleep at 2pm might be the only way you're getting through the day, but it makes it that much harder to get a good nights sleep. Definitely avoid naps within 5 hours of bedtime. Once you're getting a good night's sleep every night, you can take naps (if that's available) but may be unnecessary.
Last edited by deaddmwalking on Fri Mar 06, 2020 6:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by erik »

I initially was posting this under Personal, but it is pretty heavy on medical info even if I'm not asking any questions per se (but won't be offended if someone throws words at me).

So it's under control now but I had a bit of a health scare recently.

Background: Mid-December I caught some sort of bug that gave me a pretty bad fever and a back-spasming cough with raspy breathing that lasted a few days. A few days after that I noticed my neck was cramped and had a pretty constant tension headache. A couple weeks later I began to wonder if Meningitis, the less nasty post viral kind since I wasn't dead and only symptoms were stiff neck and a constant tension headache on right side that only seemed to improve if I craned my neck just right or took 2-3 aleve/24 hrs.

Over another month it gradually improved, but couple weeks ago once again had a banger of a headache. Had my blood pressure taken at night a couple days after that episode and it was 187/139. Pretty high. Usually I run 130/80, which could be lower, I know, but I was working on it by maintaining a healthy weight and exercising modestly- couple years ago I lost 30 pounds via intermittent fasting with mild exercise and have more or less kept it off and at a healthy BMI as I slowly add back on more muscle accounting for my weight being up about 10-15lbs from my previous valley. At the time I would have said I was in the best shape of my life since college. Even my back issues have been under control for about a year since I've put on some muscle post weight loss.

So I didn't actually believe the BP measurement as I wasn't even having any headache or anything at that time and I am otherwise pretty fit. But I rechecked it following morning on a public BP device at the grocery and it was about the same, 180s/130s. That's when I went "oh shit" and same day began self-medicating with a BP med that my wife had discontinued a while back when they tried a few different meds until they found one that worked well for her (lucky to have an existing excess supply of metoprolol on hand). Also stopped the naproxen, I had already been tapering off, using it less frequently, like weekly, as headaches had mostly improved. Anywho I started the BP med as an emergency measure until I could get in to see a doc and get worked up and my own prescription. BP had only come down about 10 pts on the one med so they gave me a script for the same one and an additional med. After almost a week I've finally had multiple days of measurements back to my previous "normal", and hopefully it comes down further.

I can only imagine how high my BP was back when I was actually symptomatic with constant headache and sometimes bulging veins. I'm still going through getting various tests since we don't know why my BP decided to go rambo, but at least I'm less likely to have an imminent stroke. My EKG looked decent to me and bloodwork is being processed.
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Post by Maj »

Wow. I wish you the best of health. For all that blood pressure is a pretty commonly paid attention to thing, I don't really get what makes it go up and down.
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Post by Stahlseele »

How long does it take for one to completely detox from Caffeine intake?
How long would i have to not consume any Caffeine to have it have an effect on me on consumption again?
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Post by Username17 »

Stahlseele wrote:How long does it take for one to completely detox from Caffeine intake?
How long would i have to not consume any Caffeine to have it have an effect on me on consumption again?
It varies a lot. Usually one to two months. Your caffeine tolerance is mostly reset about a week after you stop having withdrawal headaches.

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Post by Stahlseele »

Hmm, i never get headaches from that as far as i can tell.
Thank you for the numbers though, so need to do it immediately, if i need it to work somewhat beginning of may for a night shift <.<
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Post by Thaluikhain »

Random question, if doctors have to know a patient's blood type for some reason, I'm guessing they can't just take their word on it. What kind of documentation would prove that?
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Post by Maj »

Blood test, medical records, blood donation. All my doctors have taken my word for it, though.
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Post by Grek »

Thaluikhain wrote:Random question, if doctors have to know a patient's blood type for some reason, I'm guessing they can't just take their word on it. What kind of documentation would prove that?
Blood typing is cheap and easy. If there's ever an actual immediate medical reason to know someone's blood type, the doctor will probably have a blood typing test done and if there isn't time they'll just use type O for liability's sake. When they ask you about your blood type, what they really want to know is if you remember the answer from the last time it came up. This is a decent indicator of how reliable a patient's self-reported medical history is in other areas - if somebody can't remember their own blood type, chances are good that they might not remember the exact name of the drug that they're allergic too either and the doctor should double check on that.
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Post by Username17 »

If we actually need to know your blood type, it's normally because we're either taking blood from you for transfusion purposes or giving blood to you for transfusion purposes. In either case, a sample of your blood gets taken as a "group and save" that gets tested for a lot more proteins and reactivity profiles than just the A, B, and Rh. If you need blood in a legit emergency and there's no time for the 2-4 hours it takes to protein match your blood, then you get O Negative blood and we just hope that's close enough.

The only real meaning for your blood type is that if you happen to be O Negative you have a slightly stronger moral imperative to give blood because yours is the only kind that's helpful in the "John Doe Street Pizza" scenario.

O Negative people are seven percent of the population in the US. So it's special, but not that special.

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Post by Maj »

Also, women need to know their blood type for rh factor when pregnant.
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Post by Prak »

How do you fix your brain when it's been damaged by depression? Mostly, I want to fix/overcome the executive dysfunction and start to overcome some of the behaviours that it's conditioned in me.
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Post by Grek »

If we had a better answer for that than "antidepressants or CBT" mental health professionals would already be using it.
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Post by Maj »

Replace those bad conditioned behaviors with better behaviors (instead of just trying to stop a behavior you don't like)?
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Post by Josh_Kablack »

Prak wrote:How do you fix your brain when it's been damaged by depression? Mostly, I want to fix/overcome the executive dysfunction and start to overcome some of the behaviours that it's conditioned in me.
I am not a medical professional, but my treatment plan would be something along the lines of:
  • Better diet
  • More regular routine
  • Improved sleep hygiene
  • Regular intensive exercise
  • Social connections which will reinforce the above behavioural changes
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Post by Maj »

Gratitude journal.
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Post by echoVanguard »

On the Wong-Baker Pain Scale, where is stubbing your toe? For calibration purposes.

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Post by Neeeek »

echoVanguard wrote:On the Wong-Baker Pain Scale, where is stubbing your toe? For calibration purposes.

Image

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I would imagine it would depend on how badly you stubbed your toe. I once stubbed my toe so hard I fractured my ankle. Well, twice, actually.
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Post by Maj »

My pain scale totally shifted when I had to get stitches in the bottom of my foot and the local wasn't effective. That became a ten, and shit like stubbing my toe - previously maybe a three - turned into a one.
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Post by Orca »

My experience as a patient in hospital is that there is no calibration of any sort on that scale that the staff will give to you. It looks to be partly just getting a number they can write down, and partly an attempt to get an angry or scared patient to back off and think.
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Post by Josh_Kablack »

So, about six weeks ago, I watched the revelation that Covid-19 had a pretty scary death rate in older populations be followed by the most rapid and drastic public health measures in my lifetime. Shit that was impossible, like companies allowing peons to work from home and Congress actually passing bills to expand unemployment happened in the blink of an eye. And then a week or two ago it comes out that the infection and death rates are disproportionately high among minority and poor populations. And suddenly there are astroturf protest groups and the DOJ threatening to aid lawsuits against governors who keep shutdown measures in place.

Which brings me to my medical ethics question: "In the contemporary United States, is revealing that an epidemic is primarily of concern for poor and minority populations a violation of the Hippocratic oath?"
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