Re: IV ABX Study for Psychosis

On Feb 22, 3:29�pm, itsybitsy...@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
I also like dating younger women (why not?). When people ask how can
you date a girl in her 20s I always ask "What's your point?" People
assume that younger women have to be immature, what could we have in
common? Again, what's their point? Also I don't rule out younger women
being old souls. At least I give them a chance. And I am at least as
immature as they are if they're not. In fact, I'd say most are more
mature than me just not in age.

How old are you Bart? You don't have to say. Just curious. I'm 37.
Still seems weird to say that.

In that general age range, a little older. But young at heart. And
immature.


Its even weirder when a woman dates a guy quite a bit younger, say in
his 20's. I don't know why. I know a guy who is 20. He's absolutely
adorable and I flirt with him. HOWEVER, I'd feel like I was taking
advantage of him if I dated him. I don't see anything WRONG with it
except that I would personally feel strange about it. Yet, I see
nothing wrong with men dating younger women. Maybe its ME who's
screwed up...lol.

Yeah it feels a little weird to date younger women in their 20s and
honestly I do hope to take advantage of them. And have them take
advantage of me. Mutual advantage!

And yeah it IS weird when older women date younger men but not the
other way around lol

Go figure.

I do make exceptions. The woman I'm dating now is older than me.
Unfortunately she's an emotional vampire and I just happen to be
pathologically attracted to her. We've dated off and on for about ten
years, there was a serious relationship for each of us in the interim.

Possibly we all have one of those? I finally ended a bizarre on and
off relationship, that started when I was 15 years old, just about 2 -
3 years ago. We both even married other people in the interim. I was
extremely faithful when married, but when that was all said and done,
it was like gravity, back I went. Its over. For good this time. Thank
goodness. My heart is no longer bleeding over it, what a relief. Its
like the world came off my shoulders to no longer be carrying a torch...
might I finally be emotionally heathy enough to not want something
pathologically bad for me and emotionally draining?? There's a
thought...

Yeah the emotional vampire is no good for me. I just can't help it.

Doctors HATE long symptom lists. They also HATE if you've been on the
internet learning about what is or might be wrong with you. They also
HATE to answer questions.

There are people who will say "WHY? NOT FAIR!" and try that anyway. It
never works. I pissed an office off once cause I said, "I PAY you
people. YOU work for ME". Yeah, they don't like that. either.

Doctors tend to be very arrogant and underneath their arrogance very
insecure.

Of course, ideally they would listen to ALL symptoms. The last one you
mention might just be the one that is the key to diagnosis. If you get
that far.

Ideally. However, people don't get that much time in with their
doctor. You may be able to explain it all over a period of a few
visits...but hitting a doc with all sympts at once will get you
psychiatric meds, I make a personal promise on that. Right, wrong or
indifferent, its true.

I think you have to be very proactive as a patient. If a doctor won't
listen to you, you shouldn't be wasting your time with that doctor.

If it is a doctor in the ER or something I actually threaten them as
follows: "Please note in my chart that you don't want to listen to all
of my symptoms and make a diagnosis without a full history physical
and history of my current complaint and go get your supervisor and
note the name of my medical malpractice lawyer" or something like
that. Gets suprisingly good results.

Otherwise why am I bothering with some other doctor in a non emergent
situation who won't listen to me? I guess I would say it really isn't
my problem if you're overscheduled or ask if they plan to charge for
an extended complex visit but yet not listen to all my symptoms.

And most of them are very inexpert in prescribing and monitoring anti
depressants and are not qualified to make psychiatric diagnosi. A good
psychiatrist would actually rule out or consider the role of real
disease. Anti depressants are actually quite dangerous especially when
improperly prescribed dose adjusted and monitored including when it is
time to withdraw the patient.

I am not a fan of these drugs. I have NEVER been to a psychiatrist.
Never been referred to one. I have been offered tons of these, tho.
I'm sure there is someone they are helpful for. I am not one of those
people.

Yes there are people who really need them, for example, kathleen
obviously needs psychiatric intervention and medication.

Yet these drugs should only be prescribed by psychiatrists expert in
their administration, dosage, monitoring, side effects and withdrawal
methods.

I've tried a few, with promises that they are good for pain
management. I didn't find this to be the case.

I don't think most of them even have off label indications for pain?

Actually not only is it not fair, but it is just bad medicine.

Shouldn't be that way but I hear you.

Oh, no, it should not be that way. It's a travesty. But it is kinda
helpful to accept reality and approach the doctor situation knowing
those realities.

I tend to be a very proactice patient and not put up with crap from
doctors. It helps to be a man, to know their own jargon and to have
skills in being insistent and, if necessary, appropriately threatening
in ways that get their attention (I don't mean threatening of physical
harm).

�> Hard to make a sarcoid dx on a first visit. Sarcoidosis tends to

reveal itself only over time. Sounds like an unfortunately too common
Lyme nightmare quest for dx though.

Agreed. I know much better now. BUT at the time I was terrified.
However, at least he actually believed something was wrong...but at the
time it was sacrey. .

I hear ya.

Yes lung scarring from mental problems happens all the time �% rolling
eyes

Yes, and I never knew they were scarred. Or for how long. Doesn't seem
to affect me much. It slightly decreased my diffusion in the pulmonary
function test, but that could be from smoking. Nothing is active in
there. It looks way worse than it is.

Still sorry to hear that. Probably a bad thing if you do get pneumonia
or something like that.

Do you still smoke? Cigarettes that is? Or anything else? lol

Of course who knows, maybe you smoked too many bong hits?

Answer: How can you smoke too many bong hits? ;-)

LOL...and cigarettes and who knows what else.

LOL

Of course not. Thyroid meds never affect anyone adversely % rolling
eyes

Well, you roll the eyes but I had an endocrinologist look right at me
and say NO ONE had adverse effects from thyroid replacement and if you
have to have a disease, hypothyroidism is the best one to have, and I
was lucky. And if I was still sick, it wasn't thyroid, and that my
shakes heartrate weren't from the meds.

So the thryoid drugs have labels with side effects that never occur?
Interesting. I guess showing him a PDR page on them or other printout
would result in him saying that the FDA and drug company are just
nervous nellies?

I admit, I left there crying. That was before I knew better. And I
agree with the eye roll but there are people who are assured by
doctors that there are no adverse effects.

Falsely reassured.

If/when a doctor tells me something I know to be untrue I ask them to
note that statement in my medical record. I will also follow up with a
letter to that effect summarizing their misstatements and asking that
the letter be made a part of my medical record. I include anything
abusive said or done and any obvious negligence.

It is fairly common for lyme to affect the thryroid. Bb seems to
love
thyroid tissue for some reason. If I had to guess the bacteria has
evolved to make the body as comfortable an environment for itself as
it can and the thryoid is one place to go to help affect the global
environment of the body. (Again I am NOT saying the bacteria is
engaged in conscious though, I am saying that evolution has selected
traits favorable to survival and thriving).

Have you ever watched meerkat manor on the animal planet?

No. Haven't watched animal planet much since steve irwin found the
wrong side of that stingray. Ouch!

Did you have dry eyes?

Yes. And mouth. And skin. Luckily Bath and Body Works makes it so I
can have nice skin AND smell good ALL THE TIME! �I was checked by the
opthamologist and definitely have dry eye. I had almost no reactive
tear production. I can cry, my eyes just won't tear reactively if
something gets in them. In my vanity, I do still wear contacts now and
then. I also had a chronically swollen saliva gland

Sexy, chronically swollen saliva gland. Definitely have to add that to
my list of top ten turn ons!

Of course, again,
abx this year shrunk it to nothingness. Mouth is much better. BB must
'like' exocrine glands if left to flourish as well. My eyes have not
improved, but I think that's just going to be that way. That's OK...its
one of my LEAST annoying concerns.

Interesting.

Wow he called you itchy? I thought I was the first!

What's funny is I put my name in there...and then thought...NAH...lets
replace it with Itchy! lol

Put your real name? Or itsy?

There's a really good llmd and nurse in hermitage pa. They do advocate
a lot of alt med, the guy is indian and trained there and later here.
But they treat conventionally too. years of experience. Nurse had lyme
too. Really really nice people too. Hermitage is north of pittsburgh
about an hour.

Well, Pittsburgh is about an hour and a half or two hours from here,
depending on where you are going. I would say it might be worth the
trip if the one I have now doesn't work out. She is closer though. I
will keep it in mind.

Ok. Just trying to help. You can tell them that bart sent you if you
ever do call (or email me and I'll let them know you're coming).

I'm wondering did they (doctors) dose you with pred when you had the
sjogren's dx?

Nope, plaquenil. The rhumetologist that I went to tries to avoid
Prednisone when he can, he also avoids enbrel and humera. Thank
goodness.

Plaquenil is an interesting choice. Has anti inflamatory AND anti
microbial properties but doesn't suppress the immune system.

Embrel and humera and remicade are dangerous in anyone with known
infection particularly anything chronic because of their immune
suppressive qualities. Many reports of adverse events in Lymies who
get steroids and a lot of them do.

And how did you react?

I only have had two steroid shots in my life. One was due to my wrist
arthritis when I was about 18. That one was to break up a cyst of
joint fluid. I know it hurt like heck for days. I know I started
having problems with my hip soon after.

Then, last year, I got a shot when I was sick to try to break up some
sinus inflammation. My sinuses showed cysts when I had my MRI, and I
had a bad cold and it wasn't draining and the pressure was just awful.
I felt like I'd been hit in the face with a bat. I don't know if I had
a bad reaction to it or not, cause soon after I was diagnosed. I
didn't really keep track. Feeling like crap anyway, I don't know if it
did anything real massive.

Lucky. Again, many lymies react very badly to steroids.

Can't imagine worse than lymenut. Are they as hostile to reason?

Oh yes. Very hostile. And like Lymenut, It wasn't always that way. But
if you question adrenal insufficiency going along with hypothyroidism
as a matter of course, tell them docs don't just hand the pred out
because it could be dangerous, or that EVERYONE with fatigue isn't
necessarily hypothyroid with adrenal problems, you will get the
equivalent of being kicked for being an IDSA plant. Like Lymenut, they
get mad when someone is closed-minded, yet the dogma is so severe
don't question it, they are sooo close-minded about being open
minded ;)

LOL Well I thought that lyme boards were the worst!

I mean other than lunatic conspiracy boards.

Kathleen combines the worst of both worlds.

I don't know how expensive collustrum is but why not research it and
talk to your doc about trying it if it is affordable as an alternative
to IVIG?

I will look into this

Report back on cost if you don't mind.

Hey if you vote for obama he is all about hope. And change. He will
end the war in iraq and ALL WAR! All americans will be rich! He will
make sure all americans are insured but it won't matter HE WILL END
ALL DISEASE! We will have peace and prosperity and ......

(I think he's a great orator but give me a break, I just can't stand
all the bs anymore).

Oh, I'm already sick of politics this year. I don't want to hear about
it anymore.
Lol...but they all promise a lot and they are all still politicians.

I'm sick of it too. When hillary was ahead I was hoping someone
knocked her off. Then obama seemed ahead and I wanted someone to beat
him. Then hillary again and I wanted obama to beat her. Now that obama
is ahead I'm not happy either.

He actually is annoying me so much with the never ending and
progressively more grandiose promises.

I hate to say it but he really is a hope monger!

What has he ever done that makes him have a claim to be a real leader?
Seems like a fairly undistinguished career as a US Senator and not
much to speak of even as a State Sen in Illinois. The only way he was
elected US senator in the first place was that his opponent got caught
in a sex scandal (guy was married to jerri ryan who was on star trek
and now is on Shark) and then the Rs ran allen keyes who really wasn't
a serious candidate to anyone other than himself.

Otherwise obama would probably be toiling away in relative obscurity.

and what is with that land deal with the political fixer and slumlord
where obama got a house for $300 k below market value?

Yet so far the press has given him a pretty much free ride.

What do you do? If not specifically, generally?

Right now? I am a computer geek. I am an analyst at a small software
company. I support the tech support department. If the techs cannot
answer the question they are asked by end users, they come to me to
solve their problems. If I cannot solve it and it's a bug, I give it
over to programming. There's a lot more to it than that but I do a lot
of things here. I'm actually pretty busy when I am not posting to the
forums! I generally feel like Dilbert on any given day. I used to be a
photographer. That made me happier, but I cannot be on my feet 12-13
hours a day anymore like I used to.

So how is it again that you don't have some form of high speed
internet access at home?

Go for the opiates! Just kidding I actually think the less pain meds
you can get by on the better. I don't know about how effective
biofeedback is or accupuncture but narcotics long term aren't good.
Sometimes pt can be really helpful for people, stretching and stuff
sometimes helps a lot.

Of course too much pt too soon can be really bad and set you back.

That's why I want to go to a professional and not try to start an
exercise program on my own. �I agree the less pain meds the better,
but for something acute, nothing beats it. I always say, even if it
doesn't take all the pain away, at least I no longer give a crap about
the pain!! lol

I get very elaborate and vivid dreams on opiates of any kind. Wild
technicolor extravaganzas!

I hope you find something that works. Pain is awful and chronic pain
is worse. Stresses the entire body and mind.

Thanks. It does. I am kinda used to it but it gets taxing. I no longer
have a headache all the time. Which is a relief I cannot describe. I
still get them, and I do see a chiropractor. That helps me quite a
bit. He's not very alternative. He was going to college to be a doctor
when he got into a car accident. Screwed up his back and nothing the
doctors did gave him relief. He finally went to a chiropractor and
started getting better, so he changed his career path. But he's not
into treating with herbs or anything like that, or any of the hocus
pocus. He just cracks bones and puts joints back in place.

I hate chiros. Hate that move where they twist your neck especially. I
have to be in agony before I'll go to one.

He works with a lot of the Amish,

they pay cash $$$$

so if he was hocus pocus they wouldn't go to him.

He's a good guy, just a regular guy, and had helped me out for
free when I was flat broke. The neck is a problem and he keeps that
loose so I don't stiffen up. The neck is a big issue with the
headaches. The GP, after looking at my x-rays was like, and I quote,
"Well...you're neck ain't worth a ***. But that's OK, mine's like that
too. So was my Dad's. His eventually fused together on its own. Less
pain, but less mobility. You can hope for that."

if obama is elected everyone's neck will be fine! Or fused together,
whichever.

I'm like....great! Oh, the wonders of living in the middle of nowhere
and the advice you get. That's why I had myself sent to a neuro.
However, she wasn't much more helpful and just kept pushing for the
spinal tap.


They love doing spinal taps. I hear that doing them is a lot better
than having them done to you.

I don't think a spinal tap for Lyme or MS is going to be
very helpful at this stage of the game. Too crappy of a test for me to
put myself through that...and I have a personal policy about no more
needless tests.

50 sanity points for wanting to avoid useless tests.

So, I gave up on the neuro...why spend the money? I am
thinking physical therapy and maybe a pain management specialist is a
better way to proceed. I am OK enough that I do what I have to do. I
vacuum and clean, I go to work, I make the bed...I do almost all the
same things any healthy person will do, I have had relationships. I
just have to remember my limits to not hurt myself.

I skip the vacuuming and cleaning instead living with many piles of
clutter and dust.
.

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