Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff

[WildBaboons]

The Lyme blood test commonly performed only test for one very specific strain of Lyme. It's very good at detecting that... but that's only a small percentage of actual Lyme cases and I believe once you have Lyme once, even after treatment and cure that test will always show positive. There are a couple of other blood test that do a better job but they're expensive (200-500 depending on how much you want tested) and only performed by a couple of labs in the USA.

The difficulty in getting a good positive blood test for Lyme is why it is a disease that is able to be diagnosed clinically based on symptoms and observation and doesn't need a lab result saying Yes.

I have a LOT of family, friends, neighbors etc that have all been diagnosed and treated/in treatment for Lyme, including myself, so I've done a lot of reading on the subject.

[Auspice]

I've never been tested for Lyme or really... considered going out for it. Well, I had a friend push me to years ago and then I forgot about it until y'all brought it up again recently.

Because when I had the tick spend its days in my arm as a kid, I basically just spent a few days at home sick and then went on my way. My dad wasn't big on taking us kids to the doctor. When we found it, my mom just called her brother (a surgeon) for advice on removing it and since it came out based on that advice, my dad pulled his 'Your brother just wants us to take her to a doctor because he is one!' and since I was only 7, I didn't know better.

So I never got any initial rounds of antibiotics, etc.

@Lisse24 I do know that ANA can do that positive/negative flip, but it's never flagged positive for a rheumatologist. It mocks me that way. PCP's bloodwork? Sure. Go to the rheumatologist and they run theirs? Oh look it's gone negative again. It's like my body is the car being taken in to the shop. 'Oh well I don't know why it isn't making the noise anymore!'

But yeah I found a Lyme-rated or whatever doc nearby. Plan to go once I can find the time / set aside the money.

[Cupcake]

So during a follow up with my doctor's office NP, we ended up talking about how last week was particularly hard for me, and about how I've been feeling generally kind of on a downward spiral with the Kavanaugh bullshit making it worse. We reviewed my medication and she thinks I'm overmedicating, and has proposed a new combo for me to try. Apparently one pill (makes you smaller) tends to address anxiety more directly and what I'm adding to the regimen will more directly address depression.

I'm a little wary because mental illness meds are often a crap shoot, but I'm willing to give it a try if it can make me feel better and in turn more willing to make healthy choices, which I admit of late I have not been doing, like, at all. It's really hard not to feel hopeless lately, which generally leads to the notion of being out of fucks. Hopefully the new combo will do me better.

[Wizz]

A nice mild indica strain and 10 mg Lexapro daily. Holy shit, it's like a miracle, I feel like a person again.

Too bad I need to drive six hours for the indica and it's technically illegal where I live. >_____>

[Auspice]

@wizz said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

A nice mild indica strain and 10 mg Lexapro daily. Holy shit, it's like a miracle, I feel like a person again.

Too bad I need to drive six hours for the indica and it's technically illegal where I live. >_____>

Biggest downside of having moved to TX.

The cold front has me aching like woah. I'd love to go home and have an edible or pack my mflb.

[Selira]

Jesus, this past month or so. From my dad needing risky surgery suddenly to losing my job to moving, I am pretty much burned out. But everything is fine, everything is picking up again and I hopefully have a new (better) job on the way.

But I'm settled in finally, health issues for everyone seem to be calmed down, I'm back on a largely vegan diet which I've been wanting to do for a while now, and things are going so much better.

Now I'm just having trouble finding RP motivation. It'll come back soon enough, I'm sure.

[AeriaNyx]

Mlergh. I have been dealing with intense insomnia and all over body clenching. The kind where you don't realize how tense you are until suddenly your body relaxes and you're like 'holy crap why am I clenched?' I don't know what to do about it, really. Not sure how to stop, the jaw clenching is the worst cuz it gives me an earache. I am full of whinge because I am just exhausted and achy. Grouse. Any tips for not clenching one's jaw?

[Ganymede]

@aerianyx said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

Any tips for not clenching one's jaw?

If this occurs in your sleep, you may need to get a mouth guard. That will prevent you from doing damage to your teeth, at least.

It could be some sort of hormone or electrolyte imbalance. Have you had problems with your thyroid?

[Macha]

Got dehydrated because I had to fast - sugars up over 500, directed to the ER. Sat around, they discharged me while still high sugars, didn't do anything. No insulin, (I had injected before I got there, and then they wanted to do it too soon, then didn't do it at all), and now I can't get my sugars under 250. (which is still pretty high), and have a sugar hangover. Fuck this shit.

[AeriaNyx]

@ganymede Not the last time I had blood work done. I did some more research and found out that SSRIs can cause clenching, which makes sense since new doc has been monkeying around with my doses trying to find the right balance.

Isn't it awesome when anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds actually make you MORE tense?

[surreality]

Not a fun few weeks.

This time of year may as well be dubbed 'Hell'. It's a whole lot of time spent being the only adult in the room... which is otherwise ostensibly full of adults, also.

Part of this is the yearly vacation. It's supposed to be a vacation, but it's more an obstacle course of everyone's unique quirks packed into a concentrated space and unable to escape. My quirk is simple: if I'm sitting outside with a cigarette and my phone/the laptop/the tablet, leave me the fuck alone unless I've invited you to join me. That isn't super hard. It also never happens. I'm chill with an hour or two being left the fuck alone per day. Doesn't even need to be consecutive! I'm down with 15-20 minute chunks through the day! ...but still.

The other three folks have a laundry list, each. And I get to be their adult. As the youngest, nobody listens... but they still expect me to be the adult and magically resolve any and every issue that comes up. I have honest to fucking gods superpowers when it comes to actually accomplishing this, most of which boil down to anticipating the problems and solving them before they can become an issue. That's OK, though, they will be sure to find new issues I never could have dreamed up to have with me, each other, the weather, the food, the room, that the same drive that took an hour and a half yesterday and the day before and the day before that is not magically going to take 35 minutes today just because the Maps app says so, and so on, and I'm expected to magic up solutions to those, too. Usually, I do. Because I have to. If I don't, the screaming starts.

And from the moment we get home, I have to prep for show season, which is like vacation in terms of the issues and resolution methods and personalities, but where my income and reputation and ability to continue to make income going forward is also on the line.

That dead ends at the holidays, which... I'm not a fan. To put it mildly.

The new medication is working. It's helping. I can't say that it isn't. I'm still leagues better than I was four months ago. That said, the depression is coming back hard as I acclimate to it, and I'm no longer in super-bouncy mode, and with the upcoming stress and no real positive outlets available, I'm concerned. "Concerned" generally involves being mindful of staying away from others more than normal, because I'm just not keen on making my issue someone else's.

Unfortunately, a handful of folks in my life have decided it's a fun time to try to deliberately inflict emotional harm for various and sundry (oft-times not even related to me!) reasons for a while now, and it's really starting to leave some marks. I'm very slow to cut people out of my life, typically giving people way more chances than they deserve thanks to being a lifelong doormat, but I've had to do that three times already in the past month over this kind of thing. There's just only so much mean-spirited ugliness, pettiness, and abusive bullshit 'because-I'm-mad-at-something-else' I can take, and I definitely can't handle it right now. (In some cases, it's not stopping anyway, and likely won't.)

It is exhausting. I need a vacation. And not the one we're actually taking, unfortunately.

[Auspice]

Weather needs to make up its mind.

Couldn't walk the first few hours of the day. Hip is just ten million kinds of unhappy today.

Upside: today is the last day of OT from Hell.
Downside: headset died last night. No gaming this weekend. (I don't have speakers on my computer.)

[Rucket]

@surreality said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

It is exhausting. I need a vacation. And not the one we're actually taking, unfortunately.

You should. Step away from the internet for a week. Focus on RL stuff. Maybe you'll feel better about things!

[Cupcake]

@surreality I never understood the importance of taking a vacation that wasn't about some kind of purposeful event, ie a holiday, a celebration, visiting relatives, etc and generally my "vacations" were always about that.

And then for the first time I got to take a vacation solely for the purpose of taking a vacation, and doing things I never get to do, seeing things I don't often see, eating amazing food, and generally doing whatever the fuck I want within reason.

Unsurprisingly, it was amazeballs, but what truly surprised me was how I felt after it was over. I had been burned out for so long that I didn't just feel ready to go back to work, I was positive about it. And I can feel it sustaining me so that maybe in another year or two I'll do another awesome vacation so I can perpetuate this level of energy and connection. Basically, my thing is that I want to encourage you to take a vacation purely for the sake of vacation, if and when you have the opportunity to do so. I promise it is worth it. It's an investment in yourself.

[Wizz]

@cupcake said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

Unsurprisingly, it was amazeballs, but what truly surprised me was how I felt after it was over. I had been burned out for so long that I didn't just feel ready to go back to work, I was positive about it. And I can feel it sustaining me so that maybe in another year or two I'll do another awesome vacation so I can perpetuate this level of energy and connection.

I had my first experience like this as an adult this year too. It was awesome, I was so relaxed and at peace with myself even though it was a pretty eventful trip, and I miss it a lot. I'm definitely doing another one next year.

[surreality]

@rucket said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

@surreality said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

It is exhausting. I need a vacation. And not the one we're actually taking, unfortunately.

You should. Step away from the internet for a week. Focus on RL stuff. Maybe you'll feel better about things!

Uhm. All of the issues mentioned are RL situations. They already have nothing to do with the internet.

[surreality]

@cupcake That's arguably why we do this. It's become an annual thing.

It's the craziness and bickering over the smallest things that's mind-blowing. I'm the mild-mannered, quiet, zen one of this group. I mean, digest that for a moment, and the horror becomes super obvious.

On the up side, the areas we're going seem to be doing much better re: red tide as of the past week or so. This is a big help. It means not being trapped in the hotel with everyone for two weeks. Typically, once we get on the beach, they wish they could lowjack me, 'cause I'm gone and off to find a spot to hunt for things... awayyyyyyy. Without that, it was looking even more grim. (We have to book a year out, so no way of knowing what conditions will be.) This is literally the reason I now have a phone. (Not even kidding.)

[Aria]

So, for the last two-ish months, I've been working at an (internal) internship in my company. Since we're enormous (we're talking over 16,000 employees here) they're basically an opportunity to be sent to another department on loan at your current pay rate, while your regular job is being held for you, so you can learn about a new section of the business, possibly work a high-profile project to put in your portfolio, and if they can use your internship to convince their VP to add headcount to their team, to get yourself a new position. In my case, this job is a level up from mine, so that new position would be a promotion that comes with an automatic 7% pay raise plus an increase to the base they calculate your profit-sharing bonus from every June.

The only issue I've been having is that I've gone from working on the marketing team, specifically with the writers and the graphic designers and the UX developers to working with the sales team. And not just the sales team, but the B2B sales team in the notoriously conservative financial industry. Needless to say, the atmosphere -- and the dress code -- is very different. Like, I am no longer sitting next to a lady who wears Docs and plaid dress pants to work sometimes. I'm sitting next to one who wears blazers to work almost every day and still keeps a jacket in her cube 'just in case' for the days she doesn't. She's not an executive. She writes RFP content. I've mostly been able to get away with it during the 'summer' weather (that lasted until, like, Friday) when things are a bit more casual. But in the words of the Starks 'winter is coming', and I am not the sort of person who owns pumps and power suits.

Well.... I just got almost $700 of winter clothes. For $285. And I'm almost as proud of that as I am of getting that internship, and am over here like:

[Arkandel]

@aria Not on the same level as your dress code, but when I switched to my current company I was really taken aback by having one.

My entire career before that I was always part of a nerdsquad or other so we were all wearing shorts and comics t-shirts in the summer, etc... suddenly "just in case" a client was given the tour we had to wear button-down shirts, nice pants, non-sportsy shoes... it is hell!

At least lately they're relaxing a bit on that. We can wear sneakers now, y'all! But no t-shirts, they are the devil's attire.

[Aria]

@arkandel Yeeeeeeeah, even when I was in with the art nerds, jeans were in no way permitted. Ever. Ever. We recently had one day where we were allowed to wear them in celebration for raising a stupid about of money for our charitable giving campaign.

It was only shortly (like maybe a year) before I started that they even did away with the "suits and ties every day" rule. I was hired in 2014.