Greeting Thread

Just wanted to say Hi all.... nice to find you all together here at UD. I've had some time to reflect on the good ole days and I've decided to try a more sociable, friendlier, more laid back approach here this time. So you can relax - I'm not going to be as uptight as I was back in the Willett-verse. I hope you will be able to tolerate the new me. I'm a good guy deep down and I've grown to like you all, and missed you while I was gone. Yes, I admit it. Am I getting too sentimental? I know. It's shameful. I'm getting old and fluffy I guess. Anyhow, thanks for having me back. Looking forward to sparing "nicely" with you all.  

The Willetverse was bigger than UD but we're nicer here. Glad to see you back.

We're happy to have you!
I miss the old crowd I wish I could get more of them over here. Lisa, Clancy, Todd, Beau are all over on Facebook. Clancy and Lisa pop in from time to time but it's easier to keep up with them over there if you are so inclined.

Martin was wrong in the email he sent to people, this is not an offshoot of DU. I want this to be dramatically different in feel and participation. This is more member led, and there is no dictator, benevolent or not. So ideas are welcome, suggestions are welcome, hell we may even have a poetry thread somewhere they aren't letting me know about, lol. So, welcome, sit down, have a drink, it's not the same bar Willett had but maybe it will have its own fascinations.

Glad you made it SAI.
You'll find this place far different from DU. We have a paucity of assholes (but I do my best).

I like giving "sticky greeting"s.

Mae West wrote:

Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

I missed that, that was just wrong, NoCo, wrong!   

Well that was fun.

Ok, so early last Monday morning about 1:15 am our electricity went nuts. Some sort of alarm my grandad had went off which is what woke us up but everything in the house was dimming and brightening. We hurriedly unplugged what we could that was cycling on and off- the ac's etc and phoned Entergy.

Woke up at around 8:30 am problem still not fixed. I went outside while on the phone with them and reported it again adding that now that it's morning I see the empty house across the street has had a large limb shear off a tree and it's on the power line. At this point 3-4 houses are at risk of fire- thank goodness it didn't catch in the middle of the night!

Finally after three calls a repair guy showed up at noon. To his credit he restrung all three of us. My shit was still acting up though. Even after he replaced the almost sheared off meter box on the side of the house. So Tuesday was spent with the electrician, 400 bucks and three fixtures and a new neutral later we have electricity but the computer, the microwave, the keurig and the florescents are all dead.
  

Then today, I went and had my ncs and eng? done. Most barbaric test ever. The needles were huge and the one they put in my hip got bent and was painful to get out.

Apparently I have carpal tunnel. How?! I didn't even get a computer until like 8 years ago!?
I go for xrays on my back next.

And of course this is all stuff I'd normally be bitching to Beau about making his absence in my life that more noticeable. Someone posted a lovely pic of him and some little girl, maybe a niece? It was nice to see him without all his photoshop armour.

sigh

Good buddy of mine in Eastern Washington had a tornado come across his property this weekend -- first ever recorded tornado in the region -- it dropped a 2' diameter fir tree right across his brand new truck, smashed the cab flat and bent the bed almost to the ground. Yesterday he was up on a ladder cutting away some broken limbs when one of them fell funny, knocking him off the ladder. Not sure how many feet he fell, but he ended up in the ER. Luckily, nothing major broken and no detectable internal damage.

But Jesus that god's a dick.

NoCoPilot wrote:

But Jesus that god's a dick.

Yes, he is.

Meralgia paraesthetica. Also known as Bernhardt‐Roth syndrome.
Once the neurologist told me pelvic nerve I knew what it was. It was one of my three potential diagnoses I came up with using the medical journals. Once she said it and I knew I was right and I'm so pissed. In my particular case it was probably caused by weightlifting and vigorous exercise. Though these days you see many people with it from tight jeans.
No word on which area the nerve is actually being pinched in but the treatments are all the same.

What kills me is I really need a doc willing to dose me up with some narcotics until I can get another 100 pounds off but that's the last thing they want to do.   
But I'm convinced if I can get dosed up and get out there and work my ass off then after I've gotten down some more the other treatments will work better if they are needed at all. Right now they are giving me crap that leaves me drained and telling me to rest. That's not going to go well.

Some doctors are really hesitant about prescribing any narcotics.
Too bad you don't live across the street: I've got hundreds of extra vikes you could have.

Wikipedia wrote:

Treatment[edit]
Treatment varies. In most cases, the best treatment is to remove the cause of compression by modifying patient behavior, in combination with medical treatment to relieve inflammation and pain. Whatever the cause, typical treatment takes several weeks to months—depending on the degree of nerve damage. Typical treatment options include:

* Wearing looser clothing and suspenders rather than belts
* Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to reduce inflammatory pain
* Narcotic pain killers if pain level limits motion and prevents sleep
* Reducing physical activity in relation to pain level. Acute pain may require absolute bed rest
* Deep tissue massage to reduce tension in the gluteal muscles, most commonly Gluteus Maximus

"Will you rub my butt??"

Quote :

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to reduce inflammatory pain

Watch out for these bastards. Twenty years ago, I wound up in the ER because I was taking a common NSAID. They can cause bleeding in the stomach - without any symptoms - until you wind up in excruciating pain, often quickly followed by excruciating dead.

_Howard wrote:

Quote :

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to reduce inflammatory pain

Watch out for these bastards. Twenty years ago, I wound up in the ER because I was taking a common NSAID. They can cause bleeding in the stomach - without any symptoms - until you wind up in excruciating pain, often quickly followed by excruciating dead.

Yeah, I can't take them. Which is part of the issue, I literally have zero pain relief for non np pain right now. The neurontin does work on the tingling and burning of the pn, but it does diddly for everything else.

Yeah, it is a shame because Vicodin is exactly what works for me. Two a day, I don't have to increase and I get only physical symptoms when I stop them, I don't get mentally and emotionally addicted. But there's really no way to prove that to the reluctant docs. They do have sucky side effects like constipation but they knock the pain out enough I can go like a normal human being. Oddly enough, they also stop the cough I keep. (Asthma, bp meds, take your pic of causes but the cough makes me sore too, through my diaphragm area.)

Honest to dog, I have no idea what to do. I want a life so bad but I wouldn't hire me right now. Between the neurontin effects and the basement membrane dystrophy, and the bp meds related peeing I have no clue how to go about finding a life outside my home now that my kids are older. I'm sort of scared. I spent all that time losing weight and now I feel less healthy and able than I did at my bigger size. I could just cry some days. I'm trying to be positive. I have a lot of things now I didn't before. I have a living room. I live a neighborhood where I can walk my dog without getting shot. But I'm also scared because I've never been in this kind of pain before.

NoCo, I saw that and though exactly what you did! One of these nights Ben's in a good mood Imma ask that and see if gets me anywhere!  

(Hugs) Wish there was something I could do!

Very few painkillers do anything for me -- Advil, Excedrin, aspirin, Aleve, Motrin, NyQuil, TheraFlu all do nada. The only one I can remember ever helping was some Canadian narcotics somebody smuggled in for me which are basically OTC up there. They put me to sleep for two days when I had a back injury.

For minor aches and pains = bourbon.

Jenni wrote:

They do have sucky side effects like constipation [...] Asthma, bp meds, take your pic of causes [...] Between the neurontin effects and the basement membrane dystrophy, and the bp meds related peeing [...]

One thing the NP taking care of my dad said, in the last 5 years of his life every time he went to the doctor for some little ailment they prescribed a new pill. He was on about 20 meds when he died, and apparently nobody thought to check for drug interactions or worse, drugs with opposite effects. He was on BP meds, prostate meds, heart meds, pills to help him sleep, pills to help him wake, pills for stomach indigestion, pills for constipation, pills for joint pain, statins to cause joint pain....

When he suddenly started having wild fluctuations of BP (under 100 to over 200) nobody could diagnose. There was just too much going on!

The lesson here, that I've taken away anyway, is that doctors like pills. I don't.

I find myself quite the fan of pills at the moment. They are keeping me mobile and they are probably the only way I will ever see the inside of a weight room again. They may be a necessary evil though and I do take your point. But if not treated my condition is fatal. You don't see old folks my size. I think I have gotten the mindset that any pill addiction that might occur (which is more likely to be an issue than interaction right now) is less deadly than the weight- at least at this point. Maybe that's bad, but that's about where I am. IDK I used to be so sure of things, argued so hard and now, I don't have a fucking clue.

Don't take this the wrong way -- because I'm 50 lbs overweight myself and have no room to talk -- but I believe the only way to lose weight is to eat less.

Eat less and be more active, all the time. Walking, doing stairs, sweeping, mowing, gardening, anything that keeps you moving.

As I understand it the healthiest exercise for us is to get our heart rates up -- elevated but not huffing and puffing -- for at least five hours per week. Short bursts are better than long endurance runs. A couple times per day is better than twice a week.

You said "weight room" and I pictured somebody doing squats with a barbell on her shoulders. That's a good way to GAIN weight (muscle mass) not lose it.

Weight training is by far the most effective way to gain muscle mass. But gaining muscle is by far the best way to improve your body and look and feel better. Actual scale weight is less important than the muscle/fat ratio. "Average" weight looks and feels terrible if you don't have any muscles. Being a little overweight is not a problem from any perspective if a lot of it is muscle mass.

Hello. I'm hecter. I'm a friend of Jenni and she invited me here.

Good to have you here, Hecter. Hope you enjoy yourself.

Yay! You made it!

Yes, Hector is an old friend from an atheist site. He's awesome and probably the only reason I could work a computer for my first couple of years there.

So is it Hector or Hecter?
And if he's a friend of Jenni's...well, that's a good thing.

_Howard wrote:

So is it Hector or Hecter?
And if he's a friend of Jenni's...well, that's a good thing.

Hecter, the different spelling was intentional, I believe. Though I can't recall why. I'm sure he told me, though. That's my error. It's hard for me to remember to do it right. Sorry.

Jenni wrote:

_Howard wrote:

So is it Hector or Hecter?
And if he's a friend of Jenni's...well, that's a good thing.

Hecter, the different spelling was intentional, I believe. Though I can't recall why. I'm sure he told me, though. That's my error. It's hard for me to remember to do it right. Sorry.

It is intentional, at least it is these days. It's also not my real name (as Jenni knows), which is Isaac. The story is boring, but basically I spelled it wrong when signing up for internet things when I was 12 and decided to just go with it.