Random Health Topics
 

We have Random threads about everything else, but I've never seen ALL health topics posted. I think we all know the basics, but if you find something that sounds new, or is on a very specific topic, this would be the place to post:

I've been dealing more and more with Macular Degeneration (ARED), and even know someone who was in the test group from Preservision. There's discussion on whether we're just hearing more about it, or is there more ARED due to ??? but a record amount of people are developing it as early as 60 years old. Obviously, the disease is the breakdown of macula, but it shows up as the opposite of tunnel vision, being able to see the perimeters of things, but not the middle.

Just today, Real Age printed that eating at least one serving of nuts a week can prevent the development of Macular Degeneration! How easy is that?

I wanted to share this, so we can all SEE GreekChat for many, many years.

ETA: I don't have Macular Degeneration; I'm just seeing a LOT of it in my clients lately. I thought it would be good to learn how to avoid it!

I deal with chronic cystinuria. It is a rare genetic disorder (rBAT on Chromosome 2 is deficient)that doesn't allow me to absorb four amino acids (Cystine, ornithine, lysine and arginine). The cystine is not water soluble so it tends to collect and crystallize in my kidneys. As a result, I form lots and lots of kidney stones.

wow..I know you are drinking lots of water...kidney stones are no fun....period.

Want to see a grown man cry....that's all you need.

Thank goodness I like nut fruit!:)

But things like artherits in the joints especially the fingers is tough when typing.

Acute Pancrititus is nothing to sneeze at, 3 times.:o

Knees are shot and hard to get up and down or sleeping is no joy!:(

Ah, the golden years suck!:mad:

Oh well, life goes on?;) Well, we can only hope!

[slight hijack]
The morning of my junior prom, one of my classmates got rushed to the ER with a kidney stone. He did come to prom (in a bit of pain, though), but his date dumped him at the last minute.

[ending hijack like DB Cooper flying out the back of a 747]

I've been really prone to spider bites lately. I'm told I should see a doctor over them, but other than some itching/redness/minor swelling, I feel fine.

Put some Benadryl creme on those spider bites and they won't bother you quite so much.

I have a co-worker with the chronic kidney stone thing too.

My issue is Crohn's, but I've posted about that before. My most recent thing is that I'd really like to try to lose weight but since the only fiber I can tolerate is soluble, it leaves a lot of vegetables out of my diet, along with a lot of fruits. I don't know how to lose weight without veggies to bulk up my meals.

I try to drink at least a gallon (3.5 liters) of water a day. Passing stones hurts a lot, even with painkillers.

I have Meniere's Disease, and get really severe vertigo spells. It's an inner ear condition, and really limits the amount of caffine and alcohol I can consume. If I go through a period where I'm not resting enough (at least 8 hours a night of sleep) or eating well I'll have an episode that can flip my life upside down. :(

Well, I have hypothyroidism. Not, alas, hyper. Fighting my metabolism is no fun. But, I have had better results with the Armour thyroid than Synthroid.

I got this tip in an email: hold a copper penny to the bite for 15 minutes. It will take away the pain and irritation. Don't know if it's true, though, and if you're allergic to insect bites, please ignore this advice and get to the hospital!

If the spider bite starts to branch out from the original bite - GET TO A DOCTOR. My daughter was bitten by a brown recluse - scary stuff. (I ran her to the dr. and she was fine)

Coming from a long line of sufferers of thyroid problems (Hashimoto's, thyroid tumors, etc.) and seeing how it has affected them, I really feel for you.

In other news, I have had the worst allergy eyes for the past couple days and if I don't find something to help soon, I might claw them out. I don't even know how to describe the pain/itchiness they are causing. My normal cocktail of prescription allergy drugs are proving worthless. :(

Our school is having a lice outbreak. I don't need to tell you that the teachers are trying to stay far away from the kids...you should see us peeking out of the doors between classes instead of patrolling the halls.

If I get zapped, I plan to rely on my Robicomb--it's this Israeli item that looks and sounds like a razor but a battery current runs through it and it electrocutes the lice but the person feels nothing.

Sorry to hear. My dad had it and couldn't drive for over 6 months. It eventually went away.

Omigosh! I got an email about what a brown recluse spider can do. *shudder*

We've been seeing a lot of patients in the ER who come in complaining of 'spider bite' and it always turns out to be an MRSA infection. If you're getting a lot of what look like spider bites but not actually seeing the spiders, have your family doc swab and culture one. If it's MRSA and you're not getting the right treatment, it could get a whole lot worse.

:eek:
Ok, I'm kinda freaked out now. If I get another one, I'm def. going to have it checked out now.

I get sinus infections about a billion times a year and my last doc at urgent care suggested I use a Neti Pot. Has anyone used this?

Ewww my sister and I had lice when we were little. Yucky. Our stuffed animals had to be quarantined because they weren't helping the situation. :(

Hmm...haha ok, I guess I don't care to share any other health stuff on GC at this time. :p

I think the pot is gross and awkward so I bought a plastic bottle kit at Rite-Aid (or any other drugstore you like). The brand I use most is Ayr, but I've also used the Neil Med brand. I have more than one plastic bottle so I can run them through the dishwasher and always have a sterile one.

It is probably the most disgusting thing I've ever done, but it works. The little packets are something I've had to special order, but they come in a bag of 100 or something so it isn't that prohibitive of a cost. Depending on the sales at the store it has been cheaper to buy a new kit (which is why I have a few bottles now).

So does a Neti Pot basically just wash the infection out of your sinuses, or the stuff that causes infection?

I know this is an old thread but I wanted to see if anyone else on GC had more to add to the neti pot discussion. Like GP, I keep having sinus infections. I finally decided to buy a neti pot today - it's actually a clear plastic one with little salt and baking soda packets.

Hello....awkward! Pouring saline solution in one nostril and out the other is not good eats. LOL I'm going to try this over the next week and see if it helps.


.....Kelly :)

I have really bad sinus disease due to Cystic Fibrosis. I use the NeilMed sinus rinse. I won't go into the specifics but I get pneumonia in my sinuses, and I find this product is really soothing and works very well (and less awkward than a pot:

http://www.amazon.com/NeilMed-Sinus-.../dp/B000A0S5KC

Thank God I'd already swallowed the soda in my mouth because I would have spit it out laughing at this! :D

I chronicled last week's sinus infection in the sick thread. It was so bad that the pain started in my right cheek and radiated down to my upper jaw. I had to chew everything on the left side of my mouth because my TEETH hurt. The doc told me to get a saline rinse along with all the other meds. I didn't really want to consider it because I had no congestion, it was all pain. But I did as she asked and got the same thing ree-Xi got (I absolutely refused to stick a tea pot up my nose). It didn't feel bad exactly, it was just a weird sensation. And it was NOT soothing to me because, like I said, there was no congestion to get rid of. But the doc said that there was probably just a tiny bit of fluid in there since I'd had drainage a couple weeks ago and bacteria breeds in "standing water" as she called it. So there wasn't a lot of fluid to rinse away but there was probably a huge amount of bacteria in what little that was there.