2019 Health Talk Thread

ImaginaryDay2

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I guess with age comes... Shingles. :/
I'd been having a lot of soreness and dull pain in my right arm for about a week and a half along with extreme sensitivity to touch. The dull pain turned into pretty bad pain in my joints - almost feeling like a mild sprain. I'd resolved to go to a walk-in clinic the next morning, and when I woke up there were a few break-out spots on my hand. So that was the end result. Hopefully can keep it at bay if things flare up again. I've still got some soreness and sensitivity, but the break-outs are clearing up
Yay me
 

Lamb

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IDay, Did you go in right away then? I read that if you get the treatment in the first 24 hours that you'll heal faster! Yikes. I've had friends and relatives who had shingles and it was awful. I pray you don't have such a hard time :(
 

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I'm working on giving up drinking soda (I used to drink like 3 Mountain Dews a day)

Now I'm drinking nothing but Gatorade or water.

Have you been sleeping better since you're not consuming all that caffeine?
 

tango

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3 hilly miles is a very nice walk! Plus being in the town you don't get the winter wind on your faces as much.

It's not a big town, parts of it are quite exposed to the wind. There's a gentle incline for part of it, then a slightly strange area where you can feel the temperature and humidity shift within a few steps, and then a long slow decline that's exposed to the wind. It's still a nice walk, if you don't get caught in the rain.
 

ImaginaryDay2

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IDay, Did you go in right away then? I read that if you get the treatment in the first 24 hours that you'll heal faster! Yikes. I've had friends and relatives who had shingles and it was awful. I pray you don't have such a hard time :(

I got a script for some antiviral meds that day. The spots are still healing - there are only a few on my hand. Still some sensitivity though. Hopefully I can stay ahead of it if anything happens in the future.
 

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I got a script for some antiviral meds that day. The spots are still healing - there are only a few on my hand. Still some sensitivity though. Hopefully I can stay ahead of it if anything happens in the future.

That sounds very promising! When I was a substitute teacher, I got a long gig covering for a young teacher who had gotten shingles and was out for almost a month! Maybe more. I'd have to look at my records. We watched a lot of videos LOL
 

tango

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I'm working on giving up drinking soda (I used to drink like 3 Mountain Dews a day)

Now I'm drinking nothing but Gatorade or water.

I found that drinking unsweetened iced tea worked for me. Mountain Dew is loaded with caffeine and sugar but Gatorade isn't something you'd want to be drinking in great quantities because of the sugar content of it.
 

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I like to drink a lot of water but sometimes that gets very boring. I used MIO flavored enhancers but they have sucralose in those products and that caused problems in my body. Squeezing lemon into my water gives me heartburn. What other options do I have for flavor?
 

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I like to drink a lot of water but sometimes that gets very boring. I used MIO flavored enhancers but they have sucralose in those products and that caused problems in my body. Squeezing lemon into my water gives me heartburn. What other options do I have for flavor?

Maybe a pitcher with a steeper - try some loose leaf teas. Also, look up "Refrigerator Tea" - same concept as old fashioned sun tea, but it steeps in the fridge overnight. Very tasty.

*I meant to "quote" your last post, but hit "like" instead. I didn't mean to "like" your heartburn... :D
 

tango

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I didn't mean to "like" your heartburn... :D

i-have-diarrhea-and-need-medicine.jpg
 

tango

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I like to drink a lot of water but sometimes that gets very boring. I used MIO flavored enhancers but they have sucralose in those products and that caused problems in my body. Squeezing lemon into my water gives me heartburn. What other options do I have for flavor?

A friend introduced me to mint water. You brew it in a cafetiere (aka French Press) just like coffee, except you use sprigs of mint instead. It works better in the summer when you can cut fresh mint from the back yard.

Failing that there are many varieties of herbal tea that you can drink. Most of them are caffeine free, if that's a concern for you. I don't drink coffee late in the evening but will often have a cup of mint tea. There's one variety I like that I think is mint and chamomile. I haven't tried it myself but don't see any reason why you shouldn't cold brew it, if you're willing to leave it to steep overnight. This summer I took to cold brewing coffee in the fridge - if herbal tea works the same way you'd just need a container of cold water, a bunch of teabags, and leave it in the fridge for 24 hours.
 

tango

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I did this for a short time (I still don't recall why...) and lost some weight. I'm not sure of the cause/effect link, though. It was diet soda, so I'm curious now about all the (supposed) links between diet soda and weight gain.
*Disclaimer: I've looked at both sides of the issue already, so please no-one try to convince me one way or the other. Thank you :)

I suspect part of the issue is when people ignore the bit that says "can help weight loss as part of a calorie controlled diet". If you eat a jumbo greaseburger, extra large fries, double onion rings and cheesy nachos the fact you traded your Coke for a Diet Coke isn't going to help much.
 

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I suspect part of the issue is when people ignore the bit that says "can help weight loss as part of a calorie controlled diet". If you eat a jumbo greaseburger, extra large fries, double onion rings and cheesy nachos the fact you traded your Coke for a Diet Coke isn't going to help much.

Well, that's the thing - I was eating better as well, but wasn't losing. The only other change was the soda. It was over the summer so I really don't handle junk food well. So I was eating better, but still had the soda until it was causing too much stomach upset.
 

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I looked at the hospital portal and found my blood work and cat scan results...everything is looking good! :thumbsup:

Well, except that the scan showed the beginnings of arthritis in my neck. I don't feel it yet.
 

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I had my routine scope the other day (camera down my nose to look at throat and vocal cords). It went really fast and the resident doctor who was around for my first surgery was back in the office so it was nice to see him. He did a good job with the scope and it was the easiest one yet with absolutely no discomfort!

Have you ever seen your vocal cords? They're actually cute little things!
 

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I had my routine scope the other day (camera down my nose to look at throat and vocal cords). It went really fast and the resident doctor who was around for my first surgery was back in the office so it was nice to see him. He did a good job with the scope and it was the easiest one yet with absolutely no discomfort!

Have you ever seen your vocal cords? They're actually cute little things!
I thought they put the scope down the throat or maybe it's a different procedure you are talking about. Did you find out the results?
 

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I thought they put the scope down the throat or maybe it's a different procedure you are talking about. Did you find out the results?

The one you're thinking of is also a scope but it's for a different area of the body and most likely travels down the esophagus toward the stomach. Mine doesn't need to go that far, just the nasal cavity through to the vocal cords to see if there are signs of cancer. I get to watch right there as they're doing it on the screen.
 

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I suspect part of the issue is when people ignore the bit that says "can help weight loss as part of a calorie controlled diet". If you eat a jumbo greaseburger, extra large fries, double onion rings and cheesy nachos the fact you traded your Coke for a Diet Coke isn't going to help much.

Well, that's the thing - I was eating better as well, but wasn't losing. The only other change was the soda. It was over the summer so I really don't handle junk food well. So I was eating better, but still had the soda until it was causing too much stomach upset.

Diet sodas including Diet Coke are known now to not help weight loss and even hinder it, besides being unhealthy. The one real reason for losing weight that there should be is losing weight in becoming healthier. But diet fads are not healthy, just lifelong healthy lifestyle will be good for that, including longer life with more lasting youthfulness and energy. Eating healthy whole grains and healthy variety of produce, without ever using animal products and processed foods, is by far the best for that.

The studies are many, the China Study is the largest ever. I quote here from The Forks Over Knives Plan. There are many conclusive studies behind this, and lives have been saved with it.

Americans are sick, tired, and overmedicated. Every fifty-three seconds someone in the United States dies of heart disease, which, as the nation's number one killer, claims about 600,000 lives per year. Cancer, now the second leading cause of death, takes the lives of more than 1500 people per day. Meanwhile, nearly 10 percent of the population has diabetes; and our children are getting sicker, as indicated by the startling fact that obesity has more than doubled in children and tripled in adolescents in the past thirty years. We have turned to the medical system for help, and it has delivered medication in a big way: Nearly 70 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug, more than 50 percent take two, and 20 percent are on five or more prescription drugs. Despite the billions of dollars being spent on pharmaceuticals, the needle almost never moves downward on the rates of chronic disease, and the people still feel lousy and sick.

Health statistics aren't just about numbers on a page or data on a statistician's ledger. These are our mothers, fathers, siblings, and children. These are our friends. The health crisis is taking a real toll on our daily lives, profoundly affecting the personal happiness and productivity of millions of us every single day.

There is good news, though. Research is revealing with greater certainty that we understand the main cause of this epidemic: an American diet that derives more than 90 percent of what we eat from animal-based and processed foods. Understanding the cause means there's hope! The research tells us that if we change to an entirely different way of eating, we can dramatically alter our health destiny.

Modern pioneers like T. Colin Cambell, PhD; Caldwell Esselstyn, MD; Dean Ornish, MD; John McDougall, MD; Neal Barnard, MD; and others are leading the charge. Thanks to these doctors and researchers, along with an emerging body of scientific evidence from all corners, we now know that a whole-food, plant-based diet is more powerful at preventing and treating chronic diseases than any medication or procedure. We are so convinced by the evidence that we believe if this diet came in a pill, it would be heralded on the front pages of newspapers and magazines around the world for its effectiveness.

There is a movement under way as hundreds of thousands of people, if not more, are trying the whole-food, plant-based lifestyle for themselves and finding great success. We have personally seen remarkable results in our own medical practice, not to mention experienced it in our own lives. Here are just a few of the significant life-changing results you may expect:

Prevent and reverse the leading chronic ailments. A whole-food, plant-based diet can prevent, halt, and even reverse heart disease and diabetes. Other diseases that are also positively impacted by this type of diet include: high cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, and overall mortality. Cancer is also significantly affected by this diet. In fact, the foods that make up this diet are the exact same foods that were recommended in the first "surviving cancer" dietary recommendations. There is also evidence that a plant-based diet may reduce the risk of diverticular disease, gallstones, rheumatoid arthritis, gout, and kidney disease. Furthermore, after switching to a plant-based diet, people routinely report experiencing or seeing in others improvements in a range of ailments, including osteoporosis, arthritis, headaches, acne, asthma, sexual dysfunction, reflux, lupus, inflammatory bowel disease, constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, dementia, Alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis, infertility, insomnia, and sleep apnea. They even find themselves experiencing fewer or less intense colds, viruses, and allergies.

Reach your ideal weight. Our friend Doug Lisle likes to point out that humans and their domesticated pets are the only earthly creatures that suffer from being overweight and obese ... in spite of the fact that we're also the only creatures who practice portion control! Why is this the case? It's simple. All the other animals on earth are eating foods that are appropriate for their species. If we also eat foods that are appropriate for our species -- whole, plant-based foods -- then we, too, will be able to eat without portion control and will naturally reach a comfortable weight.

Improve mental clarity Eating a whole-food, plant-based diet improves cognitive function and protects against dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Most people experience greater clarity of thought, improved ability to concentrate, and better memory.

Experience only positive effects, not "side effects". Perhaps you would choose to transition to a plant-based diet to reverse heart disease or reduce your diabetes medications, but now you could see that you would welcome into your life an abundance of positive effects. These can include better mood, sounder sleep, improved bowel function, and more vibrant skin. You will have more energy to do the things you love, like playing with your children or grandchildren, biking, gardening, walking, swimming. You may even want to exercise more. By contrast, as we'll discuss more, medical procedures and medications can have all sorts of major unintended negative consequences.

Have a sense of well-being and empowerment. You are in control of your health. You do not have to settle for compromised health or believe that you are destined to succumb to chronic disease. You can live with less fear that a heart attack can happen at any time or that you will be struck by the same chronic ailment from which other members of your family have suffered.

Save time and money. Whether you have health insurance or not, you will likely have to pay out of pocket for at least some of your health care expenses if you are sick. Fewer trips to the doctor and fewer procedures and pills equal more time and money you can spend in other areas of your life.

The Forks Over Knives Plan, pages 15-18.

See also http://www.forksoverknives.com for enjoyable effective ways to change to such living that is healthier, besides the book.
 

NewCreation435

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I have struggled with the infusion set on my insulin pump over the last day or so. It seems that I wasn't getting the insulin from the pump into my system, but no error messages were coming up. I had to redo the infusion set and give myself a manual shot. Then my numbers went dramatically down and now they are up again this morning and have gone down some since I woke up. There is definitely a learning curve to this.
 
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