Useless Conversation

[Morat20]

Sorry to hear that. :(

[Ironwood]

Yeah, that really, really sucks.  Sorry to hear it.

We'll beat it, you know.  We'll beat all the cancers one day.  Doesn't help now, but we will.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Thanks, folks.  The husband is thinking about going down with me to my family for Thanksgiving (as we'd planned before the news) and then leaving from St. Louis to head to his parents in NC.  He'll stay for a few days to help his mom out and see his dad and then fly home to Chicago.  Then the bro-in-law will come in for a few days to do the same thing basically, and we'll be back over Christmas.  It works to give the husband some time with his dad while he's still coherent and not maxxed out on morphine for the pain.

[Morat20]

So I went to my doctor yesterday to discuss two things -- mostly some heart worries (I'm going to see a cardiologist week from Monday for an event monitor, although it's almost certainly a harmless thing. My family doctor is a certified cardiologist, but it's not the focus of the practice and so they only do the basics)  but also I've had some just awful indigestion for the past two weeks.

So we mostly talk about my heart, cover the indigestion at the end (he gives me the regular exam, stomach probing, and does some blood work) and I basically turn down any prescriptions for something more powerful than prilosec because I, at least, am still thinking it's some food sensitivity or something.

I'm taking my meds this morning and remember there was one symptom I didn't tell him, because I wasn't experiencing it at the time and was really focused on the heart thing. The indigestion was entirely "I was already there". It comes and goes, but has been there since the indigestion started.

So I'm wondering "Does this line of discomfort, and almost burning feeling that's lateral across my stomach right above the navel -- not painful so much as just uncomfortable, almost like a line of abraded skin but deeper have anything to do with the indigestion?" as I shake out the aspirin I take daily.

I look at the aspirin, think about "slight burning feeling across my stomach" and think "Aw, fuck. I have an ulcer and didn't tell the doctor the one actual symptom that would make it clear.".

I'm a moron.

[Yegolev]

Get one of those cameras sent down your throat, that will tell you pretty quickly.

[Viin]

I hear they are pretty cheap at the local auto parts stores these days.

[Ironwood]

So I went to my doctor yesterday to discuss two things -- mostly some heart worries (I'm going to see a cardiologist week from Monday for an event monitor, although it's almost certainly a harmless thing. My family doctor is a certified cardiologist, but it's not the focus of the practice and so they only do the basics)  but also I've had some just awful indigestion for the past two weeks.

So we mostly talk about my heart, cover the indigestion at the end (he gives me the regular exam, stomach probing, and does some blood work) and I basically turn down any prescriptions for something more powerful than prilosec because I, at least, am still thinking it's some food sensitivity or something.

I'm taking my meds this morning and remember there was one symptom I didn't tell him, because I wasn't experiencing it at the time and was really focused on the heart thing. The indigestion was entirely "I was already there". It comes and goes, but has been there since the indigestion started.

So I'm wondering "Does this line of discomfort, and almost burning feeling that's lateral across my stomach right above the navel -- not painful so much as just uncomfortable, almost like a line of abraded skin but deeper have anything to do with the indigestion?" as I shake out the aspirin I take daily.

I look at the aspirin, think about "slight burning feeling across my stomach" and think "Aw, fuck. I have an ulcer and didn't tell the doctor the one actual symptom that would make it clear.".

I'm a moron.

Wait, YOU'RE a moron ?  The doc didn't ask ?

[Yegolev]

Also if your acid blocker isn't working, try omeprazole.  That fixed me for a while.  Now I'm on famotidine.

[Ironwood]

Omeprazole worked for me too, but since it was stress related, it merely masked what was going on.

Stopping with all the fucking medications is the best bit of getting a new job.

[Yegolev]

Got a new job but can't quite drop the meds.  Apparently I broke myself.

[Ironwood]

It can take time.

For me, time, job change and cutting back on the coffee.

Especially the last one.

[ghost]

Cutting down on caffeine is a big key for many people.  You can also try cutting out gluten or casein, or both.  That can cause GI issues. 

If you have an ulcer it is often caused by a bacteria.  They should test you for that bacteria (Helicobacter pylori) and treat you for that if you test positive. 

[Salamok]

daily exercise

[Ingmar]

Prilosec is omeprazole, so sounds like he's probably on it already. And yes, it is a goddamn miracle drug.

[Nevermore]

Omeprazole sounds like some kind of obscure pasta.

[Ironwood]

The whole LoL subforum may as well be written in Polish.

Arg.

[Rasix]

Mid or feed, bitch.

[schild]

Picked up an LG G2 for nothing after trading in a pile of random old phones.

It's very fast.

[Ironwood]

Mid or feed, bitch.

Exactly.  Pages and pages and pages of that kind of stuff.  I don't think you chaps realise how incredibly DENSE the information you're packing into that forum actually is.  And I don't mean dense as in stupid.  Though it made me feel like that.

I think you need a 'Beginners Guide' ala Mechwarrior....

pls.

[HaemishM]

I had the same issues when I started. It gets better. Not that I have any advice on the subject...

[Rasix]

I could whiteboard something, but then Goumindong would just write 5000 words on why I'm wrong on every level. 

If I could suggest something, you could go to the LoL vod subreddit and watch some of the world finals matches.  The RIOT coverage tends to try to make it more accessible for people that don't follow it.

[Morat20]

Wait, YOU'RE a moron ?  The doc didn't ask ?

He didn't ask. But when I called this morning, turns out one of the blood tests was to test for that pylori bacterium that causes ulcers. He just didn't mention it, since I'd said that prilosec and tums were keeping it under control.

Swapped it out for some stronger prescription PPI (he offered in the office, but the tums and prilosec was controlling it. Last night was particularly blah-feeling so when I called in, I asked for the script) for the next 30 days and told me to step down off the aspirin for a month.

And yes, prilosec is a fucking miracle drug. :) I've never really needed it, but my wife swears by it and my dad went on the stuff back when it was a brand new drug, used off-label for gastric reflux. He got downright pissy because his doctor would only let him stay on it for a month or so at a time, then off for three, as they studied long term effects.

Turns out the latest research indicates it might weaken the heart a bit if you use it for long periods of time.

[Yegolev]

Omeprazole can also cause your fingernails to fall off, which is why my brother-in-law does not use it anymore.

I definitely know I need to knock off the coffee, but it is linked to my productivity and so that's probably going to be around for a long time.

I might try to get off the gluten.  It's far easier now than in the past.  I can probably reduce it easily enough - already have, indirectly - but elimination is a bitch.  Mother-in-law was recently diagnosed with celiac and so I'm going to attempt to create a gluten-free pie crust so she can have a lemon pie this year.

Exercise, my old enemy.  We meet again.  That does remind me that I need to sign up for the local rec league baseball.

[Paelos]

I quit coffee this year. I went through two weeks where I wanted to murder anyone who looked at me cock-eyed.

Now I don't notice it at all.

[Rasix]

Omeprazole is the only reason I got any sleep for about a 2-3 year stretch.   I only have to use it every now and then currently.  Seems my body has gotten past initiating extreme heartburn for every single thing I eat.   No alcohol anymore, however.  That's just too much for my system.  Alcohol and me never got along anyhow (I'm a cheap date).

No coffee/diet soda would probably be a great idea for my me.  Not yet.  I'm a big enough asshole in the morning even with my fix.

[Furiously]

Omeprazole can also cause your fingernails to fall off, which is why my brother-in-law does not use it anymore.

I definitely know I need to knock off the coffee, but it is linked to my productivity and so that's probably going to be around for a long time.

I might try to get off the gluten.  It's far easier now than in the past.  I can probably reduce it easily enough - already have, indirectly - but elimination is a bitch.  Mother-in-law was recently diagnosed with celiac and so I'm going to attempt to create a gluten-free pie crust so she can have a lemon pie this year.

Exercise, my old enemy.  We meet again.  That does remind me that I need to sign up for the local rec league baseball.

Enjoy life makes an amazing graham cracker cookie. Crush those bad boys up and enjoy. (I have a hard time keeping them around as even the gluten eaters in my family will eat them).

[Paelos]

Fun fact, graham crackers were originally designed to make you stop whacking it.

[ghost]

Everybody's story is different when it comes to celiac, but with mine I had raging, awful, almost debilitating gastric reflux.  If I didn't take a prilosec every day I was pretty much out of commission.  Went off of gluten about 5 years ago and haven't taken a prilosec since.  Every once in a while I'll have some indigestion with tomatoes or something, but a single Tums will clear me up.  I do that about once every 3 months.  

[Samwise]

Fun fact, graham crackers were originally designed to make you stop whacking it.

I thought that was corn flakes.

[WayAbvPar]

Can't you just go back to whacking it after breakfast?

[Ironwood]

I know I do.

[HaemishM]

Fun fact, graham crackers were originally designed to make you stop whacking it.

I'm going to need a link for that. Preferably NOT one with pictures. 

[Nebu]

Fun fact, graham crackers were originally designed to make you stop whacking it.

You'd never guess that Sylvester Graham was also Reverend Graham, would you?

[Paelos]

Fun fact, graham crackers were originally designed to make you stop whacking it.

I'm going to need a link for that. Preferably NOT one with pictures. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_cracker

The graham cracker was originally conceived of as a health food as part of the Graham Diet, a regimen to suppress what he considered unhealthy carnal urges, the source of many maladies according to Graham. Reverend Graham would often lecture on "self-abuse" as masturbation was commonly called at the time. Graham would often say how these experiences were inspired by children eating crackers. One of his many theories was that one could curb one's sexual appetite by eating bland foods. Another man who held this belief was John Harvey Kellogg, the inventor of the corn flakes cereal.

Corn flakes too. Apparently whacking it was a big problem in the morning.

[Nebu]

I need to stop eating cereal for dinner.