Useless Conversation

[Signe]

I'm not allergic to much but at certain times during the spring and summer, I become allergic to the inside of my nose. 

[Samwise]

Have you ruled out lupus?

[HaemishM]

[Nebu]

Using the internet to self-diagnose never ends well.  That's all I'm going to say.

[Merusk]

Sarcoidosis?

[Abagadro]

Allergies suck.

In other news, I've had 1.5L of blood taken out in the last 4 weeks. I feel like that guy at the end of Hot Shots.

[apocrypha]

Why? Did they just decide you had too much or something? Aren't you a lawyer? Something something leeches something?

[Rasix]

Maybe upcoming major surgery? I had to give twice in the month before my back surgery.  I forget the reason that it was only twice (it was 17 years ago, heh).  The deficiencies in my own blood probably contributed to it.  I didn't enjoy it; I'm not very fond of needles.  

Of course, on that topic and the current prevailing one: allergy shots kind of help getting over needle phobias.  3 injections at a time, weekly, will do that.    Allergies are mostly manageable now, but fall and spring in Arizona are brutal.

[Abagadro]

Why? Did they just decide you had too much or something? Aren't you a lawyer? Something something leeches something?

Genetic disorder called Hemochromatosis. You absorb too much iron. Actually fairly common but most people who have it don't know they have it. Only treatment is phlebotomies. Been doing it for 18 years mostly on a maintenance schedule of every couple of months, but my numbers jumped up so they put me on a "rapid" schedule for a while. Sucks big time. Still not used to getting stuck.

I joke all the time about just buying some leeches.

[Cyrrex]

I go through periods in the spring and late summer where I get sorta...twitchy?  I get this dull pressure in my sinus area that makes me blink harder and/or more often and compels me to wiggle my nose around.  It feels like a mild allergy thing, but I guess it has never annoyed me quite enough to get it diagnosed (and I can generally control it if I think about it).  Goes away in the winter and most of the summer, which is why I suspect it is pollen related, or something along those lines.

[Paelos]

Why? Did they just decide you had too much or something? Aren't you a lawyer? Something something leeches something?

Genetic disorder called Hemochromatosis. You absorb too much iron. Actually fairly common but most people who have it don't know they have it. Only treatment is phlebotomies. Been doing it for 18 years mostly on a maintenance schedule of every couple of months, but my numbers jumped up so they put me on a "rapid" schedule for a while. Sucks big time. Still not used to getting stuck.

I joke all the time about just buying some leeches.

Yep, my receptionist at the old job had it. She said she was a vampire's assistant.

[apocrypha]

Genetic disorder called Hemochromatosis. You absorb too much iron. Actually fairly common but most people who have it don't know they have it. Only treatment is phlebotomies. Been doing it for 18 years mostly on a maintenance schedule of every couple of months, but my numbers jumped up so they put me on a "rapid" schedule for a while. Sucks big time. Still not used to getting stuck.

I joke all the time about just buying some leeches.

That does sound unpleasant, my sympathies.

It's odd how we don't seem to get used to needles sometimes. When I was sciencing I worked on a project once where we needed weekly blood samples of 50-100ml, to extract platelets from. The easiest thing was for me and the research fellow to take it in turns to give/take the blood. After 2 years of this one time I passed out while being the donor. Full on vasovagal response and minor fit. Scared the shit out of the RA and because we were doing it in a very small cell culture room I actually fell in such a way as to trap her in there and she wasn't strong enough to move my twitching body away from blocking the door. She had to hit a panic button and caused a bit of a stir in the hospital. Fun times.

[RhyssaFireheart]

I must be weird, because I don't mind needles when giving blood or anything.  Now, I have a crazy, half-asleep fear of being poked in the eye by something pointy, but that doesn't affect me getting poked with a needle.

Of course, I was a weird kid growing up, too.  I used to read my mom's Gray's Anatomy for fun and thought the part about dissecting a cow's eye was worthy of being shown to others in grade school.  It didn't go over well.

[Rendakor]

Finished my first coding project in ~8 years. And by finished, I mean it does the job. I'm sure it's inefficient as fuck and I haven't put in ways to ensure input validation, but it works. It's just a little Android app to perform a math problem without using the stupid slide rules the other guys around the office use, and there are others on the Play Store but not using the units of measure we use.

[apocrypha]

Generally I'm the same Rhyssa, I just haventhis occasional, weird response. The fact that I'm normally so blasé about needles and blood and things is what totally catches colleagues, health workers, etc. by surprise when I do wig out.

Slide rules are a dying art, but grats Rendakor :)

[MahrinSkel]

I just have to watch it go in, and I am fine. And I mean, *have* to, if I am not actually watching the needle go in, my arm is going to jerk. Hard. Then various unpleasant things usually happen.

--Dave

[WayAbvPar]

I am fine as long as I DON'T have to watch the needle go in. Or the blood flowing out of my body...

[Abagadro]

Ya, if I see any of it things go badly. Getting stuck twice gets me in bad shape too and it happens a lot because my veins are apparently "deep".

[Selby]

I had to give blood every few weeks due to acutane & I continue to have to stab myself in the thigh every week for over 10 years, so I'm over my needle phobia...

[Nebu]

I donated plasma twice a week for almost a year to finance med school and got cortisone injections in my knee for most of my college career.  I only hate needles when they go in my eye or my spine.  

[Morat20]

Why? Did they just decide you had too much or something? Aren't you a lawyer? Something something leeches something?

Genetic disorder called Hemochromatosis. You absorb too much iron. Actually fairly common but most people who have it don't know they have it. Only treatment is phlebotomies. Been doing it for 18 years mostly on a maintenance schedule of every couple of months, but my numbers jumped up so they put me on a "rapid" schedule for a while. Sucks big time. Still not used to getting stuck.

I joke all the time about just buying some leeches.

Can you donate that blood, or is it unacceptable for some reason? I think I read (like a long time ago) that some countries did, some didn't. I mean excess iron doesn't really sound like a problem that couldn't be solved, and that's a lot of blood you have to give out regularly.

At least there's a simple, if annoying, treatment. 

[Abagadro]

If you are diagnosed, a blood bank has to get an FDA waiver to accept it, which is stupid because they accept tons of undiagnosed HH (that's the abbreviation used) blood from undiagnosed people and there is nothing wrong with it.  It's also easy to get, but for some reason most won't do it.  I've actually argued with blood bank directors about this to no avail. 

For about 8 years there was one about an hour away from my house that would take it so I trekked up there because if I was going to have to do it then at least some use could come of it (plus I actually have very rare blood, the only kind they can give to NICU preemies and other babies, O- CMV-). About 2 years ago they shut that blood bank down and no one else local will take it. Drives me nuts.  So, now does it not only go to waste but I have to pay 100 bucks every time I do it. 

[apocrypha]

Wait, you have to pay $100 for someone to bleed you and then throw it away? Couldn't you just find some friendly nurse, med student, veterinary assistant etc who'd do it for a beer? Christ, I'd do it, I'm pretty good at getting to deep or thin veins.

[Signe]

 

[Sky]

There is a special hell reserved for people who don't by default make text in a search box vanish when you start typing.

Why yes I did want to search for "Enter yournote tablet search terms here".

[Trippy]

Firefox and NoScript?

[schild]

I am sick as fuuuuuuck. I've been taking steroids due to a bad allergic reaction and it hid the sickness for 3 days. -_-

[apocrypha]

Can you take OTC anti-histamines Schild? They'd help with an allergic reaction wouldn't they?

[schild]

This particular reaction was beyond anti-histamines. Started getting hives in my mouth, went straight to the ER for the good shit.

It's been a rough week in the schild household.

[Bunk]

Last ever Tragically Hip concert is in two hours. Being broadcast Canada wide (lead singer is dying). Going to go watch it on a 27' screen at a food truck festival with about 100,000 people. In 30 degree C heat. Thank god for beer gardens.

[Morat20]

I would like to thank the internet for, again, saving me a ton of money.

Yet again, another household repair that I simply assumed was beyond me (I can hammer a nail in straight on a good day), that turns out to be the easiest thing in the damn world.

I'm actually feeling stupid that I didn't fix this a year ago, because it's a ten minute job tops. That involves no tools.

[Merusk]

What repair?

[Trippy]

Toliet fill valve?

[Morat20]

What repair?

Some door stuff. It's all stick on or slide on, and I've been "meaning" to get to it for a year now. I'm just going to replace all the gaskets around both doors, and the sweeps. (The front door is getting a lot of condensation on the screen door, so even though i can't figure out where it's clearly leaking).

It's the sweeps on the bottom I'd been putting it off for -- I never looked at them, just assumed they were screwed in or nailed on, not...stuck on or slid on. Which meant pulling the door off to fix it.

Nope. 30 seconds and slide a new one on. 10 dollar part. Done.

I've GOT to stop assuming that "home repair" is something I can't do myself. This is like the second or third time in the last two years I've googled something right before looking to hire someone and said "Wait, that's EASY". (Basic toilet repairs , and replacing the heating element in an electric oven spring to mind).

[Abagadro]

Ya, youtube is the bomb for home repair. Replaced the icemaker in my older fridge for 35 bucks in parts.