#health stuff

[veggiesforpresident]

like i know its mostly the fault of the government that most people don't bother to wear a mask any more but honestly i think people are more like stressed and embarrassed at the idea than anything. they don't wanna stick out or be reminded of a stressful time in their lives.

but its like. tough shit man. sorry for ruining your perfect little fantasy that everything is safe now but its literally not and frankly i think not permanently disabling yourself or your neighbors is worth a little embarrassment.

[foldingfittedsheets]

Just got off the phone with a dying woman. She keeps hoping each bed will be her last because she’s so ready to let go but she’s just still holding on. She apparently has open wounds and hospice turned her down because she doesn’t have cancer. Her condition is hard on beds.

She told me she hopes she’s gone before delivery on Thursday. I told her I had my fingers crossed for her.

Now I’m just sitting in my chair seething that medically assisted suicide isn’t legal.

[trickybonmot]

Just had an urge to make my mumble-annual post about sleep apnea. If you have been told you snore or stop breathing at night, or if you're still tired when you wake up in the morning, or if you regularly wake up gasping for air, or if you wake up with funky fractal or tile-like patterns dancing in your eyes, talk to your doctor about sleep apnea!!

Sleep apnea occurs when your airway falls closed while you sleep, causing you to stop breathing. This will cause you to partially wake up to get more air, sometimes many times per hour, depriving you of the deep sleep your body needs and flooding your system repeatedly with panicky "wake up!" hormones.

The consequences of sleep apnea are no joke. In addition to fatigue and irritability, they can include anxiety, increased risk of type 2 diabetes, and hypertension which can lead to heart problems, blood clots and stroke. It has a huge effect on quality of life and your health down the line.

The good news is that it's pretty easy to get tested for sleep apnea, and the treatment usually works great and starts helping right away! You'll need an appointment with a sleep specialist who will probably give you a small monitor to wear overnight at home. The monitor records your vital signs while you sleep, then you turn it back in and the doctor looks at the data.

If you do have it, you will be given a CPAP (continuous positive air pressure) machine. This is a small, quiet machine that sits on your bedside table, hooked up to a mask that you wear on your face, and basically blows air to keep your airway open. There are different styles of mask you can try out to find one that is comfortable. You'll need to have distilled water to fill the machine's reservoir. You'll need to wash the parts regularly to keep bacteria from growing. All that may sound like a pain in the butt, but everyone I know who uses one--and I know several!--has found it to be worth it!

There's a misconception that sleep apnea only affects obese people, or only old people, or only men. None of these are accurate!! Sleep apnea is common and under diagnosed. Get tested and find out so you can be healthy and have energy for the things you love!

It's very easy to find information about sleep apnea online, but I can also answer questions from my experience as the wife of a CPAP user, so ask away if you want.

[unlike-starlike]

I would like to state, for the record, that if someone tells you they have a severe food allergy/sensitivity and your response is "but without [food], life isn't worth living!" you are not sympathizing with them. You're making them feel worse. Stop it.

[bunnis-monsters]

Contacted the doctor about the urologist asking when my appointment was…

They haven’t even made me one yet.

They said they were waiting for an answer from the gynecologist, they don’t send anything.

I nearly freaked out because I’ve been having unexplained bladder pain for fucking months now and they HADNT EVEN MADE AN APPOINTMENT!!

I’m so damn irritated.

[yourcoolauntie]

Well

I haven't been on here much mostly because my work schedule and my days off have been doctor's appointment , visiting irl friends and chores.

But it turns out it was a really good thing I've dedicated time to using my health insurance.

The mole that originally looked more like a freckle, by the tail of my eyebrow had in fact become malignant melanoma (that's the aggressive skin cancer that kills you).

But, hopefully I had the biopsy done in time and with its depth, they aren't worried it's spread to my lymph nodes.

I will have to have a procedure to remove more tissue and that hopefully, will be it. With the exception of six month check ups for five years.

So I'll be joining the ranks of some of the coolest characters by having a scar by my eye. But it's a scar or death so...

I'm kinda freaked out but mostly okay.

[samirasystole]

i am one of those people who has had a disability since early childhood/infancy. i, like al hashimi, have always 'looked' normal but never felt normal. our childhoods have been shaped by doctors appointments and people telling us how we should be feeling about our disability. i have been treated by specialists since i was a baby and that will continue forever. i can't tell you how painfully beautiful it is to see a beautiful capable doctor, a disabled women in healthcare like myself, be on this show. how her medical history might have inspired her to help others, which is what happened to me. how she has infinite empathy for others because people rarely have it for her. how disability fluctuates and moves and isn't a static thing that always stays the same. she has a brain condition, something that is dynamic and hardly understood, and rarely treatable. i have a heart condition, something that is dynamic, well understood, but not very treatable. we're both in this predicament of being sick enough to really feel it and be scared and worried about our careers, while also knowing our skills and our place in medicine. because no matter what, we deserve to be there. that's why i have an issue with the show portraying her disability as something robby gets to judge on, and that that's the end all be all. instead of her advocating for herself and defending her rightful place in medicine. i've had people doubt over and over again if i'm fit for this job, i had a geriatrics internship 4 months after i had heart surgery, and a surgical internship 9 months after heart surgery, i don't get given the vote of confidence. i just wish both fandom and the show decided to give her that vote. to just trust a disabled person in knowing themselves and to be able to estimate if they can work safely instead of letting it depend on another character

[sunbentshadows]

In approximately a week I’m going to start a year-long medical procedure to slowly split my mid-palatal suture in half. It will probably change the way I look forever. And I will do this because I am Very Sick <-three sentences I am about to repeat ad nauseam in my head for the next 184 hours