Health Problems

Noodleface you always how low is too low on blood sugar. Well I slept for about 12 hours and woke up because mine was low. I walked outside and checked the rain gauge, came back in and am posting this now while having something to get mine up. It was 50 when I sat down to check it. So even at 50 you can still function. Guessing my monitor is within plus or minus 5ish. I normally know when it gets low before it gets there. But I was crashed out for other reasons. Just saying you can still function before it gets there.

Yeah but 50 is definitely hypoglycemic which is no good. My worry isn't that once or twice I'll get that low but if I consistently get that low there is a major problem

My insurance stopped covering my meter. Can someone recommend a good meter that I can use to take blood from my arm instead of fingers (I play guitar and it sucks...)?

Preferably something where the test strips are less than $100/50

I use the cheapest stuff wal-mart has and it's accurate enough for me. Reli-on prime. It's $9.99/50 strips plus $9 for the meter or some such. I've never had any luck testing it anywhere but my fingers, but I only check it about 4 times a day.

Kuriin said:

If you don't have ADHD, Adderall is not supposed to make you chill. Just sayin'.

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I was on Adderall XR for about a year, 5-6 years ago. I went to my GP, told him that I thought I might have ADHD as I was struggling with concentrating at work and accomplishing tasks etc, he asked a few questions, and then referred me to a psychiatrist. I chatted with that guy for maybe 20 minutes where he asked me the basic stuff (How's your sex life? Do you have any history of drug or alcohol abuse? Does your family? etc etc), and he gave me a small initial prescription, I think for either 5 or 10 mg, I don't remember. I went back to see him after a couple weeks, and he asked how things had gone. I had found it helping with concentration, and didn't find that it made me overly hyper, although there was definitely an increase in energy. So he bumped me up to the next level. Pretty sure initially it was 5mg, then 10mg. With the upped dose I was definitely feeling hyper, but that faded after a few weeks and it felt like the right dosage. So he gave me a huge prescription, and told me that afterward my GP could do the refills.

Like I said, I stayed on it for a year or so. It definitely helped with concentration, and also helped me work on some bad work habits. However, I did also notice that over time I was developing a tolerance for it, and was sometimes taking a second pill partway through the day if I really needed to concentrate or had a big deadline. Or if I forgot to take a pill, I'd have a hell of a time staying awake at my desk, let alone accomplishing anything. And I was abusing it to some extent, as well, taking a pill early in the evening if I knew I was going out drinking, because I could party like a fucking animal on it. I went to Vegas for a buddy's stag, and damn near didn't sleep for 3 days while partying everyone else in to the ground. A couple of my buddies afterwards were like "dude, we've never seen you like that, what's up?" So at that point I decided that I'd cut back and only take the pills on days when I really needed to get shit done, instead of every week day (psychiatrist told me I could take it one day a week, or seven, it was up to me). So I kind of weened myself off it, and eventually elected to not refill the prescription.

Over time though, a lot of bad habits have crept back in again, and I'm starting to think that maybe I should have stayed on it and just been more responsible with it in terms of partying/drinking. However it would be a fairly awkward conversation with my GP to get a refill now, and he'd likely want to refer me to the psychiatrist again. So I'm just trying to deal with it.

As far as getting a prescription for it, there's really no test they can do to definitively diagnose you. They'll just ask you a bunch of questions about your work/school habits and history, and anyone with a shred of intelligence will know the right answers to give. When I got my prescription, I wasn't all that sure I had ADHD, but I wanted to give Adderall a try, so I somewhat bullshitted my way through it. I'm sure the great Picasso will have no problems doing the same.

One other nice thing about it is that it's a great appetite suppressant. I definitely lost and then re-gained 5-10 lbs when I went on and off it. It's not that you can't eat, it just kind of makes it so that you don't really need to if you don't feel like it.

Hope everything turns out ok

Echuta said:

Have any of you dealt with hair loss? I'm almost 40 and I've noticed that my hair is thinning out on top too much for my liking. I've always had thick black hair and neither my father or mothers side have had hair loss issues. I'm not panicking yet, but I have started using Nioxin to just thicken up what I have now. When my hair is wet it's noticable on top but after blow drying it it's much harder to see my scalp. Could be stress from work, possibly all those years in college I wore a ball cap, lack of sex....who knows?

Anyone here combat hair loss/thinning hair with any success?

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Been balding since I was 17. I played basketball at a high level and the fans on the other side would sometimes shout "rogaine" while I was shooting free throws (it didn't work). Losing that early really sucks, and by no means do I have a full head of hair now, but when I was about 22, I started taking propecia and that stuff really does work if you don't mind taking a pill a day. In fact, propecia is actually a drug called finasteride that is available for a lot less that prescription propecia. My doctor just told me to go buy it on my own:

Finpecia 1mg (Cipla Goa Facility) 10 Tablets/Strip (Finasteride 1mg)

You can buy that without a prescription and have it shipped for a small fraction of the brand cost. I took it for 5-6 years and it completely stopped my hair loss (I even regrew some). I mostly stopped taking it when I was ~30 and married and stopped caring, but it works.

pharmakos said:

All the contrast scans I've had done in the last year and I've never gotten that stuff...

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Patient Safety - Contrast Material
Some forms of GI tract imaging requires this. What did you have CT / MRI for?

Got another dime sized mouth ulcer on the side of my tongue. Get them every few months. It's not cancer but it's absolutely debilitating. Can't eat or talk without searing pain.

I wish there was something I could do besides mask the pain. Taking lysine-l stopped me from getting them in my mouth but they all started showing up ONLY on my tongue. I wonder if I'm deficient in some vitamin.

Mrs. Gravy said:

Noodle, I get them too....internist and dentist had no answers...dermatologist said may be related to my rosacea...either way she ordered swish and spit prednisone for the ones at the back of tongue near or down pharynx and off label topical clobetasol (sp?) for other easier to get ones. I cannot do the prednisone...would rather suffer than EVER taste that nasty crap again. The topical is amazing at clearing them but need be used sparingly...side effects suck.

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Is the topical by prescription or over the counter?

I use ambisol? For pain when I eat sometimes but the ones on the tongue are BAD.

I've never gotten anything either for the contrast MRs. They test my kidneys every few months and are always suprised I've been a diabetic 40 years with no degredation in the kidneys. The first one they did some blood work and urine sample to check my kidneys. I guess if they are functioning well to start with it's ok. Dunno

Mrs. Gravy said:

It's a script. My dermatologist uses it too for same thing.

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I'll look into this. Getting into a dermatologist around here can take some time