The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:
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Requests for advice and / or encouragement. On basically any topic and for any scale of problem.
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Updates to let us know how you are doing. This provides valuable feedback on past advice / encouragement and will hopefully make people feel a little more motivated to follow through. If you want to be reminded to post your update, see the post titled 'update reminders', below.
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Advice. This can be in response to a request for advice or just something that you think could be generally useful for many people here.
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Encouragement. Probably best directed at specific users, but if you feel like just encouraging people in general I don't think anyone is going to object. I don't think I really need to say this, but just to be clear; encouragement should have a generally positive tone and not shame people (if people feel that shame might be an effective tool for motivating people, please discuss this so we can form a group consensus on how to use it rather than just trying it).
Jump in the discussion.
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Notes -
What methods of slowing down skin ageing have the most evidence to support them? Does retinoid cream actually work?
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TLDR: Anyone had to deal with something chronic, you know you have to live with it but how do you get to the place where it doesn't consume your life? What mental or meditation practices have worked for you?
/rant/ So I've been dealing with a minor health issue. You would laugh and tell me to suck it up, buttercup, if I said what it was. But the thing is, it doesn't feel minor to me right now. I've never had it before and I had a panic attack over the weekend before I could see a doctor, just imagining worst case scenarios of what it could be, because I didn't know. Part of it is how suddenly it came on. I really had no inkling when I went to bed the night before that I'd be dealing with this in the morning and then every day after. Part of it is the suddenness of your body turning against you. You thought you had reached a nice detente and suddenly it rises up and betrays you.
But the frustrating thing, the most frustrating thing is that here is the advice I've been getting: (1) it usually resolves in 3-4 days. (2) Treatment involves lifestyle changes. Call me crazy, but these two things are not compatible. Someone is not being honest. Lifestyle changes are for chronic conditions and can take weeks to show any benefit. Here I am on day 6 with no resolution in sight. I used OTC medications as directed and they did absolutely nothing. I went to urgent care because my primary is booking a month out, urgent care gave me a prescription med. I used that and started bleeding. That seemed like a step back. So now what? Doing the lifestyle changes, I guess.
If you tell me this is just my new normal and I have to live with it, I can get there. If you tell me it will take several weeks to resolve and just be patient, that sucks but I can get there too. It's this in-between part, the part where doctors insist it should be getting better and I must not be doing the lifestyle changes (but of course I am). It's the struggle. It's the expectation, the hope that maybe after A, B, C treatments didn't work, surely Q will. But deep down you know it won't and you wish they would stop dangling false hope.
And not that I'm excited about a surgery, but if there is a surgical resolution to this that can just make it go away, I'd rather just do that and get it over with. But I'm told it's not recommended in my case. So I guess in the meantime I keep doing lifestyle changes, accepting that I'll just randomly start bleeding sometimes, and hope against hope that time takes care of it if nothing else. Anyway I think I just needed to get that out. Thanks for reading.
I've had tinnitus for almost six years. It really bothered me for a while and it still does, but I have slowly gotten used to it. The most common advice is to just accept it and not worry about it. I hated hearing that, but I have slowly gotten used to it over years and it doesn't bother me as much as it used to. It takes a long time though. It still interferes a bit with by ability to think though.
I didn't do any meditation or anything. I just stopped thinking about it so much, and I listen to podcasts to fall asleep.
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I got diagnosed with diabetes a few years ago. I'm on medication, and I changed my lifestyle and eating habits. My A1c is within normal people range now.
It sucked getting used to it. I had multiple moments standing in my kitchen or in a grocery store trying to figure out what I can eat that doesn't taste like crap, and just feeling so defeated.
I don't practice meditation. I am a bit of a fan of stoicism as a philosophy. I have mostly adopted to the new lifestyle and it doesn't bug me as much. I think given time most people tend to bounce back to a base level of happiness. Consistently practicing a new habit until it is second nature helps a lot.
I take it you don't like meat. ?
(that scene is funny. The director of the film is vegan, the scene was meant to be disturbing, but if you read the comments in the other, older uppload , it just makes a lot of people crave some steak. ..
I do like meat, but I often run out of it at home, and have to get other foods to go with it at the store.
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Yes, the in-between part that you describe definitely sucks. Try to accept the position of "don't know". You don't know how this will develop. That's ok. It will take some time to find out. It's okay not to know. And try to give up your entitlement to perfect health. Clinging to a hope of continuing a life where you don't have to care about how you live and how your body reacts leads to stress and suffering when things go against that. You're on the way to the grave, same as the rest of us, and your body will only "betray" you further and further as you age. Best to try to accept that. That's one part of it not consuming your life. The other part is to pay attention to what habits and actions lead to what results, and to educate yourself about your condition. That should lead to more predictability and less nervousness. In the meantime, try to accept the not-knowing, and ground yourself and breathe into your belly when the anxiety comes. Fear of pain is worse than pain itself. And fear of fear compounds any suffering drastically. Let it come, let it be, let it go.
You hit it right on the head. I am such a control freak and I am sooo bad about things I can't control or understand. Let me analyze it, dissect it, categorize it so I know how to feel about it. Let me find perfect clarity and identify a guaranteed solution. Unfortunately life does not always oblige in that way. But thank you sincerely, I needed that.
You're welcome. :)
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They are compatible! Or, at least, they can be resolved coherently for many conditions. The symptoms could be a result of two different conditions, Condition A that is 85% of cases with those symptoms and resolves in a few days, or Condition B that is 15% of cases and that requires long-term treatment and intervention. If the symptoms always meant the same condition, it would be pretty surprising to find that conflict in resolution, but if the symptoms can equally be caused by different things, it's not surprising. For example, if someone told you they had back pain following a workout, you might first tell them to rest it for a couple days because it'll probably go away, but if it doesn't then you'll need to seek treatment.
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I have chronic back pain and AERD.
The former I manage with lifestyle changes, mostly resistance training and posture control.
The latter I manage with meds. Plus some surgery in the future to get my nose to breathe freely again. I was in a dark place for a few weeks after confirming my diagnosis, since there's no known cure for it, but I kept telling myself that my symptoms were minor and managing them wasn't an issue.
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Okay buttercup, so what actually is it?
Hemorrhoids maybe? Usually go away quick, but if you don't change your lifestyle (BM habits) they will recur and get worse. Common treatment is hydrocortisone which can thin skin and could cause bleeding. Also embarrassing to talk about and generally not life threatening (minor) unless late stage and strangulated.
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A worker loses their job as a temp worker a couple of years ago because of mental health issues during COVID. How do you approach the former supervisors/bosses and ask for another chance?
Depends on how/why the worker lost his/her job, and the nature of the mental health issues. I'm inclined to say cut your losses. It all depends on the messiness of the separation, the nature of the job, and the relationship between the worker and the former supervisors/bosses.
A professional e-mail doesn't hurt. Don't debase yourself. If anything, pretend like you left on good terms. "Hey, I'm interested in coming back. Need any help?" Don't bring up the job loss, or apologize, or try to sell yourself. If they decline, move on.
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My German Shepherd, 9 years old now, suddenly developed a painful limp in his rear leg and could barely move without whimpering in agony.
The vet I was seeing initially suggested it was a sprain and prescribed NSAIDs, but after a few weeks of no improvement, I took him for a review and then got an xray done. After reviewing the plates myself, I'm confident he's developed hip dysplasia, which is what I initially suspected.
So far, I'm not satisfied with the followup advice from the vet, which encompasses more painkillers and physiotherapy. Does anyone here have experience with a large dog with hip dysplasia? Any tips for restoring QOL?
What especially sucks is that he was healthy as ever till it happened, seemingly overnight, and it breaks my heart to see him this way. If surgery or other, more intensive options can help, I'll shell out for them. I want him to be happy, goddammit. Why does everyone we love grow old and die? Especially dogs, who are cursed with a lifespan far shorter than their nature warrants, when nobody fucking asked for parrots to often outlive their owners. "Polly wants a cracker." Shut up, Polly, unless you want a cap in your ass, you glorified echolalic painted chicken.
All dogs don't go to heaven. Nobody does. That's all the more reason to make their fleeting time here worth it..
Sorry to hear it; it's one thing if their health in general is declining, it's trickier when it's just one potentially-soluble thing.
It may not be the easiest thing to find in many places, but I do Extracorporeal Shock Wave therapy - mostly on humans, but have dabbled in veterinary work - and have seen some cases of hip dysplasia significantly improve. At the very least, it does no harm and doesn't have the post-op drama and healing of surgery. Extracorporeal shock wave increases the rate of tissue healing, and via recruitment of mesenchymal stem cells can elicit a regenerative effect on local cartilage. Though it doesn't solve the core issue of hip instability, it can allow the body to 'catch up' with the progression of the degeneration and restore its function for a time.
I've only ever heard of that being using for kidney stones, at least in humans, I appreciate the suggestion and I'll look into it! I sadly suspect it's not easily available as a therapy.
Have you heard about surgery or any other common intervention being a significant help?
ESWT started as a way to shatter kidney stones, but really cool regenerative effects were noticed as a side effect. The inter and extracellular microtrauma it causes seems to be very minimally damaging, but nonetheless elicit an outsized and broad-spectrum healing effect on the area. It's been really cool seeing what we can do with it! Lots of irrecaletrant issues just...gone. But the therapy fits poorly into the pharma ---> surgery model we typically see at least here in the States, so yeah, most doctors haven't heard of it and it's hard to find.
Unfortunately I tend to only see canine patients that have undergone unsuccessful surgeries, or whose owners are trying to avoid surgery in the first place, so I can't offer much insight past what you could easily find yourself via Google. At nine years you could certainly get a few more years with your dog, but that is getting a bit on for a larger breed. I think the least invasive therapy where they hew off the acetabulum and just kinda hope the joint re-forms would be the route most taken there, and it can reduce pain a lot in some cases even if it doesn't restore full function. Recovery is rough though, they need to be on painkillers and you need to keep them moving even if it hurts them :( If it were my dog and I had the ability I might give it a try though, Shepherds can live to 12 easy.
Sorry I can't be of more help here.
Edit to add - veterinary ESWT is currently most commonly performed on horses; it's possible you could find an equine vet who does it that would be willing to work on dogs.
A real vet? Not from Iraq or a flea-bitten African merc? I'm honored haha. No really, I appreciate the advice, 9 years is getting on for a big dog, it's just the sheer abruptness of the transition from "as healthy as ever" to the situation he's in now that's painful.
I am aware of ultrasonic therapies for enhancing healing, not that I've ever seen them in practise, the main issue is simply finding a provider for my dog, humans hardly get them here in the first place.
The vet I saw said much the same thing regarding lifespan, I suppose I'm succumbing to the same urge I see in a lot of human patients, which is prioritizing aggressive intervention when something gentler might work too. On the topic of vets specializing in horses, sadly that's even less of a thing here since we don't have a recreational riding culture. Thank you for helping me out!
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Hip dysplasia, (at least in humans), is usually fixed with 1. osteotomy to change the shape of the joint to provide more stability, very big surgery, or 2. hip replacement, less big of a surgery. Hip replacement is usually used for cases with a lot of osteoarthritis, where 1. tends to fail. It seems these are also options in dogs, I would try to find couple vet hip surgeons and get their opinions on whether there is dysplasia and what would be the best treatment. In humans mild cases are still treated with therapy, as intense pain + mild dysplasia is probably caused by something other than the dysplasia. Also in humans at least, physical therapy can be customized for the condition of hip dysplasia and non-specific PT may not help as much as hip-dysplasia-specific PT. I'm not sure if this is the case in dogs but it may be worth trying to find a PT that specializes in hip dysplasia, at least to help with the post-op rehab. Here are some links for more information: https://www.vetspecialty.com/specialties/surgery/orthopedic-procedures/total-hip-replacement-thr/canine-hip-dysplasia-chd/ https://ofa.org/diseases/hip-dysplasia/ https://rehabvet.com/conditions/hip-dysplasia-dog-physiotherapy/
Regarding PT, this link seems like it has some good info: https://drandyroark.com/wp-content/uploads/Published_Copy.pdf, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28576271/ Best wishes.
I'm familiar with the treatment in humans, if not canines. Thanks for looking into it!
No problem, hope you find a treatment to help your dog!
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Did a parakeet shit in your lassi or what? Parrots are great companions.
That was a joke. Not that I'd call them anything but "OK" companions.
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The trouble with love is that dogs don't last long enough and people last too long.
There are parrots and tortoises, I suppose. The former is maligned in the OP, but I think they can often be quite friendly companions.
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