Mos Eisley Cantina

[Darkened Angel]

If I have, I don't remember it.

I was on a steroid for about a month when I started getting treatments, and I forgot what that was called. If it's the same thing, maybe, but I'm kinda doubting it.  

[Miss-Pandemica]

well its not a steroid. its an antibody that targets TNFalpha which is a molecule that helps to initiate the inflammatory response when you have an infection and such. its supposed to help manage Crohns, but i worry with inhibitors like this because its limiting part of the immune response and its not like we understand that completely yet.

i thought it might be what your getting since it has to be administered by IV and is given at 6-8wk intervals. anyway sorry if my questions were intrusive.  

[Darkened Angel]

It's fine.

They won't give you a treatment if you've taken any antibiotics within the past 2 weeks of that day for exactly that reason. It interferes with the medicine.

The absolute worst was just prior to being diagnosed. I was having to " go " every 10-15 minutes, and I was in bed almost all the time for over a week, which included a week or so after getting treated too, thanks to having blackouts. That was annoying. I'd just spontaniously have everything go back and fall to the floor, meaning I had to be really careful and Bro pretty much had to take care of me the whole time.

Before that though, I was in the ER after going to the doctor and he said I was clinically dehydrated. I had to get an infusion for that. It was so bad that I couldn't even hold down a mouthful of water without puking it back up. I also lost weight to the point that I was under 100 lbs.

Now though, it's just a random pain in the a**, both figuratively and literally.  

[Miss-Pandemica]

i can imagine it would be a pain in the a** =S

anyway i imagine if the symptoms are not as severe as they were before then the treatment is having some effect. granted there might be a new treatment out there that just isnt ready for the public yet, what with all the clinical trials we have to put them through.

i could look up some things if your interested in any new treatment options that have been recently publish in journals. i believe there was an idea of treating people by using bacteria as a way of getting the micro flora in the gut to regulate the inflammation. sort of a retraining of the system if you will. not sure if anything has come of it though or if anyone has actually tried it out.

and while things like that make some sense in theory its hard to say if it possible or not to treat people like that.  

[Darkened Angel]

The doctor's already mentioned that there's some other options but it's too early to tell and he's not wanting to take chances. I have enough problems as it is, so I don't think it's worth risking more potential crap too. The treatments work good enough as it is, so there's no reason to change that until things are more certain.  

[Miss-Pandemica]

ok. well best of luck. sounds like things are under control. i hope they stay that way until someone finds a better way of treating this problem without so many damn side effects to boot.

its so annoying how the potential list of side effects for things just keeps adding up as we give people more and more types of medication. its all so mind boggling at times. i fear we are loosing sight on the important matter, which is that these drugs shouldnt just be made to turn a profit but to really HELP people.

*sigh* anyway not going down that road  

[Darkened Angel]

It's the fatal flaw of Capitalism. It all comes to down to getting people to buy stuff.

There's a pill for just about everything today, the vast majority of things being trivial, and most are caused because of other medications. Go figure. Nothing like being both the cause and the cure for something. Profit coming, profit going.  

[Miss-Pandemica]

yeah at the rate we are going we need to make ton of money in order to make feasible treatments like those for HIV and other chronic illnesses. and i'm not even talking about a cure i'm just talking about improving on what is out there presently.

pills for everything often looks like "poison" for everybody to me. i mean if you give someone the wrong dose thats lethal. stuff that treats one thing cant be mixed with stuff that treats for something else. ugh its a biochemical nightmare sometimes. i dont know how pharmacists do it. and honestly i'm glad i didnt sign up for that career anymore.  

[Darkened Angel]

I saw an article about a month or so ago.

Scientists in Sweden, I think, have found a cure for cancer. I forgot the name of it, but it's based on a chemical that your own body uses to fight cancer, but the thing is your body's not capable of doing enough by itself. This thing stimulates that same process, so that it's strong enough to actually combat the cancer and cure it.

Nobody's taking it. No pharmacy will carry it. Etc.

I haven't heard a word about it since then. I can only imagine they got shot down for a purely ecomonical reason of curing cancer meaning hospitals and doctors would lose profits from non-curing treatments. Hopefully that's not the case, because there's a reason for the Hippocratic Oath.  

[Miss-Pandemica]

i'm very curious about this now. i shall go look it up.

but it figures that if someone found a cure for something it would get shot down. i mean its hard enough as is to get proper treatment to other countries where things as simple as a leprosy CAN be effectively treated with just one drug. the problem is getting it over there and giving it to people without costing much, and also getting people to take the meds as prescribed. of courses theres also things like vaccination too. did you know polio still exists in africa? we have a perfectly good vaccine that prevents you from getting severely sick and also helps to prevent the spread of the virus and yet there are still hundreds of people with the disease and are getting infected because people wont take the vaccine due to whatever stigma the government has placed on it.  

[Darkened Angel]

" A world without kids... The future generations will thank us. "

It comes down to the same level of stupidity as that statement from American Dad.

I'd like it if the governments and other organizations that claim to be looking out for people's best interests to actually benefit said people by doing their job as it's meant to be done.

Best case we have today is they do honestly care, but it all gets drowned in a sea of red tape long before it gets through, at which point it might as well not have come at all.  

[Miss-Pandemica]

yeah individuals care, and those small organizations that havent been corrupted by the government or whatever do try to help, though their range is quite small. in comparison to other larger groups, but still....you'd think we be able to do more or be better at this day and age. <******** rules and regulations are supposed to help people not hinder. at times it seems they do more to prevent progress then help to move it forward. but i shouldnt complain because if it comes to the point where individuals are effected by situations where a law could've prevented something heinous from occurring we can be grateful that it exists. *shrug* feels like its a double edged sword at times.  

[Darkened Angel]

Part of the problem is that the people aren't considered real people, but just statistics.  

[Miss-Pandemica]

yeah...i know thats how it is. statistics governs so much of our research these days. but statistics is a useful tool i just think we abuse it too much. using small sample sizes in order to extrapolate what is happening in the real world population is unrealistic. confounding variables will always cause bias and there will always be those who are outliers when compared to the whole.

mainly it hard to treat certain individuals when one also is trying to treat the whole world at the same time. its not impossible...just difficult.  

[Darkened Angel]

The problem with statistics is the factor on how the data was obtained.

For example, asking random people at the mall at noon to find what percentage of them are night owls is likely going to be skewered because you're there at a time they likely wouldn't be around.