My skin is really dried out on my abdomen I haven't come across a lotion that has helped and truthfully, it seems almost...scaly. It weirds me out but it's not terribly uncomfortable it just itches terribly sometimes.

Okay, I'll bite the nommy bait of experience. These are not MY problems, but instead Lady Lortab's. The reason I'm posting them for her (to all you new folks, Lady Lortab is my mother, who I shanghaied onto IRG a long while back) is because it's just easier for her to dictate to me the problems (I don't really mind hearing about her issues) than for me to constantly correct her spelling and grammar.

Okay, enough about that. Onward with the problems. But we'll save the more embarrassing one for later. Right now it's a matter of pain and safety.

Lady Lortab wrote:

I've been on Celebrex for seven years now to treat my osteoarthritis. My kidney specialist has taken me off the medication because of potential harm to my kidneys. She has suggested Acetaminophen instead. Is there anything else I can take other than Acetaminophen to ease the pain that won't potentially damage my kidneys?

Think you can help my mom out here a bit, Ends of the Forum?

Hello Nurse Gio!

I do have a question for you.  My resting heart rate tends to be 90+ BPM, even when I'm waking up from being asleep.  Any sort of stress or loud noise will send it shooting up over 100.  I'll get what feels like panic attacks through the day, and I've checked my BPM during these times, and that's the only time it goes down to 70-80.  Should I be worried?

I also have heart murmurs, and mild anemia.  I've been tested for diabetes, and found out that my blood sugar is slightly below average.

Because I am the Co-president of The FML for the Mid-Atlantic region I have 65$ of useless birth control.
I wanted pills, specifically norethisterone to ensure that I would not being having my period on vacation. I was refusing to be bleeding on a boat and at the beach! So early January I talked to my Doctor, explained what I want to achieve and got all this squared away they said sure and that they would give me a prescription that would handle it. So I send out said prescriptions off to be filled at the pharmacy; of course they call me and say that they are out of the original pills because they have been discontinued and could they substitute them for others. I said as long as my doctor agrees it is fine. So of course I get my pills and they are regular fucking birth control... Fucking fail. I tried to return them, fully sealed in package to the pharmacy but they couldn't accept them.    Anyway in short, what in the hell can I do with them? I guess I could possibly do research and figure out the Morning After plan for them but in all honesty I don't for see needing them for that purpose anytime soon. Any suggestions?

SexingTouga24/7/365 wrote:

I guess I could possibly do research and figure out the Morning After plan for them but in all honesty I don't for see needing them for that purpose anytime soon. Any suggestions?

For most birth control, it's a dose of three at once and then one or two more a while later. But...why can't you use the ordinary birth control pills to regulate your period? Based on that I might be able to offer suggestions.

Frosty wrote:

How severe is a typical earache? Is it still an earache if the person is complaining of ‘spasms’ inside their ear, doubling over in pain, chills (but not fever), and crying. My mom has this. She apparently has been to the doctor several times and they say, “You don’t have an ear infection,” and send her away with drops for whenever it’s painful. Online says, if it’s not an infection its fluid build up. Well, since this is a reoccurring theme, does that sound like what it really is? I always imagined an ear ache like a headache, you see people with headaches looking uncomfortable, but they aren’t crying and flinching. I’ve just never heard of -such an extreme earache reaction- so the symptoms seem, to me it sounds like it warrants a Hospital Visit! She saw the general doctor about blood pressure (and takes all the requisite bloodpressure medication) and they talked her into a flu shot. Could this abnormal reaction be due to that?

It's probably nothing to do with the flu shot. Spasms and pain and crying are all possible with a normal earache because shit that shit can hurt. Chills, however, are foreboding, even in the absence of fever. Fluid buildup is possible but in a situation that severe they need to be looking for ear or tooth (yes) abscesses or cysts. Someone needs to do an X-Ray or CT or whatever they want to see if there's a pocket of infection or fluid in there; if the doctors are saying no on infection based on swabs, then an abscess could still be there. They may also be visualizing a normal tympanic membrane, which will rule out inner/mid ear infection but not auditory nerve growths or issues or fluid/cysts within the bone structure but outside the ear. Unfortunately the best way to get that all figured out is scanning of various sorts, and that's easiest to get done by going to the ER. If she has insurance or doesn't give a shit...go for it. Better safe than sorry, and the head is not a good place to dick around.

Giovanna wrote:

SexingTouga24/7/365 wrote:

I guess I could possibly do research and figure out the Morning After plan for them but in all honesty I don't for see needing them for that purpose anytime soon. Any suggestions?

For most birth control, it's a dose of three at once and then one or two more a while later. But...why can't you use the ordinary birth control pills to regulate your period? Based on that I might be able to offer suggestions.

Well really I did not want to start a birth control plan on a full time basis; I just wanted a skip month/week.  So even though I don't think that the pills I have will work that way give it a shot. They are Norinyl 1/50 28 day compact.

Also what is a quick method/food to reduce high blood sugar?   

Thanks for answering my questions and I hope that your school is going well.

Thank you, Gio!

My boyfriend gets severe twitches when he sleeps. I've never, ever, in my entire life seen anyone twitch as bad as he does. Sometimes it's so bad he wakes me up, if I've already fallen asleep.
He's had two seizures in his life, and is manic depressant, OCD, and gets a fair amount of panic attacks. (I was going to mention he's an avid hypochondriac, but it's only relevant if want to understand his personality. ) I don't know if he's just a twitchy fellow, or could it have something to do with his obviously abnormal brain?

Oh! I can answer that! If she's bloating up, peeing a lot, and generally grumpy, with a family history of diabetes, she should he checked out for it.
My twin sister is diabetic, so I know a little bit about it. I think there isn't really a way to tell if someone has diabetes without going to the doctor. Most people don't have the necessary equipment for testing keytone levels. Although, I've never really understood what a keytone is, I know it's important, and unusual levels can indicate diabetes. (My mom sent us to a weird seminar thing when my sister got the betes that insulted my intelligence by giving us a strange video game to explain diabetes instead of just telling us what the hell a keytone was. To this day I think of them only as very mean looking pack-man ghosts traveling around unchecked in someone's body. I was 9 when I went to that, and I'm 19 now...)



Sorry, Gio, if I'm intruding on your little thing you're having. I just couldn't resist... (And correct me if I'm wrong, because by god, I set my skirt on fire today trying to kiss my boyfriend. I'm not too smart sometimes. Oooh! Tell me what a keytone is! )

Aya wrote:

My boyfriend gets severe twitches when he sleeps. I've never, ever, in my entire life seen anyone twitch as bad as he does. Sometimes it's so bad he wakes me up, if I've already fallen asleep.
He's had two seizures in his life, and is manic depressant, OCD, and gets a fair amount of panic attacks. (I was going to mention he's an avid hypochondriac, but it's only relevant if want to understand his personality. ) I don't know if he's just a twitchy fellow, or could it have something to do with his obviously abnormal brain?

It certainly could be a wiring issue, however most of the time, twitching and movement in sleep is more of an interplay between the neurologic system and the musculoskeletal system. A purely neurologic issue would manifest during the day also, and this is probably if at all only minimally related to the seizures if they're that infrequent. The first two things you want to do (you'll notice it always comes to this first--isn't it funny?) is check out his diet and his activity level. Twitching in your sleep, seriously, can be made worse by a sedentary lifestyle and inadequate physical activity. Muscles are hyper-excitable because they haven't been thoroughly worked out of it during the day. The other possibility is nutrition--imbalances in rather a lot of things can cause muscle twitching, spasms, and cramps, which will be controlled adequately during the day by the neurologic system so the symptoms go unnoticed until someone sleeps with you at night. Make sure he's getting enough potassium and calcium. Sodium also is a possibility but no one in any first world country ever lacks for sodium. Hydration's another big one.

Basically, look into his nutrition and maybe toss some supplements in where needed (stick with this for about a month before you rule out it's not working), and suggest some physical exercise, especially if it occurs in the second half of the day--even a bit of walking will help. Also some good stretching right before bed will work the kinks out a little. If these things don't change how much he twitches...give him a glass of wine or a shot of something hard before bed for a few days. (Srsly. Also, no beer. The carbs mess up this experiment and it's not enough alcohol.) At that point, whether that works or not he should probably get a check-up. But that's data that the doctor can use in a differential: that it's not responsive to nutrition and exercise, but that it does respond to alcohol.

By the way, this might all be bullshit if he's on any meds for seizures or OCD or panic attacks. Those meds tend to do weird shit like that and I can tell you if they're a culprit if you tell me what they are. In their case, dietary and exercise modifications may be helpful, but not completely so, and modification of the med regimen may be needed.

PROTIP: Pretend your doctor is Sherlock Holmes or House or something: data, data, data, he can't make bricks without clay! A lot of people get mad at doctors when they're wrong about a diagnosis based on a ridiculously small amount of data like 'my tummy hurts'. A good half of my job as a nurse is to kick and drag information out of you and your body that gives the doctor more to work with. You can help in this by ruling out and narrowing down a lot of things before you go if the situation isn't 'chest pain' or 'vomiting blood' or some other medical emergency. In many of these things I've talked about here, my advice has been 'try this and if it doesn't work, see the doctor'. That's because the doctor's in the same position I am in a lot of cases--he has to rule out something obvious before he digs deeper, and I'm telling you what that something he'll tell you to try first is. If you go to him and say 'I did this and this and nothing happened', then he actually has some data to work with. And yes, seriously, an easy half of the minor to moderate complaints people have involve their diet or lack of exercise. It really is that simple.

allegoriest wrote:

I have an anorexic sister who gets faint feeling or has headaches alot. She eats quite often, but never anything with fat, and she doesn't care if its loaded with sugar. Lately I've been finding her gorging on like... Jellybeans. She also needs to pee all the damn time.
Both her parent's families also have had diabetes in them, and that kinda freaks me out, but I really have no idea how one goes about getting it and whatnot. So I dunno if I'm necessarily freaking or what. I'm only experienced in what to do with them, not figuring out if they have it.


(I know we need to to changer her diet, but I've been trying to feed her better things, but she's anorexic AND ocd, so its really tricky. And if we don't buy her food, she won't eat anything. I managed to get her to eat BACON earlier, so some progress HAS been made.)

OCD and anorexia often come together. People assume anorexia is motivated largely by a desire to be thin, and that is certainly a huge chunk of it...but it's mostly, mostly about control. We're actually kept away from the anorexic patients in the children's hospital because they're that manipulative and dangerous and take advantage of our kindness: an anorexic may be given an apple, but will argue because they want an orange. Nutritionally the same...but if you give in, you've given them control. You literally have to break them. It's scary stuff, and if she's truly anorexic she needs help before she gets to the point where she's in the hospital tied down with a tube in her nose to feed her. That's where that goes, and somehow they manage to get the tube out a lot of the time. Don't try to manage that on your own.

As far as her symptoms, they are textbook diabetes and she should definitely get it checked out. However...they're also all very characteristic of anorexia, and the doctor should be aware of her eating habits while diagnosing her, since the diabetes issue might cover up another major problem that needs addressing. But those symptoms are textbook hyperglycemia.

As far as ketones, they're what your body pisses out when you're burning fat for fuel rather than carbs. They're characteristic of diabetes because in diabetes you lack the insulin to allow you body to use carbs and sugar, so it burns the fat instead. A ketonic state is also the deliberate goal of the old Atkins diet--where you'd eat no carbs at all and so force your body to use the fat instead. (Danger there is people often did this wrong and burned through their protein first and lost muscle as well as fat.) You CAN buy urine ketone tests in pharmacies, I believe, since many diabetics (especially type 1) keep a couple sticks on hand. If she tests positive for ketones despite the ridiculous amount of sugar she takes in, she's almost definitely diabetic. Actually if that many folks around you have diabetes, someone probably has these sticks on hand. And a blood sugar tester. Diabetes is indicated by a presence of ketones in urine (this will be confirmed by blood test later), and by a fasting (8 hours) blood sugar over 90, or consistently high sugar after meals (over about 180). These are tests that if you have diabetics around, can be done before she goes to the doctor. He's going to do them himself anyway and you'll be saving him a lot of trouble and letting him skip right to the more precise evaluations of her condition.

allegoriest wrote:

Like, I can deal with someone in a diabetic attack, but god knows I dunno how the entire thing starts anyway. But I'm kinda scared to tell my mom that I suspect it, since her mother recently died due to complications of it.

ALL THE MORE REASON. You can't get rid of diabetes, and in the vast majority of people, its complications will eventually be their death or ruin. Sorry. BUT, the management of diabetes if it's taken seriously changes everything. Diabetes caught early and managed well is a lot less destructive than waiting for it to be really noticeable. What's scary about diabetes is what it does to the body while you're not looking. Don't let her wait.

allegoriest wrote:

I'm mostly wondering if like, eating too much sugar and all can lead to diabetes. Like, if I live off candy, will my pancreas freak the hell out and leave? I was always told 'Don't eat too much sugar or you'll get diabetes!'

Nope. Eating too much sugar will not cause diabetes. It'll just fucking kill you once you have it. An excessive and poor diet of any kind is more likely to make you fat, which inclines you to diabetes, but a diet full of fat and protein is as likely to be a causative factor as one filled with sugar. It's not what you eat but how much of it--the body's system for management of sugar isn't just run by the presence of sugar--if you eat too much, yeah you strain your pancreas. If you eat too much fat, there's less sugar to absorb and the pancreas gets lazy. In someone genetically inclined to diabetes, it may not matter what you do...eventually you'll develop it, even if your wise dietary choices only stalled it a decade or two.

Howdy Dr. Gio,

After noticing your show came on after Dr. Phil, i thought i'd ask a question

On a serious note:

I have a Dual Ear infection in the same ear. The doctor diagnosed me with a middle and outter ear infection and gave me antibiotics and pain-killing ear drops. While the infection has gone down dramatically over the past 4 days of me taking the medicine; i still have an excrutiating pain ressonating on the inside of my ear. It hurts to turn, cough, or touch! Other than take massive amounts of Tylenol or Ibuprofin; is there anything else i can do to relieve the tension?

ALSO: I am concerned that i might have lost some hearing in my right ear (the one with the infection), should i get my hearing checked after this clears up? I am hearing a ringing in my right ear that i'm not used to pretty constantly. I also hear my ear popping and a lot of nasty noises on the inside of it... is this part of the healing process?

Thanks

Giovanna wrote:

KFAR, it's hard to say right now if there's hearing loss--too much gunk and edema in the area that's the more likely culprit. I'm assuming you're on oral antibiotics or oral and drops? Drops won't really get into the inner ear well enough to be useful. Oral antibiotics usually kick in helluva fast, so there may be some bacterial resistance, or there might just be a lot of shit gunked up in there...kind of like an abscess. The treatment in that case will be the same--a deliberate puncture of tympanic membrane to drain out the pus.

I would call your doctor's office, ask them if the inner ear symptoms should have come down by now. (How long are you on antibiotics? If the course is longer than 10 days or so, then they might be expected to take longer to kill the symptoms.) Normally I'd say wait it out, but inner ear infections, especially of the bacterial sort, are Very Dangerous. They ARE a frequent cause of hearing loss, and they are high risk situations for meningitis and joint infections and all sorts of nasty shit.

I'm on oral antibiotics 3x daily and ear drops 3x daily. i've been on them for 5 days now. I was told its a 10 day dosage so. I will give my doc office a phone call tomorrow morning! hah eeaghh.... i really don't want "all sorts of nasty shit" i don't know if they have treatment for that disease yet But as for a sunday; i think i'll just hide under a rock and put my ear in buble-boy fashon  until ic an call the doctor.

its really sweet of you to take care of all of your childr.... i mean forum posters and their illnesses. hahaa You might have to start charging for advice ;-)

Thank you

Giovanna wrote:

KissFromARose wrote:

You might have to start charging for advice ;-)

Nurses are pushing to be billed for their services directly, as opposed to being included in the cost of your hospital bed. They feel that getting a bill for nursing, as you do from the surgeon, anesthesiologist, and laboratory, will increase public awareness of the value of nursing and give nurses more weight in the health care community.

my grandmother is a nurse and is a firm believer that most doctors are idiots and need nurses to remind them of simple tasks such as washing their hands! I mean seriously... But i agree; i think nurses are an essential part of the healthcare system and should be better taken care of

I wish you luck on your nursing endeavors and may you help many poor souls!