I’m about to go off to the local clinic for a visit with a specialist, who’s going to figure out all the things wrong with me. It could take days, weeks, or months, who knows…but if I don’t make it back this afternoon, just figure I gave up and have donated my body to science.
That went unexpectedly well. I’m in good shape, the infection that was making me miserable is clearing up, I’m not getting shipped off to the body farm just yet.
Best wishes.
Wishing you nothing but good news and magazines less than five years old in the waiting room.
I hope it all goes well, PZ.
Best wishes…unless it turns out your troubles are caused by a *really* interesting parasitic organism, in which case the host is the expendable unit.
Best wishes, PZ, and may the list of malfunctional bits and processes be short.
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But people on Twitter already do that for free.
An onion ‘n bacon tarte will be immolated in the fire and then rituellement consumèd to entreat Cthulhu to cast his benevolent, (and frankly a bit sticky) tentacles over thee in thy time of travail !
P.S. I was going to ask Shub’Niggurath as well but he’s buggered off down the P.M.U. for a game of pool. Sorry.
So sorry to hear you still are having health issues. Hope everything works out OK.
Here’s hoping your issues are easily diagnosed and even more easily treated, PZ.
(I was just diagnosed with severe apnea, and I’ve been using a CPAP machine for just over a week now. My quality of life has improved substantially in that time, and it’s still improving. It took some time for apnea to appear on my doctor’s radar, but when it finally did and I saw a specialist and got decked out with a machine—just wow.)
I hope it’s diagnosable and easily treatable.
I keep going through the “it’s not that, maybe this” thing. Batteries of tests that basically find nothing.
There’s a reason why they call it the “art of medicine”. Because the “science” of medicine at the individual patient level pretty much boils down to guessing and wishful thinking.
There’s only c.15 BSL-4 labs in USAlienstan, none of which are in (or too near?) Morris. Hence, they probably have to incinerate the donation, specialist, and surrounding buildings (“nuke from orbit” perhaps isn’t required, however). That would be unfortunate, since PZedola is a fascinating condition, with multiple tentacles and other exceptionally unusual symptoms.
Soylent Green is PZ! Seriously though, asking someone to list everything wrong with you sounds like the makings of an epic Congressional filibuster. 72 hours straight anyone?
I have rattled a kitchen drawer and offered the ritual prayer “How can it close on the damned thing but not open with it? Who bought this? Do we ever use it?” to wish you the best.
Later I will also fry some sausages so that Offler may indulge in the “sausagicity” of them whilst I partake, without pleasure, in the de-spiritualised remnants.
Anthony K wrote
I’m very glad to hear you are getting this treated, Anthony K. May you continue to improve.
I attended a lecture about this a few days ago, so here are my notes.
Know the symptoms of sleep apnea! Even doctors miss this condition. The average lag between development of sleep apnea and its diagnosis is ten years.
Symptoms are:
* dry throat on waking
* unplanned sleep during the day (falling asleep in meetings, at the wheel, etc.)
* bed partner reports bad snoring or long pauses in breathing
* sometimes, restless legs in bed
The lack of oxygen at night stimulates stress hormones and raises blood pressure. Blood pressure medications won’t work until the sleep apnea is treated. The heart beat can become irregular. Untreated apnea can lead to a stroke or heart attack in the wee small hours. The stress also raises blood sugar and cholesterol.
Sleep apnea can cause depression or constant anxiety.
People tend to eat sugar during the day to increase their energy and thus they gain weight. Overweight increases the fat in the neck, which increases sleep apnea in a vicious circle.
25% – 30% of people who get heart attacks or strokes have undiagnosed sleep apnea. The main cause of single-vehicle accidents is falling asleep at the wheel. The life you save may be your own.
PZ, I’m glad to hear you have a simple, treatable condition.
Live long and prosper.
Good to hear, PZ.
It’s a good thing we live in the 21st century where gonorrhoea is so easy to get of.
That’ll be $790 plus tax and tip
– Professional Internet Diagnosticator Silič O’Nopolitopolos
What, no Logan’s Run like ending?
I has a disappoint. :p
Glad everything’s ticking that supposed to, and hope nothing’s humming that isn’t.
Glad everything is clearing up, PZ! Here’s hoping things continue to progress in a positive manner health-wise for you, as well as the other commenters here!
Three steps to $ucce$$:
1. Pull out drawer, take it over to the dumpster
2. Invert the drawer, then revert
3. Put drawer back in the proper location
Or, the more time-consuming version:
1. If you have more than one of a thing, throw out the extras
2. If you haven’t used the thing in 6 months, toss it
3. If you have no idea what the thing does or how it got in there, say sayonara
I’ve tried both and the first way is more painful at first, but waaay easier in the long run.
If you have an in-house SO, then just leave the drawer as-is and back away slowly.
Maybe you’ll have better luck next time.
It’s a MIRACLE!
Thanks for the PSA, Markita Lynda. Apnea really is one of those conditions that can fly under the radar and cause so many other problems.
As for my wife, she’s loving my lack of snoring now, and finds my subtle Darth Vader-like assisted breathing at night very restful. Plus, I get to make all sorts of “I’m more machine than man now” jokes, which is a big plus for a comedic hack like me.
I am guessing whats wrong with you is the same thing that was wrong with every other brilliant person throughout history, like Einstein and Stephen J Gould – you think your body is just there to carry your head around, and you don’t get any EXERCISE !! The human body evolved to MOVE.. So…. MOVE ! We want you to be around for a long time.
Morris, Minnesota: worst Obamacare death panel anywhere.
Still, it’s good you are healthy.
Syphilis?
@ Usernames! (ᵔᴥᵔ) – Unfortunately removing the offending item from the drawer is no way to venerate Anoia.
Glad it wasn’t dire news, PZ.
I’m very glad to hear you’ll be keeping your body for the foreseeable future. (In your FACE, Science! /Homer Simpson voice)
Usernames @20
Are you mad? Of all the gods to piss off, Anoia is the one you really shouldn’t. She won’t hit you with a lightning bolt, or turn your kidneys to tapioca pudding or make various beloved appendages fall off. She does much worse. She just sees to it that you are annoyed. Just little things. Unimportant things. Trivial things.
She’ll drive you stark raving mad.
Better get those drawers refilled with completely useless but springy things. And then rattle a drawer at least once a day. She may forgive you some day. I hope you will be okay.
You too, PZ, though I know you would never be so silly as to clean out a drawer.
I have to provide best wishes also. But this comment was triggered by the comments about apnea. The PSA re apnea is quite accurate. My S.O. was diagnosed with severe apnea after years of me complaining (to myself) about the ‘stopped breathing’ silences during sleep. After using the CPAP for a single night, she declared a total night of uninterrupted sleep. As mentioned in the PSA, apnea causes intense stress hormone releases to restart the breath. Using the CPAP to provide continual breathing ability is a significant relief from those stress hormones (adrenaline).
… gee, sorry to continue the derail.
seriously, best of health to you PZ. Hope the diagnosis is easily treatable.
I’m also glad it went well. It seems every time I go in for a check-up, it’s something new, and they throw me into a hospital bed or give me a couple of bottles of pills to take. I was so despairing this morning that I packed a travel bag, just in case they threw me under the knife.
I was totally shocked when they said everything was fine, and I got to go home. Completely unexpected. I felt fine, but I’m getting used to doctors finding lurking woodrot or crumbling masonry and telling me they need to bring in a specialist to shore me up.
That’s great, PZ.
Medics do, sometimes, know what they are doing!
Dr of what, exactly, did you go to? That sounds like civil engineering. You wanted medicine. Not quite the same, albeit both are quite fond of poking at things until they break…
If the Continuous Positive Air Pressure is too annoying, there’s now an A-for-automatic PAP, which kicks in only when breathing stops.
PZ, I know the feeling! All those little aches and pains
I’m glad you’re doing well, PZ.