As requested, an open thread. I’ll try to get these up more often in the future. This one will be overseen by Morrissey with a cat on his head.
No trolls, no arguments.
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Open Thread for Personal Stuff: January 2014 Pretty Cats Make Hats Edition
*gah, it *has* gelatine in it…
We’re not totally out of the woods, but Murphy is doing much better after his injection this morning. He got to spend a nice relaxing day at Grandma’s while I got to go practice for Saturday without worrying about him. I was late and the nice monk even ceded his time, even though he had to play today. He’s started eating again. When we got back to our house, I had forgotten I left the plate with all the stuff he rejected that morning on the floor and when I got back from the car with the last of the stuff, he had gobbled it all up and licked the plate clean! (please no food poisoning! it wasn’t a lot!)
The vet assured me that the steroids are the way to go. It’s too early to give up, especially since he’s such a sweetheart and he has made them all fall in love with him. He’s going to get some doggie acupuncture on Saturday. It helped a lot when he had his back episode last year. The acupuncture doc is also a physical therapist, so maybe that’s the part the really helps.
The good thing is the steroids are the first line treatment for both the back AND the bowel. It should kill two birds with one stone, but still only cautiously optimistic.
Ally, just stay safe, please.
Eli, I’m glad your goggie is eating again. I hope he and you have a long time together yet.
auggz: I’m gluten-free and have been for a few years. It’s gotten so trendy lately, some people are assholes about it. If I eat wheat, I get diarrhea. Stop wheat, stop diarrhea. But I’m not celiac. I also avoid processed foods. I’m the asshole who asks the person who made the gravy for thanksgiving if they made it with cornstarch (yes, you did, SCORE!, you rock).
But, ultimately, I try to just keep quiet about my food requirements. I always bring something even if I’m not supposed to or I eat before I go. I always keep peanuts in my car.
I also eat very healthy, homecooked, changes for life kind of eating. It can get you all excited and you want to talk about it, but most people don’t care.
I think you should do whatever makes you feel best and don’t let the assholes get you down. It’s your body. I used to get up at 5 to go for a walk/run during the summers when I had my office job. Nothing wrong with that.
Ally: that all sounds really rough. I hope the pdfs work to distract him. I wish you all the best and hope you’re not being overly dismissive of concerns about your safety.
@eli that’s great news, I hope Murphy improves. 🙂 And with the diets you both are following, (you sound like you’re both eating well) – it’s *nobody’s business*.
Oh wow, I had no idea there were so many vegetarians here! I too was vegan in college and for a while after, 10 years, but recently started being less strict, so if it has *some* dairy as an obscure ingredient my reaction is ‘Meh’. So I just call myself vegetarian nowadays, just simpler and easier for most people to grasp.
@eli
So you’ve found that reducing wheat really can help digestive issues, celiac or no? I’m such a carb addict, maybe I should give it a go? (I say as I inhale a bowl of pasta with a side of garlic bread :/ )
Also, *crosses fingers for the pup*. It sounds hopeful at this point! I’m glad.
I’m glad to hear about the doggie, eli, and I’m also dragging out the big barrel of (contact and non-contact) hugs & baby penguins who like being tickled. For anyone who needs one.
Fingers crossed for the doggie!
Oh, so glad to hear hopeful news about Murphy, eli! Lots of Furrinati-but-not-scary-kitty hugs for you both.
/unleash gluten-free evangelism
Wheat gives me diarrhea, headaches, itchy skin, bloating, and gas. It also makes me angry, depressed, anxious, paranoid, and causes panic attacks.
Finding this out blew my mind, man. I know it can’t possibly affect everyone this way, but if you have issues, give it up for a few weeks, and see what happens.
/re-leash
That pretty much is how my diet is these days too. Except I’ve gone from less strict to more; most days I eat totally vegan but it’s not 100% all the time so I call myself vegetarian even though I am more vegan than some people I know who call themselves vegan, if you follow me. 🙂 Been veg for 22 years; the first 15 or so I was still very heavily eating eggs and dairy.
fromafar2013:
I found it did like magic and accidentally. I had been so miserable: multiple showers every day; near accidents driving in the car; and, what was really weird, gaining a lot of weight. I had made some homemade baked beans and had lots of Indian restaurant leftovers one week (I never bother taking the naan home, it seems to solidify into the most inedible substance after a night in the fridge) and had my first solid in weeks. Started journaling my food intake afterwards. I cave every once in a while for real beer or real pizza and I always pay. Instant liqui-poop. I plan it when I have a couple of days off.
But if you don’t have an intolerance, there’s no reason to give up wheat, unless it helps. There are some very good gluten-free pastas, and reasonably priced if you have a Trader Joe’s.
RE: Murphy
We actually managed to get most meds down tonight with very little battle, but some subterfuge that he figured out and gave me massive side-eye over. One he didn’t take, but that’s the least important. But now he’s kind of wincing, like breathing out loud painish and breathing pretty heavy. He insisted on making the stairs into the house by himself after our last trip to the yard and that’s when the wincing started. He’s trying to get me to go to bed.
Update:
I sent my dad that email and he reacted nicely. Here’s what he said
So I’m safe for the time being. Sorry for making you guys super worried.
Gluten is found in wheat, barley and the spelt on your label. Ezekiel products are not gluten-free, but they have more whole grain and fewer refined carbohydrates. So they are better for you.
Some gluten-free grains would be rice, sorghum, teff (or wait, is teff a grain or is it a seed like quinoa?), millet.
Oatmeal and cornmeal/cornstarch need to be eaten cautiously. Many brands are processed on the same machines that process wheat flours and have cross-contamination.
and, “non-produce plants?” this confuses me.
Teff
Holy shit, I just got a check in the mail for $844.38. It must be financial aid money. Time to add more to my savings. ^_^
(In case anyone is wondering, I’m taking a break from UCSC and I need to run away from home so this is like a fucking godsend.)
Holy shit, Ally!
Are there strings? Do you need to be registered?
Nope. The check is ready to be cashed. If anyone thinks it’s unwise to cash it, though, I’d like to hear your suggestions.
I didn’t want to rain on your parade. I just knew lots of people in lots of levels of college who got in trouble over money that magically appeared in their mailboxes. I don’t know a good reason not to cash it, but I don’t know the specifics of your educational circumstances beyond what you’ve said in this thread the last couple of pages.
If you really just had 800 dollars fall into your lap when you need it, I’m totally fucking overjoyed about the world.
I sometimes used to get money after the semester started that I owed the college for my health insurance, but that was usually in the fall for the whole academic year.
Do you know where it came from? who sent it? what they expect you to do with it?
Or maybe it’s best to just cash it and run. Any other consequences can be dealt with when you’re safe?
Wow, that money could not be coming at a time when it was needed more.
I mean I’m completely non-religious and non-spiritual but things like this make me reconsider my views. =P
Non-religious and non-spiritual here too, but when the nice monk offered to pray for doggie today, I took it.
Honestly, though I call myself non-spiritual and non-religious, I actually have a tendency to take some spiritual ideas seriously. And sometimes I even find myself talking tarot card readings seriously.