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Open Thread for Personal Stuff: August 2014 Suspended Kitty Edition

Crap.
Crap.

An open thread for personal stuff, continuing from here.

As usual for these threads: no trolls, no MRAs, no arguments.

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Orion
10 years ago

Congratulations to pallygirl, and best wishes to all those with itches.

Yesterday I was diagnosed with narcolepsy. I finally know why I fell apart in college. They sent me home with a sample drug, and some literature and an enormous stack about the shiniest of shiny new drugs. Well, sort of new. When I read the pamphlet it turned out they’re actually just giving people GHB. GHB! I’m surprised the disclaimer book wasn’t twice as thick.

marinerachel
marinerachel
10 years ago

Good old Xyrem!

I remember when I started becoming acquainted with a lot of drugs used in hospital (not stuff we prescribe patients) and, several times, had the realisation “Wait. This is coke!”

pallygirl
pallygirl
10 years ago

@thanks everyone for the best wishes and the suggestions. This has taught me that there are far more suitable products to purchase in Canada and the US than in NZ. 🙁 I will look up the Ego Skin Care range and see if I can purchase it locally.

@Orion: good luck with the narcolepsy drugs. Diagnoses can be a great thing, and I hope the drug regime works for you.

pallygirl
pallygirl
10 years ago

@marinerachel: Is this the right product range? It says EGO Skin Care on the left menu: http://www.douglas.co.nz/eczema/

marinerachel
marinerachel
10 years ago

It’s funny because, compared to the US, a lot of products are not available or are less readily available and more expensive in Canada. This is why we cross-border shop!

I guess I never thought about just how isolated New Zealand is though. WAY more so than us in Canada.

marinerachel
marinerachel
10 years ago

You got it. As much as I dislike antibacterial products, generally speaking, when you’re trying to heal inflamed skin you just have to use them to speed recovery along while preventing infection. Soap is going to dry you out and strip your skin of a lot of it’s natural defenses against bacteria.

Both my hands are covered in eczema and the only route that’s provided me any relief has been antibacterial cleansers and no soap.

pallygirl
pallygirl
10 years ago

🙂 A pitch on the Gruen Transfer by Aussie admakers:

katz
10 years ago

My deepest sympathies to everyone who is itching. It is a miserable way to feel.

Phoenician in a time of Romans
Phoenician in a time of Romans
10 years ago

I guess I never thought about just how isolated New Zealand is though. WAY more so than us in Canada.

We’re not THAT isolated. It’s been at least three years since we were talking on the internet by banging magnets on the telephone wires.

kittehserf MOD
kittehserf MOD
10 years ago

I LOVE nonsequitur. 🙂

Hey Phoenican, can you sell your unused magnets to Queensland? Going by what my sister said tonight, it’d improve the service up there.

pallygirl
pallygirl
10 years ago

When I was a teenager *in the 80s* I had my Canadian cousin convinced we had only just got electricity.

LBT
LBT
10 years ago

RE: pallygirl

This has taught me that there are far more suitable products to purchase in Canada and the US than in NZ.

Yeah, our mother complained about that a LOT when we were living there.

I guess it’s kind of a trade-off; from what I hear, NZ’s healthcare system insures more people than here in the US, but you lack the medical variety we have. *spreads hands*

RE: Orion

One of my roommates is on an opiate for PTSD, so I know how that goes.

LBT
LBT
10 years ago

Also, today Sneak discovered the game Five Nights at Freddy’s.

Zie mostly had to just listen to the Let’s Play, rather than watch. That kid better not have nightmares. (I’d say me either, but this week has not been good for bad dreams; four times this week! Yeesh!)

blahlistic (@blahlistic)

@LBT

One of my roommates is on an opiate for PTSD, so I know how that goes.

O.o Really? I mean, I’m not accusing you of lying or something.
Just really astonished a doc would actually do that, prescribe opiates for PTSD.
I would just think that the opiate would eventually become a bigger problem than the PTSD, is all, but I’m just a looney on the internet….with PTSD.

My GF has ADHD. She was picking up adderall at the one pharmacy that actually carries controlled substances, and the lady at the counter announced very loudly:
“Ma’am, your AMPHETAMINE SALTS are ready!”
GF worried she was going to get jumped in the parking lot by tweakers…

contrapangloss
contrapangloss
10 years ago

I can hear! It’s still reduced on the left, but the world doesn’t sound under watery anymore. Another week of antibiotics, and I’m home free.

I never want to get sick in this town again, though. The only place I can get appointments with is the urgent care, and they’re really expensive…

sparky
sparky
10 years ago

pallygirl: Maybe something like A&D ointment or Aquaphor? It would keep the skin moisturized and protected. The downside would be that it’s thick and greasy (petroleum jelly is a major ingredient in both) and might be intolerable. And oral Benadryl wouldn’t make the skin issue to away, but it also has some mild sedative and anti-anxiety properties so it might make it easier to ignore the itching. Especially if the itching makes it hard to sleep at night, it might make you sleepy enough that the itching doesn’t bug you as much. Oatmeal baths are really soothing. It helps if you take about a cup of oatmeal and grind it up as fine as you can in a blender or food processor, then dissolve it in lukewarm (or cool if that feels better) water. It stil leaves a mess in your tub, though. Sometimes the ocologists where I work prescribe a hydrocortisone cream, which is also available over the counter. Of course, I’d recommend checking with your doctor before trying a hydrocortisone cream (or pretty much anything I’ve listed with the possible exception of the oatmeal baths) to make sure it’s ok.

Hope the itching goes away soon.

kittehserf MOD
kittehserf MOD
10 years ago

Fribbie’s on a big cardboard box chasing her tail! I can’t remember the last time she chased her tail (she is 18, so I wouldn’t expect it). Lovely to see her doing a bit of kitty silliness!

cloudiah
10 years ago

YAY for Fribbie acting all kittenish!

katz
10 years ago

I just submitted my Pitch Wars entry and am now freaking out and stalking Twitter. Someone give me something distracting/relaxing to watch/listen to.

kittehserf MOD
kittehserf MOD
10 years ago
katz
10 years ago

Thanks. That helps.

pallygirl
pallygirl
10 years ago

I finally watched this program last night (we’d recorded it). I found this incredibly low rating review and had a peek to see why it was low rating. The dude misses the point: the point of the program was to show how bad – and unscientific – these “cures” are. If you’ve seen the program, you’ll understand where the doctor’s contempt was coming from.

Review here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/tv-and-radio-reviews/10705094/Undercover-Doctor-Cure-Me-Im-Gay-Channel-4-review.html

This bit would be laughable if it wasn’t so incredibly pig ignorant:

Almost all the “reparative therapists” he approached in the US refused to be interviewed, at least one of them on the (understandable) ground that Jessen was himself gay, and could not be objective.

So only het people can be objective about reparative therapists? Seriously?

/facepalm.

Anyways, I recommend the documentary.

katz
10 years ago

So only het people can be objective about reparative therapists? Seriously?

Ah yes, the old “you can’t be objective if something affects you, therefore only completely privileged people should ever make decisions.”

strivingally
10 years ago

Anytime the whole “[privilege] is neutral, [non-privilege] is BIASED” trope comes up, I use it an an excuse to link to one of my favourite Colbert Report segments: Neutral Man’s Burden (scroll down to the video clip, watch it, and laugh, and then weep).

I’m seriously arguing with people on facebook in my own country (Australia) that are disregarding the reporting from people ON THE GROUND in Ferguson in favour of their own armchair analysis of what “the community” is doing wrong in that area and trying to tie in violence in Detroit, as if that’s bloody significant or relevant, and GAH. [privilege]splaining just makes me rage-y.

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