(no subject)

Okay, I know I shouldn't find this post on the Kensignton, Brooklyn community page on FB amusing...but...

Hey everyone. Our car was parked on East 3rd between Caton and Ablemarle.. they re-paved road pn Thursday, and re-located all of the cars parked on that block. Normally, when this happens, you call the 66th precinct, and they have a record of where the cars were re-located to. However, the Dept of Transportation have not submitted the re-location records to the precinct. Nor will they answer the phones. Our car is parked somewhere in the neighborhood they told us, just keep looking. We can’t find it!! Has anyone else recently had this experience??

Finally...a good diagnosis...

After years of suffering from various symptoms listed below to the point in which I thought I was losing my mind, I finally got a proper diagnosis and treatment.

1. IBS - constipation, severe gas pains, diarrea, bloating, gastric reflex, heartburn
2. bouts of depression and anxiety...to the point in which I thought I was losing my mind and my nerves were shot.
3. Insane cravings for sugar and sweets. I was binge eating the weirdest things, like marshmellow covered chocolate bars, I'd have just one and immediately need another, and another, and another.. anything sweet. Gained 60 pounds back. I'd go off, but it had to be going off "all" sugar including fruit to kill the cravings, lose all the weight but get depressed and anxious, and eat too many nuts and still feel sick.
4. Brain fog -- inability to focus on anything for any period of time

At work, ran into a co-worker who was experiencing similar symptoms and she found a gastroenterologist who discovered that she had an overgrowth of bacteria and got it treated by antibiotics, and immediately felt better.

So...I hunted for a good gastroenterologist and went through a series of tests, and got a round of antibiotics, and...within two-three weeks:

* the bouts of depression and anxiety went away like magic, along with the rage
* the severe gas pains went away, the constipation lessened, the IBS improved. No longer have gastric reflux with every meal, bloating went away
* brain fog disappeared
* no longer crave sweets. I used to crave ice cream, now have no interest. I used to want more than one piece of chocolate, now one is more than enough. I'm not binging any longer. And couldn't watch Great British Bake Off without wanting everything on it. Now, no interest. I can watch a cake being made and not compulsively crave it.

What was it? Bacterial Over-Growth in the Small Intestine, which is usually diagnosed by a breath analyzer test, which isn't always accurate.

Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO): In patients with SIBO, large numbers of gas-producing bacteria (normally present in the colon) are present in the small intestine. The abundant bacteria in the small intestine compete with the small intestine for the digestion of sugars and carbohydrates, but unlike the small intestine, the bacteria produce large amounts of gas.

We skipped the breath test and just went with the antibiotics for 14 days, using a generic version of Rifzsimin or Xifaxan.

Rifaximin like neomycin is not absorbed from the intestine, and, therefore, acts only within the intestine. Because very little rifaximin is absorbed into the body, it has few important side effects. Higher than normal doses of rifaximin (1,200 mg/day for seven days) were superior to the standard lower doses (800 or 400 mg/day) in normalizing the hydrogen breath test in patients with SIBO and IBS. However, it is not yet known whether the larger dose is any better at suppressing symptoms.

Here's the most accurate and reliable site that I was able to find on the topic: Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth from Emedicine

eMedicineHealth.com - Owned and Operated by WebMD and part of the WebMD Network.

eMedicineHealth.com is a consumer health information site that was launched in May 2003 by the doctors of eMedicine.com (now Medscape Reference). eMedicineHealth.com was acquired by WebMD in 2006. The site contains over 900 health and medical articles with a focus on emergency medicine, written by physicians for patients and consumers.

* WebMd is made up of doctors and has strict advertising guidelines.

Anyhow, for the first time in a long time, I feel like myself again. Still having some gas issues but nothing like before.

In tandem with this approach, I purchased for $199 a subscription to the Headspace Mindfulness Meditation App, and after doing various guided meditations on it, my anxiety has been substantially reduced, depression gone away, I've been sleeping better, I'm calmer, and my mind is less prone to ranting.

In addition -- I have stopped reading the news or watching it, I look at it enough to know what is happening, but do not focus too much attention on it. This too has greatly reduced my anxiety and improved my mood.

The world is insane, I'm learning not to let it inside my head. I can control that.

I'm sharing this information in the hopes that it helps others out there who may or are suffering from the same issues.

Fandom, Sigh, Fandom...

So...I've almost gotten myself in trouble with FB fan moderators..again.

I'm reposting this conversation because it underlines my difficulties with fandoms...how fans myopically ship certain characters and stories, and get upset when they don't get to control it or it doesn't go the way they want and not everyone agrees with them. How they insist one character hogs all the screen time (it's never true, television fans are insane).

On this board, the two moderators go on and on about not bullying fans, and letting people have opinions that vary from theirs. But they are complete hypocrites on this point when it comes to characters and speculation that they don't like and don't want to be true.
( Facebook discussion )

I learned a lot from the discussion.

1. not to discuss the character of Peter with the moderators. They hate him. I hope the actor is smart enough to stay off line.
2. to stay away from certain discussions -- the more emotional, the less rational, and less likely they can hear you. .
3. people are weirdly hypocritical and unself-aware.
4. fandoms are the same regardless of the one I enter. It's all about the emotion. All about their character getting screen time. How their characters are being disenfranchised. How this new character is horrible and shoved down their throats when they'd have rather had a story with another character!
In short it's all about what they want, their needs, their wants...fuck what anyone else wants.
5. be mindful of the personalities you are dealing with and how volatile they are online, regardless of where you are. Landmines are everywhere.
6. Facebook is a ridiculously difficult place to have a reasonable discussion with anyone. I so miss the voy discussion boards. It was easier to avoid certain conversations on those. (Not that I did. I tend to be rather aggressive and not afraid of sharing my point of view. Also, at times I can come across as didatic. I get this tendency from my father and mother who go into lecture mode.)
7. I hate GIFs. I find them annoying. Whoever invented them should be forced to look at nothing but GIFS for the rest of their life. I'm thinking a hell where you have only GIFS to look at.
8. Soap fans are not the brightest cogs on the planet. There's a reason this genre gets a bad rap. Granted the content doesn't tend to lend itself to serious discussion...we're talking about absurd plots that often make no logical sense.

(no subject)

Finished Ouran High School Host Club -- which I enjoyed, but it's very...uhm, subversive and satirical (which is most likely why I enjoyed it) also very high school -- although it was hard to tell at times, since we spent almost no time in the high school setting. It was about as high school as Vampire Diaries. There's a romance between the princely character (Tamaki) and the natural (Haruhi), where Tamaki up until the end sees her as his "daughter" because he's in denial regarding his true feelings for her. Tamaki is in some respects portrayed as a very charming narcissist. There's a huge Daddy issue bit in there, and Mommy issue bit in there...that is for the most part, played for comedic satirical effect. (Making me realize this is NOT just a US thing, but a Human issue.)

This show reminds me a little of other allegedly teen or tween series with very adult humor. Mainly because the writers are adults writing for teens. Personally I think teens would be better suited to write for teens, but that's just me. I don't remember reading or seeing this stuff as a teen, okay, wait a minute that's not true. Who am I kidding? I read Rosemary Rodgers and Harold Robbins and Erica Jong when I was 14. Also Adolus Huxley. Plus, watched HBO when I was in my teens. This is rather tame in comparison. LOL.

Anyhow...it's very cartoony in places. All the emotions are exaggerated for maximum effect.

But it has some really cool bits. One delves into the Western misconceptions about Japanese culture.
And Western stereotypes. Not to mention a lot on classicism.

The Japanese have some rather rigid and conservative views on social interactions --- along with gender, that the series sort of makes fun of. It also makes fun of how the West views it. There's one episode in particular that does this..episode 24.

It delves into all the characters. And each is full examination and a subversion of the type.

One of the better anime's that I've seen. And I check out the art for the Magna online and was impressed. It should be noted that I prefer Magna art to well the cartoony art of the guy who draws the Simpsons and Rick and Morty and Futurama, which annoys me. It's why I can't watch Rick & Morty, can't stand the art. Now, I did enjoy the cartoon The Tick, because the art worked for me. Like I said I'm picky about art, partly because I'm very visual. It was my problem with the Buffy comics at various points, I had issues with the art.

Anyhow, I liked the art in this, and how the artists conveyed expression and emotion and varied it.
Also the vocal talents were impressive for English dubbing. Sometimes dubbing can be horrible. This was good.

May check out "Cowboy Beebop" next, not certain. Hulu irritates me.

Not sure what to check out next. Suggestions are welcome.

Also need to see the second season of Westworld. Well, don't need to...and check out Godless. I'm also behind on Wynonna Earp S3, and Yellowstone (which I may give up on). Been told to try Deadwood. But not sure it will work for me. And considering catching up on The 100...but again, it got really violent and I lost interest.

Too many tv shows, too little time. And I'm moody. Right now for some reason or other, I'm craving anime. I do not know why.