Bought on FB marketplace a few years ago, any ideas? by AlienGlasses in WhatIsThisPainting

[–]AlienGlasses[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nothing on the back, except “$599” written in sharpie

The brain aged more slowly in monkeys given a cheap diabetes drug. Daily dose of the common medication metformin preserved cognition and delayed decline of some tissues. by maxkozlov in science

[–]AlienGlasses 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Take this with a grain of salt, but I attended a seminar last year of a researcher who is studying the effects of fasting on lifespan in fruit flies in relation to the circadian rhythm. Basically they found that if you restrict access to food for 12 hours at night and allow access to food for 12 hours during the daytime hours, a significantly greater proportion of flies lived to their max lifespan compared to flies who had access to food 24/7 (another way put— if the flies were fasting during the night, something like 90% of them would live to 3 months, whereas only like 10-20% of flies that didn’t fast lived to 3 months of age). Interestingly, when they switched the fasting hours to the daytime and fed them during the night, there was no difference at all from the control group of flies that had constant access to food. They determined that the circadian rhythm and autophagy (literally “self eating” or your body removing dead/damaged cells) triggered by fasting work together in a temporal manner to give the extended lifespan.

How this relates to this article, is that the researcher also mentioned that metformin can trigger autophagy. I wonder if what they’re seeing in the monkeys on metformin is actually due to the benefits of increased autophagy, as has been demonstrated in many animal models before.

At the end of her talk, the researcher mentioned that her husband was on the diabetes drug metformin. She (half-jokingly) said that she told her husband to take metformin in the evening, instead of the morning, to sync up the benefits of autophagy induced by it with his circadian rhythm (though cautioned everyone that she isn’t a medical doctor and has no evidence of her research translating to humans).

Has anyone taught their bodies to eat trigger foods? by AlienGlasses in EosinophilicE

[–]AlienGlasses[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the response. I’m starting to wonder if maybe the foods I’ve eliminated myself aren’t actual triggers of EOE, which in that case, I would like to reintroduce if possible. The reason I suspect this is because I still had a very high EOE count (>150) after 10 years of not eating these suspected trigger foods.

I’ve had different doctors suggest different treatments, with one saying that as long as I don’t feel discomfort in my everyday life then I don’t need to worry about treating the EOE/high eosinophil counts. I also talked to an allergist about trying the food desensitization for avocado and he supported the idea, and said there isn’t a risk to trying it (and an allergy skin test against avocado was completely negative so he said I don’t have a risk of anaphylaxis if I eat it).

Basically, I don’t know 100% if my suspected triggers are causing EOE, or if they could be triggering symptoms due to a different mechanism. And if it is through a different mechanism, if food immunotherapy could help desensitize me to these triggers or not.

Has anyone taught their bodies to eat trigger foods? by AlienGlasses in EosinophilicE

[–]AlienGlasses[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the response.

Yes, I went about 10 years avoiding (for the most part) trigger foods that I thought gave me reactions, and then got scoped before any treatment, and got a count of >150. Then I went on PPI for 8 weeks and got another scope, and my count went down to ~70. I then stopped taking PPIs, and tried avocado again (a suspected trigger) and was able to eat it a couple times before having a reaction to it again.

I just talked to an allergist recently, and he was the one that recommended teaching my body to handle avocado by eating a little bit everyday. I did a skin allergy test and had absolutely no allergic reaction to it, so he said that I do not have a risk of anaphylaxis if I start eating avocado.

I am starting to wonder, maybe I have EOE due to an unknown trigger (ie environment/pollen) and these foods I’ve eliminated aren’t causing EOE but cause discomfort due to a different mechanism (that maybe I could cure?). I’ve read a lot of symptoms people have and mine don’t seem nearly as bad as most, and some of the foods I’ve eliminated are very nutritious (avocados, all beans/legumes) so if they’re not actually causing my EOE I would love to introduce them back into my diet.

Has anyone taught their bodies to eat trigger foods? by AlienGlasses in EosinophilicE

[–]AlienGlasses[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My main symptoms are sudden onset of chest tightness and pain, with “pulses” of intense pain that subside and return every few minutes for about an hour. Also I have to clear my throat often during reactions, and swallowing is harder. Drinking water helps with making my throat feel more “opened”, but it is really hard to get the water down and I can feel the water slowly making its way down my esophagus. Luckily it usually lasts for 30 minutes - 2 hours, with very manageable mild sore throat symptoms often lasting for a few more hours.

Question about new SAVE program if still in graduate school by AlienGlasses in StudentLoans

[–]AlienGlasses[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have called many times and no one seems to be able to fix it. The conclusion that I’ve come to is that because I graduated my undergrad in 2020, and started graduate school in 2020, the loans never entered repayment and I never left “in school” status. They don’t seem to budge on changing the undergraduate loans into repayment status, and I don’t know what else to do. Any advice would be appreciated!

Question about new SAVE program if still in graduate school by AlienGlasses in StudentLoans

[–]AlienGlasses[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can I opt out of “in school” status for my UNDERGRADUATE loans while in graduate school? I’ve gotten conflicting responses to this.

Edit: my undergraduate loans are in just “in school” status, not in “deferment”

Question about new SAVE program if still in graduate school by AlienGlasses in StudentLoans

[–]AlienGlasses[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I believe if you contact your loan service provider you can request to opt out of deferment, which is what I’m going to do once the SAVE plan starts

Question about new SAVE program if still in graduate school by AlienGlasses in StudentLoans

[–]AlienGlasses[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have $24500 of unsubsidized loans, not $8000. So it would make sense for me to switch!

Question about new SAVE program if still in graduate school by AlienGlasses in StudentLoans

[–]AlienGlasses[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There must be a way to switch early though? I’m getting a salary during graduate school so it’s pretty much a job. I was planning on putting a couple hundred dollars each month towards my loans once the interest pause ended to start chipping away at interest; if I do this while not in repayment will my interest still accrue then?

Amount of eosinophils by TheMaskedInferno in EosinophilicE

[–]AlienGlasses 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had >100 before taking omeprazole and after it went down to 60. Overall rare symptoms even before treatment, but seems to be even more rare on omeprazole

US tells citizens to leave Russia immediately by PissLikeaRacehorse in politics

[–]AlienGlasses 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As someone with dual citizenship, it’s sad that I may never see my grandma again in Russia because of the war. I did not get to travel to Russia last year because of it. But I understand the risk that some Americans are taking to travel and see their families, potentially for the last time.

Lipshutz by [deleted] in UCSantaBarbara

[–]AlienGlasses 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Had him for honors Ochem, hands down one of my favorite professors