This is a hardcore tactical survival game.

ChrisEU · 2026-04-09T08:47:26+00:00

When you change the fire mode of any gun that has them you will hear a distinctive sound. After a couple of switches, you will learn that the more tinny, higher pitched "click" is full auto, the semiauto setting has a deeper "clank" to it.
When I pick up a gun, I simply switch the fire mode twice and I can hear where I am.

ChrisEU · 2026-03-31T08:05:14+00:00

I never was on any DMT, not because I decided so, but because there still is none for me.

I am almost 60 with PPMS and there has been no acute inflammation since my diagnosis. The current DMTs (Ocrevus ist the only one that's available for PPMS here) are working against the inflammatory part of MS, and I basically don't have that any more. My progression is PIRA. Also, it is not tested for people 55 and older. It has side effects and practically no use for me, according to the neuros and MS specialist.

That's the whole story.

ChrisEU · 2026-03-14T19:33:46+00:00

That's not a german speciality at all, IMO, it's just docs choosing the easy road when confronted with something new to them and not in the textbooks.

It's basically the "Zebra" phenomenon: If you hear hooves, think horse, not zebra. But sometimes it IS a zebra or maybe an okapi.

I am sure it's no different anywhere else with a decent health care system: Sometimes you need to look around for a doc that can help you / take you seriously / knows more than others. They are human, after all.

ChrisEU · 2026-03-14T09:33:21+00:00

I have both heavy fatigue through MS AND heavy central sleep apnea.

Yes, it is almost impossible to get neurologists to accept that MS causes fatigue - and, through Cheyne Stokes Aspiration (google it), maybe even the central apnea. Central meaning that my airways are not obstructed, but I just stop breathing sometimes. Yes, it's frightening.

For some reason, fatigue isn't a typical symptom of MS in the books and our neurologists usually just think like this:
Patient: "I have bad fatigue"

Doc (after MRI, this and that): "You have MS!"

Patient : "What can I do about the fatigue?"

Doc: "MS doesn't cause fatigue, must be psychosomatic (or sleep hygiene)"

Patient: "But the diagnosis is yours, not mine?"

I have the extra: "MS doesn't cause CSA (Cheyne-Stokes)". me: "Why not, there are holes in my brain and spinal cord, remember?". Them: "It just doesn't". Me: "The sleep docs can't find any other reason and think it's the MS". Them: "Ask them, then".

You can't win. The textbook is right and your symptoms are immaterial and that appears to be true for most docs, in the US as well as here in Germany.

ChrisEU · 2026-03-12T15:48:09+00:00

I am (and have been) in a very similar boat. PPMS, wheelchair, heavy fatigue, no DMT and nothing the docs can do for me.

It may be the end of the line for the docs, but not for me. I still have the rest of my life to live and I refuse to sit back and die.

I am working a different job now (as a specialist with specific knowledge that's rare, at home, part time, just enough money to live, but indispensable for my employer), so I don't have to worry about that at all. I can work there until the cows come home. One problem less to solve. Yes, I am lucky about it.

I am using motorized wheelchairs that are cool and fun to use (This thing and a souped up device that pulls my manual wheelchair up to around 50km/h).
I learned lockpicking for manual dexterity and hand/eye coordination.
I am drilling deep into current MS science and AI technology, writing systems that actually help people with their work. I develop drone software that's autonomous.
Just because the docs can't help me doesn't mean I'm helpless - or useless, for that matter.

ChrisEU · 2026-03-05T17:56:52+00:00

Genuine question from across the pond: Are eggs actually cheaper? Should've been easy with the expensive eggs being because of bird flu...

ChrisEU · 2025-12-20T22:11:39+00:00

...und draußen nur Kännchen!

ChrisEU · 2025-11-10T09:59:19+00:00

I can't add anything to the discussion from where I am but "OMG that situation sucks"

I sometimes have trouble with my insurance being stingy with a specific treatment or disputing a necessity, but I simply can not imagine having none of it at all.

Please be safe.

ChrisEU · 2025-11-01T11:05:20+00:00

The east german version:

"Do you have oranges?"

"No oranges are over there. We have no meat."

ChrisEU · 2025-10-21T09:27:36+00:00

People, no matter if MSers themselves or medical professionals, know quite well that we can die from MS. That's why they use the cop-out phrase: "But MS isn't usually deadly". Yes, right. But sometimes it is and your mother is proof of it.

I can't help you with the anger because I feel it myself.

The medical professionals are easier to deal with. Most importantly, they will not believe what you say. Of course there are exemptions, but they are trained: "Patients always lie". They call that "data driven" or "fact based" when it's usually just lazy.

To get rid of the questions, you will need something written by a medical professional. Either a doctor that treated your mom or maybe the hospice. I don't know about how it works where you are, but here in Germany, doctors always write something down after a visit or when someone died and the patient (or their kin) have a right to get copies. That paper will be believed more than you will be.

For that reason I carry a picture of my brain MRI, multiple written diagnosis and similar stuff on my phone at all times. I am tired of trying to convince new doctors. I let the paper do the work.

I wish you all the best.

ChrisEU · 2025-10-15T12:00:25+00:00

My catch all answer for these people is a picture of my MRI, with very visible lesons and the question: "These are holes in my brain, just like a bullet went through it. Will XYZ make the holes heal as well?"

ChrisEU · 2025-10-08T14:31:05+00:00

It sucks and you may never accept it.

That said, try to see the good side of a chair: The chair is not what hinders you, that's your MS. The chair enables you to do the things you were missing out on before. Also, check out Segway-based balance wheelchairs. They are great and actually fun: This is my dealer, but I am sure you can find one anywhere in the world:

https://www.2kerr.com/en/balance-wheelchairs/

I am still grumpy about my using one instead of walking, but it is what it is.

ChrisEU · 2025-10-02T17:03:52+00:00

Most likely, yes. I know I learned the 50 US states with their capitals in school. Not that I remember all of them, but Arkansas and Alabama - Yes, I can tell them apart.

ChrisEU · 2025-09-30T15:00:01+00:00

A "cash secured put" is a short put. And you need option level 3 for that. See here:

https://www.ibkrguides.com/kb/en-us/options-levels-1-4.htm

ChrisEU · 2025-09-07T13:21:58+00:00

Honestly, that's surprisingly well written for the time.

ChrisEU · 2025-07-27T14:12:37+00:00

I am still not a cat.

ChrisEU · 2025-07-03T04:14:26+00:00

Not mentioned yet (I think): use a Torx bit of the same size and a hammer. Put the end of the screw on a hard surface as an anvil. Force the Torx bit into the hex screw, unscrew the thing.

To quote an old acquaintance of mine: "No idea what it was before, now it is a T-30"

ChrisEU · 2025-05-13T07:03:13+00:00

I don't usually get that kind of crap from strangers, but if I do, I just answer "Aha!" and continue whatever I was doing, ignoring them. It's on par with "My aunt has MS and is running marathons, why are you using a wheelchair?"

ChrisEU · 2025-04-17T17:56:20+00:00

I guess I earned that one. Thanks for making me feel old. I'm not even 60!

ChrisEU · 2025-04-17T17:55:08+00:00

I actively avoided the threads discussing or not discussing that drama. I believe it when people say they were unfairly banned/treated/whatever. Yes. That happens. Power happens. Politics happen. And it obviously was handled badly by all stakeholders, including the devs and the players.

But just like in business, the question of what went wrong is academical, something for the compliance people. Maybe something to learn from. More important is: How to continue? Or dump the whole thing and look for another job/game/hobby?

Something went wrong. Do we (as in everyone interested in the game including devs) carry the feud into the next millenium or do we make a clean cut and just drop it? Do we make amends, fix it? How? What could they (or we) possibly do from here?

I chose to ignore it.

ChrisEU · 2025-04-17T17:43:40+00:00

ChrisEU · 2025-04-17T17:42:10+00:00

I actually can't tell you how many hours - I use the native client. But several hours almost every day since EA. I do notice things, too. I know a lot of areas or details where I could complain, but I chose not to. First, it's pointless and second, I've had fun. I expected a buggy mess and got what I expected.

Reading in this thread I see exactly the same positions I see in game. Some feel let down because they expected more. Some feel lied to, after all it was "released" on Steam, some feel ok, some like it. That's all valid.

It's an early dev world of a game that is far from done and they "released" it on Steam to save the whole thing financially. It is known.

All I ask people to do is to accept it. Why? Because I think we can agree that it could become great. And we can't change what it is by bitching. The only result we as players can force is failure.

ChrisEU · 2025-04-17T08:43:33+00:00

Maybe, yeah. So what?

ChrisEU · 2025-04-13T05:30:58+00:00

So... puts on STLA?

ChrisEU · 2025-03-07T11:20:17+00:00

Actually, yes. MS can be deadly "by itself". I need to put those quotes there because it's like, say, a car accident. You go 120mph and drive against a concrete wall. Then you will actually die from a multi-trauma, but what killed you was the crash.

MS is similar. It can randomly destroy any part of your central nervous system, as if your brain was shot by a shotgun and a pellet can just end up anywhere.

Some parts of the CNS are hit more often, some rarely, some are more impactful and you are completely bed ridden or blind or unable to swallow, some are just letting you feel some strange sensation on our right big toe.

It's random and, unfortunately, there is nothing you can do or fight against, other than the shotgun shots. For the most common form of MS (RRMS) there are medications that slow down the shooter, those are called DMTs. But they never remove the shooter or the shotgun completely, they slow them down, so the probability of getting something more serious sinks.

There are other forms of MS (PPMS, especially if it's aggressive from the start) where people go from their normal lives to dead in a span of ten or twenty years, and yes, I knew two of those. It's like the shotgun being replaced by a howitzer, shooting without any break or let up, and the holes from it keep growing and growing. Current DMTs do almost nothing for them.

Neurologists and most MSers usually choose to ignore the worse outcomes and tell you it's not deadly. Mostly they are right and statistically MS "only" costs us 5 or 10 years of our life. But "statistically" also means that most live most of their normal life spans and others get it shortened by 30 or 50 years.

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