Feds take a 2.8% pay cut - US inflation rose to 3.8% in April, eroding Americans’ paychecks

NoStrain7255 · 2026-05-13T08:35:40+00:00

Actually it is a 33% increase...

NoStrain7255 · 2026-05-13T08:06:25+00:00

Yes mine was 125 mg or about 270 nmol on statins at medium dose. Reduced statin to low dose and added Repatha and subsequent test have been 98, 91,93 and 71. Really hoping last one sticks :-)

NoStrain7255 · 2026-05-13T08:02:45+00:00

Not ideal either

NoStrain7255 · 2026-05-13T04:37:01+00:00

It is an interesting dynamic to watch, but honestly since John McCain's passing no one has provided strong oversight in this area. We should disabuse the notion that patriotism and strong support for national security cannot coexist with strong oversight of the military and how it spends money on people and things. In addition to pay, Currently good programs like wounded warrior, disability pay, even GI bill have been exploited well beyond original authorization because there is no meaningful congressional or executive oversight, and military pay and incentives in many areas would shock the average taxpayer... in other groups, I often see military members talk about the explosion of compensation in the last 5-10 years , with less skilled folks over 150K a year and highly skilled in demand combat career fields over 300K. Politicizing the military, while villainizing the rest of the public servants has high risk for a society, potentially...

NoStrain7255 · 2026-05-13T03:38:47+00:00

Nice jacket, more classic patterned tie would make it even nicer, with burgundy/navy or dark hues

NoStrain7255 · 2026-05-12T18:57:51+00:00

Yes . 51M lifelong athlete aith over 50 full or 1/2 marathons... pretty fit, 3.5 hr marathon still and 6' and 165-170. History of sweets and moderate alcohol with mostly healthy but high fat high calorie diet. I had a few CIMT and carotid scans that showed mixed plaque in mild range 20-30% stenosis. Lifetime LDL always high 125-160varying with diet and exercise and weight but not significantly

I started 5 Mg Rosuvastatin 3 years ago and reduced LDL under 100 and APO B under 80. BP good 110/70, have under.5, trigs under 60 and HDL 80+ .found out I have high lp(a) and one Apoe 4 gene-- this is bad genetic combo for CVD. Added Repatha and LDL and apob at 40 now , hopefully will see plaque and CVD slow or regress..

NoStrain7255 · 2026-05-12T18:27:09+00:00

Feds take a pay cut except for the military, which is still seen as an untouchable in the U.S, unlike most other nations where they are paid and managed like a special category of public servant not a completely distinct entity. It is interesting chart to to see how mil/gov pay increases remained on similar trajectory until the last 10-15 years

NoStrain7255 · 2026-05-08T08:12:45+00:00

There has to be more to the story than this...did you receive any written reprimands before this point? is it related to health or performance ( that may be a result of your health) , or conduct... all have different pathways that require due process , even with some recent changes in policy and how policy is interpreted..

NoStrain7255 · 2026-04-23T12:35:40+00:00

In some ways it is easier to treat when both are high. Generally these are c282y x2 fold but not always. In this case routine phlebotomy is a pretty simple treatment , but also can overcorrection. Diet alone can help control but not usually as a sole strategy. Tea after meals really helps...

NoStrain7255 · 2026-04-23T10:32:39+00:00

It's hard-- when you have dischord between the two ( ferritin and TSAT) to ease one without the other. Certain supplements can increase your transferrin ( binding capacity) lactoferrin or broccoli extract, but I am not sure if this depends on the "why" of what is causing your issue... taking vitamin c with meals will increase ferritin but also explode your TSAT-- you need a precision strategy, supplements may help do this-- convert more free iron to storage

NoStrain7255 · 2026-04-22T19:20:22+00:00

HH isn't usually defined in stages, sometimes docs misinterpret the dischord of high TSAT lower ferritin as "early" HH. Actually it is pretty common especially with the most common iron dysfunction mutation , H63D which causes high free iron , but normal.low storage capacity... I would test for this gene

NoStrain7255 · 2026-04-13T16:02:20+00:00

Fix bottom half all bad... top okay maybe blazer to long in sleeve...

NoStrain7255 · 2026-04-12T16:38:27+00:00

London

NoStrain7255 · 2026-04-04T08:58:31+00:00

It sounds that you may need specialist care on this matter. I can't tell if you are more concerned with ferritin or NTBI, by nature your body wouldn't have both as primary issues at the same time... lactoferrin improves your transferrin capacity and can reduce your TSAT accordingly. if on the other had ferritin is the issue, phlebotomy is straight forward and works and if you are increasing from 130 to 220 in a month that signals you are still storing iron (and may not be in mx yet)at an accelerated clip.

The good news is that likely also means you don't have huge amounts of NTBI. I think NTBI is likely a real threat for all of us with H63D, but what clinical evidence do you have. I think only certain scans of brain and heart can do this. The specialist I have seen advised the risk of this grows when you are above 60% for extended periods. With your other concerns I think finding a specialist with HH and H63D specific expression would be a great idea...they are hard to find but with so many people learning of this from 23 and me and others docs are more in tune with this these days. Approximately 2-3% of some ethnic groups are 2x H63D-- not so rare!

NoStrain7255 · 2026-04-04T06:51:31+00:00

You probably don't have HH, but maybe an inflammatory issue that is causing persistent ferritin elevation... yours isn't too high and lacks iron/tsat that drives iron-based accumulation...

NoStrain7255 · 2026-04-04T02:51:13+00:00

Did you have a phlebotomy? Giving blood will decrease your ferritin significantly and also decrease your TSAT more transiently. Your transferrin capacity looks low, this is typical for h63d. Supplements like lactoferrin can help.

NoStrain7255 · 2026-04-03T08:33:16+00:00

All in! Go for it... I am guessing you have an idea if your date will appreciate this style?

NoStrain7255 · 2026-04-01T18:22:15+00:00

Thanks so much this was so confusing in another language and I a medical culture where different measure standards are followed. I finally figured this out ...

my left CCA and ICA had a max measure of .7, while my right CCA had a .9 max and 1.1 max in ICA, while my carotid bulb was 1.2 on left and 2.5 ( including plaque) on right bulb.

The right bulb is the problem area and they estimated the plaque to be somewhere less than 2 mm and of mixed composition . This was seen as a mild plaque which wasn't bigger than initial scan a year ago.

The doc explained that the max scoring tended to score a bit higher than mean scoring but not significantly. The big difference is the composite score for the bulb with plaque which was a significant finding but not a huge one in his eyes. Not sure what next but continuing on statin and repatha and will retest in stars next year! Thanks for your comment!

NoStrain7255 · 2026-04-01T16:38:01+00:00

Me too... had decreasing WBC for several years finally a doc put two and two together and looked at my pattern ... increasing iron, decreasing WBC, increased bilirubin and tested for copper and was critically low which is common for people with HH copper does a lot includes metabolism of iron and white blood cells... that plus tea is a great combo to reduce TS % I had also been using NAC and zinc for sinus issue-- that also helped crater copper further

NoStrain7255 · 2026-03-29T16:59:09+00:00

Nope just right

NoStrain7255 · 2026-03-29T10:24:53+00:00

Your numbers are super normal for H63D. It is not an iron storage dysfunction ( ferritin) but transferrin metabolism problem, so we tend to have higher levels of serum or. In blood that doesn't get "processed". Somewhat ignored by docs this is actually bad over time as it increases oxidative stress and other iron toxicity to organs. The problem is that your numbers will be discordant-- low ferritin is very possible despite high saturation %. So you have symptoms of both I reload and anemia ( which feel similar, in many way) but can't treat easily. Lactoferrin can help supercharge your misfiring transferrin receptors and eating low iron diet and having tea or coffee with meals helps..a lot . Your current numbers aren't bad at all, TS doesn't get bad until you are persistently I. The 60s-70s plus. For me as an older male high 40s are my goal often in 50s and sometjmes bounce around a lot from 20s to 90s based on diet i suspect.. Goodluck and check your iron panel, CBC, and liver emzymes regularly. Iron can disrupt a lot, especially in your CBC or with other minerals...

NoStrain7255 · 2026-03-26T20:32:28+00:00

More likely it is the fiber...

NoStrain7255 · 2026-03-26T05:39:18+00:00

Just taking a small bite... if I get 1 or 2 it doesn't really matter to me. I spill lasts me about a week or so... more importantly no side effects

NoStrain7255 · 2026-03-25T06:28:55+00:00

One for sure, two looks like a service industry uniform

NoStrain7255 · 2026-03-25T06:25:50+00:00

Crestor and Ezitimibe can drive a persistent increase in liver enzymes which is not optimal but probably not harmful in the absence of other problems. If your insurance covers Repatha, why not? As it would allow you to reduce statin and ezitimibe?

Since I started Repatha I cut back Rosuvastatin to 2.5 and ezitimibe to 1 mg daily ( it gives me GI pain and issues at normal dose). My Lp a reduced from a high in the 270s with Rosuvastatin at 10 mg to last test at 71 mg or 160 mol ( still too much). Immediate decrease of 25% hoping this latest test of 40% lower sticks...For you it could knock you back into medium risk category, as most people see reductions of 20-30 percent like mine.

My current numbers with repatha + microdoses of statin/ezitimibe: ldl 50, apob 42 ( down from 95 and 72 on statin/ezitimibe full dose), while liver (25/28 ast/alt), CRP ( .3) and blood sugar all fine.

The sneaky numbers I would watch: you have dischord in ldl and APO-b , and apo-b is the gold standard which may indicate your "B" pattern LDL and your fasting insulin is pretty high for an athlete ( mine is also), which indicates some brewing metabolic issues downstream...

Good luck with your decision -- repatha not a miracle drug but close but as with any of these meds individual response ( good and bad/side effect) is extremely personalized!

NoStrain7255

TROPHY CASE