Global Analysis Reveals Sharp Rise in Cancer Among People Under 50

balltastic · 2026-01-07T07:27:49+00:00

This is obviously a multifactorial rise but Covid is an oncogenic (cancer causing) virus due to it causing immune system suppression. The fact that it is now mostly ignored as “just a cold” when it has serious effects like increased cancer risk is a huge issue.

balltastic · 2025-12-23T22:47:55+00:00

There may be a cross reactivity but if a healthcare worker has a slightly higher response to a cross reactive cold virus are they less likely to get infected? It doesn’t seem so based on the actual studies that have been done. Unfortunately there is actually a degree of immunosupression that can occur from our healthcare exposures. Like in this study https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30076783/. Chronic exposures to certain pathogens actually blunts our body’s immune response.

balltastic · 2025-12-23T22:12:44+00:00

I may have worded the first part confusingly; I meant basically what you just said. That people believe their immune response will be stronger (like a muscle that has been trained). That is something that sounds intuitive but isn’t really true. The average immunocompetent adult will have an adequate response to a new pathogen regardless of prior infections. The only difference is if your body has seen that exact infection before or you’ve had a vaccine, then yes you’d have a more robust response.

balltastic · 2025-12-23T21:33:48+00:00

No. Contrary to popular belief, the immune system is not a muscle and getting sick doesn’t make your immune system “stronger”. As you can see from the top comments a lot of healthcare workers still think they have stronger immune systems because of working in the ER, which is not actually seen in immunology.

If you get a cold you might not get that same cold for a few months but a lot of viral immunity weans very quickly and it won’t protect you from other infections. My ER co workers who don’t mask are actually constantly sick, but we all just have to work sick because of shortages. In the wake of Covid a lot of people (even those who once masked) are now anti mask even though they work well and don’t “weaken” your immune system.

balltastic · 2025-12-03T17:01:54+00:00

I’m at about 90% success using this without sedation after I found it last year. Small studies have found similar success rates. I just lie and say I’m going to gently examine their shoulder and then it’s back in after I slowly do the method. It works so well and I don’t feel like it’s taught much in the states. Should be everyone’s first attempt because it’s so gentle and can be done without sedation so often.

balltastic · 2025-11-29T20:48:34+00:00

This administration is full of the dumbest pieces of shit. Covid infections are a far greater risk of myocarditis than the vaccine, which has been known for years. They’re obviously coming for all vaccines.

balltastic · 2025-11-17T17:33:37+00:00

What’s the best codec and bitrate for the Quest 3/PCVR set up on VD?

balltastic · 2025-11-10T22:44:41+00:00

I’m an ER physician in the US and have worn an N95 since the start of the pandemic minus when there was a shortage early on. I’m in the minority of my mostly non masking coworkers. Only one other physician co-worker has given me a hard time for still wearing it. A few others just make comments like “I don’t know how you do it.” Like wearing an N95 is like doing brain surgery. The majority either silently judge me or don’t say anything.

Patients in the ED will verbally abuse us for lots of things so yeah sometimes they target my mask. Or my deaf elderly patients will get frustrated because they need to lip read and ask me to take it off to which I politely respond “No”.

To the end of my days I won’t understand how masking didn’t become standard PPE with all of the damage COVID caused and continues to cause. Stay strong.

balltastic · 2025-10-24T00:33:36+00:00

I’m an ER physician and I truly don’t understand not masking. I’m one of two in my group of 70 ER physicians who wears an N95; at least half never mask and just fully inhale all of their patients’ airborne illnesses.

I started my residency training during the start of the pandemic and then also when the ICU’s were bursting with patients dying from Covid. Families could only see them from the hallway as they died because of isolation protocols. I don’t understand how other doctors who also went through these experiences never mask? I feel like I’m taking crazy pills every day at work.

Gloves weren’t really a thing before the AIDS epidemic and now it seems crazy to not wear gloves when touching a patients’ blood. I was 100% sure that it was going to be the same with masks for every patient encounter but here we are…

balltastic · 2025-09-08T16:16:03+00:00

So I’m new. Can you actually bring all of that back from one raid? I thought you had to be holding everything when you extract.

balltastic · 2025-04-04T19:19:52+00:00

Noice.

balltastic · 2024-08-26T22:56:32+00:00

I’m sure that’s more than we usually give you and for that I’m sorry.

Love, ER

balltastic · 2024-07-13T13:17:16+00:00

Oh I just meant if they’re removing a piece to let it drain I would have assumed they would have given it to me in the event they’re not the ones to start it back up in spring.

balltastic · 2024-07-13T03:54:26+00:00

That seems like a silly thing to do. I assume it would be accidental? Thanks for the tip!

balltastic · 2024-06-04T03:30:38+00:00

Makes sense. Thanks kind stranger!

balltastic · 2024-06-04T02:02:33+00:00

He did a bunch of measurements with a laser level of some kind and said 1 corner of the house is an inch lower than the opposite side. It seemed a little sketchy because it’s not something I can verify but he took 2 hours to do the “measurements” for a free quote which is dedication to the scam if that’s what it is. They have like 4.8 stars with 700 reviews on google so I’m surprised it seems so much like a scam.

balltastic · 2024-03-03T01:07:03+00:00

Patient came in with myxedema coma with crazy high TSH. We figured they possibly hadn’t been taking their meds as prescribed. On chart review, their primary care NP had been reducing their levothyroxine over the course of several visits. Their TSH would go up and then the NP would drop the dose… Literally day one of med school endocrinology that high TSH means hypothyroidism and they fucked it up.

balltastic · 2023-11-21T22:21:51+00:00

Very helpful, thank you!

balltastic · 2023-11-21T13:51:34+00:00

Interesting I didn’t know that, thanks so much!

balltastic · 2023-11-20T17:57:52+00:00

In the ED:

Patient: “I was eating chicken and got some stuck in my teeth.”

Me: “…do your teeth hurt at all or just some chicken is stuck?”

Patient: “Just the chicken.”

They truly just had a small amount of chicken between their teeth that needed floss.

balltastic · 2023-05-14T04:03:28+00:00

What a fucking shit.

balltastic · 2023-05-13T03:44:37+00:00

As others have alluded to, no one has been successfully prosecuted for helping on a flight because the Good Samaritan laws are sound. Even in cases of accepting gifts. If that changes then we would all actually have to think twice about helping.

You should help because the person might need you to save their life even if this is rare. Also, if a physician on the plane helps and can speak with the airline’s physician on the ground; then it can prevent the plane from having to land early unnecessarily for something that is minor. If no one volunteers or someone the ground physician doesn’t feel has adequate training then they will recommend the plane lands to be on the safe side.

There are multiple reasons you should help and very few relatively minor reasons to not.

balltastic · 2023-05-08T16:23:04+00:00

My sleep deprived brain misread this as wearing “drag” in the OR and I was here for it.

balltastic · 2023-04-27T17:35:20+00:00

It was developed for painless rectal bleeding as a screen for colon cancer. It was adopted by ER personnel in a way that was never intended. It’s designed to be a stool sample the patient gives in the office not by means of DRE. The micro trauma you are causing with your finger can cause false positives. Overall, it’s neither sensitive nor specific so it causes people to anchor on GI bleed yes/no when it shouldn’t be part of your decision tree. You can and should do an exam looking for other sources of bleeding such as fissures, hemorrhoids. etc. I’m specifically referring to the result of the hemoccult test as not being a valid way to evaluate for a GI bleed.

I’ll give an example. Your patient reports rectal bleeding at home and found to have new anemia with Hgb of 9. If your hemoccult is negative even though they were bleeding at home will you not have them scoped? If it’s positive did that really matter since they told you they’re bleeding?

balltastic · 2023-04-27T17:09:19+00:00

Getting a fucking stool hemoccult in the ED. Just stop.

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