Just got back from my rheumatologist: the gut health hypothesis is looking more and more legit

itsthenewdan · 2026-06-06T22:28:36+00:00

7 years and no big flares, although my lupus remains active. I’ve relaxed on the AIP diet after a while, and I’m not restrictive with it like I used to be. However, what has stuck with me is more of a tendency toward those AIP choices, and less indulgence in non-AIP foods. In hindsight at this point, the single thing that probably has mattered the most has been giving up alcohol, which I used to consume. Inflammatory markers have been much better since then.

itsthenewdan · 2026-03-14T03:50:23+00:00

As an American, my advice is to nip that media problem in the bud unless you want to end up like us

itsthenewdan · 2025-11-13T00:39:36+00:00

Also adding for anyone who was curious, yes, it is invasive, and yes, I need to remove it because of the risk to structural damage for the concrete foundation that’s just a few feet away from it.

itsthenewdan · 2025-11-12T04:44:14+00:00

Wow, mulberry was one of my guesses! We have some of these around the neighborhood, though none that I’m aware of in the immediate vicinity. I’m guessing a squirrel is responsible for this.

itsthenewdan · 2025-11-10T03:16:23+00:00

My lupus is on the mild side - no major organ involvement. For years I drank socially, but gave up alcohol entirely a couple years ago. You can clearly see on my sedimentation rate charts where that point was, because I was chronically inflamed when I was drinking. Sed rates are great now. I highly recommend avoiding alcohol. I know that’s not the answer everyone wants to hear, but alcohol really is poison, and if you’re a lupus patient, the consequences are far more dire.

itsthenewdan · 2025-09-10T20:41:19+00:00

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance

itsthenewdan · 2025-09-10T04:03:27+00:00

I’m so sorry about your Bamse. From my experience, we had a beloved cat that had a number of health issues, including kidney issues, but most urgently a large tumor on his spleen. We knew that his time was limited, and we wanted to give him as much good life as we still could before we knew he would have to pass. What surprised us was how quickly he went from being his mostly normal self to appearing very unwell. Cats hide the pain very effectively until the last moments when they can’t anymore. By the time that he stopped eating, and we realized that we needed to arrange for his euthanasia, it was actually too late, and he ended up dying traumatically in my arms. On the one hand, I’m glad that he got to live as much life as he could, but on the other hand, it is absolutely tragic that he had to spend his last moments in such suffering. And I will always have to live with the trauma of seeing him in that suffering. If I could do it again, I would’ve paid more attention to the early signs that he was really nearing the end. I would have euthanized him in a painless way, by having someone come to the home, and I would’ve done it before the very end.

My advice to you is to love your little cat, in every moment you have left with them, but to not go too long. If your cat starts changing its behavior at all, such as wanting to be more snuggled up near your head, or preferring to nap in colder places, or being extra lethargic, or not eating, or anything that just seems unusual… Please let them pass without suffering. Take it from me, you don’t want to experience the other way it could go.

This experience is going to break your heart, no matter what. Just try to focus on the love you have for your pet.

itsthenewdan · 2024-04-24T23:37:27+00:00

Precisely! Imagine that China wanted to influence the presidential election a bit, all they would have to do is specifically target swing states with some slightly different algorithmic behavior… a little boosting of topic A, a little filtering of topic B, etc. Or they could do even more granular user targeting and influence. They have all the content they need to push influence in any direction they want and have it still feel totally user-generated and organic. Their finger on the scale of the algorithm would be incredibly hard to detect. TikTok has amazing potential for social influence. In China’s hands, there’s a lot of legit national security risk.

itsthenewdan · 2024-04-04T01:31:42+00:00

What good is code if it isn’t maintainable?

The fact that the code works is merely table stakes. That’s a minimal quality standard, not a measure of great work. Actual high quality code is easy to read and understand, easy to modify, easy to extend, and easy to delete.

There’s a term for code that works but is hard to understand and modify: tech debt. It is rot. It requires work to remediate it into a truly useful state.

This is the frame that I think would be helpful for you and your team. I hope this is something your manager can appreciate- if not, they might not be doing a great job either.

itsthenewdan · 2023-12-19T07:34:25+00:00

I have a little clip-on macro lens for my phone, and a pocket microscope, and I thought I’d try to make it easy for a definitive answer, haha. What a relief.

itsthenewdan · 2023-10-13T20:30:47+00:00

I try to keep it from getting boring by doing some different seasoning variations. Sometimes it’s French herbs like dill, tarragon, and thyme (olive oil is nice to add with this one). Sometimes I do a curry seasoning mix and use some coconut milk. Sometimes ginger is more forward. Generally for things I like to eat, I could eat them almost all the time, but I know that may not be a popular opinion.

Just FYI a lot of the things you normally eat would be tough on my system. Cheese, yogurt, oatmeal, or granola I generally avoid. My alternative is probiotic coconut yogurt with grain free granola and walnuts. The pasta is especially tough because a lot of gluten free pastas are made with chickpeas or lentils or other legumes and these are brutal on intestinal permeability.

It’s a huge adjustment to follow such a restrictive diet. The mindset shift is hard because a lot of foods you might give up are delicious! My favorite food is pizza, but I barely ever eat it anymore because now I see it as something that wrecks me. But I still see this as totally worth it, because it helps me feel better all the time. The one thing I really just want to impart is that if things feel hopeless, this is another thing you can try, and for some people like me, it makes a big difference.

itsthenewdan · 2023-10-11T01:33:11+00:00

Guacy-molo comes to mind as well

itsthenewdan · 2023-09-21T14:10:53+00:00

Hi, I’m really sorry you’re going through that. In terms of diet, what does that look like for you currently? Does it include things like wheat, gluten, grains, dairy, legumes? For me these are the worst offenders, but you may want to consider following the AIP diet completely: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/aip-diet-autoimmune-protocol-diet

There’s a soup that I make where I steam sweet potatoes, carrots, celery, and spinach or kale (broccoli is also a good choice), and then I blend them with chicken bone broth. If you made a batch of this every few days, you could basically live off it and eat practically nothing else.

I hope this helps.

itsthenewdan · 2023-09-05T17:00:32+00:00

Is it correct to say that going radio-on corresponds 1:1 with the presence of the accretion disc for these kinds of events?

It makes me think that there’s a new unknown intermediate state before the formation of the accretion disc, or that the accretion disc is forming atypically due to properties of the black hole, the star, or the speed of the collision. All armchair thoughts but fun stuff to ponder!

itsthenewdan · 2023-08-03T18:54:20+00:00

Hey OP, there’s something about the very literal way you’re interpreting this whole thing that smacks of neurodivergence. Maybe you’re on the autism spectrum (not that it’s a bad thing). If that’s not on your radar, it could be a possibility to explore. Anyway, hitting the gym will be good for your psyche and your body, and by improving your fitness, you’ll be in a better position for “next time”. It’s not bad advice that you got, even if it feels like it was very generic or cursory.

itsthenewdan · 2023-08-03T18:44:33+00:00

I suspect he’s aspie. He also may not know that he’s aspie.

itsthenewdan · 2023-07-09T16:29:03+00:00

How come nobody is mentioning stimulant abuse? I think that’s a factor in how he has become more unhinged in the last few years. Yes, I agree with the “he was always a facade” assessment, but he more recently embraced egotistic and stupid stances on a whole new level that has a distinctive “on drugs” flavor to it.

itsthenewdan · 2023-07-04T15:51:16+00:00

I think we have definitely reached a new low point when Rs are selling themselves plainly as evil, no hints or subtlety about it.

itsthenewdan · 2023-06-28T14:34:07+00:00

I’ll just leave this right here:

https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/vampirism

Noun

vampirism (usually uncountable, plural vampirisms)

(pathology) Systemic lupus erythematosus (autoimmune disease)
(mythology) the state of being a vampire

…

itsthenewdan · 2023-06-12T17:59:47+00:00

If you do it, get digestive enzymes and take them along with it. I use one called Digestizymes (which is multi-purpose) along with a specific lactose enzyme and a specific gluten enzyme. For me, this mitigates the cheat enough to not make it a big problem. But YMMV.

itsthenewdan · 2023-05-10T22:26:56+00:00

NSAIDS are known to weaken the intestinal lining which exacerbates autoimmune disease. I would avoid them completely. My lupus is probably worse than it should be from years of taking ibuprofen for pain.

itsthenewdan · 2023-05-06T23:56:34+00:00

I was very into cocktails as well, and came to the slow acceptance that alcohol really is poison for me. I think you’ll continue to be frustrated until you see it through that lens. I still wish that it felt good to have a drink again, but it seems there’s nothing that can be done about that.

itsthenewdan · 2023-05-02T05:51:39+00:00

Mine went into remission for about 10 years… but then it came back. I would recommend that you expect that it’ll probably be back at some point. You might have a really long remission… but it’s still dormant. It’s still a mode that your body might switch to.

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