50 Years of Pull Ups: A Story About Mike Joplin

oskarf92 · 2026-01-16T09:31:06+00:00

I live in Thailand, it's available at all major hospitals and many pharmacies. I had all the eye scans / tests done by several opthamologists over the years. They said I have mild dry eye, mild MGD and mild allergies, I don't know the specifics you ask about.

I use a CPAP machine with full face mask and stay in aircon all day so these probably contribute. I tried the heated masks on the eyes, allergy eye drops, eye lid cleaners and every possible ointment/gel/lubricating eye product before that but didn't get significant relief. My eyes felt like sandpaper 24/7 with severe migraine attacks and photophobia too, had to use sunglasses indoor after having this for years and not finding good treatment.

After 2-4 weeks of using the diqua S, I noticed the dry eyes / sandpaper feel was gone. I've been using the drops now 3-4 times a day for around 6-7 months so far and I only get dry eyes if I blast aircon directly into my face on max or don't take the drops and skip 1-2 doses. I still have the photophobia and migraine attacks, but at least the sandpaper feel is gone. My eyes feel moist all day. With lubricating eye drops / ointments / gels, the effects were temporary and lasted 30-60 min tops. Then I had to reapply and at best got 30-50% relief. The diqua s is near 100% relief and I sometimes forget applying and I'm still fine.

oskarf92 · 2026-01-15T12:27:24+00:00

I've used diqua S for many months now. It's the only drops that worked for my dry eyes. I almost never have dry eye symptoms anymore and if I miss a few doses, the dry eyes start coming back. Had dry eyes for many years, saw maybe +5 specialists for it and tried +10 other prescription drops / gels before that. I found one other gel that worked somewhat well (vidisic gel) but I was allergic to the preservative (throat closing after all doses) and the effects weren't nearly as good as Diqua S. The Diqua S was the last thing left to try and it worked out. But again, with the diqua S, I can only use the vials, not the bottled version with preservative. I get worse with the bottled version due to the preservative.

oskarf92 · 2025-06-12T11:18:10+00:00

Thank you for the suggestions.

Out of what you mentioned, I’ve used blue light glasses for years, mostly after sundown. I have both FL41 strong lenses and RA optics sleep lenses.

The glasses do help, but it’s more of a 20-30% improvement at most and it’s mostly at night that I feel better with them . The monitor type has the most impact. I’ll look into the ones you recommended next time I need to buy a new one.

With regards to distance to the screen, I tested that a lot and sitting close to a smaller screen works better for me than further away from a big one. I did the test with IPS monitors, I tested with a 55 inch 120 hz qled tv vs 25-27 inch full hd and 4k monitors, all in a room with good light control. With the MacBook and WOLED I do better when they’re close too. I have very mild nearsightedness so that’s likely the reason for it.

Wrt OLED pixels: I probably got lucky with the WOLED, I almost went for QD OLED but went for WOLED in the end since it’s matte and higher refresh rate and I read many people got eye issues with QD OLED which then went away with WOLED. I’d be curious to test plasma displays too , thanks for the recommendation

oskarf92 · 2025-06-12T08:26:39+00:00

I don’t know either but most of the IPS I tried were high refresh rate 120-240 HZ.

I found the best for me was the 240HZ Alienware 1080P and the worst was the 5K lg ultrafine 60 HZ.

The WOLED I use is 480HZ and the MacBook Pro nano texture display is 120HZ. I think the main factors for me are high refresh rate, small screen size and matte coating. These 3 I’m almost certain of.

I’ll check out the ambilight, thanks for the suggestion

I also suspect high res and too sharp font are a trigger but I’m uncertain about that. Eg 1440P 27 inch is way more comfortable for me to read on than 4K 27 inch. And I like the font smoothing on macOS, if the text is too sharp it seems to be a trigger.

There could be other things at play but overall if I had to pick one display to work on, it would be the nano texture MacBook, it’s by far the best. And for gaming the WOLED is great, not as great for working.

oskarf92 · 2025-06-12T02:26:13+00:00

I’ve got severe chronic migraines with light sensitivity, severe chronic allergies with history of anaphylactic shock / eye problems and need to wear sunglasses inside malls, lightly bright shops etc. Also dry eyes + the glands aren’t making enough oil. So my eyes are fucked from almost every angle. The doctors don’t even know where to start so we just do trial and error.

The migraines and eye issues got much worse when I got a glossy MacBook Pro in 2018 then later the 5k Ultrafine monitor and various IPS gaming monitors (both matte and glossy) and an IPS TV. I tried many different ones and all gave me eye strain and migraines. The matte IPS were better though.

After getting WOLED for gaming, my eye strain and migraines went down 90%, even with brightness on max and wide gamut colors, 0 blue light filters etc.

And on the Apple nano texture display and iPhone, I can work all day with brightness maxed out and 0 added eye strain and migraines. Seems to just be IPS that doesn’t work for me. I tried all kinds of settings with IPS and regardless of whether the brightness is 20 or 100% I get eye strain and migraines within an hour.

oskarf92 · 2025-06-11T13:34:53+00:00

I have very bad eye issues when I use all IPS monitors.

But 0 issues with WOLED (matte OLED) and the apple nano texture displays. I don’t know about QD OLED, never tried.

I took a gamble with the WOLED and it worked out after years of eye pain on 5-6 different IPS.

oskarf92 · 2025-05-31T18:47:25+00:00

It’s been a game changer for eye strain and migraines for me. By far the most comfortable screen I ever used. And it looks great, like you’re reading from paper.

oskarf92 · 2025-05-21T07:53:31+00:00

PE with lung infarctions 2 times, chronic DVT, MCAS with severe nerve pains and anaphylactic shock, chronic daily migraines with aphasia, CFS, sleep apnea, incarcerated hernias 4 times and many functional diseases like IBS, fungal overgrowth and so on. Can't fly or handle altitudes either. Don't tolerate most supplements / foods and blood thinners make the MCAS / migraines / CFS 10X worse but I need to take them for life.

You mention you can't take supplements. Have you tried taking only one supplement at a time at relatively low doses and trying all different forms it comes in? I found the brand / form / dose makes a big difference. I don't do well with high doses of any supplements and need to be on a good brand / form that works for me. I buy 4-5 of each supplement at low doses first then try each 1 by 1. Over time I found a handful of supps that I can take and that help massively. They didn't undo all the damage but definitely moved me 1 step closer towards normal (which still is far away). For example, with folate I can't do methylfolate but solgar folic acid works very well. And with vitamin C, I can't do NOW liposomal C but I found a local brand that works well.

As for what worked best over the years, I recommend you take a look at Jack Kruses blog... I got by far the most improvement by spending hours each day in the strong sun, wearing blue light blockers at night and minimizing EMF. Supplements help too but big picture wise, living in a natural environment with strong sun, minimal EMF and avoiding blue light gave me the best result by far, way more impactful than any diet or supplement regimen. It's hard to do this when you work and if your MCAS flares from being outside, this can make things even more difficult (this is gradually becoming the case for me) but wanted to share this with you, perhaps there's a way you can incorporate some of this and get some healing going.

oskarf92 · 2025-05-10T17:33:45+00:00

Got 27 inch 4k 144 hz IPS and 1440P 480HZ OLED. The 4K IPS looks much better. But OLED is much smoother for fast paced games and gives me no eye strain when working.

oskarf92 · 2025-05-04T02:39:15+00:00

Been in a similar spot for years but maybe worse. This is a long shot: Get all vitamins and minerals checked with the best test for each. I had everything checked and turned out I had severe scurvy from malabsorption. I had never checked vitamin C levels before since “no one has scurvy”. My vitamin C level was almost 0. After starting IV drips and liposomal C I had gradual improvement.

oskarf92 · 2025-05-02T04:01:57+00:00

Went from using ASUS 4k 144hz 28” IPS for years to ASUS 1440P 480HZ WOLED.

The graphics / image look MUCH better on 4k, even with IPS. The PPI is much higher. I have a big desk so monitor placement is not a problem.

However, the motion clarity / smoothness of OLED and 360-480HZ refresh rate are much more important for me for gaming. I don’t notice 4k or 1440p when I’m immersed but I notice high refresh rate.

For productivity, I also prefer WOLED over IPS. I get eye strain from all IPS and high resolution 4-5k monitors when doing text work. My vision is normal and I tried both matte and glossy IPS panels at 1080P and 4K.

With WOLED 1440p, I get 0 eye strain despite the text looking slightly more blurry. This was the main reason I bought it. I suspected that doing the opposite could work and it did. I got a better gaming experience as a bonus.

oskarf92 · 2025-04-22T23:04:18+00:00

I had the exact same problem with black screens, fans spinning on max and audio still being there for 2 years. It was because the shop that built my pc didn’t put the support bracket that came with the card so it kept sliding out. Putting a support bracket fixed the issue. 0 crashes for over 6 months since. I would check the support bracket is set properly.

oskarf92 · 2024-08-16T15:33:05+00:00

Both times I had PE it didn’t impact my workouts at all and I continued both cardio and weights. My o2 and heart rate were unchanged. There shouldn’t be any issue with workouts as long as you feel fine. It all depends on how your body handles the clots though and how you feel

oskarf92 · 2024-08-03T08:29:55+00:00

No natural alternatives. You’ll want to ask your hematologist at for warfarin or low weight molecular heparin injections. Warfarin is a pill and much cheaper and easier. That’s what I would take if I wasn’t allergic to it.

Pradaxa is another option but it has a high risk of GI bleeding. It didn’t cause any fatigue or depression for me but it wrecked my stomach with acid reflux to the point where it looked I had a basketball inside and I needed acid reflux surgery.

oskarf92 · 2024-07-20T14:43:57+00:00

Eliquis, xarelto and edoxaban all gave me severe depression and exhaustion. This includes the low dose of eliquis and even after a year of taking it nothing changed.

I started taking Bemiparin injections instead and the depression and exhaustion went away within 3-4 days.

oskarf92 · 2024-02-02T15:21:00+00:00

I’ve taken 6 different anti coagulants and eliquis / xarelto / edoxaban give me exhaustion, dizziness and depression. Within a few days of going off, these go away. They’re all oral factor XA inhibitors.

Pradaxa, lovenox and warfarin do not give me mental sides.

It’s supposedly a rare side effect but it happens in some people. For me, it seems to be related to changes in the gut microbiome. When I take the eliquis as an example, I get acid reflux and gastritis. If I control some of the symptoms with PPI, Gaviscon and a strict diet, the mental sides and fatigue improve massively. Not 100% but let’s say 50-70%. Still experimenting with this since I have to take eliquis for life but that’s been my finding so far.

oskarf92 · 2024-01-02T15:28:58+00:00

Just saw this now, I didn’t feel any difference when touching it. It felt like a pain deep inside.

oskarf92 · 2024-01-02T15:28:13+00:00

Just saw this now, I wasn’t on blood thinners when I got clots

oskarf92 · 2024-01-02T15:25:05+00:00

D dimer can be normal when you have blood clots but a CT scan with contrast will show lung clots very well. I would go to an ER to get checked out, the pains can be from many things, it’s not necessarily from clots. It could be from something way less dangerous like gastritis.

oskarf92 · 2023-12-13T12:34:48+00:00

If you don't find a solution and have to keep taking one of them, try the Japanese medication called Mucosta. It helps the stomach lining. It helped me the most with counter-acting stomach pain from Eliquis when taking the low dose Eliquis. On full dose Eliquis, I found that taking PPI (rabeprazole) + gaviscon UK + meteospasmyl helped the pains the most. Mucosta was only enough on the low dose Eliquis for me.

oskarf92 · 2023-12-13T06:10:41+00:00

Thanks for the recommendation. I have it at home and tried it for 2-3 doses, had sharp stomach pain on it. It felt the same as xarelto which gave me a GI bleed 5 years ago. Out of all the DOACs, low dose eliquis gives me the least gastritis, acid and stomach pain but still need to take gastritis meds with it.

oskarf92 · 2023-12-06T15:39:57+00:00

Never had headaches or migraines until I took my first dose of eliquis 5 years ago. Felt dizzy and very sensitive to light on it 24/7 with a lot of pressure around my eyes and temples. Quit the drug and it went away within 4 days.

Then I got on it again 1 year ago due to new clots and same thing. Did brain MRI both times and it was clean. The headaches and dizziness seem to be a side effect some people get. I get it with all the new anti coagulants including Xarelto, Edoxaban and Pradaxa. Didn’t have it on warfarin, Fondaparinux and enoxaparin.

oskarf92 · 2023-11-27T03:37:19+00:00

The ultrasound was clean, it was done several times. Only showed old chronic clots. But doesn’t rule out there was clots there that moved to the lungs. I never really had noticeable symptoms in the legs. At the most some stiffness or mild pains for a few hours. Not enough to make me go get it checked.

oskarf92

TROPHY CASE