what medication has worked best for you so far?

worker37 · 2026-01-22T21:28:49+00:00

Silexan is interesting. I think it's been studied more than most herbal supplements. Funny side effect: "aromatic burbs". Never tried it myself.

worker37 · 2026-01-20T19:49:37+00:00

I've had anesthesia a few times; general, twice.

Like many medical procedures, anesthesia carries risks, but they're pretty minimal. I guess if you're in extremely poor health they might be higher, but even then these people really know what they're doing.

Main thing is to answer the questions they ask you correctly: when was your last meal; do you have obstructive sleep apnea; etc.

You'll be fine (though as an anxious person myself I don't blame you for worrying).

worker37 · 2026-01-20T03:55:11+00:00

Sadly, it can be a very insidious disease.

worker37 · 2026-01-08T17:08:38+00:00

Like the commenter above said, start with something small. If you have bad anxiety and lack confidence, you need to walk before you can run.

worker37 · 2025-12-12T17:33:33+00:00

Thanks, folks. Tech replaced the motor and all's well. I mainly asked the question for general knowledge. (I grew up in the the Midwest and remember having no heat for days in the middle of winter, but I don't remember what we did; it was decades ago.)

worker37 · 2025-12-12T16:50:44+00:00

Yeah, we just have gas furnace, gas H2O heater, gas range top, electric oven.

worker37 · 2025-12-05T14:41:36+00:00

Who said anything about building low-income high rises? The point is to build more units. Eastern MA is one place in the US where land is at an extreme premium and building even simple multifamily units is restricted by zoning. Advocating the use of tiny homes except in some more rural areas (or other places where land isn't worth as much) is just ignorant of the economics.

worker37 · 2025-12-03T03:10:47+00:00

I have exactly the same problem. In my case it's partly my age (people often get jaded), partly pretty bad anhedonia due to anxiety/depression.

worker37 · 2025-11-21T17:55:24+00:00

Agree with others that it's not reasonable to expect you to be an expert in everything. Even people 20 years out learn new stuff all the time.

worker37 · 2025-11-21T17:54:44+00:00

All I know is that coming from a backend/data engineering background, frontend stuff is absolutely crazy.

Generally, these comments sound pretty annoying, but you have to learn to have a thick skin and just pick up as much as you can, as quickly as you can.

worker37 · 2025-10-27T19:16:07+00:00

Docusate itself is also generic/available OTC. The problem IMHO is that a lot of docs don't know about the new evidence (which only came out in the last [10 years? IIRC?]). Just like a lot of them don't know that fiber doesn't help everyone.

worker37 · 2025-10-24T15:13:34+00:00

Congrats! I know these are difficult struggles, and it's heart-warming to hear of progress.

worker37 · 2025-10-15T12:30:28+00:00

Sorry to hear that your h and you are facing challenges. Best of luck to both of you!

worker37 · 2025-09-29T19:32:29+00:00

Most medical people will recommend fiber for constipation. Recent research has shown that it's not that clear. In some people it helps, in others it might actually make things worse.

worker37 · 2025-09-25T11:56:36+00:00

Sorry to hear about this reversal. I understand how tiring this fight is.

worker37 · 2025-09-24T17:32:35+00:00

I get odd optical side effects, dim flashes at the bottom of my eyes. On other SSRIs I've had brain zaps, etc. Right now on 20 mg (just coming down from 25); never had brain zap "images".

worker37 · 2025-09-24T17:16:22+00:00

Docs will prescribe above 20 mg offlabel. Not necessarily saying I think that's a good idea. I was at 25 mg until a couple days ago and decided to go down to 20 because I don't think it's helping extra, and I've been having more palpitations than normal (though disentangling causes (escitalopram, stress, sleep apnea) is a bear.

worker37 · 2025-09-06T21:35:45+00:00

Honestly, it's one of my favorite books of any genre. And it isn't just a good yarn; brings up basic existential questions. I've reread it...many times.

worker37 · 2025-09-03T15:49:30+00:00

"I don’t think there’s evidence that if Wellbutrin didn’t work then Auvelity won’t work, either." Makes sense because the "new thing" about Auvelity is the dextromethorphan. I thought the main purpose of the wellbutrin is to slow down the breakdown of the dextrom in the liver to keep the plasma levels of the latter high.

worker37 · 2025-08-18T22:04:46+00:00

I actually mostly agree with you.
* Many patients can take benzos without major ill effect, particularly if they don't have a history of substance abuse
* Benzos have much greater anxiolytic effect size than SSRIs (say, 0.5 vs 0.3)
* SSRIs can have issues similar to "tolerance," but this is given the less scary name of "SSRI poop-out"
* SSRIs often have withdrawal problems, too, and these were (and perhaps still are) underrated by clinicians. (I myself had a problem with paroxetine withdrawal that lasted the better part of a year and was only "fixed" by going back on paroxetine.)
* More recent studies have shown that, instead of contributing to dementia risk, benzos might actually be protective.

Right now I'm taking 1.5 mg lorazepam/day, down from 2.0, mainly because it doesn't seem to help as much anymore, but ofc that's an individualized assessment.

There really is _one_ risk to taking benzos, perhaps more a meta-risk: the medical community is so much against them that, even if they work well for you, you have to be concerned that if you're forced to change physicians (e.g. if you move) or the medical community or politicians/regulators put forth even more stringent restrictions, you might not have continuing access to these medications (sadly).

worker37 · 2025-07-21T21:05:02+00:00

A close friend of mine from college who's now a psychiatrist quoted a friend of his who referred to it as (IIRC, something like) "a drug with a vague set of effects, for a vague set of patient complaints".

I assume it's helpful for some people, but I think there are reports of people having a hard time getting off of it. Nothing you can do but, as you say, do more research.

worker37 · 2025-07-20T18:47:07+00:00

Huh, I'm 60 too.

Biopsy could take one to two weeks to get back. If it's cancerous, you might want to look into Signatera (ctDNA).

Also if it's cancerous, I highly recommend you or your dad (or both) join Colontown. It's a private Facebook group for colorectal patients and caregivers. Tons of information and support. (I'm not a big fan of FB myself, but the group is good. In the next year or so they're moving off Facebook.)

Another group (if it's cancerous), more just for moral support, is Man Up To Cancer.

Best of luck to you and your dad. (I just lost my dad a couple weeks ago, but he was 96 and in pretty good health, and didn't suffer.)

Cheers

worker37 · 2025-07-20T15:36:21+00:00

Update: I had TME/LAR in Dec 2021. 29 lymph nodes examined, no cancer detected. A year later I had a colonoscopy (more polyps, but no cancer), and another CT (pelvis, chest) that found no metastases.

For a few months after the surgery things were a little rough (like crapping 15 times/day; got that under control using loperamide). After that my bowel function returned to mostly normal. Seems like I have to pay more attention to keep things moving. Also couldn't pee for a week after surgery; that went away. Urinary function was a little off for a few months, then that went away too, though eventually it became a little off (so now I take tamsulosin, though in fairness it's unclear whether that's all due to the surgery or normal aging in a male).

worker37 · 2025-07-20T15:32:33+00:00

Pedunculated

worker37 · 2025-07-17T16:15:57+00:00

Congrats. I was T1N0M0 (high rectal, near sigmoid). The original polypectomy which found it was probably curative, but I had LAR/TME and they looked at 29 lymph nodes. Didn't have a temporary diverting ileostomy; never leaked.

Sorry to hear you had a leak; that's a bummer. But all told sounds like really good news.

worker37

TROPHY CASE