I'm with Icelmer (sp?) - well, except for the sin part - I don't think sugar and sin belong in the same category. I'm sick and tired of things that should be personal responsibility falling into the legislative realm. I used to be skinny, now I'm not. It isn't the fault of the drug manufacturers, it isn't the fault of the various food companies. It is my fault for sitting on my @ss and writing on this board instead of exercising. Here - I'll invoke Godwin's Law (since we're studying the rise of the 3rd Reich right now): the government taking over all aspects of a person's life doesn't happen suddenly/overnight - it happens gradually, bit by bit. Regulate something seemingly innocuous here, take something little away there. It's a slippery slope until one day you find yourself at the bottom, wondering where everything went. a

At LEAST a Louis Vuitton bag! I mean SHEESH! :lol::lol: a

Not to throw a wrench in the situation... When I went away to the Army (lo' those many years ago...) some people came by my basic training unit and pulled some folks aside to interview for special programs. Some people just kinda sorta left the unit and went somewhere else. And I'm relatively sure they weren't allowed to call/write their mom during the transition. Not saying it is anything that 'interesting', just that things happen in the military, and parents don't always get to know. That said, my husband's mom called her congressman when hubby hadn't written and it caused a horrible sh!tstorm -- he was in Grenada! a

Lazy doctor syndrome. Besides the story essentially being a red herring... s/he could have given her a 'script for a bottle of estrogen and a bottle of progesterone (whichever one or both) in the correct doses. a

I've never read of SAT2 scores being required. Which is good, because the nimrods lost Switzerland's Bio test for months (um... what was his name again? where did he take it? what was his social security number?) and then just sent him the exact statistical mean for a score. Thanks, @ssholes. a

Ruling on Contraception Draws Battle Lines at Catholic Colleges Ok. This story discusses Catholic colleges. And people who are attending Catholic colleges. Colleges that have agreed to follow the Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church - which prohibits artificial birth control, and abortion. Contrary to popular belief, it does not discriminate against homosexuals, it does not condone homosexual behavior. I guess I'm really out of touch, but I'm flabbergasted that someone would be attending a Catholic College (hello! They start at 30-50K a year!) and somehow be surprised that they can't get birth control from the health clinic. Umm... not to belittle your experience (having gone through a hysterectomy due to the same cyst issue), but aren't you going to need a fertility specialist anyway, since you don't have a male partner? Why is this red herring in the article? No one 'becomes' pregnant. The pregnancy fairy doesn't fly down, kiss your ovaries and say "Congratulations! You're pregnant! Happy Miraculous Conception!" Pregnancy involves having sex with a person of the opposite gender. The women discussed in this story were not victims of violence, they were consenting adults. Why are they A. so surprised they got pregnant and B. trying to blame their university's health clinic? Oh, and C. would someone please explain to me at what point in history did personal responsibility get defenestrated? a

I've already gotten to the "don't show this post" stage on Facebook - If Susan hadn't put the ban in place here, I'd have no where to go to waste time... A

Ok, pardon my snorting, but you have a Dutch aunt who is suggesting a "typically African" gift from South Africa? Does she not see the irony in her statement? You could get her some Zulu music ( is one of many youtube examples) or a craft from KwaZulu-Natal. a

I don't suppose it was a Catholic hospital? If so, check and see about their Mercy Care program. Most CHs have them. I had a friend who broke her neck and it was taken taken care of via Mercy Care. a

Ok - stay with me on this one, because it is out there swinging... My armchair psychoanalysis wonders if, since many of them are/were on the squad, had the remaining girls tried out for the squad and not made it and/or are in a similar but not quite group such as "flag team"? IOW, is it possible that the highly effected is a group of girls who are viewed as being "the face" of the school? Because you can't be "the face" if your face isn't working. But someone who also gets symptoms, but then gets better, can fill in a gap. Or someone who never got symptoms can. I wouldn't be looking for environmental cr@p at all. I'd be looking for a party that these girls went to. And finding out what was in the punch. a

P.S. You don't mention how long the young woman was on the floor with seizing, but any non-psychogenic seizure beyond 5 minutes is a condition called status epilepticus and has a mortality rate of about 20% due to the frying going on in one's brain. When this occurs, ambulances are ALWAYS called unless a patient is in the hospital, at which point a patient is given a drug that essentially knocks their brain out (to stop the seizure). That the other girl started having more problems when girl number 1 was on the floor makes no particular sense from an organic brain disease point of view. Increased stress level, yes, but overall change in symptomology, no. Again, I haven't seen this video - I don't even know where to find it. A

I am of two minds here. I think the initial cases are valid neurological problems. Syndenham's would be as decent guess as any considering it is a small town and a virulent case of strep could take hold. However. If you look at the video on CNN that is showing two girls, one with an "original" case and one with a "later" case (the blond girl), the "later" case doesn't look like tics - it looks like an affectation. There are lots of moms here who have children with tics who will know what I mean. I believe discounting all the cases as mass hysteria (mass conversion disorder) is a copout by a group of people who aren't taking the time to separate the wheat from the chaff. Finally, though I did not see the 'seizure' the poster is referring to, there are different types of seizures: neurological and psychogenic (you can look them up). Unless a patient is pinging on an EEG machine or exhibiting very specific signs, many neurologists will, in the absence of other evidence, say that a patient is having a psychogenic seizure. Also, many patients experience both, so that muddies the waters if a neurologist only witnesses one. I hope these young women get the care they need, in whatever form it should be. Asta

If you have a small child, don't mess around - go to a doctor and have them removed. My DS was about 5 when he first got a lesion and we, too, we're told to "let it run it's course". Well guess what? That course was itchy, and kids scratch. And then they go to the potty. Kid ended up having to have a circ at EIGHT to remove a foreskin covered in lesions. I don't even want to think what would be the solution for a girl! DS had to be put under general anesthesia. DS looked like he had a major STD as a child, and he would had have minimally scarring if not reoccurrences as a teen and adult. During his last physical (he is 18) the doc said we made "absolutely the right decision" because he definitely could have passed it on to his future spouse. Sorry if that sounds alarmist. Asta

Maybe this will help; it is from the American Academy of Pain Medicine, American Pain Society and American Society of Addiction Medicine. a

This is what I grew up with (Sonora, Mexico). A

But the thing is, none of us actually know that. PD also chain smokes like a fiend. Every person comes to life with their own set of genes that will determine how they will respond to external factors. My own mother smoked for 40 years, quit, and THEN started having breathing problems. She cruised along for another 20+ years until a doctor made a mistake post-op from a surgery. She ate a "PD" diet - it's what people who were born in the thirties and prior did. We make our judgements based on what we are told at any given point in the medical cycle - and that isn't necessarily a bad thing - but we also have to take individual human beings into account. JMO A

Mmm... not really. It's more that they appeal to different ways of thinking. From their website: and HTH a

What medicine(s) is (are) she on now? Asta

Oh KH - I'm sorry! I didn't even realize it was you posting -- I was half asleep when I posted that -- I would have written something completely different. You need to be talking to your Pdoc about the Emsam patch or a regular MAOI at this point. I even know of people who have rock star Pdocs who are able to do stimulant / MAOI cocktails without killing their patients (don't try this at home, kids). Yeah - you're past the kiddie drugs. Have you ever tried the California rocket fuel? (Effexor/Remeron combo) a

The "not feeling anything" thing is called "anhedonia" or "lack of pleasure". The clinical term is "bipolar" not "bi-polar". Sorry. just a pet peeve. A "few weeks" is not nearly enough time to gauge what Lamictal can or cannot do. Or any drug for that matter. All psychotropic drugs need a 4-8 week trial to gauge effectiveness. Anhedonia normally responds best to a combination of dietary changes, exercise, and sometimes medication involvement. It is always best for this to be done by a psychiatrist rather than a general practitioner, as (someone mentioned this) they are better at sussing out which neurotransmitter is likely to be the culprit based on what you tell them. And it is absolutely imperative that you be absolutely truthful regarding what is going on in your life and exactly what you are feeling both emotionally and physically - even if you think it is inconsequential or embarrassing. Some people simply don't respond to serotonin based drugs well (Zoloft, Prozac, etc.). Wellbutrin is a multiple reuptake drug: it hits dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine. A drug like Effexor, though h*llish to get off of (you need to do an extremely long taper in order to get off of it w/o side effects) hits basically every receptor in your head. Remeron does as well. For this matter, both are extremely effective, but they are sledgehammers for depression, not the ping hammer that is needed for something like anhedonia. IOW, beware if someone mentions one of those two. Another thing to consider is if a doc mentions a drug such as Strattera. It is normally used for adult ADHD, but a similar version of it is used in the rest of the world for depression. It has a very favorable side effect profile. It hits norepinephrine exclusively. As to the *other* ADHD meds (stimulants) - run away! Stimulants are a bad idea for things like this because of their very mechanism (UP then DOWN). That's what I've got for right now. a

In the the news video, she said that she went to the back bedroom with the baby, put a bottle in his mouth (I'm assuming she propped it in a carrier), grabbed 2 guns and went out into the main house - I'm assuming when it became evident that they were coming through the door. They also reiterated that her husband died of cancer on Christmas day. a

What happened at that point in time that was different from before? -Medication change? -External illness (especially a virus such as strep) -Growth spurt? -Change in toiletries? (yes, this will change how medications work, believe it or not...) -Carpets get cleaned? -Walls get painted? -Any home repairs? -Any landscaping? -Fall cleaning? (stuff put airborne) -Different car? Exactly what medications and what doses? In what cortex(es) do her seizures reside? Therapeutic level of what? It depends on the medication. A "therapeutic level" of Lamictal, for example, is there to tell the doctor if the patient is taking their medication; it is not indicative of whether or not the patient is taking the right dose for their condition. I'm at a "therapeutic level" of Lamictal at a whopping 50 mg. My seizures don't stop until 300 mg. Additionally, what many people don't realize is that, counter to intuition, a large number of medications require higher doses for pediatrics than they do for adults. This is because peds process them more quickly due to more efficient livers, kidneys, etc. What was the "other" med they added? Also - she didn't happen to have taken any other medicine - like an over the counter cold medicine - the day she had that head snap back episode, did she? The combination of pseudoephedrine or any serotonin reuptake inhibitor (even a "natural" one like St. John's Wort or Sam-E) and a pre-existing seizure disorder can bring forth a wicked tonic-clonic seizure like the one described. Gait issues can be either medication induced or brain problem induced. Irrelevant. I've been told I have "the most beautiful brain" on MRI. No structural abnormalities of any kind. Nope. All electric. Electrical problems don't show up. Every last one of those is a standard side effect of seizures. The new Twilight movie? Because illnesses progress. We try to stay ahead of them with diet, lifestyle, and medication, but time marches on. Rare is the individual whose illness remains in stasis. Not necessarily. A woman continues to grow up until she is 25. If she has a disorder of any kind, her puberty can be interrupted at various points and can be prolonged practically indefinitely. Endocrinology is downright fascinating/frightening on this point. In fact, you may wish to be consulting both an endo AND a neuro who will work in concert at this juncture. The "slump" seizures are called "atonic" seizures. They are when a person's bones kind of go to jello. It is a failure of the brain to tell the body to remain standing/sitting, etc. e.g. "Tonic". They are also quite dangerous because, when one's brain forgets to tell one's body to even stay upright, it tends to forget to tell it to perform other autonomic functions such as breathing. The only time *I* ever experienced atonic seizures was when I was completely, utterly overmedicated. Artificial sweeteners are no longer as easy to find as they once were. Sucralose is being put in almost everything. It is in the back of "sugar free" canned fruit now. You would be amazed. I agree with Liberty - it is probably time to start from scratch. But you don't have to worry about that - when she goes in for her video EEG, they will be doing exactly that. They will remove her from her meds to read her brain waves. They can take her off of her meds because she will be in a hospital setting, and if there is an emergency, they can give her instant knock out meds that you normally would not have (unless you have suppositories at home). One thing to steel yourself for: if things are really bad, they may put her in a short medication coma until they decide what to do. It's rare, but it does happen. I'm not on the 'net much these days due to some other things going on, but I think I've covered most of the bases here. If you write what medications she is on, the other moms here can chime in. Also, the medsite crazymeds dot us has updated their med pages (even though they aren't for pediatrics, the actual medication info is good) and should be able to give you some info that is the "real lowdown" regarding side effects. asta

From a "what will be most valuable in the future" standpoint... Russian. a

Another field to consider is Medical Assistant. More and more doctor's offices are hiring MAs instead of RNs or LPNs because they are trained in both LPN and administrative duties. My old GP ran his office with only an MA and an office manager. Perhaps being an MA for a pediatrician or a CNM would be something interesting for you. a ps: the pay varies depending on location and type of position, but can be quite good

Switzerland and I use these threads as springboards for conversation, and one particular thing stuck out on this thread: The posters who mentioned Catholicism (with the exception of, I think... two) all said something to the effect of "I think you're Catholic" or "I think you're looking for Catholicism" or "I think you should check out either the Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox Church." But the people who said "I think you should check out the Eastern Orthodox Church" did not also say "or the Roman Catholic Church." (unless I missed one on a skimming) And then there were those three pages of "Who's on first, What's on second, I don't know's on third..." regarding Luther, Sola Scriptura et al. that got rather heated. I find this to be interesting. Perhaps much of the difficulty for people in finding their "faith path" is that the very people who have been tasked by their denominations to help people find their way are themselves so internally divided that they have missed the larger point: it isn't supposed to be about "winning" people to EO rather than RCC or convincing people that X denomination of Protestantism is purer than another -- it's supposed to be about the principles of Christianity -- remember those? Instead, it has all turned into one big-@ss competition of how much "purer", "complete", and "correct" one group is over another. If we want to argue "like WTMers", well, fine: put all of the Christian denominations on a timeline and decide how far back one wants to go. And since none of us were there, and each Church has a competing history, the EO/RCC split turns into a "agree to disagree." Heck, let's go even further - original documents! Even the "secret archives" of the Vatican are available for viewing by appointment. And dang near everything else is available at one's fingertips on their website. Surely the EO has something similar... All of Luther's writings are conveniently available for reading right there in Wittemburg. Carol is absolutely right - he didn't initially want to leave the Catholic Church - he loved the Church - he was a Catholic priest. The part that isn't highlighted in US Lutheranism is that he slowly went mad. It's sad to read. There was a reason that others were able to step into the path he had cleared -- he wasn't in any shape to do anything about it. Maybe Christianity needs a version of the Hajj: go to the birthplace of your religion and find out what it actually means.