Here’s the view from under a Suwannee River bridge:
The river is much higher than it was last time I was in the neighborhood. For example, last time, you could walk down these steps to the water:
And now you have to make sure you don’t bust your prop on the sea wall as you float over it. The Suwannee is so changeable.
I can’t sleep, dammit. I’m debating whether I should keep trying to make myself fall asleep or just give up and put on a pot of coffee.
The swamp critters are singing tonight. There’s also what sounds like a very large owl hooting nearby.
Coffee it is.
Open thread.
PS: Has anyone read “Stone Mattress” by Margaret Atwood? I am making my way through it. I’ve had a love-hate (mostly love) relationship with Atwood for many years, but I’m not sure what to make of this collection.
Another Holocene Human
Self Identified would be Republican 2016 primary voters 95% white.
Damn.
Another Holocene Human
Here’s some Schadenfreude for the ages–tried to start a SuperPAC to support Joni Ernst et al, got taken for a ride instead. Weirder than a Hiassen plot. I stopped reading when I got to the name T Cullen Davis, born again Christian. That piece of filth gunned down a 12 year old girl and walked!!!! Must be nice!
http://crooksandliars.com/2015/03/how-political-consultants-took-texas
Currants
Ditto, Betty. Pot of coffee would be great, nly if I got up the guy next to me would too. Times like this I miss living alone.
Also ditto re Atwood. Haven’t read that particular book, but Handmaids Tale put me off her for almost 2 decades–it was too horrifyingly imaginable (given my fundi-gelical upbringing. Then I started reading her again (Cats Eye, the Blind Assassin, Alias Grace) and gained an appreciation for her talent.
AdamK
How I loves ya, how I loves ya, my dear old Suwannee.
Cliff in NH
One year ago, deep snow w/Doggies:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/64725711@N07/13369573954/
BillinGlendaleCA
@Cliff in NH: We were going to take our girls up to the snow, don’t think it’ll be this year.
Cliff in NH
@Cliff in NH:
Same View in the summer:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/64725711@N07/8450055124/
Cliff in NH
@BillinGlendaleCA:
the ski areas are good, cause of the cold.
Might not be as scenic though … Hiking season will start off earlier though if you come in a few weeks before the bugs show up/after the mud goes away(sooner w/less snow).
BillinGlendaleCA
@Cliff in NH: By girls, I mean the ones with 4 legs and fur. We took our previous group up to the snow, drive up Angeles Crest, almost every year.
The human one already went snowboarding with her bf before the start of winter quarter of school.
chopper
up early for the georgia marathon. need breakfast.
Betty Cracker
As it turns out, the Mr. Coffee in my riverside camper guest quarters is not equipped with a “pause-and-serve” feature, so I made a big fat mess trying to sneak a cup mid-brew. Undoubtedly the first of many (messes) to come this day!
Betty Cracker
@Currants: it’s tough to have to accommodate light sleepers. If the mister wasn’t a heavy sleeper, it would be a problem for sure since I am frequently up at all hours. But he can sleep through anything.
One time, at our old house, a ceiling-mounted glass globe light fixture in our bedroom spontaneously detached and came crashing down on the wood floor directly at the end of the bed. This was at 2 or 3 AM. The dog and I leapt up, thinking a bomb had gone off. We cut our feet, and the dog was barking and I was cursing. The mister slept through it all. It’s amazing, really.
raven
@Betty Cracker: My bride is mostly like that or maybe it’s more that she usually can go back to sleep if she wakes up. I’m watching the late games from last night because I only made it until 11.
Betty Cracker
@raven: I never managed to develop an interest in basketball. I’m in the sports drought between football and baseball.
raven
@Betty Cracker: Ha, that’s exactly how I’ll feel in two weeks! To me there is nothing like the basketball tourney. I won $500 this year and $700 last so that’s not hurting. We’ve got three weeks until the addition work begins so “we” are trying to get ready for that too. The girl has decided to start painting the bathroom which I think is a mistake. If you were going to have a new bathroom built with an addition wouldn’t it make sense to wait until that was built and then paint the old one?
OzarkHillbilly
Boy, can I identify with that, tho my normal wake-up time is 3:30-4. Sometimes I come wide awake at 12-1 AM and lay in bed for hours trying to sleep because if I get up it means I am giving up.
Mustang Bobby
I would have made it sleeping to sunrise had not the neighbor’s alarm system decided to go off an hour ago. Feh.
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: One thing I find at this time of year is that I think I sleep better without any HVAC on. We slept with the window open and it’s 54 outside. This really makes me think we need a new unit with the addition. If they are so quiet and efficient it makes sense to me to do it now. What do you think, our current unit is 17 years old and I think we could use the existing ductwork?
satby
Must have been something in the atmosphere, I woke up about 3, sort of dozed off again, but then just got up because I thought it was 6am.
It was 4:45. Even the dogs don’t get up when I do if it’s that early. They wait until 6. Creatures of habit, they are.
Betty Cracker
@raven: I bet she knows what she’s doing. Painting doesn’t usually put a bathroom completely outta commission, right?
Congrats on the big winnings! Definitely makes the tourney more interesting!
@OzarkHillbilly: At least it’s a weekend. It really sucks when that happens during the week and you have to work the next day.
raven
@satby: Bohdi steals my spot as soon as I get up. Lil Bit will wander out here and hop up in her favorite chair and snore away.
raven
@Betty Cracker: Rats! She always knows best. $500 is the really low end of this operation. Kentucky went for $2600! I got UAB for $45.
raven
Man, did Notre Dame dodge a bullet!
Oh damn, I’m no Irish fan but this is really sad:
“PITTSBURGH – On the same day Notre Dame coach Mike Brey finally earned the coaching success that had eluded him, with a Sweet 16 berth, he lost the woman who fueled him to succeed in the first place.
Brey announced minutes after the Irish’s 67-64 win over Butler on Saturday that his mother, Betty, had died that morning of a heart attack. She was 84.
“It was kind of a tribute to her,” Brey said of the game. “It was really a special night. … I think she was definitely with us down the stretch.”
raven
satby
@raven: Before dawn, having my coffee while the dogs snore around me, is my favorite time of day.
Betty Cracker
@raven: That’s sad. Sounds like she was a true fan. I usually root against ND on general principles, but I hope they prevail in honor of that great lady.
Just One More Canuck
As a Canadian, I know I’m supposed to love Margaret Atwood, but just cant do it. Had too much of her stuff foisted upon me in high school and university. Never found her writing style interesting enough for me. And don’t get me started on the other Margaret (Laurence)
raven
@Betty Cracker: I watched the end of the game and then the little interview with him and there was no indication. A kid from ND made a horrible double-dribble with 2 seconds to go that almost cost them the game and you could see Brey calm them down in the huddle. It’s obvious he knew there was nothing he could do about his mom and he put everything in the kids. On a baseball note, Pat Connaughton from ND will be a major league pitcher and he had an insane blocked shot at the buzzer in regualtion that saved the day for them.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: Sorry, lost satellite for a 1/2 hr (welcome to the Boonie woods). You definitely don’t need new ductwork with a new AC unit. 17 years…. dang going back to the dark ages where AC was a fan behind a block of ice. Seriously, efficiencies are far better now so it could well be worth the cost of a new unit. But it might very well be a recharge would give the one you have a whole new life.
Betty Cracker
Thank merciful dog for screens! Dawn is beginning to break over my rustic camper by the river. There’s a slough about 50 yards away that functions as a mosquito hatchery. I can hear the high-pitched whine of dozens of thirsty insects at the adjacent window, held at bay by the heroic screen.
OzarkHillbilly
@Betty Cracker: Heh. The MO Dept of Conservation has long had a project of digging small ponds on their lands for use as wildlife watering holes. I have always declared any land around these ponds to be in the “mosquito restoration zone”.
Raven
@OzarkHillbilly: It works ok but the increased sq footage has me concerned.
BillinGlendaleCA
Well that was festive, I just spent the last 3 hours fixing the configuration and windoze activation problems on my old machine. I was surprised to find that it was attempting to boot to a no existent copy of windoze on my D drive. It’s much faster now and I won’t get those annoying nags to activate(it thought I was using it on 2 machines).
OzarkHillbilly
@Raven: They now make small units called “Mini-splits” that need no ductwork. Very efficient and all the rage in Japan and coming on strong in Europe too.
My Jeffco buddy (who works for an energy efficiency nonprofit) just had them put into his new (1864 cabin and balloon framed additions) house. After we get the new roof on this place I will be putting them in here too.
donnah
re coffee woes: I carried my grounds-filled filter to the wastecan this morning and dropped it before I got the can opened. Damp coffee grounds all over the floor, and me too bleary-eyed to see. Not a great way to start the morning.
Phylllis
Raining and a bit cool here. Working on my 2nd cup of coffee; need to get motivated in a bit-heading upstate to Greenville for the next couple of days for our state risk management association conference. It’ll be a nice break from the all testing, all the time that’s been this school year so far.
currants
@Betty Cracker: I am probably a terrible person but oh that made me laugh! I’m a light sleeper, but I also fall back asleep pretty easily when woken by an external event. But if I wake at 2:30-3 am thinking about something, and then it’s all over.
scav
Anyone needing a slow-moving, safely historical (controversial with buffered distence) event, Richard III is being buried: BBC Liveblog. So far, so good with the coffee grounds here, although boiling water next. Chirpy birds outside monosyllabically chirpy, including the one that’s rather like a, umm, doorflap?
tybee
the extended family had reunions on the suwanee for decades. first at fannin springs and later at manatee. good times.
i’d pay good money to watch notre dame lose in any sport.
Germy Shoemangler
@OzarkHillbilly: I can relate. My typical routine: Fall asleep 11:00 or 11:30. Awake suddenly at 1:30. Doze off again at 2:45. Awake suddenly again around 4am. If I’m lucky I can fall back asleep until 5:30. If not, I’m awake until it’s time to get up.
When my insomnia first got bad, I started reading about the subject. I’d see sleep experts on my local news saying basically you need seven to eight hours of sleep a night, and if you don’t get it, you’re screwed healthwise.
But then I was reading this one book by a doc who treated patients with insomnia. He told them it wasn’t the quantity of sleep that counted, but the quality. He said one woman complained she was only sleeping four hours a night, and he told her “Maybe that’s all you need.” (She stormed out of his office)
He used the example of black top on a driveway. If you spread it all over a long driveway, it is covered, but a thin layer. If you use the same amount of blacktop on a small driveway, it is covered more deeply.
I don’t know who to believe.
debbie
I’ve never read Atwood, but feel like I ought to. What would be a good book to start with?
MattF
Via jwz, the world’s first commercially available personal hand-held flamethrower:
http://theawesomer.com/xm42-personal-flamethrower/313633/
I’m guessing the NRA will object to any attempt to control sales of these devices– after all, if flamethrowers are illegal, then only criminals will have flamethrowers. On the other side of the argument one may note that Darwin will have his say in the matter, regardless of your personal belief in natural selection.
Germy Shoemangler
NYTIMES:
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The political apparatus surrounding former Gov. Jeb Bush, determined to avoid embarrassment in a state that has vexed his party and family in national elections, is plotting a vast operation aimed at turning Florida into a bulwark for his presidential campaign, according to dozens of interviews.
The plan, code-named “Homeland Security,” seeks to try to neutralize two potentially grave but homegrown threats to Mr. Bush’s long-anticipated run for president: the likely challenge from a charismatic young Republican senator from Miami, Marco Rubio, who is expected to seek the Republican nomination himself, and a demographic drift within Florida that could doom Mr. Bush there in a fall campaign against a Democrat.
Phylllis
charismatic young Republican senator from Miami, Marco Rubio
I don’t think the meaning of charismatic fits here in the author’s usage.
Germy Shoemangler
@Phylllis: He’s charismatic the way the corn chowder I had for dinner last night is before I flush the toilet in the morning.
WereBear
@Germy Shoemangler: I went from 2-4 hours a night to 8-9 with strict sleep hygiene (control blue light, rigid bedtime, sleep mask) and ant-inflammatory health steps.
I don’t think the doctor makes much sense. If she were fine with four hours, she wouldn’t be seeking help.
@debbie: Her classic might be considered Handmaid’s Tale. But if you have issues with oppressive religion or the Deep South (but I repeat myself) it will be triggering.
WereBear
I wish there was a word for “no frigging self-insight whatsover.” Maybe the Germans have one. But, being German, probably not.
scav
@Germy Shoemangler: From what I’ve read, there is a fair bit of variation inwhat people seem to need and it also changes over time. the inevitable more research is needed (how much is needed, benefits and detriments of getting too little, too much, however defined, broken out by the types of sleep, et of course cetera). The eight hour, single block norm seems to be very cultural, very squishy. It matters, but we might still be on the chaos phase as research reports continue to come out, especially with all the bucks to be made ‘fixing’ things.
bemused
Anyone see the pro gun control psa with fake gun shop that Rachel Maddow aired Friday evening? The “customers” were told that the guns they were looking at were used in shooting deaths. I thought it was pretty powerful and of course, NRA and gun nuts are raging about it.
MattF
@WereBear: There’s this:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Fremdschämen
OzarkHillbilly
@Germy Shoemangler: It definitely is more about quality than quantity. My main sleep problem is pain induced (arthritis, bursitis, tendonitis, if there any other -itises out there I probably have them too)(being allergic to aspirin I can’t take anti-inflammatorys) Consequently, the harder I work, the more tired I am, the more pain I am in, and the more likely I will spend more time tossing, turning, and when I do sleep it will be right on the edge of wakefulness. Sometimes I am so tired I just lay there and hope. Other times the brain kicks in and I am fvcked. Every now and again, after about an hour I can lay back down and go back to sleep, but most times that is it, once I am up I am done.
scav
@WereBear: People’s worries can be derived from socially expressed norms and ideals, rather than inward bilogical symbptoms of deficit. My aunt gets panicky that she’s got a wakey period in the middle of the night, but can I convince here that seems to have been a normal pattern until early industialization? No, I can not. And then the panic and hyperfocus (in her case) interferes with the sleeping.
WereBear
@MattF: Close! I gotta give the Germans credit.
And I kid about their ways… I’m 1/4 German.
Germy Shoemangler
@OzarkHillbilly: I can relate. For most of my life, I was comfortable sleeping on my right side. For the past five years, if I fall asleep in that position, my arm pain wakes me up. My right arm will feel the way it does when the nurse takes your blood pressure.
My wife has problems sleeping through the night also, so invariably when I doze off finally, she’ll wake me up with her tossing turning or getting up with hot flash.
The cat enjoys perfect sleep hygiene, however.
Germy Shoemangler
@scav: Yes, historians pointed out the “second sleep” which was the norm in pre-industrial societies. Not one long block of 8-hour sleep, but more fragmented.
WereBear
@OzarkHillbilly: Niacin holds some promise as an anti-inflammatory, and would not trip your issues with aspirin.
After some white willow bark(active ingredient in aspirin)/devil’s claw(NOT in the aspirin family) herb experimentation, I have switched to large doses of niacin; sleep improved, arthritis at the base of my thumbs receded, and many people report it improves their cholesterol profile.
Worth a shot, in my opinion. Unlike statin drugs, niacin does not seem to have a downside as long as one uses the FLUSH, instant release, type.
Pogonip
@bemused: That would incline me towards buying it on grounds I know it works! I’ve lived here for 55 years and my mind STILL doesn’t work like an American’s! (I guess nowadays, that’s good.)
WereBear
@scav: I heard a podcast recently that outlined such a “two step” sleep which was apparently common before electric light. After? Our average sleep went from 9 hours to 6.
Dr. Teitelbaum, whose protocol we are now following for Mr WereBear’s CFS, does not approve.
OzarkHillbilly
Houndmouth.
Damn. I am really liking these guys.
scav
@WereBear: Artificial light certainly plays some important role, but may I nevertheless express a little personal doubt about the quality of the measurements of sleeping time in pre-industrial societies? And there is still plenty of room for individual varience in there.
Germy Shoemangler
@scav: I never understood the advice of some sleep specialists: “if you wake up and don’t fall back asleep, get out of bed, turn on a light and read in the living room.”
Because I thought that light going into your eyes triggers the “time to wake up” hormones. I’ve found that a completely dark room, or keeping my eyes shut while I toss and turn will help me return to the land of nod.
Botsplainer
Made the error of turning on a Sunday news show on CNN.
I had to restrain myself from ramming a fist through the screen – they’re doing horse race bullshit ahead of 2016 and literally using the word, with competition commentary straight from ESPN Sports Center.
I found myself wishing that there was a disgruntled employee on the set, Bushmaster in hand.
WereBear
@scav: One thing for sure: preindustrial societies slept in dark rooms.
Adding a sleep mask to my routine did wonders.
scav
@Germy Shoemangler: I’d always rather assumed that they said that so that people would relax (about not sleeping) and thus maybe fall asleep. The light bit bolluxes it though, especially at the candle watts judged normal anymore.
WereBear
@scav: Not only that, TV and modern screens are even heavier on the blue light spectrum… the kind that says WAKE UP.
WereBear
I have no affiliation with this company except as a happy customer:
Dream Essentials Sleep Masks
Bamboo Breathe is my favorite. And it was the fifth one I tried! Fortunately, they were all relatively cheap.
OzarkHillbilly
@WereBear: Just looked it up at WebMD. I’ll have to talk to my Doc about it, as I have some contra-indications. Thanx.
Betty Cracker
@debbie: All her books are worthwhile, IMO, though I can’t help but think she bungles every single ending. It’s like an editor calls and says “wrap it up, dammit,” so she does! “The Robber Bride” is good.
@Phylllis: Yeah. He’s about as charismatic as a bowl of tartar sauce. About as smart too!
bemused
@Pogonip:
The gun “seller” told “customers” history of every gun. this type was picked up by a kid who shot his 9 mo old sibling, this type was in Sandy Hook killer’s mom gun collection, this type was grabbed out of mom’s bag by her kid and shot family member, etc. The expressions on the “customer’s” faces were amazing.
gelfling545
@Betty Cracker: My grandson (age 4) will be going to the Mess Fest at the science museum today with one of his other grandmas. (He has 3 – one nice side effect of a somewhat less orderly family structure). Think of your “messes” as scientific inquiry!
WereBear
Dang, you just put your finger on what bothers me the most about her.
jeffreyw
Google has a voice search in the chrome desktop browser now, after you enable the feature you say “OK Google” at the new tab page and it listens for search terms. I was at Mrs J’s all in one making sure that her settings were set to share bookmarks so her new phone would have them available when I noticed the voice search check box. I clicked it and gave it a test: “OK Google” *listening* “Balloon Juice dot com” *blond jizz.com*
I’m just glad I was at her desktop because she’ll be getting all the targeted ads and not me.
OzarkHillbilly
Huh. Costa Rica got 100 percent of its energy from renewables for 75 days straight this year,
Part of the reason why Costa Rica can devote so much funding to environmental issues is that the country abolished its military in 1948, allowing it to divert funds that would have gone towards defense needs to the environment, healthcare, and education.
“We are declaring peace with nature,” Costa Rican ambassador Mario Fernández Silva said in 2010. “We feel a strong sense of responsibility about looking after our wealth of biodiversity. Our attitude is not progressive, it is conservative. Our view is that until we know what we have, it is our duty to protect it.”
WereBear
Those commies! she said sarcastically.
MattF
@jeffreyw: I’m thinkin’ that one should turn on ‘private browsing’ before testing this particular feature.
Steeplejack
@jeffreyw:
You have a funny accent.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone :)
GregB
Any chance we should rename it Goodwin’s Law?
New York Post article starts out article about President Obama and Israel with: “First he came for……”
ThresherK
@WereBear: Talk about something for everybody here at BJ!
We have to try Niacin. My wife has inflammation, a bit of arthritis in the knee, which of course is worse late at night.
Because of other concerns, she can’t take any NSAIDs excect Tylenol (can’t spell the drug’s name–wont’ look it up) and of course moderates that because of the findings about how it affects the liver.
Just throwin it out there: Any other hints?
WereBear
@ThresherK: Here’s what I did when my hands started waking me up at 3AM because the dose of NSAIDS I took at bedtime had worn off. Now, I get the occasional twinge in my thumbs when I open a jar, take NO painkillers at all, and am seeing further improvement with niacin.
*Tried 30 days gluten free and got dramatic improvement. (Google “leaky gut” for reasons why.)
*Started getting feedback that for me, sugar was highly inflammatory. Cut that drastically for further improvement and better sleep was a bonus.
*Made D3 a part of my morning routine — while it didn’t help the arthritis, it helped everything else!
*While it didn’t work for me, many people have dramatic improvements by dropping nightshade vegetables (tomato and potato are the most common, eggplants another.) But then, I didn’t eat them very often. If these are high consumption items in the diet, it might be different.
*Upping consumption of onions, garlic, or other sulphur-containing foods, or adding MSM. This worked very well for a while, but had to try new things to keep the improvement going.
*Glucosamine & Chondroitin did nothing for me, but some people swear by them.
*Vitamin C can be a potent anti-inflammatory when used in support of the niacin. Take it with a B complex and you have a triad of power.
Extensive self-experimentation did wonders for me. I was experiencing the identical onset pattern of my father, who kept going on increasingly higher doses of prescription NSAIDs and putting up with worsening pain and loss of function. By being willing to do anything that might help in ways that had no downsides except some personal inconvenience, I did, indeed, get lots of help.
JPL
A restaurant nearby was closed due to gambling on the NCAA tournament. A son has been there several times for the food not the gambling or so he says. I guess on their facebook page there’s a comment saying the pizza was good but the swat team was rude. lol The restaurant is Pepperoni’s Tavern in Alpharetta.
Hopefully, Raven won his money fairly.
@chopper: By now you are drying off and enjoying a warm drink. At least I hope so. What a soggy day for a marathon.
Violet
@OzarkHillbilly: When discussions of sleep issues come up I always like to mention that when I got my Vitamin D tested and it was low and my doctor wanted me to start taking it, a pleasant result was that I slept a lot better. I had been having some trouble sleeping–not a big problem but noticeable–and the Vitamin D seemed to help that from the first night.
I’ve also had some good results with magnesium. I like Epsom salt baths, although I understand they don’t provide as much magnesium as other forms. I have yet to find a form I can take orally without it causing big intestinal problems. I have used the topical magnesium oil with some success with it helping sleep.
Violet
@ThresherK: Has your wife tried turmeric? You can use it in cooking (curries, etc.) or it’s available in pill form. I have had some luck with it and anti-inflammatory properties.
Ginger is another food-based anti-inflammatory.
Amir Khalid
@MattF:
Having seen the videos that some American gun nuts post on YouTube, I shudder at the thought of one of those mooks handling a device that throws fire.
Does the NRA have any influence over regulation of flamethrowers? After all, they don’t fire bullets — just, you know, fire.
ThresherK
@Violet: Yes, I actually have tried this. Results inconclusive for her, but I cannot yet get her to follow the advice previously given me: The dosage should be “as much as you can stand, then back off a little”, and have to get her to commit to this. (She takes a lot of Rxs already and adding anything to the balance is always tricky.)
The funniest part is that I’m making my own. I have bulk turmeric and empty gelcaps, and put on my disposable food-grade gloves and scoop the orange stuff into capsule. So I feel like some weird hippie version of Walter White when I do it.
Chickamin Slam
This is Betty’s bridge.
http://uglybridges.com/1081837
It’s been awhile since I went out there.
MattF
@Amir Khalid: Second amendment doesn’t say anything about ‘bullets’. It’s the “right to bear arms.”
tesslibrarian
@JPL: Alpharetta and Athens could not be more different places.
(not that nothing illegal happens in Athens, but my memory of Alpharetta was McMansions, Olive Gardens, etc. where going to the mall was still considered a day out by adults and national chains proof of “civilization.” Sometimes I think Oconee is aiming for Alpharetta.)
tybee
@OzarkHillbilly:
pretty good.
WereBear
That’s how I’ve been doing the niacin. With great results.
Please note that I’m coming from a very skeptical place regarding modern pharmaceuticals. And it was hard won, from other’s blood.
muddy
@Violet: Ginger and turmeric have amazing properties. I had made carrot soup with what I consider medicinal levels of both, with coconut milk. I did not finish the container, and at one point when it had been too long, decided I never would. Did not immediately take the container out and clean it, it was in the back and not in my way.
Finally cleaned the fridge this weekend, cringed at opening the carrot soup, as it had now been 2 months or more. Thought I might have to chuck the container rather than deal with it. When I peeked, there was not one bit of mold or weird appearance. I was not brave enough to taste, but it looked fine. I wonder if the ginger and turmeric have anti-bacterial and anti-mold properties as well as anti-inflammatory. I was amazed entirely.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@WereBear: I’d be very careful about taking high doses of niacin.
My doc has been after me about my cholesterol for a few years. It’s not horribly high, but the mixture is not good. After years of trying diet modifications without much success, we decided to try generic pravachol. Along the way he said,
“It used to be the case that all we had for reducing cholesterol was high doses of niacin. It caused horrible side effects in many cases. Statins really are a miracle, especially when taken with co-enzyme Q10 (to resupply the things that can cause muscle pain)…”
Mayo Clinic on niacin side effects.
Be careful. :-)
Cheers,
Scott.
WereBear
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: Thanks. According to the literature I’ve gotten off PubMed, those tend to be from no-flush and timed-release types. Not the kind I’m taking.
But the side effects on statins? Hideous.
To me, it’s not even close.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@WereBear: Anecdata, but in my case, I haven’t noticed any side effects on the generic pravachol that I’m on. Maybe I’m lucky, or maybe the co-enzyme Q10 really does help. (My dad has similar cholesterol numbers as me and was on a statin for a while, but he couldn’t tolerate the muscle pain he was having.) I put off going on a statin for years because I didn’t like all the bad things I’d heard about them.
Be skeptical, but be careful.
Cheers,
Scott.
WereBear
It does help tremendously. Sounds like your doc is up to date on that aspect of it, and good for you.
In case you didn’t know, I’m in the middle of a rotten illness that doctors and specialists cannot diagnose or help with. Treating myself has turned into a mostly-working crapshoot that has unwillingly turned me into a raving maverick.
Likewise, unconventional treatment has been the only salvation for my husband’s chronic illness, (CFS,) which doesn’t even have a consistent term for itself, much less a recognized treatment plan, in conventional medicine.
So I’ve come by my present attitude hard and honestly :)
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@ThresherK: Tylenol is not only dangerously hepatotoxic, it’s not anti-inflammatory. It’s strictly analgesic, so in your wife’s case, I’d just skip it. Tylenol (also too lazy to parse generic spelling) is useful for controlling fever and its associated pain in children of the age when Reye’s is a risk with aspirin. I hope you can figure out a good plan for your wife. D and pro-inflammatory food limitations, along with Omega 3 supplementation have helped me (MS) along with the turmeric/ginger combo.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
I feel bad whining about my cold in the face of everyone else’s issues, but I REALLY want to go to CicLAvia today. It’s only about 2 miles away, the weather is perfect, and this stupid decongestant is NOT WORKING YET! I have to be careful with colds because my asthma can easily turn them into bronchitis, but … CicLAvia! In my ‘hood!
Tree With Water
I hope Floridians take good care of that river. I’m almost afraid to ask, it being Florida and all.
I was raised in a house atop of a range of tall cliffs, a short half block from the Pacific ocean. I’ve lived in a beachfront apartment with a unimpeded view of the ocean, and in a small detached apartment surrounded by vineyard. I now live adjacent to a river for the first time, and all things considered much prefer living here (as in, it’s easy to count my blessings).
I remember the first time I stood east of the Rockies, and realized the Pacific was somewhere a long way away on the other side. It felt so strange. Now when I need to see and feel the ocean, I jump in my truck and in twenty minutes I’m on the Sonoma coast. Still, there’s something about a river that lends itself to an unsolicited calm that I love. There is also great drama on occasion, which I discovered during our last heavy rains in December. Best of all, it’s got fish in it, too.
John M. Burt
Margaret Atwood’s novels strike me as an assortment of short stories, some of them really brilliant, embedded in a less-interesting narrative.
I often retell her story of Rembrandt selling his soul for talent.
I took niacin for over a year, noticed no benefits, and the burning sensation was just as bad every time, never lessening. I’m suffering from chronic pain which makes all activity difficult, looking for diagnosis or at least a palliative.
The gun store was…devastating. No wonder the NRA is flailing about in abject terror.
J R in WV
For a long time I only slept well on my side. But then my shoulders started to hurt when I laid on my side, hurt bad. So I learned to sleep on my back, which the Dr had been telling me to do for years.
I wake up in the wee hours, 3 or 4 hours after falling asleep. Sometimes I can take a pain pill and go right back to sleep, but often that won’t help, and I’m just awake. So after a few minutes I’ll get up and surf the innertubes for a little while, and usually I can go back to sleep after that. Or not, and just make do with the 3 or 4 hours I got.
There are usually a couple of people (you know who you are!) posting on B-J late at night, for which Thank You folks! It helps to have company during your inability to go back to sleep!
Niacin, huh? I’ll look into that. Anything that will help with joint pain is a good thing to me.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
Also, too, people should know that early meaning awakening (ie waking up around 4 am no matter what time you go to bed) can be a symptom of clinical depression, so it’s worth getting screened for depression if you start waking up early and can’t fall back asleep.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Mnemosyne (tablet):
Argh. Stupid autocorrect. That should be “early morning” above, not “meaning.”