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Much Ado About Nothing! eh!

Catherine

Moderator
I wonder why kids think it ok to kick, pull, and scratch.

I hate the fact I need to tell my child she needs to toughen up. She shouldn't have too!!

Their not playing for sheep stations.
 

Maya142

Moderator
Staff member
This is from the Spondylitis Association of American but applies to everyone on Anti-TNFs:

Patient Question:

"Lately, there has been a lot in the news about the measles outbreak. It made me think about vaccinations and the prevalence of parents not to vaccinate in my state. In some areas of my state, the vaccination rate is only 50%.

"I am an AS patient on Remicade and I tend to catch every infection and virus that is going around among adults and children. I know that the risks with Remicade are mainly fungal and bacterial, but I am thinking that my immune system is so out of whack that viruses (I catch a virus every other week during flu season) are a problem, too. I would love some advice. Thanks!"

Answer from: Lianne S. Gensler, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine; Director, Ankylosing Spondylitis Clinic, University of California, San Francisco

Measles is a type of virus that had largely disappeared because of a very good vaccine, the MMR. Because some people did not get vaccinated, measles has begun to resurface. What is the risk to AS patients on a TNF inhibitor?

There are several issues:

Any immunocompromised patient (TNF inhibitors included) is at increased risk of infection. We have no data on what the risk is with measles specifically, but I expect it would be a little higher than the general population. Keep in mind, that though there have been several cases recently, it is still quite rare compared to far more common viruses, like influenza.

If a patient on a TNF inhibitor has a child that has been vaccinated, this will help protect the whole family as you can only transmit the infection once infected, and it is expected the vaccination will prevent this.

If a patient is worried about their measles immune status (because they were vaccinated a long time ago or even had measles) they could check a blood level to determine if there is persistent immunity. This would be reassuring if positive.

What about revaccinating? We sometimes boost patients if they lose immunity and before they are pregnant. Unfortunately, the MMR is a live vaccine, so if a patient is on a biologic, the vaccine would be contraindicated. A patient would have to let the biologic wash out of the system and then stay off of it for a period before restarting after vaccination.

If a patient without immunity is exposed (and particularly one that is immunocompromised), immunoglobulin (antibodies) can be given, if available. Note that they are temporary and do not protect individuals long-term.

An unanswered question is whether we should be checking immunity before initiating a TNF inhibitor with the recent resurgeonce of measles. It is certainly making me rethink my practice pattern, which does not currently indicate this test, based on lack of evidence. As science and diseases evolve, so too will our practice of medicine to keep patients as safe as possible.
 

DustyKat

Super Moderator
Hey crohnsinct a question for you, after I remove my lips from your arse of course...

Should I turn the ceiling fan on low to make things just an itsy bit cooler as I sit here on the deck on a glorious Summer’s day?

Oh yeah and the pork medallions marinated in lime, coriander and sweet chilli sauce are just about ready to lift off the BBQ. :rof:
 

Catherine

Moderator
Catherine: this was in an open water race? It does get vicious out there doesn't it?
Yes it a 2km open water race. Yes they can be very vicious. The older ladies can't believe how bad the 12 - 17 age group is.

My dd finished the swim but had a panic attack afterwards. Spent a lot of time with St. John volunteers.
 

Catherine

Moderator
Hey crohnsinct a question for you, after I remove my lips from your arse of course...

Should I turn the ceiling fan on low to make things just an itsy bit cooler as I sit here on the deck on a glorious Summer’s day?

Oh yeah and the pork medallions marinated in lime, coriander and sweet chilli sauce are just about ready to lift off the BBQ. :rof:
Where having a BBQ too. DH has the cooling on!! 36C. Sarah afternoon shift yesterday was cancelled due storm damage.
 
-10 degrees below this morning with -25 wind-chill.:eek2:

Y'all can keep your BBQ'ing warm weather. :tongue:
The children and I spent last night cuddled on the couch under blankets watching Frozen.
Not a bad way to spend a Valentines evening.:kiss:
 
Is that Fahrenheit? We've got the same temps this morning, Celsius though, and a blizzard outside.

Fired up the BBQ last night for a nice steak
Yes it's Fahrenheit. The sun has come out but its only getting colder.:eek:
The snow has stopped at least. Now it's time to dig out.:sign0085:
 
It is freezing here in NJ too. For those that don't know we'r had to move up to NJ for the year for my medical trial I am participating in. The kids are living the snow but not the cold!
 

crohnsinct

Well-known member
Is procrastination an EIM of Crohns? After a 4 day weekend I have two girls sitting here at 9 p.m. suddenly doing all their work for tomorrow! And it isn't like I didn't ask at least 4 times this weekend...any homework? :voodoo::ywow::stinks:
 
We just jumped in that boat with you. Feel like I'm doing a lot of nagging tonight. What makes it worse is it's only 1/2 day tomorrow for him since it's infusion day. Told him he could do it tonight or at infusion tomorrow instead of watching movies like he usually does but tonight would be a better choice. Oh why do they have to be teenagers and not do things when I tell them to and how I tell them :)
 

crohnsinct

Well-known member
Is that Fahrenheit? We've got the same temps this morning, Celsius though, and a blizzard outside.

Fired up the BBQ last night for a nice steak
Our BBQ is covered with snow besides I would have to shovel a path to it! After all the other shoveling I have been doing lately that can wait for the spring thaw!

More snow today which is good because that means it is warm enough to snow...a balmy 20 degrees F.
 
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No schoolwork being done here-it's ANOTHER snow day. We have about 2 ft of snow, which is no big deal, except on the weekend it went above freezing, rained a lot, then we had a flash freeze. Hubby slid sideways out the driveway this morning. They don't recommend that for school buses!
 

crohnsinct

Well-known member
The ice is the worst! Be careful out there!

I also hate snow days because the kids get soooo lazy. We got snow last night and my kids were shocked they had to go to school. What? No delay? No closing?

Roads were a mess though and we really should have had at least a delay.
 

Tesscorm

Moderator
Staff member
Heard on the radio this morning, long range forecast is cold the rest of February and a colder than usual March. :cry: Gratefully, we haven't had tons of snow but am so tired of this cold!!! :voodoo:
 
We're just used to it here. -40 again this morning. And that is where the Celsius and Fahrenheit scales come together. So, same same. But, our ice road is in good shape over the lake and Good Day for Humira! We can spend it cuddled up in front of the t.v.

C'mon Spring!
 
Stay warm my friends, my kids are a little jealous of all the snow. They may not get to do their final ski races this week because of lack of snow and it's been warm enough that a majority of it has melted from the ski resort. Supposed to be close to 60F
 
Been very cold here in NJ too!
I cant stand it! makes my body hurt even worse then I normally hurt!
The kids are loving the snow though!
 

Maya142

Moderator
Staff member
Apparently there were record breaking lows in NJ a few days ago Kimmidwife! But it's supposed to warm up soon (relatively warm anyway).

My daughter was also horrified that we didn't have a snow day here in NY today :yrolleyes:
 
Still the artic up here but we're use to it also.
The pipes in our barn has frozen. We're use to that but this time in froze the pipes way down in the ground. Not good!:(
Needless to say I've been running the water in the house.....
I will not lose my showers or toilet!:ymad:
 

crohnsinct

Well-known member
BTDT! Every winter. Houses built in 1835 don't have insulation! Even after they burst and we had to replace kitchens and walls and put insulation in they still freeze...every week these days:ybatty:
 

Catherine

Moderator
I have been receiving instructions all day on how to lodge bulk claims for storm damage. Luckly we don't have any effected clients in QLD or NT.

One company even issued instructions yesterday afternoon almost 12 hours before the first cyclone made land fall.:eek2:
 
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We had a lake in or yard.:eek2:
Hubby saw something and went to look and there was water shooting out a few inches.
Yup, the pipe bursts under ground and came bubbling up.
The bad part was, he couldn't turn off the water because the other pipes would burst.
Thank God it didn't flow towards the house.
Grace wants to go ice skating now.:hug:
 

crohnsinct

Well-known member
Oh man Catherine! I heard about the cyclone's and immediately thought of you all! Glad you are o.k. but geez...Cyclones?! I have never heard of such a thing except for in movies and books!

FW: When life gives you water and cold...go ice skating! You go ahead. I will sit in my heated bed cuddling my doggies.
 

DustyKat

Super Moderator
Cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons are all the same thing. Just different names depending on where you live.

Trivia (and since I am so F.O.S): In the northern hemisphere they move counterclockwise and in the southern hemisphere they move clockwise. :lol:
 
I saw the devastation on the news caused by the cyclone. So sad. The weather is crazy! The thermometer is so up and down here, we get snow, then rain, then everything freezes again. My sister-in-law lives in Vancouver, BC, and she sent me pics of their beautiful cherry blossoms and daffodils. I appreciated that a whole lot.
 
Dusty and Catherine,
Glad you are safe! Didn't even here about the Cyclones. I thought cyclones were the same as tornados not hurricanes.
At least that's what they call them in Kansas!
(Wizard of Oz Reference for those of you that don't know it 😊
 

DustyKat

Super Moderator
Thanks Kim. :)

I am just fine, we are well far away to only catch the extreme lower edge of it. So only a rain depression here.

Catherine is in Victoria so even further from the tropics than me! :lol:
 
...and I'm right down on the southern Victorian coast, so I'm even further from Ron's weather. It has, however, been hot here for the few of days and we have had thunder storms. In fact the thunder is rolling around at the moment and we should get some heavy rain soon.
 
I am procrastinating shoveling the inches of snow in my driveway...we were up to 95" of snow before the weekend here. Love this article about the area:

How brutal? Let us count the ways.

1. The average temperature has been just 10.4 degrees. That's nearly 15 degrees degrees below normal, and puts February 2015 in the running for the coldest month since records began in Syracuse in 1902.

2. More cold. If the forecasts are right, this would be the first month on record in which the temperatures never rose above freezing. The high on Feb. 4 was 32, and it might hit 32 again on Sunday.

3. Cold winter redux. Remember how cold it was last winter? That made Lake Ontario so cold, it never really warmed up, and the low temperatures this month pushed the lake to near-record ice levels this week.

4. Snow. So far this month, 48.5 inches of snow has fallen in Syracuse. It's nearly double the February average of 25.3 inches.

5. More snow. Snow has fallen on every single day this month. Seven days have had 3 inches or more. If you pay one seasonal price for driveway plowing, you're getting your money's worth this month.

6. Snow plus cold. With all that snow falling and none of it melting, there is more snow on the ground than at any time in the past eight years. The snow pack as of Thursday night was 26 inches deep. The last time we had that much was Feb. 17, 2007, when the snow pack measured 29 inches.

We still bundled up and went out (It's winter break), although perhaps showshoeing at the windy, frozen lake on a 7 degree day was a bad idea-we lasted about ten minutes and I am fairly certain Izzi got frostbite on her cheeks (I TOLD her to keep her scarf over her face, but I couldn't see her with my glasses foggy from my breath lol).

Spring, where are you??!
 
This cold is so crazy! We didn't go out yesterday at all. Today it warmed up to 35 degrees it almost felt like summer! This weather has been nuts. I don't remember ever before seeing tons of floating ice in the Hudson river but there is now. It almost looks like where the Titanic went down!
 

Catherine

Moderator
We are going for our cold February maximum temp in 10 years. But our night time temps are high that usual for February.

January was also a cooler than normal month for us.
 
It has been cool, breezy, and damp here....lots of rain. 72 degrees here now but the sky is gray and yucky. Someone near here (my work) keeps burning yard trash and my lungs feel tight every day - and I don't even have asthma! I won't complain though since most of you seem to be freezing! We had one day with the high of 45 and 1/2 my kids stayed home! lol
 

DustyKat

Super Moderator
If you are on twitter or fb you must have seen this by now! So what colours do you see?!

B-0GmQrUUAAwFr9.jpg-large.jpeg

It’s either:

White and Gold

or

Blue and Black

I see Blue and Black
 

crohnsinct

Well-known member
White and gold. My daughter says the original picture says people who see blue and black are emotionally unstable. Hahaha:ylol2:
 

crohnsinct

Well-known member
Frustrates the hell out of me that I see gold and white! WHY?!

In the real picture it is obvious but why does the other picture yield two different results?
 

crohnsinct

Well-known member
Sorry FW...apparently it is. There are various other pics of the dress and it looks blue and black in all of them. I can accept that a certain picture distorts the color and makes it look completely different but what I don't get is how so many people see it differently in the same picture.
 
My hubby is laughing because he sees white and gold.
I want to know why people are seeing different colors.
It's just amazing. On my facebook it's going around and we're arguing there also. lol
 
Location
,
Woke up this morning and the first thing l wanted to see was what colour the dress was, l'm now seeing white and gold....weird.
 

crohnsinct

Well-known member
Lmao! My college girl sent it to me asking what color the dress was. I thought it was a dress she bought and she was really wanting to know what shoes she should wear with it. I told her white and gold but you could wear this or that. Even told her I thought the dress was pretty. I don't laugh at me! Life is good under my rock!
 
Location
,
Lmao! My college girl sent it to me asking what color the dress was. I thought it was a dress she bought and she was really wanting to know what shoes she should wear with it. I told her white and gold but you could wear this or that. Even told her I thought the dress was pretty. I don't laugh at me! Life is good under my rock!
6am here, and l'm trying not to wake everyone.:rof:
 

DustyKat

Super Moderator
Lmao! My college girl sent it to me asking what color the dress was. I thought it was a dress she bought and she was really wanting to know what shoes she should wear with it. I told her white and gold but you could wear this or that. Even told her I thought the dress was pretty. I don't laugh at me! Life is good under my rock!
Ha! and you reckon I’m F.O.S! :rof:

I haven’t seen the dress as anything but blue and black.

Mr. Kat - white and gold
Matt - white and gold
Sarah - blue/lilac and gold. There always has to be one that’s different. *sigh* :lol:
 

Maya142

Moderator
Staff member
Blue and black....it's doesn't even look remotely white or gold?!
M sees white and gold. S sees blue and black. Very weird.
 

crohnsinct

Well-known member
Real conversation today:

O: What do you call that place...ya know...the United States Postal Service Me: The Post Office.
O: YEAH!
O: What is that thing in the upper right hand corner?
Me: a stamp?
O: Yeah! Cool how things got done in the olden days.
Me: You're grounded!

Raising kids in the information age is interesting...my kids don't even know what an encyclopedia is! Well at least they know not to biblio Wikipedia.
 
Ok guys I really need to vent. This is about my non IBD daughter.

She is away at college. It is midterms and she leaves for a spring break cruise on Thursday. Her roommate got sick last week and her doc put her on a zpack. J, my daughter picked it up from the roommate on Sunday.

I had her to go to the urgent care clinic that she has been to before and today was the first day she had enough time to go. She has a sore throat and fever with body aches.

First, since it is urgent care they require the coinsurance payt upfront. We don't have a co pay but since she hasn't met her deductible she had to pay 108.00

Second, this doctor touched no bodily fluids. No flu test because they had run out and no strep test because her sore throat didn't meet strep symptoms! I'm sorry, correct me if I'm wrong but it is strep throat not strep toe, right? No blood work either.

He then proceeds to tell her it isn't bacterial and it isn't the flu. It's not the flu because the flu only lasts 2 days. So if it was the flu and she was still sick then that would mean something was seriously wrong! WTH, in what world does the flu last just two days? Why in the hell are millions of people getting a flu shot for an illness that lasts only two days!

So he doesn't know why the roommate got antibiotics because it is viral(no blood work, no flu test, no strep test only a visual assessment). He then says it's upper respiratory and gives her steroids, cough med and a pain pill px!?!

So now if she does have some type of bacterial infection that requires antibiotics she will be patient zero on a boat of 1000s!

We paid 108 dollars and this doc did no strep or flu test or any type of blood work, nada. Apparently, my child must have a button that lights up on her body that alerts docs to viral or bacterial infections, because I see no other way this doc could have determined her illness. I'm so fecking pissed!
 
Hope it is just something viral but talk about incompetent I want one of those magic thermometers that tell me what my child has without any further testing. It sure would save some trips to the doctor.
 
So the meds are a steroid pack, Tylenol 3 and benzonatate, which is some type of pill that reduces the reflex in the lungs to supress the urge to cough, which is great but she isn't really coughing.

I think what makes me the most angry is that she had to pay 108 dollars and they didn't even have quick flu tests they had run out. I mean, how can she have to pay a fee and the doc not even have standard tests available to assess the illness. I want our money back! And no step or blood work, I feel scammed.
 

crohnsinct

Well-known member
OMGosh! Clash! I had a similar situation with my college girl this summer. Made an appointment for a physical. She had a form for the camp she was working out...you know like the kiddie camp forms. She is overweight, has terrible acne, sisters with IBD, dad with diabetes etc. Doc was with her for all of 5 minutes. Looked at her eyes, ears, throat and checked the boxes and off she went. No blood tests, urine dip, discussion of her weight and health risk or anything. Good to go. I called the insurance company and complained and refused to have that count as our "one free preventative physical" and demanded they pay for another. They agreed. I would definitely call and complain.
 
I can't right now because all that would come out is colorful, descriptive profanity. I do plan on calling though.
 

DustyKat

Super Moderator
Bloody Norah Clash! That sucks! Little wonder you so pissed off. :ghug:

I hope you get the refund that is so justly deserved when you ring the insurance company. Good luck! And i hope J is soon on the road to recovery. :heart:

Dusty. xxx
 
That really stinks! I would call and give them a piece of my mind!
Benzoate cough medicine works great. but why the heck did he give her a steroid unless I missed something she doesn't have asthma does she?
Steroids reduce the immune system that would not be something g I wanted her to take unless she really needed it.
Have her pick up some Emergen-C take two packets a day it works really great!
 
I know we "don't pay" for our GP but it sounds like most of our GP visits! My kids just go now expecting the doc to tell us it's a virus and give no medication.
 
She doesn't have a fever anymore and the achy feeling is gone. She said the steroids seemed to have given her the energy needed to make it through mid terms. I think that's why the doc px'ed them myself because she kept telling him she couldnt be in bed all week because of mid terms and cruise. But still...ridiculous.
 

Maya142

Moderator
Staff member
Wow, can't believe a doctor would prescribe steroids just for that! Glad she's feeling better though.
My college age daughter has also had bad experiences at urgent care. She tries to avoid going there now if at all possible. She's found the health center at her school to be much better.
 
Yeah, I'm not sure her university clinic is much better. She had never used it but is going on others' accounts about it.

A few weeks ago a student went to the uni clinic with high fever and vomiting. They told her it was a stomach virus.

She had been living in the US with an aunt and uncle for 2+ years for an education as she was from another country. Her roommate had to call her uncle to take her to the ER later that evening because it had gotten so bad. She died four days later.

There is some controversy as to what she had as uni officials as well as hospital officials state is wasn't a contagious illness(like meningitis) but the roommate's parent says that the roommate was with the family when they were told she had meningitis.

The official cause of death, I think, was listed encephalitis.

Who knows, there were apparently a lot of panicked parents and students. I don't know whatever came of it but it seemed illogical to me that anyone would be covering up meningitis since there is a CDC protocol as far as public awareness that hospitals follow.

Anyway, that's not the reason she didn't go there, the wait times can be really long for walkins and she didn't have time in her class schedule for that.
 

Maya142

Moderator
Staff member
Oh my gosh Clash, that's so scary. That poor, poor girl.

S's health center has been very good about squeezing her in when she's sick to check for strep or an infection or whatever. I guess we have been very lucky. There are long wait times there too though, but since she's on Humira and MTX she knows she has to get checked out so she really has no choice but to wait.
 
Clash that is terrible! Scary that the university could have been so irresponsible. Maybe she needs to find another urgent care to go to.
 
Yep, she really needs to find a gp there. I at do that this summer as well. There are 3 more urgent clinics up there though. She may have better luck at one of those. I'm just ready for her to leave for the cruise and then get back home!
 
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