Category: Health

Excuses, Excuses

Health

Whenever I get these upper-respiratory infections (about every nine months or so, it seems), the physical ailments (hacking cough, wheezing, nasal clogging etc.) are bad, but what really screws me up is the physical and mental lassitude that occurs not only during the illness, but persists for days and days thereafter.

Hence the paucity and dare I say crappy quality of the posts over the past couple of weeks, for which I am truly sorry.

It’s not only that:  to give you another example, my half-dozen per-month range visits have dwindled, in the past couple of weeks, to zero.  I think I’m going to get a call from Texas Legends any day now, asking if I’m okay.

I don’t even have the energy to drive over to pick up Rx refills from the drugstore, even though the on-hand supplies are dwindling fast.

We had dinner at Doc Russia’s place last Sunday night — our first dinner together in ages.  Normally, our dinners last well into the night, involving much food, drink, conversation and general merrymaking.  This time, after barely a couple of hours, I had to call it quits, an indecently-short time after dinner.  Never had a drop to drink, either.

All of which is my way of saying that this website has sucked over the past couple of weeks, and I know it.

I’m slowly — far too slowly — starting to get better, proof of which is that I actually took out the range bag yesterday and loaded it up with ammo for some testing I’ve been meaning to do.  (In case you’re curious:  the difference in felt recoil between .357 Mag, .38 +P and regular .38 Special loads across a couple-three revolvers of different brand and barrel lengths.)

I don’t know if I’ll make it to the range today — I really have to get those meds refilled, and I’m not sure I have the energy for two trips.  Following my semi-annual visit to the eyedoc two days ago, I also need to get new lenses for my failing eyesight;  fuck knows when I’m going to get round to that, but I really need to be able to read things like street signs and such.

Sorry, I didn’t mean to unload all this shit on you;  but you, my Loyal Readers, deserve some explanations for the website suckage of the past couple of weeks:  and there they are.

I’ll be posting at intervals over the next few days as the energy provides, just not in a five-minute post-midnight tranche as usual.  Bear with me.

Ugh (2)

Health

Me:  O foul pestilence, desist I beseech thee with thine afflictions;  the sore throat, the hacking cough, the fuzzy head wracked with pain, the nose running its foul essence down the back of the throat.  Desist, I say!

Pestilence:  Nah.  Here, have some joint pain and muscle stiffness as well.

Maybe tomorrow.

Tread Carefully, Yamo

Good News, Health

I read this story with great joy:

Up until four months ago, Lev was self-harming until he was black and blue, unable to make eye contact and keeping to himself in a corner all day. He was inching dangerously close to being confined by a punishing helmet and sedated with heavy antipsychotic meds to mitigate his severe autism that left him incapable of functioning by himself.

The outlook was bleak for the tormented tyke, who showed symptoms before he was a year old.

His parents, Gabriella and Matthew Bielski, chased every therapeutic intervention and specialist across the country for years, to no avail. The family desperately needed a lifeline, as no medication is approved to address the core symptoms related to autism.

That was until research led the anguished couple to Yamo Pharmaceuticals, a decade-old clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to treating the core symptoms of autism spectrum disorder with its “miracle drug” called L1-79.

They managed to get Lev the therapy before FDA approval thanks to the FDA’s expanded-access program — and the results, they said, were immediate.

“It was the next day,” Matthew Bielski said. “It was right away and other people in all the phases said the same thing.”

“It changed everything for us,” he added, beaming over Lev’s “life-changing transformation.”

Overjoyed over his “miracle kid,” Bielski predicted the drug will be the “Ozempic of autism.”

Which is when my joy abruptly ended.

You see, it’s all very well to come up with a new miracle drug which helps perhaps millions of people.  That’s what Ozempic did — and promptly priced its product out of reach for many millions of people (like myself) who desperately need it.

So hooray hurrah and halleluya for this latest wonder drug.  Let’s just hope that Yamo doesn’t price it at $650 per dose*, like Ozempic’s manufacturer Novo Nordisk did.

Because otherwise this will all be for nothing, and only the wealthy will benefit.

*That $650 is what Ozempic would cost me after Medicare has paid the bulk of the pharmaceutical company’s price.  Needless to say, I don’t take it anymore — just can’t afford it — and the dolorous effect of diabetes on my health has recurred.  Bitter?  You bet your ass I am.

Snowball

Food & Drink, Health

This one’s interesting:

Americans saw a 2% drop in overall drinking and 8% in heavy drinking in just the 2022 to 2024 window. Total drinking dropped most dramatically among Gen Z, with rates falling nearly 6% from 2022 to 2024, compared with about 2% for Millennials. Heavy drinking fell by roughly a fifth in both generations.

Doesn’t surprise me.  The Snowflake Generation(s) are more likely to be disturbed and/or frightened by all the Nanny Government Bullshit© about the dangers of, well, just about everything.  Small wonder, then, that they’re going to go all Carrie Nation about the Demon Booze.

However:

Older Americans, however, went in the opposite direction, with those in the 50 to 64 age group seeing an increase of 4% in overall drinking, and 36% spike in heavy drinking from 2018 to 2024.

Only 4%?  Sheesh, we need to work harder (hence the title of this post).

Never mind all that “Cheers!” bullshit.  Get stuck in.