Points And Prizes - Sheknows

[redsky]

Wow! Thanks for the new words! Keep up the good work.

[Andit]

Got a question for the health care folks on the list. My friend is dealing with Graves disease (overactive thyroid - she's going for surgery soon - & it's starting to affect her eyes). She's managed to control some of the symptoms by cutting down the sodium in her diet. The big issue she's having is anxiety. She's always been a very calm rational person, now she panics, bursts into tears at the slightest provocation, can't sleep, has to force herself to eat cause she has no appetite. The specialist is sympathetic, but keeps insisting that everything is fine according to bloodwork, maybe she should get a less stressful job (part of the issue, but not easy to change). She's now thinking she should go on sick leave until the surgery (likely within a month) & for a bit afterwards, but the doctors aren't willing to fill out the paperwork, because the bloodwork says she's fine.

The only experience I have with thyroid issues is with my friend's dog. The scary thing is that so many of her reactions are the same as the dog's was - anxiety, irritability, loss of appetite. Has anyone dealt with this?


I'll also take a few prayers for her, if anyone has some to spare.

[Andit]

Thanks everyone for all the words. Wow, what a bonanza!

Since it's so quiet, I may as well amuse the regulars & 4 lurkers, as well as myself, with another embarrassing story.

Anyone else remember the first time they bought condoms?

I was in my late 20s & it wasn't for the, ahem, usual purpose. I was taking a film course, dealing with special effects. For my final assignment, I had to make a short short short film (like 1 minute) involving a gunshot & an explosion (I learned how to blow things up too - that was lots of fun in the classroom!).

For those who don't know, the original plain clear condoms filled with watered down ketchup are the best ones to use for movie scenes involving gunshot victims - very realistic bleeding corpse.

So, there I was in the local drugstore, looking through the condom section. Have you any idea how difficult it is to find the original plain clear variety? There was thin & wide & ribbed & checkered & more flavours than the local ice cream parlour had...but no original plain clear.

As I was putting the packages back on the shelf (I had rearranged everything, hoping I'd find the original plain clear condoms hidden behind the otheres), when I heard someone call my name. My friend's mother - who's known me since I was 5 - was standing behind me.

I quickly explained why I was buying condoms. Luckily, my friend had told her about my course & she believed me. When I told her I couldn't find the right kind, she suggested we go to the cashier. Yes, we. Trust me, at no age does it ever get any less embarrassing to stand beside your friend's mother as she asks the cashier where they keep the original plain clear condoms.

Apparently, my neighbourhood was more avant garde than most, because the drugstore discontinued the original plain clear variety for lack of sales. The cashier was sweet enough to call another store to see if they had any in stock.

In the end, I went to another store which had my item in stock & didn't have to have any more embarrassing conversations with my friends' parents.

So, who else has embarrassing stories?

[stardreamer7880]

Andit the symptoms you've named are all common symptoms of Graves disease, including the eyes. They get a bugged eye look from swelling behind the eye and that causes some problems with the eyes. All of these are really the nuts and bolts of Graves disease. The blood work tells them how high or low some of the thyroid hormones are and lets them monitor how the patient is doing. Basically the things you've described are what makes graves disease but it's an emergency if the heart becomes involved with rapid rate or irregular rhythms. The people that have Graves can also go into a thyroid crises think we used to call it a storm but anyway all the normal symptoms of Graves will increase, the heart can get involved with the rapid rate and irregular heartbeat. Usually have a high fever in a thyroid crises too which if your friends symptoms do increase and she's running a fever she'll need to be treated right away. Not sure exactly what it is your needing and am sure LOLcat can probably explain it a lot better and probably has more up to date info then I can remember. Am sure her job isn't helping a bit if it's high stress, doesn't sound like a bad idea to me for her to take some time off.
lol didn't know condoms made such fine gory scenes. I'd of probably been too embarrassed to buy condoms lmao and probably would of gave up when I didn't see what I wanted, would of talked my intrepid friend into going and getting them for me. lmao she was always out to shock people and never embarrassed about anything. Believe me she talked me into doing a lot of things growing up I otherwise would of never thought up myself much less done.

[smb127]

Thanks for the word everyone.

OMG Andit the was funny.

I have one. This is not for those of you that get embarrassed by the feminine hygiene product. So if you, don't read any futher.


OK, so I was lucky enough to start my period when I was 12yrs old on New Years Eve day. I came home from friends and there was the proof that I was now a big girl. I called my mother to my room to show her what I found. She was ever so happy. The first thing she does is yell at my father to go to the store to but me some pads and a belt. This was the olds days. Just imagine how I felt, she sent my dad to buy this stuff. Then for the next month she told everyone she knew that her little girl was now a women.
If that was't bad enough she told the doctor when she saw him next and asked if it was OK for me to use tampons. Doctor says yes. Mother gives me one of her SUPER MAXI tampons and tells me to use it. Me not knowing any better and not knowing how to really use one, tries to use it. I got it almost all the way in but there was about half an inch that just won't go any further. This takes about 20 minutes and of course by this time I have to go to the bathroom again. So I do. the tampon expands and it is now stuck. I can not pull it out. I scream to my mom to come help me. I of course am mortified, that she has to come help. She tries to pull it out. It will not budge. She is now on the bathroom floor with her legs on the toilet and she is pulling. By this time we are actually laughing so hard that my 13yr old brother wants to know what is going on. Both of us yell at him to leave. Finally with a loud pop the dang thing comes out. Relief. Moms looks at me and says "I guess that one is too big, I'll but you some smaller ones".
OK so I have told the world my most embarrassing momonts. I am going to hide now.

[NSangel]

very quickly. i'm RIP ROARING MAD. more info here:

http://forum.smartcanucks.ca/60979-s...da/#post671363

[stardreamer7880]

lol smb yep that woulda mortified me! lmao when I was trying to think of an embarrassing moment all I could think of was my mother and her big mouth lmao guess I am totally relieved I was at my cousins also 12 when I started and my uncles new wife was very understanding and made the whole experience much easier on me. No doubt had I been home my mother would of told everyone from the dr to the postman! Part of any punishment I received as a child was mom telling the world about what I'd done wrong. Believe me when I say there are things I might of done but the thought of mom finding out and telling everyone was enough to discourage me totally! I can honestly say I never shared with the world things about my kids that would embarrass them I swore I wouldn't several of the times I just wanted to disappear under the table or into an alternate dimension like on night gallery, where no one could see me while mom had everyone laughing or tsking about my latest misdeed. All in all I'd have to say my mom was most of my embarrassing moments whether it was exposing my life to the world, cussing like a sailor or smoking pot. All my friends thought she was so cool and all I wanted was a mom like my best friends mom who baked cookies that didn't include anything mind altering and who was always there for a hug when I needed one. OMG one thanksgiving we had my mom's boss and her kids at our house for dinner and there was a plate of brownies up on the fridge that they got down and had some, thinking they were there to eat lmao like most sane people would of.

[NSangel]

yay my name!

your name is vicky ho???

...

So cold here that you could freeze the balls off a brass monkey!!! LOL I said that to my kids the other day and they just about dropped. Of course they thought I was saying something naughty. I had to explain to them what the saying really meant. Everyone here does know what that saying really means right??

...

no, i'm with the kids. what do YOU think it means?

...
Gotta go check on Pet Society to see if my pet pooped today!!! You just don't know what you're missing NS Angel!

...

someone needs a life

Wow! Just checked my Points & Prizes balance and this is what it says:

Account balance: 6550

I haven't redeemed for anything and I was at almost 300,000 pts lastnight...Hmmmmm
They better restore it soon!

you need to fire them an email.

and the rest of us need to check our accounts.

Ok now I gotta go find this Pet society thing you are talking about, you got me curious.

DON'T ENCOURAGE HER!

word removed..sorry everyone

OMG.. YOU SWORE?

I'm still alive and i'm so touched that you guys have missed me!

No NS i didn't elope.. lol. I realized i was still hung up on my ex though and decided to cut ties with him. We've been friends for the 2 years since we broke up but i became an emotional wreck when he told me he was in love with the girl he's been seeing. I'm feeling better now since i havent been hanging around with him. I guess there are some ex's you just cant be friends with.

I also had to rush Charlie to the vet this week. I kept finding drops of blood coming from the litterbox. He's 10 so i've been worried but the vet thinks it could be irritable bowel disease (not a bad diagnosis considering the others)... he's on antibiotics to reduce the inflamation now and seems to be doing better. I'm supposed to bring him back for blood tests.. they want to check for everything (thyroid etc) because of his age. Total cost of everything - $250 (!) but i want my boy to be healthy.

...

1. FORGET THE X. there's a gale drop dead gorgeous look a like living here in halifax! we need to enroll you in university...into the ceramics dept..

2. sorry about charlie. my friends dog (also named charlie) was bleeding bad. unfortunately it was very serious and they lost their dog. i believe he was around 12 or 13. she was heartbroken. I'm glad that they have a handle on what's wrong with your charlie and that it is treatable. $250 is a small amt. Sometimes it can run you into a thousand or more. I paid $250 to find out my cat was nuts and had allergies.

andit: i have NO CLUE on that disease. but will say prayers for her. sounds like a terrible thing to go through.

...
Anyone else remember the first time they bought condoms?

I was in my late 20s & it wasn't for the, ahem, usual purpose. I was taking a film course, dealing with special effects. For my final assignment, I had to make a short short short film (like 1 minute) involving a gunshot & an explosion (I learned how to blow things up too - that was lots of fun in the classroom!).

For those who don't know, the original plain clear condoms filled with watered down ketchup are the best ones to use for movie scenes involving gunshot victims - very realistic bleeding corpse.

So, there I was in the local drugstore, looking through the condom section. Have you any idea how difficult it is to find the original plain clear variety? There was thin & wide & ribbed & checkered & more flavours than the local ice cream parlour had...but no original plain clear.

As I was putting the packages back on the shelf (I had rearranged everything, hoping I'd find the original plain clear condoms hidden behind the otheres), when I heard someone call my name. My friend's mother - who's known me since I was 5 - was standing behind me.

I quickly explained why I was buying condoms. Luckily, my friend had told her about my course & she believed me. When I told her I couldn't find the right kind, she suggested we go to the cashier. Yes, we. Trust me, at no age does it ever get any less embarrassing to stand beside your friend's mother as she asks the cashier where they keep the original plain clear condoms.

Apparently, my neighbourhood was more avant garde than most, because the drugstore discontinued the original plain clear variety for lack of sales. The cashier was sweet enough to call another store to see if they had any in stock.

In the end, I went to another store which had my item in stock & didn't have to have any more embarrassing conversations with my friends' parents.

So, who else has embarrassing stories?

would have been even funnier if you were a GUY, going to the cash with your friends mother but still give you a 12/10 for that one. too damn funny.

I have one. This is not for those of you that get embarrassed by the feminine hygiene product. So if you, don't read any futher.


OK, so I was lucky enough to start my period when I was 12yrs old on New Years Eve day. I came home from friends and there was the proof that I was now a big girl. I called my mother to my room to show her what I found. She was ever so happy. The first thing she does is yell at my father to go to the store to but me some pads and a belt. This was the olds days. Just imagine how I felt, she sent my dad to buy this stuff. Then for the next month she told everyone she knew that her little girl was now a women.
If that was't bad enough she told the doctor when she saw him next and asked if it was OK for me to use tampons. Doctor says yes. Mother gives me one of her SUPER MAXI tampons and tells me to use it. Me not knowing any better and not knowing how to really use one, tries to use it. I got it almost all the way in but there was about half an inch that just won't go any further. This takes about 20 minutes and of course by this time I have to go to the bathroom again. So I do. the tampon expands and it is now stuck. I can not pull it out. I scream to my mom to come help me. I of course am mortified, that she has to come help. She tries to pull it out. It will not budge. She is now on the bathroom floor with her legs on the toilet and she is pulling. By this time we are actually laughing so hard that my 13yr old brother wants to know what is going on. Both of us yell at him to leave. Finally with a loud pop the dang thing comes out. Relief. Moms looks at me and says "I guess that one is too big, I'll but you some smaller ones".
OK so I have told the world my most embarrassing momonts. I am going to hide now.

omg SMB, the beginning of that was exactly like my life!!! but my mom wouldn't know wth a tampon was. lmao. on the ending. holycrap. guess that's why they make the really skinny ones. i woulda been worried if it actually fit at that age. (u skank you).

ty guys for the laffs. i needed it after my shopping experience today. but i got them buggers good.

i cleaned them out of guardian cereal (another sobeys, i'm boycotting elmsdale). now this cereal was 5.79 on for 1.99!!! guess who had the $1.50 save.ca coupons??? then i used the buy 2 kellogs get $2 off ones too. bought all that were on the shelf. like 10 boxes i think.

then i went for the COCOA KRISPIES! oh ya, 4.99 for 1.99, and i used those buy 2 save $2. coupons. and grabbed a good 10 of those. leaving maybe 4 on the shelf?

teach them not to with me.

[kekes]

Man ... how the hoot am I going to catch up on 2 weeks worth!!! lol

[lolcat]

Andit..
Graves disease can be very scary for the people who endure it. One thing I will ask, has she had any kind of treatment for it yet besides basic meds? There is a treatment that is given called "Radioiodine" that can really increase the eye issues. There are two different kinds of eye issues, one where the eyelids relax or recede a bit, and one where they start to protrude a lot... both can be very uncomfortable and pretty scary.

What they are testing her blood for is TSH (Thyroid stimulating hormone) If her levels are normal, they definately will not support anything regarding her job until her surgery, sadly.

One thing for her to keep in mind is that the actual eye symptoms themselves can cause what they call non-threatening heart and other physical symptoms. These can include irregular heartbeat, panic attacks, (previously unobserved) erratic or obsessive thoughts and actions. This is because any pressure in the eyes themselves can affect all sorts of things.. blood flow, pressure on the brain, vein issues, etc. Unfortunately, lots of doctors are really unattentive to these kinds of problems.

One thing she can try is "treating" her own eyes a bit. Some people have a lot of relief from those little clear plastic eye masks that are typically filled with blue liquid. You put them in the fridge or freezer to make them cold. This can help with the pressure and swelling of the eyes and the veins in the eyes and eyelids. Also, used teabags that are nice and cool help a lot too sometimes. It is at least worth a try.

She could definately have problems with a Thyroid "Storm" or crisis as Stardreamer said, but I don't think it is likely at the moment, since she is probably on some serious pre-op thyroid drugs. All the things you mentioned are also just 'regular' symptoms of graves disease in lots of people, but like I said, doctors are usually very unattentive once they hand you a bunch of med scrips before your surgery.

Surgery is usually a last-resort too.. she must be having a super hard time if they are actually removing her thyroid. I really feel for her, it is a terrible thing to go through.

Tell her to at least try the cool, used teabags, or the cool mask. It can really help with the pressure issues, and hopefully with the other issues at least a tiny bit till her surgery.

Did I mention I get mad at how doctors dismiss patients very easily? I think I might have... sigh.

[zoodle]

nite everyone hope you all had a good day Thanks for all the new words

OH it's just you and me in here kekes.........well good nite to you have a nice nite

[amycrows]

So here it goes, my ranting for the month.

I started my training and orientation with H&R Block (remember I took their tax class). Anyways they have to be the most disorganized company I have ever heard of and it scares me that just about anyone off the street who gets 80% on the exam which is not hard can do your taxes and have access to such personal and raw data of people. Very scary stuff I cannot even tell you how insane these guys are and I wonder each and every day why I am doing this and then I look at the gorgeous eyes of my boys and remember it is all for them.
Example we were given a schedule for training at the inital orientation on Monday and told our first class was tonight. So I go. First of all thank you for the notice like I don't have anything else to do on a Friday night, but no they expect me there and frankly I don't have a life. The schedule specifically says No TA's required on 2 classes next week (Tax Associates which would be me) but then today they really meant All TA's...how stupid is that? Does someone not spell check this or verify the data before they hand this out to like 50 people? Stupidness
Then they start up about the job duties. At the beginning when tax season open it is really not busy so they ask you to call old clients back in and make appointments. ok fine, not happy about it but fine I guess I can do that. But then they mention how there are 2 weeks where it is National Tax Advise Weeks where we are to go out into the community promoting their services, hand out pamplets and even walk over with donuts or something and wear their logo'd clothing (which by the way I am sure they expect us to pay for). Excuse me? Am I being hired to do taxes or answer phones or do your marketing or all of it? Soon am I sure they will have us cleaning toilets all for like friggin minimum wage. What's up with that?
ARGHHHHHHHHHH, for now I am still not happy with this but going to stick with it in the meantime to get contacts, make some money and get the experience to do something on my own one day real soon I hope. But don't be surprised if I log in one day and say OMG I quit

[Racefan]

Amy, that sucks.

Andit, I love the pictures of your pets dressed up.

Welcome back, Rebel. I hope your cat is okay. One of my cats is at the vet right now. He had a problem using the litter box about a year ago. Apparently, the problem is back. What a crappy week I've had.

This morning, it was -32 out. Now it's warmed up to -20.

I'm on Facebook. PM me so I can add you guys.

[NSangel]

i knew there was a reason i chose not to go through with the h&r block training...

hey guys. 2009 sucks so far eh?

omg it's time to put the fat dude away..

lolcat. don't u think the kitty's gingerbread is stale by now? i vote for a snowball, or a snowman.

[amycrows]

I don't even know what to say or do. A friend of mine ended up in a different district working and she said it is not like that there. Organized and such so why are the people in my area so insane? I guess I am too anal about this stuff with being organized being a project manager at heart. I think I am not meant for this cheesy a$$ company