Nobody Cares about Your Health

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Experts are watching in disbelief as drug overdose deaths in the US are suddenly starting to drop, bucking a long and tragic rise.

As NPR reports, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found reported drug overdose deaths plummeted by over 12 percent between April 2023 and April 2024 in the US. In Ohio alone — a state with among the highest drug death rates in the country — overdose deaths are down a stunning 31 percent so far this year.

"In the states that have the most rapid data collection systems, we’re seeing declines of twenty percent, thirty percent," University of North Carolina street drugs expert Nabarun Dasgupta told NPR.
The drop is a triumph, because overdose deaths in the US have steadily rising for decades. And despite the most recent drop-off, around 100,000 people are still dying per year — a numbing tragedy that has experts warning we shouldn't get too optimistic just yet.

There's also the issue that researchers are struggling to explain what's behind the decline.
It's good that it's happening, no matter the reason.
 

Isabeau

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Yesterday, I roasted some beets and looked up the amount of time needed. So I landed on a recipe page, and of course, there were a few paragraphs before the actual info I was looking for. I was about to scroll past everything, but then started to read because it mentioned something about not being alarmed if you pee red after eating beets.

The recipe lady wrote how this was called “beeturia”, and I was like, what? There’s a name for that? And she went on to say that 10 to 14% of people experienced beeturia. What?! I thought, doesn’t everyone pee red after eating beets? That seems crazy to me. So I looked it up and found a link on some research which I found mind blowing because they said that when it comes to those who have pernicious anemia (B12 deficiency - me) the % goes up to 45%. It can also be an indicator for low iron, celiac disease, etc.

Anyway, I found it interesting and thought I’d mention it here in case someone here was maybe unaware they were iron or b12 deficient. Eating beets might give you a clue.


So, really? Only 10-14% of you pee red after eating beets? Oh, excuse me, do you not all experience beeturia?
 
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So, really? Only 10-14% of you pee red after eating beets? Oh, excuse me, do you not all experience beeturia?
Gayness is sometimes said to be around the same % (if everyone who is gay actually came out). So is left-handedness. Makes you wonder...
 

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It's good that it's happening, no matter the reason.
A small part of it could be attributed to Narcan/Naloxone being available and because more people know what it does and how to use it. Most first responders carry it now and many hospitals, pharmacies and police departments dispense it freely.

 

Rose Karuna

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Yesterday, I roasted some beets and looked up the amount of time needed. So I landed on a recipe page, and of course, there were a few paragraphs before the actual info I was looking for. I was about to scroll past everything, but then started to read because it mentioned something about not being alarmed if you pee red after eating beets.

The recipe lady wrote how this was called “beeturia”, and I was like, what? There’s a name for that? And she went on to say that 10 to 14% of people experienced beeturia. What?! I thought, doesn’t everyone pee red after eating beets? That seems crazy to me. So I looked it up and found a link on some research which I found mind blowing because they said that when it comes to those who have pernicious anemia (B12 deficiency - me) the % goes up to 45%. It can also be an indicator for low iron, celiac disease, etc.

Anyway, I found it interesting and thought I’d mention it here in case someone here was maybe unaware they were iron or b12 deficient. Eating beets might give you a clue.


So, really? Only 10-14% of you pee red after eating beets? Oh, excuse me, do you not all experience beeturia?
I thought everyone peed red after eating beets too. Interestingly enough, I do have a b12 deficiency because of a medication that I take that does not allow it to absorb in my stomach, so I take a liquid supplement under the tongue and occasionally get shots if it gets really low.

I thought it was interesting that only 40% of the population can smell asparagus in their urine. https://www.livescience.com/57199-why-some-people-cant-smell-asparagus-pee.html (Unfortunately, I'm one of those 40%).

Also research has found that approximately 4-14% of the population dislikes cilantro because they think it tastes like bath soap. (Luckily, I'm not in this statistic as I love cilantro and use it liberally in both my Thai and Mexican dishes). https://www.health.com/why-cilantro-tastes-like-soap-8639357
 
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Kamilah Hauptmann

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Huh, I think cilantro tastes like soap but once it’s prepared in food it’s fine, especially guacamole.
 

Isabeau

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I think I can smell asparagus in my urine, but I do smell puffed wheat when I eat it. I was going to make a joke about it, saying maybe it’s a “condition” like beeturia and call it puffwheataria, but I looked it up and it can mean diabetes (excess sugar being flushed out). 👀
That would make sense, since everyone on my mother’s side had type 2 diabetes.

Peepee convos, it’s what I live for.
 

Kamilah Hauptmann

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A sign of growing old, to be sure. But even as a child I noticed the occasional phenomenon of pee that smelled like cereal. My thoughts were Cheerios.
 

Casey Pelous

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A small part of it could be attributed to Narcan/Naloxone being available and because more people know what it does and how to use it. Most first responders carry it now and many hospitals, pharmacies and police departments dispense it freely.

That ad for Narcan is a little misleading. It is safe for the recipient -- let's face it, at the point of overdose, pretty much anything that doesn't involve gunpowder would be considered safe.

The ugly reality is that It is not safe for the person who administers it. It takes the patient from unconscious and barely breathing to conscious, breathing, and in instant painful withdrawal. Do they say, "OMG, thanks for saving me from an early grave"? Nope. They're mad as hell that someone "screwed up their high." I talked with a paramedic and in their town they're thinking they may start carrying handcuffs to restrain the patient before administering the Narcan because they tend to come up fighting. He had had nights when they gave Narcan to the same person three times in that same night. Gosh, why don't they get the poor soul to some sort of care so they can at least detox? Because all the possibilities are already full. This crap is a plague out here, especially in the south end of Puget Sound.

I think you're right that the wide availability of Narcan has no doubt impacted the OD deaths, but in a tragic number of cases it is just postponing the inevitable because there's no treatment available.
 

Khamon

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So, really? Only 10-14% of you pee red after eating beets? Oh, excuse me, do you not all experience beeturia?
It happens around 10-14% of the times that I eat beets. Sometimes it do and sometimes it don't. It seems more likely after consuming large fresh beets that I've peeled and roasted myself compared to canned, boiled, or dried "beets."
 
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Cindy Claveau

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Being a semi-hypochondriac, I avoid beets. I don't often stand up and look in the bowl, either. :geek:
 
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Jopsy Pendragon

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Whaazzurrr... heey folxx...

/me got my flu & covid pokes yesterday. "must be working cause I def feel *yawn* sleepy today."

Would have put it off slightly later in the season just for efficacy come spring, but I'll be cooped up with a bunch of folks doing 'jury selection' duty in 2 weeks or so.

Just don't want to chance it.
 

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A new, possible long term (as in generational) issue due to COVID.

Scientists in China conducted the study, hoping to better understand the growing risk of myopia in children. Nearsightedness has multiple contributing factors, making it a complex issue, but the recent COVID-19 pandemic may have worsened an already increasing trend. Many studies has shown that nearsightedness, also known as myopia, has become a bigger problem in children over time. But the researchers wanted to look at the most recent data available to date, particularly in the years since the arrival of covid-19. Their findings were published Tuesday in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.

They analyzed more than 270 studies across 50 countries on six continents, collectively involving around 5.5 million children. Overall, the researchers found a gradual increase in the pooled prevalence of myopia, from 24% of children between 1990 and 2000 to around 36% between 2020 and 2023. The proportion of myopia was higher among people living in east Asia compared to other regions, as well as in high school students compared to younger children, and in girls compared to boys.
 

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Funny enough, my nearsighted parts of my eyes seems to have gotten better lately.

Within the past year or so, I can't focus up close at all with my glasses on, but if I take them off everything (close) looks fine.

I can't see as well in the distance though.

My prescription also has basically not changed at all in the last 10-15 years.
 
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This news is blockbuster.

We might someday be able to have replacement insulin-making cells on demand. Scientists in China have presented early clinical trial data suggesting that a person’s stem cells can be turned into a steady supply of the pancreatic cells responsible for producing insulin. If truly successful, such a treatment would essentially cure type 1 diabetes.

While much less common than type 2 diabetes, type 1 still affects about two million Americans. Once a death sentence, the autoimmune condition can now be managed through regular doses of artificial insulin. But even today, people with type 1 have a shorter life expectancy than the general population. Scientists have long been trying to develop a permanent way of treating type 1, and it’s possible that this newest research could be a preview of what that would look like.
 

Casey Pelous

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Well, first, let me say this is quite minor.

As too many folks here have already learned, it is more than a little disconcerting to hear "oma" -- as in carcinoma, melanoma, lymphoma, Oklahoma -- attached to anything they've biopsied from your body. Mine's a basal cell carcinoma, right on the t-shirt line on the back of my neck.

They give you chemo cream to put on it twice a day with stern warnings about washing one's hands after application (uh ....duh.) and to expect it to get irritated, scabby, and generally unattractive. (Yeah, doc -- it's killing cells, so ...) I also got a stern lecture about sun damage which I found a little ironic considering Seattle's reputation for absence of sun.

Nothing life-threatening. Nothing even very inconvenient. Apparently, you can just ignore them if you don't mind getting rather nastily disfigured and taking a low risk that it will spread to something vital.

While she was at it, my dermatologist also froze some pre-cancerous stuff off my nose. Scabby nose, scabby neck --- time to do my mantra: "Getting old beats the hell out of the only available alternative!"

A friend spotted it when we were out for a walk* -- she jokes about how she's "studying to be a dermatologist" by watching YouTube videos. I guess I should thank Dr. YouTube for an early catch on this!

*Yes, in the sun. Shut up.
 

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So two weeks ago I learned I need to now stab myself two times a day so my blood could be monitored. Tonight I had to stab myself ~five times because the first three times I could not get blood to appear, and the fourth caused an error message on the machine; fifth stab of needle into finger worked (course, by that point the last three stabs were in a different finger as I'd apparently killed my normal testing finger).

yay?

(on other hand, tonight is also the only time my fingers haven't needed about an hour to stop stinging)
 

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Be careful out there, ready-to-eat meat eaters.

As of October 15, meat supplier BrucePac, of Durant, Oklahoma, is recalling 11.8 million pounds of ready-to-eat meat and poultry products after routine federal safety testing found Listeria monocytogenes, a potentially deadly bacterium, in samples of the company's poultry. The finding triggered an immediate recall, which was first issued on October 9. But, officials are still working to understand the extent of the contamination—and struggling to identify the hundreds of potentially contaminated products.

"Because we sell to other companies who resell, repackage, or use our products as ingredients in other foods, we do not have a list of retail products that contain our recalled items," BrucePac said in a statement updated October 15.