Posted on

GERD update

I’m still taking no PPIs and only the occasional H2 (Pepcid). The GERD is still around, however, it’s just kind of like whack a mole with how it pops up.

I still have reduced stomach capacity – about .75 cup rather than 1-1.25 cup with PPI, but that’s ok. I really don’t mind that. What I DO mind is random freak outs of Lil Tummy. Occasionally, I’ll have pain after I eat, particularly if it’s protein. It’s like an overfull pain, despite not eating that much volume.

Occasionally, I’ll have a bout of GERD about a half hour after eating. Which is odd. Typically, Lil Tummy will exact its revenge right after I eat too much or have something it doesn’t like. ??

Same goes for night time. Sometimes it’s fine, other times, I’ll have acid up to my throat. No rhyme or reason.

The good news is that Tums will calm any burning and at night, Pepcid will calm the reflux for sleep. Not much can be done for when Lil Tummy decides I’ve eaten too much or the wrong thing and it gets painful. Just gotta ride it out.

Due to taking Pepcid 1-2x a week, I still struggle with constipation issues. I’ve found the herbal supplement Smooth Move to be extremely good at helping with this. I hope all this will plane out eventually, but if not, eh, I’ll live. I don’t gripe about it too much, because Nick has fibromyalgia and has body pain pretty much every day. I don’t feel as bad as he does, so I really have little to complain about.

I do think that things are getting incrementally better. I hope that continues. I still do NOT regret VSG surgery. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done for myself.

Posted on

The Schism of Gen X

So there was a convo on FB that started off about how “Karen” ended up being the name all over the internet, from this definition:

WHAT DOES KAREN MEAN?
Karen is a mocking slang term for an entitled, obnoxious, middle-aged white woman. Especially as featured in memes, Karen is generally stereotyped as having a blonde bob haircut, asking to speak to retail and restaurant managers to voice complaints or make demands, and being a nagging, often divorced mother from Generation X.

Which steered the thread to a discussion about Gen X and how there seems to be different kinds of Gen Xers – to which I absolutely agree. I was not called a Karen, it was just the start of the discussion. Here’s what I said (slight edits for clarity):

As an elder Gen Xer (b 1965) raised by Silent Generation (b/t Depression and WWII) parents (NOT Boomers), I can tell you that there is ABSOLUTELY a schism in Gen Xers. There are ones like me, who were not precisely early adopters of the internet, but whole heartedly adopted in the mid 90s. BBS and chat rooms, OH MY! Those of us who got into tech in the 90s are VERY different animals than those who eschewed tech and lagged behind until FB made them feel like they “finally” understood the internet (LOL x 100).

The ONLY people I have contact with from my generation growing up are those who are technically adept. Why? Because those of us who kept up tend to be FAR FAR more knowledgeable about the world in general because we have used the internet for decades and understand how to do searches, how to spot FAKE shit and how to filter our shit to find the TRUTH.

Those of us who have been online since the 90s understand how to use the power of the internet to LEARN things and broaden our horizons. AND talk to people from EVERYWHERE. Those GenXers who went off to breed and had little to nothing to do with technology, were left behind in SO many ways. And the irritating part is that they can’t even understand how left behind they are. Hence so many of them being fucking MAGAts. They don’t even know how little they know. And by the gods, no one can tell them anything, either, because if it doesn’t line up with their ideals readily, then it MUST be that the internet (aka the whole world) is just trying to trick them. (Because the internet is big and scary!!)

I resent being put in the same category as the idiot GenXers who know nothing about that there internet or them there smart phones.

THAT IS NOT ME. Nor is it any of MY GenX friends.

There ARE two kinds of GenXers. Absolutely. The smart ones and the left behind ones – regardless of where they fall within the dates (1965-1980). I am old, yes, but I am a tech savvy NERD. FEAR ME, young ‘uns, I’ll dox the FUCK out of you. And: get off my fucking lawn. LOL :D

Posted on

Pandemic 2020

I feel I need to write a post about this debacle – even tho it’s in the second peak and (hopefully) decline. Covid-19 is a beast and a very nasty strain of flu/SARS. I’m not worried about getting it since I’ve got a VERY robust immune system, however, I might be a carrier. Who knows? There are no tests in this country, which is why 100,000 people are dead with more to come. No tests, no way to track, NOTHING. And things are opening back up. Bad idea.

Since March, we’ve been locked down. It is almost June. It sucks. I get that, but opening up now (as they did in 1918) will cause a huge second wave.

My catering stopped the first week in March. Nick’s job staggered on for a few weeks, then it stopped, too. We were very concerned about money, naturally, since we’d drained our backups for the bankruptcy. (At least the bankruptcy is going through and we are out from under the $60k business debts.)

We got the $1200/ea stimulus ($2400), which would cover us for about a month. The politicians thought this money would cover 10 weeks. LOL of course they did, rich fucks that they are. They think bread is 25¢ a loaf and rent is $150/mo because they’ve not paid a bill themselves in 60 years (they have accountants for that).

Luckily, Nick’s boss filed for his unemployment and he’s been getting that plus the $600/wk pandemic money. It’s all we’ve got. I applied for the “gig workers” PUA (Pandemic Unemployment Assistance), which has still yielded nothing. [UPDATE: as of the end of May, I finally got the back pay for UI and PUA, which was over $7k hitting the bank account. We are happy to have it, because PUA (the $600/wk) is about to end and who knows when our work will come back.]

Since this country is led by a moron and his hillbilly followers all think the pandemic is a hoax, the US has been hit harder than other countries. The MAGAts think that wearing a mask is unconstitutional and infringing on their rights, so the spread of Covid-19 is still going. Opening up businesses and public places is going to ramp up the victim count again, but hey, it’s just us peasants, right? It’s more important to let people do what they want, when they want, in any fashion they want than trying to stem the spread of Covid-19, right? Sure it is. Because 3% is acceptable losses to keep the stock market strong! Just ask the rich fuckers like the illustrious fucknut in chief.

I wear a mask when out to protect others, not myself. I have no idea if I am a carrier or not since there are no tests. I might be? Since I never get sick, I might’ve picked up Covid-19 and not had any symptoms. THAT is the problem with this strain of flu/SARS! It is very sneaky and very virulent if someone wins the shit lottery and gets it just the right way. Plenty of people have had it and survived – even Nick’s brother in law did, and he’s not in particularly excellent health. BUT many younger people who are healthy get it and die just out of shit luck. SO. It’s best to err on the side of caution.

This country is a shit show. It is led by an idiot. And that idiot will get re-elected by his legion of hillbillies. In the meantime, nothing is happening: no cons, no concerts, no movies, no sports, no large gatherings. BUT you can go swimming at the local pool and you can go shopping at Ross and nevermind wearing a mask, only losers do THAT. Yup. Merika.

And that’s all I have to say about the Pandemic. We’ll survive, but this shitty country may not. And I’m OK with that. We got passports and an exit strategy.

Posted on

Creamy Herbed Feta Dressing

Creamy Herbed Feta Dressing
Print

Creamy Herbed Feta Dressing

I love homemade dressings and this one is a melange of several different ones I make regularly. It has a creamy base - much like a herbed ranch dressing - with added crumbled feta. You can use this basic recipe for pretty much any combination of herbs, with or without feta. Enjoy!
Course Salad
Cuisine American
Keyword creamy salad dressing, feta salad dressing, herbed salad dressing, salad dressing
Prep Time 10 minutes
Servings 8 servings
Author misangela

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup buttermilk Don't have any buttermilk? Use regular milk and add 1 tsp of vinegar to make it curdle. Voila! Buttermilk substitute.
  • 1/3 cup mayonnaise more or less to get the thickness you want
  • 1/3 cup sour cream OR full fat plain greek yogurt (or mix both!)
  • 2 Tbl seasoned rice wine vinegar OR lime juice + zest
  • 3 Tbl fresh herbs dill, cilantro, parsley, mint (whatever you've got)
  • 1 scallion, very finely sliced optional
  • 1/4 cup crumbled feta No need for pricey feta here, the President crumbled is FINE. Get the herbed kind for more flavour! This is also OPTIONAL.
  • 1 Tbl olive oil
  • 1 tsp pasted fresh garlic (3 cloves) OR Indian garlic paste
  • S/P to taste Go a little saltier than you think it should be so it adequately seasons the salad.

Instructions

  • Mix everything together in a bowl. Do not over mix the feta, you want the crumbles to be intact (if you are using feta). This makes about 1 3/4 cups or so and will keep for a week or so in the fridge.

Notes

This is a really great dressing base. Change it up to suit your tastes! Leave out the feta! Add double the herbs and blend for a Green Goddess dressing. Use lots of lime and cilantro for a Mexican inspired dressing. The sky's the limit! 
Posted on

PPI Stepdown pt 4

UPDATED May 13, 2021! New info about PPIs and my current health. Made into new post as well.

Another update in my ongoing battle with GERD. Sigh.

While I am glad I’ve rid myself of PPI use, I can’t say that it’s been without its issues. I have bouts of GERD every single day, while awake and while asleep. I typically get a flare after eating (doesn’t matter what it is) and occasionally with wine.

I was AM using Pepcid, an H2 blocker with antacid (10mg famotidine + 750mg calcium carbonate) when GERD was really bad or it was flaring before bed – and it works GREAT! I was having some issues with the H2, but they planed out. I do have some constipation issues, but nothing that a senna caplet can’t handle.

I looked up famotidine and it has the best track record for long term use. There are no long term health issues from using is, as there are with PPIs. I discovered that PPIs have been DIRECTLY LINKED to liver damage with long term use. That is in addition to the potential kidney issues. Here is the NIH article on liver damage.

I do use Tums (calcium carbonate) A LOT to manage the breakthrough GERD that I get during the day and sometimes at night. I was looking up the details of calcium carbonate, such as safe amounts to take daily and found that it’s generally 2-3 grams per day for old people like me. Each chew is 750mg, so that’s 3-4 per day. Sometimes I am within that, sometimes not. The long term overdosing on calcium carbonate can cause kidney stones, but that’s about it. Constipation is a common side effect, which I manage with senna.

BUT overall, I feel that famotidine and calcium carbonate are my long term solution to VSG induced GERD. I use calcium carbonate (Tums chews) during the day if I need it and I take one Pepcid (famotidine + calcium carbonate) before bed. I’ve been on this regimen for about a year and it is OK. Not as good as PPIs, but I just can’t justify the potential organ damage that is caused by stopping stomach acid production. I think there is going to be a huge wave of people with organ failures from taking PPIs for years. I don’t want to be one of them.