Prepare Yourself

Dietary Zinc is preventative for viruses.
Vitamin D for bacteria.

Ketogenic diet will speed your recovery if you get sick.
Stock up on broth right now.

As my new saying goes:
Starve the patient to starve the microbe.

Update: Stay hydrated.
This Inexpensive Action Lowers Hospital Infections And Protects Against Flu Season
Raise the humidity...     

Further Adventures in Pain Insensitivity

It has been two weeks since having that crown put on my lower left molar.
My shoulder girdle popped and relaxed and dropped and was way less painful before I even left the dentist office.  That was lovely.   The verbal tics have been on and off since then, though. 
Last night my tongue and salivary gland down under my ear came back to life.   At about midnight.  Of course.
So I laid on the couch in the dark and entertained myself with breathing and swallowing  and surfing the tingles.  
I had no idea how paralyzed my tongue was.
Tics are way in the background today.   My diaphragm is still twitchy though.
Hmmm, the tongue might be connected to the phrenic nerve somehow...   I gotta check on that.

Friday:
I have been able to pour a full pot of coffee with my left arm for two days.
That is what I call a successful experiment.
I can't even remember how long that's been impossible.
Last night my left pectoral muscle reanimated.   Tingly boob at midnight.  LOL.
Verbals tics are seldom, and now mostly when I'm in positions that pinch my waist and diaphragm. And they have devolved to just "HA!" instead of phrases.  Nice.

Boys will be Boys

Fuckin Cowards and Bullies

This is how a group of people with acute frontal lobe dysfunction behave.

Endotoxic Masculinity

Hahahahahahahaha!

Surprisingly, our survey discovered that men may be far more emotionally sensitive in the workplace than women.
Men were more than twice as likely as women to get emotional because their “ideas weren’t heard” or because they “were criticized”.

 Say it ain't so.

Current Research

Dental appointment today.   So excited.
I would very much like to regain control of my mouth. 

I'm totally convinced that Tourette's is a Phrenic nerve thing, and that it's triggered by problems with molar teeth somehow.
It's like my mechanism for cataplexy- just a different nerve. Direct infection or inflammation that pinches the nerve in the neck. The phrenic nerve runs under the clavicle, that is why the shoulders twitch.  If it's on the left side, it may also activate Broca's area in the brain, but I'm not sure that's necessary... the real action seems to be in the diaphragm.  It really is like a hiccup or a cough.

Give me a few weeks to heal, I'll tell you if I stop talking when I'm alone.

(for the record, I have spent way more time in dentist chairs than most people.  I have never missed a dental appointment in my life.  These days I go to the dentist at least 4 times a year for cleanings.  Although it has a filling, I have never felt pain from this tooth.   If you don't flinch, they just won't notice your infections...)

My two cents

He was drugged with afrin and antihistamines to reduce the swelling in his face.
He has a terrible sinus infection again. 
And he only cares about how he looks.

update, his entire salivary system is infested again too...  that explains a lot.

On the topic of retribution of biblical proportions

Yeah, don't justify it based on your religious traditions.
It is a distortion of reality, an abomination created by humanity.

A Meteor may have Exploded in the Air 3,700 Years Ago, Obliterating Communities Near the Dead Sea

State of the Insanity

The only thing that gives me solace these days is archaeology.  I love it so much.
There is a really important Native American site that was excavated right down the road from me. I have been reading articles and watching lectures about that and other local sites.
I have also watched all 20 seasons of Time Team twice in the past few months.   I know more about artifacts found in English farmland than I ever desired.  (It did manage to break my Forensic Files addiction though).
But mostly I have been learning about Gobeckli Tepe.  It's a place in the fertile crescent where agriculture began.  It seems to be a place where hunter tribes gathered and taught each other about where to find and gather grain and how to make beer.

The desire for beer and the loss of large game animals due to unrestrained arrow hunting are now proposed to be the trigger for the adoption of agriculture and the beginning of "civilization".
Not intellectual enlightenment. Not religion.
It was lack of impulse control causing environmental collapse.

As far as I can tell, civilization has mostly led to more usage and reverence of beer and ballistic weapons, though.

The thought that a sick, demented man is going to bomb cultural artifacts in the Middle East, and alcoholic men with guns are cheering him on-- right when humanity is figuring this out-- just makes my brain melt...

Welcome to my paradigm

I do not want to research saliva.   Really, I just don't.

So, here's what I found:
Porphyromonas gingivalis binds to saliva molecules and shuts down production of mucin in your salivary glands.
Mucin protects your oropharygial space from Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Just Saying

If old men did not predictably get hyper-impulsive and go mad...
Democracy and Checks and Balances (and impeachment) would not have been needed in the first place.

This is Why

I just found this picture in my collection.  It's from May 2018, I think.

See this?   This is an abscessed parotid gland.  His salivary glands are rotting in his face.
Just like daddy.
They had drained it and hidden it with makeup.  They probably gave him a hefty dose of antibiotics too.
He also seems to have a calcium stone in his right sub-lingual gland that shifts and makes him choke on his words sometimes.    He will never admit it though.

Remember that emergency trip to Walter Reed?    I wish someone in the White House would leak some details on that...   I'll put ten dollars on prostate problems.

This year is already worse

The root of evil is disproportionately violent responses to injury.

Disproportionately angry reactions are a symptom of frontal lobe impairment.

Yep.

See the mirror

A link between brain damage and religious fundamentalism has now been established by scientists

Just to be clear:   Frontal lobe suppression is a result of infection and illness.   It's part of the immune response and does not necessarily cause brain damage.
Frontal lobe impairment results in increased anxiety and less neural bandwidth to think with. 
You literally get a hyperactive one-track mind.

Religiosity is only one form of obsession.
I have known men with more basic obsessions.
Mine has always taken the form of compulsive medical research.

Yeah, I am now at the point where my frontal lobe dysfunction makes me obsess about frontal lobe dysfunction...


via GIPHY

Next year will be better

Ending the year with an appropriately ironic twist-
A broken lower molar I cannot feel.  Of course...

Hopefully when I get it fixed, my verbal tics will finally cease.
It is the one symptom I have that has not resolved after all my efforts.
I have been blurting and spasming uncontrollably for months.

This connection between pain insensitivity and mental problems is getting so frakking annoying...

Okay I'll Play

So this is what I did for the past decade:

-I survived.
-I found what I was looking for.

Right under my nose.

Go figure.

Squad Goals

I have always hated Miss America.
This one rocks a lab coat.


‘Miss America can be a scientist’: Camille Schrier of Virginia wins after onstage chemistry experiment.

So much onion dust in this kitchen...

EFFIN AY!!! HERE IT IS!!!!!

Effects of Very Low Calorie Ketogenic Diet on the Orexinergic System

Orexin-A levels significantly increased after dietary treatment.

Grazie Italia!

Article Roundup

Science underestimated dangerous effects of sleep deprivation

Chronic ketamine abuse is associated with orexin-A reduction

Greatly increased number of detected hypocretin cells in human heroin addicts

Reduced plasma orexin-A levels in patients with bipolar disorder.


Association of pharyngitis with oral antibiotic use for the treatment of acne

High resistance against clindamycin, metronidazole and amoxicillin in Porphyromonas gingivalis isolates of periodontal disease

Antimicrobial resistance is drastically rising

Green tea could hold the key to reducing antibiotic resistance

Antibiotic usage associated with increased risk of rheumatoid arthritis

Antibiotics Before Dental Visit Can Be Harmful

Antibiotics weaken flu defenses in the lungs
Antibiotics can leave the lung vulnerable to flu viruses, leading to significantly worse infections and symptoms



Ketogenic diet helps tame flu virus

Flu virus' best friend: Low humidity

This Inexpensive Action Lowers Hospital Infections And Protects Against Flu Season
Raise the humidity...    

A bad bout of flu triggers 'taste bud cells' to grow in the lungs ...
A severe case of the flu can actually reshape the architecture of their lungs and forever compromise their respiratory function.
(odd personal observation- this sounds exactly like what asthma felt like, fuzzy lungs)

Cells That ‘Taste’ Danger Set Off Immune Responses


Aspirin may halve air pollution harms

Washing Machines May Sometimes Harbor Drug-Resistant Bacteria,
Try adding baking soda to your laundry after illnesses.

Omega-3 fatty acids' health benefit linked to stem cell control

What tattoos really do to our bodies' immune systems

Groundbreaking New Study Sheds Doubt on Many Heart Procedures
The new research study shows drugs and a healthier lifestyle can be as effective as many heart procedures for patients with stable coronary artery disease.

Man’s body brews its own beer after yeast take over his gut microbiome

Want to Take Better Notes? Ditch the Laptop for a Pen and Paper
New research might have you reconsidering that old school pen and paper if you want to remember more of your notes.

'Mental rigidity' at root of intense political partisanship on both left and right

Did a common childhood illness take down the Neanderthals?
The authors believe the path to extinction may well have been the most common and innocuous of childhood illnesses - chronic ear infections.

The Body’s Clock Offers a Rhythmic Target to Viruses
Viruses and other parasites may sync with their host’s biological clock — or reset it — to gain an advantage.

Happy Immigrant Gratitude Day

 
Last month, for the first time since records began, the number of refugees resettled in the US hit zero.

Holiday Shopping

Dietary zinc protects against Streptococcus pneumoniae infection

Good zinc info here.

State of the Insanity

The big bag of endotoxin has unleashed his berserker brigade.   Fuckin Hooray.

President pardons service members in high profile war crimes cases

“Nine members of his platoon testified against Clint Lorance at his trial. Together, they described a man who arrived in Afghanistan determined to get his hands bloody... not a single soldier from Lorance’s platoon testified on his behalf.”

Buckle up.  Hold the Door.
Winter is Coming.

Endotoxic Masculinity

Trump says Rep. Adam Schiff has a "little 10-inch neck." He then performs this exchange: "What size shirts do you need, Adam?" "I wear a size 9." Returning to his own voice, he says, "Nine! He will not make the LSU football team."

Ha.  Slim, taut necks are a sign of great nasal and oropharyngeal health.  
Schiff is also a competitive runner.

Trump's acute neck inflammation and morbid obesity is suffocating him.
He can barely walk or talk.

A couple more

Well, it looks like Porphyromonas gingivalis is also associated with-

Oral Cancer-  it promotes the proliferation of immortal epithelial cells.
 (which I believe can travel to the lungs and breasts)


Prostate Cancer- yeah, all the old men I know have that.

Ankylosing spondylitis - a rare type of arthritis that affects the spine


here's another plug for Cleure Toothpaste.  Everyone I know is getting it for a gift this year.

Better Insomnia Advice

        Up all night. Sleep all day. Bitchy all the time.

Personally, I like insomnia. I get stuff done at night.

But I'm not normal, so I have thought about this a lot and come to the conclusion that it's pretty much this simple:

It's not that we can't sleep, we prove we can all day long. We just have major problems when we lie down.

It's simply easier for us to sleep upright in a chair.   At work, or school, or while driving...

We make a lot of mucous and it gets in our sinuses and throats and lungs.

When we lie down, all that goop shifts into positions that restrict our breathing.

When our oxygen level is restricted, our brain stems panic and we are supposed to wake up.

Unfortunately, when we are really sick we do not wake up when sleeping in positions that are not conducive to breathing.  We just sleep fitfully instead.

(This manifested as sleepwalking when I was a child.  About thirty minutes after I was put to bed, I would scream-walk to the couch and pass out sitting next to my mother.  Freudians had a grand old time with that symptom.)

You will not get better if you can't breathe or sleep properly.

So first order of business is clean out your snot before bed.

Then get over the idea that you need to lie down flat to sleep.   It's a fallacy perpetuated by mattress companies to get you to buy more expensive beds that still cause poor sleep.

Sleep on an incline. Your head should be higher than your lungs, and your lungs higher than your hips.  This facilitates cranial drainage and movement of the diaphragm. I just use pillows, not a wedge. There are more positional options that way.

If you're really snotty, you have to sleep with your head on it's side. This allows the top sinus to drain, allowing you to relax somewhat.

Get a super squishy pillow that you can shape to prop your head in the right position, and to put gentle pressure on any problematic facial nerves.

When you're really sick, you should sleep almost sitting up. Don't worry what your spouse or roommates think.

Recliner chairs should probably be prescribed instead of cpap.

Your teeth and gums will keep you awake too.

If you are clenching or grinding, or sleep with your hands touching your cheeks- try soothing your mouth.

I have found a teaspoon of olive oil taken orally before bed works wonders.
It seems to lubricate my mouth and throat and help me breathe and swallow and relaxes my head, and before I know it, it's morning.  If you cannot stand to swallow it, swish and spit it out instead.
I keep a small squirt bottle on my nightstand-  I find that I will not get out of bed when my head is clenched, even if I cannot sleep.   But I can reach out one arm...

If that doesn't work, you can try Chloroseptic spray on your gums, or Anbesol on any suspicious teeth.

(But if that works, you need to visit a dentist.)

Shoulders -

A lot of our pathology affects the neck and thus the shoulder nerves. Make sure you have proper pillows and positioning so your neck and arms are comfortable. If you're on your side, prop up the upper arm so your ribs can expand.

Back- 

Our intestinal problems mostly manifest as lower back pain. You're probably constipated and need to check your diet.

Skin-

Dehydration activates the stress response. This is why bathing helps too.

In any case, while you are lying there trying to sleep, think about this... it's the most memorable thing I learned in a decade of research, and I spent a lot of time observing the phenomenon while getting better.

See the Pathology

He's a very sick and twisted man.
Who was put into office by adults who behave like children- just like him.