#Diabetes prevention efforts

[wellhealthhub]

Cultural Perspectives: Exploring the Richness of Diverse Approaches to Diabetes, Dietary Management, and Treatment

Delve into the captivating world of Cultural Perspectives on diabetes, where various cultures offer unique insights and practices in dietary management and treatment. This comprehensive exploration encompasses traditional practices, modern interventions, and the profound impact of cultural beliefs on diabetes care. Introduction In the realm of global health challenges, diabetes looms large,…

[batboyblog]

Things the Biden-Harris Administration Did This Week #31

August 9-16 2024

President Biden and Vice-President Harris announced together the successful conclusion of the first negotiations between Medicare and pharmaceutical companies over drug prices. For years Medicare was not allow to directly negotiate princes with drug companies leaving seniors to pay high prices. It has been a Democratic goal for many years to change this. President Biden noted he first introduced a bill to allow these negotiations as a Senator back in 1973. Thanks to Inflation Reduction Act, passed with no Republican support using Vice-President Harris' tie breaking vote, this long time Democratic goal is now a reality. Savings on these first ten drugs are between 38% and 79% and will collectively save seniors $1.8 billion dollars in out of pocket costs. This comes on top of the Biden-Harris Administration already having capped the price of insulin for Medicare's 3.5 million diabetics at $35 a month, as well as the Administration's plan to cap Medicare out of pocket drug costs at $2,000 a year starting January 2025.

President Biden and Vice President Harris have launched a wide ranging all of government effort to crack down on companies wasting customers time with excessive paperwork, hold times, and robots rather than real people. Some of the actions from the "Time is Money" effort include: The FTC and FCC putting forward rules that require companies to make canceling a subscription or service as easy as signing up for it. The Department of Transportation has required automatic refunds for canceled flights. The CFPB is working on rules to require companies to have to allow customers to speak to a real person with just one button click ending endless "doom loops" of recored messages. The CFPB is also working on rules around chatbots, particularly their use from banks. The FTC is working on rules to ban companies from posting fake reviews, suppressing honest negative reviews, or paying for  positive reviews. HHS and the Department of Labor are taking steps to require insurance companies to allow health claims to be submitted online. All these actions come on top of the Biden Administration's efforts to get rid of junk fees.

President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden announced further funding as part of the President's Cancer Moonshot. The Cancer Moonshot was launched by then Vice-President Biden in 2016 in the aftermath of his son Beau Biden's death from brain cancer in late 2015. It was scrapped by Trump as political retaliation against the Obama-Biden Administration. Revived by President Biden in 2022 it has the goal of cutting the number of cancer deaths in half over the next 25 years, saving 4 million lives. Part of the Moonshot is Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), grants to help develop cutting edge technology to prevent, detect, and treat cancer. The President and First Lady announced $150 million in ARPA-H grants this week focused on more successful cancer surgeries. With grants to Tulane, Rice, Johns Hopkins, and Dartmouth, among others, they'll help fund imaging and microscope technology that will allow surgeons to more successfully determine if all cancer has been remove, as well as medical imaging focused on preventing damage to healthy tissues during surgeries.

Vice-President Harris announced a 4-year plan to lower housing costs. The Vice-President plans on offering $25,000 to first time home buyers in down-payment support. It's believed this will help support 1 million first time buyers a year. She also called for the building of 3 million more housing units, and a $40 billion innovation fund to spur innovative housing construction. This adds to President Biden's call for a $10,000 tax credit for first time buyers and calls by the President to punish landlords who raise the rent by over 5%.

President Biden Designates the site of the 1908 Springfield Race Riot a National Monument. The two day riot in Illinois capital took place just blocks away from Abraham Lincoln's Springfield home. In August 1908, 17 people die, including a black infant, and 2,000 black refugees were forced to flee the city. As a direct result of the riot, black community leaders and white allies met a few months later in New York and founded the NAACP. The new National Monument will seek to preserve the history and educate the public both on the horrible race riot as well as the foundation of the NAACP. This is the second time President Biden has used his authority to set up a National Monument protecting black history, after setting up the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument on Emmett Till's 82nd birthday July 25th 2023.

The Department of The Interior announced $775 million to help cap and clean up orphaned oil and gas wells. The money will help cap wells in 21 states. The Biden-Harris Administration has allocated $4.7 billion to plug orphaned wells, a billion of which has already been distributed. More than 8,200 such wells have been capped since the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed in 2022. Orphaned wells leak toxins into communities and are leaking the super greenhouse gas methane. Plugging them will not only improve the health of nearby communities but help fight climate change on a global level.

Vice-President Harris announced plans to ban price-gouging in the food and grocery industries. This would be a first ever federal ban on price gouging and Harris called for clear "rules of the road" on price rises in food, and strong penalties from the FTC for those who break them. This is in line with President Biden's launching of a federal Strike Force on Unfair and Illegal Pricing in March, and Democratic Senator Bob Casey's bill to ban "shrinkflation". In response to this pressure from Democrats on price gouging and after aggressive questions by Senator Casey and Senator Elizabeth Warren, the supermarket giant Kroger proposed dropping prices by a billion dollars

[crvptozoologist]

after spending an hour informing individual accounts that they accidentally shared a mutual aid scam, i am BEGGING y'all: if someone reaches out to you claiming to be a palestinian in need of financial support and wanting you to share their fundraiser/gofundme/mutual aid post, please do your due diligence to confirm that you are not supporting a scam.

there are a number of scammers who are taking advantage of the genocide of palestinians for their own personal gain this way. probably the most prolific one that i know of has shared the same fake story (being a diabetic palestinian in need of insulin) under dozens of names and usernames, and their asks/posts have been shared by hundreds of folks wanting to help. someone has gone through the effort of compiling many of the scammer's fake names, but they will certainly continue to make new blogs, with new fake names. you can prevent these people from continuing to scam by fact checking and learning how to recognize it is a scam. search their name & username (especially on here) and reverse search any images they may be using. if they themselves claim that they have been vetted/verified, you should cross-reference with other lists of vetted fundraisers because people can and do just lie.

it sucks that people like this are out there, and it sucks that people are diverting their money, time, and energy towards a scammer that could be going to palestinians who actually need it. scam literacy is so important, and these people are relying on both your compassion and a sense of urgency to share their fundraisers unquestioningly.

edit: someone sent me more of the user/names used by the insulin scammer and current scam accounts! if it helps to recognize future accounts, a lot of them are simply 3 random words put together into a username, especially [adjective][noun][noun]

[reasonsforhope]

"Sanofi on Thursday said it’s planning to cut the U.S. price of its most popular insulin drug by 78% and cap monthly out-of-pocket costs at $35 for people who have private insurance starting next year. 

In addition to its widely prescribed Lantus, the French drugmaker will reduce the list price of its short-acting insulin Apidra by 70%. Sanofi already offers a $35 monthly cap on insulin for uninsured diabetes patients.

The company is the last major insulin manufacturer to try to head off government efforts to cap monthly costs by announcing its own steep price cuts for the lifesaving hormone. 

Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk made similar sweeping cuts earlier this month after years of political pressure and public outrage over the high costs of diabetes care. The three companies control over 90% of the global insulin market. 

... The change takes effect Jan. 1.

President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act capped monthly insulin costs for Medicare beneficiaries at $35, but it did not provide protection to diabetes patients who are covered by private insurance.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent and the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, introduced a bill earlier this month that would cap the list price of insulin at $20 per vial.

Both the president and Sanders on Tuesday directly called on Sanofi to slash its prices after Novo Nordisk announced its own cuts that day.

Roughly 37 million people in the U.S., or 11.3% of the country’s population, have diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Approximately 8.4 million [U.S.] diabetes patients rely on insulin, the American Diabetes Association said."

-via CNBC, 3/16/23

[aweightyissue]

On Weight Loss and Morality

Conversations around weight and weight loss have always been contentious.

The oft repeated mantra of weight loss has been “there is no silver bullet.”

It’s a jeering remark meant to chide dieters for trying anything beyond eating skinless chicken breast and 20 hours a week working out.

If you want to lose weight you have to pay the penance for every excess pound. You have to earn it.

Their smug satisfaction of watching weight loss aids fail is salt in the wound. They snickered at limitations and failure of Amphetamines, PhenFen, Ephedrine, Orlistat, LapBands, and Gastric Bypass.

See? You can’t cheat your way out. You did this to yourself, now you must suffer the consequences.

An anti weight loss movement emerged in opposition to this mentality. Body positivity is a healthy response to diet culture; making the radical assertion that existing in your body, the way it is, without trying to change, is not only okay, it’s a good thing.

Love your body and focus on being healthy. Your weight is not your worth. This cannot be said enough. Your worth in this world is not related to how your body looks.

When around came GLP-1 medications, the reactions have been fascinating.

The drugs themselves are remarkably effective, and instead of targeting the weight, they correct the underlying metabolic problem. They’ve been on the market for years and are generally known to be safe.

The ire toward them, is in some ways unsurprising.

No! You can’t do it the easy way! You have to work at it!

You’re stealing them from the deserving- the diabetics. Ironically, the same people they blame for their own illness.

The body positivity crowd response is fascinating as well. Taking the drugs is a betrayal. You shouldn’t want to change your body. You’re giving into diet culture. You shouldn’t want to fit conventional beauty standards.

The response has been negative from both sides. People feel entitled to police the bodies and choices you make about your body.

Both of these reactions are moral judgments. You have to pay for your sins. Either for gluttony or vanity.

The thing is, there should be no judgement at all.

Weight loss requires a lot of mental energy. You have to commit your mental and physical energy to it. There are a million reasons why someone can’t or doesn’t want to do that. And that’s okay. There is no reason why you should feel obligated to.

However, ignoring the very real disabling effects of obesity is also a kind of denial of humanity. It’s not anyone’s business, and to condemn someone for trying to prevent or correct the effects is kind of cruelty all its own.

There’s no reason someone should have to justify their desire to change their bodies or their efforts to do so.

Try to love your body, regardless of its size, but it’s okay if you want to lose weight and you don’t have to justify your reasons or your decision to use medication to do it.

Everyone else, support people if they choose to change their bodies as well as when they choose not to. It’s not your decision, your business or your place to judge them.

We, the body positivity advocates don’t criticize trans people for changing their bodies because they’re unhappy with the way it looks. We don’t shame people with disfiguring congenital defects who choose to have corrective surgery; even when it poses no health risk. We understand the very real effects of social stigma, and wouldn’t criticize them for avoiding it.

You’re punishing people trying to lose weight for the sins of vanity and envy.

The other assholes, you wouldn’t tell a cancer patient “there’s no silver bullet” or snicker when an experimental or risky treatment fails. You don’t tell people with high blood pressure or high cholesterol that taking medicine is “taking the easy way out.” You know it’s cruel, you simply want to punish people for the sins of gluttony and sloth.

All I’m saying is - leave the people taking weight loss meds alone.

Weight is not a moral issue.

Weight is not a moral issue.

Weight is not a moral issue.

Weight is not a moral issue.

Weight is not a moral issue.

[thefirsthogokage]

The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Palestine, Jamie McGoldrick, has slammed Israel for adding insulin pens for children to the list of prohibited items that are not allowed into the besieged and war-torn Gaza Strip. McGoldrick said that this is a violation of international humanitarian law and a serious threat to the lives of thousands of diabetic children in Gaza.

...

...Israel has been imposing a strict blockade on Gaza since 2007, severely restricting the movement of people and goods in and out of the coastal enclave. Israel claims that the blockade is necessary to prevent weapons and materials that could be used for military purposes from reaching Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza. But human rights groups and international organizations have denounced the blockade as a form of collective punishment that violates the basic rights and dignity of the two million Palestinians living in Gaza.

According to McGoldrick, Israel has also banned many other items that are essential for humanitarian relief and development, such as pumps, generators, spare parts, pipes, solar panels, and some medical equipment. He said that these restrictions have hampered the efforts of the UN and its partners to provide displaced people with basic services such as food, medical support, shelter, water, and sanitation.

Another source:

As not enough people are saying: this is a disability and chronic illness rights issue. Where are all of you who advocate for those things here in the US? Why don't you speak up?

[beardedmrbean]

The Supreme Court on Monday turned down an appeal from California prison officials who sought immunity from lawsuits for having transferred inmates with COVID-19 to San Quentin in May 2020, setting off an outbreak that killed 26 prisoners and one guard.

The justices denied the appeals with no comment or dissent.

The transfer decision was later lambasted by state lawmakers as a "fiasco," "abhorrent" and "the worst prison health screw-up in state history."

The California Institution for Men in Chino had been hit hard by COVID-19. Nine of its inmates had died and about 600 were infected in May 2020.

San Quentin then had no known cases at that time. In an effort to prevent further harm at CIM, prison officials decided to move 122 inmates from Chino north to San Quentin.

Within days, San Quentin reported 25 COVID cases among the 122 new arrivals. Within three weeks, the virus spread to 499 others.

By early September, at least 2,100 inmates and 270 staff had tested positive.

The state now faces four major lawsuits from the families of those who died as well as from inmates and staff who were infected but survived.

Those lawsuits can proceed now that the federal courts in California and the Supreme Court have denied the state's claim that prison officials had "qualified immunity" that shielded them from being sued.

"The state has had its due process all the way to the Supreme Court. They're not getting off on a technicality," Michael J. Haddad, the attorney for the families, said in response to the court's order. "Now it's time to face the facts. Prison administrators killed 29 people in what the 9th Circuit called a ‘textbook case’ of deliberate indifference.”

The defense of qualified immunity often shields police officers from lawsuits. The justices have said that police and other government officials may be sued for violating the constitutional rights of individuals, but only if they knowingly violated a "clearly established" right.

Courts have said that police officers frequently must make split-second decisions on whether, for example, a suspect being pursued has a gun. For that reason, the courts sometimes shield officers from being sued for an "unreasonable seizure" if an officer shoots a fleeing person based on the mistaken belief that the suspect was armed.

The pending prison cases are quite different, lawyers for the families said, because prison officials decided to make the transfers without taking the precautions that were understood as needed at the time.

Sgt. Gilbert Polanco, the guard who died, was 55 years old and had worked at San Quentin for more than two decades. He had multiple health conditions, including obesity, diabetes and hypertension, which put him at high risk if he were to contract COVID-19.

His duties during the pandemic included driving sick inmates to local hospitals, but lawyers said prison officials refused to provide him or the inmates with personal protective equipment.

In late June 2020, he contracted COVID-19, and after a lengthy hospital stay, he died in August.

In Polanco's case, the lawsuit alleges he lost his life because of a "state-created danger."

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said prison officials had affirmatively exposed Polanco to a danger he would not have faced otherwise and failed to take steps to protect him from the danger they had created.

The Supreme Court in the past had also ruled that prisoners have a right to be protected against "the unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain," including as a result of "deliberate indifference to their serious medical needs." Lawyers for the San Quentin inmates said prison officials can be held liable under that standard.

California state attorneys urged the Supreme Court to review and reverse the 9th Circuit decisions that rejected a qualified immunity defense for the prison officials.

"The facts of these cases are undeniably tragic," they said. But in "the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, when little was known about the disease and testing supplies were limited, the defendant officials attempted to protect the lives of scores of vulnerable inmates who were confined in a prison where the virus was rampant."

With the benefit of hindsight, they agreed their actions may be judged as mistaken, but "no clearly established law placed them on notice that their alleged mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic at San Quentin prison was unconstitutional."

[scratchandplaster]

FEBUWHUMP DAY 21 - Lightning strike

CW: parental Whumper, conditioned Whumpee, hypnosis, betrayal

Previous | [Masterlist] | Next

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

The storm raging outside had been no surprise. Otis helped to upgrade the tents beforehand, so the aftermath would be predictable enough to not resow any doubts. In barely half a week, everyone who dared to saw Reuben's efforts to settle in as a smooth success.

His "other one" was still writhing aimlessly.

Nothing more than a few clicks and a hopeless fight against the sluggish Wi-Fi were necessary, after nearly two years in the dark, Shepard was awarded with the address of Luke's shelter. 427 Parkway Drive - the brick front was virtually smiling at him, a half turn away from the international house of pre-diabetes and Red 40. Birdie would get an aneurysm if she every caught her children in there.

A shy knock at the door, nearly inaudibly through the gusts of wind and its rumble, ripped Shepard from his thoughts. Ben slipped through and latched it tightly shut.

Perfect timing, as if appointed. The laptop screen was preventively closed down to a bright slit.

"Hey, Dad," he carefully draped his raincoat over a rack, "I brought the kids over, they are a bit restless." Over to their guardians, as it should be. Handling even two children felt like a Herculean task to Shepard, five would go beyond any reasonable cat herding.

"Well done, sweetheart." He grabbed a spare blanket from the couch to wrap around Ben's wet self. Little droplets fell from the short curls he hopefully planned to grow out again. All bundled up, Ben was pulled in closer for a hug: "We can have a sleepover too."

"Yeah, well, I'm not stepping out there again!" He, too, felt nervous about the storm and winced at every flash of lightning shining through the windows.

"Me neither," his dad huffed skeptically, "Let's hope this shed doesn't turn into a houseboat overnight!"

Nature continued to let its fury whip through the fields, twisting and turning every loose object to its pleasure. Cradling his son and arranging him so sit comfortably on his knees was Shepard's first priority, the second quickly followed suit.

"Do you know how lightning comes to be?" he spoke and let his voice offset the wild howling behind the glass, "Far up in the clouds, thousands and thousands of little raindrops grate against each other. Imagine the tension between them, the electric current jumping from every water bead to the other, over and over and over and over, never stopping, never resting. But the tension doesn't fade. It builds up by a tenfold, over and over and over, until it has no choice but to - release."

Exhaling deep on the last word, or rather command, Ben once again found himself relaxing. Any escape from the storm was welcome.

Shepard's restless scientific speech was finally interrupted by another harsh flash that pulled his son out of the comfort surrounding them. A loud boom quickly followed.

"What do you think, Ben: is it close above or already drifting further away from us? Check this for me, please."

Ben, trying his best to stay calm and secure, began to count the seconds between lighting and thunder. This skill had been a lot more important when they used to live in the old camper: just Shepard, Luke and he.

A flash.

"One...two...three-"

Thunder rumbled.

Waiting for the next one didn't take long. Shepard kept himself busy by warming his son's freezing hands with his own.

"One...two...three...four..."

Ben lulled his brain into mindlessness at his own free will, dragging himself up and down the states of consciousness without Shepard even needing to lift a finger. Every new thunderclap brought him back up, though the lingering relaxation continued to twist into itself with every new count-up.

"...sixteen...seventeen..." The tiny thoughts got swallowed halfway between his lips and ears as Ben sunk further into Shepard's embrace.

Another round, and then another. Just as nature above, Ben stared to let go of all tension that sparked up inside his gray matter.

"...twenty-two...twenty-three..." At last, the telltale soft voice, slack face and distant gaze surrounding his son made Shepard reach out for the laptop and interrupt the peaceful counting.

"Believe it or not, I found something really interesting. Be a gem and help me for a second, starshine."

Oh. Ben could always help his dad out, it was his special talent. He sat up straight, surely this hot new project was nothing more than a breed of zucchini he wanted to cultivate or a plan to cobble a different beehive blueprint together.

Shepard, cautious and at his limit, had to be play it safe. One mistake and Lukas would slip from his grasp once again; an unforgivable error.

"I need someone to greenlight the info I've collected."

Instantly, as Ben recognized the house on the screen, his expression turned from calm to startled. Brow furrowed in confusion, he began to twist uncomfortably out of the blanket, verifying everything Shepard had to know.

"Thank you, Reuben." His father's apologetic smile didn't help a bit. Ben was shocked, more at himself than the situation he was stuck in.

"I never-"

Thunder rolled through the fields, but Ben couldn't care less. Looking away in panic, he struggled to push the gentle presence in his mind away, to resist the urge to agree with every single of Dad's words. Shepard, for one, didn't appreciate the sudden antipathy. A hand sneaked to the small of Ben's neck.

He had to ignore the soothing gestures, for Luke's sake. Ben had kept his mouth shut, he knew that he did! He was so relieved that Shepard didn't even ask once, so how was this possible? 

Should he lie to his father? They both knew he was horrible at it.

"I-I don't understand!" A single finger under his chin made Ben's face turn around to witness his helplessness mirrored in honey-brown eyes. They were studying him intently.

"I don't want you to understand, Ben," Shepard said gently, only the murmur of rain withstanding his words, "I want you to follow."

The world was pulled out from under Ben like a rug.

An all too loved force spread through his body at rapid pace, forcing his pupils to blow wide. Like a deer in the headlights, only the shock let his last thought hang by a threat of resistance.

"Don't fight it, you're going to give yourself a headache again. Just listen and follow."

Eventually, Ben's heavy eyelids fluttered until they were simply too heavy to do so anymore. Weak against any command, he collapsed into his father, arms hanging numb at the sides.

Hours of persuasive assurance were now ingrained as absolute truth into the most delicate part of his mind, the one that wailed for fatherly attention. It listened without protest. In return, Shepard would always take care of it, finally making a pledge in earnest. 

There was lightning at the end of the valley.

This time, Shepard counted for his son, pressing his mind deeper into docility. Ben was safe, loved and a traitor; gone completely as he slipped down the shortcut which Shepard had whittled into the twirls of his cerebral cortex. 

The chances to twist away from him again were just as lost. The storm had moved on.

"Secrets will only eat you up, it's better to share them. I absolve you from my and Luke's complicated arguments. I swear I will never make you do something like this again," Shepard assured and carefully stroked along his son's back, allowing the fatigue to catch on, "It's an emergency, you surely agree. We need Luke, just as he needs us."

Acceptance popped up in his son's face: he was an open book you could rip newly written pages out of and blacken to your whim. Reuben would've never survived out there, nothing to be ashamed of.

Shepard warily carried him to the cot and turned the heater on high. Electricity was the office's main perk. One day, Ben's mind would explode because of all his contradictory feelings. For now, it was kept safe in capable hands.

Shepard needed to pack his essentials, yet before setting out he made sure no sting of guilt would bother Reuben in the morning.

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

Thanks for reading 🤍 [Febuwhump 2024 Masterlist]

@febuwhump

[musingsofanaroace]

Executive Dysfunction

Executive dysfunction disrupts your brain’s ability to manage thoughts, emotions, and actions. And as the name implies, it affects your executive functions, which consist of three main functions and three higher-level functions.

The main functions are working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibition control.

Working memory is a short-term cognitive memory that helps you complete the activities that you’re currently engaged in, such as having a conversation, performing a task, or mentally adding up two figures in your head. When there’s a dysfunction in working memory, you experience issues with your short-term memory. 

Here's an example:

Let's say that you're playing the bass and see something out of the corner of your eye. A fleck of red in the carpet. "What's that?" As you ponder what this object could be, you forget that you’re playing the bass. After staring at the object for a few seconds, you determine that it's a lego piece. And with the identification of this object, you suddenly remember that you should be playing the bass and not staring at a bit of plastic on the floor.

Cognitive flexibility is the ability to shift from one topic to the next or to adapt to constantly changing environments. If there’s a dysfunction in cognitive flexibility, you may struggle adapting to sudden changes and switching tasks. One term used in the autistic community is autistic inertia, which means that you have a hard time starting and stopping tasks. 

And according to the Cleveland Clinic, people who have issues with cognitive flexibility are rigid thinkers who struggle with creative problem-solving. They lack imagination and creativity. 

I don't entirely agree with this statement. Take me for example: Even though I struggle with cognitive flexibility, I definitely don't lack imagination. In fact, I'd say that I possess too much of it. It looms dark and ominous above me like a massive skyscraper reaching for the heavens. Ready to just devour me whole. (For context, I have megalophobia.)

Here’s an example:

You have to clean the living room but starting the task proves difficult. Your brain is still stuck on the article that you wrote for work. With tremendous effort, you begin the task. The first two minutes are a slog, and your brain just wants to go back to the article. But when your brain has finally accepted the fact that you’re cleaning, a switch goes on in your brain. It suddenly wants to clean for forever and a day. Stopping this task to switch to the next one proves nigh on impossible. But when you finally do, your brain protests most vociferously. “But I am cleaning, and cleaning is me. I am a cleaning machine!” 

Inhibition control manages thoughts, emotions, and actions. It consists of behavioral and interference control.

Behavioral control prevents you from doing what you shouldn’t do. If you have a dysfunction in behavioral control, you'll find it difficult to follow rules, stick to plans, or obey orders. 

Here's an example: 

You have diabetes, and you’ve already had your daily allowance of sugar for the day. You walk by a bakery and smell cookies. You know that you should run away from the bakery as far as your legs will carry you, but you don’t. Instead, you enter the bakery and purchase a cookie.

Interference control helps to focus your thoughts on things that need your attention and ignore those that don’t. If you have a dysfunction in interference control, you'll find it difficult to complete the most pressing tasks first.

Here's an example:

Let’s say you have a list of tasks that you need to complete for the day, and the most important one is writing a report for work. You know this, and your brain knows this, but despite both of you knowing this, do you get to the report first? No, you write an e-mail to your colleague, you check your social media accounts, you water your plant, you talk to your kitty. You complete all of the tasks on your list except the one that's most important: That report due by the end of the day!

The three higher-level functions are planning, reasoning, and problem-solving.

Planning helps you map out a series of actions to reach your goal. You have to do a before b to get result c. And with result c, you can finally do d. And with the completion of d, the goal is achieved. Sounds simple enough but not for someone with executive dysfunction.

First, you have to figure out what your final goal is. And then comes the struggle of figuring out how to break that goal into manageable chunks. This is especially challenging for bottom-up thinkers who need the details before they can see the overall picture. And once you finally have a plan in place, you may struggle with the actual execution of said plan.

A becomes d, and b becomes c. Combining c and d, you get t. But then someone asks to borrow your stapler, and you misplace t. Hoping that you don't need it, you take a w and make it a k. When you arrive at e, you give up and implement plan ñ. And amid all of this confusion, you’ll either stumble upon your goal or have a massive meltdown.

Here’s an example:

In school, I hated it when teachers asked me to hand in an outline before I wrote an essay. Here’s what I used to do. I would research the subject, write the body of the essay, summarize the information into an introduction and conclusion, and then write the outline. I never understood how anyone could do it any other way.

Reasoning builds upon stored knowledge to help you think critically. This enables you to think outside the box and to break down complex concepts into easy-to-understand tidbits. Many neurodevelopment people, especially those with ADHD, struggle with reasoning because of attention and impulse issues. 

Here’s an example:

Let's say the project manager tasks you with creating a presentation on their newest marketing strategy. They e-mail you a folder containing all of the pertinent information. All of the figures and charts and statistics and buzz words and motivational company slogans. Everything you'd need to create a phenomenal presentation, except it's missing one crucial document: a detailed list of instructions. You have no idea how to break up this massive concept (the company's new marketing strategy) into clear, concise talking points. This project seems overwhelming and massive on a global scale. And you're expected to have it done in three days? Impossible, it'll take weeks! Feeling a panic attack creeping upon you, you take a deep breath.

After taking a deep breath, you seek help. You ask your project manager for an outline to follow, you get input from a colleague, you find a closet to jump up and down in. You do all of the things that will help you complete the project on time. But you don't beat yourself up, for you know that breaking down large concepts isn't everyone's jam.

Problem-solving implements all of the functions discussed above. It applies what you know and how you think to help you overcome any and all obstacles that you may face. And given the fact that neurodivergent people struggle with all of the functions listed above, it’s a no brainer that they’d struggle with problem-solving as well.

Here's an example:

You’re taking a test that requires you to read each question thoroughly before providing an answer. You get distracted halfway through reading the question because the person next to you dropped their pencil. After you recover from the distraction, you don’t remember where you were, so you have to start from the beginning. After you read the question, you feel utterly flummoxed. For you, the question lacks clarity and specificity. But since this is a final exam, you can’t ask the proctor for clarification, so you just have to wing it and hope that you understood the question correctly. Halfway through answering the question, you lose your train of thought because you just remembered that you have to take the dog out when you get home. Writing a quick note on a scrap piece of paper, you continue answering the question. You no longer remember the point you had been making or even what the question was. You only know that you need to provide some kind of answer, or you’ll never finish the exam on time.

Before I wrap up this post, there's one last term I'd like to cover: time blindness.

Time blindness is the inability to process the passage of time. You find it difficult to gage how long an activity will take or to remember how long it took in the past.

Instead of giving an example, I'm going to recommend two videos instead.

"adhd: just stop being disabled, i guess?" - stillnotcorry

"The Science of ADHD Time Blindness" - SciGuys

Well, that's all I have for today. Until next time, take care and stay curious.

Source: 

Cleveland Clinic

[iatrophilosophos]

Socialized medicine in the US is a partial solution to the myriad of problems with western medicine at best.

Western medicine is theoretically speaking the application of the scientific method to the human body, right? So it seeks to isolate "variables" in the name of "objectivity". Another word for variables here is context. And you just can't in a real way separate context from an individual's state of health; something medical professionals are VERY MUCH AWARE OF (see: shit life syndrome for one example) that exists in tension with both the current regiment of distributing healthcare and with the foundational mythos of western medical knowledge formation.

Western medicine is also beholden to the rest of the world. In places in the US where medicaid is actually relatively accessible, for example, you still have shit like racism and sexism and transphobia and ableism impacting care people get. And I understand that like, when people talk about their ideal socialist utopia, there's mechanisms in place that deal with social oppression; but I want you to think about just how big a project uniform care actually existing would be.

So in our current world, another obstacle to Making Medicine That Works is legality, especially re: the drug war. Very useful, known, well-studied substances have documented properties making them extremely useful or potentially useful for a variety of medical treatments (examples: THC for everything from gut stuff to emotional support; LSD for crohns and potentially diabetes; good old opiates and opiate-related-chemicals for chronic pain, some cases of depression and a subset of the experiences often diagnosed as schizophrenia and/or ADHD): but prohibition prevents application or further study (even for chemicals like THC that are legal in some states, if any program that receives federal funding is involved, can't use it! Fun right?). But sure, we can waive that one aside to and say that universal healthcare will also mean a total end to prohibition. That'd be cool!

So now that we've magicked away these problems, we have uniformly available healthcare that's getting better every day because all the social, legal and financial limits on medical exploration have been taken away. What do we have?

Well aside from a system that's gonna die with the rest of industry any time from next year to a few decades from now, still heavily dependent on plastics and factories and worldwide shipping and coerced labor in other countries, we still have a hierarchical structure where prescriptive knowledge is generated by centralized institutions who's abilities and members are dictated by governmental legislation and that inherently cannot see or account for the context of various people's bodies and lives and thus still limits the ability of disabled and mad people to explore/access unapproved/not-yet-approved treatments. But no, we can magic this one away too, obviously in the ideal socialized healthcare, everyone's needs will be accounted for so we'll have decentralized community medical exploration! And we'll use existing holistic healthcare tools and make more to account for individual people's context! And nobody will be subjected to coerced labor or nonconsensual treatment! And we'll find ways of creating medicine that are locally feasible, don't require global industry, and are resilient against climate collapse!

...so we no longer have contemporary western medicine (or civ, for that matter). Cheers!

But wait! There's more! You can live in this brave new world RIGHT NOW! what do you do with ur time, huh? You play video games? I bet you've put a lot of time and effort and skill-building and resource accumulation into it! Maybe you're poor as shit like me and have figured out emulators and pirating or talk to other people who share your interests about how to access them or you're into indie games! That is cool and meaningful! Maybe you like music! Maybe you like fiction! I bet you know a lot of lore/specifics/techniques/etc related to SOMETHING! maybe it's birds! Idk you but I am absolutely positive that there is SOMETHING you know a lot about that you have figured out how to know in a way that's accessible to you and applicable to your life. Maybe it felt easy, maybe it was really hard, maybe you did it because you want to, maybe you did it because you had to, maybe it's a really big topic, maybe it's a small one, maybe you can think of it right this second and maybe you'd have to ask some friends to point it out to you. Whatever it is, whoever you are, YOU HAVE BUILT A KNOWLEDGE SET AND YOU CAN BUILD ANOTHER ONE! You can start learning about the medicine that is applicable to your life right now. Go read the Wikipedia page for some medications you have around! Or for some ingredient in a food nearby you don't know what is! Or one you do know what is! Figure out a question about it! Google that question! Keep googling! Read some studies that come up and then search all the words you don't know and keep looking until you understand them! Look at you you're doing it! Keep going! This is how it starts!

Medicine exists in the same world we do and we can take it for ourselves and make it better!

[rjzimmerman]

High toxin levels are illegal in public water. But not for Americans using private wells. (Washington Post)

Excerpt from this Washington Post story:

On a Tuesday morning in May 2021, during a brief period when Cathy Cochrane’s chemotherapy sessions had paused, her hair was beginning to grow back and the intense pain from the treatments was subsiding, she nervously logged into a Cowlitz County commissioner meeting to testify about what she believed had caused her ovarian cancer and her fears that others were in danger too.

“The first thing you want to know when you hear the news is ‘why? Why me?’” she told the commissioners of her April 2019 diagnosis. “But worse than not knowing why, is finding out why and knowing it could have been prevented.”

The previous November, Cochrane discovered that the water she had been drinking for nearly a decade contained 638 parts per billion of arsenic, a toxin that can cause cancer and increase the risk of diabetes and heart disease.

The maximum allowable level of arsenic in water for public utilities is 10 parts per billion — or 10 micrograms of arsenic per liter of water— meaning their water had nearly 64 times what would be legal in public drinking water, though no amount of arsenic is considered safe. But Cochrane, 66, and her husband, John Brugman, 70,do not get drinking water from their municipality.

Instead, like over an estimated 43 million Americans, the water that comes out of their taps is drawn from a private well. In their case, it’s a 405-foot-deep shaft dug feet away from their rural home, situated in a small clearing surrounded by forest,that pulls from a natural aquifer deep underground.

They had never tested their water for arsenic; it wasn’t required during the well’s construction or at any point after, and they said they were not aware that arsenic occurred naturally in the area. Though public water utilities have to test for arsenic and follow strict federal standards for the toxin, private wells face no federal regulations, complicating efforts to ensure all Americans have reliable access to safe drinking water. Like in many communities, there were no requirements here at the state or county level either.

The EPA regulates the amount of toxins allowed in public drinking water to keep people safe, establishing the maximum levels for dozens of contaminants, requiring utilities to conduct regular testing and imposing consequences on those that break the law by failing to remove toxins.

But the agency doesn’t regulate the drinking water of the more than 1 in 10 people who get their water from their own private wells.

In lieu of any national laws, some states and municipalities across the country have issued their own regulations. A February study from the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology found 23 states have adopted requirements for water quality testing of private wells. But those requirements vary widely in scope, and only 10 states have laws that require notifying well owners about a potential contamination, the study found.

Though the proportion of people using private wells has declined, the number of wells has increased overall with the growth of the general population — and the levels and pervasiveness of some contaminants in those wells are increasing, studies show.

Some studies have found that they have become more contaminated as a result of climate change and the expanding use of chemicals in agriculture that pollute natural water sources.

[blogging1202]

Java Burn Ingredients

When examining Java Burn's formula, each ingredient is chosen because of its proven health benefits and its potential to help with weight management. This part of the review looks closely at the main components.

1

L-Theanine

This natural amino acid, known as L-theanine, is present in mushrooms and tea. It has the ability to create a sensation of fullness, aiding in weight loss efforts. Research studies have indicated that regular intake of L-theanine supplements can lead to improvements in attention, focus, sleep quality, mood, and relaxation levels.

2

L-Carnitine

This ingredient, known as L-Carnitine, is an FDA-approved drug that assists in weight loss, promotes heart and brain health, and enhances overall well-being. Additionally, L-Carnitine provides various other health benefits, including regulating blood glucose and sugar levels, enhancing insulin sensitivity, reducing oxidative stress and inflammation. It can also help alleviate symptoms of insomnia, nervousness, muscle fatigue, and thyroid issues.

3

Chromium

This essential trace mineral, chromium, plays a crucial role in the body by enhancing lipid metabolism, as well as processing and synthesizing proteins and carbohydrates. It also improves insulin sensitivity. Numerous studies have demonstrated that supplements containing chromium can assist individuals in managing type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance. As highlighted in the SDGLN Java Burn review guide, chromium works naturally in the body to reduce body weight by breaking down fat.

4

EGCG

Epigallocatechin gallate, known as EGCG, is a plant-based compound that reduces inflammation, supports weight loss, and fights chronic diseases. Studies indicate that epigallocatechin gallate protects you from cell damage and oxidative stress. It even helps increase metabolic function and lower the risk of heart disease.

5

Chlorogenic Acid

Chlorogenic acid is rich in anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, anti-carcinogenic, and anti-obesity properties. It even supports preventing and fighting chronic diseases. Many studies on chlorogenic acid have shown that it helps lower glucose and insulin spikes right after food intake which results in a healthy way of losing weight. With the right amount of chlorogenic acid, you can lose more weight because it helps your body absorb less sugar.

6

Caffeine

Caffeine has been proven to boost the metabolic rate, making weight loss more achievable. Research indicates that caffeine has the potential to elevate the resting metabolic rate (RMR), which is the rate at which the body burns calories while at rest. A study published in the National Library of Medicine demonstrated that caffeine consumption increases fat burning in obese individuals. Additionally, caffeine aids in regulating blood sugar levels, enhancing brain function, improving memory, and potentially combating Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.

[camillasgirl]

Queen Camilla’s Patronages

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) (President from 12.06.2012)

JDRF is the leading global organization funding type 1 diabetes (T1D) research. Our strength lies in our exclusive focus and singular influence on the worldwide effort to end T1D. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that strikes both children and adults suddenly. It has nothing to do with diet or lifestyle. There is nothing you can do to prevent it. And, at present, there is no cure in T1D, your pancreas stops producing insulin—a hormone the body needs to get energy from food. This means a process your body does naturally and automatically becomes something that now requires your daily attention and manual intervention. If you have T1D, you must constantly monitor your blood-sugar level, inject or infuse insulin through a pump, and carefully balance these insulin doses with your eating and activity throughout the day and night.However, insulin is not a cure for diabetes. Even with the most vigilant disease management, a significant portion of your day will be spent with either high or low blood-sugar levels. These fluctuations place people with T1D at risk for potentially life-threatening hypoglycemic and hyperglycemic episodes as well as devastating long-term complications such as kidney failure, heart attack, stroke, blindness and amputation.

[theorgantrail]

Brian David Gilbert's "cursory and most likely useless guide to American health insurance terminology" is anything but useless, and I highly encourage giving it a watch or a listen. He makes several important points throughout while breaking industry jargon into more digestible layman's terms.

Below are comments on points I would like to echo or add to:

▻ BDG points out that the exorbitant cost of insurance premiums often puts people in a position of "betting on their health" by signing up for plans with lower premiums but higher out of pocket costs, hoping they will not need anything other than preventative care in a given year (5:34). I think this illustrates one of the flaws of privatized health insurance - this risk and cost is weighed on an individual level. I will discuss the cost of healthcare in another post.

▻ When he explains coinsurance, he states that a lower percentage is better because it is the portion that you pay, and that 100% coinsurance is a "dirty trick" (8:24). In my experience, insurance plans sometimes have the percent that the insurance covers written, while other plans are written the way BDG explains it. When evaluating insurance options or trying to understand the benefits you already have, this is important to check, as one document's 80% might be a better benefit than another document's 30%.

▻ In my prior career, I worked extensively with "tiered networks", also known as "narrow networks", and was glad to see BDG bring this trend up in the segment that starts at 14:41. These network structures are typically implemented a cost-saving measure. Sometimes, and ideally, they are supported by a close relationship between insurer and healthcare provider, that can facilitate community health initiatives. Patients are incentivized with a higher amount paid by insurance if they see certain providers, allowing them to afford to see the doctor more often. More people going to the doctor more regularly for low cost preventative care, such as diabetes management, saves the insurer from more expensive care, such as ER visits. The benefits to providers vary more, but can include better health outcomes and a smoother payment process. However, the insurance industry is far from ideal, and some tiered networks might save insurers money but ultimately cause more issues for patients and providers than they solve. The ugly truth is that some of the 'cost saving' comes from denying or paying less for claims from non-'tier one' providers - which just pushes the cost onto patients or their providers.

▻ "Almost every single thing about health insurance has been obfuscated" (25:48) and this hurts everyone except the insurance industry. I saw this first hand when I started working in a call center at 18, a job for which phase one of training took a month just to cover the basics about one type of insurance. No one should have to spend that amount of time just to scratch the surface on a system that can quite literally become life & death.

In the conclusion, BDG laments that he can't "dismantle the whole private health insurance system" in a video, and we are no better situated to accomplish that with this blog. But the effort to bring clarity matters, and so does the call for change. We may not have lobbying money like Blue Cross Blue Shield, but we have voices and can make them heard.

[presidentlestat]

i understand that health and taking care of yourself is so important but i always think about something my diabetic nutritionist said to me when i was going through some rough stuff with my health and i said to her “if i do better and keep putting in the effort i prevent this from getting worse/nothing else bad happening to me” and she said “yes but also you could do everything right, drive yourself insane and still develop health issues. you need to enjoy your life.” and i know that probably sounds depressing to some and it did to me at the time but it’s actually one of the kindest things anyone has ever said to me

[fitnessnirvana]

WHAT ARE THE HEALTH BENEFITS OF EXERCISE?

The majority of individuals are aware that regular exercise is beneficial to their health, but less is known about the specifics.

Some individuals just use exercise to improve their physical appearance, which can sap their desire and consistency. While having aesthetic objectives is OK, taking a more comprehensive approach to fitness might help you stay motivated to be active and enjoy the health benefits of regular exercise. 

The NHS advises adults to be active every day and strive for at least 150 minutes of physical exercise each week through various activities to keep healthy. But any kind of exercise, even ten minutes a day, will help you feel better, so start small and increase your physical activity wherever you can.

What are the health benefits of exercise?

Here are just a few of the many incredible benefits from living an active lifestyle:

Improved heart and circulatory health:

There are several ways that regular exercise might lower your risk of heart and circulation disorders.

It accomplishes this, among other things, by enhancing the muscles' capacity to get oxygen from the blood more efficiently. This lowers blood pressure since your heart needs less effort to circulate blood around the body swiftly. Moreover, you can prevent heart attacks and conditions like high cholesterol, coronary artery disease, and heart attacks by strengthening your heart and enhancing your circulation. Improved insulin resistance from exercise can aid in the reversal of type 2 diabetes.

2. Stronger muscles, bones, and joints:

Exercise strengthens all of the tissues in your body, something you may already be aware of given that it can help you develop bigger, stronger muscles. Frequent exercise creates strong, flexible muscles, increases bone density, and improves joint function and range of motion—all of which help to prevent injury as we age.

3. Weight control:

Although BMI and weight aren't the only factors that determine health, most people are at their healthiest when they have a healthy balance of muscle and fat. Studies reveal that being underweight can result in problems like osteoporosis, infertility, malnutrition, and a weakened immune system, while obesity can raise the risk of many diseases, including heart disease and osteoarthritis, as well as other physical impairments like joint discomfort.

In addition to improving your diet, exercise can help you control your weight and achieve a more muscular or fat-free body composition.

4. Better mood and stress management:

One excellent strategy for enhancing mental health is exercise. Exercise causes the body to create endorphins, sometimes known as happy hormones, which are molecules that improve mood. Exercise also releases endorphins, which the body naturally releases in reaction to stress or pain to help reduce these symptoms and elevate mood. For this reason, exercise is an excellent coping mechanism for stress or low mood.

5. Increased energy:

Your energy levels can be raised by exercise in the short and long term. Energy levels can benefit immediately after exercise since exercise causes the body to release endorphins and enhances the passage of oxygen and nutrients to the muscles and brain. Over time, physical activity contributes to the production of more energy by the body and increases endurance, which reduces exhaustion from daily duties.

6. Better brain function:

Exercise has been linked to improved brain function, learning, and memory in numerous scientific research on the subject of cognition and exercise. This can happen both directly and indirectly. Directly, it can happen when the brain receives more oxygen and when a hormone called irisin is released, which affects the area of the brain that regulates learning. Anytime you find it difficult to focus or process information, a quick workout will help!

7. A better night's sleep:

Having trouble falling asleep? You can treat insomnia and increase both the quantity and quality of your sleep with exercise. Consistently receiving enough sleep has countless advantages, such as increased energy, enhanced focus, better hormone balance between appetite and fullness, decreased inflammation, and enhanced immune system performance. Improving your sleep can have a significant impact on your daily mood, even in the absence of exercise's other health advantages!

8. Staying sociable:

Yes, there are health benefits to being sociable! Research indicates that social isolation and loneliness are associated with increased risks of several mental and physical health issues, including depression, hypertension, and heart disease, especially as we age.

Maintaining your physical fitness is a great method to improve your social life in addition to your physical health. There will be a vibrant fitness community you can join, regardless of your interests in running, circuit training, hiking, cycling, or hitting your personal best on the squat rack. Joining a running club or wellness group can help people meet lifelong friends, and fitness courses are a fantastic place to start. Exercise groups can be a great way to make new friends, meet people in a new place, or just widen your current circle of acquaintances if you're feeling lonely.

These are only a handful of the many amazing health advantages of regular exercise; other advantages include a lower chance of cancer, more flexibility and mobility, better sex life, and a longer life span.