#gastric stimulator

[rosesandthorns44]

Idk if my sensitivity to adhesive is transient, depending on how cranky my mast cells are, or if it is just very specific adhesives that do it.

I had surgery to swap out the battery on my gastric stimulator implant.

The steristrips that I'm supposed to leave on my surgical incision are causing little blistery sores at the ends of the strips. Had to message my surgeon's office and ask if I can take these fuckers off. My surgery was almost a week ago, so I feel like it should be okay to take them off???

PSA to other EDS peeps that our skin is prone to reactions to adhesive. Bandages are not supposed to be THAT itchy!

[yaminahsaini]

Mercredi 12 juin 2024: Aujourd’hui j’ai toujours des douleurs au ventre mais heureusement que ça n’était pas aussi intense qu’hier, ça restait supportable. Par contre je me sens toujours affaiblie et j’ai une autre douleur au ventre: au pacemaker gastrique.. Ça tire énormément et parfois c’est très intense.. J’avais dû mal à bouger.. Je pense que c’est peut être les contractions des douleurs qui ont dû faire très légèrement bouger le boîtier et faire ça.. car ce n’est pas la première fois que ça arrive et à l’hôpital on m’avait dit qu’il suffit qu’il bouge d’un centimètre pour en ressentir des douleurs. Quoiqu’il en soit en soit j’espère que ça s’arrangera très vite.. Hier je n’ai rien mangé et je ne me suis pas branchée à la nutrition car j’avais beaucoup trop mal donc ça n’aurait fait qu’aggraver les choses.. J’avais si faim mais je m’étais au moins branchée à de l’eau pour rester hydratée. Aujourd’hui je me suis évidemment branchée et jusque là ça n’aggrave pas les choses!

[cannabiscomrade]

Able-bodied people (and sometimes disabled/chronically ill people with mild/in remission disease progression) operate under the assumption that medical devices are life(style) limiting and that by using one, you are giving up an able part of yourself.

Medical devices are not life limiting, they are life saving.

Feeding tubes + pumps, piccs, ports, catheters, ostomy bags, cardiac and gastric pacemakers, drains, mobility devices, nebulizers, CGMs, insulin pumps, pain pumps, nerve stimulators, implants, internal defibrillators, etc etc all extend the freedom and life of the user by allowing us to live comfortably with our condition(s).

The assertion that we are limiting ourselves by using medical technology is so prevalent, even in disease-specific communities. There are people in my gastroparesis support groups that are actively starving because they are refusing intervention at this moment, and it's all a byproduct of this mindset that I've touched on before that mental willpower is greater than the progress of chronic illness/disability. And in this case- it's perpetuated by many medical professionals as well. No amount of "eating smaller, more frequent meals" will flip a switch and un-paralyze my stomach, Dr. ER. Hospitalist.

[scientia-rex]

Because my most popular post is about weight loss and how it's a crock, I get a lot of questions about various things, including bariatric surgery--just posted the link to the post I did about that--but also Ozempic/Wegovy, the once-weekly injectable semaglutide medication that was developed for diabetes but was found to have independent benefits on weight loss.

I always said that weight loss was like Viagra: when a medication came along that actually worked, it would explode. We'd all hear about it. Fen-phen in the 90s worked, but it was bad for your heart. Stimulants, like meth, may cause weight loss, but they do it at the cost of heart health, and raise your likelihood of dying young. Over the counter weight loss supplements often contain illegal and unlisted thyroid hormone, which is also dangerous for the heart if taken in the absence of a real deficiency. Orlistat, or "Alli," works the same way as the Olestra chips Lays made in the 1990s--it shuts off your ability to digest fats, and the problem with that is that fats irritate the gut, so then you end up with fatty diarrhea and probably sharts. Plus Alli only leads to 8-10lbs of weight loss in the best case scenario, and most people are not willing to endure sharts for the sake of 8lbs.

And then came the GLP-1 agonists. GLP stands for glucagon-like peptide. Your body uses insulin to make cells uptake sugar. You can't just have free-floating sugar and use it, it has to go into the cells to be used. So if your body sucks at moving sugar into the cells, you end up with a bunch of glucose hanging out in places where it shouldn't be, depositing on small vessels, damaging nerves and your retinas and kidneys and everywhere else that has a whole lot of sensitive small blood vessels, like your brain.

Glucagon makes your liver break down stored sugars and release them. You can think of it as part of insulin's supporting cast. If your body needs sugar and you aren't eating it, you aren't going to die of hypoglycemia, unless you've got some rare genetic conditions--your liver is going to go, whoops, here you go! and cough it up.

But glucagon-like peptide doesn't act quite the same way. What glucagon-like peptide does is actually stimulating your body to release insulin. It inhibits glucagon secretion. It says, we're okay, we're full, we just ate, we don't need more glucagon right now.

This has been enough for many people to both improve blood sugar and cause weight loss. Some patients find they think about food less, which can be a blessing if you have an abnormally active hunger drive, or if you have or had an eating disorder.

However, every patient I've started on semaglutide in any form (Ozempic, Wegovy, or Rybelsus) has had nausea to start with, probably because it slows the rate of stomach emptying. And that nausea sometimes improves, and sometimes it doesn't. There's some reports out now of possible gastroparesis associated with it, which is where the stomach just stops contracting in a way that lets it empty normally into the small intestine. That may not sound like a big deal, but it's a lifelong ticket to abdominal pain and nausea and vomiting, and we are not good at treating it. We're talking Reglan, a sedating anti-nausea but pro-motility agent, which makes many of my patients too sleepy to function, or a gastric pacemaker, which is a relatively new surgery. You can also try a macrolide antibiotic, like erythromycin, but I have had almost no success in getting insurance to cover those and also they have their own significant side effects.

Rapid weight loss from any cause, whether illness, medication, or surgery, comes with problems. Your skin is not able to contract quickly. It probably will, over long periods of time, but "Ozempic face" and "Ozempic butt" are not what people who want to lose weight are looking for. Your vision of your ideal body does not include loose, excess skin.

The data are also pretty clear that you can't "kick start" weight loss with Ozempic and then maintain it with behavioral mechanisms. If you want to maintain the weight loss, you need to stay on the medication. A dose that is high enough to cause weight loss is significantly higher than the minimum dose where we see improvements in blood sugar, and with a higher dose comes higher risk of side effects.

I would wait on semaglutide. I would wait because it's been out for a couple of years now but with the current explosion in popularity we're going to see more nuanced data on side effects emerging. When you go from Phase III human trials to actual use in the world, you get thousands or millions more data points, and rare side effects that weren't seen in the small human trials become apparent. It's why I always say my favorite things for a drug to be are old, safe, and cheap.

I also suspect the oral form, Rybelsus, is going to get more popular and be refined in some way. It's currently prohibitively expensive--all of these are; we're talking 1200 or so bucks a month before insurance, and insurance coverage varies widely. I have patients who pay anything from zero to thirty to three hundred bucks a month for injectable semaglutide. I don't think I currently have anyone whose insurance covers Rybelsus who could also tolerate the nausea. My panel right now is about a thousand patients.

There are also other GLP-1 agonists. Victoza, a twice-daily injection, and Trulicity, and anything else that ends in "-aglutide". But those aren't as popular, despite being cheaper, and they aren't specifically approved for weight loss.

Mounjaro is a newer one, tirzepatide, that acts on two receptors rather than one. In addition to stimulating GLP-1 receptors, it also stimulates glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) receptors. It may work better; I'm not sure whether that's going to come with a concomitantly increased risk of side effects. It's still only approved for diabetes treatment, but I suspect that will change soon and I suspect we'll see a lot of cross-over in terms of using it to treat obesity.

I don't think these medications are going away. I also don't think they're right for everyone. They can reactivate medullary thyroid carcinoma; they can fuck up digestion; they may lead to decreased quality of life. So while there may be people who do well with them, it is okay if those people are not you. You do not owe being thin to anyone. You most certainly do not owe being thin to the extent that you should risk your health for it. Being thin makes navigating a deeply fat-hating world easier, in many ways, so I never blame anyone for wanting to be thin; I just want to emphasize that it is okay if you stay fat forever.

[ginnysgraffiti]

i've received this ff request but since tumblr deleted it i wasn't able to answer directly to the person who sent it :,)

anyway, here's the ff!

needy y/n, overstimulation, hand-relief, self-stimulation, paul's dirty vision, 18+

&. PAUL ATREIDES x yn.

technically speaking you and paul were engaged.

it was he who declared himself, on the highest dune that could be glimpsed from your fremen camp.

that day the air was pleasant and the sand hardly rose.

you were immersed in a light conversation, which ended with paul meticulously explaining to you how his life was on caladan, his home planet.

life there sounded perfect the way the words slipped out of his perfect lips lightly coated with a few grains of melange spice.

you asked aloud what the sea was like, or rather, what it was.

on arrakis water was way more precious than spice, to stilgar and your people, and you couldn't imagine having an expanse of water (even salty) before your eyes.

paul noticed your incredulous expression and the way you raised your eyebrows and soft giggle left his lips.

looking at you again, he promised that he would take you to bathe in the sea, when political and war affairs would be over and he would finally bring the 'green paradise' written in the prophecy.

however, it wasn't the most romantic and exciting proposal that tickled his mind that day, even if it moved you anyway, because paul...well, he proposed more intimate things than a swim in the sea that evening.

that night you lost your virginity, and even though you were sure it was the same for him too, you didn't ask.

from the memory of that evening, bathed in your liquids and covered in sweet spice, paul's body never left your mind.

never.

in fact it was real torture when stilgar kept him for training or jessica took him out of your sight to talk about family or personal things.

one way or another, you and paul never had another chance to get back as close as the first evening, and it burned your gastric juices.

his mind was like war-set, and you didn't know if he could have time to satisfy your needs.

that evening you could still hear paul handling with his cryss, outside, probably with his skin shiny with sweat and his curls stuck to his forehead.

you coul hear his fighting movements, his labored breathing, and your mind could even see his hands shaking with adrenaline and his veins pumping.

that dirty thought got you soaked without even noticing.

now it was your breathing that stopped, and the only thing you wanted was for paul to enter the tent and touch you as only he did, and as only he had stopped (due to commitments) from doing...

the knot in the intestine wouldn't go away and the temperature seemed like a thermometer about to explode...

maybe you had a fever, maybe it was the effect it had on you.

he had on you.

you tried to make time fly by as much as possible, waiting for paul to get back to the tent, even though he would be too tired for any unhealthy plan you might have running through your gut.

your hands started to shake and a wave of tingles sucked you in

you felt the heat of your skin, even more accentuated by the fact that paul could return at any moment; a fire so hot that it only excited you terribly.

an unhealthy idea, in fact, took place in your mind and your hands began to move and travel across your body.

your breathing started to get heavy at the idea that paul could touch you like that. because you knew he could.

yes.

you dragged your own hands over your skin, starting with your neck and then in circular motions over your breasts before lingering on your belly.

the rhythm of your fingers becomes irregular and with the other hand you started making circular movements on the clitoris, now nothing but moans and incoherent words come out of your mouth.

you wanted paul.

your body felt the keen need to be touched by him, only by him.

you tried to push your fingers a little further in but you felt too close that you couldn't hide the desire to come thinking about how he would touch you.

you tried to regain some sanity when two strong hands pinned you even tighter against the carpet of the tent.

"were you practicing without me?"

his voice was incredibly hoarse and forced, perhaps due to training.

you couldn't tell if there was a smile or a threatening expression on his lips, by now your mouth was open, your head tilted back slightly and your fingers still down there.

you gave him a quick glance.

you were shocked, terrified and mesmerized.

those warm words wrapped in the smell of sweat, spice and vanilla from him made you tremble from head to toe...

a small laugh hit your ears, making you jump, and paul's hands grazed your arms, your hips, your chest, your breasts.

"really? touching yourself in the tent? without me? man, you must be so soaked..."

now his gaze was locked on your fingers still there.

fuck.

he moved the blanket and gently took them, putting them in his mouth and tasting your juices.

you moaned at his gesture, trying to look away but you were already too sensitive that you threw your head back again.

paul's lips passed over the tense skin of your neck, traveling along the jugular that was pumping like a madman, before stopping on your ear and blowing on it.

"why don't we get this done, hm? it would be a waste...and i need you, y/n" he hinted at an amused grin.

you could hear he was deadly needy.

you loved it.

"god y/n...i beg you, touch yourself again."

this was really unexpected from paul.

your eyes widened, but his intentions were real.

you then adjusted your position and you could feel the grin return to his face as your movements resumed slow, in and out, but now they were picking up the pace faster as at the sight of your boyfriend the excitement only accelerated in you.

you moaned his name, helpless to do anything else.

you pushed two fingers inside again, you couldn't take it anymore...

you needed him.

now.

“hell the sounds you make…are you close, y/n?”

you nodded slightly and he grinned proudly.

he got even closer and your heartbeat accelerated dramatically.

you had a machine gun instead of a heart.

hopelessly you instinctively clung to his shoulders, to his muscular neck, as his hands ran up your thighs.

his deep eyes stared at you and instead of being intimidated you felt hypnotized.

two fingers slipped inside your mouth, inviting it to open.

and you, victim of his beauty, did it.

he brushed his lips against your neck, sucking on the sensitive skin, marking it with possession.

your knees shook and a burning heat exploded between your thighs that you had to grip onto his shoulders again.

paul had already taken off your clothes.

you suddenly found yourself completely naked.

he slipped a thigh between your legs and pressed his knee against your most sensitive spot.

damn...

you closed your eyes and pressed your lips together to suppress a moan, maybe an orgasm.

you felt giddy, excited and hungry.

so much so that, against all shame, you began to follow those movements.

you wiggled your hips, grinding against her muscular leg.

he increased the intensity to let you feel him even more.

"you like it like that, don't you?" he asked, his voice hoarse with desire for him.

his kisses became more merciless and wild and his tongue melted against yours.

he then let one hand slide down.

he smiled at you, then kissed you softly.

paul continued to act skillfully but very slowly and, moving to the clit, he rubbed it with his index finger, then squeezed it tightly with his thumb.

that damn expert touch made you delirious.

he immediately withdrew his finger, however, giving you a jolt of indescribable pleasure and you let out a cry.

he stuck his finger in again, briefly.

he caressed your entire calf and then moved up your leg and ended up on your inner thigh.

"i want to kiss you here."

you froze at his words, but nodded.

something about the roughness he was practicing and the sweet permission that escaped his lips made you love him even more.

he leaned in and gently placed his lips on it.

with his wet tongue he licked on your clit, while his thin and veiny hands held your waist tightly.

"i feel you so tight..." he murmured.

he licked some more and his blue but not totally fremen eyes darkened feeling your sensitive spot twitch.

"were you like this even when you touched yourself for me?"

you tensed.

"relax baby...enjoy the moment, hm?"

he pushed his finger deeper but his words made you trust him and you tilted your head back, making your pupils roll as your hands ran through his hair to release the accumulated tension.

you pulled them even tighter, trying to tell him something you couldn't with words.

"say it" as if he almost read your mind, he ordered in the fremen language, and you almost actually came...

he turned you on like hell when he spoke in the same language as yours.

you looked at him biting your lips and your gaze fell on his mouth swollen and purple from his kisses.

his breaths are panting and fast, like yours.

then when he placed a small and delicate kiss on your belly you finally melted.

"do it, paul."

as soon as you felt his hot tongue inside you, his whole tent began to turn, move, distort above my eyes.

you pushed your hips against his mouth.

he didn't stop, in fact, he continued to lick you.

you were shaking and panting against the fabric of the carpet.

when you finally felt you were close again the mix of sensations was too powerful...

you were distraught, sweaty and hot.

"do you really think we're done? i still have to make up for all the last nights, baby."

[tiredwitchplant]

Everything You Need to Know About Herbs : Ginger (root)

Ginger (Zingiber officinale)

*Kitchen Herb *Medical Herb *Masculine

Folks Names: African Ginger, Sheng Jian, Singabera

Planet: Mars

Element: Fire

Deities: Hecate, Ameretat, Artemis

Abilities: Love, Money. Success, Power, Safety

Characteristics: A perennial plant growing to 2 ft with lance-shaped leaves and spikes of white or yellow flowers. Is native to Asia and is grown throughout the tropics. Ginger prefers fertile soil and plenty of rain.

History: Wild or cultivated, ginger root is an ideal herb to add to rituals and spells because it acts like a booster for the power involved. Apart from its use as a spice and as a base for alcoholic liquors of one kind or another, ginger has for a very long time enjoyed a reputation for medicinal use, from the prescription of Arabian and Persian doctors for impotence, to its still popular reputation as a stomach settler, and this use dates from the earliest records. Ginger tea, even ginger biscuits, help to combat travel sickness, or morning sickness and nausea generally. It was used for asthma in Russian folk medicine. The recipe given is a pound of ginger grated, put in a quart bottle, which was filled with alcohol. This was kept warm for two weeks, shaken occasionally, until the infusion was the color of weak tea. This was strained, and the sediment allowed to settle. Then the liquid was poured into another bottle, and the infusion taken twice a day.

How to Grow:

Easy to Grow: Yes

Rating: Beginner Friendly

Seeds Accessible: Sort of but root is

How to Grow Ginger (article)

How to Grow from Seeds

How to Grow from Store Bought

Where to Buy Seeds

Magical Properties:

Can boost the power of spells and rituals with its own heat like energy when consumed beforehand

Used to jump-start love, stimulate finances, and increase potential success in anything

In an elixir, the root acts as an energizing tonic and brings strength, courage, and health

Putting ginger in your pillow can create a better night’s sleep

Can give protection during childbirth

Whole ginger roots planted and grown can attract money, along with sprinkling powdered ginger into one’s pocket

Dobu islanders with chew and spit ginger at the “seat” of an illness to cure it and to halt oncoming storms

To promote lust, sprinkle ginger around your home

Medical Usage:

Speeds up the rate of gastric emptying and aids the absorption of nutrients from the digestive tract, which helps treat anemia

Relieves nausea and vomiting, especially with morning sickness

Reduces muscle pain after exercise and is effective against menstrual pain

Excellent remedy for indigestion, nausea, gas, bloating, cramps and other digestive complaints

Stimulates circulation and helps with the flow of blood to the surface

Remedy for coughs, colds, flu and other respiratory problems

Stimulates sweating and helps to cool and control fevers

Sources

[millerflintstone]

View from my desk. The couch I would work from is no more. I still have not set up my monitors.

Miss Ma'am is a messy eater, as you can see. She has been eating without the appetite stimulant. I haven't been using the automatic feeder since she got sick because she's been so finicky about what kibble she wants. The past 2 days she's only wanted her Royal Canin Renal kibble, which is good and her normal diet. I have the ER gastric kibble and an alternative which was the only thing she'd eat last month.

[oddman-the-oldman]

The Yellowjackets have taken over the pitcher plants during the past few weeks. Some of the pitchers are showing signs of being over feed.

As I was sitting and watching the configuration, meditating on my portable gardening bench, I noticed that my fly traps were getting a few of them too. I wonder if they tried to sting the trap as it closed around them. The initial capture is very quick, but the struggle to escape stimulates the plant to do its longer, slower constricting to form its gastric pouch around its victim, and the wasp would have had time to get good and pissed before it met its fate.

[drdemonprince]

I know people got angry about the "talking about caffeine like any other drug" thing but I think it's so helpful not just to discuss the arbitrary lines between legal and illegal substances but also for informed consent purposes *with* caffeine itself. For example my use of alcohol has changed drastically since reading Unmasking Autism because I didn't realize I was only able to interact with allistics in the context of relaxed social rules when everybody was drinking. Now that I have that information my decisions around it are much different (basically using alcohol only when I *want* to get the feelings it gives me, and when I have to interact with people using other coping strategies instead).

I can't quit caffeine right now, but I might reduce its use in the future and only use it when I want that caffeinated feeling and not to keep up with work like I do now. Which I didn't even think about before, precisely because even though I rationally knew it was a drug I never thought of it as a "drug-drug".

Yo yessss thank you!!! Informed consent means being fully apprised of the risks and benefits of a substance, and having the freedom to choose when to use it. Currently, very few of us enjoy that level of empowered freedom with just about any substance that we use.

Our doctors don't tell us about all the risks of the drugs we are on (I'm still bitter as hell nobody told me that my muscle development would be stunted by going on hormonal birth control at 18!!! and that it would give me lasting breast growth), and the substances that are not medically prescribed but legal are ones that many of us quaff without thought, and without ever being told the effects of. For instance, did you know prolonged use of Benadryl increases the risk of developing Alzheimers??? I didn't! and i was using that shit to fall asleep and regulate anxiety for a time!!

In the United States in particular there is no open conversation with young people about the potential effects of alcohol, how the drug can act like a mild stimulant in smaller doses but then ricochet into massively depressing effects after hours of use, with an anxiety spike hours beyond that as it leaves the system. We don't talk to people about the effects of caffeine -- and that it's not necessarily normal for so many people to deal with daily gastric issues, trouble falling asleep, trouble sitting still, and intense irritability all day long as presently do.

Some people are just like that, some people have anxiety disorders and benefit from anti-anxiety meds to treat those symptoms, some people find ways of coping with it that involve mindfulness or meditation or whatever else -- but a great number of people who experience these issues are only going through them because they're on caffeine and they're working too hard. And what they've come to believe is an inevitable part of their chemistry is in fact economically and socially created from the outside, and could be prevented if they were only able to stop.

but many of them can't stop. because of capitalism. and so they aren't informed about the real risks & costs of the substances they are using, and they aren't freely able to revoke their (dubious) consent.

meanwhile as someone who only started using weed regularly about a year and a half ago and who is now curious about trying psychedelics, ive been lovingly inundated in helpful tips, usage guides, listings of various strains and their distinct effects, lab results testing doses, etc from the people I know who are passionate about those substances and want to ensure that anybody else using them has a good time.

I don't want to paint these substances with a pollyannaish brush either -- weed can trigger hallucinations and psychotic episodes in some segments of the population, a fact that too many ardent weed heads ignore -- but the difference in the level of control I have over my experience as a weed user and the utter lack of information and self-determination I have when seeking out prescribed meds, or even ingesting caffeine, is unreal.

So many foods covertly contain caffeine or openly are caffeinated yet don't document how many milligrams of the substance it has, for example. It's impossible to safely and responsibly use a substance when you don't even know how much you're getting, and it's bizarre we're all being dosed with stimulants all day long often without even realizing it.

this might seem like a low-importance example, and people will say to me dismissively that caffeine doesn't ruin any lives, but when I look back on how much I've used the substance to further my eating disorder and how many people i've been short and cruel-tempered with over the years because i was downing cups and cups of the stuff all day without reflection, i'm not sure i believe that argument.

but of course all roads in this conversation lead back to capitalism. i wouldnt have been drinking this stuff with abandon if i hadn't been trying to shove three days of work into a single 8 hours, and if my culture and economic system hadn't been foisting the stuff on me from day one.

my uncle says that i was always a deeply anxious kid, i guess it was something that my grandmother fretted about as well, and yet when i decided in my teens to start boosting that anxiety with caffeine every day, and became even more moody and negative, nobody connected the dots, and nobody thought to warn me. and why would they, nobody warned them.

[talesofedo]

(Hokusai - Hokusai Manga Vol. 12, Men eating Noodles)

I recently came across the paper "Ancient DNA analysis of food remains in human dental calculus from the Edo period, Japan" by Sawafuji et al. (2020).

Researchers extracted DNA from dental calculus - that's the white stuff that forms on your teeth over time (and is generally removed if you go in for cleanings) - to study what people in the mid- to late-Edo period ate. To do this, they sampled calculus from 13 bodies dating to the 18th and 19th Century: 7 women and 6 men who lived in the city of Edo.

They found that they were unable to identify any type of animal taxon in the samples, so we don't know which fish or meats, if any, were eaten by the sampled individuals. So, not helpful in that regard.

However, they were able to identify the following:

We already know (and the paper points this out as well) that the diet of Edo's townspeople primarily consisted of rice and vegetables, occasionally (or regularly, depending on your means) accompanied by various types of fish.

From the list above, we can then identify a few more of the ingredients these specific people ate: rice, as their main staple, but also soba or udon (made from wheat and barley). An assortment of different vegetables, such as carrots, chestnuts, shiso, and garlic chives. And tea, naturally.

Interestingly, the researchers also found some non-food items, specifically plant matter from the Cupressacea (cypress) family, borneol and tobacco.

Tobacco is perhaps self-explanatory: many people in Edo smoked (pipes, specifically), and it would be fair to say that this left some residue in their dental calculus.

Plant matter from the cypress family is more interesting. There are two types of trees native to Japan from that family, the Japanese cedar and the Japanese arborvitae, the kind of smallish conifer that grows all over Japan. This plant matter is most likely to get into peoples' mouths by using chopsticks and toothpicks made from those trees, but also by using the resin as a painkiller for toothaches.

And the borneol stands out because it comes from a tree called the Borneo camphor, which isn't native to Japan and also won't grow in Japan if you tried. Meaning that the borneol would have to be imported, which it had been for a few hundred years, from China.

People examined in this study most likely came into contact with borneol as a flavoring in tooth powder. Tooth powder at the time was primarily fine sand with added flavoring to, I suppose, improve the experience and set apart different "brands" sold in stores.

You can learn more about tooth powders, tooth brushes, and treating toothaches in the Edo period on the website of the Kanagawa Prefectural Dental Association (in English).

Additionally, borneol was used in many traditional kampo medicines in both Japan and China. I'm not very well versed in kampo medicines, but according to this website, it's used to aid the digestive system by stimulating the production of gastric juices, treat bronchitis, coughs and colds, relieves pain and reduces swelling, and can be taken as a tonic to promote relaxation.

[rosesandthorns44]

My bionic stomach is definitely running out of batteries. Can tell cuz I'm hella nauseous and can't each as much in one sitting as usual. The battery of my gastric stimulator needs replacing about every three years and last time I had it replaced was just before the pandemic broke out.

My appointment to check the battery is a month away and if I do in fact need the battery replaced it will probably be at least a month or two after that before they can schedule the surgery.

Looks like ya girl is back to a diet of liquids and soft, low fiber foods. I'll try not to lose too much weight and try to keep myself fed enough to function at work.

I've got this! Gastroparesis can lick my boots! I'm gonna power through it!

[booksbeansandcandles]

Fire Cider Recipe 1:

Fire Cider Ingredients

2 cups apple cider vinegar

1/2 to 1 cup honey

1/2 cup horseradish

8 cloves of garlic, chopped

1/2 onion

1/2 cup ginger

1 sliced jalapeño

1/2 cup fresh turmeric OR 1 tbsp dried turmeric (optional)

1/2 lemon (optional)

1/2 orange (optional)

1 tsp peppercorns (optional)

2 whole cinnamon sticks (optional)

2 rosemary sprigs (optional)

4 thyme sprigs (optional)

Directions

Prepare ingredients and place them in a sterilized quart-sized glass jar.

Pour the apple cider vinegar and honey in the jar until all of the ingredients are covered and the vinegar reaches 1/2 inch from the jar’s top. You can use a glass fermentation weight on top to keep the ingredients submerged, but that is just a preference. Shake well. Store in a dark, cool place for a month, shaking daily. It’s in vinegar, so it won’t go bad! Once done, strain, bottle, and label.

Storage: It’s vinegar, so it keeps all winter and early spring (6 months) if left in a cool dark place. Keeps in the refrigerator for up to 10 months. You can take a dropperful every few hours, or I put 2 -3 droppers full into a big mug of hot water and drink that.

Benefits of ingredients

Ginger root – Ginger contains gingerol, an antibacterial compound that promotes body warmth, helping to fight off cold symptoms.

Horseradish root – Horseradish strongly stimulates the digestion, increasing gastric secretions and appetite. It can be of use in both respiratory and urinary tract infections. Horseradish is a natural expectorant with natural antibacterial properties. It helps in easing throat and upper respiratory tract infections. Has been used to fight cancer naturally.

Jalapeño peppers – Useful for increasing circulation and to get mucus flowing. Anti-inflammatory, pain reliever, and anti-irritant. It is used as a digestive aid to stimulates gastric juices.

Garlic – Boosts the immune function and opens pores of the skin to lower a fever. This herb’s antibacterial and antimicrobial properties make it useful in treating bladder and kidney infections, yeast infections, strep throats and ear infections.

Onion – Another cancer fighter, onion’s compound quercetin is a natural disease fighter.

Lemon – The levels of vitamin C found in the juice and peel are extremely effective against bacterial infections! Lemons act as a great potentiator in this cider recipe.

Rosemary Sprigs – This piney plant alleviates muscle pain, boosts the immune system, and relieves cough while you’re sick.

Turmeric – Turmeric increases the antioxidant capacity in your body. This means that all of the new antioxidants in this cider will have a home to live and work in!

Black peppercorns – Greatly boosts absorption of turmeric.

Apple Cider Vinegar – (Use organic) ACV kills multiple types of bacteria. When used in conjunction with the other herbs of this recipe, it becomes a powerhouse of health.

Local Raw Honey – Before becoming sick, local, raw honey helps your body fight off local infections and allergens. After becoming ill, it suppresses coughs and continues fighting off bacteria

[madamlaydebug]

Ginger is a flowering plant also known as Zingiber officinale. Its root (or rhizome) is a popular ingredient in cooking, but it has also been used for thousands of years for medicinal purposes, particularly in Asian, Arabic, and Indian cultures.

Many of ginger’s professed health benefits have been supported by scientific research:

1. Aids in Digestive Function

Compounds in ginger are known to stimulate bile and saliva production and to increase mobility through the digestive tract. Those who suffer from indigestion may find relief by consuming ginger.

2. May Help Prevent Gastric Ulcers

Gastric ulcers are painful open lesions on the inside lining of the stomach. Use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), like naproxen and ibuprofen, can lead to the development of gastric ulcers. Bacteria called Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) can also make the gastric lining more prone to ulceration. Ginger, however, inhibits the growth of H. pylori and can prevent the occurrence of stomach ulcers caused by NSAIDs.

3. Reduces Nausea

Ginger has been shown to be effective for relief and prevention of nausea and vomiting related to pregnancy, chemotherapy, and post-operative conditions. While ginger can help reduce nausea induced by motion sickness, it seems to have no effect on the prevention of vomiting caused by such.

Consuming 1 to 1.5 grams of ginger (or 1 to 2 small- to medium-sized pieces of crystallized ginger) can help provide relief for these various types of nausea.

4. Decreases Pain and Inflammation

There is evidence that ginger can be beneficial for pain management. By helping to reduce inflammation of joints, ginger can decrease pain associated with arthritic conditions. Daily supplementation of ginger can also improve exercise-induced muscle pain. Women who experience severe pain during menstruation may find some relief with the consumption of ginger as well.

5. Promotes Sweating

Ginger is a diaphoretic, meaning that it can stimulate sweating, which allows your body to eliminate toxins. After taking ginger there may be a sense of warming from within, which is why it is popular for soothing symptoms of colds and flu.

6. Improves Cognition

With antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, ginger can mitigate age-related cognitive decline. There is evidence that ginger can enhance attention and cognitive processing.

7. May Lower Cholesterol

There are studies that have demonstrated significant reductions in LDL cholesterol and blood triglyceride levels associated with the consumption of ginger.

8. May Lower Blood Sugar

Ginger has been shown to lower blood sugar levels in type 2 diabetic individuals. In the same study, HbA1c (a marker used as an indicator for long-term blood sugar control) also improved. While these are promising results, more research is needed to confirm this benefit.

Tips for Taking Ginger

There are many options for consuming ginger. It can be found fresh and dried. It is available in capsules, tinctures, and lozenges. There is also ginger oil and ginger extract.

Side effects of ginger are rare. However, if you take excessive doses, you may develop heartburn, diarrhea, or mouth irritation. Avoid ginger if you have a bleeding disorder. Before starting ginger supplementation, check with your healthcare provider if you plan to take it regularly, if you have gallstones, or if you are on any blood-thinning medication.

[cannabiscomrade]

It's Gastroparesis Awareness Month

Hi! I have gastroparesis and I'm an insufferable know-it-all so let's talk about it!

Gastroparesis, or a paralyzed stomach, is a condition that causes delayed gastric emptying.

This can cause a range of symptoms and complications:

nausea

vomiting

early satiety/fullness

upper gastric pain

heartburn

malabsorption

dehydration

malnutrition

Gastroparesis can be treated by a gastroenterologist, but often needs to be managed by a motility specialist due to a lot of misconceptions about the condition. Providers, especially in the emergency department, will commonly misdiagnose gastroparesis as cannabis-hyperemesis syndome, cyclic vomiting syndrome, gastritis, food poisoning, etc.

There are several commonly known causes of gastroparesis like vagus nerve damage from diabetes, injury to the stomach, and stomach surgery like hernia repair or bariatric surgery. There are also idiopathic cases with no known cause. Other causes of gastroparesis are:

Connective tissue disorders like HSD and EDS (commonly hEDS and cEDS)

Post-viral (like COVID, viral gastritis, mononucleosis/Epstein-Barr)

Restrictive eating disorders

Autoimmune diseases like Systemic sclerosis (scleroderma), Lupus, Hashimoto's

Central nervous system disorders

Gastroparesis also has common comorbidities with conditions like:

POTS and other forms of dysautonomia (POTS, EDS, and gastroparesis are a common triad of diagnoses)

MCAS

SMAS (which can also present with similar symptoms to GP)

Intestinal dysmotility and esophageal dysmotility disorders (known as global dysmotility)

PCOS with insulin resistance

Endometriosis

SIBO/SIFO

Chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction

Migraines

Certain medications like Ozempic and other drugs in that class act on the digestive system to delay gastric emptying, which has caused people to be diagnosed with gastroparesis. Some people report that their cases have not gone away since stopping the medication, others report feeling better after stopping. Other drugs like opiates and narcotics can cause delayed gastric and intestinal motility as well, but these are commonly known side effects of those painkiller classes.

Gastroparesis is classed based on severity and graded based on how you respond to treatment.

Severity of delay ranges from mild to very severe, and this is based on your actual stomach retention calculated at 4 hours into a gastric emptying study.

The grading scale ranges from one to three, one being mild and three being gastric failure.

There is no consistent single treatment that is proven to work for gastroparesis, and there is no cure. Treatments can consist of:

Diet changes (3 Step Gastroparesis Diet, liquid diet, oral sole source nutrition)

Prokinetic (motility stimulating) drugs

Anti-nausea medications

Proton-pump inhibitors

Gastric stimulator/gastric pacemaker

Pyloric botox and dilation

G-POEM/pyloroplasty

Post-pyloric tube feeding

Gastric venting/draining

Parenteral nutrition

IV fluids

Other surgical interventions like gastrectomy or rarely, transplant

Gastroparesis is a terrible disease and I hope that if any of these symptoms resonate with you that you can get checked out. I was misdiagnosed for a long time before getting a proper gastroparesis diagnosis, and all it took was a gastric emptying study. This is ESPECIALLY true if you're having post-COVID gastrointestinal problems that are not improving. I almost died from starvation ketoacidosis because of how serious my GP got in a short period of time post-COVID (I had GP before COVID), and now I'm tube reliant for all my nutrition and hydration.

Stay safe friends!

[the-maddened-hatter]

So I've been working on thinking up some of Ozby's medicinal wares and this is what I've come up with so far!

It's a little long so it's under the read more:

A reptile specific dermal treatment called Unguentum Draconis- A small metal tin of thick, pale, nearly gelatinous ointment that when rubbed into the scales of a shedding reptilian sinner demon or hellborne, it moistens & loosens the scales, allowing them to be more easily removed, plus lessens the itching & relaxes sore muscles.

A gastric remedy called Wally-Cobble Jelly, which is a (tightly sealed) mason jar of a dark magenta paste. The paste smells foul, and there are small white flecks interspersed throughout the mixture. It has a gritty, salty sweet taste. It is made from a particular breed of berries blended with the grubs nest within them. It eases stomach cramps & relaxes the GI tract. (1 spoonful every 4 hours. Dosage times may vary for those with multiple stomachs)

A respiratory care set called Green Gills that consists of a a small metal tin of seafoam green paste and a small spritzer bottle of glittery blue liquid that helps to relieve congestion and Dry-Lung in Hellborn and Sinner Demon aquatics. The paste is rubbed over the gills to improve moisture absorption then the area is sprayed with the medicated liquid to promote easier breathing, clear out mucus, and reduce pain from lung straining

A white and blue metal arisol canister of medication infused condensed air called TechnoPuff that Aides in clearing physical blockages from Techno Sinner Demon's respiratory ports, which if left untreated can cause labored breathing, lethargy, and overheating

Coolant 631 Paxs (a pun on gel) that are Small clear plastic packets filled with a vivid blue gel. They are somewhat cool to the touch and are reactive to the techno sinner demons unique physiology, these Paxs are able to provide non-moistening relief for overheating & injuries to their synthetic biology.

A jar of a thick tar-like substance and a heavy-duty applicator (comes in multiple colors) called HoofGoop that Seals cracks in damaged hooves and provides an extra degree of protection to the appendage. Only apply with the applicator, as contact with non-hoof body parts will cause it to dry in a hard shell that will be damaging and painful to remove

A plastic squeeze bottle full of transparent liquid called Screen Stick, which is a A Techno Sinner demon specific wound care medication, specifically a numbing agent that helps the bio glass re-knit when broken

A spool of silvery glistening thread called Silken Weave that's made from a substance that dulls nerves allowing for pain relief during wound stitching. Some people opt to use it recreationally, often via unfortunate methodology.

Recreational substances:

Blinding Lights, a small vial of iridescent sparkling liquid corked with an eyedropper. It Acts as a relaxing psychoactive substance for insectoid Sinner Demons, typically producing visions of warm comforting light or swirling rainbow vortexes.

Coral Reefer, a pink plastic shell shaped case of small pink and orange swirled chunks of dried coral. They Pproduce a state of sleepy relaxation (and unfortunately later on a feeding frenzy) in Aquatic Hellborns and Sinner demons when crushed between the teeth. Sometimes causes pink bubbles to flow from the gills.

PissPot, tiny yellow metal tins that are shaped like teapots, filled with a lumpy blue sludge. They contain stimulants that have been heavily cut and smell strongly of amonia. Some people just can't handle the good stuff. Gotta give the people what they want.

Seeing Red, a small white metal tin of chunky dark red powder. It is a stimulant powder mixed with dried blood that when snorted produces a state of intense energy and violence in most carnivore formed Sinner Demons, Hellhounds, and some Aquatic Hellborns.

Verdant Wonderland, stored in a bottle made from LSD in crystal form, filled with vivid green Absinthe. Small swirls of crushed LSD crystals are visible in the bottle. It induces bizarre hallucinations and a deeply relaxed state. Allows the user to fall into a deep sleep and have strange vivid dreams.

Ye Olden Coffencolde Morphine Drops, Small red lozenges that are wrapped in little paper wrappers that sport a Victorian font. Induces a relaxed, sleepy, pain-free state. Some people from older times do genuinely purchase them for coughs and colds, though they aren't that effective.