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zzyx1yz

28 karma · joined February 6, 2017

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zzyx1yz··on The TSA Must Go (2016)
It's actually worse than that. Since 9/11 and the birth of the TSA, a number of people who need to travel a moderate distance (say, a drive of a few hours) have chosen to drive when they might have chosen to fly before. Air travel is statistically safer per mile travelled than driving. I don't have the link handy, but it has been calculated that this change in travel habits has resulted in an increase of driving fatalities of over a thousand a year. More people have actually died in traffic fatalities due to the TSA than died on 9/11.
zzyx1yz··on I had an autoimmune disease, then the disease had me (2013)
I have an autoimmune disease; type 1.5 diabetes, formally called LADA (Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults). I'm insulin dependent, like type 1, but the disease didn't manifest until my 40s, like type 2.

I suffer from moderately severe diabetic foot pain. My doctor prescribed some medication that provided marginal, at best, relief. About a year ago, I had a persistent fever. I took some aspirin to knock down the fever (I almost never took aspirin before that) and discovered that it provided significant relief from the foot pain. More recently, I had a bad cold, and I took some cold medicine that includes acetaminophen, something that I also almost never took before that. It seems to help even more than aspirin. I am wary of taking acetaminophen regularly, because of the warnings about liver damage, but it is something I am considering for those times when the foot pain is severe.

What I would recommend for people suffering from these kinds of problems is that they embrace the idea of Quantified Self. Start keeping a diary of everything. The things you eat, the things you do, and the symptoms you experience, in excruciating detail. Then start looking for patterns and correlations. Put the data into a spreadsheet, generate charts. Learn statistics, learn about correlations. Learn Bayesian Probability. You may be able to find the specific triggers that cause your symptoms, and maybe the things you can do (or avoid) to reduce your symptoms.