A bit more feedback - osteo arthritis relief
I've been more observant about effects of acetaminophen and ibuprofen since our consultation. Acetaminophen seems longer in effect, the Ibuprofen more assertive in the first half hour or so after taking. Recognizing and taking advantage of this distinction, and (especially) lightening up on the aspirin, have been benefits. I use either when symptoms call for intervention, but leave things on their own otherwise - maybe half the time.
Exercise is always helpful in the short term - few hours, and frequently for up to a day and a half or so. No yoga yet. We've been traveling. Likewise massage, but we're looking forward to massage this coming weekend.
Remark - the osteo arthritis sometimes comes on strongly for several days in a row, and at other times retreats in the same way, seemingly without connection to anything else: pain relievers, exercise, stress makers, etc. SThe painful episodes are fatiguing, but don't seem to have any significance otherwise.

NN, thanks for the NSAIDS explanation. This is very helpful to those of us with occasional aches and pains, too.

I am just glad that I could be of some help.

Good day all!

our host has asked me to expand the access of this little byline to the LA Weekley. This is a great honor for me but also a bit out of my experiance.

Here is my first attempt and all feed back would be greatly welcomed. Pleaese be gentle!

21 Sep 09
Ask a Nurse


On a recent pod cast one listener asked me “I recently got a vasectomy and it seems as though my erection isn’t as hard or lasts as long as it used to. Is it possible the vasectomy had something to do with it?”

The short answer is a resounding YES but perhaps not for the reasons that many are thinking. The answer lies with a person’s largest sexual organ…no gents, not the one between your legs but the one mounted on your shoulders. Lets look at the entire procedure to get to the final answer. You have gone through a medical procedure where you invited a relative stranger to attack your nether regions with sharp instruments while you resist the incredible urge to push them away and run screaming into the night. Then your discharge instructions are to pack your bits in ice or other cooling devices for a few hours and then in about a week to start “getting rid of any stray swimmers” that may be left behind. Having experienced this first hand, I have to say that the first couple of times that the boys are utilized after a vasectomy it is not exactly pain free. Compounded with this little tidbit of post procedure blues, there is the added bonus of societies belief that male virility is associated with the ability to produce offspring. On an intellectual level one can rationalize that it has nothing to do with it but deep down in many a persons psyche there is cave man that grunts in your ear that “Thag not as much of a man because Thag shooting blanks!”

To achieve an erection as hard and proud after a vasectomy, the anxiety must be abated. The easiest remedy for these concerns is time and practice! Let the “boys” heal fully before putting them back in the game, this will ease your concerns about the pain factor. If you are concerned about ejaculation being painful, I guarantee that your performance will not be at the level you are accustomed to. Now all you have to do is stuff a sock in Thag’s mouth! Assuming that you have not rushed into the procedure and that you are confident in your decision keep in mind that you can now relax and enjoy sex that is much more spontaneous! You have given your partner the ultimate gift! You have stated that you no longer want to have her using birth control and can now get as close as two people can be. No barriers between you. Once you realize that all the pluming works and that sex is fun again good old Thag will go shambling back to his cave where those little doubts that he was grunting in your ear will be no more!

I thought your article was very sensitive (in a manly way) and informative. It's hard to get that type of advice anywhere and the L.A. Weekly has a great audience. So that means you'll be helping lots of people!

Thanks Jill, Of course once I posted it I notice that it could use a bit of editing.

Good post NN - yes it needs editing but I'm sure you are up to that
If you do need serious editing input pm me - kiss kiss

an off the wall questions............ a year and half into my marriage 1991, my husband was shot in the head, neck and during an armor car robbery. he had to relearned everything... I have raised him very well. and have told by everyone that knows my situation that they would have left my husband...but he truly has taught me a lot... and I am very thankful to be part of this amazing journey.... we have two incredibly gifted kids a daughter who is now a senior in high school and a son who is a freshman in high school..they have seen ALOT in their lives. in 1996, my kids and my husband had come down with strep throat..he began to start cussing ..that is not something he ever did before he was shot..or after he was shot.. a doctor told me had Courgette syndrome.. I was like how the hell did he get that? the doctor I was talking to said it was from his case of strep throat. I know that Curettes is hereditary.. and I was wondering you thought the curettes is because of the brain injury.. or do my kids need to worry about this in the future?

in 1992, I had was one of the first people to get tested for the Huntington's gene..I have a 44 cag repeat as did my dad.. and he died when he was 50..I am right now 40.. at the same time I found out I was gene positive...my brother was clinically diagnosed with having the juvenile form of HD. I was babysitting my brother for my mom...he was wheel chaired bound and unable to do anything for himself...I pushed his wheelchair up to a bar.. so we could listen to music.. we both had a small shot tequila and a little bit of soda.. he was not suppose to have caffeine... we did this on a Saturday.. and to my surprise he began dying on Sunday...was our festivities on Saturday that caused him to start dying? we did not realize he was dying until Thursday morning.. his urine was very brown in color.. then the hospice person came out and told him he was dying. my mom and sister and I laid in the bed with him... then I was the one to give him morphine.. and shortly after that he died... but my question is did I do that to him because we went out on Saturday... and what exactly does morphine do to the person when they are dying......

my last question is... my uncle on my mom's side of the family.. died with an Aneurysm. No one knew he had it .. not even him... and it was a shock to my mom side of the family..he was 62 years old.... my sister, 30 years old was having a lot of vertigo. and a few other things wrong with her...(anyone who has HD in their cant help but symptom seek) ... she has not tested for HD... she went to get an mri...she thought it could show if she had HD... so the doctor did the mri.. they found that she had a large aneurysm... they ended scheduling surgery.. and the doctor said that if she doesn't have surgery she could die... they did the surgery the Aneurysm was I think a 10? but the doctor said she would have died the next week had she not had this done. she is a very fortunate person.. she really had no brain damage. no loss of motor skills...she has a hug scar on her head that goes front the very top of the skull diagonally down the back of her head... the Aneurysm was in the area of the eye control. her doctor said to get her 15 year old son an mri.. to see if he has any signs of a growth.....do you think I should get my children an mri? do you think it is genetic? she is having chronic pain where the scar is. she is also now feeling electrical shocks up and down her leg? any reason as to why?

I have thought for a VERY long time that I should write a book..on my life...mainly considering my husband and his brain injury..especially now that a lot of people are coming home from the military..with some severe brain injures... any ghost writers out there? I have not had a job since 1991.. so I could care for my husband and my children as they are my world. I used to teach preschool... in my mind they are the innocent ones without being corrupted.......In my heart I truly wanted to be a nurse..but because of being gene positive for HD...I was really afraid that I would loose my mind and seriously hurt someone...Northern Nurse...hats off to you...I get this feeling that you really love your job...and I think it is all about helping one another in this world.

Thank you for doing this
Kindest regards,
Carrie

Wow, my heart goes out to you and your family Carrie!

Lets look at the questions you have asked one at a time. There are so many compounding factors and medical concerns in your family that the web of correlations I can hardly cut through in a forum such as this. Your best bet is to sit down with your family doctor who is familiar with your history and get his advice. That being said, there are a few things that I can say that will ease some of your concerns while you wait to get in to see your MD.

Gilles de la Tourette syndrome or Tourette’s Syndrome is just that, a syndrome. This means that there is no known source for the syndrome but there are plenty of theories as to the cause. Most of the time the syndrome comes about in children and the symptoms resolve themselves with out medication into adolescence. The adult form is more rare but not unheard of. There have been some studies that find a correlation between traumatic brain injury and the onset of the symptoms as well as some that allude that in rare instances it may be possible that the treatment of Strep infections can be the cause but neither theories have been proved as of yet.

As there is no known cause of the syndrome, the scientific community does not know if it is passed hereditarily. It is a simple case of being mindful and keeping your GP in the loop to any and all symptomology that you may observe.

I can ease your mind about your brother. It sounds like his body was failing long before your outing to the bar. All you did was give him a last great night out before the end. The alcohol or the soda had nothing to do with his final days. You just provided a few last happy moments before he passed. As for the Morphine, as you know it is an opiate pain killer. Each person has a different tolerance and that tolerance increases with use. As such, a dose that would put a person into some sort of respiratory depression would do almost nothing to a person who is used to having the drug for chronic pain syndromes. All you did was make him comfortable at the end, no more.

Finally, your question about brain aneurisms. An aneurism is an over inflation of a vessel because of a weakness in the wall or because of higher circulatory pressures due to hypertension. Think of it like over inflating a bike inner tube until you get a bulge somewhere in the rubber. The air (or in the case of an aneurism the blood) is still contained in the vessel until it pops! An MRI is the Cadillac of imaging studies but a diagnosis of an aneurism any where in the body can preliminarily be done with a test called a Contrast CT Scan. If they find any abnormalities then the surgeon may want an MRI so that he can map the site in three dimensions to guide him during an operation. If there is a pre-disposition for this type of weakness in the vessel walls it is one more thing to watch for but usually they do not manifest them selves until later in life. That being said however, if any one has symptoms of sudden onset headaches, numbness on one side of the body, blurred vision, difficulty speaking or finding words or using the wrong words they should go to the ER NOW! That goes for every one reading this! These symptoms are of a stroke. There are two types of these called occlusive strokes which are caused by blood clots and hemorrhagic strokes which are caused by an aneurism exploding. Both can be treated if found early enough but you only have a matter of hours before the damage is permanent.

As for the chronic pain at the scar line, many people have this kind of complication and there are many good medications out there to deal with it. They are not necessarily opiates or medications that alter your functionality but deal with the pain.

I hope I have answered your questions and thank you for allowing me to do a bit of research on these topics. I hope I have been of some help.

Thanks NN for answering Dreamweaver's questions! Dreamweaver, my heart goes out to you and your family. I hope that NN's answers helped. I learned a lot within those topics that NN covered.

NN,

I would like to say hello to you and all of the other members of F&E. I long observed this board, I've learned and laughed a lot. This is my first post ever so here goes…

I notice under the special warnings for Viagra and Cialis both note “If you have a condition that might result in long-lasting erections, such as sickle cell anemia, multiple myeloma (a disease of the bone marrow), or leukemia, use Viagra with caution.” What is the explanation behind this concern? How would a disease such as leukemia cause a priapism? I would think the opposite would be true. Had I known of the potential benefits I might have reconsidered the whole transplant thing.

Thank you for sharing you knowledge. It is a gift.

Deadalus,

Welcome to the boards!

The one thing that all the disease states you have mentioned have in common is a hyperviscosity of the blood. That is to say that the blood is thicker than normal due to an increased number of formed cells in the circulatory system. In the case of Sickle Cell disease malformed red blood cells or in Leukemia, more white blood cells.

As the blood is thicker it can enter the penis but can not pass through the small vessels to enter the venous system. The arterial system keeps on pushing blood in but it can not drain back out again.

As Viagra causes peripheral dilation and therefore more blood flowing to the penis, this can compound the problem.

Priapism is a medical emergency and can cause necrosis of the penis and long term Erectile disfunction!

I hope this answers your question.

Dear NN,
Freddy and I have often had disagreements on how colds can transfer to affect other people. So please enlighten us on this topic; virus vs. bacteria.

If you have a cold, you are more apt to spreading it about 10 days before you even have a sniffle. Yet, can you still spread the germs causing other people to get the same cold by sneezing and coughing?

If a cold is only bacterial, then Freddy's reasoning is that coughing cannot get someone sick around you. True or not?

Common cold susceptibility

Excellent question Eddy!

First of all, both the common cold, the flu, and the H1N1 Virus are just that viruses. There is no bacteriological base to these illnesses. If it was a bacteria then a course of antibiotics would help fight these pesky little beasties!

A virus is an organism that is neither an animal, plant nor fungus but it has the properties of all three. They are rapidly mutating meaning that they change their signature as they develop in each and every host.

This type of virus is spread by droplet. This means that it is aerosolized and spewed out of your body to find a new host every time an infected individual coughs or sneezes. The virus is spreading its love in an attempt to find a new host for about two days before the individual starts to feel sick and until they stop showing symptoms.

A person is considered contagious through the literature from about 2 days before they show any symptoms until they stop showing any. For many colds this may be up to two weeks. There is little you can do about spreading any of these viruses if you do not always carry out basic precautions such as coughing and sneezing in to the arm of your sleeve and frequent hand washing as well as using an alcohol based sanitizer such as IsoGel.

One you have developed the symptoms of a cold or any other viral illness you should immediately self quarantine yourself! Treat yourself symptomatically with over the counter (OTC) remedies such as Tylenol / Motrin for the head ache and joint pain, a decongestant as well as an expectorant during the day (to get the crap out of your lungs) and a cough suppressant at night (to help you get some sleep).

You should only go to the doctor if you are experiencing serious respiratory difficulty such as not being able to catch your breath or can not keep enough fluid in you because of loose bowel movements and vomiting despite using OTC medications. NEVER USE anti-diarrhea medications for this kind of affliction unless advised to do so by an MD! Your body is trying to get rid of the bug and all you are doing by stopping the runs is keep it inside you.

So Eddy, yes you are infectious for about 48 hrs before they show symptoms and until they are not showing any symptoms at all including fever and cough.

I am off to get my H1N1 Vaccine tomorrow as I am in a high risk category being a Critical Care Nurse. How about all of you?

Moved Reply:

ouch what on earth did you do NN?