Recruiting Forum Off Topic Thread III

Status
Not open for further replies.
#2,603
#2,603
Glitch said:
That was my point as well. The lottery, along with other government interventions, has caused a rapid rise in the cost of education. It has also watered down the value of that education. It used to be that not everyone went to college, because not everyone needed to go. Nowadays, you are hard pressed to find many jobs that don't require, or at least prefer an undergrad degree. Not all jobs require a college education.

Completely agree about the tax on poor as well. You don't see wealthy people lining up week after week to buy lotto tickets and scratch offs. They would rather drop that money in their 401k's. The poor and less educated are the ones paying for everyone to go to college because they are the ones lining up to buy lotto tickets and scratch offs.

It does take money out of the economy as well. American's spent $70 BILLION dollars on the lottery in 2014. How many small businesses could've been started? How many more jobs could've been created? There is another article that states that poor households spend about 9% of their income on the lottery. Yet we have elderly people that can't afford food because they didn't save properly. You should set aside 10-15% of your income for retirement, but how many people claim they just don't have anything left over to invest. I'll bet lot of them spend as much or more on lottery, alcohol, cigarettes, etc. Now I don't care what people spend their money on, but if you CHOOSE not to save during your working years, don't complain when you get older and can't afford to retire well.


Sorry for the rant. I'm very passionate about saving for retirement.

Here's What Americans Are Spending on Lottery Tickets -- The Motley Fool

Poor people spend 9% of income on lottery tickets; here's why - AOL Finance
Click to expand...

Great post. Agree 100%. EF Hutton had it right back in the day. Earn it.
 
#2,608
#2,608
bignewt said:
Our qb recruiting

COgMVk8.gif
Click to expand...

GOAT Netflix show.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4 people
#2,609
#2,609
VolsDoc81TX said:
Part of Ortho group.
I am a Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation specialist (essentially non-surgical sports med and spine care)
Click to expand...

My wife is having a hip replacement on July 9th. We were hoping to delay it until the fall but her pain has been debilitating. She's on meloxican and a muscle relaxer. She's not into opioid pain meds. Oddly, her pain got worse after a cortisone injection meant to buy her some time. Just wondering if you could offer any suggestions that might help her get to July 9th with a little less pain.
 
#2,612
#2,612
InVOLuntary said:
My wife is having a hip replacement on July 9th. We were hoping to delay it until the fall but her pain has been debilitating. She's on meloxican and a muscle relaxer. She's not into opioid pain meds. Oddly, her pain got worse after a cortisone injection meant to buy her some time. Just wondering if you could offer any suggestions that might help her get to July 9th with a little less pain.
Click to expand...
I’ve never been in a position quite like that, but I’ve had some close family members have to go through arduous, debilitating injuries/surgeries who chose to forego the opioid meds. I’ve got crazy respect for the people who can tough it out. I’d like to think I could do the same, but you’re never sure until you’re in that position.
 
#2,613
#2,613
Sleegro said:
This isn't marijuana, but an interesting study on benefits of controlled MDMA psychotherapy to treat PTSD. Yer post made me think of this because like marijuana, there has been an effort to create a stigma around some of these drugs where studies like this have been all but outlawed for decades. Yes abuse can cause many other problems, but that should not bar research of potential benefits. In this study they've found that a few controlled doses in controlled sessions with psychotherapists can have lasting effects on PTSD. And they don't need to keep taking the drug or any other antidepressants for extended periods because they are getting to the cause instead of treating the symptoms. Very interesting article.

Ecstasy-assisted PTSD therapy bringing peace

Edit: This is also getting very close to FDA approval and has support from the left and the right. So could be a viable and available treatment in the near future.
Click to expand...

I'm assuming that raising serotonin levels has something to do with improvement? I wonder how it stays regulated after treatment?
 
#2,614
#2,614
Ulysees E. McGill said:
I'm assuming that raising serotonin levels has something to do with improvement? I wonder how it stays regulated after treatment?
Click to expand...

It explains it really well in the article. Here is a snippet:

“It’s not just the MDMA that’s doing this. It’s the MDMA plus psychotherapy,” Burge told Yahoo News. “A lot of the times, psychotherapy is especially difficult for people with PTSD because there’s been a terrifying event that feels like a threat to life. It may be a perceived threat or real threat. In the case of combat, it’s usually a real threat. That creates a lot of feelings of distrust, fear and paranoia. That causes people to shut down and not think about that difficult memory.”

Because of this barrier, psychotherapy might take months or years to start working for someone with PTSD — if it ever does. Every time a trauma comes up, someone might change the subject or walk out of the room. For these patients, psychotherapy without MDMA was tantamount to surgery without anesthesia — not just something unpleasant but something to be avoided at all costs.

Before receiving MDMA, Thompson could not discuss certain terrifying moments from his years as a firefighter in Charleston, S.C. He was able to compartmentalize the pain for a time but it finally caught up to him when nine of his peers died in a warehouse fire.

Compounding the trauma, Thompson’s twin daughters developed a medical issue that’s so rare there isn’t a name for it yet, in which their brains fired off signals that caused their breathing to stop. For about a year, each would turn blue and go limp in their parents’ arms about 15 times a day. Occasionally, they’d lose consciousness long enough to require emergency response — with Thompson sometimes driving the firetruck to his own house. (Both girls, now 5, are healthy today.)“At the end of that, I was beginning to lose it. Everything started to pile up. I would sit at the fire station waiting for my address to come up again. I was a nervous wreck all the time. I was no longer functioning as I should,” Thompson said.

He started to numb his anxiety with alcohol and prescription drugs and almost killed himself accidentally about 10 times before his family intervened. He tried to go to talk therapy but nothing worked. He took administrative leave from the fire department. He wasn’t himself. He even left his wife while she was in labor to drink at a bar.

“I became a complete piece of trash as a human being. I may as well have been dead. I was losing my family,” said Thompson of this time in his life, which was dominated by nightmares, flashbacks and fits of rage. No matter where he was, Thompson had the combat veterans’ proverbial thousand-yard stare — a form of detachment to keep at bay an enveloping feeling of horror.

He tried to check into a psychiatric hospital but they wouldn’t admit him because, despite suicidal thoughts, he wasn’t actually trying to kill himself. While he was in the lobby, his therapist called and told him about a program through MAPS for combat veterans, firefighters and cops. There were only a few spots left in the study and she thought he would make a good candidate.
Click to expand...

He was surprised by how sober he felt throughout the process. He could access deeply suppressed memories and felt in control of his thoughts.

Mithoefer and co-therapist Annie Mithoefer, his wife, were artful in the way they guided the therapy. They didn’t pressure Thompson to talk about anything in particular and told him he didn’t need to delve into his painful memories. Then, within five minutes, he was talking about and processing previously harrowing memories. But it was painless.

“It was an intense experience but I was able to go into my most traumatic stuff without sending me a million miles away or into a panic,” he said. “This allowed me to process those emotions, have a little bit of reverence and understanding towards them, realize they were there, take them as they were.”

The other medicated sessions took place on April 24 and May 27. Afterward, Thompson and his wife worried that his newfound peace and confidence would fade, but it didn’t. It only got stronger, just as the therapists said it would.
Click to expand...

MDMA creates feelings of pleasure and emotional warmth by increasing the activities of three neurochemicals: dopamine, which reinforces behaviors in the reward system; norepinephrine, which raises blood pressure and heart rate; and serotonin, which fosters compassion and can help users recall memories they have suppressed. MDMA also increases hormones that occur naturally in the body, including oxytocin (“the cuddle hormone”) and prolactin, which are associated with bonding and intimacy. These same hormones are released post-orgasm and by lactating mothers.

These feelings of trust might not be safe for all environments, but they can be beneficial in the psychotherapeutic context.

“With MDMA, these feelings of connection and intimacy are really the opposite of PTSD,” Burge said. “In the context of therapy, you feel love and trust and that can help people open up more. Of course, those feelings are also reflected inward and they have more trust for themselves.”

The amygdala, an almond-shaped mass of gray matter commonly called the reptilian brain, which is associated with fear and anxiety, is hyperactivated in people with PTSD. When the amygdala is turned way up, otherwise mundane things that remind someone of their trauma can be terrifying.

“MDMA directly turns down the volume of the amygdala, even if you don’t have PTSD,” Burge said. “So scary things just aren’t as scary. In an uncontrolled setting, you might not want to get so close to the edge. But in a controlled setting, that’s great.”
Click to expand...

Edit: I think the chemical changes in the brain while on it open it up for psychotherapy to really be accepted by the patient thus they are able to get to the root of the problem mentally instead of just taking drugs to treat depression the rest of their lives.
 
Last edited:
#2,616
#2,616
Sleegro said:
It explains it really well in the article. Here is a snippet:







Edit: I think the chemical changes in the brain while on it open it up for psychotherapy to really be accepted by the patient thus they are able to get to the root of the problem mentally instead of just taking drugs to treat depression the rest of their lives.
Click to expand...

Fascinating stuff.
 
#2,617
#2,617
bignewt said:
I have heard of people who "microdose" lsd in their day to day lives and hail its benefits.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't surprise me but doing even a little of that everyday sounds excessive. haha. I have seen some really interesting studies about using LSD and some other similar drugs like mushrooms in a controlled therapy session to treat addiction and alcoholism. The chemical effects on the brain allow the therapy to kind of re-wire the brain and loosen the grip of the chemical addiction.
 
#2,619
#2,619
Ulysees E. McGill said:
Fascinating stuff.
Click to expand...

It really is. It's good that some of the studies are finally being allowed to happen. For decades it has been almost impossible to get approval to study things like this or marijuana. Hopefully some of these findings will allow more extensive studies and some positive can be done.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#2,620
#2,620
Sleegro said:
It really is. It's good that some of the studies are finally being allowed to happen. For decades it has been almost impossible to get approval to study things like this or marijuana. Hopefully some of these findings will allow more extensive studies and some positive can be done.
Click to expand...

I agree.
 
#2,621
#2,621
Darth_Shiveman said:
I’ve never been in a position quite like that, but I’ve had some close family members have to go through arduous, debilitating injuries/surgeries who chose to forego the opioid meds. I’ve got crazy respect for the people who can tough it out. I’d like to think I could do the same, but you’re never sure until you’re in that position.
Click to expand...

She's a tough gal. Too young to be having to have a hip replacement. She's an identical twin and her sister has already had to have her hip replaced too. Evidently it's more common in twins. Something to do with development in the womb. Good thing is when she gets this we're told the pain is gone. Three weeks to go.
 
#2,624
#2,624
Sleegro said:
It explains it really well in the article. Here is a snippet:







Edit: I think the chemical changes in the brain while on it open it up for psychotherapy to really be accepted by the patient thus they are able to get to the root of the problem mentally instead of just taking drugs to treat depression the rest of their lives.
Click to expand...

Theoretically it actually "rewires the brain" as well.



Psychedelic drugs*like*LSD*and ecstasy ingredient*MDMA*have been shown to stimulate the growth of new branches and connections between brain cells which could help address conditions like depression and addiction.

Researchers in California have demonstrated these substances, banned as illicit drugs in many countries, are capable of rewiring parts of the brain in a way that lasts well beyond the drugs' effects.

This means psychedelics could be the "next generation" of treatments for mental health disorders which could be more effective and safer than existing options, the study's authors from the University of California.

In previous studies by the same team, a single dose of DMT, the key ingredient in ayahuasca medicinal brews of Amazonian tribes, has been shown to help rats overcome a fear of electric shock meant to emulate post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Now they have shown this dose increases the number of branch-like dendrites sprouting from nerve cells in the rat's brain.

These dendrites end at synapses where their electrical impulses are passed on to other nerve cells and underpin all brain activity. But they can atrophy and draw back in people with mental health conditions.

“One of the hallmarks of depression is that the neurites in the prefrontal cortex – a key brain region that regulates emotion, mood, and anxiety – those neurites tend to shrivel up,” says Dr David Olson, who lead the research team.

These brain changes also appear in cases of anxiety, addiction, and post-traumatic stress disorder and stimulating them to reconnect could help to address this.

The research, published in the journal*Cell Reports*today, looked at drugs in several classes including tryptamines, DMT and magic mushrooms; amphetamines, including MDMA; and ergolines, like LSD.

In tests on human brain cells in the lab, flies and rats, it found these substances consistently boosted brain connections.

Dr Olson compared the effects to*ketamine, another illicit drug which represents one of the most important new*treatments for depression in a generation,*and found many psychedelics have equal or greater effects.

A*ketamine nasal spray*is being fast-tracked through clinical trials after it was shown to rapidly relieve major depression and suicidal thoughts in people who cannot be helped by other treatments.

However its use has to be weighed against its potential for abuse, and its ability to cause a form of drug-induced psychosis.

“The rapid effects of ketamine on mood and plasticity are truly astounding,” said Dr Olson. “The big question we were trying to answer was whether or not other compounds are capable of doing what ketamine does.”

“People have long assumed that psychedelics are capable of altering neuronal structure, but this is the first study that clearly and unambiguously supports that hypothesis."

The fact that many of these drugs seem to mimic the groundbreaking benefits of ketamine opens up an array of new treatment options, which may be less open to abuse, if these drugs can make it to clinical trials.

Dr Olson said: “Ketamine is no longer our only option. Our work demonstrates that there are a number of distinct chemical scaffolds capable of promoting plasticity like ketamine, providing additional opportunities for medicinal chemists to develop safer and more effective alternatives.”

The news that yet more banned substances could help tackle serious and debilitating disease comes as the UK Home Office is embroiled in a row over*medicinal cannabis in treating epilepsy.

After months seizure-free, 12-year-old Billy Caldwell had a seizure last night after airport customs officials confiscated his prescription from Canada.

Billy had previously had the UK’s only NHS medical cannabis prescription, for an oil which banished seizures that used to*strike 100 times a day,*but the Home Office intervened to block his GP from prescribing it.
Click to expand...



INB4 tldr.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
New posts
Status
Not open for further replies.
Advertisement





Back
Top