Day: 04/01/2015

Chronic Fatigue In-Depth Report by NY Times (2008)

http://www.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/chronic-fatigue-syndrome/print.html

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), sometimes called immune dysfunction syndrome or myalgic encephalomyelitis (in Europe), is not a new disorder. In the 19th century the term neurasthenia, or nervous exhaustion, was applied to symptoms resembling CFS. In the 1930s through the 1950s, outbreaks of disease marked by prolonged fatigue were reported in the United States and many other countries. Beginning in the early- to mid-1980s, interest in chronic fatigue syndrome was revived by reports in America and other countries of various outbreaks of long-term debilitating fatigue….

Fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia causes prolonged fatigue and widespread muscle aches. It is the disease most often confused with CFS. The two conditions also commonly appear together. In fact, many experts believe fibromyalgia is simply another variant of chronic fatigue syndrome or they are different manifestations of the same disease. CFS patients experience severe fatigue, whereas fibromyalgia patients experience more pain. One hypothesis is that the connection between the two conditions may be found in central sensitization, which is thought to cause fibromyalgia and may also cause CFS…

Brainy quotes by “Pink”

You can’t move mountains by whispering at them.

Beautiful has never been my goal.

I’ve always felt like the underdog, and I’m comfortable with that label.

I’m such a control freak, and it’s very hard for me to lose my inhibitions without something chemical inside me.

I’m kind of psychotic and I like to talk about things. I’m a Virgo, too, so I like to analyze and overprocess.

A lot of people have problems with public confrontation, but it doesn’t worry me at all. I can handle myself. I know my martial arts.

(Photo taken 9/27/2014.)

Blog Awards

http://livelovelaughdotme2.com/2015/04/01/and-the-nominees-are/

I appreciate those who have nominated me for a blog award, really I do.  And it’s not like I couldn’t use something to make me more popular on WordPress… you know, if popularity was one of the main goals of this website, and if I thought there was a chance this blog could actually become popular. 😀 However…

Thumbup nominated me, and although I’m not accepting the award or answering the questions that came along with it, I do want to respond in some way.  Since Thumbup said she loves trees, I’ve been searching my photos for a tree that would fit her humorous personality.  For the last hour I’ve been searching and searching… Do you know how hard it is to find a tree that matches someone’s personality?  Well, I couldn’t do it.  Instead…

The “featured image” for this post is the entrance to a special place I found in my wanderings.  In Los Ranchos, a small suburb of Albuquerque, they have a grower’s market.  When I had money, I used to go almost every weekend.  And down a side road on the way to the market, I found this beautiful little place.  I call it the Pink Flower Garden because of the flowers that grow there (including underneath a tree) — a hint of which you can see at the bottom of this photo.  You will be able to see the actual Pink Flower Garden, underneath the tree, in the next photo I post.

So, this is for Thumbup (and Buddha9), for making me laugh, even when I didn’t feel like it. Gracias. 🙂

(Photo taken 10/4/2014.)

THC and THCA

http://hightimes.com/read/lab-testing-debunked-thca-vs-thc

The subject of this issue is Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA), which occurs naturally in the plant. THCA needs to be heated so it changes into THC, the active form that gets you high. All cannabinoids occur naturally in their acid forms, that’s just how their enzymes make them. The difference between THCA and THC is a carboxy group. Upon smoking, cooking or vaping heat gets rid of the carboxy so THCA gives off CO2, loosing about 12 percent of its weight in the process.

Why does this matter for lab testing? Because THCA is heavier than THC, and lab results are given in mass percent.

The root of the confusion is the fact that different lab techniques give inherently different potency values. Depending on the lab, the analysis machine might use one of two separation methods: gas chromatography (GC) or liquid chromatography (LC).

GC uses temperatures high enough to completely decarboxylate all the cannabinoids in the mixture. This means GC does the decarboxylation for you, giving you only one reading for THC.

This makes GC useless for testing edibles because you need to be able to tell the difference between inactive THCA and active THC…

Stuff like this is confusing to me, and I don’t pretend to understand it all.  There’s a New Mexican dispensary that combines both THC and THCA results in one listed percentage, which if I understand it correctly, is not how to determine the THC value in bud.  And yet, New Mexicann is the only dispensary to carry the Americans for Safe Access PFC label, which makes it even more confusing.  For more info:

https://painkills2.wordpress.com/2015/01/05/americans-for-safe-access/

https://painkills2.wordpress.com/2014/12/08/my-review-for-new-mexicann-3262014/

City Official Calls Vietnam Vet an ‘Enemy’ for Supporting Medical Marijuana

http://hightimes.com/read/city-official-calls-vietnam-vet-enemy-supporting-medical-marijuana

“Well, then you’re violating the law, and I have no respect for you,” Montgomery said. “I have no respect for someone who would try to claim that you served this country and took an oath to uphold the Constitution and protect against all enemies foreign and domestic—because you’re an enemy.”

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Veterans-for-Dr-Sue-Sisley-MD-PTSD-Research/1505069203040517

“Do you live near Scottsdale, Arizona? MAPS is looking for a commercially zoned property in Scottsdale to house a clinical trial site for MAPS’ upcoming study of marijuana for PTSD. If you own or know of a rental space, please contact rebecca@mapsbcorp.com” Rick Doblin

Facebook Drug Task Force

http://nationalreport.net/facebook-drug-task-force/

The FDTF [Facebook Drug Task Force] will be working directly with the Drug Enforcement Agency and local law enforcement agencies. We’re gonna put away the bad guys.” Zuckerberg continued, “Online crime has risen to all-time highs. As the world’s number one social networking site I feel it is our job to protect our users from such deadly things as drugs.

Paul Horner, spokesman for the DEA, told reporters he is excited to see Facebook going forward with their decision to implement a drug task force. “I’m thrilled,” Horner said. “We’re going to get all the drug pushers and dope addicts off Facebook once and for all. The marijuana junkies think they can socialize on the line with their fellow druggies, well, not on my watch. We’re gonna read their messages, we’re gonna build cases against them, and we’re gonna put em’ all in prison. It’s going to be beautiful.”

(Looks like the DEA shut down the first link…)

http://www.snopes.com/media/notnews/drugtaskforce.asp

The Science Of Spontaneous Healing

https://makingsenseofcrazy.wordpress.com/2015/03/31/the-science-of-spontaneous-healing/

Five types of cancer, renal cell carcinoma, leukemia and lymphoma, neuroblastoma, carcinoma of breast and melanoma, are relatively prone to seemingly causeless remission…

There are some studies that suggest spontaneous remission and regression happen more often than the literature suggests. Existing surveys acknowledge that there are probably a lot of cases out there that haven’t been reported because the physician assumed misdiagnosis, didn’t want to write the case up, or because the patient felt better and stopped treatment…

How A Message Written On The Back Of Her Car Led This Woman To Find Her Kidney Donor

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/31/woman-finds-kidney-donor-message-written-car_n_6980276.html

Christine Royles of South Portland, Maine, was diagnosed with lupus in December 2013, the Portland Press Herald reported, and shortly after learned her kidneys were failing. After enrolling on the 100,000-patient long list in need of a transplant, Royles began writing messages on the back of her car, asking for donors with the right blood type…

Currently, Royles works shifts at Applebee’s, only to come home and hook up to a dialysis machine for 10 hours. After the transplant surgery, she hopes to have a very different schedule and life.

The surgery is scheduled for May. Because she knows it will put Josh, a corrections officer, out of work for recovery, Royles is organizing a pancake breakfast to raise money for the Dall-Leightons and their three kids. A GoFundMe has also been set up to benefit the family of five.

“It’s really amazing because he has three kids, he’s the sole provider,” Ashley told Today.com of her husband. “He’s got a young family and he’s just going to take time off to do something for a random person — I think it’s pretty crazy.”

Professor Received A Bunch Of Threatening Emails After Fox News Segment

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/31/fox-news-email-threats_n_6979894.html

The Arizona State University professor vilified in a Fox News segment in January for teaching a course called “U.S. Race Theory and the Problem of Whiteness” received dozens of hateful and threatening emails after the report, according to The Arizona Republic.

The emails, some of which urged professor Lee Bebout to commit suicide, were prompted by a segment of Fox and Friends in which co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck called the courses “quite unfair and wrong,” as the words “Trouble with Schools” flashed on the screen.

“I look forward to your suicide,” reads one of some 70 emails received by Bebout following the segment, according to the Republic. Another said “I’d enjoy seeing you swing from a light pole.” “Maybe just kill yourself and get it over with,” said a third…

Wow, Fox News viewers are really classy, aren’t they?