Couch 75

I would like to echo what mkic said.

same here stop

Good idea i'll hit walgreens tomorrow thanks

Thinking of you, stopdog.

I'm thinking of you too, Stopdog.

Thanks. We go up and down. She just decided to do an experimental treatment of sorts, so hospice is called off for the immediate future - but we have had to go rushing back to hospital a couple of times because of creepy, frightening and gooey complications arising (and they always arise late at night). It is a months thing, not a years thing (but better than a weeks thing)- so there is the going through the process of the reality of the situation - and having okay days and really bad days. It is awful to be in pain for her and awful to watch her be in a lot of pain and be helpless for me.

I'm sorry Stopdog, this sounds really painful for you both. Thank you for taking the time to let us know. I hope you are looking after yourself too. I'm sorry you are both having to go through this.

Interesting day today, we'll see what tonight brings

Out for the night with a friend of mine, hope all goes well.

Stopdog, it really sux that you and her are going thru this. Life just hurts sometimes, I hate that. For me it's harder to watch H watch me suffer than to actually suffer. Does that make sense? I'll take the pain over seeing him hurting any day. When I was at my worst H read a novel to me. It was hard to read, and hard to concentrate, but just the lull of his voice made me feel okay.

I've had an interesting week, I can't believe it's almost Friday. Time is flying by way too quickly. At least I was able to get some sun on my pineal gland today, maybe I'll sleep tonight.

Stop, I hope the experimental treatment is successful. Sometimes these treatments work better than expected. I am sorry for your pain and hers.

A good night for me so far

Life is one confusing jumbled mess...after another

I hear ya there.

Good morning...

I saw this pic on facebook and it reminded me of therapy.

I was also on facebook this morning and saw something that made me think of many of us on here and our "book issues." There is a solution! All furniture must also double as a book shelf!

I have something important to say and I suspect it will be quite a long rant (that has nothing to do with mental illness etc). I hope that's ok.

So, there's this thing called phage therapy. It's a method were you use bacteriophages (viruses that specifically attack bacteria) to treat bacterial infections instead of using antibiotics. Since antibiotic resistance is an increasing threat to public health (feel free to read this summary of World Health Organization's report on antibiotic resistance: WHO | WHO?s first global report on antibiotic resistance reveals serious, worldwide threat to public health) phage therapy is rather interesting. Right now it's only approved in Russia and Georgia but there is some research going on in western countries as well.

Phage therapy seems to have a lot of advantages in comparison to antibiotics (it's much more specific, it's easier to overcome resistance, doesn't seem to have a lot of side-effects etc) but of course there are some problems as well. Anyway, I've read a lot about it today and I read this earlier: "... Additionally, patent issues (specifically on living organisms) may complicate distribution for pharmaceutical companies wishing to have exclusive rights to their 'invention', making it unlikely that a for-profit corporation will invest capital in the widespread application of this technology."

And:

"Funding for phage therapy research and clinical trials is generally insufficient and difficult to obtain, since it is a lengthy and complex process to patent bacteriophage products."

It's all about money. It doesn't matter if it's pharmaceuticals, what kind of research is being funded or something else. It's all about money. It angers me. Maybe I'm being naive but I don't see how money is more important than treatment. I don't see how money is more important than developing new antibiotics or things we can replace antibiotics with. According to experts we're approaching a "post-antibiotic era" where we, if we keep this up, might not be able to treat diseases caused by bacterial infections that we'd normally treat with antibiotics (pneumonia, tuberculosis, urinary tract infections, sepsis etc) due to the fact that the bacteria will be resistant to the antibiotics available.

During a bacteriology lecture earlier this week our professor told us that in order to avoid the "post-antibiotic era" we'd need to develop about one new antibiotic per year. Well, we're a bit behind since it's been about 30 years since the last antibiotic was developed (excluding the different varieties of already existing antibiotics).

Money. Greed preventing research and new medical breakthroughs saddens me.

Rant over.

It's Friday and I have a lot to do today (like I do on most Fridays).

Must rescue couch from page 2!

Loving the book furniture!

Big hugs to those who are suffering.

Wiki so true and beautifully put.

Stopdog, so sorry you are going through this.

Neut, I found your post very interesting. And you are so right, it is sad that everything is about money

Yeah the couch seems to fall to page 2 now more than ever.

Thanks for writing this. I don't trust pharmaceutical companies, nor do I trust the FDA. I research things, and I have no problem telling my medical providers "no" to certain drugs. It sickens me how we are being used to pad the pockets of big pharma. I hear you, Neutrino, and I'm glad you ranted.

"The love of money is the root of all evil."

Hi neutrino,
Those of us who do this work are not in it for the money, trust me. Drug discovery is a very long, very expensive process. It can take 20 or more years to develop a drug. Start ups are completely reliant on funding until they have their own drug. Most start ups don't make it and most leads (potential drugs) never come to anything.

In defence of the FDA: they did say no to thalidomide.

missing so many people.... Lola how are things since the move? MUE check in if you ever stopby....

Some individuals may not be - but corporations and stockholders certainly are.
I do not trust pharamceutical companies at all.