/sci/ - Science & Math

>>15494022
Most standard/rapid 'dip tests' are fairly garbage.

Certain people have variations in the function of various metabolic pathways in the liver - some are 'rapid metabolizers' of certain things; some are 'non-metabolizers' and everything in between.

If you truly wanted to know what was going on - you'd have a urine drug test that wasn't just a dip-test and was sent out to a fancy lab that does the breakdown of all the specific molecules - ie instead of just saying 'opioid' or just saying 'benzo' it tests for each specific one and specific metabolites

That, combined with a 1 time test to determine whether you have any specific metabolism abnormalities with how your liver is handling things - would be the best way for you to get the clearest answers which you seek.

If tests continue to be negative despite taking the meds & having no explanation for why they shouldn't be in the system - then consider pissing away money to get your pills tested to make sure some addict working at the pharmacy isn't somehow swapping them out (or idiot at pharmacy giving you wrong pills) - obviously, each of these scenarios is very unlikely if this is something that has occurred over multiple years.

Main point - basic urine dip tests are often crappy and unreliable; too many false positives and false negatives - I generally avoid making clinical decisions off of them and instead we send all samples out for advanced processing. Conflicting results are disgustingly/disturbingly common.

>>15368549
haha, impressively ergonomic. I'm intrigued.

>>15330964
because exercise doesn't come in pill form. ...yet. There are too many different pathways/mechanisms involved to easily address with 'just a pill'

If you don't exercise, you are building up/not properly utilizing hormones/neurotransmitters and such - and this is often part of why you feel anxious/restless/stressed...

because... you are not running around with a spear to kill a deer for dinner - or doing something else, expending more time/calories while OUTDOORS to acquire less calorie-dense foods... instead...

You are spending your life inside, probably most of your days spent in front of a glowing rectangle in a cubicle or cubicle shaped room... and putting quarters in a vending machine that doesn't run away from you... to instantly get 2,000 calories of high fructose corn syrup - only to then go consume said sugar & fat sticks while sitting down again.

I hate exercise as much as the next lazy fuck on here, but really, if you haven't tried some form of routine exercise to see how it helps you... I strongly encourage it. Even if you are just taking brisk walks in the morning or something.

>>15330993
Sure this will suppress appetite in the short term but it works by dumping dopamine/norepi (adrenaline) - and excess of these/getting excesses of these *at the wrong times/situations* is likely part of the stress problem. People who are stressed/anxious often will get increased anxiety/restlessness when on strong stimulants.

>>15321894
Well, Benzos aren't over the counter... and most ethical prescribers do their best to avoid/minimize use of them when it comes to Rx'ing for anxiety.

That being said, this class of meds has multiple extremely valuable uses outside of treatment of anxiety. We use them all the time as part of sedation regimens for procedures; for people on ventilators; high doses IV for active seizures that can't otherwise be stopped, etc. And when used very sparingly as needed for anxiety, they can safely be used as an extremely effective option that, *when used correctly/rarely* aren't gonna cause withdrawals or addiction issues in most people. When you start taking them routinely/taking excessive doses etc, that is when they quickly can become a problem.

Big pharma is evil and all, but I promise you that benzos weren't made with the intent to massively distribute and rake in billions off of addicted masses. Oxycontin on the other hand, as well as a handful of other big dollar opioids, that were AGGRESSIVELY marketed as being 'safe' and 'can't get addicted' ...on top of the associated pharma companies doing adjacent campaigns/lobby efforts to change our hospital policies/medical training to put a focus on 'pain as the 5th vital sign' and shit like that.... definitely a rock solid case to be made there re: being all about profit while knowingly putting people at risk for harm & addiction.

>>15319687
This. Don't mess with benzos, kids. There are better drugs to use that don't come along with the ease of addiction/difficulty of quitting. One of the reasons that benzos become hard to quit so quickly is the rebound anxiety - and so you end up in this cycle of trying to treat the anxiety with more benzos, and just perpetuate the problem. I always caution people about/try to avoid use of drugs that impact 'feedback loops' in your body & can lead to changes in your neurochemistry and such

Also, fuck ambien and similar 'sleep' medications. Stay away from that shit, too.

>>15271711
No, you aren't wrong.

No, you wouldn't want to risk doing something stupid to try to somehow get a sufficient endogenous epi release that would overcome the reaction as the longer you delay treatment with a sufficient dose of epi, the more you're risking more harm/bad outcome - aka death.

There is probably data out there re: how much adrenaline gets released into the blood stream during certain activities, I have no idea what the numbers are - but if you can find the numbers - you can then compare them to how much epi is being injected with an epi pen/how high that puts the serum levels up.

I guess if you ever find yourself in the middle of the wilderness, hours and hours from medical help, and someone deathly allergic to bee stings gets stung and you don't have an epi pen - knock yourself out and try to scare the shit out of them - to save their life... BUT **a key flaw in this theory is**... don't you think they are already gonna be pretty damn scared, since they are expecting to die in the middle of nowhere with you because they didn't bring an epi pen?

FYI, epi pens are super expensive but epinephrine is super cheap - people could just have vials of epi and syringes at home but since most people are dumb/get even more dumb in an emergency, we have to go with overpriced patented auto-injectors.

>>15195903
The sun is constantly changing - it isn't like a box fan that you set to 'speed 2' and get a constant, steady output. It goes through multiple cycles/subcycles, it has stochastic events like flares and CMEs.

It is illogical to NOT consider the sun. Who would win in a fight? All man-made CO2/greenhouse gas emissions.. or.. THE FUCKING SUN. You know, that thing that all the planets orbit around because it is so fucking huge? That thing. The thing that heats our entire planet, you know, that one.

And as the sun's output varies/the energy we receive varies - guess what, the oceans' impact on climate also runs in cycles & has huge lag time, because.. water can store a hell of a lot of energy and it takes a long time for it to give it up. We have a pile of interwoven cycles. Some inputs have a lag-time of 10+ years before you see effects; some are relatively instant.

Man has not been around very long. You can't look at temperature data from the last couple hundred years, hyperfocus on the last 70-80 or so years.. and then conveniently ignore the hundreds of thousands of years of temperature trends prior to that.

Breaking news: The climate has always been changing. We've been lucky to find ourselves in one of the most stable climate periods in the geologic record. You know what will cool down the planet even more than how much you think we warmed it up? Just one massive volcanic eruption that gets sufficient ash high enough up into the stratos - it happens relatively regularly when looking at geologic time scales - several have happened during the time of modern man - they cool the earth. IIRC, there were 2 massive volcanoes that went off around ~600-500 BCE range... they caused something called 'the dark ages.' We are a bit overdue for some big eruptions if you look at the historical data, so calm your ass down.

Pollution is bad. We should reduce emissions. That doesn't mean the greenhouse effect/man is the primary factor in climate change.