Ah, that’s just it, though; you don’t actually need to explain or justify anything.
Your comment simply came off as a bit lacking in self-awareness, which is why it earned the response that it did.
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I was asked to explain, so I did.
Not by me.
We’re way off topic now, so it’s probably best to just move on; not to mention it’s finally time to go home.
Cheers.
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Back on topic: Joe Biden continues to be a tone-deaf idiot.
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Poorly phrased, but essentially accurate. A part of how we got here, quite aside from the pharma drug pushing, which is a shitstorm in and of itself, is an attitude that has been put forth from medical professionals for quite a while that “pain is the enemy and should be utterly defeated.” That is just not realistic or even desirable, even before you start to factor in the addictive potential of opioids. Comfort has come to mean a pain score of 0. I don’t think I have had a 0 score in decades, if then. I would describe myself as “comfortable.” Should pain be treated, controlled and managed? Absolutely. But there is a rapid point of diminishing returns that we need to be aware of. Getting from 9 or 10 to a 5 is a huge improvement, and quality of life improves greatly. Getting from a 3 to a 0 is probably not, and the side effects of the meds can quickly become the limit on quality of life moreso than the pain. The scale is subjective, and that is by design, since my “meh” could by your agony, but we need to get past the pills for every ill mentality.
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It also helps if you know your pains. I get excruciating headaches (eye is in the head) that feel like someone stabbed a knife in my eye. But they never last more than five minutes. It’s brutal, but meds would be useless, because the pain is over long before any pill would take effect.
In comparison, my sciatica hurts less¹, but you better believe that I am taking something, because it’ll last for days. Pain is exhausting.
But it’s pretty tone-deaf to refer to what many people with acute, chronic and or returning pain suffer as “a little pain”.
¹Still seriously fucking hurts mind you.
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I have found that knowing what the pain is helps me a lot.
The last kidney stone and it was a 5mm stone so it fucking hurt when it got stuck on the way to the bladder wasn’t as bad that time around as I was all oh yeah I know what that is well what can I distract myself with. Also I have found that the Vicodin does bugger all for me and I still hurt so that option is useless anyway.
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There’s also the point that the pharma industry are quite keen to frame the opioid epidemic as the consequence of individual character flaws amongst patients rather than systemic malpractice by themselves.
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I disagree. Joe Biden has gotten away by barely skimming any topic and being vague enough to never killed called on it much. He is always saying “poorly phrased, but essentially accurate” things, and we need to stop laying our thoughts and feelings on top of that assuming meaning.
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It worked for pollution, Climate Change, etc. and it seems to be working here too. Individual action will never be the biggest source or biggest solution to these problems.
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Oh, we agree on that. IMHO, Biden’s time has passed if it ever was. His “funny grampa” act has worn pretty damn thin.
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Whatever you think of his policy positions, you have to applaud his choice of foes.
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Ugh! Congrats on getting past that. Or on passing it, whatever the case may be.
Was it because of dehydration?
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I have been thinking about this, and I guess how I see “we” is “as a whole”.
The bad guy here is a system that convinces us that there is a pill for everything. I have had doctors pre-emptively offer to write me a prescription for antibiotics, seconds after diagnosing me with the flu. A less-informed patient might say “yes” because the doctor is supposed to know. I have no doubt that some pharmaceutical company is trying to figure out a way to sell me a pill or a spray for my < 5 minute headaches.
And it’s precisely because that pharma company won’t stop that we – as a whole – need to keep an eye on them.
We need to start taking pain seriously. We need to stop treating addiction like a moral failure, and we need to stop taking drugs for things we don’t have (why, yes, I think if you take a drug because you have become addicted, you have a reason).
Living in a country where pharmaceutical advertising has been heavily restricted (I think less so, now, but still tamped down) I forget how insidious it is in the States, and how it’s designed to make you think you are sick so you will “ask your doctor if Designer Pill X is right for you”.
You’re absolutely right. And the tweet is right about excuses. I just see unmanaged addiction as a societal and systemic failure, not a moral one. I sometimes forget the other framing.
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You most likely will from what I have learned. Also it could be a whole bunch of distinct things causing the stone rather than just dehydration.
Honestly the last two I passed the secondary pain (lets just say I could get a prince albert without blinking now) and having to go pee all the time was was more annoying than the pain of the stone getting stuck in the ureter.
That much I definitely agree with her on. Do not cross picket lines.
Hell, I have had to add an entire set of stores to my list of “do not shop at” because the parent company deliberately closed the former (unionised) brand to convert to a new one with no union and no contract. UFCW may not be the most fantastic union in the world, but companies are actively trying to break them. Even not so great union deals usually mean a) regular wage increases, b) seniority distribution of hours instead of managers picking favourites and c) you can’t be fired just because the manager doesn’t like your face. Unions are good, even when they’re terrible (note: I was a UFCW member for many years).
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I don’t agree with Gravel on this, but I always love his imagery.
One of the values of criticism now? It means time to deal with or mitigate the damage and potential damage before the general. Finding flaws ≠ kicking someone to the curb. Blind worship is far more disturbing IMO.
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Well, that went well…
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