Trying to solder something

mtrycrafts

mtrycrafts

Seriously, I have no life.
All I can say is:

Everyone who blocks reasonable drug prices needs to experience the need for them, after their insurance has been canceled.
But they are never affected by lack of insurance or whatever. ;)
 
Squishman

Squishman

Audioholic General
I'll give you guys an update on my RA attacks soon. It's been about 15 days of grounding so far. I want to give it some more time before I give an update.
 
Squishman

Squishman

Audioholic General
@highfigh, I am not using an outlet ground pin. Also, I have clamped the copper wire to the copper ground stake. No longer trying or needing to solder it.
 
Swerd

Swerd

Audioholic Warlord
All I can say is: Everyone who blocks reasonable drug prices needs to experience the need for them, after their insurance has been canceled.
That's not nearly enough. I guess my previous rant hasn't quite finished. [RESUME PREVIOUS RANT]

In December 2003, George W Bush signed the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 into law. At the time, it was touted as a major improvement in how Medicare would pay for prescription drugs. Policymakers concluded that participation in the new program should be voluntary, with Medicare beneficiaries and taxpayers sharing the costs. However, they ignored lessons from the past about the need to match expanded benefits with adequate mechanisms for cost containment.

How pharmaceutical manufacturers helped shape the Medicare drug benefit was, in part, a calculated decision by a lucrative industry to throw its financial weight behind one political party -- with $50 million in campaign contributions over the previous four years – the vast majority to Republicans. In a mostly unseen campaign, a small army of lobbyists in Washington and a network of industry-financed groups carried the drug makers' message to the public.

The industry had a single goal: to defeat any legislation that would let Medicare negotiate steep discounts on the prices of medicines for its 40 million beneficiaries. The big pharma industry executives wanted a prescription drug benefit, that would be administered by the private sector, where insurance companies would negotiate on their own, without Medicare's influence. After Bush signed it into law, taxpayers would spend some $400 billion over the next 10 years on the drug makers' products, while banning government officials from even seeking volume discounts.

"The drug lobby has just emasculated Congress with tons of money," said Representative Pete Stark of California, the senior Democrat on the health subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee, whose GOP leaders wrote the House Medicare bill. ''They bought themselves a deal.'' Those GOP committee members who actually wrote the bill only copied language provided to them by the Big Pharma lobbyists. Several of those congressman were later rewarded with high paying jobs in Big Pharma.

Republicans claimed that their legislation would lead to discounts in the future, but it never did.

More recently, in March 2024, Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act which included a partial repeal of some of the worst features of Bush's 2003 act. But it only partially addresses the extremely high prescription drug costs. Big Pharma fought it all the way.
 
Last edited:
mtrycrafts

mtrycrafts

Seriously, I have no life.
....

Republicans claimed that their legislation would lead to discounts in the future, but it never did.

More recently, in March 2024, Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act which included a partial repeal of some of the worst features of Bush's 2003 act. But it only partially addresses the extremely high prescription drug costs. Big Pharma fought it all the way.
In the future. How right they are except it never comes, same as tomorrow.

Who would have guessed that big pharma would do such a thing.
;) :D :D :D
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
That's not nearly enough. I guess my previous rant hasn't quite finished. [RESUME PREVIOUS RANT]

In December 2003, George W Bush signed the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 into law. At the time, it was touted as a major improvement in how Medicare would pay for prescription drugs. Policymakers concluded that participation in the new program should be voluntary, with Medicare beneficiaries and taxpayers sharing the costs. However, they ignored lessons from the past about the need to match expanded benefits with adequate mechanisms for cost containment.

How pharmaceutical manufacturers helped shape the Medicare drug benefit was, in part, a calculated decision by a lucrative industry to throw its financial weight behind one political party -- with $50 million in campaign contributions over the previous four years – the vast majority to Republicans. In a mostly unseen campaign, a small army of lobbyists in Washington and a network of industry-financed groups carried the drug makers' message to the public.

The industry had a single goal: to defeat any legislation that would let Medicare negotiate steep discounts on the prices of medicines for its 40 million beneficiaries. The big pharma industry executives wanted a prescription drug benefit, that would be administered by the private sector, where insurance companies would negotiate on their own, without Medicare's influence. After Bush signed it into law, taxpayers would spend some $400 billion over the next 10 years on the drug makers' products, while banning government officials from even seeking volume discounts.

"The drug lobby has just emasculated Congress with tons of money," said Representative Pete Stark of California, the senior Democrat on the health subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee, whose GOP leaders wrote the House Medicare bill. ''They bought themselves a deal.'' Those GOP committee members who actually wrote the bill only copied language provided to them by the Big Pharma lobbyists. Several of those congressman were later rewarded with high paying jobs in Big Pharma.

Republicans claimed that their legislation would lead to discounts in the future, but it never did.

More recently, in March 2024, Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act which included a partial repeal of some of the worst features of Bush's 2003 act. But it only partially addresses the extremely high prescription drug costs. Big Pharma fought it all the way.
They got that from a measly $50 mil? I'd have thought it would cost more.

OK, let's add "...and ground into a fine paste" to 'be required to suffer'.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
I mean you presume to know a lot about my situation.
Did you know he was a DR before he retired? He can probably make a lot of educated comments about possible characteristics for your case. Let him help, if he can. You're grasping at straws with this idea of grounding yourself, as it is.

If you want to go a step further, look at what a Faraday Cage does.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
@highfigh, I am not using an outlet ground pin. Also, I have clamped the copper wire to the copper ground stake. No longer trying or needing to solder it.
Why not use the pin, since it's connected to the earth ground?

BTW- using a separate ground wire runs the risk of current passing through you if you touch an electrically grounded piece of equipment. That only requires resistance between your ground and the electrical ground in the house.
 
Squishman

Squishman

Audioholic General
I'll be giving an update on my RA situation since grounding more than 3 weeks ago. I'll do that probably next week. Thunderstorms are in the offing tonight, so I won't be using it tonight. I appreciate @TLS Guy mentioning about that!
 
Squishman

Squishman

Audioholic General
It's been 29 days since I started grounding and I wanted to give an update. Previous situation was intermittent attacks (I call them attacks, because that is accurate as my immune system is confused and attacks my own body, usually joints. Most folks call them flares). Regular attacks would last for an average of 3 days. Sometimes I couldn't chew, turn a door knob, brush my teeth, etc. It would suck if wanted to ride my motorcycle, but I couldn't squeeze the clutch or turn the throttle. I have worked in pain a lot. The only times I would call in sick was if I could not walk or if a shoulder was in serious pain where I couldn't put on my seat belt, etc. I actually bought a walker about 5 years ago. Fortunately, I've only needed that about 4 times. I take prednisone for attacks that are very painful or if at night I am concerned about being able to go to work in the morning. That was around 2-4 times a week only as needed for attacks. There is also the daily sort of fleeting pains in knuckles, wrists, etc. that come and go in a matter of hours that don't measure up to being an attack (my description).

So far, I have had only one attack and that was around 20 days ago. Also very, very few of the fleeting pains. Those are less and less everyday. The single attack was in the middle finger knuckle of my left hand and did last more than one day. It kept me off of my bike for one or two days. That was the ONLY prednisone I have taken since grounding.

I did not know what to expect, but I was hoping it was going to help. Glad I didn’t ask you guys first!! Ha.

I haven’t changed my diet or my meds at all. Well, two of my meds. The pred is only “as needed” according to the prescription from my doctor. I am wondering if there will be changes in my lab results in the coming months. In the meantime, of course I am staying on the prescription protocol he has me on.

Blood pressure is also better.
 
Squishman

Squishman

Audioholic General
So even now better even since the previous post. Zero RA attacks and much less of the little aggravations that don't rise up to an attack. It'll be interesting to see if the labs will be better. About six weeks ago I saw a video about grounding and how it has an effect on the blood. This is why I thought I'd try it. I do not recall what video it was, but here is a very short one. The one I saw, it was a doctor who did a before and two hours after of her own blood. She pointed out the movement of the blood cells and the walls of the cells were also I think more firm or something to that effect.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
That's not nearly enough. I guess my previous rant hasn't quite finished. [RESUME PREVIOUS RANT]

In December 2003, George W Bush signed the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 into law. At the time, it was touted as a major improvement in how Medicare would pay for prescription drugs. Policymakers concluded that participation in the new program should be voluntary, with Medicare beneficiaries and taxpayers sharing the costs. However, they ignored lessons from the past about the need to match expanded benefits with adequate mechanisms for cost containment.

How pharmaceutical manufacturers helped shape the Medicare drug benefit was, in part, a calculated decision by a lucrative industry to throw its financial weight behind one political party -- with $50 million in campaign contributions over the previous four years – the vast majority to Republicans. In a mostly unseen campaign, a small army of lobbyists in Washington and a network of industry-financed groups carried the drug makers' message to the public.

The industry had a single goal: to defeat any legislation that would let Medicare negotiate steep discounts on the prices of medicines for its 40 million beneficiaries. The big pharma industry executives wanted a prescription drug benefit, that would be administered by the private sector, where insurance companies would negotiate on their own, without Medicare's influence. After Bush signed it into law, taxpayers would spend some $400 billion over the next 10 years on the drug makers' products, while banning government officials from even seeking volume discounts.

"The drug lobby has just emasculated Congress with tons of money," said Representative Pete Stark of California, the senior Democrat on the health subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee, whose GOP leaders wrote the House Medicare bill. ''They bought themselves a deal.'' Those GOP committee members who actually wrote the bill only copied language provided to them by the Big Pharma lobbyists. Several of those congressman were later rewarded with high paying jobs in Big Pharma.

Republicans claimed that their legislation would lead to discounts in the future, but it never did.

More recently, in March 2024, Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act which included a partial repeal of some of the worst features of Bush's 2003 act. But it only partially addresses the extremely high prescription drug costs. Big Pharma fought it all the way.
I find it interesting that Obama didn't repeal the law and, in quite a surprise move, Biden did this just before an election.

Lobbying needs to end. Congress shouldn't be for sale or rent. I don't give a rat's ass if former member of Congress get high paying jobs AFTER they're out of office, but the influence-peddling needs to effing end.

At least Part D is available to Medicare recipients.....
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
It's been 29 days since I started grounding and I wanted to give an update. Previous situation was intermittent attacks (I call them attacks, because that is accurate as my immune system is confused and attacks my own body, usually joints. Most folks call them flares). Regular attacks would last for an average of 3 days. Sometimes I couldn't chew, turn a door knob, brush my teeth, etc. It would suck if wanted to ride my motorcycle, but I couldn't squeeze the clutch or turn the throttle. I have worked in pain a lot. The only times I would call in sick was if I could not walk or if a shoulder was in serious pain where I couldn't put on my seat belt, etc. I actually bought a walker about 5 years ago. Fortunately, I've only needed that about 4 times. I take prednisone for attacks that are very painful or if at night I am concerned about being able to go to work in the morning. That was around 2-4 times a week only as needed for attacks. There is also the daily sort of fleeting pains in knuckles, wrists, etc. that come and go in a matter of hours that don't measure up to being an attack (my description).

So far, I have had only one attack and that was around 20 days ago. Also very, very few of the fleeting pains. Those are less and less everyday. The single attack was in the middle finger knuckle of my left hand and did last more than one day. It kept me off of my bike for one or two days. That was the ONLY prednisone I have taken since grounding.

I did not know what to expect, but I was hoping it was going to help. Glad I didn’t ask you guys first!! Ha.

I haven’t changed my diet or my meds at all. Well, two of my meds. The pred is only “as needed” according to the prescription from my doctor. I am wondering if there will be changes in my lab results in the coming months. In the meantime, of course I am staying on the prescription protocol he has me on.

Blood pressure is also better.
Is your RA a reaction to your diet?
 
Squishman

Squishman

Audioholic General
Is your RA a reaction to your diet?
I could never really nail that down. Early on, over 12 years ago, I had an attack in my jaw. Those are terrible. Hurts to swallow, to talk and to eat. So I would eat chocolate and let it melt, just to keep energy while doing my medical route. Anyway, the pain got worse and worse. So I thought chocolate was the culprit. Then for a while I thought it was the buns in Arby's. Among other things, but as far as a possible trigger. This year, I determined that it was intestinal-related. I think that was correct actually. Until grounding, that is. I have never been super disciplined in my diet. Although I am down 75 lbs in the last 15 years. So I obviously am doing something right in that respect. But at the moment and for the last six weeks, I have not changed jack. Not in my diet, exercise or meds. Except for far, far less prednisone, because that is prescribed "as needed" and I have not needed it much at all lately.
Thanks for asking @highfigh. Great question actually.
 
Squishman

Squishman

Audioholic General
I've had the same RA doctor since the beginning of this nightmare. He told me early on that it is not nutrition-related. I didn't necessarily agree, but he is the expert. I should ask him next time if his opinion has changed since then.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
I could never really nail that down. Early on, over 12 years ago, I had an attack in my jaw. Those are terrible. Hurts to swallow, to talk and to eat. So I would eat chocolate and let it melt, just to keep energy while doing my medical route. Anyway, the pain got worse and worse. So I thought chocolate was the culprit. Then for a while I thought it was the buns in Arby's. Among other things, but as far as a possible trigger. This year, I determined that it was intestinal-related. I think that was correct actually. Until grounding, that is. I have never been super disciplined in my diet. Although I am down 75 lbs in the last 15 years. So I obviously am doing something right in that respect. But at the moment and for the last six weeks, I have not changed jack. Not in my diet, exercise or meds. Except for far, far less prednisone, because that is prescribed "as needed" and I have not needed it much at all lately.
Thanks for asking @highfigh. Great question actually.
I had an uncle who was bedridden with RA from the time he was in his middle-30s and unfortunately, he was also one of the first to receive Cortisone in what were clearly the wrong doses. KIlled his kidneys, didn't stop the RA and if you have seen a John Wayne movie called 'The Shootist', the undertaker (John Carradine) had terrible RA, which can be seen in his hands- fingers were bent sharply to the outside of his hand, very little movement. I have read about various illnesses and know that some foods are known to be inflammatory, triggering RA, Gout and many other illnesses.

I think we all eat foods that make us feel better or worse, high energy or low, etc. I might create a food diary if I had a problem like this.
 
Squishman

Squishman

Audioholic General
I think it's interesting that some folks in this thread who were skeptical (or worse to the point of ridicule for some) about my trying grounding to alleviate pain haven't commented about the success I am having. STILL NO PAIN ladies and germs.
edit: or at least none, zero pain in the last week or ten days. Getting better all the time. Even the fleeting-type pain never happens much and when it does, it might be like a minute, then it's gone.
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
I think it's interesting that some folks in this thread who were skeptical (or worse to the point of ridicule for some) about my trying grounding to alleviate pain haven't commented about the success I am having. STILL NO PAIN ladies and germs.
edit: or at least none, zero pain in the last week or ten days. Getting better all the time. Even the fleeting-type pain never happens much and when it does, it might be like a minute, then it's gone.
That does not prove cause and effect and is far more likely than not placebo effect. To prove effect would require a double blind controlled trial.

SWERD can tell you more as he was a senior statistician at the NIH with a lot of experience in trials. Your statements have zero medical or scientific credibility.
 
Squishman

Squishman

Audioholic General
That does not prove cause and effect and is far more likely than not placebo effect. To prove effect would require a double blind controlled trial.

SWERD can tell you more as he was a senior statistician at the NIH with a lot of experience in trials. Your statements have zero medical or scientific credibility.
I never said anything about proof or anything of the sort. Labs might tell a different story in a couple months. Why would I quit now? This is by far the longest ever stretch of no attacks for me.
 
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