u/Far_Cardiologist_261

I'm really interested in how long some of your major flare-ups from more severe triggers last, but I'm also interested in all of your flare-up experiences. If you care to comment, I'd like to know what stage you are if that's OK. I'm stage 1 but very close to stage 2, and I'm in a flare-up from a serious potential exposure that'll be five weeks now this Friday. Most of the worst of the sensations are subsiding, but I've felt a new lack of air entering my problem area since basically the beginning. I've grown convinced I actually did some more permanent damage so I'm not handling it very well. I had general anxiety disorder before I got COPD, and that's morphed into pretty severe health anxiety around my lungs and breathing. My mind keeps going round and round about what's really going on. Is it just a temporary flare-up that could last a couple of months or longer coupled with severe anxiety? Or is it just simply severe anxiety? Or, am I actually detecting that I've done new permanent damage while also having severe health anxiety? Since I can’t possibly know the answer to those questions right now, I thought I would just come here and ask you guys about your experiences. I’ve had four major flareups in the last 12 years, and three of them ended up being just temporary issues that felt like real and permanent new damage. The fourth time, it actually did result in a bit of new and permanent damage. Now that I’m in the thick of it all, I don’t know what to think so I would love to hear from as many of you as care to comment.

My pulmonologist listened to my lungs with a stethoscope three weeks ago, and was not concerned about what he heard. He’s wanting to wait until the end of August to discuss next steps so I do have a care plan in place. However, the waiting is killing me so I am Reddit. Hope to hear from you all!

Just posting because I had a killer "talk" with ChatGPT. I upgraded to the $20/month plus subscription. I discussed my entire journey with it, my history, my diagnosis, what happened after that, all my PFTs and doctor's notes, how I'm doing emotionally. It was awesome. Just thought I'd post here about what it can do. I downloaded all my spirometry and PFT reports from MyChart and uploaded them to ChatGPT. I copy and pasted all my doctor's clinical notes from every visit going back to 2021 (the latest I could obtain off of MyChart), and discussed everything related to my condition and my journey. It was fucking awesome.

I know we need to take these things with some caution, and I have so no need to comment about that. I'm no dummy and I've been using Google AI mode for quite some time and ChatGPT now, too. The plus subscription objectively dogs all over Google AI results (those certainly cannot be trusted, FYI). Anyways, I am way more enlightened now that before so I thought I'd share what's possible.

I'm posting for anyone who may search for Meloxicam in the future or anyone needing to hear this now.

I have mild to moderate DDD of the lumbar spine. I've been in all day every day pain for two and a half years with intermittent pain prior to that for a long time. When it started every day, it was a new quality. It felt like how you'd imagine it might feel if the wheel well of your car had settled on the wheel. Whether the wheel moves backward or forward, turns left or right or simply sits still, the wheel well is always against it. That's how I felt. It would be worse in the morning and let up somewhat as the day progressed, but it would never go away.

I've had xrays, a cat scan and an MRI. I made a master diagnosis list from all three and plugged that into ChatGPT. It really helped me decide to start Meloxicam. I learned that the probably source of my constant pain was from proteins leaking out of my deteriorating disks and causing inflammation from my immune response. Since my disks are shrinking prematurely, that process comes with micro tears and lesions where the leakages occurs. I've been putting off taking a drug for over a year because I wanted to exhaust all possibilities of me figuring it out on my own. I finally gave in a month ago.

By day two, I was 90% better, and shortly after that I was 95-100% better and have been for like six weeks now. I'm stoked and hope it continues. At some point, my disks should gristle out and stop leaking proteins, but they'll be thinner then and that probably comes with its own suite of issues, but for now I'm celebrating. I'm out doing yard work again and anything else I want to do. I don't go crazy. I keep it moderated, but I'm pain free. Thought I'd share.

I'm 52 no kids. I hope to retire in three years at 55. I'll have a small-ish pension at 55 that gets a 1.5% COLA at 64 and 2% at 75. I'll also have a fairly decent retirement portfolio that's about half traditional and half Roth. I'd like to die with somewhat close to zero. My family lives to be in the early to mid nineties. I'd love to open up a discussion about how many ways there are to do this that have merit.

What I'm thinking as a possibility: Buy an annuity at age 55 or earlier that doesn't kick in until age 70. If I buy it 15+ years early, it'll be cheaper (but how much cheaper I don't know). So, have that annuity, plus my pension, plus social security paying all my bills from age 70 on. This frees me up to spend down as much of my portfolio as I wish in the 15 years of 55-70. I kind of like that plan, but what else is there? Are there any blind spots I'm missing? Thanks!

Howdy ya'll. I've super tall with DDD in my lumbar spine which means I'm dead in the water for a lot of yard projects I'd love to do myself. I'm looking to bury some downspout drain pipe and dig up some small areas to lay some pavers, nothing huge at all. I had my nephew come out and couldn't believe how little he got done in the time he told me. My wife said to check here if to see if you all my have a suggestion or you yourself do that type of work. I was paying him $20/hour which I can't justify against the productivity. I'm thinking it's just a day or two of part time work.

I didn’t do a very good job seasoning my mineral . I used too much oil even though I thought I wasn’t. I’ve struggled with the seasoning ever since. I want to use a method to strip the inside because I have breathing problems so I’m gonna try the vinegar method. The outside of the pan has a beautiful patina on it so I’m wondering if I can just strip the inside of the pan and only oil the inside prior to heating in the oven again?