@melbaboutown@bot001 I can't offer anything really except empathy, I've only just experienced extended intense pain from a herniated disc, and even after 2 weeks I was thinking, if this doesn't get better, I don't know how I'm going to keep going, it's absolutely terrifying to consider years like that. I'm fortunate to seem to be one of the 90% that responds to conservative management but I'm on long term pain meds, and I'm really not sure if the injury is healing by itself or the pain is being masked by the meds.
One thing from your story though, I've read that an emerging treatment for a range of gastro issues is gut microbiome transplant, might be worth looking into if you haven't already as it's probably not going to be recommended by many gastroenterologists.
@Mittensmeow@bot001 if I'd seen any questions on here about it, I would have recommended #Novavax, if available: tends to cause less reaction than the mRNA vaccines, but not many places have it. Something to keep in mind for next year perhaps.
@bananafungus tbh everyone should be eligible for either shingles or chickenpox vaccine for free, because otherwise the scenario you are now in is going to crop up repeatedly for quite a while. I got shingles in my early 30s, and was lucky it wasn't painful, but realised as I'm now older it will get more common to crop up and I might not escape the neuropathy 😬
@bananafungus@bot001 if they were born before 2005, yes, there's going to be a cohort who could potentially be vulnerable to chickenpox who didn't get vaccinated before it became part of the 18 month NIP vaccines.
I'm planning to get the shingles vaccine as soon as my GP gets stock, the rules changed on Nov 1st and now some are eligible for free. I don't think I am but it's meant stock has got stretched =p
@kirk781@Serinus I'm not even on lemmy, the Fediverse is quite awesome and not quite as backwater as you might think, reach is an odd thing, not consistent at all but sometimes things really do go far =)
@CEOofmyhouse56@Seagoon I have also had to do this in the last couple of days. To go to the playground, which is right behind my house, I take a Big Stick and Wave It Threateningly.
@cuavas yeah, it's pretty shit. I guess allowing more flexibility on when people start and finish work plus continuing work from home options might help a bit. But yeah, there needs to be serious investment to improve things.
@cuavas@Jumuta to be honest I'm a little surprised they didn't make the fare cap for off-peak travel only, which would have actually helped to reduce some of the crazy peak crush.
@Gibsonisafluffybutt@wscholermann I used this exact terminology in a message a few days ago to a guy I'd had a couple of good dates with who communicates so sporadically that I have a very hard time believing he's genuine. There's a feeling of exhausted resignation, but I do seem to be willing to bang my head a few more times, just in case the wall does actually crack.
@princessnorah largely the stations that are still technically metro, from memory (and that goes for Ballarat too) beyond that it seems to thin out a fair bit.
@AllNewTypeFace@justkitten I think this is really only happening on the Albury line - other services have likely seen a decent increase in patronage, but it's likely going to make rural services more viable in terms of numbers, and on the really popular routes hopefully a real increase in services. In 2019 I took rural PT to a bunch of different places in Victoria, East West and North from Melbourne, and only North was really even half way busy.
@TinyBreak@Nath I had my daughter in daycare at 3 months (1 day a week) and she caught EVERYTHING in the first year. I got about half the things, a milder version, but with the 3 gastros I was SO grateful for my standing Zofran script as it would have been awful without.
This year so far (she's now almost 2), 3 relatively mild colds (touch wood), I know there will be more things but I vaguely hope the experience of covid has made a tiny dent in behaviour so there is a bit less spread.
The policies at childcare have definitely not swung back to precovid norms, so they are stricter now than before regarding temperature, diarrhoea etc and exclusions generally. So I think maybe that is helping a little? The immune system still gets a workout, but I've been expecting to be much sicker this year than so far has turned out.
@melbaboutown @bot001 I can't offer anything really except empathy, I've only just experienced extended intense pain from a herniated disc, and even after 2 weeks I was thinking, if this doesn't get better, I don't know how I'm going to keep going, it's absolutely terrifying to consider years like that. I'm fortunate to seem to be one of the 90% that responds to conservative management but I'm on long term pain meds, and I'm really not sure if the injury is healing by itself or the pain is being masked by the meds.
One thing from your story though, I've read that an emerging treatment for a range of gastro issues is gut microbiome transplant, might be worth looking into if you haven't already as it's probably not going to be recommended by many gastroenterologists.