|
|
#31
03-29-2005, 07:44 PM
|
|||
|
|||
Re: Help. Girlfriend has botulism.
[ QUOTE ]
could you make a more sensational subject? this one just didn't say to me that she has a problem. [/ QUOTE ] Figured it might pique the interests of the science types around here. Anyway, it might still be true. Hopefully nobody calls me from Puerto Rico. NT 
|
|
#32
03-29-2005, 07:44 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Re: Help. Girlfriend has botulism.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] When you've got the choice between eating or paying for health insurance, you go with the primal needs. [/ QUOTE ] when i paid for non-hmo blue cross/blue shield when i was around 23-24 (a few years ago) it was cheap. like $90/month. [/ QUOTE ] I will be laid off shortly, and the COBRA packet provided by the company lists the individual rates for our decidedly non-snazzy medical coverage ranging from $287.43/mo to $316.17/mo. [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img] A quick perusal of the Blue Cross website shows individual plans ranging from $60/mo to $416/mo. The max OOP and deductible for the $60 plan are, obviously, pretty high, but nonetheless, being medically indigent is decidedly -EV.
|
|
#33
03-29-2005, 07:46 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Re: Help. Girlfriend has botulism.
[ QUOTE ]
Wait until you enter the world outside of school, when your mother can't put you on her insurance. When you've got the choice between eating or paying for health insurance, you go with the primal needs. [/ QUOTE ] If I wasn't on my moms insurance, I would get my own. If I couldn't afford it, I'd work harder so that I could. Also, I am probably spending more money to support myself to live than many people on this board who are single and don't have families, so I don't really know how you can possibly think it would be different once I graduated. It is completely inexcusable and stupid to not have health insurance. I don't know how anyone can possibly even think differently.
|
|
#37
03-29-2005, 09:52 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Re: Help. Girlfriend has botulism.
Just as I suspected, a middle class college kid who can't understand the choices that poor people make. Maybe some day you'll meet a poor person and you can ask them why they don't have insurance.
KJS
|
|
#38
03-30-2005, 12:30 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Re: Help. Girlfriend has botulism.
Obviously this is an internet forum, and it would be incredibly foolish to dispense medical advice in absence of any sort of examination. I would never be so foolish, so the rest of this post surely can't be medical advice. Woohoo.
This is probably too late to be of any assistance to you. Sorry bout that. Your girlfriend is unlikely to have botulism. Here are some details. Botulism results from ingestion of a neurotoxin produced by a bacterium called Clostridium botulinum. Spores from this bacterium can float in the air. Eating spores will not harm your healthy adult girlfriend. If you are dating a 3 month old, then you may have a problem. (Well, you definitely have a problem, but it is outside the scope of this message.) The spores can harm an infant by colonizing their intestinal tract. (This is the reason to avoid giving an infant honey.) Back to your question. Cooking will destroy the spores. If a food is insufficiently cooked and then placed in an anaerobic environment (home canning jars being a favorite possibility), it can form the neurotoxin. You'll want to wait a few weeks to get a nice amount of the toxin built up before you have your botulism-feast. The biggest risk items are alkaline vegetables (green beans, peppers, mushrooms) and smoked fish. The toxin is also heat-labile. Boiling will destroy it. (Not every food poisioning toxin can be destroyed by heat.) The doctor wouldn't have been able to do much about it. I suspect that she would have been disappointed if she made a clinic appointment and actually got in. She would have been VERY frustrated if she tried an ER visit. In the absence of eye problems or swallowing problems (or some other evidence of cranial nerve problems), she would have gotten a very low triage priority. You can PM me if you have any further questions.
|
|
#39
03-30-2005, 12:37 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Re: Help. Girlfriend has botulism.
[ QUOTE ]
I remember when I used to see things in such stark absolutes. Those were the days.... [/ QUOTE ] You seem to have befallen some hard times, and I'm sorry to hear that, seriously. However, remember that the vast majority of people are in the situation they are in, good or bad, soley based on their own actions. Work hard and smart and succeed, or don't. Some people run into bad luck, and suffer because it it. Meanwhile, droves of lazy shits piggyback on this looking for sympathy and handouts. I don't mean this as any indictment of you or anyone you know. Rather, people who abuse this concept of apparent misfortune are sucking away any possible sympathy for those who truly need help. IMHO.
|
|
#40
03-30-2005, 12:42 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Re: Help. Girlfriend has botulism.
[ QUOTE ]
Obviously this is an internet forum, and it would be incredibly foolish to dispense medical advice in absence of any sort of examination. I would never be so foolish, so the rest of this post surely can't be medical advice. Woohoo. [/ QUOTE ] Um wrong. Some advice is better then none and as long as you have some rudementary knowledge of science/medicine you can do a lot of counseling over the phone. [ QUOTE ] The doctor wouldn't have been able to do much about it. [/ QUOTE ] Um wrong again. Antitoxins and ventilatory assistance are the mainstay in fighting botulism. Antibiotics help kill the bacteria. Aminoglycosides and clindamycin are contraindicated as they exacerbate the neuromuscular blockade of the toxin. [ QUOTE ] Cooking will destroy the spores. [/ QUOTE ] No, cooking destroys the toxin. The spores can survive boiling water. You have to cook under pressure. [ QUOTE ] I suspect that she would have been disappointed if she made a clinic appointment and actually got in. She would have been VERY frustrated if she tried an ER visit. In the absence of eye problems or swallowing problems (or some other evidence of cranial nerve problems), she would have gotten a very low triage priority. You can PM me if you have any further questions. [/ QUOTE ] Do everyone a favor and stop giving advice. I hope you're not a doctor because your advice is horrible.
|
 |
|
|
Linear Mode
