MeFi post: A new drug for a disease which might not exist

++dances_with_sneeches. My problem with the Fibromyalgia diagnosis is that it seems to be a cop-out. You're a woman and you've got myofascial pain and neuropathy? Fibro! All done! A) It's all in your head, relax, do some more exercise. B) Here, try these anti-depressants. C) Oh, hrm, here, try these painkillers. I actually had a doctor prescribe me Celebrex, in my early thirties, despite a negative Rheumatoid Factor test.

If doctors really took time (and patients were... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by jenh at 8:29 AM on January 15, 2008

Also, for folks interested in this stuff, I highly recommend the articles linked here, especially "A Review of Myofascial Pain and Fibromyalgia—Factors That Promote Their Persistence."

Great post, jackbrown!
posted to MetaFilter by jenh at 8:34 AM on January 15, 2008

DocPops, I appreciate your perspective as a medical professional, but not the abusive nature of your post. I've personally known people with most of the described issues diagnosed with fibro (or womanly "sensitivity") - Vitamin D deficiency, pinched nerves due to spinal issues, Crohn's. In the Crohn's case, there were years of nerve and intestinal damage that can't be reversed now. Not to say that there *aren't* plenty of doctors out there willing to help a person get to the bottom of... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by jenh at 8:49 PM on January 15, 2008

MeFi post: a new dimension in automatic image stitching

Jimbob, it does takes into account different exposures and does a pretty amazing job blending them together. I've even successfully stitched together stills from a camcorder.
posted to MetaFilter by jenh at 9:29 PM on October 22, 2006

MeFi post: Thunderbird 1.0 out

I think Thunderbird rocks. I initially installed it because Outlook 2003 annoyed the heck outta me. For GUI-based email, I pretty much use only Thunderbird and Evolution (I use Gmail and Pine daily, but they're in a different category, really). And Evolution annoys me as much as Outlook, no matter what its proselytizers say.

I've only had two complaints with Thunderbird:

* It used to crash when I sent messages with attachments...after sending... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by jenh at 7:48 PM on December 7, 2004

MeFi post: Cell Phones

Apparently, there's a cell phone directory in the works (you have to sign up to be included, apparently), and its creation started a rumor that incited a hoax email that's going around...More information here and via Google news.
posted to MetaFilter by jenh at 1:42 PM on December 7, 2004

I'm with you, knave, on the paranoid thing. I've got my home number on the Do Not Call list and it's worked remarkably well...but no way am I adding my cell phone (which never gets marketing calls) to the list.

The Do Not Call list itself is distributed freely to telemarketing organizations--to me, this isn't a big deal because my home phone's already publicly listed and these guys harassed me constantly before the DNC list. Providing my phone number's not really an... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by jenh at 7:29 PM on December 7, 2004