Is it any consolation to think that they'll either lay off or drive off the competent people, leaving them with a core of frazzled, cranky, overwhelmed people who can't handle the workload ... and end up having to pay a premium to get in people who CAN handle the work?

(In my place - I've been predicting problems for a while, but been overruled or just waved off with assurances that everything was under control. Now my big problem is resisting the temptation to say "told you so!")

Shrift, may you soon be wholly appreciated.

I have to say, my ONE day of the worst pain I've ever experienced makes me hate pain even more on behalf of those who experience it chronically (yes, I've had cramps that nearly make me pass out. This was so much worse.) Wednesday is largely a haze to me. I know there was public crying, which I Do Not Do, and I didn't care and couldn't stop it. The combination of the pain and not knowing when it would end/escalate just destroyed most of my defenses. The parts of the day where it receded are crystal clear, and in those moments (and even now) I wondered if I wasn't just overreacting (cause I'm supposedly stoic like that.) It couldn't really be THAT bad, right? Um. I remember maybe half the aquarium (petting the turtle) and just about all of AVAM after I probably took enough advil to compromise my liver, but the walk from one to the other? Bits.

In "it amuses me" news, I am eating bul gogi on naan with slices of english cucumber.

It couldn't really be THAT bad, right?

yes, it probably was. We're programmed not to remember how pain feels. May I suggest Aleve for future issues? I take them 3 at a time (doc says it's okay)

In "it amuses me" news, I am eating bul gogi on naan with slices of english cucumber.

at least you're being kind of consistent with the colonization. Well, except for the bul gogi.

Doesn't aleve have caffeine? I'm rather sensitive to it.

Honestly, at the worst, I was taking 3-4 advil whenever the pain started ramping up, which was not every 4-8 hours. Which was definitely outside the recommended range but I was a little insane at the time-I was really pushing it.

I have a vicodin stash to try if I ever go through that again (if I dare take it. I've never had anything stronger than advil.) And a dentist who told me I needed to be more of a drama queen and that I should have called weds morning and she would have called in a pain script then. My only excuse is that I'd never had a toothache like that before and some part of me was in denial.

No caffeine in Aleve. Just Naproxen sodium. Easier on your liver, I think.

Painkillers exist for a reason - get the good ones and take them. Stoicism is a fine philosophy ... but there's enough pain you can't avoid that you should avoid any you can.

My sister has permission from her doctor to take 5 ibuprofen at a time. Cramps. Usually she takes 4 and the 5th about an hour later if she needs it.

It's what my doctor recommended for cramps. He recommended it over anything he could prescribe. It works as well or better, and even with taking three at a time, it's cheaper than a $12 prescription.