No tinnitus relief that I noticed. More reading seemed to indicate that you'll get better on one kind of tinnitus, which is pulsatile. I have both, and maybe that one got better, I dunno, it never bothered me very much.

I feel like I have slept better but it's so subjective. When I have a hard time sleeping it's easy to point to anxieties about work, but anxiety is a cause of not sleeping and anxiety is a symptom of hyperthyroidism. So, is work less anxiety inducing, or am I just less anxious? How would I even know?

But I can say, I was missing 1/2 to 2/3 of saturday rides for a while there due to not getting to sleep until 2am, but I think I've ridden every saturday and sunday for a month, on days where that was possible (no rain or other responsibilities)

BTW when I point out that anxiety and irritability are symptoms of hyperthyroidism, my wife says I could/should use that as an excuse for my, uh, anxiety and irritability. She does not seem to see any irony in this statement.

Damn bro hang in there and do what you can (and eat some brisket).

Brisket at least once a week, tacos at least once a week, sometimes brisket tacos. Gotta make time somehow.

One nice thing about this job is that I work downtown 2 days/week and at home 3 days/week. So, I eat delicious garbage 2x and eat pretty spare/good at home 3x during the week, fairly random on the weekends.

Oh **** I almost forgot about those tacos. GOAT.

Irradiation trip report incoming

I was supposed to have an appointment wednesday morning. I got a call tuesday saying that my appt was at 1pm. OK no problem. I show up at 1pm, they seem confused. Apparently, my appt was at 9am AND 1pm on wednesday. We reschedule for thursday.

I come in thursday, he's got a pill ready for me. It's a very low dose of a different isotope of iodine than the treatment. It's used to see how well I uptake iodine into my thyroid. It's an extremely low dose, so low that you don't have to take any precautions at all. Yet, it comes in a shielded container the size of a soda can, inside of which is a glass vial, inside of which is a single pill. He advises me to dump it from the vial into my mouth without touching it.

So, you take it, then come back later for a scan, then come back again the next day for another scan. I come back in the afternoon and the scan takes about 30 seconds. Great.

The next morning I come back in and I'm expecting the same scan as the previous day, which I get. Then he tells me to lie down on this... thing. He says he's going to take "4 pictures." Then he starts asking me if I need to go to the bathroom, do I need a blanket, and then he says he's going to bind my arms. WTF!

Turns out that each of the 4 pictures takes 10 minutes during which I need to not move. ****! But it goes OK although it's excruciatingly boring. I listen to 20 minutes of music on the radio and 20 minutes of ads.

I came back this afternoon for the treatment, which is also a pill. I don't see what container this one comes in but he hands it to me using 2 foot long tongs, and again I'm advised to take it without letting it touch me, which is hilarious, because it is literally inside me now.

I have a long list of rules. I can't get within 6 feet of anyone for 24 hours, I can't sleep in the same bed as my wife for something like 5 days, not supposed to go back to work for a few days, can't fly on a plane, can't pet my dogs, can't drive in a car with people for more than 2 hours, etc, etc.

My wife is kinda freaking out about it, has measured whether my chair in the living room is 6 feet from my sons (it is more than 6 feet, but she moves his 2 feet further away anyway). I spent most of the afternoon/evening in the garage working on some projects and then the rest of it upstairs with my computer, playing games and programming.

I am not back on my regular meds yet, I need to find out if I'm supposed to or not, but I won't be able to call the doctor until monday. In the mean time I'm having strong palpitations.

But anyway, it's not so bad.

Damn dude, this is giving me flashbacks to when the wifeacore got hers nuked; all I can say is that it will get better once they titrate you to the appropriate dose. She was all coked out and hyper for the first few years we were together and then would routinely crash; all is better now. Best of luck, man.

Yeah I am looking forward to attaining a balance. It's really not all that bad now though. It would bother me more if I didn't see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Damn, that is some crazy stuff. I hate that you are having to go through it, but I appreciate you sharing. A lot of things I've never heard of itt.

I've made those containers for nuclear medicine before. So I guess me and your folks have something in common.

In what capacity? (I don't actually know what you do, I don't think)

'Bout 350(cc)?

But... basically, an OEM parts manufacturer for a diverse array of niche markets... this just happens to be one of them.

I don't know if this is just a side effect of getting to know more and more cyclists, or if it actually happens more, but there have been SO MANY accidents lately.

Last week, a homeless guy ran out of the bushes and t-boned a friend of mine who was riding in a bike lane. Went down hard, broke a neck vertebrae, trashed his bike. Homeless guy was so out of it he didn't even know it happened.

Today, some guy fell asleep and plowed into a half dozen friends of mine. 2, maybe 3, are badly injured. The others seems to be OK.

I can't even tell my wife about these things - she freaks out about it enough as is. I tried to keep the death of a friend of mine's son from her but it became prominent enough that she heard through other sources. He was hit head on 6 months ago by a guy who hit him head on - swerving across 4 lanes to do so. One year out of high school.

Countless others in the last year, including several on rides I regularly go on, routes I regularly take, times of day that are reasonably safe. Man.

It doesn't help that I have a bad head cold, my prescription doesn't seem to be working, so I have squeezing palpitations and some anxiety.

Sorry to hear about all of the accidents to people you know. I certainly don't know as many cyclists as you do, but haven't heard of many up here. Maybe they don't even make the paper, not sure.

I have become more cautious on the roads when I ride alone. I used to have routes I could ride during the week after work with some confidence, but they keep adding houses on those roads and there is just too much traffic on small roads for me to feel safe.

I had a funny multi-week email chain with the hospital system I use. When I started using methimazole again, they said "you need a blood test 3-4 weeks after starting it" and I was like "ok"

4 weeks came and went and I emailed them asking when I should have a blood test. They respond with "your doctor ordered a blood test after 3-4 weeks" and I'm like "yeah I know" and we kind of went back and forth a few times until I realized what they meant was "walk in and get a test any time you want, then we'll schedule an appt with your doctor"

So I did that yesterday. I dunno if it's just this doctor of my tests keep coming back terrible, but every time I get a blood test I get called back within a few hours telling me to start a new prescription Right Now.

So, I'm starting to take thyroid hormone tomorrow, which is good, because I have been asleep on my feet last week or so.

I'm halfway to Boulder, CO. I'll be there a little more than a week, riding bikes and hanging out. The total group on the trip is about 24, I'm renting a house with 3 other guys. I know about half the people. Anyway should be fun and I'll probably do a trip report and have some pictures and stuff maybe.

Today was really a **** show... Coincidentally our biggest conference of the year related to my job is this week in vegas (really, BOTH of the biggest conferences, in the same week), so we were working on new features that will be demoed/released to coincide with the conferences. We were working up to the last minute. Like we literally deployed to prod this morning while I had my keys in the ignition, waiting for the green light so I could talk off. I was adding features and fixing stuff last night at midnight.

Drove 8 hours from Austin to Amarillo today. It was mostly OK. At first it's disheartening because you drive 2 hours and that feels like a lot but then you're like **** I am only 1/4 done for the day. But eventually you're just done. The worst part is like the last half hour.

Another 7-8 hours tomorrow I think. I guess I should have flown there. I was originally going to go with another person or two, so we could share driving, but 1 backed out entirely and the other made other plans to get there. Someone offered to drive with me but I didn't know them and I thought it would just be awkward. This way I can listen to audiobooks, podcasts or music without having to wonder if they hate that or not.

Arrived at house last night around 6. Very nice place, both the house and Boulder itself. There are people riding bikes and walking all the time. It's kind of a smallish town not far from Denver. It is *literally* right on the edge of the mountains. I don't know other guys in the house well except one of them. They all see fine/nice and I'm sure we'll get along fine. However they all went to bed super early and got up at like 6am, which seemed weird to me, first scheduled ride isn't until 10am.

Every day there will be 2-3 ride choices - mostly an easyish ride and a harder ride or two. I'm doing the easy ride today. Mostly to see how the elevation change affects me and because the addition to the ride sounds... rough. It includes what is called the "SuperJames Climb - 3.6 miles of 8% average grade"

8% grade is not too bad but I'm used to that being, like, 1/2 mile. I may go up a bit of it and see how it goes I just dunno. I am not in the kind of shape I'd like to be.

The group of people here with me is 24 people overall - I think I'm probably in the top 1/2 fitness wise, maybe the top 1/3. I'll probably try to find a few other guys in my range and stick with them.

This is today's long route:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/21326858
The short ride is the same except it turns around in Jamestown. Since it's an out and back I guess I can decide to turn around any time it gets rough. So I may continue past Jamestown a bit.

I did come here to ride, it is in the mountains, there are going to be climbs, I can't be a pussy about it all week.

Have fun; sounds awesome!

We going to see some pictures?

I hope so. I'm bringing my phone of course. I also packed my SLR and I may take it on some rides. Over the last few months I rigged up a set of straps that holds it ok. Only real downside is a) rain and b) it adds quite a few pounds

I am wondering if one of the guys in my house is... sick or something? This morning he was shambling around so bad that it would not have looked out of place for him to be gripping an IV stand in a hospital gown. I also dunno if he didn't realize the time changed or what, because he was dressed and ready to ride like 90 minutes before anyone else even got up to change. Talked to himself a little too.

Rusty,

A mentally deranged cardiobunny? Shocking development!

Have fun, sounds like fun. Treat the long climbs like a bad head wind. You can't over power it, just find your rhythm and do it aerobically.

Dang it, I posted and it lost my post.

I did not take my camera or take any pictures today. I think today had sort of been planned to be a fairly easy ride but some wires got crossed and it was pretty tough. It began with a 2.5 mile section averaging around 8% grade, then a downhill, then a 3 mile section of maybe 4%.

The 8% grade section was very hard. It had periods of up to 13% mixed into it. The 4% was fine, although I did not go very fast/hard. We took an easier way back, more like what had originally been intended.

I was wrong, I am in the top of this group. Me and 2 other guys got to the turnaround a loooong time before the rest and several people did not make it up the first climb.

I think I could have gone a little harder. I forgot to pair my HR monitor until mid way up the first climb. I never redlined, I took it a little easier than I thought I could because I was afraid it would get cumulatively harder. So I worked a little bit on the way back.

I intensely dislike a few people in the group. There are some people who are just very clueless/selfish and big time complainers. There was a gravel section at the start and some people just could not stop complaining about it. It was neither long nor very difficult. A lot of people had advice about how the route SHOULD have been planned. Kinda late dudes, the organizer has been choosing routes for like a year, you could have looked at them at any time - several people had not even looked at maps or anything before the start of the ride, didn't know where we were going or how to get back or anything.

All of these people have been riding a long time - most of them longer than me. I feel like there are a lot of things they should know better. How to ride as a group, how not to block traffic doing dumb ****, how to navigate obstacles, how to handle a bike. They're like nervous toddlers riding down hill for the first time.

This is the "A" route for tomorrow, which is almost surely what I'm going to do
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/21404611

Cyclists subset of people. People all dumb, hence cyclists dumb.