I developed alcoholic gastritis after a particularly overindulgent skiing holiday with free wine every night. Since then, I get pretty awful upper abdominal pain whenever I drink more than 4 or 5 units in a sitting, or more than 2 evenings in a row. Lansoprazole makes it better, when I remember to take it.

Bottom line – see your GP about it. As above, could also be ulcer related.

Badum tish!

Thought I should get some practice in for the lucky lad…

I did it 2 years ago, and found myself doing laps of a local industrial estate at 11pm on the 30th to get close, then finished it off with a 100 puncture-fest on NYE in the lashing rain. My toes turned purple on day 2 and didn’t go back to a normal colour until April.

Weirdly considering doing it again this year…

I did a 6:1 variation of the diet for 8 weeks before my wedding. I wasn’t overweight to begin with (59kg, BMI 22), but had a bit of extra padding that I needed gone. I lost 3kg in that time and a fair bit of that was definitely fat. The fasting day each week (nicknamed Hangry Tuesday by my fiancé…) was pretty horrible, but it was doable when I rationalised that it was only one day a week. I continued commuting by bike throughout and did occasionally bonk on the way home. A by-product of the weight loss is that my power:weight improved and I got a very respectable result at the Kielder 100 in September!

Of course, I’m back to baseline now! It does seem to have to be a lifestyle choice if you want to keep the weight off long term.

My cousin’s husband is a jeweller in Edinburgh and does lovely bespoke pieces: Liam Ross. He designed my engagement and wedding rings, plus a beautiful necklace to wear on the day. I suspect he’s not particularly cheap (it wasn’t me paying for the above pieces!), but he’s very very good!

+1 for carcassonne. Love that game!

https://www.rcpe.ac.uk/media-statement/rcpe-continues-share-concerns-junior-doctors

This was the statement released on 6th November by the Royal College that I’m a member of (Royal College of the Physicians of Edinburgh), which seems to come down squarely on the side of junior doctors as I read it:

“We continue to share many of the concerns of junior doctors about the current proposals for the new contract in England. The threat of imposition is adversely affecting morale, increasing pressure on staff who already work in a challenging environment, and creating an unsettling situation for patients.

“As a Royal College we are not part of the contract negotiations, but we share the fears that the contract will impact upon the delivery of high-quality patient care, the future sustainability of the NHS in England, and feel there could be potential ramifications across the UK.

“We urge everyone involved to restart negotiations without preconditions as a matter of urgency, bearing in mind the concerns that exist across the healthcare profession.

“A conciliation service – independent of Government – should be brought in to manage the negotiations and help resolve this situation.”

My own emphasis added to highlight why we were striking – the threat of imposition and refusal to re-enter independently mediated negotiations by the government.

It’s a parody account. It must be…

Postponed rather than called off. BMA have an extension of another 28 days (until 13 Jan) to use the mandate to strike if negotiations don’t continue to make progress. Government have lifted the threat of imposing a new contract within that timeframe (ie whilst negotiations are still ongoing).

Just had the dispatch notice for my order of RnR Extreme from The Cycle Clinic! Good timing as well, as I’m down to my last 10ml of my previous batch.

+1 for seeing someone. Sounds like a corneal abrasion. Need to see someone with a slit lamp who’ll be able to look at it for you – optician or eye casualty.

My turbo initially wasn’t listed on their site, but I sent them an email and they replied quickly to say which turbo I should select that they thought had a similar power curve. Then they emailed me about a week later to say that they’d added mine to the list, which I thought was pretty good service.

Won’t matter. Just do some hard intervals. People managed before Trainer Road existed.

As I said in the other thread, the great things about TR is that 1) it gives you a target to work towards (both in terms of individual workouts and overall), and 2) you don’t have to think about what kind of session you’re going to do that evening. The plans have a structure about them and are varied enough that they’re not too soul destroying.

Plus, it has pretty graphs, and everyone loves a pretty graph.

Email trainerroad, they’re really helpful. Trevor De Ruise (their resident MTBer) sometimes posts on here too.

PS I’m not stalking you – procrastinating at work!

Yeah, TR works with an ANT+ cadence and speed sensor and dongle attached to your computer/laptop. You can borrow mine if you want to try it out – I don’t think I’ll be back on the turbo until after the New Year (no real target events for 2016 yet, plus I want to finish cycling to outer space by the end of the year…!)

Forgot to say, the good thing about Trainerroad is that you don’t have to think about what you’re going to do that evening. You have a plan, and for 8 weeks you just do what it says. Even at <3 hours per week, I saw huge fitness gains the first time I did it.

I know you hate the turbo, but consider signing up for Trainerroad, even if it’s just for the first month to see how you get on (they refund your money if you don’t feel any benefit). They’ve really expanded their plans and it gives you something to work towards. Commuting and MTBing are grim round here at the moment, and I think even a short period of targeted indoor training might be enough to regain enough fitness.

PS you free this weekend? We could start your rehab with a gentle cafe ride?

We’ve had a couple of Christmases where we’ve told the family that we’re both working (you can get away with it when you’re both junior doctors) then got nicely pissed in front of the TV whilst eating “trimmings” (ie stuffing, sausages, etc) without the horrible turkey. And we invited all of our friends who were working and couldn’t get home to their families to join us at any point when their shift finished, so we had people dropping in from 9am when the night shift finished, to 11pm when the people on long days finally finished.

I’ve just replaced a Wahoo HR monitor strap (after it died from sweat getting into the battery space) with a Garmin soft strap. The hard plastic bit at the front of both of the straps sits just under my sports bra (Shock Absorber FWIW) and I’ve never had a problem with discomfort/rubbing etc from the strap.

The Garmin strap is ever so slightly more comfortable than the Wahoo one was, mainly because it doesn’t tend to slip down my torso (which the Wahoo one did occasionally).

I only cycle with this combo however, I don’t run. I don’t know if running causes extra jiggling that may induce discomfort (although, if she has a good sports bra, I guess it shouldn’t be an issue).

As far as I’m aware, both levothyroxine and liothyronine are prescription only medications in the UK ie can only be legally dispensed by a pharmacist after prescription from a “suitably qualified healthcare professional”.

Both. It’s more difficult with partners and families, but I know plenty who have still done it.

The question is why are they struggling to recruit?
Have we stopped producing qualified medical personal?

We haven’t stopped producing qualified medical personnel. It’s just that things are so bad working for the NHS, that doctors are voting with their feet and going elsewhere to ply their trade. Market forces in action. I’ve lost count of the number of friends and colleagues who’ve gone to Australia, NZ, Canada, even Malawi!

Doctors? Many of which (myself included) don’t trust the BMA or government either. I’m not a member of the BMA (after they rolled over following the implementation of MMC/MTAS), and I certainly didn’t vote for a Conservative government.

I’d suggest, if an industry is struggling to recruit enough employees, reducing their remuneration and making their working conditions worse is hardly likely to improve the situation.

+1 on the huge numbers of vacancies in junior doctor rotas.

My rota has 7 doctors working a rota for 12, and the next nearest hospital has 9 doctors on a 12 person rota for my specialty. The gaps are plugged by the current junior doctors being forced to do the extra shifts, and research fellows (currently studying for PhDs/MDs) doing extra shifts at locum pay – which the government would like to reduce by more than 50%.

My money is that it’s just a statistical quirk and that the death rates in hospital are pretty much the same on each day of the week. The danger is that statistics can all be manipulated to “show” whatever you want them to show.

Why are you more likely to die on a Wednesday? No idea. Maybe it’s a statistical quirk? Maybe it’s because more complex procedures are done in the middle of the week?

It’s certainly not because there are fewer doctors on a Wednesday, although the new contract will necessitate reduced medical cover during the week to give better cover on the weekend.

The truth (to rebut the “facts” in the Sun article):
There is no such thing as overtime for junior doctors
We don’t dictate the hours that we work, we are given non-negotiable rotas to work
You are more likely to die in hospital on a Wednesday
The BMA would like to negotiate the full junior doctors’ contract – the government would only like to negotiate 1 point out of 23 negotiation points (regarding travel and relocation expenses, which the DDRB suggested should remain roughly the same as at present)

Oh, and you’re most likely to die in hospital on a Wednesday, not at the weekend.

We “dictate” the amount of “overtime” we work?!?!

I find myself getting strange looks when I tell people I know one of my best friends because I spoke to her husband on a mountain biking forum (here) then met him on a remote moorland trail…

Apparently, it’s less acceptable than online dating, where most of my other friends have met their current men!

It’s the old people’s stories that always get me. Love this show.

I’m 5’5″ but with really short legs (28″ inseam) and have a CAADX which fits nicely. I also tried several Ridleys, some of which were far too small even for me (I have a recollection that they get down to a 44cm frame, but I might be mistaken).

In the 3 years before I started my PhD, I spent a year commuting from Newcastle to Carlisle every day (65 miles each way) and a year commuting to Middlesbrough every day (43 miles each way). The year before I was in Carlisle, my boyfriend spent the year there instead. It’s pretty soul destroying. My boyfriend has written off 2 cars crashing after night shifts on long commutes, and I know one colleague who died in an RTA in similar circumstances.

ianad, but i know loads. They love their job, but often they don’t know which city/county they’ll be working in a few months down the line.

Reminds me of a memorable time that one of my colleagues was told that he was not staying in Carlisle for another 6 months, but was in fact being moved to Middlesbrough. 2 days[/i] in advance. He’d already signed the contract to renew the lease on his flat in Carlisle for the 6 months, and was told that it was his fault for signing it too far in advance…

LOL – I can’t even be bothered finding a troll meme picture…

This piece by a female surgeon neatly sums up how I am starting to feel about the whole debacle:

I’m sorry, I can’t face being a doctor any more

I would recommend doing that route ^^ but in the opposite direction!

New UK distributor for Rock N Roll Extreme

It’s better than mine! Within the normal range.

If your worry gland goes into overdrive, pop down to your GP once the GA/procedure is a distant memory and get it re-checked.

Love n hugs,
A cardiologist

PS. my fee for this advice will be all your worldly possessions. You’re welcome :lol: :wink:

YGM