cirque de lune

Ever since July I ve been dealing with boils in my groin. It s like a lump or a hard

bubble that rises from underneath to reach the surface. They are red, burning hot, aching pain down the bone, and also sore to touch. They often have multiple white heads in the same location. Most times when they eventually open, I have to remove a solid white mass of tissue. If I don t the boil will heal and leave the lump behind.

I went to my primary doctor when it first started. She thought it was herpes, did a GYN exam to rule that out, then said it was staph. So she gave me oral Keflex.

A few weeks later when they came up even worse, I went to a dermatologist. By then I had a boil the size of a walnut. It was so painful that I couldn t walk without limping. The dermatologist sent me away with a tube of clobetasol. Four days later when the pain was worse, I called him back begging for help. He said it could take 2 weeks for the cream to work. When I said I couldn t wait that long, he offered me an injection if I drove across town and paid another $50.

They eventually open after soaking in super hot bath water with tea tree oil. Now I have a bunch of purple scars with a few hard lumps left behind. What can I do??

Several weeks ago I was doing weight training with a heavy backpack. One day I woke up, and suddenly my lower back froze on me. It hurt really bad and I could literally not move for a day. After that pain went away, I swore off that level of training.

Then a week or so after that, I started noticing numbness in my left hand. At first it was faint, but as time went on it got worse. Then I showed up in my left foot. During the day when I'm busy working I don't feel it at all. But then when I sit on my couch in the evening it comes back, and when I lay in bed at night it gets even worse. When I wake up in the morning, it's gone.

Could I have injured a nerve in my back? Or am I off track and this is coming from something else?

I sat down to eat lunch a while ago, and I noticed a weird sensation in my left hand. My pinky finger and ring finger feel tingly as if I slept on them wrong and they fell asleep. However it's been about an hour and the feeling won't leave. I stretched out my arm to get the blood flowing and it didn't help. I can also feel slight numbness going up the back of my arm to my elbow.

I'm 32 and in good health. I didn't do anything other than normal working and driving today.

I want to break and aerate my soil early, but I'm worried that a lot of cold rain will cause erosion. How soon should that be done to start sampling and enhancing the soil?

Seriously, when I drink alcohol, it doesn't change the way I feel. I've been old enough to legally drink for years. In that time, I've tried different kinds of liquor, all to no avail. I don't feel buzzed, I don't feel extra sleepy, it doesn't hit me the next day, there's seriously nothing. I'm a natural insomniac who rarely feels sleepy anyway. Not sure if that contributes anything or not.

I know it's a controversial subject and many people don't believe in it. But please, save the nasty comments. I'm totally serious, and I can't believe that I'm the only person in the world who's like this.

I've been suffering from vertigo since January. Back in March I saw a neurologist, and one MRI came back with the possibility of Multiple Sclerosis. We then followed up with more testing. In the end, the MRI report determined it was not MS. I've since moved to other treatments and am doing much better.

But I made the mistake of mentioning it to my sister. She's kind of a hypochondriac. She remains convinced that I have MS and am just in denial. Almost every time we talk to each other she brings it up.

Today she started in again, and I got so frustrated I raised my voice. I explained that two MRIs had ruled it out and told her exactly what the report said. But instead of believing me, she dismissed it saying she'd never heard of such a ridiculous diagnosis and my neurologist was obviously a quack.

Then to top it off, she said she was going to come to my city and supervise me seeing a better neurologist because I obviously don't know how to articulate my symptoms. It was so bad, by the time I hung up I was almost crying.

I don't want to avoid my own sister, but she's making my anxiety worse. I've tried to tell her more than once to drop it but she won't. What should I do?

Here are your choices:

A) Whatever is new/fresh/hot right now. I want to keep up with what everyone else is talking about, and anyway if it's that popular it must be good.

B) What my friends are into. If they like something, chances are I will like it too. Sometimes they recommend something old school and I'll give it a look.

C) I look for titles in a few choice genres.

D) I try to have a wide knowledge of books. If a book is well-known or recommended, I'll read it, no matter how old or different it is.

E) I read anything from any genre, no matter if it's famous or not. I'm what you call an Early Adopter.

F) Some mix of the above.

I started working in a call center last fall. I used my right ear for the speaker almost exclusively at first.

After a few months I started going home with soreness in my ears, and when I'd lay in bed at night I could hear my ear ringing like crazy. Around January I started going home with headaches and vertigo.

For the past few weeks, when I get out of the shower I find dark red wax in my right ear.

When I showed it to my husband, he said it was just bad wax buildup that trapped a lot of dirt. When I went to a pharmacy to get a recommendation for wax cleaner, the pharmacist told me to see an ENT before I bought anything to put in there.

It will take an act of Congress for me to get a day off work to see a doctor, not to mention the copay. But I am kind of scared.

Am I over-reacting, or do I really need to see an ENT?

I've been struggling with chronic vertigo almost every day since January. Once it got so bad I coudn't stop vomiting and ended up in the emergency room. The neurologist has me on meclizine and valium while they keep doing blood work and MRIs.

The medicine mostly keeps it under control. Some days it's barely there and I don't really need any pills. Other days it's so bad I have to take meclizine every 2-3 hours.

My husband and I both have stressful jobs, and he believes that's the cause. My neurologist thinks it might be more serious.

Either way, I'm tired of being sick for no reason. I can be sitting in a restaurant having fun, and then for no reason I get extremely dizzy and start having a panic attack. I've had to spend most of this weekend lying down because the room spins when I move my head.

One time at work I had a panic attack. I was wearing a pulse monitor that day that the neurologist ordered. My pulse went over 170, and now they're making me go to a cardiologist.

I'm tired of being sick and not knowing what's wrong. I really can't talk to my husband about it because he is under tight deadlines at his job and working 7 days a week. We've already had to spend a lot of money this year, two ambulance rides, two ER visits, several specialist office visits, etc.

I feel scared, and I just want this all to go away.

Any advice or help out there?

We've all had those moments in our writing career: your new protagonist is a hot shot medical examiner with Asperger's Syndrome and a thing for ragtime music... and then you realize that you know absolutely nothing about those fields.

So, what do you next?

A) Search on Google/Yahoo or ask a friend who might know a few things. Get some basic points to include in the story to make it look like I know what I'm talking about.

B) Research stifles the creative process. Besides, most readers won't know those things, so I don't have to worry about it being completely accurate.

C) Just because he's a medical examiner doesn't mean I have to show the details. I'll tell readers that's his job and then let them imagine the rest.

D) This is why I only write about things I already know or things I can make up as I go. No MC of mine would have such a demanding background.

E) I'd embrace it as a challenge to learn new things. I would read a book about that field, or maybe interview someone who knows a lot. I would listen to some ragtime music on YouTube and try to understand its unique charm.

BQ: What's the wildest thing you've ever done to research a story or get into character?

I tend to listen to dark music, especially when I'm "marinating" a new story. Most of my writing tends to be dark as well. Never too violent, graphic, or morbid, but dark nonetheless. I've been told that I create characters who haunt people when they're not reading.

This is perplexing to my friends and family, because if you met me in real life you'd never guess. I'm almost always in a good mood, very optimistic, strong in faith, and have a sharply sarcastic sense of humor. I love the colors pink and rose. I prefer to watch comedies on television.

But writing and music are the two facets of my life where I'm drawn to dark emotions.

Anyone else have a similar experience? Or am I all alone here?

I love Mexican food. Although I've never been there, it's my favorite style of cooking. I've mastered cooking all of the "American" Mexican staples, quesadillas, burritos, taco soup, etc. But I want to branch out and learn about the real stuff.

I like some spice and heat, but not to a point. So far I've found that serrano and japone peppers work well for me. Also, I enjoy cooking as healthy as I reasonably can.

Any suggestions as to how I get started? I don't want to dive in with random recipes, I want to learn the basics and work my way up.

Thanks for any help.

So here's the deal. A few weeks ago I came up with a story that I know my publisher will like. It's a little quirky, but mainstream enough for a big audience. I've already written a prologue and two chapters, and I kind of mentioned it to a few people.

Then the other night when I was about to fall asleep, I got an idea for this wild story. It's a lot more unorthodox - I'd have to be super careful to pull it off, and even then it would take a lot out of me.

The problem is, the crazy story has invaded my mind and refuses to be ignored. It's completely pushing out the mainstream story.

I'm afraid people might think I'm flaky if I tell them I've shifted to a totally different project - especially one that will be more risky. How do I break this news to them?

The publisher doesn't have me on any time deadline or genre limitation, but it's still a new relationship.

Help!!!

Here are your options:

A) My creativity cannot be restrained by popular opinion. I write whatever I want to write, money be darned.

B) I write stuff I enjoy in a way that's reasonably neat. I do care about other people liking it, but only to a certain extent.

C) Writing for fun is still the most important thing, but I really want to get recognition/fans/published and that does influence me.

D) There's no point in writing stuff if no one ever reads it.

E) Other / Don't know / Undecided

Seriously, almost every kid on YA is writing a story about them now. It's become almost as tedious as vampires. What's the deal?

Whatever happened to the good old days of writing the first several chapters and letting characters name themselves? I don't understand this new breed of writers who want to control every detail.

A) I read for the joy of getting into a good story. I usually don't notice the writer's technical work unless something really sticks out.

B) I mostly read for the story, but I do look over the technicals if I think the writer did a good job.

C) I read both for story and technical analysis. When I get a new book from one of my favorite authors, I break down their descriptions, plot advancement, and character motivations to see how the heck they did it so well.

D) Who has time to read books? I'm too busy being awesome.

I have a very demanding job and right now we are going through an especially bad time. I've been dealing with diarrhea, vertigo, nausea, and a constant feeling of being hyped up on adrenaline. I ended up in the ER about a month ago and was put on meclizine. Things were manageable for a while, now I've started having another flare up.

I went to the doctor today. When the nurse ran my stats, he mentioned that my pulse was over 120 even though I was just sitting in the lobby doing nothing for 30 minutes. I told him my heart has been feeling that way pretty much nonstop for a few days now. I lay in bed at night and I feel full of adrenaline as if I'm about to do get on a roller coaster.

The doctor put me on Valium and sent me to a neurologist.

Pulse rate above 120 is normally seen as good exercise. Is it safe for my heart to beat that fast all the time?

I want to find a good, fun game that meets the following list:

- Not infected with viruses.

- I don't have to beg my friends to join the game and be my neighbor.

- I don't have to sign up for credit cards or netflix to get "cash."

- If I take a day off and don't play, I won't come back to burned food or dead crops.

-The game is actually fun.

Any ideas?

I am trying to help someone with elementary English. She is stuck on descriptive words, she keeps confusing them with direct objects.

For example, today I said "teachers write lessons on white paper." She chose lessons as an adverb because she thought it explained the goal of the writing.

Then again I wrote "children love getting snowy days off." She thought getting was an adverb of love.

Several times we have discussed what direct objects are. If I say, wash the dishes, she knows right away dishes is a direct object. If I say, your hair is red, she knows red is an adjective. But when both appear together in a sentence she gets them mixed up.

Any help on how to articulate the difference better?