I swear, my life is the butt of one joke after another. And because it’s me, I do mean BUTT.
This morning over breakfast I read the news that researchers have just discovered another likely suspect for my Crohn’s Disease. Whoo-Hoo! I couldn’t wait to learn more about my future cure!
Screen shot of the article in Newswise.
I was in my element. I am, after all, a fake medical expert AND a real expert patient. I quickly read the article and learned that researchers had found a fairly common fungus that was likely to be in my gut — a fungus amungus, as my Dad would have said. Candida tropicalis could be the culprit. And once you know the culprit ….
Naturally, my next step was to look up candida tropicalis to see what medicines I can take to get rid of it. But this is my life. And it is me.
And so I learned that the fungicides that are use to combat candida tropicalis are assholes.
Or really “azoles” — a specific class of anti-fungal drug.
Wikipedia image of one azole, Thiazol. Exactly what does it look like is happening here?????!!!!
Is it just me or does this seem like another poop joke on me???? After all, an azole by any other name ….
FiftyFourandAHalf 
Personally, I thought the chemical symbol for azole looked like ‘N’ and ‘S’ stood for “No Shit.” Which, I suspect, is the opposite kind of problem as to that related to Crohn’s.
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Perhaps that is the secret. It says”No Shit” and those of us with IBD stop doing it quite so often. I’m down with that!
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I read about the fungus yesterday and was going to tell you about it, but of course you already know! At least your mind isn’t in the gutter, but I’m sure you’ve read Freud about this with your expert real patienting and your fake medical expertise.
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Oh lord. I’m not up on my Freud. (And thanks for thinking about me in relation to fungus 😏
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Hahaha. You’re stuck on the 2 level of psychosexual development–the anal! (That’s Freud saying that, NOT me).
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Oh boy. So I had sex or fantasies of it with my father, then I pooped. Ho hum!
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That’s Freud for you.
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Where’s a rim shot when you need one? Didn’t they find that ulcers were caused by some sort of virus or fungus, after thinking forever that it was something else?
Science is relatively clueless, isn’t it?
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Yes — ulcers are caused by bacteria, actually. And the man who first posited that theory was widely ridiculed before he proved to be right.
Science is an art — especially medicine! And we are all guinea pigs. Me more than most. At least it makes me laugh!
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It makes me happy to find the first thing to read this morning is this, something not about assholes but about azoles. Are these somehow closely related?
I hope there is something in it for you. ❤
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It’s a little bit about both, but at least my asshole isn’t a threat to democracy! 😜
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Cool. I had a chem prof who believed sulfur drugs were the up and coming heroes. they have a very strong impact which is odd. I could believe that silicone, which forms bonds like carbon but prefers different atoms would be more effective/
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Ummm. Sulfa drugs were the first antibiotics So was this a long time ago that he said this?!?!😈
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40 years – but he thought that sulfa drugs stood to play a much larger role in medication and was doing research creating new sulfa compounds and testing their characteristics – he was an organic chem prof.
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Lots of folks are allergic. Not me. I was on them in the 70’s and 80’s. Didn’t fix me …
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Fungus… is not fun, Gus.
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Gus is a pain in the ass, too, actually.
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uh…
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That’s great! I’m just glad that scientists are at last getting to the bottom of it.
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The well for this sort of humor is deep!
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I know. I’m afraid I just went for the obvious joke in this case. Despite the puns, though, it genuinely does sound like good news. 🙂
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So did I. It could be both the butt of a joke AND good news, though!
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That’s true! 😀
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Plundering medical research for laughs. You go, girl.
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Everything is good for a laugh until they stick in a suppository.
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That’s where the laughter dies.
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It’s when you say “butt no!”
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Seriously? Is that your best shot? Maybe it’s the hour.
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Maybe. But I’ve been trolling this one since yesterday.
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Not only the treatment is an azole, it also looks like it’s molecule is N S.
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99, I haven’t had one of your long comments in ages — I’ve missed you. Pity I couldn’t answer fully at the time…
Ah yes, QT prolongation is when your heart takes it’s sweet time between beats. Not a good thing! But we’ll see. My doc is brilliant and will take good care of me. I’m not scheduled to see her for a few months — I’ll see what develops with this.
In the meantime, I will be laughing my ass-off at the Azores. Because THAT’s the sort of asshole I am. 😈
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I think your fungus is out of this world. Perhaps the cure will be found on Uranus.
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Bwahaha!
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Funny but verrrrrrry interesting to me (I have IBS) because I recently had a doc suggest fungus as the problem and she suggested a radical change in diet. Might be better than azoles? Not a fungi (fun-guy), that’s for sure.
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Who know??? Big dietary changes haven’t helped me, but everybody is very different so give it a try.
I hadn’t heard of the fungi connection until today. We’ll see. I have actually taken Flagyl which is an azole but not an anti fungal. You never know what’s gonna help.
Good luck with yours!
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Azoles… they can stick ’em where the sun don’t shine. 🙂
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Sigh. You’re probably right. With my luck, it’ll be suppositories.
This topic just keeps on giving!
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You know, nobody knows azoles the way you know azoles. I consider it a privilege to laugh my butt off with you whenever you discover a way to make yourself the butt of your jokes. You (butt)crack me up!
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I’m always the butt of the joke. Thanks for coming along, Michelle!
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I was excited to open this and see if there was also a better way to clean out before a colonoscopy. You know, without pooping all over your home. Maybe the stuff for crotch itch would work? Or is that athlete’s foot in the wrong place. Glad you’re you keeping you pulse on the medical field for us.
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Well, as I am the human embodiment of a bowel prep, you’re asking the wrong person, Kate. I’d personally like to NEED one!
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Maybe this drug cures everything from a to z in holes. I recommend you call your doctor right away, and ask for an injection.
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I may just do that, Tippy. But as I said elsewhere, with my luck it’ll be a suppository.
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Oh, Elyse. You manage to take the unfunny, and make it funny, even when we’re trying not to smile. But azoles? That’s like serving it up on a shiny platter for you. Oh, the possibilities are endless. For example ….
Naturally, I inquired of the google gods exactly what the remedy might be for such a condition, and was surprised to find that the most commonly prescribed medication for folks suffering from azoles is an antibiotic oral suspension that goes by the name of Fluconazole (hey, I’d be cussing too if it had anything to do with that part of my anatomy). I was further seriously concerned to learn that one of the possible side effects of taking Fluconazole can be QT prolongation (sounds painful to me, and there weren’t even any little blue pills involved). Oh, BTW, it’s probably good to know that QT prolongation can even result in death, as well as a host of other less-than-stellar side effects, such as severe sweating, nausea, dizziness, vomiting, and diarrhea. Heck, I think I experienced most of those while reading the list of possible side effects.
There’s always something a bit peculiar when that long list of possible side effects includes those five little letters … d-e-a-t-h …. “talk to your doctor if you experience yada yada yada yada ….”. Uhmm, gonna be kinda hard to do if those darn side effects have already kicked in, you know? Makes you lean towards wanting to just get comfortable with your azoles, and skip the cure.
And in answer to your question … no, it’s not just you. There are lots of azoles out there … hey, some of them are even running for office. In fact, just about every time I hear that name, (or see it in print), my own azole clenches up just a bit, and I start experiencing some of those other nasty side effects. Especially the nausea and vomiting. To quote the man himself, “Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that????”.
I hope not. I really and truly hope not. If ever there was a prayer that needed answering, that one would be the one. “Please, please, just make him go away. We have enough azoles to deal with in this world. Spare us from having to endure another moment of listening to him blabber on and on about how great he is, or how he’s going to save the country. Just make him go away. Thank you in advance for hearing our prayer. Amen.” 🙂
Quote taken from Rolling Stone interview (September 2015), regarding his comments about Republican candidate, Carly Fiorina.
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Fluconazole is one complicated azole. It couldn’t possibly be Trump!
More later! Thanks for the laugh.
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I updated the molecule …
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Thanks for making me laugh, Elyse.
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I try!
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Bwahahaha! This was great for a laugh today. Thank you! 🙂
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Science humor, from one HCP to another, even if I am only faking it!
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It’s a good thing you can find humor in a bad situation. Sometimes that’s the only way we can go through it. This post made me smile. Be well.
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Thanks. All you can do is laugh sometimes. (This is actually a positive, I’m hoping. We’ll see if it lives up to its name!)
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You are too funny. Here’s another one – ASSpergillosis (or aspergillosis) which is another common fungi… usually found in the lungs. But who knows… maybe some of it dropped into the gut and is somehow linked to Crohn’s disease. Always enjoy your humour.
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A “gill” fungus found in the lung sounds primordial! But you’re right. It is so aptly named it is likely below the belt!
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