Joy and Austin 14: Pregnant with Their First

[calimojo]

7 hours ago, singsingsing said:

So I'm going to be annoying and jump on the 'anxiety' train again, but if it is anxiety related, it wouldn't be surprising that the Benadryl stopped the itching. It would probably be a combination of the placebo effect and that (for most people, anyway) Benadryl is a pretty strong sedative. A lot of people use it to help them sleep or to treat anxiety.

While Benadryl certainly can make someone drowsy, and many people take it to help them fall asleep, it isn't really a great anti-anxiety med.  Yes,  you may fall asleep, but that is not the same thing as getting your anxiety relieved. It may work that way for some but, for many people Benadryl (aka Dipenhydramine) can cause paradoxic agitation.  Many people will feel wired, tense and even angry when taking Benadryl or other antihistamines. 

Luckily for me, it works well as an occasional sleep aid. But, I can safely say it does nothing for me for anxiety.  I have taken it before flying thinking it would help me sleep on the plane and it did nothing for my pre-flight anxiety, though to be fair, xanax didn't help that either as I am in a near panic state when I fly.  Probably the only thing that would help with that would be to just knock me out with general anesthesia!

In the case of itching at night,  it should be checked out by a physician.  It could be anxiety, but it is odd that it would just happen at night.  It could be some weird allergic reaction to something he is only exposed to in the evening.  It could be other things.  But if it is persistent and he has ruled out obvious causes, then see a doctor. 

Also, once when my son had a bad case of hives,  his doctor said to use benadryl but also a dose of tagamet, which is typically used for heartburn or reflux.  Tagamet is a histamine 2 receptor, and while it isn't a great first like treatment for itching and hives, it can augment the H1 activity of most antihistamines.  I am not giving medical advice, but it might be worth asking the doctor about or trying it once as long as he has no known issues with Tagamet, which is available over the counter.  But caution, all meds have side effects and the more meds you take, the more risk of side effects you have because you then risk drug interactions.  And sometimes drugs will combine together to cause stronger side effects. 

[karenb4729]

9 hours ago, Ms. Squishels said:

I had already read about it being Hodgkin's on the internet.  His itching actually does stop if he takes Benadryl.  So I was hoping it it allergy related.  What kind of test should he ask for to convince someone to test him for Hodgkin's?  Do you think an allergist would do blood work for something like that?  The family doctor, of course, just told him to try Zyrtec.  That's partly why I'm frustrated.  I would rather find out what's wrong than just treat the symptoms.  I wouldn't mind any advice on how to make sure we could at least rule out cancer.

I had Hodgkins Lymphoma in 1989 when I was 31.  I had the itching and night sweats but the most tell tale sign of Hodgkins is the swelling of the lymph nodes starting with the ones on the left side of the neck.  Hodgkins is different in that lymph node involvement follows a pattern.  That all being said, I was stage IV and its 28 years later and I'm still here.

[nastyhobbitses]

Re Benadryl: My grandma took way too much of it because she thought that her pneumonia was just bad allergies. It made her trip balls. "Grandma was tripping balls" sounds hilarious in hindsight, but "tripping balls" in an octogenarian looks mighty like "stroke", so the whole ordeal was pretty terrifying. Don't fuck around with Benadryl, guys. I certainly found out for myself after I took some for an allergic reaction, forgot that I did, and then had an exceptionally strong margarita. Ever want to experience what being in slo-mo feels like? Do that.

[calimojo]

11 hours ago, allthegoodnamesrgone said:

It wasn't THAT bad, it was ugly, and dirty yes but not condemnable.  I'm not directing this at you directly, but people need to come down to the reality that not everyone gets to live in a sparkly clean brand new home. He only paid $70K for it, even in bumfuck NWA that is a good deal, not sure how much land came with it but I'm guessing at least an acre. The kitchen and bathroom were a gut, but the rest of the house only needed some paint and a good scrub down. Houses shouldn't be disposable live everything else we own.

I thought the house was bad.  I remember when the re-did Ben and Jessa's house and I still people on here calling it the mold house.  They did a nice job on that house and hopefully they got some good advice on treating the mold.  But the house that Austin and Joy bought was more than just a little mold.  You could see that it penetrated deeply.  And when they showed the outside of the house, you could see the dry rot of the wood and inside the house looked a mess.  From an expense point of view,  sometimes it is cheaper to build new than it is to upgrade. 

In general, I agree with you that houses shouldn't  disposable.  I am a big one for re-using and conserving resources, limiting waste, etc.  But, if you have to take an entire house down the studs, I am not sure that is really saving much.  And with this house, I think they will have to remove some of the roof as well, not just shingles but the support structure of the wood due to dry rot. 

Is it impossible?  No,  they have the luxury of time, and have lots of potential laborers to help them.  And they have money to put into it, I assume.  It may well end up being amazing.  And it will probably be a very special place for them as they worked on it together.  But I am not convinced he will end up saving a ton of money by the end, just because the structure needs a lot of work, not just cosmetic.  You don't get that level of mold in a house without having bigger underlying problems. 

[Rachel333]

8 hours ago, singsingsing said:

So I'm going to be annoying and jump on the 'anxiety' train again, but if it is anxiety related, it wouldn't be surprising that the Benadryl stopped the itching. It would probably be a combination of the placebo effect and that (for most people, anyway) Benadryl is a pretty strong sedative. A lot of people use it to help them sleep or to treat anxiety.

Yes, hydroxyzine, which is very similar to diphenhydramine/Benadryl, is actually prescribed as an anxiolytic under the name Vistaril.

Obviously it won't work for everyone (it didn't seem to help me), but both Vistaril and Benadryl are known to have anxiolytic effects.

[Ms. Squishels]

5 hours ago, karenb4729 said:

I had Hodgkins Lymphoma in 1989 when I was 31.  I had the itching and night sweats but the most tell tale sign of Hodgkins is the swelling of the lymph nodes starting with the ones on the left side of the neck.  Hodgkins is different in that lymph node involvement follows a pattern.  That all being said, I was stage IV and its 28 years later and I'm still here.

Sorry you had to go through that, and so glad to hear that you beat it!

[BabyFactoryClosing]

Just jumping on the anxiety meds train. I take hydroxyzine for anxiety and it works wonders for me. Sadly it's not safe for pregnancy so my Psych told me to take Benadryl if I really need while pregnant and honestly it works really well too it just makes me tired so I try to stick to only before bed. Obviously it's not going to be the same for everyone and anxiety has a huge variety of mechanisms depending on the person but if your mechanism is helped by hydroxyzine Benadryl can be awesome. (Obviously take this with a grain of salt and consult your degreed medical professional)

[Exposedknees]

22 hours ago, VelociRapture said:

You honestly adjust and get used to winters here after a while. Just be sure to stock up on essentials before storms (stuff you don't need power to prepare and eat), keep your gas tank filled, and be sure you have shovels. If you own a home, then look at the trees on your property and be sure no big limbs are close to the house or power lines. If they are, consider having them trimmed now because it could prevent power losses or damage later.

 Ironically this is also advice for a hurricane down here in NC. I just stay prepped with my emergency stuff year round because we have freezing rain/ice storms(although they are short lived). The other "Pro-tip" toss a bunch of empty 2L bottles full of water in your freezer. If you lose power, they will buy you some cooler time if your power goes AND it's drinking water if they put you on a "boil water" advisory. (it happens sometimes with flooding). Recently with Irma bearing down, there was a run on bottled water- all the stores ran out- all over the local news with sad panicked folks!! I'm scratching my head thinking-that water out of the tap is still good guys Go out to your recycle bin- fill up some containers! cmon!

Irma bypassed us btw.

[WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?]

1 hour ago, Exposedknees said:

Recently with Irma bearing down, there was a run on bottled water- all the stores ran out- all over the local news with sad panicked folks!! I'm scratching my head thinking-that water out of the tap is still good guys. 

I wondered about that when I saw the empty shelves on the news. I know that bottled water is easier to transport than something like a pitcher of water, but if I went into my kitchen right now and filled up every pitcher, reusable water bottle, and picnic jug with tap water, I could probably get 2 to 5 gallons of water ready pretty quickly. We usually flatten our plastic bottles before they go in the recycling bin, so that might not work for us, but it's a good idea. 

I'm glad Irma bypassed your area. 

[jerkit]

I picked up a bad habit in college of using Benadryl to sleep. I can take like 6 of them and be fully awake.

[HarleyQuinn]

Is there a clip of Joy and Austin's house? I want to see now after everyone is talking about it and I don't see anything on tumblr.

[kacarlton]

I just saw the episode where we get to see Joy's house.  So #1 when she looked at the camera and said that she was the first person in her family to buy a house and was so proud I was sort of happy for her. Austin has despicable views and is deeply involved in the IBLP but at least he isn't working (currently) for Jim Bob.  

That house though. Oh my word. I shudder. The Mold! The Mess! 

Wait. I thought jinjer bought their house. Did joy and austin get theirs first?

[HarleyQuinn]

Update, I found the episode on youtube, my search game was weak.

Yeah, that house looked gross. The only room that looked decent was the living room that they first walked into.

 

[GoatZombie]

I agree that Joy has one of the better duggar girl husbands. All the others are so focused on church/preaching bs, "mission work" etc. Austin is the only one who can really support himself without being under Boob's hand, or having to work for him. He has useful skills that will always help them. Its also good she has a house thats theirs, and not one owned by Boob. I was glad Jinjer didn't have to live in a Duggar owned place too.
While the house is a dump, I'm curious to see how it ends up. I don't think its beyond repair though. I did think it was stupid that it wasn't better planned to have time to get it worked it before getting married, but you know how they gotta rush those engagements.  They seem like a good match and he doesn't seem arrogant like the others either. Its not a life I would want but I don't think its bad despite the fact Joy will still be a baby mill.

[allthegoodnamesrgone]

9 hours ago, kacarlton said:

Wait. I thought jinjer bought their house. Did joy and austin get theirs first?

I think the timing was pretty close, Joy & Austin bought theirs in April and JinJer bought theirs in June. (and yes I'm so sad and stalkery I looked up sale dates)  I do wonder if Jeremy is like my BIL and couldn't stand for 1 of his in-laws to have "more" than he did, so they ran out and bought a house.  A nicer bigger and more expensive house. He strikes meas that type of guy.  

An example of my BIL, who is actually really nice guy, he's just a status seeker.  DH & I got a new car a few years ago, and was showing it to my sister  We paid a whole $18k for this car, its a basic model Volkswagen Jetta manual transmission even,  I actually love it, it is my go go wagon. Anyway, my sister said I'd love a new car, we need to keep the Minivan, that they had trashed. It was a really nice Toyota Minivan will all the bells and whistles, had my kids been her kids age I would be coveting her car. Not two weeks later she pulls into our drive way in a  brand new $40k Crossover I think it was a Hyundai.  My brother starts building a new house,  they say they have to wait 3 years because they will move out of state for his work most likely.  Brother moves into new house 1 week later they bought a lot and are building a house. (that they only lived in for 16 months because they had to move). Stuff like that, it's kind of annoying but mostly funny.  

[Tenyari]

10 hours ago, HarleyQuinn said:

Update, I found the episode on youtube, my search game was weak.

Yeah, that house looked gross. The only room that looked decent was the living room that they first walked into.

 

Off-topic, but Jana is so beautiful - she looks really lovely with her hair up in that episode 

 

I have a good feeling about Joy and Austin's marriage - kind of like with Kendra, they seem pretty much in love

[HarleyQuinn]

Eh, I don't. Austin seems really into the Patriarchy thing and she seems like way too much of a doormat to challenge his views. I thought when Joy married, she'd be the first to chop off some of her hair and wear jeans because she was such a tom boy. Nope, Austin likes dresses and long hair, that has to stay.

 

[TheMustardCardigan]

I've viewed the house flipping thing as a positive for Joy and Austin. It's something maybe she could get involved in, learn some hands-on skills that break the Duggar gender norms, something they could both contribute to more like equals. I mean, only time will tell, and it's not super encouraging that she got pregnant so quickly, but hopefully in the future it will be something she will be involved in in a hands-on way. My family just got done renovating a house and while it was all cosmetic things, it was still a lot of work and had tasks all of us could help with in addition to hiring contractors for a lot of things. 

[Gillyweed]

Kylie Jenner, who's about the same age as Joy, is pregant and due in February too!

When Joy gives birth she probably won't get a People cover because of Kylie

[Funwithfundies]

For all of the allergy folks who have 'odd' symptoms (reacting to exercise, over the top bug bite swelling, etc):  please look into mast cell activation syndrome.  Several members of my family have it, with my son being the most affected.  He was in bad shape for years, docs wrote him off as psychosomatic, etc - finally found a MCAS knowledge doc, and he is doing so much better with treatment.

[divadivine]

I'm guessing JoStin's house was bought as a foreclosure. Just seeing the stickers on things in the shots leads me to think it was a foreclosure. The house was rough, but it could be salvaged. 

I wonder if JoKen's house is being built on the compound? I'd crack up if they were building a Tiny House on Wheels. That would be good storyline. Kendra could giggle while showing us how she stores all their stuff in just 300 sq. ft. Then TLC could add pop-ups comparing the tiny house to the TTH. Oh, and then JoKen could invite the family over and we could see how many Duggar would fit in a tiny house. 

I'm guessing JoKen are using one of the steel frame kit homes from the same manufacturer of the TTH. The framing goes up quickly and they know how to build one already. It will be interesting to see what happens. 

[faraway]

I think 70000 ist a lot for that house in such a cheap area. They will have to invest quite a bit. The free workforce helps a lot of course but it's not a large house, no matter how nice they make it it will never have a really big price tag.

[divadivine]

18 minutes ago, faraway said:

I think 70000 ist a lot for that house in such a cheap area. They will have to invest quite a bit. The free workforce helps a lot of course but it's not a large house, no matter how nice they make it it will never have a really big price tag.

I'm guessing it has some acreage with the house. Land, especially if it's in a prime location, can cost you. Someone (in the episode) did say the house was in a good location & would sell quickly when JoStin decided to move into a bigger home in a few years. So, if they split the acreage and sold off plots, they could make some good money. 

I'm kicking around the idea of building a house in a year or so. I'm talking a 1000 sq ft house with a tiny yard. I looked at available land in my desired neighborhood and the land would cost me way more than any house I'd want to build. However, if I moved one zip code south, I could buy a nice piece of land cheap- like 1/10th the price of land in my neighborhood, but the neighborhood is a little sketchy. 

 

[zenbaby]

Thanks for posting the video.  I looked at the house again, and again, and again, paying special notice to areas of interest.
1. The kitchen is mainly an aesthetic issue - gawd awful colours, finishes and the microwave. Gut it, and replace.  The floor in the kitchen and living room looks new - likely a laminate.
2. The bathroom walls around the tub is some kind of a hardboard scored to look like tiles.  Should not be used around a tub.  I'm sure the perimeter caulking failed 20 yrs ago and was never replaced.  Again, the finishes in the room definitely need updating.  Tub walls should be stripped back to the studs, replace insulation, vapour barrier and use mould-proof drywall before installing whatever system you're using in the tub/shower area, assuming they're not moving it.
3.  As for the exterior, the roof is shot.  The roof over the rear wing is too low to be using shingles.  Eavestroughs need replacing.  Cut down that small tree growing in the corner.  The back is probably facing north - a lot of biogrowth along the lower 1/4-1/3 of the elevation.  Getting eavestroughs that work and rain water leaders that drain away from the foundation will help to dry it out.  They'll have to replace that arbour or what ever that is at the entrance - lots of decay.  They need to look at the windows.  Not sure if the duct tape was to repair a hole in the screen or glass.  Verify sealants around the windows to keep the water out.

The only way they're going to finish that in 3-4 weeks is if they have an experienced crew. hahaha!

[nickelodeon]

1 hour ago, Gillyweed said:

Kylie Jenner, who's about the same age as Joy, is pregant and due in February too!

When Joy gives birth she probably won't get a People cover because of Kylie

Furthering my theory that the Duggars and Kardashians are spooky doppelgangers of each other and live parallel lives!