Continuing Mental Health Stigma in Medical Care--I Am Triggered! (Monday Musings 51)

I was recently in the ER at Cooper Hospital and admitted and discharged after 24 hour observation on Saturday, June 23, due to prolonged shortness of breath (SOB) lasting at least 12 hours. I've had shortness of breath at rest but very intermittently over the years, lasting on average 5 minutes, and at most maybe 20 minutes (I never timed it), so I didn't think anything of it because it wasn't bothersome or troubling, being so short-lasting and not severe.

In the past, sometimes these brief SOB episodes will appear while I have brief periods of subjective vs. objective tachycardia (fast heart rate)--these were really prominent when I was hyperthyroid due to Grave's disease. Before Grave's, my SOB came out of nowhere, and infrequently, from anxiety and stress, but they were manageable.

However, the past month, these episodes were more frequent, lasting longer than usual, and worsened the past week until all Thursday night while asleep, I had shortness of breath lying flat (orthopnea) and struggling to catch a deep breath the whole night through. At work on Friday, it continued, so I went to urgent care after work, as of course I wanted to avoid the ER. The physician's assistant there noted exertion on inspiration, as well as decreased inspiration and expiration, and recommended I go to the ER for full work-up.

At the hospital, the positive news is that all the dangerous life-threatening causes of worsening SOB was ruled out. My chest x-ray, serial CKs and last serial EKG (to rule out heart attack), D-Dimer (to rule out pulmonary embolism) were all normal. My lung examination was probably normal since I was no longer out of breath. Although these were preliminary tests (i.e. not ALL medical causes of SOB were ruled out), the Hospitalist insisted that this was due to a panic attack.

But, even though he felt that this might be anxiety-related, he frequently assured me that the medical work-up will remain the same, i.e. getting an outpatient stress echo, so I MUST admit to him that this was due to anxiety.

He really persisted that I tell him this is a panic attack, especially as my pulse ox (determination of oxygenation) was at the "ideal" 99% even upon walking, which he says was the "unreachable Mt. Rushmore" for him, as his pulse ox is usually only at an abysmally low 93% (smoke much?).

I then informed him that I've experienced a panic attack before, fortunately only once in my lifetime, which occurred when I was in bed. When the panic came on, I bolted out of bed, gasping for breath, my heart pounding and sweating profusely. This only lasted a few minutes, certainly not 12 hours straight.

I discussed with the pushy Hospitalist that if these were in fact panic attacks, I wouldn't be lying in bed all night quite calmly, occasionally shifting around to get a deeper breath. Rather, I would be out of my bed gasping for breath. And at work, I would've gone to the bathroom as I wouldn't want anyone seeing me go into a panic. Instead, I continued my duties, albeit out of breath when talking.

I then admitted to the overbearing Hospitalist that I suffer from Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), that is characterized by chronic, excessive worries that cause dysfunction and stress, since I was in the womb, possibly fretting if my organs are forming correctly during the first trimester.

So, throughout all these decades, worries and stress have never led to 12 hours of SOB. I explained to him that with me, the dysfunction is more relational rather than causing functional problems--I annoy my friends by overanalyzing and thinking through the worries repetitively where they can't take it anymore. They visibly cringe when I say, "Let's revisit the issues at hand".

He then said I had GAD (as if he were the one to diagnose me with the condition), as his rationale was that there's no way I could be walking around if I were short of breath for 12 hours straight. Indeed, there is something called dypsnea (SOB) due to hysteria or neurasthenia, which is due to anxiety and other mental illnesses in the somatoform category. If no medical causes are shown, and there are no findings on physical exam such as SOB while talking, decreases in inspiration and expiration, and so forth, then this can be chalked up to psychiatric issues.

As the team kept harping on the idea that this is due to GAD, and I keep arguing that it was not (indeed, they were probably thinking that I was protesting too much), I was nearly brainwashed into thinking that they may be right, that this is all due to anxiety. Therefore, I decided to "test" myself at home today. 

I've avoided opening notice from the IRS because I had to "gear" myself up to it. However, this was a great opportunity to see how I'll react, and if it will impact my breathing.  Upon opening the "present" from the IRS, they claim I was delinquent at around $9000.

I think anyone can understand how a delinquent IRS bill at this high amount would cause immense anxiety and stress, as thoughts of the IRS having to garnish wages are sure to freak out most people, with catastrophic thinking of losing their homes and livelihood.

However, I calmly wrote to my tax accountant, took a picture of the bill as attachment, and surprise, I had absolutely no SOB or heart racing.  Due to resting over the weekend, my breathing if anything has improved.

Indeed, even now, I'm not out of breath despite being concerned as to what can be causing these worsening symptoms. Tomorrow, I have a post-hospitalization follow-up with my primary care doctor. We might not find anything, but my thoughts are that this may be due to any of these issues:

Hyperthyroidism (i.e. TSH was normal, but I wasn't tested for T3 and T4), PFTs are indicated (pulmonary function tests), and we need to rule out if I have any weird auto-immune diseases such as Sarcoidosis, since I'm the textbook definition of inflammation with the Grave's disease, eczema, environmental allergies, and ALL forms of urticaria (skin welts upon touch, heat, cold, and so forth). Indeed, I'm allergic to the outdoors. Hopefully, the stress echo will be negative and not show any issues with pulmonary hypertension, which I'll be getting in 2 weeks as an outpatient.

In addition to being triggered about not having my medical issues taken seriously by the Hospitalist, this is a wake-up call for me to take care of myself better, as we video gamers are notorious for having awful health habits.

If you suffer from a psychiatric illness, have you received any discrimination at work or in medical care?

The How of Happiness Review

How to Cheese Arch-Tempered Vaal Hazak (Monday Musings 50)

Arch-Tempered (AT) Vaal Hazak (VH) is upon us! Like the AT Kirin, AT VH hits very hard and can 1HKO, so I was surprised that I was able to defeat her on first attempt, though I carted twice.

General Guiding Principles
I would face AT VH solo as her health bar is reduced. In group, her health will be 2.5 times, and invariably, your teammates will faint three times, leading to defeat.
 
Whatever build you use, Effluvial Negate level 3 is a must. You simply don't have time to use Nulberry to get your life bar back to normal, and then heal after. By then, the Effluvial surrounding you would probably eat the rest of your health bar possibly killing you before you're able to heal.

Defense is absolutely crucial. Your armor should be fully augmented at maximum, because AT VH hits extremely hard. Despite my defense being 500s after all the food and item boosts, she has 1HKO with her Effluvial doing extra chip damage, leading to 1HKO before I can heal. Without the extra food and item boosts, I bet one of her attacks can easily 1HKO (even without effluvial damage) with my defense level in the 480s.

I would eat for Defense Large (to avoid 1HKO), and bring in the usual demon/armor drug, demon/hardshell powder, and might/adamant seeds.

The general combat strategy is to be very conservative since she can 1HKO, and remember you have 50 minutes which is more than enough time. Trading attacks doesn't work and can get you killed. 

What I did is after each of her attack, perform ONLY one combo, and then stop and guard (or roll/dodge if you're using other weapons) when she's about to attack again, in a plodding, methodical manner.

It's important to not get greedy and do not trade blows if you don't have your mantles on, because her swipes and when she runs over you were both able to 1HKO at vitality 150 when my powders and seeds ran out. This is the exact same method I use for Tempered and AT Kirin (regular Kirin you can kind of tank). 

Of course, if Vaal is stunned/paralyzed, or you have either the Temporal or Vitality Mantles on, you should spam your most powerful attacks.

When your health is very low, you may not have time to heal using the Mega Potions, before the Effluvial chip damage carts you, so I would just Farcast back to camp to regroup, or use max potion for the near instantaneous heal. I would abuse Farcasters and/or Max Potions for all of your healings. We're now in the big leagues, so Mega Potions don't quite cut it. Don't be stingy with your Farcasters and Max Potions, you can always replenish at the camp.

I actually have Farcaster or Max Potion ready, so I can just press Square (X on Xbox) to use for immediate access. I start out with using up the Max Potions, and then the Farcaster. Of course, if I Farcast, I replenish supplies.

I highly recommend the Lance. For me, when in doubt, I default to Lance, being easy mode. Indeed, I don't know how anyone can fight AT VH and Kulve Taroth with a shield-less weapon. If you can block AT VH's attacks, she's not that hard as long as you're not greedy. Further, with the Lance, you can be under her belly the whole time, shield up to guard, and when you attack, it invariably lands on her weak points.

If you're proficient with the lance, I found Guard level 3 and Guard Up sufficient, so you don't need to waste slots going to Guard level 5. However, if you don't use the lance, I would use your highest damaging weapon, and if possible one that has Health Regen augment, which really helps with viability.

It's highly recommended that you have Health Boost level 2 or 3, giving you more viability. I found at health 150, I've been fainting more than I'd like to, and actually failed a mission with a lower health bar.
If you're a Lance or Insect Glaive user, try to mount. AT VH is rather easy to mount, I usually get one in, most of the time 2 mounts.

Bring Mega Bombs x 2 and Small Bomb for the last phase. Astera jerky is vital in this last phase (see details below in Combat Specifics).
 
Mantles
Realize that if we're facing AT Tempered Elders (TE), we probably have high-end gear including the amazing Temporal Mantle. If you don't have the Temporal Mantle, I would bring in the Rocksteady Mantle instead.

I brought in the Vitality and Temporal Mantle (if not available, substitute Rocksteady) and switch between the two in an aggressive manner. It's amazing how helpful they are, mitigating all damage so you can aggressively tank VH. Of course, if mantle's not on, abuse the conservative method of attacking only after she attacks, spamming only when she's incapacitated.

Palico Gadget and Weapon
Most likely your Meowlotov Cocktail is at level 10. I found this incredible in the VH fight since my Palico Niki's Mewlotovs have staggered her rather frequently, and the fire element cuts down the Effluvial miasma surrounding her, even more than my usual high elderseal Nergigante weapons when I was battling regular Tempered (T) VH. Even though AT has even more Effluvial than T VH! I may consider using Meowlotov whenever I want to grind T VH for stream stones in the future.

In other words, you should use your most powerful weapon even if it doesn't have Elderseal! 

I would equip any paralysis or sleep weapons. Obviously, when she's asleep, you can sleep bomb.

Combat Specifics
Once you have these preparations in place, you're ready to face Vaal Hazak.

1. Spawn at Central Camp.
2. Pick up the Slinger Torch which is right by the Supply Box.
3. Vaal spawns in area 8 then moves to 9, so climb up the vines that are to the left of Supply Box and head to 8.
4. Once you see VH, consume your item buffs, equip mantle. Odogaron will invariably show up during this first phase, and they'll engage in a turf war. Attack and/or mount when your mantle is on. Sometimes, the turf war is near the Palico who will trap VH if you mount her in area 9. But if both mantles are on cool down, use the conservative combat methods, or even safer, just watch, letting Odogaron attack VH.
5. Once Vaal's health is lowered sufficiently, she will move to area 12 or 14 depending on how much damage you and Odo inflict. Your camp will be on the way there, so replenish supplies on the way if needed.
6. If she moves to area 14 and you forgot to pick up the torch pod at camp, there's a pile of stones that you can equip right before entering the area. This is vital! Slowly creep up into the area, she will be sitting directly under a boulder (they look like large VH cracked fangs). You can snipe the boulder, doing a massive 928 damage! I would not attempt the second, b/c positioning and luring her to the other boulder, I can see myself fainting, as that has happened to me many times when luring Lunastra and T Kushala Daora to the Elder Recess boulders, and AT VH is even more dangerous than them.
7. Once her health is lowered enough, she will move to her nesting area 16. Unlike the other VH variants, she will nest in the acid pool! If your vitality mantle is on, it's safe to just sleep bomb her with your Megabombs x 2 and using Small bomb as ignition.
8. If you do NOT have Vitality mantle ready, you still can sleep bomb, but almost all of your health will be red by the time you do so and get out of the acid pool. Therefore, make sure you have your Astera jerky equipped so you can immediately press Square (X on XBox). Astera jerky will regenerate all the red portion of your health bar.
9. At the last phase, again, tank if you have mantle on, if not, use the conservative method if both of your mantles are on cool-down.

This worked really great with Lance, but non-Lance users, do you have any further recommendations against AT VH? 

The How of Happiness Review

Freedom Of Speech Should Be Allowed in Video Gaming (Monday Musings 49)

I did a marathon Kulve Taroth Siege run in order to obtain the Taroth Crest "Claw" Lance, which is widely considered the best lance in Monster Hunter: World. It's also beautiful and striking:

Taroth Crest "Claw" Lance

(PSA: if your weapon inventory box is full, you can't accept the weapons you've won after the siege. Make sure you sell your duplicates if your box is full. It would be very upsetting if I got that notification and the weapon I couldn't accept happened to be the "Claw". I thought there was infinite weapon space, since additional pages are added every time you obtain a weapon).

Since I've done quite a few runs, I've seen some really weird stuff that didn't make sense to me. The most puzzling is complete avoidance of Health Boosters that heal you very quickly to avoid carting. As we all know, if your team cart 3 times, you fail the mission, so fainting is the worst thing that can happen.

Avoidance of health boosters occurs even when someone is of very low health, the health booster is literally at their feet, but they move OUT of the booster range towards the monster. You know this will end in a faint.

The very opposite is true. Whenever there's an affinity booster, that can boost your critical hit chance, even across the other side of the screen, players beeline towards the booster like a moth to flame. Indeed, it helps to boost your attack, but if you're already near the monster, you'll do more damage if you continue to attack, as opposed to moving away from the monster and towards the affinity boost.

The avoidance of dropping boulders, which does incredible damage of 1500 with no effort, confused me. A lot of people tend not to lure Kulve to the two boulders in the third lava area. Because of that, I've given up going there unless someone signals that they're about to drop the boulders.

However, the oddest thing that occurred was during a hub session, where two back-to-back players joined, and had anti-Semitic slurs for their Hunter and/or Palico names. They were shunned, and left very quickly as a result. Due to the very offensive nature, I'll not give details here.

I know that video games are banning players who have racist user names, but I feel that this is unwarranted. The most obvious reason is you WANT to know who is hateful enough to use racist slurs, so you can avoid them like the plague. If they were censored, you'll never know and you missed the opportunity to block them.

Indeed, It would be a relief, as an Asian woman, if I see a player with the name Ch!nky_I_ChingChong, so that I can block the joker. If this were censored, he would've chosen an innocuous name and could potentially be on my friend's list.

I think one of the main arguments for banning is that hateful names will run rampant. Again, the solution here is to block from your friend's list? The other main argument is "What about the children?". But this could be a great opening for parents to talk to their children about racism, and teach them not to use hateful language.

What are your thoughts, should players be banned for using offensive names?

The How of Happiness Review

Sekiro vs Tsushima (Monday Musings 48)

E3 is upon us, and the new game from From Software, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, was sure to make headlines. We only have the trailer to go by, but so far, the game looks very un-promising, that is if it's anything like the trailer:



Fortunately, you can never tell how good a game or movie is based on trailers. But if we pretend that the trailer's going to be like the game, this will be the first post-Demon Souls From software game that I'll skip.

At first, I was very excited because the initial artwork of the statues was rather striking, but after the rather beautiful sculptures, we see From Software (Hype!) and then Activision, which broke my heart into a million pieces.

Activision tends to be rated as either the first or second worst video game company in the world, competing against the much-maligned EA for this dubious honor. Unfortunately, with that negative attribution, it may have colored my outlook.

Indeed, the first piece of the trailer with the lovely statues was compelling, but the reality is, you can hire any student from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) who can come up with something as, or even more bedazzling than what was presented.

Aside from the hokey, psuedo-macho narration, the following bits of the trailer showed combat, but it wasn't rousing or compelling because the action sequences were pulled out of thin air.

Unlike Sucker Punch's Ghost of Tsushima, which also takes place in feudal Japan, the Sekiro trailer didn't establish a world and absolutely no emotional resonance. We are made to feel something (?) as we're to rescue one of the characters who is your master but my thought is, why should we care about him, I'd rather take a nap?

I didn't really feel the emotional pull to rescue the master, like you do in Tsushima. The enemy in Tsushima is truly frightening as he recounts your life in detail, that you're a samurai who has won countless unwinnable battles, since he has studied and stalked you, which really freaked me out.

So, while you're doing the run-of-the mill preparations for battle, actions as pedestrian as sharpening your sword, he went beyond the boundaries of normalcy into socio-pathy. Not only has he has studied your every move, he studied the culture of your people to gain psychological edge to be even more successful in killing or enslaving them, making determinations as to which villages to destroy and which to conquer, to glorify himself.

So when he asks of you, "Do you surrender?", my immediate thought is "Hell No", my blood boiling to exact revenge and protect our people:



Sekiro had cringe-worthy cliched lines, whereas the cliche in Ghost of Tsushima works in the context of the emotionality of the trailer. The difference between them is that you feel fear from the socio-pathic enemy, and anger towards the injustice in Tsushima, but not so much in Sekiro, except "the master looks weird", apologies for being looks-ist.

At any rate, after the goal of saving your master has been established, the Sekiro trailer goes into battle after battle of various enemies, which out of context, does not have that rousing feeling you get when you fight against truly evil and cruel enemies in a victorious rally.

All this could just mean that Activision (since they're footing the bill) really needs to hire better writers because the trailer for Sekiro is quite bad. 

The next red flag is that From Software is also working on two other IPs, so that means the company will be stretched thin, in a quantity over quality way.

Mathematically, we have two red flags already. One, the stomach churning presence of Activision, and two From Software being stretched way too thin. Negating these rather glaring red flags, is the positive green flag of Miyazaki being the principal director.

Hopefully, it will turn out that Miyazaki will be allowed as much time, full creative and financial reign to create a masterpiece. But if Activision micro-manages, not even the great Miyazaki can pull a decent game out of this black hole of a company.

The good news for my backlog is that my hype for this game is so low that I'll have the willpower to avoid it and stick to my one game a year goal. So, the only game I'll get next year is Kingdom Hearts 3, and watching the trailer, Sora is exactly as how he always is, Bae, rather than changing his personality to the tired, old and stale brooding teenager cliche that I was afraid of:



What do you think of the Sekiro trailer? Do you think that Miyazaki can overcome the soul crushing odds of a bad publisher in Activision and being stretched too thin, and create another masterpiece?

The How of Happiness Review

Hunting Horn Mains: Recommended YouTube Channel (Monday Musings 47)

In addition to Gaijin Hunter's wonderful tutorial on Hunting Horn, which is a great starting point, I recommend Griffted's Hunting Horn series.

I happened upon his channel when I wanted to see how people were able to kill these monsters under 5 minutes with what is considered a "support" weapon in the Hunting Horn, and fortunately chanced upon Griffted's channel.

I was struck by his videos because he reminded me of Monster Hunter: World's Huntsman, possibly the only likeable NPC in the game, which I discussed why in this post.

To summarize, the Huntsman doesn't have the hypocritical viewpoints of all the other NPCs who claim they care so much about these monsters (even though we nearly kill them, then put them in an arena to be slaughtered), and how we must value life. Rather, he relishes the sport of Hunting.
 
The Huntsman appears to have elevated the sport of Hunting at the level of a Michael Jordan, as the new Temporal Mantle was specifically made based on his moves. This Temporal Mantle lets you evade all attacks, so you're invincible for 90 seconds. He would be considered the GOAT, as we say in Sports circle, until of course, our Hunter comes along. 

Because he loves the sport so much, he wants others to eclipse him since he wants Hunting to advance to even more spectacular levels. He does this by having a friendly competition to see who can "Bag the Teostra first, you or I". When I first heard his dialogue encouraging you, I was actually hyped and pumped up, thinking, "Yeah let's do this!"

When you succeed, he applauds your victory, relishing the"triumphant" moment (I put this "triumphant" in quotes because it really isn't, but rather made me gag). 

Upon witnessing this Hunting "masterpiece", instead of being salty and now NOT considered the GOAT, the Huntman wholeheartedly applauds you because you "advanced" the field and the Sport he loves so much. Even though he's cray cray, he truly is selfless in this way.

I've noticed that all other Speed Run videos do NOT have running commentary on how they achieved their times, which I suspect they don't want to do because someone can rob them of their records. This is so unlike the generosity of the Huntman who wants to witness exploits greater than his, for the love and glory of his sport.

So I was struck by Griffted's speedrun videos when he explained each step and the rationale as to how he got to his sub-2 or 3 minute runs. I also applaud him by saying how long it took him to practice, as a lot of speed run videos make it look easy, and we don't see how much dedication it takes to get to that level.

Because Griffted reminded me so much of the Huntsman, I actually laughed when near the end of one of his videos, he mentioned how you can improve his times and gives you real specific advice, much like the Huntsman giving you the most expert advice given the context of the game.

(Note: the Hunstsman's advice is supposed to be a revelation in-game context, however, because of the poor writing, in reality, it wasn't helpful b/c of his vague directive of being one with your weapon. This is similar to my advice to a professional quarterback that all you need to do is protect the football, throw no interceptions, make sure your offense is on the field as long as possible to rest your defense, and to throw "a lot of touchdowns" to win the game--easier said than done).

Again, like the Huntman's superb and exacting advice (as intended by the writers but again falls flat, Capcom needs to hire better writers), Griffted gives extremely detailed tips and tricks on how to improve on his times. For example, I never knew that Odogoran can be stunned when he does his back flips. He also writes in the Video description that he wants you to be able to smash Odogoran as well. Here's the clip:



Additionally, by watching his speed runs, I've come to understand the monster's moves better and how/when to be aggressive to get a KO in.

Because of Griffted's expertise and knowledge of the monsters and the Hunting Horn (anyone who can do a sub 2-minute Rathalos is a pro), it's refreshing that he's sharing his experiences so that we can come to appreciate the Hunting Horn even more, and revel in the glory, truth and love that is the Hunting Horn. Indeed, so we can "bag more Teostras".

The How of Happiness Review

Monster Hunter World: Regular Kushala in 15 MIns With Some Practice (Monday Musings 46)

The best weapon against Kushala Daora is Flash Pods. What you want to do is flash him every time he's in the air, taking care that he's not in his cyclone, but completely outside.

I found that bringing in a weapon with high Elderseal helps enormously in getting rid of his wind shield, otherwise the wind will push you off upon approach, even when you flashed him outside of his cyclone.

I noticed I only became good at fighting him when I was on point with managing my flash pods.  

First, my Kushala item loadout include 3 flashpods and 10 flashbugs for combine.

Second, on customized radial menu, I make sure there's the flashpod to equip, which you must do before you can fire them. Often, I would forget even that basic step and rush towards Kushala to instigate the fight, without having the flashpod ready to be fired.

For the third step, I make sure that under flashpod hotkey, I hotkeyed crafting flashpods. The technique is that after flashing Kushala, as I run towards him, I make sure I craft the flash pods on the way. Often, I would forget to craft in my rush to attack him.

The times when I didn't manage to land a successful flash and he runs to his nest, I go back to camp to refresh items.

Once I got this easy Flashpod management routine down, Kushala became the easiest Elder to fight.

The flash pod nerf only applies to Tempered monsters, not to regular, so the key strategy against vanilla Kushala is flash pod, flash pod, flash pod!

I used the same equipment as my previous post against regular Nergigante to start out with. While using this build, I found that he doesn't really do that much damage, less than Nergigante's strongest attacks. 

However, the issue is the time. Using the regular Nergigante build from the previous post, I can beat him within 15 minutes, but sometimes it creeps up to as long as 13 minutes, on average between 11 and 13 minutes. I wanted the same cushion of being able to reliably defeat him comfortably and safely around 10 minutes with no carts.

Therefore, since you don't really need the defense for regular Kushala, I decided to focus on offensive builds! Since for some reason, I don't get stunned against Kushala, I don't need stun negate, and there may be a chance that my trusty Niki, with her Coral Orchestra, will buff us with stun negate, just in case.

Divine Protection and Health Boosts weren't necessary either, so I can save these slots for offensive skills. Further, the hunting horns I was considering have health regeneration augments for defensive considerations.

Kushala's most dangerous attack is his unblockable wind breath. But it's very easy to tell when he's going to use his strongest attack. Further it's narrow, goes straight, so it's rather easy just to dodge to the left or right of it.

Therefore, I didn't feel like I needed Evade Distance skills. However, Kushala roars a lot, so Earplugs 5 is a must as that will give you so many openings to attack. When he roars and you have a chance to hit him on the head, he staggers a lot. 

Finally, I included Horn Maestro to make sure Attack Boost Extra Large is up at all times.

This offensive build allows me to safely kill normal Kushala within 10 minutes, and I felt comfortable and not rushed at all, even during the times when I miss the flash pod and he heads to his nest, which prolongs his last phase considerably.

The Deviljho horn offensive build seemed to more consistently lead to shorter times, whereas the Nergigante horn build was around 11 to 12 minutes. Also, Deviljho's horn has wind resist which prevents some of Kushala's wind pressure.

Regular Kushala Daora 15 Minutes Build

Deviljho Horn for Normal Kushala

Skills include:
1. Attack Boost 7
2. Earplugs 5
3. Weakness Exploit 3
4. Handicraft 2
5. Critical Boost 1
6. Horn Maestro
7. Protective Polish

I really feel that any solid offensive build will allow you to clear 15 minute investigations, as long as you liberally use your Flash Pods.

Because of the Kulve Event and the new Lunastra, I haven't practiced enough to find an adequate build for Tempered Kushala Daora. Once I get all the Lunastra parts, I'll definitely work on Tempered Kushala Daora. I do want to mention that the Tempered counterpart will be considerably more difficult as he becomes immune after only 4 flash pods.

What builds do you use for Kushala Daora? 

The How of Happiness Review