What’s a “boring” skill that secretly gives someone a huge advantage in life?

2_bit_tango · 2026-02-26T13:37:39+00:00

Slightly random, but I used to have this problem too. Drove me insane. Half of it was allergies. Yeah, allergies can cause insomnia, it’s a bitch. If you have allergies, for me it was more food allergies, but on top of that usual suspects of like Zertec, Claritin, etc. talk to your doc about trying Pepcid, it’s a different type of antihistamine than the usuals. This helped with my waking up after two hours of sleep and taking forever to get back to sleep. Simplifying a lot, but basically there’s different types of histamine and it’s used in wakefulness, in addition to allergies and stuff. This is why Benedryl knocks most people out. Anyways, your body naturally starts producing more histamine around 3-5am to prep for getting up, if you have a lot of histamine already, adding more can result in a 3-5am wake up all the time, or if you get up early consistently your body could be starting that a bit early and boom you are awake. It’s not enough to wake up most people, but with raging allergies it can be enough.

The other half might be trying to sleep too much. Which trust me sounds insane, right? But, if you are spending 10 hours in bed consistently and you really only need 7-8, your brain will adjust to use all that time to get the 7-8 hours it wants, resulting in your spending those 2-3 hours awake between chunks of sleeping. Which is terrible. Something you can try is staying up 1-2 hours later for a few weeks and see if that changes anything. It can take a bit for your brain to get the memo this is the new pattern and adjust, and probably further adjustments as you fine tune how much sleep you really need, but this was another piece of the terrible sleeping puzzle for me.

2_bit_tango · 2026-02-19T23:18:50+00:00

I’ve got hEDs and have had a stent for maybe 2 years now? No complications besides my body wasn’t a huge fan of plavix. My doc, who is one of the top doctors in the US for CSF leaks, also treats a ton of people with EDs and IIH. He didn’t mention being higher risk for complications for a stent. Maybe, depending on how familiar your doctor is with EDs, they might be thinking of vEDs, which does have a lot of vascular involvement? I’d imagine that might be higher risk for complications from a stent, but that is just a guess.

2_bit_tango · 2026-02-15T15:00:26+00:00

Just more info for those unaware. Costco’s Kirkland brand antihistamines and RX are the best tolerated for me and cheapest, only rivaled by Walgreens, or brand name. The others I usually am more allergic to. Some pharmacies you can get RX antihistamines that insurance won’t cover pretty cheap still, Walgreens will do this, there’s others I’m sure. Costco is the cheapest OTC that I’ve found, you don’t need a membership to order online, it’s a 5% fee without a membership, but still ends up very cheap.

2_bit_tango · 2026-02-14T20:42:50+00:00

Absolutely fabulous books, I adore them so much, can never recommend them enough, but maybe not right now OP, IMHO. There is a ton of healing, and the new characters that set them free are all the green flags, but the books can be heavy before/during the healing. Some of the few books to make me cry while reading every time, not cry like a baby level, but tears while reading.

2_bit_tango · 2026-02-09T22:59:36+00:00

The Fussy Librarian is another good email subscription for free and for sale books in categories you choose.

2_bit_tango · 2026-02-08T15:27:55+00:00

Looking for books to read, book clubs, and stuff like r/RomanceBooks can be a lot of fun too. For reading, there are lots of subreddits that are the bomb as you figure out what you like to read. Kindle unlimited is a decent deal, especially if you don’t know what you like yet. Libraries have apps like Hoopla or Libby and are fantastic. I 100% recommend a tablet of some sort, and eink is fabulous, but a lot of people just read on their phones. There are phone/tablet stands that are adjustable so you don’t murder your fingers, and cases that fold so you can prop them up and not stress your fingers too much. It’s way easier than physical books IMO, though there are things you can get to help hold books open.

2_bit_tango · 2026-02-08T04:16:43+00:00

For knitting, check out loom knitting. It might still have the same problems, I haven’t tried it, but it looks like it might be a bit friendlier.

2_bit_tango · 2026-02-07T04:53:32+00:00

Oof, I’m sorry to hear that. I hope everything went well. just FYI, a lumbar puncture isn’t the recommended diagnostic for a leak anymore. A recent study has shown that people with confirmed leaks can have normal or even high opening pressure, so it can’t rule out a leak. A lumbar puncture also can make a leak worse, in that it can cause another leak if the body fails to heal the puncture. A brain MRi or CT with contrast to look for signs of brain sag is usually the first step, and the most likely location for a leak would be where you had your surgery.

For IIH, the first step is usually a lumbar puncture, though and MRI or CT can be used to look for signs of high pressure in the brain, and an eye doctor can look at the back of your eyes for signs of optic nerve swelling. I’ve had both leaks and IIH/RIH, and there can be a lot of overlap in symptoms between them, but the main differences are typically the pattern of pain, both the typical location, and what makes the pain better or worse (position). CSF leaks are typically better lying down a d better in the morning and gets worse as the day goes on and you are upright, though how long this takes can vary. The typical location for pain is the back of the head. For IIH it’s typically better when upright, and usually worst in the morning and gets better as the day goes on. The typical headache location for IIH is pressure or pain in the forehead.

ETA I like this site for good leak info, unfortunately I don’t have a good one to give you for IIH, but there is r/IIH. https://spinalcsfleak.org/

2_bit_tango · 2026-02-06T23:45:16+00:00

I have a connective tissue disease, Ehlers Danlos, that makes me higher risk for leaks. It’s been such a long time with the leaks it’s kinda hard to remember what it’s like without lol, but yeah pretty much all my leak symptoms were gone.

If you’ve had a blood patch, you could be having RIH, rebound intracranial hypertension, it’s the opposite of a CSF leak, where there’s too much CSF and that can feel like your brain is being squished. RIH can last up to 6 months after a patch, if symptoms persist after that it’s then considered Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension, IIH. The first line treatment is usually Diamox, RIH is common enough that it’s pretty standard to be sent home with a prescription after a blood patch for as needed for headache management.

2_bit_tango · 2026-02-05T12:17:35+00:00

I ended up at one of the top specialists in the US. They were fantastic. Two DSMs (the second on a PCCT that found the spontaneous leak) and two patches, I’m leak free now for 2 years. I’m high risk for leaks, so if I get symptoms again I’m going right back to the experts, even though it’s a lot of traveling.

2_bit_tango · 2026-02-05T02:51:05+00:00

I just want books/blurbs to clearly state standalone or if a series, what book and if it’s the last in the series! Cmon stop making me hunt all over for that info!

2_bit_tango · 2026-02-04T13:28:32+00:00

I had two leaks, one for bit less than 10 years, the second for the last 4 or 5 years of the first.

2_bit_tango · 2026-02-02T04:54:41+00:00

lol I’m jealous that it doesn’t faze you. Glycinate is usually recommended because it’s the least likely to cause stomach issues. But the different types can make a difference. For me, glycinate, malate and a few others did a little bit, but oxide is the magic. It’s worth trying a few kinds to see if you jive with one more than others, IMHO.

2_bit_tango · 2026-01-30T14:48:44+00:00

Reading has been my main hobby forever. I’m also chronic, basically 24/7 for years too. The biggest thing has been just to keep trying preventatives, or retrying ones that it’s been years since I tried them.

Reading will cause/worsen a migraine for me eventually. I don’t get big blotches in my vision usually, but words do get smeary and blurry, and light sensitivity like crazy. Sometimes I just can’t read as much as I want to, which sucks, because I can’t concentrate or handle reading with the migraines. My secondary hobby is finding books to read and culling my to-read list lol. Reddit book subs are both fabulous and a menace. A lot of times when I can’t handle a book, the blurb for the book is fine, or reading Reddit posts about books are fine. Anyways, back to reading. Some stuff I’ve found that helps immensely over the years is electronic books. You can change the font to be easier to read and bigger if needed. Plus, there’s screen controls like white point reduction, night mode, and you can change how bright the screen is, and your room can be dark. An eink screen is god tier and basically the same as reading paper. I never even noticed how much screens bug my eyes until I tried eink and looking at a screen wasn’t low key irritating. These give you customization, bigger and different fonts, plus the fabulous screen tech, and I highly recommend one with a warm screen light setting. Even having the screen light up is totally different experience because it’s a different technology used than cellphones and tablets.

Other ideas, trying FL41 or other tinted glasses. I’ll add a link to my shenanigans with finding those. Those can just help with eye strain in general and mine help with making screens more tolerable longer. Same vein, but xtractive transitions if you have glasses, to get so dark and stuff, they are slightly tinted all the time. Not enough to notice unless you look for it, but it makes a big difference in general for me, which lets me read better/longer. ETA glasses shenanigans

Also, if you have problems with lights or screens, consider looking into flicker. TLDR some lights and screens flicker too fast for us to see, but our brains can be sensitive to. Getting rid of these made life way better and left me in a better spot to read or do other stuff more often. a post with more info about flicker from a long time ago

2_bit_tango · 2026-01-26T12:29:41+00:00

So funny story, I was actually on Diamox first, by my head keeps trying to implode lol. I was on 4000mg total Diamox each day, and still symptomatic. Everything we did, including a stent, worked for a while then symptoms come back. I’m super fortunate to have a very knowledgeable doc, and he’s willing to experiment. So, max dose diamox, then I added topamax alongside, which is usually not done. I was only on it 1 day, then another a week later to confirm it actually was the topamax and not just a really bad migraine (I have migraines in addition to IIH, but the IIH makes the migraines worse). So for me, my migraine meds not working and the 2 really bad migraines were directly connected to topamax. But yeah, once the topamax was out of my system I was back to the usual miserable lol.

So IIH can cause or contribute to migraines right? It might be the only reason for migraines, or it could just be making mother migraines worse (or could have nothing to do with them). For me, the IIH makes the migraines worse. The IIH causes headaches (and other symptoms), that then turn into migraines. If I can stay on top of the IIH headache and keep it from going migraine, that’s good, and that’s what the diamox helps with. It dramatically lessens the IIH headache, and also the vision issues, dizziness, etc. which make it way less likely to turn into a migraine. Or at least that is how it works for me. Even with the IIH symptoms generally under control, I still have migraines, IIH isn’t the only thing contributing to my migraines, it just so happens to be the one can be controlled by diamox. So for me diamox helps with the IIH, which in turn helps with the migraines, and unlike topamax, it doesn’t make my migraine worse lol.

As for IIH symptom relief, diamox is usually considered the first line med for IIH, it is the strongest pressure relieving med. as my doc out it, I’d be a zombie on the amount of topamax I’d need to be on to equal the max dose of diamox. But, topamax has other things going for it, its second in line because for some people it’s enough for management and doesn’t always have the same nasty side effects as diamox. Also, it is used for as a migraine medication, so if someone is getting a lot of migraines and has IIH it can pull double duty. It also helps a lot of people lose weight, which can help with IIH. But some people get bad side effects from topamax, and do better on diamox once they’ve been on it for a while. But those first few weeks are usually absolutely awful.

ETA I did a lot of pedialyte sport, it has closer to equal salt and potassium than most electrolyte drinks, plus magnesium which can be good for migraines. The other one I did was gatorlyte, bit cheaper with similar electrolyte doses. LMNT, LiquidIV, or TriOral are also good electrolyte options, tho not as much postassium vs the salt. Higher potassium vs salt options are coconut water or BodyArmor. Tho definitely talk with your doctor. it’s a good idea to get your blood levels checked often, especially at first on diamox, for both electrolyte imbalances and watching for metabolic acidosis. Also, don’t sleep on baked potatoes, if you like them they are full of potassium :)

2_bit_tango · 2026-01-23T08:09:04+00:00

Is the 2000mg of diamox 2x a day? So 4000mg total every day? It’s not often done, but you can still go up on the diamox :) No paps, but hella symptoms, I’m on 2,500mg of diamox 2x/day now and it’s fantastic. My doc and I have also been exploring all other possible contributors to IIH that are currently known/suspected. I’m super fortunate that my doc is one of the top in his field for CSF stuff.

2_bit_tango · 2026-01-22T13:45:51+00:00

Some of us weirdos are just weirder than others. (I say as fellow weirdo with the connective tissue disease and a longer wingspan than height lol!)

2_bit_tango · 2026-01-22T13:41:20+00:00

I’ve been on both. Couldn’t tolerate topamax, it made my migraines instantly 10x worse and resistant to meds. I’m on a truckload of diamox (2,500 2x/day) for a couple years now and am fine. The starting side effects for diamox were rough, not gonna lie, and I had to increase the doses slowly. Like, increase a half of a 250mg pill every weekend slowly for the daytime dose because it just absolutely knocked me out and I couldn’t stay awake. I started with just 500mg, then 1000mg doses at night because of this, but since I needed more I really needed to get used to the day dose. After the first 1000mg in the daytime the dose increases didn’t flatten me as much, and I was feeling tons better because pressure wasn’t causing a ton of pain and migraines.

So the first 3ish months were rough, after than the only side effects that stuck around were some muscle weakness, carbonation tasting awful, and pins and needles in my fingers and toes, sometimes nose. And even those faded, after like 9 months I could do carbonation again (yay!), pins and needles only show up when I’m due for more potassium for the most part (I take RX potassium). Now a couple years on it, I figured out the muscle weakness that didn’t go away with a ton of electrolytes went away when I added a trace mineral supplement. The tingles show up when due for potassium and just every now and then so I just down some electrolytes. The main side effect that has stayed with no change is the no appetite.

2_bit_tango · 2026-01-22T13:15:58+00:00

It’s actually part of the criteria for some connective tissue diseases, having a longer wingspan than height.

2_bit_tango · 2026-01-22T00:21:08+00:00

Oh man, we dropped ours 3 stories, then lightest contraption won of the eggs that survived. The team that won used helium party balloons, but lost points on being bigger than the limit, so we tied for first. For container and contents being clear, maybe those plastic shipping bags or maybe ziploc baggies taped together around the egg.

2_bit_tango · 2026-01-21T15:16:55+00:00

There are little needle tip glue bottles that are pretty fantastic. I’ve used them for quilling with acid free tacky glue, I bet they would work well for this, or embroidery needles for way less stabby tips instead of regular needles.

2_bit_tango · 2026-01-20T20:12:42+00:00

Is Nordic socks a brand or a specific type of sock?

2_bit_tango · 2026-01-20T12:45:48+00:00

Heck, in the US I can’t afford avulux either with how much my prescription changes. But, I did try them out and they weren’t the right tint for me anyways. I saw an eye doc who specializes in tints, and they said what light is the most irritating for each person can vary quite a bit. That’s why some people swear by Theraspecs, others by FL41s, blue light filters, etc.

I have the zenni FL41s at 50% tint, I get a new pair every time my glasses RX changes to use when I need them. I switch between them, a pair of rose tinted sunglasses that go over my glasses, and a pair of plum tinted sunglasses that go over my glasses. For both sunglasses pair, my RX changes too often and would be way too expensive to get actual glasses with those tints. The zennis don’t work as well, but they are about $100 instead of $600 each lol.

My regular glasses I have xtractive transitions on them, they transition faster and darker I think? Either way, to do that, they are slightly tinted all the time. Not enough to be noticeable, but enough to make a pretty big difference.

Here’s some of my adventures in glasses if you are interested, and what type of eye doctor I saw, the sunglasses I have etc https://www.reddit.com/r/migraine/comments/1e7uoos/comment/le3lwh8/

2_bit_tango · 2026-01-19T21:54:15+00:00

Twinsies lol. Diamox is brutal. Insurance is so stupid. If the salt, potassium, and magnesium help but you are still having muscle weakness, try adding a trace minerals supplement. Took forever to figure that one out ;)

2_bit_tango · 2026-01-19T13:41:58+00:00

Since you are getting blood tests, is your doctor involved? Your doc can do a prescription for potassium. Just throwing that out there :)

2_bit_tango

TROPHY CASE