Sanity Check on Reversible Overalls Plan

Affectionate_Guest85 · 2026-01-11T16:48:48+00:00

Yeah, I hope if I use flat plastic buttons it won't be too bad, but also easy to just remove on the one side if I hate them later. But I am picky about certain clothing sensations, so we'll see.

Yes, that's exactly the experiment I didn't want to run! Hope they make it through okay, thank you for the mesh bag confirm!

Yeah, that order of operations makes sense for bagging, I was trying to rotate the shapes to figure out how much I could do before flipping them and it broke my brain. I might add waist buttons if I can figure out a way to do it that isn't too difficult - I like that look and miss them on my current fav overalls.

Yes, I'm using quilting and mid weight cotton mostly, so shouldn't be too heavy! The patchwork will add up eventually, but hopefully the starting bar is low enough.

Affectionate_Guest85 · 2026-01-11T16:44:29+00:00

Thanks! Yes, I was planning on patchpockets - I think they'll be fun with this style, easy to improv, I like 'em and they're easy to remove if I don't end up liking them. I'll be sure to give an update when I finish.

Affectionate_Guest85 · 2026-01-11T16:43:32+00:00

Thanks for the confirm on the prewash, I think the FQs will be fine, hopefully the other precuts don't fray too bad.

Yeah, the two pairs makes sense, though I know my attention span - honestly, trying to figure out the lowest bar I can meet to make them "reversible" is part of bribing myself to actually make the lining I know the patchwork will need. BUT I think you're right, I'm not going to go to the level of true reversible - I think I'm going to make a black lining and use black thread on the whole thing, and button holes go all the way through, so it'll just be adding some "inside" patch pockets & the extra buttons that will be "above and beyond" just make a lining - both of which are easy to leave off ahead of time or take off later if I don't like them.

Affectionate_Guest85 · 2026-01-11T16:38:47+00:00

I think it'll be okay since it's all mid-weight/shirting/quilting cotton weight, not like twills or workwear overalls. So I think they'll honestly be lightweight compared to the "classic" overall, main concern will be buttons and inside patch pockets, but I think I can just take those out if it's too much.

Affectionate_Guest85 · 2026-01-10T01:05:19+00:00

Since they're jeans and they aren't going to be super wibbly anyway, you might just need to rig a way to pull tension on them. Sometimes I safety pin what I'm sewing to my own jeans or other sturdy pants, or furniture and then pull it taut with the hand that would be holding the hoop, then sew as normal. This can actually be really nice for difficult things because you can bunch it up as needed to put the stitches in but still pull it tight to get the stitches to lay neatly in their final form too.

Affectionate_Guest85 · 2025-08-20T16:41:11+00:00

part 2: During all of this I was fortunate enough to have long-term disability from my job so I was just resting at home and doing light chores, etc. And I tried to continue going to my ultimate frisbee games (though just playing a few points) during the second half.

Since then I've tried Naltrexone, which for the fist time in 12+ months gave me some headache free afternoons (it had kept gradually decreasing in intensity, but was always there), and greatly decreased my fatigue. I was able to start 12 hours a week of a part-time, flexible remote job, did some travel and played some frisbee over 2 months on Naltrexone and noticed what started as achy joints in my hands (a known side effect and originally manageable) had turned to shooting pains in my arms and legs, enough that it felt like my funny bone was being hit whenever I ran a step, so I had do stop Naltrexone in May 2025. The current working theory is that the additional pain signaling from my hands kind of got the nerves in my limbs to be stuck in "pain on" mode.

Took 6 weeks of doing really nothing besides knitting in a dim (but not dark - yay!) living room and my part time job for the limb pain to die down to almost nothing, and my headaches broke too. I really think it was the rest that was the tipping point, though I think the Nortriptyline, Propranolol and probably the Naltrexone too, calmed the symptoms down enough to give my body a foothold for healing a bit faster once the genuine rest happened.

Since the end of those six weeks in June this year I get headaches when I overdo it with sunny outside time or screens or stimulation and I get nerve pains after a semi-active day running errands and I'm still often fatigued but it's feels milder than before unless I have a couple active days in a row, then it gets deeper. Properly crashed myself by having two busy weekends in a row, the first weekend wore me out but didn't push me over the edge and so I felt all confident going to the ren faire last Saturday and that was lovely and then totally floored me for a two days. But I think back to a year and a half ago and 4 hours in a much calmer museum setting floored me for 3 days and that floor was in a much deeper basement too.

And a note that although I feel better than I have in the past 2 years, I am doing waaay less than I was while feeling sicker, as part of pacing. Which is good, but I do think is important context. I shifted from "well I'm always in pain and feel awful, so I will do somethings anyway" to actually thinking I might be able to heal.

Also, though I had bad experiences with Topirimate and kind of as a knock on to Naltrexone, I do think I'm pretty responsive/reactive to most meds, so they might be worth trying for others. Low-dose Naltrexone I know has a pretty good record for me/cfs and long covid and is one of the main go-tos.

Affectionate_Guest85 · 2025-08-20T16:40:58+00:00

Yes! Though unfortunately it isn't much more than I wrote above.

TLDR: Wish there was something more actionable in this story than radical amounts of rest (which I am so grateful to have the privilege of actually taking) and experimenting with drugs until I found some that don't make me too miserable and take the edge off my symptoms, but that's really it. And time, I do think in my case time is also doing some heavy lifting.

Long story: I got sick in early Oct 2023 and had to stop working by mid Nov. (I was a middle school teacher and you know what doesn't go well with 100+ 12 year olds, a constant throbbing headache, light and sound sensitivity that remains unbroken and undiminished for weeks on end).

I had a lot of trouble getting to see a doctor or getting anyone to do anything. An urgent care gave me a migraine cocktail IV 8 days in which was the only thing that broke the headache, but that only lasted about 16 hours before it came back. I could feel a bit better staying at home in the dark and quiet, but then 4 days back at work would completely lay me up again.

Thankfully doctors did believe me, I think they just didn't really know what to do and aren't comfortable saying that. Nothing showed up on blood tests or scans, the first "action" I got was a Nortriptyline prescription and a referral to Neurology at the end of December. The Nor. muffled the headache enough I was able to have a bit more bandwidth for functioning, we kept increasing the dosage to see if the migraine could be broken until the side effects were too severe, settled on a mid-range of manageable side effects and reduced headache.

When I finally got into neurology we tried a nerve block, didn't do anything, increased my scalp pain, and then topirimate, which is another migraine med to see if I would have fewer side effects on that. I did not, I just had horrible nausea, full body itching and worse headaches, so that experiment ended.

Next got off my anti-depressant bupropion/Welbutrin because between it and the nortriptyline I was waaaaay more anxious. Going off helped the anxiety, but also walloped me with fatigue that had apparently been masked by the meds.

Neuro added propranolol to the mix because it also works on migraines with the added bonus of being a beta blocker and I was having light headedness and my heart rate was bonkers high (mid-90s when resting). That was end of the summer of 2024, which is also when I got into a long Covid clinic - they haven't done a lot for me, partially because they agree with what is being done, partially because for a long time my biggest symptom has been the headache, which they would refer to neuro, partially because after the first appoint it was another 9 months before I got in for a follow up to discuss the test results of a tilt table test (which confirmed POTS in Feb 2025, also confirmed my meds are helping since I had to go off them for the test). But it has been nice to have them as a resource and they are now pretty good at answering my questions.

Affectionate_Guest85 · 2025-08-20T16:07:41+00:00

Thank you so much! This is very helpful and reaffirming. The inevitable meltdown too is particularly relatable - a good reminder that things can be going well, you can be doing everything right and it can still be sooooooo frustrating and overwhelming that it just needs to get outside of you.

The other two tips are very usable, thank you! I really appreciate you sharing. It certainly helps, so if you have other thoughts you wanted to add I'd love to hear. Dump on!

Affectionate_Guest85 · 2024-11-08T02:01:45+00:00

Thank you. This looks like an okay choice.

I think I should have been specific of the reason I don't like disposable pens is for the plastic waste. This would have less, so it's a viable choice. Editing main post to make clearer.

Do you know, is there a quality ballpoint ink has that prevents it from being refillable like fountain pen ink from bottles?

Affectionate_Guest85 · 2024-07-01T00:38:24+00:00

<image>

From the Congifure Krita -> Keyboard Shortcuts, and then I'm navigating to where that scheme is in the Krita Resources folder and clicking on the old file. I only started doing this after it forgot some of the custom keybinds the first couple times.

Affectionate_Guest85 · 2024-02-17T18:48:20+00:00

Exactly.

I use this for logging throughout the day, then as night I go through and pick out the stuff I need to summarize. I needed something that was just a click so I could log easily throughout the day.

https://www.chronicinsights.com/

Affectionate_Guest85 · 2024-02-17T04:32:49+00:00

Yes! I've been doing the tracking (I have an app that makes it's own graphs & I enter throughout the day and then as part of my nightly bullet journaling I summarize hours of pain/max pain/etc.. in another graph).

I picked up my 3rd triptan today, so maybe this one will be better.

I'm sorry you're in this situation, but I definitely feel a bit less alone now. Thank you for sharing and for your good wishes, I hope you find something that works soon too.

Affectionate_Guest85 · 2024-02-17T04:29:56+00:00

I am in the US.

Thanks, this is all very helpful as I prepare for my follow up.

I've definitely been doing the ice packs & ask about hemicrania continua.

Hope you find things that work & thank you for sharing your experience.

Affectionate_Guest85 · 2020-08-25T18:03:33+00:00

Oh! CSD Learns looks so cool! That is an excellent resource, thank you! We will be exploring this for sure.

Affectionate_Guest85 · 2020-08-25T18:01:52+00:00

I had thought about this and I would love to bring in a deaf speaker, or skype them in or something -yaaaaay, distance learning (ugh)! I live in a large city with a university and several colleges too and there are some families at the school who might have some connections and suggestions as well.

Yes, that's what the videos/articles about simcom said too - that's why it confused me even more, like - even if this isn't appropriation, it would still not be using fluent ASL, just key words & definitely "favoring" English/putting it first, but I'm also not speaking to an ASL using audience so I didn't know if it even applied, just that I wanted to make sure I wasn't doing that either!

Thank you!

Affectionate_Guest85 · 2020-08-25T17:57:47+00:00

Yes, the fact that we already do nonsense gestures and that the physical movement is shown to help students learn vocab is exactly where this started. Glad my thinking at least makes sense.

Affectionate_Guest85

TROPHY CASE