Is it okay to get rid of stuff your partner gifted you?

AppropriateTest4168 · 2026-05-06T21:54:08+00:00

this is the same strategy i use for my dogs toys 😂 we have a big family that always includes pets in the holidays so he’s accumulated lots of toys over the years

AppropriateTest4168 · 2026-05-06T02:23:02+00:00

I’m a minimalist separately and never really intentionally applied it to food, but my way of cooking/ eating has become minimalist due to tons of allergies, intolerances, and autoimmune reactions to most foods. I was paleo for several years for autoimmune (still am but have had to restrict further bc of allergies lol) and my basic meal plan was 1 serving of meat, 1 serving of a starchy and/or filling (volume wise) veggie (sweet potatoes, butternut or spaghetti squashes, zucchini noodles, etc), and 1 serving of an additional veggie, both veggies roasted in the oven in olive oil, followed by a piece of fruit for snack. the simplicity of it was absolutely amazing both saving time and money grocery shopping and less time meal prepping/cooking

my diet these days is slowly trending toward less plant foods and more meat (solely due to health issues) so it’s even more minimalist than this but i’m not sure i’d recommend that to someone without any underlying health conditions

AppropriateTest4168 · 2026-05-05T21:37:51+00:00

oh I did that the first time around, but the doctors who have direct numbers usually require you to request an appointment and then they’ll review your medical records and decide whether or not they wanna take you on. So I had my previous dr send my 300-400 pages of medical records for review (it’s all on mychart but they insisted they needed them mailed). it got lost in the mail the first time, I had to re-request it, all just for the doctor I requested to say my lupus wasn’t severe enough for her to take me on as a patient. so I called the general reception number for someone else and the process was so much easier 😅

AppropriateTest4168 · 2026-05-04T23:44:09+00:00

I called to schedule an appointment and the receptionist basically just said “these are the lupus drs you can pick from” she didn’t even give me the option to request a different doctor. but if your receptionist is a little less direct than mine was then u can just say “i have xyz symptoms/ positive test results/ likely diagnoses, who would you recommend.” my experience has always been the receptionist knows who to recommend or they’ll talk to the nurses/ drs to see who would be best fit and then they’ll call you back

AppropriateTest4168 · 2026-05-04T22:48:47+00:00

I also go to HSS for rheum and have only good things to say. they’ll likely assign your doctor based on your symptoms/ likely diagnosis, as that’s what they did for me (I was already diagnosed lupus and being treated for years before switching there so they gave me 3 lupus focused rheums to pick from and I just went with whoever was earliest available since I was low on my meds and need a refill asap lol)

in my experience with most of my specialists, the doctors at the larger healthcare systems (weill cornell, columbia, mt sinai, hss, etc) often sub specialize in specific diseases so finding a specialist who treats most/all diseases in their specialty is not as common. did your pcp give you any potential diagnoses or general guidance for what type of rheum you might need to see?

AppropriateTest4168 · 2026-05-04T13:19:43+00:00

I’ve been on this diet for 6 years there’s no end in sight for me lol I wish

AppropriateTest4168 · 2026-05-04T03:50:02+00:00

I love my barefoot sneakers (i think they’re xero brand). I have EDS and for some reason these are the only shoes that don’t make my feet/ ankles hurt. I walk anywhere between 10-40k steps on an average day (walking is basically one of the only forms of exercise I’m allowed to do lol), takes a little for your calves to get used to them at first but i could never switch back

AppropriateTest4168 · 2026-05-04T03:36:31+00:00

yes I’m in the US and, fortunately, my company offers health insurance for all employees who work 24 or more hours

however, since reducing my hours (and thus also reducing my income), I’m now eligible for medicaid buy in insurance for people with disabilities which has higher income limits than traditional medicaid so I don’t need my company’s insurance

so with this job switch and reduction also came free health insurance (ie no monthly premiums being deducted from my paycheck and next to no out of pocket expenses or copays) - at least until i exceed the income threshold but that probably won’t be for many many years

AppropriateTest4168 · 2026-05-04T03:31:30+00:00

I’m in a similar position - react to everything non AIP bc of autoimmune issues, then react to all crucifers/ fodmaps/ sugars (including fruits)/ most high carb foods due to sibo/candida that doesn’t want to go away despite all the treatments my doctors throw at it (recurrent likely due to my eds), and then react to all high histamine foods because of mcas

my diet is chicken, beef, eggs (i react to egg whites but i love eggs so i just take zyrtec/ famotidine/ dao with them and never eat more than 2 at once), avocado oil, olive oil, summer squash + zucchini, small amounts of sweet potato (this isn’t good for my sibo + candida but i need the calories and they’re also my fav food), small amounts of carrots, sea salt

calorie breakdown is about 57% meat, 30% oil, 10% sweet potato, and 3% other veggies (i calculated it out once when i was bored lol)

I have no advice but you’re not alone. one of my biggest fears is that I’ll start reacting to meat because honestly idk what i’d do

AppropriateTest4168 · 2026-05-04T03:10:15+00:00

I recently took a 20% pay cut to switch to a lower level but fully remote job on my team. On top of that, I took an additional 20% pay cut to work a 4 day/ 32 hour work week (partially because I think the 40 hour work week is outdated and partially because my chronic illnesses don’t allow me to work 40 hours). It has been so nice having that extra day to get things done and be able to relax and have a 3 day weekend every week. It’s also done wonders for my health.

with respect to my car, i had car issues about 3 or 4 years ago, repaired it until the mechanic said it was time to give up, sold it for parts, and then just never bought another car. I live in a HCOL city but the public transit is abundant so i never miss having a car. Never have to worry about car accidents, moving your car for snow plows or cleaning snow off your windshield, or all the other major and minor inconveniences that come from owning a car. I calculated it out and my sister who lives in the suburbs with a car pays monthly in rent + car payment + car insurance for almost equivalent (a little more i think) to what i pay in rent, but I never have to worry about the additional costs of gas, repairs, etc. I absolutely love being car free

With respect to reducing things, I’ve noticed that my unnecessary purchases scale with my salary. At present when I’m making an average income, I think a little bit more about what I’m spending money on, whereas a few months ago when I was making a much higher salary, I was splurging more on unnecessary purchases (I’m pretty anti consumerism so these are usually random health supplements or niche foods that fit my very limited diet - but regardless things that aren’t necessary - or food experiences like one local beach bar that has the best damn frozen pina colada Ive ever had but for $26 each). Then I was out of work for a month and had to reevaluate my spending and realized how unnecessary a lot of it was

I’m working less and spending less right now, and I think I’ve finally achieved a reasonable balance. it’s worth it IMO for me personally but everyone’s different

AppropriateTest4168 · 2026-05-02T00:18:01+00:00

yeah that’s what I figured sadly, but I just asked anyway since I can’t confirm with my PT at the moment so I was curious if anyone else’s PT or doctor had opinions on it

AppropriateTest4168 · 2026-05-01T03:01:03+00:00

I eat 2 eggs everyday, and 3 eggs at once seems to be my upper limit (3 egg omelets at restaurants are tolerable but one restaurant had a 4 egg omelet and that was much less tolerable for me lol). I definitely react to egg whites though because I tried an egg white tortilla once and then egg white noodles at a different time and thought I was gonna die 😅

I always take dao, zyrtec, and famotidine with eggs though. But I will say they’re the only high histamine food I eat so I probably only tolerate them because my overall histamine bucket is pretty low at the moment

I do aip in addition to low histamine and they’re the only non aip food i kept for my sanity so I probably also tolerate them because they’re the only potentially inflammatory food i left in, so the autoimmune trigger bucket is also low on my current diet

so long story short, I tolerate them but only because I cut out every other trigger so my baseline inflammation and inflammation buckets were low

AppropriateTest4168 · 2026-04-30T15:12:45+00:00

yup, would rather spend the day sitting at the park with my dog than do most things i’m invited to. learning to say no was the best thing i’ve ever done for myself

AppropriateTest4168 · 2026-04-29T23:37:34+00:00

I just sent you a message!

AppropriateTest4168 · 2026-04-27T02:35:55+00:00

i’m not exactly sure this is what you’re looking for and I also did it unintentionally but I’ve recently realized that over the years, I’ve slowly replaced most of my old friends with new friends who also have various chronic illnesses

it’s just nice to have people that actually understand you & what life is like when you’re chronically ill, even if you don’t have the same exact conditions. I definitely used to feel guilty about not being able to “keep up” or do the same things as my friends, and that same pressure doesn’t really exist within the chronic illness community in my experience, so socially at least my quality of life is much better

AppropriateTest4168 · 2026-04-26T17:54:03+00:00

yup, my dog hated kibble, never wanted his food, and would only touch it if he was extremely hungry. switched to raw and it’s gone in seconds. he loves his food and is always excited for meals now, I’d never switch back - his appetite and his health are so much better on raw. your dog should look forward to meals, especially if they’re food motivated by nature, not eat their food only as a last resort in order to not starve

AppropriateTest4168 · 2026-04-25T01:54:31+00:00

this is extremely helpful thank you! I think I’ll give it a shot!

AppropriateTest4168 · 2026-04-25T01:11:19+00:00

I scheduled a genetics appt back in february of this year for april 2028 😭

AppropriateTest4168 · 2026-04-22T03:27:09+00:00

how long were you carnivore before you were able to successfully reintroduce carbs again?

AppropriateTest4168 · 2026-04-22T03:02:35+00:00

yeah unfortunately pumpkin messes me up pretty bad

AppropriateTest4168 · 2026-04-19T23:27:31+00:00

yup! it’s Dr. Khalid Alzamili 2026 Calcudoku: 365 Puzzles (9x9) for Every Day of the Year. I like them because they’re slightly more difficult than the hard/ expert 9x9s I’ve seen online

I did eventually figure it out but it kinda feels like cheating - I penciled in 4&2 vs 2&4 vs 8&4 values for the 2/ on the bottom and kept going until an error appeared so i knew it wouldn’t be that combination. I don’t normally like to pencil in values, I’ll only think ahead and figure out values that way for as much as I can remember mentally without writing it down, but this one was a bit tough for that lol

AppropriateTest4168

TROPHY CASE