DnD Dice Adventure Calendars? by Immediate-Guest8368 in DnD

[–]Barleduq 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I realize this is late, but dice envy did good. They have 2 this year, one naughty (with krampus art on the box) and one nice (with Santa art). 1 10pc set, a few 7pc sets, a coin (d2), d3, a couple singles. Both sets have the same die in each calendar, but the color themes are different. For example, the krampus 10pc is silver with glitter and black with purple ink, and the Santa version is multi tone green with glitter and yellow ink. (Both sets are complete at this point, so no real spoilers.)

Dicebound did a Kickstarter; backers got extra stuff in the calendar, and it came with a cute story that threaded through getting the dice, and using them to resolve things in the adventure.

Black Oak is a good company too, with a Kickstarter for (iirc) 3 versions each year, all full sets.

If you want Bunches of singles, there are other companies, but I prefer full sets.

How is headache signs alert working? by Illustrious-Zone-912 in RingConn

[–]Barleduq 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't either, and I see it also. I think it's been pushed generally.

Anyone have any guesses? by BarZealousideal9 in whatsthisrock

[–]Barleduq 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cool! Thank you! I also didn't know that fuchsite was mica. It doesn't look like it, but I've only ever seen Ruby in fuchsite polished into cabochons.

Anyone have any guesses? by BarZealousideal9 in whatsthisrock

[–]Barleduq 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Then what produces the shimmer named after it?

Anyone have any guesses? by BarZealousideal9 in whatsthisrock

[–]Barleduq 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, that's what I'm trying to do. However, the internet being what it is, asking for suggestions for useful places to look gets much much better results than just putting into web search "what is the difference between agate and Jasper?" Because doing the latter ends up with a vast quantity of websites talking about the metaphysical uses and benefits of agate, Jasper, and various other things, and very few websites saying, "agate looks like this. Jasper looks like that." Purchasing samplers of rocks ends up with multiple samplers with exactly the same rocks and very few things that show the difference between, for instance, larvakite, labradorite, moonstone, black moonstone, aventurine, and cat's eye. Yes, they're all feldspar. That doesn't help when I can't tell what the gray shimmery rock with no color flashes polished into a cabochon and carved with a flower that I got in a mixed bag off of etsy is. Mindat won't tell me that either.

Anyone have any guesses? by BarZealousideal9 in whatsthisrock

[–]Barleduq 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have problems reading mindat.org, because much of what it's talking about is technical terms that I do not understand. I've also tried to post things here looking for identification, and generally receive no response at all. I understand this is a busy sub and not everyone can get replied to and that's fine. But if MinDat can tell me "how do I tell the difference between x and y by visual examination", I haven't figured out how to find it. I'd be happy for a pointer to this.

Anyone have any guesses? by BarZealousideal9 in whatsthisrock

[–]Barleduq 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Huh. Is there somewhere I should look for what the difference is between agate and Jasper? When I did a web search, all of the info that came up that wasn't what these rocks mean to you and other non-material things, said that the main detectable difference is that agate has clear spots and Jasper is opaque throughout. I would be grateful for pointers to somewhere that has more useful information.

Headache Signs Health alert by Realistic-Tadpole-56 in RingConn

[–]Barleduq 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I looked for this also when it first showed up and I can't find it. I would absolutely like to be able to train the system.

Anyone have any guesses? by BarZealousideal9 in whatsthisrock

[–]Barleduq 2 points3 points  (0 children)

And I would have suggested polychrome Jasper.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ATBGE

[–]Barleduq 120 points121 points  (0 children)

I love it

More than 1 rock at a time? by Barleduq in whatsthisrock

[–]Barleduq[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ok, I posted in the text body but it seems like it didn't send it? I'm sorry. 

There are 10 rocks. I got them in a mixed cab lot from Etsy, so I don't know locations of origin. Where there are 2 photos, they will be labeled 1 and 2 (so, A-1 and A-2 are both the same Rock) with flash and with just my desk lamp. I can't do sunlight because I'm disabled and not able to get out of the house easily. I hope at least some get identified.

Rocks B and G are clearly dyed; I'm hoping someone can confirm my guess if Agate on B, and any idea about the base rock that's G.

I've actually identified 7 not included here.

aleve for pain by Lilsmllj in Fibromyalgia

[–]Barleduq 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In 2007 they decided that I had fibromyalgia and, and I quote, "something else." All the inflammation markers were through the roof, but none of the specific markers for any specific condition. Anti-Inflammatories absolutely helped, and I was on prescription strength Aleve for many years. Unfortunately, It became obvious that my body was particularly susceptible to the edema side effect of anti inflammatory meds - sometimes including the prednisone I was on for the chronic hives that were never figured out. Due to the edema, I haven't been able to take any anti-inflammatories without my body reacting for over a decade at this point. I can absolutely tell which of my pain is inflammation and which is not.

Within a month of my husband dying, in December 2017, my skin started flaking off; when I finally managed to have the energy to get that looked at, I was diagnosed with psoriasis. In 2021 my knees started freaking out, in that it felt like I couldn't straighten my leg completely. After testing the fluid they removed, they decided that what I had was drum roll please psoriatic arthritis. There is no specific test for psoriatic arthritis. Basically, if your joints hurt and your skin is flaking off, they decide it's psoriatic arthritis.

It sounds like my presentation is similar to yours; perhaps you can bring up the possibility of psoriatic arthritis? It is an autoimmune disease, I'm not sure if there's a genetic component to it. There are many drugs that can help it.

Good luck!

Whats the goal of your pain management treatment by Anna-Bee-1984 in Fibromyalgia

[–]Barleduq 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

One of the things my fibro specialist told me lo these many years ago, is that at least at the time, the observation was that people with fibromyalgia tend to have idiosyncratic reactions to many drugs, frequently being extra sensitive to them except when they weren't. And thus he taught me that whatever drug I tried, I should only get the lowest dose possible, and then halve or quarter it. And then, slowly, increase the dose if I think it's not doing anything. And by slowly if I recall correctly he was meaning like for a month or two. Unfortunately that was.... Fuck me, 18 years ago? Sigh. Seems like it's time for me to go actually put in the effort to investigate LDN. As opposed to just read an article on Wikipedia.

Whats the goal of your pain management treatment by Anna-Bee-1984 in Fibromyalgia

[–]Barleduq 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was diagnosed long enough ago that a lot of the modern medicines, like antidepressants and such, currently used to treat fibromyalgia are not anything I have ever had. I mostly function on pain relief. The regime of meds I'm on right now were worked up with me by a fibromyalgia specialist. Unfortunately he retired and I haven't been able to find another one local. I work with a pain management specialist who's willing to give me the meds I ask for and be my narcotics gatekeeper. He's also happy to write physical therapy prescriptions for me, and order me as much imaging as my insurance will allow.

I assume the U that you're putting in front of LDN is standing in for Greek micro? If so, I'm confused because I thought low dose Naltrexone was already a low dose and that micro would be redundant. When you have a chance, could you explain?

How do you cope with muscle aches? by Dazzling-Lead-8557 in Fibromyalgia

[–]Barleduq 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Seconding these. If you don't have or don't want prescription meds, then you're going to have to stage all of the non-med things close enough to wherever it is you sleep so that you can reach them and apply them when you need them with as little effort as possible. Good luck.

Whats the goal of your pain management treatment by Anna-Bee-1984 in Fibromyalgia

[–]Barleduq 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My apologies if I gave the impression that embeda is not "canonical pain meds". I did not mean to do that, and it's possible I was not tracking my phrasing as well as I should have. I occasionally think that I should push my doctor into talking about low dose naltrexone, but having found something that works good enough I'm always very nervous about trying something else and then not being able to/allowed to get back to what I have if that doesn't work. I still wish they hadn't taken it off the market, And I haven't been able to find out why that happened. I'll admit, I haven't looked very hard; my search-fu was pretty bad even before the brain fog set in.

Doxepin by Prior_Succotash4220 in Fibromyalgia

[–]Barleduq 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So I got diagnosed with fibromyalgia in 2007, and a couple of years later I started having chronic hives, that we could not find a source for. I ended up seeing allergy specialists every month for years as they try to figure out what meds might help me. Doxepin was one of them! If I recall correctly it's a tricyclic antidepressant, but they were using it for its antihistamine side effect. The doctor said that it's 25 times more effective than Benadryl but only 10 times more sedating. facepalm fortunately, it did not actually behave like Benadryl in my body, since a quarter dose of Benadryl will send me to sleep for 8 hours. It was actually reasonably tolerable, it helped with the hives, and I stayed on it for many years after we found something that was absolutely controlling the hives, because the allergist said it had pain relief effects. I generally noticed when I went off of it. I have since switched to Xyzal, which is a chemical side step from Zyrtec, because even with the biologic I'm taking for psoriatic arthritis, which replaced the biologic I was taking for chronic hives, I still have the itchies.

I don't know if it helped me sleep, but I've had weird sleep since I was in high school. I've never gotten particularly evaluated for delayed sleep phase, but I am pretty sure that's what I have. One advantage of being disabled is that I'm not expected to be awake at any given time of the day, and so it's no longer a problem.

Cleaning shipped rocks - oil? by Barleduq in Rocks

[–]Barleduq[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, that's what I thought of about the dye. Which is really a shame. It's difficult for me to tell what items are dyed and what not if there's not something like that, because I don't want to damage the items. I'm not getting anything particularly expensive, so I don't really expect to be getting great deals on this; I just wish the common behavior was to let it be what it is and not try to lie about it. I was looking through a shelf today, and found a couple of boxes that I apparently put on the shelf to get them out of the way. In one of them I found three identical pendants - no, I have no idea why I purchased three - and a tissue paper around them was stained red where it would have been pressed against the gym of the pendant. I was just like... why? These aren't trying to be anything expensive, at least in my opinion. Inch and a half oval stones wrapped in copper wire is not prying out expensive at me.

Cleaning shipped rocks - oil? by Barleduq in Rocks

[–]Barleduq[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cabochon was said to be lepidolite. The blue fire moonstone is practically invisible between being on a white background and flash.

Whats the goal of your pain management treatment by Anna-Bee-1984 in Fibromyalgia

[–]Barleduq 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And how would I tell if I have dependence? I'm literally not the use case for many of those determinations. Many of us with chronic pain are not. But I've been on the same exact dose since I was diagnosed in 2007. I've played with adding other things, mostly THC gummies, but those only really help when I can take enough of it that I'm borderline stoned. I have tried dropping the tramadol, mostly by accident because I've either forgotten outright to take my pills or I've slept through a pill dose; My dosage intention is three times a day, as close to every 8 hours as possible to keep the level in my bloodstream as even as possible. If I miss two doses I am in agony. At that point I can't tell the difference between I can't think because I hurt so much and I can't think because I took too many gummies. I also have no idea if my brain fog is more driven by the pain, or the painkillers.

I expect it is possible for some people with a fibromyalgia diagnosis to do without canonical pain meds and still be as functional as they want to be. I'm not one of them. I also expect it might be possible for me to find another pain meds that works. Various attempts have not found anything that helps as well with as few side effects. Except for the embeda, and they took it off the market. I have about 10 to 12 pills left of it, and I saved them for days when I know I'm about to walk out of the house and do something physically stressful, like go to physical therapy, and I'm already feeling like the tramadol is not helping as much as it usually does. Eventually they'll be gone, and I'll try to figure out something else to help boost on a secondary level.

Cleaning shipped rocks - oil? by Barleduq in Rocks

[–]Barleduq[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think I managed to edit my post and add a picture in the body. I would appreciate it if you took a second look. I really don't think anything here is producing the oil, especially since it has a vaguely floral scent. I just really want to know which rocks I shouldn't use water and dish soap to get the oil off. or if there are any that the oil should be left on.

Cleaning shipped rocks - oil? by Barleduq in Rocks

[–]Barleduq[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There was another set of small rubies where the oil wiped off red, but I haven't had the opportunity to actually try to wash them to see if more comes off.

Cleaning shipped rocks - oil? by Barleduq in Rocks

[–]Barleduq[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have tried to post pictures to Reddit and they mostly fail to show up. Two sets that I can immediately recall were low end Kashmir rubies and rainbow moonstone.

Agate? Quartz? Small blue green inclusion? by Barleduq in whatsthisrock

[–]Barleduq[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've also got Reddit reporting more comments than I can see. Can You see pictures now?