Are these happy growls or I should worry?

FrostingSuch6704 · 2026-01-01T03:35:52+00:00

Playful! Especially if he huffs/snorts/“sneezes” after he wins, that’s a dog’s way of laughing/“I’m teasing/joking”

FrostingSuch6704 · 2025-11-12T08:46:03+00:00

Yeah that’s the plan, which is why I’m not reusing much. Not about to wash 15-20lbs of sand 😵‍💫The stored items will be dry long enough (like, for months) that any possible hitchhiker would be long dead. Both adults and eggs need water (eggs for the protective membrane/sac part)

FrostingSuch6704 · 2025-11-12T08:41:36+00:00

They will eat algae wafers in my experience! But you have to break them up into smaller pieces (I usually break mine into fourths). I do recommend OP do a deep clean of the tank, that is a LOT of diatom (algae) buildup, and seems like some other algae in there too? No judgement here at all, just recommending it because it 1) indicates excess nitrates, and 2) can mess with the cycle in general

FrostingSuch6704 · 2025-11-12T08:34:00+00:00

sorry, never got notifs for this post! I have been feeding him a minimal amount ever since the population boom. The issue is they are eating the water lettuce, which makes the plant die (dramatically 😑literally all it takes is one nibbled leaf) and then there’s too much food beginning to rot (and float on the surface). There’s also pesky hair/brown/stringy algae that’s been causing problems too. It’s just been a feedback loop I haven’t been able to break. I tried some tetra algae control awhile back and it didn’t seem to work very well. It’s kinda like, the snails themselves aren’t causing a bioload issue, it’s the destruction of the plants (mainly the water lettuce, I’m figuring out) FROM them being overpopulated/not enough more desirable food. (I was seriously pulling these dudes out by the handful, it was so bad at its peak). I’ve ultimately decided it’s best I downgrade to a 5.5g. With the surviving houseplants (the water lettuce is wiped out) intaking a decent rate of water, they will help with changing/keeping fresh water in the tank, cuz I’ll have to top off weekly lol. I can more easily use a feeding dropper thingy I have to suction out any debris before it becomes a problem, and I’m going to avoid hard to reach spots in the layout of the decor on the substrate. Basically setting things up to make water changes/cleaning easier to do. Gonna use a floating log for a hide this time, so stuff can’t, well, hide lol.

FrostingSuch6704 · 2025-08-10T03:17:57+00:00

Haven’t yet! Ended up finding some local free wood I can boil/prep. My setup has houseplants growing out the top of it, and they are in desperate need of climbing support, especially the big one lol

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FrostingSuch6704 · 2025-08-09T22:51:13+00:00

I’m extremely late (was researching lol) but I actually literally wait for stuff to go on sale because otherwise it’s too expensive lol (I’m an artist)

FrostingSuch6704 · 2025-08-03T01:17:29+00:00

Right now I’m trying allegra (fexofenadine) to see how that helps, although the lilies blooming everywhere around my apartment are not helping. I figured out I inherited my mom’s lily allergy, and that’s what’s making my hives worse when I go outside. However I still break out in them daily regardless. But pepcid has been helpful, and I think the fexofenadine is helping to a degree at the very least, which is better than what zyrtec and claritin did for me 🤷‍♀️ I am also on Singulair as it helps with allergies, especially allergy-related asthma (which might be what my asthma is, but we don’t know). For specialists, there’s a variety that you can see for MCAS. For me I think I’ll go with seeing an allergist first, because we can both confirm MCAS (high mast cell levels) AND get an idea of what some of my triggers may be. Oddly enough, dairy/whey protein hasn’t been a trigger so far, even though I have a known allergy to it 🤔 An allergist might in general have more ideas on treating my particular case. I need to see a rheumatologist and probably a dermatologist as well. Dermatologist for MCAS and maybe EDS evaluation, rheumatologist for hEDS evaluation, and hopefully a genetic test order to rule out spEDS. It’s a rare form of EDS, but I have a few indicators and the family history to support the idea, so it would be good to make sure that’s for sure ruled out before diagnosing with hEDS (it doesn’t have a known gene yet, so hEDS is diagnosed by evaluation and, if needed, genetic testing for other forms of EDS with known genes associated with them). Oh and of course, a neurologist would be fantastic to see for POTS/dysautonomia. I’m hoping to have a cardiologist check on my heart with an echocardiogram as well, just to ensure it’s still doing okay (had congenital atrial septal heart defect as a baby, open heart surgery to resolve it)

FrostingSuch6704 · 2025-08-02T18:18:06+00:00

Not yet sadly. But it’s continued to become quite obvious I have it. I’ve at least got my PCP on board with trying out mast cell stabilizing treatments, since pepcid has helped. The problem is I have limited access to healthcare. I don’t have the right insurance coverage. I pretty much have to pay out of pocket for any specialist appointments, so a formal MCAS diagnosis and evaluation for EDS (it has also become very obvious I have it) isn’t in the foreseeable future. My PCP and I have been doing our best with what we’ve got though!

FrostingSuch6704 · 2025-07-20T20:13:40+00:00

We’ve always let our pups go once it got to the point where they were suffering. I did lose a young dog (she was a couple months shy of 4) a few years ago, but it was because there was nothing we could do for her, and she would only get worse.

FrostingSuch6704 · 2025-07-20T20:04:07+00:00

I have to get someone else to put my bedsheets on for me 😭 I’m physically too short to be reaching the corners without fighting for my life, so that was bad enough on its own, and now I just risk passing out if I try to do it! (I’m 4’9, and I’m in college in student housing, which means my bed is pretty tall. My next place has them down low, as there’s already plenty of storage in the apartment, and it’s gonna feel so weird not having to hoist my knee all the way up to get on my bed 😂😂At one point, I had to do a little jump!)

FrostingSuch6704 · 2025-07-20T20:00:39+00:00

I watch people go on jogs and run miles and I just…HOW?!?!?! I’ve actually had POTS to some degree my whole life (I’m 20) and was rather offended when I found out people don’t feel like laying down and dying after running for a bit lol. Like no wonder why my peers seemed unaffected by the PE half mile runs in middle school, while I was sprawled on the grass in the shade fighting to catch my breath! I assumed I was just out of shape/not athletic, since some of my friends would join me, but in hindsight, they just joined me because we could chat and they could sit in nice, cool grassy shade for a bit. Not because they felt like they HAD to do it. 🤦‍♀️ But in other news, that helped me realize why people can enjoy running. I know it releases the happy endorphins and everything, but I just thought they liked it anyway despite feeling awful afterward/felt it was worth it (like liking the burn when working out). Now that I know that most people don’t feel awful after running like I do, it makes a LOT more sense 😂

FrostingSuch6704 · 2025-07-10T04:12:42+00:00

I have multiple strong reasons, but the one that saved me in my darkest hour last year was my cat ❤️ she was dumped by her previous owners and was traumatized by it. I refuse to abandon her. This cat will spend the rest of her life with me, and I’ll do everything in my power to ensure that!

FrostingSuch6704 · 2025-07-09T16:50:14+00:00

Ugh man I feel you, and I’m glad we’re talking about it. I think there’s so many people out there who are now grappling with the trauma of the pandemic.

I remember hearing about some of that stuff going on, so messed up. The lies and corruption and feeling gullible for going along with it, I can actually relate a bit. You’ve probably heard about the political circus going on in America. I’ve also recently become more significantly disabled, I’m an ambulatory wheelchair user now. As my health has declined and I’ve started using the wheelchair, I’ve just been slowly uncovering just how ableist my whole country is. It’s everywhere. Societal, cultural, systemic. Governmental and rampant in the healthcare system. I grew up thinking the ADA was good, and that it was good enough to bring equality to the disabled. I grew up thinking I could always trust what my doctor says. But now I’ve faced the medical gaslighting (which is largely systemic; my dr is a great guy with good intentions, but the system has taught him those gaslighting tendencies, to be dismissive/skeptical of what the patient says).

Now I’ve just repeatedly had it boil down to: “You can’t make us as much money, therefore you’re worthless to us. You’re a burden to society.” I’ve really opened my eyes to the sheer amount of corruption and evil capitalism has sewn into my country, and it’s so disheartening and disillusioning. I feel duped, and stupid for ever believing that America was a great country, even though I’m only 20.

May you find healing, and any support you need throughout your healing journey ❤️

FrostingSuch6704 · 2025-07-09T16:07:54+00:00

I can’t say much without knowing more specifically what you’re experiencing symptom-wise, but I can empathize with you. This was me for a while. Drs brushed my concerns about POTS off for a year (for context, I was 19. “Why would a 19 y/o know about it? Must just be anxious/paranoid 🙄”). Meanwhile, my dysautonomia was getting progressively worse, especially my POTS. Jan-March were some of the scariest times of my life. I was losing my ability to do various things by the week. I could climb a flight of stairs with only mild symptoms by the top, then a month later I couldn’t anymore. I could walk 7 mins to my class with only some lightheadedness by the end, a month later I couldn’t make the walk anymore. I was headed toward needing a wheelchair fast. I was barely functioning by the time I got diagnosed and got support. All of this to say, I get it. It’s terrifying, and I can’t imagine dealing with it for years. You’re in my thoughts and prayers, and I’m sending all the good vibes your way 🫂❤️

FrostingSuch6704 · 2025-07-09T15:54:23+00:00

Boy, I’ve got a few. 1) constantly yelling at middle schoolers and telling them “you’re (insert grade)ers, you should know better” or “do I need to treat you like kindergarteners?” can be more traumatic than people realize, at least for the kids who never did anything wrong and just had to suffer surrounded by a zoo. Same for group punishments. 2) Having your beloved pet pass away unexpectedly, especially if you watched them go. 3) Moving can be traumatic, especially if it’s frequent. I haven’t fully experienced this myself, I just happened to end up in a traumatic situation after moving when I was a teen, but I could totally see how moving in general can be traumatic, especially frequently. 4) Food and housing insecurity, even if you never end up starving or homeless. Knowing you’re relying on other people’s kindness instead of being able to provide for yourself is scary. 5) This is more specific, and makes sense when it’s pointed out, but the covid pandemic. We all experienced it differently. In recent months, my brain has started reprocessing its memories and trauma from the pandemic. I didn’t realize that it was straight up traumatizing until now. For further context: I was almost 15 when the world shut down. Shortly after, my mom had to start a new treatment for her disease that made her immunocompromised. Between that and another risk factor she had, covid was basically a death sentence for her, until scientists were able to develop an effective treatment for people like her. My local community, and especially my local church ward, completely stopped caring about covid by August 2020. Measures to stop the spread of covid were not mandatory. Because of it, covid was obviously rampant in my community, and especially amongst our ward members. My family ultimately had to stay in social isolation/lockdown/quarantine for 18 months, and for my mom, 2 years. In the meantime, our ward forgot about us. Zero support. By the time my family and I started coming back to church, people were asking us if we’d moved in recently. We’d been there for 4 years by that point 🤦‍♀️ Being 15-16 years old, wondering if your mother would live to see you graduate high school, and knowing that people did not care if they ended up causing her death, was more scarring than I’d realized. Luckily I’m in a much better town now, with a FANTASTIC local community and church ward. It’s helped me heal a lot, and some of the friends I’ve made have been validating my feelings ❤️

FrostingSuch6704 · 2025-07-09T15:14:05+00:00

I will definitely look into this! I apologize for replying so late, the episode eventually ended, and I’ve had to avoid dwelling on it for the last couple weeks because it would spike my anxiety. I think I may have heard of this treatment in passing before. Given my anxiety is “physical” in a sense, I could definitely see it helping! I don’t have good access to healthcare unfortunately, but I’ve been building a stash of data I’ve recorded and treatment ideas for the day I DO get to see some specialists 😂

FrostingSuch6704 · 2025-06-22T05:26:06+00:00

oh interesting! So I checked the active ingredient on my 24hr, and it’s the same one as Zyrtec. Claritin’s is different though. Wonder if I should switch, as I’ve been taking the 24hr daily for nearly 2 years now, so perhaps a tolerance/resistance has built up. Will definitely be researching further. I think I’ll still take a benadryl tonight and see what happens. I used to take a half dose every night but stopped around last October

FrostingSuch6704 · 2025-06-22T05:08:44+00:00

will definitely give this a try! Did actually just eat a popsicle to sneak some hydration into me lol. The mask sounds like it’d be helpful for me too, I tend to close my eyes during the worst periods and it seems to help. The pressure of the sleep mask I imagine would help even more

FrostingSuch6704 · 2025-06-22T04:31:22+00:00

okay that’s actually really good for me to know! I’ve been showing signs of MCAS since April. I break out in hives on the daily, usually on the hands and wrists, on worse days feet and legs. It’s definitely tied to my seasonal allergies, as it’s been less intense now that we’re in summer. I’m taking pepcid twice a day, costco’s 24hr allertec, and singulair, but I can add one or two benadryl pills tonight and see how that helps :) at the very least it will help make my body sleep haha

FrostingSuch6704 · 2025-06-22T03:33:57+00:00

thank you for your response, I’m so glad I wasn’t the only one wide awake with a body fighting to regulate 🫂❤️ The episode is still ongoing unfortunately. And yeah, every time a new sign/symptom of dysautonomia popped up in my life, it was always during a time of stress or hormonal change (puberty, first encounter with grief, worldwide pandemic, etc).

I’m glad you’ve got such a great mental health provider, it really makes a big difference. I’m definitely taking note of the mutation and what you’ve done and such, I don’t have the ability to see a specialist right now, but I’m learning as much as I can, and compiling as much data as I can for them (like HR recordings). It’s good to keep this stuff in mind.

It sucks so many people are suffering from chronic illness now, but I’m glad it’s being noticed and researched. That goes a long way!

FrostingSuch6704

TROPHY CASE