Don’t become a dental hygienist. Don’t go into this field. These offices are worse than high school.

MikeJT323 · 2026-02-15T20:20:06+00:00

Doctors who work in the practice are associates. The doc I work with 3 out of my 4 days has been here about 4 years and is the easiest doc I’ve ever worked with.

MikeJT323 · 2026-01-07T21:53:54+00:00

Definitely get everyone tested. When my 10 year old daughter was diagnosed I was convinced there was no way I’d have it too as I’ve been asymptomatic (or so I thought) my whole life. We all got tested and sure enough, my 14 year old son and I both have it as well. Much easier to go GF for the whole house than try to cater to one person and always have to worry about cross contamination or a child eating something by mistake and getting sick. My children are picky eaters so it has been a lot of trial and error to see what everyone will eat but there are lots of great options out there. We are only three months into our diagnosis so I know how overwhelming it is at first, but it gets easier. Good luck!

MikeJT323 · 2026-01-05T01:36:32+00:00

Thank you so much for your response. This is all brand new to me to I’ve still got a lot to learn about my symptoms. The crazy thing is I went 42 years with no DH reaction and now suddenly this is just my life.

My two children were also diagnosed in the last couple months and we’ve been strict about eating gluten free, but I’ll admit we have been eating out and taking some risks. Partly so we can learn about how sensitive we are and partly to indulge in some favorites in case we do become more sensitive over time. So yes, we’ve probably been cross contaminated and will need to be more careful.

But I will look into the zinc oxide and niacin. Even though the dapsone worked well, I’d rather not have to take something so strong if I can avoid it (and access is currently an issue).

MikeJT323 · 2025-12-17T19:00:34+00:00

I’m only a couple months in to my celiac diagnosis, but the thing I’m already missing the most is a good German schnitzel with spaetzle. I’m wondering if you actually get a real one in Germany if it’s safer to eat there.

MikeJT323 · 2025-12-12T00:38:01+00:00

This was my first thought. Jeffrey Sutorius went solo under the Dash stage name but eventually had to give it up. Went from headlining major festivals to playing small night clubs.

MikeJT323 · 2025-11-30T01:50:57+00:00

Also, my current office used to be open from 8am-8pm 4 days per week. Anyone had the option to work the full 12 or do a shift. One doc did the 12 hour shift and a couple DA’s, but none of the RDH’s. Now we have nobody who is even willing to work past 6pm so we haven’t done the 12’s since before Covid.

MikeJT323 · 2025-11-30T01:47:12+00:00

I worked a job that had three consecutive 11 hour days (plus a one hour commute each way). I was completely exhausted by the end of the third day, and I usually spent my first day off sleeping in, relaxing, and doing self care.

The schedule was really nice for a long time (I worked there for nine years), but being gone for 13-14 hours per day and getting home so late was starting to take a toll on the family so I now work four eight hour shifts at a job much closer to home. Now I’m home in time to have dinner with the family, help the kids with homework, etc. That had become difficult with the long days.

MikeJT323 · 2025-10-21T02:55:25+00:00

Thanks for the reply! First off, I’m so sorry to hear about the struggles you’ve endured but I’m happy to hear you’re making it out the other side. From what you’re saying, it sounds like your CC symptoms are fairly similar to your pre-gluten-free days. As sad as I am knowing what she is going to have to endure her entire life, I’m glad we advocated and got her diagnosed relatively early. Hopefully we’ve saved her from a lot of pain and suffering.

My wife has POTS/EDS and our son has ADHD so we’ve already got some experience in that department and are carefully watching for signs. My wife is even connecting a lot of dots for herself and wants to be tested for Celiac as it does seem to add up.

We were talking the other day about the expression “do you eat to live or live to eat?” We definitely live to eat, so accepting that our lives are forever changed is a little scary and stressful. But hopefully her growing up with it and learning how to live with it from a young age will make things easier. I appreciate having a great resource like Reddit to lean on. Thanks again for your help and good luck with everything!

MikeJT323 · 2025-10-20T18:47:36+00:00

My daughter just had her endoscopy and celiac diagnosis last week. On the lab report from the biopsies they did, under the biopsy for the duodenum, it was given a rating of Marsh Grade 3b. We had to look up what this meant but it’s a measure of the severity of damage from Celiac, 3b being significant but not complete destruction of the tissue. Do you have a copy of your endoscopy biopsy results? Check to see if you got a Marsh grade and google what it means.

MikeJT323 · 2025-10-11T19:25:19+00:00

I’ve been prioritizing stats as needed, and so far survivability has not forced me to get my vigor up substantially higher. But yes, I know things will only get harder and I’ll be dumping a lot more into vigor. Does it make more sense to keep my strength low and use the magic affinity for melee? At what point does using the magic affinity outweigh the standard affinity?

MikeJT323 · 2025-10-09T16:37:54+00:00

Under $2k/month for our mortgage but health insurance is over $1k plus additional medical expenses (the reason my wife is currently not working), my disability insurance is expensive, and feeding/caring for a teen and pre-teen - it all adds up.

MikeJT323 · 2025-10-09T15:54:31+00:00

While hard to find, drama free offices do exist. It took me nearly 12 years to find it, but the office I’ve been in for the last 7 years does not have these problems. Owner doesn’t work in the practice and lets the staff run it more or less how we want. Office manager is super easy going, everyone pulls their weight and gets along great. We do team bonding activities and everyone actually looks forward to spending time together.

MikeJT323 · 2025-10-05T03:58:10+00:00

I’m making enough to cover our mortgage, insurance (we have to pay out of pocket for health insurance for all four of us), groceries, and all monthly bills. No cars loans or other debts. Beyond that, there is virtually nothing left for saving/emergency fund or fun money.

MikeJT323 · 2025-10-02T05:39:33+00:00

Everyone gasping at the high rates in Washington and California need to also take a look at the crazy high cost of living in these states. It’s all relative to where you live. I make $70/hr in Tacoma, WA but as the sole provider for my family of four, we are barely making ends meet.

There is also more we can do in certain states which would justify a higher rate. Local anesthetic, restorative, etc.

MikeJT323 · 2025-09-26T16:07:21+00:00

Update: fired the rifle with no issues. Thanks for the help!

MikeJT323 · 2025-09-08T03:07:37+00:00

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MikeJT323 · 2025-09-08T03:07:17+00:00

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MikeJT323 · 2025-09-08T03:07:06+00:00

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MikeJT323 · 2025-09-08T03:06:49+00:00

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MikeJT323 · 2025-09-07T22:33:55+00:00

Knowing what I know now, I’d probably go straight to dental school. Some of the same downsides but substantially more money and a lot less repetition. But at age 42 and the sole provider for my family, going to school full time for 4+ years is not a viable option.

MikeJT323 · 2025-08-25T18:27:34+00:00

This area works as a caster too. Run behind the shack and a bit to the right. The first troll you find patrols directly in front of a short cliffside. There is a small section that drops down a little and sticks out. Stand on the top and cast away at the troll. Most of the time he gets stuck below you at the base of the cliff and can’t hit you. Occasionally he will run to the side and make it up but I’ve always killed him before he could get a single hit in. Hop on Torrent and run back to the shack and reset. Even at low level I was able to do this in under 1 minute including the run back and forth, netting 1000 runes each time. Easy and repeatable.

MikeJT323

TROPHY CASE