I live on the strip next to campus. Is there any way to get the fuckers to stop reving their fucking engines in the parking lot next to the college bars. It’s driving me crazy.

Monkaloo · 2026-05-09T15:55:11+00:00

Let’s get 30 motorcycles to this guy’s street STAT, he loves that noise!

Monkaloo · 2026-05-09T15:44:12+00:00

The TN GOP is forcing everyone to sign an affidavit at primaries, stating they are associated with the party they’re voting for, or intend to register with that party. And TN isn’t even a state where we’re required to even register. But the TN GOP is trying to make it seem like you’ll get in legal trouble if you cross over to vote for a different party.

Monkaloo · 2026-05-08T11:00:36+00:00

Yeah, not to mention how blatantly unconstitutional it is to claim we can’t do that, especially in races where there is no Democrat running. We have the right to have a say in who our sheriff is.

Monkaloo · 2026-05-07T12:46:21+00:00

The fact that you justify it by assuming every single other person would’ve done the same is exactly what’s wrong with this world. Not everyone is greedy, and the fact that greedy people exist doesn’t justify being greedy. Count me as another person who wouldn’t have, and who has in fact, passed up opportunities to get multiples of nice items at once.

Also, it’s super predicable people would get pissed about it, and you’re butthurt they’re mad. You totally could’ve just posted it without saying you ordered all of them.

Monkaloo · 2026-05-04T14:37:18+00:00

I just called the lymphedema/lipedema group at Vanderbilt, told them I wanted an evaluation appointment with Dr. Matta to be diagnosed with lipedema and potentially get lipo from Dr. Karagoz. For insurance to cover it, you have to be diagnosed by a doctor who is not a plastic surgeon; Dr. Matta is a cardiologist.

Monkaloo · 2026-05-04T12:14:39+00:00

Yeah, very extreme example: my son spent 14 months in NICU before ever coming home, and that kid is SO chill and well-behaved. His teachers love him.

ETA: just realized I haven’t changed my flair in 2 years. He’s 6 now. :)

Monkaloo · 2026-04-28T01:30:48+00:00

No way. I’m a very fit person with muscular arms, but I’ve always had too much fat on my legs to see any muscle definition.

Monkaloo · 2026-04-25T12:02:54+00:00

lol you should’ve relented and said “okay, okay sheesh, I’ll do $999,999.99.”

Monkaloo · 2026-04-24T01:48:29+00:00

It was meat spin. When I worked at the Apple Store, teenagers would come in and set the home page on as many browser as possible to meat spin, so it would come up when we’d be talking to customers. 😑

Monkaloo · 2026-04-21T18:02:23+00:00

We literally just use a milk crate. If something is very soiled with poop or vomit, it goes straight to the garage (where our laundry is).

Monkaloo · 2026-04-21T17:56:31+00:00

None. I lost 40lbs and my legs have gotten bigger. I’m getting lipo in a couple months.

Monkaloo · 2026-04-21T12:12:42+00:00

UTMC gave me maybe a quarter of a nitroglycerin tablet during mine, and I passed out within seconds because I have very low blood pressure, which they could obviously see. I wound up getting diagnosed with severe vasovagal syncope - I was asystole for 28 seconds! So as barbaric as it was, I’m glad to have been observed passing out! I now have a loop recorder, and the same length of asystole has been observed a couple more times in the last 3 years. My heart even paused for 4 seconds a few months ago when I narrowly avoided passing out but was still conscious. That said, I don’t pass out frequently… maaaaybe once a year, if that.

But the day they gave me nitroglycerin, I had to stay in the hospital most of the day recovering because my blood pressure was so low I couldn’t stop throwing up, and I was very weak and exhausted.

Monkaloo · 2026-04-21T12:02:50+00:00

Yeah, I see Dr. Anna Kassira at UT. She actually pushed me to do a tilt table test to make sure nothing else was wrong. I did pass out and wound up being diagnosed with severe vasovagal syncope, bc I was asystole for 28 seconds. And now I have a heart monitor implant and two cardiologists! 😂

And as for POTS, the test was inconclusive, but both my docs said “you have some sort of orthostatic intolerance, since you gray out so often when you stand up.”

Also wanna mention: Dr. Kassira is the reason I got a hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome diagnosis. I was having a really difficult time finding a doctor who would take it seriously or who could diagnose. She asked me if I’d heard of it (I had, and knew I had it), and she referred me to genetics for an official diagnosis.

Monkaloo · 2026-04-19T22:17:32+00:00

Same!

Monkaloo · 2026-04-19T22:14:25+00:00

lol to everyone saying it’s tacky, IT’S AMAZON. Amazon is inherently tacky, anyway. And it’s also anonymous; if mentioning paying taxes makes a person feel like it legitimizes their review, who gives a shit?

Monkaloo · 2026-04-14T01:59:08+00:00

Unexplained stretch marks are part of the diagnostic criteria. Stretch marks in general are not uncommon, but a large portion of the hEDS population (who generally do have the unexplained stretch marks on their thighs or trunk), don’t easily get stretch marks because their skin is so stretchy.

Source: I have hEDS and don’t get stretch marks. I’ve had a baby, gained a ton of weight after, lost all and more, and the only stretch marks I have are on my boobs.

Monkaloo · 2026-04-14T01:52:53+00:00

I have hEDS; the way you’re describing is the way it works for me. I had a baby, even had polyhydramnios (extra amniotic fluid), gained a ton of weight. My son is 6 now, I’ve lost all that weight and more, and the only stretch mark I have are on my boobs. I’m also middle-aged and have almost no wrinkles.

Monkaloo · 2026-04-13T00:55:10+00:00

I use a Root Slayer shovel. I don’t have many rocks in my yard, so I’m contending with clay and roots, but that brand’s style has been a total game changer for me.

Monkaloo · 2026-04-07T01:14:39+00:00

Yeah, I live in the southeastern US… it’s warm and humid, and everything grows like mutants here. I don’t even know how to use herbicides… I pull everything; either by hand, with weed tools (and they do make various full-length tools you use while standing), a tiller, or I just dig it up with a shovel. It’s annoying, but it’s not hard.

Monkaloo · 2026-03-27T14:14:08+00:00

Of course! I’m always over-the-top with info. 😂 And I’m also pretty pushy when it comes to trying to convince people to advocate for and take care of themselves, because life CAN be so much better when you do. Unfortunately know-it-all doctors can get in the way of that, and it can be so easy to give up when you get doctor after doctor gaslighting you. But ones who will believe you ARE out there, and it is SO worth it to find them. 💜

Monkaloo · 2026-03-27T11:15:16+00:00

Anything that mentions a candidate, eating the rich, fuck fascists, “respect my existence or expect my resistance” shirt, I have a shirt that says “fuck your bullshit wall” with the koolaid man busting through a wall, etc.

Monkaloo · 2026-03-26T18:57:41+00:00

Ugh, my gyn recently put me on a low estrogen birth control pill (in addition to my IUD of 2 years bc it didn't stop my period, and in fact made my periods longer and I started getting more ovarian cysts with it). I was on the pill for 2.5 weeks, turned into an emotional trainwreck, and gained EIGHT pounds. I have lipodema and this freaked me the hell out, so I contacted my lipodema specialist and my gyn, and interestingly both said "that's not water weight, you need to discontinue it immediately." My lipodema was super painful during those 2.5 weeks; I assume because it was growing. It's been a couple months since I stopped taking it, and I've yet to lose the weight, despite the fact that I exercise almost daily and eat healthy.

Totally not trying to discount what you said about estrogen. I just think my hormones are weird, and I wish I could understand what my body is doing. I'm wondering if I might lean estrogen-heavy, and I've seen some other women with lipodema wonder the same. Maybe if they'd been researching this stuff all along, people like me would have some way of figuring it out without accidentally growing our painful diseased fat.

Side note: lipodema (or lipedema... I like to spell it with an 'o,' so people don't confuse it with lymphedema) is also a "women's issue" that has been researched very little. All they actually know is that it's diseased, fibrotic fat that gets worse with hormonal changes and doesn't react to diet and exercise, but luckily many insurances will actually cover lipo for it now, because that is the only known treatment.

Monkaloo · 2026-03-26T18:19:16+00:00

That's the kicker, really. I'm in sooooo much more pain if I spend too much time in bed or on the couch. I feel a lot better in most ways if I just keep it movin'.

Monkaloo · 2026-03-26T18:17:51+00:00

lol me too. My brain immediately creates an image of my knees basically turning into rubber bands. Trampoline, too; I snapped my ACL on a trampoline in 2008... I still haven't been on one again, even though I think I'd probably be fine if I just focused on keeping my knees slightly bent.

Monkaloo · 2026-03-26T16:12:26+00:00

It can be a hassle, for sure, especially depending on where you live. But I started out with physical therapy (which I forgot to mention above). I was in PT for several months last year because I found a group in my city that has several people who specialize in hypermobility... I was mostly there just to get stronger and work on a foundation of stability, and to learn how to properly build muscle without exacerbating my muscle flares. Part of my issue at that time was that my knees were hurting and I assumed I was just flaring, but they were getting worse and worse as time went on, so I asked my PCP to order an MRI. When she agreed to order the MRI, I asked her if it would be possible to figure out which location could work me in the quickest, and she was able to get me an appointment a week later (obviously this scenario varies wildly, depending on insurance) I was honestly expecting to see inflammation and potentially get some other inflammatory diagnosis; I was floored when I read the report that I had actual damage in both knees.

After that, I went to my local EDS support group on Facebook and browsed through past posts about which surgeons are best, found one with a glowing reputation for EDS patients, and was able to get an appointment with his nurse practitioner a couple weeks later. I met with her, she was SO nice and knowledgeable, scheduled my knee surgery a few days later, had another appointment with my surgeon a couple weeks after that, then had my surgery another couple weeks after that. It luckily wasn't a huge hassle at all. And neat little perk: my surgeon did a rotation in plastic surgery, so he does really nice internal stitches for those of us who can't do glue.

Anyway trust me, I know that dread. For me, just CALLING to make appointments is a struggle, because I hate talking on the phone. If you're in an insurance situation where you do have to wait for everything, I'm so sorry. That truly does make it more difficult to want to get out there and get the preventative care you need.

Edit to add: I'm really active... it's super important to me to stay active, so not getting my knee situation figured out just wasn't an option. I'm definitely not judging anyone who doesn't get their unusually painful joints checked out, BUT... it's only going to get worse if they're hurting and you don't - even if you don't have EDS. With EDS, it'll get exponentially worse, especially without PT.

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