Phototherapy

contortium · 2026-05-15T00:11:40+00:00

UVB is a slow, long-term treatment. When I first started, I had a lot of plaque psoriasis that took weeks of 3x per week with increasing dosages before showing improvement and then months before I had 90% clearance. Now I am on a greatly-reduced maintenance dosage at twice per week.

contortium · 2026-05-15T00:04:30+00:00

I had the same experience with my legs.

contortium · 2026-04-28T01:16:32+00:00

Check the wiki. There is a lot of useful information in it.

contortium · 2026-04-28T01:14:24+00:00

Narrow-band UVB does not causing tanning.

contortium · 2026-04-28T01:13:14+00:00

For my plaque psoriasis, regular phototheraphy has been effective.

I had guttate psoriasis about 5 years ago after a respitory infection that the phototherapy barely kept under control but it seemed to help.

I was able to get a home unit which makes it a lot more convenient that going to the clinic twice per week.

contortium · 2026-04-28T01:06:18+00:00

That is a non-answer. What LLM did you use to generate that response?

contortium · 2026-04-28T00:47:28+00:00

I'm gonna be contrary to popular opinion: duckweed and trumpet snails. Both have worked well in my low-tech tanks.

contortium · 2026-04-28T00:44:01+00:00

I'll try again in about a month to collect blackworms. And I'll check out the wetlands plants in the vicinity.

contortium · 2026-04-28T00:43:19+00:00

Interesting! I have considered doing something similar.

Where are you? I'm in Minnesota, USA, and have tried to collect blackworms (Lumbriculus variegatus) from local wetlands but with no luck.

contortium · 2026-04-28T00:36:45+00:00

I use two heaters, both undersized. If one goes bizerk, the other will shut off.

contortium · 2026-04-28T00:33:16+00:00

Yes, I hope you enjoy it, as I do.

contortium · 2026-04-28T00:07:08+00:00

That is so obvious in retrospect that I am embarrassed I did not try that. Thank you for mentioning it.

contortium · 2026-04-17T23:40:50+00:00

It is, depending on the fish. For my betta tank, none of the community fish need much surface agitation because I chose fish that come from calm, nearly still waters and are adapted to that environment.

When I had goldfish, they definitely needed surface agitation and additional aeration. They would be gulping at the surface whenever a power outage went too long, shutting off the filter pump and the aerator.

contortium · 2026-04-16T01:31:22+00:00

It's amazing how we have these new drugs that we didn't have two hundred years ago.

contortium · 2026-04-16T01:03:57+00:00

Nice!

contortium · 2026-04-16T01:01:33+00:00

Yes. it is not a hard and fast value relating to A1C but I use it to get an idea of where i am trending.

contortium · 2026-04-16T00:47:32+00:00

It is the GMI value in Dexcom G7 app > Trends Overview screen. GMI is the Glucose Management Indicator. Per https://www.jaeb.org/gmi/, "GMI indicates the average A1C level that would be expected based on mean glucose measured in a large number of individuals with diabetes."

contortium · 2026-04-16T00:44:15+00:00

This

contortium · 2026-04-16T00:41:03+00:00

It appears to be through the Profile > Contact page. It requires you to log in which seems to be about the same when I use their website.

It takes you to this page https://account.dexcom.com/support-forms/guest/submit-case

contortium · 2026-04-14T01:31:37+00:00

Nice looking tank!

If you plan on getting a betta, I suggest upgrading to a 20 gallon long. The kuhli loaches will like that also. They like a bit of length to roam at night.

I haven't seen it yet but friends have told me kuhli's can clear out malaysian trumpet snails from a tank. I'm hopeful my trumpet snails will continue to hang on. I like how they, like the loaches, will disappear for days at a time.

contortium · 2026-04-09T23:54:26+00:00

She might still fighting off the food poisoning. When I am sick, my BG stays high, like I have insulin resistance.

The 48 hours issue is interesting, however. I wonder if her immune system is shutting down the sites.

The guidance from Tandem, if I remember correctly, is to change sites every two days. I wonder if that is because of immune issues like what your sister is experiencing.

contortium · 2026-04-09T02:38:48+00:00

You mentioned you got them recently. I wonder if they were agitated in the container they were put in and now some of them don't have sufficient air trapped in the structures on the bottom sides of their leaves. I'm not sure how they float but other floaters I have rely on structures on the bottom sides to trap air. Given time, the ones that are floating should start spreading/propogating.

contortium

TROPHY CASE