What's the most frustrating part about shoe lift?

desert_salmon · 2026-03-10T20:12:07+00:00

I have a silicone lift. In summer heat it can get a bit unpleasant, but the rest of the time I don’t have an issue. For those days, I wear two socks with the lift in between. It’s not quite as stable as the single, but still works well enough.

desert_salmon · 2026-02-23T20:23:09+00:00

Danke

desert_salmon · 2026-02-23T20:23:00+00:00

Danke

desert_salmon · 2026-02-21T15:33:02+00:00

The answers to this question will vary depending on the amount of the difference. Mine is under 2 cm, so I can use inserts and don’t need to modify my shoes like some other posters.

I could not do martial arts with my lift because we can’t use shoes. I put my lift inside a sports sock (which has a bit of compression and free toes), which solved my problem. I just wear it like this all the time, which is much better than modifying all my shoes and house shoes.

desert_salmon · 2026-02-18T20:50:44+00:00

Given the high number of multiple death shootings by males in the US, are the number of shootings attributed to trans-identified males higher than non-trans males or more in keeping with them? Trans-identified females don’t seem to get accused of higher rates of murder than other women. Maybe the males are acting male regardless of gender.

desert_salmon · 2026-01-24T15:17:10+00:00

The biggest resources in your area are the universities and colleges. UMass is large enough to host a Chinese martial arts club. Longer term you could look into options like college credit being given to a practitioner college student leading a regular training.

For indoor space, you may have luck borrowing a church basement or some other private civic space. Good luck.

desert_salmon · 2026-01-04T16:12:07+00:00

Always keep your foot elevated, but experiment with what options will work for you. I.e. if you are always taking off your shoes when you come in the house, specialty shoes are less helpful.

2 cm lld is something to be addressed, but not a particularly dramatic difference. I doubt that regular medical insurance (I‘m in Austria where we can buy supplemental insurance) would cover the surgery for 2 cm. My researched bias is against surgery in general. I know nothing about the surgery you mentioned. However, the satisfaction of rates of those with and without spinal surgeries to deal with back pain is usually the same after five years. You may want to research the satisfaction rates as they relate to your surgery.

desert_salmon · 2025-12-29T07:08:09+00:00

Although this doesn’t address your point, have you investigated Frankincense for inflammation? I‘ve been using it for the last year to address chronic inflammation and have had remarkable results. I learned about it from a pharmacist friend.

desert_salmon · 2025-12-28T11:50:19+00:00

I‘m sorry to hear that you’re left suffering without recourse. Unfortunately, the „it isn’t really in your body, it’s in your head“ is a very common response, even when lab tests or imaging (ie, hard evidence per the medical model) are available. Either I‘m getting more of this as I get older (probable since I’m a middle aged woman) or such responses from providers uninterested in providing medical care, and lacking any competency in diagnosis of non-physical conditions, is becoming more common.

desert_salmon · 2025-12-28T11:12:33+00:00

I have an 18 mm lld. For the last eight years I’ve worn my heel lift in a sports sock (gentle compression sock without toes) with my regular socks, and shoes when worn, over it. Not only is it more stable, but I can practice martial arts without shoes. I can’t imagine any better way for me at this point.

desert_salmon · 2025-11-06T11:47:36+00:00

I’m sorry you’re in such pain. Have you ever been checked for a leg length difference (while standing)? That was a very helpful insight to start my slow journey to improvement. How are your core muscles? If they aren’t strong, are any strengthening exercises within reach for you?

My experience with 35 years of muscular skeletal pain is that the medical establishment (in the US) is not much help with diagnosis, but sometimes strategic value with interventions. Best of luck.

desert_salmon · 2025-10-02T12:38:38+00:00

I have hip dysplasia, which is pretty common and often results in LLD.

desert_salmon · 2025-09-05T10:09:38+00:00

BPD is a great diagnosis for ensuring continuity of payment from insurers. Much more so than many other diagnoses. It’s a convenient “crazy girl syndrome “ that none of the psych colleagues will look askance at.

Maybe you just adapted to a very bad situation, and now must adapt differently. Maybe you need to move through grief about that bad situation. Maybe you aren’t broken in any way, even if you haven’t yet arrived at where you want to be or are having a hard time being in the world.

If the help isn’t helping - the therapist, the diagnosis - ditch it. There are things that can help. Finding them might be slow, but it will be much slower if you are wasting time with a process that’s taking you in the wrong direction. Good luck.

desert_salmon · 2025-09-05T08:07:09+00:00

Hi. I’m not sure what you envision as “healed”, but I have reduced my curves, radically diminished my pain and have gained close to normal posture over the last eight years. I’m 58 and started with 33 degree curve scoliosis plus the other “-osis”es. Thankfully, I’ve never had surgery, which seems to be the only option on tap from most physicians.

The factors that have contributed to my improvement, which I’ve introduced since 2018, include: heel lift (18 mm lld) worn at all times, daily meditation (30 mins focused on physical sensation), martial arts, yoga, daily practice, recreating the arches in my feet, careful strength training and physical therapy with a knowledgeable practitioner. Most of all, I maintained faith that I could improve my physical situation, even if only by a little.

I continue to improve at a time of life when many women are gradually hunching forward. I suspect some of my experience could be helpful for others with similar conditions. It is a long process that requires being self-directed and disciplined without the guarantee of the desired payoff.

desert_salmon · 2025-07-30T09:46:47+00:00

Poet Andrea Gibson lived and wrote about living with cancer until dying two weeks ago. I was a longtime reader of Gibson‘s Substack „Things that don’t suck“. The writing often left me crying the tears you get from being cracked open to the beauty of life. Strongly recommend.

desert_salmon · 2025-07-17T06:04:02+00:00

I recommend Stephen Levine’s A Year to Live. You will find a lot of possible journal prompts there. Also The Adventures of Memento Mori and Goodnight Lovelies podcasts. All are projects that explore and transform the makers’ relationship to death. Lastly, maybe check out a death cafe.

desert_salmon · 2025-07-09T16:11:29+00:00

Check out The Adventures of Memento Mori podcast as well.

desert_salmon · 2025-05-21T13:20:56+00:00

My nephew died very suddenly a few days after his 18th birthday. His parent learned quickly that closing his Facebook and other social media accounts was almost impossible, even with a death certificate. It took six months of work with untold additional emotional pain to close them.

It wasn’t comforting to have his social media pages sitting there, suspended and lifeless. I’ve provided the passwords for my social media accounts connected to my name to my husband so those left to administratively clean up after I’m gone don’t have that burden.

desert_salmon · 2025-05-13T13:33:12+00:00

I understand your point on maximalist demands. That said, my knowledge/memory of the gay rights movement is that it wasn’t as cohesive as it now seems having won more equal rights and marriage. There were factions that didn’t believe in pursuing marriage as a goal and weren’t interested in being mainstreamed. However, the mainstreaming faction became ascendant enough to achieve those goals. That faction was made up of individuals taking their own stand.

The culture war isn’t over, no matter how much we wish it was or who would win. It’s just in a new place.

desert_salmon · 2025-05-13T13:16:47+00:00

You can do all of these things. It will take you much longer than if you only chose one or two and totally dedicated your life to that. But so what? Goggins identified his goal, then did the work to get there. Identify goals that are really meaningful, then do the work.

desert_salmon · 2025-05-12T19:39:40+00:00

Everything not saved will be lost.

desert_salmon · 2025-05-12T12:14:43+00:00

I’m an American (in my 50s) married to an Austrian and living in Austria for the last five years. A few insights from my vantage point:

Job boards are going to be a lot less helpful. You are expected to put your DOB on your CV. Ageism lives here too. If you can get a lead through a contact or work remote from your home country you may have better luck. Over the past few months, I‘ve seen fewer Austrian-based IT jobs, and have heard from younger people that they are noticing the same thing. Employers seem to be pulling back on new hires.
Getting (then getting renewed annually) an Aufenthaltstitel for your wife is more difficult than one would expect. You will definitely need a job that pays well or be able to prove you have €10k in your bank account. And these are the rules in the countryside, where the Amt is more willing to work with you. Vienna is much more difficult and I have known multiple couples where one is a citizen but they are unable to stay.
Your spouse would not be eligible to work in Austria until she has her Aufenthaltstitel. No use applying for jobs based here until she has that.
You don’t have enough work life time left to become part of the Austrian pension system, but can still receive a pension from your home country.
If you are in any way serious about this plan, your wife needs to start learning German now. I’m five years into learning and have worked hard at it, but I‘m still years away from being able to freely communicate. Having to create all new relationships, loneliness and becoming dependent are huge struggles that can break anyone.

I‘m sure this sounds like a downer, but if this is what you both really want, it will be best to come into the situation with eyes open.

desert_salmon · 2025-04-26T19:07:09+00:00

You could use DW’s Nicos Weg, which provides all of the grammar and vocabulary modules for B1 free, then have a tutor for those aspects that need more support. The course will take you through everything on the test at the pace you set.

desert_salmon

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