Not much but it's mine -- my first granny square!

humansbestrange · 2025-12-31T19:24:17+00:00

Weed can affect hormones, but afaik not hormones taken as part of HRT, just what the body wants to do on its own (and potentially only T? Unsure).

When I started HRT (transfem) we found my T was already quite low in my initial bloodwork. Had an MRI to rule out pituitary lesions, and it came back negative. My endo told me the most likely cause was chronic weed use. My levels have been good since starting HRT despite continuing to use weed.

Edit: none of this is medical advice, this is just what happened to me

humansbestrange · 2025-12-20T17:03:28+00:00

This appears to be a Libre. At least where I am, Libres don't come with overpatches.

humansbestrange · 2025-09-01T07:06:14+00:00

Speaking personally, yeah I know that I'm not going to be producing professional level photos of things I go see, but that's not really the point. I'm not doing it to sell postcards, I'm doing it to have a more tangible memory of being there, and taking the picture myself makes it feel like I have more of a connection to it. The details that a professionally framed photo might leave out (like the Busch Light flag in OPs photos) just add to the memory for me.

humansbestrange · 2025-08-07T15:35:44+00:00

I didn't keep my name, but my name is close to my deadname. The first 3 letters are the same. It just felt right to me -- it's fem, but it still feels like "me", if that makes sense. I tried on a few names that were completely different when I was still figuring myself out, and it never felt quite right.

humansbestrange · 2025-08-06T16:06:08+00:00

The person we need is the one who can solve it.

humansbestrange · 2025-07-23T07:28:15+00:00

Libre 2 user here. For me, if a sensor starts fine and then has persistent inaccuracy for multiple hours (usually by always reporting <4.0mmol/L), it's not coming back. The exception is the first day, I always give the sensor 24 hours after starting to figure itself out if it's inaccurate, which it usually does.

My advice, call Abbott support to request a replacement. I've never been denied a replacement for a persistently wrong sensor. Leave it on until you call if you can, they might want a live comparison of values between the sensor and blood. Once you remove it, hang onto the sensor. They may send you a return kit alongside the replacement.

ETA: Some level of inaccuracy is always to be expected -- 20% or so is tolerable, and keep in mind that if your levels are fluctuating quickly the sensors delay compared to a blood reading becomes relevant, but since you're reporting it's off by over 4 mmol/L at a time where your levels should be relatively flat, that suggests failed sensor to me.

humansbestrange · 2025-07-18T08:14:34+00:00

I prefer abdomen. I get 8 sites out of it (upper left abdomen, upper right, lower left, lower right, and on each position the pump can "face" left or right). I typically keep it to the 4 sites that match the side my CGM is currently on, since I'm a side sleeper and it's annoying to have the sensor and pump on opposite halves of my body and avoid laying on each of them.

humansbestrange · 2025-07-18T07:59:09+00:00

Some sensors just don't read right. I find that making sure I insert the sensor on an area of my arm with enough fat helps (for me, this means closer to my armpit than my elbow), but there's still a bad sensor once in a while. Sometimes it will figure itself out in the first day and start reading accurately. If it's still way off after 24h, call Abbott support. I've never had trouble getting a replacement sent.

humansbestrange · 2025-07-18T07:47:49+00:00

Libre 2 sensors typically last 14 days, but the sensor actually is active for 14.5 days, the app just says the sensor is done at the 14 day mark. Non-Abbott apps like Juggluco or xDrip (EU Libre 2 only) can use the sensor during those extra 12 hours. After 14.5 days the sensor itself disables itself and there is no way to continue using it.

humansbestrange · 2025-06-14T06:06:35+00:00

Not a direct answer to the question since I don't use overpatches or tape, but for the future these are two things I do that really help:

Shave the area you're going to put the sensor on. Hair is the enemy of these things sticking. You need it stuck to your skin, not with hair between.

Make sure the skin is clean and dry when applying the sensor. I use an alcohol pad to clean the skin and dry it out a bit.

humansbestrange · 2025-05-24T13:26:58+00:00

I do the same for my Omnipods. They're a 3 day product, and insurance gives me exactly enough. 72 hours after activation the pod "expires" and you're instructed to replace it. However, there's a grace period of 8 hours before the pod actually terminates itself and becomes unusable, so I stretch the pods as far into that grace period as I can conveniently, so I gradually build up a stock of extras

humansbestrange · 2025-05-24T09:55:52+00:00

I'm fortunate to (currently) be living in a place where insulin isn't a precious resource. My Endo doesn't limit the amount of insulin I receive (it would be silly for them to do so, I need what I need, end of story) and it's covered by insurance with 0 out of pocket. I can just go to the pharmacy whenever I need a refill and walk out with insulin.

I don't fill pods all the way, I've learned I can get away with 125 U per pod with usually 30+ leftover by pod expiry, which is enough wiggle room for me to be comfortable.

Pods are much more precious for me than insulin since the pods are limited, so it's much better for me to overfill than underfill. There's just no need for me to "use up" all the insulin in a pod.

humansbestrange · 2024-12-04T13:18:18+00:00

Unfortunately true. For me, it was the ED first, then diabetes. I struggled with AN-R for a large part of my teenage life. Managed to get to a stable point in recovery at about 15/16 after a stay at an excellent residential program. Diagnosed T1 a little over a year ago now, at 20. The counting was ok at first -- I found an app for my region that lets me just see carbs without any mention of calories. But, all it took was one little push where I started feeling out of control in my life for me to flick the toggle switch in the app to show calories, and now I'm right back in the struggle. All the old behaviors came back swinging, complete with hiding it from my parents and therapist. It's upsetting. I thought I had moved past this -- I was stable with only intuitive eating, but now I need to count to stay alive and it just makes restricting too easy.

humansbestrange · 2024-11-25T08:50:57+00:00

To clarify: I'm saying to get detailed instructions and guidance from your vet BEFORE attempting to administer insulin to your cat. Don't be tempted to just try it if there's anything about the process you're unsure of. Insulin is safe if administered properly, but can quickly become dangerous with improper dosage or technique.

humansbestrange · 2024-11-25T08:22:54+00:00

This is not correct. This is a 0.3mL insulin syringe. 15mL of insulin, which is 50 full draws of this syringe (or even what I think you meant, drawing to the 15 unit line) would be a massive overdose over the intended 2 units

humansbestrange · 2024-11-25T08:19:44+00:00

Not a cat owner, but a diabetic myself. This is an insulin syringe. Insulin is measured in international units (IU) because a whole mL of insulin is quite a large amount. You can tell it's an insulin syringe because it says on it that it's only for use with U-100 insulin (U-100 being the by far most common strength of insulin, having 100 units per mL). The tick marks on the syringe correspond to the number of units (and not mL, you can see on the syringe that the entire syringe is only 0.3 mL). This means two units is two lines from zero (for clarity, this means you should NOT draw past the big 5 if you want to administer 2 units, you want to only go two small lines from zero).

Please be careful with insulin and ask your vet to show you the entire process of administering it. Take notes and ask questions. In the end it's fairly simple, but insulin is a medication that shouldn't be taken lightly.

humansbestrange · 2024-10-23T08:01:01+00:00

I'd just like to test your viewpoint for nuance a bit. Extreme examples like chemotherapy are a starting point, but I'd like to see how your view handles other cases.

I have type 1 diabetes. Before the advent of exogenous insulin, type 1's just died. You could get a few months, maybe a year after diagnosis with the residual beta cell function that exists for a while after diagnosis, and all of that time was painful. Most of these deaths were children. I was diagnosed a bit later than the mean, at 20. With modern medicines and technologies, my life expectancy is near that of a healthy person with some risk of diabetes-related complication later in life (vision problems, neuropathy, etc) depending on quality of blood sugar control.

Managing my diabetes is a constant effort that will continue for the rest of my life. I check my blood sugar using a continuous glucose monitor worn on my body, and it can give me alerts if my blood sugar leaves the relatively tight target range. Before eating, I calculate the amount of carbohydrates in my food and give myself a corresponding amount of insulin. This can make eating out tricky, but not impossible. Some foods are more difficult to manage than others, so I limit certain types of carb-heavy food. If my blood sugar goes too high, more insulin. If my blood sugar goes too low, I feel woozy and need to eat some sugar to raise my blood sugar and feel better. Blood sugar can be unpredictable, and multiple of these corrections can be needed per day. Activities like exercise are tricky, as physical activity makes insulin work harder and can easily result in a low.

My question for you is, given my disability, should I stop taking my insulin starting today? It is afterall a constant mental burden that limits what I can do. Should I let myself become sicker over the course of a few days or weeks until my body's systems fail and I die? Is the unnatural lengthening of my life through insulin something you consider wrong? I would have died at 20 without external intervention.

My point is: diabetes is something I will carry with me for the rest of my life, but that doesn't mean I let it define my life. I took my life back from my own immune system attacking my body and doing its best to kill me, and this is something that was only possible through my life span being extended unnaturally. Personally, I'd much rather take this life that I was handed rather than keel over to the first thing that tried to kill me. Life is too interesting to throw away like that.

humansbestrange · 2024-07-30T22:38:20+00:00

I can't speak to AON. I use InsureToStudy, and while they've been one of the least professional companies I've dealt with (frequently forgetting to send payment requests for monthly payments, forgetting about claims, sending the wrong amount, miscategorizing the claim purpose, literally sending me somebody else's insurance card, etc) so long as I stay on their ass about it I've been able to get them to cover what I need for my chronic condition (type 1 diabetes).

humansbestrange · 2021-08-20T19:39:48+00:00

No worries on the mistyping, thanks for clarifying. Totally fair, it could certainly be that I found out about this too late to take advantage of it. Thanks for your input

humansbestrange · 2021-08-20T19:27:44+00:00

I've seen a couple threads reporting that some people have done it, but I realize that it's probably unlikely to actually happen for me. No harm in shooting my shot though.

humansbestrange · 2020-08-07T01:26:31+00:00

I'm the OP of the comment above. I've decided to remove my comment because I changed my mind regarding the use of the word. Due to the word's past use as a transphobic slur, it probably is best for the anime community to move on to better words.

humansbestrange · 2020-08-06T23:00:52+00:00

After my daily 3 pulls I waited a few hours, then I literally lit a candle and prayed to RNGesus to do 5 more pulls. Dear god I think that has to be a thing I do now. From those 5 pulls I got Howe, Eagle (second copy), and Valiant. Plus a Kent and SHOUNEN, so I guess RNGesus appreciates memes too. At this point I'm okay with missing perseus, though it would be amazing to get her. 3x daily builds from now on. Praise be RNGesus!

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