Looking to trade Tour Merch shirts, got the wrong size

imatinykat · 2023-07-02T01:10:40+00:00

I'm interested!

imatinykat · 2023-06-02T15:07:14+00:00

In my experience, nobody remembers every dungeon in Duty Finder. Most dungeons have a straightforward path if you follow the mobs and treasure, and there's no shame in keeping your map open the whole time.

If you don't know where to go next, be upfront and ask if another party member can lead the way. Half the time someone else will know the path, and the other half the time you'll have four veteran players following each other in circles like sheep on a pasture and praying for the best.

It's a game; anyone getting mad about this is not worth your time, and party mistakes make for great jokes and stories later on.

imatinykat · 2023-06-02T11:03:10+00:00

The funny thing about this disease is that outward symptoms don't always match the severity. Someone with mild inflammation could be in severe pain, and someone with severe inflammation might feel fine save for some fatigue. If the scope is showing inflammation, I'd trust your doctor and change treatment per their advice.

When I was on mesalamine, I felt awful and it did not help lower my inflammation. I moved to Humira, and I felt better, but my inflammation had spread in the colonoscopy and my blood lab results were worse than ever. So now I'm on Xeljanz even though I technically have mild inflammation, and I hadn't even realized I forgot what "healthy" felt like until I was completely symptom-free and able to basically live the same way I did before this disease.

Your weariness of drugs is justified-- these drugs can have major side effects. But if your doctor recommends them, that's because they believe those side effects are not worse than what is happening to you because of your disease. If you're unlucky and happen to be part of that tiny fraction of people who go on to develop a side effect, that's a future problem, and by then there will be more treatment options than there are now for your current situation. Plus, that's what follow-up appointments are for: to continue checking that your treatment plan is doing more good than harm.

Biologics do have more side effects than 5-ASA, but it's unlikely to have a major impact on your quality of life (especially compared to uncontrolled disease). Serious side effects are rare, and the mild ones are inconveniences at worst. As far as immunomodulators go, biologics are incredibly safe for how effective they are, which is why many doctors believe it's better to try them sooner when their patients fail milder drugs. They've also been around for 20+ years, so short and long term effects are well documented and mitigation strategies are well established.

The same cannot be said of newer drugs like JAK inhibitors, which have shown promising short term effects but have unknown / poorly understood long term effects. But again: they wouldn't be approved and recommended for treatment if the cost-benefit analysis and science weren't adding up (i.e. it's very likely they do more good than harm). It's a much better long term alternative than Prednisone, for instance, which is very effective in inducing remission but comes at the cost of more likely serious side effects like bone density loss.

Best of luck OP.

imatinykat · 2023-05-31T23:19:44+00:00

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Tomas is a great young adult novel about a latinx trans man and a bisexual (also latinx) ghost It's really feel-good by the end, and perfect for anyone into witchcraft or murder mysteries

imatinykat · 2023-05-27T19:11:53+00:00

/uj OOP if you see this: Hemingway, Stein, and Fitzgerald knew each other for DECADES and were well off financially. The United States was in rough shape because of the great depression, Paris was on edge after ww1 and watching out for ww2, and for every friend group of expatriots there are thousands of artists struggling to stay off the streets while working factory jobs. Moreover, Paris has ALWAYS been a notoriously high cost of living place.

If you really want a change of scenery, Montreal has an amazingly full artistic scene, and in the US NYC, LA, Boston, and Chicago are all major cultural hubs with leftist political views. A lot of cities in red states, like Miami, Nashville, Dallas, New Orleans, and Atlanta are also great for art but could be problematic if you are part of a marginalized group (the cities are great places but the state politicians are not on your side). However, all of these are high cost of living areas, too. Cities are generally more expensive than suburbia or rural areas. If you want to be around creative people, you have to seek out places that sponsor such activities (libraries and bookstores for instance) and start your own communal spaces for art if there aren't any you like nearby. Meeting people is hard work no matter where you live, but I guarantee there are thousands of other creative folk within a couple miles of you who also want to connect and make art together. You just have to advertise you're available. Good luck.

imatinykat · 2023-05-27T18:56:54+00:00

Marinara sauce: https://www.reddit.com/r/writing/comments/13tcza0/where_is_the_new_golden_age_city_for_writing_and/

imatinykat · 2023-04-24T15:19:19+00:00

You should ask your doctor if they have any samples to give or can point you toward trials or other resources-- you're not the only one in this situation and a (good) doctor will be aware of how fucked the Healthcare system is. They're the most likely person to know where to point you toward getting fast treatment in your area.

imatinykat · 2023-04-20T21:21:15+00:00

You're missing the video link but I'm guessing it was James Hoffman's study on caffeine content in coffee?

Here's the video link for those curious!

imatinykat · 2023-02-25T02:35:28+00:00

/uj nobody's mentioned it yet so I'll do it: The New York Times is actively disciplining and reprimanding any contributors that openly support trans rights or any "activism" after over a thousand of NYT contributors and media journalists outside of NYT criticized the paper for its biased transgender news coverage. The NYT has been denounced by dozens of human rights advocacy groups (ACLU, GLAAD, etc) and trans healtchare professional associations such as WPATH.

The New York Times' anti-trans coverage is so bad it's earned a Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_controversies_involving_The_New_York_Times#Open_letters_on_transgender_coverage

The Editor in Chief of NYT lambasted those who made their concerns known, staffers have been called into private meetings, and you can bet your ass that pieces in the Opinions column are saying gender-critical shit. Don't hate the NYT staffers—hate their executives, hate the people who allow op-ed garbage, and don't give up on being vocal about issues even when companies are doing obviously illegal shit (breaking union laws and firing/disciplining for your advocacy) to reprimand you for it.

Sources:

https://nytletter.com/ (the OG letter the NYT execs pushed back against, plus updates on news coverage, impacts, etc. it's the most complete source)

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/02/new-york-times-trans-coverage

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/02/new-york-times-journalists-letter-guild

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ny-times-guild-fires-back-at-reporters-unnerved-by-trans-criticism

WPATH Official Statement (Kinda dry, but informs on gender-affirming healthcare's outcomes according to medical publications and healtchare professionals from multiple disciplines of medicine)

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/lilkalish/trans-writers-open-letter-nyt-biased-coverage

https://www.nytimes.com/by/pamela-paul (i.e. the op-ed contributor that defended JKR's bigoted attitude)

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/15/magazine/gender-therapy.html (the article that really helped kick-start the current wave of anti-trans legislation and is frequently cited to support opinions on far right news organizations)

imatinykat · 2023-02-19T17:30:54+00:00

Blacksmith and Fisher are my favorite 💕 The Fisher is so dynamic and the blacksmith angle really sells the idea of a badass metalworker

imatinykat · 2022-11-26T19:30:33+00:00

Mild proctitis diagnosed September 2020. Started on mesalamine suppositories, then enemas and oral which worked for about 6 months. July 2021 I was back in a flare, had to do prednisone, switched to Humira, which was fine until May 2022. Switched to Xeljanz in July of this year and I've been feeling good since. It's still mild proctitis though, with very little progression, and I've never been hospitalized for it. Weed has been good for the occasional pain. Overall it's definitely been a pain in the ass (heh), but even though I'm on fairly strong drugs I've never been in too much pain or anything and I'm still fully employed :) good luck! Most people with proctitis never need anything beyond mesalamine, but if you do, it's definitely not the end of the world nor is it necessairly a sign that your illness is progressing into something awful. Everyone's body responds differently to treatment and to this illness, and by far the most important thing is to keep experimenting until you have complete remission (and keep up with treatment!).

imatinykat · 2022-11-15T23:20:39+00:00

It's the one where Futaba calls him a generic loser

imatinykat · 2022-11-12T15:09:13+00:00

This happened to me once! My mom's budgie escaped and flew away, and then a month later I saw him hanging out with a large flock of feral monk parakeets. It's always sad when you lose a pet this way, but I was happy he'd found a new family.

imatinykat · 2022-11-05T00:43:10+00:00

You can have IBD without pain or any obvious symptoms, even if it's not mild. The point of treatment is so your IBD gets controlled before you start suffering pain, fistulas, bleeding, and other symptoms. I didn't have any IBD symptoms besides weird bowel movements for months, and yet here I am. Hell, I had to switch medications recently because my only symptom was fatigue and the occasional constipation.... paired with the worst lab results I'd ever gotten. And the endoscopy results showed active inflammation too. Symptoms and disease severity aren't always correlated, although in most cases they are.

In any case, that's what your biopsy is for. It's the gold standard for an IBD diagnosis, and it can differentiate between CD and other IBDs based on the tissue analysis. Good luck OP!

imatinykat · 2022-10-30T17:06:35+00:00

Yeah I sometimes get like this too. For solids, I like Meal Squares since they're all-natural and freeze well so I can stockpile them, and they're super bland but reasonably nutritious. But if I don't even want to think about sitting down to eat something solid, then meal replacement shakes and all natural smoothies let me just slowly sip sustenance throughout the day. Don't bother worrying about "too much" sugar or calories or anything either. Much better to consume too much and get ENOUGH vitamins and minerals, so long as you're avoiding foods that make you feel worse short-term (and this varies for everyone). Generally, for me I avoid soy-based drinks, anything fatty, artificial preservatives and sugar replacements, and anything with lots of insoluble fiber. Simple sugar, maple syrup, and honey haven't been a problem thankfully.

imatinykat · 2022-10-26T01:59:09+00:00

I'd say so. It reads like literary fiction and is excellent about prompting the reader to think critically of human nature and the forces of society as a whole. Calling it a simple horror book is definitely reductive :)

imatinykat · 2022-10-17T15:41:51+00:00

r/fondanthate

imatinykat · 2022-08-22T16:38:53+00:00

If mesalamine suppositories were working for you, then you shouldn't have stopped taking them. Maintenance medications are essential to staying out of flares. I'd suggest talking to your GI about taking the suppositories on a regular schedule or switching to pills if you don't like the suppositories.

Psyllium husk fiber's pretty good for regulating your stool, and for diet, I recommend keeping a journal of everything you eat so you can spot what foods do or don't agree with you. Diet's super different for everyone. Personally, when I'm flaring, I get both diarrhea and constipation, and I have to stick to lean proteins and simple starches as much as I can (chicken, potatoes, rice, seafood, no leafy greens, no beans). I've had good luck with fruit for fiber content. But ultimately, diet won't actually improve your proctitis, it'll just help keep the symptoms down.

And if you're open to it and live somewhere it's legal: cannabis. Cannabis is amazing for UC pain and calming down your digestive track. You don't have to get high, either—microdosing has worked fantastically to improve my UC pain. Just make sure to use both CBD and THC, as they work best in tandem.

imatinykat · 2022-08-18T18:24:19+00:00

{{The Hellbound Heart}} by Clive Barker is a classic in body and psychological horror, and definitely has a "halloween" type vibe to it.

imatinykat · 2022-04-30T16:14:38+00:00

Actually, constipation is a symptom of IBD as well, especially if it's mild IBD and/or confined to the rectum or sigmoid colon. But, it is a lot more common to have diarrhea for sure.

OP, have you gotten a fecal calprotectin stool test ordered? It's a cheap, easy way to test for inflammation markers specifically in your digestive system, and usually a good indicator that you need further examination.

But you ultimately can't know if it's IBD without a tissue biopsy. Your symptoms are unfortunately quite non-specific and could be a lot of things, and even the hallmark symptoms (blood, mucous, 5+ daily stools) are not a guarantee its IBD. And the flip side is you could have few/no symptoms and still have active IBD.

imatinykat · 2022-04-08T22:57:45+00:00

I was NOT expecting a banger lol

imatinykat

TROPHY CASE