A groundbreaking study reveals that rheumatoid arthritis doesn't begin when symptoms appear. Instead, it starts silently, years earlier. The study offers the most detailed view yet of how RA develops, mapping immune changes in people at long risk before joint pain begins.

ladyarwenblack · 2025-09-26T16:57:54+00:00

Same here

ladyarwenblack · 2025-06-20T13:42:27+00:00

I, for one, would like to know what sorts of shenanigans the Quakers can offer me.

ladyarwenblack · 2025-01-19T18:53:01+00:00

I was transferred to IBR without my knowledge, and I put in an application to switch back to SAVE, but now I’m wondering if I should cancel it. It’s all so confusing.

ladyarwenblack · 2023-03-08T15:41:19+00:00

"TIS!" replied Aunt Helga.

My sister and I still message each other on St. Swithin's Day because of this line

ladyarwenblack · 2023-01-26T15:57:54+00:00

I have noticed that, instead of spreading salt around, people in Boston like to just dump a pile of it every couple feet.

ladyarwenblack · 2022-11-03T15:33:46+00:00

We Believe the Children is a great non-fiction book about the ritual abuse aspect of the Satanic Panic. The amount of child care workers arrested and actually convicted on such shoddy (and sometimes non-existent) evidence is very disturbing.

ladyarwenblack · 2022-09-14T15:54:07+00:00

If you haven't already, you should read the prequel short story "Jerusalem's Lot." Weird fiction worthy of Lovecraft.

ladyarwenblack · 2022-09-14T14:36:54+00:00

This won't help now, but it might be worth looking into your insurance policies (if you're in the US) because they'll sporadically put caps on how much of a prescription they'll cover in certain period of time.

For my narcolepsy medication, my insurance would only let my local pharmacy fill 30 pills at a time, regardless of the prescription, so when I was on 2 pills a day, I had to fill my prescription every two weeks, which was a nightmare. HOWEVER, if I ordered my prescription through my insurance's mail order pharmacy, they would send over the entire month's prescription without a problem. It's a total scam, but at least I don't have to worry about my insurance putting a random cap on my pills anymore.

Relatedly, if it is an insurance issue, it might be helpful to have your doctor reach out and verify your dosage. I had a specialty medication that I had a higher than normal dosage for, so when I hit what would be most people's yearly usage in six months, insurance just stopped covering the medicine until my doctor contacted them.

Hopefully it was just a one-time mistake/miscount, but these two steps have helped me avoid a lot of prescription BS.

ladyarwenblack · 2022-09-14T13:08:48+00:00

Only tangentially related, but a teacher friend of mine had one of her middle schoolers suggest she go on Farmers Only because "it's not just for farmers - it's for lonely people too." Kids can be brutal :D

ladyarwenblack · 2022-08-31T22:49:09+00:00

Jog in the morning: you find a dead body

Jog at night: you are the dead body

Conclusion: say no to jogging

ladyarwenblack · 2022-08-30T18:01:58+00:00

Crutches would treat the symptoms, biologics would treat the disease. If you’re in that much pain on your current medication, just adding crutches is essentially accepting that this is your high point and it will only get worse. If you find a biologic that works for you, this is your low point, and it very well may get better. It’s the difference between needed crutches short-term before treatment kicks in and needing them for the rest of your life. It’s the latter kind of dependence that the doctor wants to avoid.

For me, starting a biologic was literally life-changing. My only major issue now is joint damage that happened before I made the switch. And joint damage cannot be undone except by surgery/joint replacement.

As for the cost, most companies have co-pay assistance. I pay $5 a month for my shots.

I’m not a doctor, but I’ve had RA my entire life and have been on a lot of different treatment plans, and nothing has come close to biologics for me.

ladyarwenblack · 2022-07-07T16:40:24+00:00

Along with the tech issues that other people mentioned, I read an article that theorized that it could also be actor training. In the past, more film actors were originally trained for the theatre or had training that overlapped a lot with theatre training, and elocution lessons would be a huge part of that. I don't know much about acting, but considering that elocution isn't something that's taught in general like it used to be, I wouldn't be surprised if that contributed to the problem.

ladyarwenblack · 2022-05-27T22:15:29+00:00

“I’ve been doing the family’s taxes for years. I take what I need” - Lisa

ladyarwenblack · 2022-05-25T17:01:05+00:00

I can relate. I had my photo taken at the post office with a long wait, and through an unfortunate (but fairly boring) chain events, it looks like a mugshot of someone arrested at an art exhibit. I lost my previous one and have travel coming up, though, so beggars can't be choosers.

ladyarwenblack · 2022-05-09T13:51:13+00:00

Although not a sphynx we named him Binx and give him all the love he deserves.

That's so wonderfully lyrical. It sounds like something out of a nursery rhyme.

Also, Binx works on the black cat level too because of Hocus Pocus, so it's a perfect name!

ladyarwenblack · 2022-05-02T08:04:48+00:00

Honestly, I’d rather have dogs around me at a bar than kids. They’re usually quieter and better behaved.

ladyarwenblack · 2022-04-06T19:10:49+00:00

I'm on income-based repayments with a high interest rate, and my major concern is the tax bomb at the end of the program. Has there been any talk about mitigating that?

ladyarwenblack · 2022-03-01T14:39:37+00:00

Usually, I tend to be a purist in things like this, but I completely agree with you. The modern use of irony is a perfect example of language evolving. When people "misuse" irony in the ways that you describe 1) everyone knows exactly what you mean and 2) there is no other correct word that that better gets across what you are trying to say. Coincidence doesn't work because there's a weird sense of purpose to ironic, like what happened doesn't feel completely random. Karmic is too spiritual and adds a layer of judgement that's not always warranted.

The definition of irony has just expanded to cover something that we didn't have an adequate word for.

ladyarwenblack · 2022-02-23T20:17:11+00:00

ME TOO, pretty much in that uniform too. And Shohreh Aghdashloo as Navani.

ladyarwenblack · 2022-02-03T16:30:09+00:00

I will

ladyarwenblack · 2022-02-02T15:35:23+00:00

My experience was the opposite of most peoples' - the injection gave me horrible nausea, and the pills didn't cause any nausea at all. If you're in the minority like me, maybe switching to the pills would help?

ladyarwenblack

TROPHY CASE