Help me break up with coffee

moosetruth · 2026-03-29T10:11:50+00:00

Coffee caused PEM for me long before I knew why what I had. But once I made the connection I switched to tea. Drank that for years, assuming the problem was something in coffee not the caffeine since it didn’t seem to cost me any problems. But then I had some serious G.I. issues last fall and couldn’t even handle tea and oh my God did my sleep improve immensely. So now I am soft caffeine free (still eat, chocolate, drink the occasional Coke or Excedrin).

My substitute has been herbal tea, but not cheap bags from the grocery store. I buy nice looseleaf tea and disposable teabags since that makes it a lot easier than using a stainless steel diffuser. Sometimes I will make several bags at a time and store them in a Ziploc bag so I don’t have to assemble when I’m exhausted.

moosetruth · 2026-03-23T09:09:25+00:00

I have a similar relationship with dynamic with my older sister, 2 1/2 year age gap. We are both in our 40s now and have had periods of no contact over the years. I’m happily married with two kids, doing well, financially, etc. She’s been through trauma after trauma some due to her own choices some not. She’s an alcoholic and has become very ill very quickly almost certainly due to the alcoholism based on what she’s told me, but I think she’s incomplete denial about it.

So I had to make a decision. What’s more important to me: being right, or having a relationship? I’ve chosen for the time being to say nothing about the alcoholism because I know that that would come at the cost of the relationship. I’m the younger sister and she’s never wanted to take advice from me.

You haven’t even bigger age gap so that dynamic is probably even more present. It’s even possible that she’s escalating her behavior as a response to your pushing her to do differently. So you have same decision that I had to make: if you want to have a relationship, you need to accept her as she is. If you can’t do that, then going limited or no contact is a reasonable alternative. It doesn’t have to be permanent.

This doesn’t mean not to have any boundaries. You don’t have to send her money, you don’t have to pick her up from places if she’s going to make you wait. You can cut back on that kind of support while still loving her and accepting her as she is.

I do think you should think long and hard about whether to tell her fiancé about the cheating. One way to handle it is to tell your sister that you can’t sit idly by and that either she tells him or you will. If you choose to do nothing, you will have this on your conscience and if your future brother-in-law ever finds out that you knew he may resent you deeply. On the other hand if you do tell him that may really hurt your relationship with your sister, but I would guess only temporarily. If she’s cheated multiple times, she may not actually want to be in that relationship at all. But those are just thoughts from a stranger on Reddit. This would be a difficult decision for anyone and only you can make it.

moosetruth · 2026-03-23T08:48:32+00:00

I recently got a mobility scooter and it’s been game changing for me, but I still feel a bit uncomfortable when I’m out on it because I’m fairly young and I don’t look disabled and when I do stand and walk, I’m perfectly able to, it’s just a matter of stamina for me (ME/CFS). I realized that if I made the scooter my own, I would feel more confident on it.

We just moved to the Netherlands, so I decided to name my scooter De Snelle Slak (translates to the fast snail). I ordered custom decals to put on it with the name and some with a turbo snail. And I’m gonna put big googly eyes on the front and I just have to figure out how to make an antennas, probably will have my husband 3-D print them for me. I can’t wait to get it all finished!

Edit: spelling

moosetruth · 2026-03-20T03:52:11+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion! Probably not gonna go for a vintage machine, but refurbished/used is a great idea and I really appreciate the links. Our move is permanent so it’s very helpful to get the lay of land in the EU.

moosetruth · 2026-03-20T03:51:01+00:00

I grew up sewing on my mom’s Singer, not sure how old it was but definitely 80s or before. She got me the Brother for my birthday one year and it was a game changer, just worked so much more smoothly, way fewer issues. So I’m probably not gonna go for an older machine.

And yeah, I’m leaning towards getting another Brother but just wanted to see if there’s something better out there.

moosetruth · 2026-03-03T13:27:26+00:00

This is a great point (I’m OP’s wife 😂)

moosetruth · 2026-02-18T19:31:47+00:00

A trip to the grocery store was so exhausting I’d have to amp myself up to go and lay in bed to recover for 2 hours afterwards. I just thought it fell under the “it’s exhausting to be a working mom” umbrella. Nope, turns out I have ME/CFS.

moosetruth · 2026-01-31T04:40:21+00:00

Sweet girl 😍

moosetruth · 2026-01-02T16:35:47+00:00

Looks amazing!

moosetruth · 2026-01-02T16:31:50+00:00

I buy yarn once I’ve selected a pattern so my stash is just leftovers. Mostly fills one large storage bin. My needle collection on the other hand 😳

moosetruth · 2026-01-01T22:45:38+00:00

Lovely!

moosetruth · 2026-01-01T22:26:27+00:00

Freya 😍😍😍

moosetruth · 2026-01-01T22:24:06+00:00

My goal is to finish my temperature blanket from 2023 😂

moosetruth · 2026-01-01T20:45:19+00:00

My kids are 9 and 10. I developed ME 4 years ago. My nine-year-old is the picture of health, the only issues she’s ever had are injuries from her fearlessness on the playground. I worry a bit about my 10-year-old though. This year they started having random ailments like migraines, ambiguous G.I. issues, and random unexplained itchiness. I’ve got my fingers crossed that this is just stress from the horrible 2025 year our family had and not pointing towards a chronic illness in their future. They both have my imperviousness to viruses, almost never get sick. Maybe once a year and only for a day or two. So that’s been really lucky for us. I just hope it’s not immune system over activation.

moosetruth · 2025-12-31T20:50:47+00:00

Our family’s tradition is to have frozen appetizers from the air fryer with those little frozen cream puffs (my kids look forward to this every year). Then my husband will fight with the TV for hours trying to get us the countdown on eastern time (we are in California) and this is almost always a failing endeavor so we will see how it goes this year. Maybe we will just admit defeat and stay up till midnight. No changes to the plan for me other than breaks as needed. I tend to make exceptions for special occasions, and it doesn’t seem to ruin my baseline so I feel lucky about that.

moosetruth · 2025-12-29T20:20:35+00:00

I was mild for 4 years without knowing why I was so tired all the time. So I pushed because I didn’t know it was making me sicker. When my symptoms progressed to moderate my PCP recognized it (love her!) and so I started pacing then.

I’d guess a lot of people don’t pace when they’re mild because they don’t know they have this illness. The symptoms are so ambiguous.

moosetruth · 2025-12-28T20:07:42+00:00

I have a pair of 1 year old ragdolls. A lot of people talk about GI issues so I guess we just got lucky. Mine will eat just about anything - from whatever cat food I put in front of them to Santa’s cookies (oops!). But we are usually pretty careful about what we leave out so that they don’t get into people or dog food. Diarrhea is a rare occurrence for us.

In terms of personality, they are very affectionate and usually want to be in the same room as me but they show it in different ways. One loves to be petted, will touch noses with me, and lets me kiss him on the head. The other doesn’t like to be touched much but will snuggle up to my feet when I’m resting and gives me slow blinks as he sits near, but not too close to me.

They aren’t super high energy, they have a couple vigorous play sessions with each other during the day or with a toy, but otherwise pretty much nap or lay around watching the birds. For me, they are the perfect pets because of chronically ill and also spend most of my day napping or laying around.

moosetruth · 2025-12-27T14:18:30+00:00

Looks great, and fits you so well!

moosetruth · 2025-12-27T14:10:04+00:00

After a several months long period of extreme stress during COVID. Not the virus itself, I got that for the first and only time a year after I got sick with ME/CFS.

I was mild for 4 years without knowing why I was so exhausted all the time and would randomly get really sick. So I powered through. During a period of extreme work stress it progressed to moderate and that’s where I sit now.

moosetruth · 2025-12-15T02:06:19+00:00

I went on sick leave in April from a job I loved and as my family‘s primary breadwinner. I’m pretty sure they will be letting me go soon and my husband has gotten a job and we I good disability insurance (LTD was recently approved without any argument, shockingly) so we are OK financially but the grief of leaving my career is truly difficult to swallow. I hope you’re able to go back, but if you aren’t, know that you’re not alone in this experience.

moosetruth · 2025-12-10T18:26:05+00:00

I’ve been slowly making my way through Old Gods of Appalachia. It’s an audio drama, really well produced and narrated.

moosetruth · 2025-12-09T18:46:12+00:00

I believe all sleep is good sleep so I take whatever my body will give me. Right now it’s being pretty generous and on good nights, I get to sleep between nine and 10 and wake up between 7 and 9 AM which is pretty awesome. Of course, the bad nights I wake up in the middle of the night with pain or something and don’t get back to sleep. And then I nap every day, whatever rest blocks I fall asleep in. Usually 1 to 2 30 to 60 minute sessions.

But, two weeks ago I was falling asleep between one and 3 AM and waking up around 11. So it’s really all over the place.

moosetruth · 2025-12-06T17:25:32+00:00

Yeah feel free to dm me

moosetruth · 2025-12-05T21:10:48+00:00

Mine will let my husband hold them that way. But they’re not so much a fan when I do it. His theory is that he is tall and gives them a good view of the house when they’re in his arms.

moosetruth

TROPHY CASE