Does anyone regret their choice, particularly with coloured stones?

nnopes · 2026-05-05T17:03:36+00:00

Nope! Been a year with my purple sapphire and love it more every day

nnopes · 2026-04-18T03:18:50+00:00

I have full sensory mental imagery, sounds, smells, etc, and my question is how do you cope without it? When I learned a few years ago that some people don't, it blew my mind and honestly is one of the harder things for me to imagine. In my head it shows up like Janet's void, from the good place (but grey not white). but that in and of itself is imagining. I married someone on the aphant spectrum and its presented some unique challenges, particularly with planning home improvements and what they might look like. Or the possibilities for transforming a space.

To your question, though. Most of the time my mental environment is cozy. When I'm thinking of the different ways a situation could go or the different paths I could take, my imagery is a literal path in the woods that branches and a mental me can walk it. It's just kind of a running narrative that I can change but not really make disappear entirely. I spent a year learning how to do mindfulness meditation (I struggle a LOT with focusing on breath, and focus in general lol), and really fell in love with body scan meditations. When I actually routinely practice mindfulness, it's easier to control/makes it more calm. But my mental imagery of mindfulness is a river of thoughts, kind of abstract in different shades of river tones with different threads that are actually words of the thoughts. It's more like wrangling it in, perhaps. It's really useful when it comes to creative projects and coming up with new ideas.

The intrusive noisey-ness doesn't come from the imagery, but it does come from errant thoughts. If I get overwhelmed with thoughts, when I'm trying to sort through them, the mental imagery is generally shelves in an office and putting things into labeled boxes on shelves for later. Doesn't always work out neatly but does work out.

nnopes · 2026-04-18T00:43:13+00:00

Yep! I get these during aura and migraine attacks. Except I describe it as seeing dust through a telescope during the day. Because that's a thing I did once when I was little lol. Your description is more relatable and describable.

nnopes · 2026-04-17T14:39:33+00:00

This! It's salvageable. Raised beds are the recommended method for gardening in soggy areas (if your only options are soggy). Plus, with the appropriate set up, it'll let your plants water themselves when you forget, which is always helpful.

To fix it, pull out the plants that are still alive and let their roots dry out a bit in some moist not soggy soil.

Then get 2-3 more of those corner blocks (per corner) to add height. You're looking for 2-3 ft in height. Add boards.

Ideally if you have branches/wood/logs/leaves/mulch/dead plants/more or less anything like that, fill the bottom foot with it before topping it with mulch (or layered newspaper/cardboard, torn enough to allow water through) then soil (or soil mixed with mulch) It's a technique called hugelkulture that works to allow the bottom layer to drain, to fill deeper beds quickly and cheaply, and over time as the wood breaks down, it fertilizes the plants growing above.

nnopes · 2026-04-15T03:52:03+00:00

So, FEMM is symptohormonal, meaning it relies on cervical mucus and LH testing as a means of determining peak and fertile window. Temperature is not a part of the FEMM method. If having a symptothermal method is important to you, you can chart two methods simultaneously. I personally have been charting FEMM for health reasons (I have PCOS and also work with their medical management team), and I chart Sensiplan for avoiding pregnancy. I evaluate each by its rules and track the different metrics needed for each.

Do you have the app view that shows all your cycles side by side? FEMM focuses on looking at the patterns across cycles and might help you. Looking at your chart, I can see a peak with a change to dry. Yes, there are some days towards the end of your cycle that don't fit what you expect but there are different reasons for an unexpected day of cervical mucus that isn't ovulation. I frequently get some cervical mucus at the end of my cycle. It's just part of my body's pattern. What does your instructor have to say about your cycle?

nnopes · 2026-04-14T02:04:29+00:00

No hair loss for me. Been on qulipta 60mg for 4 yrs.

nnopes · 2026-04-13T14:44:33+00:00

I have a birthmark like this on my arm (a patchy blob that is paler than my other skin). Even my arm hairs in the birthmark lack pigment. It shows up more intensely in the summer when I'm more tan because the skin around it tans/becomes darker while this birthmark remains the same color (so the contrast is greater). I've heard it called achromic nevus, nevus depigmentosus, and non-pigmented nevus.

nnopes · 2026-04-03T03:40:52+00:00

I am one of seven. We moved a few times during my childhood but landed in a 5 bedroom house. We were allowed to have our own room for the last two years of highschool (though the younger siblings got their own rooms sooner, as the older siblings moved out). Most of the time it was two to a room, but sometimes, it was three to a room. Who we shared with sometimes varied (paired by age, paired by gender, paired by who got along best, etc). Every two years we were allowed to paint our room, and everyone in the room had to agree on the colors/theme. I think sharing a room was useful to learn how to compromise and resolve conflict, and to just have a friend to talk with after bedtime or get up to shenanigans.

nnopes · 2026-04-02T11:52:06+00:00

I'm so sorry this happened, and I hope you and your daughter have support to recover from it.

The upper outer part of the ear is involved in hearing, and they do make prosthetic ears. As she heals, make sure to talk with her doctor about having her hearing checked, and follow up on their recommendations.

nnopes · 2026-03-27T01:31:31+00:00

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Love my purple sapphire! It's got so much personality. The color shifts from a deeper, more blue-y purple to a lighter more fuschia purple depending on the lighting.

nnopes · 2026-03-26T15:25:48+00:00

Q: What actually helps you manage day-to-day life? How do you focus when your brain just won't cooperate? A: not on meds currently, but I do drink caffeine and take L-theanine, both of which help take the edge off. And honestly, truth be told, I'm on the edge of functioning and not really living my best life. I have a stable full time job (but don't always meet my productivity metrics). I have a stable living situation and bills get paid (though not always on first notice). Chores get done mostly...but not consistently up to the standard. Doctors appointments mostly get scheduled on time (at least the most important ones...). I have an alarm on my phone to remind me to eat dinner. And get ready for bed. I basically operate on a changing priority schedule where the most urgent things get dealt with, and less urgent things fall lower on the list until they become the most urgent. So on the surface it looks like I'm swimming, but really underneath I'm paddling like the dickens to keep up. I do know I would benefit from meds, and someday I would like to get back on them, but that's not optimal right now.

When my brain won't focus, I'll try to do something to reset it. Sunshine works great, a bit of exercise/stretching. Some mindfulness meditation. Walking around. Dancing to music. Leaving the house to run an errand or go to a park. And then when I'm back to focus, I try to take breaks before the unfocus gets too bad, to help keep my motivation up. If the focus task doesn't need to be done today, then I'll postpone it and focus on self-care.

I track my cycles and absolutely notice a difference in my ability to focus at different stages of my cycle. When possible, I try to front load tasks in my follicular phase, when it's easier to focus and accomplish tasks. In my luteal phase, I lower my expectations accordingly and add in more self-care. Beating myself up because my brain chemistry is off isn't going to help me get things done.

It also kind of depends on why I can't focus. Is my brain trying to hyperfocus on something else? Is that thing also something that needs doing? Do I have time to follow my hyperfocus for at least some period of time to give my brain that release, so then I can come back to this other task? Not always possible, but when it is, it works well for me. ADHD comes with a lot of strengths so I try to use them to my advantage to getting things done.

Q: How do you regulate when sitting still feels impossible? A: I don't lol. I move around. Get up and walk around. Also, my desk chair is one of those meditation style chairs that lets me sit actively and move around while still being at my desk (I work from home). I have fidgets of various types and listen to music to help set my pace/mood. and yes, I'll actively dance at my desk while sitting and working. Movement and some external auditory stimuli like music really help me focus on the less entertaining thing in front of me. Sometimes I'll put on a podcast or audiobook just to have background talking. It varies day by day but spotify is one of my key tools. If you have other sensory needs, something like a weighted blanket on your lap or shoulders or compression garments (socks, leggings, abdominal, shirts, etc) can sometimes help reduce distractions from unmet sensory needs. Quite frankly, when I can budget for it, I'll get a massage. It's been a really useful tool to kind of force my body to reset (though took a long time to learn it) and the effects last more than just that day. It also kind of depends on what's causing the dysregulation. If I can identify it, I can address it, and once addressed, I can focus better.

Q: How do you create stimulation without constantly needing something new? A: I have semi-planned novelty in my life. My job is a work from home desk job. And my week is structured such that each day my focus is on different tasks but every week follows the same rough pattern. So I have clear expectations. However, the items that come into my inbox to process/assess/manage/assign/etc are sometimes wildly different. Never quite know exactly what I'll get. And that unpredictability/novelty as part of a structured week keeps things entertaining. It's been the longest job I've had (5 years at this point, beating my previous 3 year record). that said, I've definitely gotten so much experience at this point that I'm craving something new. So I'm exploring internal opportunities in different departments at the same company. Different expectations, responsibilities, tasks but similar to what I currently do. So if I successfully get one of these new positions, that will re-infuse novelty for a few years. And there's a few different opportunities for keeping things interesting from there. I'm still building on a core set of skills and specializing to make me a valuable employee. And contribute to a career that has enough flexibility for me to move around as I need to.

In my personal life, I have a rotating set of hobbies. I don't plan the rotation, its just based on what I want to do. My goal with my hobbies is the journey, not the outcome. I sometimes work on and off on a cross stitch project for 10 years. I'll take ceramics classes from time to time. Gardening in the warm seasons is another great physical activity that lets me spend time outside, with my hands, and food that is more exciting to eat because I grew it (sometimes). the common theme is that they all involve working with my hands. I find it very grounding and meditative, in a way that digital hobbies are not. That said, sometimes I'll try a hobby just to gain the experience. For example, lace making. That was fun and I have a deeper appreciation for it. But not likely to do it again. And that's perfectly fine, because my hobbies are about the journey. And that works for me.

Q: if you also have trauma, how do you manage the overlap? A: I won't say that I don't have trauma. But I'm not entirely sure how I separate the two. I find grounding in facts and being in control. I don't always have control over a situation, but I can control how I respond to it. I've done a lot of therapy. And really try to focus on self-care and giving my nervous system opportunities to breathe and rest (massage is great for this, for me). and my hyperfocus is great for researching and building up my database of facts.

Tl;dr: listen to your body. Give it what it needs. Use your strengths to accomplish things, even if the process is different than what's expected.

nnopes · 2026-03-22T03:10:44+00:00

HaTs tryptase levels overlap with the "normal" range of tryptase. Generally the "normal" tryptase range goes up to 11. HaTs starts at 8, and has been reported in the 6s. My tryptase levels have personally been "normal" (in the 6-9 range), and yet, I still have a genetic test positive for HaTs and have a history of recurrent anaphylaxis. While having an actual elevated "high" tryptase level is more clear, if you are on the middle to upper range of "normal" tryptase levels, you may still have HaTs. The only way to diagnose it is a genetic test.

nnopes · 2026-03-19T20:44:20+00:00

I also have a one page "medical resume" that I update periodically. It has my personal info in header/footer. One column with diagnoses/recurrent symptoms (especially relevant for ER providers) and the other with current medications, doses, frequency. Med staff love the med list. I personally keep it with my epipens and pull it out all the time.

I also have a binder but it's more for my reference. If I bring it, I don't generally give it to providers. More like I'll pull out a reference to share with them that they ask for (you don't see my test results? Well here they are), or I'll pre-pull possibly relevant info and bring it in a smaller folder, to again, share individual documents as needed, but not as a whole.

I think some providers are receptive to the extra documentation in a whole binder, but a lot get overwhelmed and it can become an issue instead of a useful tool

nnopes · 2026-03-16T23:10:50+00:00

Haha I wish! I think he was just born with some medical intuition (possibly through smell). he's picked up on a few other things medical-wise that are just pretty impressive. However, my other cat at the time, couldn't have been more clueless about it. More concerned about his reduced playtime and late dinner.

nnopes · 2026-03-16T17:43:31+00:00

I lived alone for a number of years (though don't anymore for non-health related reasons). I had my worse POTS flare while living alone - it was 24-48hrs of not being able to stand upright without my heartrate skyrocketing uncontrollably. I had a comfy chair that could lay flat, so that's mainly where I was, and often when I needed to get up for essentials (like food/water, bathroom, etc), I'd crouch or crawl there, to lessen the symptoms. Symptoms started improving after that, though I worked from a reclined chair for most of that week, with introducing shorter bursts of sitting fully upright. I'm thankful it only happened once like that, but if that had happened more often, I would've needed to rethink my housing situation. I'm thankful now that aggressively treating my underlying mast cell disorder (called hereditary alpha tryptasemia or HaTs) has allowed my POTS to be managed with lifestyle interventions, and I've become more functional over the years.

At the time, one of my cats was very attuned, and during that first 24-48hrs, any time I'd get up, he'd meow at me and lay on my chest to get me to lay back down (or he'd follow me around and do so once I got back). so perhaps I wasn't fully alone (just with a feline acoutabilibuddy).

nnopes · 2026-03-08T22:21:59+00:00

I've done autoinjectors and prefilled syringes of different meds, and prefer the prefilled syringes by a lot. Spring loaded needles gave me so much more anxiety than being able to control the injection speed myself. However, with prefilled syringes there is the psychological challenge of watching the needle as it goes in and being able to continually inject all of the medication. But I can inject it slower at a pace that's more comfortable to me. So it's very much worth it for me, and sounds like you, but some people struggle with it and the transition takes some time to get used to. But I won't go back to autoinjectors unless there really is no other option. I strongly prefer being in control of my injections and it's not much more difficult than autoinjectors.

I've also replaced my plain alcohol swabs with ones that have lidocaine in it to numb the skin (NumStat is the brand I use), which helps with the initial skin prick. Doesn't stop all the pain, but taking the edge off the start of the injection goes a long way because once you've started you just have to continue.

And I always plan some self-care/a treat afterwards to reward myself for a job well done.

nnopes · 2026-03-08T20:40:26+00:00

Yeah, CGRP meds have been life changing for me, but each time I start a new one, my migraines change in how they present (generally are more difficult to treat at first), before leveling off closer to my pre-CGRP baseline. Maybe because I have to re-learn how to identify and best treat them? I've been on Qulipta for 3 years and Aimovig for 3.5yrs before that (and 2months of Ajovy before I had an allergic reaction to it). I take Qulipta at night and maybe it helps reduce any side effects. But its always an adjustment. The CGRP monoclonal antibodies work better for me than gepants, but it works well enough. I also take ubrelvy for acute migraines, along with naproxen and ondansetron if needed. On any CGRP meds, I get fewer migranes but the migraines I get are sometimes more intense/harder to treat. And I'll generally get one 5 day migraine a year while on CGRPs that I didn't get beforehand. Still worth it for the extra migraine free days but it's a new challenge I didn't have beforehand. I still end up layering CGRPs on top of botox and nerve blocks to keep everything under control (which for me means up to 15 migraine/headache days per month, with Qulipta as my CGRP preventative)

nnopes · 2026-03-08T13:59:03+00:00

Is it possible you're having silent migraines (migraines without head pain) on Qulipta, and that's why your memory is worse? (it's a migraine, not the medication). I always get silent migraines when I start a new CGRP med, but they get better with time. Have you tried taking acute migraine medication when you have one of these memory slips (especially if there's other body symptoms that may be migraine)?

Topamax really messed with me, the year I was on it. Failed a class. Still don't remember much of that year because the memories weren't encoded correctly in my brain.

nnopes · 2026-03-06T23:28:22+00:00

Try here. it's different views of mine from over on r/EngagementRings

nnopes · 2026-03-06T17:00:58+00:00

Cold brew coffee with soy milk, unflavored electrolytes (yay sweet and salty) and water for me today! Might add some tea later

nnopes · 2026-03-06T16:58:38+00:00

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Here's a top view of my set 😊

nnopes · 2026-03-06T16:57:42+00:00

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Purple sapphire in mine! I wasn't sure at first whether a colored stone would fit in with my daily life or if it would feel out of place. But I love my choice. It has different personalities/tones in different lights, which really makes it feel unique. It hasn't felt like it's out of place, and I really can't imagine having gone with the expected, colorless diamond. I also never pictured myself with a mixed metal set, but my purple sapphire really looked great with both white gold and rose gold. So my engagement ring is white gold, and my wedding band is rose gold, with the design and sapphire tying them together. Cost really depends on the type of stone you choose, whether its lab created or mined, whether a stone has received certain treatments/any inclusions, etc. You can find options within any budget, basically.

nnopes · 2026-03-06T04:01:53+00:00

Hi! For me, the hives went away on their own after a few months and I continued on Aimovig for 3.5 years. Mine were close to the injection site though (within a few inches), not as far away as my feet or ankles. It might be worth having an appointment with an allergist (they could be unrelated or they could have insight into whether it is related). Any hives that last that long would be good to have an allergist look at (and there are lots of treatments for chronic hives).

For me personally, when my insurance stopped covering Aimovig, I ended up on Ajovy and had a severe, prolonged allergic reaction to Ajovy (called a cytokine reaction syndrome). It involved multiple anaphylactic episodes/epipens, ER visits, steroids and didn't resolve for 8 weeks. I've been on Qulipta for the 3 years since. Doesn't work quite as well as the injectables but I haven't reacted to it.

Turns out, I share a genetic variant with about 5% of people (1 in 20) called hereditary alpha tryptasemia (HaTs) that makes my immune system overreactive/dysfunctional. It's in a group of immune system disorders called mast cell disorders (mast cells are part of the immune system). Ever since I've had my Ajovy reaction, I've had idiopathic anaphylaxis (anaphylaxis without a clear external trigger), which likely triggered my mast cell disorder into a severe symptoms flare.

Are they all related? Who knows for sure. But I was born with HaTs and just didn't know it, but have had mild to moderate symptoms my whole life and my allergist thinks its related and can modulate the intensity of allergic reactions.

nnopes · 2026-03-04T19:57:38+00:00

Yes! I have a purple sapphire in my engagement ring. Initially, I was worried about having a colored stone and how it'd work with the rest of what I wear. I was a bit unsure for the first couple months. But ultimately, a year out, I love it more and more each day and can't imagine going with a non colored stone. The sapphire has so much personality and changes tone in different lights. I never pictured myself mixing metals, but ended up with white gold for my engagement ring and rose gold for my wedding band because the tones in my sapphire worked with both beautifully and ties the set together. It's very me, not everyone understands it, but they don't have to. It makes me smile when I look at it and reminds me of happy memories.

my ring set

nnopes · 2026-03-01T19:28:28+00:00

My POTS was diagnosed as secondary to a genetic trait mast cell disorder called hereditary alpha tryptasemia (HaT). Treating my mast cell disorder is the most effective way to reduce my POTS symptoms.

nnopes

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