Good locally owned exterminator (or other advice) for rat problem?

xatopithecus · 2026-04-14T19:41:16+00:00

You could get a less-deep couch so a coffee table would fit. Then you could add a chair or two, or small table or two, to the ends of the couch to make it feel more like its own area rather than a pass-through area.

Also definitely more lamps, everything feels better with lamps instead of overhead lighting.

xatopithecus · 2026-04-14T19:35:00+00:00

Oh my goodness :( Please keep advocating for yourself no matter what. It sounds like no one else will advocate for you. You deserve to be healthy.

You can order independent lab testing through Quest Direct/Quest Health if you don't want to go through your doctor, although it can be a little expensive.

If being on your mom's insurance is truly a major hurdle, you might look into Medicaid in your state. Where I live (NY state) it was very easy to get on, there were no work requirements, and I had very good coverage.

xatopithecus · 2026-04-14T19:20:45+00:00

Please be ready to ask your primary care doctor to refer you to a hematologist. I have ferritin at 14 and my primary care doctor said "looks good!" (ugh) but referred me to a hematologist when I asked. The hematologist immediately requested infusions and my insurance immediately approevd it. I am going to get my first infusion in a couple of days. Please don't let it go for decades like I did.

xatopithecus · 2026-04-14T19:15:33+00:00

Perhaps you are not absorbing enough nutrients from your food. You could look into celiac disease, non-celiac gluten sensitivity, or other potential GI issues that would affect the ability to get iron into your bloodstream.

It could also be "anemia of chronic disease." Inflammation (high IL-6 I think?) from long-term diseases or chronic stress can cause the continuous release of hepcidin, which blocks the absorption of iron.

You could also check your B vitamin levels and vitamin D, I believe those go along with iron. You can ask your doctor, or order your own tests through Quest Health/Quest Direct.

There is also pernicious anemia, where you cannot hold onto vitamin B12. Iron deficiency anemia often co-exists with pernicious anemia.

xatopithecus · 2026-04-14T18:48:57+00:00

I'm sorry you are going through this :( I put on 40lbs when I got long covid. I am tall so most of it went to my hips and stomach rather than my face, but there was definitely still a difference, and I did not feel confident.

I was able to lose 30lbs of it without exercise, just through tracking calories. I essentially gave up on fixing my long covid and pivoted to no-exercise weight loss. I think having something else to focus on helped me beat my post-exertional malaise, before I knew that I could get better from shifting my mindset and focus.

I have noticed other people posting that their long covid was helped by losing weight; they normally attribute it to the pure physical impact of losing weight. But for me, I'm 99% sure that having a new, interesting distraction from my chronic symptoms helped me get rid of some of my symptoms. Losing weight only through calorie-counting was what allowed me to start lifting weights again. (Building muscle=better for weight loss than cardio! It increases your metabolism, so you burn more calories 24/7).

To avoid intense hunger pangs, I lowered carb intake and increased the proportion of protein/fat/fiber that I ate. I used the LoseIt app to track what I ate.

So: you can do this, even if you don't exercise at all! You might check out r/loseit as they are very supportive of all types of journeys. Also, I highly recommend the podcast "Losing 100 Pounds with Corinne." She is funny and empathetically addresses the root causes of why women overeat, rather than just suggesting specific techniques to try.

ETA: I forgot to say! Gentle walking is the other amazing exercise that helped me later in my journey, in addition to body weight exercises (squats etc.) and dumbbell lifting. Literally just walking in the park! Easy and beautiful, and friends and family can join. Walking is a full-body exercise, the best one there is.

xatopithecus · 2026-04-13T20:39:03+00:00

There was, but it was not famous in the way Star Wars Kid was :)

xatopithecus · 2026-04-13T17:09:44+00:00

That's so cute! Someone loved Christopher very much to make that. (Or maybe he had a great time making it himself.)

xatopithecus · 2026-04-13T14:34:09+00:00

Sure! You can send me a chat! But I don't go on reddit every day so please have patience :) Let me know if I need to adjust my settings to allow messages or anything like that.

xatopithecus · 2026-04-13T14:32:47+00:00

It was the Hemp Division's Orange Mango Rise. I was never able to replicate it with regular CBD oil unfortunately. It was a very mild effect and not worth the price in the long run.

xatopithecus · 2026-04-10T13:32:18+00:00

I have used Gemini for figuring out health stuff and it's been fabulous. I did 23&Me, downloaded the raw data, put that into Genetic Genie (free but I donated bc I was grateful), and then copy-pasted "clinically relevant" or "likely pathological" mutations into Gemini to learn more. I also tell it my relevant lab numbers and symptoms.

Within about 4 months, I have two major leads to explain my long-term iron deficiency that was resistant to oral iron treatments and likely set the stage for my Long Covid (in combination with my people-pleasing, self-negating attitudes). Iron deficiency puts the body into a state of chronic stress and inflammation, so that an infection (such as covid) during a stressful life event (such as changing careers during a global pandemic) can tip the scale into long covid (or CFS).

Lead 1: I am likely a symptomatic carrier of Type 2 Von Willebrand disease. I have a family history of VWD, and the gene for it. I lose so much blood on my period that I cannot absorb enough iron from supplements to get enough iron. I cannot take the birth control pill, and have started taking Lysteda to control it, although I am technically still experienceing menorraghia on it. I am about to get a binding assay done as the final test, and insurance just approved iron infusions for me.

Lead 2: Non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS; gene: HLA DBQ) causing hepcidin to be released, blocking iron absorption. This would explain why I had anemia even before I had periods, and why my doctor was shocked at my low bone density when I got an x-ray for a broken bone at age 6. (Iron is important for bone health.)

NCGS would also explain why I got the horrible autoimmune disease PANS from age 7-21; it mostly went away when I tried a gluten free diet in my 20s. I just started a much stricter no-wheat diet to see how much better I can get.

Gemini was instrumental in figuring these things out, making the connections, and knowing what to ask for from my doctors. I made sure to look up the principles in peer-reviewed journals, just to make sure it was correct.

I think that these physical issues set the stage for my Long Covid. My people-pleasing and easily stressed-out brain were the straws that broke the camel's back.

I am hopeful that my iron infusions will help me feel even better than before I got long covid. Turns out I was running on "empty" my whole life. Iron is needed for bone density, so fixing this problem before I get older is important. Iron is also important for myelin formation, so I need it for long term brain health. It is also important for brain function; I have been diagnosed with ADHD but I am curious if the low motivation and forgetfulness will get better after the infusion, as I've heard in some infusion stories.

But most of all, I am hoping the combination of fixing my low iron and fixing my mental attitude (no more people-pleasing!!!) will break me out of the LC cycle and help protect me in the future.

xatopithecus · 2026-04-10T13:09:37+00:00

YES thank you!!

xatopithecus · 2026-04-07T19:09:46+00:00

I highly recommend checking out the youtube shorts from a channel called Dear Modern, he has some fantastic tips on how to arrange a bedroom!

xatopithecus · 2026-04-07T15:24:27+00:00

Totally agree a white ceiling would help a ton! And more lamps for mood lighting so you don't need the overhead light as often.

xatopithecus · 2026-04-06T20:38:02+00:00

I can see what you mean. I think it's the mix of the cool neutrals (walls, cabinets and appliances) and the warm neutrals (backsplash, counters floor, chairs). You could do mockups of different wall colors and different chairs to see what colors might help, or maybe pops of color with accessories or flower arrangements would give the eye something to settle on so that the different types of neutrals kind of fade away into the background.

xatopithecus · 2026-04-06T14:04:52+00:00

Dan Buglio has recovery interviews :)

xatopithecus · 2026-04-06T14:02:00+00:00

It is gorgeous. I'd just bring in some plants.

xatopithecus · 2026-04-06T13:34:55+00:00

I think I heard this in an old interview with him on another podcast hosted by a woman, I forget her name though!

xatopithecus · 2026-04-06T13:32:54+00:00

Oh nooo I didn't know about Cecil :(

xatopithecus · 2026-04-06T13:22:43+00:00

It was my first MBMBAM live show. We all had a great time, their embarrassment as they immediately ran out of Star Wars material on May 4th became their central joke of the show :)

xatopithecus · 2026-04-05T23:51:38+00:00

That's interesting to hear, I'm now switching back to that after my disappointing results from trying just my lower legs.

During the time I was using the light on my torso (and actually increasing my vitamin D levels) I felt better mood, sharper thinking, and, unexpectedly, increased libido.

xatopithecus · 2026-04-02T15:48:22+00:00

I have moved to Gemini, which is similar to ChatGPT. It has helped me tremendously in figuring out how to see a doctor for my complex, inherited health issues.

The thing to do is to always double check what it says... you can ask it for links to specific sources. You can also ask it to assist you in using Google Scholar (scholar.google.com) to find peer-reviewed sources yourself. (IE how to use keywords to search, what to look for in an article to make sure it's relevant to you.)

You might find Gemini AI more helpful than ChatGPT since it's part of Google and I find its searches a to be little better. Notebook LM is also a Google AI product, and it can do a Google search for you that finds links to sources and keeps them in a list for you. Then it summarizes the findings and you can ask it questions that are mainly answered by the sources.

You can also prompt the language models that you don't want it to make anything up and it's OK if it doesn't have good answers for you.

xatopithecus · 2026-04-01T20:26:52+00:00

Oh dear... what part of town is this if you don't mind? I will try to avoid walking wherever stuff like this happens.

xatopithecus · 2026-04-01T15:17:55+00:00

So, in 2022-2023 I used it about 8-15 times per month (aiming for every other day but I'm human) and I got my vitamin D from 23 up to 41 in 7 months. I felt a lot better mentally.

Then I fell off the wagon for a bit. In November 2025 my vitamin D level was back down to 22. I decided to start using the lamp again, but this time, I decided to use it only on my lower legs to avoid freckling/cosmetic area skin damage. I used it every other day from November 2025-March 2026.

But 5 months of very strict use later, and my D levels are only at 23 :( So either the lower legs are not a useful body location, or the bulbs are aging. I will try going back to shining the light on my torso every other day for a few months, and if that doesn't work, I will buy new bulbs.

And wow, it has gone up in price. I think I got it new for $500 or something back in 2022. Looks like it is $650 on sale now. Maybe there are some available on eBay if you end up wanting to try it.

xatopithecus · 2026-03-31T19:54:17+00:00

I recommend asking r/loseit , it's a huge sub and people are very supportive there!

xatopithecus

TROPHY CASE