Hey. Longtime user of Walgreens for filling all my scripts.
Recently learned my Walgreens only orders meds that are out of stock only once a week. So if you drop off your ADHD med script and they're outta stock, you gotta wait till their ordering day for them to order.
So if you drop your script off Thursday, for example, and they're outta stock, & they're order placement day is Wednesday, it will sit there for 6 days till they reorder. Then you gotta wait till order comes in. Wasted time and poor you is outta meds and suffering.
Plus they're typically not very customer-focused and not very polite.
Infuriated by their lack of support, tried my local Wegmans Pharmacy and what. Difference.
For example, I dropped off my script noontime Thursday, was outta stock, they ordered it THAT DAY, came in Friday, Hallelujah.
And they're super nice. And not crowded either. Plus their grocery store is absolutely gorgeous and their Store Brand things like cleaning supplies are top notch.
Just sharing my joy.

This is my first post, so please bear with me. I'm a 55 year old female who started on Zepbound February 22nd at the weight of 308.6 lbs. I am tall(5'10") so I have always been considered a big girl, but big for me was 180 lb. Approximately 15 years ago I started struggling with health issues related to precancer cells on my cervix and recurring ovarian/uterine cysts. Tied in with that was also some really horrible intestinal issues. Eventually I wound up having five surgical procedures at once to try to correct some of the more out of control issues. That threw me into early menopause and subsequently massive weight gain. As I gained weight, I lost mobility. My family has a genetic predisposition to obesity so much of my life was spent very active as a professional carnival entertainer and an avid cross-country hiker. The slow steady loss of mobility was devastating. I have spent so much of the last 15 years trying to mitigate encroaching mobility, renal and cardiac issues by counting calories, exercising like a crazy woman and even becoming a vegan, vegetarian and organic chef/baker as I was so determined to find joy in healthy food. None of it mattered. My body hated me and nothing helped. I went from 180 lb to the 308 previously stated in a slow and steady weight gain that nothing seemed to stop. Over the years, I watched family members struggle with the same issues and lose. Most recently I lost two family members(my father and my Aunt) to complications from covid that were exacerbated by their weight. I also have a very close family member who was almost killed in hospital by a system that was prejudiced against her because of her weight being over 400 pounds, regardless of the fact that she is an active pediatric special needs nurse who works 40 plus hours a week. Watching all of that scarred me so badly that I started the process towards bariatric surgery in a desperate attempt to save my own life. But, through all of that I was always able to maintain a joyous, happy and healthy relationship with food. I love to cook and learning to cook healthy meals didn't diminish my joy in food at all, but did increase my frustration because I was eating all of the right things and doing all of the right activities and none of it was helping. Fast forward to February of this year when I started with a new doctor in preparation for the bariatric surgery that I was repeatedly told was going to be my only option. She was the one who looked back over my history and suggested Zepbound as an alternative. I have not had the issues with shortage that others have had. I have managed to lose 25.4 lb in a little over 12 weeks, while still doing the same things that I was doing for the last 15 years. Yes there have been some instances of medication shaming at the drugstore and I have had people I considered my friends tell me that I could have done the same thing without medication if I would just "be more determined" or "stop eating". My cousin was in a coma for 6 weeks because of a medication error on the part of the hospital after being admitted for a gastric bleed of unknown origin, and of that 400 lb... she lost 25. Clearly not eating is not the problem. Anyway, I know this was really long but I wanted to give some back history before asking my question. My question is: is anyone else struggling with a loss of enthusiasm for food in general? Through all of the fat shaming and issues that I've had, I have always been able to maintain enthusiasm for food. Food is central to most cultures and it is how people bond in families and in societies. I have traveled all over the world and I have had the best conversations with strangers in any country over food. It is a common thing we can all bond over. But I have noticed that since I started Zepbound, I have lost that enthusiasm. I have no joy in food anymore. I have to force myself to eat. I have become so obsessed with making sure I get enough protein and fluids that all of the joy has gone out of my eating. I'm so determined to lose weight that after weeks of no sugar at all, I felt horribly guilty about eating a couple of Oreos or a handful of M&M's.(I ate those because I suddenly wanted them after weeks of not really wanting anything). Looking at food, even the food that I make, no matter how delightful it smells or how bright and vibrant the colors are, I can barely force myself to eat it. Even going out with friends, finding something to eat on the menu that won't make me feel guilty is horrible. Everything I put in my mouth has the thought associated with it, is this going to make my stomach upset? Will this make me nauseous? Because of my experience with vegan and vegetarian food, I'm well versed in nutrition and healthy eating. This lack of joy has only come on since my second month on zepbound. But it is becoming a real struggle to maintain a healthy relationship with food. I was just wondering if anyone else is having similar issues. Thank you for your time. Reading all of your stories has been uplifting and supportive for me and I know I'm on the right path. I just didn't expect it to be so joyless. Is this going to be what the rest of my life is like just so I can be medically healthy?

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Backstory: depression, anxiety disorder since I was a single digit kid. Probably undiagnosed autism. Almost definitely undiagnosed adhd. Maybe something else. Narcissist father in and out of prison my whole life until I was 18. Haven’t spoken to him since then. Mom was a victim of abuse her whole life, and you pass on learned behaviors, as it turns out.
I was doing really well for this little glimmer of time in my late 20s/early 30s, but it feels like everything collapsed on me.
My job turned into something horrible. I don’t know what I can even do to make a living that would be any better. Everything in the world seems to be trying to make you live in poverty. It leaves me mentally and emotionally exhausted, every day, all I want to do is sleep after clocking out.
I lost my social community a couple years ago. I used to have a hobby with a very active group of people, but I started noticing these toxic behaviors all over it, and it was almost like a cult, so I started stepping back from it, and turns out when I would tell myself no one would miss me if I was gone and then do what my old therapist said and remind myself that was the brain bugs talking… it was not the brain bugs talking. I basically lost contact with everyone, my whole support network and friend circle.
I made a few new friends with people I lived near who had also left, and we started hanging out a lot, and met some local people with similar interests and just played board games, or had movie nights, cooked dinner for each other. It was really nice. We don’t hang out as much any more though. I feel like they’ve developed their own in groups, or are always busy with work.
I haven’t dated anyone in years. I’m not in a good area for my politics and age. There just aren’t many people to date.
I’m lonely in every way you could think, platonically, romantically, physically. It’s deep and unabiding.
The state of the world makes me feel completely hopeless, and angry. I’ll never own a home. The planet is dying. We have Nazis again. People honestly believe the world is flat. My state is actively stripping away protections for people trying to make a living. We joke about it being the worst timeline because what else can you do? Vote? That doesn’t seem to matter.
I had a prolonged major depressive episode last year, and wracked up my credit card on mostly food because I couldn’t motivate myself to cook. It’s bad. I’m slowly clawing my way out of that whole but it’s going to be a long time before I recover, and feeling broke all the time as I try to budget for it honestly just makes the day to day worse, because I feel like I’m stuck.
I started seeing a new therapist, and I can’t even see her weekly like I probably need to, because I can’t afford it.
My weekends are supposed to be an escape, but they just turn into days where I try to do something and have to fight to have someone talk to me, and I sit in my living room alone, trying to work on hobbies and projects I know I enjoy, but just can’t make myself want to do anything with them.
I think about dying a lot. Not in the sense of wanting to kill myself, but in the sense of not existing any more.
Sunday nights are the worst. I have to wake up and work for a whole week, and I’m still exhausted from the week before, and lonely and sad from a weekend without anything meaningful.
I don’t want to die, but lm not living, really.
I work in a job where I have to process medical cases. I see a lot of pediatric cases with “failure to thrive” listed.
I feel like that’s me. I’m living, sure, but I’m not thriving.
My therapist said she was proud of me, for the work I’m doing and how much I’m dealing with.
Great. Except I’m not dealing with it. I’m just surviving it. Kind of.
She asks me about suicidal ideation and it’s just… at what point does my desire to not have to survive win?
We were talking about core beliefs and CBT, and the one I came up with was “I am broken”, and I very easily came up with three pieces of evidence as to why it’s true.
When I had to write three pieces of evidence I’m not, I had nothing. I have three very good explanations for why I’m like this. Three very good reasons I feel this way and it’s not a reflection of me as a person or my value.
But no evidence I’m not actually broken.
We’re going to talk about it next session but like… show do I unlearn these beliefs when they’re at least a little bit true?
I don’t know where I’m going with this or what I’m doing posting.
I just need to feel seen for a moment, before I go to bed and start another week of being a human shaped machine counting down to Friday.

I've been quite obsessed with the Andes story because of its extremely complex human elements and I've been reading a lot about it and listening to a lot of interviews with the survivors. So of course I had to show the SOTS movie to my best friend, she liked it and even borrowed my book Alive and read it, and when she gave it back to me, she commented "that Canessa guy is a real asshole though", and I was like "shut up, he's one of my favourite human beings ever!" LOL
But thinking about it, if someone only saw the movie(s) and/or read Alive, I understand why Roberto comes across as a not so pleasant guy, so I decided I'll write a post of appreciation here in case anyone doesn't know what great things he has done in his life.
But let me start with two quotes about him from two of his fellow survivors, the first one of from Nando Parrado, who said this in a video interview a few months ago when the movie was released and they asked him what Roberto meant to him:
"I put him on the highest pedestal anyone can get to as a person, as a man, as a friend. And if there is a difficult situation on this planet, I want Roberto by my side."
And Bobby Francois said about him in the book Society of the Snow:
"Roberto Canessa is an extraordinary person. If we thought he had given so much on the mountain, how much he has given down here after we returned!" - and also: "Roberto just gives and gives. But he doesn’t talk about his gestures. And I’m sure that he wouldn’t like it if I were to bring up his generosity."
So some points to support that Roberto is awesome:

• I guess everyone here knows what an important person he was during those 72 days in the Andes, so I won't go into details here. Yes, he was grumpy, stubborn, hot-headed and volatile, but as a 19-year-old student, he suddenly found himself in the role of "chief doctor" in an airplane disaster, several of his own close friends and team-mates died and they were in a hopeless situation. He did the best he could to treat the injured and keep the uninjured ones as healthy as possible. He designed and made various inventions (like the hammocks) and of course he was one of the expeditioners, and one of the two people who walked out of the mountains.
  
• After returning to Montevideo, he immediately continued his studies as a medical student, and he became a very successful and well-respected doctor, who won several medical awards. He's been one of the leading pediatric cardiologists in Uruguay in the last decades. He treats babies and children with heart defects and it's much more than a job to him, he often goes out of his way to make sure they get the best treatment and he is extremely caring, the children and their parents love him and he is often in close contact with his former patients even when they are adults.
  
• He was basically Nando Parrado's biggest emotional support after they came back from the Andes. Nando was very lost at this time because for him, the real struggle and grieving started after the rescue; on the mountain, he could kind of block his emotions and concentrate on getting out but when he arrived home, he had to face the fact that his mother and sister were no longer there, as well as some of his best friends who also died in the crash. What's more, his father had started seeing another woman by the time of the rescue so Nando got home to half of his family gone and another woman already "replacing" his dead mother. He moved out of the family home and rented an apartment alone. Roberto made sure Nando didn't sink into depression, he spent a lot of time with him, invited him over a lot to his house and he was considered a family member even at Roberto's girlfriend's house. Nando spent the Christmas of 1973 with Roberto's family instead of his own. Roberto also vehemently defended Nando when the journalists were criticizing him for his lifestyle after the tragedy.
  
• He has been extremely caring about everyone involved in the Andes accident ever since the crash happened. And by everyone I don't just mean the other survivors, but also the families of those who didn't return. It was very important to him that the dead be treated with respect and he insisted that they should talk to every parent one-by-one about how they survived in the mountains (eating the dead), explaining that there was no other way and how their dead sons contributed to their survival, but of course the journalists came and they treated the matter with no respect at all.
  
• He kept in close touch with the families of the dead for many years after the accident, helping them in various ways. He was particularly concerned about the well-being of the four children of the team doctor Dr. Nicola and his wife, both of whom died immediately in the crash. Roberto helped the orphans financially, supported their education and built a close relationship with them over the years.
  
• Roberto has a huge house ("it's a labyrinth" according to Carlitos) and he invites all kinds of people all the time, often people who he doesn't even know well, but they are in need of help for some reason. He has often welcomed homeless people to his house and gives them accommodation in his own house for several months and helps them to turn their life around.
  
• After the book Alive came out in 1973, all the survivors got money from the sales. But later in 1974, Roberto and Nando were asked to promote the book in various countries through interviews etc, and they got much more money. They gave much of that money to the families involved in the crash and they also donated a lot of it to good causes like building new schools in poorer areas.
  
• Carlos Roque, the staff member of the plane who survived the initial crash (and later died in the avalanche) went to Roberto for comfort several times and cried on his shoulders and told him that he had a 1,5-year old little boy and how devastated he is that he may never see him again. Roberto often thought about this in the following years, and when Roque's son turned 18 years old, he wanted to know more about his father's story and he called Roberto. Roberto spoke to Bobby Francois who had a big ranch, and then he invited Roque's son to this ranch for a few days where he, Roberto and Bobby talked a lot about what happened in the Andes and the son was very grateful for this experience. They keep in touch ever since.
  
• He kept close contact with Sergio Catalan until the arriero's death and visited him almost every year for many years (often with Nando or Gustavo). They also helped Sergio when he needed a hip replacement surgery.
  
• Several years ago Bobby Francois had a massive heart attack. Roberto was very concerned about him and, as a cardiologist, made sure he got the best possible treatment, followed up on Bobby's condition closely for days, "didn't even sleep until I was out of danger" according to Bobby himself.
  
• He is a devoted family man; he has been together with his wife since they were 14 years old and got married when they were 22. They have 3 children and several grandchildren and Roberto adores his family.
  
• He devotes a lot of time and energy to keep the survivors' community together, he reaches out to everyone and makes sure they keep the spirit of the Andes alive. Despite his bad reputation on the mountain, he is a beloved and popular member of the survivors' group. And Carlitos even invites him to his barbecues. ;)
  

This is for all of my other parents and care givers out there who spent countless hours googling, reading reddit, consulting medical friends and coworkers, experimenting and stressing… my daughter will be 12 weeks tomorrow, and this past week… the grunting stopped.
The grunting stopped!
Info: my husband and I are in medicine, but not pediatrics so we know enough to be dangerously obsessive with reading and researching but not enough to speak from experience. My daughter is breast fed and otherwise healthy, normal so I’m not addressing babies with existing issues medically.
Grunting was the bane of my existence. I’m not talking active sleep or occasional noises. I’m talking like, leaf blower level guttural noises coming out of this little person that had me stressed beyond belief. It was all night every night, only at night, and worse after a night feeding. Specifically 3-7/8am it sounded animalistic and personally I felt like she was straining or struggling and mentally/emotionally it was so incredibly taxing. I cried a LOT thinking she was suffering. But she woke up normally every time, no signs of issues during the day.
It began around 3 weeks where I called the pediatrician and they said it was reflux. We elevated her head in bed with a wedge under the crib mattress which resulted in her sliding down but I was too scared to not do it because I was hanging my hat on the coincidence that sometimes she didn’t grunt as bad. Until she did again.
I was worried it was her immature GI tract so we gave gripe water, gas drops (before every feed) and again, sometimes it helped until it didn’t.
I thought it was my breast milk and a foremilk imbalance that was making her gassy so I dumped the foremilk by pumping and feeding her that way. Wasn’t that.
I thought it was the swaddle she was fighting so we tried alternatives which made her startle and awaken and was just a disaster.
We did all the gas exercises. We elevated her 20+ minutes after every feed. We even got to the point where they wanted to test her for a milk protein allergy and put her on reflux medications at her 2 month visit. I began Evivo probiotics at the same time which made her less gassy and her poops more chunky but I can’t truly say it changed the grunting.
And then it stopped. On its own. Last week at 11 weeks old. To this day I have no idea what it was.
So in hindsight I realize all of the accounts of “they’ll grow out of it”… I’m here to tell you, 2am scroller, it does (given no other medical issues with your child). You will get through this. Earplugs helped. You are not a bad person for blocking it out. Save your sleep. I personally started with happy ears/noise dampening ear plugs but that was a joke when it came to the grunting.. I switched to full on noise blocking ear plugs and pulled them out halfway so I could hear her cry. It saved my sanity. Also white noise. And I have no clue what it was to this day, neither do I know what the heck her witching hour is. But it begins to slowly fade away and one day you go “oh my god the grunting is gone!”
You can get through this. I just wanted to share solidarity and reassurance. Here for support.

Hey, so I work at a pretty popular restaurant chain that is known for peanuts and country music. Recently autism awareness month has come and passed which I support. A little background on me, my boyfriend is autistic and I have siblings and a parent who has learning/behavioral/autism (and/or for all) because they share a certain gene that also has epilepsy or like the epilepsy causes those issues or is paired. I am in college to be a psychiatric pediatric nurse but I’m still finishing up one last prerequisite. I have taken multiple psychology classes with one being psychological disorders where I learned about a long of things including autism. My professor for the class dismissed me from it early due to his confidence that I was educated on many topics and because I put effort into learning. Okay now that you understand a bit about me, on to the problem where I need help. A few weeks ago a new busser (25?M) was hired, he has autism which is aye okay. Side note: I feel he was hired to fit a quota for the month…. Well from what I learned from him, he has a creepy personality (not from his disorder) he has made a comment, the first ever conversation between them, to a training server about how she is beautiful and how she doesn’t need to worry about him snitching and she doesn’t need to prebus. He has also admitted to being fired from his last job because he is a discord moderator who “punishes” other people and he was fired due to him being on his phone too much to do that. Someone without a disorder who did both of those would be called out, just saying. He also loves snitching on servers for leaving a single plate on the table, which many servers hate him for but I truly don’t care about that he is just trying to get on the managers good side and I always do a good job prebussing since I want the best outcome for my guests. Now onto my guests and this busser, this busser has told a very very large party of mine where to sit, on his first week of the job. We will call this busser” J” He continues to talk to tables, even when they don’t want to talk. And servers have complained multiple times, I can contest that we can tell when our guests are uncomfortable to a random person just talking to you even after giving cues to stop. Which he could possibly not tell due to the disorder which is understandable. A server has politely asked him to not talk to her tables though due to him repeatedly doing it, and he called her a bitch for it. And he continues to do it. I was fully planning on talking to the manager at some point or talking to him myself. Today, a new busser, we will call “T” was brought in and he also has a mental disability, I’m unsure if it’s autism so I can’t say that directly. But “J” was trying to train “T” even though he just got done training (which by the way “J” rejected training from the bussers who have been there awhile and claimed he knew how to do it but tables are always dirty after). So my guess is that J told T or was an example to T that made T think he could talk to tables, because T slowly started trying to do that. T is very helpful so far as a busser and he is trying to do his best and I have given him positive words of reinforcement to help him a long. At one point though he tried talking to my guest as my guest were trying to talk to me and T was in the way of my table so I had to slowly intercept and once T left I had to apologize to my guests for it. After that I decided to finally go to the manager who was closest but also this manager, who we will call Q is above other managers but not above the GM. I went up to Q and said hey, I was wondering if you could talk to the bussers (not saying names) about not talking to the tables. Q proceeds to ask me if I can show no patience/kindness or a word similar to those on the spectrum or have autism.. which I replied back: my boyfriend is autistic. Q got mad at the statement and tried to rebuttal by saying that the busser was only trying to help me by grabbing plates off my table. I said those plates weren’t from my table. Q asked where they came from. I said I don’t know, the busser was just in the way when I tried talking to my table and I had to apologize to them. Q got angrier and said well me and the other manager are going to deal with whatever needs delt with but you (I) need to focus on my job.
I asked my boyfriend after the shift how he felt with the entire scenario and he agreed that the manager Q was causing more of an issue by not taking into account many server and other worker complaints and Q is also not treating the bussers as an equal while reprimanding us servers for wanting boundaries. My mother also agreed with me on it as well.
I just want to see what yall think, because this is causing a havoc in my workplace and the managers are no help clearly. My next course of action is to talk to the bussers directly and use the knowledge I have to work with them on this to try to lower the amount of guest interactions. We have someone come into the work like once a month who you can talk to about complaints but other than that it feels hopeless. My work has been going downhill, today a really good employee was also fired but the other employee involved in the situation was not, and this other employee is not nearly as good and caused the issue. So I’m looking for any advise or any other povs on how to handle this situation. I want to stay at this job and untimely the outcome I want is for the bussers to stick to their job so I can stick to mine and for everything to be harmonious and for the managers to stop being dumb. Thank you for reading this entire thing if you did.
Summary: busser with autism is making servers and guest uncomfortable but management refuses to allow boundaries due to the disorder and berates servers etc for concerns and requests. I have lots of education on autism and I grew up around it too, management got mad at me for wanting them to talk to bussers about boundaries with guests.

I went to the doctor on 4/24 and found out I was deficient in vitamin d. I started taking these 3 things on 4/28. I take the Magnesium and 5000IU D3 daily and take the 50,000 D2 only on Sunday night (I’ve only taken 2 so far tmr would be my third) I’m a teen and I just wanted to know if this was too much. I have noticing some under the skin acne and I think it’s because of one of these that I’m taking??

Reddit is a pretty big place, and unfortunately not always easily navigable for newcomers. Hopefully this post will help people find the most appropriate or alternative subreddits for their concerns. Also, please feel welcomed to share any additional tools and resources you may like to use or reference.

Kidney Disease Subreddits

/CKD is fairly similar to /kidneydisease, but ^smaller. They are both intended to be a support community for people who are diagnosed with kidney disease.
/chronickidneydisease is more or less a moderator posting frequent articles from their website.
/dialysis and /transplant can be pretty scary steps for people. These are both great places for sharing knowledge and experiences. Give /transplantmemes a browse too, because sometimes we just need a laugh.
/renaldiet, /renalrecipes, and /askrenaldietician are all dead subreddits. I was really hoping at least the recipes subreddit would do well because I’m a terrible cook and meal planner. Nutrition is so specific to each of us, it’s difficult to make a diet and recipe sub for all of us.
Be cautious with subreddits like /kidney_match. So many brand new accounts offering a kidney, people commenting for a long period of time trying to give away a kidney but won’t go to their local hospital or transplant center, and the occasional straight to the point person offering a kidney for cash and visa assistance. I think we all know there is no shortage of recipients, and we all need one, but always use good judgement with random people online.
/nephrology is not for personal inquiries, but an academic and career community for people in the nephrology field. It’s good to learn from their discussions and opinions on various topics as well.

Condition-specific communities

• /Adpkd
  
• /Alportsyndrome
  
• /Iganephropathy
  
• /C3G
  

Other Kidney-related Subreddits

There are several non-kidney disease subreddits where questions and concerns may better be suited. On occasion, however, there may be some overlap.
/kidney is kind of the Wild West of kidney subreddits, but you can post just about anything and everything you want about kidneys or kidney-adjacent topics.
/acutekidneyinjury covers a lot of AKI and ARF management, treatment, and research. While reduced kidney function did not occur in the same manner as chronic kidney disease, AKI can still result in dialysis and end-stage renal failure.
If you just have to post a picture of your urine and test strips online, then /foamyurine is the place for you. Actual lab results are few and far between here, but it’s rife with speculation as well as some science-based advice. Redditors, stop studying the tea leaves, get a proper /urinalysis, and clean your toilets while waiting for the results.
/kidneystones and /kidneystonesurvivors is pretty straight forward for all the stone makers out there.
/utis and /CUTI are similarly straight forward subreddits. People can sometimes panic with adverse labs while dealing with a UTI, but continue testing with your doctor.
Does your back hurt, but all your labs and doctor say you are fine? You might actually just have /backpain. Learn about /stretching and /posture. Back pain and flank pain aren’t always associated with kidney disease, and very unlikely in the earlier stages.
/weightlossadvice, /diet, and /hydrohomies are great subreddits to hopefully guide others to a healthier lifestyle. Sometimes people self-diagnose themselves as having kidney disease, or get overly concerned about kidney disease, by comparing their labs to charts for people who have kidney disease. Obesity and dehydration can be large factors in labs.
If your post is asking something like, My back hurts, do I have kidney disease?, Should I be concerned? about a single set of lab results with no context or while symptomatic of something unrelated to kidney disease, or My urine is (name any shade of) yellow, thoughts?, then /askdocs, /diagnoseme, and /medical_advice are probably what you are looking for. People are generally willing to help and answer questions, but it’s also important to take into consideration that asking people with kidney disease to explain your healthy lab results to you can sometimes not be well received. It should go without saying, but your primary care doctor, nephrologist, or whoever ordered your labs, should be interpreting your labs as they know your medical history better than we do.
Lastly, /healthanxiety is a real thing people struggle with. There are support communities and professionals to help out.
Here is a custom feed of all the kidney subreddits I know of, with the exception of one because I don’t the list marked as NSFW. Some are dead, or pretty low population, but maybe someone has interest

Kidney Organizations

Donate Life America
American Kidney Fund
IgA Nephropathy Foundation
Kidney Foundation of Canada
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
National Kidney Foundation
National Kidney Registry
United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS)

Tools

Adult eGFR Calculator
Pediatric 2021 CKiD U25 calculator eGFR calculator
Davita Diet & Nutrition
Drugbank Online - Nephrotoxic Agents Searchable database of nephrotoxic drugs with the potential to generate kidney damage and to reduce renal function. Disclaimer: consult with your provider.

Journals & Studies

American Journal of Kidney Diseases
Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology
Critical Care Reviews - Renal
Journal of Renal Nutrition
National Library of Medicine - Pub Med
Nephrology Journal Club - NephJC on X
The New England Journal of Medicine - Chronic Kidney Disease

Hello Everyone,
So before March I would have occasional stomach burning that would be taken care of by tums no problem. I could eat anything except dairy which I get sick from so I haven eaten it in 15 years. It was suggested to me that OTC Omezraple might help me to be able to stop using tums so I tried it. A week later I started experiencing shortness of breath, not knowing what it was I went to the urgent care that turned into an ER visit due to heart palpitations. It was there that they suggested that it was GERD and that I make an appointment to see a GI. On a PCP visit and follow up conversations I was put on 40mg omeprazole in the mornings and Famotidine 20 mg for the morning and before bed. My LPR symptoms continued to worsen over April.
My Barium test showed clear except for moderate to severe acid reflux. I am awaiting clearance from a heart doctor to proceed with an endoscopy. Meanwhile I have changed my diet to the list below and managed to make myself comfortable on a 7.5 inch incline through lots of insomnia. However, it still feels like acid is coming up my throat, it was initially neutralized, just water tasting and nasal drip, but now it's becoming more acidic over time to where I have regular heartburn/throat burn every night.
My PCP also has put me on 3 other medications to help me deal with the panic attacks and anxiety that has come with all of this. Sertraline, Propanol and Hydroxyzine. I still have high anxiety however I feel the seraline is helping with the shortness of breath, though that could be the diet too. The more I eat the worse my Globus sensation and shortness of breath becomes. I am on 25 mg of setraline right now but a little afraid to step up to 50 mg considering I had some side effects at 25mg. Lots of fatigue and some tremors at night.
In the meantime I am losing a dramatic amount of weight. Two weeks ago I weighed 170, but now I am 153. I am not underweight yet but I am a little scared because I am doing my best to meet my calorie count but I am still dropping. This is causing me great concentration difficulty and I feel weak all the time and feel I might start to have symptoms of disassociation. To the point I am having trouble taking my dog for a short neighborhood walk. My body has always run a high metabolism, I used to eat alot and stay thin. Now I have no appetite at all because my stomach now hates me. Whenever I eat I become full easily. I am trying to spread my meals apart but it's hard with my schedule.
I am wondering if this was all caused by the omeprazole somehow? I had no problems before I started taking it. Both the Omeprazole and the Famotidine are lowering my stomach acid to a point where it just feels weird down there and it’s constantly upset. I am worried my body is not absorbing the nutrients and protein it needs despite my efforts and that's why I am feeling so weak. I want to start to wean off the omeprazole to see if that helps and my GI has given me the guidelines and clearance to do that. I tried last Saturday but resumed again after a next day heartburn attack but now might not have a choice.
I am looking for some advice, the doctors only offer more meds or don't seem to care. I usually only get short replies and my GI ignored my last question. Anyway, I just wanted to introduce myself and tell my story and maybe get some fellowship and mutual support if anyone is open to that.
I am starting to work with a nutritionist to see if this helps, keeping a food diary for her currently.
Diet (all of it plain, no seasonings or oils): Chicken breast, tuna, salmon, tofu, sweet potato, regular potato sometimes, protein shake every day see below, spinach, quinoa, lentils, brown rice, coconut water, oatmeal, peanut butter only peanuts in the ingredients, watermelon.
Currently cut out wheat to see if that helps. I might have a yeast sensitivity. Getting allergy tested in June. Getting tested for lynch syndrome next week, my brother and mom has it. My uncle died from stomach cancer at 50.
Supplements: Walgreens multivitamin and iron pill
Protein Shake: Coconut water, banana, tablespoon flax meal, tablespoon, pea protein powder

Infant Male Circumcision: An Ethical Dilemma
Male circumcision (AKA male genital mutilation) is a controversial topic with people debating the proposed medical benefits, social impact and perception, cultural expectations and norms, religious practices, and moral/ethical standards. Circumcision involves excising the foreskin of the penis. Four main topics of contention relating to male circumcision include cleanliness, tradition, aesthetic, and social acceptability (Murray and Allen). Personally, I think the debate boils down to the ethical concerns regarding the violation of bodily autonomy. An infant cannot consent to the permanent modification of their sexual organs. Just as female circumcision is wrong and a clear violation of human rights, so is the male equivalent. I am passionate about this topic because I do not believe it should be up to the parents to decide what happens to their son's penis and I detest any and all arguments suggesting religious or cultural justifications.
What is circumcision and what does the procedure entail? Circumcision, when performed on an infant male, requires the infant to be restrained "on his back on a board called a circumstraint, [preventing] the child from moving" (Solomon, 219). Then, the foreskin is separated from the glans which is "done by inserting a hemostat into the non-retracted foreskin, and then turning this probe-like device around the circumference of the glans" (Solomon, 219). An "incision line" is made along the foreskin using a "scissor-like clamp" and the foreskin is cut and peeled away from the glans. "The procedure is painful, and due to the risk of infant overdose, many circumcisions in the United States are performed with either minimal or no anesthesia" (Solomon, 219). The result is a screaming, crying, and traumatized baby who had to experience having a section of their most sensitive body part forcefully surgically removed, typically without pain relief or control.
Many proponents of male infant circumcision proclaim that a circumcised penis is more hygienic. "If left unclean, the foreskin can develop infections from trapped bacteria and secretions," says a participant from a data analysis study regarding opinions on male circumcision (Murray and Allen). According to Thomas E. Wiswell, evidence shows that "infants who are not circumcised have a higher rate of UTIs during infancy, and that adults are more likely to have penile cancer and certain (but not all) sexually transmitted diseases later in life" (Solomon, 220). The issue with claims of improved hygiene lies with the notion that circumcision is the only way to maintain proper cleanliness and that without the procedure, infections are more likely to occur. This concern is disingenuous and oversimplified and suggests that parents are incapable of teaching their children how to properly care for their normal (and healthy) body parts without drastic measures such as genital mutilation. The idea of lopping off parts of the body in the name of cleanliness is laughably ignorant and fallacious. I personally think that the purported benefits of circumcision (reduced risk of penile cancer, HIV, HPV, STDs, and UTIs) are irrelevant when discussing the ethical complications of overriding a person's right to bodily autonomy (Solomon, 220). According to a booklet from The Duke University Health System, evidence shows that circumcision does reduce the risk for UTIs and penile cancer, however, "it also mentions that both of these conditions are rare and that proper hygiene 'likely prevents penile cancer as much as circumcision does,' and "it does not give a similar non-amputation prevention tip for UTIs" (Solomon, 224). Arguments in support of infant male circumcision with the reasoning of cleanliness are rooted in a fundamental misunderstanding of how hygiene works and rely merely on the convenience of a permanent and largely unnecessary cosmetic surgical procedure to fix a simple case of willful ignorance and general laziness.
Tradition and religion are very important to many people and help them feel connected to their ancestors, loved ones, and communities, but should not ever be used as an excuse to override bodily autonomy. A participant in the aforementioned analytical study, mentioned that, "most parents decide to circumcise their baby boys merely because their religious faith dictates it, because the father was circumcised, or because it's a traditional practice common to a majority of males in this country" (Murray and Allen). This mindset is particularly common for people of the Jewish faith, where the procedure is considered a rite of passage and has been performed on boys for generations. According to the study, "other participants shared they support the freedom of individuals to make decisions based on their own beliefs and that they respect differing religious perspectives on circumcision" (Murray and Allen). The major point missed by the participants in said study is that the "freedom of individuals" to make religious-based decisions unabashedly overrides the individual freedom of the infant males who have no say in what happens to their bodies. I support religious freedom up until the point it affects people other than the individual making the choice. A big part of freedom of religion is freedom from religion- that is, the right to be protected from other peoples' beliefs and not have them dictate your own life. There's a huge difference between raising your children in a particular faith and mutilating their bodies because your holy book demands it. Genitals are such a private and intimate thing and I can hardly think of anything more violating than someone else choosing to alter my genitals when I am at my most vulnerable state because of their own selfish commitment to tradition or faith.
When it comes down to popular opinion, studies show that "the pervasive concern with social acceptability" is a major factor for whether or not parents decide to circumcise their sons during infancy, despite knowing the valid medical concerns in regards to the purpose and safety of the procedure (Murray and Allen). According to the analytical study already referenced, "social factors may be equally or more important than medical factors for parents during the decision-making process" (Murray and Allen). That leaves us with an important question that must be asked: what kind of parent makes permanent medical decisions regarding their child's health and body based significantly on the expectations and perspective of society? If American society said that females were more attractive without their labia and clitoris, would medical professionals be allowed to perform routine female circumcision (read: genital mutilation) simply because it were socially acceptable and even expected? Or should actual medical justifications be the only reason any sort of surgery on minors should ever be performed? Many- if not most- proponents of infant male circumcision make the choice for personal reasons and without properly understanding the risks and consequences of the choice they're making on behalf of their vulnerable and helpless baby boys. "Despite [the] lack of discussion or formal education on the topic, most of the emerging adults did express strong opinions in favor of circumcision based on their personal experiences and social interactions" (Murray and Allen). Parents who circumcise their sons are doing so with more respect to appearances than their own son's physical and mental wellbeing. The fear of society's disapproval and fear of rejection and bullying from peers is not a sufficient reason to permanently alter a child's body without their consent. Elective cosmetic procedures such as lip-filler, botox, breast augmentation, and rhinoplasty (nose jobs) are not rationalized and performed on non-consenting children, so why is circumcision any different? The answer is because of cultural and social acceptability.
It is also important to understand where the practice of circumcision came from and why it has become so popular. "Infant circumcision was recognized in the United States around 1900" (Ahmed and Ellsworth). The theory connecting germs and disease resulted in a widespread "germ phobia" and an increasing concern and "[suspicion] of dirt and bodily secretions" (Ahmed and Ellsworth). "The penis was deemed 'dirty' by association with its function, and as a result, circumcision was seen as preventative medicine to be practiced universally" (Ahmed and Ellsworth). Historically, "circumcision was also viewed as a method of treating and preventing masturbation" (Ahmed and Ellsworth). This is why context matters: circumcision derives not only from religious/cultural tradition, but also excessive paranoia surrounding germs and cleanliness and a desire to control another's sexuality. Even historically, the practice focuses on violating bodily autonomy and taking away a person's right to choose.
When considering a potential medical procedure (especially one that permanently alters the body), it is absolutely vital to fully understand the risks and benefits of said procedure before making the choice to go through with it. There is a pervasive problem with parents nonchalantly deciding to let doctors cut off their son's foreskin for superficial, self-serving, and unethical reasons and without proper regard for the genuine risks and potential complications. It's important to face the reality that routine infant male circumcision is an elective cosmetic procedure that is unnecessary the majority of the time and that the few purported benefits can equally be achieved through safer, less permanent and less invasive means. "The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has noted benefits of circumcision but has not suggested requiring the procedure" (Murray and Allen). Many arguments against circumcision are routinely "brushed off using a number of rationalizations" (Murray and Allen). There are many potential complications that can and have occurred to infants during this unnecessary surgery. Acute complications include "bleeding, hematoma, urethral laceration, incomplete circumcision (removal of too little tissue), penile degloving (removal of too much tissue), infection/sepsis, and injury to glans and frenulum," while late complications include, "penile skin bridge, preputial adhesions, poor cosmesis, meatal stenosis, buried/concealed penis, trapped penis, and urethrocutaneous fistula" (Ahmed and Ellsworth). Additionally, "circumcision, like any surgery, carries the risk of death" (Solomon, 230). Is even a very small risk of death or permanent disfigurement to a previously healthy baby boy worth a "clean-looking" penis or adherence to religious dogma? I don't think so. Physical damage, dismemberment, and death aren't the only risks involved with infant male circumcision. Opponents of the practice also mention "loss of penile shaft mobility, the loss of the protective covering of the foreskin, and decreased sexual sensitivity" (Solomon). Overall, the suggested "health benefits are fairly minor and routinely overstated" (Solomon). With these things in mind, the only right choice to make is to respect your child's right to choose for himself when he is old enough. Instead of risking his life and comfort for what is essentially a cultural and social ritual, teach him how to properly care for his body- don't mutilate it.
In conclusion, the numerous risks involved with routine infant male circumcision make the surgery not only unnecessary, but logically unsound and irresponsible in cases where there is no legitimate medical justification. If a parent is willing to risk such serious consequences for their infant child in the name of convenience, tradition, faith, or fear of social perception, it begs the question whether or not they are competent to make such permanent life-altering decisions for their innocent and vulnerable child. At the end of the day, any alleged benefits procured from the removal of the foreskin in non-consenting minors is overrode by the obvious unethical violation of bodily autonomy and the many serious (while uncommon) risks and complications that can occur during the unnecessary cosmetic procedure. The excuses of "hygiene, tradition, religious belief," and/or "aesthetics" and "social acceptability" are entirely moot in the face of ethical considerations and the crucial and imperative importance of the right to choose what happens to our own bodies.
Works Cited
Ahmed, Asma, and Pamela Ellsworth. “To Circ or Not: A Reappraisal.” Urologic Nursing, vol. 32, no. 1, 2012, p. 19, https://doi.org/10.7257/1053-816x.2012.32.1.19. Accessed 11 Oct. 2022.
Murray, Michelle M., and Katherine R. Allen. “Emerging adults’ perceptions of male circumcision in the United States: Facts, fictions, and future plans.” American Journal of Sexuality Education, vol. 15, no. 2, 11 Mar. 2020, pp. 180–200, https://doi.org/10.1080/15546128.2020.1737290.
Solomon, David. “Informed Consent for Routine Infant Circumcision: A Proposal.” New York Law School Law Review, vol. 52, no. 2, Oct. 2007, pp. 215–45. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=31268614&site=ehost-live.

Hello, I am feeling lost with what is going on with my son. I suspect it is POTS. My son is 12 1/2 years old and has been having POTS like episodes for the last two years. He's had 2-3 episodes a year and they last 1-2 weeks at a time. Upon standing in the morning, during an episode, he will feel light headed, faint, dizzy, get a bad headache, is shaky, and will turn visibly white if he stands for any real length of time. He will feel like he is going to faint, but has not. I monitored his heart rate for a while. During an episode his heart rate will increase 40-50 bpm upon standing in the morning. He will start to feel better towards the afternoon hours, not great, but better.
We are having difficulty finding doctors that will take his symptoms seriously. It took us a year to find a doctor that didn't immediately go to the "why don't you want to go to school" route and stick with it. They all seemed to think that it was mental or made up. I really do no think that it is school. He really enjoys going to school when he is feeling well. Plus, I had similar episodes when I was in my late teens so I don't think it is made up either. I never told my kids about my episodes before he started exhibiting similar episodes. Back then the doctor told me that it was hormones and that I would outgrow it (no testing of any sort was done). I did eventually outgrow the debilitating episodes, but I learned to live with the frequent blacking out upon standing. My son has already missed so much school and childhood. I want to know what is going on and how to help so he doesn't have to deal with this all his life.
We finally found a primary care physician that see that something is amiss. She says that his symptoms are a lot like POTS, but that it cannot be POTS. 1. His episodes are not frequent enough. 2. His episodes last much too long (according to her POTS symptoms only last a couple minutes, a day at most, not 1-2 weeks. 3. POTS is not common in men (especially young boys). She seems to think that it is migraines and is mostly pursuing that route. I don't think it is migraines, the migraine medication she gave his has done nothing to help his symptoms and has not had any history of migraines, but at least she seems to be trying. She has ordered cardiology and neurology testing (pediatric neurology has a wait list of 6+ months so we have not been there yet.) I finally had hope that we were getting somewhere.
That hope was crushed when we met with cardiology. The cardiologist downplayed all his symptoms. She said that it is normal for people to feel light headed and dizzy in the mornings and for one's heart rate to increase upon standing in the mornings. She then actually told my son that he needs to toughen up and learn to live life. She then went on to chastise me for wasting her office's time and putting my son through unnecessary testing looking for a fictional disorder. I am now even more worried about his neurology appointment. I was worried that these specialist would see him on a good day (I cannot call them the morning of an episode and get him in right away -they are booked out for months) and they would say that there is absolutely nothing wrong with him like we have gotten so many times before.
I don't know what I am really looking for here: advice, support, a shoulder to vent,....I don't know. I just want to help my son. We have done everything that we found online to try and help at home: good sleep routine, sleeping with a wedge, installing a ceiling fan in his room to keep him cool, plenty of hydration, taking his vitamins, smaller meals with more frequent snacking, showering at night (showering in the morning makes him feel sick even when he is not having an episode), taking longer to get up in the morning, Dramamine (he didn't feel a difference).
Any advice on how to help my son would be greatly appreciated.

Oh and not talking getting biopsy for something other than diagnosis for thyroid. Just plain diagnosis purposes only because I can’t be the only one that had that happen.
I was 13 sitting in my pediatrician’s exam room going through a volley ball state tournament physical that was required. Everything normal except a lump in my throat that I never felt before. Pediatrician leaves room, comes back with colleague and we leave with immediate referral to pediatric endocrinologist.
Long story short, for a full month after my first visit to his office I was in and out of hospital for CT scans, ultrasounds and blood work all to come back showing that despite family history of Hashimoto’s and antibodies for Hashimoto’s…those damn test were either inconclusive or “confused” and an officially diagnosis was not reached do morning of the tournament for volleyball I had to go for a biopsy. Wasn’t playing on the tournament but because it was mandatory, for while team but me because of health reasons, I still wanted to go support if possible.
Any way, one broken finger of the poor nurse holding my hand, six needles across and down my throat, and a huge bandaid covering the area later I was off to sit with my teammates. A week later I was in that exam room at the endocrinologist with my pound puppy in hand and my parents sitting or pacing the floor.
Lo and behold it worked! I got my officially diagnosis of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (it has since changed to just Hashimoto’s). Oh and he found the cause of the confusion with all the tests before biopsy. My thyroid presents both hyper and hypo so basically I had and will receive symptoms from both sides evenly and the damage to my thyroid was severe and the attacks will be very damaging due to the way I present with hyper flips and hypo flips.
But a good idea emerges that he truthfully isn’t sure will work but is the less invasive way to deal with this diagnosis since surgery is not on table at moment. He said removing the gland would mess up my developmental puberty that my body is now going through into teen hood. So he suggests medication ASAP to control what we can symptom wise or at least make it more manageable and to hopefully prolong the life of my thyroid by prolonging it the help it needs at this very important time.
So I know I am 🤞 and 🙏🏻 daughter, officially diagnosed at 16 not medicated yet, skips that shit. But we were talking about it yesterday and it got me curious. Who else had to have a biopsy for diagnosis purposes only?

Hey all
My son (now 16 months) was diagnosed with ITP (immune thrombocytopenic purpura) last month on April 18th. We consulted a doc after we observed bruising on his knees and right abdomen. He also had a minor nose, and ear blood spots around when the bruising happened. As rightly suspected by the doc they were indeed ITP patches as the platelet count returned as 12000 (12).
Treatment 1: We admitted immediately and he was treated with IVIG. Without any side effects the kid responded to it and in 3 days the number went from 12 to 277.
Follow up CBC test 1: Fast forward 3 weeks (4 days ago), after a follow up CBC test, the platelets fell to 95. The doc had mentioned that the drop was expected as IVIG effects wear off, the platelets tend to drop. And suggested to wait and watch as the ultimate cure is the kid’s own immune system in supporting the platelets growth.
Follow up CBC test 2 (future): We have another follow up CBC in 3 days and the doc says that if the count drops below 40 or 50, a bone marrow test is to be done to rule out a few things.
Treatment 2 (future): And to boost platelets this time around, he mentioned steroids or some other oral medication.
We’re looking for opinions from the experts in the Pediatric and Hematology fields.
Questions

1. Is the bone marrow test really required to give a follow up treatment? Because in order to test bone marrow we’re asked to have the kid with an empty tummy (not even water) for 4 hours before the procedure. I doubt how we can do this in the hot summer.
   
2. Are steroids fine for a 16 month baby? What other treatment would you recommend?
   
3. Diet wise, we’re giving him immune boosting foods - vit C fruits (oranges, papayya), leafy veggies, iron, red meat (mutton) etc., Do you recommend some foods that can boost platelet count or stop the immune system in killing the platelets?
   

Open to have any other recommendations.
Thanks in advance!
PS: I know reddit is not the place to look answers for but I'm trying to gather as much info as possible online and offline.

After 10 years and 3 kids together paving our life with many loving memories and rocky moments inbetween, she has decided that she has had enough. Around our 8th year point in the relationship we argued more often and over miniscule things at times until it regulary became a game of blur then kiss and makeup.
Our financialy struggle has always been a regular issue in our relationship with either of us rotating jobs and the other staying home to assume role of child caretaker. Depression or some other undiagnosed mental trauma would also follow in these cycles for us both, with one of us falling behind and the other coming back to lift one another up effectively putting us in the seemingly endless spiral of burnout, re-inspire, repeat.
We live in a state where I have 0 family other than my own children and herself for support. She has two other siblings who are unavailable to assist in childcare. We have been living in her father's home for majority of our relationship where she has an estranged relationship to.
About a year ago she wanted to call it quits after feeling that no matter what she did she'd never amount to anything with me and wanted to stop the relationship out of respect to me. I convinced her that I would try harder and work at bringing more to our families lives as a stay at home parent, although our limited resources would continue to disprove those results. Still, I tried and worked at better our moments together despite this and fighting through my own shame of not being able to provide to my family.
I began working again for about a year and a half and we had given birth to a new baby boy in this time. Things appeared to get be getting better. She found a new career that doubled her salary, where i naturally resumed the role of caretaker once more. Our degree of enrichment; more family trips and mini-vacations, house shopping and planning were the highlights of our day. It felt like we were finally getting a break in life. Eventually however, she began to have trouble with her job; the culture, workload, etc until she decided to quit 6 months in, but finding a new company in the same industry.
The Dilema:
She went out for training in the state over for about a week and a half for her new job. In her time here she texted me that people just clicked and she was finally fitting in. In this time frame I noticed that she didn't message me often as she normally would but I left her alone to her pursuits. Near her last day she texted me asking if it'd be okay to go out drinking with some of the people she met during the training, though she should have been returning home technically since she finished her training. Reluctantly I agreed and she finally came back home the next morning around 6am. The next night when she got back from her first shift we put the kids to bed and got ready ourselves when alone in our room she told me, "we have to talk... and that she did something that's gonna upset me." In my naivety I just wanted to assume she impulsively overspent on some things as she would in the past when excited about life changes. But my gut beforehand told me I should know better.
She once again wanted to call it quits, claiming that after speaking with so many people and having a revelation, she decided it was time for her to be happy again. She cried with tears of shame, saying that she came close to cheating on me and that out of respect for me we should end now before she act on her impulses while were still together. She feels as though she is becoming her mother(her mother has asbergers syndrome if that matters). Confused and hurt at all this, I remained composed and assured her that while she did something to nearly jeopardize our family, she had the commendable will to stop herself. I pleaded that we can work things out, get a couples therapist work on our issues, only to be met with resistance and that it would work because she is "too broken." After trying to get her to see reason she couldn't face me anymore and said that she didn't feel comfortable being here with me and was callng in to work and getting a hotel.
Any words of clarity and reason were met with pointing the blame on me and her reason for her unhappiness. There was nothing I could do to stop her. A full night and most of the afternoon went by with no correspondence.
I've never felt so alone in a days time. I spent most of my time blabbering on to my family who live across the US via phone of my plight. Sometime later after speaking to my family back home, I get a shared notification through our emails that a purchase was made at walgreens. Curious, as I knew it was her, I checked it out and read that the location was a state over where she had trained at her new job, 5 hrs from our home. My heart sank when I opened the receipt to reveal she had bought an emergency contraceptive. We had not had sex in at least 2.5 weeks. My world has turned upside down with so much confusion and betryal that I could hardly believe this was the same person that left our house weeks ago to provide a better future for our family. I waited about 30 mins before I gave her a call, attempting to compose myself. I called her asking when she'd be home, telling her the kids need food (she had the car, our only vehicle atm.) She was short with me but said it'd be 2-3 hours away and she's gonna see her sister before she comes home. I lost it and told her I know where you are, and I know what you bought. She had almost no remorse in her words. I told her why she would do something like this and step outside of our relationship. She still claims now, that she "did not step outside of our relationship because we were broken up the night she left." Arguing went on and eventually i just accepted that I'll just have to wait.
It'd been a miserable week or more since then with me trying to peice together where I went wrong. Obsessing over details I had vague info on.
I've told my partner that I'm going to take the kids back to my state where my family lives so that I can get her support with everything. She agreed that it would be a good idea and that she would help me financially to make that happen for the children and myself. Through this time I've been able to get her to reveal some info, and that she plans on getting an apartment with someone she's in a relationship with. Her credit has gone up quickly from a credit card that we agreed to use to do so, although I have no access to. The unsecured credit card is funded by the tax return money almost entirely possible because our kids. (Originally 5k)
She's gotten paid twice now at her new job and because we share a bank account, I've also noticed some things. She has not been getting paid no where near what's she should be for her salary in the deposit history. In her laptop that she took on the trip, I've found browing history of places she's visited etc, but one thing now that has just stood out to me was several occasions of her on google maps, directing her to the small local bank in the area where she trained. It seems too much of a coincidence. She is potentially allocating her payments from her paychecks into a new bank account and giving me a percentage of it, I assume for the kids, less than $500. Unfortunately, we still have financial obligations here at her father's home; bills etc, so that leaves me trapped it would seem. Every little detail I uncover onky seems to reveal that I'm just further in the dark than I realize.
What revelations exactly did she discover on this trip? Whatever the case, she has been planning this since April 30 where the history shows, at the very least.
There are days where I feel as though I am living in some bad dream simulation and that I'll wake up soon only to woken up next to empty feeling in my stomach and a heavy head. I've barely had an appetite to eat.
With all that being said, what is there I can do? It feels like I'm being played so hard. I feel like such a fool for living like this all these years.

Hello,
I’m currently in a bit of a back and forth with myself and would love some advice or for folks who have had similar experiences. I left my 10 year career as a pediatric and adult cancer nurse researcher 4 months PP and my surgeons were kind enough (if you live in America ya know how staunch the maternity leave is) to encourage me to return in a year or two to my previous position.
During my time off I returned to grad school at 6 months PP to obtain an advanced degree and my spouse has supported us finacually during this time. The first year or parenthood was hard for me as the primary parent and I took a bit to get my groove (I struggled with severe PPD and had a traumatic pregnancy and birth), but once my daughter was at a year old I felt like I really got our system down and I am really loving life as a SAHM and student. Currently my daughter is going to daycare at 21 months part time during the week so I can attend classes.
I guess there is a part of me that is scared now to go back to work, because I’m loving being with my daughter and I finally have a good grip on managing housework, school, and my kiddo. We have blown through savings and I feel at this point I do have to return to pad us financially. Would love some thoughts thank you!

In today's digital age, where screens are ubiquitous, parents are often faced with questions about the impact of television on their young children, including newborns and infants. Golden Poppy School, a trusted advocate for early childhood development, sheds light on the considerations surrounding media exposure for infants and offers guidance on fostering healthy media habits from an early age.

Understanding Media Consumption for Newborns and Young Children

Many parents are interested in and concerned about infants and television viewing. Newborns and very young children are in a critical stage of brain development, and their experiences during this time can significantly impact their cognitive and emotional development.

The Recommendations from Golden Poppy School

Golden Poppy School emphasises the importance of mindful media consumption and offers the following insights:

1. Limit Screen Time for Infants: The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends no screen time for children under 18 months, except for video chatting. Infants need interactions with caregivers and the physical world to promote healthy brain development.
2. Quality Interactions Over Screens: For 3 month olds watching tv or newborns and young infants, interactions with caregivers, such as talking, singing, and playing, are crucial for language development and bonding. These real-world interactions provide more meaningful stimulation than passive screen viewing.
3. Avoid TV Exposure in Background: It's important to avoid keeping the television on as background noise, especially around infants. This can be distracting and interfere with their ability to focus and learn from their immediate environment.

Why Avoid TV for Newborns?

1. Developmental Concerns: Babies' brains are rapidly developing, and exposure to screens at such a young age may interfere with crucial developmental processes, including language acquisition, social skills, and attention span.
2. Sleep Disruption: Screen time, particularly before bedtime, can disrupt sleep patterns in infants and young children, leading to difficulties in falling asleep and staying asleep.
3. Overstimulation: The fast-paced visuals and sounds of television can be overstimulating for newborns, who benefit most from calm and predictable environments.

Alternative Activities Encouraged by Golden Poppy School

1. Interactive Play: Engage newborn watching tv with toys, rattles, and colourful objects. This helps stimulate their senses and promotes physical and cognitive development.
2. Reading Together: Establish a routine of reading books aloud to your newborn. This supports language development and fosters a love for books and learning.
3. Tummy Time: Encourage tummy time sessions to strengthen neck and shoulder muscles, which are essential for later milestones like crawling and sitting.

Watching TV with Older Children

As children grow older, the approach to television viewing can evolve. Golden Poppy School emphasises the importance of:

1. Quality Programming: When older children watch TV with newborn children, they prioritise educational and age-appropriate content that encourages critical thinking and creativity.
2. Co-viewing and Discussion: Watch programs with your child and discuss the content. This helps children process what they're watching and reinforces positive media habits.
3. Setting Limits: Establish clear guidelines for screen time and ensure that it doesn't replace other essential activities such as physical play, reading, and social interaction.

The Role of Parents in Media Literacy

Parents play a crucial role in modelling healthy media habits and guiding their children's media consumption. Parents can create a balanced approach that supports healthy development and fosters a lifelong appreciation for learning by being mindful of what and how much their children watch.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Golden Poppy School advocates a cautious and mindful approach to media consumption, particularly for newborns and young children. While television and digital media can have educational value for older children when used thoughtfully, it's essential to prioritise real-world interactions and age-appropriate activities for infants and young children. By focusing on quality interactions and experiences, parents can nurture their child's development to optimise learning, social-emotional growth, and overall well-being. Golden Poppy School encourages parents to seek guidance from trusted pediatric sources and educators when navigating the complexities of media exposure in early childhood.

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