What is excess of d vitamin

Herbalists of reddit, I am looking for your recommendations. Here is the story. I dislocated my arm anteriorly a few years ago since then I have had many dislocations in the same shoulder. I recently went to the doctors and got X-rays and the doctor confirmed I have what is called a hills-sach deformity and a reverse hills-sach deformity. Basically what this means is that from dislocating my arm the posterior portion of the humural head, and a small portion of the anterior, has a dent, so less surface area is in contact with the joint. The doctor said I have a 100% chance of future dislocations.
The shoulder is doing a lot better now days and I have not had any recent dislocations. I can feel when it is close to dislocating when I move my arm in certain ways, and get scared of it popping out.
Over the last 4 weeks I have been applying comfrey poultices to the area, and taking calcium, magnesium, vitamin D, and collagen. I plan on doing this protocole for 6 weeks then seeing. Where it's at.
My question is what other recommendations do my fellow herbalists have for helping regenerate bone. What other herbs have a strong afdinty for the bones and can help regenerate the bone? Thank you everyone

just wanted to share my experience and get some advice or suggestions, open to any especially if someone has also experienced the same thing. Anxiety and stress is genetic throughout my family but just up til about recently I have experienced my first severe panic attack. About a week ago I was having fun feeling relaxed and decided to take a hit of a weed pen that my friend had gotten from a vape store. I usually never smoke weed nor like it because it has always given me an experience of panic and paranoia that i did not enjoy. I then decided to take a few hits and nothing happened and i did not feel it or any effects off of it so i took one more hit of it and after about 20-30 mins i had gotten up out of bed and this big sorta rush feeling came right over me and i instantly freaked out and could feel my heart beating out of my chest. i had to lay down with my face in a blanket just to feel somewhat okay. eventually it had whore off... next day i wake up completely fine then after a few hours i feel that terrible feeling again come up over me and it sorta felt like i was high again so i started freaking out and my heart began to race. I took some benadryl seemed to subside the horrible feelings. next day I woke up with symptoms of depersonalization/ derealization. this is what i would say i usually experience while "high" but this was actually the worst I have ever felt. I had to run outside and sit down, i started bawling and my heart felt like it was beating uncontrollably. I looked around and it felt like I was all alone stuck in a dream like I wasn't even real. Since then it has been a couple of days with my symptoms decreasing slowly. every now and then i feel scared and have the fear of the feeling coming back and my heart racing. I do wake up sometimes in the middle of the night with my heart racing with difficulty of breathing. I have mostly been taking benadryl and vitamin D to help. I am trying to stay away from medications. but What seems to be really worrying me is my lack of concentration and control. I always feel drowsy and can't seem to concentrate and have a hard time with remembering things. I think the cause of the anxiety and fear was the cannabis pen. i am just looking for ways to relax my mind, and i am always stuck on the thought if im forever going to feel like this. before this incident i have never experienced things like this before, im not sure if i am only having anxiety because of my experience with the weed or it had actually opened me up to anxiety if that makes sense. only worry now seems to be getting my concentration back and feeling like i am a real person again and enjoying things like how i used to, has anyone else who has smoked or has anxiety experienced this? im wondering if the depersonalization is just from the weed or the anxiety itself and if it will be long term or subside. slowly tho the days have been getting better with little to none mini panic attacks

i just found this sub and i genuinely didn’t realize how like low my vitamin d was before my doctor said this to me. i was at the endocrinologist for some other health issues my bloodwork i had done with my PCP had found (the same bloodwork that revealed my vitamin d was at a 3.9) and when she was looking it over she turned to me and seemed genuinely so shocked and said “your vitamin d is VERY low. like very low.” and i said “yeah haha i’m taking 50000 IU once a week for it for 24 weeks” (i laugh when idk what to say😭) and she then looked at me and said in her over ten years of practicing as an endocrinologist she has never seen a vitamin d level as low as mine. she’s seen 10, she’s seen 11, but never a 3.9. i didn’t realize my vitamin d was that low because when i told other ppl in my life when i got the bloodwork back that my vitamin d was really low they said “we all get like that after winter!”
i guess this is a long (annoying) way to ask if it is actually that low? nobody in my family has had a vitamin d deficiency before so is it uncommon for it to reach 3.9? i go for bloodwork again tomorrow to check on how it’s rising since i’ve been taking it for 6 weeks. so ig we shall see.

just wanted to share my experience and get some advice or suggestions, open to any especially if someone has also experienced the same thing. Anxiety and stress is genetic throughout my family but just up til about recently I have experienced my first severe panic attack. About a week ago I was having fun feeling relaxed and decided to take a hit of a weed pen that my friend had gotten from a vape store. I usually never smoke weed nor like it because it has always given me an experience of panic and paranoia that i did not enjoy. I then decided to take a few hits and nothing happened and i did not feel it or any effects off of it so i took one more hit of it and after about 20-30 mins i had gotten up out of bed and this big sorta rush feeling came right over me and i instantly freaked out and could feel my heart beating out of my chest. i had to lay down with my face in a blanket just to feel somewhat okay. eventually it had whore off... next day i wake up completely fine then after a few hours i feel that terrible feeling again come up over me and it sorta felt like i was high again so i started freaking out and my heart began to race. I took some benadryl seemed to subside the horrible feelings. next day I woke up with symptoms of depersonalization/derealization. this is what i would say i usually experience while "high" but this was actually the worst I have ever felt. I had to run outside and sit down, i started bawling and my heart felt like it was beating uncontrollably. I looked around and it felt like I was all alone stuck in a dream like I wasn't even real. Since then it has been a couple of days with my symptoms decreasing slowly. every now and then i feel scared and have the fear of the feeling coming back and my heart racing. I do wake up sometimes in the middle of the night with my heart racing with difficulty of breathing. I have mostly been taking benadryl and vitamin D to help. I am trying to stay away from medications. but What seems to be really worrying me is my lack of concentration and control. I always feel drowsy and can't seem to concentrate and have a hard time with remembering things. I think the cause of the anxiety and fear was the cannabis pen. i am just looking for ways to relax my mind, and i am always stuck on the thought if im forever going to feel like this. before this incident i have never experienced things like this before, im not sure if i am only having anxiety because of my experience with the weed or it had actually opened me up to anxiety if that makes sense. only worry now seems to be getting my concentration back and feeling like i am a real person again and enjoying things like how i used to, has anyone else who has smoked experienced this?

Dearest gentle readers, did you miss me? it’s time for season 2! I’m gonna try to do all 8 episodes before s3 drops
Episode 1

• Daphne’s bangs have transformed from pringles mustache to a lovely diadem of hair
• I love lady danbury’s structural lace collar capelet
• The featherington mourning wear is twice as unflattering
• Lol @ gregory rolling his eyes about anthony’s list
• The art in the opening credits is interesting. The texture of it reminds me of a video game
• Ah penelope knows her worth and raised her prices. We love to see it
• Sharpening my knives for all of you damn girl
• pen’s fake irish accent is somehow different than nic’s real irish accent
• “Theyre the ones running around while you sit on your arse” get ‘im girl
• “All the young ladies looked the same” rude
• Violet: you want to give my treasured ring to just some girl? Do you have no respect for love? for me?
• The brothel scenes always crack me up because its just a bunch of big velvet curtains and some candelabras in the background. but Ive never been to a brothel so maybe thats accurate
• Anthony’s perfect lady: independent, intelligent, agreeable, no mama drama. May i suggest a golden retriever
• Anthony did not come off as this heavy-headed, overly burdened with responsibility tortured poet soul in season 1
• Kate!!
• Anthony is surprised and turned on
• It sounds like kate says “Oh fuck it” when he pulls up next to her but the captions say [speaks hindi] does anyone know what shes saying?
• Anthony is absolutely smitten. The stubborn dumbass
• Newton! LD is not a dog person
• The mature age of “six and twenty” keels over as an elderly 31yr old
• Eloise has a new ribbon hat contraption. This one has a round felt disc a la a beret
• Pens face as el talks shit about LW >:(
• Potatoes again?? Yes please
• Favorite fun fact: potatoes are an excellent source of vitamins and minerals, and adding cheese adds calcium/vitamin d and makes it a complete vitamin source. My daily intake of cheesy potatoes is like a flintstone vitamin
• Lol the feather’s maid is like why dont you try selling some of this fancy shit if you need money so bad
• Kate has a blue ribbon braided in her hair. Its so pretty. This cerulean shade looks stunning on her. She’s wearing the bridgerton blue from day 1 ♥️
• Edwina’s perfect match: charming, handsome, a duke or a prince. Might i suggest a king charles spaniel?
• Kate’s perfect match: someone who understands her on a deep spiritual level. Might i suggest anthony
• As the sharmas walk into the ball, theres a horse pulling a carriage that looks like its feet are tied together or something. Its doing the strangest walk
• I love the classical version of material girl
• QC like hi mary still hate you bitch ok bye
• Benedict stealing el away from the gentleman version of chucky
• You know, the gossipy quality of the ton is a great way to give viewers background info
• Fake tears always work
• Phili and finch will make beautiful cheese babies
• LD: anthony is a perfect suitor Edwina: dibs Kate: goddamn it
• Anthony’s smile when he sees kate again 😍
• I want to reach through the tv and smoosh their faces together right now. This annoying adorable banter is too much “You find my smile pleasing?”
• LD and violet like shall we do it again this year? pick another perfect match together?
• Pen is an excellent business woman. 10 pounds for 1 LW edition? Thats more than a thousand bucks in todays money. Girliepop is a girl boss. A true she-e-o
• Aw regency chucky has a crush on eloise
• I sympathize with kate. I am also dreadful and unpleasant
• Benedict trying to get it in with madame delacroix again
• Anthony can dish it out but sure cant take it
• Lower those expectations and settle for someone - violet
• Pen writing to colin. THREE MORE DAYSSS
• LD dressing kate down like girl. I opened my home to you. You really gonna stand here and lie to my face
• Love that kate comes clean and LD is like okay good now that thats out in the open lets get this girl hitched. I can scheme too
• Agan kate in blue here is so beautiful
• I love QCs laugh
• I would rather die! Well well how the turntables
• Pen: i have managed to find joy in this whole spectacle Eloise: WOW so you hate feminism
• LD really looked at kate like watch this and then got edwina diamond-ed
• Edwina: i love a man who knows what he wants and is direct Anthony: doesn’t know what he wants and sniffs kate
• LW: suddenly writing feminist rhetoric Eloise: wow what coincidence i was JUST talking to penelope about this
• I love that QCs wigs have natural textured hair in them

okay good night! thanks for reading

just wanted to share my experience and get some advice or suggestions, open to any especially if someone has also experienced the same thing. Anxiety and stress is genetic throughout my family but just up til about recently I have experienced my first severe panic attack. About a week ago I was having fun feeling relaxed and decided to take a hit of a weed pen that my friend had gotten from a vape store. I usually never smoke weed nor like it because it has always given me an experience of panic and paranoia that i did not enjoy. I then decided to take a few hits and nothing happened and i did not feel it or any effects off of it so i took one more hit of it and after about 20-30 mins i had gotten up out of bed and this big sorta rush feeling came right over me and i instantly freaked out and could feel my heart beating out of my chest. i had to lay down with my face in a blanket just to feel somewhat okay. eventually it had whore off... next day i wake up completely fine then after a few hours i feel that terrible feeling again come up over me and it sorta felt like i was high again so i started freaking out and my heart began to race. I took some benadryl seemed to subside the horrible feelings. next day I woke up with symptoms of depersonalization/derealization. this is what i would say i usually experience while "high" but this was actually the worst I have ever felt. I had to run outside and sit down, i started bawling and my heart felt like it was beating uncontrollably. I looked around and it felt like I was all alone stuck in a dream like I wasn't even real. Since then it has been a couple of days with my symptoms decreasing slowly. every now and then i feel scared and have the fear of the feeling coming back and my heart racing. I do wake up sometimes in the middle of the night with my heart racing with difficulty of breathing. I have mostly been taking benadryl and vitamin D to help. I am trying to stay away from medications. but What seems to be really worrying me is my lack of concentration and control. I always feel drowsy and can't seem to concentrate and have a hard time with remembering things. I think the cause of the anxiety and fear was the cannabis pen. i am just looking for ways to relax my mind, and i am always stuck on the thought if im forever going to feel like this.

Hello, I am 25M vegetarian and lead a relatively normal life. However I have several issues that seem to degrade quality of life. They seem connected but not sure.

1. Foot pain: Initially went to a Podiatrist and was prescribed insoles for mild flat feet. Did not work and severe pain persisted. Still persists today, but I came to realize that the pain is coming from foot cramps. The pain felt similar to a cramp but I never made the connection. I get severe foot cramps even if I do very little exercise or walking. Timeline: ~ 4years
2. During the timeline of 1., I also thought a lot of my problems were led by dehydration and then ,later found out that it could be a possible cause of the foot pain. However, I have been ensuring before and after the pain that I drink enough water a day. I pee more often that required and its usually not dark. Timeline: ~2 years
3. Excessive weight gain: I usually eat a little more than the average person, but nowhere close to justifying my weight gain. I used to be much thinner when i was younger and have gained much weight since then. I am unable to lose this despite bouts of significant exercise and diet control. I am also limited by low stamina and the foot pain. Timeline: ~8 years.
4. Numbing: My arms and legs get extremely easily numbed out. Any small weight placed on my leg/abdomen when I sleep leads to numbness quite easily. It is actually quite severe. Timeline: Quick numbness has been there for several years but last few years have been worse.
5. Get tired and lose focus easily: This has been a general theme for several years. I am able to concentrate and get things done in small pockets of time. Timeline: Been there for several years but got worse in the last few years.
6. Hearing: My hearing has been getting a little worse. I occasionally hear some hight pitched noise and I read that it may be the Cochlea dying or sth? But definitely been getting a little worse. Timeline: ~4 years.
7. Had a viral infection ~1.5 years back, and when I was infected a few spots behind my head and ear enlarged. Not sure why, and the doctor at the time ignored it. It shrunk about 70%, but has remained the same size for quite some time.
8. Protein intake: Tried taking protein shakes/bars to increase my intake due to my vegetarian diet: seemed to get more drowsy and sleepy quickly, so I stopped.

These are in order of importance/impact.
For additional context, I have taken several blood tests over the course of the last 6 years and mostly have seen Vitamin D & B12, Iron deficiencies (I have tried taking supplements for several months, didn't seem to have much effect day-to-day, but subsequent blood tests improved). Normal Thyroid. Suspected high cortisol (have some fat and hair buildup on my back): was also normal. My most recent blood tests had low testosterone and HDL was lower and triglycerides and nonHDL were high. insulin high as well. But shown the results to a physician assistant and they didn't have any input other than a referral for weight management.
No particular diagnoses or supplements. Some Ashwagandha occasionally.
Hoping anyone can give me some pointers that I can work on and maybe take to my local physician. Thank you.

Warning - beware chance of [confirmation bias] and [placebo effect] in this post. Also note that I live in NORWAY, similar to ALASKA in terms of sunlight. This post may not apply to people in sunnier regions.
This (title) has been a main theme of my IF-journey since starting around 2005.
I am no scientist, but tanning has an extremely calming effect on me, and removing virtually all cravings, for a couple of weeks. Based on this I concluded that it must be low vitamin D that is the culprit... Sadly, I am in the highest skin cancer risk bracket (anglo-saxen + moles). So I try to tan the very minimum that lets me sustain this effect (2 x 15min. pr. month). Also, tanning beds are much more strictly regulated here in Norway (vs. US), and we don't get much sun to begin with due to latitude.
In order to produce similar effect with supplement, I had to go as high as 20kUI daily for several months. I ended that experiment though, because it seemed to cause a non-stop shingles outbreak in eye region (worst place you can get them). In terms of reducing cravings, it worked really well though, And that effect lasted for a year or so after I quit. (A single short tanning seems to 'wear off' in a couple of weeks.)
* * *
Am I the only person seeing this? Well no. Turns out, several research papers have hinted at this type of connection. To you want to verify, try highlighting the title > right-click > search. I will link a summary of the research, but please beware that this web page was created by 'vitamin D fans' similar to myself: https://vitamindwiki.com/Overview+Obesity+and+Vitamin+D
So, should you just start tanning? I would say no! Unless you have the time to carefully research how strong the tanning beds in your region are, and what the skin cancer statistics are in your area, and for your skin type.

So. Recently posted about my EMU visit, how anxious I was that I'd get smacked with a hysteria diagnosis. I had a lot of stuff happen. Most interestingly, in my second sleep deprivation day (basically self-administered, might I add), I had some pretty intense episodes. One of them I fell into some kind of microsleep and emerged extremely sexually aroused, which I was able to identify as the same feeling as my sexsomnia which baffled a sleep doctor. Another one, during sleep dep, I felt this profound and abnormal sense of mental clarity, got excited, felt aggressive, almost like I took amphetamines, faintly hypomanic, and had an extremely intense visual aura with my migraine symptoms an hour or two afterwards, along with a host of my typical seizure symptoms and impairment, though without headache. My final one, after being up for 32 hours, I slept for about two and woke up still dreaming, with extremely impaired awareness, confused as hell, feeling like I was in danger, not able to make sense of what was happening, didn't know where I was, and took about ten or fifteen minutes to return to awareness, typical of what I suspect to be nocturnal seizures I have. Despite getting all of these, by the second or third day they had already told me this was PNES, they weren't catching any epileptiform discharges. I sort of figured this would happen. Whatever.
This part may be ever so slightly out of order, because I didn't record it. Not a mistake I'm ever going to make again. I'm going off my memory, and the memory of a family member who was there and agrees this is what happened.
Today, I'm getting discharged. A doctor I'd never seen comes in. Don't remember her name. She tells me that because there was no epileptiform activity it's PNES and that I need to see a therapist for treatment. I start to have a conversation with her, saying that feels a little "circular" because my three mental health providers told me to pursue neurological care, and that I'd been receiving mental healthcare for twenty years with no improvement. I'm working towards having a conversation with her about how some epilepsy, like TLE and FLE, may not actually present on an EEG. Before I get there, she asks me what symptoms I have that make me think it's epilepsy. Give her a brief rundown of my history, which she didn't know at all despite the fact that I gave some decent history the day I was admitted. Talk about sleep issues I had, all these psychiatric diagnoses I got which didn't do anything, how I couldn't function as a kid and my life fell apart. I mention, among my symptoms that make me think I specifically have TLE, dissociation is one of the most significant ones. I think among this she asked what my triggers are, and as I mention THC is one, she laughs and interrupts me loudly saying "well that should be easy to avoid!" and I try to say alcohol is also a trigger, but I'm pretty sure she spoke over me. She says that the dissociation is a sign of the mental health issues that would be causing my seizures. I say the dissociation precedes the events which caused my mental health issues and begin to describe childhood experiences that make me think it's epilepsy. She seems a bit blindsided by this. She moves on to say it actually isn't PNES but instead it's that I'm hypersensitive to minute changes in my body that other people wouldn't be aware of. This is something I agree with, I mention that I'm able to zero in on really fine stuff and I've spent the last couple years not taking anything for granted and noting all the strange sensory experiences I get. She suggests biofeedback therapy, I tell her I have a long history of neurofeedback therapy and it didn't really help much. That my neurofeedback therapist told me my brain behaved in weird ways, looked strange on EEG, and suggested I see a neurologist about it. She seems to be getting frustrated at this point. I ask if I'm being diagnosed with PNES or not, and she says no I'm not. She says that she's not telling me it's all in my head, or that it's psychological, but that it's sensory things I'm just noticing too strongly. I believe at this point, my dad chimes in and says that I was diagnosed with autism as a child, that I had sensory issues which overwhelmed me. Which, might I add, pissed me off. The doctor seems relieved, leans into that and says that's what would cause me to be oversensitive to sensations. I mention some of my lifelong sensory issues, largely tingles that climb up my spine and make my shoulder jerk, or cold chills that wrap around my head. I mention that I've grown to be very tolerant of my sensory issues, and that the symptoms that concern me are my episodes of memory loss, emerging from sleep in bizarre altered states of consciousness, motor symptoms, and primarily the cognitive issues I have. I emphasize how I'm unable to drive. She then says it's my sleep. She says it's a sleep disorder that's causing all of this and that I need to get a sleep study. When going over my history I emphasized that I had sleep issues as a kid, especially with emerging from sleep and with daytime sleepiness (one of the things that makes me suspect TLE!) and have already had multiple sleep studies which showed nothing, but that I have another one scheduled. She seemed to grab onto that, saying yeah that's definitely what it is, make sure to get to that, and quickly changed subjects and asked me about 10,000IU doses of vitamin D I'd been taking, asking if that was from my PCP. Now. I'm seeing an endocrinologist to treat hypogonadotropic hypogonadism which I have had probably forever, none of my T tests were within range for my age going back to my early 20s and I had symptoms since I was a teenager, and it's just gotten worse in tandem with my suspect epilepsy. I have read several papers which say hypogonadotropic hypogonadism is a condition which presents with TLE in a fashion that is clinically significant, drawing links. I believe some say it's an outright symptom. I say to her "That's from my endocrinologist, actually, and that's one of the things that I'd like to mention which made me think this was TLE--." I am abruptly interrupted. Through an obviously frustrated smile, toothy and saccharine, this doctor interjects to emphatically say "Which it isn't! haha It's not epilepsy!" and continues to say she's going to write this up and send it to my doctor. I sort of checked out at that point, frankly. I don't remember it very well, but she left the room shortly after. So, she didn't read any of my history, didn't read any of my notes I gestured to, didn't give me an opportunity to discuss things I have concerns over, and eventually got frustrated enough to simply interrupt me altogether in order to put her foot down. Tells me to move forward by attending an upcoming sleep study. Whole thing very clearly felt like the doc trying to reverse-engineer some bullshit excuse to justify the conclusion that I just have hysteria, more or less, regardless of what the actual truth of the matter is.
A little while later, I get my discharge packet. One of the very helpful nurses shows me the "patient communication" section in the packet and says this is what she said to my doctor. I find this interesting, but I'm too pissed off to dive right into it. Eventually, after spending a while bitching to my dad about how weird this is once we're alone, I take a look at it. She wrote: "Some of your spells are consistent with psychogenic non-epileptic events. The recommended treatment is therapy focused on identifying and coping with psychological stressors. Please follow up with psychology as an outpatient. Other spells are more likely due to hypervigilance of normal physiologic symptoms." She had explicitly told me she is not diagnosing me with PNES when I asked her earlier. What she ended the conversation on, after I provided context to my history of care (which I specifically mentioned previously and she had absolutely no awareness of) explicitly telling me it's not PNES and that it is a sleep disorder I'm experiencing. Another point in this packet highlights that, according to Minnesota state law, I cannot legally drive for three months following any event with a loss of awareness or voluntary control. Which she actively disregarded in order to settle on each of the four or five different diagnoses she offered before settling on telling me it's a sleep disorder.
I have a followup with the epileptologist who ordered this EMU study. I'm sharpening my swords, so to speak, and trying to find as much substantiative evidence as I can through studies and what resources I can find to explain why it is I suspect I have TLE. I'm finding a lot! I'm more convinced than I ever was this is, in fact, lifelong TLE which has been very difficult to diagnose. I'm reaching out to previous mental health professionals who urged me to seek neurological care to back me up, reaching out to my other providers, and I'm going to begin looking for another epileptologist just in case. But I'm really, really kicking myself for not recording this discussion like I've been meaning to do with all my communiques with doctors. Wondering if I should try to initiate some kind of administrative action against this particular doctor.
The strange thing is the doctor who was interpreting my EEG, different woman, spoke to me several times. She had told me on the second and third days that there were no evident epileptiform waves during my episodes. I would like to add that my blood pressure shot up like fucking crazy during these, and my eyes were always open during them, and it sounds like PNES is typically with eyes closed and causes far less heart rate and blood pressure variability than epilepsy does. Just as an aside. But I mention to her that I'm aware of some kinds of epilepsy which sometimes don't show up on EEG, specifically temporal lobe and frontal lobe, because they happen deeper in the brain. She says yes, that is true, explains a little bit of it to me, but says that this is the gold standard of diagnosis at the moment, with our current technology. We spoke a little about how I have almost 20 years of mental health care under my belt, how circular this all feels. She was sympathetic and laid this out as: as per our technology, VEEG is currently the gold standard of epilepsy diagnosis. According to this gold standard of diagnosis, I do not have epilepsy. Given my history, it would be reasonable to conclude that my issue is not psychological either, and that I'm just unfortunately in a "gray spot." Which I did admire, even if I didn't have a chance to totally voice my concerns, and felt it was sort of bullshit.
So! If anyone in Minneapolis knows an epileptologist to look out for, that would be cool, I guess! Or maybe a lawyer! Who knows! Not really sure what to do with any of this! Because what the hell! Would appreciate any input at all or tips on how to actually get somebody to read my fucking chart in the first place, let alone the notes I shove in their face, and listen to what I have to say. Because this only made me more convinced this is epilepsy, and goddamn I need care ASAP.
p.s. do you guys think i might, maybe, perhaps, a smidge, present the hypergraphic compulsion to write with this two thousand words of bullshit i just hammered out and didn't proofread or anything? lmao. sorry!
tl;dr: doctor i never saw prior rotated through several different diagnoses in the span of a single conversation, obviously did not read any of my history, ignored my notes, interrupted me when I tried to explain concerns, landed on telling me it was a sleep disorder, and then soft-diagnosed me with PNES when she explicitly said it's not PNES and she isn't diagnosing me with PNES

40M canada. 6’3” 175lbs. Ok so where to begin, about a year ago I went to my doctor for some RUQ pain and we ran some blood work in which everything came back normal except for my ferritin which was 406 ug/L. This prompted us to do an ultrasound which showed a slightly enlarged liver so we ran a liver function panel which also came back normal as well as testing for all Hepatitis and negative for all of them. I’ve also done two fibroscans which have both shown nothing. Switched to checking gastrointestinal issues so we did a h pylori test which was negative and a colonoscopy where they removed a benign polyp, nothing that seems of interest. The only things where outside of the ranges in pages of blood work showed I have vitamin d deficiency which I’m now supplementing and an A1C of 5.6 which I understand is high but not diabetic high. In the year since this has all happened I’ve lost about 20lbs but I cut out alcohol completely and started eating better but we decided to check the ferritin to see if lifestyle changes helped but they did not and it came back at 682ug/L (it’s been tested multiple times and it’s been between those two reference points every time. I’m at a loss and just looking for a little insight as I’m worried there’s something going on but we aren’t coming up with any answers. Also to note we are waiting for genetic testing to come back for haemochromatosis but my doctor doesn’t think that’s what it is. I can provide any labs needed it’s just a lot to post. Thank you in advance.

Isn't that usually how life goes? When you get what you want, you realize you don't want it.
I realized it wasn't about money. No genuine insight derived from theorizing about abstracts like sexual marketplace value. I started by asking the question, "If charisma and wisdom are 99% of the population's dump stats, then what are they actually doing to attract partners?"
And the answer, from my perspective, seems to be: they're not doing shit. They're the wrong person in the right place at the right time. And the more social these people are, the more opportune moments occur.
Then I realized that being social doesn't just mean going to parties and drinking and clubbing and such. It can be a book club or a workshop or a hiking group or whatever. It can mean pursuing your passions in a context where you meet others who pursue the same passion. And if you're competent at that passion, there's a good chance someone in that sphere is going to find you much more appealing than in contexts where you're not an enthusiastic participant.
If this doesn't sound actionable to you, due to social anxiety, then I would say to seek out the lowest forms of socializing and work your way up. Like small talk. I'm sure many of us hate it, but maybe that has a lot to do with our expectations. When someone small talks with you, they're looking to see if you're safe to talk to on bigger subjects. Which is an invitation to talk in general. I promise you they won't downvote you for a grammatical error and pedantically parse through every word you say like people do on the internet. There is no rule that says you have to meet them on small subjects. Bring up a quick witted observation about the immediate environment. Make a joke about how you're glad you didn't get stuck in a "good, how are you" loop (again). Use your strength of creativity to your advantage
Anyway, the point I'm making is we can be social creatures in a way that doesn't take chunks out of our flesh. And when you realize the art of attraction is not all that mysterious and obscure, and fomo no longer takes up 50% of your daily emotional bandwidth, you'll realize that you've found things of value other than sex and romantic relationships: friendship, new creative outlets, new intellectual outlets, and possibly cure your chronic vitamin D deficiency

“Is it true?”
“Is what true?” asked Simon.
“That your mother is my father?”
“Well just think about what you’ve just said. Actually think about it, and then get back to me,” smirked Simon. He loved patronising anyone and everyone.
“Back to you,” whispered Oscar.
“Yes.”
He turned his back from Simon and faced the other way.
“Are you an actual fucking dumbfuck?” asked Simon.
“My ex always said I was a boringfuck.”
“Explains a lot...” smirked Simon. His grin literally ate shits on weekends.
“Yea, she said ‘Your phallus is so ridiculously small and mushy that I’d get more satisfaction dragging my vulva across a floor covered in frozen peas’”
“Is that so?”
“Yep,” said Oscar. “And that’s how I ended up with my pea son.”
“Oh I was gonna ask,” said Simon.
Pete the pea son was gargling in a nearby pram. He was a little green round baby rich in vitamins I think. I don’t know, I’m not a vegetable doctor.
“And your niece?” asked Simon.
“Yep. My ex made love to a carpet of peas and that’s how I have my pea niece.”
“Your pea niece,” smirked Simon.
“That’s what I said.”
“Is she....tiny and mushy?” laughed Simon.
“No she’s half frozen.”
“Heh,” Simon said.
Heh Simon said. Heh Simon said. Heh Si- I haven’t played Simon Says for seventy nine years so I don’t know if that’s how you play it or not.
“So anyway,” said Oscar. “If your mother isn’t, then who is my father?”
“Aren’t you more invested in how your ex wife gave birth to your niece?”
“N...no...that makes...”
“Sense?” smiled Simon. “That makes sense?”
“Yea coz my ex woz my auntie. Auntie antijoke was her name.”
“But that would make the kid your cousin.”
“Oh yea shit,” said Oscar. “So I....”
“Fucked your...”
“My...sister?” asked Oscar, head tilted.
“Correct!”
“And that’s your mother?”
“Yep!” said Simon.
“Ok cool. She’s hot too so go me!” said Oscar. He highered his palm for a hoi foive. Simon clapped dat shit so quickly it was just a fleshy blur, like Japanese genitals. “Well, I’m glad we got to the bottom of this,” said Oscar.
“Me too.”
“Now we can go back to this in depth game of chess,” said Oscar.
“Yep. Your turn.”
“I’ll move my castle to that black square.”
“I’ll move your pea niece,” winked Simon.
“Oh please do naughty boy!”
They both laughed in beautiful love times.
The End
Is what is said when it’s the end of a story, just like now. The End.
“Touch my pea niece with both hands you filthy boar-cunt.”

To preface- my father actually has ALS(Sporadic and not genetic) and I’m his caretaker. His fascinations are NONSTOP, he can’t feel them and are body wide.
I’m not sure if it’s due to being around him all the time that my anxiety has picked up twitching and clear fasciculations or what.
They usually happen in one part of my body, feels like a bubble that expands and pops and I can see my skin twitch along with it (I can tell it’s fasiculating due to seeing my fathers, though mine happens only maybe once to three times in a row)
I did check my vitamins and my vitamin D was at ….. 8. So extremely low. Has anyone with low vitamin d noticed these occur along with it? My doctor mentioned it being the probable cause of the twitching and didn’t seem to want to send me to a neuro as ALS usually occurs in multiple muscles at one time and is more constant and mine is just sporadic.
I notice primarily it happens in my calf, and my upper arm but occasionally my lip, despite this my doctor mentioned BFS only and well here I am lol.
Hoping for some reassurance even though I know it’s not ALS as I see ALS everyday I still just have that concern due to the twitching being such a weird feeling and something new with my body, it’s also hard as I see my father dying of it and to have something even remotely similar is scary.
Can anyone relate with the Vitamin D issue? I’m going to start taking supplements tomorrow and hopefully over time I can feel better.

So, I know a lot of CFSers suffer from burning in their legs and weakness due to a build up of folic acid (which is apparently the fake, manmade version of Folate).
But what if a test comes back with high, natural folate? Could it be doing the same thing?
I can't find much info on it except that any excess we have is usually peed out.
I had more labs done today and my folate is high enough that it isn't listed except that it's over the max range. I do take a multi-vitamin with it and B12 in it. B12 was in normal range.
So I'm a little confused on what's going on or even what symptoms could be related to it.
Can anyone help me out?

I (f28) just want to vent here because of my past and current experiences with doctors. I am sick and I’m tired of having to do all of my own advocating when doctors are literally paid for their work and some don’t even do the bare minimum for you.
I spent 3 years trying to get a proper diagnosis, sick, in pain and then when I felt I was at deaths door and decided I NEEDED to go to the Emergency Room because I was so sick I could barely get out of bed, they found the problem and yet dismissed me and misdiagnosed me even though I had evidence to contradict their diagnosis and discharge me.
If it wasn’t for me constantly looking up research articles online and studies for my symptoms and looking into potential diagnosis I could say I would have probably died. I’m so angry and upset with the U.S. healthcare system and I feel sorry for those that don’t know how to advocate for themselves or do their own research. I trust science and medicine that’s backed by research but I’ve been led astray far too many times to really believe everything a doctor tells me.
Yes they have a degree and went to school but do half of them stay up to date on their education? Do they even care anymore? One doctor straight up told me to “just take vitamin D” as a 26yo weighing 145lbs when I told him that my BP and HR shot up out of nowhere and I kept getting seriously ill. It took forever just to get a referral to see a specialist.
My current Oncologist didn’t even check to see if any of my current medications interacted with the one she was prescribing me for nausea. She just prescribed it, didn’t say anything and “hoped for the best”.
I’ve been taking it almost on a daily basis and when I looked up the interactions thinking “I doubt it has any since it’s just for nausea”, I found that it has a MAJOR INTERACTION with my antidepressant. Apparently it can cause arrhythmias.
What’s even scarier is that I’ve been taking both and slowly titrating off the anti depressant myself but I had a weird episode last night where I was falling asleep and then for like 5-10 seconds my heart started POUNDING.
Had I not looked this up sooner or had already been titrating off of this medication, it could have been way more serious. Wtf?? This feels like the bare minimum that should’ve been done. I’m contemplating switching doctors at this point but I don’t know.
I feel like I’m always being discriminated against because I’m young so I can probably “handle more” in their head but that’s literally no excuse when you’re literal patients are trusting you to take care of them and keep them from accidentally dying.
I’m so fed up with this, it just seems so negligent.

This was created as a place to feel welcome, and to discuss and talk about all things TRT in Australia.
We have an influx of clinics opening up here, with an influx of new people to TRT, and it's only growing
(did you know GP prescribed testosterone has risen over 500% in the last 10yrs worldwide...)
Below is a breakdown of TRT, clinics and bloodwork.
TYPES OF TRT
There are a few methods of TRT in Australia and the world.
Injectable testosterone -- this is the standard type of TRT method with the most amount of research and usage to date. Typically injected Intra-Muscularly, but with more data showing that SubQ injections are just as effective and could potentially have lower side effects due to the slower release
Testosterone Cream & Gel -- Topical ointments can be great due to not having to inject weekly, daily etc, just apply and carry on, but, with topicals, especially Gel - the risk of transfer to other people is very high, you also don't know how much is actually getting absorbed into your skin, and generally you aren't allowed to swim for 6hrs post application
Enclomiphene & Clomid -- This tablet form of TRT has some popularity as it doesn't shut down your natural production and helps to raise it instead, it is also one step even easier than topicals but the overall effectiveness and long term use aren't fully understood and anecdotally seem to be less effective over time and may stop working.
HCG (Human Chorionic Gonadotropin) - another injectable form of TRT but instead of replacing the bodies natural production with an exogenous source, HCG will instead stimulate LH production, almost "forcing" the body to produce naturally -- HCG is often used alongside injectable testosterone to maintain testicular function and natural production
** Some people have success with all forms of TRT, but anecdotally, injectable TRT is still the king of testosterone.
CLINICS
If you are looking for a reputable clinic, below are some clinics that are recommended by Aussies;
PHC - Performance Health Clinic * No yearly or ongoing fees, a pay as you go service, with a more hands off approach + bloodwork every 3mths + cost of medication
EMC - Enhanced Mens Clinic *$1000 yearly fee + bloodwork every 3mths + cost of medication
Primal Zone *$350 initial consult, $100 bloodwork review + cost of medication
The Functional Doctors - over 40s clinic * Bloodwork every 3mths ($300 panel must be done) + $300 consults every 3mths + cost of medication
XY Theraputics - Over 40s clinic * Byo bloodwork or $210 in-house panel. Start up; $299=consult and blood tests $150=consult plus BYO bloodwork - ongoing costs $92 consult and review
TRT Australia * Yearly $860, Quarterly $240, Semi-Annualy $480 - Includes medication, bloodwork review (BYO blood), check-ins
PRIVATE BLOODWORK If you have a good GP that will do bloodwork, that can be a lifesaver, but if not, these companies are trusted and can usually have results within 24hrs.
iMedical * Recommended tests to get before starting your journey are Sports BB2 $172, BB3 $186, BB4 $248
RoidSafe * A smaller set of testing compared to iMedical, but for $50, you can get a snapshot of your bloodwork. This is perfect for patients who know how to read bloodwork and just want to monitor.
Things recommended to check before starting TRT or the journey to TRT;
Semen analysis - It's important to check your sperm health and count before starting as testosterone, sex hormones and your sperm all work closely together - and if you want to have children in the future; you absolutely need a baseline
Sleep study - A very large portion of men have sleep apnea that is directly linked to low testosterone levels, it's important to rule this out as it could be a large contributing factor to how you feel and what your levels show
Full blood panel - You're not just checking testosterone levels, you're checking everything, Vitamin D, Thyroid, Testosterone, Prostate. You need a full panel to be able to tell a full story. And even then, your lifestyle can tell an even bigger part of the story to what's on the paper in front of you.
It's important to remember that TRT can be life changing for a lot of men, but changing your life even the smallest bit can help just as much, as low T symptoms can be caused by a plethora of other illnesses or issues and you need to rule out everything you can;
TRT is generally a "for life" dependant medication; meaning if you have low T and you want normal testosterone levels, you will need to be on TRT for life. You can come off at any time, but you will go back to the original baseline levels you had before starting, and in some cases, go back lower than baseline.

And yet they're sending me to an eating disorder clinic and possibly diagnosing me with ARFID.
The stomach issue started after a whole year of daily pain meds, which are known to cause gastritis... but because I'm intolerant to PPIs, I haven't been able to get it under control. Any time I introduce greens or something new to my diet, besides potatoes or chicken, I get burning and pain.
I'm now vitamin B12 and D deficient, and I feel very malnourished because I haven't had anything green to eat since 2022. Every time I try, regardless of what it is, how it's prepared, etc, I just get stomach pain for days. I've tried everything under the sun in terms of supplements, etc.
Medication known to irritate the stomach lining makes the pain so much worse, so I can't take the meds I need for my other chronic condition.
They really want to avoid ANY feeding tubes, but I feel like a trial of the NJ could help get nutrients in. Maybe the malnutrition is contributing to the lack of healing? They just don't want to give it to me without a gastroparesis diagnosis, and the weight loss isn't shocking enough. Any ideas on how to go about this? I've gone through 3 dieticians who just talk about the elimination diet and my family doctor doesn't have any patients on a feeding tube.

https://preview.redd.it/83m6v59nea0d1.jpg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8296e20b4b3af8b0cd0d10064442fb764e45b886
https://preview.redd.it/8fvy659nea0d1.jpg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=15fa4fb0d6677dfc32b0e689932854c21120a857
https://preview.redd.it/z4i2w69nea0d1.jpg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1e8a6dbe449aaf652014368bcc2174ec958a579a
31yr old (m)
Will my hair still improve or at least get back to what it was after stopping Minoxidil for 3-4 months? How long will it take?
Is the Minoxidil causing more shedding to replace weaker hairs? Or did I really mess up by stopping in the first place?
I have been using Dutasteride once a week, derma roll once a week, Biotin daily, and used a compound spray daily (Finasteride, Minoxidil, Melatonin, Vitamin D) for over 2 years. In January one night I used the derma roll too deep and it resulted in excessive shedding the following days.
I told my family doctor what happened, but also expressed the frustration of the spray, making the scalp sticky, routinely only being able to use once a day instead of twice, I didn’t like that it had cost $120 CAD a month, I felt my hair gradually got worst bit by bit the past year and I wanted a hair transplant soon. My doctor recommended that I should stop taking the spray and just take Finasteride (1.25mg daily, split 5mg into 4s) daily and Dutasteride once a week to see what happens. Due to panic and uncertainty I agreed.
In March is when the shedding started to get worse again but I didn’t know if it’s still due to the derma roll mistake from a couple months earlier. I decided to see HairClub and had a consultation appointment with the manager of the building location. I explained the situation leading up to that point and she said that I should continue using the spray and the only other option is hair transplant but she didn’t recommend it yet due to my hair still in a good state at the time and my age. To be fair I always had my hair in a way that made it near impossible to notice hair loss unless it’s unkept or wet, but she was nice and helpful.
Unfortunately as April started the hair loss worsened again, I was forced to recede my hairline back as I am no longer able to make my hair loss unnoticeable. I hoped it wouldn't get worse but it has, and not only is the crown thinning but between the crown and the hairline is becoming a problem, neither areas were problematic before. What makes the situation more difficult is that due to another situation that financially got in the way, I am no longer able to afford the hair transplant until much later than preferred.
I started to take Minoxidil again a week into April but in tablet form (5mg), still taking Finasteride (1.25 mg) daily, added New Nordic Hair Gro vitamin twice daily (contains biotin and more), Vitamin D daily, Dutasteride weekly, Derma weekly, and 2% ketoconazole shampoo (though I’m scared to shampoo my hair). I haven’t used hair thickening fibers for my hair for years until these past 2 weeks. It’s getting to the point where I should start wearing hats.
I overtyped but I felt like venting. What’s most frustrating is that I had a plan for multiple things in my life only for things to fall out of control. I had saved and reserved money anticipating a hair transplant with only the hairline to worry about, then potentially years/decade down the road another transplant if necessary, now it’s inevitable that there’s more to be done. I gave up waiting years for a dermatologist and I tried reaching Hair Club a week ago but was unable to reach them and they still haven’t called back. I'm wondering if HC only does first-time-only consultations and follow up appointments isn’t what they do.
It’s now objectively clear that the Minoxidil in the spray was 100% working (or at least slowed down hair loss), I should have never stopped. I messed up consecutively with back to back mistakes, nothing is working, my worst fear of this type of hair loss came true after years of avoiding it, and now feel completely helpless not knowing what’s next…

Republic 7^th Fleet, Centaurus Sector, 407 light years from Earth
RSS Vercingetorix, Independence-Class Carrier, 2174 A.D.
Vice-Admiral Mei Zhou had just finished making the final changes to the fleet’s reconnaissance patrol routes with her senior staff when the comm panel on her desk chirped, displaying an incoming comm request from Admiral Thompson. She quickly thumbed the pad being offered by her aide so that he could issue the orders they were just working on and turned to the rest of her staff. “Nice job, people. Let’s get to work. Dismissed.” As the staff filed out the door, she started entering the codes needed to decrypt the incoming comm channel and looked up to make sure the room was empty. She pressed the open channel icon, and Admiral Thompson’s holo image appeared in front of her desk, ending just below his waist and making it seem as if he was actually there, sitting.
“Mei, how’s your new ship treating you?” he asked, smiling. “She is an absolute beauty, Karl. I still can’t believe that she is mine.” She responded, returning his smile. “What can I do for you, Karl?” Thompson chuckled, and his holo image leaned back as he reclined in his chair. “Straight to business; I always liked that about you, Mei. Alright, here we go. We have received intelligence reports that the Commonwealth has begun evacuating one of their last remaining coreward periphery worlds that is now dangerously close to the expanded Insectoid border. We have also received an update from our spy drones in that same region that six Hive ships and almost four hundred cruisers that were patrolling their side of that border area have disappeared. This is too much of a coincidence, and I want you to detach a combat patrol and send them there.” Thompson finished speaking, and a flashing icon popped up on her comm panel, indicating that she had just received new orders. She tapped it and quickly scanned the new orders as the admiral waited. She looked up at his holo image. “Karl, I acknowledge receipt of the new orders and will implement them. Between me and you, why are we getting involved with this? The Commonwealth has a navy, and they should be fighting to protect their space. We can’t keep coming to the rescue and defending their members; we are already spread too thin as it is.”
Thompson nodded his head in agreement. “Mei, I agree with you in principle, but there are social and political considerations involved here. The near extinction of the V’rni has caused considerable turmoil among the citizens of the Republic. They know logically that we could not have stopped such an attack like that one, but the perceived failure to protect them or prevent the attack still weighs heavily on their souls. The Commonwealth is currently attempting to evacuate the Jaleen system, and they are one of the last surviving members that voted yes before our petition to join the Commonwealth was denied. It also doesn’t help that the Jaleeni are avowed pacifists and look like bipedal Newfoundland dogs. They are technically a bear-like species, but to humans, they look like humanoid dogs, and the government is unwilling to lose the popular support it currently enjoys by allowing the Jaleeni to be exterminated. I mean, look at these guys.”
Another flashing icon popped up on her screen a moment later, and she pressed it. It turned into a hologram depicting a typical Jaleeni family of a mother and father with a litter of six pups, and she couldn’t help but smile as she looked at the photo. They were wearing their traditional rough-spun linen clothes that made them look like dogs cosplaying as monks. They looked adorable, and she felt her heart melt while staring into their deep brown eyes, which looked sad. She understood the reasoning behind it, especially after the mass extinctions that occurred in Earth’s biosphere because of World War 3.
After the war, humanity had an awakening when they surveyed their destroyed world and came to terms with the disappearance of thousands of species and the near extinction of thousands of others. What followed were three generations of desperate measures to salvage what remained and a worldwide effort at habitat restoration and de-extinction efforts utilizing a wide array of methods such as back-breeding, cloning, and genome editing. Dogs were almost driven to extinction by the war as they were uniquely susceptible to the BioChem weapons that were developed and refined by the Eastern Coalition animal testing on poor innocent canine subjects. Between the Biochem weapons, owner deaths, abandonment, and starvation, almost 90% of the domesticated canine population and entire breeds were lost by the war’s end. Cats fared much better, but they still suffered a loss of almost half of their pre-war population, and a large percentage of the survivors reverted to a feral state. The result of all of this was an almost religious reverence for the preservation of sentient animal life on human worlds and a somewhat fanatical tendency of humans to take on the mantle of guardians for sapient alien species that resembled animals to them.
“Karl, I understand; I do. I just don’t like the fact that we are operating on so many fronts. Some of our fleets and task forces are patrolling areas far enough away that I worry about them getting reinforcements on time if they are attacked, and now my fleet is being partitioned to send a combat patrol almost three hundred light-years away from our current position. After the assault on the V’rn system, half of our combat power was recalled to Republic space to prevent the same thing from happening to us, and yet we are still being tasked with properly defending Eleani and Xenxin territory with half the ships we had before. Have they lost their damn minds at HQ?” She realized she was almost yelling at the admiral, and Mei took a deep breath, recognizing that her outburst was unbecoming of a Republic naval officer. She attempted to quickly apologize to Admiral Thompson. “Karl, I’m sorry that was uncalled for-“
The admiral raised a hand to stop her, an amused expression in his eyes. “Mei, I said the exact same thing to my boss as you did almost verbatim, and not as diplomatically as you, I might add. My concerns were addressed to my satisfaction, and I think yours will be when you get to your destination. There will be a task force joining you there, and I think you will be pleased. That is all I can say for now over the comms. You will lead the combat patrol to the coordinates listed in the orders you received, and the task force joining you there will fall under your command. I have a personal favor to ask of you. Please keep an open mind when you link up with the task force. You will rendezvous with Commodore Therax, and he is instrumental in our efforts to undermine the increasingly despotic Commonwealth government. More information about him and the Nekuli were added to your orders, make sure you review it. I took a big gamble on this, and I would be grateful if you did your best to make this collaboration work. That is all for now, and I wish you and your crews good fortune and godspeed, Mei. Take care of yourself.” The admiral finished speaking, and Mei noted the personal nature of his last few words, nodding an affirmative to his request.
“Admiral, I thank you for your words, and we won’t let you down. I need to issue the orders now to get there and link up with the task force on time. I’ll send a null space comm drone to the nearest relay to confirm our arrival and integration. Vice-admiral Zhou out.” As she leaned towards the comm panel to close the channel, she saw Admiral Thompson doing the same, and he gave her a wink and a mischievous smile before she pressed the icon, terminating the connection. She leaned back in her chair and blew out a deep breath. “Now what the hell was that all about?” She asked out loud to herself, as the confusing and secretive nature of her orders and the personal request of the admiral added to the uncertainty of what she was expected to do. She keyed her wrist pad and texted her aide to come back to her office for new orders. He was going to be livid that they just wasted half a day revising the patrol routes to maximize efficiency and increase their patrol range. A small smile crossed her lips as she waited. He had an obvious tell of his lower left eyelid spasming when he was mad despite displaying no emotions on his face, and she knew it drove him nuts that he couldn’t control it. Witnessing it was one of the small joys she had in her difficult job as vice-admiral, and she was looking forward to it.
Fifty-six hours later, her task force flashed out of null space at the designated coordinates and right on time. She felt a measure of pride as she watched her bridge crew go about confirming their location and verifying it with the navigational array and astrometric sensors. Once the navigator gave her confirmation that he verified their position, she turned towards the comms officer and ordered her to send a burst transmission with the pre-arranged code and waited for the response. A few seconds later, the comms officer raised her left hand and signaled receipt and confirmation of the code by the task force waiting in null space. An agonizingly long minute crawled along as she anxiously waited for her navigator to confirm the telemetry from his counterpart in the other task force as they verified their positions. The navigator activated the main viewscreen on the forward bulkhead as they waited. Suddenly, there were a multitude of exit flashes 200,000 kilometers from the bow of her carrier, and hundreds of warships appeared at a dead stop relative to her position.
Her jaw dropped as she took in the unexpected fleet in front of her. There were dozens of Commonwealth dreadnaughts, battleships, and heavy cruisers arrayed before her, as well as an additional one hundred and twenty light cruisers, destroyers, and missile frigates. On the flanks of the main formation, there were more exit flashes, and the bridge AI started categorizing them on the screen, and she saw that they were the new Eleani and Xenxin warships that she had been hearing about. They shared a design lineage with the Commonwealth ships, but there were definite differences that became obvious as they assumed their positions next to the Commonwealth navy ships. She was particularly intrigued by the Xenxin ships, as they seemed to be bristling with weapons, almost excessively so relative to their ship sizes. The Eleani ships seemed to have taken a different design philosophy, and they gave the impression of deadly speed and grace, and she was hard-pressed to spot any obvious weapons on their hulls despite the AI confirming that the ships were indeed well-armed.
There was another coded signal from null space that appeared on the comm station panel, and her comm officer turned to her. “Vice-admiral, we have received a coded message on the sigma frequency for your eyes only that requires biometric and voice verification to decrypt.” Zhou nodded and pressed a button on her arm panel, activating the privacy screen around her chair and feeling the pressure change as the bridge around her became opaque and silent. She pressed the biometric toggle on the panel, and a retinal scanner popped out of its alcove on the side. She leaned in and scanned her right eye first, then her left. An icon appeared on the screen, and she thumbed it as it flashed and confirmed the print. Finally, she spoke and addressed the bridge AI: “Suzy, please confirm the voice command for verification.” The AI answered immediately. -Of course, Vice-Admiral Zhou, please proceed.- “Zhou, one-red-seven-green-four-tango-alpha-zero. Execute.” -Voice command verified. Thank you, Vice-Admiral Zhou.-
A small holographic display popped up in front of her; the admiral appeared on the screen, and his pre-recorded message started playing. “Mei, I know all this cloak and dagger stuff seems excessive, but we couldn’t take any chances. The receipt of this message will activate a program in your bridge AI and allow it to take control of the new drone ships waiting for you in null space. They are a new class of upgraded null ships and are top secret. Your AI will anchor them to your task force, and they will follow you, remaining hidden in null space unless you absolutely need them.”
“There are also two troopships with them that are carrying a complement of two thousand Mark XII ATS Bio-Synths and an expeditionary brigade each of rangers and pathfinders in stasis. They are also to remain in null space unless circumstances require that you need them; they are an insurance policy for an ongoing mission in Insectoid space. The details of that are top secret as well and can be accessed with your AI. If the troopships are required for that mission, they are to be escorted by a detachment of null ships and sent there immediately. After you have met your task force counterpart, there are orders in this packet that are to be accessed by you both and executed. I have the utmost faith in you, Mei, and I can’t wait to take you out to dinner again when we can both coordinate our next leave together. Thompson out.”
The hologram message disappeared, and she waited a little longer to allow the blush from his last sentence to fade from her cheeks and suppress the smile that was trying to form on her face before she put on her command mask and lowered the privacy screen. The bridge crew was going about their usual tasks, trying hard not to seem interested in her top-secret message. “Comms, open a channel to the task force flagship, please.” The comm officer acknowledged the order, and a few seconds later, the Bridge of the Commonwealth flagship appeared on the viewscreen.
A Nekuli male was sitting in the command chair, resplendent in the uniform favored by Nekuli officers. He took a moment to look around her bridge before settling his eyes on her. He bowed his head slowly in a gesture of respect, which she returned in proper fashion. The proper courtesies having been observed, he raised his eyes to meet with hers and started speaking. “Vice-Admiral Zhou. May the ancestors grant you and your clan honor and good fortune. I am deeply honored to meet you, and I hope our integration is a successful endeavor. I now entrust the honor of myself and my crew to your safekeeping.” He remained stone still as he awaited her reply, and she tried to remember the proper return greeting that she had been studying during their trip here.
“Commodore Therax, the honor is mine, and I promise you that I shall never ask you or your crew to undertake any action that will bring dishonor to your clans and your ancestors. We are now joined as one; may our cause be just and pure.” She finished the response, and the gravity of what she just promised to someone she had never met before hit her hard; it felt almost sacred to her. Commodore Therax heard her proper reply, and he stood up, followed by the rest of his bridge crew. He addressed her again. “Our honor has been given, and we have received a promise to safeguard it in return. Our joining is now consecrated in the eyes of the ancestors, and you are now our clan leader. What are your orders?
She recovered from the ordeal of the emotionally charged exchange of vows and stood up to give her first order as clan leader to the Nekuli. “I request the presence of you and your senior staff aboard my ship tonight. I will prepare a feast to honor our new friendship and alliance. I have studied your cuisine, and I have found a selection of Earth cuisine that should suit your taste. It is called tartare and sashimi; I think you will like it.” Commodore Therax looked at her dubiously, and she had to stifle a laugh at his expression as she knew that he was imagining being forced to eat vegetables and overcooked meat out of politeness. She spoke quickly to assuage his fears. “Commodore, tartare, and sashimi are raw red meat and fish; I would never inflict vegetables and burnt meat on you or your crew; are we not friends?”
As his translator finished converting her words into his language, he smiled at her, baring all of his fangs in true happiness.