I'm 17 and might be pregnant (21weeks if I am), I've started to feel paranoid about being pregnant a week ago when I felt a movement in my stomach it was small but I was also stoned. I had a really bad panic attack and for the past week have had them none stop. The "possible dad" is not in my life at all and wasn't a great person to me so non contactable. I'm scheduling an appointment with the doctors for this weekend because I can't afford pregnancy tests. This has started to really play on my mental health. I have severe depression, anxiety and also hallucinate. I don't know if I'm being delusional because I've had periods each month skipping one month this year and idk if this is tmi but my periods were about the same as normal heavy and painful at the start. The chances of me being pregnant is extremely low because (tmi) he came on top of the private area not inside and didn't pentrate. I'm aware it's possible if any got inside and I've been stressing about this for a week. My stomach has been feeling weird recently too and I've started to get stretch marks on my waist over the past few months. Although, I have been gaining weight too for the last two years before of depression and lack of activity. Im also really worried if I am pregnant because I've drank alcohol three times and smoked nicotine and weed almost everyday for 5months, I stopped asoon as I started having the paranoia. I really don't know what to do right now and can't stop stressing.

This girl is a coworker for the time being. I've never liked getting into relationships outside of friendships with coworkers because it usually complicates things and I don't want to bring that mess into my professional life. I made an exception for this girl however because she's going to be leaving the job and the city soon and nothing is changing her mind. So I decided I'd give it a shot, but now I'm a bit confused on how she feels in part due to some of her wording.
It started off with me asking her to grab some food and we went out and grabbed some food then went to a jazz bar, then I dropped her off and nothing else happened. Second time I picked her up, we went to grab food, went to a different jazz bar and then spent the night bar hopping and then I dropped her off at her place. Third night I picked her up and we went staw watching in hopes of catching a glimpse of the aurora borealis and then I went back to hers and we worked out for a few hours in her condo gym and then I left, nothing else happened. The night after we talked for a bit on the phone and she had mentioned how she could tell when a guy liked her and how she usually let guys go through the moves just to be nice even if she wasn't interested just to let guys feel a bit better about doing their thing, but also she grew up in the Midwest and had hospitality and bring nice to others ingrained in her so she usually ran with a lot of things until it started to cross to a thing she very much did not like. I didn't know wether that was a jab at me to tell me she knew what I was up to or if it was just conversation from some of the other things that were similar that we had been talking about. I didn't push too much at thd time. I'm kind of slow on picking up social situations so I had to think it over. Last night I went to her place and we drank and played games both on play station and board games and she gave me some stuff since she'd on her way out she wanted to get rid of some things to not have to pack too much. On the way out I asked her honestly how she knew when a guy liked her and she mentioned that a guy starts to pay more attention to her and is more responsive and quick to reply. Makes sense I didn't see how that couldn't be a decently obvious sign. She then went to mention again that she's usually really nice and hospitable and how most guys will take that kindness and think it's an invitation to flirt and whatnot. She also isnt trying to find any anchors to want to stay at the moment because again shes leaving the city and at the moment she doesnt want to be anchored here. I dont blame her, i dont want to emotionally anchor her here and it wasnt my intention. I understand that, basic kindness doesn't equal flirting, but also it's kind of hard to differentiate it when the majority of women who aren't interested in you don't show any interest in you at all even basic kindness. So I understand what she's getting at, but now I'm confused in general as to wether she is just letting me know she's not interested at all or is she's just letting me know she'd be open to something very short term as long as feelings don't get involved since she's leaving. I'm going to shoot my shot regardless tonight to see, but I wanted to get your guys feedback on what all this means. Also, yes even though I'm only looking for something short term I still would like to leave this "relationship" on good terms so whenever she does end up visiting she'll hmu or maybe we stay in contact and maybe we'll see what happens. I'll post an update regardless of what happens tonight.
Tldr; want to hook up with my coworker who's leaving the job and city. She mentions guys mistake her kindness for invitation to flirt and she's not looking for something serious since she's leaving anyways. I'm confused if she's hinting that she's just being nice and nothing more or if the second line might be her hinting she'd be open to hook up and nothing more. Will update.

I'm 17 and might be pregnant (21weeks if I am), I've started to feel paranoid about being pregnant a week ago when I felt a movement in my stomach it was small but I was also stoned. I had a really bad panic attack and for the past week have had them none stop. The "possible dad" is not in my life at all and wasn't a great person to me so non contactable. I'm scheduling an appointment with the doctors for this weekend because I can't afford pregnancy tests. This has started to really play on my mental health. I have severe depression, anxiety and also hallucinate. I don't know if I'm being delusional because I've had periods each month skipping one month this year and idk if this is tmi but my periods were about the same as normal heavy and painful at the start. The chances of me being pregnant is extremely low because (tmi) he came on top of the private area not inside and didn't pentrate. I'm aware it's possible if any got inside and I've been stressing about this for a week. My stomach has been feeling weird recently too and I've started to get stretch marks on my waist over the past few months. Although, I have been gaining weight too for the last two years before of depression and lack of activity. Im also really worried if I am pregnant because I've drank alcohol three times and smoked nicotine and weed almost everyday for 5months, I stopped asoon as I started having the paranoia. I really don't know what to do right now and can't stop stressing.

Hi all, looking for some advice/support. I've been on citalopram 20mg for about 11 years now. When first going on I suffered with really bad anxiety/depressive side effects, but these passed after a few months. I would get the occasional bad week during my time on the medication, where the start up symptoms would come back briefly, but other than that was ok on them.
In 2019 I tried coming off the medication for the first time. The advice from my doctor was go down to 10mg for a month, then one every other day for a month. Surprise surprise, as a lot of people have experienced, there were horrible withdrawal symptoms - tinnitus, vertigo, and intense panic and anxiety. After a week or so of being off them I had to reinstate. Once again I had the awful start up symptoms, horrendous anxiety, agitation and very dark thoughts.
It was after this episode that I discovered the surviving antidepressants website and all the information about how these drugs should be tapered. Something none of the doctors I've seen over the years seem to know anything about. I decided in June 2022 to try again. This time trying a slower taper. I only had access to a pill cutter (doctors couldn't help with any other methods), so reduced by 2.5mg every two months until I reached 10mg in March 2023. I paused here as each reduction got increasingly tougher, and thought the next drop might be too much. I started getting some physical symptoms in November of heart palpitations etc, putting it down to other things, then in December the anxiety/panic/depression returned in full force. I was in a panic and on my doctor's advice reinstated my citalopram back up to 20mg.
The side effects were just as awful as the first two times, but this time they seemed to go on and on. It took about 3 months before I started getting some relief from the intense anxiety, but I would have a brief period of things feeling like they were getting better, only for it to all come back. Reading on other forums, I guess this is the wave/window experience. I'm now 5 months in and experiencing another wave. After researching more about the symptoms, I believe the intense anxiety/agitation is more likely to be akathisia - my doctor wanted me to increase my dose from 20mg to 40mg which I was very resistant to (all the advice said this could make the agitation worse), so I believe I did the right thing here.
I guess I'm just looking to see if others have experienced anything familiar - what did you do/have you done? Is there anything that has helped you get through it?
I'm on propranolol but that doesn't seem to help much. I have some diazepam prescribed but don't generally take it for fear of becoming dependant (the few times I have taken it it didn't really touch the sides). I see a kinesiologist who had recommended supplements - b6, vitamin E (she believes my levels of the hormone prolactin are unusually high, something I read about on an akathisia page somewhere, so not sure if balancing this could help), amongst others like lions mane and reishi.
I also read that the antihistamine diphenhydramine (Nytol here in the UK, Benadryl in the US) can provide relief from akathisia - I tried some of this last week which gave me a brilliant day, felt back to my old self, only for things to go downhill again. It feels like it takes the edge off, but that is it. Sorry for the long post, just desperate for some help and for some light at the end of the tunnel. This has been a particularly bad few days again, and my thoughts are getting increasingly darker.
Thanks all

I'm 17 and might be pregnant (21weeks if I am), I've started to feel paranoid about being pregnant a week ago when I felt a movement in my stomach it was small but I was also stoned. I had a really bad panic attack and for the past week have had them none stop. The "possible dad" is not in my life at all and wasn't a great person to me so non contactable. I'm scheduling an appointment with the doctors for this weekend because I can't afford pregnancy tests. This has started to really play on my mental health. I have severe depression, anxiety and also hallucinate. I don't know if I'm being delusional because I've had periods each month skipping one month this year and idk if this is tmi but my periods were about the same as normal heavy and painful at the start. The chances of me being pregnant is extremely low because (tmi) he came on top of the private area not inside and didn't pentrate. I'm aware it's possible if any got inside and I've been stressing about this for a week. My stomach has been feeling weird recently too and I've started to get stretch marks on my waist over the past few months. Although, I have been gaining weight too for the last two years before of depression and lack of activity. Im also really worried if I am pregnant because I've drank alcohol three times and smoked nicotine and weed almost everyday for 5months, I stopped asoon as I started having the paranoia. I really don't know what to do right now and can't stop stressing.

I (30) have a business partner (64) who is considering retirement soon. He wants to reduce his working days by one day a week over the next five years starting at 65.
What is a normal course of action here? I had some very brief legal advice that basically consisted of "You can buy all the shares upfront, or over a length of time, and they can either transfer the shares to you as you go or at the end of the full payment being received. But ultimately everything is down to your negotiation".
But I'm not even sure where to begin. Obviously his salary would be reduced as he cuts his working hours down but how do we value the business? Over what period is normal for a payoff? Do you revalue as you go on in case sales drop?
This is a very very early foray into this topic. At the moment it's full of unknown unknowns because I'm not even sure what I should be researching so any very general pointers would be much appreciated.
As a very rough idea turnover is about £700k with roughly £90k salary each as mostly dividends.

This just happened last night, my homie and I are in Thailand right now visiting friends and family.
Last week we discovered this small barestaurant and have been there nearly everyday since. Food is great, they got giant margaritas, and we’ve made friends with the awesome staff there.
Yesterday after getting matching “Shrimps is Bugs” tattoos we went to the bar to drink and eat. We’re playing pool, chilling with our waitress, she’s laughing at our stupid tattoos, and then this boomer comes up and asks my friend where he’s from. We start talking to him and he seems pretty cool, he told us he just moved back to Thailand a couple of weeks ago and his friend owns the restaurant we’re at.
He challenges the winner to get their ass kicked at pool, so I beat my bro and told Boomer to get over here as he’s next, and this is where he gets insanely obnoxious. He’s loud af, curses like he’s a kid who just learned bad words, and starts bringing up politics and libs destroying America. My buddy is laughing his ass off because he can tell I’m getting annoyed and after I lose the first game he invites Boomer to join our table to have drinks and to annoy me some more. (Here’s my bro asking him questions and Boomer starts talking nonsense about Trump being God)
Boomer buys a round of tequila shots for us and after we take them this group next to our table goes to play pool and Boomer jumps out of his seat yelling at them saying he’s the winner, its his table, wait their turn, etc. It was crazy rude and Thai people are so polite and non-confrontational they just apologized and sat back down. I went to them and asked if they wanted to play teams and they agreed.
Over the next 30 minutes my friend and I got to know the other group, they’re great people, and had to apologize to all of them over and over again because Boomer is the worst person to play pool with ever. He’s getting more drunk by the minute, talking all this shit, rude, obnoxious, etc. They end up not wanting to play anymore so I challenge him 1 more time to shut him up and this is where it all goes downhill.
He’s pissed off because I called a foul and ball in hand when he hits my stripe ball before he hits his solid. He says I’m just making up rules and its not a foul. Then he does it again when I’m on the 8 ball only, he hits the 8 ball without hitting his balls and I call a foul and pick up the cue ball. Boomer flips shit at this because its basically and instant win for me and he tries snatching the ball out of my hand. I’m just laughing my ass off at this point and tell him to stop crying and take his loss.
What does he do? He throws his pool stick across the table onto the floor, cusses me out, ragequits and walks back to our table. Our waitresses look scared and don’t know what to do so I go to him and the convo goes like this.
Me: Hey dude don’t disrespect this place or the staff here like that, you can’t just throw their things around that’s ridiculous.
Boomer: My friend owns this place I can do whatever the fuck I want to do.
Me: No you can’t, you can’t just come here disrespecting the staff, disrespecting the customers, its a fucking game you need to chill out.
Then he gets closer to my face and starts screaming and cussing at me even louder, telling me I’m a cheater and making up fake rules, he’ll do whatever the fuck he wants, his friend owns the bar, etc. While he’s yelling at me he’s got this entitled smug smile on his face and I just lost control and pushed him back away from me. It wasn’t a forceful push, I wasn’t trying to hurt the dude or anything, but fuck he’s a 60yo drunk boomer and lost his balance and fell onto the table of the people we played pool with and knocked it over.
I was mad embarrassed I didn’t mean for it to happen like that I just wanted him out of my face and to shut up. Our waitress grabbed me and led me outside. I’m apologizing like crazy and she and the other waitress are telling me and bro its okay, that dude is crazy, always causing problems, he’s friends with the boss so they can’t kick him out but they said I gotta leave right now and I can come back any other time after they talk with the boss.
Gonna head there again here in a couple of hours and make sure if I broke anything I’ll pay for it, hopefully everything is still cool between us and that place as we’re only here a few more days and planned on being there everyday.

I (25F) ’ve been dating my dating my bf (25M) for almost two years now, we were best friends before we started dating and he was always amazing, except that, he severely lacks empathy, towards everything and everyone, yet, he always complains about his issues, and whenever he’s sick he acts like he’s dying and it’s the end of the world.I take care of him and help him whenever I can, I try to be as supportive and spoil him even when I know he’s exaggerating. I think that the fact that he allows himself to be vulnerable around me is a good thing, so I don’t try to do anything to change that.
NOW, whenever I am sick or feeling low he just tells me to get over it. He keeps saying that he hates nagging women, and that it’s just in my head, and I’m the only one that can get myself out of my misery. I’m an overthinker, and I get a severe depression pre menstruation, I’ve always had problems with my period and hormones and I’ve been treated for that ever since I was a kid, he knows it. I always try to be as strong as possible but that specific week i just can’t be strong anymore, it’s an overwhelming cloud of depression and all the shit I’ve bottled up before just pours out in tears and sadness.
He has never shown me any affection or support whenever that happened so I just stopped talking to him about it whenever it was the case and deal with it alone until it passes, I try to not let it affect my relationship, and I got so good at it that lately that he thinks his technique worked, and by technique I mean him telling me ‘ oh you’re getting your period again ’ and proceeds to just ignore me for the rest of the day while living his best life.
This month I got some news about my family having major issues that are gonna affect my life, I didn’t tell him about it because he never listens anyways so I was determined to just deal with it on my own, for two weeks he didn’t even notice that anything was wrong. Until I had another call with my family, that was the trigger , I took the day off, and just stayed in bed crying.
We don’t live together and he was at work and called me randomly to talk about his work issues I just ignored him, and when he asked if it was my period again I just snapped at him, I told him everything and hung up. And once again he just proceeded to go on with his best life and ignore me, we’ve had similar fights before where I would come back later and apologize for whatever I was feeling and he would act all snob and mean.
He didn’t try to talk to me anyways and expects me to come back apologizing this time too. I won’t. Am I really the asshole ?
Edit : I wanted to edit the post but panicked and ended up deleting it

Hi everyone. We recently put a conditional offer in on a house in Ontario canada. Conditional on a house inspection, which we just completed. This is an old home that’s been on the market for almost a month, which is quite unusual for that area since we’re used to bidding wars and this is an up and coming town. They’ve also had 2 open houses with no offers. Side note, I’m pregnant with our first child.
We did the inspection and a few alarm bells starting ringing. The basement is an old dirt floor with puddles of moisture. The attic was sealed off so we couldn’t access it during the inspection. They said they had 2 sump pumps in the basement but one of them wasn’t being used or even installed. The realtor kept trying to distract us during the inspection and discouraged us from asking questions. The inspector said that he’s recommending a radon test because of the condition of the basement and we happened to bump into the president of home inspection in Ontario and he said the same thing.
So, we went back to the seller and said we will move forward on the condition of a radon test. And at first she said yes but is now saying no because she’s worried about a false positive using the test kits.
Im now saying that we want to extend the inspection period, to pay for a professional radon testing, and to have access to the attic. If not, then we want to back out of the deal. Is this reasonable?
At this point, even if the radon comes back negative, I’m feeling a little sketched out by the whole thing. Especially because we are going in at the top end of our price range.
Any advice?

I'm considering leaving my PhD program in my first year (it's been about 7 months since I started). I am truly struggling to give my best effort and most of the time i'm feeling unfulfilled and lacking enthusiasm for my research and work. I'm unsure on how to address this period and how to explain resigning this phd on my resume.

I am exhausted all the time trying to do everything. I have been trying to wake up at 5 am to do a short workout during the week before work, which is great except I pass out in the evening. Like we’re talking 8 pm. Then my husband gets upset for having to put out 4 year old to bed.
Recently I’ve been skipping some workouts and sleeping more so I can have energy in the evenings. I still pass out, but it’s after our child goes to bed. Now my husband is trying to encourage me to be more disciplined and workout and not loose my progress. I get where he’s coming from, my father died in his 50s of a heart attack so I don’t have the best genetics.
I think I might be tired as well due to stress. I started a new job in March and it’s been a ride. A few weeks in, the part time admin quit and I was stuck doing the work of 2 people for a month. My workplace was supportive and did help me but it was a lot. We have hired a new person, but I’m still training her. It’ll probably be another month before things calm down and we find a rhythm.
Because of this I’ve been doing extra hours at work. I’m starting to cut back to my 35 hours a week that I should be working. (I’ve probably been working around 40 hours.) My husband complains our child spends too much time at daycare, but he can’t do pick up or drop off because his work hours constantly change. He has a good job but low seniority so he gets really long shifts at work. His days off vary so if our child needs any doctor’s appointments or anything like that it falls on me. My work has been very understanding but it’s hard being the only one that can do appointments. A lot of the mental load is on me. Shopping for shoes for our child, hair cuts (for our child, I haven’t gotten a haircut in months), taking my elderly cat to the vet for monthly arthritis shots. My husband does what he can but with the nature of his schedule a lot falls on me.
My mother has a rare autoimmune disease as well. She just got diagnosed in December but started experiencing symptoms in September. She’s getting better now, but for a long time she couldn’t drive or anything by herself. She needed a lot of help and a lot fell on my sister. I have tried to help the best I can but between having a young child, living in the county, managing my family, and starting a new job I haven’t been able to help as much as she would like. I feel bad because a lot has fallen on her for her whole life. We’re just in different stages of life. Her children are in high school and university while mine is only 4 and as I’ve said a lot falls on me. I’ve been going over once a week to help my mom with stuff but next week I told my mom I can’t come because I’m finally going to go pick out my glasses. I went to the optometrist like a month and a half ago but couldn’t stay to pick out my glasses because I had to help my mom and haven’t been able to go back. My glasses are so old and worn the finish has started to come off the lenses. I offered to come help next Saturday but my sister is taking her shopping that day. She wanted me to come this Saturday, but I have my cat’s injection and the vet books up on Saturday so I can’t reschedule that.
This post ended up being much longer than I anticipated. I don’t know if there’s any point to this. I’m struggling to find balance in my life.

Hi all. I am F32, 164cm and roughly 80kg. I am currently in a period of severe anxiety and extreme image issues, which have left me unable to leave the house for just over 6 months. Due to the inactivity I have rapidly gained a lot of weight which is only making things worse, so I’m trying to get as mobile as possible within the house. I have a treadmill and a set of dumbbells, also some resistance bands.
I have just started walking for an hour a day minimum on the treadmill but I’m so deconditioned that even that makes my knees hurt. I’m asking what are the best things I can do daily to get back my strength and mobility to move on from this.
Thanks a lot for any help, it’s a hard time right now. Any physios would be amazing but any advice is very much appreciated.

Need help trying to figure this out- We've been TTC second baby for the past 3 months or so. Regular cycles 25-27 days bleeding X4 days. No prior GYN/OB Hx. PCOS panel NL this yr. LMP 4/5/24. May cycle never came, and I Got several positive home pregnancy tests on 5/9 which was cycle day 35. Very excited and shared with our parents and siblings. Had no issues conceiving last baby and no prior losses...calculated to be about 5 weeks based on LMP-Was also having some mild nausea, breast tenderness, bloating- same symptoms as last pregnancy... I work in an OBGYN office so I was eager to check my serum levels- But my Serum beta HCG in the office Monday 9/13 was very low... like 16- I called my OBGYN and he said to repeat the beta level on Tuesday- if it's even lower then likely will be a biochemical pregnancy or early miscarriage.
My serum progesterone also has dropped by about 50% with each check-and now serum beta HCG is down to 1- so doubt I had a late ovulation or a viable pregnancy with these levels. No bleeding whatsoever- but don't patients with a biochemical pregnancy usually have a heavier period that essentially comes as planned? In patients who miscarry don't they usually start bleeding pretty quickly with a nonviable pregnancy? It's Thursday now and I still have no bleeding whatsoever. Had some mild cramping yesterday but essentially resolved after some OTC ibuprofen.
The NP in my office and sonographer have offered to do a transvaginal ultrasound on me now to try and see if we can figure out what's going on? I'm 2 weeks late now, so not really sure when to expect the next "period" if this is a pregnancy that still hasn't resolved... IF we scan now Should we still see a corpus luteum in theory if it was an early nonviable IUP? What if it's a blighted ovum or an early ectopic? I'm not scheduled for "first OB appt" until the 28th but I just want to make sure it's nothing to worry about. You can't have an ectopic with a beta that has gone all the way down to 1, right? Any reason I should continue checking HCG levels or hormones at this point? Is it safe to just go ahead and assume I'm not pregnant? Anybody that's had a biochemical pregnancy/blighted ovum/early miscarriage etc. have any experience to guide me? How long after the beta went down to undetectable did you have bleeding? Or get a period? How long is TOO long to go without either seeing bleeding to indicate pregnancy resolution or another cycle?
I don't want to mess things up for future periods or opportunities to get pregnant again. If I go another two weeks and skip a second period, would I need a D&C? Or do a provera withdrawal bleed? Just trying to figure out what this all means.
Thanks for your help
Confused mid 30s mama?

Please bear with me as this may be a long one.
I (F) am 26 years old and have not lived with my parents since 18 (went to college moved to another city for work etc). My parents have never 100% supported me financially (not a lack of funds, rather to be spiteful and to hold it over my head), we have never had a great relationship mostly due to how they treated me and the poor life choices they have made. I am quite successful in my career, although it does take a few years to work yourself up in my career (legal field) as you work on salary and commission and need to build up clients. I know I am 26 but we study and do practical so I only finished that last year. Recently I found myself facing a hard financial time (I have to move to another city to accept a better work opportunity and had to pay double rent and deposit, my previous boss also did not pay me my full salary and notice period (even though I did work the month though and my notice period & that is the law here).
I reached out to my parents for help and I was offered a loan with high pay back, which I rejected (lending money through a bank would be a better deal). Now everyone is fighting with everyone. That however is not the reason I want to cut them off, just another fight to add to the long list of rubbing each other the wrong way. For as long as I can remember they have been very absent in my life (I hardly ever saw my father growing up and when I did he would always yell, swore at me and belittle me, the usual "you will never amount to anything" etc). My earliest memory of my father was him cussing at me, I was 3 years old and I remember it like yesterday. My mother although, she did try and made a effort made a lot of messed up decisions in her life which cost her almost everything. That led to her being dependent on my father as well, even though they are divorced (she moved back in with my father a few years back because she couldn't afford to survive on her own anymore, she also isn't treated great and I do feel sorry for her, but in my opinion she did bring it upon herself. My father has done horrible things like, swore at me, said thing no person should ever say to another person, let alone a parent, slapped me and threatened me, e.g. if I didn't do this he wont give me money for food, if I didn't do that he wont help me though college etc. (Just a note, he forced me to go study and held it against me if we ever had an argument). I have always been respectful towards them, but after a few years I also snapped and started arguing back (I usually just cried and went to my room). I have never gotten into any trouble, never had any issues with anyone, so generally I was a good teenager and adult. I always help them with anything they need etc.
Just to give you idee, he wouldn't give me money for things growing up, not in college and I was a full time student, so I couldn't take a half day work. When I first started working I earned just enough to cover fuel, medical aid, rent, utilities, I could not afford food and other necessities every month and would reach out and ask for a small amount of money like 5 dollars or less small. You can imagine how that went, I had to pray to make the fuel last each month to get to work every day. Anyways, he has "friends", people who only surround him for benefits (everyone can see it for what it is, except him) he supports them financially, food, money, alcohol, cloths, pays for their children's school, clothing etc. Mind you, he didn't pay my school fees and was handed over to debt collection, he didn't buy me clothes growing up etc. My though always was, why them and not me, why random people off the street (not actually homeless people or the less fortunate), why am I not enough, but they are. I ask for 5 dollars or food, no big problem, gets insulted, but he will give them 100 dollars for alcohol and to go out and eat (no joke that actually happened). I would sit and not be able to afford monthly expenses and he would call and brag about him taking them out to eat, buying cases of alcohol. And mind you it has been so for more than 10 years, so it isn't like he is doing this now that I am an adult, he this when I was still a child.
Almost everyone think very highly of him, he is always the center of attention, the best person, if I ever told anyone how he treated me he would get very upset and even slapped me once, because he didn't want me telling people that he wasn't the best, I didn't lie nor exaggerate either. Another example is I was in a relationship with a man who handled me very badly (as in abuse in the worst kind of way), my father liked him and knew what had happened. Shortly after I left the relationship, he had him over for a get together and drinks. It has been a constant cycle of manipulation, disrespect, arguing, being belittled, screamed at, swore at and mistreatment for as long as I can remember, I have gone no contact a few times but every time I am reeled back in and it goes well for a few weeks and then back to the same old thing. Addressing it does help, I have tried over and over to convey my feelings, to try and make it better, explain why I feel like I feel, but it does absolutely nothing.
So AITA? Because I do feel guilty and like I am TAH.

Sorry if this isn't the best place to ask. If there is a better sub for this kind of question, feel free to mention it.
For context, I don't have a background in programming. I started learning some programming during the pandemic, when a friend who works in this field offered to mentor me and some friends. We started with HTML, CSS and JavaScript. We then moved to React. I didn't focus full time on programming though, because I didn't want to abandon my other studies. So there were periods when I had exams and I didn't do any coding.
Still, in 2021, the mentofriend said he knows a small company that could offer me an internship. I got in touch with that company and they gave me a test project without a deadline. I ended up working all summer on the project. Even though it was a simple project, I realized that I'm not as good as I thought. And even discussions with a guy from the company didn't help me. Then came the final year of college and I had to focus full time on it, including writing my thesis. After college, I tried finding a job with no success. I even applied to places like Starbucks or Zara and they didn't even contact me back. So I got back to learning programming, this time with some Udemy and Frontend Masters courses. My friend recommended me for an internship at another company and I took a test and an interview and I got accepted.
The internship started last year in September and lasted for two months. From the first week I felt like the dumbest of the interns. Simple tasks that the others would breeze through would give me headaches. Still, I was surprised that the company ended up hiring all of us, including me. I worked in that company for two months only. I was that incapable. Still I didn't mind being fired because I knew that I couldn't handle my tasks.
And since then my friend told me to continue learning and he still helps me with suggestions and stuff. Now I'm going through some other courses and I feel dumb. I feel like I forget everything I learn after closing my laptop. I don't feel like I know more than I did a year ago. I feel like I can't accomplish a simple task without using Google, Youtube or AI. I'm thinking that maybe programming is not for me. Should I continue trying to understand this field?

TLDR: A close long-time male friend (20M) from high school has been telling me he loves me (20F) for years. He lacks goals, stability and we differ on religious/cultural values. Despite a deep bond, I have concerns about pursuing a romantic relationship due to these incompatibilities, even though he might change - but I don't know if he would. Should I give a relationship a go or leave things as they are currently?
Throwaway account because I need advice before I go mentally insane. There's a guy that I started to talk to in high school. I didn’t know him but he seemed like my type (same religion/spirituality, same ethnicity, tall, good vibes) and so we started to talk because I wanted to get to know him better.
Fast forward to a couple weeks after we start talking, he tells me he loves this other girl that we both know (we all go to the same school). He tells me all of his issues with her and how he’s depressed about her not liking him back and I'm like oh. I never knew he felt this way about her. He said that he would always love her and he just has a feeling that they will end up together.
In my head, I was friendzoned and honestly I was okay with it because we only talked for like 2 weeks before he told me about his past situationship with that girl. We kept texting though and we ended up getting really close (he wasn’t in a situationship during this, he was just grieving the fact that she didn’t like him back).
Fast forward 5 months, we're super close now. But then he completely disappears, no calls, no texts and right before he disappeared he told me he doesn't want to talk to me anymore. That broke me. Then a month later he comes back out of nowhere and apologizes about what he did and says he was in a bad mental state and he just needed to be alone. I was so hesitant to let him back in because I still felt broken from that last conversation. But he apologized so much so I caved and said I guess we can be friends. We went to the same school too, so I'd see him every day regardless, including when he completely stopped talking to me. He also has mental health issues and has been told by doctors to get properly diagnosed but he hasn’t done it.
Then we start talking again and 6 months later he tells me he loves me. I was shocked, because remember he spent the first couple weeks of us talking telling me about how he'd always love that other girl and they were destined to end up together. So in my head I'm like "uhh...are you sure about this?"
We had our big final exams coming up too, so I wasn't trying to start anything romantic that could mess with my studying. I already knew he was capable of sending me on an emotional rollercoaster, and I didn't need that affecting my academics. So I told him I didn’t feel the same way about him, leaving him heartbroken. We still saw each other every day for the next 2 years at school and would text on and off. He told me he would be willing to wait till we were older, but I didn't want to give him false hope and told him I cannot guarantee him anything.
We ended up both graduating and are now at university and at this point, I thought he had moved on. We spoke 4 or 5 times during our freshman year and they were 8+ hour long calls or full days of texting. Now we are in our sophomore year and he tells me he still loves me. I don’t know what to do. I legitimately thought he was over me and moved on. I feel like I'm just shattering his heart into a million pieces at this point, because sometimes when we talk he seems so emotionless, like he's just numb from the pain. Now we speak occasionally every few months and sometimes every few weeks. He just texts me out of the blue or calls me.
But he thinks I don't love him back. The thing is I don't want to let myself love him back, because he has never given me a sense of stability. Since I met him he has always acted on very strong emotions, gets very upset and very angry and that has rubbed onto me. Whenever he would get sad, I would get sad and I felt like I had no control over my own emotions when I was around him. If I was in a happy mood and he was upset about something, he would get angry at me for being happy while he was upset. I also feel like he has no goals in life. He's just cruising along whereas I want someone who's very goal oriented and has a stable job because I am very goal oriented. I have done a lot better than him academically speaking as well. Sometimes I think it is my fault for him not trying because I broke his heart by saying I didn't love him back, but I think that’s a stupid thought and I'm not responsible for him acting the way he does and slacking off.
I also realized that despite him being the same ethnicity, he isn't in touch with his background at all which is very different to me. And due to this, I 100% know that my family will not be fond of his family and my family will not be happy with me dating him. They are aware of him though and know that we used to be close friends. He is also not religious/spiritual. I would say I'm 100 times more religious/spiritual than him. I have met other guys who do align with my goals in terms of stable careers and hardworking, enjoys traveling, and has the same religion/spirituality. But I just have not known these guys as long as I have known him. I feel like we both either have attachment issues or a trauma bond or we are just some dysfunctional soulmates.
A part of me wants to give him a shot, but I don't want to end up trying to mold him into who I want him to be. I don't want to nag him about studying harder at university or tell him to travel just because that's what I'm into. If I do that, he may grow to resent me down the line because he would have only made those changes because I pushed him, not because it's what he genuinely wanted for himself. The truth is, he just doesn't seem to have any goals of his own right now.
Another part of me thinks that if we try to make it romantic, it could completely ruin the relationship we've built over all these years. We're still at a point where we can reach out to each other for help when we really need it. I don't want to risk damaging that bond by giving a romantic relationship a shot, only for it to backfire and make us end up resenting or even hating each other.
I also feel like I'd be doing myself a disservice by giving him a chance. There are certain non-negotiable qualities I need in a partner, and he just doesn't display those. I feel like I'd be settling if I committed to him. I don't want to spend my life having to constantly manage his emotions and push him to take action. I don't want to mother him - I already felt that way when we were very close before.
After all these years, I still have an emotional bond with him though. And he still says he loves me. I have tried no contact multiple times, the longest being around a year. But it just hasn’t worked. The other girl he mentioned in the first two weeks of us talking many years ago is long gone by the way. It's been just me and him in that sense for a long time now. And we have so many mutuals and know the same people, which makes fully separating impossible. But I don’t know if taking the risk and giving him a shot is the way to go or if leaving things as they currently are is the better option.

Hello, everyone! It's been a while since I posted anything or even visited the sub. I do not visit the sub anymore as I collected all the information I needed long ago and staying on the sub only led to more thinking about flox. Focusing on other areas of life has been a great life hack for me! I have done a lot of positive things in the past half a year - I am starting my own business, been meeting new people and making a lot of new friends. Flox has changed me for the better.
I want to preface this by saying that I was probably the only person (or almost only as I've met maybe 1 or 2 other people on Reddit) who claimed flares from CoQ10. It actually flared me quite a lot — sometimes I could handle 100mg and sometimes even 30mg would lead to terrible pain. It was frightening to be one of the rarest cases in a pool of already rare cases, so, naturally, I tracked reactions to supplements extremely attentively (u/vadroqvertical won’t let me lie about that) and I have tried a lot (my cupboard is full of supplements — I spent around €3,500 on them in the span of 1.5 years). I will list reactions to supplements and the approximate timeline of when it happened:
— First of all, CoQ10/Ubiquinol flared me not so much 1 month out (tried 100mg ubiquinol multiple times) but it got worse as time went on to the point that April 2023 I could not even take 30mg without great pain. I tried it 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 16 months out all without luck with varying doses flaring me to different extents. I will outline the reasons for it below;
— Vitamin E flared me a lot 2, 4, 6 and 8 months out. Never tried again. Tried 200-400 IU at a time. Due to poor GSH regeneration through Glutathione Reductase dependent upon B2 and NADPH;
— Benfothiamine flared me as well (doses 150mg-300mg/day). This is due to high sulphite and blockage of complex IV of the Electron Transport Chain in the mitochondria the reason for I will explain further. Thiamine is easily broken down by sulphite in the body and it is broken down into sulphite as well, which causes a negative loop reaction in people with high sulphite levels. Benfothiamine also caused me a severe allergic reaction (extreme anxiety and itching) that gladly did not require hospitalisation but was extremely scary and scarred me psychologically (likely high sulfocysteine activated NMDA receptors);
— Vitamin B6 increased my neuropathy when I got it. Likely due to poor B2 functional status. The problem I was also deficient in B6 and its supplementation led to great improvements in sleep quality once I could tolerate it. Note B6 is easily destroyed by sulphite just like B1;
— Riboflavin flared me (tried at 100mg, doses under 10mg never flared me). This is likely due to unmatched NADPH supply due to high sulphite load in the body (speculative);
— Astaxanthin greatly improved my physical health at 5-6 months out (proving that the core of my issues was solely ROS) but it caused reductive stress (NADH accumulation), which also caused pain, albeit the pain was a different kind and asta caused worsening neuropathy and visual snow. It accumulates in fat tissue, so stopping it was nice with ROS coming to a balance at about 10-12 days after discontinuation (after a loading dose of 36mg/daily for 3.5 weeks) but ROS then came back after it went out of the body further. I did not retry astaxanthin as I realised it caused me reductive stress and neurological issues;
— NAC helped me a damn lot. It was the best antioxidant for me. The problem is it depleted my molybdenum and copper and started giving me allergic reactions (low molybdenum + copper as well as blocked complex IV will lead to way higher sulphite generated from NAC);
— Did not feel much from vitamin D. I live in a very sunny country and tested at 51 (ref. Range 30+) without any supplements;
— Magnesium helped me a lot. #1 supplement;
— Calcium did not help me much in the beginning, actually, caused me heart palpitations. Was fine taking it after a few months;
— Potassium was a good supplement. I took 800mg/day for a while and it supported my muscle health;
— Important: vitamin B5 made me feel a lot better. It took my ROS down like crazy — I could feel normal muscles again, it removed my oxalate pain completely, too but for only a short while like 3-4h.
I have tried many more supplements that were phyto-supplements and such and none of them really helped me beside maybe some placebo effects. Some made me feel worse and were not worth it at all. I did not try anything mood-changing as I was not interested in it. To note, GABA supplement made me feel a little euphoric at first.
It is very relevant that I have been oxalate dumping since 27 Dec. 2023. The description of the experience can be found here: https://www.reddit.com/floxies/comments/1by0uh0/comment/kyma718/
Now, to the real question: why did CoQ10 flare me even at high nutrient status (just after flox). I have to stress that flares from CoQ10 were much less at the beginning of flox likely due to better nutrient status (it went from extremely terrible to slightly more extremely terrible while 6 months out it went from ‘eh’ to terrible).

1. First, I have to say that NAC made me worse long-term. How? Over a long period of time I was taking it and was not watching my copper (NAC increases metallothionein and causes poor copper absorption) and molybdenum levels (NAC raises generation of sulfite and it needs molybdenum to be detoxified). Some NAC formulations have molybdenum in them but I was not lucky to get one of those and, due to lack of knowledge, did not supplement any molybdenum. The result was high sulphite and from that high ROS (with a combo of benfo which further increased sulphite it caused me peripheral neuropathy at 5 months). Sulphite causes Fenton reactions when complex IV gets blocked up. H2S (a signalling molecule and a vasodilator) also needs to be detoxified by a CoQ-10 dependent enzyme and turned later into sulphite and then sulphate by molybdenum and complex IV (dependent on copper) and if it is not detoxified, it causes a complex IV blockage and starts Fenton reactions as well as electron leakage during production of ATP, causing ROS. This causes a negative feedback loop that was described in the linked at the end article as follows [CoQ10 Deficiency Is Sulfur Toxicity]:

«This can be explained as follows:
1) hydrogen sulfide inhibition of complex IV generates superoxide in the respiratory chain, which becomes hydrogen peroxide,
2) hydrogen sulfide reduces ferric iron to ferrous iron, which makes it release from storage in ferritin,
3) this increases Fenton reactions between free iron and hydrogen peroxide, which generate more dangerous reactive oxygen species like the hydroxyl radical,
4) all of this deplete glutathione,
5) since a major purpose of the trans-sulfuration pathway is to provide enough cysteine to make glutathione, glutathione depletion hyperactivates the trans-sulfuration pathway, leading to more cysteine availability, the excess of which is catabolized to sulfite by alternative reactions that do not produce hydrogen sulfide and therefore do not require CoQ10.»

1. In the article linked below, you will see that CoQ-10 protects against reactive oxygen species mainly due to improving hydrogen sulphide clearance (H2S). Therefore, CoQ-10 deficiency did not cause much ROS in complexes I and II but mainly produced issues in Complex III (where sulphite detoxification starts) and complex IV (where the last electrons are delivered during the sulphite-sulphate reaction). Excerpt: «In human cells with CoQ10 synthesis defects from the same study, CoQ10 protected against reactive oxygen species, but suppressing the enzyme that uses CoQ10 to clear hydrogen sulfide abolished this effect. This shows that the reactive oxygen species were coming from poor hydrogen sulfide clearance.»

Considering this, and oh my god, finding this article was like god sent it to me: my CoQ10 flares were coming from poor hydrogen sulphide clearance. At that point there were multiple reasons this could be happening:

1. Cellular CoQ-10 deficiency;
   
2. Manganese toxicity which causes CoQ-10 deficiency [read "Manganese Toxicity Is a CoQ10 Deficiency" linked below];
   
3. Copper deficiency;
   
4. Molybdenum deficiency;
   
5. SUOX (enzyme which converts sulphite to sulphate) or another genetic impairment;
   
6. Blockage of complex IV by something else.
   

I checked my molybdenum and copper transporting genes, SUOX using DBSNP and my AncestryDNA.txt file, and they were all good (Yes, I know Ancestry does not do a full genomic profile but it still had the main SNPs for that). I also checked my manganese transporter genes and seemed I was homozygous for an important one but fine with others. It is really hard to estimate how that might affect you IRL, perhaps that would require a really good genetic counsellor (or lots of hours spent ruminating again). I also did not think I had any genetic issue since I was very very healthy all my life and had 0 pain or health issues before flox occurred (I have extremely healthy young looking parents that drink, smoke and do whatever they want and have 0 consequences to their health as well).
I took some tests, for example: Genova NutrEval at ~6 months out, full nutrient blood test panel at ~11 months out (abstained for 35 days from any supplements at all, even vitamins and tested literally everything, paid around €1,200) and my CoQ10 levels at both of those occurrences were at 1 & 1.07 in absence of supplementation with ref. range 0.8-1.4, so it was definitely not low. That way I eliminated #1 and #5. While I was not entirely sure whether genetic issues had to do anything with it, I decided to pretend like they didn’t, since I had to try out other solutions before jumping to the most complex one. I took a lot of molybdenum, so molybdenum deficiency was not at the table for me. In this way I was left with #2, #3 and #6. In the full blood panel, my manganese was slightly high (20.1 with ref. Range <~18) and the SNP people were talking about that caused them manganese toxicity was homozygous for me, so I definitely considered it but manganese when supplemented made me a feel a lot better, actually (mentally, not physically), so I was also likely deficient in it. For now, I just avoid it in supplemental doses but I do not avoid foods containing it. Besides, I do not have iron overload genes that could contribute to manganese toxicity. My CoQ-10 levels were good enough, too, so it was unlikely to be manganese toxicity.
I could not take copper because it would lead to high ROS immediately (due to complex IV blockage the reasons for which I will outline further). Considering manganese was likely deficient and not superfluous, I discarded reason #2 and reason #3 could not be fixed by copper, so it was definitely not only copper deficiency but either another factor or another factor coupled with copper deficiency. I was stuck for a long time until I found another article from the same author about B12 and B9 helping to detoxify oxalate. As I said before all this explanation, I have been oxalate dumping throughout the whole process (already 4 months). I should note I was oxalate dumping even before I got floxed (I likely had oxalate overload due to my appendix surgery — this is proven by inflamed mesenteric lymph nodes confirmed by 3 MRIs — Sally Norton has the same case of over-absorption in her book) and that is how I actually got the E. Coli they gave me Cipro for (oxalate crystals create a good environment for it in the urinary tract lol) and how I got floxed (I went full circle, lmao). When I was floxed, I was not oxalate dumping for at least a year likely because my body was not in the state to handle the dumping process but it was still affecting me as I will outline further. First of all, I want to say that biotin actually promoted dumping for me as said in the article and not relieved it like it is said in Sally Norton’s book (I am not sure if there is a genetic variation to this). The proposed mechanism of oxalate detoxification in the article is as follows:
«Recall my proposed two-step detoxification process:

1. Pyruvate carboxylase [biotin-dependent] converts oxalate to formate.
   
2. Formate is joined to tetrahydrofolate to enter the methylation cycle, be used for the synthesis of purines or DNA, or be converted to carbon dioxide and exhaled in the breath.»
   

This are also very important words: «There may be more regulation layered on top of this to prevent excessive formate accumulation. It would certainly be preferable to have oxalate crystals cause pain or disrupt the skin than to have formate accumulate beyond the capacity to clear it.» This is why I felt best when dumping. Could eat anything, drink beer, even smoked weed once without issue. Another time though I got too brave, smoked a lot of weed and got a very bad ‘relapse’ but recovered quickly from it. The next morning when using a towel after a shower I had the same pain I used to have 2.5 months out from Cipro (which was extremely bad and took me back 14 months in memories) while before I smoked weed that second time I had almost 0 tendon pain in my daily life apart from oxalate [Here I thought maybe I and DrHungry share similar issues then? He also had an extreme (same in intensity relatively to his flox journey) flare from weed and is also using a lot of sulphur-based antioxidants still. Could such weed flares be related to complex IV dysfunction and/or impaired sulphite clearance?]. In either case, I felt best when dumping, probably because my body was able to regulate formate accumulation and ROS production greatly reduced at those times.
I was sitting outside with my parents and their friends, researching my flox issue when I read these lines: «Formate accumulation is the principle mechanism of methanol toxicity. Part of its toxicity is driven by inhibiting cytochrome oxidase, complex IV of the mitochondrial respiratory chain, which would inhibit the clearance of sulfite and hydrogen sulfide and block the production of ATP.» It finally clicked. It was honestly one of the best moments in my life when I realised. I made the connection between great improvement from B5, formate accumulation, issues with copper supplementation, general ROS improvement from dumping and oxalate everything together. Suddenly, my whole flox journey became crystal clear to me.
B5 is mainly used in the body to create Coenzyme A. An intermediate molecule in the production of CoA is called 4’-phosphopantethine and is used in the enzyme 10-methyltetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase (high formate will pair with THF and form 10-MTHF in the attempt of the body to detoxify formate). This enzyme converts 10-MTHF back to THF and creates NADPH in the process which is used by Glutathione Reductase to regenerate Glutathione. Hence, high-dose B5 led to a lot of those reactions occurring and me feeling a big relief from ROS AND OXALATE, so oxalate is indeed detoxified into formate by biotin-dependent pyruvate carboxylase.
Okay, so theory is very interesting but what is theory if it has no proof? When I read it, I realised I finally cracked my flox but I had to get real proof.
Just a few weeks before this, I drank some wine and got nerve damage (likely from high sulphites in it, again, duh — while this was a terrible experience, it played a role in me getting closer to the solution of my issues). Beer caused me no issues, could drink 10 or more bottles in one sitting, eat a lot of rice when drunk with no issue. Before, I had only numb hands and top of feet. After the wine, I had burning up to the knee and burning in palms and behind my shoulders. I got fed up with this, I just decided to methylate the fuck out of my nerves and eat copper not in supplements but from calamari (very high in copper but low in vit A, so no toxicity risk like from liver). At that time, I was dumping and my ROS was not too high. I started consuming around 200g protein per day, eating a lot of copper 3-4mg/day and my nerves really healed a lot. To the point they even became normal after 3-4 days. My vision became brighter, it was absolutely crazy. I was also supplementing 150mg molybdenum/day. After a week of that, though, I started getting ROS back and it was very bad ROS, like almost a year ago when I had low molybdenum and copper from a lot of NAC use. That confirmed my suspicion that my issue was indeed sulphite. Eating almost anything caused ROS for me, dumping stopped since the body had no free reducing agents (NADPH) to support sulphate-producing enzymes (oxalate is transported on sulphate transporters, so it literally could not drive out of the cell because it had no car lol). As you understand, high ROS prevents a lot of enzymes from working and here it causes, as you have probably understood, a negative feedback loop.
So, back to the proof. Since I realised that my issue is probably formate, I just decided to take high-dose B5 again (did not add any high dose B2, B1 or other B vitamins, just took my usual B complex with food). It really helped me a lot, again. I felt almost normal. Then, it caused me some pain but I felt how I was getting better and the next day I took it in the day, then in the evening I ate around 80g carbs and took double the dose of B complex (my B complex has low doses: 10mg B1, 10mg B2, 25mg B3, 20mg B5, 5mg B6, 100mcg B7, 100mcg B9, 50mcg B12) instead of adding a lot of B5 and boom, no pain and oxalate dumping restarted quite more strongly than it even used to be before mega-dosing protein. So I was in pain for at least 2 weeks dying from ROS and then 2 days of B5 and suddenly I was normal again and dumping restarted? It felt like paradise with a twist. The next day, I went out with my friends. I was a little nervous since we were going to eat out and we ordered 600g of carbonara (the portions were huge there). I ate it all at once with 2x my light B complex and guess what happened? NO PAIN, just oxalate dumping. I finally realised that I was right and detoxifying formate unloaded my complex IV, allowed sulphate transporters to be created, reduced ROS production from food and suddenly I felt like a normal human being (except the dumping part). I recently retried CoQ10 — no flare. Likely before formate got recreated a lot because I was dumping a lot (if you read my comment linked above, you will understand).
I am not megadosing B5 right now but just stuck to 80-100mg B5 per day, so 4x my light B complex as my B6 tolerance improved a lot. Why I am not megadosing B5 is because oxalate likely blocks conversion of vitamin B2 into its active forms as I, at ~11 months out, when I did full-testing in the absence of supplementation 35 days pre-testing had high molybdenum, iodine, (almost above the ref. Range (113 with ref. Range <120) selenium and very high B2 even though I was cellularly deficient according to Genova NutrEval (at 356 with ref. Range <295).
Considering everything above, we can understand what happened to me from the beginning:

1. Oxalate overload led to formate overload as oxalate is converted to formate through the action of biotin-dependent pyruvate carboxylase;
   
2. Formate overload led to complex IV blockage, high ROS and high sulphite, which also leads to high ROS and also leads to complex IV blockage (negative feedback loop);
   
3. High sulphite destroys vitamins B1 & B6 as said in the beginning, which caused endogenous production of oxalate to skyrocket (you can read about this if you google, this information is very available);
   
4. Hence sulphate transporters also got impaired, oxalate detoxification in the form of physical crystals also halted, which led to even higher overload;
   
5. This led to higher formate, this led to even more ROS.
   

Mega-dosing B vitamins and especially B5 and B9 led to formate detoxification and the ability of my body to detoxify oxalate. This improved me a lot and it definitely feels like it will inevitably lead to my recovery. I feel good now, I still have some remaining neuropathy but it’s minimal and I know what to avoid to not make it worse and how to improve it quickly if I need to. I have no OS from beer, coffee or food. Also, I am dumping a lot right now. You can ask me all kinds of questions that you want and I will try to answer them to my best ability since I know what it is like to be floxed and I will help anyone who is in the same situation.
I am only 22 years old and this experience led to me rethinking my whole life. I plan to become an extremely rich person to be able to fund biochemical research in the future and will focus specifically on floxed individuals and I will help floxed people first. I will try to reach my goals as fast as possible, I promise. While flox was very difficult, painful and frustrating, I only took the good things out of them. I already realized it but it confirmed that we only have one life and there is no place for negative emotions or indecision.
I hope this post does not get removed by moderators. If there is anything to moderate, change, or add, I will be happy to do that. I can provide my analyses if needed as well as proof. All I say here is very attentively selected and fact-checked either from external sources or personal experience. I do not lie and have no motivation to do so. I am only trying to share my knowledge and to help realise others flox is not unbeatable and can be understood and solved — it all depends on individual factors.
Linked articles:
Manganese Toxicity Is a CoQ10 Deficiency
https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/p/manganese-toxicity-is-a-coq10-deficiency
CoQ10 Deficiency Is Sulfur Toxicity
https://chrismasterjohnphd.substa2ck.com/p/coq10-deficiency-is-sulfur-toxicity?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader
10-Formyltetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase
https://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/vitamins/pantothenic-acid#formyltetrahydrofolate-dehydrogenase
Can Biotin Help Detoxify Oxalate?
https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/p/can-biotin-help-detoxify-oxalate
Can B12 and Folate Help Detoxify Oxalate?
https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/p/can-b12-and-folate-help-detoxify
Just an extra fact: My ALT was consistently high >50 for a year after flox. Dropped to 30 when dumping occured.

I’ve been on the patch for a couple of months now since my boyfriend and I broke up and I started seeing someone new. The guy i’ve been seeing just got a hot tub and we have been spending a lot of time in it, and I’m wondering if this can increase my risk of getting pregnant. I’ve tried to use Google for an answer, but all it is telling me is that exposure to heat can increase the release of hormones, not whether this can increase chances of pregnancy or not.
I’m a bit nervous as we have been having unprotected sex the past week, which has been my break/period week. I’m not sure if I should take a Plan B or if we should stop having unprotected sex altogether

Returning to a routine or community after isolating during hard times can be challenging but also transformative. Here are some steps to reintegrate effectively, rebuild relationships, and leverage the lessons learned from your period of isolation:

1. Self-Reflection and Understanding

• Acknowledge Growth: Recognize and appreciate the personal growth and resilience developed during your hard times. Understand the strengths you've gained and how they've prepared you for reintegration.
• Identify Lessons: Reflect on the lessons learned during isolation. These might include coping mechanisms, new skills, or deeper self-awareness.

2. Gradual Reconnection

• Start Slowly: Reconnect with close friends or family members first. Share your experiences in a way that feels comfortable, allowing them to understand your journey.
• Join Group Activities: Participate in group activities or communities where you feel a sense of belonging. This can be a hobby group, a support group, or a professional network.

3. Open Communication

• Share Your Experience: Communicate openly about your hard times and isolation if you feel comfortable. Sharing your story can foster understanding and support.
• Set Boundaries: Be clear about your boundaries and needs. It's important to protect your well-being as you reintegrate.

4. Rebuilding Relationships

• Show Appreciation: Express gratitude to those who supported you or reached out during your hard times. This strengthens bonds and shows you value their support.
• Be Patient: Understand that rebuilding relationships takes time. Be patient with yourself and others as you navigate this process.

5. Creating a Balanced Routine

• Incorporate Self-Care: Integrate self-care practices into your daily routine to maintain the resilience you've built. This can include mindfulness, exercise, or hobbies.
• Set Realistic Goals: Set achievable goals for reintegration, whether personal, social, or professional. Celebrate small milestones to stay motivated.

6. Seeking Professional Support

• Therapy or Counseling: Consider seeking professional support to navigate the emotional complexities of reintegration. A therapist or counselor can provide guidance and strategies tailored to your needs.
• Support Groups: Join support groups where you can share experiences with others who have gone through similar situations. This can provide a sense of community and understanding.

7. Leveraging Your Experience

• Share Your Story: Use your experience to inspire and support others. Whether through writing, speaking, or volunteering, sharing your journey can be empowering for both you and your audience.
• Advocacy: Advocate for mental health awareness or other causes related to your experience. This can give a sense of purpose and contribute positively to your community.

Practical Example: Reintegration Process

Scenario: Returning to Work After a Period of Isolation

1. Self-Reflection: Recognize that you’ve developed new coping skills and resilience.
2. Gradual Reconnection: Start by reconnecting with close colleagues and friends at work.
3. Open Communication: Share with your manager and close colleagues about your time away and any accommodations you might need.
4. Rebuilding Relationships: Show appreciation for colleagues who supported you, and be patient with yourself and others as you adjust.
5. Balanced Routine: Incorporate breaks and self-care into your workday to manage stress.
6. Professional Support: Consider discussing your return with a therapist to navigate any challenges.
7. Leveraging Experience: Use your experience to mentor others facing similar challenges, fostering a supportive workplace environment.

Reintegrating after a period of isolation can be a deeply rewarding process, allowing you to bring newfound strength, insight, and resilience to your life and relationships. By taking a thoughtful and gradual approach, you can rebuild connections and create a balanced, fulfilling routine.
Regain your energy for what you have been missed as a human
Regaining your energy and reclaiming aspects of life you may have missed during challenging times involves a holistic approach that nurtures your physical, emotional, mental, and social well-being. Here’s a comprehensive guide to help you restore your vitality and reconnect with the richness of human experience:

1. Physical Health

Nutrition

• Balanced Diet: Focus on a nutritious, balanced diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats.
• Hydration: Ensure adequate water intake to stay hydrated and support overall bodily functions.

Exercise

• Regular Physical Activity: Incorporate regular exercise into your routine, whether it’s walking, running, yoga, or strength training.
• Outdoor Activities: Engage in outdoor activities like hiking, biking, or gardening to benefit from fresh air and nature.

Rest and Sleep

• Quality Sleep: Prioritize getting 7-9 hours of quality sleep each night. Establish a consistent sleep schedule.
• Relaxation Techniques: Practice relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, meditation, or listening to calming music before bedtime.

2. Emotional and Psychological Health

Self-Care

• Mindfulness and Meditation: Practice mindfulness and meditation to reduce stress and increase emotional resilience.
• Journaling: Keep a journal to express your thoughts and feelings, which can help process emotions and gain clarity.

Therapy and Counseling

• Professional Support: Seek therapy or counseling if needed to address unresolved emotional issues and develop coping strategies.
• Support Groups: Join support groups where you can share experiences and find community support.

3. Mental Stimulation

Lifelong Learning

• New Skills: Learn new skills or hobbies that interest you, such as painting, playing an instrument, or coding.
• Reading: Read books, articles, and other materials that stimulate your mind and expand your knowledge.

Challenges and Puzzles

• Mental Games: Engage in puzzles, brain games, and other activities that challenge your mind and improve cognitive function.
• Educational Courses: Take online courses or attend workshops to continue your education and personal development.

4. Social Connections

Reconnecting with Others

• Reach Out: Reconnect with family, friends, and colleagues. Schedule regular meet-ups, calls, or video chats.
• Social Activities: Participate in social activities or join clubs and organizations that interest you.

Building New Relationships

• Networking: Attend networking events or community gatherings to meet new people and expand your social circle.
• Volunteering: Volunteer for causes you care about to meet like-minded individuals and contribute to your community.

5. Spiritual and Personal Growth

Spiritual Practices

• Meditation and Prayer: Engage in meditation, prayer, or other spiritual practices that align with your beliefs and values.
• Reflection: Set aside time for reflection and introspection to connect with your inner self and gain insight into your life’s purpose.

Purpose and Goals

• Set Goals: Define clear, meaningful goals for yourself in various areas of life, such as career, personal growth, and relationships.
• Pursue Passions: Identify and pursue passions and interests that bring joy and fulfillment.

Practical Steps to Regain Energy

1. Create a Routine: Develop a daily routine that includes time for physical activity, self-care, learning, and social interaction.
2. Set Realistic Goals: Set achievable goals to gradually rebuild different aspects of your life. Celebrate small victories to stay motivated.
3. Stay Positive: Maintain a positive outlook and practice gratitude. Focus on the progress you’ve made and the opportunities ahead.
4. Seek Balance: Strive for balance in all areas of life, ensuring you’re nurturing your body, mind, and soul.
5. Be Patient: Understand that regaining energy and reconnecting with life is a gradual process. Be patient with yourself and recognize that it’s okay to take small steps.

By following these strategies, you can restore your energy and rediscover the joys and richness of life, creating a more fulfilling and balanced existence.

My psychiatrist recommended me depo provera to stop my period, I've been on the shot for a year now.
I'll be able to start testosterone next year, when I'm 18.
After how many months of T should I stop the depo shots?