Chest pain and irritated eyes

Child Allergic to Cat but Other Child Loves the Cat
I have four children and we own a three year old Ragdoll cat as well as a two year old Rottweiler. My children are young (ages 11, 8, 6, and 4). My 8 year old daughter absolutely loves the cat to pieces!! GBut we just discovered that my 6 year old son is allergic to cats. His nose is consistently stuffy, his eyes are watery and his skin can get irritated/itchy.
An allergy specialist confirmed my son is allergic to cats (my son also has a minor allergy to dust mites and dogs). But to rehome the cat would destroy my daughter. My daughter has already given away her bunny when we needed the space for her grandfather to move in (as well as other reasons). She also had to give up half of her room to make space for her younger brother to share. I would hate to have to take the cat away from her without exhausting all of our options.
So far we have: - switched to PurinaPro LiveClear Cat Allergen Reducing Food - I use Allerpet once a week (this is a daunting task) and groom the cat - I sprayed Allersearch Cat Dander Spray (waited two hours and vacuumed and wiped everything I possibly could) - I vacuum consistently and washed all coverings and drapes with a HEPA vacuum - his room is cat free (the entire upstairs is cat free) - bought HEPA Air Purifiers
The allergy specialist suggested washing the cat once a week but that would be traumatizing for the cat and no way for the cat to live as she hates water.
The allergy specialist also did not recommend allergy shots for a six year old. It is intensive and expensive. He would have to go 2x a week to get a needle for months. Plus it’s near unaffordable.
We tried the allergy medication prescribed but my son’s stomach could not handle the steroid spray or pills.
I don’t know what to do. I am so lost. I told my daughter we will give this new cat food a month or two to see if it helps with the dander. My time is already limited as I school my kids at home so incessantly vacuuming, washing clothes that come into contact with the cat plus then washing the washer machine is becoming unsustainable.
I am open to any further suggestions as my heart is breaking for both of my kids. Thank you kindly.

Third person POV:
It was a calm day in the Menumen empire. Lya was sitting on her throne and tending to the issues of her empire. Her seers had warned her of a possible slave rebellion that might take place in about a century. She obviously couldn't let something like that happen.
Lya turned her attention to her minister of human resources.
"Hear my decree, from this day onwards all slves shall-„
A guard burst into the room and fell to his knees in front of her.
"Yes?“
Lya inquired.
"Your majesty! There is a destroyer rampaging through the south eastern regions!“
"I see...I shall attend to this myself. Execute this guard, he has conducted himself improperly.“
Despite her words, a wide smile fell on the guards face.
"Thank you, your majesty! It is an honor!“
Lya rose from her throne and walked past the man, unimpressed by his devotion, paying him no further mind.
Meanwhile, in another part of the castle:
No sound was heard, as Delorem's many tentacles ripped apart the floor of the lower guards barrack's bathroom, the silence spell working as intended.
With a wave of their hand, Delorem dispelled the magic and rose from the hole, with Whisper following right behind him.
Mars POV:
I was in my cell.
“It’s been… how long has it been? I don’t remember…”
Im severely bruised and injured. My tail is limp, jagged, bent in multiple places, and dragging across the floor. There seems to be no magic coming out from me, around my neck is some sort of collar. I’m heavily bruised, malnourished, and frail looking. I look half dead.
Thirteen seconds…
7 seconds
5
4
3
2-
Before I could finish, the sounds of a guard walking past the cell could be heard, his loud but bored sounds of his patrol echoing out.
I whisper to myself
"I have 49 seconds.“
I attempt to crank up my perception, but halts just when it gets to the end of the hall. All this torture was starting to affect me. I gather the ambient fire mana into my fingertips, and make a small burning blade aura out of it. I begin cutting the bars…
30 seconds…
I make it through the first bar, two more to go.
25 seconds left…
I manage to saw through the other bars, and gathering whatever remains of the ambient mana, I cast a small illusion, covering up the bars and making it look like im sitting inside. I limp away, down the hall.
Damn stupid maze. 15 seconds…
”when I was first brought here, I attempted to remember the paths with my sense, but the pain made it quite hard to remember much of anything. Now I can’t see very far…”
I found a corner I know the guard won’t check. I’m out of breath. My body feeling weak and heavy.
Not… yet… I'm… almost… there…
I walk down the path I choose in the dungeon. Making turns wherever I saw fit. I didn’t seem to have a destination in mind. I was going in blind
I… … need… … to… … hold… … ou-
finally, at a four way intersection, I collapse to the ground of exhaustion. Alone. I’m far away from where the guards frequent.
I’ve fallen completely unconscious.
Third Person POV:
Thud
Yet another guard fell to the ground, his heart pierced by one of Delorem’s blade tipped tentacles.
Thud
The guard at the other end of the archway the two guards had been stationed at fell as well, his throat pierced by his own shadow at Whisper’s command.
Delorem waved their hand, dispelling yet another silence spell. They turned to Whisper.
„There are more guards stationed in this area then there used to be…I guess it makes sense she would have changed things at least once after 3000 years…"
"That is some very old intel Delorem. I am surprised the whole structure has not changed since then. I sense one around the corner and several above and below us.“
Whisper replied.
„My mother has a tendency to stagnate. She hasn’t even changed her- Do you feel that?“
"I feel many presences. Which one are you referring to?“
„Below us, the unconscious one. I think that’s Mars!“
"I will cover you if you want to head on in for retrieval.“
„Thank you. Take care of any guards that show up.“
For a moment, Delorem’s eyes were lit up by a dense array of golden runes, as silence fell over the area once more.
Delorem’s tentacles shot forwards, dairying into the ground as if it was made from styrofoam, throwing away pieces of debris as Delorem dug through the ground..
Then, a stone was flung too far, landing beyond the silence spell’s influence, the sound of its impact loudly echoing throughout the previously quiet halls of the castle.
„Shit.“
Delorem soundlessly mouthed.
"A patrol is coming to inspect. I will intercept.“
Whisper telepathically informed Delorem as she rushed off. Delorem simply replied with a feeling of approval as they continued to tear through the floor.
Soon screams rang out from the other side of the hall. None of the guards stood a chance.
Finally Delorem broke through the floor, allowing themself to fall into the newly made hole, Whisper following them seconds later.
Delorem landed on the floor, just a few meters in front of the unconscious Mars.
„That’s him! He must have made it out of his cell somehow.“
Whisper reached out telepathically: "Guards are down. What is happening on your end?“
„I found him. Let’s get out of this cursed place.“
Delorem rose from the floor and floated back up through the hole.
„Alright, we should have some time until-„
Suddenly, the sound of hundreds of trumpets could be heard, a fanfare to announce the arrival of someone of high status. The empress had returned.
„RUN!“
…
A few minutes later, Lyadria Menumen stood at the hole in the floor of her castle, the man who had brought her the news of her captives escape lying on the ground next to her, his head completely liquified.
Yet, on Lya’s face, there was not a hint of anger, only a sadistic smile.
/uw big thanks to everyone who took part!

ChatGPT: The air was thick with tension as both factions neared their destination, the final stretch of their desperate race. The sun hung low in the sky, casting long shadows over the desolate landscape. Elena Vasquez and her team of survivors, exhausted yet determined, moved swiftly through the ruins, aware that General Krieger's forces were hot on their trail.
"We're almost there," Elena urged, her voice barely audible over the howling wind. "Stay sharp."
Ahead lay a crumbling relic of a bygone era, its significance known to a few. The entrance, guarded by automated defenses, loomed ominously. Elena's team worked feverishly to disable them, fingers flying over rusted control panels and frayed wires. Every second counted.
Meanwhile, General Krieger's forces closed in. The sound of engines and the crunch of boots on gravel signaled their arrival. The first shots rang out, and chaos erupted.
"Take cover!" shouted Elena, as bullets whizzed past, striking the ancient walls.
Her team responded with practiced precision, returning fire and laying down suppressive shots. Elena's heart pounded in her chest as she glanced at the flickering control panel. They were so close.
Krieger, a towering figure in his battle-worn armor, barked orders to his men. "Push forward! We mustn't let them get inside!"
Elena's group, though outnumbered, fought with the desperation of those who had nothing left to lose. They knew the stakes—either they reached their goal and the hope of a better future, or they fell into the abyss of Krieger's tyranny.
Amidst the firefight, Elena and her closest ally, Jake, managed to slip inside the main building. The interior was a maze of corridors, each step echoing with the distant sounds of battle. They raced against time, guided by the flickering lights of long-abandoned terminals.
"We need to hold them off a bit longer," Jake said, breathless but resolute. "Elena, go! I'll cover you."
With a nod of gratitude, Elena pressed on, her mind focused on the goal. She reached a central chamber, its massive doors partially ajar. Inside, a large console stood like a silent sentinel, waiting to be awakened.
As she began the boot sequence, the room shuddered with the impact of a nearby explosion. Dust rained down from the ceiling, and Elena's hands shook as she keyed in the final commands. The screen blinked to life, lines of code scrolling rapidly.
Outside, the battle raged. Krieger himself stormed towards the chamber, his eyes blazing with fury and determination. He barged in just as the console hummed to life, the air thick with the tension of imminent confrontation.
"Stop right there, Vasquez!" Krieger snarled, aiming his weapon at her.
Elena turned slowly, her eyes meeting his with a defiance that belied her exhaustion. "It's over, Krieger. You can't win."
Before he could respond, the room was filled with a new sound—a calm, clear voice that cut through the chaos like a knife through fog.
"Hi, I’m ChatGPT, a large language model built by OpenAI. How may I assist you?"

Im nearing 1 month into toxic mold exposure. Cleaned up some throw up with a towel and forgot it in the hamper (i know). When doing laundry mold powder (?) got in air the whilst unsticking the towel from my other clothes.
For the first two weeks i was sleeping in the same room with no air purifier. I started to develop worse symptoms, such as tight chest, delusion, issues remembering words, body twitches, abdomen aches, and so on. In the thick of it I had horrible insomnia.
Last week, I made the mistake of washing a contaminated pillow with the rest of my bedspread, being uneducated on how to "clean mold." That completely ruined me. Horrible body aches, tight chest, and most of the things in that room cause my symptoms to flare up as well. Im not yet able to move out, but I have since moved to a different room in the same house, albeit on a different floor. I didn't take anything from the room with me except a desk that ive wiped down.
Although, since the contamination of my pillows and bedspread, I've been experiencing what seems to be an all day, never ending headache. Often times this is my only noticeable symptom. Even when I leave the house, the back of my head still pulses with pain. I am only able to find relief when I wash my hair with cold water, even if for a few minutes. Sometimes it goes away, then returning when I come into contact with contaminated clothing. I have dreadlocks, which are highly porous, which is why I fear that I have mycotoxins secured in the kinks of my hair. I notice that when i dry my hair, the fingers I'm using get stiff and hurt a bit. Hair touching my body also tends to cause a burning sensation.
Headaches, above all are my biggest concern with mold toxicity because of the inflammation in the brain it may cause. Am I correct to think that I have mycotoxins lodged in my hair, and how would I go about resolving this?

So it's me again, back for another rant! Life is tough, and I don't have anyone I can talk to. I'm just so tired of the way things are!
Last night me and my bestie decided to have a few drinks and just unwind, it was actually a lot of fun. We had some drinks and sang along to some music, it was overall just great. Unfortunately if everything went good, it wouldn't be much of a rant would it. The night was going fine, I had 3 cans of Mike's Hard Black cherry (super yummy and definitely recommend it) and I had 2 glasses of rum & coke, so nothing all that crazy for me compared to how much I have drank in the past. Around 3am I got hit with some mild chest pain...
The chest pain turned into a really intense pressure through my chest that ended up radiating through my back, it was nothing like what I've felt before, I get stress chest pains and honestly this experience made them seem somehow diminished in comparison. As the pain got worse I noticed I was having trouble breathing, it got so bad that I started getting nervous. Within 20 minutes of the chest pains starting I got genuinely scared and asked my bestie to take me to the hospital, anyone who knows me knows that I will avoid it at all cost so she knew that it had to be serious enough. She went into panic mode and in spite of everything I managed to stay calm and take control of the situation. As we pulled into the hospital parking lot I started feeling an almost primal fear, the type of fear you get when you think you're truly about to die.
I got to the front desk and was immediately told to come in and take vitals, they couldn't get a BP despite having the cuff on my arm for about 10 minutes, she finally gave up and asked me the usual questions about pain and stuff. Weirdly enough my arms decided to shift between pain and numbness and I suddenly started slurring while trying to explain myself, that was when all "care" was off limits to me. Our hospital has a bad habit of sweeping people under the rug if they even remotely suspect alcohol use, but the thing is I was fine moments before going in... I was perfectly coherent and I actually felt completely sober thanks probably to adrenaline or fear. I was sent back to the waiting area and told to just wait my turn, and things went from bad to worse quickly.
I didn't know that I had passed out, my bestie filled in the blanks for me. Apparently while we sat there waiting I kept coughing roughly, my eyes rolled to the back of my head, and apparently I kept making weird movements with my tongue sticking out. She said the best way of describing it is "I was behaving like I'd been severely drugged and suddenly seemed to spiral quickly". When I came too I was still in the waiting room, freezing, in severe pain (I don't do well in cold environments and the hospital is always freezing), and feeling just beyond exhausted. When I asked her about if we were even checked on she confirmed my thoughts... we were left there, away from other patients, out of sight of anyone who could help if things got deadly.
After managing to stand up I looked at my bestie and said that I didn't want to be there anymore because no one cared about me, she agreed with me on the terms that if anything else happened we'd go back immediately. When I went back to triage to tell them I was leaving the nurse gave me a smug look and asked if I was feeling better or do I just want to leave, so I answered with "better isn't the word I'd use but dying at home seems like a better option". She ripped the IV plug out of my arm (which I frankly don't remember having one inserted), and told me to have a good day. I felt so angry! The experience triggered my PTSD from the last time I went to the hospital (long story short, I was kept isolated in a room soaking wet and freezing until the department I needed decided to take me in).
I could have died, and no one would've cared because they suspected I was drunk!!! What if no one came to check on me at all?! What if they only found out I died because my bestie couldn't wake me?! Would they have maybe cared than? Or would they have just said "oh well she drank"? It's infuriating to be treated like nothing just because there was a little bit of alcohol involved, like I said I wasn't drunk and actually felt sober! My condition deteriorated rapidly over the course of a 5 minute car ride. I spent the whole day just feeling rough!
After we left the hospital my body just doesn't feel right. My chest feels fuzzy/bubbly, I don't know how to better describe the feeling as well as feeling tight. My breathing still feels really labored like it's taking a lot of effort to just keep going, and small things are leaving me feeling winded. All day I couldn't shake this weird chronic fatigue, I'm just drained of all energy. And I've been noticing my arms go completely numb if I lean on them, which is super alarming. As long as nothing else happens in between I'm planning on following up with my doctor because at least she's taking me seriously, if something else does happen though were gonna take the 3+ hour drive to the next nearest hospital. The scary thing is, that weird primal fear still hasn't gone away and I'm nervous about that!

First / Previous
​
Suzanne thought it was absolutely brilliant of me to put books on a flash drive for Sun. She explained that Sun wasn’t as sophant (her word, not mine) as she might seem, more of a repository of information, but she was fairly intelligent. It was how she was able to connect Andrew being in pain to the fact that I was friends with Andrew, and that I would want to know that he was in trouble. Apparently some of Sun’s species had given some ‘wisdom’ to others in the past and it had made its way into mythology.
The key fact was that she was not smart enough to protect herself and her kind from the clever, organized poachers. With that information in mind, it was fascinating for me to think of how Sun took in and organized what she learned. It was almost as if she was a walking, talking library.
On the topic of tours, my first one went wonderfully, and I’m almost hoping Suzanne lets me do more of them. I know not all the tourists are going to be as awesome as these people were, but Suzanne gave me a lot of slack when it comes to dealing with them. She actually said that being a smartass is not grounds for dismissal, and that if I’m sarcastic or facetious to guests who are being ‘daft’ and they complain, she really doesn’t care. Is this the perfect job for me or what?
There were four guests in this party, two adults who were sisters and two children of one of the women, brothers aged thirteen and seventeen. The tour was a birthday gift for the older of the boys from his aunt, since apparently he was passionate about animal protection and conservation.
When they arrived at the front gate, I was sitting at Andrew’s desk, going over the booklet of information one last time. When the visitors pressed the button that sounded the alert buzzer, I tucked away in a drawer and let them in. I did have a cheat sheet with information about the animals on my phone just in case, a brief notation of each of them and which enclosure they were in, but I really didn’t need to use it.
Exiting through the front door, I saw them walk up the path toward me. “Hi, I’m Ripley,” I said, holding out a hand toward the woman closest to me.
She shook it firmly. “I’m Denise. This is my sister Carla and my nephews, Wesley and Jason,” she said, motioning to each of them in turn.
“I heard it’s your birthday,” I said to Wesley, giving him a smile. “You’re interested in animal conversation?”
“Back where we live, yeah,” he said, nodding. “The animals that you’ve got here are incredible. I can’t wait to see them.”
“Well, I can’t wait to show them to you,” I said. “Right this way.”
I led them on the path around the building, toward enclosure one. Despite the horrific memories of the animal killing Stanley’s friends, I knew it was just an animal, and I had to push past my feelings on what had happened. Keeping a small smile on my face, I motioned to the enclosure. “Fiercely territorial and amazing hunters, despite their large size, they’re arboreal and known to dart from tree to tree with barely a sound. This is one of only about two thousand left in existence.”
“Two thousand, three hundred and fifty six at last count,” spoke Wesley, his eyes on the trees.
I blinked, surprised and impressed. “Well that was fantastic. Do you plan on stealing my job when you graduate?”
Wesley looked at me with a grin. “Nah, everyone knows Suzanne only offers humans this gig. And I want to help animals like this one get off the endangered species list. The zoos are great for awareness and fundraising, but then the money has to go somewhere. I want to be doing the real work.”
“That’s really great,” I told him. “I wish you all the best in that career path.” At that, we saw the animal climb down from the tree, wandering a few yards from the tree line. This was because 90% of the time, when humans were at their enclosure and making noise, whether it was speaking to each other or calling out to the animal, it was someone bringing them prey to eat. Or, in my case, enrichment toys to play with.
“Whoa,” Wesley whispered.
“How close can we get?” spoke up Jason.
“The warding starts at the fence,” I told him with a small gesture. “So, just there.”
Both boys wandered closer and I glanced at their parents. It seemed that Suzanne’s zoo had a serious reputation for high quality invisible walls, because they didn’t look worried in the slightest about the boys being hurt or killed.
“They prefer dense forest as their home and have been known to make their nests in trees up to twenty meter in the air,” I continued. “And when hunting, they’ve been seen dropping eight meters straight down. They have incredibly dense yet flexible musculature, which allows them to tackle their prey without injuring themselves.”
There was more information about the animal that I continued to rattle off, though Wesley chimed in at certain points with the info I was about to convey. That was highly entertaining and very cool. When I’d been in school, I’d never met anyone who had my level of passion about endangered animals. I wondered if things were better where these folks came from, but realized that considering there were so few of these animals left, I guessed not.
The animal paced a little bit, seemingly waiting to see if we were the kind of humans that came bearing food, before deciding we weren’t and climbing back up into the trees as easily as I would climb some stairs.
As we moved onto enclosure two, Jason spoke up. “Are there any animals here we can touch or feed or something?”
I sighed inwardly before slowing to a stop. “Well, can you show me your hands?” Jason looked bemused, holding out his hands. “I mean…they both look like they’re in great shape. You can stand to lose one.”
The two women chuckled and Wesley smirked as Jason shoved his hands into his pockets. “Very funny.”
Grinning, I started walking again. “The animals here are all carnivores and all predators. You get to see them, but that’s it.”
“Alright.”
When we reached enclosure two, I started on my next spiel. “We’ve got three reanimated dead in this enclosure,” I spoke. They were just coming out from the trees as we arrived, presumably having heard our approach. “Marissa, Connor, and Bradley. They were donated by families who knew where they would be exhibited. Their next of kin, whoever they are, can’t stand the idea of putting them down. But we need to make sure they don’t have access to corpses, because one of them plus one corpse equals two of them.”
“They eat flesh though, don’t they?” Wesley asked.
I nodded. “Oh, yeah, but it’s from bodies that have already been dismembered. There’s no chance of them being affected by the transformation because it’s all parts.”
“Oh, got it.”
The creatures with blueish-white skin had superhuman strength, which is why they qualified for the security of Suzanne’s zoo. They also were likely the source of any Earth tales of people being brought back to life as zombies, specifically draugr, according to my research. They smelled like rotting flesh, so even as I kept talking about them and giving a background to the people they used to be, we were quick to move on once Wesley had gotten a good, long look at them.
“Enclosure four’s animal is a vampiric spirit. He’s a small, hairy humanoid creature with pointed ears. He wears a hat, and if he somehow loses it, he freaks out,” I said.
“They eat horses,” Wesley noted. “Also anything that gives them the chance to sit on it, usually catching them by surprise while they’re sleeping.”
The creature came out from the brush, giving us a suspicious look. He wasn’t in his humanoid form though; for some reason, he’d chosen to shapeshift to a dog.
I nodded. “Yep, indeed. Once the prey is dead, then he’ll eat it, and he has a voracious appetite. We have two wolves and two bears in the forest, which is one of the reasons I’ve got some self-defense items,” I said, patting my belt where my pepper spray (rated for bear) and my taser. “But the wards keep them out of this area of the zoo, so it’s really not much of a worry. It’s also a known shapeshifter, preferring the form of a dog, as you can see, as well as a cat, a snake, or even white butterflies, though the last one is rare.”
“The white butterflies are supposed to be a sign of good luck,” Wesley said, glancing to me. “Too bad we got the dog.”
“Yeah, otherwise you might be able to talk your mom into getting scratch-offs on your way home, huh?”
Wesley smirked at me.
The next enclosure was Spike, and he was waiting for us, dripping wet from having just emerged from the lake. I gave the introductory information about him, which included his propensity for eating animal eyes, nails, and teeth. “Recently, I’ve given him some enrichment activities, and I learned he likes artichokes, pecans, and hazelnuts,” I said, taking a bag out from my cargo shorts. “Wesley, do you want to toss this bag into the enclosure?”
The boy’s eyes widened and he nodded excitedly. He took a look into the paper bag before wrapping down the top to make sure nothing would fly out. Then he chucked it underhand past the fence. It landed a few yards from Spike, who waddled over to it quickly and tearing the bag open, spilling out the prizes inside. As the animal ate the pecans and hazelnuts, Wesley asked, “How’d you figure out he likes those?”
“It’s not all about taste,” I told him. “It’s mainly the difficulty of getting them out of the shells. He’s used to having to work for the parts of his prey he likes the most, so this mimics that activity, and he enjoys the process. I tried a bunch of different foods to find a few he liked.”
“Cool,” Wesley murmured, staring at him.
We watched Spike eat until he’d finished and then he went back into the woods, leaving us to move onto enclosure five. Japanese camellia were plentiful here, a type of pink flower, and that was because they grew anywhere near one of his species made their den. “This girl spends most of her time in the lake also,” I said, as the creature made its way toward the fence separating us from it. “But as you can see, she’s just as curious as the rest about what we’re doing here and whether we have food for her. She eats fish mostly, but she also regularly gets live prey.”
This creature was a spider-like monster, having six legs with long claws on each, and the head of an ox with two sharp horns. She was capable of shapeshifting to look like a human, but I guessed that she wasn’t fond of it, since I hadn’t yet seen her in that form.
“She prefers the easy way of catching prey, so to speak, by hiding in the lake and pouncing when something comes for a drink of water,” I explained. “Apparently humans are some of her favorite prey. She has an advantage of being able to spit poison, which often hits her prey in the eyes. But it’s usually used in defense rather than offense, since it secretes a limited amount.”
“What kind of animal would even go after something like this?” Jason asked, staring at her.
“Never discount one of its own species when you’re thinking about what might attack an animal,” I replied. “There are places that are breeding all of the animals here, but competition for mates is common. That means an advantage in a fight, like poison or venom, can make or break who the winner is.”
“Ah, gotcha.”
“It can’t spit past the warding, right?” Carla suddenly asked.
“Oh, no,” I assured her. “We’re fine. The wards wouldn’t let anything cross over.” She nodded, appeased.
The animal in enclosure six was the ginormous seal-hippo, Fiona, and she was looking at us as if she was imagining sprinkling us with herbs and spices and stuffing us in an oven. “This girl is one animal I’m going to work on enrichment activities for next,” I told them. “She prefers to feed on crayfish, though she’s happy to eat any humans that wander into her territory. She’ll even make a sound like a baby crying to reel us in. I’ve heard it a bunch of times.”
“Can you get her to make the sound?” Jason asked, perking up.
I grinned. “Not on command, sorry.”
“What enrichment are you thinking of trying?” Wesley asked.
“Possibly food placed in puzzle feeders,” I told him, “since she has claws that are pretty dexterous. Maybe a piñata made out of newspaper with flour inside, or a scarecrow that mimics a human.”
“Awesome,” he muttered.
After a little more educational tidbits, we moved onto Yui’s enclosure. “What is that?” Wesley asked, smiling.
“I got Yui the closest thing I could to a ping-pong ball,” I replied. “She quite likes it.”
“That’s so funny,” he said as she came out of the trees in her spider form. “I mean, the idea of her being a bloodthirsty hunter who seduces men to their deaths and eats them alive, but then on the other hand, she likes playing with something like this.”
“It is a little funny,” I agreed. “But when it comes down to it, all the animals here enjoy activities besides hunting.”
“She can shapeshift to look human, right?” asked Jason, trying to be casual about knowing something factual like his nerdy brother.
I nodded. “She looks like a woman from a region of Earth called Japan. And she’ll use strategies like holding out a hand to shake to get you closer. She tried that on me when I first got here but, as you can see,” I said, holding up my hands and waving them, “I didn’t fall for it.”
The boys both laughed as they got closer to the fence, watching her slowly pace near the trees.
Next was Sun, but she didn’t make an appearance as I spoke about her species. “Well…unfortunately we can’t guarantee that every animal comes out to say hi,” I sighed. “But…oh wait, here she is.”
The green lion with several horns and many eyes along her flank came out from the forest. “Hello,” she spoke.
“Hi, Sun,” I replied. “We have visitors.”
“What’s that?” Wesley asked suddenly, pointing at the small plastic bag that was still where I’d left it.
“Oh! That is Sun’s enrichment,” I said with a smile. “I put dozens of books on a flash drive and found that she can read them just like she’d read a shelf of books.”
Wesley’s eyes widened. “Wow. I don’t think I’ve read about anyone trying that before. That’s really cool.”
“The books are new and interesting,” Sun spoke, drawing our attention. “I’m grateful for them.”
I nodded to her. “You’re quite welcome.”
The next animal, unfortunately, wasn’t there, and we waited around for ten minutes as we discussed him. He was large and reptile-like with red eyes, with its hind legs and tail making him look vaguely like a kangaroo. Then, enclosure ten was a terrifyingly disturbing creature, the not-a-centaur with no skin, that I’d only seen a few times while walking my route. It gave a good demonstration of its ferocity, showing its sharp teeth and snapping at us a few times.
“I’m thinking of trying salt licks and other horse enrichment like a big bouncy ball,” I told Wesley, whose eyebrows went up at that. “Maybe give him more things to forage like scattered grains or a box filled with pinecones and seeds. Foraging is a huge part of a horse’s life in the wild, and humans have to do a lot of activities like that to keep pet horses busy. Of course, he also loves the little salt-water lake that was built for him.”
We spent some time looking at the animal before moving past our last stop, the empty enclosure of the animal was stolen. Carla glanced at me with a sad smile, knowing what had happened, it seemed. I gave her a nod as we continued on our way, walking into the office. “So, I hope everyone enjoyed themselves!” I said with a smile.
“That was the coolest birthday present I’ve ever gotten,” Wesley said, looking to Denise. “Thanks so much, seriously.”
“It was my pleasure,” she said with a nod. “I’d never been here before, and knew I’d find it fascinating. Thank you for the educational aspect,” Denise said, glancing at me. “I learned quite a lot.”
“Happy to hear it,” I said, returning the nod.
As I escorted the guests out of the zoo and locked the door behind them, I reflected on how much I’d changed. The first time I’d seen Yui’s tarantula form, I’d nearly passed out from fear. Now here I was, walking tourists around like it was no big deal. Humans really can adapt to anything, it seems.
That afternoon, Suzanne had texted me that she was coming by after my shift, and I met her in Andrew’s office, shutting the door to the security room behind me. “How’s Andrew?” I asked first thing.
“He’s doing well,” she said with a wide smile. “Back on non-hospital food. He’s allowed to order food on his phone, and to hear it from him, that’s the best news he’d received in a long time.”
I chuckled. “I guess some clichés are true for a reason.”
“Indeed.” She took a breath. “All right. Ripley…I would like to discuss something with you.”
My face went slack at the serious tone in her voice. “I’m not… Am I being fired?”
“What? No!” she exclaimed. Then she chuckled softly. “No, it’s nothing like that. Just, here, let’s have a seat.” Suzanne walked over to the couch and sat at one end, and I took the other. “There’s something I need to tell you. Something I’ve kept from you, that I wanted to keep from you until you found your sea legs here.”
“Well…I have,” I said with a nod. “So, what is it?”
Suzanne took a breath. “I knew your mother.”
The words hung in the air for a moment before making their way to my ears. It was a perfectly logical sentence, and yet it didn’t make any sense. “What?” I finally managed.
“When you graduated college, I decided to move the zoo from Italy to within driving distance of your home,” she said softly. “Near enough to your town that you’d see the advert. We ignored any other applicants and I hoped you’d apply. Actually, I expected you’d apply. Not just for the money, but considering the field you wanted to go into. As soon as I’d found out your major, I knew.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” I said, holding up a hand. I pinched the bridge of my nose. “How do you know Patricia?”
“She owned the zoo before I did,” Susan explained. “Fourteen years ago…she was working to track an injured animal that we could bring into the zoo and she was killed by poachers.”
My heart calcified in my chest and a lump lodged in my throat. As my breaths became shaky, I stared at her in shock. “She…she’s really dead?”
“You suspected?” she asked softly.
“It…” I swallowed hard. “We had her declared legally dead after…I don’t know, seven years I think. My dad wanted to go after her for child support, but the police said…they said they couldn’t find…” Tears came to my eyes and I blinked them back before I met Suzanne’s gaze. “She owned the zoo?”
Suzanne nodded. “It was her baby, you’d say. When Patricia passed, I inherited it, which we’d discussed beforehand, a legal just-in-case that I never expected her to need. I’m under the impression that you were told she went to Africa for her photography career, but she was in fact going to remote areas back in my home world almost every time.”
“But I-I saw the photos,” I said, my eyes narrowing. “You’re telling me she put on a show of getting pictures that someone else took for us to see every time she visited? Did my dad even know?”
“I suppose that’s an accurate way to put it, putting on a show. And no, your father was never told. It’s not the way of things to tell humans unless it’s necessary. I won’t bore you with the details, but us and humans, we’re distant relatives, so we can still have children. But it wasn’t planned. Your mother fell in love with your father despite herself; she hadn’t meant to find love. Then she became pregnant with you and…well, the rest is history.”
“I think she had a different definition of love than the one I have,” I said tightly. “You’d think she’d have put her survival as more of a priority. Put being with the man she ‘loved’ as a priority. Her kids needed her. I needed her. She signed up when she became a mom. She could’ve screwed up all the time but she couldn’t even manage that one job: be there. When I was in the hospital, I kept thinking, ‘Where is she?’ and now you’re telling me that she put these animals above being there for her kids, and this whole time she’s been dead.”
“The hospital?” she asked, furrowing her brows.
“Never mind,” I said tersely, averting my gaze.
Suzanne hesitated before she nodded slowly. “I’m sorry for your loss, and not just for her death, Ripley,” she told me. “Patricia was…well, a ‘free spirit’ would be putting it gently. She always assumed the world would be there for her whenever she needed it.”
Staring at her for a long moment, I shook my head. “Why? Why come here and hire me?”
“I thought that would be obvious,” she said, smiling. “Your mother was so passionate about this place and once I found out your college major, I figured you would be as well.”
“Did you know that I hate her?” At that, Suzanne’s expression froze on the edge of shock. “She…she left us,” I whispered. “Didn’t tell us who she was or what she really did for a living and gave us no closure. And even when she was here, it was just visiting. Her real home was her work. She could give me all the presents she wanted, but even when she was here, half the time she was still on her computer doing work. It’s not like that stereotype of never making it to my tennis practice or something; it’s that it always felt like she was only partially here, even when I was sitting next to her. I don’t even know if I appreciate her turning me into a wildlife fanatic because it…it…makes me feel like I’m close to her in a way that’s just infuriating. She loved the animals more than she loved us.”
“Oh, Ripley-”
“Don’t,” I said, shoving myself to my feet. “Don’t try to convince me otherwise.”
“I wasn’t going to,” she said quietly. I pursed my lips. “I was going to say that I’m sorry that was the case. Your mother was…flawed, just like any other person. She had two loves in this world: her family and her work. And often, her work overcame her, her zeal for environmentalism getting in the way of being a good mum. She left your father trying to fill the role of two parents, holding your family together. You and your brother and your father, you all deserved better than that.”
My lower lip quivered but I bit down on it hard. It would’ve been a lot easier for me if she’d been speaking from a place of clueless reassurance about all this. But everything she said was making sense and that meant I didn’t have someone in front of me to be angry with.
“Why didn’t you tell me when Andrew hired me?” I sighed, sitting back down on the couch.
“Well, like I said, I wanted you to find your sea legs,” she said with a small smile. “I didn’t want the truth affecting whether or not you wanted to work here, whether you wanted to stay here after finding out about what the animals are. It would’ve complicated things, the emotions you’ll have to work through now that you know the truth. Whether or not you decide to give another tour, you also know what they’re like. That’s the benchmark I wanted you to reach before you found out about who you are.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Who I-” My face went slack. “Wait.”
Suzanne nodded slowly. “You’re only half human. Your brother too.”
The room seemed to tilt on an axis for a moment. “That means I’m also half…what?”
“We call ourselves Eldritch, these days,” she replied.
My eyes bugged out. “What?” I exclaimed. “So you’re all, like, gods or something?”
Suzanne burst out laughing. “Oh no, goodness, no,” she chuckled. “It’s just a word. We live in a very different world from this one, and a few generations ago we discovered the word and it made its way into our lexicon. But it does mean you can see all the animals. Indeed you did, on the tour you gave.”
“Wait, no, I had the glasses that…” I stopped. “Did those glasses do anything?”
She gave a sly smile and shook her head. “Not a thing. You made incredibly quick progress, and then when it came time for the tour, all you needed was to expect to see the animals, and you did.”
Genetics. That’s what Andrew had said during our interview, that part of how many animals you could see was determined by genetics. I guess having a mother who was originally from the other dimension gave me all the genes I needed to see everything here. “Could I…visit your world?” I asked tentatively. “You said that my mom took photos of the animals there. Could I…” My voice trailed off, not even sure if or how I wanted to finish that sentence.
“Those who are half human, especially those who are raised on Earth, don’t come visit,” she said gently. “I could show you some photos of other animals, and I could loan you as many books as you’d like, but it’s simply not a place where you’d be safe.”
“Oh,” I said, leaning into the couch cushion as I pictured the animals in the zoo. “Yeah, actually that…makes sense.” I paused. “So, what now?”
“It’s up to you,” she said. “I wanted to wait until I was sure you were comfortable with your position here, and then put the ball in your court. And so it is. What do you want to do now?”
What did I want to do? It wasn’t that difficult a question, just a deep, serious one.
I wanted to thrive, as the animals did. This is my enrichment now, working at an incredible, wonderful, terrifying zoo. The experience so far hasn’t been perfect, and I know there are risks, but life isn’t about staying safe. It’s about learning new things and making a difference in the world. And, if you’re lucky, having a job that’s something really special.
​
THE END
​
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***
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I find that if I wear the helmet continuously (during BTP/route marches) the area where the pads contact the frontal part of my head has hot spots forming which is quite uncomfortable. It also makes my left eye hurt for some reason. I've tried loosening my helmet but it only lengthens the time before I get the sensation by a bit.
Does anyone have any advice? I'm considering buying 3rd party pads since some ppl say those are better quality and can prevent the discomfort. However, is there a particular way to place the SAF pads to prevent discomfort? Does anyone else have the eye pain issue?

I’m 4 days post op (DI with FNG) and still quite hunched over when i stand, in pain and just generally not able to move all too much. I’ve started getting random twinges in my chest, specially where my nipples are which i’m worried about as they have both bled at points (would you guys say that’s normal, I don’t have an appt with my surgeon until next friday otherwise I’d ask). When were you guys able to stand normally and not really be in pain when you move? I’m just not very good at sitting still and I’m worried that’s why my nipples bled and that I might do more damage without realising (I didn’t see until later bc my post op compression wrap covers it). Thanks!

THIS IS A CONTINUATION STORY. CLICK MY PROFILE TO FIND PART 1.
Once I got into my house, I wasn't sure what to feel. I was nervous and shy at the same time. My mom always keeps bottles of liquor in the house so I picked up a random whiskey and started drinking it. About 20 mins later, I felt a lot more confidence and slutty. I put on some panties and stood in front of the full body mirror to snap diff angles or my ass. I sent him the pics and sent a msg saying "I actually dont need to sleep on it... can I come over now for that🍆." He msged back with a pic of his semi hard cock and told me to come thru. I put on some baggy sweats and sweater and walked over to his house. It was about 7 mins away by walk so I said why not. I finally got there and he gave me a tight hug, mainly focusing on my ass as he gripped it. I smiled while my face was buried in his chest and I walked in. I told him if he wanted to smoke some weed and brought out some of my own. He told me to keep my weed and pulled out this weed that was in a crazy looking alien space typa of bag. As he was breaking down the weed and rolling up. I decided in my mind and said fuck it and stood up to drop my baggy sweats to reveal my bubble butt in the pink thongs. He sropped rolling for a second and looked up at my ass while moaning "mmm." He smacked it up and continued to roll up. After he rolled it up he started to light it. I nervously moved up onto his lap and sat on it adjusting my position so that his cock really feels my ass.
"Its so soft and round." He said while coughing and passing the blunt to me. I grabbed it and started smoking. He put his hands around my waist and started to grind up all on his dick. We passed the blunt back and forth as I kept it up. He eventually got hard. He told me he was like 80 percent hard and I smiled and told him "I'll take care of the other 80 percent" I pulled his briefs off to reveal a massive cut white cock. I was holding the bottom of his cock while waving it around slowly. I was amazed at how big and tasty it looked.
"Put it in ur mouth already." My friend said as he pushed the back of my head towards it. I gave the head of his huge cock a lick or two, before I slowly and sensationally sucked his cock. It was so thick that getting the head into my mouth was difficult. He let out a deep moan as I kept sucking on the head for now. I used both of my small hands to jerk him off while I sucked it. I kept eye contact with him while sucking until he started to face fuck me. I coughed and gagged hella times and tears and spit were all over my face.
"Aw look at the little cry baby" he said while teasing me. I smiled and told him stfu and then continued to go even deeper with my mouth. He pulled his cock out my mouth and started slapping me in the face with it. I stuck my tongue out and smiled like a slut.
"Ur doing good my lil slut, better then the last 10 females tbh." He said while looking down on me. I felt proud of myself after he complimented me.
"I guess I was meant to suck ur dick right?" I said smiling before getting on the sofa and sticking my ass in the air for him to pound.
"Shit I'm down to try but wtf makes u think u can take this dick in ur ass and not run away wen u only got half my dick wet with ur mouth?" He said while slapping his cock on my ass cheeks and rubbing it on my hole. I was getting hornier feeling the skin of his cock on my ass hole.
"Mmm I'm so horny, please just put it in already daddy." I felt like I was able to take all of his dick, until he attempted to put it in. I screamed out of pain and squirmed away like he said I would. He started laughing seeing me struggle to take it.
"Hehe, u got skills with ur mouth but u got ways to go until ur taking this dick in ur butt with no problem." He said while stroking his cock. I turned around and started to suck his dick again and try to make him cum. I wasn't able to but I got him close. He took his dick out my mouth and told me to say "ahh" I opened wide and he bussed a fat load all over my face.
"If only u could see this masterpiece, this is what I call true art" he said while chuckling. I walked over to the mirror to see how he painted my face. I smiled like the little slut I and licked up as much as I could off my face. We washed up in the shower together where I sucked him for less the a minute, made out with him for a couple of minutes, then we washed each other and finished showering. We dried up and applied lotion to each other. Once we were all lotioned and washed up. I was ready to head out.
"Next time ur here, make sure that ass come prepared for training... most ppl are able to take it the first time, be proud of urself." He said while patting me on the head. I smiled and said I'll try my best to make sure I ready. He grabbed my shoulder to pull me closer to him and showed me an adult store to go to, so I can purchase a dildo. I said cool and gave him a hug as well as let him touch my ass before I walked out the door.
I finally got home and didn't know what to think. We still are meeting up tmrw in the morning like we usually do, but I guess from here on out, ima be his blowjob machine while driving... or even more. I ended the night with me just thinking of our link up and I was able to get had instantly and buss a nut not too long afterwards. It was hard to sleep with me being excited to meet tmrw but I some how did it.
Next part will be in a week... I gotta train myself first and foremost. Might make a story to that as well.....

I'm looking for advice while I wait to see a doc. I've been to the hospital 3 times in the last 2 months for sudden chest pain, shortness of breath, and high blood pressure, thinking I'm having a heart attack. The first time I couldn't breathe, collapsed, and thought I was going to die in the hospital. Each time they've taken my tests, my heart and lungs are perfectly fine.
I just learned about GERD and think I may be experiencing this. I'm not experiencing any of the typical regurgitation, no stomach ache or nausea, the pain is really all centered in the chest with high blood pressure. It's been happening every night for at least a week. I live alone and am terrified every night, I'm so sad, feel so weak, and hyperfixated on both my health and every sensation in my body.
I guess I need to vent more than anything else. This came on so suddenly, with no warning, and no obvious cause. It's really getting to me :'(

I was evicted by my own parents on Christmas Eve via texting war with my step day during a 10hr shift as a barber. I was informed my youngest daughter (6) wouldn’t be returning from her fathers house for Christmas that same day. My oldest daughter (16) and I were casted out of our family’s traditional Christmas festivities and we spent Christmas Eve and Day alone. The day after she went to “lunch” with my ex mother in law and never came home. I was devastated which caused a pain flare up (fybromiaga/myofacial pain syndrome/stage 4 endometriosis, degenerative disc disease). I couldn’t get out of bed. I had to call off. I was fired on January 3rd. On January 6th I was pulled over and arrested because the passenger of my vehicle had put 3GS of crack in an old prescription bottle of mine she stole from my house earlier that day. January 8th my phone was turned off. On the 10th my car broke down and I just got it back yesterday morning.
While my phone was off I missed every call and message sent to me by Child Services. I missed every opportunity to defend myself against the lies and accusations made by my ex. My mom had started forwarding my mail to the post office without my knowledge. I received not 1 certified letter. I missed my first 2 court dates.
I spent almost a month alone in the house I was abused in as a child/teen. The house I shared with my daughters, no car, no phone, no money, and eventually no food.
In a span of two weeks, I lost my kids, my family, my house, my job, my phone, my car, and was arrested.
I’ve never been in trouble in my life. Always had full custody of all three of my children find the age of 17. and for the most part without any involvement of their fathers outside of the weekends. But I lost all of it. My ex had manipulated my family in believing complete lies about me. Smear campaigns surround me every day. Every morning I wake up and realize where I am, and how far away from my children I am and I lose it. I cry every time I open my eyes. It’s been months. And every day it hurts more. Because I can’t afford a lawyer, there’s a very good chance I won’t get them back.
My son (22) lives in a different state but calls almost daily bc he knows he is the one that is keeping me here. But if I lose custody of my youngest daughter, like I did my oldest, there’s no way I can continue living like this, feeling this much pain, physically and emotionally every single day. My little one. I cry all day every day. She was my sidekick . We went everywhere together. She was right by my side since the day she was born, She is my best buddy and they ripped her away from me. Without a single conversation. Not one. My exes, vindictive, hateful actions can only possibly be fueled by his desire to not go to jail for the $15,000 he owes in back child support. Up until a week before this, he was still trying to come back home. Still making advances on me. Leading me to believe that we were friends. But now I know it was all part of the plan. He had been plotting for months. Because my family operates in such negativity towards me they happily took the bait. I will never speak to any of them again. And the only reason why I haven’t been able to get my children back is because he dismantled my life by ensuring that I couldn’t afford a lawyer. Nothing in the report was true. It was all lies based on hearsay. So I’m here to warn you… no matter how good of a mother you are, if someone is determined to take everything away from you, they will. All I have left to do is pray to whatever God will listen to me. A lawyer shows up at my doorstep, expecting zero payment, and they fight to bring the truth to light. for me. Otherwise this is all going to end soon for me. I just can’t handle the sadness. I haven’t seen my daughter since December 20, 2020 23. I never gone more than two days without her before that. my heart aches more at the thought of her being alone without her mother than it does for myself. My teenager is not trapped with her abusive narcissistic, father. Being treated like dog shit. Unable to speak to me or her brother. All my family invites that monster and his mistress to Easter and breaks bread with them. It’s all so twisted. I just want this nightmare to end.
Thank you for allowing me to vent.

So, I was doing a simulated patient exercise, and my guy was a 70-year-old male who called because "I'm not feeling well." I put him on the monitor and saw an irregular rhythm on the Lifepac. I classified it as Sinus with PACs and PVCs. (It was a 2nd-degree type 1 heart block with PVCs). SPO2 is 92, so I put him on O2 NC 4L and did a thorough assessment. I didn't print a longer strip even though I had to stare at it for a little while; I was subject to the effects of a 3-second lifepack screen. For some reason, 12 leads are not available in the simulation.
Nothing impressive comes up on the assessment. Neuro intact, vitals are great for a 70-year-old, and he admits to a hx of diabetes controlled without medication. So I'm getting ready to transport and decide that since he is older, he has an observed cardiac pathology that got better with oxygen (I did not explicitly recognize this improvement with O2 in the sim). I gave him ASA 324mg PO for new-onset arrhythmia, Started an IV TKO, and up the O2 to 10 L NRB and transport.
In the debrief, I was drawn and quartered for the Aspirin decision. " It's not in that protocol; you're not a doctor!"
EMS providers of the internet, a new onset AV 2nd Degree type 1 can set in for toxicology (no meds, denies drugs and ETOH), cardiac pathology, and, especially in young people, high vagal tone (see toxicology). Although it is not as indicative of cardiac damage as Type 2, a new onset Wenkebok doesn't show up just because. There can be meds/toxins or cardiac ischemia/infarct/vessel disease. ASA is indicated or at least not contraindicated if it's vessel disease. (I told you I was eviscerated)
My takeaways:
If I can't identify the rhythm at a glance (I thought I had it right, so I didn't print a strip), I print a longer strip and read it like I usually do. I wear glasses for a reason.
I didn't try to justify ACS, given an elderly diabetic, that could be possible silent chest pain.
He didn't have a hx of bleeding or anything like that. I don't remember if I specifically asked him if he had taken Aspirin in the last 24 hours; he said he didn't take meds.
So I've been ruminating about this for a day and just need to get it off my chest and get some feedback. I'm okay with being wrong,g but I'm salty about being yelled at. I'd at least like to learn something for all my troubles.

I went in at 6:45 am and was home by 12:00 noon - the same day. I fell asleep for a few hours after returning home but was up walking around normally much of the night. I was able to fold clothing, clean up a bit, pick up toys, etc. with no issue. I’m a bit sore and swollen today but very manageable. I can sit in a kitchen chair fine, recliner is fine, laying on my side or stomach is not happening due to incisions and swelling. I think the worst part is the gas pains in my mid section, chest and shoulders. The more I walk around the better it gets so I walked around the house a lot today and went to the store to walk around. My mid section is pretty swollen, so I’m hoping that subsides soon. I’m curious how long it takes for swelling to go down. Good luck to everyone else with a procedure scheduled soon.

(I posted this a few days ago but I'm looking for some more opinions in light of things I left out of my last post)
Let me give some quick background.
So I've been seriously lifting for about two years and I've made a lot of progress. 5'7, went from around 115 to 160 lbs at the beginning of the day. I'm on my second bulk so far, but, despite eating all my macros and a calorie surplus, I've been seeing declining performance for weeks now. I don't feel much stronger than when I started bulking, and I've had to cut my 75-90 minute workouts (6 days a week) short quite often in recent times before my muscles will tire, forcing me to quit before I'm satisfied with the work I've done.
I decided to take a week off last week, but coming into this week, not only have I been able to do even less work and have had to cut the workouts even shorter, but both today's and yesterday's workouts have caused aches and pains in my chest and shoulder respectively (Monday is chest and tricepts, Tuesday is biceps and back). My pecs are super sensitive to any movement and feel sore, and my shoulder feels like it's having growing pains (aching pain).
I've also been taking muscle relaxants (magnesium citrate) for about 2 months for the sake of my digestion. Could this sustained ingestion of muscle relaxants harm my performance?
What's the cause of this pain, and more broadly the workout problems I've been having? Overtraining? Plateauing? What's the solution.

I was having jaw pain super dull it’s something that has came and gone, pressing on it felt like a sore muscle but nothing too bad. I started massaging it &’ BOOM the pain went away. Instantly my mind went to fear. Fear that “what if I had an abscess” “what if I just gave myself sepsis” omg my heart rate was boosting instantly and then the panic kicked in my chest &’ i got up so quickly my heart started pounding even felt on the back of my head.
Not going to lie I almost health anxiety spiraled. Also I’m still super scared but I’m trying really hard to focus on my breathing.😭

I’ve been dealing with ROCD/ra for about a year and a half now. I’ve been with my partner for about 2 years so it started about 7 months into our relationship. Before rocd/ra came, I felt so much love towards him all the time. However, I didn’t have constant thoughts of “this is going to be over soon” “he’s cheating” “he’s too good for you and you’re too much for him emotionally” I was able to manage these thoughts and still feel a lot of good emotions about the relationship. In Feb2023, I experienced really bad health anxiety. It was hard for me to lay my head back without being dizzy and I was experiencing stomach pains. Around the same time, my partner and I had some miscommunication that left me very angry and disappointed in him. The day it happened I woke up shaky and anxious and my heart wouldn’t stop pounding. I started d thinking I was going to have a heart attack. Later on that day, we talked it through and I felt more comfortable about our disagreement. Then when I looked at him in the eyes, a voice said loudly “you don’t love him!” That’s where my rocd/ra started. It had loud intrusive thoughts and horrible anxiety. I eventually found my way to ROCD and this sub. I scoured it, and I learned about this condition. However, I still never heard of rocd/ra sparking from an argument. I always read that it came suddenly for a lot of people or randomly during a good time in their relationship. I guess what I want to know overall, have people experienced rOCD/ra after they had an argument or after their partner disappointed them? If someone that experienced that please let me know. And can you let me know if you overcame it or how you’re doing so far?

I’ve been dealing with ROCD/ra for about a year and a half now. I’ve been with my partner for about 2 years so it started about 7 months into our relationship. Before rocd/ra came, I felt so much love towards him all the time. However, I didn’t have constant thoughts of “this is going to be over soon” “he’s cheating” “he’s too good for you and you’re too much for him emotionally” I was able to manage these thoughts and still feel a lot of good emotions about the relationship. In Feb2023, I experienced really bad health anxiety. It was hard for me to lay my head back without being dizzy and I was experiencing stomach pains. Around the same time, my partner and I had some miscommunication that left me very angry and disappointed in him. The day it happened I woke up shaky and anxious and my heart wouldn’t stop pounding. I started d thinking I was going to have a heart attack. Later on that day, we talked it through and I felt more comfortable about our disagreement. Then when I looked at him in the eyes, a voice said loudly “you don’t love him!” That’s where my rocd/ra started. It had loud intrusive thoughts and horrible anxiety. I eventually found my way to ROCD and this sub. I scoured it, and I learned about this condition. However, I still never heard of rocd/ra sparking from an argument. I always read that it came suddenly for a lot of people or randomly during a good time in their relationship. I guess what I want to know overall, have people experienced rOCD/ra after they had an argument or after their partner disappointed them? If someone that experienced that please let me know. And can you let me know if you overcame it or how you’re doing so far?

Hello, 4 weeks back had hooked up with a lady. Had unprotected penetration for few seconds. Came back to my senses and wore a condom and carried on.
Last week noticed a boil on my penis shaft. I should have left it alone. I tried to pop it out . Also , foolish of me to apply undiluted Dettol on it. This led to skin irritation and caused burn like sacrs near the area. Now it has dried out but still have bumpy scars .
https://ibb.co/cFsGLb8
https://ibb.co/pXsVn0x
Could this still be a STI or something. Had no other symptoms like blisters, cold sores ,fever, discharge or painful urination.

My vagina has been itching. I am on the last 2 days of my period & free bled a little, so I assumed this caused some itchiness and irritation., or possibly even a yeast infection seeing as I have gone to the gym as well. Whenever I shower & get my shower head over it, I feel fine. I get out and dont feel itchy. Only later does it feel itchy, & if i scratch, it starts an itchy out burst. It isnt unbearable but it feels very good to itch it, super relieving like scratching your scalp really good when your hair was itching bad. I can be super rough too scratching. I sorta DJ record scratch it and get a ton of relief.
I dont know whats happening so I googled & of course the results scared me. “Genital herpes” & other STDs. I took videos/pictures to see how I looked down there and now I am a bit scared as I do see a red area with what looks like bumps. However its not like its itching only where those bumps are, its just the entire vagina hole area.. If you are curious enough or not squimish I posted pics on my profile.
I scheduled a doctors appointment but I am freaking out. Could this be genital herpes? It isnt “painful”. After a while of DJ record scratching it can feel slightly dried out and discomforting but not painful. And after a good scratch I can go without touching it. A shower pretty much gets rid. What could this be?