Hi all—we took in a foster dog for less than 24 hours. She had been treated for fleas at the vet but when she arrived I noticed a couple of active live fleas on her. I also noticed one on the toy she brought with her but I quickly threw it away. After she left I washed all fabrics and have vacuumed for the past three days. I also sprayed a natural flea spray called “vets best.” I hadn’t seen any bugs or gotten any bites but today when I was sitting next to area where her food was, I noticed a bite on my leg. I didn’t see any fleas though. I set a water trap and don’t know what to do next. Do I set off a bug bomb? Do I call in the pros? Any help would be appreciated. Struggling a little with the idea of an infestation 🥲

To preface: Her 12 and 16 y/o kids live with us full time and we get little to no support from their dad. Both kids struggle with mental health to some degree, but the youngest has out of control behaviors (throwing things, yelling, kicking, refusing to go to school, etc).
He was recently admitted to a psych facility and put on meds, but meds and therapy really aren’t making much of a difference so far, and I’m at my wits end. Our home is never clean because of his messes, we have damage to our furniture and walls, I am constantly walking on eggshells with what I say or do. I am not home in my own house.
My wife also struggles with severe anxiety but is hesitant to try any medication. She just got a therapist but to give you an idea of how it’s been the entire three years of our marriage-
I end up taking her to the ER maybe 8-12 times a year due to her thinking something is wrong with her and panicking (there is never anything wrong).
Currently she’s going through a period where she is terrified to drive so I am the family’s only transport. She can’t work right now due to constantly quitting jobs or regularly calling out.
I’ve encouraged her to seek more serious help but she refuses to try and take care of her son’s needs too.
The eldest kiddo is doing all right, just on antidepressants and having a hard time with hygiene.
I feel like I am going insane. I am so tired. Before you ask, I am in therapy too lol. I just want your thoughts and love during this time, please - because I feel like I have been holding everything and everyone together, albeit poorly, for a really long time!
If I leave, I couldn’t conscientiously leave my wife on her own with two disabled kids and no support. I would 100% continue to support so she can get the help she needs. I just don’t think she would accept it.
My mind is so heavy and my soul is weary.

so for reference i am five foot, 134 pounds (usually only 100-110 before pregnancy) so i’m really small. this is my second child. with my first i was emergent my induced at 37 weeks for HBP that got worse and worse. my daughter was 7 pounds and 13 ounces at 37 weeks! everyone was super surprised because i didn’t look very big and i’m not very big myself.
my MIL’s babies were both five pounds and all my moms babies were six so i was shocked too. i’m 33 weeks with my second now and an ultrasound (which i know aren’t always accurate) says he’s 5 lbs 11 oz. even before this i was nervous to carry to term and have a baby bigger than seven pounds because that wrecked me. should i be worried based not only on ultrasound but past history? i do not have GD but i did have to do the three hour test and had one bad number so i have changed my diet to eat a little healthier and cut out anything too sugary.

Hellooo guyss, Just popping in for a quick entitled family member story.
I (F21) was chatting with my uncle (31) the other day. More like complaining about his mom(my grandmother). We were exchanging stories about her absurdity and entitlement. My favorite was the time she looked at me and told me that I should be taking money out of my salary to give her. It was my first grown up job that I got almost a year ago. I would have understood if it was for bills or to help out with groceries but no! Just cause she helped my mom out with me as I grew up, she believes I should give her money as some kind of repayment. Not even my mother has this belief!
Just some context so you understand the depth of my grandmother’s audacity.
Anyways! So my mom passed across and reminded us of the time she was in labour with my sister. Normally my mother would style my grandmother’s hair every time she goes anywhere. To work, to church, to town etc. But picture it, it is 4am, my 9 months pregnant mother’s water breaks while sneaking an early snack. Her and my dad are now quickly gathering up the hospital bag and necessities. I am worried about my mom as the contractions hit, I was only 11 years old. My uncle and my father are helping my mom get through a contraction before she can walk again. The hospital is 30 minutes away and time isn’t on our side. In the mist of it all, without ever lifting a finger to help, my grandmother looks at my mother and says, “So, you going to curl my hair right?”. The gall! The audacity! The unrivaled arrogance and lack of humility!!!!
My mother between contractions standing up curling my grandmother’s hair as if none of my aunt can walk three houses up to do it. As we wouldn’t leave for the hospital for another 6 hours, what was your point? Lookkkkk!!!!!
Til this day, I have not met someone who has topped that.🤦🏽‍♀️
Sidenote: Im a still a little inexperienced with reddit so my story telling may not be the best. And yes the story is very real.

Out there - Patreon (for all those curious or wanting to support :))
At the Beginning
Adventure Arc - Arc 2
Wilderness Arc - Arc 3
Academy Arc - Arc 4
Nobility Arc - Arc 5
Previously on Leveling up the World...
The ground kept disintegrating in a five-mile radius. The number of point and line attacks targeting Dallion was so great that even the domain itself had trouble keeping up to protect him. Spikes would injure dozens, occasionally killing one or two in the process, but that would do little to hinder the mass of steel.
The noble with the steel tendrils slashed through the air, sending hundreds of line attacks in one blow. While each was individually weaker than those of a normal person, together they were a serious threat. It didn’t help that they indiscriminately sliced through soldiers on their way. The countess had no value of human life, least of those belonging to her.
Splitting into instances, Dallion combined a vertical line strike with a multi attack.
​
ATTACK NEGATED
VALORR’s attack has been sliced in two.
Attack has no effect.
​
Dozens of red rectangles blinked in and out of existence, though even they proved unable to stop everything. The solution was for Dallion to fly higher into the sky, even though that would make him a prime target. At the same time, it also gave him the possibility to perform an area attack of his own.
Taking a deep breath, he did a spiral attack aimed at the archduchess, followed immediately by a magic music attack. It would have been better if he still had rays of destruction remaining, but most of the clay cylinders had already been used up, and Dallion didn’t want to risk venturing into his realm to make more.
As expected, hundreds of soldiers leapt in front of their nobles, performing an array of defensive line attacks. None proved strong enough to stop the spiral attack, but managed to slow it down so that the only thing that reached Priscord were drops of blood.
“I’ve over ten thousand, in case you’re counting,” she said in an amused voice. “And that’s without counting the reserves. But should you somehow manage to deal with them, the emperor has entrusted me with several legions as well.”
The boast made Dallion think. There seemed to be more beneath the spite. While ten thousand awakened was a massive army, it wasn’t the largest, and it definitely wasn’t worth bragging about. With the exception of the archbishop, all conquerors had armies in the millions. Not only that, but while she claimed that the emperor had entrusted her with his legions, there didn’t seem to be any cloud forts in the air.
“Then how about I take them at once?” Dallion whispered.
A wide patch of ground beneath the archduchess and her armies suddenly fell through, creating a deep pit. The armies in full plated armor scattered, in an attempt to escape, yet less than a thousand seemed to do so. The empress, in contrast, didn’t budge. The horse she had mounted remained floating in the air, as if nothing had changed. Not only that, but magic threads had also extended, keeping the two harpsisword nobles in the air as well.
Harp, what’s that? Dallion asked.
It’s not a creature I’ve seen, the nymph replied.
Having Vihrogon here would have been better, although Dallion strongly suspected that the creature had been created, or rather modified, like the crimson furies.
Taking no chances, Dallion quickly closed up the enormous pit. Before he could manage, however, thousands of soldiers flew up, filling the air. A few hundred were squished by the earth, slamming together, though not nearly as many as Dallion had hoped.
“Living armor,” he said. How come he hadn’t noticed that before? Whatever magic there was in the armors, it had to be hidden deep inside. “They’re a bit smaller than I remember them.”
“The original creators had a lot to compensate for,” Priscord replied. “I don’t.”
A new series of attacks filled the air.
In the blink of the eye, the entire space was filled with instances. Even if the common soldiers weren’t able to split into more than twenty, that made close to a quarter million facing three hundred.
A moment of shock went through Dallion, quickly replaced by a new sensation—the thrill of battle and the desire to defeat everything thrown at him.
The archduchess had covered all the angles: echoes to grant her minions strategy, artifacts to give them flight. It was also noticeable that despite their low levels, their speed was quite close to a hundred—another magic artifact or spell that had been cast. Even so, there was one thing that the woman had forgotten: a thousand people with a thousand separate skills couldn’t compare to one who could manage a combination of all, especially within his domain.
“Countess,” Dallion shouted, deliberately aiming to irk her. Red rectangles flashed non-stop as line attacks canceled each other constantly. “You’ve never been to the Academy, have you?”
“No.” The archduchess retained her cool. “I never considered it worth anything much, even when I gained my current title.”
“Let me tell you one thing…”
Of all the remaining buildings, books and scrolls flew out of the shelves. Like swarms of insects, they amassed, flying from all directions straight towards Dallion. It would be several minutes until all of them arrived on the scene, but that wasn’t of consequence, especially for what Dallion had in mind.
​
DOMAIN AWAKENING
​
Reality shifted. It didn’t shift just for Dallion. In less than a second, everyone in the real world was transported into the realm of his new domain. In many regards, things were no different than they had been before. Here, just as in the real world, Dallion maintained control over the realm. There were also a number of differences as well. For starters, Dallion’s feet existed here, as did a host of area guardians.
“Goldy, get her,” Dallion ordered.
The golden colossus emerged from the ground, dashing straight for the countess. In contrast to everyone else, its strength and speed were considerably faster, not to mention it was immune to spells.
Not in the least taken aback, Priscord snapped her fingers. All the armors of her soldiers—nobles included—burst, increasing tenfold. Apparently, the living armors were also blooming items as well. Being taken into the awakened realms had boosted their size and abilities to a considerable degree. How considerable, would soon be seen.
“You disappoint me.” Archduchess Priscord yawned. “Did you think that I wouldn’t have a counter for this? You think you’ll impress me by being a domain ruler? I’ve fought in such battles decades before you showed up.”
“That’s not the reason I brought you here.” Dallion attempted to complete a guard sequence, but the attackers didn’t let him, always disrupting it halfway through. “As I was saying, the Academy is probably the one place in the world that has the largest number of physical books.”
At that single moment, a spark of concern emanated from Priscord. She had grasped what Dallion was going for, and by all accounts it was too late to do anything about it.
Scholar skills combined with music, spell craft, and attack, releasing thousands of aether quills from the hundreds of thousands books and scrolls that existed in the realm. Like deadly hail they ascended on Priscord’s army on all sides. The outermost layers of the army tried to block the quills’ advance only to be drilled full of holes, like bullets drilling through a rotten scarecrow. And best of all, Dallion didn’t have to worry about the colossus guardian, since they didn’t affect him in the least.
​
TERMINAL HIT
Dealt damage is increased by 1000%
​
TERMINAL HIT
Dealt damage is increased by 1000%
​
TERMINAL HIT
Dealt damage is increased by 1000%
​
Red rectangles filled the air like a sea of red. There were so many of them that they covered the entire sky, making it seem like a crimson sunset.
The sudden change in circumstances had forced a large part of the army to shift. Even with their boost, they still had to deal with the colossus, while also protecting Priscord from the aether quills. The momentary chaos created a single opening.
The harpsisword seemed to move on its own, slicing through two soldiers that blocked his way. The spark covered edge went through the massive armor as if it were butter, causing it to blast from the inside.
​
TERMINAL HIT
Dealt damage is increased by 1000%
​
TERMINAL HIT
Dealt damage is increased by 1000%
​
Two red rectangles emerged, after which the soldiers vanished as they were thrust back into the real world, their awakening powers sealed. That wouldn’t get rid of the echoes inside then, but at least made Priscord vulnerable here.
Thrusting his aura sword forward, Dallion cast a series of magic circles. Aether shards began shooting out, while chains targeted the nobles protecting the archduchess. To further cut off her support, Dallion pulled up the ground surrounding her, creating high cliffs. Unlike the other terrain changes in the realm, no one would dare attack these with line attacks out of fear of harming her. At this point, only one unknown remained—the horse.
Three of the nobles flew at Dallion, attacking him with their special weapons. Their armors, too, had blossomed into more elegant versions of living armor.
Bursting into instances, Dallion evaded the tendril sword’s attacks. At the same time, Gem flew in to meet the ax of another attacker head on. A loud cling resonated, pushing the aetherfish back, though by no means diminishing its determination. Meanwhile, Lux transformed the weapon he was inhabiting from a pair of bows to a crossbow, firing bolts of light at the third noble like a machine gun.
“Good work, guys,” Dallion whispered as he flew past, continuing towards his target.
I could take care of them easily, Gleam said, itching for blood.
I need you to keep an eye on Aqui, Dallion insisted.
She’s a great dragon! Even if she’s a cow, killing her won’t be easy.
Keep an eye on Aqui, Dallion said in a firm tone that quickly ended all protests.
A short distance away, the two nobles had combined their music skills, creating a shield around Priscord. Their skills were impressive, though nowhere near anything he’d seen in the former House Elazni. It was a novel use of their powers, though. Dallion made a note to experiment using in the future.
“Move away!” He shouted, using his own music skills, combining it with magic. His own music strands tore through the defensive mesh, striking both of the nobles.
​
PERMANENT EFFECT - PARALYSIS
IHIJON has been rendered incapable of movement for 20 minutes.
The status continues to be in effect in the real world.
​
PERMANENT EFFECT - PARALYSIS
AVIRA has been rendered incapable of movement for 20 minutes.
The status continues to be in effect in the real world.
​
That’s two down, Dallion thought, tightening his grip round the hilt of the harpsisword. Only one left.
Splitting into fifty instances, he unleashed a spiral attack right at the archduchess. His expectation was that the horse would transform into something and block the attack. No such thing happened.
Priscord herself leaped off the creature’s back. A one foot dagger appeared in her hand with which she slashed the air, performing a line attack.
​
ATTACK NEGATED
Your attack has been sliced in two.
Attack has no effect.
​
Huh? Dallion instantly performed a series of line attacks.
This was the first time he’d seen a spiral attack be stopped and in such an effortless way. There was no way this could be due to Priscord’s strength. Even if he wasn’t able to see her white rectangle, the woman’s traits were well beneath the hundred. If nothing else, she wasn’t an otherworlder and thus subject to limitations. It had to be some artifact she was wearing.
“Admiring my weapon?” the woman asked, as she kept on negating Dallion’s attacks. “It’s a nice trinket given to me by the emperor. One of several.”
“So, it’s your trinkets versus my trinkets?” Dallion asked, taking the opportunity for a music attack. To his surprise, the harpsiswords held by the paralyzed nobles played on their own, negating it as well.
“Yes.” The dagger glowed purple. “That’s precisely it.”

/uw Part four is here! Here's part one, part two, and part three! This one's probably a little more unpolished than the other ones, but I hope that doesn't ruin it! CW: Death, blood. I made a render in blender, but it got the post removed! Take two!
/rw
The end of the book, thin as it is, draws near. The text is overwritten dozens of times, always with the same phrase: "IT WAS AN ACCIDENT". Same as the other pages, though, it's easy enough to look past the bad coverup job. History cannot be erased, after all.
...
When I arrived at the hospital, I was in bad shape. I had a fractured skull, a missing eye, a lesion in my frontal lobe, and I was in hypovolemic shock. They didn't think I was going to make it.
It was a miracle that I even woke up from my two-week coma, but it wasn't all perfect. From the moment I opened my eye(s), I didn't know where I was. I had to relearn everything. My name, my address, my identity... They were all gone.
It was as if I was a new man who'd been transported into a stranger's body. Everyone talked to me as if they knew me, but I couldn't say the same for them. Especially that drow, Eldred. He claimed we were childhood friends. Every day, he'd tell me stories of our history together, but they were stories I never wanted to hear. It felt wrong listening to him talk, knowing there was a man who knew more about me than I did.
The moment I was discharged, I fled to my apartment. I drew the blinds, locked the door, and cut off all contact from the outside world. I wanted to run away from it all, to start a new life, not some travesty of another man's life.
After a few days of my isolation, Eldred (presumably) got worried about me, and came knocking on my door. I didn't answer. I wanted nothing to do with him—or anyone, for that matter. He was a remnant of my old life, and I couldn't let him influence me.
A couple days later, he did the same thing. He offered some kind, reassuring words through the door and left. He did this again, and again, and again, for weeks. I was running low on food and supplies, so I was faced with a choice: leave my safe haven, or starve to death in my own home. I didn't like either option. Although... there was another way.
After 17 days of his repeated attempts, I finally answered the door.
"Ith!" Eldred cheered. "You... you really answered!"
"Yeah."
"So uh... Have you been doing alright?"
"I'm fine."
He looked over my shoulder. "Have... you not left the house?"
"Not yet."
"Jesus, Ithael..." He pulled me in for a hug, but I didn't react. "Do you, uh, need anything?"
"Could... you go to the market for me?"
He let go of me. "Yeah, of course! I'll... I'll be back!"
"Alright."
I slammed the door in his face. Just another echo of my old life, that's all he was... A few hours later, he knocked on the door again. I almost didn't answer, but then I remembered he had my groceries.
He exclaimed with clearly-forced optimism, "Heyyyy! Hope you've been alright! So, I was thinking, and... I was wondering if you wanted to do dinner together?"
"Not out there. Never out there. Here. Please."
"I figured you'd say that... so I got ingredients! I found this recipe for some pan-seared chicken in the library earlier, and it sounded really good!"
"...Alright." I took the bags from him and walked over to the kitchen. "Come inside."
"I, uh, was going to make it for you—"
"It's fine," I interjected.
I rummaged through the bags for the cookbook he talked about and flipped through the pages. It didn't look too difficult to make, but I wasn't sure how I knew that. This was the first time I had cooked anything, after all.
Assumedly hearing the pans clattering, Eldred wandered over to the counter, sitting down in a chair across from me. "Need a hand?"
"I'm alright."
"Are you sure? I mean, you were just—"
"Shut it," I commanded. I didn't mean to be so stern. What had come over me? I decided to brush it off. The recipe called for a diced onion... I needed a knife.
He slumped down in his seat. "Sorry... I, uh, got these books for you, by the way."
I glanced up from the cutting board. "...'Healing trauma: a guide for survivors'? And... 'How to cure amnesia'?" I scoffed. "If they could have fixed it, they would have, Eldred. It's incurable."
"We can't know until we try!" He strolled over into the kitchen, flipping to a bookmarked page. "See? This one here says—"
"It doesn't matter."
"Ithael... I'm here for you, man. I'm just trying to help—"
"And I don't care."
I focused myself back to the task at hand, ignoring his look of disdain. The room fell uncomfortably silent. I needed to fillet the chicken. I rummaged through the bags, trying to find—
"Seriously?" Eldred huffed. "I put in all of this work, and you just... don't care?"
"Never asked for it." Now, where was I? Right, chicken—
"That doesn't mean anything! Let me help you, you're clearly struggling!"
"I could manage without you." I continued to avoid eye-contact.
"Why are you so dead-set on pushing me out of your life?!"
"You were never in it to begin with, Eldred. I'm not the Ithael you knew."
"And who cares that you aren't?! Can't we still be friends?"
I tried to explain, "You're just a remnant of my past—"
"And that's an excuse to treat me like shit?! You know what?" He grabbed the books. "I'm done trying to fix you."
"Fix me?" I scoffed. "So I'm a problem, then? Something to be solved?—"
"You're twisting my words! Why... Why do you hate me?!"
"Face it: I'm a different person! Move on with your life, already!"
"What gives you the right to say that?!"
"Oh, what gives me the right?!" I waved the knife around a little too recklessly. "Were you just in a coma for two weeks? Did you just get thrown into a world that knows you better than yourself?! Where's your excuse, huh?!"
"...What do you want from me, Ithael?"
"I want you to get out of my life!"
Time slowed to a crawl as a deep pit formed in my stomach. I yanked my hand back like I'd touched a hot stove, and the knife... clattered to the floor. That look in his eyes... I'd never forget it. I had never seen a man so afraid before.
He grasped at his neck, his face turning pale as his hands soaked with blood. He fell to his knees, mouthing some words at me, but the only sound that came out was a sickening gurgle. He struggled to keep his balance as he fell flat on his face. His breathing grew labored and shaky as he lay there, a crimson puddle forming around his neck.
I knew that I should have gotten help, but, no matter how hard I tried, all I could do was watch. He cried onto the tiled ground, his breathing growing quieter and quieter, until he finally went silent.
What had I done?
...
It seems that he forgot to put any kind of warding spell on this newspaper clipping, as if he didn't expect anyone to get this far. Or perhaps he was too preoccupied with deceiving himself.
"As rumors regarding the disappearance of Eldred Wyndorn continue to circulate, the enigmatic Ithael Ralich opens a new therapist's office. In response to the whispers, Ithael states, 'There's a profound lack of support in this world, and every person could stand to have someone like Eldred by their side. I hope I can step up and fulfill a role he would have approved of.'
In other news, authorities are taking steps to curb the rising number of missing persons cases. Officials urge citizens to adhere to newly-instated curfew until the threat is solved, but claim there's nothing to worr—"

My (30F, AP) boyfriend (40M, FA) and I broke up a few days ago. He told me he was FA from the start, and that he had sabotaged relationships before by ruminating on doubts. He actually hadn't had a real relationship for over ten years when I met him. These were red flags, but once we hit the six month mark I started to assume he really had become secure.
A little over a year in, though, he started a conversation where he brought up a bunch of issues that he'd never talked to me about before, saying he thought we were just incompatible. I told him it made no sense to break up when we hadn't tried to work on the issues (e.g. he wanted to do new things more often, felt I was leaning on him too much in my anxious moments). He seemed to rethink things, and even seemed optimistic by the time we were done talking about it, so I thought even though the pattern was coming up, there was hope.
This started a cycle of about three months, where we'd be fine for a few weeks and then he'd come out with increasingly strong doubts. The thing that kept me going was, he always seemed satisfied to keep trying at the end of these conversations, and it would be the smallest considerations I'd bring up that would change his mind. I even paid for a month of couple's therapy because it seemed like things were so up in the air. The only thing was, whenever I brought up the fact that he'd told me he was FA, he always said that his doubts didn't have anything to do with that--even though it was a clear pattern from what he'd told me.
Finally, it happened. I precipitated it, because he had finally just started telling me the spark was gone and that he "knew it would never come back." I felt like I had tried everything, and when I told him the spark is just hormones he didn't listen. Finally I asked him to think through his long term relationship goals and values, and let me know if we should go no contact. He got back to me a week later and said he still wanted to break up.
I'm heartbroken because I could really see the two parts of him fighting each other, but it seemed like he didn't have self-awareness about it the way he'd seemed to at the beginning. From how he talked at the start, it seemed like all I would have to do is call his attention to his FA attachment and we could work on things. Instead, I'm glad I fought for the relationship, but it's so tragic that I wasn't able to succeed. Any words of support would be appreciated at this time.

Three year career nanny here. I started for my most recent family in April and I’ve been here a little over a month. I’ve encountered a new problem that isn’t something I typically deal with, that being NK and I are inside all day. When I say all day, I mean the full 8 hours I am there. I am perfectly fine to meet parents where they’re at and my job is to collaborate with them so everyone gets what they need. They don’t want me to transport him to any activities out of the house and as far as I know he doesn’t have any scheduled activities on a regular basis. Both MB and DB work from home. Typically, outside time is one of the staple activities I use, parks, splash pads, just walking in the neighborhood. I pride myself on being creative with what we have and we absolutely don’t need to drive anywhere to have fun. This is where it gets tricky. NK is turning two in June. He’s developmentally ready to do a lot. He’s tall for his age and very active, which leads to a lot of frustration when we are inside because I am constantly redirecting him. We have two “yes” zones but those are limited to his room (with minimal toys, mostly books) and the upstairs loft with most of the bigger toys and activities. When I started, the family’s current nanny was bringing her own daughter and it was a little chaotic to say the least. Everyone was under the assumption two kids under 2, with one nanny, and outings was a lot. Now that the dynamic has changed, I was hoping we would get to do more. At first the reason was they wanted to “get the backyard ready” and give him time to transition caregivers. Very understandable. When I suggested walks, MB said she wouldn’t want us to go alone until one of them had the chance to go with us a few times, also reasonable. However, that just never seems to materialize because they both need to be on work calls at 9. I know they typically take a short walk around the block as a family in the evening. Now that’s it’s getting hotter, the only reasonable time anyone wants to be outside is the morning, so I think they’ve been skipping evening walks. It can be over 100 when I leave at 5. We have gone outside in the back yard a few times within the last week, but there is no swing, nothing to play on or climb, not even a water hose. We have some chalk and bubble but those typically last about 5 minutes before he’s ready to move on. Even then, he wants to play with the grill and again I have to tell him no. We usually only last about 20 minutes because there’s just nothing that engages him.
I clarified with MB what temperature she thinks is too hot to be outside, I follow ISD rules which say 90+ degrees is usually the cut off. MB said nothing lower than 50 and nothing higher than 80. We are in Texas, summers here are brutal, and I always take necessity precautions when we do go outside, but there will seldom be a day where it’s under 95 realistically. We rinse and repeat the same thing everyday with little variation other than what is in my scope of control, like toy rotation and creating activities. And even then I have to ask and double check and ask because MB wants to source materials herself. We have weekly check-ins to see how everyone is doing. I’ve already brought up that outside time is a great way to add variation to routine, and how he might be acting out of frustration/boredom. Hell, I’m starting to get zoochosis myself. With a lot of my other kids my watch counts 10-12k steps a day, when I leave at 5 sometimes I’ll have less than 5k.
Is it really that unreasonable to want to bring him to a park within walking distance?

This is the second time I've tried Cymbalta- i quit drinking between the two attempts and was hoping it might go better without the added alcohol anxiety.
I tried again because the first couple months on it feels like EXACTLY what I've been searching for all my life in a medication: it's not like it fixes everything, it just takes away that horrible weight that you carry with you 24/7, I don't have to expend as much energy just shouldering that, or have to spend my first chunk of energy for the day convincing myself it's worth getting out of bed and not just dying. And I can do so much more with that one thing just a little lighter.
But then, at three months almost exactly, my anxiety ramps up really hard. I guess it's gradual enough that I don't notice it immediately, but suddenly I can't do anything at all without quickly approaching a panic attack, and all that energy goes back into just keeping myself from spinning out 30+ times per day. And my quality of life tanks immediately, and I can't get anything done at all. And, man, it's especially disappointing having that happen after that ray of hope the start of the medication gives me.
So now, again, I'm on day 2 of quitting it (after tapering for a month prior). And Cymbalta withdrawals are no fun. I've been crying at everything today, and I'm not a crier. I feel so miserable and disheartened. And the first few brain zaps are starting. I was only on Cymbalta for ~6months this time, but was on Pristiq immediately prior for almost a year, so I'm going totally SNRI cold turkey now and am not looking forwards to it.
I'm trying to figure out where to go from here and was hoping I might find some feedback and experiences from people who have gone through this with similar results on this sub to help give me ideas of where to go from here.
Has anyone else had this same experience with Cymbalta? Does anyone know why this happens, what might be signified by the initial success and later spike in anxiety? I feel like this must be somehow useful information for finding a better fit. I switched to SNRIs after years of no success with SSRIs. I've tried Effexor, Cymbalta, and Pristiq. Effexor and Cymbalta both had this same effect, and Pristiq never actually lifted that weight of sadness- the anxiety definitely did get worse, but it was also a volatile time in my life and was a little tough to seperate the anxiety of that from medication side effect anxiety, though I did notice I developed a habit of skin picking and hair pulling I've never had before or since taking it. Should I try another SNRI, or should I go in a different direction altogether? Has anyone had success with stacking medications to mitigate anxiety from SNRIs and stabilize it a bit? I've been really hesitant to stack medications for obvious reasons, but I've been trying these out for over a decade and am getting willing to try anything to help. If you did find medications that mitigated the side effects, what were they, what do they do, and how did you find them? Any tips on easing the withdrawal symptoms from Cymbalta?
I do have an appointment with a psychiatrist, but it's 6 months away and I'm trying to both gather thoughts and ideas on where I want to go next and what I'm comfortable with before I go, and also potentially get on -something- else that may have a chance of helping to at least hold me over via my PCP. I've had a rough couple years and I'm really trying to pull myself out of a pretty deep hole I've gotten myself in right now, and I'm just over a year sober from alcohol, which is still relatively new, and I know my brain can get pretty bad without medication and am feeling really worried about losing progress on both of those things while I wait for my appointment.

While doing my case rankings the other day I noted that 2-2 could probably work as a final case if it was rewritten and expanded a bit. So I thought it would be a fun exercise to take cases and keep their premise while reducing/expending their scope so they could work at different point in the game. Since I already mentioned it, I'll switch 2-2 and 2-4.
2-2: Turnabout Ceremony
Pretty much the same basic premise, except that Adrian is caught red-handed by Lotta while she's framing Matt, and she gets arrested instead, with no kidnapping plot as a result. De Killer is also replaced by another hitman who's more grounded and less of a Batman super villain. The hitman, actually a hotel bellboy for several years with some ties to the mafia, had his own grudge against Juan Corrida, and was paid by Matt to do the deed.
Adrian as a defendant is very uncooperative, and the first day of trial goes pretty badly. While there's no evidence directly tying her to Juan's murder, the mountain of evidence she tampered with the crime scene makes her very suspicious, and she almost gets given a guilty verdict before Phoenix manages to convince her to tell the truth. Adrian explains that she knew Matt must have done the murder and framed him. However, she refuses to explain why she was so sure it was Matt or why he would kill Juan. Franziska laughs at the notion, as Matt has a rock solid alibi, but nonetheless the trial is extended one more day.
Day two of investigations goes similarly to the game, with of course less stress due to no kidnapped Maya. Phoenix uncovers evidence of a hired hitman, as well as the cameras placed by Matt. Confronting Adrian with the new evidence, she reveals everything. At the trial, the hitman is called to testify (in person this time), and Phoenix proves that he was the one who killed Juan. He confesses, but like in the game, claims Adrian was his client, not Matt. Phoenix disproves that as well, and shows him the cameras placed by Matt, revealing he was intending to blackmail him. Outraged, the hitman turns on Matt and ominously claims that his mafia friends will pay him a visit soon. Scared for his life, Matt confesses and turns himself in to the police.
Oh and maybe there could be some contrivance so that Pearl is the assistant instead of Maya, both so my version of 2-4 makes sense timeline-wise and so Phoenix can use the magatama.
2-4: The Turnabout from Beyond
Same basic premise of Dr. Grey bringing Phoenix to Kurain village so Maya will do a seance. However, instead of saying he wants to make Mimi write a confession, he claims he only wants to talk to her. Additionally, Maya seems noticeably reluctant when interacting with Grey, and it's clear she's only doing this as an excuse to see Phoenix again. He gets murdered, and Morgan chases them out, but when Phoenix and Lotta come back, they find Morgan unconscious and severely wounded, with Maya unconscious next to her. After that there are several notable differences. First, Mimi was the one that brought the gun, not Grey, and she deliberately used it, going against the plan she and Morgan devised. While the two were alone after chasing Phoenix and Lotta out, Morgan begins berating Mimi for not going with the plan. Mimi, not saying a word, hits Morgan hard on the side of the head, giving her brain damage and fleeing the scene. She sticks around the rest of the case like usual, but actually disguises herself as a random tourist college student instead of Ini, and is generally better at concealing her true persona. There's also one or two original residents of Kurain village, including Ruby, a disabled woman and distant cousin of Maya that used to babysit her, and who she has a close relationship with.
The first day of trial goes similarly to the game, however without the evidence of Dr. Grey firing the shot from the ground, Phoenix has a lot harder time casting doubt on Maya being the person in the photo. Towards the end of the trial, the prosecution (could be Miles or Franziska) drops a bombshell: Dr. Grey actually had ties to Kurain, being raised in the village and being the doctor of choice when Kurain natives needed surgery. After an accident, he is the one that operated on Ruby, however a botched operation led to long term complications. Grey, being a huge asshole, never apologized for this or appear remorseful in the slightest. The prosecution argues that Maya developed a grudge against Grey after this incident, and that while she was possessed by Mimi when the shooting happened, Maya was the one that brought the gun, knowing the possibility of such a shooting happening, and giving her a convenient opportunity to take revenge on Grey without technically dirtying her own hands. Phoenix is able to prove by the skin of his teeth that Maya could not have brought the gun with her, buying another day of trial. On the second day of investigations, Phoenix starts suspecting that the college student is Ini in disguise. When confronting her, her true colors briefly slip, insulting Phoenix and smugly stating he doesn't understand anything. Talking with Ruby, Maya, and the Miney parents, we get a big plot twist ; Ini and Mimi are also Kurain natives, and were childhood friends with Maya. Ini was a channelling prodigy from a very young age. One day, while the three were playing in the cemetery, Maya dared Ini to channel a spirit from one of the graves at random. Against Mimi's protests, Ini complied, but the channelled spirit was from a violent and delusional man. He was thankfully exorcised before any of the girls could be hurt, but it left Maya and Mimi traumatized, with Ini swearing off channelling forever. Shortly after, DL-6 happened, and Misty Fey got exiled. The Miney parents, who were in Misty's camp and feared Morgan's newfound influence, left the village as well. Phoenix suspects that this incident is related to "Ini's" motive, but isn't sure how, as both Maya, Ruby, and the parents claim that Ini held no hard feelings towards Maya before and after she left.
In day 2 of the trial, Morgan is unable to testify, still being in the hospital and barely coherent from the blow Mimi gave her. The first half of the trial is spent "proving" the mystery college student is Ini, with testimony from Ruby providing evidence. Mimi "admits" it, but scoffs, saying that she has no grudge against either Maya or Grey, and thus no possible motive. The second half happens much the same, with Phoenix proving that she is actually Mimi. Still denying it, Mimi claims that while this would give her a motive for killing Grey, it still doesn't explain her wanting to frame Maya. Recalling the conversation with her parents, Phoenix presents a theory. Initially, the Miney mom, despite having no spiritual talent, was still second in line for title of Master of Kurain due to her close friendship with Misty and Ini's channelling talents. However, when Ini swore of channelling, that title went to Morgan. Thus Mimi blames Maya for her family's exile from Kurain. Their exile only became more cemented when Morgan gave birth to Pearl, who was also a prodigy from a young age. While Ini took the move well, Mimi hated living in the big city, and had trouble making friends and focusing on her studies. Depressed and unable to find a job after finishing her studies, her parents begged Dr. Grey to hire her, which he did reluctantly. Mimi hated her job, but still put effort into it to not disappoint her parents... and then the malpractice happened, and then the car accident. Mimi, whose resentment of Maya had been simmerring for years, now hated her. Seeing her appear in the news several times as the assistant of a high profile lawyer didn't help matters. When Dr. Grey approached "Ini" with the intent to channel Mimi, she saw the perfect opportunity to get revenge on him, Maya, and Morgan in one fell swoop.
Maya, horrified, calls out Mimi on her toxic attitude, saying that she never stopped missing her and Ini, and that they could have simply talked out their differences, with Mimi having had plenty of opportunities to visit her at the Wright and Co. law offices. At this, Mimi begins breaking down and tearfully confessing everything, both cursing Maya and apologizing to her in equal measure, before turning herself in. Morgan is also arrested. After the trial, Phoenix, Maya, and Mia muse about how none of this would have happened were it not for Kurain's traditions. Mia also drops a cryptic comment that this wasn't the first time something like that happened in Kurain, setting up Trials and Tribulations.
Wew, well that was longer than expected, while writing 2-4 I got really into it and ended up adding a lot of extra details. What do you think? I would love to see you own take on case swaps.

From when I was three to ten years old, my family lived in a tiny second-floor walkup apartment in a large city. Our apartment was long and narrow, and my family had to walk through my bedroom to get to the bathroom, so it was a cramped lifestyle, to say the least.
Around when I turned eight, my parents decided to offer me a bit of privacy, asking me if I wanted to move into a separate bedroom that had its own entrance/exit from the entry stairwell. It was extremely small, basically a closet, but I was eager to move in there because it was private and at least away from my parents and baby brothers.
From the very first night they moved my bed into this room, I saw a very dark shadowy presence fading in and out of the wall. It had no eyes but razor teeth. His mouth opened to silently scream.
I thought I was going crazy. I never told another soul about it. I saw it nearly every night for two years. He was tall and thin and a living shadow; that’s all I can do to describe him.
The walls were plastered with children’s animal-themed wallpaper from the previous owners. If I recall, it had strange little toy animals repeated over and over. Because of the bizarre events happening in that room, this innocent décor seemed ominous.
My mother would occasionally come into my room to check on me, and I would be soaked through my pajamas in my own sweat from hiding under the cheap blankets. I was petrified of that room. I was living in hell, but I had no options because my baby brothers now slept in my old room. I became sleep-deprived and unhealthy. I think my teachers might have commented on my deteriorating mental state to my parents.
Over that time, I became obsessed with the occult and paranormal. Now that I am over 50 years old, I feel like that same shadowy entity is still inside me, and has been with me my entire life. Could I be possessed by it?

This will be wordy and complicated so you may only wish to read it if you’ve found yourself as inexplicably captivated by this entire mess as I am. This is my current working theory, and I don’t claim that it’s entirely accurate or factual It’s just my theory and I am open to corrections, additions, or counter arguments. (No, I am not overly proud of how I know some of these things. I reactivated Instagram and rejoined Reddit after years of abstaining from social media just to further this little investigation/obsession. Hyperfixation is a real bitch sometimes.)
Taylor’s team would’ve been aware of her impending breakup with Joe and relationship with Matty Healy long before those things were public knowledge. With the Eras tour set to start up in March of 2023, her team would’ve been actively, aggressively plotting to address any potential negativity or fallout from the situation, especially with so much riding on this tour. Preemptive damage control would’ve been in absolute overdrive because of the timing of it all. Speaking of timing, the early months of 2023 were a big moment for Travis Kelce. The Kelce brothers were about to face off in the Super Bowl and the media was saturated with them. All the Kelces have mentioned the attention and opportunities they were receiving during that time, including Donna. Scott Swift is a huge football fan, especially of the Eagles, and he was already at least acquainted with or had a casual friendship with Andy Reid. It's very likely that Taylor "dating" Travis Kelce was Scott Swift’s idea. During my “research” on this entire situation, I’ve come across multiple remarks about Taylor’s team traveling to/having meetings in KC in March of 2023. I am guessing that Taylor was so in love with Matty that she put her foot down with her team (including Scott) and wouldn’t participate in their plans regarding Travis at that time. Instead, she likely insisted on the April 8^th announcement of the breakup with Joe and doubled down on her relationship with Matty, mouthing loving messages to him and making her speech on stage about how happy she was and how her life finally made sense, being seen with him repeatedly and allowing him to be seen carrying bags into her apartment, etc.
I don’t know if Taylor or her team anticipated exactly how bad the publicity surrounding Matty would be or how intensely negative the response would be from a very vocal portion of her fanbase. I feel like most of us know about the narratives that ramped up against Matty, the SpeakUpNow letter, Swifties threatening to sell their concert tickets, Matty and his people receiving death threats, just all the BAD MESS, so I won’t make this even longer by going too deep into it. I have no doubt Taylor and Matty were experiencing a ton of pressure and emotional whiplash during all of that, which ultimately led to a painful and traumatic breakup for them. And that brings us right back to the suspended Travis Kelce plan. Taylor had shows in KC on July 7^th and 8^th of 2023. A couple weeks after that we get the cute little story from Travis on his podcast about trying to give Taylor a friendship bracelet with his number on it at her show (I have never and will never believe that bs for a single moment, no matter what). According to them, they start hanging out shortly after that, which is likely true. Ryan Reynolds apparently started following Travis on Instagram in early August so that timing checks out. (I could go off into a whole thing about Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes joining Ryan in the F1 Alpine deal, but this is already just SO MUCH). Next thing you know, we get Taylor appearing at a Chiefs game on September 24^th and it’s on from there. According to some Chiefs players, Taylor had already attended a game or two unnoticed and unmentioned (supposedly in the owners’ suite) prior to that September 24^th game. That’s interesting to note because of all it implies, such as how much the Chiefs/Hunts may have had to do with this whole deal between Taylor and Travis or just how it was clearly a choice with big motivations behind it for her to be seen at that 9/24 game.
Everything then goes AS PLANNED AND ORCHESTRATED for a few months. The public is captivated by the Taylor and Travis showmance and not even thinking much about Joe Alwyn or Matty Healy or any of the negative publicity surrounding Taylor anymore, the Chiefs and the entire NFL are profiting enormously, the popularity of the New Heights podcast is skyrocketing and catching the attention of major networks, every member of the Kelce family and Travis’ inner circle sees their public profile rising and more and more opportunities coming their way, the Eras tour is a history making success and so is the movie, the Chiefs pull off another Super Bowl win…it’s just a glorious, fantastic time when the whole plan is coming together and everyone remotely involved or connected to Taylor and Travis is benefiting and profiting beyond their wildest dreams. During all of this, Taylor is obviously working on TTPD, and everything connected to it, but I guess no one on Taylor’s team is too concerned about that because it keeps her motivated and pacified and it’s only going to make them all even more money so everything is just great, great, great. BUT THEN Taylor shows up at the Grammys drunk, making an ass of herself and announces the release. Now everyone is maybe back to thinking and talking about Taylor and Joe a bit, but it’s still ok because at least they aren’t talking about Matty and the Taylor and Travis show is still getting tons of attention, Travis is getting acting opportunities, all the Kelces are still benefiting in various ways; it’s all still good.
Then TTPD is released, and everything starts to take a turn. People are still talking, but now it’s mostly about Taylor and Matty or about Taylor and Travis, but only about what a great boyfriend Travis is to Taylor and what a perfect couple they are and their hypothetical impending nuptials and future potential offspring, etc. It probably doesn’t help that it’s off-season and there are no Chiefs games where Travis can shine with his football skills to try to bring some of the spotlight back to anything other than him maybe being the future Mr. Taylor Swift. Despite what many Swifties theorize about Travis, I do not for one moment think that’s his aim in life. This man wants FAME. His own mother repeatedly states how much he loves being the center of attention. And sure, he gets a lot of attention right now, but I have a feeling this is not panning out to be what he was hoping for when he signed up for all of this. His podcast is doing great, but its enormous surge in popularity is largely due to Swifties tuning in, hoping to hear a mention of Taylor (yes, I know it was already a very popular podcast – we wouldn’t be here if Travis Kelce had been an unsuccessful nobody, obviously). Everywhere he goes, everything he does, it’s all about Taylor now. Even at KELCE Jam, he was inundated with questions about Taylor. That might not be an issue except this is a man who already had a very big ego and desire to be hyper famous before Taylor Swift entered the picture. It may have seemed like a golden opportunity initially, but I think reality may be setting in for Travis and Co. and this may not have been the best deal for them in the long run. But the Chiefs and the NFL are deep into it now as well and l bet Travis has pressures on him that I would not even want to imagine coming from that side.
Meanwhile we have Taylor out here messing up the plans again, sending secret messages and singing surprise songs to Matty Healy during her sold-out concert tour where she’s added an entire set to imitate Matty and heighten the speculation and discussion surrounding their big “cosmic, tortured romance.” I feel sure she’s still in love with Matty and is absolutely in contact with him. Logically, their friendships and professional circles are far too intertwined for me to believe they would not be in any form of contact throughout all of this. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they were already back together. I think it’s highly possible they’ve even been back together since shortly after their breakup last summer and that likely helped fuel the big push to launch the “relationship” between her and Travis the world. That’s another post for another time though and I still haven’t fully drawn my conclusions about that. Very long story short, I think they are all in a great big mess right now and things are taking a toll, and cracks are showing. I think this may all come crashing down around a lot of people very soon, but I’m betting Taylor Swift comes out on top no matter what somehow. Some people are just lucky like that.

From when I was three to ten years old, my family lived in a tiny second-floor walkup apartment in a large city. Our apartment was long and narrow, and my family had to walk through my bedroom to get to the bathroom, so it was a cramped lifestyle, to say the least.
Around when I turned eight, my parents decided to offer me a bit of privacy, asking me if I wanted to move into a separate bedroom that had its own entrance/exit from the entry stairwell. It was extremely small, basically a closet, but I was eager to move in there because it was private and at least away from my parents and baby brothers.
From the very first night they moved my bed into this room, I saw a very dark shadowy presence fading in and out of the wall. It had no eyes but razor teeth. His mouth opened to silently scream.
I thought I was going crazy. I never told another soul about it. I saw it nearly every night for two years. He was tall and thin and a living shadow; that’s all I can do to describe him.
The walls were plastered with children’s animal-themed wallpaper from the previous owners. If I recall, it had strange little toy animals repeated over and over. Because of the bizarre events happening in that room, this innocent décor seemed ominous.
My mother would occasionally come into my room to check on me, and I would be soaked through my pajamas in my own sweat from hiding under the cheap blankets. I was petrified of that room. I was living in hell, but I had no options because my baby brothers now slept in my old room. I became sleep-deprived and unhealthy. I think my teachers might have commented on my deteriorating mental state to my parents.
Over that time, I became obsessed with the occult and paranormal. Now that I am over 50 years old, I feel like that same shadowy entity is still inside me, and has been with me my entire life. Could I be possessed by it?

i think people really sleep on defense, as I never see anyone talk about builds like this, but I've now succeeded pretty well with this build so I thought I'd share it.
The key to my build is force shield, which i never start a run without. i don't know how people ignore this, it makes you invincible. ASAP I get another shield in the armadillo pack, preferably either ice or bumper; on my winning run it was bumper, which does great damage on a tactics/survival build. With this double shield build, I am nigh untouchable and parry a large percentage of attacks. Every other slot I can use a variety of gear.
In general, go for high damage tactics skills like turrets or owl, but on this run, I found an ice armor that doesn't expire. I love this skill, but it's just more defense so I didn't really think it would be a competitive build... so far, where is the damage coming from, eh?
I found a boy's axe, one of my favorite weapons, early on, it was only level VI but had the extra ammo buff, which is nuts for this weapon. But only VI! how could I beat the game with this? The bank showed up at the very end, right before the haunted boat, and the chest mimic miniboss guy hooked me up with a XIV barnacle that farts poison when it pops and does +%80 to poisoned enemies, which is prob my favorite skill! so now i had damage, although without another way to administer poison other than popping the trap itself, that seemed a little dicey actually...
Warning: Endgame spoilers below!
I had never beat the trio in the tower, and that's been my goal for a while. this build got me to the tower with full health and two potions in the dock, so i was feeling pretty good, and thought the ice armor would be nice for the climb, but was worried about damage output. The ice armor was clutch and it got popped three times during the fight, but allowed me to finish with a potion in reserve. The fight did take a while, and I was fighting all three at once at the end (I've read you can beat them quickly and avoid that?) but parrying so many of the trio's attacks always works well, and pinning them down with the axe in order to poison them with fresh barnacle farts managed to chew through their health in the end.
At that point I thought I was done with my awesome run but learned there is another level, and went up to face the queen for the first time, expecting to get utterly handled. Instead, I some how flawless victoried her on the first attempt, with my ice armor popping a couple of times but protecting my health. The boy's axes seem pretty incredible for her, as she has no ranged attacks, except for the fancy lines, which are slow (plus ice armor!) so I basically just hung back and practiced axe throwing and let the barnacle shred her. My initial impression was that she's a disappointingly nerfy boss, but apparently that's not true, as I've read some people (melee builds I guess) struggle with her but cruise through the trio, who have stomped me countless times.
Any thoughts on the build?
TLDR don't sleep on double shields

Alright, so… I (18F) kinda made this reddit account just to get some feedback about this situation, since I’m too ashamed to ask my parents. The girl in question is 16, and is probably one of the most annoying people I’ve ever met…
(TLDR: This girl I was pretending to be friends with in High School obsessively fantasized about murdering someone for an entire semester, is overbearing as a person, interrogates people on a daily basis and is nosy, injects herself into drama that isn’t her own, throws temper tantrums when she doesn’t get her way, constantly touches people and makes unwarranted comments about girl’s bodies, asked me to draw CP for her, and MADE FUN OF HER SUICIDAL BROTHER. And I wrote a hate-letter telling her that all of this stuff is a problem, but now I feel bad about it because I think she might actually have mental issues. It’s a really wild ride and a long story, so if you choose to read it, you should expect to be here for a while. And it’s High School drama, so I’ll try to discard the boring details.)
At the beginning of this year, I ended up in a small Sports Medicine class with literally 8 students total in it. That made things quiet, which gave us some room to start talking and getting to know each other after the teacher was done with the lesson and we had our small hands-on tests and assignments out of the way. (The classes took about 20 minutes every day. Really quick and easy. Laid back. It met curriculum requirements actually, because there wasn’t constant bullshit from other students making the lesson longer.). There’s this girl, who… I’ll call her Storm. You’ll find out why. Storm quickly became the most annoying person in the class. Any time she talked, she didn’t have anything interesting to say, but just kept going on and on and on endlessly. It was annoying, but we just kinda played along to be nice. Well… Around a month into school, Storme started opening up and became comfortable talking about personal topics. She told us this story about how one of her other friends (I’ll call her Katie) “betrayed” her the previous year, and then went on to talk about how much she hated Katie and didn’t care if she lived or died. (Honestly, Katie’s offense was miniscule. At most, she replaced Storm with someone else as her best friend. You know… Regular High School drama that wasn’t that deep. I honestly forgot all of what Katie did because it was just so miniscule.) Then Storme started saying ludicrous stuff like “I hope she falls into a volcano”, or “I hope she gets eaten by sharks falling from the sky. Like Sharknado.”. But like… She kept saying it constantly, out loud in class. She ranted about how she wanted Katie to get kidnapped by the Mafia, be flown up to the moon, and be dropped into a black hole to become “Katie-spaghetti”. It was honestly really funny at first, so me and a few other people in the class joined in a little bit and added our own stupid, childlike scenarios. (Katie has a reputation for being… A slut. That’s why it was funny at first.) But then after this schtick got old, Storm just kept going and going and going… She ranted about Katie until it physically hurt to hear her talk anymore. She was back to being annoying and boring again, but it was worse this time because it was obvious that she was trying to re-kindle our intrigue without realizing that she should move on to something else. Instead of assessing herself, she just kept yapping until everyone rolled their eyes every time she opened her mouth, because we knew she would just keep going on and on about all of the stupid ways she wanted Katie to die. Even the damn teacher told her to stop doing that, but she never listened and the teacher eventually just gave up telling her off (And honestly, I think the teacher started zoning her out.). Katie then gradually started to get more morbid with the things she was saying, to the point where I genuinely considered calling the cops and getting this girl some grippy socks. She talked until she became red-faced, started tweaking, and laughed in a neurotic, nervous angry way while she started wringing out her trembling hands. She genuinely looked and sounded unhinged, and what didn’t help was that she started saying stuff like “There aren’t metal detectors in this school, right?”, and “I wish I wasn’t such a good person, because if I wasn’t, I’d be acting on my impulse to cave her skull in the next time I see her. One of these days I’m going to snap and then just do it..” …Yeah, so I was genuinely considering getting the police involved in this because of those two sentences. Thankfully Katie is safe and sound to this day and Storm never acted on these “impulses”. I’m so glad it worked out that I didn’t have to call the cops, but I was seriously worried for a minute… One of my other friends in that class, (I’ll call him Mark), eventually kinda snapped and called her out for being the annoying piece of crap she is. Quickly, Storm and Mark started getting into arguments just about every day and started throwing things like wads of wrapping-tape at each other, and I was becoming worried that they were going to start actually full-on fighting. It doesn’t sound logical in hindsight, but I ended up taking it upon myself to step in and start acting friendly toward her and listening to her (or pretending to listen to her) just to draw her attention away from him. Pretty soon she started talking mostly to me, and this was intentionally done on my part so that the other people in the class could relax a little bit and start doing whatever on their phones and zone her out instead of having to pretend to listen in agony. Ultimately, it was an exchange that benefited everyone, because after Storme got that angry energy out of her, she shut up for the day. She continued to talk about Katie, but mostly to me. She talked about this topic endlessly, her words getting increasingly violent until Christmas break. Yeah… 5 months. She ranted about the ways she wanted Katie to die for 5 whole months. Months. But then when she was done ranting, she finally shut up. …Oh God, the silence sounded like angels singing. I didn’t even really retain any of the information she spewed onto me, but holy crap, when it was over it was like heaven on Earth. So that’s what I did – I acted like the “lightning rod” for this Storm of a person until it passed (kinda). She wrote a note to Katie explaining “You hurt me really badly, but I’m a Christian so I forgive you and I hope you the best”... As if she didn’t rant about her for 5 months straight. Make it make sense. But enough about that. Here’s where my fuck ups began. I gave Storm my number and we quickly started saying that we were friends, though I didn’t actually like her at all and just wanted to keep the peace. We had a few things in common, but I still didn’t like her whatsoever. She continued to rant to me nonstop about Katie, even over text, and I was burnt out listening after a while. So… To dampen the impact of this girl’s obsessive ramblings, I started sending her pictures of my drawings. (I’m an artist). I had characters that I liked to draw that are ocs of an anime fandom (all of which are underage), and she seemed to calm down a bit and hyper-focus on them. She even has a folder in her phone’s gallery completely dedicated to storing my artwork. That’s great and all, but… One day, the topic of Wattpad came up in one of our conversations. I, myself, was one of those cringy Wattpad 12 year olds who made the most illiterate fanfictions ever to be conceived by a human being (They’ve long since been deleted. Thank God, those were awful.) Then… The topic of “Wattpad smut” came up, because I admitted that I used to read those because of the awful grammar and I thought it was funny. I still do sometimes, actually. The way people on Wattpad can’t write to save their lives is just hilarious. Like the stupid “Shrek x Donald Trump” ones are the ones that make me wheeze. I don’t take them seriously, and I love it when the author doesn’t take it seriously either. It’s hilarious. …But then this asshole said: “I don’t like to read bad grammar, it makes me mad. But I do like to read that type of content… For a different reason”. So uhh… That’s… Weird. But then she asked: “Have you found any… Good ones? Do you have any recommendations? Asking for a friend.” …FUCK NO. No thank you. Nope, I’m done. No jerkoff material for you, ma’am. Nope. You’re done. Seriously, I put down my phone for a little bit and went outside to go stare at some birds at the bird feeder until my sickness went away. I fell nauseous because of that (though in hindsight, that seems like an overreaction). When I came back, I didn’t answer that question and kinda skated past it, and that seemed to be the end of it. …But there is NEVER an end with Storm. She DID forget about the resolution to that conversation, but since we talked about smut to begin with, she started asking me some questions about my art. She asked if I had ever drawn p0rn in my life. Of course, I didn’t really admit to anything. I skated past it too, but then she said: “I think (character 1) and (character 2) are really cute together… Like… Really, really cute together.”. That’s great, she likes my characters… Cool, cool. And then my worst nightmare: “Have you ever drawn p0rn of them?” …Of course I didn’t, because that would be CP… Plus I’ve never thought of those characters as being “sexual”... They’re literally 14 and 15 years old. Then basically, she made an indirect “suggestion” for me to draw them together. I said fuck no. Hell fucking no. She tried to convince me to draw them “aged up”, but again I refused. She eventually dropped it, but since then, she passively talked about things of that nature… Like if she saw a guy she thought was cute, she’d tell me she thought he’s cute or hot or gorgeous or whatever and allude to -other- awkward desires that I didn’t want to know about. She put me off from drawing those characters ever again. I haven’t drawn them since and I don’t take my sketchbook to school anymore because I don’t want her to see my drawings and be reminded of that BS.
But enough about that… Storm is a church-going girl, and so she has a few church-going friends. (This also makes everything I’ve said before all the more ironic.). One day when I was transitioning from my 5th to 6th period, I saw her talking angrily to one of her church friends (I’ll call her Isabelle) outside the school building. Storm was accusing Isabelle of lying about smoking weed/vaping and drinking, and she seemed to be so interested in it that you’d think it had an impact on her personally. Isabelle denied doing that, and they eventually parted ways to go to class. I walked with Storm to 6th period (the Sports Medicine period), and I asked her why she was so damn interested in Isabelle’s habits. Know what she said? Storm said “I just don’t like liars.”... So let me get this straight: She thought she had the right to interrogate someone half to death because she just “doesn’t like liars”? Make that make sense. I’ve heard many stories about how Storm interrogates other people, too. If she sees a guy/girl’s name pop up on the screen of someone she knows, she’ll pester them until they give her one of two answers: either “I’ll tell you later”, or the actual answer. She’s done that to me too, in front of everyone in class. The thing that upsets me about this is that she claims to be “nosy”, but thinks it’s a positive attribute rather than an annoying one. She brags about being “nosy” sometimes.
And the sexual assault… Since we were in a sports medicine class, our projects involved a lot of hands-on things. That didn’t bother me by itself, but with Storm, it was a nightmare. This girl, in the process of strapping an ice bag to my thigh, called my thighs “small”, and said that I have a “beautiful body”. We also did shoulder stretching stuff the next week, and I happened to fall under her care while she stared into my eyes and made weird faces at me, all the while she made sound effects and made the process much more uncomfortable than it needed to be. One week, we ended up as partners again and she ended up wrapping my shoulder. This shoulder-wrap wasn’t an issue for me, but having her as a partner made it an issue. As expected, she made sound effects, but this time she stated the obvious as if it was new information that nobody would have ever suspected: “Wow, this is squishing your boobies huh?”... Emphasis on the word “boobies”. Jesus Fucking Christ, it was already awkward as hell before she even brought that up, why would she say something like that?? I didn’t even realize that until she brought it up. In fear of being subjected to her uncomfortable BS again and feeling violated, I texted her and told her that she’s been making me feel uncomfortable, and to please stop being so…. Weird. I get it’s an awkward thing to wrap up your classmate’s thigh, but that’s a moment to keep comments to yourself. Her response? “I’M SORRY I’M SORRY I’M SORRY I’M SORRY I’M SORRY I’M SORRY I’M SORRY I’M SORRY I’M SORRY-” Just… Stop it. I didn’t introduce the topic as a big deal and told her not to worry about it, but she kept apologizing for it nonstop. Just endlessly, like everything else. Even when I tried to change the subject to something else, she just kept apologizing for it practically until she went to bed. (She has a bedtime at 9:30… At 16 years old.) All of this stuff contributed to my overall hatred toward her. I don’t like her at all, and it’s a wonder I didn’t explode and insult her entire personality and deplorable behavior to her face (Meg Griffin style). Things are just so awkward and awful whenever she opens her mouth, and it just doesn't ever stop. But because of all of this, when it came time for my Senior prom, I decided to secretly invite one of my friends from that class as a plus one, and NOT Storm. I was worried that if I told her that to her face, I would all of a sudden be the new “Katie” in her conversations, because the infraction Katie did was so miniscule that it seemed to be less like a “betrayal” than what I did. (In hindsight, it was probably the other way around.) So… I just kept the whole thing to myself and so did the friend I took to prom (I’ll call her Beyonce. Because… She loves Beyonce.).

If this wasn’t bad enough, strap in because not even three weeks ago, Beyonce was doing her usual schtick of making fun of random things. She once made fun of cool whip and the entire state of Texas at the same time and somehow made it make perfect sense. She should really have a comedy show, I swear. But this time, Beyonce was making fun of the name “Gage”, saying “Why would anyone name their kid after a 12-gage shotgun?” and “People named Gage seem untrustworthy. I wouldn’t want to be near one in a zombie apocalypse, because he’d just feed me to those fuckers.”. Funny stuff. Storm then said “My brother’s name is Gage”, and in order to preserve the flow of the conversation (and also to tick her off a little, I’m ngl), Beyonce asked her: “Is your brother untrustworthy?” And then without a single millisecond wasted, she said, in a Disney Channel comedy fashion: “Welll… We can’t trust him with his own life, sooo…”.. And then she laughed as if it was funny. Like.. Rib-stitches type of laughing. ….So then the others (understandably) went quiet, which left only me and her talking for a moment after her laughter quieted down. She complained about how confused she is that nobody finds her joke funny, and said that her joke had the “perfect timing and everything”... So then my idiot ass decided to say what I was thinking at that moment: “You don’t seem to be taking it seriously. That’s your brother, but you don’t sound sympathetic at all.” She tried to “defend” herself, but Mark interjected into the conversation and changed the course of it entirely, which just left her to sit there in silence, pouting. I felt bad for that statement, so I apologized for it over text when I got home from school. Quickly, we erupted into an argument, (with me holding back), and she ended up saying “What does it matter to you? He’s not your brother. If Beyonce said that about her brother, you’d laugh. But when I do, it’s bad.”. Beyonce’s brother is 8 years old…. So no, that would be even worse. …So then I had to explain to her how human decency works, and how making fun of your s*icidal siblings isn’t funny whatsoever and how that joke could be considered to be in very poor taste, even for people who like dark humor. When me, Beyonce or Mark made “suicide” jokes, it was about OURSELVES and it was usually in a statement like “I don’t want to take a test next period, I’m gonna kms.”... …Storm ended up getting so mad that we weren’t having a conversation anymore; we were just throwing shit around. I told her that if she was being livestreamed at that moment, she’d be bashed on the whole internet for a week or so and be called “evil” for that joke. In hindsight I shouldn’t have said that, but my goal was just to tell her how insensitive others might perceive her comment to be. She said that it wasn’t my business to tell her how to feel about her own brother, but I wasn’t doing that at all, that wasn’t my angle whatsoever – I was just explaining what people find funny. I even said repeatedly that I wasn’t trying to tell her how to feel, and that I know comedy can help lighten situations, but somehow she forgot about that part. And then she went on this whole thing about ending every massive text block with “Not that it’s YOUR business, or anything” to snap at me, despite me being in the room at the time of the joke... So I ended the conversation right then and there because it was pointless to keep going and I really didn’t want to spend any more energy on her. The next day, I apologized to her again. I retracted my statements and told her that I was sorry for talking out of line. She accepted the apology, and things went back to “normal”. She forgot about it, but I didn’t. …So here are the reasons why I feel bad, before I delve into the contents of the “hate letter” I wrote to her. Here’s a list of my crimes: 

I pretended to be her friend for an entire school year. - I hid the fact that I was going to prom with Beyonce from her, and then lied to her face repeatedly whenever she asked if I went to prom or not. - I got into business that wasn’t my own and criticized her. - I wrote a hate-letter to her that I directed her to read at home on the last day of school.
…Here’s why I feel bad: Storm doesn’t seem to be emotionally intelligent and is unable to control her mouth whenever she feels strong emotions. She talks nonstop about her second cousin’s friend’s pet hamster’s wife’s sister’s drama, hoping we’ll find something funny or interesting or impressive, while seeming unable to understand that she needs to change her tune. All she wants is to be listened to and understood, but nobody can and nobody truly wants to. She feigns confidence and goes overboard with compliments in the hopes of catching the attention of people who want to be friends with her. She’s not used to change and is very naive, to the point where (just yesterday) she quit her job at a fast food restaurant after only the first day of working there. For the longest time she didn’t have access to the internet, so she doesn’t really have a means to connect with other people through sharing videos or memes or whatever. …I feel like a bad person because I knowingly, intentionally played into all of this just for the pathetic reason of making her shut up in class. It’s despicable what I did, and I’m beating myself up for it every day. I was just originally going to leave the school, block her and never talk to her ever again in my life, but when she made that joke about her brother, I decided (stupidly) to take it upon myself to be the bearer of bad news. I gave her a letter. Within the “hate letter”, it isn’t actually hate, per se. It’s more like… A report on the behavior she needs to fix, as well as an admission to my lies over the course of this whole year. I told her the awful truth. I told her about everything I mentioned in this post and tried to keep it “professional”, though I did end up going as far as to say “you have all of the attributes of an obnoxious piece of stale bread”........... And what’s worse is… I told her to read it on the last day of school, and my reasoning is pathetic at best. I told her to read it on the last day of school because I didn’t want her to burden the class with her nonstop ranting about me, since she, Mark and Beyonce are sophomores and I’m the only senior in the “friend group”, which means that I left the school an entire week earlier than them. I’ve been intentionally delaying her pain and still talking to her over text acting like things are “normal” so that she doesn’t read it early, knowing damn well that on that last day of school, my words are going to hurt her so badly that she might not be able to recover for a while. In the letter, I told her that by the time she reads it, I would have already blocked her because I don’t want any more conversation with her due to me feeling so bad and having nothing more to say. If the plan goes right, she’ll read it on May 23rd, and on that day I will block her.

I feel awful for all of this. I feel like a monster for this. It’s painful knowing that I’m going to cause her pain and that I planned when it’s going to happen, but at the same time I feel like she deserves it. But at the same time, I know damn well that it wasn’t my place to do that. I should have left everything alone. Nobody I can talk to irl would even hear me out; they’d just stop at the words “hate letter”, which means my only option is to seek advice from people on Reddit. Do my motives for doing things make sense? Am I actually a bad person for this? Am I the asshole? Does she deserve what she’s getting? 

Edit 1: I removed some asterisks (they're annoying).

DAY: MAY 20 2024
5-20-2024

Why nightmares and ‘daymares’ could be early warning signs of autoimmune disease

An increase in nightmares and hallucinations—or ‘daymares’—could herald the onset of autoimmune diseases such as lupus, say an international team led by researchers at the University of Cambridge and King’s College London. The researchers argue that there must be greater recognition that these types of mental health and neurological symptoms can act as an early warning sign that an individual is approaching a “flare,” where their disease worsens for a period.
5-20-2024 Yoga and meditation-induced altered states of consciousness are common in the general population, study says
Yoga, mindfulness, meditation, breathwork, and other practices are gaining in popularity due to their potential to improve health and well-being. The effects of these practices are mostly positive and occasionally transformational, yet they are known to sometimes be associated with challenging altered states of consciousness. New research by a team including investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital reveals that altered states of consciousness associated with meditation practice are far more common than expected. Although many people reported positive outcomes, that were sometimes even considered transformational, from these experiences, for a substantial
5-20-2024 Examining the benefits of out-of-network care for pediatric moyamoya
Total in-episode expenses and resource use before the index surgery (preop) and including/after the surgery (postop). The comparisons are separated for analysis into (A) single institution cohorts (1 and 2) and (B) multi?institution cohorts (3 and 4). Moyamoya disease is a rare condition that affects the blood vessels in the brain, especially in children. Narrowing and blockage of vessels significantly increases the risk of stroke and requires surgical revascularization for treatment. Although research shows that outcomes of revascularization are better
5-20-2024 Study explores links between social media use, mental health and sleep quality
The more time you spend on social media, the greater the likelihood of having unpleasant social-media related dreams that cause distress, sleep disruption and impact our peace of mind. Flinders University’s Reza Shabahang says that the vast and rapid adoption of social media has the potential to influence various aspects of life, including the realm of dreaming. “As social media becomes increasingly intertwined with our lives, its impact extends beyond waking hours, and may influence our dreams,”
5-20-2024 How are asthma and heart health linked?
Although the heart and lungs are neighbors in your chest, people may think of them as separate entities with unrelated problems. But a growing body of evidence suggests that asthma—one of the most common lung disorders—is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Asthma is a serious chronic disease in which airways are inflamed, often in response to specific triggers. It affects about 25 million people in the U.S., including nearly 5 million children, causing millions of annual visits to doctors’ offices and emergency rooms. “We call these major changes
5-20-2024 STUDY EXPLORES PATIENT TRUST IN PHYSICIANS
Trust in one’s physician drives positive health practices. In a scoping review, SUNY Poly Professor of Sociology Dr. Linda R. Weber discovered new developments in the measurement of trust, identified those measures of trust that have known reliability and validity, and compared those instruments’ conceptualizations, dimensions, and indicators. The paper is published in the journal PLOS ONE. Weber explains that 10 dimensions emerged from the study: fidelity, technical competence, communicative competence, interpersonal competence (i.e., caring), honesty, confidentiality, global, behavioral, fairness, and system trust/accountability. In addition, these findings provide the foundation
5-20-2024 TIMESAVING TIPS FOR COOKING HEALTHY MEALS
Living a busy, fast-paced life can make it hard to find the motivation to cook a healthy meal at home. However, learning some shortcuts in the kitchen can keep your healthy eating goals on track and help you avoid grazing on unhealthy snacks, grabbing the first thing you see in the fridge or going out for fast food. Why cook at home? Research shows that maintaining a healthy weight is challenging when you eat out too frequently. Restaurant portions often are super-sized
5-20-2024 UNDERSTANDING PERIMENOPAUSE VS. MENOPAUSE
Menopause marks a significant transition for women, yet understanding its precursor, perimenopause, and its symptoms can be complex. Dr. Stephanie Faubion, director of Mayo Clinic’s Center for Women’s Health and medical director of The Menopause Society, says experiencing perimenopause and menopause can be confusing for some. She says it is not only patients who may find it confusing, but medical providers as well, due to lack of training in menopause management. “Menopause is defined by no menstrual cycle for a year,” says Dr. Faubion.
5-20-2024 LOW-DOSE IRON SUPPLEMENTATION HAS NO BENEFIT FOR BREASTFED INFANTS, SHOWS STUDY
The American Pediatric Association recommends iron supplements to all healthy infants who breastfeed longer than four months, while its European counterpart, Society of Gastroenterology, Hepataology and Nutrition, does not recommend it. These deviating guidelines stimulated researchers to design a new study. Breastfeeding is strongly recommended, and the proportion of children are breastfed during the first half of life is high. The researchers wanted to determine whether breastfeeding babies could benefit from extra iron.
5-20-2024 ALLERGY MEDICATIONS COME WITH HAZARDS: BE AWARE
People with seasonal allergies often turn to over-the-counter and prescription medicines to relieve symptoms like coughing, sneezing, runny nose, congestion and itchy eyes, nose or throat. But they often aren’t aware that these meds—including antihistamines—have as much risk for potential side effects, drug interactions and overdose as other drugs. “All medicines have side effects associated with them even when they are taken appropriately and according to dosing directions on the label,”
5-20-2024 I CAN’T AFFORD OLIVE OIL—WHAT ELSE CAN I USE?
If you buy your olive oil in bulk, you’ve likely been in for a shock in recent weeks. Major supermarkets have been selling olive oil for up to A$65 for a four-liter tin, and up to $26 for a 750 milliliter bottle. We’ve been hearing about the health benefits of olive oil for years. And many of us are adding it to salads, or baking and frying with it. But during a cost-of-living crisis, these high prices can put olive oil out of reach. Let’s take a look at why
5-20-2024 Researchers uncover biological trigger of early puberty
Heather Brenhouse, associate professor of psychology, says disrupting the caretaker relationship can really traumatize a child or a developing rodent. Credit: Ruby Wallau/Northeastern University New research conducted by the Brenhouse Lab reveals how early life adversity triggers early puberty and late-life anxiety, paving the way for potential interventions. The onset of puberty has been creeping downward for decades. In the United States, the average age of girls reaching puberty ranges from 8.8 to 10.3 years old. The early start of puberty, which is associated with many health risks, can be
5-20-2024 Bioluminescence and 3D-printed implants shed light on brain–spinal interactions
Brain-spinal cord duet’s neurodynamic symphony is now accessible to scientists via novel multi-organ implants. Credit: Dmitrijs Celinskis A sensory process such as pain is no ordinary phenomenon—it’s a symphony of neural and vascular interactions orchestrated by the brain and spinal cord. Attempting to dissect this symphony by focusing on a single region is like trying to understand a complex melody by listening to just one instrument. It’s incomplete, potentially misleading, and may result in erroneous conclusions. Enter the Carney Institute’s team of visionaries. Their mission? To develop tools that allow
5-20-2024 New thesis explores cancer treatment that can prevent relapse
. What is the main focus of your thesis? Relapse following initial treatment efficacy remains a major clinical challenge for many cancers. The focus of my thesis has been to explore the therapeutic impact of immune cells in patients with blood cancer (leukemia), by first investigating which cells
5-20-2024 New study reveals health and social benefits of car-free living
Participating in a three-week car-free challenge has enhanced the health and well-being of Oxford residents, according to research conducted by The University of Bath’s Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST), in partnership with climate charity Possible and Low Carbon Oxford North (LCON), conducted this research project. After ditching their cars for three weeks, 10 out of the 12 drivers across Oxford who participated said they plan to continue with reduced car use beyond the project. The findings of this research project show that: Day-to-day transport emissions were slashed
5-20-2024 Research shows linked biological pathways driving skin inflammation
A certain biological pathway—a set of linked reactions in the body—drives the inflammation seen in the skin disease psoriasis, a new study finds. The work could lead to improved therapies for all inflammatory skin diseases, including atopic and allergic dermatitis and a type of boil called hidradenitis suppurativa, say the study authors. The findings are published in the journal Immunity. Inflammation is the body’s natural response to irritation and infection, but when out of control, it can lead to the reddish, flaky, itchy lesions that
5-20-2024 Prescription co-payments linked to more hospital admissions in New Zealand, study finds
A new study from researchers cautions that bringing back the $5 co-payment for prescription medicines could see a jump in hospital admissions. The study analyzed health data for 71,502 people and found those who didn’t pick up a prescription because they couldn’t afford the $5 fee had a 34% higher rate of being admitted to hospital.
5-20-2024 How a simulation is informing COVID-19 vaccine policy after our ‘return to normal’
As the saying goes “There is no such thing as normal” and this has been especially true after the pandemic. Before the emergence of the omicron COVID-19 variant, countries like the U.K. had high vaccination coverage along with widespread exposure to COVID-19 in the population. This combination of vaccine and infection-derived immunity is termed hybrid immunity and is different to vaccine immunity or infection immunity alone. In contrast, other countries, including Australia, New Zealand and those in the Western Pacific, had a very different pandemic experience.
5-20-2024 Researchers find intriguing connections between Alzheimer’s disease and other common conditions
A study has found that while some medical conditions appear to increase our likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s disease, others appear to decrease the odds. The study, led by Dr. Yijun (Nicholas) Pan and Dr. Liang Jin, analyzed data from 2,443 older Australians living in Melbourne or Perth who are part of the Australian Imaging, Biomarker and Lifestyle (AIBL) study, an internationally recognized cohort for dementia research. “We found anxiety and other neurological disorders are associated with increased likelihood of Alzheimer’s disease,” Dr. Pan said.
5-20-2024 Prepping autistic or sound-sensitive kids for cicada noise
As Chicagoans await the emergence of the cicadas, parents of children on the autism spectrum and/or who have sensitivities to sound can take a few steps to prepare for what is expected to be a loud summer. “Some children on the spectrum can struggle with loud or unexpected noises, such as toilets that automatically flush, fireworks around the Fourth of July or the emergence of a large number of cicadas,”
5-20-2024 Study highlights importance of screening for rare inherited iron metabolism defects
Over 40% of cases curated based on stringent clinical and laboratory criteria from the Indian subcontinent have an inherited iron metabolism defect on comprehensive genomic evaluation, report investigators in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics. Although iron deficiency anemia is the most prevalent form of anemia globally,
5-20-2024 Study finds tyrosine kinase Csk promotes germinal center B cell survival and affinity maturation
The authors found that Csk (a tyrosine kinase that attenuates B cell receptor signaling) is required for germinal center maintenance and efficient antibody maturation. The immune system strikes a fine balance by identifying and neutralizing disease-causing agents while carefully avoiding destruction of healthy tissues and cells. Now, researchers from Japan have shed new light on one of the processes that helps train immune cells to act only against genuine threats.
5-20-2024 Significant gaps between science of obesity and the care patients receive, say experts
As research continues to produce evidence about the underlying causes of obesity and optimal strategies to treat and manage obesity have evolved, there are disparities in application of the latest scientific advances in the clinical care that people with obesity receive. Widespread adoption of current findings, consistency of care and expertise in obesity care varies by health care professional and institution.
5-20-2024 Improving online depression treatment
Symptom course of depression for individuals who dropped out of treatment and those who completed treatment. In the dropout group, there is an initial decrease in symptoms while the patients were still in treatment, which tapers off as they drop out. For completers, there is close to a linear change over time. This suggests there is a relation between the more that an individual continues to participate in ICBT and their depressive symptom improvement.
5-20-2024 Women face worse chronic kidney disease management in primary care
Women receive worse primary care-based chronic kidney disease (CKD) management than men, according to a research letter adult patients with CKD receiving primary care at 15 practices using electronic health record data to examine sex disparities in guideline-based CKD management
5-20-2024 Bisoprolol does not reduce exacerbations in at-risk COPD patients
For patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), bisoprolol does not reduce the number of self-reported exacerbations treated with oral corticosteroids, antibiotics, or both, according to a study
5-20-2024 Anticancer potential of CLK kinase inhibitors 1C8 and GPS167 via EMT and antiviral immune response
The diheteroarylamide-based compound 1C8 and the aminothiazole carboxamide-related compound GPS167 inhibit the CLK kinases, and affect the proliferation of a broad range of cancer cell lines. A chemogenomic screen previously performed with GPS167 revealed that the depletion of components associated with mitotic spindle assembly altered
5-20-2024 Study sheds light on bacteria associated with pre-term birth
Researchers from North Carolina State University have found that multiple species of Gardnerella, bacteria sometimes associated with bacterial vaginosis (BV) and pre-term birth, can coexist in the same vaginal microbiome. The findings, published in mSystems, add to the emerging picture of Gardnerella’s effects on human health. Gardnerella is a group of anaerobic bacteria that are commonly found in the vaginal microbiome. Higher levels of the bacteria are a signature of BV and associated with higher risk of pre-term birth, but it is also found in women who have no sign
5-20-2024 New AI model uses federated learning for multi-organ segmentation based on medical image data
Researchers have successfully developed the technology that can accurately segment different body organs by effectively learning medical image data used for different purposes in different hospitals, which is expected to greatly contribute to the development of large-scale medical AI models in the future.
5-20-2024 Second Phase 3 clinical trial again shows dupilumab lessens disease in COPD patients with type 2 inflammation
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients with type 2 inflammation may soon gain access to a new drug—dupilumab—that showed rapid and sustained improvements in patients in a pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial, researchers report in the New England Journal of Medicine. This monoclonal antibody is the first biologic shown to improve clinical outcomes in COPD. The data supporting the use of dupilumab in COPD will be reviewed by the United States Food and Drug Administration in June. The disease improvements—as measured by a significantly lower annualized rate of acute exacerbations
5-20-2024 New AI model uses federated learning for multi-organ segmentation based on medical image data
Researchers have successfully developed the technology that can accurately segment different body organs by effectively learning medical image data used for different purposes in different hospitals, which is expected to greatly contribute to the development of large-scale medical AI models in the future.
5-20-2024 Second Phase 3 clinical trial again shows dupilumab lessens disease in COPD patients with type 2 inflammation
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients with type 2 inflammation may soon gain access to a new drug—dupilumab—that showed rapid and sustained improvements in patients in a pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial, researchers report in the New England Journal of Medicine. This monoclonal antibody is the first biologic shown to improve clinical outcomes in COPD. The data supporting the use of dupilumab in COPD will be reviewed by the United States Food and Drug Administration in June. The disease improvements—as measured by a significantly lower annualized rate of acute exacerbations

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• 5-20-2024US PEDIATRICIANS REVERSE DECADES-OLD ADVICE AGAINST HIV-POSITIVE MOTHERS BREASTFEEDING
• 5-20-2024UK REPORT FINDS COVER-UP OF DECADES-LONG INFECTED BLOOD SCANDAL
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• 5-20-2024RESEARCH SHOWS THAT FERROPTOSIS, A FORM OF CELL DEATH, OCCURS IN SEVERE COVID-19 PATIENT LUNGS
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Hello! 😊👋🏼
If you're looking for your new best friend and your biggest cheerleader sprinkled with a little bit of Golden Retriever energy, you've come to the right post! 🐶
I’m somebody who loves to chat the day away, getting to know all there is to know about a person (I actually kinda do this for a job!) and forming lovely connections.
A little about me - I’m an introverted extrovert. I love my home comforts, but in the comfort of my own home and with people I love, I’m a bit of an oddball. I love to read, watch horror & comedy movies, listen to metal and country music, get way too invested in WWE, collect Funko Pops, bake, laugh at bad jokes and great memes, and send unsolicited videos of me lip syncing to my friends. I’m a fiancé and a mum to my cute pup and my three lovely cats (crazy cat lady who?). Happy to exploit them for my own personal gain by sharing pictures of them without their consent should you wish. Also, I have watched Always Sunny more times than I can count and will quote this at you regularly ☀️
I like to be upfront and let people know that I’m pierced and rather chonky (here I am) because if that bothers you then we probably aren’t gonna make great friends ❤️
If you think we’d get along, or simply that you can lip sync better than me, then get in touch! Looking forward to meeting some lovely new people 🌻

Hi all. I’ve had a swollen lymph node/gland on the lower part of my cheek (near the jaw) for about three years now. it’s never once caused pain or tenderness and i’m pretty sure the only reason i noticed it was there was because the right side of my face felt puffy. i have asked a dentist before why it was swollen and they said it could be due to stress which could be true as it always seems to appear when i have anxiety or am stressed. however, i’ve never heard of anyone else having this issue before. the swelling has started again these past few days and i think it’s a result of having my braces tightened hence it’s causing stress to my mouth. it also hurts a little eating on that side but i think that could just be the braces.
i’ve obviously scared myself by looking up the worst case scenarios but does anyone know what this could be?
another thing to add is sometimes it completely disappears or will be very small. again the only reason i notice it’s there is because my face feels slightly heavier on the right side. it also doesn’t affect my appearance.

Hi! I am a newly graduated undergraduate who majored in psychology. I worked in three research labs: two of the labs gave me the opportunity to present research posters and to contribute to potential publications for around 3 years collectively amongst all the labs. I chose my focus to be one of the labs I am in now, but have been in for a little less than a year but I did my senior thesis in the lab (but I would classify that as separate from actually being in the lab). I graduated with a low overall gpa (Due to switching majors, and having a medical withdrawals on my transcript) 3.04 ~ roughly, but my major gpa is much higher. I want to apply to some masters programs in research for psychology, but I'm a bit nervous too due to my lower gpa. I have the opportunity to continue to work in the lab post graduation and up to when I get into grad school - but wanted some advice who may have graduated with lowish gpas but got to go into grad school. My area of psychology is developmental psychology as a discretion.