Hi,
I (f23) am currently in the getting-to-know-you phase/situationship with someone who was my first crush/love (m22). I met him four years ago and developed a crush because he was always so kind and helpful. However, he was so immersed in his own world and focused on his studies that he never noticed me, even though we often spoke. I then changed my major and thought of him often but continued living my life. Four years later, he suddenly followed me on Instagram (he didn't have Instagram before); I was extremely surprised but also pleased. We then texted all night long, and for the next few days, we continued texting all day until 6 in the morning.
Everything was fine until we hit a topic... we didn't share the same religion; he was an atheist like his entire family. I'm the last person to force anyone to convert; it has to come from one's own conviction. But as foolish as I was, I tried to ignore it initially because he was the first person I really liked. I lied to my parents (with whom I have a very honest and good relationship) and compromised my own principles...and that's when the problems started... He wanted to meet every day although I told him that I did not want that because meeting secretly every day is very cumbersome and exhausting. But he would whine all the time and say that he would die etc. He never got angry, just really sad and kept repeating himself. Our whole acquaintance progressed really fast; he told me he loved me after just four days. If I accidentally fell asleep, he would text me a thousand times, saying he almost had a heart attack and was extremely worried. He also constantly wanted photos; he always wanted pictures. He even contacted a friend of mine asking her to send him photos of me. He also gave me extreme compliments every five minutes and always raved about my pictures, but sometimes it felt like he wasn't talking about me. Whenever I told him I felt bad, he would say he felt worse because I had feelings of guilt towards my parents and religion, but for him it was only about me. He also always said that he loved me more than I loved him although I had already done a lot against my morals for him, and once he even said that I only liked him because he is an engineer and had good grades in university.
After three weeks, I broke off contact because I saw that he was forcing himself to convert and that he had no real conviction, and I did not want him to be unhappy and later blame me. It was also all too much for me. I blocked him everywhere and then the horror began...(short background info: I have extreme test anxiety and get panic attacks, and he knew this) My body completely broke down... I got my period every two weeks and had severe eczema outbreaks. What's more, I was in the exam phase and suffer from extreme test anxiety with panic attacks. He knew this and even had my exam dates. He started contacting my friends, writing me emails, and even his friend came and talked to me the day before an exam (He knew nothing from the friend but the friend contacted random people until he got my number). It was extremely physically demanding and I even flunked a few exams. We had no contact for 4 months but he wrote me an email again saying he can't live without me and is currently really dealing with the topic of religion.
And now we come to my dilemma: He even started training in those four months because I once told him I like broad men, he changed his clothing style because I jokingly said he dresses like an old man (but I always told him I like him just the way he is), he has extensively studied religion (but it's still ongoing); he completely adjusts himself to me when I say I can't text for 2 months because I'm in the exam phase. He does everything I want but I am not happy. Whenever I text with him I get stomach aches and feel constricted. Although everything is much better now than before (except for one thing, he still constantly asks for photos and these discussions sometimes last over an hour). I feel really bad because he is really trying but I feel really bad with him and don't know what to do. I believe I will never find someone who loves and accepts me as I am like he does, and that also really scares me.
Important to note is we are both each others first relationship

Hello, I am currently pregnant with my first baby. I was pregnant once before but it resulted in a very early miscarriage. So far, everything is going fine. Only things that have happened are when I was super early I was bleeding periodically. It’d be a lot one time then just spotting for the rest of the day/a couple days later. Each time I went to hospital to ensure all is well. And was. Except for the last time, I didn’t go because I didn’t want to have to pay another hospital bill for a false alarm. This coming Thursday I have an ultrasound as well as the genetic testing. Something is telling me everything is not okay. It’s also not helping that I keep seeing women that went for a 12-15 week check in and they were told their baby stopped growing 2 weeks prior, etc. I’m more so just ranting and my heart aches for those mothers. What is making it difficult for me too I think, is that I have not had any symptoms of pregnancy. No vomiting (which no offense to anyone but I’ll take it as a win), no food aversions, no cravings etc. the only thing is my breasts do hurt a lot. The other thing that terrifies me is that I am not in the greatest health. I was smoking 5-7 cigarettes a day as well as chiefing on my vape. My blood pressure is high. I take it myself at home and it will be 150/100 but at the docs office they say it’s normal which I know is not true. I have had hypertension my entire life, since I was 7-8. I am pretty overweight. I was 290 when I got pregnant (I had JUST lost 25 pounds right before becoming pregnant) and I am 320 already. I feel like I am not eating any more than I was, I’ve been trying to eat fruits/veggies. But I keep packing on weight. I also was taken off my medications when I found out I was pregnant(for bipolar and sleep) so I have been anxious and restless. I can’t help but to feel guilty especially if I do lose my baby. My boyfriend has been extremely supportive throughout everything so far. With the exception of a few (unrelated) arguments.
But to highlight the weight thing, if anyone has recepies or meals they enjoy during pregnancy please let me know. I’ve been trying to eat just chicken and veggies but I am getting tired of just chicken.
Thank you all for your time

The church's earliest visitors on Sunday are a group of kind-hearted do-gooders. And Lucas is there too.
The group, including Lucas, is diligently doing last-minute preparations, carefully and skillfully tending to the food they expertly prepared yesterday. Every single person involved in the work does their part with impressive ease and earned confidence. Lucas's careful contributions, both his direct, visible work, and the boons conferred by his presence allow them to do their work with newfound ease, confidence, and remarkable luck. Lucas occasionally makes minor missteps, but those are due more to the drawbacks he is enduring than anything he actually does. And every time he makes a mistake it's so minor a few deft movements are enough for him to overcome them. All the while he is texting Hannah and is visibly excited to volunteer, even though his motives are still quite selfish.
Lucas wisely does not take a leadership role here. The diligent figure follows the lead of his more experienced peers, and his endless, untiring contributions are enough to allow the group to be ready in an hour, completing work that normally takes them two or three thanks to the various perks Lucas grants them, as well as his actual, material contributions. When the group is ready, Lucas suggests they all swap stories about what led them to volunteer here.
The five volunteers and the pastor encourage the newcomer to go first, and he deftly weaves a tale that incorporates bits and pieces of the backstory he constructed for himself at his job. He explains that he grew up as the only child of a family in a small town and that he has been volunteering in minor capacities his whole life. He tells his new friends the same fanciful lies he told his coworkers and is a bit shocked when he gets the "Storytelling" skill. After that, his companions share their own stories with him. The pastor goes first, explaining that when he took over the church not one charitable act was occurring here and in only a few short years the pastor has massively changed that. The others all share various stories about how they've needed food before, or known people who needed a meal, and so they wanted to make sure that if someone needed a meal they could get it. The stories stir Lucas's heart, and he feels a pang of sincere admiration for his new friends. That said the pragmatic figure is not someone who is so kind-hearted that he'd lose sight of his larger objectives here.
While his companions share their stories he activates "Rogue", but focuses the skill on his hands. This decision almost completely cloaks his hands, rendering them invisible just long enough for Lucas to pour healing magic into the soup. He pours all of his magical energy into the stuff, exhausting himself but that is a minor inconvenience given one of his handy toys and especially when he receives a notification alerting him that he has gained an "Overcharge" skill; the ability to empower something by putting more into it.
As soon as everyone finishes their stories there is just enough time for the group of volunteers to go and get ready for the first of the arrivals at the kitchen. When Lucas is out of view of everyone he reaches into his inventory and pulls out his nifty arcane potion and downs it. The instant that the golden liquid touches his lips his power begins to flow back into him, suffusing his very soul. Minutes later the lad is welcoming guests and visitors to the church. People excitedly greet him, stunned in two different ways by his appearance.
Firstly there is the fact that Lucas is stunning, aesthetically. No matter one's preferences, no one can honestly deny his wholesome movie star looks, and no one tries to. But here, in the soup kitchen, that's the less important part of his appeal. The more important aspect of his appearance is his newness. Many of the people who appear early are people who come to the church regularly, and they recognize everyone there but him. This gives the young volunteer a chance to make several new admirers, and he navigates these social interactions with aplomb. The figure, at this point, doesn't even rely on his perks, having grown accustomed to his new life and reality.
As the figure encourages the visitors to come and grab food he is extremely pleased when he feels time freeze the first time someone tastes the food he made. This is due to the fact that he is making progress towards his quest to become a "White Mage" the formal name given to the "Healer" class he received a quest to become earlier this week, The quest asks him to heal 100 people, and this marks one of the first times he has made progress towards it. The figure smiles internally as he deactivates the notification that froze time and continues the important work he's been assigned; welcoming guests and working to log in the information they're willing to give about themselves. To achieve this task the eager go-getter has a clipboard and is stationed near the entrance to the part of the church that houses the kitchen where the chefs made the food. Every time someone new eats the food he spelled to be restorative the figure has to deal with paused time, but only the first time someone lifts some of the ensorcelled food to their lips, and each time his excitement at the prospect of obtaining a new class grows more intense.
For the first hour only long-term, regular members of the church's congregation, and their hungry friends, come to the kitchen. The pastor is one of the figures serving them food, while Lucas continues the important work he was asked to do. During this time 22 people make their way through the kitchen, greeting Lucas with excited smiles and happily volunteering the same information they've volunteered before to other individuals tasked with doing Lucas's current work. The young jumper listens to distant conversations even as he writes down the information of various individuals. He smiles internally whenever he overhears someone saying that the food tastes different somehow, better than it has before. Such individuals also sometimes notice how immediately the pain they're in lessens, their old aches and pains fading and in some cases disappearing altogether. They don't know about the magic that is repairing their bodies, the sacred energies that course into them with every faint bite or spoonful of food they eat. Also during this time the chef gains more experience
Lucas doesn't consciously know this but his decision to pour all of his magic into the food has supercharged it. If not for his decision to infuse the food with healing magic again time, coupled with the diffuse nature of the soup would have weakened the healing properties of the magic, but Lucas's choice to suffuse the food with as much magic as he could in short order before the hungry congregants and community members began to arrive has sanctified the food and empowered it's naturally restorative and fortifying properties almost making it something like a potion of sorts.
More people begin to arrive during the second hour of the meal serving period. Some of these people are brand new, and of them a handful gawk at Lucas. These individuals, include homeless youth. teen parents, and college students can't resist the urge to take in the cool glass of water on a hot day that is the charming volunteer. His ability to feign kindness and his almost but not quite eerie sense of their emotional states is enough to allow them to develop crushes, platonic or otherwise, on the figure. And in the space of the hour 40 such individuals come through and eat more of Lucas's cooking, enough to allow him to level up his chef class one more time. He eagerly takes a new class ability, one that allows him to grant food he cooks very minor buffs, though he finds that it's not retroactive.
During this time the pastor gives a very brief address to the crowd of gathered individuals, and introduces Lucas to everyone though Lucas has already been social enough and diligent enough to do that himself. Lucas eagerly thanks everyone for joining them today, and during this time he experiences a very subtle glitch where he says a word but no one notices it. The young adventurer simply ignores the glitch, but not before noting that it's the first one he's experienced in a public situation.
During the last forty five minutes of the meal more people come through, and this group is the oddest and the largest. These folks are the irregulars; people who occasionally need the meals the kitchen provides but who don't love prospect of coming to the kitchen. This group numbers a total 45 of individuals, and by the time they eat the effects of the food are less miraculous, but still solidly strong. At the same time when the next to last person to eat grabs a spoonful of soup and lifts it to her lips she is unknowingly responsible for time freezing and Lucas gaining a new class, The excited hero immediately changes classes and gains a boost to his intelligence and charisma as a result of it as well as just enough experience to boost the power of "Support", making this the first time that a perk of his has been directly strengthened to a quantifiable extent.
"Support" is the most subtle of Lucas's perks other than "The Devil's Own Luck". This perk makes him a more effective leader and teammate, and boosts the efforts of his c;lose-by allies by the equivalent of a "+2", until just now, modifier in TTRPG terms and weakens the efforts of his c;lose-by enemies by "-2", or now "-3". In layman's terms all of the efforts of his allies by a tiny but noticeable margin and weakens the efforts of his enemies by an equal amount. The perk also allows for buffs or debuffs to affect all allies or enemies in close proximity to each other, but Lucas has not had many chances to buff allies or fight enemies. One effect this perk has had is that it allows his friends to cook food that is more delicious, more filling, and healthier than their past efforts. Another effect of it is that it has helped those who eat said food to ingest it more easily and thus allows them to eat it without fears of stomach pains. New spells also appear in the hero's mental grimoire, ones that offer minor buffs or debuffs to friends and enemies, targeting their attributes, but none that consider Lucas a viable target.
The hero delights in his new class and is excited to have the chance to grow as a healer and support provider but the day isn't done. When the last of the crowd leaves Lucas and the rest of his friends stay behind to clean up. Lucas is eager to put his newly enhanced perk to the test, and during these efforts Lucas gains the "Cleaner" class, a class whose initial benefits to him include a boost to his senses and to his skill with anything intended to be used to clean something. During the cleaning, Lucas does not quite gain enough experience to level up, but he knows that he will in time.
Eventually Lucas bids his new friends farewell and makes his way to the gym. He works out somewhat intensely during this time, gaining a series of new skills in the form of swimming and boxing, thanks to his time engaging in a decently stimulating jaunt around the lap pool, followed by his participation in a class that revolves around self-defense. Thanks to "Master of All" and his decision to swap classes to "Fighter" he manages to level up both his "Mage" and his "Fighter" class, opting to give himself a boost to his endurance as a class skill for "Fighter", and a boost to the rate at which he regenerates arcane energy as his class skill for "Mage". It is during this time that Lucas figures out that for his classes to level up he needs to gain class-based experience, but this is the first time that he has seen that he can level a class up without having the class equipped, there just seems to be some relative debuff to the experience gained by the classes he doesn't have equipped. This insight boosts his intelligence, the realization itself serving as a sort of training of the attribute.
By the time Lucas returns to his apartment he is immensely satisfied with the day he has had. The moon is visible in the night's sky when he steps into his apartment he is ready to spend the rest of the day honing his skills and gaining valuable experience. He immediately starts this off by using some of his magic to mess with some of his possessions, positioning and repositioning them as he pleases with telekinesis. For the first time the figure shuts his eyes and practices his telekinesis by feeling alone, an exercise which results in the acquisition of a strange new skill: Extrasensory Perception, or ESP. The figure excitedly practices this skill, even as he levels up his "Spatial Magic" skill and gains an expensive new spell: "Minor Teleport". This particular spell lets him teleport objects he can see and hit with a small magical ray, causing light, small objects he hits to appear in his hand. The mage's skills with this are enough to allow him to hit a kitchen knife with it and teleport it to him without any issues. Lucas's mind fills with possibilities as he takes in the wicked potential of this spell. Still, the spell costs enough that he can only cast it once or twice without waiting for his pool of arcane energy to recover which limits it's usefulness somewhat but that's only a short term problem.
Monday rolls around and when it does Lucas is delighted to find that he is familiar enough with his surroundings that he settles into a routine. The jumper almost immediately throws himself into his work the minute he arrives at the office and he quickly grinds the day away. The only notable event is his realization that Amy is developing a crush on him, something he notices during lunch when he is eating with her and their small cadre of colleagues, when she eagerly asks him about volunteering. On Monday afternoon the lad goes to the gym and works out, taking another dancing class and leveling up the class partway through the workout. He gains a class skill which allows him to more easily persuade anyone who sees him perform a few dances, which he realizes probably won't be very useful in this jump but might mean something later on in his "Chain" as his employer called it several days ago.
The figure spends part of the night leveling his rogue class and gaining skills associated with it thanks in part to his "Rogue" perk and his new spells. He sticks to public places, and stays out just long enough for some shopping outlets and malls to close. He limits his targets to small objects like keys and wallets with his magic, and occasionally targets people with debuffs. He also levels "Observe" enough that he can learn the moods of living things just by using the skill, When his rogue class levels up he snags a new skill which boosts the effectiveness of his actions when he is unseen by the people he is targeting. He also snags a title: "Arcane Sneak", which boosts his magical regeneration when he is unnoticed by people or in the immediate aftermath of him using magic to take something that belongs to someone else.
The next month and a half passes in a blur, and Lucas develops a decently strict schedule he sticks to. On Mondays he trains a specific class, not necessarily rogue but definitely something. On Tuesdays he works out, including taking Zumba, a boxing class, and swimming. On Wednesdays he does meal prep and stays at home honing minor stuff. On Thursday he does some sort of volunteering, and on Fridays he actually relaxes and does something like writing or website design. The weekends are filled with volunteering and city exploration.
During this time his classes, other than chef, dancer, and mage, are slow to level up. He actively practices magic, he is a regular chef, and he turns a passive admiration he once had for dancers into something he is surprisingly passionate about. He also begins to volunteer at the hospital he visited, spending a few hours every Saturday in a small room in the back of the hospital looking through paperwork and doing stuff he didn't anticipate a hospital volunteer doing. Still, he quickly racks up trust and admiration from the few hospital staff members who know of him, thanks to his ability to just not complain, coupled with his stunning effectiveness at what he does.
As he begins to approach the two month mark he is a level 10 chef, level 12 dancer, and a level 6 mage, and a level 3 fighter, rogue, and white mage, as well as a level 4 cleaner. It turns out that each class levels a bit differently, which has inadvertently skewed his leveling but he's become an advanced enough chef that his food can be actively beneficial or detrimental and that there is now a 5% reduction in how long it takes him to cook something. He can also now gain modifiers to his interactions with people who've eaten several dishes he's made, provided they enjoyed them. His dancing is similarly useful, and he is a much better mage now than he once was. The figure can also cast spells and use an ability that prevents something from getting dirty, or magically cleanse objects. Despite all of this he remains a level 1 human, having not gained any experience that would level him as a member of his species; it seems that for him to gain such experience he needs to engage in combat and even when he's sparred with people he doesn't fight them to unconsciousness.
He leaves his apartment on the last Monday in October with a smile on his face, ready to begin a new work week.

everyone I just want to vent about something
I am 16 years old and after a very toxic relationship I soon became very depressed it was a very serious depressive episode I would say I was in my bed just rotting for all of October 2022 is when it started and really that depression took a while to curb and is now back from my arthritis symptoms. I had completely lost my appetite and really, I would eat nothing all day. I don’t know how I did it, I had nearly 7 seizures last year.. but I was so extremely depressed from such toxic people who were still trying to crawl back into my life. I’ve almost lost or I have lost 20 pounds in a year from the depression. I was always perfectly fine for my whole life.. I don’t know how to feel this is really hard for me mentally. I feel disabled I feel like my opportunities are reduced. I feel like as if I’m still struggling with the denial. So my parents definitely noticed my weight loss last year but didn’t really do anything to help me like take me to a doctor and I also didn’t advocate for myself as I was in so deep into my depressive episode so I can also blame myself I guess. But that’s what my problem is.. my mother blames me for my arthritis and everyone in my life is denying at the moment I think everyone is in shock as well. I got into an argument with my father a couple days about something petty and I had told him my arthritis has given me a short temper and made me an angrier person, he said you don’t have sh*t and it made me feel very invalidated and angry and I told him the first stage is denial maybe that wasn’t the best choice of words but I know he might just be in denial and hurt as well as my dad so I am not thinking about what he said too much. My symptoms really started Nov 2023 once in the morning I was brushing my hair before school and I felt a very tight pain in my wrist when I had moved my hand a certain direction because my hair is curly and needs a lot of maintenance, I knew this was a big red flag as I had never felt that before. Then the real pain started the joint pain, aching, dullness, burning, tense pain I feel deep in my bones that i know is arthritis 💔 I am so scared and worried for my future . My symptoms were the worst in winter, where my body would hurt all the time in the cold!! I dropped from 115 lb to almost 96-97 now i know I am unhealthy and doing my best to gain it back I am also 5’1. Also, whenever I move in class my body pops so extremely loud.. to have arthritis at this age in the school setting is so incredibly humiliating and confusing and difficult… I always have to crack my knuckles to ease the pressure built in them after I’m done writing, sometimes I feel the worst of all is I’ve lost my beautiful body that people used to compliment me on, I have genetic cystic acne and wear glasses so it really was the only thing that did make me feel good enough which hurts me to say. I wonder when I go to school what people think of me, I’ve even lost my best friend and friend group because I’m not beautiful like them anymore. It sounds stupid but it’s true my hair being very short due to the shrinkage in curly hair does make me look a bit ugly I have short hair now but it’s growing as i try to gain weight.. how i feel is what is the point of life if I am always suffering 💔 and why me💔 my parents can’t afford even clothes and food for me now they have to buy me medicine i don’t even think they are taking me seriously unfortunately… as the oldest daughter in an immigrant household they always expected me to know how to raise myself and now when i need them they aren’t here😔 it’s hard to write in class and even stay awake, i was always a sleepy person but arthritis is a different.. exhaustion. I feel as if there’s nothing to live for, I am emotionally drained and numbed I almost feel like I’m losing it sometimes. I wish we had a support group for very young people dealing with arthritis because I feel like my life is robbed from me but i only have myself to blame I guess 💔😔

Note: I do not encourage any self harm or dangerous ideas, don't ban me thanks.
If you want the truth about the toxic alcohols, here I am.
Methanol is roughly twice as toxic as Ethanol but also causes mild and temporary to severe and long term vision damage at the same time.
Despite what everybody says, I'm going to be genuine about this topic.
Pure Methanol, ingestion at 3 ml or less will be harmless long term in adults, as long as the exposure is not constantly repeated.
A one time oral dose of 60 ml of 20% Methanol in adults will be harmless long term, but short term will cause bodily aches, mild visual disturbances and a tight feeling.
But not to be fooled, if an adult human were to treat Methanol like Ethanol and get intoxicated off it, they would go blind and would die...
Do not drink Methanol at home!
Similarly, Ethylene Glycol ingestion in adults can be fatal, but if an adult human were to ingest 20 ml of pure Ethylene Glycol or less, in most adults this is not a medical emergency if this exposure was a once off..
If someone were to drink enough EG to become intoxicated, they would eventually have seizures and die of either heart or kidney failure.
In terms of Ethylene Glycol...
Ethylene Glycol itself is a harmless CNS depressant but in humans, Ethylene Glycol is metabolized to Glycolaldehyde which is also a CNS depressant and is even less toxic than Acetaldehyde aka Ethanal, but... Glycolaldehyde is rapidly metabolised mostly into Glycolic acid which is processed very slowly in humans hence would build up to toxic levels, which would lead to seizures and possibly cardiac arrest.
If the victim survives this stage, the Glycolic acid will be slowly converted into Glyoxalic acid which is in-between mild to moderately toxic, then the Glyoxalic acid in large quantities will metabolise into Oxalic acid which binds to Calcium to form Calcium Oxalate crystals in your brain, liver and mostly kidneys, resulting in lethal kidney and other organ damage and would lead to brain death.
Despite what Google has to say.. in adult humans, Ethylene Glycol is harmless in very small amounts as our body can deal with its metabolites in tiny amounts, but in large amounts this chemical becomes extremely dangerous.
The only types of intoxicating alcohols that are safe for humans to ingest in larger amounts are: Ethanol if it's non-denatured and is diluted, or Butane 1,3 Diol which is also a Glycol.
I'm not going to mention anything more about 1,4 butanediol... don't drink that shit but there is only two safe forms of drinking Alcohol that I have listed above.
If a child has ingested wiperfluid, antifreeze, racing fuel, or any potentially dangerous chemicals, Immediately call emergency services or take them to the hospital right away.
Other toxic alcohols are DiEthylene Glycol, isopropanol, propanol and some others.

i’m a 20F and i got my tonsillectomy the morning of may 10th. today is day 9. recovery was super easy days 3/4, and then it went downhill as expected. i spit up a blood clot about the size of a dollar coin and had a clot about the same size on my left tonsil, which i eventually swallowed (ew). however, since day 5ish, my right tonsil has healed like a champ and i have had genuinely 0/10 pain. my left tonsil however is so painful it is actually driving me crazy, and not in a metaphorical way. my ear has been aching for almost an entire week straight, and it feels like someone is pushing a rusty needle through my eardrum. to accompany it, my left side is in excruciating pain in ONE specific spot; and the rest is just sore. it feels like someone is burning my wounds with a lighter constantly. nothing i do helps except laying still on my ride side with a weighted ice pack. i have been in agony for 9 days. i’m not a wimp either, im aware how awful this recovery is. i have broken so many bones and had so many sprains and i have been in a lot of pain before but nothing like this. i have ehlers danlos hypermobility syndrome, im a redhead, i have endometriosis, i have a HIGH PAIN TOLERANCE. this is killing me. i feel like im going insane because of this, and like i am trapped in my body as a prison. my mind is a prison. i am in endless pain. i can’t eat or drink water and i don’t know what to do. i need any help or suggestions i can get. i’m extremely worried for my mental health. i can’t continue like this much longer. please i need advice and help. please

Feb 2023 - Open Disc Discectomy (Failed) Sep 2023 - Open Disc Discectomy (Failed) Feb 2024 - L5-S1 Fusion
3 Months Post Surgery

• Permanent Nerve Damage in Left Leg -Drop Foot on left side
• Constant Ache down the left leg
• Multiple occasions where pain in the lower back prevents standing or walking.

Updated MRI and Xray that indicate that everything was as successful as it could be.
I am told that my left leg below the knee will continue to atrophy until it’s skin and bone. The pain is extremely frustrating but necessary unless someone can recommend something other than Gabapentin (I’m ok now, but I had some pretty severe episodes of suicidal thoughts that went away without it in my system - they had me on 900mg 3xDay)
I’m probably as positive as I can be as I work with doctors to find orthotics to help with drop foot, but the instability with my leg leg forces me to use a cane as a 41 year old.
Are there other options - it may be stupid, but my kids were skating today and I can’t join them and thought that with my left leg - I may never get to join them again….
So if there aren’t better options - why does it make sense to continue this path as opposed to choosing the path of a prosthetic that with my stubbornness would allow me to skate, ski, hike, etc with my family again.

I’ve been experimenting with supplementation and biohacking for about 10 years now and I’m starting to wonder how much it has affected the way I view my own health.
I’m concerned that I may have become hypersensitive to my body to a point of mild hypochondria or even being psychosomatic.
Or maybe I genuinely have constant health issues.
I’ve been feeling envious of people who seem to never have any sort of discomfort or need for health intervention— do they actually exist?
Or do people bury it down because of societal expectations of appearing OK, or because they’re not overly in-tune to their body and so they tend to ignore issues?
Some recurring issues are:
Uncomfortable PMS symptoms like cramping, extreme fatigue, moodiness, anxiety, and bloating.
I’ve had a chronic bottom rib injury that limits my movement.
I’ve been seeing black spots in my vision for a couple of years now, usually when my heart rate is up, i’m feeling overly anxious, or I’ve had too much caffeine.
Ongoing stomach issues for years, like bloating, constipation, and pain.
There’s always some body ache I’m trying to solve, and some focus, emotional, or energy issue.
this just feels like a lot to me, especially for someone who takes care of themselves. I do have a lot of stress, but I manage it pretty well with my workout routine, diet, therapy, sleep, and other recommended techniques.
36F. I jog/run about 10 miles per week and I do hot yoga twice a week.

hi so i got this iud inserted on feb 14 i was bleeding for about 3 weeks straight had estrogen pills added in didnt bleed for a week then bled for like 1-2 months on & off its may now i’ve had a lot of unprotected sex with my boyfriend but over the last i wanna say 3 weeks i’ve had spotting here & there some pink some dark red but extreme cramping i’m talking crying gonna throw up body aches, mood swings, cravings (this has been honestly for 2 months now but my bf diet has rubbed off on me) definitely bloating & my boobs haven’t exactly been hurting but maybe bigger? (they grow a lot on IUDs for me idk why)
i’m taking a test tomorrow but is there a chance im pregnant? my sister got pregnant while taking BC & using a condom, it was an implantation pregnancy. she was even told she couldn’t have kids. i’m really freaked out this also is not my first iud i had one put in (Kyleena) a year ago, in december it fell out due to heavy bleeding from an infection, had mirena put in January, taken out february 14th with my current kyleena
i bled sometimes heavy but mostly light just for 10-13 days last year when i had it put in i’m pretty wigged out because im part of the 1% people whose symptoms are always odd & rare so it can honestly just be the IUD adjusting to my system & removing my period all together

I know I should probably be getting psychiatric advice from my psychiatrist, but I'm not talking with her until my appointment on Thursday so I'm desperate for any advice on what to do.
Basically, I've been taking Lexapro for about 5 years and lately(around 6 months) it feels like its not working as well anymore. So my psychiatrist suggested I try switching to Prozac. What I THINK I heard my psychiatrist tell me is: taper to 10mg lexapro for 1 week. Then taper to 5mg the week after. Then start on 10mg prozac by itself.
I followed the instructions for the first week, but 3 days into the second week I decided to start taking the 10mg prozac early with the 5mg lexapro. So for 3 days I took 5mg lexapro and 10mg prozac. Then yesterday I felt extra depressed and took 20mg prozac with the 5mg lexapro. Today I went back to 10mg prozac + 5mg lexapro but I'm feeling absolutely terrible, like the worst I've felt.
Extremely tired even after sleeping 8+ hours, more anxious than usual, and it feels like the back of my head feels weird, almost like I can feel the lack of serotonin, not sure if that's possible, but it sort of aches or feels exhausted I guess.
Any advice is very much appreciated, but I guess I'm specifically interested in 2 things: First, did I make a mistake in my schedule of taking these meds? And secondly, do you think I should just go back to 20mg lexapro and try again at a later date or continue trying to switch to prozac even though I'm feeling awful?
Thanks again for any help or advice. I will ask my psychiatrist these questions as soon as I can, just looking for advice in the meantime.

I’m 25M, 235 lbs, 5’11, I vape and drink alcohol about 3-4 times a week. No current medications but will take ibuprofen 800mg for back pain as needed.
These last few years I would get chest aches but it was never anything crazy. I can tell I get these aches when I am under extreme stress, I am easily irritable and get angry fast.
I went to bed to at about 3am last night, I was gaming until that time and had a 24oz Coors banquet.
Around 7am I woke up to an intense pain and while I was half asleep I know it was extremely painful and felt like my chest was caving into me. I was loud and woke my wife up.
I’m transitioning out of the military soon and have a lot of personal things going on that cause me stress. I don’t know if this is something I should go to the ER for? I had minor aches today but nothing crazy.

I developed this neck+ forward head posture, after an laparoscopic surgery where the gas had to escape over my shoulders (musculature), ever since all the muscles in the neck/trapezius area are cramped up with a bunch of infected lymph nodes all around, it has affected my life quality immensely, from aesthetic standpoint and physical and health problems, head aches, concentration problems, tmj problems, breathing issues, my mandible kinda dropped backwards and face got recessed and droopy, it sagged downwards. My scm’s are extremely compressed compact and tight. For the tension I’ve tried everything from Physio therapy, stretches, breathing, osteopathy, accupuncture, even muscle relaxants, payed money for this treatment and the cramping doesn’t go away. What can I do here, I been making sport trying to get my muscles “stronger” but it of course doesn’t help as it’s separate to the neck. I don’t know what to do anymore as I’ve tried everything, I got suicidal thoughts because of it 20m/ 150lb

I’m on a 24 hour prescription for my acid reflux, but last night I was dumb and ate Indian food for dinner which always causes me to wake up in the middle of the night with stomach acid filling my mouth.
So I thought I’d try and take Pepcid right before bed to stop it from happening, on top of my prescription med. well it still happened extremely badly and so I took another Pepcid, which didn’t help. And then so i decided to take a third one.
After that I got so ill. Vomiting, diarrhea, fever, chills, body aches, dizziness.
It’s been 12 hours now and I’m still so sick.
Has everyone else ever had this happen?

This may be a bit of a long post but even if only a single person reads it that would still be so helpful. I feel lost.
So here is my story. I had a very traumatic childhood and early adolescence where I was constantly going through hardship after hardship (I was a foster kid). I consider myself a pretty resilient person and everytime something bad happened I got myself through it more or less.... Until now. I think something snapped in me. It broke me both mentally and physically.
So this is what happened. Around half a year ago I found myself in a bad situation. The details don't really matter, but it involved me having to move out of my home real quick because I was unsafe. It was extremely stressful since I felt 1. Unsafe 2. I had to find a new apartment in an incredibly short time 3. The new apartment I found -and where I currently live- is in a shitty neighborhood which also makes me feel unsafe. The whole situation caused and is still causing me an enormous amount of stress.
Since my move I feel a constant sense of anxiety. I can give some examples. Whenever I hear sirens outside (I live in a big city) I assume they're coming for me. I constantly check what the neighbours are doing and I'm scared they will harm me. I have anxiety about how I can barely pay my rent. I have anxiety about my anxiety becoming so bad that I have to quit my studies and lose everything I have. I have anxiety about paying for food. I have anxiety about not having family that can support me.
I'm also in constant physical pain because of my anxiety. My body is incredibly tense, my shoulders hurt and everyday my head aches. I feel dizzy. Sound and light are too much. I have to walk around with NC headphones 24/7 otherwise I get a panic attack. I can't form a single straight thought. I constantly hear the sound of my heartbeat pounding in my ears.
I live in filth, I feel paralyzed, I can't get anything done. I can't do anything that I used to do, like reading my favorite books, cooking, playing my instruments. I can't do anything because the sensory input is too much. Every single day I spend sitting on a couch with my headphones on and a blanket over my head in fetus position crying. I can't work, I can't see my friends. There are a lot of closed envelopes in my mailbox, probably bills, but I can't look at it.
I asked for help but no one seems to hear me or understand the severity of my pain. My GP put me on a year long waiting list for psychological help. I don't know what to do.

Note: If I could change the title, I would change it to suspected LZTR1-related schwannomatosis and suspected MNF1: Asking Some Questions.
Hi everyone. I've been lurking for a long time, for as long as I've suspected I've had some condition under the umbrella of neurofibromatosis. I've read so many posts from all of you over this time and I feel like I should introduce myself, and also ask a few questions of you all.
Introduction
I've always been into genetics as a hobby. My grandmother had an incredibly rare condition that took many years for her to be diagnosed with, and every day of her life she was at risk of sudden death as a result (and has absolutely nothing and no relation to any form of NF). When I started in school and learned about genetics even being a thing, I was convinced that her condition was likely a component of it. As it turns out, it is. I couldn't become a geneticist: school was so challenging to afford to begin with, even with really fantastic grades, and I was a high school dropout, so my career became something else (software engineering), but I was always interested in the subject.
Many years ago, I got several consumer-level DNA tests. One of the tests had a mutation in NF1, and I checked to see if it was a miscall. It appeared not to be. I had gotten a new job with fantastic insurance and wanted to see if I could get it checked out.
I see the geneticist. No mutations in NF1 detected, but a mutation in LZTR1 was present, along with a Variant of Uncertain Significance that had not been recorded and studies at the time (now, it's published). So I went about my life as of a few years ago knowing that was a possibility. Saw a neurologist, got an MRI, they said I looked good, life moved on.
A few years before this happened, I had a child (who does not have any of my pathogenic mutations.. I've checked). So this whole time, I started getting some symptoms of issues with my eye over the years: a symptom where i had sudden extreme pain that felt like my eye was out of the socket almost, happened twice, eye doctors had no idea what was going on. Then, a retinal hole, so I had surgery to repair it. My vision just has never been as strong there.
As of the last few months especially, I've had other symptoms on the same side as my eye: tinnitus, a feeling that my ear felt dislocated until I put it back in place, slight aching, a little bit of dizziness, and in hindsight I think my hearing was already being impacted. Less than two weeks ago, I had a moment where everything hit hard: all of the sudden, it hurt more on the same side with my eye, the vertigo got worse, I could definitely tell I had lost hearing, double vision when seeing up close. I knew in that moment that something more than just some sort of ache was going on, that this seemed worse. Also keep in mind, I actively avoid getting COVID-19 by masking, air purification, vaccines, etc. So as of now, I have never had it, and thankfully have also barely been sick at all in the past few years beyond these other unusual symptoms.
I saw my neurologist immediately after realizing what was going on. I told him what I thought this was: an acoustic neuroma, and maybe something else additional with my eye or something similar to it. The appointment ended up being really disappointing, dismissive and not at all in the direction I had hoped, and I'm going to find care elsewhere after I get my MRI because I know I deserve better than someone who does not care to drop his ego. But I did convince him to get me an MRI (it's been two years), which happens tomorrow morning. And I did also find out that my optic nerve is tortuous, especially the left side (and I doubt he reviewed it himself back in the day, beyond the written report). And I pointed out to him again about the mutation I had in NF1, and how I also have cafe au laits and freckles in patches throughout my body, that are just harder to see because I'm multiracial and they're very close to my own skin tone. And he confirmed my conductive hearing loss. And examined my ears and ruled out an ear infection. So... what else could it be in someone who has LZTR1-related neurofibromatosis diagnosis from a geneticist?
So I have, what I believe, is mosaic neurofibromatosis type 1. I think the first DNA test I saw that in was legitimate. I also think the LZTR1-related schwannomatosis is kicking in, but that I knew about. I think I have even a spot on my spine, as I've had pain there with pressure for almost my entire life (at least as long as I can remember).
And I am hoping someone can take me seriously at another place of care once my MRI comes back. Whatever is happening is large enough to impact my hearing and vision and face. And it's the weirdest experience knowing part of this in advance of it before I had symptoms I noticed. It's like every step of the way, I've had to convince someone else of what I thought was going on. But I am super lucky to know enough in advance to find the care I need. WIsh that was the case for everyone.
TL;DR: Inadvertently found out I have LZTR1-related schwannomatosis and I suspect mosaic neurofibromatosis type one. Might have acoustic neuroma based on symptoms, some optic nerve involvement based on symptoms, MRI tomorrow.
Questions
I have some questions just to generally ask. I try to search the subreddit, but sometimes it's just easier to ask in the way I need to, and I want to add a bit more detail to some of the questions to help clarify what I'm asking about.

• Is there anyone else here who has Mosaic Neurofibromatosis Type 1 and LZTR1-schwannomatosis? Or anyone that has any form of mosaic NF1 and schwannomatosis?
• For those of you with acoustic neuromas / vestibular schwannoma, is there anything you would want to know or tell anyone who goes through any treatment for it?
  • I know a ton about the general facts and procedures for the moment. I mean anything that you would have found helpful to keep in mind, or something that helped you during the treatment and in recovery?
• For those of you with anything around the optic nerve including optic nerve glioma, is there anything you would want to know or tell anyone who goes through any treatment for it?
  • I know roughly about this, but looking more for anything that you would have found helpful to keep in mind, with treatment, recovery?
• For absolutely anyone in the umbrella, what helped you cope with finding out this news?
  • I usually deal by digging deep into a subject and educating myself, which I've done ad nauseam already. But I am really struggling with what's going on, the juxaposition between how I feel just god awful physically on the daily, and also coping with this news, and how I have been treated by my neurologist and others. I imagine some of this will probably be helped by actually seeing and knowing the details after tomorrow. I know I'm pretty resilient because I've been through so much real shit in my life, and I know I am in no degree perfect, and I'm going to try to persevere as much as I can. I just try to be a good person, and life just hits me with the hardest situations. And now I have a kid that I want to do absolutely everything in the world for and that's jeopardized. And I am the only person I know like me.

I know that was a massive post. Thank you for reading. Thank you if you give any answers. And thanks for being a part of this community, I wish none of us had to face this, but I am glad there are places where we can know we're not alone in our experiences.

Fuck my life.
The joke is that of course this would happen to me. It was so mild for my daughter that I doubted she had it at all. Well, not anymore. Daycare sent a letter home last Wednesday that a kiddo in her class went home with HFMD, so not this past week but the one before. I picked her up that day and noticed 2 “pimples” on the back of her neck. This was indeed HFMD. she’d had mild fever and some throat discomfort in the 2 days leading up to the letter and the bumps. She is 100% now, but was kept home thurs and Fri and unfortunately sent back Monday, as I was extremely confident she didn’t have it as nothing progressed past that. I regret my actions, and hope it wasn’t passed on to anyone else. But unfortunately I got a nasty fever, sore throat, body aches, and fluctuation between extreme sweating and extreme chills for 2.5 days…and this morning I’ve woken up with dozens upon dozens of skin-colored bumps on hands, wrists and feet. Roof of mouth is torn up and “shedding”. Pads/tips of all my fingers and toes are sore and tingly.
Husband is fine, of course (but also luckily).
Goddammit. I have a MAJOR project due the Tuesday after Memorial Day, I do not have one minute of time to spare so I’m going to have to work through this no matter what.

I’d love to get some insight and advice from anyone that has any experience dealing with Lyme as I’m in a really tricky spot and and I’m so worried about taking anything for my Lyme since I’m currently breastfeeding my 5 month old. My symptoms have been on and off for years now that I think of it, but I never thought to get tested for Lyme, nor did any of my doctors. I always thought I had some sort of underlying autoimmune issue that would cause joint pain and swelling here and there as well as fatigue. I just sort of learned to deal with it. The real pain began after I had my baby 5 months ago. My joint pain and swelling became unbearable. I can barely walk first thing in the morning, my joints swell so badly that I can’t get my rings off of my fingers, my hips and neck ache constantly and my wrists feel like they're going to snap every time I pick up my son. I went to see a doctor about my pain, never expecting a positive Lyme result, but in fact it turns out I am positive for Borreliolis immunoblot Igm, Lyme screen Igm, duncani immuniblot Igm, bartonella immnoblot Igm, as well as babesia immunoblot Igm. My doctor believes I’ve had this in my system for a long time and he wrote me a prescription for one antiviral called Nystatin and one antibiotic called Cefuroxime Acetil 500mg. I’m supposed to take both 2x per day. He says this should cure my Lyme completely within a month. If I wasn’t breast feeding I probably would have just jumped on board and done what he said but I’m extremely hesitant because I don’t want my baby to get exposed to a bunch if antibiotics that could disrupt his system. My doctor said it was “safe” while breastfeeding but he also said that my baby could end up with abdominal discomfort and diarrhea from it which leads me to believe it’s obviously going to affect him in some capacity. Because of this I started reading more about natural ways of healing Lyme and I’m seeing a lot about herbal treatments and hyperbolic chambers etc but I’m a little lost and would love to know what worked for everyone. Would you recommend taking the antibiotics in conjunction with herbs (in that case I may sadly decide to stop breastfeeding) meaning I’d wait to start treatment for at least another month or two. Or would you suggest I stick with herbal treatment only? Any advice or personal experience would be so appreciated!

So 4 days ago I was at my girlfriend's house when one of her sister's friends who had also been over told us that she had mono (she had came over a handful of times in the last 5 weeks and her symptoms got progressively worse.) This particular evening she was audibly sick as hell, super congested, throwing up, and coughing. I have no idea why she even invited herself over if she was feeling like that, exposing us all to it by coughing everywhere and sharing vapes a week before. Personally I don't ever wanna hang out with my friends or do anything but rest when I'm really ill. People who do that shit are just brainless, but that's besides the point. 3 days ago I was at work the day after the aforementioned night and it got really busy towards the end of the shift and this is when my symptoms hit hard. I didn't have a sore throat but my body was aching severely, I was sweating profusely, and I was extremely fatigued. It was really painful. I had to go home about 20 minutes early because the muscle fatigue rendered me unable to finish closing. I let my boss know about the situation and put up the rest of my shifts for the week up for availability. I don't have health insurance so I didn't get a diagnosis myself or a doctor's note, but the girl that I suspect gave me the shit said that she just had the diagnosis come positive for mono. Thing is, since my shift on Friday where I felt what I assume to be mono symptoms because of how awful and fatigued I felt, I've quickly gotten better and now I'm ready to come back to work. I'm just unsure on if I actually had it, still have it and it's gonna come out of nowhere with awful symptoms, or have a resistance. I am 19, and most people my age have been exposed to ebv already, so am I immune?" Any input would benefit me greatly.

guys ache se mehnat karo, aaj kal ye 'IIT bad, norm college good' trend bahut chal raha hai logon me, always remember ki IITs ko facilities nahi, alumni acha banaate hai. To apna best do, college jaake aur mehnat karo, and copium posts pe dhyaan mat do. global Uni rankings par mat jaana , mostly 3 reasons:
1) IITs are just a technical institutions that offers Btech program, yahaa par baaki fields of study nahi hai to employability aur research me natually kam aayega. Engineering ke basis par the old ones are in the top 50, which for a developing nation is extremely good.
2) Marketing ke liye western unis in rankings waalo ko acha pay karti hai, ye unis donation waalon se apna mota paisa kamaati hai, aur scholarship waale bache alumni banke inki marketing.
3) Baahar jaake UG/PG ke sapne abhi se mat dekho, wahaa par scholarship bhi milegi apna kharcha chalaane ke liye part time bhi karna padega + hectic academics. IITs me juice nikalta hai to vahaa to dry roast kar denge. and sadly, racism exists.
Apna best karo, IIT jaao, coding/apni field of interest me masterclass karo, clap em some coochies and badhiya mota paisa kamao because at the end innovation karne pe bhi mota paisa milta hai. bas innovation honi chahiye. Agar paisa nahi mil raha to vo innovation nahi .

Now, just a disclaimer, this is just my personal opinion of which character would best fit the bill. Regardless if you agree or disagree, feel absolutely free to do so either way. Also, obvious spoiler warning for the books excepting Raising Steam and Shepherd's Crown.
The Web: This one is obvious and can be no one other than Lord Vetinari himself. An absolute master of subtle manipulation and long term planning, Vetinari is the perfect Avatar of the Web. He creates a reputation of pervasive fear and makes people believe that he could do away with them at a whim, despite him never once killing a single person who wasn't an irredeemable criminal of some sort, and even then usually giving them chances to redeem themselves first. This being the case, I'd say Lady Margolotta is also an Avatar, and the one who exposed Havelock to the Web in the first place.
The Hunt: The stereotypical aspect of the Hunt is manifested most by Wolfgang von Uberwald, the textbook Hunter who chases and kills for the thrill of it. Both Vimes and Angua hear the call of the Blood, but both refuse to heed it, and so aren't Avatars. I'd argue that there's another Avatar of the Hunt fulfilling the other role, created by the Hunt to be the perpetually hunted, the never caught but ever pursued white stag/ golden doe, the one, though not only, Rincewind.
The Eye: One Avatar is Jeannie and every Kelda before and after her. The Kelda sees everything and knows what has happened and what will. The alternate answer is Blind Io, given his literal eyeballs that float around and also that he's cognizant of everything that goes on in the Disc, and that everyone knows he's watching.
The Spiral: The Elf Queen. The undisputed master of illusion and deception, creating false worlds that operate on her rules, trapping people in unreal dreams they cannot escape, making them see and believe what she wants them to see and believe. Bel Shamharoth is a also a possible answer given how he distorts the senses and feeds on those he traps.
The Buried: Albrecht Albrechtsson. Knockermen are undoubtedly Avatars of the Buried, with the complex stew of fear and reverence they feel for the underground, and Albrecht is the lowest among them. Agi Hammerthief is probably the only fully realised Avatar of the Buried, who dwells beneath the Disc where no one will ever reach him.
The Flesh: The Igors and Nutt. The Igors for obvious reasons, their affinity for tinkering with flesh, and their indisputable understanding of the fact that meat is meat, and as such can be used for a lot more than its original intention. Nutt because he is a creation of said tinkering, flesh made warped, with a living engine of meat inside him.
The End: Mort and Bill Door, and possibly every zombie. This really needs no explanation. Mort stepping into his Master's role is the textbook descent of a human into Avatarhood, developing powers and slowly becoming Other. I'm not counting Death because he is the personification of the thing and isn't human enough to qualify as an Avatar, and I'm not counting Susan because she never carried out the Duty(iirc. I could be wrong)
The Slaughter: Carcer, the Gonne, and Cohen the Barbarian. Carcer killed for the fun of it with no care for reasoning, consequence or morality. He WAS a one man slaughter by himself. Cohen's existence was also very similar to Carcer's, albeit he killed far more people and lived by a Code that ensured that though he mass murdered on the regular, he always did it with the same honesty as a man hunting for his next meal. As such perhaps Cohen was more an impersonal personification of the Slaughter like the Piper rather than an Avatar of it. The Gonne was more an artifact that channeled the Slaughter into whoever held it, be it D'Eath, Cruces or even Vimes.
The Corruption: Vorbis and the Cunning Man. Vorbis absolutely embodies the toxicity and insidious creeping infestation of the Corruption. He pollutes organisations and people, changing them and turning them into versions of himself, utilising extremely unhealthy relationship dynamics in order to do so, creating an atmosphere ripe with fear, desperation and despair. The Cunning Man is similar except his method of corruption is more direct than Vorbis's ie literally taking over the body of his victim while subtly influencing the minds of those around him when he's less corporeal. His presence is filth of the mind and stench of the soul, and incites disgust and fear among those aware of his true nature.
The Stranger: I had some trouble with this but finally decided on Susan and Lu Tze. Although one would intuitively put Susan under The End, in practice the characteristics she actually exhibits line up more with the Stranger. She walks unseen among others, unknown in the places she passes through, never usually staying very long in one place unless that happens to be her dwelling at that time. She doesn't fit in among others and has always been set apart. Her presence unsettles people. She's too undead to be truly alive and too alive to be truly undead. The only people who really know her are Death and Time. To everyone else, she's a stranger they see sometimes. And Lu Tze, of course, is just the Sweeper. No one knows the first thing about him apart from the fact that he happens to be there. He's a part of the background of whenever he is. He comes and goes unnoticed. If anyone ever truly Looked at him, and actually noticed what they saw, that he was in fact a stranger in their midst, the first words out of their mouths would be "I do not know you"
The Desolation: Stratford, Spider the Rat King, and Ipslore the Red. Stratford was a motherfucker who would bleed every last drop before abandoning the corpse he created. This was a bastard who, wishing to cause Vimes as much pain as he could, chose to target his son rather than seek him out directly. A man after the Desolation's own heart. Spider was out for everything the humans had. It wanted their utter ruin and destruction and was well on its way to achieving it. And Ipslore attempted to destroy the whole world with his resentment, using and abusing his own son as his instrument to do so, and would have succeeded too, if it weren't for some idiot with a half brick in a sock.
The Extinction: The Things from the Dungeon Dimensions. The Extinction is the end of the rule of Man and their replacement with the horrifying Other. And there's nothing that fits that description better than the Things from the Dungeon Dimensions, constantly seeking to bring about exactly what the Fear is.
The Lonely: This was difficult to decide as well, but I believe the First Tooth Fairy might qualify. Living literally locked up in a bubble separate from the rest of reality, it lives apart from everyone and everything else, keeping alone for all eternity. Additionally, I believe that every living witch(with the exception of Nanny Ogg) carries a piece of the Lonely inside them. Its influence never goes away, and those who succumb to it are the ones who become cacklers.
The Vast: Tiffany Aching and, funnily enough, a Simon once again. Tiffany's primary source of power is that she is, at her core, something far bigger than herself. She may be just Tiffany but she is also Land under Wave, the power and will of millions of years of life before her. At her most powerful she is aware of EVERYTHING, from the bones of the flint beneath the chalk to time itself to the stars being born in the distant sky. She is small but she is also Vast. And Simon sees the whole universe and truly understands what he's looking at. He sees and understands more than he can express and his knowledge of the Vast almost approaches comprehension.
The Dark: The one, though once again not only, Samuel Vimes. There couldn't be any other answer here. The dark walks with him. He was born in it, moulded by it... By the time he saw the light it was nothing more than BLINDING. But yeah, he is most at peace in the true dark in the pissing rain on the cobbles, even before he was literally possessed by the living darkness itself. The dark aids him and talks to him. The dwarfs and the goblins may live in the dark, but Sam Vimes looked into the Abyss, and he wasn't the one who blinked.