Thanks. I’m glad your friends have found good solutions (and I keep my fingers crossed on you friend’s debt). I’m currently in the running for a job that will give me flexibility and allow me to better manage my care, so I’ve got something coming over the horizon.

Thank you! It was mostly just annoyance at the pain. I’ve had a lot of dental work done and have dealt with chronic pain, so I was able to handle the ache pretty well. I’ve had a few “oh shit” moments when handling the Tylenol allergy (usually downing cold medicine without checking), but Benadryl calms it down.

Reading this I realize I shift between “non-white” and “people of color” sometimes. Something to work on because I see exactly what you mean in the use of “non-white.”

I think grandkids are magic for getting grandparents to stop saying stupid shit. I’ve gotten family to knock shit off by invoking the grandkids.

Mr. Naked’s grandfather has a favorite joke that includes the word “chinaman.” This is made extra weird by the fact that it is literally the only inappropriate language/behavior I have ever heard from him in regards to discussing people of color. It’s like the very last vestige of words he used growing up, I think.

Guy with an extra room renting it out to cut down on expenses, I would guess. It’d be a good deal for a kid with a shit job trying to get started as an adult, too.

You might see if the docs who refused to do the paperwork (wtf) would at least write a reference letter stating they agree that edibles are a good match for your dad’s symptoms. Having the docs back you up when you talk to a new doc could open the door. Good luck.

I just had a tooth pulled, and the dentist recommended the layering. I told him I was allergic to Tylenol, and he asked if I could high-dose ibuprofen. I can, thankfully, and it did all right, but man, I could feel when it started to wear off but I couldn’t take anything else at that point.

Even asking for time off as a desk jockey gets you in trouble some places. I asked for a work-from-home situation (just once or twice a week) to manage my care, and I explained in detail exactly how exhausted and foggy my pain made me and how being able to set my own hours at home (say, work for an hour, nap, then…

One of the hospital systems in my city does a pain management course. Basically, you spend 8 classes learning all the different ways you can manage pain, learning all the ways the narcotics can help or hinder, and at the end of the class, you outline a management plan with the help of a pain specialist. Once all that…

Your mother is a champion. The hardest part for me when dealing with my own chronic pain (endometriosis severe enough I was basically on bed rest for 18 months) is being able to find something to laugh about. I also love her frankness when discussing detox and how well she knows her own symptoms. It’s good to see…

There’s something about this that just makes me so happy. I don’t know what, exactly, but the whole process of getting the giant Snorlax into the house just has me grinning.

Same. I had a few times were I said I couldn’t eat gluten where the food was clearly half-assed into being made edible for me. When I say “I’m celiac,” I get a much better response. As a former server, I get the annoyance of fakers demanding changes.

Used to get Campbell’s soup for comfort food and didn’t know at the time that yeast extract can be grown on barley. A few blinding headaches later I managed to figure out what was wrong. It’s forever a game of Gluten roulette. I have found shampoos are my greatest nemesis.

I was thinking the same. As someone whose had to go through a series of progesterone-based treatments for endo, I can attest it completely messes with your hormones. I hope she’s got her PCOS under control, but if she’s lifting while still feeling that pain, she’s a double medalist.

Yes! That book (sadly) maintains so much relevance, though I keep hoping they’ll be an updated edition.

Complaint about the art. Drink.

There was something I read recently that I don’t have in front of me right now where law enforcement spoke to a group of abusers who explained they absolutely have a system to go from “oh, so loving” into the cycle of violence. It’s planned a lot of the time, with dudes being able to spot someone who will be…

Except not. Victims who get orders of protection from their abusers are actually more likely to be attacked again, and the reason for it is because they got the order of protection. The abuser sees it as a violation of their control and will simply ignore it to further victimize the person who got the order in order…

It feels like she’s trying to look like a “good” country girl by being fresh-faced. And, wow, no. There are women who can wear this and look wonderful, but Gwen just looks like she’s going to get lost in the rice aisle at the grocery store she’s so generic.