They made it so much worse. Essentially any person you encounter (the language says “occupant” of a public or private space iirc) can legally require you to remove your mask.

It’s really fascinating to me that this is what people make when the barrier to artistic creation disappears. It reminds me of some Youtuber books - they’re written by people with no literary skill or experience, but they produce them because they’ve gotten popular enough that the books are a profitable endeavor regardless of quality. Until you read a Youtuber book you don’t consciously realize what is necessary to write a book, because usually, mostly, only people who have that ineffable something do write novels. And here: you don’t realize what is needed to actually create art and not just images, until you see people with no artistic literacy or skill produce what they think of as art.

Visual art and literature are windows to the soul, and normally only a certain type of person goes through the effort to open that window for us. Here, and in Youtuber books, you can see inside a completely different type of person. And their soul looks like waifus and cowboys.

I’m sure it will be fine. It’s not like we let every single human on the planet get infected multiple times with a disease that directly damages the immune system.

A lot of women with early life/chronic trauma get told they have borderline even if they don’t fully fit the criteria. It’s a systemic misogyny thing. I wonder if that is what is going on here?

It is common for people with ADHD and/or autism to develop CPTSD as a result of the way we are treated by others and by the world’s inaccessibility. CPTSD absolutely looks like chronic depression with some of the traits of borderline personality disorder. It might be worth considering because there are different treatment options for CPTSD that could be more effective.

I’m always like “Does that make sense?” after I go on for more than a couple sentences and need verbal affirmation that I’m not being silly/confusing

I pulled a muscle again moving my weighted blanket around so that’s kinda like working out, right? hashtag just long covid things

Options I’ve seen that are best for not compromising fit:

• loose crochet masks

• jeweled/sequined meshes that hang down over the mask

• single chain with beads or jewels attaching to the straps and lying across the nose bridge

• sheer chiffon fabric masks, sometimes with embroidery - some versions sold as UV protection/sun masks

• rub-on transfer stickers - people say these don’t compromise the electrostatic filtration, unlike other decorations, but I can’t verify

Ooblets. It is the game equivalent of a warm hug. Charming, polished, anti-capitalist.

I don’t know about Temu but I use AliExpress frequently in lieu of getting the same item from a reseller on Amazon. Over the years I’ve had a couple of things just not show up ever, but that’s rare - most of the time everything goes as expected. I tend to pick items that have photos from reviewers, and I don’t buy stuff that goes into my mouth/otherwise enters my body.

I just use bookmarks. It’s not the intended use maybe but it works great. Make a new subfolder and fill it up. It’s convenient because it’s only one button press while browsing the store, then you have a nice little list to look over and go back to your favorites. You can do stuff like select multiple entries and open them all in new tabs.

And for every one set of parents that is willing to believe their kids over the doctors’ dismissal, there are - let’s say - five more sets who have caved under the pressure and are busy gaslighting their children and making them sicker. Five more kids with lifelong medical trauma, chronic illness, and broken trust in the people who are supposed to protect them.

The Forest for sure, assuming that magical deep rest works even on my ME/CFS. Can’t do any of the others without my health anyway

If I wasn’t sick, though, I’d pick the shop. For stress relief sometimes I enjoy making massive wishlists of items I never actually buy, and this is like the upgraded version of that. Just seems like it’d be fun to wander and marvel and gather and choose… Plus it’s the one that is most likely to be helpful to your outside life and other people you care about.

I feel this is the first of many laws like this. I haven’t felt this deeply crushed, hopeless, and afraid for a very long time. It’s hard to keep going when your life is so small and everyone in power is bent on making it even smaller. I don’t know how I will do it, and sometimes I wish I wouldn’t keep trying.

It’s truly strange. Hard to believe sometimes that it’s 2024 and I’m bedbound from the plague and looking into bloodletting

There’s a weird thing that some people with LC have where large blood draws lead to symptom relief for hours/days/weeks. Probably something something microclots or inflammatory something being removed temporarily, or maybe the body’s response to injury…? No one knows, we’re all just speculating. But it happened to me personally after a big blood test and then I was seriously looking into donating blood regularly, or, alternatively, nurturing a crop of medicinal leeches at home.

How much water do you drink in a day? I have a pretty normal size reusable water bottle and it holds more than enough for a workday. You could just fill it at home in the morning instead of needing to use the water fountain that other people are using.

Is this a new symptom for you/do you want practical suggestions for managing panic attacks without medications? I have had frequent panic attacks for many years, and I’ve tried a lot of stuff, so if there’s an aspect that would be helpful for me to info-dump about, let me know. I’m sorry you’re going through this

You can do a somewhat less effective but more convenient version with enough ice packs on your forehead and cheeks. You know it’s good enough when you do the big involuntary gasp

I am STRESSED about the potential mask ban in North Carolina and I am trying NOT to think about it but it is NOT WORKING

Waking up and feeling exhausted could be caused by sleep disordered breathing (apnea, UARS) or it could be an early sign of ME/CFS, which is a variety of long covid and can present in a delayed fashion from your last infection. Probably it’s something simple like vitamin deficiency or anemia, but these conditions are both mild at first but very bad long term if left unidentified so I thought I’d throw them out there