u/CorridorChick

I'm 54/f, post-menopausal, not using HRT. After my last yearly, I got the news that my total cholesterol is 206 and LDL is high. Admittedly, I've gained 10-15 lbs over the past few years, but after the start of the year, I've lost about 12 lbs.

I've started taking psyllium husk capsules (Whole Foods brand) about three weeks ago. I've slowly titrated up to 8 mg/day, and it's started to feel like I'm choking down horse pills. Additionally, I take medications in the morning and evening, so that limits when I can take the capsules. I've been aiming for four times a day.

I'm wondering if the Metamucil "cookies" would be an easier route.

I used to take Benefiber for regularity, and the first time I tried the Metamucil powder, I learned real quick that it's not sippable.

Are the cookies/biscuits any easier to take than the capsules? I know I'd be gaining a couple hundred calories in the trade-off.

I work in a library and I checked this out (again) from the hoopla streaming app yesterday. Can I just say it's the best music to start your work day with. I mean, Reach Up for the Sunrise! The whole album makes me want to dance in the 80s white kid way (vaguely move your hips, legs, and arms to the beat 😂).

I've adopted an older (8) cat who was a former stray, taken in by someone for a few months, then surrendered to a shrlter for the better part of a year. I'm working on desensitizing her to paw touching. I've tried giving her Churu while softly touching, but she still starts pulling back. Should I stop at that point?

We adopted our cat three months ago. She is eight (today, according to the shelter!), was in the shelter for 9 months. She had been surrendered from someone who took her in as a stray and kept her for four months but found she "didn't get along with the other cats". (On their surrender forn they described her as submissive.) Before that she was a stray for an unknown period of time, but I think she did have a family at some point.

She is having dental work next week, and I wouldn't be surprised if she will need an extraction, as the shelter suggested she might.

She also doesn't like having her paws touched. I'm trying to desensitize her, but it's slow going. So, I was thinking about ordering a swaddler from chewy for potential medication administration and nail trimming. Does anyone have experience with them? Do they really work? (One even has a mesh hood that's supposed to keep them from biting.)

TIA