u/Haunting-Suit9699

I’ve been taking topical min for a few months, and I feel like my hair looks thinner (unsure, didn’t document it). Assuming this is just “the shed” but I don’t know how thin I was to start with.

Started on a topical min/fin thing a week or two ago. I have no issues getting it on the crown of my head while my hair is so short. Wondering if anyone sees as good of results from topicals.

Anyone had good results? Why do most people seem to take the pills? Assuming it works better once you have thicker hair as a maintenance thing.

(Note: I don’t have any pets.)

To start off, I like most of the physical changes I’ve experienced in transition (except balding), but I do have one drawback: dating has been insanely nonexistent in the last 5 years (not too bad my first 5 years on T, but something shifted once I started looking like a middle aged cis man). Also I’ve moved somewhere where dating has gotten harder, so maybe it’s nothing to do with being trans.

Unfortunately, the desire for a partner is a huge part of my life, and recently I started getting promoted these videos of masc lesbians, with heads full of hair and muscles, seeming to attract hoards of women. I deeply desire for literally any attractive woman to laugh at my jokes, to desire me the way they do the women in those videos (or the way they acted around guys before the anti men thing got big online).

I hang with mostly queer women, and it feels like they all prefer cis women (there’s the other type in my friend group who seems to only date cis men but are queer) but none of my trans masc friends *who only like women* are in relationships. The gay ones seem ok.

When I was pre t, all my exes ended up with cis men, and now that I’m on T, it feels like there’s been a shift from the women who lived as straight for their first 30 years to being exclusively into (cis) women.

Apparently there was some study about how women get more gay after age 30, and I deeply fear this is true, and I wonder if women would’ve become more interested if I’d just waited through the deeply isolating decades in my teens and twenties? I spent most of my time single then too, but this decade has been worse. Dating felt easier then only because I was visibly queer, and women knew what they were getting into when they saw me.

I can’t stop thinking about it: I wonder if I’d still be alone if I’d not transitioned. Transitioning is great, but in all honesty i care more about being loved than anything else in life at this point. I am me regardless of a stubble or not.

I just want to be desired. I’m so tired of doing life alone that I feel like I’d change any aspect of myself just to be cared for. I feel deeply depressed about how long it’s been, about how much longer I can go on like this.

Anyone relate?

Hey all,

I graduated with a bio/chem b.s in 2012 and have worked lab jobs ever since (well…also in college). I’ve found many of the jobs to pay very low (40k was my max salary as a lab manager) and also be incredibly isolating.

I enjoy science itself, however. I do wish there were more problem solving and more human interaction, but the technical part is fun (and the rare time something would go wrong and I was allowed to use my brain to troubleshoot).

I’m willing to go back for a masters, but not looking to do undergrad again. I got briefly stoked about genetic counseling until seeing the total lack of job listings on indeed. I would love *some* sort of work that could build off my genomics/microbiology experience, but with more human contact (and preferably more brain usage - tired of loading plates on a thermocycler and browsing the web alone all day).

Also better wages would be awesome (like 60k/yr would be so amazing).

Anyone here have ideas?

Let me try again being less wordy.

I have 10+ years of lab experience in a variety of things (foodborne illness testing, water testing, genomics, NGS, etc). All my lab jobs have been solitary or close to it (and also very low wage).

I’m looking to do something more social but with a salary of 60k minimum. I like the technical side of things but am looking for more human interaction at work (as well as a higher wage - never made more than 40, which feels crazy with as much experience as I have).

Any ideas?

Edit: willing to go back and get my masters but not a PhD.

Hey all,

I majored in bio (minor in chemistry) and have worked various lab jobs (on and off) for the last 13 years. I have a cycle where i work a lab job for a few years, am isolated and miserable, quit and work a low wage service job for a year or more (and love it, but $$$ is limiting), find something that I think will be more of a team environment, quit my low wage service job (love those jobs but I need to pay rent), and then i become extremely isolated / depressed again. Last cycle was partially because of covid, and I quit my last science job in 2022, but have been struggling hard money wise.

I was thinking about genetic counseling because I have sequencing/genomic experience, but indeed is showing like 5 jobs in the entire US.

I don’t have a masters yet but am absolutely willing (and able) to get one *if and only if* the probability of getting a decent wage (I’m looking for at least 60k) job that involves *some degree* of human interaction is high.

I’m a slight introvert, paradoxically, but the labs I’ve worked in have been PAINFULLY isolating, like I’ve either worked completely alone (“lab manager” which involved managing samples and projects for the grad students with almost no interaction) or the team is silent, like listening to NPR all day, every day. Or staring at their emails during down time.

The lab jobs have never paid more than 40k anyway, which…in this economy doesn’t feel worth the isolation. I see offers for 50, but they’re always overnight/12+ hour shifts, which…I also want work/life balance.

Tldr: i love science (love hyper focusing on new skills/information), have plenty of lab experience, but I also want human interaction, the paradox being the desire for a decent enough wage to pay for (at least) a 1 bedroom apartment by myself. 😭 and also the freedom and time to form human connections outside of work.

Ideas? Help??

Curious if it’s just hidden somewhere. I forget to turn on the exercise feature for my watch for casual jogs and just go by the step count. I am not seeing a place for total step count on the app itself, but it’s on my watch.

Where do you find your daily step stats now?

Curious what dose each of you quit at, how long you took kratom, how long you were on that (assuming daily) dose, and what side effects you had.

For me: I dosed up to 30gpd for 13 years, and I’ve had periods of time where I got off (briefly) or tapered to an insanely low dose (1-2gpd). Right now I’m down to 6gpd. I haven’t made the jump yet.

Curious if any long term (decade plus) daily users have been able to reverse joint pain/swelling after quitting. I have really bad looking (and feeling) fingers from the combo of drug abuse (mostly kratom, but other stimulants as well) and rock climbing. I also have general pain in my joints (knees/etc), but the most visible and painful is my fingers.

Also, I’ve weaned down to 6gpd and been stuck on this maintenance dose for 8 months (when I lower it I tend to relapse at higher doses). Curious just how much kratom alters electrolytes at this dose.

Does drinking electrolyte powder help at all if you’re consuming diuretics (I also consume caffeine in high enough quantities). Does the body retain electrolytes better if someone consumes diuretics regularly?

Honestly, I’m feeling cooked, and just looking for some hope or encouragement. 😣 any reversal in joint issues?

Hey all, I’ve had panic disorder since age 13 and am 36 now. 💀 I was weaned off klonopin a few years ago (got way up in daily dose from a stressful job) and have struggled to go on dates since (and honestly anything out of my usual routine).

I’m trans, so much of my dating is from the internet, which is more stressful maybe, but it seems to be what I’ve got since transitioning.

Anyway, I get matches, surprisingly, and I have made a rule forcing myself on one date every few months. It hasn’t worked out, partially because of my anxiety I think.

At jobs I’ve been told I’m completely different after I get comfortable. Laughing and relaxing in a way people may find attractive, but it’s not a quality that shows from the start. The unfortunate part of online dating is that people judge quickly.

Right now I have 4 different potential dates, which is overwhelming, and I’m afraid to go on any of them. My usual mode of action is to ghost 3 of them and take just one on a date, usually the person I find the cutest (which, clearly isn’t working out - one of my exes and I both swiped left on each other but met irl and hit it off really well; this was before I transitioned, so I feel like I may not stick out to queer women in real life anymore).

I feel like my online profile looks good to people in a conventionally attractive way (??) but it doesn’t convey how actually weird that I am. It’s a very specific niche type of weird - I get told a lot that people have “never met anyone like me”. I feel like I’m *supposed* to be this calm and confident person, which is why I used to take extra klonopin before dates, but i can’t pretend to be that “chill” person I always wanted to be anymore.

Anyone relate?