u/Impossible-End-8439

I’ve dealt with this horrible condition my whole life: chronic dry lips, unsightly peeling, the whole 9 yards. Tried every product under the sun. Some would help for a little bit, but inevitably everything got added to my lip balm graveyard. I don’t even want to think about how much money I wasted on these products.

Anyway, at the beginning of this year I went to an ENT for a completely separate issue. I had a 90% deviated septum that was restricting my airflow through my nose. This was causing me not to get enough oxygen while I slept, resulting in multiple wake ups throughout the night. I had surgery back in March to correct this.

Low and behold, one of the most valuable side effects of this surgery is that it’s (mostly) cured my chronic, dry peeling lips! I’m about 5 months post op and the difference is night and day. It took me a while to put the pieces together, but at a recent follow up visit I asked the ENT about this. He said the lack of oxygen from my deviated septum was forcing me to be a mouth breather, and mouth breathing is a huge culprit when it comes to dry lips! I was floored and didn’t expect that my nose could be betraying me in so many ways. I wish I had gotten the surgery sooner and wanted to share this with everyone here in case this helps anyone else.

TL;DR: Chronic mouth breathing can cause chronic dry lips. Go see an ENT to have yourself evaluated.

I recently sat in on a friend’s Overeater’s Anonymous share, where she got to tell her story to a whole group of people dealing with the same struggles. It gave her the space to share her feelings and get support from other’s who understand what she had been through. As I listened, I was amazed at how everyone was so supportive and encouraging after she finished her story. I was floored by the level of community and support she had found through this group.

As someone who didn’t know a single other person with a special-needs sibling growing up, I would have LOVED to have had a community of people dealing with the same challenges, who understood my daily life struggles. Even now as an adult, I still haven’t made friends in real life with people who have high-needs siblings. This subreddit is the closest thing to a “support group” I’ve ever had.

So now I’m asking all of you - who else would be interested in an online group meetup? We can share our stories, challenges, successes, and support with one another. I was thinking of maybe starting off with an hour every other week, and then going from there. So if anyone else would be interested in a group like this, please comment or DM me and i’ll start compiling a list of users 🫶🏻

(FYI I am US-based in the Eastern Time Zone, but would try to find something that could work for as many people as possible)

Anyone else dealing with siblings who never really grew up, still live with your parents waiting on them, and not working full-time jobs? My younger sister (32F, autistic) and my younger brother (30M, mental health issues), are both still in their childhood bedrooms and basically adult teenagers.

My sister has never worked, and I feel bad for her with her neurodivergent challenges, but I also feel like my parents coddled her and she was probably capable of at least a part-time job. My brother (who’s probably as traumatized as I am from being a glass-child), does work part-time, but not using his degree my parents paid for and no motivation to do better or move out.

I’m the oldest (34F), and the only one who managed to get a “big person” job, move out, and pay my own bills. My parents are approaching 70 and I worry about what will happen to them when they pass. Just curious how many other millennials are dealing with failure-to-launch sibling(s), and what you plan on doing about it (especially when your parents pass).

Anyone else who experienced the tragedy at MSG N2 also have tickets to Merriweather this Sunday? I’m still shook and honestly torn if I should go or sell my ticket… would be nice to find some community to talk with and heal, but maybe it’s too soon for me to go again…

Came across this quote while browsing the internet and figured a lot of others here could resonate with the sentiment. Someone please engrave this on my future headstone…