u/Level_Industry7484

I've been a chronic skin picker for most of my life but in the past year it's gotten so much worse to the point where I'm terrified to show my arms or legs because of how bad they are, I probably have about 30-50 scabs on just my arms alone. I've been feeling sluggish and unwell lately, I brought it up to my doctor and she suggested I get some blood work done but I'm so embarrassed to show my arms because I know whoever takes my blood will say something or will talk about it with the other employees there after. I hate having this problem so much, before it used to just affect my social life, now it's literally affecting my health. I know I should just suck it up but I can't stand seeing the look of shock or disgust or the comments when normal people see my skin.

I'm planning on upgrading my current 10 gallon tank to a 16 gallon rimless tank that's on sale right now. I currently have a betta, 6 ember tetras, a few snails and some amano shrimp. I was thinking about adding like 6 pygmy corydoras and 5 platies but would that be too much? My betta is pretty peaceful and I have a fairly planted tank, not sure if that matters at all. I would just upgrade to a 20 gallon but for some reason it's like $100 more than the 16 gallon I was looking at. Thanks!

*Edit: Thank you for the honest answers! I think I'll just stick to what I currently have then. Thanks again!

I can't believe that it took until I was 35 years old to finally start using a menstrual cup. I also never thought I would be on Reddit making an entire post about how amazing it is, but here I am. When I first heard about menstrual cups years ago, they sounded like too much effort to use so I stuck with using tampons and pads. Until recently I had also been on a birth control pill where I would only get light periods once every 3-4 months, so the cost of period supplies wasn't too big of a deal. About six months ago I had to go off using birth control after developing a blood clot in my leg so I had to go back to having regular monthly periods. Being on a tight budget it was getting tough buying tampons and pads more often and I hated how wasteful it seemed having to now use them monthly. I decided to try a menstrual cup to try to save money and be less wasteful. I first bought the Saalt small cup which I hated, I could feel the stem after inserting it making it really uncomfortable and it was almost impossible to remove after, it took me almost 20 minutes. Even though I was very discouraged after the first try, I decided to try again and bought the Saalt regular cup size instead as I think I have a higher cervix and read that I might have better luck with that size. It ended up being the perfect cup for me, I didn't feel it at all after insertion and it was fairly easy to remove.

I love that I no longer have to purchase tampons and pads regularly, and even though on my heavier days I have to empty the cup slightly more frequently than every 12 hours it still is much better than having to change out a tampon or pad every 4-6 hours, and no more having a bathroom trashcan full of them after a few days. It did take some getting used to to insert/remove the cup but it got easier each time and now it's really easy to do. I now forget that I'm even on my period most of the time, and the thought of having to use a tampon or pad is kind of gross to me personally. So if you're on the fence, just give it a try and don't give up if you don't like a certain cup, it's worth it to maybe try other cups til you find a good one. I'm sad it took me so long to finally switch but better late then never I guess.