u/No_Broccoli_3979

• ⁠Budget: 2k USD
• ⁠Country: USA
• ⁠Condition: new/like new
• ⁠Type of Camera: unknown
• ⁠Intended use: nature photography & people
• ⁠If photography; what style:
• ⁠If video what style: none
• ⁠What features do you absolutely need: night mode (for aurora borealis)
• ⁠Portability: portable
• ⁠Cameras you're considering: unknown
• ⁠Cameras you already have: none
• ⁠Notes: see below

Hi all!

I want to get into photography of people. Like engagement shoots, couple shoots, family etc. hoping to one day get into wedding photography! But I’ve got to start somewhere.

My partner would like to do more nature photography.

What would be a good beginner/intermediate camera to begin with? We are keeping our budget around 2k or less to start.

In the beginning we will be sharing the camera, his is more for personal reasons while mine is more potential work related.

Please send me all your suggestions!

Hey y’all!

I’m looking into RingConn either gen 2 or gen 3 and wanted to hear some opinions or feedback from regular users.

I’ve got POTS, MCAS, and hEDS and I’m interested in a smartring to track my health data. So far, RingConn seems to be the “safest” option in comparison to Oura Ring.

I am interested in the cycle tracking as well, though this isn’t my main priority. It’s somewhat important to me, however, all of the other tracking features are a higher priority especially the vascular health tracking that gen 3 offers.

I’d love to hear opinions from folks that have used gen 2 or gen 3 and how your experience with it has been so far!

Hi everyone, I have a friend whom I’ve been close to for only about a year. I met her through my partner’s friend group and she’s one of my only friends (making friends is just so hard lol) anyways, I’m having a bit of a dilemma.

She sends me so many things every day. I’m talking like, upwards of 30 Snapchat videos, 20-30 videos between IG and messenger, 10 or so videos on TikTok, every single day. How do I tell her it’s too much for me?

It’s quite overwhelming. I don’t really use Snapchat like that. I only have 3 friends on Snapchat, her, my boyfriend, and one of my friends from school who passed away. I can’t bring myself to remove her. The only reason I still have Snapchat at all is because it’s the only way my partner and I can FaceTime if we need to. I also feel guilty because if we lose our “streak” she pays 99¢ to get it back and I’ve told her she doesn’t have to do that, but she still does and it makes me feel like I have to snap her everyday.

I don’t really scroll on Instagram, I never check my TikTok messages (I have the notifications silenced) so she’s also started sending TikTok’s through FB messenger as well.

I doom scroll like a lot of people do, but I am never sending videos to anyone except my partner very rarely.

Here’s the dilemma, she’s extremely sensitive. She’s going to assume that I’m angry with her if I ignore the videos or things she sends me. I have told her in the past before that I don’t really use social media like that and it slowed down for maybe like a week or so but it’s been pretty consistently overwhelming for the last 5 months again. It’s begun to feel like a chore. And sometimes it drives me insane my phone buzzing and buzzing and buzzing multiple times in a row, especially when I’m just trying to relax and spend time with my partner.

Don’t get me wrong, in those moments, I ignore the notifications and sometimes even throw my phone on DND. But I can tell because I’ve been much slower to react to everything she’s sent me, she’s acting more distanced or disgruntled in texts.

How do I gently tell her that all the things she sends me daily is overwhelming without making her feel like she can never send me anything? I’m pretty nervous she’s going to take this extremely personally or offensively. I tend to say things very matter of factly and can have trouble reading the room sometimes.

Any advice would be very appreciated!

I’m curious on other thoughts if anyone else in here believes in the matching tattoo curses/the couple tattoo curses/name of significant other, etc.

I got a matching tattoo with my “best friend” of 8 years, 8 years ago. We’ve not so much as spoken to each other in 7 years.

I strongly advise anyone against getting matching tattoos, couple tattoos, etc, since.

My now-best friend just suggested we go and get best friend tattoos and my immediate answer was “no, they’re a curse” and maybe I’m the asshole for that. I’m a pretty heavily tattooed person (with several blast overs atp) and I don’t know that I’m interested in using open space for a cursed tattoo.

What are y’all’s thoughts on this?

My (32f) boyfriend (33m) got into an argument last night which ended in me telling him he “needs to check his privilege”

We got on a topic of conversation based on something I saw on Reddit about skinny shaming and how it’s worse than fat shaming and people need to “stfu” about skinny bodies. (For context we are Americans and the post definitely had something to do with Ariana Grande and her new tour)

My argument in the conversation was: I have been on both sides of the spectrum. I have been severely underweight during an eating disorder in my early to mid 20s and now I’m 40lbs overweight. I said that people aren’t going to “shut up” or stop talking about what we are being shown in the media. We are being shown extremely emaciated bodies (both in Hollywood and on social media) and we are being shown extremely overweight bodies (think of things like My 600lb Life, people losing control as mukbangers on social media or even feeder content) I believe that both extremes are going to be heavily talked about because of the dangers behind it. There are serious health consequences to both being extremely underweight to the point that we can see every single bone in someone’s body, and serious health consequences to constantly eating so much takeout for views and clicks and money on social media. And when we are being shown this content every single day, people are not going to “shut up” about either side because it’s potentially dangerous for future generations to absorb this content.

When I was underweight, I was laughed at by peers at times. Being overweight, I’ve faced much different challenges, especially when it comes to doctors taking my health seriously. I was denied looking into my shortness of breath for 8 months because it was implied I just needed to exercise more, when in fact, my asthma has just progressed with age and I needed a different kind of inhaler. My stance is that “fat shaming” will always be worse than skinny shaming because people aren’t afraid of being skinny like people are “afraid” of being fat. A skinny person can go to the doctor and complain of migraines and get a full work up, a fat person does the same and they are told “have you tried losing weight?” It’s just not the same. Fat shaming is a systemic issue where “skinny” is “goals”.

My boyfriend is extremely lean. He’s 160lbs, 5’11, you can see every contour of his muscles, he’s got a six pack. He’s not bony, he’s very muscular and lean. He argued that he felt a comment made to him at work was rude and skinny shaming because a larger coworker of his said “I can’t do that, I’m not naturally skinny like you” and he was offended because he “works hard” to keep in shape.

But…. He doesn’t. In my opinion from what I’ve seen with my own eyes living with him for 2 years, he doesn’t work hard for it at all. He works a job where he’s not doing much physically demanding, he drinks anywhere from 6-15 beers in a weekend, he eats whatever he wants, whenever he wants. He goes for a 20 min run once a week, maybe twice. And I pointed this out. I also told him I have to work out so much harder than he does, I work out every single day for 3 years at this point and I track my calories and macros and sometimes I even slip back into my anorexic thinking and go an entire day without eating and in all that time, I’ve only lost 10 pounds and I’m still overweight.

Context: He doesn’t lift weights in the gym, he only sticks to cardio and calisthenics and the dude is ripped. He’s been lean his entire life, probably born with a six pack and all of his siblings are equally as skinny as he is (and I know for a fact that two of his siblings are not exercising to keep their weight).

He got heated and argued back that he still believes that skinny shaming is worse than fat shaming and that he was really offended by that because there’s no way to know if he’s “naturally skinny or not” and so I responded that he needs to check his privilege because he’s a skinny, white male in America and he’s lucky he’s never been subjected to fat shaming.

Since then, he hasn’t spoken a word to me. So anyways, AITAH here?

I’m sure this is not an unpopular feeling. But I realllly hate ticks.

I was bit by a tick for the first time when I was 13, I felt a tiny and quick little pain, almost like an itch. I didn’t know what it was at the time, I initially thought I had a random weird scab or something and pulled it off. Head was stuck under my skin, had to go to the doctors to have it removed which hurt, I had to go on a preventative round of antibiotics to prevent disease. It was a traumatic experience as a child to say the least.

Last year I was bit by a tick on the back of my arm the day after a cookout at my boyfriend’s. I felt it bite me and everyone was telling me I’m crazy because you “don’t feel a tick bite” but I swear I felt it and ripped it off immediately. Luckily this time, I got the whole thing since I got to it so quickly.

I moved in with my bf last summer and he lives in the middle of nowhere in a very woodsy area so one of my first tasks was to hire a pest control person to come do monthly treatment for ticks. It’s worked well enough.

I started early with treatments this year but it’s been raining so much so it’s been wearing off quicker than the treatments should.

This morning I walked into my kitchen and found a tick on the side of our kitchen island and I’ve completely lost my cool. We have 3 cats, long haired at that, that love to congregate around the kitchen and the island and I just hate how smart these MFers are. I killed the tick but now I’m paranoid there are ticks on our cats and they gross me out sooooo much I’m scared to look through their fur.

Normally I wouldn’t be so worried because I give our cats revolution treatment as preventative but rn they’re late on treatment due to a huge back and forth with the vet approving their prescriptions. It’s so expensive and our cats all weigh the same so I buy it in bulk and they’re giving me a hard time getting the treatments so right now they’re unprotected and I’m literally losing my shit.

I hate them. They’re disgusting. They’re disease ridden, they’re dangerous. I HATE living in the woods. Whenever there is a tick incident for days after I’m losing my shit at any little sensation on my skin that there is a tick somewhere.

I HATE TICKS

I have had digestive issues since I was 15 years old and I’m
32 now. Not just occasional issues, every day chronic loose stools, severe abdominal pain, urgency to go, sometimes unable to make it to a bathroom in time or severely close calls. Waking up in the middle of night in agony and having to run to the bathroom. Bleeding from the rectum, passing blood clots. Painful bloating after eating, nausea.

As I’ve gotten older things have progressed. I have headaches almost daily and often they will progress into migraines. I vomit much more than the average human with zero explanation as to why. I don’t smoke marijuana and I don’t drink in excess. I’m victim to throwing up while having diarrhea about 1-3 times a month. Sometimes my abdominal pain while having a bowel movement is so severe that I need to grab a trashcan because I get that super watery feeling in my mouth. Sometimes I’m on the toilet having a bowel movement for so long that my legs lose circulation and my feet get all pins and needles and my lower legs start to turn purple/blue. But I’m not sitting there straining to go, I’m just there actually going for that long. I have a bowel movement anywhere from 2-4 times a day. Sometimes more when it’s really bad. I even get random joint aches throughout the day. I have tried a million and one things and nothing has ever improved my symptoms.

I finally stopped being embarrassed about my toilet habits and spoke to a doctor because it impacts my life so much. I can’t work a regular job, I have to work from home. I avoid social situations because at any point I could feel even the smallest bit anxious and my stomach immediately goes into overdrive.

I spoke with a GI and he suspected given all my symptoms I likely am experiencing IBD. More likely Crohn’s Disease than colitis given the upper GI symptoms involved. He said waking up in the middle of the night from pain and having to go was a huge sign that I’m experiencing some sort of inflammation. They ordered my first colonoscopy and upper endoscopy right away and I just had it yesterday.

I was extremely nervous for sedation and the prep experience. However, the prep wasn’t all that bad because it’s honestly nothing I haven’t experienced a thousand times before. The procedure itself went well and I had an amazing caring nurse that set me at ease.

But when I woke up and heard “everything looks perfect” I broke down. How?? How can everything be perfect? I mean don’t get me wrong, I am SO relieved there is nothing serious going on, that I had no polyps and no signs of cancer. But how in the world was there zero inflammation?

I feel defeated. I wanted answers, I needed answers so badly. I really needed to be able to put a reason behind my symptoms and I’m left with nothing but more questions after 17 years of suffering. I’m not sure what the next steps are and I have no idea where to go from here.

I had my first “regular” bowel movement this morning since prep and lo and behold, back to my regularly scheduled program of loose stool and abdominal pain. I really don’t understand how everything appeared normal.

Again, I want to reiterate, I am so beyond grateful that I’m not facing anything terribly scary. I know so many people wake up from these procedures to news they may not have been prepared for, and I was preparing myself for the worst honestly. But having no answers is also so incredibly frustrating.

Part of me wonders if my doctor was equally as confused given my lifelong symptoms.

If this were you, where would you turn to next? What would you ask your doctor? What would seek for treatment or tests for answers? They took several biopsies while they were in there from both the upper endoscopy and colonoscopy but I’m so nervous that will not show anything either.

I have had digestive issues since I was 15 years old and I’m
32 now. Not just occasional issues, every day chronic loose stools, severe abdominal pain, urgency to go, sometimes unable to make it to a bathroom in time or severely close calls. Waking up in the middle of night in agony and having to run to the bathroom. Bleeding from the rectum, passing blood clots. Painful bloating after eating, nausea.

As I’ve gotten older things have progressed. I have headaches almost daily and often they will progress into migraines. I vomit much more than the average human with zero explanation as to why. I don’t smoke marijuana and I don’t drink in excess. I’m victim to throwing up while having diarrhea about 1-3 times a month. Sometimes my abdominal pain while having a bowel movement is so severe that I need to grab a trashcan because I get that super watery feeling in my mouth. Sometimes I’m on the toilet having a bowel movement for so long that my legs lose circulation and my feet get all pins and needles and my lower legs start to turn purple/blue. But I’m not sitting there straining to go, I’m just there actually going for that long. I have a bowel movement anywhere from 2-4 times a day. Sometimes more when it’s really bad. I even get random joint aches throughout the day. I have tried a million and one things and nothing has ever improved my symptoms.

I finally stopped being embarrassed about my toilet habits and spoke to a doctor because it impacts my life so much. I can’t work a regular job, I have to work from home. I avoid social situations because at any point I could feel even the smallest bit anxious and my stomach immediately goes into overdrive.

I spoke with a GI and he suspected given all my symptoms I likely am experiencing IBD. More likely Crohn’s Disease than colitis given the upper GI symptoms involved. He said waking up in the middle of the night from pain and having to go was a huge sign that I’m experiencing some sort of inflammation. They ordered my first colonoscopy and upper endoscopy right away and I just had it yesterday.

I was extremely nervous for sedation and the prep experience. However, the prep wasn’t all that bad because it’s honestly nothing I haven’t experienced a thousand times before. The procedure itself went well and I had an amazing caring nurse that set me at ease.

But when I woke up and heard “everything looks perfect” I broke down. How?? How can everything be perfect? I mean don’t get me wrong, I am SO relieved there is nothing serious going on, that I had no polyps and no signs of cancer. But how in the world was there zero inflammation?

I feel defeated. I wanted answers, I needed answers so badly. I really needed to be able to put a reason behind my symptoms and I’m left with nothing but more questions after 17 years of suffering. I’m not sure what the next steps are and I have no idea where to go from here.

I had my first “regular” bowel movement this morning since prep and lo and behold, back to my regularly scheduled program of loose stool and abdominal pain. I really don’t understand how everything appeared normal.

Again, I want to reiterate, I am so beyond grateful that I’m not facing anything terribly scary. I know so many people wake up from these procedures to news they may not have been prepared for, and I was preparing myself for the worst honestly. But having no answers is also so incredibly frustrating.

Part of me wonders if my doctor was equally as confused given my lifelong symptoms.

If this were you, where would you turn to next? What would you ask your doctor? What would seek for treatment or tests for answers? They took several biopsies while they were in there from both the upper endoscopy and colonoscopy but I’m so nervous that will not show anything either.

Definitely super anxious. I had a flare up at 2:30 this morning, woke up and ran to the bathroom. I was a victim to both ends.

Anything I ate yesterday, gone. Today my clear diet started at 11 am and I haven’t even started my first dose yet and I am ravenous. This is probably going to suck and I already feel like I’m pretty empty. (I know I’m probably not and the prep will do its job)

But damn, having a flare like that in the early morning of prep day really sucks.

I’ll be having an endoscopy and colonoscopy tomorrow morning. Suspected diagnosis is Crohn’s disease but my stool sample didn’t provide any inflammatory markers. Not sure how common this is, but I wasn’t amidst a flare when it came time to do & send mine off. The worst thing about it was the bile was extremely high.

Anyways, wish me luck for tomorrow. Any advice & tips help!

I’m doing sutab and this is my first colonoscopy. I will also be having an endoscopy at the same time. My prep instructions are confusing. It’s 10:30 am EST and I start tonight at 6 pm.

I have to take 12 tablets with 16oz of water, 1 tablet every 5 minutes. It’ll take me 1 hour to complete all 12 tablets and 16 oz of water. Then one hour after the last tab is consumed (8pm) I will drink another 16oz of water in 30 minutes. So 8-830. Then 30 minutes after that, 9pm, I will drink another 16oz of water in 30 minutes. So 9-930. That’s it for the evening round.

The morning is where it is confusing. 6 hours prior to my arrival time will be 4:30 in the morning. I will start my next 12 tabs. So 4:30-5:30 I will consume 12 tablets and 16oz of water. 1 hour later at 6:30 I will drink 16oz of water from 6:30-7. Then at 7:30 I will drink 16oz of water until 8pm and I am done with round two.

But I am supposed to stop taking anything by mouth 4 hours prior to my procedure which is at 11 am. The way this is written, I would only have 3 hours by the time I was done with prep until my procedure.

Do I follow the instructions as written or do I begin 1 hour earlier for my second dose? It’s important to not have anything by mouth 4 hours prior to my anesthesia, I know because it’s typed in red and bold on my sheet. But it’s also in bold to start dose two 6 hours prior to my arrival time specifically.

any guidance here will be helpful 😭

Disclaimer: I know “real” coffee lovers take their coffee black but no shame to how anyone drinks their coffee please!

I am a Dunkin girl (east coast) and when I was in my early 20s it was an iced coffee, caramel or pumpkin with cream and sugar.

Now, in my 30s it’s a decaf iced coffee with caramel or pumpkin and like the tiniest splash of cream.

I find it interesting how our tastes change over time!

If yours changed, how do you take your coffee now versus when you were younger? Even if it hasn’t changed, what’s your go-to coffee order?

I (32f) have had chronic issues my whole life. When I was 15 years old, things really kicked off.

I’ll never forget the age when things got worse for me. Mostly because I poo’d my pants on the school bus on the way home. One does not forget that.

I finally went to see a GI doctor today. My mom recently had 14 polyps removed during a colonoscopy, 5 of which were precancerous. This really made me think I need to kick my butt into gear and take care of my gastrointestinal health.

I just assumed I had IBS. I’ve dealt with this for so long, it was all my “normal” so when things got worse, it was just a “new normal”

My symptoms include: a bm 2-5 times a day. Solid stool? Who is she? No idea. Waking up in the middle of the night with urgency to go. Throwing up frequently (like at least once every other month). Canker sores monthly, severe abdominal pain and cramping with a bm, sometimes pain is so severe I am nauseous and gotta grab that trashcan just to be safe. If I am stressed or upset, suddenly I have to go the bathroom. Blood/blood clots. Headaches daily. Severe bloating/pain & nausea after eating. Going and then still feeling like I need to go even after I’ve completed a bm.

I genuinely was just so used to this, when doctors asked about my bowel habits I just said “normal” or asked “have they changed?” I just say no, because…. They havent? They’ve been the same for me for 17 years.

My GI doctor highly suspects Crohn’s although, ulcerative colitis isn’t off the table either. He does believe this is some inflammatory disease and definitely not just IBS.

I’m both sad and yet relieved at the same time? I’m really sad to send my poop in the mail. I’m pretty sad that I need both an endoscopy and colonoscopy in 2 weeks. But I am feeling relieved that I may get some answers, finally.

How old were you when your symptoms began versus when you were diagnosed? I grew up in the “ladies don’t talk about their poop or farts” generation so I just never told my parents or doctors how bad it really was.

How did you feel after receiving your diagnosis? I’m just trying to process everything I was told today and we’re moving quickly with getting things done.

Women are notoriously great at sleuthing 🕵️‍♀️

What was an impossible investigation you embarked upon and were proud to accomplish?

Mine was finding my narc brother and his narc girlfriend on Reddit so that I could block them. (difficulty level: near impossible)

We all knew the other was on Reddit, but i wanted to be able to potentially post about my own experiences and trauma from them without the details seeming too familiar to some anon redditor. Proudly, I was able to locate their reddit accounts and block them.

Last night before bed my brain got away from me and I for some reason was remembering back to how sexual I was in past relationships. These were not good relationships, they were extremely toxic. Before anyone mentions I am in somatic therapy and this is a topic I’ve brought up before.

My boyfriend and I have been together for 2 years now and for the last year, my sex drive has plummeted a lot. I’m 32 and I still feel young so I don’t want to blame it on my age.

My boyfriend and I have an incredible relationship. We are respectful of one another, we always treat each other with kindness and grace. We speak kindly to and of one another. It’s honestly my dream relationship but it’s stressing me out that my libido is seriously lacking.

My boyfriend doesn’t make it an issue at all, he’s so respectful of the fact that my sex drive is lower, but in the beginning, we were like rabbits with intense intimacy and even adventurous with where/when we did sexual things.

Normally, I blame my SSRI but I’ve been on it for 5 years and my libido has only become an issue for the last year. My OCD has also gotten progressively worse over the last year. I cannot be intimate unless I’m freshly showered and I immediately have to shower again afterwards. So that alone removes all the spontaneity from sex.

I feel like it doesn’t happen unless I turn to him and say “wanna do it?” (Lmao) and I feel bad about how many times I’ve rejected his advances. He always says it’s okay, and is super respectful but I know that’s gotta hurt and I’ve talked about it with him before and he always says he understands and it’s okay. It’s not okay for me though. I tell him that, it’s frustrating that in my mind I’d like to, but that my mind and body either aren’t aligned or my mind gets away from me thinking of all the things I need to do in preparation mentally and physically for sex, that it starts to feel like it would be a chore so I just reject the idea.

Then there are also the times that I’d really like to earlier in the day and I think about it and I plan it out mentally so that it doesn’t feel like a chore when the time comes and then something will happen like a terrible stomach ache or a migraine, which happens to me often. (I will be seeing a GI doctor in 5 days for the first time to fix my gut issues)

Anyone else that has struggled with this; what did you do? Apart from seeing a sex therapist which I would really like to avoid. I love my boyfriend and I’m very attracted to him and I compliment him all the time and vice versa. I just want to get back to how I used to feel.

What are your dos and donts? Any favorite products? Any must have accessories or products?

I took my first tub today after not having a bathtub for over 20 years, and I feel like there is room for improvement. First I washed the tub then I showered quickly, after I filled the tub with hot water along with Dr. Teals Epsom salt and Dr. Teals bubble gel. I made a cup of herbal tea with honey.

My head was the most uncomfortable, but are tub pillows even worth it? and naturally I was kind of just floating all around the place. Do they make any special mats for tubs specifically to help with that? lol or is it just part of the experience?

I am an inexperienced tub taker and would love to hear what other women love/swear by!