u/Physical-Energy-6982

TL;DR since this is half looking for advice, half rant— bleeding 75% of the time, but even in the other 25% my cervix bleeds if I so much as think about it too hard, exhausted, in pain, affecting my daily life. Ultrasound, Pap smear, TSH blood work and CBC mostly normal. What next?

I’m 30yo, no kids, no preexisting diagnoses. Not on any form of hormonal BC.

For about 6 months now, while my cycles have stayed relatively regular at 23-29 days, my actual periods have progressively gotten heavier (my last period I was using 3-4 overnight pads during an 8 hour workday). Once my period stops I have about a week of little to no bleeding until I ovulate. Then I’m lightly bleeding every single day until my period starts in earnest. This bleeding has also progressively gotten heavier. I just ovulated three days ago and I’ve had to wear a pad every day since.

I had a pelvic exam and Pap smear. This was during my “window” where I wasn’t actively bleeding. She describes my cervix as “friable” and the exam alone made me bleed pretty significantly.

She told me to go get an ultrasound and bloodwork to check TSH.

Ultrasound tech luckily could see everything without going internal, but ultrasound came back as unremarkable. TSH right in the middle of normal range.

I also got a CBC and my white blood cells were slightly elevated, but still on the high end of normal, and my platelets were also higher than normal range, but I have been bleeding so not too surprising. Everything else normal.

Pap came back clean. Did an STI panel just because and that came back all clear.

I have a follow up scheduled with the gyn next week, but my PCP couldn’t get me in until end of July. I’m not even sure what questions to ask or what I should be expecting from the doctors. On top of the bleeding I’m also “tired as f—k” and don’t have the energy to do anything, which is highly unusual for me, I’m usually quite active and waking up at the crack of dawn to go on hikes before work, now I can barely make it through the workday—lately I’ve frequently felt like I shouldn’t even drive myself home after work because I’m so exhausted.

Also a not insignificant amount of pain, and I have to tell myself to note it considering I rated my ruptured appendix as a 3 out of 10. Cramping throughout my entire cycle, and a hard to describe pain throughout my whole body—the best way I can describe it is if you’ve ever jumped down from somewhere and landed a bit too hard on your feet and you can feel the shock get absorbed through your whole body up through your skull. I can function but it’s distracting and unpleasant.

It’s not that I wanted the tests to come back abnormal. I’m glad things are clear so far. But if I’m honest I’ve been progressively feeling more like sh-t and it’s getting harder to handle, so I was hoping to learn something *actionable*.

My doctor has been great so far, not dismissive at all, but I guess I’m just nervous since these initial tests came back normal that I’ll go to this follow up and that’ll change. Just looking for advice on what I should be asking and expecting from them moving forward.

Anyone considering picking up the flip phone Commodore is coming out with?

I have an iPhone 13 and it’s still working fine—I can’t justify buying a new phone when mine works…but I’m tempted by this one.

Can still run music apps, gps, uber, video calls (all important for me) but no socials, de-googled. The price tag isn’t great but it’s way less than an iPhone.

Claims it’ll run on most major carriers so hopefully that’s true.

Lake Shore Limited, booking a trip to Ann Arbor and I’d have to catch a connecting bus in Toledo but I only have a 17 minute window.

Anyone do this route frequently? Not my usual trip.

Thanks!

I moved to Buffalo a few years ago from the Rockies and found my fitness has severely dropped and I’ve gained a decent amount of weight. Back where I used to live I was hiking and climbing outdoors all the time, skiing in the winter and maintained a good level of fitness that way.

Moving here I still get outdoors as much as I can and I walk at least 80-100 miles a month at various parks and trails, but since the trails are pretty flat, I still feel I’ve “let myself go” to an extent and I’ve discovered that I just really f—ing hate going to the gym or running and “working out” in the traditional sense, and can’t stay motivated to do it.

I’m wondering if there’s any clubs or groups for folks in my age range (early 30s) that participate in something that’s good physical activity but doesn’t feel like working out. For example, I’m currently looking into beginner adult ice skating classes and if I can find a good place and enjoy it, I’d love to join a beginner hockey club with casual pick up games…so, stuff like that.

I’m getting older and I feel it, I just want to buckle down and find something that keeps me active and that I actually want to do.

…I mean it.

Just driving to pick up something for lunch on my break from work in a busy suburban village, sitting at a red light with the windows down and heard some killdeer freaking out

I don’t see any people or dogs in that direction, so I look up in a tree and see an American Kestrel.

I recently got my lifer Black-necked Stilts from a Dollar General parking lot.

Birding just raises your awareness to the world around you, and blurs the societal distinction between just “outside” and “outdoors”, and forces you to notice that nature is everywhere. Even in your city/town.

I barely use Amazon anymore but just placed an order as I have a trip coming up I need a few things for and time got away from me, and I need the stuff quick

I placed an order with 5 items and received a confirmation email on 4/29, but when I click the link it just brings me to a “placeholder” order with no information, no items, can’t even display my payment info. If I look at order history, the order isn’t there.

I chatted with CS today and they told me to “rest assured” my order was there, I asked if anything shipped yet and he said no the order was still processing. Couldn’t give me any ETA. I don’t even have a *pending* charge on my card.

That all being said, one of the items arrived today. I’m just so confused and hoping everything else comes before I leave on Wednesday lol

I’ve been birding seriously for a while now and genuinely I love *love* when new people get into the hobby. I do *not* want this to come across as patronizing, or gatekeeping, etc. This may or may not be a repetitive post, but it also might be a newer birders first time seeing it—therefore I’ll make my argument.

We were all beginners once, but everything I learned, I learned from the super helpful and more experienced people in the community, online and IRL.

With that out of the way, the widespread use of and reliance on the Merlin app needs to be addressed.

Point 1: Merlin is a great tool for beginners and seasoned birders alike. I’m glad it exists for many reasons.

Point 2: Merlin is *frequently incorrect*. I use Merlin almost daily, and I’m telling you *every single time I use it*, it makes mistakes. If I didn’t know better, I’d be reporting birds that simply aren’t there on a near daily basis. Example: my shoe squeaked on some wet grass today and Merlin told me I heard a Black-backed woodpecker. I never want to say anything’s impossible, but that’s a pretty impossible bird for my area. Later on, a Brown Thrasher was going off and Merlin “identified” its song as at least 4 different species, repeatedly.

Point 3: When you submit an eBird checklist, you aren’t just doing something for fun. eBird data, submitted by users like you, is not only used by other birders in your area, but it’s also used for research. You’re contributing to citizen science by using eBird and I wish more people recognized that that comes with some responsibility to be as accurate as you possibly can.

When you report inaccurate sightings, the data becomes inaccurate and harder to actually use for research to further conservation and preservation efforts.

When possible, try to lay eyes on the bird. If you can’t, save your Merlin recording and when you get home compare what you recorded to verified bird calls. It’ll make you a better birder, it will help keep eBird data accurate. And I know it sucks to think you might have heard something but if you can’t say with confidence that it was there, *don’t report it on ebird*. Kindly, keep your own list on a different platform if you don’t care about accuracy on that level.

Merlin is a tool that requires oversight, it shouldn’t be doing all the birding for you.