u/TackleShot6505

I read it should be no less than 2 hours before/after meds so as not to prevent proper absorption of meds.

I tried mixing the powder with water but it's too gross for me. What foods go well with it?

Started +30 plants diet for long covid. Also started working on getting rid of fatty liver and slowly re-introducing previously avoided foods like fodmap, histamine, oxalate.

(EDIT: I don't exclusively eat plants lol +30 plants diet is a concept where you eat diverse plants for microbiome healing.)

It's only been 1.5 months but I'm noticing I'm getting a little too obsessive about this.

I make veggie mash in a batch that lasts for several days but I think about what to buy next, when I will cook them, which items to re-introduce etc.

Reintroducing foods maybe requires the most attention because I need to start slowly and build up over time.

Also what makes things complicated is I order grocery online on 10th, 20th, 30th as these are the days I get extra store points so trying to plan things around that, be it how much and what I buy.

I try to write things down in a piece of paper so it leaves my mind but I keep looking at it and my shopping cart on the store website multiple times a day

I'm wanting to switch doctors and exploring options. I prefer someone that prescribes Kampo but would consider others too.

My main symptoms are fatigue, MCAS, food sensitivities.

I've previously been with the Most Famous LC doc in the country based in Shibuya. Just saying cuz he does fully online.

Thinking of going back to my old doc and I'd rather not have to tell them I had been seeing someone else for a few months. The new (old) one will likely prescribe different herbs. Do I need to tell them the herbs I've been taking up to the day of the visit, prescribed by the temp doc?

The temp doc prescribed a few months' worth of herbs up front so I want to use them up before going back to the old doc.

For context I'm in Japan and these are herbs covered by universal insurance so don't think they are super potent to an extend that there could be dangerous effect if I start taking Herb X after having taken Herb Y for a few months??? what do you think?

I was seeing Dr Hirahata online for 8 months. Though I saw drastic improvements initially, I only improved slightly for many months so recently switched to a Chinese medicine specialist/internist/LC specialist 90min away in-person.

(Looking back, my diet was shit and lifestyle not optimized for stress reduction, so I wonder if I go back to him again now if I will see improvement)

I think Chinese medicine in-person is good but it's at a big hospital so it's too stressful, long wait time, crowded etc. Also I don't vibe with the doctor and that's giving me a lot of stress so I need to do something about it. I also crash for 1-2 weeks after a hospital visit.

Now I'm considering another Chinese med specialist in a small clinic, almost 2hr away. I think at small clinics, things will be quieter and quicker. So hopefully my crash/PEM will just be 1 week following each visit. But I'm wondering if PEM one week every month is worth it and if I should go back to Dr Hirahata.

If I go back to him, it will be stress-free. I don't have a reason to crash and I might be able to get Stellate ganglion block shots or go to an ENT for EAT/B-spot once or twice a month as these are available relatively near me.

but he didn't change my meds for many months at all (usuallly Chinese herbs should be adjusted according to your current body state. but since he sees so many patients, and since its online, tha'ts not his policy. He says he tries to come up with treatments that work for a large number of people and can be applied easily, so more docs can treat LC patients).

I've resented my Mom (now passed) for so long for not having protected me when I was younger. I've wished she was more strict and prohibited me from going out /staying out til late hanging out with a man because I was SAed as a teen by an adult acquaintance. Also SAed by a school teacher at school.

As a much older woman now, I'm remembering when she did things to protect me, without telling me that was her intention.

For example, when I was 13 yo, I started new school, had to wear a uniform and use public transport. She made me wear this bike-shorts type of thing over my underwear under a skirt whenever I wore the uniform. Now I understand why.

Also at 13yo, an adult male stopped me on my way home from school in my neighborhood, started talking to me in a language I was learning at that time, gave me a piece of paper with his phone number, told me to call him. I wanted to use the language I was learning so engaged in the convo, being so clueless. Luckily, my neighbor (woman) passed by, and started talking to me, so he left.

Honestly I felt like she interuppted me when I was trying to befriend this stranger, depriving me of an opportunity to practice speaking the language! Later the lady spoke to my Mom, who asked me what happened and told me not to talk to strangers. Based.

In my 20s, I've told her I'd take an overnight bus to visit her. She mailed me train tickets. I'm so glad she did.

I stil wish my Mom responded differently when I (in my late 20s) told her I had been SAed by a school teacher at school. In general I wish she had told me about sex and males and all the things that could harm me but I guess she didn't have the capacity or resource. and some things are beyond her control.

So the TCM doctor I saw two years ago for Long Covid told me to eat raw ginger and make ginger tea with powder everyday. Looking back, I was not diagnosed with Excess Heat then.

(It was: Spleen-qi deficiency, dampness and phlegm accumulation, liver heat/qi stagnation, blood and Yin deficiency, blood stasis**)**

Two months ago, went to a different TCM doctor and they told me I have:

Excess heat, dampness, water stagnation, qi deficiency, Qi stagnation, blood deficiency, blood stasis

I like ginger so put it in my overnight oats well as in cooked mixed veggie mash I eat everyday. I chop them up for easier digestion so the total amount I consume per day is not that much, maybe a few slices.

Do you think it's bad to eat ginger when I have excess heat? My body tends to get warm (low grade fever) whenever I am unwell.

Yes I could ask my current doctor about it but I don't like them personally and communication with them is stressful so wanted to ask here. TIA

I had to fill out a questionnaire before the first consul and that was one of the questions, along with family composition. It was my first time seeing a psychiatrist and felt strange being asked/answering these questions. Seem invasive. They could make up all kinds of stories based on these info that may or may not be accurate.
I was especially taken back because I've done therapy sessions with many psychologists and none of them have asked these personal questions. I understand these are two different professions.

I've been prescribed this wonderful thing for a few months now but they only prescribe for 4 weeks max. Is this the norm?

EDIT: if you get more than a month's worth, what was your dose and what type of doc did you see?

I get 10mg daily and see a psych doc

For me this is part of a treatment for a chronic condition but it also solved the issue of noisy and obnoxious neighbors disrupting my sleep and stressing me out. Their midnight footsteps, loud door closing and banging don't wake me up no more! I'm so happy about this

Anybody else not bothered too much by heat? right now outside is 28 degrees (82.4F), my room is 29 (84.2F). In July/Aug, it will get as hot as 37 degrees (98.6F)

Because I have breeze (or wam air?) circulating in my room from two circulators, I'm not using AC and don't feel hot.

Is it fine to not use AC as long as I don't feel like I need it, or should I start using it before that? My body doesn't feel the heat like a normal person.

I know other foreign fundraising websites like gofundme don't allow residents of Japan to create an account.

It looks like I could create one with GoGetFunding but I don't want my bank here to flag the transactions and start an AML investigation.

The beneficiary is outside Japan and I will be making international transfers and I know banks here are really careful with international transfers. Maybe more receiving funds than sending funds. so just wondering if any of yall have done something similar.

I just use the most basic functions at Sync and want to check if I can do all of that with ProtonDrive. Namely the ability to use my Local Drive (MacOS) to add/delete/move files in the cloud. Last time I checked, this was not possible at Proton but that was a few years ago so wanted to see if things have been added.

Otherwise, if any of yall are familiar with Sync, how does it compare? TIA

these kitchen sponges are disposable I know but am just wondering how people are handling it

I know I can just ask my dr but was just wondering since they haven't said anything about further testing. I've changed my diet so hopefully by 3 months or 6 months mark when I do another blood work, it's all reversed fingers crossed

I use Instantpot High pressure setting and steam for 45min, natural release maybe 15min.

But the beans don't get very soft and I think with harder beans, it's harder to get them sticky all around.

Any advice? It's easier if I boil them in the IP high pressure, but prefer steaming to retain all the nutrients.

Sorry for the long title. I have Long Covid/MCAS etc and was with one doctor for 8 months. They were great overall, easy to talk to, take plenty time for my questions, very experienced, etc but I was only marginally getting better each month and was getting frustrated. Plus it was online consul only so wanted to try someone else out in-person.

The current doc seems good too, very experienced, but phone consuls with them are majorly stressfuil for me and I cry every time afterward (twice so far). It's the way they ask about my symptoms that grind my gears.

The first doc was very systematic and efficient - had patients fill out numerical scale for 10 or so symptoms for a very specific time frame (previous 3 days), had us write our questions/comments online prior to consul.

But the current doc is like How are you? How is your sleep? etc. so vague and hard to answer. I have many symptoms so try to tell them but I'm always left with a feeling that they don't get a systematic comprehensive view of my overall state. because sometimes I forget to tell them something, and difficult to rate my symptoms unless given numerical scale like the previous doc.

My guess is current doc is getting sufficient info from me even though I feel like they don't. They do ask specific questions if I fail to answer their vague questions correctly.

Their treatment is a bit different from the first doc so I really want to give this new strategy a shot. I was ranting to an AI chatbot about this and was told I should look at this new doc as a med dispenser. I don't need to build rapport with them, I just need them to give me meds.

So I try to ignore the fact that I don't feel seen by them, and just focus on answering their questions and moving along. Because the current doc is also generally kind and accommodating.

Just wondering if anyone relate to something like this

Even before the age when clicks matter, you just know that that males who write these stories take so much pleasure writing it, and the male readers just love reading about them.

The male gaze in how they write, how they are presented is so sickening.

But as a woman who wants to stay informed, I have to read them there because where else would I get info? sigh

They also told me to drink only room temperature or warmer drinks, which is fine.

but yogurt. if I let it sit in the room for a bit, is it better? or will it still cool my organs internally

I was thinking of making homemade yogrut and eating it daily lol

TW DV violence

something I noticed recently was that my mom was the only person in the family growing up, who didn't have their own space in the house. The kids had their own bedroom and the father a study.

Her spouse was an abusive, narcissist, and physically beat her at night in their bedroom. And I can only imagine that she felt like she had to sleep there every night regardless

In the evenings, Mom (stay at home mom) would spend a lot of time in the kitchen in our small kitchen, sat in a small stool. One of the cabinets was for her cookbooks and I remember seeing her reading them sometimes. They were cookbooks but also were like magazines for housewives.

When I was away for college, my parents separated, so she moved in with my brother in a two bedroom unit . (EDIT: Adult brother took the bigger bedroom) After college, I found a job near where they lived, so naturally moved in with them, and naturally she gave me her bedroom.

I didn't even realize it was HER bedroom because she was like, this is your room, so I didn't even think about it even though the closet was half full with her clothes, while Mom slept in the living room.

I think about the fact that all her married life, she had to keep her personal belongings like papers and what not in cabinets and shelves in the living room, where anyone could access.

As a kid or even as an adult, I remember going through them a couple of times because I was just curious. I wonder if that made her feel vulnerable? (she's passed) I wonder if other people also went through her stuff like I did?