u/_humanERROR_

I'm finally dead set on learning to do my own T injections (been on T for almost 3 years now). I've faced barriers because most of the medical professionals I've been to outright discouraged it and those that didn't couldn't advise on proper dosage/type of T and syringe. Hopefully the endo I'm going to can guide me properly.

One thing that I don't understand is why it's advised to inject T slowly over 1 minute. In addition, some of the providers I've been to follow this guideline and some don't (with the same T type and dose). What I noticed is that the slower it's injected the more it hurts.

Yes this is mostly a vent. I know it's not a surprise that Malta runs on mediocracy, but it feels especially horrible when the systems and people that are meant to help the most lack adequate standards.

I know that the help chat services are always rubbish and seem to be run by parrots, but the helplines are a real gamble. You could get someone who's really good or someone who seemingly struggles with basic listening skills and human interaction.

I only reached out this time because my psychotherapist was on leave and had no friends or family at the time who would be willing to hear me out. The person I talked to seemed to interrupt a lot and forget a lot of important information I mentioned. I swear half the conversation composed of me re-explaining important things I had already said. And since they seemed to forget at least half the information I said of course their attempts at advice were quite useless.

I know of a case where a helpline worker told a partially-paralyzed person who finds it very difficult to go out of the house to 'take a walk.' And while my latest experience wasn't as bad as this, it felt quite similar.

A service like this being so mediocre can be a real danger as it can convince someone in the depths of a serious mental illness episode that they really aren't trying hard enough which might spur them to unalive themselves.

When I used to live with my parents I used to sweep and mop my room every week and they stayed looking good. But ever since I moved out and stayed at multiple rentals and now my very own house this problem has kept following me nearly everywhere.

My floors seem to get dirty so easily. After I sweep and mop they will get dirty and ugly in 2 or 3 days. Not just in one room but anywhere I step. There is dirt everywhere. It's mostly composed of moist clumps of dust which I observed are flaking off from my shoes where it forms a thick layer. I've tried brushing out/cleaning the bottom of my shoes semi-regularly, I've tried having separate shoes for indoors vs outdoots. It doesn't seem to make a difference.

Could it be that the amount of floor detergent I use is making the floors a bit sticky and makes dust cling to my shoes and spread everywhere? Could it be that this was also happening at my parents' place but I didn't notice because the tiles were granite with a lot of black?

Or is this normal ?

Edit: Thanks for all the advice guys!

I know there's multiple RUBS pages, but even the the one with the 'puppy love' as part of the title and associated picture doesn't seem to be focused on pets. Buq.

Is it possible for humans to get mites from mice or have some sort of reaction to the mice themselves or their waste that involves itching??

I've been itching a lot over the past 24 hours and just before that time I sorted and washed used mouse stuff that also contained pee and poop. I've never experienced this before and can see absolutely no insects or any redness or marks on ny skin. The only new product I've used is diluted vinegar.

My mouse is 8 weeks old and I've had him for 4 weeks if that's relevant. At least for now his cage and stuff barely smell at all.

This is more of a vent as there's nothing I can really do except go back to the doctors yet again. Though at this point I'm not sure which professional I should go to. I keep bouncing between GPs, gastroenterologists, haemotologists and endocrinologists.........

I have a long history of low energy levels though their nature has varied. It started when I was 18 where I noticed that my body was just tired and I couldn't walk it to or from university for 40 minutes and would have to take a longer bus route instead.

Then at 19 I became practically bedridden for 3 months with daily and long-lasting headaches, extremely low energy and shortness of breath. I was given iron pills that seemed to work but a year later I discontinued them because of possible gastrointestinal side-effects.

After 20 I had a few years unmedicated where my energy waxed and waned. At 24 my energy levels began to dip again where eventually I needed 10 hours of sleep a day including a 2-hour deep nap in the afternoon, and would also try and sleep on my commute.

3 months ago, after 4 weeks of diarroea caused by antibiotics I totally crashed. I am now sleeping about 14 hours in total a day and still tired. Sometimes I get headaches that I swear last 2 entire days.

Throughout all this I've done 1-2 blood tests per year, visited doctors multiple times and tried a few medications. Each doctor tells me a different cause of my tiredness, mostly related to deficiencies like Vitamin D, iron levels, ferratin and thyroid. I've taken Vitamin D, iron pills and Levothyroxine though for the first two I wasn't on them for long since as I said the doctors have different views on what is causing my fatigue.

I've been on Levothyroxine for the past 8 weeks and my fatigue has not improved at all. Google says Levothyroxine takes 4-6 weeks to show effects but someone claimed that it might take months.

I'm really at a loss on what to do as the fatigue is really affecting my life and I don't feel prepared to go back to work (I work in a school).

Different doctors are interpreting my blood results differently as there is a difference between results that are 'in range' vs optimal numbers and if they cause symptoms or not. And of course each specialist goes with their own specialty. An endocrinologist ordered an MRI of my Pituitory gland in light of my history. Gastrointestinal disease like IBS or IBD may account for my vitamin deficiencies but surely not if I take vitamins in a concentrated, raw format like medications?

I don't know any other subs to post this on but I really want to see people's opinions on this.

I was at a lesbian club with some friends including a woman who I just met that day and barely spoke to. Let's call her R.

The fact that it was a lesbian club shouldn't change sexual assault ethics obviously and I'm trying to stay gender-neutral in my assessment of this.

So R could barely speak English and I guess was one of the reasons why she hesitated to say no. Forgive me I was very drunk and so not very aware of what was happening. So I was seeing but not really doing anything and didn't see what led up to this point.

I saw R cornered against a railing by another woman who was basically chest-to-chest with her, talking to her in a soft voice and clearly hitting on her. R didn't look uncomfortable though of course I knew she could barely speak the language.

R's sister sees this and intervenes, saying "No no no. She does not know how to say no!" And the other woman left and the encounter ended.

And this really got me thinking. Firstly if I should have done something sooner, though I was very very drunk and if I had seen any obvious indicator to me that R was uncomfortable I would have definitely intervened.

But it really got me thinking about consent and the arguments about it. People portray consent as a very black and white thing. And everything would be much better if it were so black and white. But then I see examples and arguments that really expose how grey some situations can be.

For example: this is definitely a bad faith argument but it has to do with what I'll say later. Some men have posited that they're not 'mind readers' and were in situations where women didn't really react to their advances, just sort of let it happen. And while that's completely asshole and immoral behaviour, from what I've heard such a situation would be very hard for a court to categorise it as assault. So therefore should the assailent be charged with assault ? I guess the answer is yes seeing that the law does not always reflect what is right.

The next point I'm getting at, is that maybe there's more people than we like to admit who have difficulty consenting (for important stuff in general). So do we give them autonomy and trust them or try to intervene ?

It's also worth noting that R's sister told me that she probably has BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder). And while I know that mental health conditions don't automatically mean a person can't consent to sex, and that as far as I know no court has ever categorized sex under a bad mental health episode as assault, I think it kind of should be the case if certain criteria is met ? Like if a person has actually lost touch with reality.

Speaking on the grey area of consent. I keep wondering who is right if two very drunk people have what appears to be consensual sex, but one of the people regrets it and reports it. How could either of them consent and who is to blame if they were both equally drunk ?

I was so surprised to discover on Facebook that a lot of cat feeders and people who take care of outside cats are continuously fighting and arguing with each other on there. Though it seems that a lot of the infighting is due to miscommunications typical on social media; not replying to messages, not updating people properly and in an efficient manner. And then there's not knowing who takes care of which cats and confusion between which cats are which because many of the feeders are elderly and not on social media. And so then the final straw that seems to permanently sour relationships is taking cats for vet treatments and/or adoption without informing the original caretakers who then might never get closure over what happened to the cat.

I can't help but think that if someone took the time and effort to make and update a database of cats and their feeders/caretakers that it would really help.

25M Initially diagnosed with Level 1 Autism but currently getting re-assessed.

If I could cry I would.

I've been sensitive to the heat my whole life and over my life it's gradually gotten worse. Over the past 3 years it's gotten so bad that it's caused panic attacks, I've needed a medical exemption for work to allow me shorts, has prevented me from working this summer.

It's suspected that my psychiatric medications and/or thyroid problems are causing at least some of my heat intolerance. Therefore I'm presently in the process of tapering off old meds and taking thyroid meds. But even right now with a half dose and taking thyroid meds I don't feel any better.

My therapist and even laypeople have suggested graded exposure to get used to heat and said that the more I avoid the heat via staying with AC/fan the worse I will feel.

I'm effectively house-bound. I've stopped hanging out with friends and going outside for anything except to buy groceries. Even in my own house with strong AC I find it difficult to do chores and have to take multiple breaks because I heat up so fast and so much.

Even without consciously trying to push myself the heat makes me panic and actually feels like great pain to me. I'm absolutely unable to keep calm in the heat. When I get hot 99% of my mental energy goes into preventing myself from shouting, freaking out and bolting for the nearest fan/AC.

The thing is I've been in objectively 'hotter' environments in the past. Like I used to go to the gym for a short while, used to hike a lot, worked the summer. But over time I stopped doing all those things because the heat felt intolerable.

I'm at a loss here. I'm incredibly worried about my future and my career and just everything. It's not a stretch that this will be the final nail in the coffin for my career.

25M Initially diagnosed with Level 1 Autism but currently getting re-assessed.

If I could cry I would.

I've been sensitive to the heat my whole life and over my life it's gradually gotten worse. Over the past 3 years it's gotten so bad that it's caused panic attacks, I've needed a medical exemption for work to allow me shorts, has prevented me from working this summer.

It's suspected that my psychiatric medications and/or thyroid problems are causing at least some of my heat intolerance. Therefore I'm presently in the process of tapering off old meds and taking thyroid meds. But even right now with a half dose and taking thyroid meds I don't feel any better.

My therapist and even laypeople have suggested graded exposure to get used to heat and said that the more I avoid the heat via staying in places with AC the worse I will feel.

I'm effectively house-bound. I've stopped hanging out with friends and going outside for anything except to buy groceries. Even in my own house with strong AC I find it difficult to do chores and have to take multiple breaks because I heat up so fast and so much.

Even without consciously trying to push myself the heat makes me panic and actually feels like great pain to me. I'm absolutely unable to keep calm in the heat. When I get hot 99% of my mental energy goes into preventing myself from shouting, freaking out and bolting for the nearest fan/AC.

The thing is I've been in objectively 'hotter' environments in the past. Like I used to go to the gym for a short while, used to hike a lot, worked the summer. But over time I stopped doing all those things because the heat felt intolerable.

I'm at a loss here. I'm incredibly worried about my future and my career and just everything. It's not a stretch that this will be the final nail in the coffin for my career.

This seems to occur frequently because of how uneducated or outright sabotaging a lot of our doctors tend to be. But please educate me: how can some trans men go years on T with not passing and feeling upset, and not ask or look for advice to discover that they are probably being underdosed? Just recently there was a guy on a subreddit who has been on T for 10 bloody years and not passing and asking why.

Is it this generation's impatience with research? Is it reluctance to challenge the limited doctors who can give us our prescriptions? Idk.

I recently met a guy who had the same body type as me; short endomorph with fat that tends to deposit in the belly. The only difference was that his arms looked a bit toned. Otherwise I'd never have guessed that he goes to the gym regularly and has done so for his whole life and also practices self-defense.

I know he could be eating too much to compensate, but how likely is it and how common is this scenerio where people exercise a lot but it doesn't produce notable difference?

If I had known that even that amount of exercise didn't produce much difference in a body I would have quit many years before.

Yes this was inspired by the Sliema incident.

I'm always shocked at the lack of empathy that is exposed by people on the internet, which only means that as much of it exists in real life but is hidden by social expectations.

I don't know how the fuck people have the heart to tell a homeless person that they're lazy and could easily get out of their situation without knowing anything about them.

How is it that most people don't know how easy it is to end up homeless ?

• Born into a lower class family? You're easily fucked.
• Have a disability or chronic illness? You're easily fucked.
• Have a severe mental illness? You're easily fucked.
• Have family that don't like you for whatever reason? You're easily fucked.

And then how tf do people really expect a homeless person to just get out of their situation ? Mental illness and some physical conditions can prevent a person from working in certain occupations or working entirely. Rentals have a lot of barriers to overcome, especially for Maltese people and some groups of foreigners. How can they work if they have no fixed address, no way to get clean, wash their clothes and do basic functions of everyday life ? Then how can they afford a rental if they don't have enough money for a deposit and no job ? It's all a cycle that must be broken by others' help.

And even if they became homeless out of their own 'choices' like for example drugs, they should ALSO be helped to get out of their situation.

There's also MANY functional homeless people. Who as I said, are living in their car or using friends and family's house simply to sleep and get clean. And all that provides shelter, but not a functioning home by any means.

I don't know how some people think that the problem of homeless people shouldn't be solved by..........giving a person a damn home. It's like thinking that the problem of food-less people should be solved by not giving them food.

And to those who say 'I don't pay taxes so that these people can leech off society'. First of all you should have the empathy and intelligence to realise that most of these people are not 'leeching' off society, and two; that's literally what taxes are for. Taxes are supposed to be used to improve the country's ifrastructure, services and social welfare. And with how corrupt the elite are, neither you nor homeless people are benefitting from taxes. Because instead of being spent on things we need like social welfare and improving medical services, the get embezzled or used for non-sensical projects like a 'family park' which will be built slowly over 5 years and then fall into disrepair because no one maintains it.

'Why not bring them to your house?' some people chime. And I have in fact done that. I've let friends and acquaintances stay/crash with me because they were in danger of being homeless until they could get back on their feet. If I weren't there for them would they have automatically become 'leeches' because they were homeless? I was going to end up homeless once because my family kicked me out for being queer.

Maybe it's the Facebook effect, where Facebook somehow always manages to house (pun intented) the most deeply disturbed and unintelligent people in society.

Or are we going to turn into the US where the elites have conditioned society to think that there are no universal human rights for ALL humans ?

Much Christian, very kind society.

I don't know wtf is the solution to this lack of empathy.

Sorry for using the term 'severe' but I couldn't really think of another word.

Of course people with disability deserve romantic love. But realistically, how many people would be willing to date or partner up with someone whos disability really limits them? For example a wheelchair user who still has a full life, works and does stuff vs someone with something like (off the top of my head) severe Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Fibromyalgia that makes them spend most time inside and resting.

Because we all know that a romantic relationship is supposed to be composed of a balanced give-and-take and if one ends up being a caregiver to the other then it's out of balance and usustainable.

I'm not saying these are facts. I would just like perspectives on this as someone who's life is currently limited due to physical stuff..........

Newbie here.

I made it to Abyss Watchers (I finished Cathedral). Despite 8 Estus and Vigor at 27 I still die at their second phase. And for Dancer I always die at around 1/2 or 1/4 of her health.

I'm currently using the Claymore sword infused with sharpness. It can't be upgraded further without 4 large shards which I can't get. Because the Handmaiden doesn't stock them yet. I've gotten most collectables from previous levels btw.

I put all my souls into Vigor, Endurance and Dexterity. So now it takes me 17000 souls and counting to upgrade my stats every single time. I haven't used magic yet because it looks like I need way more intelligence points to be able to even use a staff.

Any tips to get out of this trap?

I recently made it to Road of Sacrifices and was surprised to encounter very large but otherwise normal-looking crab enemies. Are these the most ordinary-looking enemies in the entire series?

I swear it's not really related to me being a man as I'm trans and my feelings didn't really change before vs after transitioning.

I'm not the most interesting person and I have some barriers that prevent that. I'm currently not interesting in improving that as I tried for years and as I said I do have barriers. But of course even in spaces that are not the manosphere, everyone talks about improving yourself and being the best you can be. I'm just so tired of trying so hard and getting no results.

Yeah the point is that by any normal standards, I'm quite an uninteresting person as I have very few hobbies/things that I like to do. Though I do believe there is a lot of unnecessary prejudice about different hobbies. (Heck apparently 'hobbies' weren't really a thing until after people had more free time and less work).

I just wish I could accept that I am worthy of friendship, even a romantic relationship despite all this. Of course as we all know there's so many objectively awful people who still get these good things or at least think they are deserving or entitled to them.

The thing is that for others in similar situations I still think they're deserving of friendship and romance and are sometimes not as bad as they make themselves out to be. But then when it comes to ourselves we're so harsh and can't seem to break that cycle.

My new mouse is only 4 weeks old but he seems fascinated by things that move gently. For example he loves interacting/playing with crinkly paper. And despite not knowing how to use his wheel properly yet, he loves to make it move gently from side to side. He looks excited about them as he does little zooms when interacting with them.

I've only just got him so trying as much as possible to do everything gradually, and when the time comes I'll make him a simple DIY thing with same rope and a bell. But does anyone know of any commercial toys or DIY stuff that he might like that relate to movement?

I don't think a mirror is a good idea since males are agressive towards other males. But feel free to comment about this.