u/jtme_

In 2021, I was the victim of a PayPal scam.

Firstly, I know my naïveté was stupid. I was 18, and I didn't understand how these operations worked. I'm not looking for ways to get out of this, but I need advice on how to at least approach this in a way that hurts me the least.

In brief, I sold a Macbook to someone on Facebook marketplace. I now understand the account to be an obvious burner that this person was using to facilitate fraud. I assume the premise was to commit credit card fraud over PayPal when purchasing expensive electronics to eventually re-sell them to launder the money.

They convinced me to request the money from a specific burner PayPal account. I'm still not sure if they made the account to use a credit card they had stolen or if they had stolen the account itself. Anyway, the money cleared my bank, and I thought I was safe, until the charge was rescinded (because it was a request), and my PayPal account was thus responsible for it.

At the time, I did not have the mental fortitude to process what had happened any better than simply deleting the account and pretending nothing happened. Now, I know better, and a collection agency has been reaching me in order to recuperate the debt.

I have a few options.

On one hand, I can just pay the money to the agency and forget about it. It's not an absurd amount of money, but it's also not something I can just fork out on a whim.

On the other, I can just do a payment plan with the collection agency, and pay a small amount towards it over a year.

I tried to dispute the debt, anyway. I am not hopeful that I am going to be able to get out of paying it. I assume they'll take me to court in attempt to garnish my wages after a year until the debt is paid.

I'm trying to be vague in the interest of privacy, but if anyone has advice here for potential avenues of which I am not aware, that would be great. Again, I'm not looking to be shamed for this. I know I made a mistake, and I'm not unwilling to just own it and pay it off, but I thought posting here would be worth a shot, anyway.

I suspect that my fight with narcolepsy began in high school when I started to consume 600-1200 mg of caffeine every day and still slept in most of my classes. I grew to be extremely depressed to the point of attempting suicide many times. At university, my condition deteriorated to the point that I needed to withdraw from my first semester of classes and switch universities. I started doing better when they prescribed me stimulants for the first time, but slowly the accumulation of sleep deficit began to eat at my sanity. I started to experience worsened mood swings and hallucinations as a sophomore, and I struggled from the most impenetrable depression that left me, literally and figuratively, shattered. The issues progressed to the point I was hallucinating every day and unable to manage my own life or find any respite from the fatigue.

They thought I had depression, anxiety, then it was bipolar disorder type 2, then type 1, then they thought I was schizoaffective, and then near the very end of the accumulation they labelled me 'treatment resistant'. I went through literal hell trying to treat my symptoms. I tried 8+ antipsychotics. I tried 8+ antidepressants. I self medicated with benzodiazepines which worsened my hallucinations. It was always my fault nothing was working. I wasn't trying hard enough to better myself or my life, nor was I giving the medications 'a chance'.

Within two weeks of starting Xywav, I became the person I was before I ever had issues with sleep. I became the child who saw purpose in the world, again. My hallucinations and mood issued practically vanished over the coming months. Do I still experience symptoms ? Yes. I fall asleep in classes. I'm tired all the time. I could focus up a bit more. The only thing I wish happened when I wanted to get help for my condition was that after the first handful of medications didn't work, they would have tried to dig a little deeper as to why I was hallucinating and depressed.

It could have saved me from so, so much pain. No one thinks of mood swings and hallucinations as symptoms of narcolepsy. I wish that were what people thought of when they think of narcolepsy, and not what is currently portrayed in the media. As a result of my rapid improvement, I question the validity of my previous diagnoses. While it has been a year this month since I started Xywav, I still worry that I'm hallucinating sometimes. I'm still terrified it's going to come back. The more time that passes the less I worry, but I don't know if that worry will ever go away. Maybe I'm okay with that.

Hey guys !!

So I take Xywav and because of that, I rarely drink, but when I do, it's also not entirely a good experience for me, and I'm wondering if it's you guys also react poorly to alcohol.

Like last fourth of July, I was with my ex girlfriend, in a town that is about an hour from my home town, and we had some drinks while we watched fireworks outside of a restaurant. It was packed with people, and I remember getting carried away, pretty drunk, then all of a sudden we are at a gas station? Then the next thing I remember, we are in the parking lot, literally walking to my ex's apartment.

I was told then, when I was trying to figure out what happened and what day it was, that I was pretty drunk and just... passed out ? Then they had to drag my limp body into the car, and apparently I kept waking up and passing out again, but I was not coherent, nor do I remember anything that happened during that time. I was told we even went to a Taco Bell, someone showed us all (my ex and her friends and I) a kitten they found on the street, and there were even pictures on my phone I do not remember taking... (I still don't know if I took the pictures or if someone took my phone).

I hardly even remember anything after that, either, and understandably, I don't feel super comfortable getting to that state, especially considering I was basically sleep walking at times? Does anyone else react like this to alcohol, or am I the odd one out, here? 😭

Alright... let me begin this post with some prefacing.

I have two aquariums with semi-aquatic plants. Aquarium 1 is 31g, has two nice bright 32W lights, CO2 injection, and 4 more 10W grow lights strictly for my pothos. Aquarium 2 is 20g, has one 200W grow light a few feet above the tank, but it lacks CO2 injection.

I fertilise both very regularly. My schedule is extremely consistent with these tanks. They are also heavily-stocked because they are HEAVILY planted, I am able to do weekly water changes and the filter flow rate on both is in excess. I also test frequently, like twice weekly, for pH, ammonia and nitrates.

HOWEVER, the pothos and monstera in aquarium 1 are doing SIGNIFICANTLY better than the pothos, monstera and gold ribbon in aquarium 2, to the point I am genuinely confused what is wrong in aquarium 2.

To put it into perspective, the biggest pothos started putting out leaves approaching a foot long. The root ball is absolutely massive. Also, for some reason, despite having great growth on the leading vine, it put out a secondary vine at the base. I also have a monstera and a third pothos in there that are growing at a similar rate. That makes a total of 4 vines.

Aquarium 2 has a large monstera, two gold ribbons, and a tiny pothos vine. Despite the excess amount of light and nutrients, the roots maybe grow 1/2 an inch a day. Visual growth on the plants themselves is slow, even stunted. It confuses me significantly why the plants seem to be struggling so much more in aquarium 2 versus aquarium 1.

Onto my theories...

Theory 1 : water flow. Aquarium 1 is a trickle-fed AIO aquarium with the back compartment entirely dedicated to holding the roots of the 4 vines. Water is constantly flowing downward over the vines as it trickles over the top and into the second compartment housing the filter media. I am thinking the access to oxygen and carbon dioxide from CO2 injection is greater because of the flow around the roots. Aquarium 2 does have significant flow, but not as focused around the plant roots as in aquarium 1.

Theory 2 : CO2 injection. Perhaps the CO2 injection in aquarium 1 is putting the plants into hyperdrive. Since aquarium 2 does not have CO2 injection, the growth is limited by the plants ability to access carbon directly from the atmosphere.

Theory 3 : Temp, TDS and pH. The TDS in aquarium 1 is about 100-200 PPM less than the TDS in aquarium 2. Not only that, the pH in aquarium 1 is 6.5-7.5, whereas the pH in aquarium 2 is around 8. Perhaps the plants are not able to access nutrients effectively because of the increased amount of dissolved solids in the water column and/or the alkaline conditions of the aquarium as a whole. Lastly, the temp in aquarium 1 is around 78-82 degrees F whereas it is 72 dF in aquarium 2.

What could possibly be the defining difference here ? I am wanting to help the plants in aquarium 2 grow as much as the plants in aquarium 1. However, simply waiting for acclimation has not shown to be effective.

Hello, everyone !

This year, I took on the challenge of learning how to implement CO2 supplementation to a new aquarium. Prior, it was always on my mind, to be honest. At the time, I had only run low-tech tanks, and while I was experienced enough to succeed there, I knew CO2 supplementation was something in which I would be interested.

I made the jump with the bare minimum in terms of equipment : single-stage regulator, 24oz canister, bubble counter, indicator, and stainless steel diffuser, simple as that. I started dosing at 1 bps as recommended by the LFS, and I struggled.

It took a month to figure out the swing of things. It took several more to do it well. My first mistakes were under-dosing carbon. It is quite literally the primary limiting factor to plant growth. Once I got over the fear of dosing it, I learned that carbon dioxide is not as scary as it seems. Provided you keep an eye on the pH, the alkalinity and the indicator solution, you really can't go too wrong outside of those variables.

My second mistake was using the incorrect liquid fertiliser. I was using Seachem Flourish at first, but that product can only bring you so far. You want a good all-in-one macro and micro nutrient fertiliser. I switched to Thrive+ by nilocg. This was actually a mistake at first. Thrive+ is intended for tanks with a max pH of 7. My aquarium was slightly higher at 7.5 before CO2, which caused the accumulation of urea and iron, and hence, significant algae growth. Upon contacting nilocg support, I was led to buying the correct 'Thrive' fertiliser and the elemental series as well.

Depending on the TDS, you can approach nutrient lock-out, which means—even if the nutrients are present in the water column, the plants can struggle to utilise them effectively. This was causing some nutrient deficiency symptoms despite consistent fertilisation dosing. Therefore, I had to learn how to keep my TDS within a productive range, in my case this meant a TDS reading between 200-300.

My last mistake was being afraid of bright lighting. I started with one Fluval 32w light for my 31g aquarium. Once the nutrients and CO2 issues were addressed, suddenly I was able to increase the lighting so much, I actually needed to buy another light. After adding another light and figuring out how to calculate the estimated PAR at the substrate, I had much, much better and more consistent growth.

Once I started consistently using the correct fertiliser, bright lights, and keeping my TDS in range, my plant growth quite literally EXPLODED. Suddenly, it wasn't an absolute headache to keep some of my plants. I didn't have to trim algae-leaden leaves as much, either. Not only that, my carpet started to *actually* grow.

I started growing a carpet after cycling the aquarium and adding fish, which is not recommended, since fish like cories will disturb the carpet, causing the plants to become ripped up from the sand. Originally, I tried both monte carlo and HC cuba. Neither did very well at the start, but that was because of my mistakes and the presence of fish in the aquarium. The monte carlo growth was slow, and the HC cuba was even slower. Neither of them root very deeply into the sand, either, so if they get ripped up by fish, they will pillow out or even float to the top of the water. While both of these plants are beautiful, they are difficult to grow for inexperienced aquarists. I would recommend them for experienced growers, in well-established aquariums without fish. Monte carlo could even be done without CO2, with enough maintenance. I switched from those to hydrocotyle tripartita, and within two weeks, my carpet was finished. I attribute this to the fast-growing nature of hydrocotyle, my experience, and the establishment of the aquarium months into running with fish. Sometimes, you'll know that you're doing something correctly when it works without significant trouble on your end, or when you pull out very little of your hair trying to get something to work.

In the end, the hardest part about CO2 is starting. Once you figure it out and get confident with it, consistent plant growth goes from a headache to pure therapy. It genuinely made my job as an aquarist so much easier. It also helps me get the complements I receive for my aquascapes, and it helps me save some money at my LFS by trading in my excess plants for store credit. I heavily recommend both CO2 and hydrocotyle japan for anyone looking to start using CO2 and attempting a carpet for the first time. If you give yourself enough time, you are bound to succeed eventually.

Thanks for reading, guys. Do you use CO2 in any of your tanks ? If so, what is your preferred carpeting plant ? I am interested in learn more varieties of them !

Hey, guys !! I hope you're all doing so well this evening 😸

I was thinking about how intense my dreams are—particularly in the morning when my Xywav has worn off—but I realised that I hardly ever remember what happened during those dreams. Sometimes, even, during the day, I will sometimes remember a dream fully and think back to how, during the dream, I was under the impression I was awake.

This leads to confusion when I am thinking something happened that actually didn't... and often throughout each day am I asking myself "wait was that a dream.. ?"

This led me to start thinking about my dreams and focusing in on it a bit more, so I started thinking about my daydreams, too. After taking my medication for the day, I often get drawn into a hyper-focused state as I do my routine. During this state I am nearly always lost in some imaginary scenario in my head. I find myself getting frustrated and even upset by scenarios I completely fabricated in my mind. Not only that, I'll find myself thinking something and then being suddenly confused like... wait... what was I even thinking about... ? As if my brain had blurred the lines between my cognitive thoughts and my daydream so that they were occurring at the same time.

Sometimes, I even remember my dreams from months or even years ago. It is almost a nostalgic feeling when this happens. I am made to feel strange by my friends for mentioning this because for them, it may be a rare or particular occurrence, but for me this happens relatively often...

Does this happen to anyone else ? I would love to not daydream as much throughout the day, but I'm not sure how to approach improving that based on behaviour alone. Does anyone have any experience dealing with some fervency in dreaming/daydreaming ? I would love to hear back from you !!

I just wanted to write a post for a lesser-known crustacean I came into acquiring a few months ago.

As an aquarist, I also have a few terrariums in which I am plenty familiar with the many types of isopods. I knew that isopods are crustaceans, and they exist all over the planet from forests to the bottom of the ocean. That got me thinking, "is there a freshwater aquatic isopod, then? and why don't I already keep them ?"

Some googling later, I come to find there's a few species described online, and they actually inhabit creeks all over the United States. I read some case reports of people finding them inadvertently when collecting creek water to grow copepods or whatever have you. I also found a freshwater isopod culture from Phillips Fish Works, and I was immediately decided, at that point. I didn't want to risk bringing in the nasties from outdoors into my new tank (that was conveniently perfect for this idea), so I opted to spend the bit of money (like 15 or 20 for a bunch of them) and support the small business as a consequence.

I got them in, and they were all alive—of various sizes, colours—and the introduction process aside, I was 100% expecting to never see them again. This new tank isn't small by any means, and is HEAVILY planted, so I genuinely assumed they would either work in the background as the "clean-up crew" or ... well, die. I was plenty surprised, however, to see them at least once a day, scuttling along the sand or digging through the stratum against the glass.

The first month, I was already satisfied with my purchase. They were ACTIVE. I also assume they did plenty of work cleaning up the leaf litter, bark and algae I had scattered around the aquarium. I don't have any particularly aggressive or large fish in this aquarium (a community with perhaps 8 or so different species), so I assume they felt rather comfortable to explore and scurry around the tank as desired.

A few months have gone by since then, and I decided to write this post when I had pretty much confirmed—THEY HAD BABIES !! I am unsure if one of the mommas came pregnant in shipping or if they bred in my aquarium, but I easily just counted 10+ of all various sizes in the 'cave' part of the aquarium. This made me so happy to see, I pretty much had to write this post detailing how much I appreciate having purchased them in the first place.

So, whether or not you want to go wading through the creek to find some yourself, or stop by an online vendor and purchase a culture, I highly recommend "freshwater aquatic isopods" for those looking for a unique crustacean to add to the fauna of a planted aquarium. I especially recommend them for community aquariums dense with plants, leaf litter, and plenty of hiding spaces from predators. They seem to do greatly in water that is already tuned in for shrimp.

Have you kept them before ? If so, what was your experience like ?

After really learning about my condition, I've come to be greatly familiar with its symptoms, much more than I used to be before I was diagnosed. I didn't know anything about narcolepsy, then, and now, I feel like once a month, I hear an anecdote about a specific symptom that I never considered to be caused by narcolepsy.

Notably, we all know about excessive daytime sleepiness, sleep attacks and cataplexy. That's what's portrayed in the media about this condition: the fainting-goat trope. Though, there are more symptoms that I've come to learn about that may not have strong clinical significance, but I hear about consistently in this thread. For myself, my appetite is as unpredictable as my unmedicated sleep habits, though stimulant medications can exacerbate that, for sure. I also have significant trouble regulating my internal body temperature, typically too hot but sometimes, freezing cold. I also have what feels like debilitating brain fog, dissociation/depersonalisation, and daydreams. I admit that I have no real, objective way to prove that narcolepsy is involved in those symptoms, I think it would be useful for us as a community to share—what are your unsung symptoms?

Be it just a hunch, something with which you struggle, or even something that is commonly attributed to narcolepsy with which you happen to particularly struggle, I'm curious as to what connections we can draw from talking about the things *beyond* EDS and cataplexy.

I'd love to hear from some of you !! 😸