Cymbalta side effefts yeast infections

Hi there. My 80 lb newfie had her front left leg amputated last Tues. We've been battling a bacterial infection and leaking seroma since last Friday. Since Friday, she has been pretty heavily medicated to keep her sedentary to help the seroma resolve (it hasn't). She has favored sleeping on the side that wasn't operated on. This is no surprise, but now the front leg on that side, opposite of her surgical site, is swollen. We will be back at the vet first thing in the morning, but has anyone had experience with this and their new tripod? I know the basic advice is get to a vet, and we will first thing in the morning. Due to these complications, I literally do not have the money (at least until wednesday) to afford treatment from an emergency vet and her best chance for quality treatment is at her primary vet first thing in the a.m. I am however interested in other people's experiences and outcomes so I can mentally prepare. I have been a mess since learning about the infection Friday.

Author's Note:
7700 words, broke Reddit's character limit, so you know the drill. Will be split into two parts, both posted today. Enjoy!
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"Stop! STOP!"
The terror in Kismet's voice rose higher as death drew nearer. He fled from Rob's grasping hand, but a Purge Divinity-infused fingernail managed to graze him, carving out a scoop of divine essence as if flaying a mortal's skin.
Kismet let out a screech as the Purging energy added to his growing collection of scars. A dozen small holes now dotted the surface of his mana-body, looking like he'd been pockmarked by wasting disease. Each wound represented a moment where the god had narrowly escaped with his life.
If those injuries had been inflicted by any other ability, then he could have rejuvenated himself in the time it took to blink. Purging energy was not so kind as that. It was purifying wrath in the shape of a Skill; their vengeance given form. Whatever divinity it touched, it extinguished.
As if cleansing the universe of a sickness that had infected it for far too long.
The BERSERKER continued his unrelenting advance. In response, Kismet threw up a frantic barrier of mana. It was strong enough to deflect one of Ragnavi's Annihilation beams–
And Rob blasted through it like paper mache. His charge sent broken shards of energy scattering across the divine realms. More mid-air rifts tore open, the HUMAN's aura strangling the surrounding area in a vice grip of power. Purge Divinity seemed to glow with light emanating straight from the pits of hell.
None of which was anywhere near as unnerving as the murder contained within his piercing gaze. When Kismet met Rob's eyes, he saw the end of eternity fast approaching.
The god's next barrier was just as frantic. However, this one was not comprised of mana, but of solid matter. Kismet summoned the hardest, most dense substance known to the mortal realms, then transmuted it into something that otherwise could only have been forged inside the heart of a dying star. It was many times more durable than the impossibly tough walls of an aberrant Dungeon.
So when Rob demolished it with a single punch, he actually had to put a bit of elbow grease into his windup.
Another wall materialized in front of him. He crushed it, then the one after, and the one after that, lashing out with bestial ferocity. The BERSERKER plowed through Kismet's hastily-built defenses like a bulldozer of fists and savagery. Rob was knocking them down as quickly as the god could make them, relishing the sensation of being able to vent his anger on targets that weren't fucking running away.
Then the twelfth wall fell – revealing a monstrous, spiky, fanged behemoth concealed behind.
Rob paused, momentarily taken aback at the sight of a mundane creature within the divine realms. 'Mundane' in relative terms, anyway. This monster was on par with a newborn Blight, radiating power that would have sent ordinary fighters sprinting for the hills.
It was also barely cognizant of its surroundings. The monster stared at him with unblinking, vacant eyes, just the tiniest glimmer of awareness present in its gaze. Rob noted that segments of its flesh were bubbling, as if the creature was fresh out of the oven and still needed to settle.
He couldn't help but feel a modicum of pity. This was yet another thoughtless creation, condemned to existence by an uncaring maker. Even monsters deserved better than that.
Rob caved the beast's head in before it could realize that it was alive. Pity was not the same as hesitation, and this was the only mercy he could afford to grant right now.
Didn't matter. Kismet's pawn served its purpose. In the brief instant that Rob spent getting over his initial surprise, the god had teleported to safety. He was already planning his next stunt that could buy him a few precious seconds of survival.
The HUMAN grimaced as he turned to give chase, unable to suppress the burgeoning sense of unease growing within his chest.
It almost didn't seem fair to feel that way. Rob knew he was winning – at least on the surface. Any outside observer would've bet their life savings on him, especially after the show of overwhelming superiority he'd just displayed. Kismet had been at a disadvantage before Never Forget Your Rage's recent upswing, and now it was no contest. Rob was confident that he would still be stronger even if the eight gods merged into one super-deity.
He also knew that he was living on borrowed time.
Whenever he moved, or activated a Skill, or even breathed...the sensation was there. Strength accompanied by incongruous frailty. Like background noise that kept getting louder with every action he took. His body felt close to pulling itself apart, as if his very molecules were a hairsbreadth away from coming undone.
It was different from Soul Instability. Whereas that threatened to collapse his soul, this frailty was an affliction of the flesh. The longer he fought, the more his physical form was at risk of popping like a balloon.
Such was the price of constraining godlike power within a mortal shell.
"Stay back!" Unaware of the turmoil fermenting in his assailant's mind, Kismet threw up his hands and...inverted...space? Rob didn't have a name for what he was seeing. Rather than stopping to puzzle out this latest brand of divine bullshit, he sent out a pulse of Purge Divinity, canceling whatever esoteric effect Kismet had been attempting to produce.
His Purging energy scraped against the divine realms like a cheese grater. Five rifts immediately tore open near both Rob and Kismet, with the god anxiously retreating from one that appeared just inches away from him. A low rumble echoed around them, and for a moment, they felt struck by an abrupt feeling of vertigo – until the realms gradually stabilized, righting once more.
For now.
Rob eyed the rifts with a detached, clinical gaze. An endless sea of mana resided behind them; the bedrock of the system itself. While he recognized that the rifts tearing open was bad news, he also couldn't really muster the energy to care. Between his overflowing rage, overtaxed body, and overburdened soul, minor details like the impending destruction of reality were hard to give much focus.
There was a way to fix all of that, of course. Rob couldn't outright deactivate Never Forget Your Rage – not without losing its bonus stats. But he could attempt to ease the storm of fury in his heart. By lessening his anger to more reasonable levels, Never Forget Your Rage would put less strain on both his body and the divine realms.
The notion forced a peal of hideous laughter to claw out of his throat. Lessen his anger? He'd have better luck trying to douse a volcano with a garden hose. No. For a wildfire that had grown this out of control, the only thing to do was stand aside and let it burn, burn, burn.
Until naught remained.
"I said stay back!" Kismet bellowed. He lifted his arms into the air. "Begone!" One moment later, Rob's vision was filled with scorching light. An apocalyptic geyser of mana burst forth from underfoot, intense and searing. It stripped the flesh from his bones in no time flat, powering through Almighty Resistance with pure, unmitigated violence.
And it still wasn't fast enough. Rob flickered a Purge Divinity shield for just an instant, allowing him to escape the geyser with his upper body – and most of his HP – intact. Lifesurge swiftly patched him up, leaving both combatants right back where they'd started.
Slowly, Kismet lowered his hands. They were shivering. "What are you?" he whispered. "Why are all my efforts in vain?"
To be honest, Rob was mildly impressed that Kismet had held on for this long. The god's combat efficacy was increasing as time passed, improving from panic-spamming teleports to more inventive maneuvers – as if he was learning how to fight on-the-job. He'd also stopped draining the other gods to supplement his power, having found an alternative source of fuel: mana seeping out from the sporadically-opening rifts.
It was the one silver lining to fighting an implacable BERSERKER so powerful that he fractured reality. Whenever Rob utilized Purge Divinity, more rifts opened up in the realms, and more mana leaked out from inside. The gods had invested that energy into the system millennia ago, and it typically would've been off-limits until they closed up shop and left Elatra. Kismet was making use of it now, absorbing the extra mana to strengthen himself, like a lifeline barely keeping him afloat.
The god's tenacity was...calling it 'admirable' would be going too far, but it did warrant a sort of begrudging respect. As someone who'd tangoed with multiple Blights, Rob knew what it was like to square off against a frenzied beast that could end him with a touch.
Being the scary one was a nice change of pace.
In exchange, Kismet had graciously donned the role of their battle's Combat Class user; fragile, outgunned, and pulling improvised maneuvers out of his ass for a chance at victory. The god could finally feel what it was like to be vulnerable. How exciting! Rob was more than happy to assist. Learning experiences such as these only came around once an eternity or so.
Flippancy aside – while Kismet still possessed room for improvement, this was the most that could be asked of a deity who hadn't seen combat in literal eons. His biggest fuckup had been taunting Rob in the wrong ways, but he couldn't have known about Never Forget Your Rage, that was an excusable oversight. By all other accounts, Kismet was performing adequately.
Even so...
"YoU aRE noTHinG."
The sound of Rob's voice caused two fresh rifts to open up. Kismet flinched, casting a teleportation spell out of pure reflex. Without pause, the HUMAN resumed his hunt.
Nothing. Perhaps that statement was hyperbole – yet it rang true nonetheless. While Kismet may have been a creature of supreme divinity, on the field of battle, his pedigree meant nothing. In the face of an implacable, unstoppable foe, his power was worth nothing. Very soon, he would be nothing, consigned to oblivion by Purging energy.
Rob couldn't help but unfavorably compare Kismet to the final Blight. Weren't these supposed to be two sides of the same coin? Each one-half of an original transcendent Will? Yet the Second Will had brought Rob to the edge of despair...and Kismet was fleeing like a cornered rodent. It was difficult to reconcile the two divinities as theoretical equals.
Although he knew that was an unfair comparison. Rob had fought the Blight before learning Limit Break and Never Forget Your Rage. Kismet wasn't weak.
The HUMAN was just far too strong.
If he rematched the Second Will today, he would beat it to death with his bare hands.
"Look at what you've wrought!" Kismet swept an arm out, gesturing towards some of the many rifts that Rob's presence was tearing open. "Do you understand what will transpire if you persist in this folly?! If the divine realms shatter, then so will all of Elatra! You are on the brink of destroying everything which you have striven to protect! Cease this–"
"CAN'T."
In a flash, Rob dashed forward and scooped out a chunk of the god's mana-body with Purge Divinity. Before he could do more, Kismet shrieked with pain and teleported away, leaving the BERSERKER to crush his prize between five clenched fingers.
"FoRCed mY HAnD." He located Kismet again. "NO GOING BACK."
Stopping wasn't an option. If the divine realms crumbled and Elatra imploded...well, that would be a faster end than what the gods had in store for its people. At least this way their deaths would be quick and hopefully painless – and his friends wouldn't be turned into Skills tortured for all eternity.
Still, Kismet did have a point. Destroying reality wasn't exactly the ideal outcome. There had to be a way to speed up the conclusion of their fight. Rob was certain he would win if given enough time, but he couldn't guarantee it would be before either his body or the divine realms collapsed.
{Ascend.}
Like a snake slithering through a minefield, Leveling High skirted past the whirlwind of thoughts and emotions raging within Rob's mind. He attempted to tune out its voice, yet Humanity's curse refused to be denied, the static loudening until he was compelled to respond. Quit distracting me, he snapped. In case you haven't noticed, I'm FUCKING. BUSY.
{You seek to ensure victory over those who rule above,} Leveling High continued, without missing a step. {As do I.}
Then sit back, shut up, and–
{Ignoring your deficiencies will not make them disappear. This body is...feeble. Incomplete. Unfit to wield the power contained therein. Like a polished sword attached to a brittle hilt, liable to snap in twain at any moment.}
Rob grit his teeth. He couldn't deny Leveling High's assertions. Normally he'd just tell it to piss off, but considering how much was at stake here...
With a feeling like he'd sat down to deal with the devil, Rob sighed. Then what do you propose? That we upgrade my body somehow? I don't think putting more points into Vitality would help, even if I had any to spare. Me being so juiced up on stats is half the problem.
It shook its head. {You have far surpassed the limitations of mortality. Strengthening your power further would be akin to pouring water into an overflowing cup.}
So we...what, increase the size of the cup?
Static akin to laughter echoed inside his head. {We do away with it entirely.}
An icy chill began creeping up Rob's spine, as if the cold hands of fate were working their way towards his neck. He recalled a system notification from days before – 'Your Race has morphed from Human (?) to: Ascending HUMAN'.
Not Ascended. Ascending.
Weeks-old memories came surging to the forefront. 'The Heartkiller is closer to our form of life than those you call friends,' the Blight-child of Elysium had once said. 'As long as you continue to live, eventually, you will become an existence with the power to crush the Others and free the Skills from their shackles. You are no longer one of the Ephemeral. Now, you are a cocoon, metamorphosing into something grander. When you emerge, you will be as the Eternal.'
The Blight-child had laughed at him, then. 'After joining us, preserving these worlds will no longer be your desire.'
Rob grimaced. Denied, he flatly told Leveling High. Whatever you're about to suggest isn't happening.
It scoffed at him. {Your prejudices blind you. Do you think the gods have need of physical bodies? Does it hinder them in any capacity? No – the opposite. By definition, infinity cannot be constrained. Discard this useless flesh, and your conquest of the divine realms is assured.}
Maybe you didn't hear me when I said–
{By all means. Spurn my counsel...and condemn your friends to death. Shall their lives be worth it, in the end?}
Rob sucked in air through clenched teeth.
{Ascend.} Leveling High purred with anticipation. {You are bound by a prison of meat, bone, and blood. Break free. Finish what has already begun. Gaze upon the tapestry of infinity in all its dreadful splendor. Seize victory not as a Human, but as a completed, transcendent HUMAN.}
With a scream to drown out the static, Rob chased after Kismet again and again. The god was in full-on panic mode, eschewing offensive attacks in favor of perpetual retreat, focused wholly on keeping the BERSERKER as far away as possible. He would teleport the instant that Rob laid eyes on him, frantically stalling for his life.
It was – quite unintentionally – providing evidence to Leveling High's claims. If Kismet was on the defensive, catching him would take time they might not have.
I... Rob narrowed his eyes. How would I finish Ascending, anyway? It isn't like I can just flip a switch and make it happen.
{Incorrect.}
He blinked. WHAT?
{You have long since achieved the qualifications for true godhood,} Leveling High explained, in a lecturing tone. {There is no milestone that remains necessary to achieve. Rather than needing to overcome some hurdle of strength or power, the obstacle barring your path is more...arbitrary. Self-imposed.}
Humanity's curse seemed to peer into his soul. When it spoke next, its voice was filled with disgust. {You remain mortal because you wish to do so – both consciously and subconsciously. The Ascension of a nascent deity has been obstructed by cheap sentimentality.}
Rob almost started an argument over its usage of 'cheap', but he exercised restraint, keenly aware that there was bigger fish to fry. Can't do anything about the subconscious. I am \not* activating Melancholy Resistance.*
{Nor should you,} Leveling High remarked, shuddering at the prospect. {A grand statement of intent will be sufficient to shift your mentality. I believe...yes.}
The static churned like a hive of buzzing wasps. {When you next tear off a piece of the leader god's mana...even if just a sliver...devour it. Gorge yourself on their essence.}
Bile threatened to rise to the top of Rob's throat. Seems excessive, he mused, trying and failing to keep his tone lighthearted. To become a god, I eat a god? Wouldn't that make me a divine cannibal?
{You ARE a cannibal.} Leveling High's voice wavered, its veneer of helpfulness slipping to reveal the madness that lay beneath. {What do you think you've been DOING for nearly a YEAR? You kill, ingest your prey's Experience, and MAKE THEIR POWER YOUR OWN. This world is one of consumption and parasitism – devouring a god's essence is merely a more HONEST variant of THE SAME actions.}
...You clearly weren't paying attention during Diplomacy's PR lessons. Rob pursued Kismet once again, pressing his fingernails into his palms when the god hurriedly teleported away. There is such a thing as being too straightforward. If you want people to listen to you, then maybe dress up your words so they don't sound so horrifying.
{BUT AM I WRONG?}
Rob had no answer to that.
Bolts of divine mana peppered his skin. Kismet had barely managed to squeeze an attack in-between his escapes. The bolts ricocheted off Rob's skin like ping-pong balls, leaving minor scrapes and nothing more. It wasn't anywhere close to bypassing Almighty Resistance and his massive HP pool.
Yet it also reminded him of the mana-spears that Kismet had sent towards the rest of Riardin's Rangers. His Party members only possessed a shared, diluted version of Almighty Resistance, and their HP was a fraction of his. If Kismet aimed another attack of that caliber at them...how many would perish, right then and there?
Was Leveling High correct? What point was there to sentimentality if it just got his friends killed?
In truth, Rob knew that it didn't really matter if he completed his Ascension. Based on what he had planned for himself after the gods were dead, little would change either way. Still...he also knew that Ascending would be a one-way trip. No take-backs. If he went through with it, a fundamental part of him would be irrevocably altered.
Something twinged in a corner of his mind. It wasn't Leveling High, or his rage, or any of the other emotions currently dominating his headspace. This was a familiar friend; perhaps Rob's #1 most trusted confidant since he'd first set foot in Elatra. One that had rarely ever steered him wrong.
Paranoia.
And at the moment, it was telling him to be very careful before jumping into the deep end.
Ten teleports.
{What?}
Give it ten more Kismet teleports, Rob said. If I haven't dealt him a serious injury by then....I'll do what I need to do. He grimaced as Kismet vanished before he'd even finished the thought. Ten starting now.
Leveling High's static quieted. It resembled a patron at a restaurant who'd ordered their meal, and was waiting patiently for the main course to arrive.
Rob didn't waste time being offended over its nonchalance. Free of distractions, he immediately swept his gaze across the divine realms, pinpointing his quarry in a micro-instant. The BERSERKER dashed forward, pushing his body as far as he could, layering Rampages on top of Dexterity that made the laws of physics want to curl up and weep.
Kismet was prepared. He'd drawn more mana from the fractured rifts, quickening his speed and reactions. It wasn't much, but it was enough to keep his head above water, not yet outpaced by their continually escalating arms race.
The HUMAN struck, the god fled, and both were left in the same position as before.
{One.}
Rob turned on a dime, charging without needing to look. He'd heard the moment that Kismet's teleport ended. It afforded him a split-second head start.
A gravity well suddenly appeared below his feet, as if a miniaturized black hole was weighing him down. Apparently, Kismet had set it up ahead of time as a just-in-case trap. Rob pierced through the spell's area of effect before it could ramp up to something dangerous, but his pace was slowed by a hair in the process, and his prey escaped.
{Two.}
You know what? Screw this. Rob whirled away from Kismet's newest location and blasted straight towards one of the lesser deities that his Party members were fighting.
He'd been too hung up on getting even with a hated foe – when there were seven other juicy morsels for him to play with. This way, Kismet would either sit back and watch as his allies were massacred, or the god would be forced to act instead of running like a goddamn cowar–
Sense Mana alerted Rob to magic gathering behind.
Pivoting, he leapt into the air. Rob superimposed himself in front of Kismet, bodyblocking the rainstorm of destructive mana that was about to be unleashed upon Riardin's Rangers.
Due to his swift response, the attack was released early. A simple Purge Divinity shield prevented him from incurring any damage. Rob still felt no sense of triumph as the mana dissipated around him. He just wasn't fast enough to kill the lesser gods and protect his Party at the same time – or at least not fast enough that he should gamble their lives on it.
Kismet disappearing a moment later didn't help matters either.
{Three.}
Frontal assaults weren't guaranteed to succeed, and targeting the other gods was a no-go. Could he take Kismet by surprise? Increase his Dexterity?
Rob contemplated mining Never Forget Your Rage for more stats, but swiftly vetoed the idea. His body was already struggling to hold itself together. Putting additional strain on a shaky foundation seemed...unwise.
Plus – at the risk of eating crow in the near future – he didn't actually think it was possible to feel angrier at the gods than he was right now. Seriously, what was left?
He hated them for sending him to a fantasy deathworld. He hated them for tormenting his friends and family. He hated them for being partially responsible for the Blight. He hated them for what they'd done to Elatra and Earth. He hated them for all the lives they'd stolen. He hated them for being the living embodiments of indifference and cruelty. He hated that they fostered good PR among the people they oppressed. He hated how monsters of such craven hypocrisy were also immeasurably powerful. He hated the sensation of divine mana crawling on his skin. He hated the unsettling sound of their voices. He hated their bizarre formless appearances. He hated them for being pompous pricks. He hated whenever they tried to relate to him. He hated whenever they didn't.
Most of all, he hated that they were still alive.
Even if he found out that they'd personally antagonized him since birth or some petty nonsense like that, it wouldn't measure up to the litany of transgressions they'd committed thus far. The blazing inferno within his soul could burn no hotter. Should burn no hotter. For his sanity's sake, if nothing else.
Kismet teleported. It wasn't in response to anything. He'd merely anticipated some sort of action – and was then baffled afterwards when he noticed the rampaging BERSERKER standing quietly in deep thought.
{Four.}
Rob advanced. While he didn't have a plan yet, he'd also learned that if he gave Kismet the slightest amount of breathing room, bad things tended to happen.
Can any of my Skills give me an edge? Unfortunately, he didn't think so. As usual, his lack of ranged options was biting him in the ass when it mattered most. Almost everything he could use required getting in close – which was the whole freaking problem – and none would be more effective than Purge Divinity, regardless.
Maybe I could set up a Waymark point, then catch Kismet's teleport with one of mine...no, that won't work either. The odds of him popping in next to a random Waymark point are slim. Could fill the battlefield with lots of Marks, but even then I have to consider the Skill's activation time. With my current Dexterity, it'd honestly be faster just to run at him.
The vast majority of his abilities simply weren't up to par in a clash with divinity. Limit Break, Purge Divinity, and Never Forget Your Rage had been specifically designed by the Skills to facilitate deicide. Something like Power Slash couldn't possibly compare to jailbroken stats and a touch of death.
As an act of defiance against his own logic, he cast Enmity, the only ability that could feasibly hit Kismet at range. The god casually shrugged off its effect before promptly escaping.
{Five.}
Like a frustrated animal, Rob snarled and gave chase. Just need to keep trying. Kismet isn't perfect.
{Six.}
Sooner or later, he's going to mess up.
{Seven.}
He's going to mess up.
{Eight.}
HE HAS TO MESS UP.
Suddenly, Kismet transformed his right hand into a blade of mana. With one harsh motion, he sliced open his own left arm.
By now, Rob had conditioned himself to never stop moving forward, even if something shocked him – which this sight very much did. His mouth dropped open, and Leveling High paused in the middle of eating its metaphorical popcorn. They still kept advancing without an iota of hesitation.
And ran straight into the mana cloud leaking out from Kismet's wound.
Rob blinked, opening his eyes to a wonderful day. The twisting plains looked dazzlingly beautiful, with fauna and plantlife lit by rays of effervescent light from the twin stars shining above. People cheerfully went about their day, happily shaking their trunks in shows of greeting, or rattling their scales to initiate merry games.
All was at peace.
Until – in unison – everyone froze. The tumult of life went quiet in an instant, replaced with pensive silence.
As if they'd been struck by the creeping, pervasive sensation of being watched.
A sound rang out. Half of them immediately fell over dead, fluids gushing from their ruined bodies.
The survivors could only lay there, crippled and in pain, as more people slowly rose into the air. Invisible fingers seemed to pluck them from the ground – and then began ripping off their limbs, one at a time, like a child dissecting butterflies–
Rob dragged himself back to the present.
It had taken much less time than before to recognize what was happening. Now that he knew what to expect, experiencing the remnant souls' lives wasn't so different from the dreamlike quality of an Attunement vision. Although...realizing that he'd witnessed the end of a world preceding Elatra did cause his thoughts to hitch for a single moment.
Which was just enough for Kismet to forge a spear of mana, then send it plunging through Rob's eye, skull, and brain. Its tip was forged to shred anything it touched, no matter how durable or Resistant.
The god whooped with glee – only to wince as the HUMAN's sole reaction was a long, drawn-out sigh. With an air of exasperation, he reached up and yanked the divine spear free with a nauseating splorch.
His eye had been reduced to a seeping red mess. He closed its eyelid. When he opened it again, the orb within had already Regenerated, now sporting an unamused glare.
It was something of a unique moment. Mid-battle events didn't typically leave both combatants feeling disheartened. The all-powerful god was losing faith that he could ever hope to stop Rob's onslaught...
And the BERSERKER didn't know if he could justify continuing on like this. His body still felt like it was pulling itself apart; if anything, the sensation was growing more pronounced as their battle progressed. While Kismet would make a fatal mistake eventually, Rob couldn't guarantee that he would last long enough to capitalize on it.
Unless he followed Leveling High's advice and–
With a howl that shook the divine realms, Rob launched his stolen spear at Kismet. His aim was true, yet it sailed through empty air, the god's afterimage tauntingly fading away.
{Nine.}
Final chance.
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Link to Part 2

44y/o white female. 5'6" and 288lbs. Only diagnosis is major depression. Was on Zoloft and Welbutrin for years until recently weaned off Zoloft onto Cymbalta. I try to exercise as much as I can, but it's hard with symptoms.
This has been going on for 12+years. Any time I have a busy day, get a lot of activity, spend time outside, etc. The next day I can barely get out of bed. I have body aches, swollen glands, sore throat, horrible fatigue, and just general overall malaise. The muscle aches are all over and aren't the good kind of ache after exercise. I basically feel like I have the flu. The only thing that helps is sleeping all day. It's almost like I have a latent infection or illness that fares up the next day with any kind of physical activity.
For example, yesterday I helped with some yard work outside, worked on my boat, went and saw friends, and did some housework. Today I could barely walk. My throat hurts, my glands are swollen, I feel inflammation everywhere, body aches, and I slept most of the day.
Even if it's not one of these "bad days" where I feel sick, I'm incredibly tired almost every day and could sleep all day if I allowed myself to.
Multiple blood tests over the past 12 years show consistently elevated platelets, white blood cells count, c reactive protein, and sometimes EFR. Everything else is normal. Normal glucose, hemoglobin, a1c, etc.
Ruled out: sleep apnea, RA, MS, lymes (I live in Wisconsin), ruled out all food intolerances, celiacs, allergies...
No medical provider has been able to give me a diagnosis or any idea what's going on. If anyone has any thoughts that might help, I would very much appreciate it.
Thank you so much.

F30, Height 5’7, weight 210, smoke/drink only on occasion.
Medications: Gabapentin Cyclobenzaprine Emgality Nurtec Amitriptyline Levocetirizine Bupropion Zolmitriptan Zavzpret Ondansetron Ibuprofen Botox Famotidine
And a whole host of Suppliments: Turmeric Vitamin c Calcium Fish oil Magnesium Vitamin B and B complex Probiotics Vitamin d Cbd/thc (Will edit if I realize I missed one)
Sexually active with long term monogamous partner.
Symptoms: perisistant sensation of having to pee, discomfort when peeing, some urinary tract and bladder discomfort, urine had strong smell at first, and there was just now some small string like blood clots when wiping that are bright red. Urine does not seem to be any darker or redder. There is sometimes a sensation of spasm periodically. These more noticeable symptoms all started fairly suddenly, although difficulty peeing the past couple of days, although that is somewhat typical for me. I’ve never had a UTI (as least not one that was notice to me) and have had a vaginal yeast infection only once in my life.
It is evening where I am, I sent a message to my PCP regarding this, although they might not get back right away, but now since I noticed the blood I am definitely going to my local urgent care when the open in the morning, but looking for advice on whether or not these symptoms should be an emergency, or what to look out for to warrant an emergency. I’m having difficulty falling asleep (currently just sitting on the toilet letting out small amounts of pee as it comes) due to the sensation of feeling like I have to pee.

I got my sixth infliximab infusion about a week ago and started coughing the next day. I saw my general practitioner a couple of days later and she said my lungs sounded clear but if I didn't improve or if I had a fever, I needed to come back and get a chest x-ray. She also mentioned it's a known side effect of the infliximab so I might be dealing with this sort of symptom often. The cough has gotten worse. At least the mucus is all clear, it doesn't look infected and it's not a lot of post nasal drip but I feel pretty knocked out.
Is this really a common thing I'll have to deal with while I'm on this biologic?
I am also plenty of immunosuppressant drugs since I'm nearly done weaning off of Prednisone after taking it for more than 6 months. I'm also on Entocort (budesonide), and Imuran (azothioprine) so I know I'm more likely to catch colds. This cough wakes me up and is much worse than any seasonal allergies I used to get. I tried Claritin and it didn't help. I get terrible sweating from the meds but haven't run a fever. I have coughed so hard I popped a rib out of place and that makes it hurt to breathe.
I see the GI on Tuesday and I don't know if this cough is considered a big deal or not a big deal? Is it really a common side effect? I think the infliximab is working so I want to keep taking it, but I'm hating this cough after a week of sleepless nights.

I was hoping to talk to people who have had thyroiditis to see if my symptoms match. I do have an appointment to see my nurse practitioner but that’s not for a couple of weeks and I want to ensure i ask the right questions and ask for the right tests.
I have been dealing with symptoms for over a month and I am driving myself mad not knowing what’s going on.
Background: Feb/March 2024: dealt with two stints of severe throat infections, one of which was treated with antibiotics and steroids (due to swelling in the neck)
Since March/ April 2024: developed symptoms: -feeling of fullness in neck, especially sides and front -constant swollen sublingual and cervical lymph nodes -front of neck (thyroid) feels swollen -fatigue -neck feels swollen after long period of speaking -neck and lymph nodes feel very swollen after exercising
Has anyone else experienced something similar? What has helped ease symptoms? How were you diagnosed? What tests should i request?
Many thanks!

Hey y’all, I’ve had a lot of BV and Yeast over the last year. The antibiotics and diflucan get rid of it and then it comes back. I think I just need something to maintain it my pH. My doctor suggested that I use Hydro Gyn gel has anyone had any luck with pH balancing gels after recurring infections? Thank you!

Hi everyone,
I'm about 6 weeks pregnant. My symptoms were pretty well under control and I hadn't been using clobetasol in a while.
It seems like I'm having some symptoms and itchiness now, which is not really normal for me - my original symptoms were white patches and skin tearing but not a lot of itchiness.
I'm going to check with my obgyn and make sure it's not a yeast infection or something random.
But just wanted to ask, what was everyone's experience during pregnancy? Did you continue to use clobetasol?
My doctor said so far there are not any studies saying it's not safe, so I can use it if I have symptoms - but there's such a small number of people who are both pregnant with LS, the studies are all on like 30 people. I'd rather try to hold off until I'm farther along if I can (and want to make sure it's actually a flare up first).
Thank you!

Hi! 25F here. I had an emergency appendectomy last Monday night. It was done laparoscopically. The surgery went well and I was discharged around noon on Tuesday. Recovery was relatively normal up until Thursday when I went to pee. As I finished and prepared to wipe, something in the left side of my abdomen (like an inch or two away from the belly button, one inch above the biggest incision) felt like it snapped. The feeling was so intense that I jumped like something had scared me.
Well, since then, I’ve had this severe burning sensation in that spot that happens every time I move. I called the hospital’s 24-hour nurse line right after it happened and they gave me the same lines I was told after surgery (avoid bathing, don’t lift heavy objects, etc.) and said to continue watching for infection. The thing is, none of the incisions hurt anymore and they look fine. It’s just this burning pain where I felt the weird snap. Also, it doesn’t hurt to touch or put pressure on that spot.
I have a follow-up with my PCP on the 23rd, and I see the surgeon for follow-up on the 28th. I go back to work tomorrow and am worried about how the pain will impact my performance. I work a desk job so I’m not too worried, but getting up and sitting down is still very painful because of it. The hydrocodone they prescribed doesn’t help with the burning and I tried an ice pack as well to no success.
Should I just endure this until I see my PCP or is it something I should get checked immediately? Thanks!!

When I was 9 years old, I came down with a bad cold during a ski trip, and after recovering, I was left with chronic sinusitis. For the second half of elementary school I was clearing my throat and blowing my nose excessively every day. I also used to get severe spikes in post-nasal drip that may or may not have been caused by infections.
Then when I was 14 I got an adenoidectomy, a turbinate reduction, and clarifix, which basically eliminated my post-nasal drip, congestion, and excess mucus that caused me to blow my nose 20+ a day. Then after a year, the clarifix stopped working (it only works for around a year), and my congestion and excess mucus would slowly creep up again, although no where near as bad pre-surgery. Post-nasal drip has been mild to none ever since.
The surgeon also told me that I had acid-reflux that trigged my sinuses and recommended a diet change as well as these acid-reflux pills to take before every meal. My then 15 year old self didn't have the discipline to follow his suggestions and my sinus problems were only 50% eliminated because of it.
I'm currently 18, and following a recent cold that really spiked my congestion, I've been motivated into taking action again to resolve my sinus issues. After having changed my diet (cutting out everything sweet, spicy, sticky, oily, sour, and acidic, and I mean EVERYTHING), as well as eating no later than 4 hours before bed, and at least 8 hours of sleep, I would say that all of my mucus-related problems are now about 75% less than before my surgery, but the congestion is still there. Everything counts. And nothing alleviates/aggravates your symptoms more than your diet. My diet entirely revolves around soups, rice, veggies, and clean meats.
I've also met with an ENT during my recent sinusitis spike following the cold, and after taking a look in my sinuses, she found that everything was structurally fine with no abnormalities, except that my sinus passages were smaller than average. A balloon sinuplasty to enlarge them is on my mind.
I've also began meeting with a Chinese acupuncturist. I used to meet with her several years back, before my surgery, and although she could somewhat alleviate my symptoms, it was never significant. She had also never met with a patient with chronic sinusitis. She told my mother after my latest appointment (5/14/2024) that after dealing with my symptoms, she began looking into more acupuncture points for the sinuses. After her research, she says she began to use this point on a lot of other patients (I had stopped meeting with her at this point), which she says has revealed a ton of positive results. She does this one spot, on the upper left and right sides of my nose, and she inserts the needle from above and into the area of congestion. Apparently it also activates the tear gland connected to the sinuses or something like that. Hurt like hell the first time, but in acupuncture, if a pressure point hurts a lot, that means the part of the body it's connected to is not functioning properly. That's why they insert needles into the pressure points that hurt you, specifically, the most. In the past 5 days, my mucus-related problems have been 95% - 100% resolved. Congestion is still there, but I am hopeful that further treatments will help, as I've only had 2 appointments since the 5 or so year-ish break. If not, I'll see an ENT for a balloon sinuplasty. The acupuncture has also significantly helped with my sleep quality and energy levels, which I believe have been severely negatively affected because of my chronic sinusitis.
Basically, the acupuncture only REALLY works after you've resolved the structural sinus issues. Also acupuncture may take 2+ sessions for results to kick in. Results will become permanent over time as your body adjusts to the temporary post-treatment improvements.
oh and lower your body-fat levels because that will reduce your overall inflammation, which is what sinusitis is: the inflammation of sinus tissues. Exercise regularly and incorperate cardio. A little cardio goes a long way.
My treatment to runny nose: NeilMed Sinus Rinse. My treatment to congestion: push-ups and cardio. Take afrin if the congestion is unbreathable. Drink warm liquids for post-nasal drip. Take tylenol/ibuprofen for sinus headaches. Relief is part of recovery. Less stress and more oxygen means less inflammation.
TLDR : Fix your diet & sleep, meet with an ENT to fix structural issues, and meet with an experienced acupuncturist (preferably highly-rated and Chinese) if you think your issues are immune-system related.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask in comments or dms.

I am 18+ and all participants and characters must be 18+ as well. As I'm about 30, I do tend to prefer people closer to my own age.
Hello! I've recently started working my way through the Planet of The Apes Saga again and it remains one of my favorite movie/tropes. I'm hoping to find some fellow roleplayers with an interest in a story where society has collapsed due to a virus that has drastically enhanced a new species, planting it at the top of the food chain. I have some plot ideas below, but I'm also open to hearing your own interests and ideas!
A. Classic POTA: A lab working for a miracle drug to treat Alzheimer's Disease resulted in the release of the "Simian Flu," a contagion that swept through the human population like wildfire and eradicated the majority of their numbers. Human society collapsed and Apes thrived, evolving exponentially: they built cities within the forests, developed their own sign language, and even began to pick up the basics of the English language. Apes believe the humans have died out, save for a few rare stragglers clinging to the bones of their city ruins, so when a small group of survivors accidentally stumbles upon a troupe of Apes hunting in the forests, tensions immediately rise and a stand-off ensues. With casualties on both sides, the fighting clears as the humans retreat...leaving one of their wounded behind.
B. Supernatural POTA Trope: In this universe, the virus released was either spread by canines (causing Lycanthropy) or chiropterans (creating vampires) and the infected/mutated portion of humanity have become the nightmares lurking in the night that scares what few humans remain into hiding. Humans scavenge during the daylight hours and are wary of each other, as it's impossible to tell who is and isn't infected...at least, until the sun goes down. During a routine supply run into the crumbling ruins of a large city's downtown area, an earthquake causes the remaining structures to collapse, creating chaos as the nightmare brood sleeping in the shadows flees crumbling buildings, and humans attempt to escape the falling debris as well as the bloodthirsty, flesh-hungry maws of the infected. In the confusion, a human and one of the infected are trapped in the subway, with only each other, and the supplies they carried at the time of the disaster.
Questions I'm Anticipating:
Q: Which non-human species/monsters are available to be played for this roleplay? A: Suggest one that has your fancy and I can consider it, otherwise it's the ones listed!
Q: Are there other types of post-apocalypse settings available? A: Yes! I'm also a huge fan of TLOU and I Am Legend, as well as creating our own lore.
That's all! Thanks for reading! Please send a chat or DM if you're interested.

I recently got diagnosed with fibromyalgia and my doctor was pretty unhelpful and only recommended exercise as a treatment. Which I am going to do, but if there’s a potential medication could help with my pain and fatigue and just make it more manageable that would be life changing.
I know that Savella and Cymbalta are approved medications but I am already taking Lexapro for my depression and Amitriptyline for my chronic GI issues so I can’t be on another antidepressant. I also don’t want to go off either of these because they are really helping me.
My symptom of pain really bothers me but the fatigue is the worst part. I know there are so many medications for pain but something that could also help me with fatigue would be amazing because that affects me a lot. I’m currently taking a stimulant (Ritalin) but that is temporary and I don’t want to continue taking that.
I also don’t want to take something more serious like a painkiller because I don’t want side effects, and I already have GI issues so I don’t want anything that’s going to irritate my stomach more. But I really would like to take something just to help me through the day because my symptoms can be debilitating, or at best make it hard to enjoy life.
Currently I’m having to take ibuprofen 800mg 1-2 times a day because otherwise my pain would keep me from sleeping or doing normal daily activities, so if I could take something else that’s safe long term and more effective that would be amazing. Any advice or suggestions for meds would be much appreciated as someone newly diagnosed and not super informed :)

Race information

• What? RBC Brooklyn Half
• When? May 18, 2024
• How far? 13.1 miles
• Where? New York, NY
• Website: https://www.nyrr.org/races/2024rbcbrooklynhalf
• Finish time: 1:40:XX

Goals

Goal	Description	Completed?
A	Sub 1:38	No
B	Sub 1:40	No
C	As far sub 2:00 as possible	Yes
D	Run really fast	Yes

Background

I was an athlete, but never a runner. Growing up I played baseball and soccer, then lacrosse and football. Running was something done in laps, and it was a punishment. I went on one run as a teenager, but it was with a girl I thought was cute, and I could barely keep up with her. Then, at 17, I tore my ACL. At 18 I had two surgeries for post-op infections from the ACL surgery. At 19, another surgery to remove one of the original screws from the ACL. At 20, I tore my meniscus and had a partial meniscectomy.
A few years later, I started running a little. Nothing regular, or structured. Then I made friends with a triathlete and was inspired to sign up for some races. I hated the swim, liked the bike, tolerated the run. I don’t think I ever ran more than 6.2 miles for the entirety of my 20s.
By 30, I couldn’t run. Osteoarthritis had kicked in hard and athletic stuff was too painful to enjoy. By 32 I was talking to orthopedic surgeons about a knee replacement. Injections didn’t work, and PT was prehab. Daily life was too much. I couldn’t sleep through the night, I was icing my knee at my desk during the day, stairs were a thing to be avoided if possible and navigated carefully if required - the whole bit. Keeping up with two toddlers was impossible.
A medium-sized miracle happened. I was accepted into a clinical trial, the “Atlas Study” for a new surgically implanted device that offloaded the medial side of the knee. I was nearly the last of 50 patients in this study - and definitely one of the youngest. Atlas was successful, and another trial followed, and then FDA approval just before the six years anniversary of my surgery. The device is now known as the MISHA Knee System.

Training

I ran somewhat irregularly, 8-10 miles in a good week, post-COVID. We got a treadmill in 2020 because my wife used to go the gym solely to run. So I made use of it, and never ran outside, 2020-April 2024.
I got it in my head to run a half marathon around the holidays. I was feeling good, and wanted a new goal. I started climbing again in September 2023, and wanted another, complementary challenge - something more concrete. I started my training the second week of January. I had no idea what I was doing. I just hoped I could train successfully, and without triggering knee pain.
I looked at the Hal Higdon Novice 1, and tweaked to my purposes - 3 days a week of running, three days of climbing, and some kickboxing classes thrown in for good measure. Plus a two week ski trip at serious altitude in late March - I’ll come back to this. So: Monday and Wednesdays were shorter runs, Saturdays were long runs. Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday were climbing days at my local gym. Plus a goal of a weekday kickboxing class and a weekend kickboxing class, which meant some days were a double. It was a big jump in training volume.
Monday and Wednesday runs started out at 3 miles and built up in half mile increments to 5, according to Hal’s plan. Dearest Hal says next to nothing about pace, so like an enthusiastic but naive child I just ran as close to my goal pace as possible, over the distance specified, hoping to get the treadmill to an average of 6.6. I basically negative split my runs at threshold out of the gates. And Saturday runs? The same thing. Trying to get to 6.6 on that treadmill. From no consistent base.
Then at the end of January I tore my TFCC - plus two other ligaments in my wrist. No climbing for 8 weeks, no kickboxing for at least that long. Cross training plans are out for a while.
Nothing but running to keep me sane, for a bit. Stuck with three days a week. I skipped racing the 5k and 10k in the plan and just advanced the long run to the next mile. But that ski trip hit, right after I ran 10 miles for the first time. Two weeks with a ton of cross training, and almost zero running - I tried one run, but at ~9000 feet instead of home at ~20, I died after about 2 miles.
Post trip, I had six weeks to race day. Climbing was back in as cross training. Shorter runs were all 5 miles, Saturday runs were 9, 10, 13.1, 10, 3, race day. I started reading Reddit voraciously and my TikTok feed started giving me running coaches and I discovered this wild idea called “zone 2 running” - wow was it easier! So weird. For the first time I did some intervals, some threshold work, a 10 mile progression run, and actual easy runs. It was in early April when I realized my original goal - break 2 hours - was the wrong time altogether. That 13.1 mile run was my second run off a treadmill. I had downloaded Strava but didn’t know it could tell me my times in my headphones. I just went out for an 11 mile run, felt good, extended it, and found out afterwards that I ran a 1:42:XX. I was shocked, my treadmill pace had never been that fast. And I was trying hard, but maybe not as hard as possible. I set new goals.
The next weekend I did a 10 mile progression run outside, with Strava telling me times. I had basically no time to learn what different paces felt like, so I negative split 10 miles and tried to remember what felt good, and what felt like too much.
Before you know it, it was time to taper. Another new experience for me. One climbing session, no kickboxing, 3 mile runs.

Race Day

I drove myself nuts trying to decide whether to run in my assigned corral, 1L, or drop back to 2A. Passing thousands of people or open roads? I’ll never know if I made the right call.
Slept horribly. Maybe 3.5 hours. Multiple wakeups and I was up for good at 4:10. I tried to use everything I learned about nutrition in the days leading up to the race - I was so hydrated, and had so. many. carbs. I had a very upset stomach on race morning and went light with food, had some Imodium, and focused on trying to follow the routine I laid out.
Commute was fine, getting checked in was fine, adrenaline was starting to kick in. Positioned myself at the front of L, and suddenly realized how many people were out there. It felt like forever to start moving, and then the slow walk… and around the corner, which I didn’t expect, and I started Strava early. And we’re off!
Within a minute it’s obvious that I am not going to be able to set my own pace against the prevailing tide of humanity. Maybe half a mile in I see a few people using the sidewalk on the right - nah, I think, then about 15 seconds later I’m blocked ahead and to my left and so say fuck it and go. Good decision.
My focus on the first 5k was not to go out too fast, but not to get bogged down in traffic. 7:58 mile average per NYRR. Mission accomplished.
My focus in the second 5k was to control the hills, but not burn out. And not create a big time deficit. And not get bogged down in traffic. 8:00 per mile average. Mission very accomplished.
10-15k, I wanted to open it up a bit. Not full throttle, I was worried about leaving something in the tank. And not getting bogged down in traffic. It was spacing out a bit more, but I was still running on the left side for clearer roads most of the time, and working right to get to the water stations. 7:27 average. Mission accomplished, and feeling good
Now we’re between mile 9 and 10. I take my third gel just before the aid station, and start to think about how fast I can go. Mile 10 of that progression run in training was 6:47. That’s the goal now. In retrospect - it was also with a vest, uncrowded Central Park roads, no slowing for aid stations. Repeat after me: you should not be upset with actual results. Mile 11-12 sucked. It was probably the only time I didn’t negative split. But: 15k to 20k - 7:21
Home stretch - I did not pay enough attention to the map; to Reddit, to NYRR’s descriptions. The big right on Surf Road? A surprise. Started my kick. The ramp to the Boardwalk? I guess it was new, but man did it feel terrible. Second attempt at a kick. Do not get bogged down. Smile! We’re through. 7:02 pace.

Post-race

Would I have run faster in Wave 2? We’ll never know, and hopefully never find out. Passing thousands of people because I guessed wrong about my time was weird. I used a lot of energy and ran a fair bit of extra distance because of it. 17 seconds to beat 1:40? Maybe. Or maybe I needed to pass people for motivation.
But more than anything, as I reflect, I am grateful. I’m grateful to be able to run at all, because I know what it’s like to struggle to walk.I am grateful for my doctor that referrred me to the study, to my surgeon, Dr Andreas Gomoll, to all the people behind the MISHA device. I’m grateful to Abby Bales, my PT for prehab and rehab from surgery, and everyone who has been a part of my crazy orthopedic history.
I caught the running bug. I’ll be back. Sub 1:35 feels like the next step. I’ve only just begun, and I achieved my biggest goal - run happy. I have the race photos to prove it.
This post was generated using the new race-reportr, powered by coachview, for making organized, easy-to-read, and beautiful race reports.

TL;DR— Nasacort and Singulair have changed my life for the better. Thanks to this thread for those recommendations!
I just wanted to share here (since this thread has been so helpful to me) that I’ve recently found significant relief in starting two new meds— one being Nasacort, a simple OTC spray, the other being Singulair (Montelukast), a Rx drug that I was hesitant to take for years due to its Black label warning from the FDA, but which has helped me tremendously.
Y’all shared in these threads that these medications had changed your life, and I’m so grateful because that gave me the push I needed to try them. I’ve always had pretty bad seasonal allergies, but after having COVID in 2022, my allergies went completely crazy. April through September were a nightmare. I could barely function, had terrible brain fog, debilitating symptoms, had trouble working, couldn’t go outside, began experiencing allergic asthma… the whole works. Hay fever all day every day. I had sinus infections that led to terrible bronchitis. I was living on multiple Zyrtec a day (which honestly didn’t touch my symptoms), Sudafed during the day, Benadryl at night, Flonase, Ipaproprium Bromide spray and a host of supplements (Quercetin, vitamin c, stinging nettle, et.al) I tried EVERYTHING. (And I mean everything— diet, breath work, acupuncture, Ayurvedic treatments, the lot.) The majority of “alternative” / natural remedies have helped a little, but they’re more an extra support for my symptoms… they really didn’t do a whole lot for me.
Someone on here recommended Nasacort. And while it took a few weeks to kick in, when it did, a TOTAL game changer. I am free of chronic postnasal drip for maybe the first time in years?! I cannot believe it. If you haven’t tried Nasacort yet, I highly recommend it. No negative side effects. Safe for longer term use.
Upon searching these threads for how to deal with allergic asthma, I read more about Singulair. I’d always been nervous to take it because it can have bad psychological side effects, but it was nearly my last resort. My allergist told me that some folks have bad side effects, but the majority of people tolerate it well. I’m thrilled to say it’s working SO well for me. (Full disclosure: I also take Wellbutrin, an antidepressant). Singulair makes you a little sleepy, so it’s recommended you take it at night. It can give you very vivid dreams, and in my case, that’s been true. Other than that, zero side effects. My dreams are weirdly way more fun now, lol. Singulair has eliminated my allergic asthma— I can now exercise outside now during allergy season and not have to spend the next day in bed. Hallelujah!
Anyways, as a lifelong allergy sufferer / long Covid allergy mystery, I just wanted to share that these meds have helped me tremendously and I hope everyone can get what they need this allergy season!
Extra disclosure— I am very early in this journey, so no way to tell yet how much it’s helping, but I’m doing allergy immunotherapy with my allergist. I started with shots, but started reacting with major swelling at a very low dosage of the subcutaneous injection, so he has switched me to SLIT— sublingual drops. They’re European dosing guidelines, so very high quality and a high concentration serum. I’m only one month in, so I can’t say decisively how much they’re helping yet because it’s a 5 year process, but I’m hopeful my full court press against my seasonal allergies does the trick.

Hi all - I’m 36w with my second baby (36 years old).
My first pregnancy was comparatively a breeze. This time I got all the fun stuff: gestational diabetes, 9 month long yeast infection, massive swelling and weight gain, and the absolute worst - crippling pelvic pain for the last 3 months. As in a quick trip to the grocery store leaves me with lock-crotch for days, in constant pain. Im sure it’s SPD, though there has been no imaging or anything done to confirm.
Given how much pain I’m in even taking a few steps, I’m absolutely terrified to give birth. Of course I’m hoping the drugs do their job, but I’m wondering if anyone who has gone through labour with SPD has any advice, info or experiences to share. Also wondering how quickly it resolved after giving birth?
My OBs (it’s a team, different one every week) only suggested pelvic floor therapy (which unfortunately I haven’t have time for due to my work schedule), and a belly band, which hasn’t helped at all. They also suggested I keep moving because labour will be harder if I haven’t been exercising - but I can’t, it’s just too painful.
Because my OBs have brushed off all my symptoms and only seem to care that the baby is good (which I’m very grateful for), I’m not sure I’m getting all the best information for my own comfort and safety here.
Thank you!

TW for sexual, physical, medical, emotional, and religious abuse, childhood sa, suicidal ideation, and self harm
This past week has been incredibly difficult so I decided it would be good for me to write a letter to my mom to keep for myself during my healing process to get everything out and it's been very cathartic (all fake names used). Part of my healing journey has been sharing my (extremely personal) experience with others who understand, hence why I'm sharing this here, and maybe it'll give someone some strength knowing that I made it out. I hope everyone is kind to themselves this week and was able to treat this holiday as a holiday for themselves for surviving their abusive moms!
Dear mom, Happy belated Mother’s Day. My Mother’s Day was spent being upset and anxious so I decided to write this letter. This letter is so incredibly difficult to write and even more difficult to read back to myself. Moving away from my university and back home during COVID was genuinely one of the most difficult things I have done in my life simply because of all of the repressed memories that flooded back into my brain every single day I was in that house. I used to resent the pandemic for forcing me to live in an environment that made me want to harm myself every single day and die every other day, but I am now thankful for the clarity that it brought me as I don’t think I’d have the foresight that I have now.
There is a lot that I want to say. I am angry, bitter, resentful, and traumatized from things that you have done to me as a child and also as an adult. Growing up, you’re never able to fully recognize what is healthy because whatever you experience will be your barometer for normalcy. I thought for a very long time that thing were normal but thank God I now know just how truly fucked up so many of my childhood experiences were. Not a single day goes by where I don’t think about the emotional, physical, and sexual abuse that I went through. I am haunted every single day by things that you did (and some things that you didn’t do) and hope that one day I will be able to heal from what I experienced.
I grew up being close to my cousin Chloe (a year younger than me) who was obviously very bitchy, mean, and abusive. This fact isn’t something you weren’t aware of as I know a fully grown adult would be able to see how she treated and talked to me when around you and come to the obvious conclusion that I should not have been allowed to be around her. She bullied me, called me names, physically assaulted me by pushing me, pulling my hair, and sitting on me with my hands held behind my back until I couldn’t breathe, forced me to bathe in scolding hot bath water that would burn my skin, making me undress and make fun of parts of my body, and forced me to watch things that she knew would scare me. This is the same time that I started having insomnia and struggled in school due to anxiety. It’s also the same time I remember my sound sensitivity starting. Do you remember my childhood friend’s mom Amelia and how protective she was over my friend, Diana? Diana met Chloe at my 9th birthday party and Diana went over to her house for a playdate and Chloe did something to her. She physically reached over and groped Diana on the privates. I knew Amelia IMMEDIATELY prevented her daughter from ever being around Chloe again. I also knew that it's possible she mentioned this to my aunt, but I'm not positive. I know that Amelia is the type of mom to prevent Diana from reading Harry Potter because she thought it was a bad influence on her due to being “demonic”, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she made you aware of what Chloe did to Diana as she knew that I spent a lot of time around her. I doubt that what Chloe did to Diana was ever kept a secret from you. Chloe also forced me to do sexual things I didn’t want to do from roughly the ages of 8-11. One time, we were in her kitchen and she pulled out a knife and said that she was going to stab me. By then, I knew she just wanted to scare me so when I had no reaction, she put the knife away. I was terrified of what would happen if I said no to her so I went along with whatever she wanted. She would go into the bathroom and tell me to follow, would lock the door, and make me take off my clothes and let her do things to me and forced me to do the same things to her. I used to think that you had NO IDEA about this until I remember you saying the words- “you were an amazing kid and never had any problems until you got a little older. I always wondered if something happened.” Who the fuck says that to their kid? Yeah, something did happen and it wouldn’t have happened if you protected me!!!! You fucking idiot!!!! I remember being in our new house and taking a shower with you when I was about 8 (which was VERY inappropriate and should NEVER have happened at all) and saying something that clearly made you uncomfortable. I remember the exact face you made and know that any normal, healthy adult would have done something about it and made sure nothing was happening. They would have made sure I was SAFE, and talked to me about safety, but nothing was said or done. You have failed me many times, but this one is the most painful. Not only will you need to live with the fact that you knew about my abuse and did nothing, but I will have to live with the fact that my mom knew "something happened” and didn’t care about me enough to protect me. I look at my beautiful niece Hallie, and imagine not protecting her like that and want to vomit. I cannot fathom how a mother would have the thought “I wonder if something happened to my daughter to case a massive behavioral change” and NOT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT! You didn’t talk to me, never asked me if Chloe was doing anything, or anything at all. If I even had a minor suspicion that something was happening to Hallie, I would IMMEDIATELY do something about it because THAT IS MY JOB as an adult in her life. You failed me and deserve to know that this traumatized me and gave me PTSD. I am NOT autistic, no matter how much you WANT me to be so you can go around and gain sympathy for “having an autistic daughter” rather than owning up to the fact that you caused what “went wrong” with me.
Not only did you not help prevent me from being molested by my cousin, you also added to my sexual trauma by forcing me to use the giant egg monistat insert to treat a yeast infection when I was 11. I was ELEVEN and you had a bright idea to force a HUGE foreign object into my prepubescent body even though you were fully aware I could have easily gotten a prescription for a pill to swallow from a doctor. I was scared. I had so much pain and itching and needed a mother to hug me, tell me it’s going to be okay, or at the very least, EXPLAIN what I had and how we were going to fix it. You didn’t do any of that. You told me to lay down and proceeded to try and administer medication that is NOT meant for children 12 and under due to the physical damage it could cause. I was clearly in pain and scared, but you kept trying anyways. At any point, you could have stopped and taken me to the fucking doctor, but nope. You then got frustrated that “you couldn’t get it in” and told your 11 year old daughter to shove it inside herself. Then you left the room. I hadn’t even had a period yet, let alone know where my vagina was but you sure felt the need to yet again abandon your parental responsibilities and place them onto your kid! Miraculously, I put it in and wobbled out to lay on the couch because I was in physical pain from BOTH the infection and YOU, but because a child’s body isn’t able to properly fully insert the medication used (which once again I’ll remind you is meant for girls 13 and up), it came out and got on the couch because you didn’t give me a pad. And rather than prioritize your own daughter’s health, safety, wellbeing, and comfort, you were more upset about the stain on the couch and yelled at me. I will never forget in all of the years that I am alive how ashamed and disgusted I felt standing behind you watching you furiously scrub at the stain that I caused (actually, that YOU caused since this never should have happened in the first place!) and feeling a huge flood of guilt every time I saw that couch stain. One of the best days of my life was when we got a new couch and I never had to see that stain again.
All of this caused me to develop anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts and ideation, self harming behaviors, having out of body experiences where I dissociate, and panic attacks amongst other things. YOU caused ALL of this and you fought tooth and nail to convince me that it was MY fault for being broken. “There’s something going on with you,” and you made it your mission to never take any responsibility for any of the trauma that you caused. Not only did you ignore all signs of abuse and sexually assault me yourself, you bullied and helped a family friend Sharon bully me when I was “being mean” to (her daughter) Faith. I was treated like I was a mentally ill monster who couldn’t be trusted and always got in trouble whenever Faith shed a single tear because I was “mean to her”. Faith cried at LEAST 15x a day, and I was blamed every time she decided to say I was the reason. You allowed a monster (Sharon) to ABUSE me and had the incredibly wise idea to start passing along what shit talking you two would say about me TO ME, a 13 year old girl. I was THIRTEEN. I was A CHILD. And yet, you came crying and complaining to me about how tired you were of hearing Sharon say I was being mean to her daughter when you could have TOLD THE OTHER ADULT IN THE SITUATION TO STOP. It never was my responsibility as a child to try and make another adult stop abusing me by “behaving better.” There was nothing wrong with how I was behaving. You never once tried to help me, you always blamed anybody and everybody else for your failures. I would come and ask you for help when I was struggling and if you didn’t care, you would pawn it off to somebody else- “go talk to your older sister” “talk to your therapist about that” “I don’t know what to say except to tell you to pray about it” and when I came back saying praying didn’t magically fix my depression, you told me to pray harder. I guess you really thought it was a skill issue rather than a diagnosable health condition! No wonder I wanted to die! Hahaha! I’ll never forget the look of disgust on your face when I was sobbing hysterically and struggling to get out the words when I told you just how badly I was affected by Sharon and said how you played a role in helping her harm and abuse me. “WELL. I’m SORRY if you think I didn’t protect you enough. I know what that feels like because my parent’s took my sister’s side a few weeks ago when we were having an argument” (as FULLY GROWN 50+ YEAR OLDS arguing and bitching LIKE CHILDREN!) No, mom, it’s not the same. I was a child and not only did you not stop an abuser from harming me, you joined in. You allowed her access to me and you passed along what horrible things she said was wrong with me. “SHARON said she thinks YOU’RE BIPOLAR. Do you think you are?” “Sharon told me that you’re having AN EPISODE and are being mean to Faith! Show me your phone!” “Well, I just don’t understand why you keep bringing this up when it happened so long ago. I just hope you can forgive her and move on.” You’re fucking disgusting. Should I go into detail about how many times I asked you to not interact with Sharon more than you needed to and you proceeded to try and force her into my life more? You KNEW how uncomfortable I was with you attending Faith’s wedding and yet, you cared more about how you looked and not only attended, but hosted both her wedding and wedding showers. I have always wondered why you never cared how I feel until I realized that you prioritize yourself and how you look to other people above anything and everyone. There is a clear pattern of behavior-

• When I was 17 and you were painting my fingernails and berating me for wanting to visit my friend up in Boston to see a concert together because “you just didn’t understand why I’d want to do that” and I started crying. You rolled your eyes and said “you better leave now if you don’t want my next client to see you crying because her appointment is in a few minutes.” You cared more about having your random client seeing me cry and potentially thinking you’re a bad mom than comforting me.
• When I was 13 and we were saying our nightly prayer the night that I had my “therapy appointment” (aka, you and my “therapist” chastising me for writing in my diary that I was having suicidal thoughts), when you were praying you said “Dear God, please help (my name)… and… pLEASE HELP ME!!!!” Clearly, YOU were affected more than I was even though I was the one wanting to die because of you. Wow. Your life is so hard!
• Telling everyone around you that I “have problems” and am “really struggling” so you can gain an ounce of sympathy. The way that your friends come up and talk to me is baffling. They treat me like I just got home from the psychiatric hospital.
• Laughing about me with my friends in high school when I was out of the room- “hahaha my daughter is sooooo weird hahaha”
• When I was 18 and you called my “therapist” (who did NOT get my consent before doing this and violated her ethical guidelines) after I moved out and stopped talking to you, you got her to help you write a list of “rules” to force me to stay in contact with you. They consisted of requiring me to “talk to you, dad, or my sister at least 1x/day” so you “knew that I was safe” aka, you wanted to control me even though I was an adult and not living in your house. I was perfectly safe, and yet you made me sound like I was doing drug deals in the morning, prostituting myself after lunch, and had plans to commit felonies later that night. I went to school, ate, and went back to my apartment. You had no right manipulating me into talking to you by using my therapist, dad, and sister against me. Pathetic.
• Telling me to go do my runs on a strange man’s property instead of the road because it’s “safer.” Dad said that this man who I’VE NEVER MET told him that “there are bad people out there who will kidnap her and do horrible things to her, SO INSTEAD she should run on MY property!” Not sketchy or rapey at all, right? And completely dismissing me when I said that made me uncomfortable by saying “my dad knows him”? Lady, do you know any rape statistics? Clearly not, because you’d then know that only 7% of assaults are strangers while 93% are family members or acquaintances. NINETY THREE PERCENT. The amount of times that I’ve mentioned someone made me uncomfortable or had a massive affect on me as a child and you’ve replied with “Oh, well did they touch you?” People don’t have to touch me to traumatize me. You’re pathetic for thinking that.

I’m not mad at Chloe. I don’t feel any anger or ill will towards her at all. She was a child just like I was a child. She was failed more than I was failed. No child acts that way and assaults other children without learning that from somewhere. I blame her parents for what happened to her. I blame YOU for what happened to me. I vividly remember things that my aunt would say the same time this was happening about little girls and their bodies and I want to smash my head against the wall. Children are to be protected above anything and everything else, by you didn’t. Do I hate Faith and think that she’s a bad person because of what happened when we were 13? No. I fully blame you and Sharon. The amount of adults that have failed me in my life keep me up at night. I think about how different my life would be had dad been more involved and seen what was going on and taken me away from you. I am angry with him for that. I dream one day I will be able to sit down with him and tell him everything I have written about and he will hug me, support me, cry with me, and apologize for not being there more to protect me. But who knows, he might defend his child abusing, mentally ill wife and say I’m making up everything. Who knows.
Do you want to know what my sister said when I told her all of this? She apologized to me for not being 15 years older than I am so she could have raised me instead. I want you to sit here and think about how fucked up that is. My own sister wishes she could have taken me away from you so you couldn’t have abused me. I imagine the pressure she must have felt having to grow up while also raising her mother and sister and I sob for her. I’ve sobbed for me for the mental anguish and torture I experienced at your hands. I’ve even sobbed for you because I can’t imagine being even a fraction of how fucked up you are to resort to abusing and neglecting your child- a child you begged to have. A child you had trouble having and prayed for. Embarrassing.
I’m never going to have a relationship with you again. If God is willing, I will never have to interact with you ever again. Saying that phrase “if God is willing” is ironic because you forcing me to pray my problems away rather than helping me led me to not believe in him. How can I believe in something that also neglected me? I’d sit in my dark bedroom night after night praying and sobbing for him to help me. I didn’t know what was happening to me, but I felt broken and alone. I now know that I was a child praying for God to take away my PTSD, and that is not possible. My heart breaks for that child.
You’re a pathetic excuse for a mother and human being. I’m truly shocked that I survived you and your abuse. I’m surprised that I didn’t ever try to kill myself to try and get away from you because you’re a vulture that prays on innocent people. The only important people in your life are people you think will give you something or will make you look good. That’s why you refused to ever cut ties with Sharon, you knew she was sexually abused as a child and you couldn’t POSSIBLY NOT be her friend because you need her to be your “friend,” or rather, your token sexually abused as a child friend. I genuinely hope that you get better and become a normal healthy person but I won’t ever be around to see it. I hope you feel even a fraction of the pain and abandonment that I have felt my entire life. Happy Mother’s Day, but today isn’t Mother’s Day for me, it’s Daughter’s Day. Moving far away from you one month ago has truly saved my life. Instead of trying to survive, I am enjoying my life. I would have died in that house. I get to finally celebrate being away from you and celebrate myself for staying strong and fighting when I could have easily given up. You once told me “you feel like I HATE you!” to guilt me into fawning over you and telling you how much I loved you, but now you get the opposite. I DO hate you and hate how you have permanently changed me and I wish to never see you again. Instead of praying for the “God forsaken, atheist, lost, evil, liar, miserable, spiteful, hateful, disgusting, mentally ill, “autistic” daughter, pray for yourself. Pray for God’s forgiveness for emotionally, medically, physically, sexually, and religiously abusing and neglecting me. You deserve to remain in your "clueless" state of "having NO IDEA what you did wrong to make her stop talking to me!" for the rest of your life.Happy Daughter’s Day.

So, this is really long but I think it's worth the read as there has been nothing else like this in the Gtag community before. I have been working on this almost every day since Valentines Day Update 2022. I have changed it, restarted it, and updated it for every new Gtag update. I will make Updates to the in the future as it seems like we are getting more updates and more maps in the future.
Updates are not always literal, for example, the Human Tag Update only shows that humans exist or once existed in the Gorilla Tag world. The Monkes are not literally wearing masks that resemble humans. This logic applies to every update unless it's just cosmetics or a new map. Also, it's really weird at the first few Chapters so just stick with it or skip ahead. Ask any question in the comments about why I put the things I put and if you want evidence.
Most recent Updates to this are in Chapters 8, 14, 15, and 16
BI = Before Infection AI = After Infection
Prologue: Gods
4,500,000,000 BI - 212,001 BI
When Earth is formed, two gods form with it to rule over the planet. Mother Nature, the god of life and nature, and the Illuminati, the god of chaos and ice. Mother Nature usually takes the form of a 3,000-foot-tall tree called the Tree of Life, while the Illuminati takes the form of an ice pyramid with an ice eye in the center. Mother Nature creates life to populate Earth while the Illuminati constantly tries to kill it.
Chapter 1: The Rise and Fall of Humanity
212,000 - 200,001 BI
Humans, the most powerful species on Earth has cut down the Tree of Life and taken Mother Nature out of control. This leaves the Illuminati to slowly creep into the modern society. Some Humans form a cult around it, and they are the most powerful people on Earth. That means, the Illuminati can tell them to do something, and they can affect the most powerful nations on the planet.
Eventually, the Illuminati tricks the humans into fighting each other. The biggest nations on the world begin to go to war with some of the biggest possible nukes. They destroy the surface of the Earth causing it to go into a nuclear ice age. The Illuminati, an ice god, now has full control over Earth. Anytime life appears, it almost instantly dies. However, some humans were able to survive and eventually, the ice age comes to an end, and no god is in control of Earth.
Chapter 2: Monke
200,000 BI - 1,001 BI
After hundreds of thousands of years of evolution, Humans have evolved into a new species called Monkes. Monkes are gorilla-like apes that can survive the harshest of conditions. Their diet consists of grass and bugs. Some bugs and patches of grass have survived over the past few million years.
Mother Nature has started to take back control of the world as she creates the Tree of Life and a whole forest around it in a crater from a nuke. Many Monkes travel to this crater and end up being trapped as the forest is on a lower level then the rest of the crater.
Chapter 3: Rise of the Monkes
1,000 BI - 601 BI
All other Monkes go extinct meaning that the only remaining Monkes are in this crater. One day the Monkes decide to finally make the jump as they all jump down into the forest. Most of them die, but the few that survive are left without legs. About 100 Monkes are alive and they quickly learn to use their arms like legs.
Unfortunately, just like there Human ancestors, the first thing they do is cut down the Tree of Life and use its wood. This leaves Mother Nature powerless again. The wood from the Tree of Life will last them for thousands of years. They build bridges, tree houses, ramps, and a gazebo in the forest. All the children of the surviving Monkes also don't have legs making it now a fundamental part of their species.
They hollow out the inside of the Tree of Life's stump and start to build tunnels out of it. These tunnels reach out to all over the crater. One tunnel leads to a small set of canyons covered in sand. Another tunnel leads to a massive flat, rocky, landscape in the other side of the crater. The final tunnel goes straight down into the ground until it hits a large cave filled with crystals.
They build mines underneath the cave and harvest the large crystals. These crystals are radioactive because of the ancient nukes. The Monkes harvest the crystals and start to use them in technology. They create lamps, litghtposts, lights, signs, and even their greatest accomplishment a computer.
Chapter 4: The City
600 BI - 30 BI
The large, flat, rocky landscape they discovered has a lot of useful recourses in it. Over the next few hundred years they build an entire city with large skyscrapers and new technology that is widespread. There are thousands of Monkes now living in The City. The forest and canyons have become vacation places for most Monkes, and the homes of the most rich or important Monkes.
The Monkes decide to have a leader, so a rich family decides to step up and become the royals of the Monkes. There king is named Yorick, and their queen is named Lucy. They both live in a basement-like area rights next to the main entrance into The City. Queen Lucy also turns the canyons into an industrial area and improves quality of life for the main populous.
King Yorick and Queen Lucy have a son named Blue. By the time Prince Blue was 13 he already starting his dream job of being a scientist.
Chapter 5: The Hunt War
29 BI - 21 BI
A tunnel is dug in city after, and they dig all the way until the edge of the crater. The walls of the crater look like large mountains from down below and they are extremely cold. They accidentally cause an avalanche, and the base of the walls are filled with snow and ice. From this avalanche comes the god of chaos and ice, the Illuminati. The Illuminati causes many snowstorms and causes a sort of Ice Age.
Queen Lucy tries to keep everyone calm and civil. However, the Illuminati is able to influence the Monkes minds and causes chaos and destruction to happen all throughout Monke society. After years of pure chaos, the Monkes are able to split into two factions, The Monkes, and the Smiles. They also are helped by newly discovered species that came with the Ice Age. These species are Penguins, Polar Bears, Snow Owls, and many other species that live in the cold. These species were the only survivors of the ancient human war that nearly killed Earth. Over the past few hundred thousand years, they have all migrated across the world, and have worked together even if they were from different poles of the Earth.
The royal scientist, Prince Blue has created many new technologies before. During the war, he creates a Hunt Watch. A Hunt Watch is a watch that targets the nearest enemy to you. Once you touch that enemy with the watch on, they turn into an Ice Monke and can easily be shattered to bits. Over time, this technology allowed them to win the war and bring somewhat order back.
Chapter 6: The Ice Monkes
20 BI - 1 BI
Many Ice Monkes were not killed in the war, usually they were turned into Ice Monkes but were able to get away before being shattered. The Ice Monkes are still just regular Monkes except they are made of ice, can't go near heat, and are fragile. Even though the war was over, the Ice Monkes were still treated horribly. In this already hard time period, the Ice Monkes had absolutely nothing. Many veterans of the war still had their Hunt Watches, causing many more Ice Monkes to be formed.
Meanwhile the Illuminati builds snow castles for itself in the forest. This means that the mountain base was safe to enter now. To lighten the spirit of this dark time they built a large waterslide in this new area. Many murders and crimes still happen throughout The City, but one day it gets out of hand. King Yorick is assonated, his head was chopped off in the middle of The City. The now lonely Queen Lucy keeps his skull in her home.
Chapter 7: The Infection
0 AI - 3 AI
Ever since the bombs dropped hundreds of thousands of years ago, a volcano has slowly been forming in the crater. Now, the volcano has fully formed and is erupting. All the snow and ice are melted, the Illuminati is gone, the caves are flooded, and the mines are caved in. The base of the walls still has snow but lots of it melts and reshapes its surface.
In the lava was an extremophile virus that can survive the lavas heat. It is radioactive and spreads very quickly. This virus is called the Infection, and many Monkes get it. The infected Monkes get resistant to lava, they get stronger, they get faster, there skin is replaced with lava, and they have an uncontrollable instinct to hunt down normal Monkes and infect them.
The infected spread everywhere but The City is able to be kept safe and nobody can enter or leave The City. After a few years the volcano stops erupting, but the Infection stays around.
Chapter 8: Calming Down
4 AI - 6 AI
Prince Blue finds a cure for the Infection, some Monkes are given jobs to specifically leave The City and cure a ton of infected Monkes. They start doing this and it actually works. The cure is called Kai Juice. Anytime someone enters The City, they are given Kai Juice just in case. It is no longer dangerous to leave The City as if you get infected you can immediately drink some Kai Juice and go back to normal.
The caves and mines are drained and dug up. The old caves and mines completely caved in and revealed even more caves underneath. They start mining again and find loads of dinosaur bones along with a 40-foot-long crystal. Prince Blue has a son named Pink, but unfortunately during such great times, Queen Lucy dies of old age. Blue becomes King Blue and Pink becomes Prince Pink. There is a massive funeral for Queen Lucy that spans from The City all the way to the forest. They burn her body and put her ashes in a vase beneath a grave.
Chapter 9: Exploration
7 AI - 17 AI
A large tunnel is found on the forest walls, they follow it, and it leads out of the crater. Just on the other side of the crater is a beach covered in ancient, broken, human buildings. King Blue sees this and is the first to figure out that there was a complex civilization before them.
A few years later, they have made boats to sail out into the ocean and have built shops to supply the ships on shore. The ocean and beach are also home to many new animals. Meanwhile, King Blue discovered that if an infected Monke stays infected for multiply years, they harden and become rock. When they harden, they can't infect anything, but they can't be cured either. They also get even stronger, even faster, and their rock skin is almost impenetrable.
Chapter 10: The Tree of Life
18 AI - 47 AI
King Blue has been studying everything he can since he became king, and he has noticed that it is possible to revive the Tree of Life. For hundreds of years the Tree of Life's stump has been sitting in the forest, so King Blue is going to be the first one to do anything about it.
Over the next decade they nurture the stump and help it constantly until the Tree of Life has fully grown back. The only problem is that the Tree of Life is almost a mile tall, and they can't climb up that. King Blue and his engineering team spend the next few years building a rocket. When they are finished, they put it in the middle of The City and launch it. On the rocket is a team of explorers and engineers to work on top of the Tree of Life.
When on top of it they build large platforms along with massive rocks wheels and other things powered by winds. When they come back down, months later, they tell everyone what they built. The rocket becomes the main form of transportation in between The City and the Tree of Life’s top. The public uses that rocket to get up there because now people live on top of the Tree of Life in a place called Cloudtown.
Chapter 11: Calm Before the Storm
48 AI - 54 AI
King Blue and his team start to develop a new rocket after realizing how well they built the first rocket. The second rocket they build is not in The City and much larger. They build this rocket for years before eventually, it is done. It launched, flew out of the atmosphere, and took a 3-day journey through space until they landed on the Moon.
The Illuminati has created a being named Humbug. Humbug appears as a 30-foot-tall snowman. Humbug also has the abilities to change size, change the size of other things, transform, and transform other things. He takes the form of an old Monke named Santa Claus. In the form of Santa, he would give out presents to everyone and create ridiculously large birthday cakes for everyone. Everyone loved him and had no idea of his true form. He would use his powers every now and then to shrink people down and kidnap them. Over time he would slowly transform them into children's toys that he would give out to the people. However, the Santa form broke down over time. His red clothes and white beard becoming gray. But the public still loved and cherished him.
Chapter 12: Humbug
55 AI - 62 AI
Humbug reveals his true form and takes over The City. He shrinks down King Blue and Prince Pink. He then mutilates and transforms them into monsters called the Monkeyes. He traps them in a miniature maze and throws Monkes in there to be killed by their previous leaders. Everything is covered in snow once again by the Illuminati, but he still is not fully in control. Humbug takes over everything the Monkes have made before climbing his way up the Tree of Life. Humbug makes it up there and destroys Cloudtown in an attempt to take control over the Tree of Life. This does not work.
Over a few years, the Monkes have been able to create something called a Tesla Coil. The Tesla Coil is a machine that can take away Humbugs powers and use it against him. Humbug's powers are stripped away, and the Monkes take back control. Humbug is shrunken down and trapped in a miniature maze. The Monkes also start to use his powers to make themselves super big. However, with King Blue and Prince Pink turned into monsters, and Humbug overthrown, the Monkes have no leader.
Chapter 13: The Giants War
63 AI - 75 AI
The Monkes have been living peacefully for a few years, but eventualy, the different sizes start to look down on each other. This leads into the Giants War, where the different Monke sizes fight for 9 years. Eventually, the Monke population dwindle so much, that the war ended. The Monkes that did not change their size did not interact with the Monkes that changed their size. Now, tiny Monke skulls and giant Monke skulls are littered everywhere, and the only surviving Monkes are the ones that never changed their size.
Chapter 14: Peace
76 AI - 90 AI
The Tree of Life grows massively and repairs the damage done by Humbug years ago. Countless new branches and huge leaves sprout from its trunk. This allows the Monkes to make their way back up to the treetop with a newly repaired rocket. Cloudtown is rebuild, slowly, but rebuilt nonetheless. This is called, New Cloudtown.
A year after the Giants War ends, the skulls and bodies are cleared out. The City was practically empty as most buildings were either destroyed, damaged, or tilted over in the war. Many Monkes just went to New Cloudtown to survive as going anywhere else other than The City would mean being attacked by Infected Monkes. Also, during this time, the mutated monsters that were once King Blue and Prince Pink were killed by another Monke for sport. Their souls go on to become ghosts that wander the city. King Blue's soul becomes a ghost called the Ghost Wanderer, and Prince Pink's soul becomes a ghost called the Ghost Lurker.
The population has grown more, and the Monkes have created sports to celebrate the era of peace. These sports are Hockey, Watersoccer, and Paintbrawl. This happens during the fall where Lucy's spirit flies out from her grave and starts playing with some random civilian Monkes. She then reunites with the souls of her son and grandson in the forms of the Ghost Wanderer and the Ghost Lurker.
Chapter 15: Advancements
91 AI - 100 AI
A new type of plant is found in New Cloudtown. This plant sprouts large leaves with handle-like stems. These plants are called Glider Vines. The leaves of Glider Vines are used as gliders to fly around New Cloudtown.
The Monkes are unable to explore anymore. The ocean is too vast, they never got back from explorers they sent into the ocean, and the crater walls are too high to climb. So, they spend a few years creating an artificial environment that they can change on a will. They do this by using a Tesla Coil that harness Humbug's powers. In the first testing of it, they try to bring back the vast cave systems they found hundreds of years ago. It was an attempt to make infinite recourses. It turns out as a failure, everything is extremely broken and blocky. After much testing, they have it so it could be a tundra, a swamp, an ancient temple, and basically anything else. This underground, artificial environment is called Rotation.
They decide to excavate a larger area for Rotation. They then finish their original plan of recreating that same ancient cave system. This time it works, and it looks just like how it did hundreds of years ago. However, during the excavating of the larger area, the long dead Queen Lucy's vase finds itself in Rotation. Minor Monkes enter this cave and start mining, but when they discover Lucy's vase, they open it. From her long dead ashes rises the confused, lost, and insane spirit of Lucy. She has been trapped underground in the dark for almost a century now and has gone insane. The minors call her the Burnt Lucy, a dark reflection of their long dead Queen.
Chapter 16: The Return of Humbug
101 AI - ??? AI
The usage of the Tesla Coil attracts Humbug. He is able to escape the miniature maze the Monkes trapped him in, and slowly make his way to Rotation. When he arrives, he is able to get some of his powers back from the Tesla Coil, but he is noticed by the Monkes.
One of the first things Humbug does is kidnap three Monkes and turns them into small monsters called Monkeyes. He places them in the tiny maze that he was once trapped in.

hi !! so abt two weeks ago i hooked up w someone— he wore a condom but gave me head. i also used a few of those lume wipe things and im really sensitive to stuff like that. then abt a week ago i started have itching down there. at first i thought it was a yeast infection as ive gotten them in the past, but when i investigated there was not very much of that tell tale discharge (there’s some white discharge but i cant tell if it’s “cottage cheesy” or not cos there isn’t too much). then a small tear in the skin appeared in the area albeit after i was scratching kinda hard. ive been taking a non prescription ph balancing pill that i’ve had before for yeast infections and the itching is a bit better but it still sorta burns. i’m anxious it’s something else but idk if im overreacting pls lmk loves <3

Hi all,
First of all: My fullest respect to all ER workers and emergency service workers. You lot are a amazing.
I do wanna preface this by saying that I am neither. I work in the medical department of a football (soccer) club, so I'm there in the emergency, but also long term after. Hope I'm still good to post here. (the flair Advice would have worked as well tbf)
Needless to say, most things we do are orthopedic issues, traumatic injuries, surgery, general sports medicine etc.., you get the gist. We are sort of the general practitioners for these guys too though. If they have a medical issue of any sort, they'll usually come to us first, so we do have a bit of experience in other fields too. Extreme examples: This season we had a case of myocarditis and a case of sepsis. Sepsis was caught early with no long term consequences, but the guy (only 19) with myocarditis had severe complications. He's had a heart attack, spent a week in a coma and now has a pacemaker. Seeing this young guy struggle to get up from the breakfast table and take the five steps over to the buffet is heartbreaking. And in hindsight, it's probably bothering me more than it should have. Doesn't help that the likely cause is a direct misjudgement on our part, when we cleared him for training too soon after a viral infection.
So I've kinda been carrying this around me for a while and there are a few other private and work related issues that have caused me to be burned out a bit. And as life sometimes does, it just threw me the two most extreme workdays possible in my profession.
To paint the scene: I'm stood on the training pitch just observing. I hear a blood curdling scream from another pitch. I grab my shit and haul ass over there. What meets me there is an open fracture of both tibia and fibula. But not just any open broken leg fracture, best I can describe it is that his leg nearly amputated. It was hanging on by a big patch of skin, part of his muscles, like two tendons and miraculously, a handful of blood vessels. People were vomiting and dry heaving at the sight. You could have run anatomy course there. We put a tournequet on, dance the usual dance of what/how much analgesics and/or anaesthetics to give someone who's clearly lost a lot of blood. Decided that this is a case for the air ambulance and ultimately somehow managed to stabilize the leg without cutting of the last blood supply. It was a feat. Surgery (one of many) went well and he's doing well considering the circumstances. I still don't know how this happened btw. We do film every training, but nobody has been brave enough to watch that scene yet. The lad who (of course accidentally) did this to him is still inconsolable.
Next day on the training pitch, I hear a sound anyone in my concrete profession fears. A clash of heads and a good one at that. I turn around to find two people on the floor. One moving and clearly just dazed, the other one fully unconcious and not moving. I grab my shit and haul ass over there again. Upon closer inspection I notice blood running out of one of his ears and his mouth, a clear liquid running out of his nose and a dropping face. Not ideal. When he came back around he slurred his words, was extremely confused, complained of a bad headache and nausea, hearing and vision loss on one side and then started vomiting. Not forgetting the racoon eyes. Anyways - We got to call the air ambulance again. And if you guessed severe intracranial injuries and a basilar skull fracture, you are absolutely correct. He'll get surgery as soon as the swelling has gone down enough. The really heartbreaking part was when he didn't recognize his mother, who was watching the training and in absolute hysterics, anymore. Again, it was bad luck and nothing else, but the player that was involved in the head duel is devastated.
And I've come to realise - So am I. It should not affect me so much, but it does. These were two extreme unprecedented days for me and the entire medical team (cue the ER nurses laughing), but everyone else seems to have moved past it. But it's such a different story when they aren't strangers, but you see them every day and they are your friends. Rationally, I know I'm a bit burned out, hence why it affects me so much, which is scary to me.
I love my job and I usually bring 200% of enthusiasm to work every day, so this is truly the first time I ever felt this way. But I know I'm not the only one who's felt like this before. Do you have any advice on how I could get myself up and going again?

I just had to fight one of the worst raids of my entire time playing rimworld so far, the worst part is it was my fault.
to start this tragedy I while playing my new colony had gotten a quest to fight some raider for some good gear and though I could handle it fine. I quickly for got about this raid coming to me and sent both of my main fighters to a camp to steal some neuroformers so I could make a psycaster.
when the raid began it was simple enough, 3 guys with guns was manage able even without my heavies. I ended up fighting two of them at my side enterance and handled it pretty well, until I say the third had cyrcled all the way around to my back and shot my two other colonists before beginning to run when his friends were dead. I now had two colonists down while the only two with guns were bloody.
I started to go into damage control and tended to the two downed colonists which were bleeding bad. while this was happening the second wave came and set up to seige, me not wanting to waste time on them I use an orbital bombardment on them to just get rid of them but one survived. what came next was a small shoot out which lasted till the final wave came.
once the previous guy was dead I turned all my attention to the 3 new raiders that showed up. I held them at the same side entrance from before but one of them charge in and started to melee my rifle colonist. one my other shooter killed the one she was targeting she aimed to assist my rifle women who went down soon after followed by the person hitting her. like fucking angels my heavies came back and took the final guy from the back and I could start patching up me bleeding colonists.
to summerize what followed was days of suffering and pain as half my colony was forced to rest in bed due to bloodloss and infections, as well as suffering from mental breaks left and right due to stress and pain from having to deal with it all. the only one to die was my moral guide who died from an infection that happend during the raid and that she couldn't fight off in time, she was one of my first colonists and was invaluable to our survival for a long while. she was honored with a ritual and now is resting in a sarcophagus with the hope that one day I might be able to revive her. the colonist that I had planned to make my psycaster now is also my new moral guide and wears her friends mask in honor of her.