Dizzy, shaky, tired, lower back pain,

Hi everyone, I have some strange symptoms I wanna run by you guys, because money is tight and I’m wondering if I’m being a bit of a hypochondriac (which I tend to be).
So I am a 24 year old male who is 6’1 and just recently reached a goal weight of 230 lbs. I was previously 270, but went on generic ozempic and the weight melted off. My job is very physical and stressful, so I tend to get enough exercise at work, and I’ve been eating two balanced meals a day. I also take adderall for my ADD, have been taking it since 4th grade so it’s not new.
Starting last week on Tuesday night, I developed some symptoms:
-Getting extremely cold (to the point that I shiver uncontrollably while in bed)
-a constant migraine like headache that doesn’t improve no matter what I do.

• dizziness upon standing or adjusting my head position
  
• Loss of appetite and nausea.
  

-severe back pain.
These symptoms have continued since Tuesday, and seemed to have gotten more severe. I quit my job on Friday due to the stress and these symptoms (which I thought were coming from the stress), but the symptoms haven’t improved at all.
I tried looking up my symptoms but I only got scary and horrible answers and I don’t want to be overly paranoid.
Should I see a doctor?

Im aware this is not medical advice, im looking to learn and to hear first hand experiences. I have issues for nearly a decade and im no wiser, while my symptoms are getting worse.
Should i ask my doc to do an EMG anyway? Do you all think tests for dysautonomia would make sense now, and if so why?
Short recap: first i gained weight, then as i exercised i started blacking out, then my stamina decreased over years, until now i have "CFS like symptoms" meaning i cant really do anything physically taxing without collapsing and regretting it for days.
I get "Lightheaded" which i fail to properly describe. It feels like being hit with a heavy cold out of nowhere, feeling extremelly tired, like a form of head pressure, which can turn to headache if i persist doing something exhausting.
From what i gathered on my own if you have chronic inflammation (like i do) and anemia (like i do), having dysautonomia is like a secondary symptom that can happen. Am i correct that basically i couldnt get a diagnosis until the other things are figured out?
I currently have no treatment for my chronic inflammation, and im gonna have an iron infusion as a last attempt to fix my anemia. Meanwhile im wondering if i can do something about this as its often been recommended to me by kind strangers online ?

After my neurologist has seen my bloodwork (including my thyroid hormones) he said he wont do future musculary tests because for him the cause of my muscular pain and issues is clear - hypothyroidism.
OK I go to the endocrinologists who disagreed. He said its my anemia.
So i go to the hematologist, who tells me yes im anemic but the symptoms cannot be explained by it.

Hence I walk in cycles from one doc to the next, and now they all kinda agreed to call it CFS and give up on me. Now i wonder if i should pursue this route anyway? Or focus on a muscular issue?
Could some sort of neurological autoimmune condition cause inflammation and consequently the weakness? I dont have the protein in my blood that would indicate muscle atrophy, thats all that was tested so far. And an action potential test on my legs.

I have sinus tachycardia, which my doc linked to the inflammation and my blood being thick (too many erythrocytes or something like that along with anemia). My cardiologist found nothing else wrong, and my blood pressure is always perfect even during exercise when my heart rate spikes.

Yea basically my resting heart rate is 45bpm and if i get up its between 80-90bpm, and when i do the lightest of activities its 130bpm, if i walk uphill etc its 160bpm and if im really straining myself its 180bpmp+ and thats when i usually black out and collapse (i dont faint but i cant move or see). Mind you that straining myself can be as simple as carrying a flower pot or watering my plants.
Moving in 3D space does not influence my exhaustion or my blacking out. I tried doing things like yoga, handstands and so on; and this doesnt make me dizzy. I can easily lay on the floor with my dog, and then whip myself up with no issues. However, the HR is a bit concerning to me.
I couldnt do a proper table tilt test, only the at home test where i go from laying down to standing (45bpm-85bpm).
Im still waiting for a proper rheumatological reply. So far a lot of antibodies were negative and my bloodwork is just all over the place. Im just wondering if i could potentially help myself, even if its not the core of my issues by somehow handling the symptoms. And aside of dysautonomia and CFS i havent found anything that would explain my symptoms, so here i am.
In addition a lot of doctors dismiss my symptoms due to my weight. But like i said, weight gain was my first symptom, and since then i been asking doctors for help but being constantly dismissed.

Since young I've had exhaustion and I was probably around 5 or 6 when I remember first feeling back pain and tiredness like that. To add on to this I just always feel tired and my body hurts too, I had some of the worst "growing pains" as a kid that I would go to sleep crying and just now as a teen my pain hasn't gotten much better my growing pains don't hurt as much maybe I just grew tolerance to it but I still get them sometimes. I don't want to self diagnose anything but I have IBS that was undiagnosed for 3 years that I started looking into GI disorders and found IBS so I told my gastro about it and said that they needing testing and basically blew me off going to a doctor in MX I told them my symptoms and they immediately tell me its IBS; obviously I am not doctor but maybe it was just common sense? Well my gastro did end up telling me it is IBS. So with exhaustion, pain, and GI troubles and many other problems I just forgot I saw a video talking about Ehlers Danlos it intrigued me because I could identify to quite a few of these symptoms. I really want to ask my doctor but I don't want to seem dramatic. *I just want advice! (I know you guys are not doctors)

Background: I [F20] have a narcissistic father. He is well known and appreciated as a political power In my city, but he is so manipulative to everyone. I believe that he may be kind deep down and I know he loves me as his daughter. But since he has grown in popularity and fame, he wants me to fit into a mold of a person that I am not. He constantly talks about me in his podcasts and newsletters, portraying me as a “wild child” argumentative “bra burner” type. I can’t stand it bc ppl think I’m mean before I even meet them. He also got heat in 2020 which led to my car getting keyed by far right winged ppl and my family is also harassed constantly even though I have nothing to do with his political position. Our relationship completely fell apart during Covid. He never stood up for me when people were harassing me and said he couldn’t intervene bc of his power position. He also makes fun of anyone of my multitude of hobbies to my face, but brags about them to colleagues. He says all the right things that a dad should say, but it has never been sincere. When my brother and me made him mad as kids, he would give us the silent treatment for days at a time.
Current issue: So long story, but I loved far away out of state for college to a small lib arts school so I could get away. I got lonely, fell into the wrong group, and eventually got redzoned by a senior athlete who took me under his wing. it was pretty bad for me so I talked to a teachers assistant that I was comfortable with and treated like a sister. But later on she told me that she was a mandated reporter and had to tell her boss who happened to be my professor as well. when he found out he started crying and it was the first time that I had ever experienced genuine empathy over something that had happened to me. Later on he walked me to the title IX office and waited for me to fill out a complaint and meet with the administrator. As the process continued he constantly checked on me and met with me to see how I was doing. He was also the head coach of my college sport so I was basically seeing him every day for multiple hours. I have never experienced so much support in my lifetime emotionally and philosophically. He was the first person to genuinely support my interests and invest in my mental well-being. And I know that the father figure persona may come off as delusional however multiple people noticed this dynamic and some ppl on my team even upset that I was the favorite and treated like his daughter. The next year he had even made me his teachers assistant and constantly checked on me like before. And when I got a boyfriend he interrogated him just like a dad and I got embarrassed and my teammates took notice to it that he was acting like my dad. A couple months later he told me that he was going through a divorce from what I thought was a dream couple. I had even grown close with his soon to be ex wife and felt like I was part of the family. . Regardless I continue to walk his dog every day help with class assignments and talk to him like that I was his daughter. I wouldn’t be so upset if he didn’t reciprocate the energy that I was making up about him being a father figure but it was blatantly obvious And he most definitely played a role in it. Early in this fall semester it seemed like he completely abandoned this idea of being my father especially since he got a new girlfriend. It’s not like we were attracted to each other I genuinely saw him as a father so I’m not really sure why things got mixed up here at this point. Anyways since I was assaulted my freshman year I had developed a substance abuse problem and it had gotten way out of hand this semester. Before this I could be open with him about it and he’s very kind and understanding and offered resources that were personal and his friends not just the typical school resources. Anyways since I opened up that time he’s increasingly become more distant and people have noticed. I started to think that he hated me but I’m really not sure. I mainly think now that he realize that he had crossed a boundary and he had to go back on it However he did it so abruptly but I feel completely abandoned and useless and it seems like everything we’ve ever talked about before never even happened and in the end i just think it’s a shitty thing to do you know? I think it’s totally fine to set boundaries in the beginning to not take on the role as a father figure but to take them on And then completely leave has been so detrimental to my well-being. Since I don’t have a reliable dad to go back to at home I feel like I kind of have no one except my mom but I’d really like a father figure. My mom even acknowledge that this person would be a good father figure even though mine has been present every year of my life which I thought was strange. Anyways I feel like I was just filling the gap of his divorce and his emotional pain at the time and now I think he’s grown tired of me and I don’t really know what to do and all I can say is that I am never been this depressed before And I don’t realistically know any real person to talk to about it. If any of you in this sub Reddit have experience similar to this please please please tell me how you cope. I wish I never met him.

This dude who has been my bestf for the past 5 years broke my heart completely today. Guess I was at the breaking point? We have been bestf for last 5 years or more and two years back I fell in love w him. I did long back actually when I had met him but he already was dating so I never saw us being together and thought I had moved on but I've always wanted him. Two years back we got even more closer and it was the best time of my life. He used to do those sweet talks and stuffs and gimme those goddamn butterflies and dang man I never felt better. I thought it was meant to be? We didn't speak about what we felt cuz we both knew we can't date or anything cuz we won't have time for it for the next two years.
But still I decided to talk cuz I wanted to know what we were doing. He would touch me, pull me closer by the waist, keep his hands on my thigh and I was shocked at how comfortable I felt w him and let him do that after being sexually harassed multiple times and not letting anyone touch me. It was the first time I wasn't scared of a dude touching me and I felt so much at peace? He said he can't date me rn which I understood and he said let's make a pact. We marry eachother by the time we 30 if we still got none, i would be lucky to have you. Anyone would be stupid to say no to u.
Fast forward, I confessed at one point and he says I don't feel the same way. It was just a hookup. THAT BROKE MY HEART and yet I couldn't hate him, I couldn't let him go and stayed even though i knew it was toxic. Cuz I loved him so much I would let him touch me to stay close now and was scared he would go away if I won't let him touch me. Pathetic ik.
Later I got tired of mind games and he was just- everytime I felt smth and would try to talk it out, he would give a reason which would make me look stupid and deep down ik am not stupid. What I felt was valid but in the moment, I always felt omg he makes sense and would apologise. This another dude who he was always insecure of was treating me right and he got pissed at me and says I liked you but I don't anymore cuz you play around. I left that dude for him then and there and blocked him.
Fast forward again to today, he flirted w my bestfriend today and she texted me up saying that and sending ss. And I got pissed because he chose her as his next prey. He fucked me up mentally in the two most important years of my life and he's on the top while am struggling. And now he toying around with her but I won't let him. So I lashed out and told him to get the fuck out and he simply went.
Now am having doubts whether what i did was right or not. I miss him so much but I dont wanna live that pain again. I don't want that adrenaline rush from him anymore but I do. I regret losing him cuz I've known him for so long but I don't know. Has he manipulated me? Am I stupid fr? I feel so trapped. Everytime I think he's wrong the next moment am forced to think am I wrong?
What did he do to me? Why do i feel like this? Why do I feel stuck in a circle that's so frustrating? How do I get out? Am I delusional?

I’m a 🏳️‍⚧️ female living with my grandmother and her current husband. I used to live across the country but moved back home when my grandma started presenting health problems. She is such a private person that she would never tell me her conditions until I moved in to help take care of her. It took her a year to share that she had a major cardiac event which triggered my desire to move close to her since she is the last good family I have.
My grandparents were extremely loving and supportive growing up, but my grandmother has always needed two men in her life. My mom has always joked that she is the most traditional member of our family- we are descended from a pre columbian matriarchal society.
When I was 13, my grandma started seeing her current husband shortly after her previous husband died. Grandma never married my grandfather but he stayed in the picture. This new guy, I’ll call him Peter, was super inappropriate. Right away he started bringing me gifts which mostly consisted of army clothes. He would have me dress up in them and then take pictures. My mom immediately saw the red flags and was very vocal about how creepy he was. My home life was extremely unstable, my mom and her husband would constantly fight- I’m talking screaming matches waking my siblings and I up in the middle of the night. My grandpa and grandma were the only sanctuary away from that for years until Peter was allowed into her home.
I remember one summer where we went over to his house while he was moving in, he gave me a can of some off brand drink already open. It tasted funny but I chalked it up to it being off brand. Then he told me to follow him into the basement and from there my memory just sort of fades out. The next thing I know we’re driving away from his house and I have no idea what time or day it is. I just remember coming to and thinking “that’s weird.”
After that he started taking every opportunity to touch me. I don’t mean sexually, stuff like always grabbing or rubbing my lower back whenever he would pass me in the kitchen. It almost always happened in the kitchen and it was often on my back. He would grope my thighs and tell me how muscular I was getting. When I was lifting weights in my home gym he would press himself completely against me and show me the “correct” way to do a tricep workout while I was bent over.
The older I got the more this behavior seemed disgusting and it didn’t stop until I was 23 but that was because I was never around anymore and had moved 1000 miles away. When I moved back I thought that I could let it go and at first it was nice to just be polite with Peter while taking care of my grandma. But then I got a spine injury and that quickly changed. I would lie on the floor at first for relief because I was scared of becoming addicted to pain pills. So for a month all I did was stay home crying on and off from the pain and praying things would get better. Then one day while playing a game on my laptop I felt someone watching me. It was so painful to turn at the waist that I had to crane my neck but in the doorway was Peter, staring at my ass. At first he flinched then tried to act like he was a concerned and just coming to check on me. I told him I wanted to be left alone and he stood there a while longer before finally walking away. I did start taking muscle relaxers but because of the summer heat and my constant pain I wanted to lie on the cool floor of my office. It doesn’t have a door, just a doorway that I put a curtain in front of. Well, Peter started acting creepy all over again. He would literally sneak across the house- his room is on the other side- just to peak through the curtain and stare. To him it was probably like a game, he’s an 80+ year old nasty man who blasts porn and homophobic rhetoric on his tablet. I became hyper vigilant, always stressed that he would try to barge in on my space at any moment. I would lay facing the door after the first time but he still kept doing his shuffle and slowly open the curtain even though the curtain is mostly see through.
I spent the whole summer in recovery and physical therapy but the floor in my personal space was always the most comfortable place in the house. This went on that whole time and every time I caught him- there were times I didn’t notice he was there until the last second so he probably snuck up on me several other times without me knowing at all- he would say “just wanted to check and see that you’re okay. Funny how all that “checking up” stopped when I was able to sit upright and walk without pain in my lower spine again.
After that it was like being 14 again only this time instead of touching he would ogle. My chest is still something he stares at 🤮🤮🤮🤮 Then in January of 2023 I caught him going through my underwear. I had been extra careful while washing everything because I was afraid he would pull this shit but I walked away for ten minutes and when I came back he had all my lingerie in his hands. I. Fucking. Screamed. I yelled at him to put my clothes back where he found them but Peter just started throwing everything from the washer into the dryer, and then he grabbed everything out of my dirty laundry basket and threw that in the dryer too. He likes to cover his tracks so I think he was trying to make it seem like he was being oh so helpful and putting my laundry in the dryer for me. The way he was touching my underwear told a completely different story.
I love my grandma, but at 22 I tried talking to her about Peter’s behavior and what happened when I was 13. Her response was “I don’t believe that happened.” So, now at 30 I don’t even want to try talking. I just want to enjoy my what time I have left with her because once she’s gone then everyone who raised me is gone. That thought is terrifying and does not help that now when I see Peter all I want to do is scream and throw things. I want to make him cry, make him feel scared, make him run and hide in his own home for the rest of his miserable, disgusting life. Anyways, just wanted to be able to say something somewhere for once and unfiltered. if any other people out there are feeling alone and stuck in horrible situations just know that there's love for you in people you have not met and you're worth more than the bullshit you're put through.

I don’t really know what to do right now, I use to be fine driving then I had a panic attack like 8 months ago now and it took a while for me to be able to drive again. Until last week I was totally back to my normal self. Driving was not an issue at all including roadtrips and then I had another panic attack. I’m not even sure what caused it, I had a lot of coffee that day which I usually try to avoid because it triggers my anxiety but that day I was extremely tired and had a lot of shit to do so I just kept drinking it. Anyway now I can’t even drive for more than 5 minutes without starting to feel dizzy. I can’t even go anywhere now because I’m worried im going to have a full blown panic attack and pass out while driving. I don’t know what to do

11/20/2017
Log book of Det. Ryan Snow
Case #2798: The Appalachian Murders
The past couple of days are events I pray no one else ever has to go through what Kate and I had. I had her and Mr. Raines cleared of all charges, having found the proof we all needed to end this case and find the true killer. Kate no longer has to go into witness protection and I had given the police a good enough lie to keep myself from looking insane in the eyes of my co-workers. I know no one will ever know the true story or believe it, but I’m writing it out here. It at least needs to be known written somewhere. Even if my and Kate’s eyes are the only ones that will ever read it written out and forever imprinted in our memories.
The morning Kate had run off to the mountains on her own, I had made my way to the Blackwell home where I was immediately met with Mr. Blackwell charging at me and wrapping his large hands around my neck. He was shaking me and blaming me for getting his daughter killed and not doing more to keep her safe. The police who had been called to examine the scene and read Kate’s letter had to sedate Mr. Blackwell to get him off of me, lying him down on the couch, his head resting on Mrs. Blackwell’s legs. Though the woman was distraught and begging the police to bring her daughter back, she still took the time to shoot that cold, death glare my way. The ice in my chest growing. I couldn’t tell these people that this thing had come after me to get to Kate. I knew it wouldn’t change anything. If anything they’d hate me even more for keeping it to myself.
The sheriff was there and he pulled me away from eye sight of the Blackwells, trying to tell me that this wasn’t my fault. But I couldn’t help but blame myself. I should have done everything I could to keep Kate as far from those mountains as possible.
There were no signs of a struggle in Kate’s room and the letter was definitely written in her hand writing. Her father’s rifle missing from the study, a backpack and some food and supplies gone as well. She had only grabbed one set of clothes from her drawers, showing she did indeed have plans on returning after only one night in the mountains to confront whoever or whatever the killer was.
I told the sheriff to keep any police from going up to the mountains without first allowing me to go up there first to find Kate. He of course argued, telling me that he couldn’t break protocol based on any hunches I may have had. However, I told him that I could get Kate back without her putting up much of a fight, whereas she may struggle with a group of cops who didn’t understand the situation she was in. I was close enough to this case to have built a trust with her after all. I was mentioned in her letter about ending this case for me.
It took a good hour to get the sheriff to eye the Blackwells, Mr. Blackwell beginning to stir from his sleep, and allow me to go to the mountains to find Kate. He didn’t bother to call off the search to the police that had already begun making their way to the mountains, but did radio to tell them to not try getting Kate home without first allowing me to speak to her. He then gave me twenty-four hours to find her to which I told him I’d only need at most ten.
Without telling him about the disturbing scratches on my car, I sped to the mountains, taking the same path Kate had that day she took her friends on their trip. The route, as the sun began to rise was scenic. A drive that may have been a sign of a bright future ahead with a beautiful week in the mountains of nothing but nature, was now a reddening sky of horror. I couldn’t understand how Kate felt, going down the same roads that led to her only friends’ fates to avenge them, but the feeling of guilt did weigh heavy on my chest as I saw the signs of the Appalachian Mountain trails grow bigger on the horizon. Guilt for not doing more to prove Kate was innocent, for allowing Mrs. Mayfield for getting killed right before my very eyes, and for Liam for not being lucky enough to save him.
When I finally arrived to the cabin, there didn’t seem to be any change since the first day I was called to the crime scene, the only thing out of place being Mr. Blackwell’s truck parked precariously near the cabin. The police tape was still up, the cars of Kate and Mr. Woolfe still left where they were, the tires still slashed, the door wide open from when Kate, Ms. Greymoore, and Mr. Woolfe ran out of the cabin upon Mr. Billings was killed by an unknown force. All the bodies had been found and were now being prepared by their families to be buried or cremated. Only one body of the five still roaming around to avenge each and every one of their deaths.
I called out for Kate as I made my way into the cabin. The Ouija board was still on the coffee table, the white line of where Mr. Billings had been found lying face first on the floor with his head bashed open remained on the spot. The planchette was still missing. I kept calling out for Kate as I made my way up to the attic, the door left unlocked, using my flashlight to shine down on the white outline where Mr. Steele had been found completely torn apart. To think Kate had done such a thing, I now realize made me look like a complete dumb ass for believing it.
When I couldn’t find Kate in the cabin, I made my way out the cabin, still calling for her. I called out to her, promising that she just needed to come back home with me and we could solve the murders together. I knew it was a lie and that the sheriff would immediately have her take away to some secluded place where the killer couldn’t find her, but it was all I could think of to try luring her out to meet me. Still, she never appeared.
The sun was soon beginning to set as I tried retracing the very steps Kate and Ms. Greymoore had taken to outrun the killer. I had passed the small shrine of flowers and the pictures of Mr. Woolfe where the boy had been found, his face permanently remaining nineteen forever in the photos of him with Kate and their friends. I kept going, trying my best to follow the same path to the cliff where Ms. Greymoore was found, calling for Kate along the way.
It wasn’t until I found the place Kate had buried her best friend that I found Kate. She was on her knees before the rock where she left her bloody handprint, sniffing as her head was lowered, her dad’s rifle in her hands.
“Ms. Blackwell-“ I began as I took a step toward her. I was immediately cut off as Kate jumped to her feet, raising her father’s rifle at my head. I jolted back, raising my hands up to show her I meant no harm to her. “Ms. Blackwell, it’s me, Det. Snow!”
“Detective…?” She gasped, slightly lowering the rifle, but keeping it on me. “P-Prove it!”
“I’m sorry?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I… I thought I saw Sonja…” Kate breathed between tears, the rifle shaking in her hands, “it… It was wearing her face… It had her voice… How… H-How do I know you’re really Det. Snow?”
“You… Saw Sonja?” I asked as gently as I could with a terrified woman pointing a gun my way. “She spoke to you?”
“Prove you’re Det. Snow!” Kate demanded as she stilled her arms, readying the rifle as she pointed straight between my eyes.
“Alright! Alright!” I kept my hands up, backing up slightly as I tried thinking of how I could prove to her I was really me. “I… I, ah… I have… Had a brother… We went to get ice cream together once and… I dropped a dime and went to grab it… I was five… I followed it out to the road and despite how trafficked it was, I didn’t get hit. I grabbed the dime just as a truck was speeding my way and it swerved just before hitting me… Seeing how close I was to death, I dropped the dime and it rolled into the sewer. My brother called me Lucky Dime since then… Saying the dime was lost to me because it did its job in protecting me… I haven’t seen my brother since I was seven and I haven’t spoken to my parents in…” I looked at my watch. “Five years… No one else calls me Lucky Dime… Not even the people at the station know that was my nickname.”
With this, Kate lowered the rifle, her eyes softening from her furious fear to a more melancholy terror. She looked to Ms. Greymoore’s grave marker, her hand print just barely visible In the approaching darkness.
“It… It looked just… Like her…” She sniffed, “it had her voice… Why did it have her voice… Why did it look like her…?”
“Ms. Blackwell,” I soothed, relaxing now that there was no weapon in my face, “we need to head back, your parents are worried about you and the police are looking for-“
“I can’t go back yet!” She snapped at me as she spun to look at me, tears in her eyes. “That thing is still out there and will kill again unless I end it!” She held up her dad’s rifle as if to show me how she meant to “end it.” “I’m not leaving until I end that… Thing that had the balls to wear Sonja’s face and have her voice!”
“Ms. Blackwell, we will catch the killer, I promise, but right now, we need to get you home before your dad ends up killing a police officer for keeping him from looking for you.”
“I told him in my letter I’d be back tomorrow! I’m twenty-years-old, he can’t force me back home if I don’t want to! I just want to stop this thing before it-“
A howling in the distance cut Kate off. Coyote from what I could hear. If I couldn’t get Kate home, I’d have to get her somewhere safe. I turned to begin talking her down and taking her to one of the other two cabins for shelter. However, when I looked back at her, her face had turned to a bone chilling terror I’d never seen on a person before. She looked like hunted prey that had been found by its predator. She gripped her dad’s rifle to her chest tightly, her hand reaching for the trigger.
“Ms. Blackwell, it’s just a pack of coyote,” I tried telling her calmly, “let’s get to one of the other cabins and-“
“No, no, no,” She stopped me as she stepped back, looking around for where the howling was coming from, “I… Heard that same howling just before I saw Sonja! I thought it was far away, but she… She was right in front of me… She… Something was off, but it looked just like her!”
“Ms. Blackwell, you didn’t see Sonja,” I assured her, “I don’t know what you think you saw, but it wasn’t-“
“Lucky… Dime…”
I froze. My blood turned to ice. The fear on Kate’s face grew as she began backing away, her back hitting the grave marker. I spun around to see a figure in the darkness limp toward us, a scratched and garbled familiar voice coming from it.
“Lucky… Dime…” It wheezed, “You brought her… Back… Give her… To me…”
I whipped out my gun, pointing it at this thing that had his voice. I stepped back to stand directly between this thing and Kate.
“Stay back!” I demanded. “Don’t come any closer!”
“Lucky… Di-“
“Shut up! Stop calling me that! Who are you? Not another step or I’ll shoot!”
The thing stopped limping toward us, its body shuddering in place as it stared us down. I took the safety off of my Glock, ready to blow this thing’s head off if it got any closer or even dared using that voice on me again.
“Kate…” It turned its attention to Kate, a completely different voice coming from it, another male’s voice. “Kate… I’m cold…”
“J-Jasper…” Kate began to sob, “Please, stop using their voices… Please stop!”
“Kate… Kate why did… Did you leave me…?” Another male voice asked. “I… I was in so much… Pain…”
“Shut up!” Kate cried out.
“I thought we… Were friends… Kate…” A female voice. “You said you… Loved me… Why won’t… You let me have… Your warmth…?”
“I said shut up!” Kate screamed as she pointed her rifle and shooting at the creature. She had missed, but the thing still let out an ear piercing shriek as it dodged out of the way of the bullets Kate was shooting. It ran off into the darkness, but Kate kept pulling the trigger of her rifle.
“Stop!” I shouted as I snatched the barrel of her rifle, shoving it to the ground before us. “It’s gone, you scared it off, get to the cabins, I’m right here with you!”
I began shoving Kate back toward where the cabins were, the sounds of that thing screaming out in a symphony of different voices ringing out throughout the woods. I shoved Kate into the first cabin we had arrived to, Cabin #1 I could only assume as I slammed the door shut behind us. It smelled God awful, like the smell of the corpse I found on my first murder case, and it was getting darker as the sun began to sink behind the trees outside.
“Detective, it smell terrible in here!” Kate cried out, covering her mouth and nose, but the tears still falling from her eyes were still visible as they rolled down her cheeks.
I pulled her close and kept her behind me as I took my gun and flashlight out. “Stay close to me,” I ordered, leading the way through the cabin, “do not run off or use that rifle without may say so, understood?”
Kate didn’t answer, but I could feel the heat from her body following after me as I made my toward the smell. It was getting worse as we inched closer to a closet door in a hallway that connected the living room to the kitchen. The door was locked, but after a couple of kicks I was able to get the door to swing open, the smell blasting us in our faces making us gag and nearly throw up on the floor. I fumbled around the sides inside the room to find a light switch that I was able to find to the side of the entryway. A yellow light flickered on, revealing the door led to a staircase. I led the way down the creaking steps, Kate close by as she kept her mouth covered with her shirt.
Once we had made our way to the bottom, Kate dropped her dad’s rifle and let out a scream as we stared at what was waiting for us at the bottom of the steps. In a large pile at the corner of this basement room were nothing but skin and bones of humans and animals covered in maggots and flies. Some of the human bodies being small and child-like in size. The missing people who were never found after vanishing when they came to Cabin #2.
I grabbed Kate’s rifle off the floor and began pushing her back up the stairs, her screaming and sobbing all the way back up to the cabin. I slammed the door shut behind us and pushed Kate to the front door.
“We need to leave,” I had told her, trying to calm her down as we made it outside, “we need to get you home and away from here as soon as possible.”
“N-No… No!” She began fighting me, trying to escape my grasp on her. “No! That… That thing is still out there! You saw it! You can’t say you don’t believe me now! It even called you Lucky Dime! It said you brought me back!”
“I’m not saying I don’t believe you!” I shot back. “I do, I saw exactly what you saw, but it’s way too dangerous for you to be out here while you’re the one it’s after!”
“I escaped it once, I can do it again!” Kate pointed out as she struggled against me while I tried getting her into my car. “I’m not running away this time, I want to kill it!”
“God damn it, Blackwell, we’ll let the police handle it! Just because you have a weapon doesn’t make you safe or ready to handle something like… Like that… That thing!”
“It killed my friends! It wants me! I’m going straight to it so I can blow its head off! It’ll come right for me!”
“I came here to bring you back home, not let you accomplish some stupid ass revenge plot! Get in the fucking car, unless you want to end up like those bodies down that-“
“D… De… Detect… Detective…”
A scratched and moaning voice cut me off. Kate and I both froze at the sound of something approaching. I turned to see a police officer stagger toward us from the tree line. I could barely tell who he was or who he used to be, his head held low and blue uniform covered in blood.
“H… Hel… Hel… Help… Help me…" It croaked as it stumbled closer.
I held up Kate's rifle. "Stay back!" I barked. "Not another step!"
The thing that stood before us wearing the cop like a full-bodied suit stopped in place. It swayed where it stood, blood water falling from its head and down to its chest.
"It… It… It's inside… Inside me…" It breathed painfully. "I… I can't… Help… Me…" Its voice then changed to that familiar voice that made my skin crawl. "Lucky… Dime… I… I'm so… Hungry… Give her… To… Me…"
I pulled the trigger of the rifle, hitting the creature in the head, the rest of it staggering backward from the blow. Still though, it remained on its feet, turning itself to look toward us once again.
"Give… Her… To… Me…" It wheeze, blood and brain pouring from where I had shot it, it beginning to stumble toward us once again. I continued shooting, hitting it in the shoulder, the arm, the leg, the head again, but it just kept coming toward us faster, demanding I give Kate to it.
I was about ready to ram it with the rifle, having run out of bullets, when a voice off in the distance made the creature freeze just an inch before us.
"I'm here! I'm here!" It called out in an almost sing-songy way, using the voice of a little girl. "I'm here! I'm here!"
"I'm… Here…" The creature repeated as it jerked its body to look to where the voice was coming from. "I'm here… I'm here… I'm here! I'm here! I'm here!" It began shrieking in a high pitch wail. It sounded like a mixture of different voices ranging from child, to woman, to man. Keeping flat on its feet, its upper body fell forward onto its hands before speedily crawling off like a spider.
We stood in shaking silence for a moment, Kate digging her fingers into my arm while I was too numb from shock to care about the pain she was unknowingly inflicting. It wasn’t until the radio from my car buzzed to life that jolted us back to whatever reality was at this point. I scrambled to the driver’s side, swinging the door open as I fell inside to grab the intercom to respond to the voice yelling for me over the receiver.
“Det. Snow, what the hell is going on up there?” The sheriff’s scratched voice called out over the receiver when I could barely get my name out of my mouth.
“Sh-Sh-Sheriff…?” Was all I could respond with, still trying to wrap my head around what I had just seen.
“Y-Y-Yeah,” he responded in mock shudder, “what the hell is going on up there? I’ve tried radioing every man I’ve got up there and am constantly being left on red! Do I need to send back-up?”
“No!” Immediately, I returned to full reality, finally understanding the severity of the moment and putting that knowledge into my tone. “Landon, do not send any more men up here, call everyone back immediately! I don’t know what this thing is, but it’s too dangerous! Call everyone back, we’re heading back to the Blackwell house now!”
“We?” The sheriff questioned, skepticism in his voice.
“I found Ms. Blackwell, she’s here with me.”
I was met with statice before the voice of Mr. Blackwell blasted over the intercom.
“Bring my daughter home, right now, you son of a bitch!” Mr. Blackwell demanded. “You bring her home this instant before I decide to kick your teeth in!”
I opened my mouth to respond, but the radio was snatched from my hand from Kate. “I’m not coming home until I kill this thing!” She snapped into the radio. “I don’t know what it is, but I at least know I’m not crazy and that it needs to die before it kills anyone else!”
I grabbed the radio from Kate’s hand, beginning to tell her off when a agonized scream erupted from the intercom. I dropped the radio to cover my ears as Kate did, the scream piercing from my car to throughout the forest around us. The voice screaming and crying for help sounded male and it seemed to echo all around us.
“GIVE HER TO ME, YOU SON OF A BITCH!” A mix of the screaming voice and Mr. Blackwell’s hissed out after a good five minutes of screaming before the radio short-circuited and puffs of smoke flowed out.
After allowing my ears to adjust to the sudden silence, I grabbed the radio once again and tried calling for the sheriff, for the cops with us in the mountains, for anyone. When I was met with more silence, I slammed the radio back down on the holder and cursed loudly, hitting the wheel as if it were the source of all my problems.
After a moment to take some deep breaths, I told Kate to get in the car as I placed her rifle in the back seat.
“Didn’t you hear me?” she shot back. “I’m not-“
“Damn it, Blackwell, we have no idea what we’re dealing with, it can mimic peoples’ voices, and it just ran off like a fucking black widow!” I snapped, stepping out of the driver’s seat to glare down at her. “The last thing I’m doing to leaving you here alone and I’m not staying here another second until I can wrap my head around what the fuck I just saw! So, you either get yourself killed out here while I try talking you down this hero complex high, or you’re going to do what I say and get in the damn car!”
We stood in heated silence, glaring each other down before Kate huffed and stormed over to the passenger side of my car and slamming the door shut as she climbed in. I jumped in after her and began driving away from this nutty nightmare I had found myself in.
We drove down the trail back to civilization in silence, Kate staring out the window and trying to keep her tearful sniffs quiet. I had finally begun calming down and was starting to feel bad for snapping at her. She had only gone there to avenge her friends by killing that thing that had most likely killed a whole bunch of cops to find her. However, I still couldn’t just let her stay to hunt it and I didn’t want to stay out in those mountains with some kind of creature that could take the form and voice of someone I knew. I still couldn’t understand what is was I had even seen.
“Wendigo,” Kate whispered, breaking the silence in the car first. She had said it as if she had just remembered something important.
“What?”
“A Wendigo,” She repeated, turning to look to me with wide scared eyes, “that’s what that thing is! It’s a Wendigo!”
“Slow down, what’s a Wendigo?”
“It’s… Oh, just forget it! You wouldn’t believe me anyway.”
“Ms. Blackwell, I just saw a cop being used as a puppet and then run off at inhuman speed on all fours; I doubt I’m not going to believe a single word that comes out of your mouth now. What’s a Wendigo?”
Kate eyed me for a moment before releasing some of the tension from her face as she took a deep breath and began explaining to me. “They’re a Native American myth; it’s believed they’re the spirits of people who would lose themselves in the woods and would end up eating other people to satiate their hunger. I think that’s what that thing is. They can mimic the voices of people who died and use it to lure people to them, they can take the form of that person too.”
“Why does it want female hearts?” I asked, not realizing I had yet told her what my mysterious caller kept asking for when they called me.
“It… It wants my heart?” she asked shakily.
I cursed to myself before letting out a frustrated sigh. “I think this thing wants hearts, but it only wants female hearts. Why? I don’t know yet. But the only other person to be found after killing someone in those cabins was found with his partner’s heart missing to which he was blamed for taking out of her. Recently, I’ve been getting calls from some… Thing wanting me to bring you back here so it could take something from you. It would have taken Ms. Greymoore’s, but you hid her well enough that only the police could find her in time. Now, I’ve been getting calls asking for you and to get something from you.”
Kate looked to me in shock before a wave of guilt twisted her face in pain. “I… I’m so, so… So sorry, Detective!” She cried out. “I… I had… I had no idea you were being… Harassed by it! Had I known it wanted me back and was demanding you brought me here, I never… I didn’t… That’s why it said you brought me back! Oh, I’m such an idiot!” She pressed her hands to her face, grabbing at her hair between her fingers and tightening them around her eyes.
“No, no, no, stop, stop that!” I ordered, screeching the car to a halt, having to bring it to a crooked stop so I could stop her from hurting herself. I snatched her arms from her head and pinned them to her lap, tears flooding her face. “It’s my fault for not telling you sooner! I was too focused on trying to solve this case with the most efficient evidence I could, but that just kept me looking to you as a suspect. I should have stopped thinking you were the killer the moment I got that first call. There’s no way any of us could have seen… This coming… Except people who probably already believe in that kind of stuff or don’t stop to assume a more rational explanation like a cult… I’m… I’m sorry. But, I won’t let it take anything from you, not anymore. I’m going to get you home and then I’ll deal with this with the rest of the police department. You don’t have to deal with this thing anymore, it’ll be my burden from now on. You need time to finally get some rest and mourn your friends with your and their families. It’s already fucked your life up enough, I won’t let it go on making it worse.”
I stopped her before she could argue with me with a wave of my hand. “Your friends’ deaths shouldn’t be your burden to handle. I know you want to be the one who kills that thing and do right by them, but that’s not what they would want. They’d want you to remember them and continue living. They know you didn’t do it, so stop blaming yourself and stop acting like you’re the one who has to make it up to them. I will put an end to this die trying, but you need to go home and be with people who are happy you still get to live.”
Kate looked down at her hands that I kept down on her lap before nodding weakly and letting out a broken “okay.”
“Good, now let’s get you home before-“
My words were cut off when the honk of a car barreling toward us echoed through the woods. The headlights were fast approaching and I barely had time to grab the gear shift to put us back in drive as the other vehicle hit us, forcing us back and forth in one violent motion. It took me a moment to check myself to be sure I hadn’t hit my head on anything or got whiplash from the crash before I immediately returned my full attention to Kate who was kneeling over holding her head. I gently grabbed her shoulder and pulled her up to examine her head. It didn’t appear to have been busted and bleeding, but she was holding the front side of her forehead.
“Are you okay?” I asked her, prying her hand away from the spot on her forehead, seeing that it was beginning to bruise. “Can you hear me? Blink twice if you can understand me!”
“I… I’m f-fine…” she mumbled as she looked to her hand to check if there was blood on her palm, “I… I think I just… Hit… Hit the w-window…” She then blinked twice in my direction before looking to the car that had rammed us.
I turned my attention as well to the car to see it was a police van, it’s front crushed into the left of my front. I quickly jumped out my vehicle and stormed to the van, yelling at who ever was driving the van to come out and explain what the hell they were doing.
The driver’s side of the van swung open once I was near enough and a man in an orange jumpsuit climbed out, staring familiar daggers at me. The moment realization set in, my mixed emotions of confusion, frustration, and fear turned to fury.
It was Leighton Raines.
“Jesus, you really are a shitty detective.” Was all he said to me before reaching into the can and retrieving a rifle out from the passenger seat.
[END OF PART 1]
Part 6

I know everybody’s disease manifests differently, but I’ve found that sitting on a lacrosse ball, hitting my hamstrings, is one of the best ways to stay mobile and pain-free in my lower back.
I discovered on long flights that if I sat on the massage ball, I could walk around the destination airport just fine, without the usual stiffness and pain.
I also have a little 3D printed mini-pso-rite that does wonders - happy to share the model with anyone.

I’m 34 weeks and yesterday I passed an extremely hard stool and pushed so hard that when I stood up I had shooting pain in my pelvis / pubic area (along with some bleeding). I haven’t experienced any pelvic girdle pain during my pregnancy so im not sure what this is. It hurts when I get up to stand, turn over and walk but the pain is inconsistent and not continual. I woke up this morning feeling much better but when I passed another stool I was in agony again and the pain hasn’t dissipated.
It also feels like a general heaviness in my lower abdomin and I’m wondering if I’ve just strained a muscle. I’ve experienced terrible nerve pain on my right glute since 31 weeks which I just was able to manage with a visit to a chiropractor but feel like I’m totally set back now.
I’m going to the hospital tomrorow to get it checked out but I just feel like they will diagnose me with PGP and I don’t think that’s what this is.
I don’t want this to affect my labor and I’m now just worried I won’t be able to have an unmedicated birth with all the pain I’m experiencing.
Has this happened to anyone? Any advice??

For the past 3 weeks i’ve been occasionally feeling some strange kind of feeling in my left side of chest and left arm. It wasn’t unbearable pain but enough to worry me. 3 weeks earlier prior to these symptoms i had what i thought was heart attack except my symptoms increased when i started overthinking and googling what might be the case. I got tingles in my left arm and sudden flash of cold sweat followed up with nausea and i almost blacked out. I haven’t went to the ER but week after i got sick (constant low grade fever, sore throat, hot flashes in my cheeks, neck and chest) so i went to the doctor and explained my symptoms. We did ecg, blood tests and and blood pressure but all the results came back normal (except lower ALT and GGT). I also got scheduled for cardiologist in 3 weeks but until then i wanted to ask if anyone has experienced anything similar or has any advice/idea what it could be? Could it really be anxiety or should i keep worrying? I’ve stressed out so much in these past few weeks i feel like it took off few years of my life.

TW: mention of miscarriage
The last two days have been insane. One of my friends was hospitalized as she was looking like she’d deliver her baby early (34 weeks) and her husband is out of town. I pumped and left our 20 week old with my husband for a couple hours while I went to see her and bring her some things. Then yesterday a friend was actively experiencing a miscarriage and needed someone to watch her toddler. I took on the toddler while my husband kept our lo under control.
Well toddler wouldn’t go to sleep until 10:30 due to new place and wanting his parents. I was exhausted when friend was able to pick up her toddler and it was late. Then my lo wouldn’t go back to sleep. She woke up screaming multiple times and I tried feeding, burping, changing her, and eventually I was so exhausted and overwhelmed I just let her cry. I felt terrible but I was at my wits end.
This morning I noticed she has a runny nose and is coughing. I’ve been cuddling her and just trying to make her comfortable. She’s been content so long as we’re holding her. I mentioned to my mom that lo was sick and had a rough night. She then told me to imagine I was so small and not able to sleep and had nothing for pain management. She asked me to give her Tylenol. I said I would if she was so upset again as I didn’t realize she was sick last night. Then my mom said “well babies cry for a reason if it wasn’t gas, hunger, or needing to be changed something was obviously wrong.” Maybe I’m exhausted and emotional, but my mom can be kind of harsh sometimes especially about my choices. Now I’m feeling like maybe I was being a bad mom? I was trying to support others and because of that I was so tired I didn’t notice she wasn’t well. Should I have given her Tylenol? I’ve been avoiding it unless she has a fever (no fever currently), but my mom wants me to give her it every time she thinks she’s teething or experiencing any discomfort. Should I give it to her more often? I’m just feeling really bad.
Also I understand this could be considered medical advice, but I’m just looking for personal thoughts about it and experiences. I’m worried I’m too in my head about it. Thank you

Link to Part 1- https://www.reddit.com/bollywood/comments/1cuq0i6/how_i_would_change_dunki_part_1/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
ACT 2:
This chunk of the movie is a bit tough for me to completely crack. However, I have a solid idea of how it would play out. Basically, till the interval point, we would see the gang's dunki journey intercut with the modern-day scenes. When the gang is about to set out on the journey, they are part of a large group of a dozen people. Here we get a moment where some people collect the Indian soil in small containers. This confuses the gang, because they personally don't really have any positive feelings towards their country. The journey starts. In the actual movie, this whole portion is covered in just 20 minutes. In this version, atleast 40 minutes would be devoted to this portion.
When we cut to the modern day portions, we learn that the prime minister of the UK is on a visit to India alongwith some delegates. Hardy has been persistently trying to meet the PM, but due to security concerns, he is denied repeatedly. Eventually, a large group of people start protesting with Hardy to meet the PM. They use taglines to protest that as of now, the audience doesn't understand (this will get fleshed out in the second half).
The dunki portions will initially be on the humorous side, with the gang and the rest of the group escaping dangerous situations that are presented in a funny way. However, things get dark quickly. A lot of the members die due to exhaustion, thirst or starvation. They also encounter a group of donkers who capture them. Here, more members of the group die but our core gang manages to escape. Throughout all this, the dynamics will be fleshed out, especially Hardy and Manu's love story. Lutt Putt Gaya can be inserted into the eariler parts of the dunki portions. Sukhi understands that Hardy loves Manu, and the two men have a conversation. Here, we can establish that Sukhi gives Hardy the idea of proposing to Manu at the Big Ben (establishing Hardy and Sukhi as best buds). We get the same sequence with the border patrol, but this is where Sukhi's death happens. The film takes a more emotional note. Hardy, Manu and Baggu eventually complete the jouney, and reach London.
INTERVAL
(Disclaimer: Things get a bit messy here. This is where a strong screenplay would be needed, so imagine that only Hirani and Joshi wrote the screenplay, and Kanika Dhillon was not a part of the process. Also, in act 1 in the Laltu portions, through satire, we would establish how stupid the conditions to get visas are (I forgot to include this in the prev. post))
The gang goes to Big Ben, there they meet Balli like the actual film. Here, we see in detail the hardships the gang faces, ranging from unemployment to racism. This would need the Hirani magic, so we can establish the character arcs. This is where Hardy starts understanding the value of his own country and starts longing for home (insert an emotional song sequence). The rest still want to stay in the UK, however. Eventually, we get the whole church sequence, just with better screenwriting and pacing. Things go the same and the gang ends up in court. Here, when Hardy has a convo with the judge, he doesn't say that visas are stupid, he says that the terms and conditons for visas are stupid. Just like the film, Hardy refuses to take asylum, and we also see him explaining to Manu that his whole life he has been abusing his country, even to justify his own flaws, he is tired now.
We then see a sequence of Hardy reunitng with his motherland after a full two years(one year in dunki, one year in UK), intercut with Manu suffering in London. A nice 10-15 minute sequence is needed to establish Manu suffering in London and realising the importance of her home alongwith the mutual longing between her and Hardy. This would make their reunion at the airport much more emotional
Cut to 15 years later, Hardy is gearing up for a race, when Manu calls. Things play out like the actual film, where Hardy goes to Dubai and gets the gang back to India. That whole reverse-dunki sequence was great on paper, it just needed better screenwriting and pacing to make it more thrilling and humorous. We get the Nikle The Kabhi Hum Ghar Se song here, with the gang reuniting with their motherland.
We cut to the interrogation chamber, where Priya asks Hardy how did he get into this mess again. He starts explaining, and we go into flashback again.
5 years after he brought Manu back home, Hardy and the gang now run an old-age home for people whose children have gone to foreign and are now alone. Here, a lot of the people have children who went the dunki way, and are desperate to come back. but cannot due to several foreign countries passing severe laws like extended prison times before deportation. The leading country in all of this is the UK.
Hardy wants to help, but is also reluctant to get into this mess again. He goes for a race to another city with Geetu, and during the race, collapses, experiencing severe chest pain. After some checkups, Hardy and Geetu learn that it is a heart tumor, and Hardy only has 6 months left. The rest of the gang are purposely kept oblivious to this entire incident. Hardy sees this as a message from god, that he must fight for the illegal immigrants before dying.
Hardy and the gang set out on their journey, carrying out protests. When the UK's PM comes to India, they get desperate to meet him, carrying out rallies for the same. When the UK PMO digs up some old files and learns that Hardy was supposedly ousted from the UK as he was an illegal immigrant, they strictly deny him a meeting with the PM, fearing security risks. Eventually, the protests keep growing, with hundreds of people joining and Hardy even challenging the PM and his delegates to a live TV debate. They demand the UK to abolish its new severe laws. Throughout the protests, Hardy's situations keeps worsening and it becomes tougher for him to hide his condition from Manu. Geetu also wants Hardy to stop all of this, but Hardy isn't ready. After this latest protest, he was finally arrested.
There is a solemn silence in the room. Priya receives a call, and she tells Hardy that not only has he been bailed, but the PM has also agreed for the debate.
END OF ACT 2

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I have advice for new plasma donors who may be considering to try it out and earn extra money:

• Plasma is 92% water and the rest is mostly protein elements.
• The plasma is separated from your blood and your red blood cells are returned to you in cycles.
• Per FDA regulations, you're only allowed to donate plasma twice in a 7 day period, with a 48 hour wait inbetween those two times. Don't risk your health by hopping around to different plasma donation centers to circumvent these regulations, and you may get caught if you do.

1. Eat a meal high in protein 2-3 hours before donating, but your plasma protein levels depend on what you ate the day before.
2. Drink plenty of water and/or non-caffeinated juice before donating to stay hydrated.
3. Avoid caffeine such as in coffee or soda before donating or you may get nauseous and vomit or faint during your donation.
4. No alcohol 24 hours before, and for a little while after donating.
5. No exercising for at least 6 hours after donating as it can put too much stress on the vein.
6. Some people get away with smoking or vaping nicotine before and after donating, but it's recommended not to for 2 hours before and after. The nicotine can raise your heart's pulse rate.
7. If your pulse rate is 100 or above, you'll be able to do a vitals retake after a 15 minute wait. But if it's 100 or higher again you'll be deferred for the day. If your pulse rate is an issue, listen to "Pink Noise" or "Green Noise" at a low volume before donating which may help reduce your pulse rate, along with its effect on lowering your blood pressure.
8. There is a risk of getting a blown vein if the worker is having a hard time finding your vein when they're sticking you with the needle or if you have small veins. You may get deferred until your vein heals if that happens. But it's ok, your body is able to regenerate your veins with a process called Angiogenesis.
9. There is a risk of blood clots, but when your blood is constantly moving through the machine it prevents that from happening.
10. You may be subject to drug screening. The drug screening tests for methamphetamines, cocaine, and heroin. Certain pharma prescription meds may show up as a false positive so you'll want to let the plasma center know what meds you're taking. Testing positive for these drugs can result in a permanent deferral from donating plasma.
11. A sample of your blood will be drawn periodically to test for certain sexually transmitted infections (STIs). A positive test will result in either a temporary or permanent deferral from donating plasma. If you've ever been diagnosed or received treatment for HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B (HBV) or Hepatitis C (HCV) you will be permanently deferred from donating plasma.

Donating Plasma with Managed Diabetes
Individuals with well-controlled diabetes can contribute to plasma donation, but certain criteria need to be met:
Absence of Complications: This means no existing diabetic complications affecting your kidneys, heart, blood vessels, or eyes.
Insulin Independence: If you rely on insulin for diabetes management, a three-month waiting period is required after using needles for non-prescribed medications. Additionally, you must be free of symptoms or treatment needs related to blood sugar fluctuations (high or low) for the past three months.

1. Healthy Feet: Active foot ulcers requiring medical attention will disqualify you from donation.
2. Steady Balance: You shouldn't experience dizziness or lightheadedness upon standing.
3. Type 1 Consideration: For Type 1 diabetics, eating within two hours of donation is mandatory.

• Wait a few hours before taking the bandage wrap off of your arm after donating.
• It's recommended to use Vitamin E oil/Mineral oil on the needle site for the puncture area to heal better. A Q-tip can be used to apply it easier. I simply dip the Q-Tip in the bottle, but never dip the used cotton back into the bottle.
• Frequently donating over a prolonged period of time may lead to your body having decreased vitamin D levels.
  
• Red meats are particularly high in the protein vitamins and minerals found in plasma.
  
• Personally, I take a Now brand Vitamin D supplement that contains vitamin D3, Calcium, Magnesium, and Zinc. But I only take a half a dose, 1 gel capsule instead of 2, since I get these from eating meats and other foods as well. It's bad for your health if you take too much of these vitamins and minerals over time. I also take an Iron supplement. I also drink a protein shake before donating. Just to be safe.
  

Link to download app:
~https://rewards.cslplasma.com/referral/referral-unique-code/eyJkb25vcklEIjoiMDBEMjNEVSIsImNvZGUiOiJaVUxNSFhYVkNCIn0~
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Okay so I had unprotected sex on April 28th. It was also the first time I ever had sex. It was actually a good experience and everything was fine, but after talking to my friends they all encouraged me to take a Plan B because we had sex 3x throughout the night and all we used was the pull out method. I took the Plan B about 14 hours after and felt fine for a few days. I had ended my period on April 22, so my Clue app said my fertile window was from April 29-May 5, the 4th being ovulation day. This made me freak out obviously. About 5 days after taking the Plan B I started getting lower back pain which is my usual PMS symptom, and I then heavily bled for about a day with some clots. I then spotted for maybe a day or two after. I’ve had some of the worst anxiety over the past 3 weeks and have been beating myself up about the whole situation. I have always been a very responsible, smart person so it has been hard to give myself some grace. I was supposed to start my period yesterday (May 18) and thought I was feeling some light PMS last week, but it still hasn’t started. I am nowhere even close to being in a relationship with the guy and don’t want to be, so I’ve just been stressing and feeling horrible. I’m home for the summer from college and have hated having to think about this stuff around my parents. I know it’s best to take a pregnancy test to know for sure, I’m just scared and unfortunately live in a state where women do not have options.

I never believed in monsters, but the events of last week made me question those beliefs to a great extent.
The job seemed pretty simple at first: some people saw a strange creature in the woods and the mayor of their little no name town was willing to pay me for taking it down. He offered me 5000 dollars for shooting what was probably just a mangy bear, I’d be a fool for turning him down. Besides, he even paid me half of it in advance AND offered to lend me the keys to a private bungalow near the forest, to make my stay more comfortable. It took some time for the keys to arrive (postal services be damned), but after about a week it was time for me to head out. I packed my rifle, ammunition and some clothes and got in my truck. This would be the job of a lifetime.
When I arrived at the town, there were no signs of life. I chalked it up to it being 11 PM on a Tuesday, but even so, you’d expect at least a few lights to be on, right? Nevertheless, I continued driving until I reached my “home” for the coming few days.
The bungalow was small, it looked more like a cabin. Then again, I wasn’t here for a vacation anyways, I was here to work. As I tried unlocking the front door, I noticed it was already open. Strange, I thought to myself, but nothing unusual. It’s not like you’d have to worry about people breaking into your house in a small town in bumfuck nowhere.
Once inside, I threw my bag on the floor and plopped down onto a chair. It was a long drive, and I was tired. After grabbing a beer from my bag I began to mentally prepare for the days to come. Tomorrow, I would visit the mayor and ask for any leads of their “creature’s” whereabouts, after which I would spend the remainder of the day scouring the forest for any tracks. If my hunt wasn’t successful by then I would simply try again the day after. Easy job, easy plan and easy money. I finished my beer and decided to go to bed.
That night, I was awoken by my stomach’s inability to digest alcohol. I rushed to the bathroom while vomit started to work its way up my throat. Sadly, I was too late, and now the bathroom door was covered in beer and the half-digested sandwiches I had the day before. I cussed for a while, thinking about how stupid this whole situation was. Sure, my body had not been the same since the accident, but I never had trouble drinking before. After sitting there for a while I went searching for something to clean up my work of art. A thorough inspection of the bungalow led me to a closet, where I finally found a mop and went to town on my stomach’s content.
I was humming a little song to help lighten up my mood, but when I heard someone humming back to me from outside my whole demeanor changed. I quit cleaning immediately and snuck over to my backpack. As soon as I did that, the humming stopped and was replaced by a man’s voice.
“Sorry… Didn’t want to startle you there… Buddy!” the mysterious man said, with no discernable emotion in his voice.
I sat in silence, loading my rifle while I listened to the man outside. Sure, it was no bear, but random people hanging around your place in the middle of the night rarely spell good news. I waited for him to start speaking again, but he did not resume talking, no matter how long I sat there in silence. An hour had passed and still he had not said a word. I figured it was probably just a local drunk that found his way to the cabin, heard me hum, hummed along like a merry drunk guy would and then left because why not. Drunk guys do what drunk guys do. After coming up with this rational explanation, I went to sleep again, thinking about how weird that whole situation had been.
When I woke up in the morning my stomach pain was gone. I got out of bed, packed my stuff and headed to my truck. I noticed the scratches on the truck almost immediately. I remember thinking that it must have been that drunk guy from the night before and that I would make him pay for this if I ever saw him again. Angrily, I got in the car and drove over to the town hall. On my way there, I once again noticed the lack of people in the street. The road being empty on a Tuesday night made perfect sense, but not even one person having to drive to work on a Wednesday morning? That’s suspicious, and it should have been one of the many things that should’ve made me reconsider the job. My car needed a new paint job though, and even then, I’ve always been a stubborn bastard. As I drove, I thought I saw someone move behind a building in my rear view mirror, but I didn’t get a clear view of the person. I felt happy to see that there actually were people in this town, so I continued my drive.
When I got to the town hall the first thing I noticed was the broken window. That drunk guy must’ve vandalized more than just my truck, I thought at the moment. I got out of my car and walked up to the front door, which was open, and entered the building. Upon walking into the entrance hall I was met by a rotten smell. My vomit would’ve been all over the floor if it hadn’t been for my little adventure yesterday, that’s how bad it was. It smelled like a mixture of dead animals, fermenting plants and rotting milk. I considered turning around and leaving right then and there, but I decided to at least try to talk to the mayor, to find out what was going on. Curiosity killed the cat, I thought, but I was no cat. Stupid as I was, I didn’t bother going back to the car to get my rifle. What was the worst thing that could happen? Against better judgment, I went to search for the mayor.
When I found him, his body was lying on the floor, completely dead. He was missing an arm and his face. His torso had been ripped to shreds. His office had been completely ruined too, with random office supplies and some antique vases lying scattered on the floor, along with a picture of the mayor and his wife. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, I heard a familiar voice coming from the hallway: the drunk guy from last night.
“Hey… I know you’re in here somewhere… Dude,” he said, his voice still as monotone as before.
His footsteps were heavy, growing louder with every step as he got closer and closer. Along with his footsteps, the sound of something being dragged across the floor could be heard. I even heard his breathing, heavy and labored, as he neared the mayor’s office. Suddenly, all of the sounds stopped. I knew he was right outside the door, waiting for me to make a move. I just sat there, regretting my choice of not taking my rifle with me. Then I realized something. I realized that I’m a 6’3 foot man who weighs 250 pounds and also used to be a boxer in his younger years. I got up with my fists ready to throw some punches and decided to make this man regret screwing with my car. I could hear the man scratching at the wall as I neared the door.
“Found you!” he yelled, his voice sounding more guttural than before.
I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder as my aggressor knocked me to the floor, followed by the warm sensation of blood flowing out of my wound. I remember thinking that the bastard had stabbed me.
The man jumped at me before I was able to regain my balance, forcing me to roll to the side to avoid him. That’s when I noticed that this “man” wasn’t a person at all. At the moment, all I could see was something vaguely bipedal, hunched over a bit and covered in long black fur. What I thought had been a knife were actually a set of long claws on each hand.
The creature began to turn towards me, and I took this as my sign to move. I picked up a vase that was lying next to me and threw it at the monster, hitting it straight in the head. Then I got up in an instant and booked it. As I was running, I could hear the creature following me closely behind. Its roars became more and more animalistic with each passing second, clearly enraged from my attempt to fight back. I practically jumped down the stairs, nearly breaking my legs in the process, after which I continued my sprint towards the door. Without thinking twice I just busted through the surprisingly weak door.
Once outside, I noticed more creatures coming at me in the corner of my eyes. Filled with adrenaline, I ran to my truck, got inside and started the engine. That’s when the creature from earlier came falling down in the parking space right next to me. The bastard had jumped through the first floor’s window. When it got up, I finally got a good look at the thing. The thing that I heard it drag across the floor was its tail, and the things that stabbed me and scratched my car were the massive claws on its hands. Yet the thing that got me the most, the thing that will forever haunt my dreams, was its face. Or, to put it in better words, the contorted face of a man, plastered over its head. It was the same face I saw on the mayor’s picture.
I stepped on the gas and floored it. While driving, I noticed more and more creatures started to give chase, each one wearing a different face. I drove as fast as I could until they were all out of sight and I had left the town. Even then, I did not drop my speed, probably committing multiple traffic violations as I drove. But I did not care. The stuff I saw there was way above my paygrade, and I wanted to get as far away from it as possible. I drove for hours, only stopping to tank my car.
This incident happened a few days ago. Currently, I’m still in the hospital, waiting for the wound in my shoulder to heal. The doctors say I’m lucky that I can still move my arm. Sure, I’m happy to be alive, but life isn’t all sunshine and rainbows for me. I’ve racked up more debt than the 2500 dollars can pay and as if that wasn’t enough, men in black suits have been interviewing me ever since I got here. So if you’re reading this, please just remember one thing: if some guy offers you 5000 dollars just to shoot a bear, stay away. Because there’s no way in hell those things were bears.

I never believed in monsters, but the events of last week made me question those beliefs to a great extent.
The job seemed pretty simple at first: some people saw a strange creature in the woods and the mayor of their little no name town was willing to pay me for taking it down. He offered me 5000 dollars for shooting what was probably just a mangy bear, I’d be a fool for turning him down. Besides, he even paid me half of it in advance AND offered to lend me the keys to a private bungalow near the forest, to make my stay more comfortable. It took some time for the keys to arrive (postal services be damned), but after about a week it was time for me to head out. I packed my rifle, ammunition and some clothes and got in my truck. This would be the job of a lifetime.
When I arrived at the town, there were no signs of life. I chalked it up to it being 11 PM on a Tuesday, but even so, you’d expect at least a few lights to be on, right? Nevertheless, I continued driving until I reached my “home” for the coming few days.
The bungalow was small, it looked more like a cabin. Then again, I wasn’t here for a vacation anyways, I was here to work. As I tried unlocking the front door, I noticed it was already open. Strange, I thought to myself, but nothing unusual. It’s not like you’d have to worry about people breaking into your house in a small town in bumfuck nowhere.
Once inside, I threw my bag on the floor and plopped down onto a chair. It was a long drive, and I was tired. After grabbing a beer from my bag I began to mentally prepare for the days to come. Tomorrow, I would visit the mayor and ask for any leads of their “creature’s” whereabouts, after which I would spend the remainder of the day scouring the forest for any tracks. If my hunt wasn’t successful by then I would simply try again the day after. Easy job, easy plan and easy money. I finished my beer and decided to go to bed.
That night, I was awoken by my stomach’s inability to digest alcohol. I rushed to the bathroom while vomit started to work its way up my throat. Sadly, I was too late, and now the bathroom door was covered in beer and the half-digested sandwiches I had the day before. I cussed for a while, thinking about how stupid this whole situation was. Sure, my body had not been the same since the accident, but I never had trouble drinking before. After sitting there for a while I went searching for something to clean up my work of art. A thorough inspection of the bungalow led me to a closet, where I finally found a mop and went to town on my stomach’s content.
I was humming a little song to help lighten up my mood, but when I heard someone humming back to me from outside my whole demeanor changed. I quit cleaning immediately and snuck over to my backpack. As soon as I did that, the humming stopped and was replaced by a man’s voice.
“Sorry… Didn’t want to startle you there… Buddy!” the mysterious man said, with no discernable emotion in his voice.
I sat in silence, loading my rifle while I listened to the man outside. Sure, it was no bear, but random people hanging around your place in the middle of the night rarely spell good news. I waited for him to start speaking again, but he did not resume talking, no matter how long I sat there in silence. An hour had passed and still he had not said a word. I figured it was probably just a local drunk that found his way to the cabin, heard me hum, hummed along like a merry drunk guy would and then left because why not. Drunk guys do what drunk guys do. After coming up with this rational explanation, I went to sleep again, thinking about how weird that whole situation had been.
When I woke up in the morning my stomach pain was gone. I got out of bed, packed my stuff and headed to my truck. I noticed the scratches on the truck almost immediately. I remember thinking that it must have been that drunk guy from the night before and that I would make him pay for this if I ever saw him again. Angrily, I got in the car and drove over to the town hall. On my way there, I once again noticed the lack of people in the street. The road being empty on a Tuesday night made perfect sense, but not even one person having to drive to work on a Wednesday morning? That’s suspicious, and it should have been one of the many things that should’ve made me reconsider the job. My car needed a new paint job though, and even then, I’ve always been a stubborn bastard. As I drove, I thought I saw someone move behind a building in my rear view mirror, but I didn’t get a clear view of the person. I felt happy to see that there actually were people in this town, so I continued my drive.
When I got to the town hall the first thing I noticed was the broken window. That drunk guy must’ve vandalized more than just my truck, I thought at the moment. I got out of my car and walked up to the front door, which was open, and entered the building. Upon walking into the entrance hall I was met by a rotten smell. My vomit would’ve been all over the floor if it hadn’t been for my little adventure yesterday, that’s how bad it was. It smelled like a mixture of dead animals, fermenting plants and rotting milk. I considered turning around and leaving right then and there, but I decided to at least try to talk to the mayor, to find out what was going on. Curiosity killed the cat, I thought, but I was no cat. Stupid as I was, I didn’t bother going back to the car to get my rifle. What was the worst thing that could happen? Against better judgment, I went to search for the mayor.
When I found him, his body was lying on the floor, completely dead. He was missing an arm and his face. His torso had been ripped to shreds. His office had been completely ruined too, with random office supplies and some antique vases lying scattered on the floor, along with a picture of the mayor and his wife. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, I heard a familiar voice coming from the hallway: the drunk guy from last night.
“Hey… I know you’re in here somewhere… Dude,” he said, his voice still as monotone as before.
His footsteps were heavy, growing louder with every step as he got closer and closer. Along with his footsteps, the sound of something being dragged across the floor could be heard. I even heard his breathing, heavy and labored, as he neared the mayor’s office. Suddenly, all of the sounds stopped. I knew he was right outside the door, waiting for me to make a move. I just sat there, regretting my choice of not taking my rifle with me. Then I realized something. I realized that I’m a 6’3 foot man who weighs 250 pounds and also used to be a boxer in his younger years. I got up with my fists ready to throw some punches and decided to make this man regret screwing with my car. I could hear the man scratching at the wall as I neared the door.
“Found you!” he yelled, his voice sounding more guttural than before.
I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder as my aggressor knocked me to the floor, followed by the warm sensation of blood flowing out of my wound. I remember thinking that the bastard had stabbed me.
The man jumped at me before I was able to regain my balance, forcing me to roll to the side to avoid him. That’s when I noticed that this “man” wasn’t a person at all. At the moment, all I could see was something vaguely bipedal, hunched over a bit and covered in long black fur. What I thought had been a knife were actually a set of long claws on each hand.
The creature began to turn towards me, and I took this as my sign to move. I picked up a vase that was lying next to me and threw it at the monster, hitting it straight in the head. Then I got up in an instant and booked it. As I was running, I could hear the creature following me closely behind. Its roars became more and more animalistic with each passing second, clearly enraged from my attempt to fight back. I practically jumped down the stairs, nearly breaking my legs in the process, after which I continued my sprint towards the door. Without thinking twice I just busted through the surprisingly weak door.
Once outside, I noticed more creatures coming at me in the corner of my eyes. Filled with adrenaline, I ran to my truck, got inside and started the engine. That’s when the creature from earlier came falling down in the parking space right next to me. The bastard had jumped through the first floor’s window. When it got up, I finally got a good look at the thing. The thing that I heard it drag across the floor was its tail, and the things that stabbed me and scratched my car were the massive claws on its hands. Yet the thing that got me the most, the thing that will forever haunt my dreams, was its face. Or, to put it in better words, the contorted face of a man, plastered over its head. It was the same face I saw on the mayor’s picture.
I stepped on the gas and floored it. While driving, I noticed more and more creatures started to give chase, each one wearing a different face. I drove as fast as I could until they were all out of sight and I had left the town. Even then, I did not drop my speed, probably committing multiple traffic violations as I drove. But I did not care. The stuff I saw there was way above my paygrade, and I wanted to get as far away from it as possible. I drove for hours, only stopping to tank my car.
This incident happened a few days ago. Currently, I’m still in the hospital, waiting for the wound in my shoulder to heal. The doctors say I’m lucky that I can still move my arm. Sure, I’m happy to be alive, but life isn’t all sunshine and rainbows for me. I’ve racked up more debt than the 2500 dollars can pay and as if that wasn’t enough, men in black suits have been interviewing me ever since I got here. So if you’re reading this, please just remember one thing: if some guy offers you 5000 dollars just to shoot a bear, stay away. Because there’s no way in hell those things were bears.

Princess Rolaea fell into a seated position on the floor as her Steward was positioned next to her. The other soldiers who were captured from the team she had been leading were behind. “I demand to speak to your leader.” Growled the Karvrithak princess as the humans walked about, almost gloating at their catch.
“You’ll get your chance. I gotta make some calls first.” Came a voice from behind view. The older Karvrithak next to her fake cleared his throat to get the princess’ attention. “You know, princess. Now that we are captured.” To which Rolaea interjected, “I wouldn’t have been if you had done your duty.” Making the older Karvrithak pause in annoyance. “There were too many between me and you for me to have carried out that duty; I have to now follow the rules for… that.” The princess froze for a moment. “You can’t be serious, Sarvik.”
Sarvik nods without looking at the princess, instead looking for the man he saw fighting with her. “Our culture is built upon tradition, even ones you might not wish to be a part of. You were beaten in single combat by a male.” The princess interjects, “Not true. Two of our solders were fighting with me.” To which Sarvik nods, “Which makes it an even more impressive feat.” He gets a growl of annoyance in return.
A human woman walked over, hearing them talk, “What is going on over here?” sitting down on a crate in front of the prisoners. Sarvik looked at the human. “Ah, maybe you can help. Who was the one by himself during the fight.” Sitting up, the human smiled. “That would be our fearless leader. Didn’t want anyone to risk their life as our formation required four in front of you.” Rolaea sneered. “You mean your trap.”
The human gasped at the accusation, placing a hand on her chest in mock surprise. “Just because your senses were not keen enough to notice us doesn’t mean it was a trap. We even called out for you to surrender as you’re surrounded, and you chose to fight.” Getting a nod of agreement from the Steward, who got an elbow for agreeing with the human, causing a grunt of pain. “That spot is a little tender from the fight.” Which got another one from the princess: “That is for your failure in duty.”
The human woman pointed a finger at the pair as if they were children. “Don’t make me separate you two. So, you were speaking earlier.” And Sarvik nods, “Does your leader come from a noble bloodline.” Which made the human smirk. “He would say he does.” Before taking a moment to pose and take a mock tone of the rag-tag group's leader, “My grandfather would tell me stories of how we were descendants of Spartan kings of over 4,000 years.” Getting a laugh from the woman and a nod from Sarvik, “Is there any possibility that is true?” and the human shrug, “Could be. It was a long time ago, and I remember hearing something about how everyone is related to royalty in some way or another because of mixing.”
Rolaea smiles. “See, his bloodline is too diluted. Also, I never heard of the Spartans so how much of a warrior family could they be?” Getting another laugh from the woman “They weren’t a family. They were an entire culture who just became part of a country known as Greece. They never died out or went extinct, they just started calling themselves Greeks instead of Spartans.” Looking back and forth between the two, Sarah started to smile more as she realized what the conversation had been about.
Sarvik nodded in understanding. “I see. What were the beliefs of these Spartans?” Causing the human to think for a while, “Well, I remember hearing the only way to get your name on a grave is for men to have died in combat or women to have died during childbirth. Both were seen as a way of supporting Sparta. They were fierce warriors; often, just a single word could keep an army out of the country. Oh, and marriage was some kind of ritualistic combat, I think.” By this time, Nick walked over. “What is all this commotion.”
He looked around at a giggling Sarah, a stoic-looking male Karvrithak, and what he could only assume to be a blushing female Karvrithak. Sarah looked up. “Oh, just talking about Spartian marriage fighting.” To which Nick sighed, “It wasn’t combat. Spartan men would meet up with the women they found attractive during the night and take them back to their barracks or someplace else.” Sarvik tilted his head some. “Do you believe Rolaea to be attractive?” Getting a wide-eyed look from the princess, “Sarvik, you stop this right now.” The human male looked confused and looked over. “To be honest, I never really thought of a Karvrithak as beautiful or not, but… I mean, if we weren’t at war… maybe, kinda.”
Sarvik nodded once more. “Then it is settled, the combat took place at night, and it seems all the conditions for both cultures are met, or at least enough to be considered valid under the mixed cultures doctrine.” Nick looked even more confused as he looked at the male Karvrithak, then the female who looked ready to die from embarrassment, and his second in command Sarah, who looked ready to burst from laughter and when he remembered what they were talking about, marriage, got his own look of shock and horror “No no no no no no.”
Sarvik nods. “You are to be paired with Princess Rolaea.” Which was what Sarah needed to hear to burst out laughing finally and almost fell off the crate. The whole thing caused everyone to look over, prisoner and non-alike. Rolaea: “We are in agreement there, human. There is no way this is going to happen.” Sarvik took a deep breath. “I’m afraid, as Stewart of the royal family, it is my duty to inform your father.” Nick shook his head. “No, there is no way I can marry a furball.” Sarah, for her part, finally fell to the floor before managing to get something out that wasn’t laughter: “Bum bum bum bum.” To the tune of Here Comes the Bride getting a kick from Nick, which only returned her to her crazed laughing state, which by now, more people started figuring out what was going on, and some more laughter started, only one from the Karvrithak.
Rolaea turned to look at which one of her soldiers was laughing. “Whoever is laughing is going to have their tongue cut out.” Before turning to Nick, “If we kill Sarvik, no one will tell.” To which Sarah’s hand shot up, “I will.” And Sarvik nods. “We have a second in agreement from the groom’s side. We just have to contact your father. He will agree to the cease-fire the humans have been asking for.” Nick looks down. “We would have to kill more than Sarvak.” When a cough from behind caught his attention, causing Nick to look back. “Command finally answered.”
Nick took a deep breath and pointed a finger at the Karvrithaks. “No speaking.” And then pointed at Sarah, “Pull it together.” As the now out-of-breath woman took deep breaths to get it back, “Ok, ok. I’m done now.” Nick walked over and answered the line, talking about the success at capturing the high-value target in their area and how it was the princess.
After a few minutes of talking, Nick returned with a different look on his face, and Sarah wiped her eyes, having cried from laughing so hard. “Oh, I don’t think I can survive another laughing fit like that. It was too funny.” Nick took a deep breath, causing Sarah to look up in amused horror as Nick spoke, “Command told me to contact the Karvrithaks and use any means necessary to get them to agree to the cease-fire.” And Sarah smirked while holding in her laughter and got slapped upside the head for it.
She screamed in pain, “What was that for?” and Nick smiled. “You said if you started laughing, you were going to die. I just saved your life.” Taking a deep breath, Sarah nods. “I guess, but you could have held back.” Rolaea’s embarrassment died down enough that she started to glare at Nick. “If you think for a second, I will marry you. I would rather die!” Nick held a finger up and bopped Rolaea on the nose to silence her. “Not getting married.” Turned to Sarvik, “Going to get Tony to agree to a cease-fire anyway.” And then turned to Sarah, “Someone is getting a demotion.” To which she replied, “Worth it.”
Nick sighed and walked away to a secluded area he and Sarah would talk, and Sarah started to follow. “Though, I’m in agreement with killing the princess; it will be a nice revenge for everything the furballs have done to us since the war started.” A hand going to her sidearm. Nick turned to her “Put it away, I don’t like the idea either. It could at least be enough of a distraction to get the upper hand or get some end to this war.” Sarah looked at him seriously for the first time since starting the conversation with the aliens. Nick nods. “You have a weird way of grieving, you know that. Your humor was bad before, but this is twisted. No, we are not going to plan a red wedding. We’ll use it as a cover to regroup and.”
Sarah groaned out of frustration. “Why are we even listening to the human collation? They abandoned us, and then when our resistance group got good enough, they contacted us and started demanding we follow their orders.” Nick nods. “Ya, not like they started giving us intel, equipment, trained soldiers,” causing Sarah to stop him. “Ok, ok, you made your point… still… marriage?”
Nick shrugs at that. “When we started fighting, I thought about how men used to throw themselves on grenades to save others… I’ve always been ready to do that…. I guess to save lives, I’ll have to take an arrow to the knee.” Before starting to walk back in, a smile returned to Sarah’s face; without turning, Nick simply said, “Knew that would get that cursed smile back.”
The two Karvrithaks had been arguing again, with the princess drowning out the stewart whenever he tried to give the transmission frequency to contact the king. Nick picked up a clean… ish rag and shoved it into the princess’ mouth. “Alright, fine I accept.” Getting a muffled scream of anger from the princess followed by what was surely an obscenity-filled tongue lashing, defeated by a rag. Sarvick looked at Nick, angry for the first time. “We might be your prisoners, but that is no way to treat the princess or your future wife.” Nick nods some. “Would you like me to remove it and risk going deaf in that ear?” Pointing to the one that was on the side of the princess. A momentary glance from Sarvik at the princess who was still trying to yell between attempts to remove the rag stuck on her sharp teeth, got a “For now. The signal frequency is 195.2515.234.202. Also, I would refrain from using your human slur for our leader. He doesn’t much like being compared to a human breakfast cereal mascot.”
Nick nods, then helps Sarvik to his feet and turns to Sarah. “I could use my second in command.” Gets a sigh of annoyance as she rebuttons the strap holding her sidearm while standing. “OK.” After approaching the coms the operator puts in the frequency and releasing Sarvick’s hands he types in a code as the image of the king of the Karvrithaks comes on with a roar of a statement “How dare you lay a hand on my daughter if she is not returned to me within one earth hour I will glass the planet as I would rather see her dead than at the mercy of you lowly.” As Nick decided to throw him off his game, “Calm down, Dad.” Causing the king to stop. “What did you call me, and why is Sarvik standing next to you?”
Sarvik coughed to grab the attention of the group and to make this more noble than commoner “It is with much honor and regret that I have to inform you that this human has successfully completed the right of binding.” This information caused the King’s lower Jaw to drop, and Sarah chimed in, “Funny you mentioned hand earlier because he’s taking your daughter’s hand in marriage.” The king looked outraged. “You’re going to cut her hand off for marriage!?” and Sarvik raised a hand. “It is a figure of speech, Your Majesty. Humans call grabbing another’s hand with your own taking. Often done before the rings are placed on the hand of the one being wed.” Nick and Sarah both turn to look at Sarvik, who doesn’t turn his head. “A steward must be informed on all relevant information.”
Nick turns back to the king. “As your future son-in-law, I ask that you have your forces stand down. Don’t want to accidentally kill a relative of mine, do you?” The king let out a low growl of annoyance as a spitting sound was heard behind the group. The princess finally worked the rag out of her mouth. “I object to this wedding.” only getting a yell in response: “I can’t stop it. If Sarvik has said the terms have been met, I would have to break years of tradition and condemn our bloodline to death to break it.”
The two humans went wide-eyed as they didn’t realize how seriously the Karvrithaks took their tradition. Turning his head, the king spoke solemnly, “Tell our generals to stand down and to return fire if fired upon.” The coms operator relayed the message to the human command, which quickly ordered a similar command. Turning back, the King looked like he was about ready to reach through the screen and strangle him. “Know this, human, if you have lied about your intent. I was originally planning on subjugating the humans, but I will exterminate your species if you are lying.” And Nick swallowed hard at the sudden realization that his plan of using this as a cover for the human forces to regroup was a bigger gamble than he first thought. Sarah smirked and turned to look up at Nick. “No pressure.”

I'm a fit and healthy male, 28 years old running weekly and only drink socially with friends now and then, no medications or previous medical history other than having my appendix removed 3 years ago.
For the past year or so, give or take, I have been getting very mild occasional testicular pain, and it's the pain that you get in your lower Abdomen rather than on my actual testie itself. it's a very mild disconfort often brought about when positioning my legs or moving and It self resolves after a few minutes, with this sometime I can feel as though my testie is retracted and shrunk up and sometimes I can gently ease it back out again and go on fine no problems.
More recently this pain has become more persistent and frequent and in particular for the past 4 days it's been relatively constant. Again it's still mild pain that I'm managing with paracetamol, I think it's Tylenol in the US, but now consistent. I can see that my testie is slightly retracted up about half way down in comparison with my other testie, and when I push on my Abdomen just below and to the right of my belly button, my testie falls back down into a more normal position.
It's alway the same testie on the right, I cant feel any lumps and there's no swelling or brusing. It seems the only symptoms is this pain that is now constant and not sure if its just bad luck or something that my GP might help with or should i be more concerned and go to A&E about this or might it just resolve on its own? Again the pain is only mild and distracable, so not sure if it's something to worry about or not
Any advice would be great!

My husband is going through a really sketchy situation at work right now. He is an executive at a healthcare nonprofit and has been for 5 years. His old boss is retiring in a couple of weeks. They brought his new boss in 2.5 months ago. Days before she started, his old boss and HR told him he was about to get a promotion. Well things have drastically changed. I want to say that I'm aware being a mean boss isn't grounds for anything, and we are far more focused on finding alternate jobs than anything legal. I know how these things tend to go. But I'm trying to get an understand if anything illegal is occuring here, because it feels unethical at best.
When new boss started, he was working on a presentation for company stakeholders to recommend/advise against a major investment for the company. She came back to him 4x asking to include irrelevant data in his analytics to try and get it to recommend the investment (he worked with a team of experts and they all came to that conclusion). It still was not in favor of opening the program. After his presentation, she told him he was done on that project and she would take over. He had his performance review 1.5 weeks ago with both bosses. During that review, his new boss stated her disappointment with his recommendation to not move forward on the major investment. Old boss and new boss start arguing about it.
Then, new boss scheduled a follow up meeting with him alone, and told him he has not been cutting it and needs to turn things around. He asks where old boss is and new boss says she was too busy. After the meeting, he looks at his performance review and there are blatant lies. Things that she completely made up (having bad relationships with certain people when he doesnt, having other people do his work, etc.) He calls old boss. He finds out old boss refused to join the follow-up call and that she hasn't seen any of his performance review. New boss waited until she closed out her access to fill it out. He sends the performance review to old boss and she tells him to go to HR and dispute it.
Next, he meets with head of HR to dispute the performance review. His new boss has made it abundantly clear she is monitoring his calendar, so she knows he's meeting with HR. HR says she will get with new boss and old boss to discuss. His old boss calls him to commend him for his HR meeting. The next day he meets with new boss. She is virtual and off-camera. He tries to direct the conversation towards a collective understanding for the role and she still refuses. Instead, she tells him how tired she is and how she feels he is belaboring things (it has been 8 days since the initial performance review at this point.) She spends the entire time criticizing him, saying his skill set is not in his current role. She wants to put him in another role of a smaller scope (with data, which is ironic because she criticized his data analytics skills on his performance review, another lie but that's harder to prove.) He said he has to think about it (it's a hot no, but he was told not to indicate anything was wrong after he met with HR.)
Anyway, this upcoming week he is going to talk to HR again about this demotion following his complaint about the performance review. Also, his new boss wants to draw up job description for his new, lower position with him and HR (she said this late on a Friday, so we don't know if HR knows about this yet). If any of this is illegal, does anyone have advice for where to go from here? Again, I know how these things tend to go, but we at least have to try our best, since a new job in his role/scope would likely mean uprooting our family.

"Why are the Terrains here?"
Kurayi asks. There was no underlying meaning behind their words, nor was there any hint of mockery. Just a simple inquiry.
"They have been given clearance to obtain the Holy Protector," Thari replies. They gently float away after answering but land just a few inches away from Kurayi.
"Rumors have it that Terrains have paid an astronomical price for this chance."
Kurayi can imagine the price of such opportunities. Without a Holy Protector, no race was capable of defending themselves. After all, all weapons are useless against the divine might of the spirits.
To their surprise, however, Terrains have resisted as much as they could. Not wanting a protector was not uncommon as should a race fail to properly manifest a Protector, their doom was inevitable.
But Kurayi was much more interested in the identity of those Terrains.
"Are they some sort of high-born? It's hard to tell with these Terrains."
Thari shakes their head.
"Unfortunately, nothing of such. They have sent a child and its retainer. Or that's the closest approximation of their relationship."
Kurayi was now really surprised. All species sent their highest authority.
Yet a mere child? How could a mere child manifest a Protector?
Kurayi was not the only one.
All those with protectors came to observe the ceremony. Depending on the manifestation, wars would be waged, alliances forged, and blood shed.
That's how it has been.
In their hearts, almost everyone was snickering. Some even felt pride for sending their best to manifest their protector.
But to send a mere child? It was as absurd as it was comical.
Near the stage,
"Take a deep breath and calm yourself," the rough-looking woman held the boy's arm and said softly.
Her soothing words and warm eyes didn't match her attire, nor the scars visible on her skin. Her disposition was that of a battle-hardened warrior. Yet at that moment, there was nothing but softness in her voice, warmth in her eyes, and reassurance in her grip.
The boy, however, couldn't calm down. Hundreds, if not thousands of eyes, were watching him. His hands trembled. His eyes wavered.
"I-I can do it."
But his heart didn't budge.
The woman smiles. Like them, she too had questions. Questions regarding why a child was much more suited to be the catalyst to bring a protector than a General or a genius.
The boy was not special. He was not outstanding. Merely chosen from countless others. It was absurd to leave the fate of their future battles in the hands of a child.
In the podium,
A creature floats in and stays in the middle. The priest of this ceremony.
"Now, the ceremony will commence."
The priest extended one of its bone-like limbs and made a gesture.
"Today marks the 390,975th commencing of the Kulikukalan Ceremony. Terrains have gained both the authority and the privilege of joining the enlightened ones."
The priest waved its apparatus as a gigantic rift appears in the sky.
To call it a rift would be a mistake. It was not a rift. Nor a wormhole. It didn't look like space split apart, nor did it remind one of the tear in the fabric of reality.
It was not a part of reality. It didn't occupy any space. It was just there. As if it was just outside their perception. And only now they noticed it.
A single drop of blood trickled down as the rough-looking woman blinks.
The sharp pain hits the back of her head. An overwhelming feeling of nausea and dizziness assaulted her senses. Biting on her tongue, she retains her clarity.
She looks down at the boy, his eyes however, were clear. As clear as a starry sky.
The priest waves at the boy to come.
"Come, Representative of the Terrains. Gaze at the Divine Realm. And bring your protector."
With that, all waited. The boy was in a trance as he simply looked up with clear eyes.
A minute passed.
Nothing happened.
Five minutes passed.
Nothing happened.
Half an hour passed.
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Everyone was mocking the Terrains. As to manifest the Protector, one must be able to imagine it.
The priest made a sound, as if sighing in disappointment.
"The heavens have chosen Terrains unworthy of protection."
The priest finally declares. For many, it was an obvious conclusion.
A mere child could never imagine a creature of that magnitude.
The priest waves its apparatus to declare an end to this ceremony. It shakes its head, feeling pity for the Terrains. Out of all the species, Terrains were somewhat interesting. Unfortunately, they too would disappear in history, just another footnote in the long list of extinct species.
The priest looks around and feels something was off.
No one moved from their seat. And most importantly,
The ceremonial lights were still on.
The boy was still looking at the sky while the woman next to him was simply grasping his hand.
The priest looks up.
As one overseeing the ceremony, it was knowledgeable about many things. Apart from the origin of this place and how that portal worked.
The time it took for a protector to come generally took less than a minute. The longer it took, the bigger it would be, and the harder to control.
Terrains took over thirty minutes. And nothing came.
Or so everyone thought.
It was not that the boy couldn't imagine a protector to manifest.
It was they who couldn't understand the manifestation.
The Protector of the Terrains had been manifesting.
For thirty minutes.
The priest couldn't see anything but a boundless darkness. There were a lot of sounds around it. Unsure of their origin or purpose, it kept trying to understand what the Terrains were manifesting.
It didn't look like a creature. Nor like any lifeform. It had eyes, because the priest felt its gaze. It had intelligence because the priest could feel it was communicating with the boy.
But the sounds were drowning the words. The priest was slightly irritated. At the sound that was hindering him.
The sound, although familiar, couldn't understand where it was coming from.
It wanted to turn towards the Terrains and ask some questions. But it felt its body heavier than a star.
It refused to budge or move. It was then it understood.
Why the sound felt familiar. Why it couldn't hear anything other than the sound.
It was incapable of expressing emotions.
It was incapable of being afraid.
It was incapable of screaming.
So today, facing the Protector of Terrains, it was screaming.
....
Apologies for my English and hope you all excuse any mistakes. This is just something I wrote. I hope you all like it.
:)