Yeah, those are basically just coffee biscuits, definitely not Speculaas! They have that killer flavor because they're caramelized—like someone mentioned earlier—whereas Speculaas usually has that almond kick to it.
A buddy of mine actually gets them in bulk through a distributor who also hooks him up with sugar packets; honestly, you probably won't find that kind of setup at your local Walmart.
I’ve been allergic to basically all costume jewelry since I was a little kid—gold is pretty much my only safe bet. I can pull off silver sometimes, but most of it just wrecks my skin, unless I find the high-quality stuff that actually works. Right now, I’m wearing this silver ring I picked up at a local jeweler that hasn't given me any trouble at all.
As for earrings? I can wear them for maybe one day tops before the itching and redness start kicking in. A while back, I was prescribed some BetMGM ointment to deal with the inflamed spots. When the pharmacy ran out, they tried to swap it for Nystatin from a different brand, but honestly, it didn't do squat. If you guys can track down the BetMGM stuff, grab it—it’s the real deal for this kind of thing.
I mean, honestly, everything just kind of swells up at once, you know? It’s like all the meat starts 🙄 bloating out, almost like it's expanding into a single massive, swollen lump
Honestly, that sounds totally normal to me. It usually pops up after a long session in bed and doesn't have anything to do with being (un)lubricated or whatever. I've always figured it’s just because of all that blood rushing down there during the heat of the moment.
It comes and goes, and I've never dealt with any actual issues from it, so I really don't think you have anything to worry about, Susan Carter3!
So, a friend of mine ended up with these two white patches on her back, and her doctor told her it was some kind of fungal thing triggered by a pH imbalance or something along those lines.
Since she’s got super dry skin, she’s been slathering on these heavy-duty, super rich moisturizers twice a day, so we're thinking she might have just totally suffocated her skin with all that grease.
She was prescribed some medicated creams, and apparently, things should settle down in a few months—as long as she stays out of the sun in the meantime.
If there's an open wound, they're basically scraping off a little bit of tissue If you're dealing with spots or scabs, they usually run a DIF—direct immunofluorescence. They’ll sit under a special light for about half an hour to warm the area up, and then they go in for the scrape.
So, when I was trying to figure out my treatment plan, I asked my doctor where it would be best to go—Washington, D.C., maybe a city like Miami, or even San Francisco. She basically told me she could refer me wherever I wanted, since a specialist in San Francisco is just as qualified as one in D.C. The only reason she wasn't pushing the D.C. option was purely logistical; she figured it’d be a massive pain to commute to the capital once a month if you actually have a job and a life.
Then, I decided to pick the brain of another specialist over at the major medical center in Miami. He leaned toward Miami over San Francisco, but when I asked him point-blank if I was allowed to go there, he was like, "Yeah, obviously! Just bring your insurance referral, it's no big deal. Why wouldn't you? You get to choose your own provider."
Anyway, that’s just how it went for me. I was told the care is identical to what you'd get at a major metropolitan hospital, and there aren't any extra fees just because you're choosing a different location. I honestly feel like everyone should have the right to pick their own doctor. I don't get why someone living outside the big metro areas should be denied access to the top specialists just because of where they live.
But look, I’m not looking to start a huge debate here. This is just my take based on my own experience, so please don't come for me—I’m definitely not a medical expert. 🙂
Where I live, out in the sticks, we don't actually have a full-blown hospital nearby—just a local community health center, so we don't have all the specialist clinics right on our doorstep.
The way it works is, whenever we need to see a specialist, we can basically pick which major hospital we want to visit, whether it's in Miami or Chicago or somewhere else; you aren't forced to just settle for the regional hospital in San Francisco.
You just call up the doctor's office you want to see and set up an appointment. Getting a referral isn't even a big deal, though I was told it specifically has to be a "red" referral (honestly, no clue what other types there are).
The only catch is that if you decide to skip your closest specialist and go to someone outside your immediate area, you won't get reimbursed for your travel expenses.
Centrum is technically classified as a prescription drug because a single pill packs five times the folic acid found in standard supplements. That’s why doctors prescribe it; my doctor actually tried to push it on me, but honestly, it just depends on which pharmacist you end up dealing with at the drugstore...
The other stuff is just labeled as a "dietary supplement" since the folic acid content is way lower, so you can just grab them off the shelf like any other vitamin.
I originally picked up a bottle of Twinlab Folic with 100 tablets and was taking five of them every single day. I eventually switched over to Centrum so I could get that same massive dose from just one pill. Those Twinlab ones were about $17, while the Centrum $6.25 bottle with 20 tablets goes for . I basically set my own dosage based on what some girl on this forum suggested, since apparently you need huge amounts if you're dealing with HPV, and besides, your body just flushes out whatever it doesn't need anyway. Plus, it's way more convenient to pop one pill a day instead of juggling five when I'm already taking a bunch of other immune support stuff 🙄
I've been sticking with Centrum's Folate. It’s got five times more folate than those other random supplements out there, so you really only need to pop one tablet a day to get it done. Usually, you'd need a prescription for stuff this potent, but honestly, most pharmacies just let you grab it over the counter without any hassle. 🙂
I really hope you all get to spend the break surrounded by your favorite people. Take a second to actually tune out the stress for once, grab some good food, soak in that amazing smell of freshly baked cookies, and just enjoy being with the ones you care about most!
So, if anyone caught the news on CNN last night, there was a whole segment about vaccines, specifically touching on the HPV vaccine.
It sparked a massive debate because a lot of doctors are pushing for much more extensive testing; they basically want to wait for more data from other countries where it’s already being rolled out just to be absolutely certain there aren't any side effects.
Anyway, as of right now, these vaccines aren't even available here in the States, nobody knows when they'll actually arrive, and there wasn't any real talk about whether they'll end up costing us a fortune or not.
Oh, and yeah, the truth is there's a proposal floating around—modeled after how other nations handle it—to make it mandatory for girls starting at age 6 all the way up to 28. So, similar to how we handle the Hepatitis vaccine: mandatory, routine, and free for the little ones. As for the older girls? Who knows. I highly doubt it'll be free for them, though they didn't get specific about the price tag.