#md somewhat damaged

[mistic-sins]

Thumbnail for Murder Drones: Somewhat Damaged, huge thanks to Zander for the commission!!

[jasmines-library]

Hey, I love your Batfam work! Is there any chance you could do a whump/angst one of batsis being kidnapped by a villian(you can choose whoever you want) and she’s tortured for days with it being broadcasted to the Batfam while they try to track the footage. I feel kinda bad but can you do maybe some head trauma md severe burns? Maybe she has to be put in a medically included coma or smth because of the damage? Also is there any way you could include Barb and Duke along w/ the four robins? If not that’s totally cool! Sorry for the long request but I hope you have a great day!!

Anonymous Requested: batfam x batsib reader whos the youngest and newest robin and is just really goofy and doesn’t take anything seriously (ex: them blaring “who’s the (bat)man” on the comms during patrol [that songs stuck in my head i had to mention it]) and something happens, maybe their first close encounter to death or a run in with the joker and they just become a shell of who they were and stuff

Jokes On Me

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Note: My god im so sorry this literally took me forever to write, thank you so much for being patient. I've been trying to write this all week but just couldn't sit down for long enough to finish it.

Warnings: Torture, blood, burns.

Word Count: 2.5k

⛧ BATFAM MASTERLIST ⛧

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“Y/N, turn that shit off.”

Jason grumbled at you over the coms. You had been blasting some wretched song that you’d found on the internet over and over again and it was beginning to drive him mad. 

“Nope.” You said, popping the ‘p’ loudly. 

“Seriously.” Dick deadpanned. He had found it amusing at first, but it was now beginning to test his patience. 

Agitated, you sighed and turned off the music. “Fine.”

“Thank you.” Jason expressed gratefully, turning his eyes back to the road he was patrolling. The night was cool and quiet besides the odd dog walker or couple returning from an evening out. It was one of those nights where patrol would end early and he could return home to take a warm bath and read a book before turning in for the night. Or so he thought. 

You were rounding the corner, humming that tune that was still stuck in your head when his laughter ricocheted across the walls. You stiffened, eyes widening and hands fumbling for your weapon as your breath hitched. No amount of turning and craning your head allowed you to catch a glimpse of the dreaded figure, and you thought for a moment that perhaps it had just been a trick of your mind, or one of your brothers playing a cruel joke on you as payback for winding them up earlier. But then you heard it again, only this time to your left. You clutched your weapon tighter, eyes scanning the area with a new found sense of urgency. 

“Wing…” You whispered into the coms so quietly that you were surprised he heard it.

“What now?” He somewhat snapped. 

“We have a problem.”

Dick’s heart sank through the floor, his ears pricking up and his demeanour changing completely. “Where are you? What’s the matter? He was trying to let his panic show, but you hadn’t been patrolling as a vigilante for very long, and while you were well trained, you lacked the experience to deal with something big on your own. And from your tone of voice, he could tell that you were in some deep shit. 

Jason worked his legs harder to push himself to reach the direction he had seen you head off in. Albeit it seemed even his hardest wasn’t enough.

When he stepped out of the darkness, the first thing you noticed were his eyes. Wide and bright, easily mistakable for a cat’s as they flashed in the darkness; wild. Rabid. As he emerged fully with that infamous twisted grin splayed out on his face, you felt like a cornered animal; a deer in headlights. You froze, unable to move despite how your heart screamed at you to run as it pounded, trying to break free from your ribcage. 

“He’s here…” A mere whisper sliding over your tongue, so fragile that you weren’t even sure if you had actually said it aloud. Jason had heard it. 

“Who?” 

The Joker was circling you now, dragging out his strides in lazy circles. You should have fought but in that moment all of your training had drained out of you, along with the colour in your face. He smirked, leering down upon you as you tried to keep your trembling hand still. He pouted in mockery and at your silence, Jason repeated his question to you, but you never got the chance to respond. 

“Oh…Just an old friend, Jay-bird.”

“Joker.” Urging his body to move faster, Jason grit his teeth. 

Dick paled. “You leave them alone.” Dick spat. It tried to be a command, but the effect was lost somewhere in transmission.

The joker pursed his lips, tilting his head as he analysed. One of his hands had found his way to your jawline and he trailed it with a cold, gloved hand. You wanted to lean away, to run and find your brother but you knew that now he had you in his grasp there was no point in even trying. “And why would I do that? They’re right in front of me. I could just…snatch them up.”

“Don’t you dare!” Dick was frightened now. “Y/N, you stay there as long as you can, okay? You fight. We’re coming, you hear?”

The Joker frowned at you. “D’you hear that? Big brother birdy coming to the rescue. How sweet.”

His grip on you tightened. “Too bad you’ll be long gone by the time they get here.”

With one swift motion, he had thrown you harshly to the side, your head colliding with the wall with a sickening crack. 

The two boys skidded to a halt just a second too late. You were already gone. 

~

Your head hurt when you woke up. Your eyes squinted against the sterile light. They did no favours to your pounding headache. With a groan, you tried to twist, to roll over and soothe the crook in your neck but instead all that happened was the jinging of a metal chain. You craned your head and spotted the thick chain that had been wrapped around your wrist, confining you to the chair. Struggling, you tugged on them, trying to free yourself only for them to rattle and scrape against your skin. 

“Yeah, that’s not going anywhere, birdy.” The joker chided.

You glared at him through narrowed eyes, trying to mask the thumping of your heart. The joker grinned wildly at your frightened complexion. 

“It was such a shame that Grayson and Todd didn’t get to you in time, but it was far too easy to catch you, little bird: you completely froze.” He snapped his fingers to emphasise his point. “Didn’t batsy teach you better?”

“Don’t talk about them.” You snapped. 

The joker raised his hands, palms facing toward you in surrender: taunting you as if you were the one with the power in the situation. “Touchy subject I see. Too bad.” 

He gestured above you to an incessantly blinking light. “Smile for the camera, you’re live.”

~

Babs had been monitoring the street cameras when the computer beside her flickered to life. She had been searching for any sign of you ever since Dick and Jason came flying through the grandfather clock. Everyone was on edge. 

The moment the screen flashed on, her eyes perked up to watch it, alarmed. She hadn’t turned it on. And there were very few people who could bypass the caves system. So when she saw a small frame curled up in a chair she knew immediately what was up. 

“Duke…” she called to the dark haired boy who was trying to help decipher your whereabouts. “Go and get B.” 

It did not take long at all for everyone to gather around in the cave. Duke was fast, and everyone dropped what they were doing to race down: even Alfred had taken his leave from his duties to see. 

It was almost like some sick irony because as soon as they were all there, you began to scream. A guttering, perfect scream that cut that through them like a knife: unclean and pinging into them messily again and again. 

The joker had taken a knife to your left thigh, his smile dripping with malice as he watched the camera, somehow knowing that at least one of them would be watching. 

Your face was contorted in pain, twisting in agony as tears rolled flatly down your cheeks from fearful eyes. Damian felt sick, his stomach churning. Jason wanted to leave. But all of them were stuck watching. Barbra was tapping away, trying to locate the signal from the video to no avail. 

“I hope you’re watching this Batsy…” He moved round to trail your face with the edge of the knife. You whimpered. “I’ve got your little bird here and I must say, you need to work on their training. They were far too easy to catch.”

Bruce felt his jaw tightening and Tim had to place a hand on his arm to remind him of his place. 

“Anyway I thought we would play a little game… how long can little y/n survive for. I wonder if it’ll be any longer than our very own Jason Todd.”

Jason twitched. 

“I’m testing you here, Bat. Tick Tock.”

The transmission cut to black. 

~

It seemed hopeless. Even though they had been searching for days, they were no closer to finding you. And to make matters worse, they could see you. Not long after the first transition ended did it start up again. It had been lifestreaming since then, and although they had tried to block it from their minds, it was hard to ignore. Especially when your agonised screams ricocheted throughout the halls. 

You looked like hell. Dark bags occluded under your eyes and there wasn’t an inch of your skin that wasn’t marred or stained with drying blood. The burns were worse. Damian could still hear the scream you let out when the joker first brought the hot poker to your skin. It had bubbled and blistered as the skin peeled away; you had thrashed against your restraints violently. Tim was certain that they were going to get infected if they didn’t reach you soon. 

It felt as if they had searched everywhere. Dick and Jason had even asked around to see if anyone had heard anything, going as far to talk to the Jokers closest associates in Arkham, but even if they did know, nobody said anything. Duke had even gone as far to go back to the area to use his powers to see if he could trace anything, but nothing seemed out of place; they had hit a brick wall. That was…until a small light appeared on the monitor. Babs had managed to trace the signal to a small building on the outskirts of the city. 

They were suited up in minutes, making a beeline for the building. They stormed it, recklessly taking down the Joker's goons before Batman chased wildly after the Joker, his face stony and his fists burning with anger. The other four boys chased down the winding corridors, flinging open the doors until they found one that was locked. Tim wasted no time, picking the lock with ease he peeled it open. His breath hitched when he saw you. 

Your face was gaunt, hanging low by your chest. Your suit was torn and there was less of it on your body than there was ripped away. You looked so fragile as your chest heaved sporadically. 

Jason nearly had to take a step back. This place reminded himself too much of his own encounter with the Joker not too long ago. But he pressed forward, fighting his instincts. He had to be strong. Instead of turning back, he kneeled in front of you, whispering your name. His hand came up to cup your face. You flinched away. 

“It’s okay kid. It’s us.” He tried to reassure you, but you shrank back into yourself. 

“We’re so, so sorry kiddo.” Dick tried placing a gentle hand on your arm before moving to work on the cuffs around your wrists. “We’re going to get you out.”

You said nothing, just continued to stare at the black space before you, and Dami wasn’t sure if you even knew they were in front of you. But when Jason moved away from you to help remove your restraints, your fingers latched onto him and you squeaked in protest. 

He sighed shakily. “Don’t worry kid. I’m not going anywhere.”

Damian twisted from where he was guarding the door. “We need to leave.”

Dick nodded bluntly, finishing with the last of the locks. “I’m going to have to pick you up, okay sweetheart?”

You barely registered what he had said. Everything had grown numb, you nodded anyhow. Moving his arms underneath your legs and slipping one arm behind your back, Jason began to lift you. He nearly recoiled when you cried and whimpered with the way your wounds jostled as he sprinted out of the building to get you back to safety. 

~

You were yet to say anything since you came home. You had been back a few days and your wounds were healing up nicely thanks to Alfred’s handywork, but the air was eerily silent around you. It wasn’t as if you hadn’t been communicating with them; you spoke to them with gestures or writing but no one was used to not hearing your voice. The stark contrast between your loud and bustling personality and you now was unsettling. No one wanted to push you too far but the manor was beginning to grow lonely. 

It was one particularly rainy night when you finally spoke.  You were curled up in a large armchair by the window in the library, sinking back into the plush leather as you watched the raindrops race down the glass. Jason had been watching you from afar, contemplating whether to talk to you or not when he walked over. 

“What are you up to?” He asked you, making sure you knew that he was there before he spoke. 

You gestured toward the window,then to the half opened book at your feet and shrugged. 

“I see.” He nodded, taking a seat on the armchair opposite you. A comfortable silence settled between the two of you. Jason wasn’t much of a talker. He knew more than anyone what you were going through, which was why it was nice just to know that he was willing to sit with you, just so you knew that he was there if you needed him. It made you feel safe. But you also couldn’t help but feel guilty, and frustrated with yourself for being in a place that made him feel as though he had to do that. 

“I’m sorry.” You whispered. 

Jason had to do a second take. His heart swelled. “What for?”

You sighed. “This. When I saw him…i-i froze. If I had run then this would never have happened.”

“Shh. This isn’t your fault.”

“But-”

“I promise, Kid. You’ve done nothing wrong.”

You nodded, looking away from him. But then you furrowed your brows and turned back to him. “How did you do it? How did you deal with this, Jay? Every time I close my eyes he’s there.”

“I guess I don’t, really. Or sometimes it feels like I don’t. I still get scared sometimes. I still see him in my dreams. But over time it gets easier. I had people around me to help me. And so do you, kid. We’re here. We’ll always be here.”

Jason shifted to brush away a rogue tear and you leaned into his touch and then wrapped your arms tightly around his middle. 

“I’m here. Always. We’ll get through this together.”

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BATFAM TAGS

@aestheticdaisies @hearts4robs @xxrougefangxx @mamapucket @hell-o-kittys @harleycao @batfamsstuff @alicedawitchbish

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[thevoidinyourstomach]

Ok, I just got journal 3

And I found a lot of interesting things, but because I need something to focus on, I'm gonna go with my main man Mcgucket!

Journal 3 spoilers under the cut, probably some book of bill, I can't always remember from where I got the information

Also sorry if it's just a mess, I tried my best

Ok, it's often talked about how Ford wasn't there during Fidd's descent into madness, they had fought and went on their separate ways.

And then, we all think his first impression or point of reference about Fidd is during weirdmagedon

Which is sad and a bit of a relief, since he didn't see him at his worst, in the book of bill we even learn that after all of this was over ford went to visit him in the dumpster and felt so sad about the condition he was in, and he couldn't understand why Fiddleford seemed somewhat happy there.

Yeah, all of that is great, but going back to my point after handing the context.

When he comes back he takes the journal back into his possession, he even remarks in the journal about how dipper probably ruined the studies because he was using the journal and a diary, and that once he had time he would sit down to "assess the damages". Which means at some point between tales of two Stan's and DD&MD he read the journal... Finding this

Imagine Ford's heart dropping, hoping that this is incorrect, trying to think it has to be another guy named Mcgucket... But no, there is only one genius called that, and it's not until he finally sets eyes on him that he finally accepts all the damage he has done

[thedoodlenoodle14]

Ok sooo...a cool person ( @regretfullyrave ), convinced me to create a post about a few of my OCs for my future murder drones AU called "It lives on Ebony 8" and welll.....here it is! XD

I'll also first say that my AU takes place on a completely different Exoplanet called Ebony 8 (which instead of being ice and snow is mostly just forest and rivers, no oceans tho, unfortunately), but still used to be inhabited by humans before the disassembly drones attacked 😅

But, here's a list of my MD OCs! :3 or at least, the OC's I think are most important XD

1. Xane- Grumpy boi Xane! XD Before he was sent to earth, he, as well as two other disassembly drone ocs, Beta and Green, had a virus implanted within them which became known as "The Dark Matter infection" (which sort of gave Cyn an easy access to, not take them as hosts, but use them as puppets instead). Although Xane loves to fight, he hates to fight when controlled by Cyn and wishes to find a cure.

Other than that, Xane may seem pretty threatening, but deep down he's a big softie (he won't admit it tho XD)

2. Eric- Eric is my worker drone oc, and possibly the main character of my AU 👀 his parents once studied the disassembly drones and the The Dark Matter infection and after their death, Eric continued their work, but also befriended Xane and helps to find a cure for him.

Eric is smart, but not a very good fighter XD but he's kind and willing to give second chances. He finds disassembly drones way more fascinating than scary too lol

3. Green - (creative name, I know TvT) Just like Xane, Green also has the Dark Matter infection. When she landed on Ebony 8, she took a lot of damage. Her weapon system was damaged beyond repair, leaving her somewhat defenceless. However, without her weapon system, she couldn't easily overheat, meaning she didn't have a need to kill worker drones for oil. She actually ended up befriending a worker drone colony and becoming sort of a protector of them. Green is pretty chill and laid back tho and not overly dramatic like Xane XD

4. Beta - Once again, he has the Dark Matter infection too 😅 he's still a character I'm developing, but from what I can say, he's a pretty jumpy and paranoid dude and always nervous. And his best friend is a cat called Milo! :3 (Beta is a major cat person XD)

(I don't have an updated design for him yet 😅)

5. M - M is the leader of one of the disassembly drone squads (Xane's ex-squad too). She...uh...also killed Eric's parents...heh....😅 M is also kind of in love with Xane (despite Xane not feeling the same way at all XD), but M is pretty much a psychopath. However, I do want to continue developing her and perhaps giving her some motivations to her actions. Like...I know M is pretty evil...but I do believe she might be capable of change somehow.....just gotta keep developing her character 😅

(I also don't have an image for her yet XD)

6. Cortex - one of my newer Ocs, who was originally a worker drone, but I changed him to a disassembly drone instead XD He's M's twin brother, but I haven't developed a solid backstory or personality for this character yet. All I can say I that...he's not at crazy as M 😅 I'm still also trying to decide whether he would be a villain or not, but I have been thinking of giving him a similar role to J in some way.

As an added bonus, here's a little concept of Cortex when he was still a worker drone in development 👀

But yea...those are just the OCs that I think are pretty important in my AU so far :D they're all a work in progress and will probably change over time (except Xane, of course) :3

Also, go follow @regretfullyrave. They're cool! :3 And I also don't wanna get charged for tax evasion by W lmao

[ofieloafi]

for some reason I decided to do a solo md run with and max out every single rodya id this month 😎

also threadspun all her egos to max as well

she's so cool I wish I was like her

some observations for each id I gathered in my time playing:

Base: she's surprisingly durable, though even that hardly makes up for her awful rolls. Also her attack sprites are super weird like

what kind of angle are you hitting at girl. Are you trying to kill some random bug on the ground? I feel like she has the worst attack sprites out of all the base ids, though them making her look like she's swinging kind of recklessly and with no practice might be fitting to her character?

Kurokumo: Surprisingly good for a release id. I think it'd be fun if her s3 had attack weight. She doesn't look all that kurokumo with her coat lacking the cloud texture and her having no visible tattoos outside the one on her breat.

LCCB: A very interesting concept that while good for its niche isn't something really relevant to the game. Like she would be really good if the game went in a direction where defense skills were a genuine threat outside of a few counters and evades being annoying. Other than that her blunt synergy is cool but greatly limits her.

Ncorp: Love how messy she looks. Also weird how in each of her "evil" identities (Ncorp, Tcorp, Princess) she mentions refusing to eat. She's okay, probably decent in a full Ncorp team. I don't have much to say besides she looks really cool and hot.

Rosespanner: the first good id she got that still holds up pretty good despite her clashes being somewhat mediocre. Synergizes really well with her effervescent corrosion ego and its passive.

Zwei: Probably my favourite 00 id. The concept of turning poise count into shield is so interesting, and makes her quite a decent meatshield. Other than that though she doesn't have much going for her and she barely has any synergy with the other good zwei identities.

Dieci: I don't really need to say anything. It's dieci rodya. I think she's strong in kind of a boring way

Liu: She's cool. Love using her passive in teams to get big wrath absolute resonances going, though the condition of everyone being burned is harder to achieve in chain battles.

Tcorp: got an absolute ass run with her and barely got any tremor gifts before the end. She's okay. Good clashes and tremor application but not a lot of bursts.

Devyat: She's just strong and fun. Really good for solos with the free shield she gains and her incredible damage potential. Also I just love the concept of a weird bag that has limbs and things that come out of it. That's just cool.

Princess: Clashable counters make regular encounters super easy in solos. A bit worse for them than the other bloodfiend ids since her healing is tied to her passive and not her abilities, but once she gets going she's really good. Also using an umbrella as a weapon is just really cool. Also unrelated but when she was released people were being so boringly horny for her, like this is Rodya, she's had her tits out since launch and now you notice them? Also her uptied art is way hotter anyway.

I don't have much to say for egos since most of them are pretty straightforwards.

don't use pursuance in solos since the additional effects are ally only as far as I've tried.

I hope she gets a negative sp id some day to benefit from the passive of what is cast and to make the awakening of 4th match flame more powerful.

hope she gets a charge id some day so she can have some relevance in any team (rosespanner is too dependant on tremor to really count)

maybe a sweeper id with the backstreets intervallo cause they eat people and rodya is a hungry girl.

idk

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved on our archive

By Rhys Richmond

Our nerves help us sense, react to, and change our surroundings. Simply put, our nerves are our connection to the world. This connection is disrupted, however, when peripheral neuropathy strikes.

The peripheral nervous system starts when nerves leave the spinal cord and ends when the nerves reach our tissues. Peripheral neuropathy, defined as a disorder of the peripheral nervous system, interferes with this connection. This can manifest as tingling or numbness (often in the hands and feet) that spreads over time. The feeling can be akin to how a limb feels when it “goes to sleep.”

Research shows that around 2.4% of the population suffers from peripheral neuropathy, with that number rising to about 8% in older patients. Most recently, clinicians have also identified this condition in some patients who have had COVID-19. One study found that as many as 56% of COVID-19 patients reported symptoms of peripheral neuropathy post-infection.

What causes peripheral neuropathy? Neuropathies can have a slew of causes. Trauma, inflammation, diabetes, infections (viral or bacterial), certain medications, inherited conditions, poor nutrition, and hormone imbalances can be responsible. All of these factors can lead to toxicity and inflammation of the nerve and its coating, which in turn contributes to the physical breakdown of the cell and its ability to function. But no clear cause is found in nearly a quarter of the patients with this type of neuropathy.

Clinicians use further sub-classifications to describe the extent of the disease and how it manifests. For example, mono-neuropathies involve just one nerve, while polyneuropathies include many nerves.

Additionally, it’s crucial to know exactly what is going wrong with the nerve:

If the neuropathy is “demyelinating,” this means that the nerve has lost part of its myelin coating, a physiological “accelerator” of nerve signals that helps nerves talk very quickly to one another and to muscles. Damage to the cell body of the nerve can occur if it is compressed or cut off from metabolic necessities (including glucose, the molecule that our cells use for energy) due to impingement from, for example, an abnormal growth or tumor. Axonal damage, which affects the long stem of the nerve cell that lets it “talk” to other nerves, can happen due to similar metabolic toxicities or trauma. This is what scientists currently think happens, in large part, in other non-COVID viral models of peripheral neuropathy, such as HIV, hepatitis C, etc. Why would COVID-19 cause peripheral neuropathy? Lindsay McAlpine, MD, a neurologist and founder of the Yale NeuroCOVID Clinic, has conducted research on what is now known clinically as peripheral neuropathy after COVID-19. She notes that there are two main categories of neuropathy following COVID-19 infection. One is the “acute illness mediated type,” in which patients find themselves with sudden, severe neuropathy, generally around the same time as their active illness. The second is small fiber neuropathy, which results from damage to the thinnest, unmyelinated nerves in our body and often begins with burning pain in the feet. It typically arises somewhat later—around two to 12 weeks post-illness.

Peripheral neuropathy in COVID-19 patients has been reported in both axonal and demyelinating forms, according to the medical literature. Researchers suspect that COVID-19 associated neuropathy could be driven by several causes. One might be immune system dysfunction, in which the body attacks itself instead of, or in addition to, attacking viral particles. Or COVID-19 may have hemodynamic effects that interfere with how blood flows through the body’s blood vessels, damaging the nerves and leading to “ischemia” due to restricted blood/nutrient flow, known as critical illness neuropathy.

How do clinicians diagnose peripheral neuropathy? To diagnose peripheral neuropathy, your clinician will ask you questions about your symptoms—when did they start, for example, and how would you describe the pain? The questions that Dr. McAlpine asks her patients include: “Is the pain intermittent? Is it localized to a certain part of your body? Is it patchy? Does it radiate? Are you numb, itchy, and/or hypersensitive?” Hallmarks of peripheral neuropathies include not only pain, but also weakness and numbness. Your answers to these questions can help clinicians pinpoint the cause of your symptoms.

As part of the diagnostic work-up, you’ll typically see a neurologist, who will perform a complete neurological exam with deep reflex checks—leveraging the same reflex hammer your primary care doctor may use on your knee at your yearly checkups. This helps clinicians tell if some of the nerve circuits that are not under your conscious control are functioning correctly. If something is abnormal here, it may point to another cause of your symptoms that is not related to small nerve fibers. For example, is it possible that Long COVID could be working in tandem with another cause to trigger symptoms?

The next step involves lab tests to rule out common causes of neuropathy, as well as conditions, such as vitamin B12 deficiency or an autoimmune disease, that could either lead to neuropathy on their own or co-occur with COVID-19 and worsen neuropathy symptoms.

Next, your clinician will likely order an electromyography test (EMG)/nerve conduction study, which can help determine whether your symptoms appear to be related to large nerve fiber demyelination, axonal damage, or radiculopathy (due to a damaged or pinched nerve, most often in the spine). This test measures the electrical output of nerves when stimulated and will be negative (“normal”) if your peripheral neuropathy is due to small fiber nerve damage.

If the diagnosis is still elusive, clinicians typically order additional tests, including punch biopsies (the removal of small pieces of skin that are sent to a specialized lab to be assessed for small fiber density) and/or a special bloodwork panel that can look for uncommon causes of sensory neuropathy, which results in a loss of sensation in various parts of the body.

How is peripheral neuropathy treated? Clinicians often rely on a mixed-methods approach, including physical therapy and rehabilitation. Dr. McAlpine stresses the importance of “optimizing the environment for nerve healing”—that is, controlling other diseases such as diabetes that could be worsening symptoms, while also treating symptoms that can interfere with a patient’s function and sleep with medications, such as gabapentin (Neurontin®), pregabalin (Lyrica®), and duloxetine (Cymbalta®), that treat nerve pain.

B vitamins play a crucial role in neural function, so supplementation of vitamins B1 and B12 might help relieve symptoms and protect nerves from future damage if a deficiency is the underlying cause. Oversupplementation with B6 is known to cause nerve damage and neuropathy

If evidence of autoimmune damage of the large or small nerve fibers is discovered during testing, clinicians can start IVIg—intravenous immunoglobulin—to help calm inflammation of the nerves. However, treatment with this medication can be time-consuming and costly. Insurance may not cover the drug, depending on the coverage plan and stated indication.

Because patients must sometimes wait up to several months to see a neurologist, Dr. McAlpine notes that primary care physicians may be able to prescribe gabapentin or one of the other medications listed above for at-home use to help treat symptoms while patients wait for their neurology appointment.

If you’d like more details on Long COVID-related small fiber neuropathy, Dr. McAlpine (Twitter/X: twitter.com/lindsaymca) has recently published a series of small case studies on this topic.

Rhys Richmond is an MD candidate at Yale School of Medicine.

Takeaway from Lisa Sanders, MD: When I was a child, my sisters and I often debated which sense we could live without most easily. As I recall, it usually came down to either the sense of smell or touch. In our lives at that age, bad odors and the bangs and bruises of a normal active childhood were the most vivid and unpleasant of our sensory experiences. Of course as an adult, and a physician, I think differently. I wouldn’t give up any of them.

But for those with peripheral neuropathy, this essential perception can become burdensome. The constant burning or numbness or pins-and-needle sensations some of the patients we see suffer through can often be torturous. Moreover, peripheral neuropathy can be dangerous. It is the tiny nerves that populate our skin that alert us to injury or infection. They tell us about the world around us. And when those nerves give us bad information, the world becomes a much more hazardous place. And a much harder place to live in.

At this point, it’s essential to try to find the underlying cause of the neuropathy and treat that. In the US and Europe, long-standing diabetes is the most common cause of peripheral neuropathy. When diabetes is well controlled, the risk of developing this complication can be reduced. In Long COVID, we still don’t fully understand the cause. All we can do is help with the pain. The medications mentioned above can relieve some of the pain. Capsaisin, the component that gives hot peppers their heat, can sometimes help as well, as can ice. Dr. McAlpine’s work using intravenous gamma globulin to treat neuropathies caused by an immune system gone bad is intriguing. And it may suggest a possible long-term treatment. At this point, it’s only an interesting idea; we can’t know for certain until more research is done.

Studies mentioned:

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1122393/ pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9538868/ pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8853404/

[starlover2]

Some stuff abt my MD AU/NG This was smth I brainstormed ever since August iirc lol The super earth is called Iridium-30 (It's also gonna be the name if the AU) J and Doll also live there Doll survives the horrific ordeal with the solver but exiles herself the moment she's recovered, J, who was aiming to leave Copper-9 anyway, begrudgingly takes her along for the ride(They were hostile towards each other at first)

J and Doll eventually, somehow, start bonding during this time and pretty much become queerplatonic wives They bump into Tessa as a resassembly drone and Tessa has J and Doll as her roommates

More DDs also live on the planet, some have become reformed and drink oil from juice boxes, DD babies following their parents too, while other DDs have decided to stick to their old programming and resume killing

Dogs and cats live there too bc I say so (Making edits to this) Doll is still in contact with Uzi, she doesn't consider her a friend but in a way, still desires companionship(J counts but she'd start to miss Copper-9 a little. Don't tell Uzi), and still empathizes with the solver situation since Uzi now has Cyn in her tail. Doll is in low contact with Lizzy. In her eyes Lizzy betrayed her but parts of her miss their friendship. Doll doesn't like V and never will, she's tired of being angry so she begrudgingly tolerates her J is still all business talk but is somewhat chilling out N and V are in contact with J still but it's more like a "We'll only call you if ABSOLUTELY necessary" case. Other than that they don't bother with her N doesn't forgive J for the treatment towards him, and occasionally side eyes her. They tolerate each other(As long as N stays a certain distance from J in J's case) N does acknowledge V's compliance but unlike J, V has apologized to him for it and would do so again and again, it's something she's forever sorry for, and N has forgiven her for that reason(Besides they've been close back in the manor days) V and J don't get along anymore after what happened in Absolute End

Uzi, N and co. find a way to get to Iridium-30, the Solver is not a concern anymore but resources had begun to dwindle on Copper-9, even parts of the ground started to crumble and be taken over by flesh, thanks to the devastating damage Cyn brought about, since she ate a good chunk of the planet. Soon enough there would be nothing(Slighty inspired by OITTB by DroneBiscuitBat with this one lol)

Nori was able to have her body reconstructed before traveling planets

Celestine is the oldest of the NG cast, and the first and last DD-WD hybrid to be born on Copper-9 (Born 1 year before resources were exhausted) Also Sparky goes with them, that V's pet, she's not leaving her sentinel behind

[unma]

hey, you're the rupture inspector right? any recommendations on a rupture team (IDs + EGOs) you think can survive the 10 Floor MD Update?

I almost forgot they were planning to do that. I'm gonna boot up Limbus really quick and start ranking ids based on how well I think they'd do surviving the rising conditions while still being like, usable. No evading every turn for 99 turns and literally nothing else, I mean.

TL;DR a regular rupture team is what you'd use, with only minor adjustments, because there's not much you can do to be better.

Individual Rating for each Rupture ID

Lobotomy E.G.O::Lantern Don Quixote This is the creme de la creme of rupture ids imo, but that is my entirely subjective opinion based on how much I love this id. But there is some truth to it: simply the fact that she's a heal-tank with only one stagger bar tons of healing sources means her survivability goes through the roof, which is the most important thing when enemies are going to start outrolling you and doing tons of damage. I hope some update gives her unbreakable coins so she's even more stupid busted. Anyway her clashing isn't the best, but you're playing rupture so that's to be expected.

LCE E.G.O::Lantern Yi Sang Don't.

W Corp. L3 Cleanup Agent Yi Sang Best in slot for Yi Sang, given the alternative likes to die. Evades were so heavily sought after in previous MDs, and it remains the same here. Extra base power means he rolls up to a possible 16 on evades, which means that unless you're taking wayyy too much coin/final/base power he will be able to dodge most things if they get too difficult to clash with. His passive applying charge barrier and his high rolls on account of being a W Corp. unit means he'll start struggling much later than most other rupture units and will also help them with a bit of survivability upon using his s3 or dimension shredder. Optimal conditions for him is just s2 and s3s in his kit, get rid of all of his s1s. With the tier IV charge gift you can afford to have more s3s if you want.

LCE E.G.O::Lantern Yi Sang Okay, seriously this time. He could be decent, with unbreakable coins and actually trying to lose. He'd be even better if he had a gloom skill, but it's whatever. Issue is he lacks the healing capabilities of his much better counterpart in lantern don. Dimension Shredder means he technically never goes count negative, which is great given he's another one of those stupid rupture ids that stop inflicting count when you reach the rather low 15/3 threshold.

But well, the issue is

Yeah.

He's going to die. Very quickly. Maybe if you don't use his s3 or his counter he can survive for as long as you'd like, but like. Come on. Just run W Corp. Yi Sang. Don't do this to yourself.

Seven Assoc. South Section 4 Faust Let's get this straight. You should always run her. Trade all her s1s for s2s. She rolls up to a 22 with those, and you want the coin power and rupture count it gives. Also. Fluid Sac. If you don't have oracle or other good ego gifts, then maybe keep some s1s. But like, if you're going past floor 5 without one just end the run. You're going to need fluid sac, there's no question about it. That's the main reason she's a must run, anyway. There are other good healing ego, but unless it's on Rodya it's kinda an issue given that other ids don't clash as well.

Seven Assoc. South Section 6 Ryoshu Why is she on this list? She has, like, one source of rupture lol.

Cinq Assoc. West Section 3 Meursault One of the only two good conditional rupture ids, given he and Rodya have skills that don't consume rupture count. You want him on the team. He's got good clashing, even without regret, and he has an evade. Need I say more?

W Corp. L2 Cleanup Agent Meursault He's a funny one alright. I'm only including him on this list because he single-handedly enables my charge md runs to become charge/rupture md runs with that s2 of his. Also, coin power. With regret, he rolls somewhat decently for a 000 id. Replacing everything with his s2 is really funny if you have thunderbranch and the chicken wing. But it's only really funny. You shouldn't really run him unless you're trying to do funny shit on charge teams, he kinda just sucks compared to the other two rupture options he has. I guess he's got decent survivability, but that's all. Cinq Sault is better anyway, what with the evade and gloom s3.

Dead Rabbits Boss Meursault I don't have much to say about him. I used to run him before I got Cinq Sault. He's got decent numbers for a 00, even without Regret. Offense down is cool, I guess, but it's not much. If you don't have Cinq Sault, maybe he works. Maybe.

Fanghunt Office Fixer Hong Lu If you've got decent rupture infliction, or just have the rupture fusion gifts, he's really not the worse thing to run. I hate that he has the conditionals, given his count infliction is decent, but it's whatever. He gets tons and tons of coin power, which is great for outrolling things. More coins is more rupture activations, which makes him great for teams that can ramp up quickly. That's all. Lasso is a good ego too, I guess, if you really need to activate rupture on multiple enemies. It's whatever, I don't have it uptied and I've barely used it.

Seven Assoc. South Section 4 Heathcliff He's decent. Fusion gifts means he's very count positive on anything. He's going to struggle to clash the higher you go though, given both his s2 and s3 only roll a 16. Binds spam is an option however, especially since rupture teams aren't exactly struggling for gloom. It does eat into your fluid sac resources though, and the bind it hits you with can be something of a problem sometimes, so I'd be careful using it.

LCCB Assistant Manager Ishmael Unless you are in a focused encounter you should literally never run her. She's an ammo identity, a slow same turn paralyze unit, and her only rupture infliction is on her s3. You will either spam Blind Obsession every turn or she will die. She is somewhat tanky too, which would be a positive if that didn't mean she could steal talismans if you decided you wanted to use them. But hey, she's usable as a tank with aggro if you need to redirect enemy attacks once she's done her job and run out of bullets. Some of you might be wondering why I didn't make that as much of a downside when I said LCE Yi Sang sucked for this. Well first, I'm a hater. Note that down. Second, she doesn't have that stupid conditional, and third she doesn't have that STUPID conditional.

Lobotomy E.G.O::Sloshing Ishmael LOL

Devyat' Assoc. North Section 3 Rodion Yeah, you're running her. Decent coin power conditionals on all her skills, with only her s3 eating count upon its conditional. S3 is excellent for setting up rupture stacks, gains an extra coin on its conditional which is great for the same reason Fanghunt Hong Lu can be good. She also has access to Pursuance and Hex Nail, the former of which does not compete with Fluid Sac whatsoever. You are going to run her if you have her, whether you like it or not.

Devyat' Assoc. North Section 3 Sinclair No.

Lobotomy E.G.O::Red Sheet Sinclair He will die in five seconds flat. You're benching him for his passive if you're running him anwyay.

Devyat' Assoc. North Section 3 Sinclair I hate this id so goddamn much. You think it'll be good like Rodion, and then it comes out and is dead on arrival. Impossible to justify running this over Talisman outside of MD. A 000 id. Dead on arrival. Because benching a 00 id is better in every way. God. Defense down as a trade off for rupture is really fucking stupid. Okay, you can do tons of true damage every coin. Or you can do a bit more damage. Yeah. Sure. Without his conditional he's actually pretty decent at inflicting rupture and rupture count, but with it he just kinda sucks. But you will never get an objective look at him from me, given how much I loathe these conditionals.

Seven Assoc. South Section 6 Director Outis She's whatever. You can tell she's a pretty old rupture unit just by looking at her kit. She does have access to Binds, Dimension Shredder and Ebony Stem, which are pretty good high attack weight ego, so she might be worth running just for those, especially since her id isn't like, especially bad or anything. She's just not that good.

G Corp. Manager Corporal Gregor Bench.

Special mention: The Ring Pointillist Student Yi Sang I mean, like. He goes on literally every team. It's Ring Sang, idk what you'd expect. Personally, I don't care for him, and I don't even have him, but do whatever you like.

One more thing before I make the team.

Devyat' Assoc. North Section 3 Sinclair For real, this time. Look, I hate him, but I have to admit that the coin power he gets off conditionals are pretty good, and it's worth running him for that alone if you're lacking options. I personally would never do such a thing, but it's an option for people who are more normal about him than me. Cavernous Wailing is also a decent ego given that rupture's second most common resource tends to be gloom, at least on the better skills you'd want to give your ids more of. Gloom Res isn't the most difficult thing to come by on this team.

Finalized Team

You'd run something like this, in any order you'd like really. Assuming this isn't a focused encounter, you want to give more slots to the first four selected ids here, depending on how if you have good charge and ego gifts. Don has the worst clashing of the first four, so you might consider lowering her in the deployment order if your feel like it.

Additionally, if enemies are just clashing way too high for Don, you can choose to bench her for her passive and run Devyat Sinclair instead. If you need more count, you can run Heathcliff over Hong Lu. You can also just run these optional ids as backup if a battle somehow takes so long that Rodion and Sinclair retreat.

You will be relying heavily on Grey Coat for survivability on this team. For those who lack gloom skills, you may need to take other ego gifts if Gregor's healing isn't enough, or rely on Fluid Sac and or/Pursuance. Hex Nail is not the best idea, as this team lacks envy, but with enough resource ego gifts that also becomes an option.

Honestly the best advice I can give to you is to be careful with any sort of power trials. Damage dealt and hp trials don't matter much when you're rupture, but power really sucks because rupture doesn't have much in the way of gaining coin power compared to other teams. A lot of haste will get you through every focused encounter, and rupture doesn't have many issues with that, but human encounters will have you struggling.

Additionally, you should have every damage type for aoe ego. Pierce, Blunt and Slash. This is already a good idea for teams of all type, but rupture ESPECIALLY needs it, given you will begin to struggle with clashing earlier than other teams. Having Sunshower, Fluid Sac and Dimension Shredder are great, and there are really many alternatives. You need tons and tons of options to help you when your team inevitably starts to struggle.

Because, and I can't emphasize this enough really: Rupture will fail you. There is no amount of preparing that will change the fact that you will simply be unable to clash. There doesn't even exist a full team of 15/3 ids, and those tend to be much much better at clashing than other rupture ids. You will struggle before other teams, and that's the price you pay when you run rupture. You don't get a TCTB or assist attack, a Manager Donqui, the mere existence of Zwei Ish not to even mention reverb, a fucking nuke + Dawn Sinclair, a Lament, Mourn, and Despair or literally any charge s3 (that isn't W Corp. Yi Sang). You will roll kinda okay with some ids, and badly with others. You will suffer to make a good rupture team, cause that's just how it is right now.

I hope one day I can eat my words. One day I'll have a rupture team that I can play as effortlessly as a sinking team. I hope. But that day isn't coming any time soon.

[literallys-illiteracy]

A Pedantic Overview of Burn in Limbus Company

This is the start of a series I'm going to be doing where I go over each major status effect, the ID and EGO that use it, and any other things I thought I might want to mention, Burn is first because it's Wrath. Affinity and because its the first listed in MD.

Burn: overview:

Burn is, in terms of regular gameplay (non mirror dungeon), bad. Im saying this as someone who really likes burn even without EGO Gifts; 

Burn is the only status which only lowers count at the end of round, with Tremor having so many “trigger tremor burst; then reduce count by one” that it’s standard by this point; Burn is also the only status effect which is wholly incapable of dealing damage multiple times per turn, excluding the usage of two specific ID’s.

Burn struggles somewhat with the sustain of Count and Potency, as a majority of ID’s (burn doesnt have EGO) only apply one or the other, meaning that unless it is a focused encounter or an encounter against a single target (which is the kind of battle where burn deals the least damage due to being capped at 99 once per turn) it is difficult to maintain/stack burn between rounds.

Other statuses have the same struggle of maintaining count, especially due to other statuses triggering multiple times per turn, however it is less important on these other statuses as, because of its hard limit on damage, its ideal to maintain burn potency at max otherwise you get little value.

The other method which different statuses are able to remedy their issues with count is through EGO skills, notably AEDD Gregor for rupture, Cavernous Wailing Hong lu and Everlasting Faust for Tremor, and Rime Shank Rodion for Sinking: the problem lies in the fact that there are no good burn EGO, and that no Burn EGO are able to apply count with the exception of Soup Don, who does not have a burn ID.

Burn EGO Worth Using:

Ishmael’s Ardor Blossom Star

virtually the only decent Burn EGO in my opinion,

ABS rolls a 41 on a Wrath-Pierce affinity coin. This EGO has one of the highest awakening roll of any ego, a positive offence level (+3) and raises stagger threshold by % of damage done (counting for all damage done, whilst also being multi target meaning it raises a fucktonne) 

Ishmael’s other Burn EGO, Capote, applies wrath fragility and provides Wrath damage up. 

Rodion’s Burn ID applies Wrath damage up to different allies. 

Rodion’s Burn EGO also applies wrath Fragility to enemies.

Due to all of the different buffs which Wrath Affinity receives when running a burn team, this EGO becomes a force of destruction when used in a Burn team.

Second off is Rodion’s Aforementioned Burn EGO, Fourth Match Flame.

This is one of the only negative coin awakening EGO skills in the game. It rolls a 38 at highest, and a 20 on heads. There isnt much of note about this EGO other than what was already said of it applying Wrath Fragility. Just make sure to overclock the EGO when using it because the on-hit effects are the same but it consumes 1.5x sanity meaning you get a higher roll on average.

Capote Meursault:

I actually had to go edit a prior section because i forgot about this EGO; Capote Sault rolls for 45 at highest, applies tremor by the burn potency (which is notably very easy to stack), triggers tremor burst, and applies burn count if the enemy is staggered.

This EGO, rather than applying Group buffs, applies wrath/Blunt buffs to meursault himself next turn. As his burn ID does not have a wrath+blunt skill other than EGO this is slightly less useful than it could be.

The usage of this EGO is debatable for one main reason. It occupies the He slot, the other EGO MSault has in this slot is Persuence, which is the most consistent healing EGO that the Burn team has access to.

Pursuance requires sloth and gloom, which are slightly uncommon in burn teams, however there is not particularly high demand for those resources in a Burn team as well, meaning you can fairly consistently fuel this EGO skill for usage. If you enjoy your ID’s living, it is typically advised to use Persuence over Capote.

This concludes the list of good burn EGO.

Bad burn EGO:

All of the rest of them.

Yi Sang 4th Match Flame:

This EGO rolls a 20 at highest, only applies 10 burn at highest, and belongs to a sinner who does not have a burn ID.

9:2 Faust:

This EGO has medium-high rolls, however it consumes up to 20 of the target’s burn for same turn Defense level down, belongs to a Burn-less sinner (sort of) and consumes Gluttony, which is the least common affinity within a burn team, as there is only 1 ID who can produce it.

Lifetime Stew Don Qi:

Sinner without Burn ID, Mediocre rolls. The only redeeming quality of this EGO is the fact that lust resources are abundant in a Burn team meaning you can source it easily, the downside is that the passive is actively detrimental for the same reason; The passive converts resources of random sin affinities into the most common skill affinity of the Status.

Fourth Match Flame Ryoshu:

While not bad like the other’s mentioned, this EGO isn’t explicitly good either.

At UT4 it deals 100% more damage at 20 burn potency, and the corrosion variant applies the buffs regardless of wether the EGO kill’s. 

Note that the passive of this EGO is non existent for 3 rounds at a time in most battles, however most EGO passives in the game are either extremely good or extremely bad.

Forest for the flames is technically a burn EGO i guess.

Ryoshu base EGO is decent amongst Zayin EGO, rolls for 28, and applies 2 fragile next turn on heads hit, alongside having one of the coolest animations in the game (among the base ego at least)

Lifetime Stew Sinclair:

No. 

WHY ARE YOU BUYING EGO AT THE SOUP STORE?

9:2 Sinclair:

This EGO is the most recently released Negative coin on awakening EGO in the game. It is also not good. 

The EGO applies 4 burn unless enemies have zero burn, in which case it applies 8.

On a tails hit (rolling 26), if the enemies have 10 burn apply mediocre debuffs for next turn.

On corrosion, which is also a negative coin, meaning that it’s better by default, it instead applies lust fragility, which is decent however not particularly useful as the highest damage effect’s and skills of burn are Wrath Affinity.

Honorary mentions/generally good EGO;

There are two (2) different EGO for this section, they aren't strictly burn based EGO however they compliment the team well.

Both of these EGO are however the same type, resonance based EGO: Holiday outis and Garden of Thorns Gregor.

Both of these are the same functional idea so they wont get a separate section for each of them, the main idea is that they are able to buff lust and wrath specifically efficiently which are the two most common burn affinities; as both apply damage and/or power up for the highest resonance, with holiday being a wrath affinity skill and Garden of Thorns being Lust (and requiring a full lust lineup of skills for max value (6+ A resonance))

 Burn ID’s: a history, and also me whining a little bit:

Burn is among the status effects with the least amount of units in the game, note that im not saying anything definitively because im not fucking counting each status effects units.

Also this history section is not going to be super specific, mostly going off anything notable that i can remember because nobody keeps a timeline of everything limbus, note to self, make Cogitopedia page of Limbus release timeline.

On launch burn was starved in the same manner that literally every status effect was back then; 2 Ein Sof ID’s (00 ids)and ~5 EGO skills, excluding 4mf Yi Sang because I am biassed.

The IDs being Liu (6) Meursault and Gregor, and the EGO being Ardor Blossom Star, Forest for The Flames, and the three 4MF that i am willing to acknowledge.

Like all status effects on launch, burn was utterly terrible; With the above listed ID’s/EGO, there was a grand total of 1 way to apply burn count, being 6 Meursault skill 3; None of the other mentioned apply count, meaning that it was nigh impossible to stack for any significant damage.

Once again i want to note that none of the status effects were good on launch for a decent while, with the exception of charge which had a grand total of 2 good units, which was honestly 2 more than any other status.

The first significant release was 6 Hong Lu, also known as 0606 and Hong Liu, who added two more ways of applying burn count, however his Potency application was non existent, he was also the first, and for a long time to follow, the only way of gaining Gloom on a burn team.

Back during this time, mirror dungeons worked a lot differently, but i'm not going onto that tangent today, the main reason i'm bringing this up is as a transition to the Krooming Faust herself, who was uncontested as the best non launch ID at least until the next paragraph;

Because there was not feasible way to run a full burn team, and because of mechanics i'm not explaining, she was extremely good for mirror dungeon if you for some godforsaken reason planned on running a team that wasn't just brute force, as an additional note, the only good Burn EGO at the time was Fiery Down, which meant that Kraust was able to apply burn potency for 9 damage. woohoo

No. I refuse.

Following [Redacted], came the Chimken evemnt. 

From this event came Sinclair's second worst sin, and Don’s Lifetime Stew, which actually (at the time) wasn't half bad.

Though neither of these are actually notable there are 2 reasons I'm bringing up the chimken event. The first is the EGO gift received in the dungeon, which is now accessible from the floor pack of the same name, which works as Fiery Down except for burn count, which made burn downright usable for that event; the second point is linked to this EGO gift as well, with the funniest interaction of any EGO gift: Lifetime stew sinclair, when applying burn to allies, will apply EGO gifts the same as it would enemies, so every time you used the EGO, you risked dealing 50 damage to your IDs rather than healing them.

Season 2 - Reminiscence:

Upon the launch of season 2, we got 2 more burn EGO, (i know we didn't technically get them “On launch” for the season, nobody likes a pedant, i would know); the Capote EGO, bringing our grand total up to 10, which was, if memory serves correct, the highest amount of EGO for any status effect at the time, in order to balance this out, we would only get 1 more burn ID this season.

As for the Capote EGO themselves, Ishmael’s wasnt the greatest, but anything is better than a negative coin awakening meaning that it was still better than its competition; the main objective of burn isnt to deal damage through skills, meaning that the wrath synergy didnt matter as much as it does today, with all of the value that Philip and 6 Rodion bring from resonance.

Capote Meursault is not used and i already talked about it in the EGO section, Pursuance is better, as well as easier to fuel because we were able to fill slots with resources we needed. 

Later that season, in order to match her having 2 Burn EGO, ishmael gained a burn ID, as 6 ishmael. 

She was the first decent burn ID, and the first ayin (000) id. She was able to apply burn and burn count, and she did this without having a functional passive until this season… 

That's the entirety of season 2… this is why I chose burn to start with, because there's hardly anything to talk about.

Season 3 - Bon Voyage:

This season's battle pass brought us two EGO, 12 now total, and there is no reason to talk about 9:2 because they aren't good.

Next up is Walpurgisnacht, with the introduction of Bullet Outis, the first time that burn was usable outside of mirror dungeon, as Glimpse of flame was available (although much rarer than today), as she was, and still is, the only way to make burn deal its potency as damage multiple times in a turn, although with the caveat that she needs to accumulate Bullets.

There was a blank period for a bit and just so that the timeline isn't that jarring i'm adding this line here.

The next release was the two 6 ID’s, 6 Rodion and Ryoshu: Ryoshu was the first source of Gluttony resources, and the first source of slashing damage outside of EGO skills.

Rodion is good, she buffs wrath, applies decent count and decent potency, and is able to act as a very good dps. For a very short period of time, and i mean like a week, when the Ring ID's were released they counted as ID's which apply all status effects; Due to the addition of the Ring ID's, it was possible to activate both Soothe the Dead, and Bloody Mist at the same time with the use of Ring ID's, Captain Ishmael, [No], a burn ID of choice, and a bleed ID of choice. in the week following the Ring ID's were changed as to only count for Bleed, and to not count as any other status effects.

Philip Sinclair rolls a 40. 

Burn Team concepts:

Generally, if you plan on running a burn team, the first thing you should consider other than a psych evaluation, is saving Lunacy and free pulls for Walpurgis event periods, as the two most valuable units for burn teams are both 000’s from said banner; Of course the two ID’s being Philip Sinclair, and Magic Bullet Outis.

Ideally you are able to first and second slot these two ID’s into your team: Philip Sinclair is able to apply +6 burn count on skill 2, whilst having the highest rolls of any other Burn ID. He is also incredibly useful to have skill slots on as his skill 3 heals bonus sanity on clash win, meaning he becomes more useful in a fight faster than other ID’s are able to.

Other Than 06 Ryoshu, Philip Sinclair is the only source of slashing damage in a full burn team outside of EGO*, meaning that slotting him first will gain additional value compared to other ID’s in many situations. 

Additionally, in terms of EGO resources, Philip Sinclair was the first Burn ID since Hong Liu to have Gloom affinity skills, and the first ID since Liu Ishmael to have envy skills.

As for EGO you can use on Sinclair, Impending day gives more value than Lifetime Stew, as it allows for easier wrath resonance, more damage type coverage as Philip has no Blunt in his kit, and does not immolate your teammates.

Branch of knowledge is incredibly hard to fuel in a burn team, as only 3/36 of the teams skills are Gluttony affinity, and said skills belonging to one specific ID. 

With that being said, due to the nature of Philip Sinclair being on neutral-positive sanity regularly, the Branch of Knowledge passive is more useful than it would be on other ID’s who plan on remaining at 45 SP; 

The other option is Blubberbuble, who is slightly easier to fuel, and gives survivability to your team; due to Faust lacking a Burn ID, and the fact that there are the same amount of sloth skills as gluttony, Burn as a team lacks a large amount of sustain, as pursuance requires sloth resources, Fluid sack is unavailable, and Lantern (sinclair) requires Gluttony.

See note above about what HE to take. The answer is still Lantern, never take 9:2.

Magic Bullet Outis is the second cornerstone ID of the Status effect, enabling Burn to deal damage multiple times per turn. With her being the only method of dealing multiple times your burn in a turn, its highly recommended that you have this ID for a burn team.

There aren't many notes of what EGO to take on this ID, the main notes are that half of her skills, + defence being pride allows for the fueling of Suffering Becomes Existence, as long as you have enough Sloth resources, and that Holiday allows for easier Wrath resonance.

The Final highly important ID is Liu Rodion, who, alongside her 4th match flame EGO, allows for wrath resonance to become highly potent, applying Wrath damage up and Wrath fragility across the team and enemies.

Bringing Rodion is your highest reliable source of Pierce damage, as 1/6 of Outis skills are pierce, with the same ratio for Philip, however his skill 3 becomes skill 4 during passive, which is a Slash skill.

Rodion is the closest thing that we can get to Glimpse of flames outside of mirror dungeon, with dealing wrath damage based on potency…. With a max of 30. She additionally is the only source of Pride affinity if you lack Magic Bullet.

The Suggested Team is as follows:

Dawn Office Fixer Sinclair.

Lobotomy E.G.O::Magic Bullet Outis

Liu Rodion

And the secondary ID’s// less vital ID’s being:

Liu Ishmael (EGO skills, extra damage, burn and count)

Liu Meursault (regret allows for decent rolls. Pursuance is one of three available healing EGO, able to apply count on skill 3)

Liu Ryoshu (Gluttony affinity resources; 4MF; Contempt, Awe. red eyes (normal) & Forest for the Flames for Lust Resonance) 

Liu Gregor (Sloth Resources. Garden of Thorns EGO useful for Wrath or Lust Resonance)

Support Passives//Non-Burn ID's:

The most notable ID which can be used in lieu of a burn ID is The One Who Grips Faust; Due to almost all burn ID's possessing a lust affinity skill, it is incredibly easy to activate her whistles passive, allowing your units to gain SP much faster. this brings us onto the next main idea which you can use for support passives: Sanity Maxxing: due to how Philip Sinclair works, if you get as many sanity passives as possible stacked on top of each other, you can keep him in EGO state for an absurd amount of time; Other than Grip Faust, the best SP passives are: Ring Yi Sang, Base Yi Sang, and Base Hong Lu. You can also technically use Captain Ishmael who is, on a technicality, a burn ID. This is here just to cover all my bases. Ring ID's have wrath and lust affinities, and benefit from the burn on target, making them viable substitute ID's

[synthstruck]

OCs you say....

Do Tell :3c

AH IM TIRED SO THIS MIGHT MAKE NO SENSE BUT ASKDKFJDJSJS YEAHHHHHHHHHHH

The main two blorbos that live in my head rent free rn are Serial Designstion A-0 (she/her) and Asher Sparks (he/him)!

A-0 (pronounced “ayo” even though it’s a zero on the end of her name) is a prototype Disassembly Drone (making her much older than the DD’s in canon), and Asher is a Gen 1 Worker Drone.

They meet after Asher, a mechanic, is tasked with trying to get information out of a captured Disassembly Drone about how their systems work and whether they have any weaknesses. Neither of them are very happy about this, but over time they build trust for each other. It takes a very long time, but eventually Asher agrees to repair/replace A-0’s damaged legs and wings, and she manages to get out of the colony soon after this.

That doesn’t stop them from finding each other and hanging out, however. It takes [Insert very long timeskip here] but eventually they become queerplatonic partners :D

I do have some other MD OCs, too, my brain just isn’t obsessing over them as heavily right now:

Serial Designation Ek-0 (Eck0, he/they) - A lonely and confused disassembly drone of A-0’s squad, trying to find his other squad members using a tool that detects drone heartbeats/core cycles.

Midge (she/her) - A Solver Drone from the Cabin Fever Labs, with the ID Number of 013, Midge roams the abandoned caves, unable to bring herself to leave, as much as she wishes she could. She carries a cat plushie with her most of the time.

Serial Designation Z-0 (Zero, they/she/it) - The leader of A-0’s squad who went missing before A-0 got captured. They always seemed… Somewhat distant, as though they were aware of something their squadmates didn’t know.

[ammonitetheseaserpent]

Moar MD OC info because my mind has been INJECTED with. basically an entire small, interwoven story since the first post where I introduced the concepts.

This is uh. gonna be a long post

Serial Designation Q

- If I had to sum up his personality in a few words, they would be ‘chill chaos’.

- The drug-like substance he consumes affects the light he gives off, which is what allows her to shift its color.

- Her fighting/hunting style is kinda reckless, like a honey badger; mainly leaning on brute force, sheer determination and the light trick.

- She doesn’t exclusively do psychedelic effects with his lights for hunts, though - it has entertainment value for him as well.

- Also yee she’s bigender :D

- (I’m starting to debate calling her Q instead for uh. standout purposes. cause I’ve seen a few Ys by now and I don’t wanna cause confusion hhhnshsjdbdb Edit: made the change; I think Q fits him better now that I mull it over :0)

Weird Frog

- That’s the JP-Dilo-Sentinel (name given by Q).

- It guards Celadon’s residence with the Packleader, and was built to give the Sentinels more variety.

- It is particularly small and fast and, instead of the stun stare, the sound of its screech gives off an AoE effect to temporarily paralyze any nearby drone who hears it.

- It has a very playful attitude, putting its all into fending off attackers but also having fun with it; y’know that one scene in Agony of a Witch where Hooty was fending off Lilith and the EC. Yeah uh. that’s pretty much WF in a nutshell.

- It’s quite curious and won’t immediately attack a lone drone it sees approaching the residence unless that drone is clearly looking to be a threat.

The Packleader Sentinel

- It’s the primary guard of Celadon’s residence, and sort of a parental figure to Weird Frog.

- Its stun stare is stronger than that of an average Sentinel, to the point where the flash can cause a bit of lasting damage in drones.

- It was basically built to be like. the Final Boss of the regular Sentinels. Like, something to fall back on if the need arose.

- This one’s a bit silly but: I imagine it was designed based off the Indoraptor and Scorpios Rex like. in-universe. Cause Liam said that the Sentinels were made raptors bc the humans just. liked dinosaurs and thought they were cool. So I imagine the Jurassic Park/movies being in this universe, and while they’re working on the Packleader someone just goes ‘hey what if we based it off those freaky-looking hybrid dinos, like the one that’s a raptor but bigger and creepier :0’.

Avarice SOL

- He was the result of a faulty one-off experiment.

- He has a powerful, insatiable drive to take parts of drones to build on his own form, and bothers Celadon on a regular basis (as stated in the previous post) bc the Hellsinger residence has a lot of what he wants.

- He stole a drone’s voicebox so he can speak, and… I imagine him sounding like that one mackerel in that one Dexter’s Laboratory episode.

Cure PHX

- They were started by Celadon’s parents in order to combat Disassembly Drones. Celadon later finished them, adding the healing abilities they now have.

- Not only can they release a signal to shut off physical pain in other bots, they also have ankle spurs to secrete a substance that’s basically the bot equivalent of melatonin.

- Their functions can be a bit wonky sometimes, and the full power of the UV light/radiation from their wings is only meant to be used in short bursts; too long will cause them delirium from the excess heat and power.

- They’re fully sentient, though due to the nature of their creation, their voicebox is kinda messed up and can produce garbled, birdlike sounds that take effort to form into words - I imagine Cure sounding somewhat like half-healed Centipeetle from Steven Universe.

Celadon Hellsinger

- Her residence is kind of run-down but she refuses to patch it up bc it ‘enhances the elusion factor’.

- She owns a weapon called the Frequency Gauntlet (I uh. stole the name from a mobile game called Monster Legends if I’m being completely frank) that was p much the pet project of her parents and grandparents. they all collaborated to make it.

- The aforementioned Hellsingers are gone now, so she just lives w/ Cure and the two Sentinels (speaking of the two Sentinels her parents basically. donned the FG and stole them very sneakily; I haven’t decided if they were stolen b4 they were put in with the other Sentinels and so they were more chill with drones they didn’t see as a threat, or if the Hellsingers tweaked their programming but uh. yeh)

- She’s usually sort of a pacifist; not nearly as concerned w/ actively confronting and doing battle w/ the DDs as her parents were, and is perfectly content with hiding from them (which doesn’t work out too bad as the Hellsingers made their residence as secluded and unnoticeable as they could to reduce the possibility of being tracked down).

- She’s aroace bc uh. yeh

Extra story bit

- Basically uh. Q happened upon Celadon’s residence at some point while traveling wherever and went over to get a closer look. He was met halfway by Weird Frog, and the two quickly became friendly toward each other. Then later, through WF as a common thread, Q met Celadon and now they’re… not friends, exactly, more like. acquaintances on peaceful terms. and they act a bit like siblings. Q thinks Celadon is cool, while Celadon is a bit more hesitant and often baffled by his antics.

[mistic-sins]

Character designs I made for MD: Somewhat Damaged! Huge thanks to Zander for commissioning me for these lil goobers :3

Also here’s a concept doodle for the thumbnail for funzies

[paperanddice]

Death worms may not have the sheer terror behind them that purple worms carry, but they are somewhat more common due to their smaller size. They don't need the same amount of food and hunting space as the much larger worms, and so multiple can live in a territory that would be stripped bare by a purple, making encountering one a more common possibility. And while they may be less dangerous, that doesn't mean people want to encounter them still. Wielding acid, lightning, and poison as weapons, they are hard to prepare for or counter. Bolts of lightning and a heavy spray of acid kill those who try to stay out of the worm's reach, and those who it catches succumb to its poison if they're not simply ripped apart by its vicious bites. Even its blood is dangerous, corroding metal that comes in contact with it, dulling blades and pitting hammers.

The decapus looks like a ten-armed octopus, except it has a full face with a fanged mouth on its side, rather than a beak at the center of the tentacles the way an octopus or squid does. They can be found mostly deep underground, but have been encountered in tangled forests on the surface. They are clumsy on the ground, but quite agile to climb and swing from elevated surfaces, and use this underground and from trees to spring vicious ambushes. They are actually quite intelligent, though rarely have interest in negotiating with other creatures. In fact, they seem to prefer devouring humanoids over other prey, gnomes in particular. They use their ability to replicate any sound they've heard before and clever illusions to lure prey in before dropping from above in attack, occasionally coordinating with other decapuses or natural hazards to better distract potential meals. Some decapuses will gain a sort of god complex though, and take violent control of whatever creatures they can force to obey them, using their followers to gather food, and eating them if they don't supply enough.

(I still misread the decapus every time I see it. It's supposed to be pronounced like "octopus" except with deca instead of octo, but I always read it like "decapitate")

Inspired by the Pathfinder 1e Bestiary 2. This post came out a week ago on my Patreon. If you want to get access to all my monster conversions early, as well as access to my premade adventures and other material I’m working on, consider backing me there!

Death Worm  Large 5th level troop [beast]  Initiative: +9 Bite +10 vs. AC - 28 damage. Natural Even Hit: The target also takes 10 ongoing poison damage. Miss: 14 damage. R: Lightning Jolt +10 vs. PD (one nearby enemy) - 20 lightning damage. Natural Even Hit: The death worm makes a second lightning jolt attack against a different enemy as a free action. C: Acid Spray +10 vs. PD (1d4+1 nearby enemies in a group) - 18 acid damage. Limited Use: 1/battle. [Special Trigger] Corrosive Blood +10 vs. PD - the target takes a cumulative -1 penalty to damage with the weapon it used to make the attack until the end of the battle. If this penalty reaches -5, the weapon is destroyed. Limited Use: 1/round, as an interrupt action when an enemy makes a melee weapon attack against the death worm and rolls a natural odd hit. Burrow. Resist Acid and Lightning 16+. AC 20 PD 19 MD 14 HP 166

Decapus  3rd level spoiler [aberration]  Initiative: +6 Swarming Tentacles +8 vs. AC - 6 damage. Natural Even Hit: The decapus can grab the target. Bite +8 vs. AC - 6 damage. Quick Use: 1/turn, as a quick action against an enemy the decapus has grabbed. R: Confusion Illusion +8 vs. MD (all nearby enemies) - The target is distracted (save ends). A distracted enemy takes a -1 penalty to AC and all defenses, and if it rolls a natural 1-5 on an attack roll or saving throw it becomes dazed until the end of its next turn. Wall Climber. AC 18 PD 16 MD 15 HP 44

[tic-loud-tic-proud]

I don't talk about it often on my blog but I have a type of muscular dystrophy called Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy type 1 (formerly known as Landouzy-Dejerine Disease), a genetic/chromosomal disorder that causes degenerative muscle wasting and loss as well as chronic muscle pain. It's one of the more common types of muscular dystrophy (MD) but is still rare, only affecting about 4 in 100,000 individuals, about 1 million people worldwide. FSHD1 is caused by a D4Z4 contraction on your chromosomes, which causes your body to produce too much of the DUX4 protein which is toxic to muscle cells. So the muscle cells in your body can't regenerate properly and end up being slowly replaced by fat cells and connective tissue. FSHD type 2 is more complicated and what causes it is unknown. There is no treatment or cure for either type of FSHD.

FSHD causes muscle weakness that starts in your upper body, particularly the face (facio) shoulders (scapulo) and upper arms (humeral). Most people have onset around age 15-30, but some are born with symptoms (infantile FSHD) and some people have all the genetic/chromosomal traits that would cause FSHD but never develop symptoms. The muscle weakness is almost always asymmetrical with the right side of the body being affected more. In addition to upper body weakness it's also super common for people with FSHD to have "potbellies" due to weak or absent abdominal muscles, have hip weakness and pain, and to have ankle/foot issues due to weakness in the peroneal muscles. 70% of us also have chronic pain. Around 20% of people with FSHD need a wheelchair for mobility. FSHD is not terminal like many other types of muscular dystrophy but some people with severe symptoms may have a shorter lifespan.

There's not as much research on this but people with FSHD also have abnormalities in our eyes and are more likely to have hearing loss. Both my grandmother and my uncle who have FSHD are Deaf or Hard of Hearing and have mild or significant vision loss. People with FSHD tend to have similar facial features and look alike because of how muscle loss affects our facial structure.

I personally don't remember when my FSHD symptoms started but I know it was when I was young. FSHD runs very strongly in my family and my mom noticed my shoulder blades, especially my left shoulder blade, would "wing out". I used to play violin but as my FSHD progressed I couldn't hold the violin or play it properly anymore and had to stop (I tried cello for a hot minute but that was even worse). The nail on the coffin was when I was going through blood tests during the diagnostic process for my Tourette's syndrome and they showed levels of creatinine kinase (a type of protein released when you're dealing with muscle damage or loss) that were 3x the normal amount.

I'm a young adult so my FSHD symptoms haven't progressed far enough to be debilitating yet. But they're still noticeable. I can't reach my arms up high enough to reach certain things (but I'm very tall so that isn't usually an issue for me like it is for shorter people with FSHD). I can't close my eyes all the way when I sleep. I used to play volleyball, but had to stop because of arm weakness. I was teased in middle school for "walking like a stripper" because my hips would swing so far when I walked. I dealt with body image issues (and still do) because of my skinny arms (that I jokingly refer to as cigarette arms because of their shape) and potbelly. I have muscle weakness in my lower legs that leads to me tripping and falling more often, and I get ankle injuries all the time. I also deal with chronic muscle pain in my upper arms and face.

I'm somewhat involved in my local FSHD community, even though it's rare enough that there's only a couple people in it that aren't directly related to me lol. I participated in a big Walk & Roll fundraiser for FSHD and my fundraising team was able to raise more than $2,000 for research, a feat I'm still super proud of, and I was also featured on the @/facesoffshd Instagram account a few years back (I won't link either of those for privacy reasons). There's not really a strong FSHD community online besides on Facebook because most people don't know they're affected by it until they're in their 30s/40s, and that demographic is most likely to use Facebook over other social media. I've tried a couple times to build up a stronger FSHD community here on Tumblr especially when I was younger but it's not taken off.

The awareness ribbon colour for FSHD is orange, and our main "symbol" is an orange slice held over the mouth, representing people who lose the ability to smile because of FSHD. The organization for FSHD in the USA is the FSH Society.

Here's some famous people with FSHD!

[image: a man with a buzz cut and short stubble wearing a gray v-neck t shirt.]

Chip Wilson, founder of Lululemon athletic wear.

[image: a woman with shoulder-length brown hair wearing an off-the-shoulder floral blouse.]

Lexi Pappas, filmmaker.

[image: a woman with long brown hair and glasses sitting in a power wheelchair and wearing a yellow dress with a sunshine pattern.]

Marisa Spain, youtuber and advocate for disability accessibility in outdoor spaces.

[image: a man with short brown hair and a beard playing a mandolin]

Joshua Bergmann, bluegrass singer-songwriter and mandolinist. It's not visible in this photo, but he uses a specially-made arm brace to hold his arms in the correct position to play mandolin.

it makes me sad that the same few conditions consume disability discussions. the disability community is so diverse and I know there are other people out there who have diverse experiences. I think the community needs to do a better job of lifting up the voices of people with rare conditions (or even just conditions that aren't spoken about) I want to hear from people who have different experiences from mine. people with rare diseases often have very unique experiences and it's really shameful that we don't get to hear those voices very often.

anyways, if you have a rare disease (hEDS is not rare) or a condition that isn't talked about often feel free to promote your blog or share something on this post.

[jonfarreporter]

Vitamin C Has Always Been a Good Thing, Especially for Skin

As this fall season begins with a bumper crop of nutritious produce, one of the most important and common vitamins to help us into the oncoming winter is Vitamin C. 

This past September 29 weekend, Caryl Brandes of Caryl B Skin Care Products introduced her Face Cream with Vitamin C at Farmers Market - Marin County Mart in Larkspur, at Larkspur Landing, not far from the Larkspur Ferry terminal. 

Also referred to as ascorbic acid, Vitamin C has been known for centuries for its health benefits.  Primarily through citrus fruits like oranges, lemons, limes and grapefruit. Historians/archaeologist can trace the origins of the importance of this antioxidant-nutrient as far back as ancient Egypt, through the descriptions in ancient records of its lack there of in conditions such as scurvy. 

Egyptologist, professor Joann Fletcher, PhD clarified. “Some scholars have also suggested scurvy is referred to in the Ebers Medical Papyri from c.1550 BC (although the terms used are somewhat vague).”

Yet, as the University of York, England archaeological researcher pointed out.

“It is also worth saying that the Egyptian diet - then and now - has always been very rich in onions and garlic.” “Both are excellent sources of Vitamin C,” she added.

It was during the age of exploration in the 1700s when it was discovered that eating citrus fruits combated scurvy. Citrus was then prescribed as essential for sailors and crew on ships to avoid scurvy by having citrus added to their daily diet. 

And, it wasn’t until the 20th Century when in the 1930s a form of Vitamin C was added to skin care. A Hungarian biochemist Albert Szent-Györgyi, discovered and isolated the particular chemical properties of Vitamin C. From that discovery, Vitamin C became a staple of health. 

His discovery earned him and his team the Nobel Prize in 1937. Since that time, for over 80 years, Vitamin C has become a vital nutrient utilized in many food-nutrition and health care products.

As noted by researchers at Harvard Medical School, “clinical studies have demonstrated that vitamin C can improve wrinkles,” noted Neera Nathan, MD & Payal Patel, MD. 

The two Harvard University physicians went on to say… “Topical vitamin C is a science-backed, dermatologist-favorite ingredient that may help slow early skin aging, prevent sun damage, and improve the appearance of wrinkles, dark spots, and acne.”

This is why Brandes wanted to incorporate the use of Vitamin C in her face cream product line. “Vitamin C helps, said Brandes - it is just one of many ingredients I use in my specialty skin care products that are beneficial.”

As one who is well acquainted with skin conditions, Dr. Debra Jaliman, MD, a dermatologist in private practice in New York City, added. “Vitamin C, stimulates collagen production so it helps with fine lines.” As a safe and effective ingredient, Dr. Jaliman says, Vitamin C decreases spots, patches of discoloration, and melasma on the skin.” 

Melasma can occur when the skin is exposed to too much sun. Hot weather and intense heat can aggravate the skin. With fall weather temperatures continuing into 80 degrees, Caryl B’s face cream and face serum are a welcome relief to sun-stressed skin.

Because Caryl B products are made essentially for those with sensitive skin, having a high quality face cream is vital. Pleased that her skin care products are well-received, Brandes said. “I just try to educate my customers as to what certain ingredients such as Vitamin C can  do to help.”

For more information about Caryl B skin and personal care products, visit the website.

[themedicalstate]

Dementia Starts Sooner Than You Think

But it’s never too late (nor too soon) to take these preventive steps

Long before you routinely forget where you left the keys or why you walked into a room, the wheels of cognitive decline could be turning in your brain, setting you on a course to eventual dementia.

But dementia is not inevitable, experts say.

Several new and recent studies strengthen the case for prevention strategies that you can employ starting right now — no matter how old you are — to improve your chances of staying sharp down the road.

“The underlying process related to cognitive decline starts in early adult life, and probably even earlier,” Walter Willett, MD, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said. “Thus I don’t think we can start too soon.”

Before you know it

For reasons still somewhat mysterious, brain cells sometimes stop working, and connections between brain centers weaken, leading to poorer memory and thinking ability at the root of most forms of dementia. (One particular type, vascular dementia, is brought on by a stroke or other event that restricts blood flow to the brain.)

Yet for other people, the seeds of dementia can sprout frighteningly early in life.

Signs of Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, typically start to appear in a person’s mid-sixties, if they show up at all. More than 6.2 million Americans over 65 deal with Alzheimer’s as do more than 50 million people globally. But the gradual accumulation of damage in the brain is thought to begin 10 years or more before symptoms appear.

Early-onset Alzheimer’s, a less common type that seems to have a stronger genetic component, can begin to show up in a person’s thirties.

Regardless of when it starts, dementia’s early signs can be subtle and hard to distinguish from brain farts we all experience now and then: forgetting a name or an appointment or struggling to pull up just the right word we know is buried somewhere in the mind. As these symptoms increase, a person is likely to struggle with reason and judgment, all of which can lead to frustration and intense negative emotions.

The many potential causes of dementia

There is no cure for Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia, and scientists are in the early stages of figuring out all the causes. Heredity is known to affect but not entirely determine dementia risk. By one estimate, albeit one that’s not fully supported by data, about a third of all dementia cases could be prevented by improving various health, lifestyle, and societal risk factors, including physical activity, diet, depression, education, and loneliness.

Last month, researchers published in the journal Stroke a list of so-called “modifiable risk factors” for dementia:

Depression

Hypertension

Physical inactivity

Diabetes

Obesity

Hyperlipidemia (high level of fats in the blood)

Poor diet

Smoking

Social isolation (loneliness)

Excessive alcohol use

Sleep disorders

Hearing loss

“Dementia is not inevitable,” said panel member Deborah Levine, MD, a primary care provider at the University of Michigan Health. “Evidence is growing that people can better maintain brain health and prevent dementia by following healthy behaviors and controlling vascular risk factors.”

To be clear, if you have a parent or sibling with dementia, your odds of getting it are around 70% higher than someone without that genetic risk. But even then, you can reduce those odds significantly by pursuing healthy lifestyle options like those mentioned above, according to preliminary research presented earlier this year at an American Heart Association meeting.

“When dementia runs in a family, both genetics and nongenetic factors, such as dietary patterns, physical activity, and smoking status, affect an individual’s overall risk,” said that study’s leader, Angelique Brellenthin, PhD, an assistant professor of kinesiology at Iowa State University.

Along with addressing the above risk factors, the latest research suggests three solid ways to help prevent or at least stall dementia.

Increase physical activity

Among the most important steps you can take to lower your risk of dementia is to up your level of physical activity — from wherever it is now to more of it. Moderate physical activity, such as a brisk daily walk, has been shown to promote good overall physical and mental health, improving sleep, lessening symptoms of depression, and promoting good cognitive functioning.

Ample research argues for starting ASAP no matter how old you are.

Poor health in middle age — measured by lack of physical activity, poor diet, and high blood pressure — more than doubles the risk of dementia later in life.

In one study, sedentary adults started a six-month exercise program, after which they took cognitive tests. Compared to a control group that stayed sedentary, the 40-year-olds in the exercising group tested as though they were 30 years old, and the 60-year-olds tested as though they were 40.

Other research finds that people who were in relatively poor health when they were 18 to 30 years old — with high blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol — scored worse on cognitive tests in their forties and fifties, compared to people who were healthier as young adults. Exercise is known to improve all those markers of health.

Challenge your mind

Some studies have suggested that challenging yourself mentally can help maintain good memory and thinking skills, but experts say more research is needed on this front. So here you go:

New findings published July 14 by the journal Neurology involved 1,978 people who were 80 years old, on average, and did not have dementia at the start of the study. During a seven-year monitoring period, 457 of them developed symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. But overall, staying mentally active — by such things as writing letters, doing puzzles, playing card games, or reading — was linked to a five-year delay in the onset of symptoms.

“It’s never too late to start doing the kinds of inexpensive, accessible activities we looked at in our study,” says the study’s lead author, Robert Wilson, PhD, a clinical neuropsychologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

Choose colorful food

You might’ve heard about flavonoids, widely touted as powerful antioxidants that could help keep the mind sharp. Cause-and-effect is always difficult to determine with nutrition research, particularly when it relies on self-reporting of consumption. So again, more research is needed. Okay, then:

New research, published July 28 in Neurology, finds people who eat at least half a serving per day of food high in flavonoids have a 20% lower risk of cognitive decline compared to those who consume few flavonoids. The high-flavonoid foods are a colorful bunch: apples, blackberries, blueberries, celery, cherries, grapefruit, oranges, pears, peppers, and strawberries. The strongest apparent protective effect came from yellow and orange fruits and vegetables, which contain high levels of a particular flavonoid called flavones.

“There is mounting evidence suggesting flavonoids are powerhouses when it comes to preventing your thinking skills from declining as you get older,” says Willett, the Harvard nutrition expert and a member of the study team. “Our results are exciting because they show that making simple changes to your diet could help prevent cognitive decline.”

The study, involving 77,335 middle-aged adults who were then monitored for 20 years, evaluated cognitive decline, not dementia, but other research shows cognitive decline is directly linked to the diagnosis of dementia, Willett notes.

While no single lifestyle change guarantees you won’t get dementia, the science has never more strongly suggested that you can exert some control over where your mind goes as you age.

“It’s never too late to start,” Willett says about improving your diet, “because we saw those protective relationships whether people were consuming the flavonoids in their diet 20 years ago or if they started incorporating them more recently.”

By Robert Roy Britt (Medium). Image by American Heart Association.