#i found this in a worksheet about vitamins

[sillyrascalheroshepherd]

the feeling when you finally get the pp

[sirfrogsworth]

Froglock Holmes, Internet Sleuth

I don't remember dates very well, but I believe sometime in the mid 2000s I had a friend drive me from St. Louis to Detroit. It was a very difficult journey. I have never done well as a car passenger and driving for an entire day was one of the more miserable experiences in my life.

But I got through it because I was *convinced* I was about to be cured. Back then it was the only thing I wished for and I was willing to try absolutely anything.

So we were off to see the Wizard about my wish.

During that time there were no doctors in St. Louis who knew anything about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. But I found a website for a medical company that claimed if I saw one of their approved doctors, they could guarantee a 50% improvement. And when I did my pre-interview on the phone, that lady said some patients experienced a full recovery. To which I replied, "Yes, I will take one full recovery please."

But the closest approved specialist I could find was in Detroit and she would only treat me if I did my first consultation in person. She would then continue treating me over the phone.

My friend took three days off and she borrowed her parent's SUV so I would have leg room during the 8 hour trip. We loaded up on snacks and compact discs and began our road trip to wellness. We merged onto the Yellow Brick Road (a.k.a. I-70 East) and headed toward the land of Marshall Mathers.

The more I got car sick, the more I focused on asking the Wizard to grant my wish.

A new... mitochondria?

Plus several trillion.

A new several trillion little powerhouses.

This doctor was part of a national network of facilities that claimed they could effectively treat Fibromyalgia and CFS with a groundbreaking 6 step "holistic" approach. It was super holistic. Extra super duper holistic. The website made sure you knew it was holistic.

And those 6 steps sounded very fancy.

I mean, that all seems pretty legit. They were going to enhance my cells and address coagulation deficits. That's a thing, right?

Now I know that "holistic" is a buzzword that should be met with skepticism, but back then I was really hopeful they could help me. They enthusiastically made bold promises and filled me with such assured hope that I sold my car to help pay for everything.

We arrived in Detroit the evening before the appointment. I slept maybe an hour. Morning eventually arrived and we headed to the office. They gave me a clipboard full of paperwork that took forever to fill out.

"Can I please just see the Wizard and get my wish?"

I got to the exam room and they put me in a gown with the butt showing—which I don't think my friend was prepared for. I have a condition known as Hank Hill Butt and it can take a bit of getting used to upon first glance.

My poor friend refused to make eye contact while I was wearing it.

The doctor finally arrived and this supernatural healing wizard turned out to be a very short Greek lady. She asked dozens of questions—most of which I answered on the forms already. She poked my belly, checked my reflexes, and at no point did her examination require a gown with the butt showing.

She officially diagnosed me with severe Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and told me she was going to type up a custom treatment regimen and while she was doing that, I was going to get a special IV they designed to specifically combat CFS.

They took me to a room full of comfy reclining chairs and hooked me to an IV full of orange nonsense. Once that was done I met back up with the Wizard and she had created the afore-mentioned "customized" treatment regimen full of expensive supplements and vitamins that were not covered by insurance. Many of which I had to buy directly from the facility. As I looked over the treatment worksheet, I realized they gave the same document to all of the patients.

It was at this point, 560 miles away from my home, stuck in some office in the suburbs of Detroit (which will eventually be taken over by a tooth pulp dentist), with my Hank Hill butt hanging out...

I realized this could have been an email.

I decided to put everything on three different credit cards. Combined with the money from my car, I had about $20,000 to invest in fixing my broken body. My plan was to get all better so I could get a job and pay everything back. I even told the doctor this brilliant financial stratagem and she agreed it was a good plan. No notes.

Young Froggie was being hit in the face with red flag after red flag and Old Froggie is a little embarrassed about that.

I don't remember any of the supplements, but they had names like "EnergyMax Plus" and "Ultra MitoBooster 3000." They definitely sounded like legitimate, evidenced-backed medical supplements and not knockoff energy drinks endorsed by D-list Instagram influencers.

It wasn't all overpriced vitamins though. The doctor had some silly ideas that were actually covered by insurance. She said I should thin my blood so it took less energy to circulate. And I should boost my testosterone levels above the typical range to improve energy. So I had to inject myself with blood thinners and rub testosterone cream on my legs every day for months.

The blood thinners gave me tons of painful bruises at the injection sites and made me dizzy from time to time. The shots became so painful I would have to close my eyes and have my dad inject me. Otherwise I would chicken out. We kept running out of places that didn't have bruises so he would just pick the smallest bruise and stick the needle there.

And the testosterone cream had an interesting side effect that I am debating whether to talk about as I write this sentence.

Okay, I'm just going to tell you.

We are all adults here and we can handle adult conversations while remaining dignified and mature.

The testosterone cream gave me constant, spontaneous, hours-long boners.

I hadn't experienced anything like it since I was a teenager. No erotic inspiration required other than a gentle breeze. Only this time I didn't have a math book to hide behind.

None of it helped my fatigue.

In fact, the constant bonerpalooza was exhausting to deal with.

"Oh look, that actress I enjoy has a fully exposed ankle." "I bet that attractive lady has boobs under that heavy winter coat." "Hey, is it Wednesday?"

At some point it becomes a chore, ya know?

Thank god it was well before 2014, because if I had seen Chris Evans bicep curling a helicopter I probably would have needed hospitalization.

/end dignified adult conversation

After six months I had 0% of the promised 30-50% improvement 90% of the time and she kept saying I just needed to give it more time. She said it works quicker with the IVs full of orange nonsense. But they custom made those IVs and can only administer them in Detroit. She claimed the oral supplements were filled with the same nonsense, but took much longer to kick in. She told me I could be patient or drive to Detroit once a week for an IV treatment if I wanted faster results. If that were true, I feel like that should have been disclosed at the beginning. But I was assured I could get the same results without the IV treatments.

It didn't matter at that point. My credit cards were maxed out and I was out of money. I called the doctor and asked if there was any treatment she could recommend that was covered by my insurance. She got very quiet and awkwardly said she would try to figure something out. Roughly 30 minutes later I was emailed a coupon for $20 off our next phone consultation. I responded and told her I literally had no money left.

I never heard from her again.

The Wizard had no ability to grant my wish for several trillion properly functioning mitochondrias. She had no magic treatment. I finally saw her for what she truly was.

With perfect hindsight I could now see all of the red flags.

Though if I hadn't at least tried, I probably would have wondered and regretted it.

Hard to say.

I was kind of amazed how they built a country wide collection of clinics and they were able to operate for years solely on the placebo effect.

Years later I was curious what happened to this network of quackery. I found a news article saying it was all shut down due to fraud. I don't think they had a holistic approach to paying their taxes.

The reason I am telling this tale is because I have been playing detective and gathering evidence for my disability case. I started to wonder if maybe I could find my fraudulent Wizard to see if she had any kind of records or something that might help me. I knew it was a long shot, but I didn't want to leave a stone unturned.

At first all I could remember was her last name and that she was a D.O. and not an M.D. Standard Google searches were not turning up anything. I couldn't find her current practice nor any contact information. Apparently her Greek last name is a popular Arabic first name for men... so all my searches kept resulting in doctor dudes. This was not the time for a sausage fest and I was getting frustrated.

And then I finally remembered the name of the medical company.

Fibromyalgia & Fatigue Centers, Inc.

I even remembered their URL... fibroandfatigue.com

So I went to the Wayback Machine and I was able to find their now-defunct website. I suddenly remembered its cloudy banner image and "concerned_woman.png" like it was yesterday.

Why, yes... I am tired of being tired.

I also remembered their promise that over 90% of patients had at least a 30-50% improvement. Which was the claim that sent me down this rabbit hole to begin with all those years ago.

I started searching different versions of the site to see how their claims of effectiveness changed over time. At first they basically implied they made everyone completely better.

If I saw that I would definitely think I was getting a cure. But I imagine this caused some problems so they had to dial it back a bit.

I couldn't find the 90% version, but I did find the 30-50%.

This actually sounds like you have a 100% chance of a 30 to 50% improvement.

As I skipped around to the archived captures of different years, the promised percentage kept changing. I don't think they did an actual statistical analysis of their patients. I think they just picked a percentage that sounded enticing without promising too much. Just enough to be life-changing with a built-in excuse for when it all goes tits up.

Years after my experience, the site finally settled on a 65% improvement in energy levels. It was on their new page detailing how "affordable" their treatment was.

$20,000, you say? Balderdash, no one would spend that much.

If you were curious, they claim their treatment is now affordable due to a new monthly payment plan system. It did not become any cheaper.

However, under the 65% promise, they added this disclaimer with a large bold heading...

Success depends largely on your dedication and commitment. Our most successful patients are the ones who make the commitment to follow the treatment program rigorously. Patients who are aggressive and comply with the treatment process experience significantly better long-term results than those whose dedication is half-hearted and whose compliance is minimal.

In other words, "If our bullshit supplements don't work, it is YOUR fault."

Or in my case... "If you run out of money, it is YOUR fault."

Oh and there was also this...

Looking at all of the versions of the Fibro & Fatigue, Inc website was certainly fascinating, but I had to quit dicking clicking around and find my focus.

I still had detective-ing to do.

I was on the hunt for a Detroit-area Greek doctor of osteopathy.

There were ~250 captures of the site between 2004 and 2016. She wasn't listed in the newest captures, nor the oldest captures. So I kept trying to drill down to find the exact time period she worked at the company.

And then... EUREKA!

She was hiding in 2005 on their "Meet the Doctors" page.

Her first name was *drumroll* Sultana!

I can't imagine why I didn't remember that common first name.

Finally, after weeks of trying to figure this out, I now had enough information to do a proper Google search and discover what the heck she is currently up to. Probably putting people in open-butt gowns to check their tonsils or something.

*googling noises intensify*

I'm not sure I've ever come across such a literal dead end.

Should I be making puns about this?

I mean, she did help exploit me out of my entire life savings and put me in significant credit card debt with the Sex Panther-approved promise of a guaranteed 30-50% recovery 90% of the time.

And the institution she was a part of was shut down for fraud.

Still... I never wished an early death upon her.

I would have been happy with a trip to small claims court.

[themelancholicmedstudent]

Dec. 10th, 2020

100 Days of Productivity Challenge Day 5/100

Good morning! I woke up a bit sick today, so I stayed in bed and cuddled with my cats until I felt better. I had a meeting with an academic advisor. The advisor was very thorough and an absolute sweetheart. Sadly, I had to cut the meeting short because I had an eye appointment right after. I’ll try to talk to more academic advisors next semester because it was a very helpful experience. It’s really a shame that I only found out about the advisors yesterday but oh well...T-T

My goal for today was to prepare a minimum of 2 paragraphs for my meeting with an academic advisor.

Here’s a quick rundown of my day.

Woke up at 7:30 AM

Wiped down my desk and other surfaces in my room

Wrote 2 practice paragraphs (brainstorm, outline, rough draft and final copy)

Attended a meeting with an academic advisor to get feedback on my writing

Headed to an eye appointment

Made new appointments

Shopped for some hair care products and vitamins I needed

Made lunch

Ordered new lenses for my frames

IPL Treatment

Picked up some groceries

Tried to print some worksheets but the printer stopped working partway through, so I only had 4 of 19 pages to work on and review...T-T (the family printer is so finicky and such a pain to deal with I’ll probably just get my printer out of storage tomorrow and set it up)

Made tomorrow’s to-do list

[theolivechickken]

CAN I PET YOUR DOG

Pt. 2 of week 1

I know I already write a lot, but actually I HAVE TOO MANY GOOD THOUGHTS AND MEMORIES AND IT’S HARD TO GET THEM ALL DOWN BEFORE THEY PASS.

Jan 18

Let’s get this bread. Woke up bright and early, threw some toast in the toaster, and dressed it with some butter and honey. We left at 7:55 to head down the mountain and meet Katharina (who would walk us to the school where we were volunteering for the morning). On the walk down the mountain, a cat hopped down and followed us around on the trail.

We followed the river down crossed through a park to get to the school. I really loved the interior! Walls were painted with pastel and primary colors, and student art was displayed on bulletin boards. We sat in a neat little library that had walls lined with organized books, desks and colorful chairs, computers by the windows, and a little reading pit in one corner. It kinda reminds me of a Montessori Classroom. Very warm, open and cozy.

Our first session was with the 4-6th graders (probably my favorite group that we worked with today!). They were so enthusiastic and excited to be here with us, and I had a lot of fun talking to them. This was the group that was starting out in English and I was so impressed by how much they already knew and how much they engaged in conversation! They had a bunch of questions prepared for our little speed date “get-to-know-you” rotations and would often ask us if we had any pets or siblings, if we had a boyfriend or girlfriend, if we drove a car or played computer games, and asked us what our favorite colors, hobbies, subjects, and foods were.

Our second group was with the dreaded middle schoolers and high schoolers. We had to actually prepare little lessons to teach this more advanced group. Nadia, Raine, and Aubree prepared a time lesson to help them convert their 24 hour clock to a 12 hour clock with AM and PM. SaVanna and Regina passed out a past-tense worksheet to practice using verbs ending in -ed. Michaela and Patrick hosted a USA geography trivia activity and Bryn, Ayetzy, and I ended the session with a round of Bingo (centered around articles of clothing). Our game went pretty well actually! I think it was a good note to end on.

The third group had some experience with English but was overall the quietest group. We sat at different tables around the classroom and talked about American food, Austrian food, and random subjects. So many of the students were from different countries and had very different backgrounds from their classmates. I thought it was interesting how they all found themselves studying in Salzburg even if they came from countries that were much further away.

Alright boys, let’s attempt this laundry. Also in German but thankfully nothing set on fire and my clothes got washed.

For dinner we munched on some of the leftovers that Marcus left in the student kitchen (so many caaaaarbs yikes). Later, I went out to Murphy’s Law and O’Malleys with Kaya, Regina, Nadia, Aubree, Raine, and Patrick. Murphy’s had a quieter, older scene, but it was chill in its own way. O’malleys had just what we were looking for. They were playing some bangers and we were all singing aloud and dancing with our new British friends who joined our table. It was such a fun night! Afterwards, we stopped at a food stand and got sausages before climbing into a taxi (one of the very few that would take us up the mountain - and it was pretty large since it managed to fit all 7 of us in it) and heading back home.

Jan 19

Woke up deaaaad inside. The flu hit me like a train. Or I guess I never recovered from my mild cold which evolved quickly to the black plague. Also probably didn’t fully recover since everyone else is sick too so we’re just passing it all around. Had a heartwarming cup of much needed minestrone soup at Spaghetti & Co (yay soups and vegetables and vegetable soup :) ) Patrick, Aubree and Nadia had pizza, Raine had gnocchi, and Regina had chicken strips and fries. We have not mastered the art of flagging down waiters yet. Kinda just throw our hands up and then awkwardly put them behind our heads to play it off when the waiter doesn’t see them.

We strolled through the city, passed by H&M, got distracted by the coats hanging in the windows, and then found ourselves inside looking at the clothes. We discovered that there were multiple floors to this store and hopped inside an elevator. We somehow managed to push all the buttons in the elevator, went up to the second floor, and then set off an alarm since Raine was holding a coat with a tag on it. Luckily, no one went to jail! We also stopped by DM and Spar to pick up some groceries and I found myself a little orange juice smoothie (stock up on this vitamin C). Took the lift back up the Mönchsberg and had a chill night in to rest.

Jan 20

On the road to recovery (lets beat this cold/flu/sickness??) Sweated out my fever but now I’m congested?

Yes, resting is important, but let’s also take it slow in this slow city.

Went out to Mr Le’s Healthy Asia one-man restaurant shop. What a nice man :) Food was cheap and decent, and his shop was located at the very bottom of the Mönchsberg so it was pretty quick and easy to walk to. He asked if we were on holiday or staying, and we told him we were here for 4 months. Then he gave us a stamp card for his restaurant! You can bet I’ll be back. He told us he was excited to be visiting San Francisco and New York next week.

Strolled through New Town to find a bank for Patrick to stop at but turns out Google lied to us and they were all closed. Ended up stopping at Coffee Haus to sit down and do homework with Bryn. I had a chai tea latte in mind when ordering, but our waiter brought out a decently large cup of chai tea. It was still pretty tasty and honestly hot tea is probably better for my sore throat. I really love the atmosphere of this coffee house. It’s very modern and hipstery, and has a really relaxed overall vibe. It’s also lively compared to many of the restaurants in town (that are usually dead silent or volume is kept to a minimum). It reminds me of Lux cafe back at home, where you can just sit down and order something, then take your time hanging out and not be disturbed by waiters or waitresses.

Have I mentioned how well trained dogs are here?! I have seen so many cute dogs just roaming freely but not too far from their owners. One little guy stopped by our table to sniff our hands and I think this is the first dog I have pet here. I didn’t ask the owner “Kann Ich?” but to be fair the dog came to me so I think that question is pretty much answered.

Also, dogs aren’t as cuddly or friendly as those in the US? They might come nearby to sniff you but they don’t really like to be pet by strangers or like to greet others. They don’t get excited by other dogs or by other people. It’s weird man.

[lockedstuck]

they have covered my sky with crystal

2021, 04/08 - Sollux Captor

Dr. Vandayar is not the clinician who sees you today. Instead, it’s Dr. Cao, who keeps squinting at the light as if he’s got either a hangover or a migraine.

“So, Krishna tells me that you’ve made up your mind about ECT,” he says.

“I have.”

“And?”

“I want to do it,” you say. “On one condition.”

“And that is?” Dr. Cao asks smoothly, as if he’s accustomed to bartering with patients over undesirable treatments.

“If there isn’t any improvement by the seventh treatment, you let me go home. I’d be giving up almost three weeks of my life for this, but I have a lot to do. No doubt that Dr. V has told you about my living situation and responsibilities to my family.”

“As a matter of fact, he has.” Dr. Cao pours himself another coffee, from the pot on his desk. “But I have conditions for you as well, Mr. Captor.”

“Yeah? What are they?”

“If you do improve within seven treatments, I’d like you to stay for at least twelve, so we can get the most out of this modality. I’d also prefer if you went for maintenance ECT twice a week, once you can be managed in an outpatient setting.”

“Fine,” you reply.

“Alright, then.” Dr. Cao flips through your chart for a moment until he finds what he’s looking for. “Dolores said you wrote a 72 hour letter earlier this morning? Are you retracting it, or…?”

“Yes, I am. I actually retracted it about an hour after I wrote it. I worry about my family a lot. And my mother had gone missing again. My dad found her a couple blocks away, but she had no clue why she’d walked out, or what she had gone out to get. She’s got really bad schizophrenia, and her meds barely work. My sibling, they keep an eye on her, but they’re also mentally ill and not always there either.”

“Who takes care of them when you aren’t in the picture?”

“My dad, sir. But he works a lot, and he can’t always be around when some shit goes down.”

“Have you considered getting a home health aide for your mother in order to ease the burden of caring for her?”

“I mean, yeah, but it’s already hard for her to trust anyone in the family,” you explain. “I don’t know how she’d react to a stranger.”

“If that’s an issue, perhaps one of your extended family members could step in? There are programs where they can collect an income to care for her. I’ll be honest with you, Sollux. I feel like a decent amount of your depression stems from having so many responsibilities.”

“You can say that again.”

“I’m serious, Sollux. The ECT will help you to establish a baseline that isn’t crushing depression, but only you can make modifications to your life situation that will ease the burden of responsibility.”

Is he really suggesting that you let some rando or some dipshit cousin who’ll only be there for the paycheck watch your mother? Does he really think that’ll stress you out less?

“I can see the skepticism in your eyes,” he adds. “Go to your 10 AM group and I’ll be around to get things settled so you can start ECT by either Friday or next Monday.”

Instead of going straight to group, you take about fifteen minutes to shower the grime and dirt off your body. This is only the fourth shower you’ve taken in thirteen days. You hate looking at all the self-injury scars, so you lather up and wash as carefully as you can in ten of those minutes.

Your 10 AM group is DBT with Marisol Perez, the extern. She’s got a vision impairment but that doesn’t stop her from leading the group, or doing her job in general. And she doesn’t miss a beat despite your being twenty minutes late. She nods at you and hands you a worksheet. 

“Today, we’re discussing interpersonal effectiveness, through the application of the ‘DEAR MAN’ skill, Sollux.”

Yeah, you remember that skill. You take a seat with June, Porrim, Eridan and Latula. June looks uncharacteristically solemn today. 

You want to wish her a happy birthday, but you don’t want to upset her further. 

Latula waves at you, Porrim smiles, and Eridan gives you a jaunty little half-salute. You try to take notes on the last few minutes of group, but your discussion with Dr. Cao has left you nervous and jittery. What if your mother runs away from home and doesn’t come back while you’re here doing ECT? Are you really willing to take that chance?

You get up from your spot in the group and jog over to the nurses’ station. Dolores sits inside the charting room typing something up. You wave her over.

“Yes, Sollux?” she asks. “What can I do for you?”

“Can I get something for anxiety?”

“Of course you can,” she says. She checks the nearby computer. “Okay, let’s see what you can have.” A pause. “Do you want the lorazepam or the hydroxyzine?”

“Both.”

“You sure that you want both? Both will probably make you sleepy.”

“I know.”

By the time she gets both out of the machine, June has taken the spot immediately behind you, and Roxy behind her. You suppose you’re not the only one who is anxious today. However, behind you, June insists on switching places with Roxy. Sweat gleams off Roxy’s forehead as she shifts her weight from one foot to the other.

Once Dolores gives you your meds, she walks out of the nurses’ station and gives Roxy a once-over.

“Here, let me get a set of vitals on you,” she says, while the blonde girl shivers. You know you’re not supposed to stick around, that Roxy’s medical data is between her and Dolores, but Roxy looks genuinely sick. You’re not close to her like Porrim, June, and Eridan are, but you’re still worried, and you are her friend.

So is Dolores, once she gets a look at Roxy’s blood pressure.

“181/97,” Dolores murmurs. “That’s way too high. You’re in withdrawal.”

“No shit,” Roxy mutters through gritted teeth, and then apologizes for cursing at Dolores, who quickly checks the computer. 

“Okay, you’re due for Ativan in an hour and a half, but right this second, you’re due for clonidine and your methadone. Do you want those, and then I can call Dr. Cao and see about giving you the Ativan a little early?”

Roxy nods hastily and takes a seat on a chair not far from the nurse’s station.

As Dolores goes into the medication room, she calls for June. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten about you, I just have to deal with this situation first.”

Dolores brings the medication to where Roxy sits. Roxy uses the liquid methadone in a styrofoam cup to swallow her clonidine. When she’s done, she gives both the medication cup and the larger cup back to Dolores.

“Okay, my dear. Sit tight and we’ll see about the Ativan when Dr. Cao calls back,” she says. She turns to June. “What was it that you wanted?”

“Anxiety meds.”

Dolores gives a little snort. “Is everyone coming to me because of anxiety? Are all of you okay? Bad group or something?”

“No, not at all. Marisol’s group was nice, but Roxy’s been anxious since before group started, Sollux was in a meeting with Dr. Cao, and I’ve been trying to manage my anxiety since right after breakfast.”

“You’re doing well, then, my dear,” Dolores replies. “And that was a kind thing you did, letting Roxy go before you.”

“It’s no problem. I’ve been waiting for something since before nine in the morning. Another couple minutes won’t hurt me.”

Dolores goes into the nurses’ station a final time and gets June’s medication together. A phone call from who only knows stalls her for a couple of minutes, and then she goes back into the med room. By the time she emerges, she has two medication cups.

“Okay, Roxy? I have your meds and June’s meds,” she calls. 

Roxy has been curled up into a ball on the bench for the last five minutes. You had given her a couple of napkins to wipe her face off, but she still looks sweaty.

“Right, June, you get two milligrams of lorazepam, and Roxy, you get… two miligrams of lorazepam,” she says. The pause makes Roxy giggle. She and June take their meds. Roxy asks Dolores if she can shower, and the latter goes into sharps to hand her her body wash, and her shampoo. 

“Make sure to give it back to me when you’re done, my dear” 

That’s when Dirk decides to walk by, and unlock the door to the outside enclosure.

“Fresh air break, everyone!” he calls. “C’mon y’all, come out and get that Vitamin D.”

“Hey Dirk!” Roxy calls, seeming slightly better. “Can you give me some of that that Vitamin D? Like, one on one?”

Dirk rolls his eyes and says something like, “They really need to up your mood stabilizers.”

You and June go outside to take in the cool air. It’s maybe sixty seven degrees outside, which isn’t bad at all. 

June takes off her hair tie and unbraids her hair. You watch several inches of almost ruler straight hair cascade down her back. Your mouth goes dry for a moment. You always had a knack for crushing on girls with long hair. June notices you looking at her and cocks her head to one side.

“Is there something on my face?”

“No, no, not at all,” you reply. “Your hair looks cute like that, though.”

Much to your surprise, June blushes. You had expected some joking nonchalance, but not that. You decide to change the subject.

“Thank you for talking to me late last night,” you tell her. “It helped more than you understand.”

You hadn’t meant to have June watch you cry at two in the morning, but she and Roxy were up in the dayroom, conducting a quiet conversation. Apparently, Roxy woke up with a bad stomach ache and muscle cramps, and that June woke up to keep her company until Ignacio could get in touch with a doctor and get Roxy a one-time late-night dose of something for pain and agitation.

While Roxy was at the nurses’ station waiting for Ignacio to finish paging the on-call doctor, you and June started shooting the shit. You told her about your father’s insistence on seeing you every single day during visiting hours, unless Aradia was visiting, since you could only have one visitor at a time. 

“I don’t understand it, June,” you told her, stray tears running down your face. “He’s sixty-three and he has diabetes and hypertension. He needs to take it easy, but he still shows up every day, after work. I wish he wouldn’t.”

“Your father loves you,” June said. “That much should be obvious.”

“Yeah, but why? I’m a waste of space. I dropped out of my master’s degree program, I barely help around the house, and I spent a week in bed, not moving. Just lazing around and hating myself. Then, I tried to cut my throat in our upstairs bathroom.”

June shook her head. 

“Unconditional love doesn’t only exist when you’re doing well. People who really love you will love you even when you’re not feeling up to do anything, even when you’re stuck in a vortex of depression. I barely left my room for a few months. And forget about going outside. I was so agoraphobic and depressed that even when my friends called me to hang out, I stayed in my room and didn’t leave.”

June rolled up her sleeves and showed you several straight-line scars covering her wrists and arms.

“My dad was shocked when he saw these. He couldn’t understand why anyone would do that. I guess that he and I both thought that once I started transitioning a couple years ago, I would never be depressed again. I told him I was suicidal, that my antidepressants had stopped working, and he brought me here. He’s not young either. He’ll be fifty-eight in a week. He has congestive heart failure. I’ve given up on telling him not to come see me every day. It’s a choice that he makes, because he loves me, and he worries about me.”

“What about your mom, though? You said a couple days ago that she was younger than your dad,” Sollux asked. “Why doesn’t she come to see you? My mom won’t come because she’s scared of psych wards.”

“My mother left when I was two. As it turns out, she wasn’t ready for the responsibility of parenting.”

Nervous, you scratched the back of your head. “Oh, wow. That’s awful. I’m sorry for bringing it up.”

“No worries. You didn’t know.”

You awkwardly ambled back to your room, where Gamzee lay in a sound sleep on the opposite bed. For some reason, sleep came easily back to you, and you awoke again at 6:40, feeling more rested than you had for a while.

Here and now, you peer into June’s bright blue eyes. She’s got a deck of cards in her hand that she arranges according to suit, to make sure none are missing. After she’s done, she sighs, annoyed.

“Someone took the three and the nine of spades, and never put them back.” She groans. “You can’t have a decent game of anything without these cards.”

“Maybe blackjack,” you suggest. “Or crazy eights.”

“We’d need more players for either one.”

[lancemoreton5-blog]

5 Simple Steps For Getting A Flatter Stomach Lightning Fast

What anyone think about weight loss pills? Would they really in order to lose weight? Sometimes people are blinded by males that diet pills do not actually help you lose weight and much slower a lot of disadvantages. Is actually why only true on the food supplements incorporate stimulants along with chemical additives. Keep your fat intake to some minimum of 40%. One does fail you want to do this, the actual body will in order to use carbs as gas. How can this happen most likely you are eating is chicken? It's simple for shape to convert protein into glucose (carbs) and it will do this if required feed it an alternate fuel source (fat). It can be a plain truth that piles of fat loss products do work, but perform be recommended by a doc. A lot of the keto diet pills which are obtainable direct to users are found to be a mix of herbs and excitants which will make your digestive system to get obsessed. Such obsession will result to hypertension, xerostomia, pectus pain, and tremors. Diet Approaches for Teens: Just because it cost you a lot dollars it does not mean you actually will lose a lot of weight! Video games not cost you a fortune to reduce weight, it could possibly cost just little bit to enroll in a program or get obtaining information that you desire. But lots of the businesses like Dieters for example, take associated with people eager to lose load. You have to pay a high start up fee, by companies you also have a bill every month and anyone have order their treats. To lose my love handles, I've tried pills which got me to feel serious. Please look for a faint disclaimer or warning towards the bottom of websites that sell keto pills. Most super cut keto ingredients (nellzielinski8.hatenablog.com) pills are not regulated and might harmful on your body. Even prescribed ones has its side-effects, systems work efficiently consult you pharmacist or physician really carefully. And important things ketogenic supplements it: weight loss is challenging under most circumstances. Reduction supplement is downsizing your bodies weight on a higher mass to a lower mass. This is usually accomplished by dieting, strenuous exercise or with a medical procedure that causes full of loss in weight. Also the loss won't last for evere ?. As days will attempt the regarding weight loss will decrease and a person reach a time where your weight won't be reducing ever again. Most of the crash diet consumers are known to achieve all pounds back as the most weight lost in water bulk. Also your weight may also fluctuate a great deal of due to continuously changing diet. Finally, for need just a little help you shouldn't be frugal having your future. If you need diet guide, the actual money. Anyone want to obtain rid of weight while eat resulting in you really love? Click here to obtain out why. It is so easy an idiot could get it done! 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But shortly the actual will adjust, and within 4 days your system will begin changing for your better.Typical foods on a keto pills include nuts, whey protein, eggs, bacon, sausage, olive oil, butter, salmon, etc; may contains a high amount of protein and fats absolutely no carbs. A vitamin pill is often taken in a keto pills since is preferable to eat much vegetables. (however you can eat you should dedicate bowl of salad). It takes strong willpower to remain keto as if you cheat once or eat something bad physique will be out of ketosis. An operation that took 3-7 days now requires to be re-done. You can know more information about side regarding particular ketogenic supplements when you read various reviews penned by their users online. Take time to see the personal experiences of numerous people who have owned such pills. This is because quite a few the diet pills can damage your vital body organs. You attempt to get your body to interchange from to be a carbohydrate or protein burning machine to a fat burning machine. Simply remove carbohydrates out of the equation, While fat with your diet at (at least) a 40-50% ratio. This lets the body know is actually still a principal fuel source (fat) and allows it to be burned as fuel, while sparing health protein. 9) Possess have entered the info, simply head over to the Excel worksheet tab for "Results for Men" or "Results for Women" and you'll need find everything broken down for your site. flat belly fast, lose belly fat in 4 weeks, rapid fat loss The person who wrote write-up is called Tonya. After being regarding my job for years I became an order clerk. She's always loved living in New You are able to. It's an excellent common thing but what she likes doing is to play with dogs an awesome model . she is hoping to earn money with it.

[anthonykrierion]

Pain Point SEO: Converting Traffic to Leads

Last updated on August 22, 2019 at 06:02 pm

Revisit your current keyword strategy and take a look at Pain Point SEO. It is the act of finding customer problems and addressing them through bankable content. At the heart of it all, SEO is all about providing answers for people. However, there are those who make the mistake of thinking that SEO is a popularity contest, banking only on traffic and keyword volume for their research.

Honestly, I find this strategy archaic and unreliable. Keyword volume fluctuates which is why you should not rely on its inconsistency for your SEO efforts. As SEOs always say, content is key. That is how you win in this industry. Yes, traffic is great but aim for more, do not get stuck with it as your endgoal.

SEO coupled with a thorough understanding of the buyer’s journey is what can help you climb to the top and stay there for a very long time. Take a look at how you can achieve this with pain point SEO.

Avoid Traditional Keyword Research

When you get sick, do you ask for medicine or vitamin supplements so you can get rid of your symptoms? It’s most likely the former if you ask people because this is the wisest choice. This is exactly what pain point SEO is about.

It is rooted in addressing the awareness stage in the buyer’s journey so you can promote your business as their source of products or services for the consideration and decision stage. With this, you should also consider assigning a funnel stage per keyword so you can have a clear idea of how you can effectively promote your content based on the buyer’s journey.

If you are doing traditional keyword strategy, your worksheet will look like this:

I’m not saying that you should disregard these figures but keyword volume is not that deep of a metric to address customer pain points. Instead of being focused on the numbers per keyword, why not make a separate spreadsheet where you can take note of the long-tail keywords that can address customer problems.

Of course, in order to answer a question, you have to know how and why your customer is having difficulties. Keyword volume can help you increase traffic but pain point SEO will help you garner leads.

It’s one thing to have many users coming into your site and another to attract them because they NEED to come to your site to address a problem. Find out all the things that can go wrong with your product as well as the negative reviews that your customers are already putting out there, this can help you to your advantage.

To get you started on making a worksheet of long-tail keywords, you can start your research on the problems that your customers are having on:

List of Products/Services

Price

Location

Risks

Urgency

Quality

These long-tail keywords can provide a signal to users that you are aware of their problems and it is also a great way to dominate the SERPs through relevant terms aside from your target keywords. The best way to do this aside from using a keyword research tool is to look at the search engine pages and see what people also search for. At the bottom of the page, lies the potential long-tail keywords that you have to target. Additionally, you should also see the featured snippets of that particular keyword and build your long-tail keywords around them.

The typical way of getting a keyword list, prioritizing by search volume, then building your content around it is a weak strategy in addressing your customer’s needs. Why not grow and convert with pain point SEO? Generate content from customer pain points and then continuously find keywords centered around them.

This strategy was applied to one of my clients, Topbest, a pest control operator in the Philippines. As people are experiencing their pain points in terms of dengue and mosquito control, we have seen an influx of users who are searching for these terms:

As a result, people who found their business organically have turned into leads. Because people have a need for pest control in this life-and-death situation, they have flocked to the business to see how they can relieve the symptoms. This is precisely what Pain Point SEO is as a keyword strategy. Traffic into leads, that is what you should be aiming for. If you are mindful of the details, you can see this when you address your client’s pain points and turn these into their favor.

Potential Clients of the Business

To get to the root of customer pain points, you must have a clear idea of what your customer looks like. You have to take note of who they are and what are the probable reasons why they are going to seek out your business. This goes to show that you should strategize Pain Point SEO with these kinds of factors in mind:

A clear image of who you are talking to through your SEO content would be your best bet in addressing their needs. Say, for example, you have a real estate business and you are probably targeting those who need to upgrade their homes.

Pain point SEO goes deeper than the obvious prospects, you have to find out if your target market consists of young professionals, retirees, or small families, or something else to that effect. The good thing about this is that this strategy can be constantly rebuilt because you can be confident that it is not stagnant for your efforts.

Together with your prospects, you also have to consider what type of voice you are going to use to relate to them. Your ticket in knowing more about your customers is through social media channels. Look at their feedback through the comment section, take note of their questions, and see what their social media is like.

Search Intent

I cannot stress this enough but search intent does go a long way in helping you attract visitors and leads organically. Once you have a clear mental image of the target market you are addressing, you have to plan how you can highlight your site as their primary source of answers.

To address this, you can make a persona for yourself that will align with the potential clients of your business. So if your target audience is SEO newbies, then you have to be an expert in the field to bridge them to you or you can also sell yourself as another beginner that can help them in educating themselves on this particular field.

This is a great way of highlighting search intent since you now have a hold on how you are going to present your content. Build your keywords around customer pain points and answer them accordingly:

Navigational – site visibility and brand terms that will lead users to the site

Informational – product details, accessories, features, benefits, how your services will attract potential clients

Commercial Investigation – a clear description of the product (color, size, weight, height), reviews, comparisons

Transactional – pricing, purchase information, sales, deals, coupons, discounts

Key Takeaway

Improving customer experience through Pain Point SEO is your best bet for converting that meaty traffic into leads. By being the point person to address potential problems that may arise from products or services, you have the advantage of promoting your brand more effectively.

Gone are the days when you rely on keyword volume to rank. This is the age of SEO when you have to stay competitive, especially with Google’s algorithm updates. In-depth customer research is one way to prevent getting hit by these changes in a negative manner.

What are the other pain points that customers may have? Comment down below!

Pain Point SEO: Converting Traffic to Leads was originally posted by Video And Blog Marketing

[saltycollectionmakerfan-blog]

5 Good Health Tips You May Carry out In 30 Seconds

Talking of one thing you are able to do: If you've ever wanted to run a half marathon but weren't sure how to practice or where to start, I am coaching a staff of first-time runners from the very start, all through the end line. Growing healthy routines are one of the crucial vital parts to lengthy-term success. You have already got something solid to begin; you just need to title it. Harness it, and you should have an ideal basis on which to build. Embrace the social gathering planner in you to create enjoyable, accountability and connect people with widespread targets. Whole health means caring for your whole self: thoughts, body, and spirit. After about ninety days those adjustments will grow to be routine and finally a way of life. But now that you've got began, does it feel somewhat overwhelming? The George Washington College (GW) owns copyrights to supplies created by Jessie Gruman, PhD and/or the Center for Advancing Health (CFAH) which can be found at MedlinePlus of the Nationwide Institutes of Health has many resources on managing stress. Some examples include: do not eat out of a field or bag because you'll feel like you need to end all the pieces; satisfy your ice cream urge by shopping for manufacturers which are sluggish-churned and have lowered calories. The American Dietetic Association offers a wide range of small ways to shave calories off your every day diet. The insurance coverage company Cigna has developed a personal aim-setting worksheet that features physical, emotional, and social health objectives. , created by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, has exercise and menu planners to keep organized with your progress and aim setting. If you need to change your health habits, a chat with your doctor concerning the consequences of a destructive health conduct and the advantages of change might show you how to get started. How to Improve Your Health Habits: Small Steps to Change. So there you might have it - 17 completely different entire grains to choose from that will hopefully improve your health. Additionally it is closely related to the trendy-day wheat. However, since it's part of the whole wheat household, the carbohydrates that this grain brings with it are certainly complex which implies your body won't be able to break it down shortly and flood your body with glucose. So needless to say, this whole grain is a superb choice to be added to your daily grain consumption. However when you've got a cholesterol problem, you should actually start eating whole grain barley commonly. I knew my nice-grandmother who nearly lived to be 90 years old ate it all the time. Plus, you lose around 75% of the vitamins in rice when eating white rice due to how it's processed. Therefore, when eating Wash Your Hands , go with brown rice. Oats are additionally great for your coronary heart too. In brief, you probably have the choice to select whole grain, then do it. It requires extra to break it down so our body isn't flooded with glucose all at one time. Until you've been underneath a rock for the past decade, then you definately've probably heard that eating processed flour isn't good for you. Healthy Grains you possibly can select from: But keep in mind, we only have one body so we must deal with it right. Then I started to notice how my body and health were changing. NSW Health contributes to whole-of-government policy improvement and funds and coordinates statewide drug and alcohol programs, including early and transient interventions, remedy and prolonged care services. However, desirous about blissful things that make you smile for real can improve your mood and, in turn, reduce stress — even if your pet porn session solely lasts a minute. 19. Google " lovely puppies" In accordance to a Michigan State College study through which researchers monitored female bus drivers for two weeks, faking a smile at work can worsen your temper, which might, over time, stress you out. Place your hand on your stomach, and really feel it rise and fall with your breath. When you drink too little, you abuse your body in a number of other ways: You gradual digestion, make it harder for your kidney to filter toxins from the blood, provoke headaches, and dry out your skin.