Oh, gosh! Not a blood thinner. That causes a whole new set of problems to deal with. I was actually offered a blood thinner due to the slightly higher probably of stroke with migraine with aura. I turned it down. I agree, though, migraine is weird! I have a doctor's appointment soon. I'll discuss my options with him just to know. I hope your family members with APS are doing well.

Gosh, I hope so! I'm pinning my hopes on it. It's been a really bad five years now. (Minus the 6 miracle months I had when I first started Nurtec.)

I'm not sure. I'm mid forties. Things have been getting progressively worse in that department these past couple of years. (Back to heavy flow and super painful cramps. Like high school for me. Ugh.) I keep wondering the same thing. Will the migraines break when I hit menopause. I don't know that that time will come soon enough, though. I always push through until I can't anymore. When I get to that can't-anymore point, the only thing that resets is sleep. Unfortunately, a short nap doesn't typically do it. Usually it takes several hours.

That's what I was thinking. I did try walking in with my head down once. I started to get an aura but it poofed away after a few seconds. However, another day I ran into someone I knew in the Walmart parking lot and got one talking to her outside the store. 🤷‍♀️

I don't know how your DH did it either. I sometimes get to the point where I can pretty much only sit and stare into space. That's when I usually head to bed. Do you know how your daughter's remote work works? I did read that about the autoimmune theory.

Yes, and I don't actually want to be on disability. The low-assets thing is a hard no. The only part I really wish that I had access to was the health insurance. That would at least allow me to attempt to get by for a while on side hustles/gig work coupled with maybe some part-time work, if need be. Morning hours tend to be decent for me. When I'm home anyway. I don't know whether driving every morning would cause auras and ruin my morning hours too or not. I don't drive often enough in the mornings to know. Going into our local Walmart causes one almost every time (even in the morning). I thought it was just our local Walmart for some reason but now other stores are starting to cause auras too.

No, I do. I checked the other day. I worked before having DD. And, I also have been making enough with TPT these past several years, that that topped me off. The monthly dollar amount that I would qualify for isn't great, though. I just wish we had some kind of truly affordable health insurance available for the self employed. Not having this locks a lot of people (a whole lot of women, I imagine) into some not-so-great circumstances.

No, I'm sorry. I once found a person on a different form whose husband had the same rare disease as mine. I totally freaked her out trying to talk about it. (Prognosis wasn't that promising then.) She literally told me I couldn't talk to her anymore. This was in the early stages of my DH's diagnosis, so I was initially thrilled to make this connection. Anyway, I'm just trying to say I get it.

No, I don't. I just meant I've been through a bunch of tests of various sorts to rule out other things. That's how I ended up with a chronic migraine diagnosis.

Most of my migraines are silent (no crushing head pain), although this is changing some. I have a lot of head pressure and wooziness, but I wouldn't call it PAIN. It's all the other stuff that makes me unable to function...the cognitive fog, dizziness (sometimes vertigo), nausea, inability for form sentences and speak correctly, balance and coordination issues. I am a perfectionist and have a strong work ethic. I can imagine that I would attempt to power through and be miserable. But honestly, I think I could cause an accident or make a mistake that would get me fired pretty easily. That would devastate me. I was thinking about going to back to school for some kind of health-related career, but I'm not sure that's going to work out. 😞 ETA: I often describe it like feeling pretty darn drunk without any euphoria. So, there's also a kind of down, depressive feeling that can run along with all the symptoms too. Every now and again, when symptoms are especially bad, I will drink something to flip the dysphoria.

I'm not sure. I've thought about this, as having the cheap insurance alone would reduce a lot of stress but then I would still want to work as much as possible online when I'm able, and they might kick me off for making too much. I think they would also make me jump through a lot of hoops in terms of trying a bunch of cheap off-label medicines first, which just zonk me out in a different way (and what I have tried hasn't worked). I'm also afraid of losing Nurtec, if I try something else. Our insurance doesn't cover it, so Nurtec is currently giving it to me free. (It's a minimum of $2,000 for my dose per month otherwise.)

I had a full work up with various MRIs, scans, X-rays, bloodwork, etc. before I was diagnosed, but I may need to find another neurologist (mine left during Covid) and see what else I can do. Thank you for posting. 😊 I have been thinking DD and I might enjoy yoga.

I'd probably pull any Disney and/or Universal Studios ones, then toss the rest. I'd check eBay on those or at least donate them so a collector can have a chance at them. Keeps a bit out of the landfill. Some Las Vegas hotel ones might have value too. I would eBay or donate any unwanted Disney enamel pins as well. (Or, mail them to my DD. Lol. 😝)

As I've posted before, DH and I will be divorcing within a couple of years. About the time DD heads to college. I'm truly starting to stress about whether I'm going to be able to hold a typical job to support myself (and help pay for DD's college). I have chronic migraine, which means I have a minimum of fifteen migraine days a month. I am taking Nurtec every other day (the max dose), which is/was a game changer for me. However, I am back to having symptoms nearly every day. Things are way better than they used to be, but I am not feeling/functioning normally. Right now with the heat, I pop an aura just about every time I leave the house. Driving and going into stores can trigger one. (It can be pretty scary driving with one.) Even when I recover quickly, my vision and cognitive abilities aren't great for 2-3+ hours. (I probably need to time it.) And, a lot of days when I'm just home, I have to lie down for a bit in the afternoons. My brain gets too fuzzy to do much of anything and/or fatigue sets in. I looked up types of jobs that are good for migraine sufferers, and it's pretty much freelance, remote, and gig work. I have a TPT store, so that's pretty much what I already do, but these types of jobs aren't going to provide stable income or insurance. And, our state sucks in providing quality affordable health insurance options for the self employed. I'm trying to think realistically about my future before it's right on top of me. Any wisdom, thoughts, advice to share?

The title pretty much says all. DD is a rising junior. I'm not sure which ACT date(s) to register her for this coming year. She hasn't taken it before. She will be taking Algebra 2 this year. She has taken Algebra 1, Geometry, Biology, and Chemistry. She will likely take the PSAT in October. TIA for your help! These are the 2023-24 testing dates: September 9, 2023 October 28, 2023 December 9, 2023 February 10, 2024 April 13, 2024 June 8, 2024 July 13, 2024*

They are doing something with First Class package rate and a couple of the economy package rates too. Combining them and adjusting the rates. I'm not sure anyone knows exactly what the new rates will be yet.

I'm not going to ask what a typical day looks like. 😬

And, here I thought this thread was going to be about American Girl dolls. Lol. ☺️ That is all. Carry on.

No idea about any of this. I truly only know about one particular drag bar in one particular city. (There are others, but this particular drag bar is the main, popular one in the city.) The workers are like family there. They hang out together after hours, and they even take out-of-state vacations together. And, I think the drag queens get paid a decent wage and they make hundreds of dollars more in tips each night they perform. Several of them are in their mid to late 20s...I'm just not sure they are thinking about it all as deeply as some people here. 😊 I will agree that LGBT folks aren't by any means all the same. Not at all, actually. Lots of division within, but I didn't think that's what we were talking about.

I still say it's about promoting the LGBT community at large. And that could be an actual place. Large cities may have planned revitalized neighborhoods where LGBT-owned businesses are grouped together and thrive. Part of that neighborhood will likely include bars/clubs that host drag shows, drag trivia nights, etc. Those bars and other successful LGBT-owned businesses sponsor outreach programs and events just like non-LGBT-owned businesses do. The drag queens are representatives of those communities. There are non-drag representatives too, but they aren't as visual. There was a drag show at our local big-city theme park's Pride Day last week. And, there was some sort of show at a children's museum (not your normal children's museum; it's a rather unique place that's for more than just kids, but kids are the primary patrons) the week before. I have no idea the content of these shows, as I didn't go. But, drag queen appearances aren't just at the library. They're at parades and baseball games and other places too. All types of people go to drag shows. They aren't just for gay guys. A lot of lesbians go. A lot of people having birthdays and bachelorette parties. People wearing cosplay. Really, just all types of people being themselves and having fun.

Well, if they label it as anything else, they'll be accused of trying to hide it. Right? The label does let people know that a guy dressed up as a gal will be doing the reading right up front. It also alerts LGBT parents that this might be something that they might be interested in. And, I have no idea whether this is the case, but large cities have contests where a Pride royalty court is chosen each year to preside over Pride events and generally be representatives of the gay community throughout the year. A drag queen is chosen as Queen of Pride. Drag queen story time might be one of their awareness/community events. In this case, why would the LGBT community want to hide the fact that they are drag queens?

Yes, that's where we need to get as a society. "Coming out" should not be a thing. There shouldn't be a need for it. I thought we were getting there, but the tide seems to be shifting again.

These things ARE news in my state. Along with gender-affirming care. I wonder how many years drag queen story time has been going on. I have no clue. I didn't know about it until recently. Or, if I did, I didn't spend any time thinking about it. I think the point of reading Pride books during Pride month is to promote awareness. I'm surprised that the school district instructed teachers to read them, though. That wouldn't fly in my state. I have no idea of the content of the selected books, so I don't know how to feel about them specifically. We tended to steer clear of things that specifically talked about race or sexuality when DD was small. DH and I also didn't talk about race and sexuality in front of DD. We wanted to raise her in as non-biased of an environment as possible. I have no idea whether we would have taken her to drag story time, as that was never an option. For several years, when we asked her which American Girl doll looked the most like her (her twin doll, so to speak), she identified with an African American doll. My DD is vampire white. As a teenager today, she is the most tolerate person I know. A person's gender, race, and sexuality matters zero percent to her. She's made friends with people who are straight, gay, trans, and nonbinary. I don't really know where I'm going with this paragraph other than to say that we are really proud of her. She sees people for people and teaches us a lot of things that challenges our preconceptions. She has made us more understanding and tolerate over time. I really feel as though this is a why this, why now kind of thing? Why is the LGBT community being picked on so much right now after enjoying several years of legislative and social progress? I think it's because there's a presidential election coming up. Our last election cycle hated on immigrants. I predict that this cycle's hate mongering will be focused on the LGBT community. I'm not looking forward to it. And, I always wonder, who's next.

That's why I put "powderpuff" in quotes. Our high school had "powderpuff" exhibition games during assemblies, etc. where the boys basketball team dressed up as girls (in dresses and make up and boobs and sneakers) and played against the girls team. Did no one else have these? Lol. Regardless, teenage boys dressed up several times as girls in high school for skits and other things too that I don't quite remember. ETA: I also remember adult men dressing up to play basketball for a charity event. These things were always labeled "powderpuff." Then again, I think we also had a donkey playing basketball too. Lol. I don't know. I remember a donkey on the court. For what, I'm not sure. 😄

I skimmed this thread. I can't remember, has "powderpuff" football, basketball, or similar been brought up? Why is it okay for "straight" young men to dress up as women but not gay ones? How many times did teenage boys dress up in dresses and make up and sport bras and fake boobs for charity or other events in high school? I don't remember anyone getting up in arms about it. As a matter of fact, people of all sorts seemed to enjoy it.