1 - I recommend replacing her food with a
hydrolyzed one (Purina HA, Hills Z/D).
They eliminate protein allergies by breaking the proteins down into smaller pieces, and the pet’s immune system can’t recognize them as the allergen.
It’s expensive, but it’s the easiest thing to try for her to get some relief.
2 - I also recommend a steroid shot to help ease her symptoms if the food change doesn’t work. This will give her a break while you work with your vet to eliminate other potential allergies (ex. household dust).
3 - Don’t use Benadryl. Benadryl is an out-of-date medication for both humans and animals. It’s a first gen medication, but we have second gen medications now. These newer medications are more effective. Example: Zyrtec (generic name: cetirizine)
Take some time to recognize that you did well, even without practicing beforehand. You realized something shady was going on and got yourself safely out of there. You took action when you needed it most.
Ok, now to your questions.
You always want to check around you:
What are your exits? Can you get to your car?
Are there other people around who can help you?
Are there any other threats? (Is there another man coming up behind you?)
Do you have cell service to call police?
Once you have those questions answered, you can decide what you want to do.
-Sometimes, the answer is to leave immediately.
-Sometimes, you can go hang out with other people at the park and pretend to know them. Just tell them you’re scared of the guy watching you, pretend laugh for a couple minutes with them, and hopefully he leaves. If he doesn’t, then you can still leave, but he “knows” you were just with “friends.” You can even ask them to walk with you to the exit.
-Sometimes, the answer is to call a taxi so the guy can’t see what car you get into, and come back later for your car.
-Sometimes (as long as there are other people in the park), the answer is to confront him (from a distance). “Why do you keep looking at me? It’s weird.” Or, “Stop looking at me.” Or, “Fuck off.”
If you’re a woman, this isn’t the last time you’ll have an encounter with a guy like this.
In the future, recommend going with a friend or a dog if you can. Or, try to meet up with a local yoga group at the park (or start one!).
Final note - you didn’t deserve this. You deserve to be safe doing any activity in any clothing in any area. I’m sorry that wasn’t your experience. Sending you hugs.
Edit: One other option I forgot - Situation permitting, get evidence. Take a picture and/or video as you walk away. Your priority is still your safety, but getting evidence is helpful too so that you can identify the person later on (and also back up your story when it’s questioned because #america).
I recommend watching comedy shows - Seth Meyers (for daily updates), John Oliver, Jon Stewart, and Stephen Colbert. Oh, and occasionally Saturday Night Live.
The only thing I don’t think Seth has touched on accurately is the genocide in Gaza, but I suspect it’s because his wife is Jewish and published a piece in support of Israel. Everything else is spot on.
You get paid that much PER MONTH? That’s 18,000 per year.
In the US, most people just get tax credits. They don’t come anywhere near $18k.
If you’re poor enough, you’ll qualify for WIC which is state dependent, generally $25 per month per kid under 4 years, ~$50 per month for the mom, and limited to certain food/child items.
Thank you for sharing.
On one hand, it’s disgusting that we don’t have a similar system. Yet at the same time, you’re the “proof” against such a system and the reason conservatives would never support it - that people won’t work anymore if we had this system. Neither of you have a full time job.
For a good 1.5 weeks, it was lost. The last couple days it started to get saved. The day before they stopped counting votes, it was only ahead by 45 votes.
There are mentorship and professional groups there that aren’t available elsewhere.
Plus, the local groups for my town/state provide crucial information about weather, taxes, traffic, river safety, etc. In general, it’s a good source of knowledge.
I hate that I’m giving up privacy, but there are also no other social media networks that can compete. I can’t message/Signal my closest 5,000 neighbors to find out which local/free berry patch is ready for picking. But, there’s a fb group for that.
Daytime running lights are required on large sections of the highway in Alaska. It’s posted on signs on the road and you can get ticketed for it.
“( c ) Every vehicle traveling on a highway or vehicular way or area must illuminate lights when traveling on any roadway that is posted with signs requiring the use of headlights.
(d) For the purposes of ( c ) of this section, lights include low intensity headlights and daytime running lamp devices…”
I also have ringing in my ears and took care of them same as you.
I have perfect hearing according to the typical “can you hear this beep” test - which is infuriating when dealing with my tinnitus. The ENTs said the same as yours did (nothing is wrong)- it took going to a specialist who fits people for hearing aids before they did an extended range hearing test and helped narrow down the range that my tinnitus is affecting.
With the new doctor, we figured out that my tinnitus is caused by the other medications that I’m on. They did research on it and found certain classes of meds increase tinnitus more than others.
Working with my other doctors, we changed some of the medications to try and see if that would help my tinnitus. I also noticed that if I don’t take my allergy meds (Zyrtec) then I have less tinnitus that day. If I do need to take it, then I get elevated tinnitus, more pain in my ears, almost can’t hear, etc. for the next 2-3 days.
As an aside, wearing hearing aids helps for two reasons.
A) if you get the right ones, they have a setting that equates to “white noise” so your brain focuses on that and helps drown out the ringing. There are a couple options for what your white noise could be - actual white noise, beach waves, rain falling.
B) this has been proven to re-teach your brain that it doesn’t need to create the ringing in your ears. Ringing in the ears is ultimately the brain trying to compensate for something - and this is teaching the brain to stop doing that. Meaning, the tinnitus gets better over time.
Note - the fancier hearing aids are blue tooth compatible, so you can use them to listen to music from your phone
Europe (Germany specifically) has their own problems with carriers though.
When you notify them that you’re cancelling your service, you still have to pay for 3 MORE full months of service after that. Even if you’re in the military and ordered to move. That’s a long time.
This 3 month period mandatory cancellation notice doesn’t change even if you’ve been with them for 2+ years.
For US carriers, once you’ve been with them more than the initial 2 years, you are pretty much able to cancel whenever.
Honestly, it sounds like she has allergies.
https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/allergies-in-cats
1 - I recommend replacing her food with a hydrolyzed one (Purina HA, Hills Z/D).
They eliminate protein allergies by breaking the proteins down into smaller pieces, and the pet’s immune system can’t recognize them as the allergen.
It’s expensive, but it’s the easiest thing to try for her to get some relief.
2 - I also recommend a steroid shot to help ease her symptoms if the food change doesn’t work. This will give her a break while you work with your vet to eliminate other potential allergies (ex. household dust).
3 - Don’t use Benadryl. Benadryl is an out-of-date medication for both humans and animals. It’s a first gen medication, but we have second gen medications now. These newer medications are more effective. Example: Zyrtec (generic name: cetirizine)
https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/cetirizine
Hope she feels better soon!