I used to get migraines a lot, especially after exercising, either same day or next day. I feel like I eat a lot of salt on my food, but I was not getting enough magnesium or potassium….I started using Nuun electrolyte tabs (there’s lots of brands, these are just the ones I like) immediately after exercising, and every day even if I haven’t exercised and I literally haven’t had a migraine in over 6 months at this point. I also supplement with extra magnesium which has helped a lot with muscle cramps/spasms. The only time I get a headache now is if I eat a food that doesn’t agree with me.
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I’m not sure if I’ll rent forever but living in a decent but rock bottom rent apartment I’m very interested in making budget friendly and appropriately timed moves into nicer places
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I suddenly (and inexplicably) want to buy a house even though 2 months ago I was dead set against the idea. I think 2 months ago me was smart and now me is emotional.
I think I need this thread to remind me all the nice things about renting/awful things about owning.
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Surprise $15k in framing rot that was a build error 30 years ago that our insurance didn’t cover to start my year off 
My HOA citing me for CLOVER.
ETA point being I could HELLA contribute to that. Also I was always way more willing to host meet ups at rentals cuz- controlled access buildings sometimes, and in general could move easily in the event of creepers.
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Just got my escrow analysis back. Looks like we will have a “shortage” of around $250 despite having plenty in the account to pay for everything. The mortgage company requires me to have almost $1,000 in reserve at all times.
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Con to owning: 15 inches of water in my basement from getting 7 inches of rain in 24 hours. This was a few years ago.
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Ugghhhh the postpartum body changes finding new clothes and return them carousel has been kicking my butt lately. No recommendations just solidarity. I recently read Fair Play and while I found it sort of unnecessarily heteronormative I really appreciated how she called out the mental load of dressing oneself through major body changes. And loved the system itself.
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I can’t remember where you live, but if you’re in the PNW, my husband works for a company that does lifespan navigation including strategizing about future life changes like the loss of a spouse. The navigators are trained social workers who help people develop systems. Most of their clients are through employee assistance programs but it’s also an option for private pay.
Might be worth seeing if your EAP if you have one has anything similar that could get you set up.
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I have been putting more salt on my food and it wasn’t enough.
I have learned to preload sodium. Once a headache starts, it’s very hard for me to turn it around and I’ve had less success rehydrating afterwards. Unlike others here, I don’t get them in the morning. Once a bad headache starts, the rest of the day is often shot, but I wake up feeling normal again the next morning. Really bad headaches bring nausea. In the worst cases, I will eventually throw up, and the headache seems to clear as soon as I throw up.
@Ferngully recommended a book called ROAR which is for female athletes which explained some of it. Her rehydration recipe, which hopefully I came close enough to with my calculations, is based on matching the concentration of sodium in the drink with blood concentration. Too high a salt concentration pulls water from the body into the stomach and dehydrates the tissues, and in my experience, once I’m already dehydrated can transform nausea into a complete system cleanout. Which, ironically, makes me feel better.
She also claims that that ratio of sugar to water / salt helps the mixture to cross through the stomach walls into the blood. I think it is basically the same rehydration drink that is recommended to rehydrate anyone after severe vomiting / diarrhea.
Various electrolyte levels show up in the general chemistry section. I usually do an Annual Checkup test through Any Lab Test Now.
This includes the other things I like to monitor, like cholesterol, A1C, TSH etc. It’s $129, they don’t require doctor’s orders, and the results go directly to me. I have not found any sort of home test (I wish there was one).
I think these were developed by the author of ROAR. I shy away from these because they contain sugar, and I have other issues if I eat too much sugar. I usually use Endurolytes by Hammer which are a bit cheaper, but these by themselves have not been enough to solve everything for me, hence the salt / molasses mix before / after exercise.
I should try this too, I’ve had some issues with muscle cramps this year.
Relatedly, according to the label, 1 Tbsp of molasses contains 10% DV of magnesium and calcium, 8% DV of potassium and 20% DV of iron.
Previously I’ve found that a bath with epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) seemed to help reduce a migraine. I think it is because the magnesium is absorbed through the skin, which helps when nausea has set in because I think I’ve read that digestion shuts down during a migraine.
I don’t think I’ve had these issues but maybe I have and just haven’t noticed them? I hope I don’t get another migraine but if I do, I’ll consider if this is happening too. Usually I just feel bad and spend all my time whining and moping.
I’d be curious to hear anyone else’s experience and if there are other things you’ve found that help to prevent these migraines.
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Hey, me too. I think it is lizard brain craving of security especially since our housing was at risk through no fault of our own mid-2020.
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I get migraine with aura, and often will actually get aura without the headache. Nausea, light sensitivity, and a sort of… body fog? are constant symptoms for me, and then sometimes I get the throbbing/pulsing headache layered on where any movement is just horrible.
Whether I get nausea as a prodrome symptom seems to depend on the trigger for the migraine. I have one trigger that will kick off aura in under a minute, and nausea doesn’t precede in that case. With all my other migraines, I do tend to get prodrome symptoms of fatigue and nausea.
I’m sorry you’ve got migraine added to your list of shit to deal with, it’s not fun.
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Huh, thanks. I’m southern Appalachia, but I’ll check in with our EAP. We have done fairly useless financial advisors through them, but there may also be something separate.
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Long term disability? Thoughts? $40 per paycheck, so more than $80/mon average. Replaces 60% of pay up to $10k of earnings (so $6k/mon). I lean yea?
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Yea. You guys have one income and a young child. It’s likely you could pick up the slack, but you might be needed to help deal with whatever caused the disability, too.
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+1 to all of this. Yea.
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We can’t find terms though to see if it’s a “in field” or “any field” level of can’t work?
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Do it. I mean, I am biased, because that’s what I’m currently on. It has been a godsend and it’s so cheap relative to the potential risk / payout.
My employer’s policy covered “in field” for two years and “any field” thereafter.
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Unless you have 15+ years savings, I’d say do it. G is insured for many things because of this. We went low on mortgage insurance because he’s insured life, disability and critical illness and the basement can be a legal rental
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Ty all! We’re going to go for it even though $87/mon feels super rough. That’s more than our PMI! Ack.
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Thanks for the info! I looked back at some of my blood work from a couple years ago and it had some of the sodium/potassium/etc levels and they were all normal. Doesn’t mean they were optimal for me but at least not wildly out of whack.
I used to use endurolytes but found the capsule did not dissolve quickly enough for me. I tried Base salts when I got a sample and liked them. They are pricey but I just ordered some - if they help it’s definitely worth it!
For most of my athletic stuff I use Infinit which you can customize with how much of whatever you want in it. I really liked that you can dial down the sweetness/flavor too, because some sports drinks are 
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