every alternate week, her best friend would come to our house with a tupperware full of chicken spaghetti. they'd stick us in front of a tv with a stack of disney vhs tapes and go through each room, finding every dirty dish, and then spend the afternoon at the kitchen sink, washing each dish by hand while gossiping.

I want you to T-pose. Turn your right thumb up and your left thumb doen and look at your right thumb. Move your arms up and down a bit until you feel a nerve running from your armpit to your palm. Now turn your right thumb down and your left thumb up, and look at your left thumb. Keep your chest facing forward and your shoulders back. Move your arms again until you feel that nerve again. Keep alternating between these two for a minute, or look at each thumb thirty times each.

Now sit down. Put your left hand firmly under your left buttock, palm down. Keep your shoulders back and put your right hand over the crown of your head, very gently pulling it to the right. Do this for thirty seconds, then do it again but with your right hand under your right buttock.

a tribute to the masterpiece that is SoC

Doubly so if you ALSO notice: increased hair shedding, loss of libido/flattened sexual response, worsening depression/anxiety, air hunger, have trouble coming down after adrenaline spikes, have huge adrenaline spikes that aren't warranted by the situation, have worsened histamine responses, wake up in the middle of the night with existential fear, have heart palpitations or POTS-like symptoms, feel like you look more pale than usual, your skin feels less soft and supple and more textured, your face just looks very "blah" that's not related to your cycle, your legs feel like lead after exertion/exercise, mild-mid exertion makes your breathe harder and heightens your heart rate more than usual or even makes you feel flushed and nauseous, if your eyelashes and eyebrow hairs are falling out and aren't growing back in well (they grow back sparsely, slower, and more brittle and are apt to keep falling out), your digestion and pooping have slowed down, your flow has changed to either much heavier or much lighter, you feel way way worse than usual in the few days leading up to your period and during your period, your head is foggy and you have trouble paying attention and/or recalling words, have a new problem with restless legs, have cravings to chew on ice/sand/dirt/clay or drink extremely cold (almost frozen) water, worsened cold and/or heat tolerance, have new ADHD-like symptoms, etc., etc.

Your body needs adequate iron for literally *everything* and iron deficiency both with and without anemia can have so many goddamn symptoms it's CRAZY.

I had many of these symptoms and found out I was IDWA since my ferritin was 17 but my hemoglobin was fine back in September; ideally, it should at least be 80-115. I've been taking a new, better iron since the end of November and am feeling 30% better!