You can probably start with careful exposure therapy. I’m not sure how to do that with germ phobia. I dealt with a fear of spiders by reading about them and looking at pictures until I stopped feeling disgust/anxiety. I then just kind of noted and moved on when I saw one in real life. These days I see a spider and can even move it if it’s in a bad spot without feeling anxious.

Not knowing your triggers, I can’t say if that path would help or make it worse.

https://fherehab.com/learning/germophobia-treatment This could be useful for learning terms so you can look up and find reviews for self help books.

For my social anxiety, I started out getting books from the library about that specific phobia. It took a lot of time to get from there to telling my doctor I was anxious all the time, to medication, and then therapy. I doubt I’ll ever be free of it, but I can do a lot of things now I once couldn’t (small talk with customers? wow!)

It kind of has to be guided by you and the specifics of your phobia, unfortunately. Like, would looking at a picture of a dirty surface for five minutes a day make you anxious? Just a little, or a lot? If a little, try it. If a lot, scale it back further. Hopefully someone with a similar phobia comes around with more relevant advice. Good luck?

I get it but I also like that it’s there as a reminder how up there he is. But I’ve assumed for a while I’ll find out about his death because I’ll reload tumblr and be confronted with a wall of crab rave gifs.

No, but it’s something I’ve heard other people describe. I don’t know if it’s common, but it doesn’t sound odd.

People at church when I went as a kid would talk about a sense of feeling guided. People talked about feeling “called” to something. I always felt a lot of nothing, but I don’t think most of them were lying about that feeling, even if I suspect a different source than they did.

It’s not fast, unfortunately, but I was prescribed a high weekly dose by my doctor and it did seem to help eventually. The long time it takes means I’m left wondering if I feel better because of the vitamins, or something else, but I do feel better.

https://www.drugs.com/medical-answers/long-vitamin-d-work-3555995/

Research has found that vitamin D insufficiency resolved with 12 weeks of weekly high-dose vitamin D.

Unfortunately, when your D is really low, you should up the dosage to get a noticable change, but too much vitamin D can be dangerous so I wouldn’t recommend it without finding out what your levels are. When I was checked both my vitamin D and iron were low, which is why I was sleeping constantly and still feeling fatigued.

“power user” is such a kind way to describe that, thank you!

Looking at what I have now, it’s a mix of tasks I don’t want to forget to do, a long article I was reading but felt i wasn’t absorbing, some fanfic I am probably going to read in the next couple days plus the rec list I got them from, a podcast I’m still midway through for when I’m driving, an article for a work thing I’ll need tomorrow, a couple dnd race pages open as I’m making a character for a new campaign, and two bsky people who post interesting articles on the daily so I read them daily. Some stuff is bookmarked, but if I’m using it in the next week, it stays in tabs.

They all get closed when I’m done with them, but new things get rotated in. I’m at my max now, but it’s rare I have under five open. It’s a to-do list, basically, and there are always new things to do, and read, and think about, and learn. Bookmarks are for when I want to save a link to look at much later. Like, webcomics I’ve caught up with, artists I like, utility pages, resources, etc.

I used to be “worse” because I had fun in the early 00s generating link lists for character fan pages. It involved opening every relevant link on an already vetted and tagged page, and then checking each one (and opening pages from their links if they turned out to be relevant). When I finished a character, I’d start on the next, so I’d have one or two hundred open most of the time. I lost interest, eventually. The impulse to link to relevant topics still exists in me, however, which is a big reason I’m on this website.

“I have been trying tell all you ‘men’ that our kitchen pantry is empty with spider webs, our house has been ransacked, the windows and doors are broken and busted, and the greedy rich bastards have twisted your minds into a sick state that you all continue in the two party toxic political system that acts like college football playoffs yet is burying you and your children and their children and their children in a pine box in a shallow grave,” Greene continued.

Hmm. There’s a degree to which it feels like she’s shoving canned goods from the pantry out of sight into her purse while she’s saying this, but I do agree with her basic point here. Especially the way parties are treated like football teams.

https://www.discovermagazine.com/why-do-humans-have-a-taste-for-alcohol-43579

The theory in this article is that ethanol indicates a higher caloric density in fruit, which makes that fruit more desirable when you’re struggling to get enough to eat. I have no idea if this is true, but it’s one possible reason I guess.

I appreciate how many headlines add his age for articles like this.

As Lucey started to ask why Trump was behaving the way he was “if there’s nothing incriminating in the [Epstein] files”, Trump pointed at her and said: “Quiet. Quiet, piggy.”

Hm, why did he respond this way if there’s nothing in the files?

The emails released last week revealed a close relationship between Epstein and Summers. In an March 2019 exchange, they corresponded about a woman Summers was interested in.

I know that it’s not the point of this article, and it’s fine, but that is such a gentle way to put the conversation he had.

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/11/17/summers-epstein-wing-man-woman-described-as-mentee/

While already being married, he and at the time known sex criminal Epstein had a conversation where he strategized how to leverage the mentoring relationship another professional wanted with him into sex with her, all the while both used a racist nickname for her.

He shouldn’t still be teaching. He can’t be trusted with power over anyone.

The headline is in a lot of places, but I can’t find the publication where it’s connected to this image. Here’s one close matching headline:

https://nypost.com/2025/11/16/us-news/trump-says-house-republicans-should-vote-to-release-epstein-files-in-stunning-reversal-nothing-to-hide/

Hopefully op will edit with the real link soon.

The first sleep paralysis episode I had I was convinced the whole time I had died and was in this weird ghost zone where I could hear people and see a bit, but couldn’t move. Fucked me up, too, though in my case I was scared of sleeping for a while. It doesn’t sound as bad as your experience, though, damn.

I think it’s an NSAID? That’s a “use with caution” situation, then. The salt water gargle is something I forgot about. I’m glad I posted this question. It’s reminding me of all the stuff that’s helped before in case the coughing gets worse.

Yeah, I know any sleep I get with the booze, it won’t really help. I wish I didn’t know that, though. A hot toddy sounds nice, but…ah, well.

Oh, pineapple! Whew. I was like “i don’t think pine and orange would mesh well…but if I feel really sick…”

Spicy food does sound like a good idea!

Oh, duh, I even have an electric kettle and I’ve just been staring into space and sipping soda. I must be really out of it.

I should keep a pack of weed gummies on hand and keep them in a nyquil box for times like these

That sounds amazing

I remember reading an article years ago about how little good cold medicines actually do against the illness, so I’d already been mostly avoiding them. Except when I’m too congested or coughing too much to sleep. Then I miss them SO much.