#Fecal Matter Treatment

[solutionsforaquaculture]

Fecal matter treatment involves processes designed to safely manage and treat human waste to protect public health and the environment. Key methods include anaerobic digestion, which produces biogas and nutrient-rich sludge, and composting, which breaks down waste into pathogen-free compost. Advanced oxidation processes and thermal treatments are also used to ensure thorough purification and waste reduction. These methods are essential for preventing disease spread, protecting water sources, and promoting environmental sustainability.

[pelipper]

Back home from the gastroenterologist's! Guess who most likely has recurrent c. diff so she needs another course of dificid and potentially a fmt!! At least my shitty ass (pun intended) insurance has to pay for 100% of my treatment since I hit my max oop in January. 😇

[suchananewsblog]

Explained | How does the gut microbiome link to autism spectrum disorders?

‘Fix your gut, fix your brain’ used to be an underrated idea, but it is today gaining in relevance as more and more research throws light on the role of the community of bacteria living in your gut, a.k.a. the gut microbiome. A healthy gut microbiome is not a panacea – but it may be able to facilitate better overall health and help improve the quality of life of individuals with various diseases…

[cillianmesoftlyyy]

I Can Fix That... Pt. 2 | Jonathan Crane x fem!reader

author's note: I decided to make a pt. 2 purely for my own enjoyment, though I hope there are others out there as sadistic as myself. I finally watched the Batman trilogy and did research on DC fan pages to write this. It follows the plot of Nolan's DC adaptation so all characters mentioned (like Ra's Al Ghul) are from the comics and movies.

Summary| She gave into Crane because she needed to survive, at least that's what she's tried to tell herself, but there was something about this man that just felt so painfully... right. Now Crane has a proposition and he doesn't intend to take no for an answer because he's starting to like her -- uh oh-- too much. Where will their new agreement lead them when Gotham devolves into chaos?

Warnings| Based on an DC action movie- drugging, slut shaming, fear and terror, dubious kidnapping, restraints, drugs, physical violence, spitting, toxic relationship, mentions of a gun, chaos, and needles. I know- it's a lot.

word count: 8596k (lol oopsies?)

Wires- The Neighborhood 🎶

Where did you sleep last night- Iridium, Salazar, Liam Marks 🎵

Caesar on a TV Screen- The Last Dinner Party 🎶

i 

The detective nodded her head, surprised that she’d so easily forgotten her plan. Dr. Crane sniffed and spun his set of keys around his finger casually. 

“Now the best thing about being the creator of my fear serum,” he started, moving to the shelf of vials he had previously sorted, “is that I have an endless supply and every opportunity to use it whenever I want.” She could hear him smile but she could no longer see him. Crane admittedly liked the girl and he’d fucked her as a minor pivot in his original plan for the night. Now, it was time for business. He pulled a dish of powder from a locked drawer and hid it away from sight as he crossed back into the girl’s view. “You may think you understand what my serum can do, but you’ll never truly know until you try it.” She furrowed her brow and shook her head, wishing that she could back away from him but she couldn’t move. He changed the subject swiftly, not giving her a moment. 

“I applaud you for your performance tonight. I was more than willing to humor you and of course, your present state did you many favors. I like my women tied down…” he joked and chuckled darkly. “But now, we need to get practical.” He removed his glasses and folded them slowly. He slipped them into his breast pocket. “You know too much, Miss —, and we both know that your current allegiance to your job would prioritize a crude sense of justice over your affection for me. We can’t have that, can we? So, I’d like to propose a solution or a treatment of sorts.” He clenched his jaw, angling his head down so that he was looking up at her through his eyelashes. “You’ve already proven to yourself tonight that the mind has complete control over the body. Desire rules judgment… and I want to rule you.” He smiled darkly. Before she could speak, powder was thrown into her face, blocking every orifice with a sickening gas. 

The anxiety was immediate. She saw strange creatures approach her from all sides, poking and prodding her with dirty nails. She saw the walls leak a disgusting fluid, like blood and fecal matter and it spilled over the floor. People sorted through the liquid for scraps, children screamed and cried around her. She’d been one of those children, raised in an orphanage because her parents couldn’t afford to keep her. Strange men swarmed the children, offering toxic treats and money for favors which the children shied away from. She screamed, pulling at her restraints as she tried to fight off the assailants. She shook her head violently side to side, and she screamed involuntarily with raw terror at what she saw. In the midst of a nightmare of Gotham’s poverty and dark underbelly, Dr. Jonathan Crane stood calmly before her. He watched her, his arms crossed against his chest. He cocked his head to the side. 

“What do you see,” he asked calmly. She turned her attention to him like he was a beacon of light in a horrible storm. 

“Jonathan, help me!” She cried. 

“Tell me what you see,” he said again and clucked his tongue to calm her. She looked around again at the people she saw, rummaging through mountains of trash. 

“Horrible… horrible poverty. The things… the things I saw as a child. People starving, children crying…” she whimpered. Rats scrambled across her body and she screamed again, shaking against the table. “Jonathan, please!” She called for him and he waded towards her, oblivious to the horror around him. He stood above her and stroked her face. He removed the restraints from her waist and her wrists and helped her sit up. The things she saw darted out of her peripheral vision, distorted now and hard to understand. She couldn’t run because she couldn’t tell where she was anymore, where her body was in relation to her perspective. Did she even still have a body?

Dr. Crane grunted as he helped her off the table and held her up beside him. She fainted in his arms and he carried her out of the secondary lab into the corridor. He punched the elevator’s call button with his free hand and dragged her inside. As the large steel doors closed, he fished for his cellphone in his pocket and called his driver, telling him to meet him outside the hospital immediately. Crane hushed her, gently patting her head though she was still unconscious. The elevator dropped them at the floor she’d entered on originally and Crane carried her to the side door, ignoring the looks the night attendants gave the strange couple. A sleek black car waited outside in the alley, the engine running and dispelling smoky exhaust into the air around them. Crane opened the car door and helped her inside, smirking at the security guard at the door. 

“Our meeting was successful, thank you officer.” He waved goodnight to the security guard who shifted awkwardly in his seat at the side door. Climbing in after her, Crane leaned over the console to speak with his driver. 

“My apartment, please.” He gave the order sternly, even with the addition of the ‘please,’ and the driver nodded, speeding off into Gotham’s dark streets. His hand rested comfortably on her thigh as he watched her. She started to come to in the backseat, though the effects of the drug had still not worn off. Her breath was fast and she leaned deliriously into Crane’s shoulder, seeking protection from what she saw outside the tinted windows. She was so afraid that she felt safer in the arms of the man that had drugged her, and it would take hours to realize that, but by the time she did, the psychological effects would have already taken root. 

ii 

The car stopped outside of a dark apartment building in one of the only nice parts of town in Gotham city. It was raining as he helped her back out of the car and into the large lobby of his apartment building. She clung to his arm as he led her into an elevator, playing a soft melody that sounded like shrill screams to her intoxicated mind. As the elevator doors opened, effects of the drug began to wane though her heartbeat was still racing. She looked up at Crane’s sharp jaw and how he clenched it as he opened the door to his apartment and pushed her gently inside. 

“I pay my people extra to turn a blind eye to everything that I do. I understand these circumstances appear even more nefarious, being that I have admittedly drugged you and brought you to my apartment. What can I say, I’m a bad feminist.” He smiled darkly and locked the door. 

“When do I stop seeing… these things?” She collapsed into a chair behind her and cradled her head in her hands. 

“The effects will be gone in an hour,” he responded coolly and switched on some of the lights in his modern apartment. The apartment was two stories with a spiral staircase and an elevator that led to the upstairs. She looked around, trying her best to ignore the hallucinations and study the actual apartment itself. 

“You’ll be disappointed to know that I don’t have a lab here, it’s against the building’s codes. I spend very little time here actually, I’m always at Arkham or dealing with detectives… like you. I’m a busy man. Like I already told you, I have plans to ‘treat’ Falcone tomorrow so I’ll need that room free. This is the next best option and I think you’ll find it more comfortable in comparison.” He smirked and flicked a switch, immediately two restraints looped tightly around her wrists, emerging from a panel in the arms of the chair that she hadn’t noticed. Second restraints looped around her ankles, reminding her as her ankles were spread apart that he had removed her underwear. She turned her knees inward, hiding her crotch and scoffing with frustration. 

“Again?” She groaned and pulled at the strong leather material holding her to the chair. 

“You sound disappointed,” Crane observed with a small smirk. “It’s only temporary. I didn’t get a chance to question you back at the lab, so we’ll do that here.” He gestured to his empty apartment and started to walk toward her slowly. His lips curled cruelly as he looked her up and down, strapped to the chair. “So tell me, what do you know?” He whispered and she stopped struggling for a moment. She still felt jumpy and nervous but having him so close relieved some of those feelings. The effects of the drug wore off more but the underlying sense of anxiety and loss of control prompted her to answer honestly.

I know that you are trying to make a powerful drug that mimics fear and so far, you’ve put it in a powder form. It works when ingested in some ways and immediately elicits a response that incapacitates the victim. You want to use it widely, to control Gotham…”

“Right, what else.” He leaned on the arms of the chair, his hands grasped around her wrists. 

“You don’t work for Falcone but you work with someone else. You’ve just been using Falcone’s drug operation to move your own prototypes of the fear serum. You want to be in charge and you know that fear can do whatever you want it to. The mind controls the body,” she recalled a sentence that he had used before he had thrown the powder in her face. “You’re also somehow connected to the missing micro-wave emmitter. I don’t know why but it may help you in some way, how?” She was breathing heavily like she was going to fall asleep. 

“Good work, detective.” 

“What are you using the micro-wave emitter for?” She asked. He chuckled and removed his hands from her wrists, backing up. He approached a small liquor cart and poured himself a drink, straight gin. She continued as he drank. 

“Who are you working with and how do you expect to control Gotham when everyone loses their minds?” She could barely contain her voice, anger and confusion rose into her throat like bile. 

“So many questions…” he swallowed and set down his glass, turning back to her slowly. “Aren’t you supposed to figure that out for yourself?” He raised his eyebrow. 

“The mirco-wave emitter would dry out any water supply that it comes into contact with. Wouldn’t it be easier to poison the water supply, you would reach more people… unless it doesn’t have the same effect when administered in water.” She looked up at him but his face was hard. “That’s why you’ve been using it in a powder, it only works in a powder form. If you dry up the water supply and release the powder into the air, there isn’t a way to combat the effects, is there?” 

Crane smiled and nodded slowly, “right again.” 

“How can you control people who have lost their minds on the serum? You can’t control chaos.” She furrowed her brow and leaned forward, questioning him. Crane cocked his head and studied her for a moment, noticing the last traces of the fear serum leaving her body. 

“Control has many forms, Y/N. The chaos that will come from my serum is planned, its existence is strategically executed.”

“But why are you doing this?” 

“I love it when you get flustered,” he chuckled darkly at her and licked his lips, his eyes rolling before returning to her face. “It’s not just me, I work for a large organization that has been responsible for all historical catastrophes throughout history. We deal in balance, balanced chaos. They hired me because I can control fear, I know how to use it and weaponize it. Gotham needs to be balanced and it cannot be balanced without it first destroying itself. Create a closed environment with the population’s problems and confront them with chaos, the balance will soon be restored.” 

“Who do you work for?” She whispered, her eyes wide. 

“Don’t you mean, who do we work for?” He crouched at her feet and placed his hands on her thighs. He smiled crazily up at her and she leaned away from him. 

“What?” She whispered. 

“I work for the League of Shadows, and now, so do you.” He dug his finger into the soft bottom of her chin and pushed her head up so that she could see the second floor more clearly. 

Standing at the rail were men clad in dark armor. One man stood out from the rest. He wore a black suit and carried a gold-tipped cane. He had long whiskers of gray hair like a mustache and steady cool eyes, deadlier than Crane’s.  

“Good work, Dr. Crane.” The man kept his focus on her and her blood went cold. “It’s so nice to finally meet you, Miss —. We’ve heard so much about you and of course, you’re the one that has caused us so much trouble!” He laughed sarcastically and descended the spiral staircase. 

“Who are you?” She growled. 

“Ra’s Al Ghul,” he smiled and the wrinkles on his face creased, pulling against his eyes. “I see you’ve already become acquainted with Dr. Crane, our very own criminal mastermind.”

“You’re too kind,” Crane smarted back, watching the girl’s face as she tried to take in all of the new information. 

“Now, I have a job proposition to offer you, Miss —. You seem to have figured most of our plan out but I don’t think you understand the complexity of our organization. You see, the League of Shadows is an ancient organization that has balanced the harmony of every major city in the world since the beginning of time. Gotham has gone bad, to the point of no return. Your ‘Batman’ as you call him can’t reverse what has been brewing for years. He never saw what you did, how the people of Gotham live in filth and poverty while the elite few enjoy the spoils. This city needs to be reborn, it needs chaos to restore the balance.”

“But wouldn’t you be killing thousands of innocent people?” She interjected and Al Ghul shrugged slightly. 

“Nobody’s innocent,” he answered quickly and then inhaled, clarifying, “Anyway, that’s not what we want to do here. If we take control of the city and hold it for ransom, we can work out a deal to replace the crooked government with some of our people. I’m offering you a role alongside my people. You’re smart, all that evidence you collected against Crane- none of the senior officers could have held a match to it. We destroyed it of course, as soon as Crane told us about your little visit.” She looked past Al Ghul to Crane who leaned against the wall calmly. Had they destroyed the copies? How could she be sure that they were telling the truth? “The box of evidence you had put aside for Sgt. Gordon was the hardest to find but we found it. What made you suspect Dr. Crane? Was it a gut instinct?” He drew on before she interrupted him. 

“You want me to help you kill people?” She furrowed her brow and nearly laughed in disbelief. 

“We want your help to save Gotham from itself and establish a new and better government.” He corrected, fixing his posture. Crane watched her closely and spoke up from the back of the room. 

“She’ll do it,” he answered and she opened her mouth to interject but his smirk silenced her. “She’ll do it because whether or not she wants to admit it, Miss —, is like us.” Crane reached into his breast pocket and removed his glasses. He cleaned the panels with a dish towel and pushed them onto his nose. She looked between Crane and Al Ghul, her heart beating quickly in her chest. 

“Will you join us, will you help us save Gotham?” Ra’s Al Ghul placed both of his hands on top of his walking stick and shifted his weight evenly between his feet. Crane folded his arms across his chest and cocked his head to the side, a knowing smile played on his wide pink lips. Her decision surprised her but the serum had already changed her chemistry, Crane had revealed her true self to herself and there was only one choice left. 

“Yes,” she whispered. 

Crane nodded, “good girl.” 

iii 

She was released from her restraints and she rubbed her wrists where the leather marked them. Ra’s Al Ghul snapped his fingers and a map was rolled out on Crane’s dining room table. The map was of the entire city of Gotham, showing the sewer and water lines. They explained the plan, showing her where the micro-wave emitter would be placed in the city and how it would be moved through each neighborhood. 

“What about the police?” She asked and gestured to the map of the city. Crane laughed and shook his head. 

“You were the only cop that suspected this, the rest will have no idea until it's already started. The person we really need to worry about is Batman,” he ran his fingers through his hair and glanced up at Al Ghul, “luckily for him, an old friend is coming by to visit.” Al Ghul nodded and smiled kindly at her. 

“Batman and I go way back. I’ll take care of him.” 

“What am I supposed to do?” She asked, her arms crossed beneath her breasts. Crane caught himself staring and cleared his throat. 

“You’ll help me with the production of the powder, ensuring that your cop friends don’t figure out too much and keeping Sgt. Gordon away from Arkham or leading him astray… anything,” Crane answered, setting his face as he spoke. She nodded. 

Though they had asked her to join their efforts, they also obviously didn’t trust her completely. They wouldn’t tell her everything, she knew. Her night had gone in a completely different direction than how she had imagined it. Everything had changed after the fear serum, it had shown her that what she feared most had already happened. The police were corrupt, run by small-time gangsters and criminals and crime continued to run rampant as the state lost more and more money, forcing social service organizations to close and more families out on the streets. This whole time she thought that the police could solve the problem but they only caused it. Crane was right, she was like him and she would do anything she could to change the city. After the meeting, Crane poured her a drink and dissolved a packet of powder into the liquor. He stirred it in front of her and Al Ghul before sliding it across the table’s surface. 

“This will put you to sleep for a few hours, twelve at most. It’s only a precaution to make sure that you have truly promised your allegiance to us. Everything that you say will be monitored from this point on.”

“Everything?” She looked at Crane who clenched his jaw, a faint tease of blush spread on his cheeks.

“Everything. Do as we say and follow our rules and you stay alive,” Crane finished and tapped the rim of the glass. “Now drink.” 

“How do I know that you aren’t just poisoning me?” She asked the men around her.

“We’re learning to trust each other, but you have to go first.” He smiled and when Al Ghul said nothing, she took the glass and drank it slowly. The last thing she saw were Crane’s eyes, set perfectly on her. 

She was conscious enough to set her glass down before falling back onto the couch. Crane approached her quickly and checked her pulse, monitoring her reaction to the drug. 

“Did it work?” Ra’s Al Ghul asked behind him and he nodded. 

“Yes, she’s out. Because of all the drugs in her system already, this one may take longer to wear off.” 

“All the other drugs?” Al Ghul raised his eyebrow and Crane chuckled. 

“I couldn’t help myself and besides,” he turned to Al Ghul, “you wanted her alive.” 

“I’m not convinced that we can trust her,” Al Ghul shook his head and pointed at the map for his men to clean up. 

“Oh, I’ll make sure we can.” 

“With your mind tricks?” Al Ghul teased and Crane sighed, rolling his beautiful eyes. 

“Don’t insult me, Ra’s. I know what I’m doing.” He warned the man calmly and nodded to the men. Two men helped carry her body as Crane led them back down the elevator into the lobby which was deserted at that time in the early morning. They climbed into Crane’s waiting car and pulled away from the curb. The girl’s body was limp against the seat and Crane resisted the urge to stare at her, fascinated by her sleeping body. The men carried her up to her apartment on the third floor of a small walkup. Crane rummaged through her coat pockets for the key into her apartment and unlocked the door. 

Her apartment was small and cozy, furnished with minimal couches and chairs. Books and art decorated the walls. Crane pushed through the door and directed the men to lie her down in her bedroom, the small room off of the main living area. They men looked back at him expectantly as he stood by the doorway, watching her sleep. He rolled his eyes and shooed them away. What did they think he was going to do? He’d already fucked her. Alone in her apartment, he stood by her bed and stroked her cheek. She slept on, engulfed by unconscious darkness. He leaned over her slowly and grasped her throat gently, exhaling across her face. He said nothing but looked her up and down and smirked, pleased at the sight of her. He’d won another spoil: her. 

 She woke up in her bed, twisted in the sheets as if she had been restless all night. She was sweaty and hot, the air stuffy around her. Crane and Al Ghul were nowhere to be seen. She checked her watch and hurried out of bed, stripping off her clothes from the night before and into black trousers and a dark blue sweater. She stumbled into the living room and wound her hair up into a claw clip, moving towards the door when a voice startled her. 

“Where do you think you’re going?” Dr. Crane spoke from the couch. He was in a fresh suit and looked well-rested. He was taking notes in a file on Falcone, his briefcase sat on the coffee table in front of him. She jumped, gasping from shock. 

“Jesus Christ, what are you doing here?” 

“I was waiting for you to wake up. We have work to do today. That bitch at the DA’s office wants to speak with me. I'm supposed to meet with her this afternoon. She’s questioning Falcone’s transfer.”

“I ordered the transfer after you did Falcone’s interview, maybe I could meet with her instead.” 

“No, I need you to take this file to the judge on Falcone’s case. I can handle her questions.” He stood and held out Falcone’s file. “I already gave my statement at the hearing but this file will confirm my medical opinion, hopefully that will get her off my back.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“Do you think Falcone will talk if she speaks with him?” 

“Possibly,” he bent his head side to side and shrugged, “but we aren’t going to find out. Let’s go,” he snapped his briefcase closed and made for the front door. She glanced from the couch to her bedroom.

“Were you watching me all night?” She flushed angrily and followed him. He closed the door suddenly and spun her around, forcing her back against the front door. 

“I can only say this once because they aren’t listening now but as soon as we get in the car, they’ll be monitoring you. I am keeping you alive, Miss —. I will do everything in my power to keep you alive but the second you step away from me, you’re on your own. I know we have an understanding so believe me when I say that I would prefer very much if you didn’t die. Follow my directions because they’re following you.” He said in a harsh whisper, a strand of hair falling into his face. They stared at each other in silence, exchanging breath when he kissed her harshly. She wrapped her arms around his neck and moaned softly against his lips. He bucked into her hips and she gasped softly against his jaw. And just as quickly, he pulled away, breathing heavily and led her out the door and down the stairs into the waiting car. 

“I’ll need my gun back,” she pointed out as they settled on the backseat. Crane sighed, unbuttoning his suit jacket. He opened a small compartment in the car door and retrieved her gun. As he held it out, he took her jaw in his other hand, his thumb pressing into her fleshy cheek. 

“This is where that trust would come in handy, detective.” He whispered darkly. She looked at his lips and then up to his eyes, speechless around him. He watched her struggle for words and chuckled, handing her the gun. “Be careful, Y/N, and remember Ra’s plan.” He looked at her lips and sniffed, slapping the roof of the car. “This is her stop.” 

iv 

She met with the judge who oversaw Falcone’s case and gave him the thick folder. He looked at it briefly before recognizing the information. 

“I appreciate you coming out to speak to me about Falcone’s transfer to Arkham but I cleared everything with Ms. Dawes yesterday. She’s already scheduled a second psychiatrist to meet with Falcone first thing tomorrow morning. She mentioned that she’s also requested Dr. Crane’s case file. Has she seen this?” He waved the folder and she clicked her tongue, shocked that she had scheduled a second opinion and that Crane didn’t know about it.

“I’m not sure, sir. I was the detective working with the prosecution and I was the one who oversaw Dr. Crane’s examination and request for transfer. I can attest to Falcone's mood at the time as well. He screamed nonstop as Crane was trying to conduct a test of sanity. Anyway, I wanted to make sure that you saw Dr. Crane’s diagnosis in the aftermath of his transfer. This has updated notes that Dr. Crane shared with me. It might be useful in your deliberation.” She smiled and the judge looked down his nose at the folder. 

“Good point. Thank you, detective. This is helpful.” He opened the folder on his desk and put on his rounded spectacles. 

“Well now that we’ve spoken, I’ll try to catch Dawes and save her the trouble.” She pushed back her chair and brushed off her trousers. 

“Miss —?” The judge called from his desk. 

“Yes, sir?” She looked back.

“Dr. Crane has committed many of Falcone’s men to Arkham in the past few months, is that correct?” 

“Yes,” she nodded and her heart raced. 

“That must be a pretty crazy group.” The judge laughed and went back to the folder, completely missing the pattern. She sighed in relief and left quickly. She started to walk to Arkham, moving so quickly she felt like she may have been running. Dawes had already scheduled a second opinion, meaning that she was probably at Arkham pressuring Crane for his detailed diagnosis. It would take Dawes one second to figure it out so she hoped she could get there quickly enough to do something. She had no plan which she knew was stupid but whatever was bound to happen in the next few hours would be bad and she needed to help Crane. Her phone began to ring and she put it to her ear. 

“Hello?”

“Y/N.”

“Ra’s?”

“Are you on your way to Arkham?”

“Yes, sir.” 

“Turn around and go back to your precinct. I want you to stick close to Sgt. Gordon, go where he goes. You’re his top detective so run with it. If anything happens at Arkham, he’ll be there and I want you there with him. Crane will be fine.”

She slowed to a stop, skeptical but wanting to believe what her new boss was telling her, “ok, sir.”

After a second of silence, Ra’s added, “It’s Batman’s birthday and what better way to celebrate a playboy than with chaos?” The call ended before she could respond. 

She spun around and headed straight for the precinct. She spotted Gordon at his desk, working on paperwork. She hurried over and knocked on the door, letting herself in when he waved. 

“Good, I’m glad to see you. I need to run some ideas by you for the Falcone case.” 

“I just dropped off Crane's diagnosis for the judge but he said that Dawes may be seeking a second opinion.” 

“About that -” The intercom went off with a loud screech. 

“Attention all units! Attention all units! Batman was spotted at Arkham Asylum. He is believed to be armed and dangerous. Backup is requested at this time.” The voice repeated with a robotic drone. Sgt. Gordon looked from the speaker to her and grabbed his coat from his chair. 

“We need to get to the asylum right now.” Gordon yelled and she followed him closely, checking that her gun was still secured to her hip. She clipped her badge to her front pocket and pretended to sound confused. 

“Why are we going, Sgt? Do you think this is about Falcone?”

“It might, I’d feel better if I was there to find out; and if Batman is there, someone’s in trouble.” They hurried down the stairs and climbed into a car. Gordon sped away from the precinct and ran red lights. The tires bled across the roads as they came to a screeching halt behind a row of police cars parked outside the Asylum. 

“Why is everyone waiting outside?” She yelled over the noise. An officer standing with his gun aimed at the building yelled back. 

“We’re waiting for backup!”

“They’ll be here soon, sir. We should wait!” She yelled over the noise at the Sgt. 

Gordon looked up at the building and pulled his gun from his holster. He started moving towards the building, looking back to wave her on. 

“I’m going in. You coming?” He called. 

She groaned anxiously beneath her breath before responding, “yes, sir!” They raced up the stairs into the lobby which was left completely vacant. Gordon held up his gun and she followed suit, staying close behind him. She felt the urge to kill him now and find Crane but her gut warned her that someone else was in the room, watching. They walked slowly through the main corridor, past the abandoned security checkpoint, creeping closer to the wide atrium. When they stepped beneath the enormous domed ceiling a loud noise broke through the top of the building. She looked up and covered her face with her forearm to protect her eyes from large shards of falling glass. She saw a large dark blur surround Sgt. Gordon and pull him up to the roof. 

“Sgt. Gordon!” She yelled after him. She knew immediately that the blur was that bastard Batman. A small laugh escaped her mouth as she shook her head and lowered her gun. A group of SWAT ran in seconds later. She pointed at the ceiling with her gun and called them over. 

“He came down and took Sgt. Gordon!”

“Who?” Someone yelled at her and she shook her head, pretending to be unsure. 

“I don’t know! I think it was Batman.” She yelled, adding to their panic. 

“Batman!” Someone shouted and in the moment of distraction, she slipped away into a side corridor. She bolted towards a staircase and stopped at every floor, looking for signs of activity. Her body burned with soreness as she sprinted down each corridor. She wanted to scream his name but her lungs wouldn’t allow her the extra air to do so. She rounded a corner and ran into a group of police. They all started shouting at her until she showed them her badge. 

“I’m a detective- What the hell is going on here?” She yelled. 

“We’re looking for Dr. Crane!”

“Have you seen Sgt. Gordon?” She asked, panting and trying not to panic when they mentioned Crane’s name. “He disappeared and I've been looking for him.”

“No, we haven’t. We got a call that they found drugs in the building and then Batman showed up. Crane was running the operation.” One police officer responded and jerked their head to the side where they were going to run next. “It's down this corridor!”  

“I’ll come with you,” she shouted and led the unit, her gun pointed at the ground. Two large doors were falling off their hinges further down the hallway. The room itself was smokey and gaseous. She looked down from the doorway where there were stairs leading into a cement lined room like an empty indoor pool. Tables were littered with Crane’s fear serum and men that she assumed were dead. Huge vats of liquid marked with a toxic symbol sat on their sides by an open waterline. 

“This is it,” she said to the officer beside her and started to descend the staircase. The smoke made it hard to see so she moved slowly, looking around the floor for Crane’s familiar face. The men she saw were all part of Falcone’s posse who had been hired to help the drug operation run. Something snapped beneath her food and she looked down, seeing Crane’s scarecrow mask which she recognized from his drawing. She picked it up and looked around anxiously, her fingers around the gun shook. Then she saw him. Crane was propped up against a wall and bleeding slightly from the head, a thin trail of blood oozed on the wall behind his head. He was panting and flailing around, his pupils were mere penpoints. He’d been attacked with his own fear powder. She looked around before dropping into a crouch beside him. He recognized her but continued to shake, his eyes darting around her head. 

“Jonathan,” she whispered, “it's me.” 

“Did you find him?” Someone shouted and she yelled back that she had. He raised a judgemental eyebrow, his mouth forming a cuss word. His glasses were gone. 

“Trust me, Crane.” She whispered against his ear and held his wrists together. She took her handcuffs from her belt and handcuffed him. 

v 

She leaned against the wall and tapped her foot anxiously as they strapped him into a white straightjacket. She crossed the room and helped the officer secure the last belt, thankful for any excuse to touch him and remind him that she was still there. Looking up at her, he spat and she flinched slightly. His light eyes were ringed with red swollen skin and she wondered if he really felt betrayed by her. She wiped his spit from her cheek and returned to her place by the wall. 

“So this is the scarecrow,” Sgt. Gordon entered the room and let the door slam shut. Crane jumped from the noise and closed his eyes, taking a deep shaky breath. 

“Scarecrow… scarecrow.” Crane whispered with his eyes closed and shifted within the straightjacket. Sgt. Gordon pulled up a chair, the metal scraping against the floor, bristling Crane into opening his eyes. 

“What was the plan, Crane? How were you going to get the toxin into the air?” Gordon asked calmly and fingered the scarecrow mask. Her stomach turned watching Crane struggle to regain control over his mind. He shook and his eyes darted around the room, landing once or twice on her. She kept a straight face, giving no sign that she was terrified that something would happen to him or she would accidentally reveal something about him that they didn’t already know. When Crane didn’t respond, Gordon continued, his voice rising. 

“Who were you working for?” Gordon pressed and Crane’s eyes snapped to his, a crazy smile pulling at his lips. 

“Oh, it’s too late. You can’t stop it now.” He spoke through shivers, cutting up his words. He smiled at the end and Gordon shook his head. He stood and shoved the mask into her hands. 

“Here. Stay with Crane.” He growled and left the room, his footsteps echoing through the heavy steel door. She looked down at the mask in her hands and hid her smile. There was only one officer left in the room with them and she bit the inside of her cheek, trying to come up with a quick plan. 

“Are there any officers outside?” She asked the cop by the door who peeked his head outside the door. 

“No, ma’am.” 

“Good,” she smiled and raised her gun when the door snapped behind him. “Then this should be easy.” She cocked the gun and cornered the officer. “Face the wall,” she ordered and when he turned, she hit him over the head with the butt of her pistol, knocking him unconscious. She quickly handcuffed him and checked outside one last time before running over to Crane. He was still recovering from the toxin, his face set in a deep frown. She began to free him from his restraints, glancing at the door every few seconds. His eyes stayed on her face and he kept muttering things below his breath. When she undid the last restraint he jumped up and it fell from around his shoulders to the floor. She started to smile when he lunged at her and pushed her up against the tiled wall. Her hair clip cracked against the tile and clattered to the floor in pieces. She gasped beneath his hands, one holding her throat and the other grabbing the slack in her sweater, exposing her navel. 

“You betrayed me,” he growled, “you told Gordon... I saw you.” His eyes were wild and glazed, he looked right through her.

“What?” she gasped out though his hand was crushing her windpipe. 

“I saw you two! You fucked him. You fucked him!” He yelled, his body shook with anger like he was coming down from an adrenaline high. 

“No, I didn’t!” She struggled beneath his hands, “this is the toxin talking, Jonathan! I didn’t betray you-”

“But you fucked him,” his voice twisted into a heatbreaking whine, an image flicked before his eyes and he closed them quickly, shaking it from his head.

“No!” She coughed and she could feel herself getting light-headed. 

“You love him,” his voice was breaking beneath him and his eyes darted between hers as the toxin showed him more and more; everything of which included her.

“Jonathan!” she screamed and hit his chest hard with closed fists, “I can’t fucking breathe!” 

His eyes snapped open wider and he released his grip around her throat. Her feet landed on the ground and she coughed, sinking into a crouch against the wall. Crane stepped back and watched her silently. He was still shaking as he ran a hand anxiously through his hair. 

“Why would I save you if I loved him?” She cried in frustration, rubbing her bruised throat. “It’s the toxin, Jonathan… I didn’t do the things you think I did,” her voice softened. She looked up at him and stood slowly, grabbing onto the wall for support. Crane cradled his head in his hands and whimpered. 

“What do you see?” she asked quietly and stepped closer. He shook his head and created more distance between them. “Jonathan, tell me.” She pressed and he exhaled with a soft shutter.

“You… fuck,” he started through heavy breaths, working himself up again. “I see you and Gordon…” He rubbed his eyes and looked back up at her. “It’s been so long since…”

“Since what?” She furrowed her brow, questioning. His eyes darted away into the corner and he shook.

“Since my father last used it…” he took a deep breath and finished his sentence with a lengthy exhale, “on me.” 

“The fear toxin?” She whispered, slowly starting to understand what he was suggesting. He nodded and flinched as if something had attacked him. Was he saying that his father used a prototype of the fear toxin on him? She grabbed onto the sleeve of his suit jacket and tugged his attention away. 

“It’s just me. There’s no one else- nothing else in here except for me,” she gestured to the nearly empty room (the officer was still unconscious in the corner). “And I’m here for you,” she whispered and closed the distance between them, her hands slipped around his small waist beneath his suit jacket. She felt his body tense beneath her embrace before slowly (very slowly) releasing its tension. He didn’t hug her back but rested his forehead on her shoulder. She stroked his hair, and found the shallow wound on the back of his head. She ducked her head as she pulled away, finding his mouth and kissing him gently. The toxin was slowly wearing off and she could tell he was only beginning to return to his normal self. 

“We need to get up to my office,” he muttered and looked at the door. “They’re releasing the patients.”

“What?” She furrowed her brow. Crane sighed and shook his head. 

“Ra’s gave orders to open all of the cells. The patients will be let loose into the city.” He licked his lips and looked down at her. “We need to get upstairs.” His expression was tense as she could tell he was trying to fight the lingering effects of the toxin. She nodded. 

“Show me where to go.” 

He pulled her through the door and they ran down the corridor to an elevator. When the doors opened, Crane used his key to override the system, preventing anyone else from calling the elevator. He pressed the button for the floor with his office, not realizing that his other hand was squeezing tightly around hers. When the doors opened again, they rushed down the hallway and into Crane’s office. He sighed when the door was locked and the blinds closed. 

“What are we going to do?” She asked him quietly and he inhaled slowly. 

“I need to inject you with the antidote so the toxin doesn’t affect you when we leave the building.” He murmured, more to himself.

“We’re going out there?” She tried to keep the fear from her voice but he detected it instantly, raising an eyebrow. 

“Are you scared?” He asked automatically. 

“Of both of us dying out there at the hands of one of your old patients, yes, yes I am.” She nearly laughed. 

“Don’t you want to be part of the fun?” The Jonathan Crane she knew was definitely coming back. 

“I’d rather not become the ‘fun’,” she quipped and he smirked. 

“As you wish.” 

She followed him into his lab and he rummaged through a collection of vials arranged on one of the counters. Finding the right one, he slipped it inside a cartridge of what looked like an epipen. 

“Pull down your pants,” he ordered and then it was her turn to raise her eyebrow. “Don’t look at me like that and do what I tell you,” he said sternly and she did as he asked, pulling down her trousers where he had access to her thigh. “This will hurt,” he warned her before immediately plunging the needle into the fat around her thigh. She hissed in pain and heaved out a breath. 

“The good news is that you don’t have to ever do this again,” he patted her leg and buttoned her pants for her. “Now me,” he changed the vial and unbuckled his pants. He raised the hem of his boxers and punctured the needle into his upper thigh. He grunted in pain and closed his eyes for a moment and whistled out a tight breath. A large explosion shook the ground below their feet. She jumped and winced as she landed on her sore leg. Without opening his eyes, Crane nodded. 

“And that would be the patients leaving the building now.” He withdrew the needle and tossed it to the side, buckling his pants. 

“Let me see your head,” she touched his arm and he leaned forward slightly, turning his head where she could see it clearly. She carded her fingers through his dark hair and parted the dark roots away from the shallow wound. “It's a small cut, you’ll live.” 

“Thanks, doctor.” He smirked. Her fingers shifted through his hair as he straightened and she tried not to look disappointed when they were no longer twirled around his black locks. 

“Are you back now?” She looked up into his eyes, looking for trances of fear. 

“I think so,” he responded and traced his index finger around the collar of her sweater. There were small bruises where his fingers had been when he forced her against the wall in his state of panic. “Was I terrible?” He whispered. 

“Not more than usual,” she laughed lightly and covered his hand with hers. “I’m ok.” She insisted and he furrowed his eyebrows and licked his lips. 

He was going to apologize, he was going to tell her how much he loved her and that was why he had reacted so strongly to the toxin, but the words died on his lips so instead he said, “We should leave before the city goes all the way under.”

“They’ll raise the bridges so no one can leave, it’s too late.” 

Crane chuckled and leaned against the lab table behind him, his fingers grasping around the edge. “And once again, you severely underestimate me. Come on.” 

vi 

“Get on,” Crane held the bridle and gestured for her to mount the large black steed. 

“You’re kidding right?” She looked around at the burning city and then back to the police horse who’d lost its rider. 

“I wish I was,” he sighed and tugged her closer by her waistband, “now giddy-up, Miss —.” He joked flatley and pushed her up onto the saddle. He hoisted himself up after her and sat in front, taking the reins in his hands. She wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed her thighs around the horse's stomach, holding on for dear life. 

“Where the hell did you learn to ride a horse?” She yelled over the panic and she felt him chuckle. 

“Oh, there are a lot of things that you don’t know about me, detective.” He smirked and kicked the horse into action. She gasped and held him tighter as they flew through the violence-strewn streets. She couldn’t imagine how ridiculous they looked to the people of Gotham but under the influence of the fear toxin, she hoped people were more afraid than amused seeing a man in a full suit riding a horse. Crane focused on the route ahead, navigating them through the broken city. 

“Where’s Ra’s?” She yelled into his ear. 

“Forget about him.” He growled and urged the horse faster. 

“Why? What happened?” 

“He tricked me. He didn't just want to impose an arguably better government, he wanted to kill everyone and to kill us too. He tipped off Batman and that’s how Batman found me. He didn't need me after the toxin had been released. He kept you away from me, didn’t he?” He called over his shoulder, leaping over a crashed car. 

“Yes, he told me to go to the precinct instead when I tried to warn you about the DA.” 

“He wanted Batman to find me and he assumed that you’d get stuck here after you followed Gordon. Two birds with one stone. I can’t believe I didn’t see it before.” He growled and turned the horse onto a side-street and into an alley. 

“Where are we going?” She asked, her grip tightening around Crane as she saw people screaming in the streets. 

“To my father’s house.” 

“How?” His father’s house? After his father had probably done something horrible to him?

“Just hold on,” he warned and flicked the reins again. She closed her eyes, wanting to block out the terror in the streets. While some of it gave her pleasure to see the raw side of humanity express itself, it reminded her of what she had seen as a child- the side of people that came out when they needed to survive. 

They rode to the edge of the city and Crane slowed the horse to a stop beside a tall building that looked abandoned. He hopped off of the horse and helped her down, catching her as she forced herself to slip over the saddle. The building was far enough away from the inner-city that it looked like it hadn’t been touched yet by the chaos, though the toxins had definitely reached it. 

“We need to get to the roof,” he informed her calmly and pointed her to the elevator. 

“Another elevator…” she whispered beneath her breath, knowing it wasn’t the right time to mention how much she hated the idea of going into one when the world around them was ending. Crane pressed the button labeled “20R,” and the elevator began to soar up. The elevator had windows that opened into the city. As the elevator climbed, they could see the destruction of Gotham and right across the bridge, normalcy.

“Ra’s is moving the micro-wave emitter by the high speed rail. If his plan goes accordingly, the emitter will poison the other side of the city beneath Wayne tower.” He pointed out the tall Wayne building from their vantage point. “I hate Gotham and I hate Batman, but I think I hate Ra’s Al Ghul more.” He sneered distastefully. “We could have run Gotham…” he sighed and shrugged, “maybe another day.” 

She couldn’t help herself but laugh. Being with Crane had opened her eyes to a new side of herself, one that was dark and masochistic. She liked this side better, way better. She liked thinking that one day she could be in charge, force out all of the government officials that were too dumb or sexist to listen to her. She could lead beside Crane… 

When the elevator doors opened a gust of wind met them. The doors opened onto the roof of the huge building. A helicopter stood in the center of a large bull’s eye, its blades running in circles above their heads. Crane’s hair ruffled in the wind and he squinted his eyes against it. Her mouth fell open in shock and Crane chuckled at her reaction. 

“That’s the funny thing about, trust, detective. I don’t believe in it,” he smirked and beckoned her to the helicopter’s doors. 

“You planned this?” She yelled as he gestured her to climb onto the landing gear. 

“Of course,” he smiled, "I always have a backup plan." Her mary janes slipped across the bars as she climbed and Crane supported her back, guiding her back into the body of the machine. He pulled himself inside after her and collapsed in one of the seats. She tried to orient herself, looking around the small helicopter, landing on the pilot. The pilot nodded at Crane, he was wearing a thick mask and goggles to keep the toxin away. 

“Ready doctor?” The pilot called from the front and Crane nodded breathlessly. He looked at her and clenched his jaw, returning to the version of Crane she knew so well. 

“Yes.”

[homosociallyyours]

This is a post for one of my best friends who's been going through a lot for the past few years. I'll go into more details below, but here's the heart of the matter: My friend has a serious auto-immune condition resulting from the long term after effects of cancer treatments (worsened now by the addition of long COVID to her long list of diagnoses). Over the past few years, she's gotten sicker and sicker and has been forced to change her diet from a vegetarian anti-cancer diet (she's a breast cancer survivor, and fought HARD for her health) to one that's become more and more limited as her body becomes allergic to every food one by one. She's now reached a point where one of the last 2 foods that she was able to eat safely, chicken, is causing an allergic reaction; she has to eat it anyway to survive, so is now very sick all the time.

What can you do?

One of the last hopes that she has to turn things around is something called a fecal microbiome transplant, which has worked miracles for other people with similar issues, but cannot currently be accessed through medical channels in the US for any but one (unrelated) condition. It's really easy to do as a DIY treatment though, it's just hard to find a donor: so we are putting it out there to see if one of you might be able and willing to be that person, or know someone who could do it.

Here is what she has to say about the ask:

Finding the right person to do this is difficult, but actually doing the helping is extremely easy and quick if someone was that person! If you live in the continental US and are fortunate enough to have both physical and mental good health (or know someone or have a child who fit the criteria) and are willing, you might be able to change my life! Please consider clicking through to read more and maybe even come aboard...  (For clarity: this isn't a medical procedure or anything, it is literally just donating poop, there are a few specifics but it is very much from the comfort of your home on your own time.)

You can click here to fill out a google form to see if you might be able to be a donor. The questionaire is detailed: fecal transplant is a bizarre and magical thing in which the patient sometimes can even end up acquiring personal preferences from the donor- the gut microbiome (sometimes called the second brain) is incredible! But this means that any illness, chronic issues, or risk factors you carry may also be transferred to the recipient so while it may feel invasive, getting detailed info in very necessary; I am just too sick already to take on any more problems.

A note- yes, it is possible to buy screened and processed treatments even in the US: unfortunately the cost (~$2k per round of treatment) is way outside my reach, particularly given that it isn't really any better than just getting poop directly from a good candidate (proven via studies), and that often it takes trying a couple donors/ rounds to find a match that gets results. If anyone wants to just buy me that stuff, I sure wouldn't say no to that, but given the severity of my situation (medical and financial; I cannot work due to disability) it is likely I will need to do medical fundraising at some point and I am trying to save that for an even worse point. Also if you have that kind of money to help out honestly it would be better spent on specialists or my astronomical food costs. I will cover all costs associated with this process if I find someone though, of course!

Thank you for reading/boosting/etc, please consider sending the link to possible healthy friends or family who might be a fit, or consider whether you have a child fitting the bill you might be willing to enlist- young microbiomes are the best ones, as children's systems have had less time to be ravaged by the effects of the modern world or the simple deterioration of age.

[weebsinstash]

Very good prognosis for Allister!

Starting with the bad news first, he's not eating because his constipation is actually worse than last time; more material is backed up farther, so the bowels are pushing on his stomach and making him feel full. When we last came and had our follow-up, he still had a few pieces inside of him after the enemas, and those pieces actually hardened and became the main cause of him being blocked again

The good news is that he otherwise looks great and that another enema and fluids and all of that is totally affordable and I also went ahead and agreed to some lab work that will tell us if he's getting constipated for any underlying reasons. One possibility is that he has something with his kidneys where his kidneys are drawing too much water and dehydrating his bowels. This is really important to know because "your senior cat needs extra water" is much different than "your senior cat has an untreatable health condition and this will keep happening no matter what" and this is an important piece of information I need now that he's having health problems as an older cat. I have to know when I'm fighting a foe I can't win and decide how to continue with treatment moving forward.

The rest of the fecal matter besides the old blocking pieces is soft and moving through his colon, so we think we just need to get these bad pieces out and that he's been getting his medicine and extra-wet wet food regularly that, hoping all goes well, this will be the last time he needs to be unblocked, assuming his blood work is all clear

There's an extra layer of complication on a topic that was raised on if I want to switch him to a higher fiber diet, because that food while better for his poops is worse at preventing the stones, and he also already has stones so him potentially getting more increases the risks, but his current stones are tiny, although that also doesn't matter since they can become a blockage at basically any size. I basically chatted with the vet and we decided that, I mean, if you have to choose between preventing deadly stones and preventing treatable constipation, which would you choose?

I have to leave Allister here for a few hours and hopefully they can flush those bad pieces out while he is here just like last time. Feeling very optimistic for the future and I still have some of the donated funds left to euthanize him if needed, but it sounds like that's not a concern anymore, at least not unless the enemas fail, and even then, they did tell me that i could technically still risk an de-obstipation surgery, that it's not a guaranteed death sentence, just riskier.

Everything is looking A-OK :)

[obsessive-bear-walking]

Trigger warning for discussion of OCD themes, which can trigger people who suffer from OCD.

This post was made so that it could be reblogged and possibly prompt people to do more research. However, it is not required to reblog this post. Not reblogging this post is morally neutral, no one will be harmed and nothing bad will happen if you choose not to reblog it!

I'm only able to cover a very small amount of information, please do your research and take my words with a grain of salt and do further reading if youre interested, I am not an all-knowing being.

So I know most of y'all you think OCD is just about being really clean and that's not your fault but it's super important that y'all understand that

1. Contamination isn't always about germs.

2. That even when it is about germs what that really looks like.

3. OCD can also present as serious morality or religious issues, harm issues, there is an actual subset of ocd called Hit and Run ocd which is a fear of hitting someone with your car people have actually quit driving because of this, skin picking compulsions, etc. There is so much more than wanting to be clean and tidy all the time. (This does not mean that people with "Just Right" ocd or ocd people have tics and compulsions related to cleaning do not exist. They do exist and they are deserving of compassion and consideration when discussing OCD education and acceptance.)

On top of just germs, people with ocd can fear being contaminated by bigotry(Oh look, it's me!), personalities, radioactivity, soap, newspaper, colors, thoughts, words. Anything really.

Even when it is just being "clean" it can be a lot more complicated than that.

"One unusual belief sufferers have is that very small amounts of contaminants can cover very large areas. For example, they may believe that a drop of blood or urine can somehow be spread to coat entire rooms, or even everything they own." - International OCD Foundation

People with OCD having contamination issues is a stereotype but if we know anything about other stereotypes (Such as the stereotype that gay men are high femme) plenty of people fit the stereotype yet are still valid. I personally didn't develop contamination issues with fecal matter until recently despite being able to trace my ocd symptoms back more than a decade.

Morality and religious OCD are extremely common. Here are some examples of both from OCDLA (souce, source) Which is why a lot of content on Tumblr is harmful to OCD people.

Also, reassurance is actually bad for folks with OCD. Which is extremely difficult but very important to know. I sometimes struggle to not reassure people with OCD, it feels cold and callus to say "I won't reassure you." And it would be to anyone else, but seeking reassurance is a compulsion. This is because of how OCD works. To ask for reassurance is often a compulsion for OCD people, it can and often does become addicting while not being helpful.

Which brings me to my next topic:

Compulsions and tics can be just about anything. They can involve counting, tapping, movements, arranging, checking. There is even "just right" OCD where something have to be repeated several times until it is "correct".

The most effective treatment for OCD is medication and ERP (Exposure and Response prevention) which seeks to stop the cycle at the Obsessive Thought and reduce anxiety and therefore stop compulsions. Which essentually trains you to not have as much of a physical reation to your intrusive thoughts. Which is also why statements like "being disturbed by your intrusive thoughts makes you a good person" are actually harmful and inaccurate.

"Unfortunately, with OCD, your brain tells you that you are in danger a lot, even in situations where you “know” that there is a very small likelihood that something bad might happen. This is one of the cruelest parts of this disorder.

Now consider that your compulsive behaviors are your attempts to keep yourself safe when that alarm goes off. What does that mean you are telling your brain when you engage in these behaviors? You are reinforcing the brain’s idea that you must be in danger. Birthday candles are the same as a blazing fire.

In other words, your compulsive behavior fuels that part of your brain that gives out these many unwarranted alarm signals. The bottom line is that in order to reduce your anxiety and your obsessions, you have to make a decision to stop the compulsive behaviors." - International OCD foundation.

Pure-O OCD also exists, which has more mental than physical conpulsions.

Important final note: Thought crimes are not real. Enforcing that they are actively harms people with OCD and no, you can't just say "unless they cause you distress!" because you can still be a decent person while reacting less and less to your intrusive thoughts as that is literally the goal of most ocd treatments. Thoughts are morally neutral.

[john-macnamara]

It's very cute that Mr. Mega thinks his refusal to read our leaks means anything. We'll continue sharing them, and people will continue reading them. But here, for you, Mr. Curt Mega, we have provided the medical report from John's time in the hospital after the ten days of sleeplessness he spoke of. Thank us later!

Mount Sinai Hospital Treatment Report: Johnathan S. MacNamara

Date of Admission: September 9, 2012

Date of Discharge: November 17, 2012

The patient was admitted to the Emergency Room at 6:24 AM, 09/05/12 and evaluated to be in critical condition almost immediately. He exhibited signs of septic shock, including: lung failure, kidney failure, liver failure, a blood pressure of 68/43 mm Hg, and a heart rate of 134 BPM. In addition, he showed signs of infection stemming from an abdominal laceration approximately 30 inches in length and on average approximately 2 inches deep. The exhibited signs included: seizures, a consistent 105° F fever, swelling around the wound, pus in and around the wound, and human fecal matter smeared across the abdominal region. The lattermost sign was not so much a symptom as an obvious cause.

The patient's wounds were immediately cleaned with heavy disinfectants and a tracheostomy was preformed. He was attached to a mechanical ventilator and the blood-oxygen levels slowly stabilized. Patient was admitted to the ICU for further treatment at 7:36 PM, 09/05/12. Injuries upon admission were mapped as follows:

1. Bullet entry and exit through right deltoid. 2. Large laceration across midsection. Shows signs of heavy bacterial and viral infection. 3. Second-degree burn in the shape of greek letter omega. 4. Electric burns on lower right back. Presumably from high-voltage taser or cattle prod. 5. Intense electric burns in genital and inner-thigh areas. 6. Hamstrings lacerated. Presumably to constrict movement of legs.

Upon admission to the ICU, the patient was administered a standard dose of penicillin. There had been no signs of consciousness since arrival to the hospital, however the patient did appear to be in a survivable state. Within the unit, he was attached to a dialysis machine and given a steady IV of saline solution and another one that contained water-soluble vitamins and nutrients. Once the infection showed no further sign of spreading, the patient was given an emergency liver transplant. This occurred on 09/06/12.

The transplant succeeded, and the liver immediately began to filter blood and further cleared the infection. The decision was made to keep the patient on the dialysis machine until the infection and subsequent sepsis was cleared, and after a partial recovery from the first transplant occurred.

After 57 hours of total unconsciousness and unresponsiveness, the patient was declared to be in a coma caused by toxic-metabolic encephalopathy. He was assumed to wake up within the month.

The tracheostomy ventilator was removed on 09/23/12 and replaced with a laryngoscopic ventilator. This was changed once more on 10/03/12 when it was replaced with a mask ventilator.

The genital burns required a skin graft, but otherwise healed normally without infection or complications.

At 1:58 PM on 10/09/12, the patient began to react to outside stimuli. He moved when touched and made audible responses to pain. Over the next few days, he began to react to auditory and olfactory stimuli in addition to touch-based reactions increasing in consistency. By 10/12/12, the patient could follow simple commands and had managed to open his eyes a few times.

On 10/15/12 at approximately 12:30 AM, the patient awoke in a frenzied state. He attempted to rip out IVs and pulled off the ventilation mask and appeared to be unaware of where he was. It took excessive physical force, but he was eventually restrained and slowly calmed. He fell back asleep soon after, but showed greater signs of healing by that point. The next afternoon, he gave an official record of what happened to him, which provided a more accurate method of how to treat him. He consented to a kidney transplant and went into surgery on 10/18/12.

There were no complications during the surgery, and the donor was the wife of the patient, Rosalind M. Schaffer. She didn't suffer any complications from the donation either.

After the surgery, he was moved from the ICU and into the recovery wing with a private room.

The patient was dosed on standard pain medication over recovery, and showed no infectious flare-ups over recovery. He was monitored for lasting impacts of his wounds or disease, and had gained a noticeable tremor in both his hands. He underwent physical therapy while in the hospital's care, allowing him to regain full motion in his legs and to lessen his hand tremors.

The patient was discharged at 8:14 PM on 11/17/12 with a clean bill of health and prescribed a pain medication for as long as needed. It was also recommended that the patient stop smoking, as his lungs had previously failed once and it could be a major risk factor. The patient obviously did not follow the advice, as he was seen smoking a cigarette the second he left hospital grounds.

[droctaviolovecraft]

Made this one in a hurry, cuz I'm excited for something... also working on the site

TW: Disgusting anomaly

ANM-683: "Sanitary Worms"

Classification: Sikur 🟢

Containment: ANM-683 must be kept in a reinforced containment cell resembling a standard bathroom, located in Department-17. Access to ANM-683 is restricted to Level 3 personnel and above. All interactions with ANM-683 must be pre-approved by the Department Director and supervised by at least two security personnel. Bi-monthly maintenance and sanitation protocols must be strictly followed. Any deviation from established procedures must be reported immediately.

All personnel interacting with ANM-683 must undergo mandatory quarantine and medical evaluation, followed by weekly monitoring for a minimum of six months. Any report of abdominal pain, abnormal bowel changes, or unexplained weight loss must be treated as a high-priority incident.

Description: ANM-683 is a standard porcelain toilet, approximately 400 mm in height and width, mounted on a concrete base. Despite its ordinary appearance, ANM-683 exhibits anomalous properties when used.

When an individual attempts to defecate using ANM-683, they will begin to feel severe discomfort and pain in the rectal area within 30 seconds. This sensation rapidly intensifies, resulting in severe cramps and bleeding. Within 24-48 hours, the affected individual will develop multiple rectal pathologies, including but not limited to hemorrhoids, anal fissures, and proctitis.

After approximately 7-10 days, the individual’s digestive system will become infested with thousands of vermiform parasites (Ascaris lumbricoides). These worms will grow and reproduce at an accelerated rate, causing severe abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and significant weight loss. In advanced stages, the worms may attempt to exit the host's body through the mouth, nostrils, or even rupture the abdominal wall.

If ANM-683 is damaged or tampered with, ANM-683-B will manifest. 683-B is a humanoid entity approximately 60 cm tall, resembling a malformed infant with distorted facial features, bulging eyes without eyelids, and rows of needle-like teeth. Its skin is completely covered in blood and feces, with visible internal structures, including a pulsating digestive tract filled with worms.

ANM-683-B is highly aggressive and will attack any human within its proximity. It demonstrates extraordinary agility and strength disproportionate to its size, making it difficult to contain or neutralize. It typically moves by writhing on the ground while screaming. ANM-683-B feeds on organic material, with a particular preference for fecal matter. If deprived of sustenance, it will become increasingly violent and unpredictable, targeting live subjects to extract biological material.

After feeding, it will retreat into the toilet, disappearing into the bowl as if passing through solid matter. Attempts to track or follow ANM-683-B into ANM-683 have failed, as exploration devices become nonfunctional upon entry.

Addendum 683-1: Following Incident ANM-683-1, it was discovered that the anomaly’s properties extend beyond its immediate environment. Anyone who has used the toilet will experience intense anal and rectal pain similar to the effects of ANM-683 when exposed to any conventional toilet. This reaction is accompanied by spontaneous worm infestations, regardless of prior medical treatment or intervention.

This effect persists indefinitely unless treated with a regimen of high-dose anthelmintics, antibiotics, and a rigorous intestinal management protocol. Personnel exhibiting symptoms after interaction must be placed under indefinite medical supervision.

Incident Reports:

ANM-683-1: On ██/██/20██, Dr. ████████ accessed ANM-683 without authorization, resulting in severe rectal trauma and worm infestation. Despite emergency intervention, Dr. ████████ exhibited advanced parasitic growth, necessitating experimental treatments. He subsequently developed a compulsive desire to repeatedly use ANM-683, despite the extreme pain and damage, and was placed on indefinite medical leave and transferred to a specialized care unit.

ANM-683-2: On ██/██/20██, during a containment breach, multiple personnel were exposed, and ANM-683-B emerged, attacking the Department staff, causing multiple casualties and severe injuries. Post-incident analysis revealed that ANM-683-B had grown to 80 cm in height and demonstrated increased intelligence and coordination in its attacks. The entity was eventually subdued and re-contained after extensive efforts. Psychological evaluations of surviving personnel indicated elevated levels of paranoia and fear of sanitary facilities.

Approved by Counselor O3-██, ██/██/20██.

Warning: This document contains Class-A restricted information. Unauthorized access, reproduction, or distribution is strictly prohibited and will result in immediate disciplinary action, including dismissal and/or legal proceedings.

[exterminatepestcontrol]

Booklice - Understanding & Treatment

Booklice, despite their name, are not actually lice. These tiny, wingless insects are more closely related to psocids and are often found in damp, humid environments, around the home including bathrooms, windows, bedrooms etc. While booklice do not pose any direct harm to humans, they can be a nuisance when they infest your books, papers, or stored food items. In this blog, we'll delve into the world of booklice, understand why they infest your belongings, and discuss effective methods to successfully treat and prevent infestations.

Understanding Booklice

Appearance: Booklice are extremely small, typically ranging from 1 to 2 millimeters in length. They have soft, pale bodies, resembling miniature termites. Despite their minute size, they are still visible to the naked eye.

Habitat: Booklice thrive in damp, humid conditions. They are often found in areas with high moisture levels, such as bathrooms, kitchens, basements, and libraries. However, they can also infest stored books, papers, and even dry food products like flour and grains.

Diet: Booklice feed on mold, fungi, algae, and microscopic organic matter. They are attracted to materials that support the growth of these microorganisms, such as damp paper, cardboard, and food items.

Identifying an Infestation

Signs of a booklice infestation include:

Presence of tiny, pale insects on infested materials.

Small holes or damage on paper and cardboard.

A musty or moldy odor in the infested area.

Damaged food packaging or small fecal pellets near food items.

Successfully Treating a Booklice Infestation

Remove Affected Materials: Begin by identifying and removing any infested materials. This may include books, papers, or food products. If the items are valuable or essential, consider taking steps to salvage them.

Reduce Humidity: Booklice thrive in humid conditions, so it's essential to reduce moisture levels in the affected area. Use dehumidifiers or fans to lower humidity, and fix any leaks or sources of moisture.

Clean Thoroughly: Vacuum the infested area, including cracks and crevices where booklice may hide. Dispose of the vacuum bag or clean the vacuum thoroughly to prevent reinfestation.

Freeze or Heat Treatment: For valuable books and papers, you can try freezing or heating them to kill booklice and their eggs. Place the items in a sealed bag and freeze them for a few days or heat them in an oven set at a low temperature (120°F or 50°C) for several hours.

Chemical Treatments: If the infestation is severe or persistent, you may need to use chemical treatments. Insecticides labeled for use against booklice can be applied to cracks, crevices, and infested areas. Always follow the instructions carefully and ensure proper ventilation when using chemicals.

Preventing Future Infestations

Once you've successfully treated a booklice infestation, take steps to prevent its recurrence:

Store Items Properly: Keep books, papers, and food products in dry, well-ventilated areas. Use airtight containers for stored food items.

Maintain a Dry Environment: Regularly inspect and maintain areas susceptible to moisture, like basements, bathrooms, and kitchens. Fix leaks promptly and use dehumidifiers as needed.

Ventilation: Ensure proper ventilation in storage areas and consider using fans to circulate air.

Regular Cleaning: Regularly clean and dust bookshelves, closets, and storage spaces to remove potential food sources for booklice.

Conclusion

Dealing with a booklice infestation can be frustrating, but with patience and the right strategies, you can successfully treat and prevent these pests. By understanding their habits and maintaining a dry environment, you can protect your belongings and keep booklice at bay.

[snugglyrecovery]

The story of my sickness:

This is my first ever Tumblr post. I am recently two years sober, and I accidentally wrote a lot about my sobriety in the last few hours. I’d love to answer questions or hear from someone who can relate.

Just lost my job for making too many mistakes, but I’m a “joy to work with” and “incredibly talented”. Trying to figure life out.

Here’s my story. Thanks for letting me tell it.

Addiction is a cold and lonely place. The bottom of the glass is a window to the other side of the world that I watched others live in every day from my apartment on a busy street corner. Other lives seemed to be full of joy and honest fulfillment. On a molecular level, I felt that I was unworthy of even interacting with that life. The mask of normalcy I wore was made of eggshells, and it cracked when I was around the people I admired, so I hid from the world for a year.

I prescribed myself a life of misery for the perceived sins of my past. Generally a person who values truth and goodness in others, I saw the pitfall of humanity in the mirror. Disgusting, revolting, wholly wrong, and rage inducing—me. The weakest of weak links. When I became so ill from drinking and myself that I lost the ability to walk, which lasted for over a year due to neuropathic pain, I asked for help in an unwavering plea. I hadn’t left my apartment in weeks. There was dog fecal matter everywhere, which was a sign of the darkness that had overcome me considering my normal absolute adoration and care for my dogs. (They are happy and healthy!) I called a thrown-together team of loved ones with a request for help to go to rehab and the willingness to do anything to feel better. I called because I fell asleep every night fearing I wouldn’t make it to the next day. One day I actually woke up in my own blood and vomit. Scared the shit out of myself. My doctors eventually would say that a dark day had been on the horizon and would’ve easily been my demise within a month or so had I not received treatment.

There is a dense and tumultuous cloud attached to my silver linings: I had some of the money due to the sudden and life altering death of my beloved mother, but the $50,000 rehab stay was just a small percentage of what the hospitals, emergency rooms, medications, ambulance rides, and therapies amounted to. My esteemed position of four years didn’t convince my company to provide me or any of their employees with health insurance. This entire medical journey would be out of pocket and would ultimately force me to file for bankruptcy (like right now).

I had no choice but to carry on with treatment and disregard the cost. I didn’t want to hurt my family by dying. I could take or leave the constant pain I still feel daily, but I would never want to traumatize my loved ones more than I had since showing them my decaying life and shattered spirit.

I approached recovery from a place of understood brokenness and unwavering arrogance/stupidity… I was better than this. I went to rehab in two phases due to a forced three week hospital stay. Initially at rehab, I forgot often where I was, would wander off to the woods, and constantly fall from the pain in my legs. It was determined that I was too sick to stay in the program. I was taken on an $11,000 ambulance ride to a hospital after 10 days in rehab. I don’t really remember the hospital, honestly. I know I did physical therapy. There were plenty of fluids and lorazepam IVs. There were several kind nurses, unless they are figments of my imagination. I learned I could further not trust my own experiences when I hallucinated that members of my extended family were in the hall one day for several hours. No one was there. No one was coming until I had to be picked up. But I heard them speaking. Loudly. That episode eventually dissipated, and I have not hallucinated since.

I left the hospital when three weeks had passed, and I quickly reorganized at the closest thing to home base I had with my ex-fiancé. I went back to rehab to receive nine more weeks of in-patient rehabilitation for substance abuse disorder, major depressive disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder. Two years after the first day I went to a hospital, I am still sober with almost (no one’s mind is perfect) no temptation to relapse. A miracle for my soul.

Recovery and all of her moods doesn’t have to always be a clinical journey filled with “cans” and “can’t” do’s. I was filled with uncertainty and confusion with severe memory loss. Thrusted far from the world of being the brightest in the class to the world of endless frustration and forgetting my sister’s names. I needed something to hold at night in my twin bed at rehab. I needed warmth to make it through the darkness of constant fear and confusion. I, without intention, made sobriety a comforting hug because I absolutely had to. My earnest choice to be healthy and back in-control necessitated safety I had never known in this life. I can now rely on myself and my sobriety. Sobriety can either be a prison or a safe and snuggly home for our souls, inviting us to be the healthiest, most wholesome version of ourselves. I have effectively put some of the chaos of my life behind me. I no longer wake up dreading to hear about my out of control emotional responses or gazing in embarrassment at a reposted political article that I drunkenly wrote a very superficial rant about on Facebook.

I don’t attend regular AA meetings. I am not suggesting this is ideal for those considering how many they or a loved one should attend themselves. I got a DUI in 2017, (I was so consumed with guilt and called the cops on myself… don’t do this) and continued to drink until I saw the real possibility of death in May of 2021.

I now write poetry to keep myself from going insane. I have not yet figured out a way to escape the ease I find chaos with. It is my home. I am less anxious after I just got fired, for example. Careless mistakes, lack of conscientiousness, and difficulty with details seem to always follow me around like the angel of professional and scholastic death. Kindness and character are through the roof when I’m not behind the wheel of my car— a dark tale for another time. I just want to be.

[solutionsforaquaculture]

Beyond Taboo: Exploring Modern Solutions for Fecal Waste Management

Fecal waste management has long been surrounded by taboo and stigma, hindering progress in addressing this critical aspect of public health and environmental sustainability. However, modern advancements in technology and innovative approaches are breaking through these barriers, offering promising solutions to fecal waste management. Let's delve into these modern solutions and their potential to revolutionize the way we handle fecal waste.

Overcoming Stigma: The Importance of Open Discourse

Before delving into modern solutions, it's crucial to acknowledge and address the stigma and taboo surrounding fecal waste. Open discourse and education are essential in challenging misconceptions and fostering acceptance of innovative approaches to fecal waste management. By breaking down barriers and engaging communities, we can create a supportive environment for the adoption of modern solutions.

Innovative Treatment Technologies

Modern advancements in treatment technologies have transformed the landscape of fecal waste management. Advanced treatment processes, such as aerobic digestion, membrane filtration, and ultraviolet disinfection, offer highly efficient and environmentally friendly methods for treating fecal waste. These technologies not only remove pathogens and contaminants but also minimize the environmental footprint of waste disposal.

Decentralized Systems: Empowering Communities

Decentralized fecal waste management systems are emerging as viable alternatives to traditional centralized treatment plants. Technologies such as composting toilets, biogas digesters, and decentralized wastewater treatment systems provide cost-effective and sustainable solutions, particularly in rural and underserved areas. By empowering communities to manage their waste locally, decentralized systems enhance resilience and promote self-sufficiency.

Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Principles

A key aspect of modern fecal waste management is the integration of resource recovery and circular economy principles. Instead of viewing fecal waste as a burden, these approaches recognize it as a valuable resource rich in organic matter and nutrients. Technologies for resource recovery, such as anaerobic digestion and nutrient extraction, enable the conversion of waste into valuable products, such as biogas, biofertilizers, and soil conditioners. By closing the nutrient loop and reducing reliance on synthetic inputs, these approaches promote sustainability and resource efficiency.

Community Engagement and Participation

Successful implementation of modern fecal waste management solutions relies on active engagement and participation from communities. Community-led initiatives, participatory planning processes, and capacity-building programs are essential for fostering ownership and ensuring the sustainability of interventions. By involving stakeholders at every stage of the decision-making process, we can tailor solutions to local contexts and maximize their impact.

Conclusion

The era of taboo surrounding fecal waste management is coming to an end, thanks to modern advancements and innovative approaches. By embracing open discourse, leveraging innovative technologies, and empowering communities, we can revolutionize the way we handle fecal waste. Through resource recovery, decentralized systems, and community participation, we can create a future where fecal waste is not only managed responsibly but also contributes to environmental sustainability and community well-being.

[max--phillips]

Hello . This is kind of weird and left field but I would like to talk about the unprotected sex tags in fic that are followed by the “(wrap it up irl)” disclaimer or some variation of it, and why it. Bothers me a little?

Don’t get me wrong, this is good advice! But… a lot of times that same fic will have, say, oral sex, which is also unprotected but is not followed by a similar warning. Also, there are cases where protection might not be strictly necessary! Let me break this down a little bit.

My hunch is that most of the time these disclaimers are aimed to remind people reading the fic who might be hooking up or dating irl that the fic is, indeed, fiction, and irl you need to be careful about protection when you don’t know someone else’s situation when it comes to STIs and birth control. Which is fair! If you don’t know someone’s STI status, you should absolutely wear protection out of an abundance of caution. Also, even if your partner is on birth control, condoms can still help prevent pregnancy; BC is still only 99% effective when used perfectly, and less effective with typical use (about 93%). Condoms when used perfectly are about 98% effective, and about 87% effective with typical use. Obviously you can’t just add these together and say using both at the same time is 100% effective, no matter how many precautions you take there is still SOME chance, but using both can get you damn close to 100%.

However, many people making those disclaimers fail to follow up other tags with the same disclaimer, from oral sex to fingering to anal to whatever else. Penis in vagina sex is not the only way to pass on STIs! During oral sex (whether that’s eating someone out or rimming), if you’re unsure what your partner’s STI status is, you can use dental dams and condoms to prevent transmission. During fingering, you can use gloves. In my opinion you should always use condoms when doing anal sex regardless; for a penis-haver doing the penetrating, it’s a pretty good way to get a UTI. (Also, putting condoms on toys can help cleanup afterwards and prevent transmission as well!) (Double also, the fecal oral route is very real and rimming without a dental dam could quite literally give you food poisoning so… y’know)

THAT SAID, if you’re positive everyone involved has been tested and is negative for STIs, and folks who can get pregnant are on birth control, and you’re willing to risk that birth control potentially failing without the additional buffer of barrier protection… you probably can get away with not, in fact, wrapping it up irl. And it’s really really easy to get tested for STIs. Just roll up to your local health department, planned parenthood, or ask your primary care provider. There are also home testing kits available. And please get tested regularly if you’re active with multiple partners, even if you are using barrier protection! The peace of mind is worth it, and if you have contracted something, getting it detected early will usually help you with treatment options!

Anyway. All of this is to say that while the disclaimer it’s good advice, there’s a lot of nuance to it, and you should make the best decisions for your health and your body!

[affordablebedbugexterminators]

Bed Bug Exterminators

Bed bugs have become an increasingly common issue in homes, hotels, and various public spaces. These small, resilient pests can cause severe discomfort, skin irritation, and even emotional stress. When faced with a bed bug infestation, finding effective Bed Bug Exterminators is essential to ensure long-term relief. In this guide, we’ll explore the process of bed bug extermination, various bed bug removal methods, and bed bug treatment options to help you choose the best bed bug service.

Understanding Bed Bug Infestations

Bed bugs are small, brownish insects that feed on the blood of humans and animals, usually at night. These pests are notorious for their ability to hide in mattresses, bedding, furniture, and tiny crevices. Once bed bugs enter a home, they can spread quickly, making early detection and prompt bed bug removal critical to avoid a full-scale infestation.

The following signs may indicate the presence of bed bugs in your home:

Itchy bites on exposed skin, often in clusters or a line.

Blood stains on sheets or pillowcases.

Dark spots on mattresses or bedding, which are fecal matter from the bugs.

Shedding skins or eggshells around the bed or in small cracks and crevices.

Why Choose Professional Bed Bug Exterminators?

Bed bug extermination is not an easy process. Unlike other pests, bed bugs can survive for months without feeding, and they’re adept at hiding in small, hard-to-reach areas. That’s why many people turn to professional Bed Bug Exterminators, who are skilled in identifying infestations, applying treatments, and implementing preventive measures.

Hiring an expert bed bug service can save you time, stress, and resources. Professional exterminators have the necessary tools, expertise, and experience to ensure thorough bed bug removal and offer long-lasting solutions. They can also advise you on how to prevent future infestations.

Bed Bug Extermination Techniques

There are various methods of bed bug extermination, and the right approach depends on the extent of the infestation and the specifics of your living environment. Here are some common techniques used in bed bug treatment:

1. Chemical Treatments

Chemical treatments are among the most frequently used methods for bed bug extermination. Exterminators use pesticides designed specifically for bed bug removal. These chemicals are applied to affected areas, targeting bed bugs directly. It often requires multiple applications to ensure the pests and their eggs are completely eradicated.

2. Heat Treatments

Heat treatment is one of the most effective bed bug extermination techniques. Bed bugs cannot survive at high temperatures, so exterminators use specialized equipment to heat the infested areas to around 120-140°F (49-60°C). This method ensures bed bug removal without relying on harsh chemicals and can penetrate deep into fabrics and crevices.

3. Cryonite Freezing

Cryonite freezing is an innovative bed bug treatment that uses extreme cold to kill bed bugs. The process involves spraying carbon dioxide snow at temperatures around -110°F (-79°C). This freezing method is highly effective and eco-friendly, killing bed bugs and their eggs upon contact. It’s an excellent choice for sensitive environments such as hospitals and homes with children or pets.

4. Steam Treatments

Steam treatment is another non-chemical approach that Bed Bug Exterminators use for bed bug extermination. Steam penetrates soft surfaces, killing bed bugs and their eggs on contact. Like heat treatment, it’s eco-friendly and safe for people and pets, though it might require multiple applications for severe infestations.

5. Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

Integrated Pest Management combines multiple strategies to achieve comprehensive bed bug removal. This approach may include chemical treatments, heat treatments, and preventive measures. IPM focuses on reducing pest risk through a holistic approach that minimizes environmental impact and maximizes bed bug treatment efficacy.

Choosing a Bed Bug Service

When selecting a bed bug service, there are a few important factors to consider:

Experience and Expertise: Ensure the exterminators are certified and experienced in bed bug extermination.

Treatment Options: Ask about the various bed bug treatment options available, including chemical and non-chemical solutions.

Safety Standards: Verify that the company uses EPA-approved chemicals and follows safety standards to protect your household.

Guarantee of Service: Many reputable companies offer follow-up inspections or warranties to guarantee their bed bug removal services.

Cost and Transparency: Obtain a detailed estimate of the costs involved. Bed bug extermination can be costly, but clear communication about pricing and treatment is crucial.

Preparing for Bed Bug Extermination

To make the bed bug extermination process as effective as possible, some preparation on your part may be necessary. Here are steps to take before bed bug treatment:

Declutter: Remove any clutter around the infested area to help Bed Bug Exterminators access all hiding spots.

Launder Linens: Wash all bedding, clothing, and linens in hot water and dry them on high heat.

Vacuum Thoroughly: Vacuum your floors, mattresses, and furniture, focusing on seams, crevices, and cracks.

Isolate Infested Items: Consider placing infested items in sealed bags until they can be treated.

After the Bed Bug Removal Process

Once the bed bug treatment is complete, there are steps to follow to prevent re-infestation:

Monitor Regularly: Regularly inspect bedding, mattresses, and furniture to ensure no bed bugs remain.

Encasements for Mattresses: Use mattress encasements to keep bed bugs from hiding and to make it easier to spot signs of any new infestation.

Reduce Clutter: Keeping your home clutter-free will limit hiding places for bed bugs.

Maintain Good Hygiene Practices: Regular cleaning and vacuuming can discourage bed bugs from settling in.

Costs of Bed Bug Extermination

The cost of bed bug extermination varies based on the treatment method, extent of infestation, and location. On average, bed bug treatment can range from a few hundred to several thousand dollars. Heat treatments tend to be more expensive than chemical treatments but are often faster and more comprehensive. Consult with a few bed bug services to compare quotes and find the right balance between cost and effectiveness.

Preventing Future Infestations

After successfully eliminating bed bugs, taking proactive measures is essential to avoid future infestations. Here are some prevention tips:

Be Cautious When Traveling: Inspect hotel bedding and furniture for signs of bed bugs. Upon returning home, wash and dry your clothes on high heat.

Inspect Second-Hand Furniture: Bed bugs can hitch a ride on used furniture, so always inspect these items before bringing them home.

Seal Entry Points: Bed bugs can migrate from one room to another. Sealing cracks and crevices can reduce the chances of bed bugs re-entering your home.

Conclusion

Bed bug extermination can be challenging, but choosing the right Bed Bug Exterminators and employing effective bed bug removal methods can provide relief and peace of mind. Whether you opt for chemical treatments, heat treatments, or a combination, professional bed bug services offer the expertise and tools to tackle these stubborn pests. Remember, early detection and swift action are key in managing bed bug infestations. By following up with preventive measures and staying vigilant, you can keep bed bugs from making a return.

[idigitizellp21]

Pelvic Health Matters Signs You Shouldn’t Ignore

Pelvic health is a crucial yet frequently overlooked component of overall well-being, especially for women. The pelvic region supports key organs like the bladder, uterus, and intestines, and when these organs are affected, it can greatly disrupt daily life. Pelvic health problems often present themselves in different forms, but they are commonly dismissed as minor, short-term discomfort. Recognizing the signs of pelvic health issues early on can lead to timely intervention, preventing more severe complications in the future.

Here are 7 key signs of pelvic health problems you shouldn’t ignore.

1. Chronic Pelvic Pain

Persistent pain in the lower abdomen or pelvic region is a red flag. While menstrual cramps or occasional discomfort are normal, chronic pelvic pain lasting more than six months is not. This pain may be sharp, dull, or throbbing and can interfere with daily activities. Common causes of chronic pelvic pain include endometriosis, pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), or fibroids. Ignoring these symptoms may lead to worsening conditions that can affect fertility, sexual health, and overall well-being.

2. Urinary Issues

Frequent urination, urgency, or difficulty emptying your bladder are signs that something may be wrong with your pelvic health. These symptoms could point to a urinary tract infection (UTI), interstitial cystitis, or even pelvic floor dysfunction. Additionally, urinary incontinence, or the inability to control urine leakage, is a sign of weakened pelvic muscles. This is often seen in women post-pregnancy or as they age, but it’s not something to accept as a normal part of life. Early intervention, such as pelvic floor exercises or physical therapy, can make a significant difference.

3. Painful Intercourse

Experiencing pain during or after sexual intercourse, known as dyspareunia, is a common but often dismissed pelvic health issue. This pain can stem from conditions like vaginismus, vaginal dryness, endometriosis, or pelvic floor dysfunction. If you are consistently experiencing pain during intimacy, it’s crucial to seek medical advice. Painful intercourse can affect both physical and emotional well-being, leading to a strain on relationships and decreased quality of life. Treatments like physical therapy, hormone therapy, or medication can alleviate the pain and restore healthy sexual function.

4. Bowel Issues

Pelvic health also impacts bowel function. Signs like chronic constipation, fecal incontinence, or pain during bowel movements may indicate issues such as pelvic floor dysfunction, rectocele (a prolapsed rectum), or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Constipation or straining during bowel movements can place undue pressure on the pelvic organs, leading to further complications. Keeping track of bowel habits and seeking treatment when issues arise is critical to maintaining pelvic health.

5. Prolapse Symptoms

Pelvic organ prolapse occurs when one or more pelvic organs drop from their normal position due to weakened pelvic floor muscles. This condition often affects women after childbirth or menopause. Symptoms of prolapse include a feeling of heaviness or pressure in the pelvic area, a bulge in the vaginal area, or difficulty inserting tampons. Prolapse can worsen over time if left untreated, leading to further discomfort and problems with urination or bowel movements. Treatment options range from lifestyle changes and physical therapy to surgery, depending on the severity.

6. Unexplained Lower Back Pain

Lower back pain is often associated with issues in the spine, but it can also be a symptom of pelvic health problems. Conditions like pelvic inflammatory disease, endometriosis, or fibroids can cause referred pain in the lower back. If you experience lower back pain that doesn’t improve with traditional treatments or coincides with other pelvic symptoms, it’s worth exploring whether a pelvic issue may be the root cause.

7. Abnormal Bleeding

Irregular periods, spotting between cycles, or postmenopausal bleeding are all signs that should prompt immediate medical attention. While many cases of abnormal bleeding may be benign, such as hormonal imbalances or the onset of perimenopause, it can also be a sign of more serious conditions like uterine fibroids, polyps, or even cancer. Early detection and treatment are key to preventing the escalation of these conditions.

Take Action Today: The Importance of Pelvic Health

Neglecting pelvic health symptoms can lead to long-term consequences, including chronic pain and fertility problems. However, many pelvic health conditions are treatable, especially with early detection. Consulting a healthcare provider, such as The Best Gynecologist in Mumbai, can help you receive an accurate diagnosis and personalized treatment plan. In many cases, simple lifestyle changes, pelvic floor exercises, or physical therapy can effectively address the issue and restore well-being.

Preventive measures such as maintaining a healthy weight, engaging in regular pelvic floor exercises, and staying hydrated are essential to protecting pelvic health. Moreover, paying attention to your body and recognizing the early signs of pelvic dysfunction will allow you to seek help sooner and prevent long-term complications.

Your Body Is Talking: Listen Up

Pelvic health is essential to a woman’s overall well-being, and ignoring signs of dysfunction can lead to significant physical and emotional challenges. Whether it’s persistent pain, urinary concerns, or unexpected bleeding, these are signals from your body that shouldn’t be overlooked. Take the time to discuss these symptoms openly with your gynecologist, empowering yourself to manage your pelvic health for a healthier, happier future.

[mansijadav]

E. Coli Outbreak: Causes, Symptoms, and Prevention

The United States is currently facing an E. coli outbreak linked to contaminated food. This situation marks the risks associated with E. coli, a common bacterium found in various environments. While most strains are harmless and aid digestion, some can cause severe illness.

About E. coli

E. coli, or Escherichia coli, is a bacterium that resides in the intestines of humans and animals. Most strains are harmless. However, a few strains produce Shiga toxin, leading to serious health issues. These strains can cause infections even with small amounts ingested.

Types of Infections

E. coli infections can manifest in several ways: Gastrointestinal Symptoms: Watery diarrhoea, stomach pain, and cramps are common. Severe cases can lead to bloody diarrhoea due to damage to the intestinal lining.

Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs): E. coli can migrate from the gut to the urinary tract, causing pelvic pain and a burning sensation during urination.

Sepsis: If E. coli enters the bloodstream, it can trigger a severe inflammatory response, potentially leading to sepsis if not treated promptly.

Signs and Symptoms

Symptoms vary based on the type of infection:

Gastrointestinal Infection: Runny stomach, abdominal cramps, loss of appetite, and low fever.

UTI: Frequent urge to urinate, cloudy or foul-smelling urine, and pelvic pain.

Symptoms can appear within hours to ten days after exposure.

Transmission Routes

coli can be contracted through various means:

1. Contaminated Food: Eating undercooked or raw foods, especially unwashed salads.

Contaminated Water: Natural water sources and swimming pools can be infected by faecal matter from animals and people.

3. Surface Contact: Sharing objects or surfaces with an infected person can spread the bacteria.

Poor Hygiene: Inadequate bathroom hygiene can lead to E. coli entering the urinary tract. Proper handwashing and bathroom cleanliness are essential.

Risk Factors

While anyone can contract E. coli, certain groups are more vulnerable:

Children and Elderly: Young children and adults over 60 are at higher risk.

Immunocompromised Individuals: Those with weakened immune systems or on immuno-suppressant medications are more susceptible.

Stomach Acid Levels: Low stomach acid can increase vulnerability. Medications that reduce stomach acid may also heighten risk.

Treatment Options

E. coli infections are treatable, primarily with antibiotics. However, some strains have developed resistance due to antibiotic overuse. A sensitivity test can determine the most effective antibiotics for treatment. Caution is advised regarding antibiotic use for other health conditions to prevent resistance.

Prevention Tips

To reduce the risk of E. coli infection:

Cook food thoroughly and wash vegetables properly.

Drink clean, treated water.

Maintain proper hygiene, especially after using the bathroom.

Regularly disinfect surfaces that may come into contact with fecal matter.

Staying informed and practicing good hygiene can reduce the risk of E. coli infections.

website: popularscientist.com