u/Either_equipment_04

Took my triptan for maybe the third time ever and body is screaming that I need to eat coleslaw

While it’s great that certain conditions are being talked about more, it’s not great that a lot of the conversation around it is inaccurate. It might seem harmless to those who don’t struggle or just like a bit of fun, but it makes life harder for the people living with the condition because it’s not cute, quirky or fun in the way a lot of people represent it.

Take OCD and intrusive thoughts, for example. One of my manifestations is intrusive thoughts about death. I think constantly about my own death and the death of those I love, to the point that some days I can’t engage with any content or conversation around death unless I have to. When you talk to people about this or any other kind of manifestation as it’s actually happening in your life, they look at you like you’re speaking in tongues and crawling on the ceiling.

This has only gotten worse since OCD and intrusive thoughts have gotten popular on social media. We need to correct this kind of misuse every time for the sake of people that actually have these conditions. You can’t reduce the stigma around something if you’re not accurately representing it; you’re just stigmatizing the actual condition further.

TL, DR: We should call out incorrect usage of mental health terms to help destigmatize the actual conditions instead of letting people continue to romanticize them to the detriment of those actually affected.

There’s nothing that instantly agitates me quite like loud mouth sounds. It’s obnoxious, disruptive, rude, completely unnecessary and is genuinely comparable to being in physical pain for me. You sound like a 12-year-old hyperactive child that doesn’t get enough attention at home and thinks that the louder you are, the cooler you are.

What’s worse is that people just love doing it everywhere in public! If you’re out at the grocery store, you don’t need to be sucking your teeth, snapping and chomping your gum, or whistling up and down the aisles (not to mention most people that whistle are absolutely awful at it too). Noise canceling headphones aren’t enough for most of these sounds.

I grew up in a house with a parent that did this 24/7 and I have sensory issues so I know I’m especially sensitive to it, but fuck, I should be able to leave my house in peace.

I end up crying at almost every doctor’s visit, and it not only makes me feel ashamed, but worried they won’t take me seriously. As a woman with anxiety, depression, etc. in my chart, that’s been an issue for me before (I’m being treated with both medication and therapy and have been for years now). How do you stop yourself from crying when you feel it coming on? And once you’ve started, how do you make it stop?

If you ask most people whether they prefer fruit or vegetables, the majority would say fruit. Vegetables just taste better, though. They have a large variety of flavors and textures ranging from sweet to bitter, crisp to soft, and they’re incredibly versatile because of it (the potato alone has dozens of ways to be cooked). Vegetables also make it easier to get a variety of vitamins in one sitting.

A lot of the time fruit looks and smells better than it actually tastes, and you have to find the perfect ripeness for the texture to be enjoyable (I live in the US to be fair, so things are harvested before they’re ripe). It also makes your teeth feel weird and the acidity of some fruits makes your mouth itch/tingle, and if you have reflux, it’s a nightmare on your stomach too. Fruit also tends to be eaten cold where I’m from (and the warm options are chock-full of sugar) so it’s not as palatable in cooler months.

This isn’t to say fruit is bad. I do like fruit on occasion, and it’s good for you. It’s just not anywhere near as tasty as vegetables.

Side note, I’m talking specifically about things that are categorized as fruits or vegetables by flavor profile/where you’d find them in a grocery store, and not scientific definition. I know scientifically there’s no such thing as a vegetable.

I’ll start by saying I am a fat woman, and the woman in question for the post that prompted this also uses the term fat to describe herself. No shade to thin women either, we love all bodies here and I do not support body shaming anyone of any size. This is just something I’ve noticed specifically applying to fat women.

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Why do I see so many sensitive content labels and blurs on fat bodies in swimsuits? Are people just running around reporting these posts for nudity (there is no nudity in the first place), or is there some kind of auto filter?

Either way, huge pet peeve for me because I’ve also had issues with dating apps flagging a picture of my friend and I at the beach that I tried to put on my profile for nudity as well.

I’ve only seen this on posts of fat women I follow, even when wearing similar or fuller coverage swimsuits as those in posts that aren’t blurred.

We need to stop telling fat women and girls that their bodies are inherently wrong, inappropriate or sexual. Women do not exist just to appeal to your preferences.

Absolutely devastated to have my first hemorrhoid, they freak me out so much and with slow healing I feel like it’s going to haunt me for a while. I thought I had diverticulitis because of where my pain was located (labs haven’t come back but I feel like I have my answer now that this abomination has appeared out of thin air) and I honestly would take that over this.

Anyone else dealt with these and have advice to get through it, both mentally and physically?

Edit: not so fun update, I also have diverticulitis, AND I’m anemic from bleeding 14 hours straight yesterday. Apparently getting six last week had a second, delayed surprise in store for me in the form of all this. 🙃

I already feel like crap without an active infection, and now I have either the stomach flu or that stupid parasite floating around in my body making me feel even worse, both physically and emotionally. I can’t rest, go to the doctor or even just cry because I can’t get off work, and even if I could I’d have to take care of myself because I live alone and my boyfriend works in a kitchen so he can’t risk exposure. It sucks too knowing it’s going to take forever to get back to baseline unwell because my body is terrible at recovering.

Anyway, just needed to yell that out into the void.

When people learn that I’m on ADHD medication, they usually either say “can I have/buy some,” “wow that’s awesome” or “you’re so lucky, I’m jealous” (third one only being frustrating when people that don’t have ADHD say it). I also had a neighbor ask how I’d lost weight and I told her it was because my medication makes it hard to eat. She said “keep it up, you look great!”

My medication is not fun, cool or exciting, it sucks. I have to take it every day or my house would turn into a biohazard (I mean this literally), my bills would go unpaid, I’d be super irritable all the time, I’d go the other direction and eat everything in my house out of boredom, and I’d get in trouble at or fired from my job. It also helps me stay awake, because I struggle to sleep and/or get restful sleep even when I do get 8-10 hours.

The side effects suck too, though. I’m constantly hot and sweaty (I have POTS so this is already an issue). My heart rate also goes up by about 20-30 BPM (again, POTS already makes this an issue, and it makes the POTS palpitations worse), so I have to take a beta blocker to be in a semi-normal range. It makes food, and sometimes water, repulsive, while also fast-tracking your bladder and bowels, so you’re in the bathroom constantly.

Lastly, it makes it hard to relax and goof off when I’m not working - making the best thing about it also the worst.

I’ve tried a good portion of the available meds in the decade or so I’ve been taking them, and the one I’m on has the least severe side effects for me, while actually working. I’m grateful to have it to keep me better regulated, and I’m fortunate to not have faced any barriers getting it because my ADHD is very outwardly visible, but it’s so frustrating to hear people talk about it like it’s some achievement, or want to take it like it’s some party drug. That attitude is part of why it’s so hard for some people that need it to get it.

Anyway, that’s my rant.

I have yet to find a pillow that consistently works for me.

To be able to fall asleep, I have to lie very flat, either on my stomach or my back. A lot of pillows are too thick for me, and make me feel like I’m craning my neck forward or sitting upright. And, regardless of pillow or how soft it supposedly is, I have pain anywhere my head touches the pillow (especially the back of my head) and the pressure makes me feel like I’m lying on a rock.

I also have a lot of hip and lower back pain, and pain in my heels if they touch the bed. I’ve tried using pillows under my upper legs, but it’s only comfortable for a few minutes at most. My mattress may be part of the issue, but I haven’t seen anything that’s well enough reviewed by both the EDS community and people online to want to even go try them in person.

If the pillow and/or mattress is cooling, that would be a great bonus.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Philosophy is one of the few subjects that has never excited me in any way. Don’t get me wrong, not everything has to appeal to everyone and certainly not everything needs to be practical, but I’ve never understood how it’s gratifying in a non-practical sense either. I’ve always seen it as asking questions with answers that don’t need to be found and don’t provide any benefit even if they are.

For example, the free-will question. Say I don’t have free will, and every one of my actions just plays out according to some inevitable set of circumstances. Quite frankly, that sucks. And if I do? Nothing changes. That knowledge isn’t going to add any benefit to my life or others’ either way.

Another example: the argument that there’s no true altruism, and you’re always gaining something, even if it’s just gratification, from doing good things. Why do we have to water down something positive to frame it as self service? What goal does this argument achieve beyond a “gotcha, you’re just helping people to make yourself feel good?”

I don’t know if this take makes me logical or illogical, but as stated above, the answer will not benefit me in any way, so I won’t be finding it.

Edit: A kind person explained this to me in a way that finally made it click in my brain, so I recant my statement.

Don’t get me wrong, space has some cool things, but I don’t think there’s anything as incredible as our oceans here on earth. Home to countless undiscovered species, creatures that live well beyond the human lifespan, the largest and longest animals on earth, creatures that chemo synthesize and see more colors than humans, and some of the most incredible biodiversity our planet has to offer. Heck, some of them even operate without a brain!

Add waves taller than buildings that can appear in the blink of an eye (yes, I know the moon makes them possible), volcanoes that produce entire islands, areas so remote there’s nary a life form to be found, and the deepest places on earth with pressure that should reasonably be completely inhospitable to life. And unlike space, you can go see it, touch it and experience it for yourself in person.

I just don’t understand how space gets so much more attention and funding when our oceans have such a real, direct impact on our lives here and now.