u/Intelligent-Slide556

I am male, 28, for context.

I am just baffled. I was at the doctor's today for a medical check up for my work, and they did basic measurements. I don't get it. Why isn't Metoprolol working?

I always knew that I have problems with BP and heratbeat, but I originally started Metoprolol for migraines - which works, I reduced it to just one migraine a week and don't rely on Co-Codamol anymore. Or is the spike in BP and heartbeat despite Metoprolol a symptom of me not using any Codeine for pain relief for the past 5 weeks as well (so in a kind of way a Codeine withdrawal)?

(follow-up question: with such high BP and heartbeat, would I be safe when taking Co-Codamol for pain management again? I've read that the only way doctor's tell patients not to use it is because the Codeine can further lower down the BP and heartbeat and one could faint, but in my case, it's still stupidly high)

Usually when I get frustrated or angry I used to get high BP and high heartbeat, but ever since I take it, I get frustrated mentally but it doesn't manifest it physically really, which makes me even more frustrated and stressed out mentally.

For this reason, I also seem to have become sensitive to caffeine, like as if all of the caffeine energy is now located in my head rather than the rest of my body, so it accumulates too quickly.

Usually when I get frustrated or angry I used to get high BP and high heartbeat, but ever since I take it, I get frustrated mentally but it doesn't manifest it physically really, which makes me even more frustrated and stressed out mentally.

For this reason, I also seem to have become sensitive to caffeine, like as if all of the caffeine energy is now located in my head rather than the rest of my body, so it accumulates too quickly.

I was taking from Friday last week till this Friday 25mg ER every morning, then from this Friday on till today 50mg ER.

The reason I wanna quit cold turkey are the side effects. I feel like I am losing myself, literally, I feel like my personality and everything is dissolving. I have vivid dreams but no nightmares though. I feel similar to as when I was on Accutane.

I know quitting cold turkey could increase BP and heartrate again, though my BP wasn't that high to begin with, only heartrate was high (around 100 a minute). So anything I could take while quitting Metoprolol cold turkey in order to control the "withdrawals"? Or will there be no major withdrawals after just a few days on it?

I originally started taking it for migraines.

I was taking from Friday last week till this Friday 25mg ER every morning, then from this Friday on till today 50mg ER.

The reason I wanna quit cold turkey are the side effects. I feel like I am losing myself, literally, I feel like my personality and everything is dissolving. I have vivid dreams but no nightmares though. I feel similar to as when I was on Accutane.

I know quitting cold turkey could increase BP and heartrate again, though my BP wasn't that high to begin with, only heartrate was high (around 100 a minute). So anything I could take while quitting Metoprolol cold turkey in order to control the "withdrawals"? Or will there be no major withdrawals after just a few days on it?

I really feel like just taking Almotriptan and other pain killers is the only thing I can do without having a major impact on my life.

I am a Math PhD student. I don't know my IQ, I am also afraid to know it, because I am somewhat afraid that it's not as high as I would like it to be. Not because of lack of working memory or learning skills (I basically intuitively learn new things quickly and can understand them very well, I also started more or less naturally with N=4 on Quad-N-Back and N=5 on standard Dual-N-Back), but because of my utter lack of "problem solving skills" and lack of creativity.

For instance, you know those typical "remove one match so the equation is true" problems online? I can't do any of them, it's so embarrassing. I can't do this, but I can understand higher mathematics effortlessly.

So what about solving mathematical problems? Nope, I am not good at it at all. I am not talking about "solve an integral" as this is more or less done via algorithm. It's more about those textbook problems which require you to prove some statement or theorem, like the exercises at the end of e.g. Walter Rudin's books. I just get so uncreative that I can't find a way around it, to "think outside the box" so to speak, because all I do is to find a solution via algorithm.

So how am I doing my PhD? There is a famous saying: "There are two types of mathematicians. One type are the problem solvers, the other type are the theory builders". So here you go, I do my PhD by being a theory builder and writing math papers on it, developing new frontiers in mathematics, but being piss-poor at solving problems (like I am good at asking and recognizing what kind of problems/open issues there are in the new areas I am developing, but I am just super poor at actually solving them).

This is somewhat hindering my PhD now. I am trying to compensate by asking for help from other professors and people, but they don't always have the time. AI sucks for my area of mathematics, it still hallucinates math papers, so I don't use it at all.

So now to my question: How do I improve my problem solving skills and creativity?

I would love to discuss this with you, either here or on Discord.

I am a Math PhD student. I don't know my IQ, I am also afraid to know it, because I am somewhat afraid that it's not as high as I would like it to be. Not because of lack of working memory or learning skills (I basically intuitively learn new things quickly and can understand them very well, I also started more or less naturally with N=4 on Quad-N-Back and N=5 on standard Dual-N-Back), but because of my utter lack of "problem solving skills" and lack of creativity.

For instance, you know those typical "remove one match so the equation is true" problems online? I can't do any of them, it's so embarrassing. I can't do this, but I can understand higher mathematics effortlessly.

So what about solving mathematical problems? Nope, I am not good at it at all. I am not talking about "solve an integral" as this is more or less done via algorithm. It's more about those textbook problems which require you to prove some statement or theorem, like the exercises at the end of e.g. Walter Rudin's books. I just get so uncreative that I can't find a way around it, to "think outside the box" so to speak, because all I do is to find a solution via algorithm.

So how am I doing my PhD? There is a famous saying: "There are two types of mathematicians. One type are the problem solvers, the other type are the theory builders". So here you go, I do my PhD by being a theory builder and writing math papers on it, developing new frontiers in mathematics, but being piss-poor at solving problems (like I am good at asking and recognizing what kind of problems/open issues there are in the new areas I am developing, but I am just super poor at actually solving them).

This is somewhat hindering my PhD now. I am trying to compensate by asking for help from other professors and people, but they don't always have the time. AI sucks for my area of mathematics, it still hallucinates math papers, so I don't use it at all.

So now to my question: How do I improve my problem solving skills and creativity? Is Image Streaming even good for that? Is there something better for this specific area of intelligence?

I would love to discuss this with you, either here or on Discord.

It's weird, because it should theoretically calm me down (as I have high blood pressure and high resting heartbeat due to the chronic stress in all of my life).

Just now, I came out of a cold, and the water refuses to turn warm. I had to take a shower in ice cold water after having had the flu for a week. Fucking perfect. This means I'm gonna get sick again, yay. I have been fuming with anger for the past hour now, can't calm me down, the betablocker isn't doing shit. Fuck.

I have such insomnia due to a recent flu I had, and melatonin isn't much helping. I know of personal experience that Doxylamine helps a lot, but I am worried that I cannot take it (I've read that you can't take Benadryl while on Metoprolol, even though Benadryl is not Doxylamine but it's still a 1st gen anti-histamine).

Any advice?

I have an old laptop and most of the apps are not working/supported anymore, as I am not able to update to the newest operating system (I have an MacBook Air from 2017 and macOS 12 is the highest I can run here).

So I thought about immigrating to browser-only. For example, MS Office apps can be opened in the browser and work perfectly fine.

So for these kind of instances, what browser would you recommend?

I am taking it because of my migraines, and it really helps me a lot!

But unfortunately I got a cold, and I was told by my pharmacist that I can't take Pseudoephedrine for my sinuses and Codeine for the cough.

Is this really the case? I do have elevated resting heartbeat without Metoprolol (like around 100 a minute) and high blood pressure as well (140-150/90 is normal for me), but would taking one Sudafed or one slurp of Codeine cough syrop really do such harm to me?

Additional info: I'm male, 28, weigh 185lbs at 5'7 (from that 130lbs of muscle mass, so I am overweight due to muscle mass rather than fat, confirmed by a dietitian).

I don't know why, but it took around 1:30 hours for the Almotriptan (12,5mg) to kick in. My whole right side of the head was in pain, especially the area around my eye, and it did work after all (no side effects at all literally). But I am reading that it only needs 30 minutes to kick in, so why so long with me? Was it because I took it in the acute phase when the pain was unbearable?

I was at my neurologist today, she also precribed me Sumatriptan 50mg and extended release beta-blockers (Metoprolol) which I shall take every morning starting from tomorrow.

I was taking Amitriptyline for a while but it stopped working and gave me a racing heart, so I had to quit it completely.

Currently the only thing which barely helps is Solpadeine, Metamizol and Ketoprofen, sometimes taken multiple times a day in 4 hour time distance from each other. Solpadeine is by far the most superior, but I try not to use it that much due to the codeine.

My migraines are triggered by stress. Mental stress, physical stress. If someone irritates me, this is a reason enough for me to develop a migraine later. If I have to work hard due to a deadline, this is a reason to develop a migraine. If there is a heatwave or I feel physically unwell in other ways, this is a reason to develop a migraine.

I will talk to my neurologist tomorrow, but I want to have a heads-up what to except from her. What kind of prophylactic treatment I could try out if Amitriptyline failed and gave me severe side effects. And what kind of short-term pain medications she could prescribe me if Solpadeine works the best (maybe something with Tramadol? - I am afraid of trying out tryptans for pain relief because of my bad experiences with Amitriptyline, also I can't afford myself to be drowsy and tired as I am working on my PhD currently, in contrast codeine does relax me but I can still stay mentally fit and work on my thesis).

I am worried that what I think I have as a "migraine" is not really a migraine but some other form of headaches.

Almotriptan is available OTC here (but just like 2 pills in one package). Lately, nothing is truly helping me anymore. Neither co-codamol, metamizole or ketoprofen.

Can I try out almotriptan? What will happen to me if I actually don't have migraines but another from of headaches, will it just not work and that's it?

I used to take amitriptyline, prescribed by my neurologist, but it stopped working after a week so I quit it after taking it for over a month.

I am worried that what I think I have as a "migraine" is not really a migraine but some other form of headaches.

Almotriptan is available OTC here (but just like 2 pills in one package). Lately, nothing is truly helping me anymore. Neither co-codamol, metamizole or ketoprofen.

Can I try out almotriptan? What will happen to me if I actually don't have migraines but another from of headaches, will it just not work and that's it?

I used to take amitriptyline, prescribed by my neurologist, but it stopped working after a week so I quit it after taking it for over a month.

My neurologist and I knew that stress is definite a big trigger, which became more obvious once I moved out away from my toxic roommate and now live on my own.

But whenever something else stressful came into my life, I was getting headaches. It doesn't have to be stressful mentally or emotionally, it can also be physical stress like a heatwave.

I also realized that I am waking up with massive headaches, sometimes they don't go away on their own. I've read that cortisol levels spike drastically in the moment you wake up (basically to wake you up), so after months of observations and consultations with my neurologist, I came to the conclusion that my headaches have to be somehow connected to my cortisol levels.

Any ideas what I could take/do in order to:

1. Lower cortisol levels in the first place

2. Tolerate cortisol levels better

3. What kind of painkillers are the best in my situation

Thanks in advance

My neurologist and I knew that stress is definite a big trigger, which became more obvious once I moved out away from my toxic roommate and now live on my own.

But whenever something else stressful came into my life, I was getting headaches. It doesn't have to be stressful mentally or emotionally, it can also be physical stress like a heatwave.

I also realized that I am waking up with massive headaches, sometimes they don't go away on their own. I've read that cortisol levels spike drastically in the moment you wake up (basically to wake you up), so after months of observations and consultations with my neurologist, I came to the conclusion that my headaches have to be somehow connected to my cortisol levels.

Any ideas what I could take/do in order to:

1. Lower cortisol levels in the first place

2. Tolerate cortisol levels better

3. What kind of painkillers are the best in my situation

Thanks in advance

My neurologist and I knew that stress is definite a big trigger, which became more obvious once I moved out away from my toxic roommate and now live on my own.

But whenever something else stressful came into my life, I was getting headaches. It doesn't have to be stressful mentally or emotionally, it can also be physical stress like a heatwave.

I also realized that I am waking up with massive headaches, sometimes they don't go away on their own. I've read that cortisol levels spike drastically in the moment you wake up (basically to wake you up), so after months of observations and consultations with my neurologist, I came to the conclusion that my headaches have to be somehow connected to my cortisol levels.

Any ideas what I could take/do in order to:

1. Lower cortisol levels in the first place

2. Tolerate cortisol levels better

3. What kind of painkillers are the best in my situation

Thanks in advance

My neurologist and I knew that stress is definite a big trigger, which became more obvious once I moved out away from my toxic roommate and now live on my own.

But whenever something else stressful came into my life, I was getting headaches. It doesn't have to be stressful mentally or emotionally, it can also be physical stress like a heatwave.

I also realized that I am waking up with massive headaches, sometimes they don't go away on their own. I've read that cortisol levels spike drastically in the moment you wake up (basically to wake you up), so after months of observations and consultations with my neurologist, I came to the conclusion that my headaches have to be somehow connected to my cortisol levels.

Any ideas what I could take in order to:

1. Lower cortisol levels in the first place

2. Tolerate cortisol levels better

Thanks in advance

I hope to find someone from Poland here as well who could help me out. All I see are nootropics which are either straight out illegal (like Yohumbine), or prescription-only (like basically all racetams) or available but on sketchy websites that just don't look trustwhorty or available but in the form of powder only and not pills.

It really sucks that Poland and in general Europe is so restricting.