u/Odd-Entrepreneur8081

I’ve been taking 5 mg escitalopram for two weeks now. My doctor said we could increase to 10 mg if I don’t notice improvement after two weeks.

I think I’m actually feeling better. No more hopeless thoughts, less anxiety, and I’ve started wanting to do things again. I still have some situational anxiety, though (for instance, I’m afraid of being in a small motor boat).

Should I still increase to 10 mg, or stay on 5 mg since it seems to be working?

How noticeable was the difference between 5 mg and 10 mg for you?

I know I should set a clear intention during meditation, but I’m not sure how to do it.

I’d like to become wealthy, buy a house, own a better car.
What exactly should I visualise? What scene should I imagine? Driving a luxurious car?

My current job doesn’t allow for that, and I’m burned out. But I can’t imagine doing anything else, and the truth is I don’t know what I would want to do… lately I don’t enjoy anything, I just want to lie in bed.

Can I set an intention to finally find my mission and passion in life? Or how do I set a specific intention around becoming wealthy? Money could potentially come through my partner, who genuinely enjoys their work. But first and foremost, I want to reach my own full potential. The problem is I feel mediocre at everything, and I don’t know how to make the kind of money that would make me wealthy.

F30. I’ve just started this medication and read that hair loss is one of its rare side effects.

The thing is, I already have PCOS and experience some hair loss because of it.

I’m a bit anxious that the medication might make it worse.

Has anyone here experienced hair loss while taking Lexapro?

F30.
Day 3 on 5 mg, and I can’t orgasm with a womanizer anymore. Just don’t feel anything down there.
Any tips? Will it improve with time?
No other side effects though.

So, I have acne, hirsutism, and hair loss. All my hormones are within range except for high DHEA-S (618). NCAH exclude. My periods are regular, and I’m lean. My HOMA-IR is 2.14.

I’ve been taking myo-inositol (without D-chiro) for two months and have noticed that my hair is starting to regrow at the sides, although I’m still shedding.

There’s no significant difference in my acne or hirsutism, though.

I’m so depressed and desperate. I’m 30 and still getting acne on my chin. I can’t look in the mirror without putting on makeup. On top of that, my stubborn chin hair triggers acne whenever I pluck it.

Has anyone found ANYTHING that works to lower DHEA-S? I’m at the end of my rope.

Spironolactone worked for me, but I get constantly constipated on it despite drinking a lot of water, which led to other unpleasant problems.

Please tell me there’s a solution.

My grandmother has moderate dementia. We live with her, and my mum is her primary caregiver.

For some reason, grandma constantly yells only at mom, insults her for no reason at all, even though mom feeds her, washes her, and takes care of her. She’s polite with me and my husband. Grandma has also sometimes gotten physical with mom, she’s hit or pinched her.

On top of that, grandma and mom already had a difficult relationship before all this. According to mom, grandma didn’t give her love or support growing up.

Why is this happening and what can be done? Grandma isn’t taking any medications.

It’s unbearable for me to listen to these insults in our home for 4 years now, and I feel bad for my mom. I understand that my grandmother is ill, but I’m so mentally drained.

We can’t take her to a special care facility.

Hi everyone,

For the past two months, I’ve felt completely drained. It’s not that I don’t have goals or don’t want to improve my life. I want to find a better job and move to a better place. The problem is that I feel like I have almost no mental energy left.

A lot has happened recently:

My grandmother was in the hospital, and for two months we visited her every evening. We were terrified her dementia would get much worse.

I’ve been stuck on a temporary work contract for four years.

I also live with constant stress because of an ongoing conflict with my neighbour. I can’t move to a better place without getting a new job. I feel stuck.

Before, I was able to do BOTEC1, but now I don’t even have the energy to sit still for 40 minutes.

Several years ago I had so much energy. I felt very connected to life and could easily bring my desires into reality without any meditation practice. It was enough to say my wish out loud with strong positive emotions, and somehow things would happen. My current job is actually one of those wishes that came true back then. But now I feel like I have outgrown it. I don’t see enough stability or growth there anymore, and I feel stuck.

Maybe the universe is punishing me because I’m not grateful enough for the wish that came true.

Did meditation help when you were this mentally exhausted?

I’ve been practicing BOTEC1 since last summer, though not consistently. My main goal is emotional regulation, becoming calmer and more at peace with myself.

I’ve noticed when I practice regularly for a few days, I genuinely start to feel calmer and more grounded. But when I stop and skip a few days, I crash below my baseline.

I become reactive, lose my temper, and struggle to control my emotions. After these outbursts, I need a couple of days to recover, during which I have very low energy and motivation.

Why does this happen?

And how can I become more consistent with the practice?

I took a break from meditations for more than a month, as I had some very stressful events that drained all my energy. Depression. Anxiety. Sadness.

Yesterday night, I finally committed and did the full breath plus BOTEC1 meditation.

I felt such a difference the next day, like I’m a different person. More self-confidence. More calmness. Everything how I had imagined in the meditation.

I must say I had kriyas during the meditation. I was moving my body unconsciously a lot.

How does it work so fast? It’s pure magic. It’s not a placebo effect, right?

My grandmother (83F, mild dementia, normally independent) had shoulder surgery a month ago after a fall.

She had postoperative delirium due to an infection that resolved with antibiotics, then recovered well, walking with us, chatting, joking.

Last week she moved to rehab getting ~2h/day of arm therapy. Since starting this, she seems much more confused and “childlike” - talking to a toy like a child, saying odd things, compared to just days ago when she was completely lucid.

Could this be pain/stress from daily therapy on a healing fracture?

Has anyone seen this kind of regression, and did it improve at home?

Trying to figure out if it’s temporary. Thanks 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

I have high DHEA-s and borderline insulin resistance. Been taking Myo-Inositol 4000mg daily. It was working, chin hair growing much slower.

Drank two Cokes in two days. By today’s evening I physically felt stubble growing on my chin again.

Can a sugary drink really spike androgens?

Or am I imagining things?

For the past 3-4 years I’ve been stuck in this weird cycle: I delete Telegram, Reddit, TikTok and similar apps from my phone, telling myself I’m done wasting time on mindless scrolling. Then a few days (or hours) later I give in and reinstall them.

It’s not just apps either. I used to constantly delete and recreate my social media accounts. Now I deleted all my social media.

Since I deleted my accounts, I started changing my WhatsApp profile photo roughly once a week. I know that sounds odd, as most people keep the same photo for years. And honestly, before I was about 26, I was the same way. Something shifted around 4 years ago (I’m 30 now).

I’m not sure what to call it. It feels like I’m constantly trying to reset myself through my phone, and it never actually works.

Does anyone else do this? What is it?

Hi everyone, I’d love your input on my fasting insulin/glucose labs 🙏

I’m F30, lean, with symptoms of hyperandrogenism (mild acne, hirsutism, hair loss). Here are my labs:

•	Fasting glucose: 0.91 g/L (5.1 mmol/L)  
•	Fasting insulin: 9.5 mU/L  
•	HOMA-IR: 2.14  
•	HbA1c: 5.3%

My doctor prescribed Myo-Inositol. Does it make sense to take it?

Would you consider HOMA-IR 2.14 as insulin resistance?

Hi everyone, I’m F30 dealing with elevated DHEA-S (6.18, normal up to 3.40) caused by chronic stress, adrenal origin confirmed. No NCAH, no tumour.

All other hormones are normal:

•	Testosterone: 0.42 (normal)  
•	Cortisol morning: 108 (normal)  
•	ACTH: 22.7 (normal)  
•	TSH, T4: normal  
•	Fasting glucose: 0.91 g/L (normal)  
•	Fasting insulin: 9.5 mU/L  
•	HbA1c: 5.3% (normal)  
•	HOMA-IR: 2.14 (borderline — slightly above 2.0)  
•	No cysts, regular periods

My symptoms: hirsutism (chin hair), hair loss, mild acne.

What didn’t work for me:

•	Spironolactone - bad side effects  
•	Myo-inositol - causes dizziness

Currently trying: omega 3, Rhodiola rosea.

Has anyone successfully lowered their DHEA-S naturally?

30F, 165cm, 53kg.

Regular cycles, no cysts, labs are ok, only DHEA-S is elevated (6.18 mg/L, normal up to 3.40) with mild acne, hirsutism and hair loss.

Endo prescribed myo-inositol 4g + D-chiro-inositol 440mg daily.

Started 3 days ago and this morning got dizzy. Same thing happened with a different inositol supplement I tried before, so it really seems to be the inositol.

For context, my labs were taken BEFORE starting inositol, and glucose was fine (5.1 mmol/L, HOMA-IR 2.14, HbA1c 5.3%), so I wasn't insulin resistant or hypoglycemic going in.

Did anyone else experience this?

Should I stop inositol?

My grandma with mild dementia(83F) broke her shoulder and got operated. When she returned home from the hospital, she developed delirium in one day due to the infection. Now she is in the hospital again…

Can I do BOTEC meditations to improve cognitive functions of my grandma? Is it even possible? Has anyone tried it?

I’m desperate. She was already recovering in the hospital, and then this…

My grandmother (83F) had shoulder surgery on Tuesday under general anesthesia.

She had mild dementia before the surgery. She could dress herself, cook soup, make her bed.

She received morphine for pain management during her hospital stay. For the first few days after surgery she was fine — joking, laughing with us. She was discharged on Friday.

Everything seemed okay when she came home. But after her first night at home, she deteriorated rapidly on Saturday. She slept almost all day, refused to eat and drink (only about 500ml of water the entire day), and became unresponsive to our voices. She was making up words, mumbling incoherently, and moaning. She also had visible tremors and was shaking in bed.

We called an ambulance and she was taken to the emergency department. They put her on an IV drip and catheter. Last morphine was Thursday, so by Saturday that was nearly 2 days without it.

They ran blood tests and the results came back okay.

She also hasn’t had a bowel movement in several days — morphine is known to cause severe constipation, especially in the elderly. We’re hoping they will address this today as we believe it may be contributing significantly to her confusion.

Is there a chance she can return to her baseline, her usual self, or is this the new normal for her now? Any experiences or advice would mean the world to us right now. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

My grandmother (83F) had shoulder surgery on Tuesday under general anesthesia.

She had mild dementia before the surgery. She could dress herself, cook soup, make her bed.

She received morphine for pain management during her hospital stay. For the first few days after surgery she was completely fine — lucid, joking, laughing with us. She was discharged on Friday.

Everything seemed okay when she came home. But after her first night at home, she deteriorated rapidly on Saturday. She slept almost all day, refused to eat and drink (only about 500ml of water the entire day), and became unresponsive to our voices. She was making up words, mumbling incoherently, and moaning. She also had visible tremors and was shaking in bed.

We called an ambulance and she was taken to the emergency department. They put her on an IV drip and catheter. Last morphine was Thursday, so by Saturday that was nearly 2 days without it.

Has anyone experienced postoperative delirium with an elderly relative? How long did recovery take?