u/psychd2behere

29F, Denver metro area if relevant.

Got what I assumed was the flu on 6/17, came on FAST as a super sore throat, fever got up to 102.5 but broke the next day. Fatigue, skin and body aches, a bit of a cough, headache, general flu symptoms. I stayed home, rested, took OTC flu medicine, and started to feel better aside from my throat continuing to hurt. Continued with DayQuil and NyQuil thinking it was just because I still had a slight cough and some post nasal drip. Felt okay throughout the day; way worse in the morning and at night.

Throat still hurt after a week so I went to the doctor. Tested negative for strep, was told it’s viral, and “good luck” essentially.

It has now been over 2 weeks. The pattern remains: painful in the morning, I take ibuprofen or acetaminophen, sometimes pop a throat lozenge. I’m currently in Greece and have a throat numbing spray I’ll use if it’s particularly bad, but generally during the day I feel okay and the pain ramps back up at night.

Sometimes localized to one side of my throat, sometimes both sides, sometimes my ears also hurt.

Definitely still have post nasal drip, as I can feel the phlegm and have the urge to clear my throat frequently (but especially at night). I’m in Greece until 7/9 but can return to the doctor when I get home if the pain remains. Just feeling increasing anxiety about how prolonged this has been and wondering if anyone has had a similar experience. This is hell.

Feeling sad and needing a space to vent. I (29F) have a big year ahead. I’m starting my PsyD internship this summer, turn 30, get married, and graduate next summer. Following graduation, I’ll begin working as a postdoc. If we stay where we currently live, I have some guaranteed options for postdoc that pay decently well, but we have no family near us for any type of support. We hope to move closer to family out of state, so I’m planning to apply to postdoc positions in that state, but there’s no guarantee, the pay for the positions I have seen aren’t great, and moving would be yet another major life event to tack onto the year of big changes. Oh, and my soon-to-be-husband is also in grad school and will also graduate summer 2027.

All of these things are so exciting and happy! Except that all I want in my life is to be a mom. I love my career and I’m so proud of how hard I’ve worked to get here. I will always be passionate about my work and my clients, but I have made so many sacrifices to get here and I’m tired of making the “smart” choices because they’re the “right” way to do things.

Starting a family while on internship would be miserable given the required hours and limited timeline, so that’s not really a consideration. That pushes us out to Summer 2027 at the earliest to start trying, putting me at 31. Of course, the “smart” thing to do would also be to finish my postdoc before getting pregnant, but the thought of pushing the timeline 2-3 years out legitimately devastates me and brings me to tears. I know starting our family while on postdoc would push out my timeline for being licensed… and obviously it would also be very hard, but isn’t it always going to be hard? Won’t there always be some reason why the timing isn’t perfect? I don’t want to keep moving my own goal post.

Fiancé also wants children and is so excited for when we can finally start our family, but isn’t nearly as disturbed by the idea of waiting longer for us to be more settled into our careers, so I’m alone in this desperate feeling.

Not really looking for advice, but happy to commiserate.

Hi!

I start internship at the end of July. My internship site consistently extends postdoc offers to interns, and I have a fantastic working relationship with a previous supervisor who has also offered me an informal postdoc position with her after I graduate. So, the good news is that I have options.

The bad news is that my fiancé and I really want to move states to be closer to family after I graduate so that we can begin starting a family of our own. We moved where we live now specifically for my PsyD program, and have no family remotely near us.

Where we plan to move has very few formal APPIC postdoc positions, and honestly none that interest me, so I’m planning on cold-emailing practices and clinics to put out some feelers. I know that the formal postdoc process is very similar (in timeline) to the internship match process, but with me seeking out informal positions, what’s the appropriate timeline? Should I still reach out late summer/early fall or should I reach out closer to my graduation date?

I’d prefer to know what my plans are sooner rather than later, but I also imagine it may be hard for practices to know whether they can take on a postdoc fellow a year in advance!

Any insight would be greatly appreciated :)