Surviving the Guilt

Need encouragement to push through this divorce. I married him at 24, it has been 7 years. We have 2 young (under 6) kids together.

I know this is the right move for many reasons, including
-his refusal to get help for mental health problems (including bipolar disorder)
-his coldness to me at times, once insisted that he wouldn’t care if I died
-his aggressive sexual appetite during manic episodes. There were a couple instances of assault
-his inability to hold down a job or just be responsible at all including as a parent
-the substance abuse!! Alcoholism especially.
-his tendency to bring home tons of random animals without asking anyone. We’ve lost roommates over this. We currently have a scorpion
-his yelling and throwing things at me in front of the children

I know leaving is the right thing. We both have lawyers, we’re getting the divorce. I wouldn’t want to go back. But of course there were good times too, we went through so much together. And the kids love him so much. I can’t shake the immense feeling of guilt.

Can anyone relate? Any advice for moving forward?

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u/ru_a_badfish2 — 5 hours ago

Serotonin Syndrome - Discussion

I am not asking for medical advice.

Just a question about serotonin syndrome in general.

Not a medical professional, but I am a certified nerd and medical coder at a fqhc. I also have a bs in psychology. Don’t worry I’m not trying to say I’m any kind of expert, but it’s relevant to the story.

A couple years ago I had switched to a new psychiatrist who promptly upped my meds. Within the first 2 weeks of seeing her she had dramatically increased two of my psych meds, got rid of another, and added four more psych meds. Not saying it wasn’t needed lol.

I did have a ton of side effects though. I developed a tremor and twitching, vomiting and diarrhea, etc. With all the med changes I thought I should get checked out. I went to an urgent care - the provider who saw me acted like I had just suggested that a magical leprechaun from space had caused my symptoms.

I had only mentioned it as something I wanted to rule out because of the med changes. She kept asking me WHERE I heard about it. “Did you hear about this on TikTok? Did you Google your symptoms? You did, didn’t you! Where did you find this?” I said I had encountered it in a work and school setting, she was insistent I just found it online somewhere.

She also insisted it was such a rare dx that I couldn’t possibly have it. So rare she would likely never see it in her career.

I was reminded of that experience today while coding an encounter from our acute care center. The pt came in with joint pains and twitching, and had recently started a new psych med. The provider immediately sent her to the ER to rule out serotonin syndrome. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen it suggested by a provider at my workplace.

Why the huge difference in opinion on it? What are your thoughts - do you view it as internet fear mongering? Is serotonin syndrome controversial in the medical community or was this just a one off provider with a grudge?

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u/ru_a_badfish2 — 1 day ago

Painful rash

31/Female/5’2/105lbs

The first picture is from today. The last one shows how it looked a few days ago when I first noticed the rash.

I developed this rash behind my ear, first noticed because my scalp was hurting. The bumps hurt/burn but do not itch. The lymph node by my ear is swollen and painful to touch. The rash is only on this part of my neck/scalp, nowhere else that I’ve noticed, although other parts of my scalp have looked pretty red.

I did use a new shampoo yesterday but the rash was present before that. Can’t think of anything else new I’ve used. The piercings are not new.

u/ru_a_badfish2 — 3 days ago

Swampost

Anyone else dealing with swampy compost after some biblical level rain and flooding? My pile normally drains fine, I’m used to having to add water. Plan is to spread it out to dry a little and add more browns.

No peeing on the compost for now :(

u/ru_a_badfish2 — 3 days ago

Don’t Sleep on Sally Beauty

I’m an amateur who cuts and dyes my own hair, so I shop at sally beauty fairly often. Last time I was there I bought this giant tub of cholesterol cream conditioner for only $15. Figured if I didn’t like it I could give it to my kids for cheaper bath potion making lol, but so far my hair loves it for moisture. My store also always has some good products on clearance, even under $5. Also picked up this mousse to try since Not Your Mothers always stops foaming after my first couple uses.

u/ru_a_badfish2 — 15 days ago

Rescue Plant

Anyone else who can’t help themselves from rescuing sad plants from stores? These 2 were from Home Depot. They’re some kind of tradescantia, labeled Wandering J**, although they didn’t look much like it when I bought them. They were in really sad shape and only had these tiny purple leaves, no visible green. They seemed both under and over watered at the same time. I thought maybe they were a totally purple variety.

Picture is a couple weeks after I got them. I started by pulling as much of the clearly dead stuff as I could at the time. As new (green!) growth has come in, I’ve continued to pull more of the old stuff. I left more on the bottom one for this picture to better show the difference - wish I took a picture when I got them.

u/ru_a_badfish2 — 18 days ago

Husband turned my living room into a petting zoo

It started with a hedgehog brought home with no warning. It stayed in a cage in his room, but only after he tried to gift it to me.

Then there were 2 surprise guinea pigs, one for each kid (4 and 5). They also went into his room, but this time there was no cage, just an old baby playpen pulled out of the depths of our storage. This stressed me out immensely, as it doesn’t have a roof/top and we already have a cat that likes to hunt. At least I could close his bedroom door.

His room must have started to stink, because yesterday, I woke up to find it had all migrated to the living room. He used an antique Lane cedar chest as a stand for the hedgehog cage 😭 the guinea pigs got a newer/bigger enclosure, but it still doesn’t have a top. And as of this morning, there’s a 3rd cage in there, its contents still unknown to me because (I’m too afraid to look). There’s shit everywhere. It smells like a petting zoo, well, because it practically is one.

His solution for the cat? Yeet her outside and forget about her. I’m determined to get her back.

I work full time from home while watching both kids at the moment. The extra stress of the animals is about to send me over the edge. I’m so fucking tired. I also learned that he now has a large fish tank, a scorpion, and a mystery tank in his room.

Don’t worry, the divorce is already in progress for so many other reasons. This isn’t even the first time this has happened, we’ve lost roommates because of it in the past. I already miss when my living room was pretty and didn’t smell bad. I’m sick of dealing with this literal shit.

Work snack is Red Bull and a chocolate crepe thing from Aldi ❤️

u/ru_a_badfish2 — 18 days ago
▲ 459 r/Stretched

Borrowed from my 4 year old

The moment I saw this jewelry kit my daughter got for her birthday was also the moment I started coming up with color combos for my ears.

u/ru_a_badfish2 — 27 days ago
▲ 2 r/DiagnoseMe+1 crossposts

Persistent discoloration

F/31/5’2/105 lbs

What could be causing my ring finger joint to look like this? My other fingers (on both hands) show some similar discoloration, but it has become really prominent on that finger. It looks like that consistently throughout the day, it doesn’t come and go.

u/ru_a_badfish2 — 1 month ago

Old refrigerator?

Ended up with a bunch of childhood trauma (oops, wrong sub) a broken old refrigerator from my dad. Wondering if I can turn it into a compost bin.

Obviously I’d need to drill lots of holes into it. I’m thinking the insulation could work to my advantage with keeping it hot, but I could also be totally wrong and it could be the exact opposite.

What do we think, is this worth trying? Would I need to do anything else to it?

Already using the bins and drawers for planters which I’m hoping to hang. Maybe I’m getting in touch with my inner redneck, but I prefer to think of it as using what I have and reducing waste 😌

u/ru_a_badfish2 — 1 month ago

Why are my hands like this?

F/31 On my hands I get these lumps near my joints, kinda hard to see in pics but you can feel them under my skin. They get more irritated sometimes, will swell or look red at times, occasionally feel a little itchy? The joints at the bottom of my thumbs swell a lot when I do things with my hands (not pictured here)

u/ru_a_badfish2 — 2 months ago
▲ 101 r/uraniumglass+1 crossposts

Decided to try a visible mend with beads. I’m the worst at taking before pictures, but it’s nylon and a mesh material so it had acquired some runs over the years that eventually opened into slits. I used thread and beads with 2 holes to bring the edges of the slits back together. It freaking worked! The best part? They’re uranium glass beads, so I’ll glow in any black lights.

What do you think, should I add more?

u/ru_a_badfish2 — 3 months ago