u/vapid-voice

I was diagnosed with IC over a year ago after repeated trips to urgent care for UTI-like pain and several unneeded rounds of antibiotics. It was a pretty simple diagnosis considering that I had just about all of the standard symptoms of IC (bladder pressure and pain, feeling like my bladder is completely full when it’s not, pain during sex, lower back pain, and the same weird smell that other people on this sub have discussed)

After receiving the IC diagnosis from a gynecologist, I had to wait months longer to get into urology. This urologist was immediately dismissive to me on the basis that I had previously missed a follow up appointment for a kidney stone that I had removed two years ago (I didn’t even know there was a follow up scheduled.) Then, as soon as she heard that my IC diagnosis was given from a gynecologist and not a urologist, she discounted basically everything that came out of my mouth and told me that she’s almost certain I don’t have IC and instead either have a UTI or leftover particles of the kidney stone. I think part of this was because I’m 22, but while I know that I’m younger than most people with IC, that is literally the only thing about me that isn’t textbook IC presentation.

This felt weird to me but I was like umm…okay I guess I’ll go drop off another urine sample and do another xray.

She literally ghosted me after this. Deleted my IC diagnosis from my chart then never responded or followed up with any of my test results or gave any guidance as to what the next steps would be. I had to message her two separate times and wait 6 weeks for her to finally reply and tell me that I do not have a UTI or any evidence of leftover particles from the kidney stone. Oh, so the diagnosis I received over a year ago and the thing I was meant to discuss in the first place was actually valid? Shocking!

She still did not update my chart to correct the diagnosis and is now trying to make me do other tests like a CT scan even though I did 3 separate CT scans at the same hospital last year. I don’t have coverage that allows me to easily see another provider so I am feeling so frustrated. I have been living with bladder discomfort 24/7 for longer than I can even remember at this point and I don’t know what I’m supposed to do to get help when I’m being gaslit about my condition.

Every day I see people in this sub posting about how they are debilitated by their symptoms and OCD is completely ruining their life. Almost every time I ask, they say that they have not tried ERP. I understand that for a lot of people ERP is not accessible/affordable, but that is not what I’m referring to here. There are also a lot of people who have not tried ERP seemingly because they just don’t want to or don’t believe it will help.

ERP is lifesaving for so many of us. If you are constantly spiraling, constantly miserable, and living in agony but have never tried an evidence based therapy approach to treating your OCD, please prioritize that. It makes me so sad and frustrated to see how many of us are struggling simply because of a refusal to get help.

Get help. You need it. Make it a top priority above other things. It will be hard. It will be worth it.

ETA: A lot of commenters are pointing out that ERP is not the only form of OCD treatment that has been empirically shown to reduce symptoms. This is true! ERP is considered “the gold standard” but it is not the best choice for every person. I would like to amend my original post to say that I wish more people with OCD were seeking any form of evidence based external support, and that might look different for different people.

I understand that the particles are in superposition when they are not being measured during their passage from the electron gun to the screen, but does the wavefunction collapse as soon as they come into contact with the screen? Can superposition also exist in everyday physical objects, or is the whole system “observing” itself by nature of the particles being linked? I’m trying to get a better understanding of how quantum mechanics and superposition impact the world as I experience it, or rather how “experience” generally is impacting the universe.

I know this is very difficult to explain because QM are not comparable to anything humans can really conceptualize, but I’m hoping to deepen my understanding nonetheless. I’m considering physics as my major when I go back to school but I’m trying to get a gauge on whether or not I’m cut out for it, lol

I’m really struggling to understand this.

Conceptually, I get the idea of non euclidean spherical and hyperbolic geometry (at least at a very basic level). What I don’t get is this. If two “parallel lines” drawn on a sphere will intersect, how could those lines ever have been called parallel in the first place? As far as I understand, you couldn’t “unwrap” the sphere to make the lines truly parallel in 2D space without distorting the shape.

The other thing that trips me up with this is trying to visualize it like rubber bands on a tennis ball. You absolutely can wrap two identical size rubber bands around a tennis ball, stretch them the exact same amount, and ensure they never touch by wrapping them side by side around the ball. This to me seems like a clear and simple example of parallel lines on a sphere.

Is the reason this is incorrect because a true line on a sphere must pass over two vertices? Anything to help me grasp this better would be lovely.