Damn, got it in one
Yup, it was the first thing we checked when I actually got treatment. I'm sure that didn't help, but compared to the pain of the migraines it was negligible. Having to refrain from pain meds for a while to make sure was a hell of a ride though. I lasted about three months. The doctor was satisfied with 1-2 but I wanted to be damn sure.
I give people the same warning nowadays. Don't take that stuff more than once a week.
I'm kinda in this meme. I went through one of those big bottles roughly every 1-2 months for 20 years. Sometimes 12 pills in one day, with 4-8 acetaminophen on top (they do giant double packs of those too). Chronic migraines, but every doctor I asked for help just told me to lose weight so it went untreated and got worse and worse. Our health care suuuucks.
I did lose the weight. It didn't magically fix my migraines, or affect them at all. Insurance dicked me around for another year and a half while my neurologist tried to help every way she could, but we finally got it down to only one migraine a week. I'm truly glad for that, but I still think about the years of unnecessary suffering, and how much better it might be now if I'd been treated sooner.
Look up DoctorRamani on YouTube. Her videos were informative and validating when I was trying to escape my abusive narcissist ex. I also found journaling to help. I put all my thoughts and feelings about the relationship down in a journaling app, which helped clarify my thoughts, work through the emotions, and it served as a record against her attempts at gaslighting. I could also go back and refresh my memory, and I was surprised how deeply unhappy I was all the time. I knew there were problems and that I was struggling while trying to get her to be better, but I had this general sense that things were kind of okay. They were not, and it was really clear when I read it back.
Best of luck to you getting and maintaining as much distance as you can. It's hard now, but you will heal. Once the effect of the abuse starts to wear off, it'll get a lot easier.
This is really sad. While it's valid and understandable to not always be able to hold space for that kind of a conversation or story, at a minimum there are far kinder ways to communicate that than for your partner to just say you're trauma dumping and leave you feeling like this is stuff you should never talk about. A good partner cares enough to listen to those things, and when they ask you not to share, it's more of a, "not right now, let's talk about this later."
I'm not trying to draw any conclusions because there's no way I'd have enough information anyway, but survivors of abusive upbringings are more likely to end up in abusive relationships because so much of that has been normalized (among other reasons). If your partner really accuses you of trauma dumping, that's a bit of a red flag to me and it might not be a terrible idea to talk to friends, family, or a therapist as a sanity check to see if it's nothing or if it's a pattern of how you are treated. If you don't want to do that, journaling can also help a lot with organizing your thoughts and feelings, plus it gives you a record of things in case you forget, downplay them, or are told otherwise and start to doubt yourself.
I really just hope everything is okay though. Stay safe out there, stranger.
wtf, meds by the day and weekly piss tests? Damn that's brutal. Is it because of where you live or do they know about your drug history and just treat you like shit because of that?
That's what really gets me: they'll vilify someone using a harmless medicine in moderation for treatment purposes, but completely overlook people who get totally fucked up on alcohol on the regular. It's so backwards. I avoided weed for decades until it was prescribed to me because "drugs are bad" and it didn't take long after trying it to figure out what a ridiculous lie that is. Not all drugs are equal, and alcohol is worse than at least a few.
Lots of not accepting new patients and places that never end up calling me back even after multiple tries. Websites which specifically said they had availability were not accepting new patients when called. It's exhausting.
If you are also in the US, I suspect the reason why is the looming threat from the DEA. Even if you are not a telemedicine patient, if your doctor's office offers it as an option then they're probably applying a blanket policy to everybody regardless. I hope they don't treat you as badly as they did me. Depending on the doctor, they could still elect to allow your marijuana use. It just means if they get audited, they have to justify why they're prescribing stimulants to a marijuana user. There is no reason not to and you have a long history of benefitting from the medication, so it should be clear cut. But the doctor may still decide it's not worth the hassle or risk, like mine did.
Had I known ahead of time it might be a problem, I would have abstained as long as possible before the test (preferably over two weeks) and looked into detox drinks and other fast detox tricks. Worst that happens is I fail anyway and wind up right where I am now: needing to find a new doctor. But it could have saved me the trouble of needing to switch so soon. Maybe it can buy you some time.
I have a friend that helps me with some basic stuff, but in recent years they've gotten busier and more stressed, and I'm always going to have them put themselves first. They still help a lot, but it has gotten harder when they can't help and I don't get my own shit together. I'm embarrassed to admit how long it takes me to find a new doctor or therapist. I've never looked into an advocate, though. I don't think I'd qualify, but I'll definitely take a look, thanks!
I don't think it's a medical reason. If my cardiovascular health were at risk, stimulants alone would be a bad idea. I'm healthy enough and my usage is minimal. He tossed out some BS about working memory, but if I go down that rabbit hole this comment will get 5x as long.
The benefit of the doubt here is he's covering his own ass. The DEA has been threatening to crack down on stimulant prescribers for a while, especially over telemedicine (which this was). If he gets audited and has to justify why he's prescribing stimulants to a drug user, he could lose his medical license - or he may just not want to deal with the research and extra work needed to write up that justification.
To that end, it fucking sucks, but I can't really blame him. I just wish he had been more honest and up front with me like I was with him. We could have waited a month to take the drug test and I'd have passed it, then this whole thing could have been avoided. Instead he looks down on me and repeatedly hasn't truly listened to what I've told him. I won't pass judgment on him the same way he did to me, but I will say his style is incompatible with me as a patient. I'm an active participant in my own care and I need a doctor who will form a collaborative relationship with me, not dictate treatment decisions.
Thankfully it's not my GP, but yeah it's time to find another provider and start all over again. I went looking for a psychiatrist to manage my meds for a different reason a month or two ago and struck out half a dozen times before running out of steam, so it's a little easier said than done. I'll get there eventually, just ... it's weirdly difficult to get help and executive dysfunction can be a real bitch. I won't miss this provider though, so that's some motivation!
Yes, I brought up that we already discussed the edibles. Given how long after use you can still test positive I told him the results probably wouldn't change, and he straight up said that if I don't stop using it entirely then he doesn't want me as a patient. It felt so judgmental, and that part of it really upsets me too. I promise I'm not that exciting lol
Sorry about your medication mix up. Every time they have me update my info it has a list of all the meds I'm taking and I'm supposed to correct any dosages that have changed or cross them out if I no longer take them. Every time I cross out the same ones and re-correct the dosages again. My file has a totally different picture from reality - it's kinda scary.
Sorry if this is the wrong place, I just really need to vent somewhere.
I had a followup today to discuss the next steps since neither guanfacine nor atomoxetine worked out. I've been waiting for this because I know stimulants are the first line treatment and I've had nothing but awful experiences with the other meds. He had me take a drug test ahead of time - to make sure I wasn't already taking stimulants, he said. I've been open about everything I'm on and he said it would be fine. That was a lie.
I tested positive for a bit of weed, which I told him about. It's legal in my state. Despite saying it was fine before (I asked, specifically), now he changed his tune and said he's going to keep testing me and if I test positive three times he won't prescribe me any stimulants.
The kicker? I even have a prescription for it, because I worry about exactly things like this. It's for chronic pain, but tbh helps my depression and anxiety too. I don't even use much - about $150 in edibles over the last year. But if I spent that much on alcohol every weekend, that would be no barrier to getting a prescription.
I went in for help and was nothing but honest, and I left feeling attacked over prescription medicine that's been helping me. What the fuck. I'm so frustrated and angry I just want to cry. Why is it so hard to get help?
Live content has lots of downtime and dull gameplay moments. It can't compete with polished, edited videos - except in the one area it shines: human interaction. That works better when you can see the person. So most streams feature a person or at least an avatar, while edited videos often place a higher emphasis on gameplay. Each format is simply playing to its strengths. The ones that don't you rarely see because they're buried at the bottom of page 726 with four views.
This is the quintessential McDonald's experience. Every time I give in to that random pang of nostalgia, I know I'm in for some kind of disappointment. It might be a broken ice cream machine, an item that's just out that day or been removed from the menu permanently, or something as mundane as having my order screwed up. In that, ironically, it rarely disappoints.
That'll be $28.73 at the second window.
I don't have a source handy, but from what I remember: yes, a feral child can learn language later, but never to the same level of fluency. It's more like learning a second language. Also there is extremely limited data because it mostly comes from horrifically abusive situations.
If I remember right, the most interesting data came from a study that gathered deaf children from areas where they had no sign language. The young children rapidly developed sign language, but the older children (teens) had a hard time keeping up and did not reach the same fluency.
The term narcissist is somewhat overused, though there are also a lot of them these days. To echo a bit of what others said, thinking average high schoolers are dumb is not a sign of narcissism. Average high schoolers are notoriously foolish. Even if you feel like it's more than that and it's a serious problem, that alone does not make a narcissist.
Actual narcissists are unstable. They need the adoration of others to feel good about themselves. They're prone to fits of rage when anything damages their ego, and they can take just about anything as criticism then decide to fly off the handle.
If that is you, get help from a professional who specializes in it. If anyone reading this knows a person like that, read up and find a way to save yourself.
Hell make it where I can go online fill in all my information and automatically every time voting is taken place in my area I received a package in the mail. We fill it out vote and mail it back.
This is exactly how it works in Washington state. You get the ballot in the mail, fill it out, seal it up, and mail it back or drop it off in a drop box. It's worked great for years.
Seconding Etymotic. And if you wanted to upgrade later, you can get custom ear molds from an audiologist and use those instead of the included foam or rubber tips. It's among the best sound isolation you can get. I've also always had excellent experiences with their customer service.
There's a lot we do to give us a feeling that our future is safe, but it never is.
Learning to accept this seems like a normal part of growing older, but man is it rough - especially when the wounds are fresh. Therapy helps. Experience also helps: you survived it once so you can do it again. We can't make ourselves 100% safe and it's genuinely terrifying when you really feel it.
But believe in yourself. When you're ready, you will find ways to feel content and fulfilled. Maybe you work through your trust issues and meet someone new, maybe you don't need to because you have other things in your life that make you happy.
I've done both at different times after having the rug pulled out from under me at least twice now. The third time was almost a blessing because I've been down this road so much. It was like a chance to start a new chapter and find more parts of life I haven't yet lived: new hobbies, new friends, and so many things to learn.
So this isn't some generic platitude. It comes from sitting in the same place you are now. The only real security is your own ability to get back up and start again. You don't have to want to. Just know that you can and will when you're ready.
My pixel (5a) only does adaptive charging if your alarm is set for the A.M. If you're second or third shift, it doesn't even try. There's no way to turn it on even in developer options. It was a pretty big wtf when I figured that one out.