#if anyone has any advice about symptoms what could be happening to me or

[fulgurbugs]

sorry this is gonna be a tmi and gross period post but idk what to do anymore so i’m gonna vent online

ok so my periods are famously inconsistent and unpredictable. most recently what ended up happening was i missed mine for like, months before it came back with a vengeance and i had one that lasted over a month long. this one was also extremely heavy towards the end, as well as like. idk how to describe this. very fleshy. chunky. however there were no cramps or pain associated with it, mostly just i was spending a fortune on pads and tampons (i had to double up to be safe) while this was ongoing i attempted to look for a gyno in my area, but i would only be able to get an appointment after i moved back to college with at minimum a few weeks wait. so i ended up not making an appointment because it was starting to wind down and i ended up getting super busy with school starting again. i still brought it up to my doctor before this and eventually had an appointment where i managed to sneak in on a weekend i could come home with my gp where she prescribed pill birth control which i started taking as directed not very long ago. but, a few days after i started taking it my period started again, extremely heavy, and this time, painful. it’s been about 4 days of extremely heavy blood flow and cramps, and i haven’t been able to focus on my school at all or go anywhere, i just want to lie in bed and rot. im bleeding through supers in under an hour, and i don’t know what to do. i’ve contacted my doctor and should hopefully hear back from her in a few days. but i’m so scared that something more is wrong or that this one will also last over a month like the last one.

do any other accursed uterus havers have a similar experience and any idea what’s wrong with me? or what i should do? if this one goes over a week i’m going to seek more urgent medical attention. i’ve heard suggested from people i know that it could potentially be endometriosis or a cyst so if anyone whos following me has some firsthand experience please let me know, im having a really rough time right now. sorry for the tmi and all but im so extremely uncomfortable and losing my mind and need help

#tw: blood #(menstrual and not injuring but i’m kinda going into detail here) #i put it under a readmore cuz it’s kinda long and rambley but #if anyone has any advice about symptoms what could be happening to me or #just like. pain and symptom management i would really appreciate it #sorry.

[memento-morri-writes]

Do you have any advice or specific tips to writing a low/no empathy character? Or a resource to recommend?

Hi nonny! Thanks for asking! I'm going to try my best to answer your question, but keep in mind, this is all based on my own personal experience, and that varies vastly from person to person. (if anyone else experiences low/no empathy, please feel free to add on to this post!)

So, some things to keep in mind:

Why does your character experience low/no empathy? For me, it's a symptom of my autism, but there are multiple reasons a character could have low/no empathy. The most common is probably going to be some form of disability (autism), or disorder (psychopathy), etc. (Be careful while doing research though, especially on disorders like psychopathy! You're going to run into a lot of ableist bullshit. Make sure to look for sources written by people living with these disorders/disabilities.) (If anyone has any resources on other disabilities or disorders that cause low empathy that they personally recommend, please feel free to add links!!!) Whatever the reason, it's not going to only affect their empathy. It's going to affect every part of their life. So make sure to do your research, and write respectfully. If you know someone or follow someone who has a certain condition, ask if they'd feel comfortable answering questions for you. If they aren't, that's fine. If they are, they're going to be a great resource. (I'd also recommend getting a sensitivity reader, particularly when writing about mental disorders that are already frequently stigmatized. You want to make sure you're not promoting harmful stereotypes.) I should note, however, that neurotypical people can also have low/no empathy!!! It just happens to also be a common symptom of various mental disorders.

Consider what kind of empathy does your character lack. There are two kinds of empathy! Emotional (or affective) empathy, and cognitive empathy. Affective empathy is made up of three parts: Feeling the same emotion as someone else, feeling discomfort or stress in response to someone else's suffering, and feeling compassion for or understanding another's emotions. Cognitive empathy is the ability to recognize and understand the emotions of someone else. This includes being to "stand in someone else's shoes", or take another person's perspective, and generally understand what they're feeling. This one has been called more of a "skill", in that it's something people can "learn", where as affective empathy can't be taught or learned. When people talk about having low/no empathy, they are usually referring to lacking affective empathy, but a character might struggle with both!

Not everyone experiences empathy the same. Some people lack empathy in some circumstances, but have it in others. For example, I lack empathy when it comes to human beings, but I am much more empathetic when it comes to animals. A character might only be able to empathize with very specific scenarios or people. (For example, if someone else is going through a very similar scenario to one they have experienced in the past, it may be easier for them to feel empathy. But it might not!) Some people can empathize with certain emotions better than others. (I empathize better with anger, but can't empathize at all with grief.)

Understand that a lack of empathy does not equal a lack of caring. Just because a person doesn't feel the emotions someone else is feeling doesn't mean they don't care. A person with low or no empathy can still be kind and compassionate to others. They might go about trying to cheer people up in a slightly different way (I personally tend to try and go for distractions), but they still care about their friends and loved ones. Even seemingly "uncaring" things said by those who lack empathy do not come from a place of malice. (I can't tell you how many times I've said something well-meaning and had people assume I was being cruel. I wasn't, and I genuinely had good intentions.)

Keep in mind how your character reacts to other's emotions. People with empathy tend to feel similarly to those they empathize with, which generally creates a feeling of connection. (This is part of what leads to that sense of "coming together after tragedy".) A person with low/no empathy might instead feel alienated or uncomfortable when faced with large outpourings of emotions. They might be uncertain how to act or what to do, and they may try and avoid situations with strong negative emotions because of it. (In my case, people crying makes me very uncomfortable, because I don't know how to respond. So I try and keep my distance.)

Think about how your character processes their own emotions. Just because a character doesn't feel empathy for others doesn't mean that they are incapable of feeling those emotions on their own. A character who has no empathy for a grieving friend can still grieve! But chances are they will process that emotion differently than a person with "normal" empathy. They might try to push their emotions away and bottle them up. Or one emotion might transition into one they have an easier time processing. (For me, I don't experience sadness normally. It either transitions to anger, or it is replaced by different thoughts.)

Think about how their lack of empathy influences their life. A person who lacks empathy is not going to experience life the same way as a person with "normal" empathy. They might have a hard time making friends, or they might excel at a job that requires a logical mind. They might give great advice, or their friends might know to never ask them about relationships. They might be great at organizing people, even in times of stress, because their brain compartmentalizes and thinks pragmatically. They might totally shut down when faced with an emotional situation because they don't know how to process it.

Having no empathy can be very alienating. People expect empathy constantly. It's a big part of why people love emotional media, and it's the expected response when someone you know experiences suffering. Not having empathy can mean that you feel disconnected from your loved ones or community as a whole. It might mean biting your tongue and not saying what you think because people would read it as uncaring or cruel.

Remember: Having low or no empathy is not a bad thing. People with low/no empathy are often villainized in media, and the trait is often given to antagonists. But that's a harmful stereotype and harmful belief in general. That's not saying that your character with low empathy has to be "good", but don't use their low empathy as proof that they're a "bad person". Try thinking about situations in which having low/no empathy might be useful! I personally am reminded of the post I saw years ago where someone was saying that if not for their lack of empathy, they probably couldn't do their job. (iirc, they worked handling the bodies of organ donors, some of whom were quite young.)

Okay, that's all I can think of for now, but like I said before, anyone else who experiences low or no empathy is encouraged to reblog this post and add on to it! And if I made any mistakes here, please let me know so I can fix them!!! I tried to base this mostly off of my own experience, so take it all with a grain of salt.

#Anonymous #morrigan replies #writing autistic characters #writing low empathy characters #writing no empathy characters #character development #character inspo #no empathy #low empathy

[imagineanime2022]

The Undateables With An S/O With C-PTSD

Solomon X Reader, Simeon X Reader, Diavolo X Reader, Barbatos X Reader

Requested: Anon

Request: Hello! Hope your doing well! Can I please request the obey me dateables (Diavolo, Barbatos, Simeon, and Solomon's) and brothers (if that's okay) with an mc who has c-ptsd? Like what would they do when their s/o was having a horrible flashbacks and like scream crying? Only if you're comfortable with that kind of stuff of course! Thank you!

Disclaimer: I don't suffer from C-PTSD and I don't mean to offend or upset anyone that does, I did some research before writing this but I know that's not the same as actually suffering from it, so please don't take any of this as advice or guidance please talk to a professional

Warnings (none specifically mentioned, talked about in general terms): Trauma and trigger, Flashbacks, nightmares, symptoms of C-PTSD

Brothers Ver.

Solomon

✨ Solomon was pretty clued up on things, you didn’t have to tell him what you were suffering he figured it out as he got to know you. ✨ He never asked what it was that caused it, he figured that it was something you didn’t want to talk about and honestly he was not a professional that actually helped you fix it, so making you relive it was pointless. ✨ Saying that if you wanted to talk about whatever was triggering you, he was more than happy to listen, he only wanted you to be comfortable. ✨ Instead he dealt with the symptoms and helped you where he could. ✨ The first thing he realised was that you weren’t sleeping very well so he moved you into Purgatory Hall with him. Set up an extra bed so you could choose whether you wanted to sleep with him or on your own and never took offence when you chose the latter. ✨ He always woke up when you were having a nightmare no matter where you slept, he was careful as he woke up, to make sure he didn’t scare you further or end up feeling bad for hurting him. ✨ There had been times when you woke up but you weren’t necessarily there. He was careful when he brought you back and when he was sure that you were with him, he’d ask what you needed. ✨ When you were with other people he was clear in his instructions for what they needed to do when something went wrong, it was easier with the angels than with the demon brothers but he did his best either way. ✨ Solomon without a doubt was a presence that you always felt a safe one, someone that you always pushed back to. ✨ “I’m here for you. You’re not alone.” and he meant it.

Simeon

😇 Simeon was probably the best person to be around when it came to C-PTSD, he was calm, soft-spoken and very rarely involved himself in anything too crazy. 😇 He’s also the most observant, he can see an episode coming on and put himself between you and everything else. He’d ask if you know what it was that caused the panic. 😇 If you know he’ll attempt to remove the trigger and if you don’t he’ll just remove you from the situation entirely. 😇 In the event that you have a flashback or intrusive thought revolving around the trauma he’s careful with you. 😇 He reminds you of your strengths and tries to get you to focus on them until you’re feeling better. 😇 He’s easy to talk to and sometimes you don’t even realise that you are venting to him until you are well into it, he just listens and only interrupts if he sees that you are working yourself up in a bad way. 😇 Simeon was used to creating a structure for someone else because of Luke and offered to help you create one for yourself now that you were living in a completely different realm. 😇 Simeon always reassured you that there was nothing wrong with you for reacting the way that you were, he had for the most part put together what had happened to you. 😇 Simeon supported you in any way that could, got you everything that you needed and tried to provide an environment where you could thrive. 😇 "There is nothing wrong with the way you feel about what happened. There is nothing wrong with you. You are not crazy.” and he'd keep saying even if you didn't believe him.

Diavolo

👑 In all honesty he did not understand a single thing about your condition, demons didn’t usually get these illnesses they caused them and none of them stuck around to see what it was. 👑 The first time that he witnessed a reaction to something that reminded you of your trauma he panicked but lucky for him Barbatos did a lot of reading and calmed you both down. 👑 He hated that he didn’t know how to help you so he asked you. 👑 He listened carefully to what you told him and even made notes for later use. He asked you if there was anything that you needed to change in your living environment and reminded you that nothing you wanted was a burden. 👑 Diavolo would try to make everything as comfortable as he could for you, even if that meant arranging online lessons for you. 👑 The one thing he struggled with was the mood changes but only because he didn’t like seeing you angry or sad. 👑 He tried his best to help you focus on something else, he’d even asked you to write a list of things you found comforting Devildom and he’d drop everything to get something from the list or take to a place on it to help you calm down. 👑 Diavolo would probably be afraid to ask about the root of the problem so he often stirred clear of it himself without even realising it but he’d never stop you from talking about it. 👑 He was a very touchy person so it was hard at first but he’s careful with physical touch waiting for you to initiate it and only doing what had done to him and if he didn’t know what to say he’d tell you that instead saying something that wasn’t sincere 👑 “I’m not sure what to say right now, can I stay here with you for a while?” and he'd stay there (in silence if he had to) until he was sure that you were okay.

Barbatos

🫖 Barbatos knew the most but probably had the most work to do, he was used to serving people and being there for them but that could also be suffocating. 🫖 He was very good at helping with the physical ailments, the body aches, the headaches and shivers, the emotional stuff was a little harder. 🫖 He’d been trained to keep his emotions in check so he had to remember that when you asked him something or expressed something you needed a sincere reaction or declaration. 🫖 Barbatos was very good at announcing his presence so that he didn’t scare you. 🫖 He was an amazing listener and an even better supporting pillar. He’ll be the one apologising even though he never hurt you. 🫖 When you were finding it hard to concentrate on tasks or seemed particularly hypervigilant he’d ask what you wanted to do. 🫖 He was really good at noting, remembering and removing triggers from your immediate environment. 🫖 He was the best for consistency and structure, he was in a very good daily structure his work demanded it so if it helped he’d add you into it. 🫖 He was always direct with what he wanted to say to you and would often remind you that perfection did not exist and you don’t need to strive for it, mistakes were normal and always will be. 🫖 “You’ve been through more than anyone should. I know I didn’t do it, but I’m sorry.” he said it, if only to prove that you deserved an apology for what had happened to you.

Request Here!!

#obey me #obey me oneshot #obey me imagine #obey me x reader #solomon oneshot #solomon imagine #solomon #simeon oneshot #simeon imagine #simeon #diavolo oneshot #diavolo imagine #diavolo #barbatos oneshot #barbatos imagine #barbatos #imagine #oneshot #one shto #reader insert #x reader

[flowercrowncrip]

hello. i've applied for PIP and i'm going to be filling out the "how does your disability affect you" form as soon as i can get someone to help me with it. i noticed that you are also in the UK and if it's alright with you i'd like to ask if you have any advice on filling the application out?

Hi! It’s been a while since I filled in that one but I do have a bit of advice. I don’t know your specific circumstances so sorry if I’m just repeating what you already know. If anyone else has better/ more/ different advice please add to this!

The first thing I’d say that nobody told me was that filling it in can be quite difficult emotionally. It’s a chunky form and takes quite a long time to fill in and a lot of that time will be spent thinking about all the suckiest parts of your disability and everything you can’t do and need help with. I definitely wasn’t prepared for how that would make me feel. I’d have a think about whether you’ll prefer to do it over a few days or if you want to get it all done as quickly as possible. If I were doing it again I’d want to plan something nice to do afterwards to try and take my mind off it. Basically do what works for you and make sure you take care of yourself while and after filling it in.

The rest is practical advice I got from various places (other disabled people, Citizens advice, disability organisations). It seemed to work well for me, but my disability is significant and well documented enough that it would have been surprising if I’d had to appeal the result of my assessment.

One thing I did was I planned all my answers in advance in bullet points before writing anything in the booklet. You can also type answers on a separate document if that’s easier. I ended up writing a lot more per question than I was given room for so having spare paper on hand if you or whoever’s helping you fills it in by hand. When I did it we always wrote down in the booklet where we’d used extra paper to make sure it all got read.

I was told to never assume the person doing the assessment knows anything about your conditions and to always write everything down even if seems really obvious or your conditions are well known. Like don’t assume that an assessor knows that chronic fatigue syndrome/ ME causes chronic fatigue, or that spastic cerebral palsy causes muscle spasticity. And don’t assume they know that fatigue might make it difficult to think clearly or that spasticity can cause pain. And don’t assume that if you wrote something in your explanation for question 1 that they’ll remember it when you get to question 5. It’s annoying and you end up repeating yourself a lot but it strengthens your case and builds a better picture of your disability if you lay everything out clearly each time. Never tick that you can’t do something and leave the explanation box blank – always give an explanation where prompted.

The other thing I was told was don’t tick that you can do something unless you can do it safely, reliably and as many times as you need to in a day. If you technically could use a knife but you’d be putting yourself or others at risk doing so then you can’t safely use a knife. If you can walk 20m in the morning but by midday you’re in too much pain to walk more than a few steps then you can’t walk 20m as many times as you need to a day. If you can sometimes feed yourself but suddenly lose the ability to hold a fork several times a week then you can’t reliably feed yourself. Always write what a bad day looks like and how often on average that happens as well as how predictable bad days/ symptoms are. Always spell out exactly why you can’t do something safely/ reliably/ repeatedly. If not having the right support has caused accidents or other significant problems then include what happened/ is happening and what the consequences were/ are.

I hope it goes well filling in the form. I know it’s far from the nicest thing in the world to have to do. And I really hope that they listen to you and you get a fair result relatively quickly. Good luck!

#echo answers asks #disability benefits

[crippleprophet]

hiii!! i was wondering if u have any advice on getting taken seriously and getting care in an emergency department as a chronically ill/disabled person?

i've had progressive muscle weakness, fatigue, nerve issues, and pain for like five years that hasn't been properly diagnosed (been told it was fibro but. doesn't seem to fully fit that anymore. idk if anything will show up on tests but even if it doesn't i feel like the more correct diagnosis would be ME. my current gp thinks i have [seronegative] myasthenia gravis but gps can't order emgs so can't diagnose it), and recently have been having trouble breathing that seems like it's due to muscle weakness in my chest and follows the same patterns as my other muscle weakness.

my gp can't do anything to help (and referrals always get declined because the system is overwhelmed) and can only advise that i go to the hospital, been to one hospital who sent me home because my oxygen saturation was fine (even though from what i've read shortness of breath caused by muscle weakness doesn't show in oxygen saturation til it's Very Very bad, at the time i could only speak a couple syllables per breath and my peak flow was around half of what it usually is), i asked my gp what to do and he told me to try the further away hospital and explain that i haven't been able to get care at the closer one.

my mum is going to take me in a couple days (unless i really can't breath in the mean time obviously) and i'm nervous because i usually get dismissed, or they'll do a couple tests but not the ones that would actually show the conditions that i might actually have. i don't know how to advocate for myself without getting seen as overreacting, or get care for a chronic condition that has become urgent because usually if it's been happening for a while they'll say to just talk to ur gp but. my gp can't do anything.

(note: i know ur only supposed to go to the emergency room for things that are really urgent and the fact that i'm waiting a couple days might make it not urgent. my gp has said this is the best thing i can do though because there's literally no other avenue for me to get care and with my breathing the way it is i am even more restricted in what i can do than i have been before.)

oh god, i’m so sorry you’re in this position and am sending so much love to you. obligatory disclaimer that i’m not a medical professional, just Some Guy with a couple degrees, a girlfriend in medical school, and a whole lot of medical trauma.

that being said, my only advice is to lie. lie your ass off, lie like your life depends on it, most importantly lie in an informed fashion - which is easy in this case because you pretty much know what you have, you just need them to do the test you want. the doctor thinks they’re creating a clinical picture on a blank canvas and you need to give them a paint-by-numbers.

here are the factors i would consider and the narrative i would construct if i was in your position, but it’s your body, your experiences, and your care (or lack thereof), so all of this is just my opinion and your mileage absolutely may vary:

most importantly, make sure anyone with you in the ER is on the same page. a lot of doctors assume patients are lying by default because they suck, so if somebody contradicts you, you’re probably screwed. when my gf takes me to a doctor’s appointment, we have a “what are we lying to them about” meeting ahead of time. you know your mum best, so you probably know what approaches she would/wouldn’t be on board with, but i’d initiate that conversation like “i’m concerned this hospital might dismiss me like the other one did, so i’m planning to say XYZ to hopefully get them to take me more seriously” and not “Some Guy on tumblr told me to lie my ass off” lol

next, make your symptoms match the textbook. downside to this, i definitely recommend not bringing up ME/CFS because they can’t/won’t test for or treat it (i have a friend in the UK who almost certainly has ME/CFS and just got sent to even more physical therapy). here’s where it helps that your GP is pretty sure they know what you’ve got (whether you actually have that or not): research myasthenia gravis (i recommend continuing education sites geared towards clinicians), know what’s on that list, and (with some exceptions) say you have those symptoms. my personal strategy is three-tiered:

lies of creation: unless it’s something immediately life-threatening or something they can concretely disprove, say you have symptoms of your disease even if you don’t. ER doctors don’t give a shit if they can say you need to wait it out and go to a specialist, regardless of that being unrealistic and your symptoms being unlivable, so you need something urgent and serious. (my gf says “they might be worried if you’re having trouble swallowing. maybe.”) myasthenia gravis typically waxes and wanes, so even if you’re able to do something when they examine you, it would be totally realistic for you to not have been able to a couple of hours ago (eg, when you arrived to the ER). for example, i told the NHS i totally had a positive MRI in the US that i was having delays getting access to the records of, even though my MRI didn’t show a speck of inflammation, because at least that got me a couple months of flare medication while they confirmed and an NSAID when they decided i was in remission rather than literally nothing. obviously you can’t tell them you’re seropositive because they’ve unfortunately got that record, which means you’re already fighting an uphill battle, which leads to my favorite sub-category lie of creation: anything you’ve read or believe or know that works in your favor, your GP told you. memorize what percent of people with myasthenia gravis are seronegative - don’t lead with that, because doctors hate when people are educated about our conditions or know what’s wrong with us, but if they say “we won’t do an EMG because you can’t have myasthenia gravis because of your bloodwork,” then you can be like, “my GP said that’s pretty common, like, about X% of people don’t show up on the test, and they’re really convinced i have this.”

lies of exaggeration: increase frequency of symptoms, impact on your activities of daily living, rank on a scale. familiarize yourself with what the numbers on the pain scale generally mean in terms of ability, and elaborate - “my pain is at an 8, it’s really hard to XYZ.”

lies of omission: this ER doctor was an asshole and still would’ve fucked me over regardless, but the instant i said “yes” when he asked if i experienced acid reflux, he stopped listening to a single word i said. i was experiencing acid reflux, and i knew that symptom happened with IBD, celiac, and a host of other serious conditions, but he instantly decided that was all that was going on with me, tried to send me home with just an antacid during the worst pain of my life, and led to me experiencing malnutrition and all my hair falling out due to the severe delays in accessing care. my recommendation for “instant dismissal” (or worse, “instant institutionalization”) symptoms to omit are: acid reflux; menstrual cramps or really anything related to menstruation; anything they could dismiss as covid - if they try to dismiss your breathing issues as covid, say you’ve tested negative this week even if you haven’t had a test. if you’ve had covid and you’re certain it’s not in your chart (assume it’s in your chart if you’ve ever said it to a doctor), say you’ve never had covid. if they still try to say it’s covid, stress that this has been going on for years before covid; anything psychiatric.

so, what i would do:

“i have X, Y, and Z symptoms. my GP thinks i have myasthenia gravis and is working on referring me, and said to go to A&E if A, B, or C got worse. A, B, and C have [measurably gotten significantly worse since the last time you went to A&E] - i’m having trouble breathing, swallowing, and [other].” hope that they decide to do an EMG on their own.

if they try to send you home or try to do useless tests, say “my GP mentioned that i really need an EMG in order to get the treatment that would help me be able to breathe, swallow, [other]. will this test also do that?” (one of the instances where you strategically ‘play dumb’ because doctors hate when we know things)

if they still won’t do anything helpful, either you or your mum say: “i’ve/they’ve had these symptoms for five years and it’s never been remotely this bad. i/they seriously can’t breathe, swallow, [other] - how do we manage these symptoms before we can get to a specialist?” i’m white and, having been super professional/polite until then, this is the point where i start crying; you know your circumstances best and whether that will incur racism, etc, upon you from the medical system.

if they still want to send you home, i (again, being white) would at that point firmly request a second opinion. they still might send you home with nothing; i did all of this shit and received 50 pills of 50mg tramadol in addition to the antacid, and probably an angry note in my file, and not a millisecond of further testing.

i say this with love and from experience, in the interest of minimizing trauma and devastation: you need, to the best of your ability, to go to the emergency department with the expectation of receiving no care. i recommend a buddy, a reminder, and a reward: message a bitter crip or someone else who Gets It throughout the process and have support in place for if/when you get home with new medical neglect and trauma; remind yourself that your symptoms are real and serious and, in my gf’s words, “if your GP thinks you have myasthenia gravis, you almost definitely have something neuromuscular going on.” i like to make posters of my reminders (example here: link); do something that will make you feel better afterwards - my go-to is buying a new stuffed animal after experiencing medical trauma. i have a lot of them lol

for more advice on coping with medical neglect before and after appointments/visits, see my post here (link). if you don’t know anyone who’ll understand or be available and helpful to support you during your trip to A&E, feel free to dm me and i’d be happy to give you my WhatsApp. i wish you so much luck and you’ll be in my thoughts, i really hope it goes as well as possible - you deserve quality, compassionate, thorough care. if you’re comfortable with doing so and feeling up for it i’d really value an update afterwards 💓💓💓

#doctor hate blog ✌️🖤 #faq #hospital talk #asks

[yellow-lemon-lime]

Hi I hope this isn't rude to ask, but I saw on a post that you deal with self blame delusions? And well I wanted advice on how to help someone cope with that. Because my sister has this idea (tbh I'm hesitant to call it a delusion since she has her own logic for believing it which I can understand even tho it's great logic) that she is the sole cause of everything wrong in my life, including that I'm chronically ill*. Which is just not the case at all?

*I have me/cfs, one of the theories is that it's essentially long mono, since my sister had mono once she thinks she gave it to me which caused me to get cfs and cause my chronic illness. But since I was asymptomatic and only know I had mono at all is because of biomarkers we don't even know when I had it so she might not even given it to me in the first place.

(sorry if this is over stepping a boundary or something, but she doesn't want to do therapy and I don't know what else to do...)

Hi @skydemonizark Sorry for the late reply, I was out with my husband, and we just recently got home. Don't worry, your question is neither rude, nor stupid to ask. I am more than happy to answer any question, one might have about a lived experience with delusions, psychosis or schizophrenia in general.

I will preface this by saying, that this is only my experience with delusions and schizophrenia. Others may have totally different experiences, and that's okay, because even though, delusions (and schizophrenia) follow general rules. How we experience the symptoms are different for each person.

I will also say, that I am not a licensed therapist, psychologist or psyciatrist. Again this is solely based on my lived experience. I strongly advice anyone who is dealing with a medical problem - whether it is somatic or psychological, that they contact a professional or in emergency cases dial 911/112.

Now in order to answer your question. It's important to know what a delusion is and isn't. A delusion is a belief in the patient, that is neither naturally and/or culturally possible. F.x. Believing that Jesus is the son of God, is not a delusion, because many people believe that, so that is culturally acceptable. Believing that your neighbor is Jesus himself, would be a delusion, because only you believe that, nobody else does, and especially not your neighbor.

I cannot say whether your sister's belief IS a delusion, but I know from my own experience that logic is a huge part of delusions, but it's a twisted kind of logic.

Let me give you an example with one of my own delusions: I got a job at the hearing aid center, at my local hospital. When I started working there. The waiting time for new users was approximately 6 months to 1 year. When I had been there for a while, the waiting time had skyrocketed to over 2 years. Now my delusional logic, told me, it must be because of me, right? It happens just as I start working there. How could it not be my fault? So I felt constant guilt about making things hard for deaf/hoh people in my town. And please be noted, that I had no idea that it was a delusion. I wasn't diagnosed at the time, I wasn't even being evaluated. So I had to rely on my own twisted logic, with this delusion as well as the other delusions I had. Sometimes I doubted my logic, but for me it was like having two logics. One wasn't more right than the other.

When I did get the diagnosis, and started on medication and therapy, I noticed a change in my way of thinking about my blame about the waiting time. I am fully aware that medication and/or therapy isn't for everyone. We are all different. But for me, both things were essential to getting better. Antipsychotics, didn't remove my delusions, but they sort of prevented the anxiety I got from those delusions. But I still needed to fix my twisted logic. At the time I got my diagnosis, I hadn't been working at the hearing aid center for a good month (I was literally forced to quit just before I got my diagnosis) Time went by and I didn't have the delusion-induced anxiety anymore, but I still had the belief that the increased waiting time was my fault. One day I was sitting with my therapist, and we were talking about big and small, and I mentioned the delusion, like I had done a few times before. For some reason, I also mentioned, that, oh there was this one audiologist who had mentioned, that the hearing aid center had let off a huge portion of the workers there, and my therapist asked me: "Don't you think, that could be why the waiting times increased?" And I gave it a thought, and thought, maybe my therapist is right.

You're telling me, that your sister doesn't want to do therapy, and I 100 % respect that. Therapy should be done willingly, and only in the event that a person is in danger to themselves or others, should forced therapy be even considered.

I would try mainly 2 things. One thing would be what my therapist did to me, and try to find counter-logic to the delusional logic. Do be adviced that it may not necessary work, if the person is so in deep with their delusion, that no amount of outside counter-logic can get through. The one thing I strongly advice against with any delusions, is either agreeing with the person, or saying to the person that they must be crazy or something. Both things can be very detrimental to the persons mental wellbeing.

The second thing I would try to do, is to switch the whole agenda. Yeah it sucks that you both got ME/CFS, even if you personally are asymptomatic. Instead of focusing on the "why?" or "who?" try focusing on the "how?" Don't ask yourselves, why did you both get this? Who is to blame? Instead ask yourselves, "How can we manage the symptoms we may have, and how can we support each other in living with this illness?" and I believe that could go for anything, that she, you, or a third person may struggle with. Someone may have asked. "Why did this happen to me?" They may never get an answer. So they should instead ask "How do I get going from here?"

I also advice you to take care of yourself, eat a varied diet, get plenty of hydration, exercise to the point that you are able to. Get plenty of sleep. If you take medication for anything, keep taking that. Also be a little selfish, and buy yourself chocolate or something once in a while. And in any case you start feeling, that something is wrong, mentally or somatic. Don't hesitate to contact a medical professional.

I hope my answer gave some insight, although it's just one experience. I invite any person with schizo-spec illness/psychosis or delusion, or possible mental health professional (if there are any on tumblr) who might be reading this to give their insight and opinion. I wish you and your sister and the rest of everyone around you, a pleasant and carefree day

#Schizophrenia #Delusions #Ask

[gothhabiba]

Pysch anon- in the past, I’ve thought things that were not Consistent With Reality, but that I don’t know were necessarily delusions? Like, I had the classic abused person’s belief that everyone I knew hated me and wished me harm and that I wasn’t human (but given my circumstances that wasn’t really irrational), or I’ve briefly been convinced that I was a god or other people were actually robots who merely seemed human, ((I still have ask-length restrictions, sorry) 1/4)

(2/4) but I knew that these were thoughts I ought to not entertain, and they went away on their own if I refused to do so. For the past several months now, I’ve been having hallucinations, mostly of seeing people, animals, etc. that aren’t there. They aren’t distressing, and for much of the time it’s been happening I’ve been able to dismiss it as something else, so they aren’t really affecting my life, and aside from them, I’m doing better mentally than I have been maybe ever.

(3/4) The main things that are upsetting about them are 1.) having another thing that I can’t really safely talk about w other people and 2.) having my perception called into question again after I had to work so hard to be able to trust it. So now I’m not sure what I should do. I’m in therapy for the abuse trauma right now, and my therapist has been v chill about other stigmatized issues I’ve talked about, but I’m still hesitant to bring this up,

(4/4) and since it’s Probably not brain cancer and I’d prefer to save my “credibility” and goodwill for actually-distressing physical issues, it seems like a bad idea to tell my GP. As someone who’s been through similar stuff, do you have any advice on dealing with any of this? Tysm in advance.

I don't know how much help I'll be since I haven't been involved with a therapist or psychiatrist for the last 8 years or so, & my fixed idea + hallucination stuff didn't really come on until later. I think you have a few things to weigh against each other here—

A diagnosis of any psychotic disorder makes people more likely to be forcibly institutionalised and discredited by court systems (e.g. if seeking custody of a child or defending oneself from criminal allegations). Diagnosis may also be necessary to receive certain kinds of treatment. If you're not distressed by your symptoms or seeking treatment at this time, it's all risk and no gain on that front.

If you feel that your therapist is generally supportive and you'd like to be able to talk about this with them, I think it makes sense to trust your gut on that one (as in, you of course know this therapist better than I do)—but maybe ask how any notes they take about you are used by or accessible to anyone else, including if you switch practices, and what their practices with diagnosis are (i.e., some therapists or psychiatrists may withhold official diagnosis for the above reasons).

You express some concern that this could be something with a more definite physical etiology—do you have any other symptoms, or any family history of (brain) tumors? If so, either of those things may be enough to talk to your GP about without mentioning the hallucinations.

It's absolutely maddening (ha) that we have to juggle these kinds of things against each other when trying to receive care for things. I hope you can get some resolution soon, whatever you chuse to do 💜

#though I mean I've also met multiple people whose doctors refused to even consider the possibility that they could have a tumor... #and then it was a tumor. #so it's not impossible you'd have to go to more than one doctor. #questions #Anonymous

[alexenglish]

cw detailed eating and food talk, but i need advice from people who are good at eating meals, which sounds bonkers but bear with me

i wanna preface this by saying i don't have a bad relationship with food itself, i didn't know what a calorie was until i was like 24, i don't diet, and i'm not a picky eater. i enjoy food and have a neutral-positive relationship with food, but i am not a consistent eater and it's really difficult for me to get into the habit of eating meals which is not good for my energy or my stomach !!

i have symptoms of hypoglycemia but not diabetes, and i also do not experience normal hunger signals. so instead of 'feeling hungry' in a normal sense, i can get extra tired or have migraine symptoms or immediate and severe blood sugar drops, but my stomach doesn't 'grumble' - which has happened my whole life, a lot of times i don't know i'm hungry until my blood sugar is tanking. which was super hard as a child because i would just like... start screaming and crying and my mom would buy me orange juice.

so it's not ideal for consistent meal times because a lot of time, by the time i realize i'm hungry, i'm literally on the edge of a blood sugar crash and don't have time to cook.

in addition to that, i'm also not good at cooking because it's a ton of energy one way or the other. prepping is energy, cooking is energy, cleaning up is energy...

there are things i enjoy cooking, but since i don't feel hunger in a regular way, it's hard to know how much time to give myself to cook before i eat. so if cook+prep takes an hour or two, will i be hungry when its ready? or on the flip side, will my blood sugar crash as i'm making it and i'll need to eat something else immediately?

i realize this could be solved by prepping and storing meals, but i also do not grocery shop myself. other members of the household are the ones to grocery shop and tend to buy for family meals that are made on certain days, and i have a lot of discomfort around both asking for ingredients for meals that are intended only for myself and also shopping at groceries stores myself because that's one of the top 5 things that take a ton of energy out of me. it's like work, grocery stores, hanging out with friends/family outside of the house, cooking, cleaning floors... you get it.

so that's a hang up, but i also just need to build better habits because i know once i'm on a consistent eating schedule that will benefit my stomach, my energy levels, and i also have a theory that if i eat more consistently, my body will start regulating and sending me accurate hunger signals lmao

my family does dinner extremely regularly so that's my consistent meal of the day, so it's really daytime meals that i struggle with the most. but breakfast is ALSO a hang up for me, because it's hard for me to wake up and want food? i'm not sure that's normal or will change, but it's been that way my whole life and it makes early morning commitments difficult because i always know i need to eat before i leave the house but i don't want to.

anyway all that to say, my ask to anyone who's reading this, do you have any tricks and tips for building better eating habits?

the best thing for me personally would be to start small, like integrating one food habit in during the day and making it a habit. i've been thinking about getting into protein shakes to like, supplement my day until i can get into better meal habits, but i'd just love to hear some ideas from anyone who might have suggestions or things that worked for them, etc etc~

#look a personal post #food discussion

[multiplicity-positivity]

do you know ways to get unfrontstuck? ive been here for about 4 days, and i cant contact anyone in system. typically we switch a lot or often rapid switch as we switch easily and are a bigger system. our system partner has tried triggering out some others that have been fronting a lot recently or front easily, and nothing. sometimes it feels like someone is trying to switch in, but then just, don't and are gone from the fronting area again. i don't know what to do at this point, and waiting it out is a bit detrimental to the systems health, as I've been on the verge of having a meltdown, since i can't handle our autism symptoms as well as the others. (im assuming its because i am a symptom holder.)

sorry if this sounds a bit venty, i just wanna know if you guys had any advice on getting unfrontstuck.

hey, so some additional context might be helpful for us to provide the best advice. stuff like, did something happen when you switched in that might have caused you to remain frontstuck? has your system dealt with frontstuck members in the past? is your system going through something stressful, traumatic, or otherwise harmful that may be preventing switches?

we have no end-all-be-all advice that can guarantee a switch. however, in our system, there’s a few things we can do to try and trigger alters out. things like playing an alter’s favorite music or video game, putting together their favorite food, or otherwise engaging with an activity we know they enjoy can sometimes bring them to the front. asking our system gatekeeper to pull out the host also works for getting him (who is usually frontstuck) away from the front.

some systems have had luck with people outside the system requesting a particular alter’s presence. this doesn’t work for us, and from what you’ve described, it sounds like it may not work for you either.

maybe a tulpamancy switching guide could help you loosen up in order to allow a switch to take place. we haven’t vetted these sources, but here’s some switching guides we pulled from online.

in our experience, some patience can go a long way when it comes to dealing with frontstuck members. if you’re trying hard all the time to trigger a switch, that could be making it less likely for a switch to take place. some patience and a calm, relaxed environment may remedy this.

good luck with everything - we know how much it sucks to be frontstuck when you really don’t want to be. we hope you’re able to switch out with another headmate sometime soon!

🐢 kip and 🌸 margo

#frontstuck #fronting #switching #triggering switches

[icryyoumercy]

@nimblermortal

first, because these things are important nowadays, i am not a medical professional, this is not professional medical advice, the WHO has helpful information about malaria, when living or travelling in a region where malaria happens, mosquito repellent and appropriate protective gear are mandatory and non-negotiable, and so on

quinine is made from tree bark, which makes it one of the two medically useful things made from tree bark i know of, and also makes me wonder how people learn these things. were they just. walking around biting random trees. is the desire to chew on tree bark just part of what makes humans human.

it has initially been used as a muscle relaxant by the quechua people, to treat uh. random shivering? which is apparently a thing people sometimes do? which i could look into, but then i'd probably get distracted

the spaniards brought it back to europe, as they did with so many things, and because things like germ theory and microbiology and chemistry were still centuries from being discovered, what people knew of malaria was that it causes fever and thus shivering with very noticeable periodicity. and they had just been told about a thing that can stop shivering, so might as well give it a shot. if the symptoms are all you are aware of, the symptoms are all you can treat.

and for some utterly baffling reason, it turned out it didn't just help against shivering, it actually cured malaria? which. wasn't what anyone was aiming for, but gift horses and all that.

rome, being located very conveniently in a swamp, and having a rather inconvenient amount of popes and other people important to the catholic church, was perfectly located to pioneer such treatment and make a great many of the rich and powerful (and thus by advertisment of word of mouth and rumor everyone else) want some more of this marvellous drug, which made quinine (that is, the bark it's extracted from) one of peru's most important stolen goods

then, of course, a lot of fucked up colonialism happened (including in africa, because it's hard to do colonialism while dying of malaria), because europeans were unwilling to engage in things like fair and equal trade with non-europeans, we get fun medical price gouging and attempts at monopolies and general unpleasantness, and someone finally managed to isolate the exact chemical compound instead of just grinding up the bark and mixing it with something that tastes better than tree bark

and around the 1940s, malaria treatments with fewer unpleasant side effects were discovered (which i know nothing about and won't look up because adhd), and by 2006 the WHO has declared that quinine shouldn't be used as the first choise in treating malaria for a variety of reasons, including resistant strains and aforementioned side effects

also, if you're really curious about the taste, tonic water is traditionally made with quinine, and has been used as a prophylactic against malaria. once it wasn't used for that purpose any longer, though, people have decided to add less quinine and more sugar and citrus because they didn't enjoy just how incredibly bitter that stuff was. also, the FDA says you can't have more than 83 ppm of quinine per liter of tonic water, so if you wanted to treat malaria with it, you'd need to drink some ten liters per day, and if you want to use it for prevention, you'd need around 20 liters per day, at which point malaria seems like the better option

what tonic water can help with, on the other hand, is muscle cramps! not sure how much of that is the quinine and how much is the placebo effect, but at that point, we're back to readily available and comparatively harmless

either way, in the 1860's, it was one of the few actually working medical things (along with chloroform and diethyl ether for general anaesthesia, and opium for pain relief), so they will throw it at anything that has even the slightest ressemblance to periodic fever (to be fair, a number of other things they did also had the required medical effects, they just ran afoul of paracelsus's basic adage of toxicity

Alle Dinge sind Gift, und nichts ist ohne Gift; allein die Dosis macht, dass ein Ding kein Gift ist. All things are poison, and nothing is without poison; the dosage alone makes it so a thing is not a poison.

—Paracelsus, 1538

by reaching the poisonous dosage at the same or a much earlier point than the therapeutic dosage)

#three cheers for thorough investigation #a study in sex drugs and french #there are many things i could and probably should say about colonialism here #but this is what i do for fun which colonialism very much isn't #it was bad it was wrong it shouldn't have been done #and someone much more patient and mentally healthy #needs to work out the reparations we owe #also of course i cannot resist bringing up paracelsus #the man was baptised Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim #any excuse to bring this up is a good excuse

[knifefightscene]

not entirely sure how this will be received but. Sometimes you are in your own way. To me that’s such a fucked yo and hard thing to hear, as someone who’s gone through abuse and other traumatic things. I didn’t want to admit that I have responsibility in my own mental well being (Which should be an empowering thing, if you think about it) I think for so long I felt as though I was a culmination of things that happened to me, and that I would always be. But the reality is that no one sees that when they see you. No one knows your pain but you. You’re a clean slate to everyone you know, and more importantly, people will just think you’re quite and that’s that. People have their own lines of rumination and lines of mental jargon going on to keep tabs about “What’s wrong/bad abt you”. Allow yourself to exist and let yourself be free of negative self thinking cycles if that’s what’s in your way. I’m in no way free of this myself but I’ve had time to actually realize my own part in staying in a mindset that does not serve me, or is remotely true. I use to not be able to leave my house and up until recently have a job where I was around anyone because I was so afraid of people and felt so horribly mentally that I thought that they MUST know that I was fuxked up and not someone they would want to talk to. But the reality was they didn’t know any of that, I was closing myself off to people and made myself unapproachable which fed into the “No one likes me/no one wants to talk to me” and it’s still so hard but changing how I behave and learning to ignore biased negative thoughts bout myself has really lessened the stress and depression that I had. Another thing is, that depression is symptom that can come from so many diff scenarios (In my case my depression was due to my extreme anxiety) but in other peoples cases it is genetic, (My boyfriends cousin has dealt w/ being severely suicidal most of her life and is now doing amazing by finding meds that work for her) and ofc evironmwntal factors/trauma. Whatever the case it’s horrible for someone to have to experience but what’s worse is believing that there’s no way it could get better, I honestly think this prolongs it but it’s hard to accept or see that type of reality if it’s not worked on. And this doesn’t magically happen. Once you begin to even try to think things can be better or that you could shape your behaviors differently than how you have been it’s going to feel fake. It’s going to feel uncomfortable and unreal and when I was told this advice by my therapist I just didn’t believe him and it made me angry to be honest. I was like. that just sounds like the stupidest fake shit I ever heard. And it did feel like that. I’m still dealing w/ a lot of things like housing insecurity + being post car accident but I can’t imagine how I would be doing if I hadn’t at least done these things. This isn’t supposed to be mean btw I know it might not be something you’d like to hear but seeing your posts transported me to before I had done these things and I just wanted to pass this on, I really believe you won’t feel this way forever. ok i’m fucking awf now

I feel like you’re telling me to be one of those manifestation girl and i am sorry it is not for me. Being delusional is more painful than depression and sadness can ever be.

[rabbitindisguise]

it's late but I'm getting all worked up before bed because I had weird test results and they just didn't do anything!!!!!!!!!! not even a "everything looks normal" just "weird weird okay I'm leaving" sometimes even leaving the room before I could be like "Wait hold up"

frankly I think it's probably wise to ask for someone to go to an appointment with me to quickly get all the referrals I need and tests done that make sense given my symptoms but it's a bit short notice for an agency for patient representatives (who mostly get second opinions, and I'd need to figure out insurance for that) and everyone else has like School or Work and stuff

and like I'm mad enough about this stuff that I can do some self advocacy running off of pure anger but 1) I don't want to sabotage the somewhat decent relationships I have with my doctors and 2) as much as I joke that this is my full time job I'm seriously underqualified and it's stressful as hell when I'm alone in a room with a person who basically has my life in their hands. I was mostly adjusting to the idea that if there was a problem someone would do something, but ever since the seriously concerning bloodwork has come back I haven't heard a peep. It's like they think because I'm up and talking I'm somehow healthy as if I haven't personally done a hip reduction multiple times by myself- because they don't believe it ever happened, though even when presented with test results they don't seem to wake up until you repeatedly shake them into sense

Therapists have a lot of problems and the patient/therapist relationship has the thorny bit where they can have you institutionalized against your will, but doctors can both do that AND cause problems through negligence. I have more self respect from therapists than I ever will from how I get treated by doctors because they are capable of treating people like equals.

And like I can't do my best work when I'm like physically a mess because I acted on the advice they gave me and I can't hold anyone responsible for it without going through the effort I should be saving for repairing my health. People ignore me when I basically present my symptoms on a silver platter and don't do anything when I tell them to do stuff that they assume I don't want. It's infuriating.

It's also really frustrating watching people go through their own health struggles and feeling like I'm helpless and giving the wrong advice. I feel like my answer should always be to fight it every step until you're sure it's fine but money is Such an issue and also going to so many appointments can cause problems that are nebulous and unclear, hospital to hospital, system to system. I have no idea how to correctly go to the doctor or if there even is such a thing! People have been giving me advice but there is no fix, I'm never seeing the same person, I'm shuffled off from one person to the next and they won't even agree that I'm disabled to sign my forms one entire year later and I did all the things I'm supposed to the letter

I'm doing my stool sample tomorrow and calling to schedule more appointments. I'm messaging my neurologist to follow up on cluster headaches and an MRI, talking about my problems with emgality, and asking about why my prescription is currently in limbo. I'm going to call the nurse line to see what I should do about the test results, schedule an appointment with my actual specific PCP, and start typing up the ungodly level of paperwork I need to create for the next appointment and a treatment plan based on my symptoms. And then as a treat next friday I'm going to tell my story to my therapist to explain why I haven't been doing the therapy stuff I want to be doing this week instead of trying to do it and failing -_-

The main things I need to figure out is if 1) one of my prescriptions is causing this 2) if there's any possibility there is actually a bacteria infection 3) what other things I could have symptoms of 4) what intermediate treatment options I have between now and the endoscopy for the Problems

eventually I'm going to have to type up a bunch of treatment guidelines for MCAS and surgery so I'll need to get a consult through my doctor and a bunch of papers through the EDS support groups if I can. Plus all the documentation for my RFC form, citations from my doctors notes, records requests from tufts, my previous hospitals, and get my password recovered for an online portal/records request if I can't.

and in the meantime I'm going to have to sleep. Ugh. I know I procrastinated on laundry but it's like. How am I supposed to do all the things? how is anyone supposed to do all the things??? I see all the work people have to put into being people and it's a wonder any of us are moderately functional. I want to be physically stable enough that I can have good, positive, and stable relationships with the people I care about. And we have plans this weekend ;-; and I still haven't edited the wedding photos OTL

Edit: this is the part where my therapist/housemates tell me I'm not responsible for literally all the things and I should rest and where i remind myself that thinking I have to fix everything is also in and of itself a type of grandiosity *sigh* baby steps

#personal #I'm getting all sweaty and shakey #me and my bowels need to have a discussion man to man about a ceasefire until this crap gets resolved #disability #ableism

[schizopositivity]

Hi there. First, I love your blog and have been finding it very helpful lately. Second, I just wanted some insight on what I'm currently going through. A traumatic event happened to me recently and I'm still dealing with the aftermath, it feels like it's made all my symptoms get worse and caused some old ones to resurface again, and I'm scared of things getting worse. The most convenient counseling available to me (in terms of the location and price) doesn't deal with more severe mental health conditions. They told me not to go back to them because they could only handle things like mild circumstantial depression and stress. So now I am trying to get back into long term therapy with a professional who'd be more equipped to handle cases like mine, but in the meantime, what coping mechanisms do you suggest just to keep me afloat for a while until I can access a professional again?

I don't want to get too detailed and unintentionally trigger anyone, but basically my intrusive thoughts have gotten especially bad (in all senses - frequency, intensity, how graphic/detailed they get), my "unhealthy beliefs" are becoming more obvious to the people around me and it's been interfering with my daily functioning, some other stuff has been going on that's hard to put into words tbh and overall it feels like my brain never gets a break from itself since it's so damn "loud" and it feels like the thoughts won't shut off. Sorry since I realize this is kind of a heavy topic, please don't feel pressured but if you have any resources or just advice from your own experience about how to cope with this for a while, I'd appreciate it a lot, please. I'm currently not a danger to myself or others because I do have family with me and they watch after me (check in on me, monitor my meds, etc.) but there is still that "divide" between me and them where they don't fully grasp what I'm going through and it just feels like hell inside of my own brain. Thank you.

first off im really sorry you went through something traumatic recently. you didnt deserve that or the after effects you got from it. i went through something traumatic earlier this year and it also made my symptoms worse, so youre not alone in that.

heres one resrouce, you can click on "what should i do if i experienced a traumatic event?"

as for dealing with intrusive thoughts, one thing i do is right after they happen i think to myself "obviously thats not what im thinking" or "clearly thats not my real conscious thoughts" as a way to dismess them as just intrusive thoughts and not anything to do with how i really feel. to discredit them and not give them any deeper meaning.

id also encourage you to talk more to your family and friends, to really open up and tell them the truth and how youre feeling and what youre thinking. most people want to know whats really going on with their loved ones. plus you never know what kind of advice and support they could offer until you open up. and maybe if talking isnt an easy way to show your emotions maybe do it through drawings or poetry, or even showing them a song or movie you relate to right now.

i wish you luck on getting the professional help you deserve. and if its possible, dont settle for someone you dont feel comfortable talking to or someone that isnt equipted to handle your problems. you wont offend a therapist/counselor/psychiatrist by changing to a different one, its their job to help you and if they cant its totatally normal and appropraite to switch to someone else, they dont take it personally.

#answered

[deromanus]

having such a weird health concern experience with my cats and would love to know if anyone has any ideas of what to do. I have 3 cats (2 male 7 and 11 yrs old, 1 female 3 years old) and for the past two months the two boys have been constantly vomiting basically every time they eat. I took the older one to the vet and they couldn't find anything obviously wrong with him (I didn't take the 7 yo because he is aggressive at the vet, I would have to drug him, their symptoms are exactly the same, etc.)

They are acting normal except for vomiting daily. No blockages, both let me touch and press on their bellies, etc. The thing we can't figure out is only 2 of them are having this issue but all 3 eat the exact same food/treats, use the same catboxes, have the same coat length (if hairballs could be a factor), play with the same toys, all american short hairs who were rescued as kittens, all are spayed/neutered, etc. Everything about their lives is exactly the same except that the one is younger and female.

It could be related to shedding their winter coats and having hairballs, but again, it is only happening to two of them. It started at the same exact time so it seems weird that they would both simultaneously develop a digestive problem. The only other fur related factor I can think of is that the two boys were born/lived in Florida for a long time, and the female was born in New York (where we currently live). So maybe there is a weird climate thing happening but we've lived here for 5 years and not had this problem before.

I have tried giving them digestive supplements, treats for hairballs, etc, none of it seems to help. I am so confused about what to do for them. Going to try switching all their food to a gentle digestion formula and see if that makes a difference. Also will probably try brushing them more.

But yeah it's so bizarre would love advice from any cat owners out there who might have dealt with something like this

#cats #pets #pet advice

[curiousitycollective]

Anon here who asked about system advice; first of all, I'll start this by saying I apologise if this is awkward or if I'm hard to understand, I'm trying to make it understandable but some things are hard to explain & can be more difficult for me.

I have medium support needs ASD, PDA (pathological demand avoidance - I know the acronym has multiple meanings), and also NPD traits, for some background information about me.

In about March 2022, I came to the conclusion that I was likely a system, and then realised I may not be in February 2023, then questioned this idea frequently until around May, where I decided I must be "just delusional". However, this month I've noticed a lot of my symptoms line up with system traits (unsure what specific disorder) that don't actually line up with delusion whatsoever, and they just didn't seem to be present during the previous spring-summer, or at least not as obvious, but November in particular is a very difficult month for me for personal reasons.

Now into the explanation of my traits; I describe my identity as fluidly changing between multiple states, many of which are "inspired" (that's the closest word I can think of) by various fictional characters. Some of these seem quite new, however others are ones I believed were alters back in around.. well, the two I'm referring to were November 2022 and April 2023, who seem to have better memory of those times. As far as I'm aware this isn't voluntary, however I can't get the idea out of my mind that I could be delusional and subconsciously faking this. My NPD traits & ASD also mean I have difficulty with sympathy/empathy and related concepts, so my mind couldn't necessarily understand how faking something like this would be wrong, even though I know I'm not willingly choosing to do it.

Other things I experience are I believe pieces of memory loss/being hard to remember, sometimes (but not always) between these different identity 'states', and the fact that my preferred name, pronouns, and often the way I act can change between these. I don't think I've ever actually heard anyone speak to me or anything except for two occasions which I'm not too convinced happened (it doesn't quite feel real to me?).

Another reason I'm unsure is that I can watch a show and almost immediately after feel like I'm a character from that, as a new 'identity'? And I don't know if that's possible as a system thing

Also I never really am convinced I literally AM the character? More like I'm just based on them if that makes sense

This was hard to explain, I'm sorry - if there's anything you'd like me to elaborate on, feel free to tell me, thank you for any help you're able to give /gen

We apologize for this because our brain is a bit of a mess but we'll try and explain things in a understandable manner. And the usual disclaimer applies we can't tell anyone what's going on with them but we can provide information on our experiences and the experiences we've seen in the community.

If you (anon or anyone else) has questions about anything we've said here or anywhere else please shoot us an ask/dm/reblog/whatever is most comfortable for you. We can't guarantee a speedy reply but we will do our best to get to any we see.

All that said, since this is going to be extremely long, for the sake of everyone's dash we're going to stick it under a readmore.

So first point, finding the difference between delusions/any other psychosis and plural/systemness is extremely difficult, and as weird as this sounds from personal experience its often more effective to set that specific question aside.

That doesn't mean don't think about it, instead its often better to work from "does this help me/improve my life" or more specifically "does treating this as systemhood help?" then trying to figure out for sure which something is.

Because sometimes they're extremely similar, and there isn't always a nice dividing line between them as you can have both and they will interact and effect each other.

In terms of practical tips we definitely suggest using a journal or app to track things, specifically how you feel and different experiences bit also what's happening around you at the time. It can help you get an idea of outside factors that can trigger things which can help sort out what's going on.

And in general keeping up with anything that you know helps with delusions; for us that's sleeping and eating regularly, taking meds, journalling, and specific exercises we do, can help. If you are in a space/state where you'd normally see less delusions happening and the possibly plural things aren't (as) affected that can indicate its not a delusion.

And we've said this before but it bears repeating, if you aren't consciously doing something you then you aren't faking it. You can be wrong about the nature of something but that's not a failing its just a part of life and often the only way to know is to see if something fits by engaging in it. Life is complicated and brains even more so, sometimes we're wrong about things but that's fine.

Some more specific stuff; headmates presenting as a change in personality or an influence rather then straight up thoughts or hearing them is actually incredibly common especially in systems that are just coming to awareness of their systemhood. There is actually a specific term for it that we can't remember or find but its something many experience.

It often takes time and practice to build up internal communication, its less talked about in online communities as by their nature these spaces tend to be mostly systems with better communication.

Its also not weird for internal communication and awareness to fluctuate especially before any real awareness. We went through many periods of lower and higher communication before therapy and time allowed us to have a steady baseline

Unstable identities and picking up identities aren't specifically a plural thing but they aren't necessarily not a plural thing. Headmates that are fragments or not fully formed when they come to awareness can "pick up" identities as they solidify their sense of self.

Its also possible to have other disorders that impact identity, and have those effect you if you are plural.

You haven't said how long these identities last, but if they aren't permanent you might benefit from looking into the alterhuman community specifically the term flicker and more specifically fictionflicker.

Okay I think that covers most things, please let us know if there's anything you need/want expanded on

-Scarlet/Ash

#plural stuff #collective chatter #plural questioning #flicker #fictionflicker #psychosis #delusions

[paperphobe]

Vent post I suppose

Cw: medical talk, medical trauma, general pain and annoying symptoms, food/eating and weight loss. Basically if reading anything health/medical is triggering to you maybe don’t read this. Vent post not to anyone specific but more because I just need to put it out there because I can’t move on until it’s spoken into the universe (adhders get me 😵‍💫) and no one really follows this account. I’ve had a TON of medical issues that have had me in the hospital and in BRUTAL pain and on so many medications and it came very suddenly at the start of September and it’s pretty much faded away pain wise but I had to spend a lot of time in the hospital and get some surgical procedures done. I experienced some traumatic things during all of that and though it’s definitely effected me it’s not my biggest issue as I have a great new therapist to chat with about that. Right now I’m clear and healthy on all tests and I’m not in pain anymore but I’ve been experiencing some symptoms that started during the issue, and haven’t gone away. It’s taken a toll mentally and physically on me and even effected my schoolwork. I’ve seen a bunch of doctors and my surgeon and professionals and they have no idea why this could possibly still be happening to me and there isn’t an inherent link to my condition and the symptoms that I still have (they were more explainable when I was in hospital and recovering from surgery). I’m also mildly concerned that they might be a symptom of something else but I’ve managed to push that thought out of my mind. Not sure if anyone has dealt with this (lasting pain and issues) before, I’ve had chronic pain in joints and long term health stuff but never something that’s effected me like this. If you have dealt with something like this any advice on how to just cope with the huge change from who I was before this and who I am now, and also the fact I just feel like shit? Before I was playing rugby or soccer every day, eating large meals, doing well in school and socially, I was super happy and sleeping well and being productive. Now I’m exhausted all the time, nothing makes me happy (I feel very numb), I’m always bored and don’t enjoy anything I used too (or anything besides doing my word puzzles), I can’t manage basic levels of physical activity, I have no appetite and eating feels like a horrible chore, I’ve dropped 20+lbs even when I eat what should be enough, my mouth is so dry and nothing helps, non stop migraines, I can’t sleep more than two hours most nights so I end up getting so tired I pass out and sleep for over 15, my vision has gotten worse to a point my glasses don’t help and it hurts to try and look at things, hands, feet, eyes, scalp and nose are always dry and itchy, I’m perpetually nauseous, I’m irritable and sad and a lot more prone to meltdowns, I’ve had way more nerve pain than I usually do and I’m peeing annoyingly frequently (which aligned with some of my medical issues and has lessened a lot but is still just annoying asf)

I laughed so hard I cried for the first time since the start of this at a stupid joke one of my classmates made and I realized I hadn’t really laughed in months, and I’m a person who laughs at everything. I’ve been drifting from some friends recently for unrelated reasons, including my best friend of three years, and I can’t even bring myself to care because I just feel this non stop numbness in my brain and my emotions and it sucks so much. I’ve seen one episode of CM since September (tho the hyper-fixation has not gone away thank god) because I put it on and I realize that like everything else, I can’t even enjoy this. Anyways if anyone actually read this I hope you had a good time reading about how miserable I am and all my random medical issues including how frequently I pee! 🤩 I hope you feel enlightened.

#somewhat of a vent #kinda shitpost #not at all criminal minds related #I do mention it once tho #I hope no one thinks this is important or interesting and reads though the entire thing #If you did that I’m so sorry