Anything bothering you right now?

[Heelsbythebridge]

Alcohol doesn't make me feel as good as it used to but I keep drinking it anyway because it at least puts bad thoughts off balance for a little while. I'm pickling my innards.

[Heelsbythebridge]

I'm constipated. Why does this always happen when I'm on my period?? As if it wasn't bad enough

[Otherside]

Mixed feelings about the threat to pull out of the house purchase.

- On one hand, it will be a relief, quite frankly. Seven months with little movement, and 2 sets of solicitors who have just run the clock down and whoa are blaming everyone but themselves for how we are in this situation. Give me a break. You are bad. It should not take a month+ to answer questions sent to you, and then to review the answers. That's how we are here.
- On the other hand, I'm not going to get a mortgage at 3.5% again. But to be quote Frank, there won't be one very soon. And I'm certainly not going to get an extension at a higher rate so another seven months cam be spent doing very little.

I mean, "I will pull out. If I don't, the seller will veery soon." Has finally gotten movement, but it should have been like this months ago.

Fucks sake. Frustrating as it is, I feel sorry for the seller. I pull out, he's stuck with a mortgage on an empty flat and will probably get a lower price now. I just have to pay solicitors fees (though I will be querying because 7 bloody months).

[Otherside]

So, I'm going to start this off with the preface -

The Epilim/Sodium Valproate scandal is simply that. An absolute scandal, and it is absolutley appalling that the drug companies coveted up what the drug was doing, and that patients were not warned of the dangers of being on this drug whilst pregnant. I hope they get sued for huge sums, there quite possibly should be criminal charges against those who covered this up over the scale of this.

That said -

It's hard to demonise the drug, when it got me stable a decade back. This is not a minor thing. It is not simply mild unpleasantness. It quite literally, saved my life. As it has many others. The fact remains that is one of the most effective drugs out there for treating both epilepsy and bipolar, and it may very well one day be needed again. I have zero intention of having any children. Whether I am even can is another issue, but we won't go there.

Im seeing some well-deserved critisim, then I'm seeing a lot of people posting a hell of a lot of misinformation and engaging in a moral panic, and on the other side of it, a lot of people who are quite frankly, [BEEP] scared, that they will be taken off of it, something which could very well kill them.

So, the absolute blunt points.

- This drug saves lives. Epilepsy, bipolar? They kill people. They are not easy to treat. Yes, the side effects are shit. Take it from me. The thyroid issues cleared up when I went off. Quite frankly, there are very few - if any - drugs that treat epilepsy or bipolar that are side effect free. It is often a balancing act of what can be tolerated and what cannot be.
- "There are alternative options, just switch." JFC, it is not that simple. You don't simply oneday stop taking it, and go onto another. That is a major risk for some people.
- "It shouldn't be prescribed to anyone at all because of this." See point 1. It absolutley shouldn't be prescribed to pregnant women, or women who intend to pregnant in the near future, I agree.
- "Set percentage of women who comes off/switched". Point 1.
- I know this absolutle shock to some people, but not everyone wants to have children, not everyone can, not everyone is straight. Not every medical decision needs to revolve around a hypothetical, future foetus that will not exist.

[CloudMaker]

Men’s standards are way too high

[Heelsbythebridge]

Starting the workday. I don't know how much longer I can go on like this. I have another 4 decades before I can retire.

[Ironman]

I am in year 19 of my job....
We had a team discussion on micromanagement, and people took my lead and spoke up.

[Otherside]

The term "six sessions of CBT".

Okay, I'm sure six sessions CBT does help some people, but I was referred for a med review, I don't know why you've decided my problem is "low mood" More the bloody opposite.

Also, we've done this six sessions of CBT rubbish four times in the past, I get that it helps a lot of people, but it really doesn't help me much.

FYI, we did this six sessions of CBT the last time I was unwell because you decided I needed to do this before I could speak go a psych. How about we don't let it get to crisis point or me being signed off sick this time? I will be forever grateful to the person at IAPT who referred me back to CMHT.

[Otherside]

Tiktok, and the people who seem to be self-diagnosing based on it.

Look, the "algorithm" hasnt diagnosed you. You don't have schizophrenia because you took a "which winnie the Pooh character" am I, and you received the answer of "Christopher Robin." That viral "Do I have Trauma" test, is an advert. DID is not fun, stop telling us all that you have 100 alters based off of Minecraft. Hayley, the fact that you shone a torch in your eyes to make your publics dilate so you can participate in that fucked up "finish when youre manic" trend, does not make you bipolar. And there is a reason we don't diagnose personality disorders when you're 13 years old, in a few years time, you likely will not have the traits of Borderline PD.

If you truly, truly had half the stuff you claim to have, everybody around you has already noticed, likely before you did. Grow the hell up, this [BEEP] isn't "cute" or a trend, these are disorders that kill people.

[Otherside]

Applied for a replacement driving license 2 months ago as mine has expired, still haven't received a new card from DVLA..

My current license expires on Saturday.

[Otherside]

Hives back with a vengeance. Been told it is probably Chronic Hives, or in medical terms, "Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria
". Allergist has said it is not an allergy pattern, not that I can do allergy tests with the meds I'm on. She's going to refer me to an urticaria expert though. Blood tests don't show any sort of autoimmune disease causing it.

Kind of good, because I've pretty much exhausted what can be offered at primary care, which is just antihistamines, change antihistamines, try high dose of antihistamines. May as well be a sugar pill. Flare up is worse each night. Don't even itch at times, literally burn. Been put back on prednisolone, which can't take longterm, due to the fact that it shuts off your adrenal glands and if you take steroids for too.long, they just don't turn back on again and you end up with cushings. Also, the side effect of those things. Not doing much to stop the night flares though. Really do not want to have to once again be at urgent care this weekend if the swelling keeps up because they're kind of dismissive and try to insist that there is nothing wrong there and it's all just anxiety.

Anyway, being covered almost head to toe in Hives that kind of join up to become one giant, angry red swollen splodge, is really doing wonders for my mental state.