(Thread IKs:
Josherino)
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what's the skinny on lexapro. anything I should be aware of vis a vis side effects or weird poo poo like sleepwalking?
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Jan 29, 2022 02:59
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DR FRASIER KRANG posted:what's the skinny on lexapro. anything I should be aware of vis a vis side effects or weird poo poo like sleepwalking? i took it for a long time and it made it hard to get boners, if you forget to take it you get zappy zaps, i got them in my teeth and arms, but i guess that isn't normal or something
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Jan 29, 2022 03:05
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DR FRASIER KRANG posted:what's the skinny on lexapro. anything I should be aware of vis a vis side effects or weird poo poo like sleepwalking? The first week is gonna feel really good. That goes away. You will feel tired, a lot. I was taking naps in fire exit stairs at work at one point. This also goes away, after 6 months or so. Sexual side effects are a real thing. It's still possible to cum but it takes a while. This can continue even after you stop the med, for an indeterminate amount of time.
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Jan 29, 2022 03:18
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Every day I feel worthless And every day I feel worth less
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Jan 29, 2022 03:20
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skooma512 posted:The first week is gonna feel really good. That goes away. oh that won't be fun
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Jan 29, 2022 03:36
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AceOfFlames posted:I wonder if it was how I was raised. my mom would give me money every time I got good grades in lieu of allowance. I think that screwed me up. Probably not, executive dysfunction is fairly common in the mentally ill.
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Jan 29, 2022 04:33
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DR FRASIER KRANG posted:what's the skinny on lexapro. anything I should be aware of vis a vis side effects or weird poo poo like sleepwalking? I only started recently. It's given me really bad orthostatic hypotension, which is a bit crazy because I had some light hypertension only 6 months ago (BP is generally like 110/70 when I started lexapro). I've switched from taking it first thing in the morning to taking it like 2 hours before bed and so far it seems like an improvement but I'm still noticing it.
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Jan 29, 2022 17:16
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doc told me it could cause insomnia so I was taking it in the morning. i already have insomnia though so I'm not even sure it matters. he was also like "watch out for constant snacking which could lead to weight gain" and I'm like, dude, I stopped smoking weed three weeks ago and I never eat anything as a result. that sounds dope.
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Jan 29, 2022 19:21
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Tulip posted:I only started recently. It's given me really bad orthostatic hypotension, which is a bit crazy because I had some light hypertension only 6 months ago (BP is generally like 110/70 when I started lexapro). I've switched from taking it first thing in the morning to taking it like 2 hours before bed and so far it seems like an improvement but I'm still noticing it. I'm on Celexa, which is essentially the same thing (it has an additional isomer of the drug which doesn't cross the blood brain barrier). I also noticed the same thing with orthostatic hypotension. I found that the side effects faded precipitously after the first week or so, and continued to fade until I didn't notice them anymore. At first, it hosed my sleep up (I would ping wide awake after four hours and not be able to get back to sleep). It also gave me tinnitus sporadically, I was grinding my teeth, and my heart rate would periodically spike. All of this resolved though and I felt much better after taking it for a couple weeks. I take it for OCD and PTSD. I don't have a mood disorder, so I can't comment on how it works as an antidepressant, but it did help my anxiety immensely. Before I started taking it I was having terrible panic and anxiety that was causing derealization. I haven't had a single full-blown panic attack since I started taking it 7 months ago, nor have I had any derealization spells. It's also made me much less emotionally reactive, which is good for managing triggers and intrusive thoughts.
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Jan 30, 2022 03:39
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I really need to stop reading the COVID thread. The world is ending and there's nothing I can do except bury my head in the sand and just wait. I can't even find enjoyment in things to do, just wait as people wonder why this weirdo never leaves his house and will eventually likely kill me horribly once everything starts truly collapsing.
AceOfFlames has issued a correction as of 08:48 on Jan 30, 2022 |
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Jan 30, 2022 08:45
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AceOfFlames posted:And yet even my family thinks I should be "proud" of my work for its own sake. Sounds like a them problem.
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Jan 30, 2022 11:04
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thotsky posted:Sounds like a them problem. Is it? Sounds like it's what healthy people should do. Maybe it's what people with non hosed executive function do. People get proud of performing well at their jobs. People get proud of making art. People get proud of contributing to society. Meanwhile I feel like I am still stuck in the middle school mentality of wanting to "ace the test". I work because I get paid and being someone who was told so often that because of my good grades I would succeed in life I see getting paid well as the end all be all. I used to delude myself I would change the world but now I see the world doesn't want to be changed. I avoid any sort of ideology because doing so means I put myself in a situation where for each person who would tell me I am "acing the test", 20 people would be telling me I have "failed" it. But normal people to me it seems don't. Unfortunately their answer is to simply decide that they themselves are the utmost authority and thus they always ace the test because they are giving it to themselves. And that's how you get "do your own research" and people who think they know more than experts. That to me is even worse. Sorry if this is rambling, I feel like I can't even share this stuff with my therapist because I would end up institutionalized or given up on. I guess it's just a rambling way of saying"to me, failure and being told I am wrong is the worst thing in the world and I avoid it as much as possible"
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Jan 30, 2022 11:12
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AceOfFlames posted:I feel like I can't even share this stuff with my therapist because I would end up institutionalized or given up on. I doubt that. This seems like pretty standard stuff to me. It's clearly affecting you to an unhealthy degree right now, but lots of people who never have cause to see a therapists struggle with similar thoughts. I would share with a therapist and see if something like CBT might give you the tools to break some of these thought loops that are causing you so much pain.
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Jan 30, 2022 11:21
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My therapist is already giving me CBT but she's emphasizing stuff like me "catastrophizing" Guess what? We are LIVING in a catastrophe! One time she even asked me if I was using COVID as a proxy for phobia! Even with my anti narrative stance, CBT honestly always felt like therapy whose sole purpose is to get you back to work. Naturally, it's the one that's most wide spread. At the very least it's based on a world that no longer exists.
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Jan 30, 2022 11:29
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AceOfFlames posted:My therapist is already giving me CBT but she's emphasizing stuff like me "catastrophizing" Guess what? We are LIVING in a catastrophe! One time she even asked me if I was using COVID as a proxy for phobia! This guy gets it. The entire objective of the mental health field is to keep you functional under capitalism. You must continue to produce and consume. To stop would literally be criminal. So they give poo poo drugs that don't do anything but dull the fact that the reality from whence we came is no more. Reality has ceased to have a consistent meaning between groups.
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Jan 30, 2022 11:34
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I don't think it's the ENTIRE field, just a relative subset of it. I don't even think it's intentional most of the time, it's just that how on earth do you get people to feel hope in the future with all the evidence in the contrary? I feel terrible for therapists. I wonder if we will see a max exodus from profession as we are seeing among other health care professionals.
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Jan 30, 2022 11:50
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TVsVeryOwn posted:The entire objective of the mental health field is to keep you functional under capitalism. It's not like there's a different system on offer. Being functional in the society we live in seems to have some value.
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Jan 30, 2022 12:14
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Our entire society is oriented around maximizing "productivity" so we can generate more profit for the powers that be. I have bipolar disorder, and have friends with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder. Our mental health issues are heavily genetic in origin, and we'd have problems even if we lived in my ideal version of the world. Sometimes I wonder how different life would be in that situation. I'd still have my depressive and manic phases, but I have a feeling I would have never tried to kill myself. So much of my struggle is due to being treated like I'm less than worthless. I completed training for "In Our Own Voice", a program through NAMI where peers share their experiences. I basically laid out my lifelong struggles with mental illness, and for some reason I didn't realize how triggering that would be. I think facing it head-on was good for me. It really put into perspective how many times I've been actively punished for struggling with a medical condition. My interactions with peers and their parents seem designed to focus entirely on the individual level. We never use words like "discrimination" or "bigotry." We're put down, neglected, rejected, and face outright torture and murder at the hands of authority figures. That's all labeled "stigma," as if it's something that exists independent of anyone's actions or responsibility. The burden is put on us to convince others to stop loving us over. Our material conditions are awful, and I don't expect my therapist or psychiatric nurse practitioner to change that. It'd be really nice if they'd stop acting like I just needed to pull up harder on my bootstraps, though. My current NP is more understanding than some others I've had. The expectations placed on me under capitalism make me feel like I need to justify my own existence to myself and others. I tell people about my efforts at NAMI as if it'll convince them and myself that I'm contributing. Deep down, I know that I have a right to exist regardless of my "productivity." I still struggle with finding my value inherent in being a human being, rather than trying to prove my value through actions. Assuming I end up being certified to speak "In Our Own Voice" (the irony isn't lost on me), I'm going to be sure to include all kinds of social context to make it clear that there's more to my experience than what I did right or wrong. It never seemed to occur to anyone that it might have been traumatic for me to dig my dad out from under a pile of rocks and drag him to safety on the steep icy slope of a mountain. Other people were having fun on their summer vacations during high school. My brother, my dad and I almost died. I'll never forget his cries of pain through the night. I thought he was going to die, leaving my brother and I alone in a harsh environment. We weren't trained airborne rangers, we were just kids. People actually thought it was a fun story. I guarantee no one would have thought it was fun if it was a car crash. I mentioned this before, but I ended up missing a bunch of classes due to depression in high school. They actively reduced all of my grades by a letter or more due to my absences. There was no "D" grade, so C's became F's. I worked my rear end off not just to graduate, but to survive. I never got my diploma, even when I tried to transfer college credits back to high school. They told me too much time had elapsed by then. I got a GED much, much later on. People treat me like my struggles are due to immorality and laziness. I have my own internal issues which are a challenge, but there are all kinds of external issues that simply feel insurmountable. Employers don't want an employee with bipolar disorder. A part of me doesn't blame them. There are a whole lot of barriers purposely put between me and useful social services. I contacted a highly-recommended lawyer about getting SSI, and they didn't think I was disabled enough to warrant any help. I feel like I'm just high functioning enough to raise people's expectations to the point where I can no longer meet them. I wish I didn't feel the need to justify the idea that I deserve food, shelter and healthcare. There's an opportunity to become a "peer support specialist," where my experiences with mental illness would qualify me for a job, rather than disqualify me. These are generally minimum-wage jobs with poor or no benefits. They're obviously a cost-saving measure because someone realized they can hire people like me for much less than a trained professional. These programs are new in my area, and are already being cut. It's still something I'd like to do. It's the kind of thing I already do without pay. From the people I know who underwent the training, there's a whole lot of toxic bullshit involved. Inhumanly long shifts, abusive environments, and all kinds of bad expectations/advice are put on people like me. A friend of mine was lectured during training for running away from home as a teenager. She had been severely psychologically and physically abused, and people tried to convince her that she did something wrong. Out of all of the ignorant people in the world, these are the ones who are supposed to "get it." These are the gatekeepers who get to decide whether or not I'm qualified to help people. I'm going to be a whole lot more vocal in my future interactions with these people. Also, thanks to everyone who's been contributing to the thread recently! Believe it or not, I think highly of you all. Who would have thought that a comedy website designed for making fun of people would have created such an empathetic environment? 
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Jan 30, 2022 16:40
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AceOfFlames posted:I feel terrible for therapists. I wonder if we will see a max exodus from profession as we are seeing among other health care professionals. quite the opposite. its been a growing profession for a while now. you set your own rate, you set your own hours, decide what clients to do see and if you don't fit with them you can terminate them. you are the boss and you have zero alienation of labor. no reason to feel bad for therapists. for covid, yeah its hard in the sense that they are human and going through the same thing everyone else is, but a big portion of the training is learning how to work through it, and learning boundaries. no other job gives that training afaik
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Jan 30, 2022 18:50
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I'd hate being my own boss. I'd end up just sleeping all day and starving to death. Power to those who can manage it I guess.
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Jan 30, 2022 20:19
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agency therapists don't get to do most of that stuff 
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Jan 30, 2022 22:43
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precious
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Hey AceofFlames you seem like you're spinning out pretty hard. Have you tried looking for a form of therapy other than CBT, and from a therapist you can tell things to? Those are two details you mentioned that I think could be actively working against you reaching your professed goals. It certainly doesn't seem like you're achieving them now. Or hey if you'd rather not let people help that's fine too it can be cathartic. Just let me know if you're actually trying to find solutions or just venting so I know whether I want to respond or not please.
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Jan 30, 2022 23:24
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No, please make your suggestions. I think I'm having a bad time due to all the news about restrictions being thrown open next week and having to go to the office and nothing can be done but to get this disease several times. Yes I know i can try to protect myself but I am already on super thin ice performance wise AND I've gotten the "have you tried talking to someone?" speech and if people see this weirdo be the only person in the building with a mask and not eating with everyone else it could be cause for them to cut their losses and just fire me. I think i am going to look for another therapist. Or probably just fully dump my concerns on my next session and hope i don't get institutionalized.
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Jan 30, 2022 23:30
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Got a new therapist finally, with an agency. She's extremely new, but also easier to talk to than the last one... but she's trained in CBT, which makes me hesitant.
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Jan 31, 2022 01:00
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AceOfFlames posted:I mean gently caress, in the before times I was feeling hyped over the fact that I was going to the gym regularly for the first time in my life. Now not only can I not do that there's no point. "Isn't having a healthier lifestyle it's own reward?" No. only thing I care about is being less of a skinny fat gently caress so more people hang out with me but since we are all trapped inside that's utterly irrelevant now. yeah I relate. I could tell my whole story, but I’m sleepy. but my life feels like a series of cycles where I put a lot of work being put into what should be a triumph but existential forces beyond my control basically makes it all for naught. like the poo poo I went through to set up my life in 2009 and 2019 and the world just drags me back to where I started. and this’ll happen a couple more times, and then that’s it time to die lol edit: how is therapy these days? I had one over zoom and he was so bad I didn’t even realize he was one until like a year later. there’s an inherent lack of human connection with internet telecommunication technology. why would I expect a good deal? Automata 10 Pack has issued a correction as of 08:41 on Jan 31, 2022 |
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Jan 31, 2022 08:17
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My experience with telemedicine and teletherapy is it is not unlike a dystopian court trial where I'm being interrogated by someone increasingly annoyed and pissed off, but as I mentioned I had an especially poo poo provider that threatened to send the cops to my physical location.
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Jan 31, 2022 09:37
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I've preferred telehealth so far, I'm much more honest when I'm in my own environment though I think that may vary from person to person. I am starting to think I may have exhausted my relationship with my therapist though. He's not bad we're just spinning in circles a lot. He was very helpful earlier just kind of a rut.
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Jan 31, 2022 19:06
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Edit: nvm.
AceOfFlames has issued a correction as of 12:03 on Feb 1, 2022 |
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Feb 1, 2022 11:47
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I opted for video appointments with my mental health practitioners at the onset of covid. I think it helped that I knew them in person before communicating with them that way. Sometimes, there's a technical difficulty and video isn't an option. I had a lot of issues with phone appointments. When you're missing the visual part of communication, that can cause problems. Active listening and nonverbal communication are important in a conversation, and are even more important in a short appointment where you have to get specific information across before the time is up. I set up a zoom account at the onset of covid so my support group could video chat in lieu of meeting in person. I was vetoed by an older facilitator who couldn't figure out how to make it work. We met for a year and a half via conference call, and it was awful. People would make noise, and there was no way to mute them. No one seemed to understand that if they heard someone echoing, it meant that someone else was causing the echo. We met in person for a few months when we thought covid was getting better. I much preferred the in-person meetings to phone calls. Now we're meeting remotely due to omicron, and I'm just going to continue doing zoom meetings. We have members with health conditions that mean they need to keep social distancing, and they've been missing out on their support system when they needed it most. With zoom, I can quickly read the room and see if anyone's upset by what's happening. We can practice active listening without having to make noise and interrupt the speaker. Best of all, I can mute the noisy ones. Video appointments are more impersonal than meeting in-person, but are more personal than phone calls. One of our members can't get vaccinated for health reasons, and recently had 2 of her 3 dogs pass away. She was so glad to be able to participate in a meeting again, and I can see a huge improvement in her mood within the last few weeks. I'm going to keep doing zoom meetings so I can keep seeing her and a few others who have been missing out. This also means we're no longer beholden to any organization for a room to use every week. We can meet when we want, without worrying about time constraints. It's also nice to be able to safely meet without masks. I can see people's full expressions again. I've been feeling more assertive, and more stable lately. It's probably a mixture of my mood stabilizer and some recent epiphanies that I've been posting about. Two years ago, I let myself get steamrolled about zoom meetings vs. teleconference calls. I think I'm better equipped to handle situations like that now. I'm being more vocal toward people who talk down to peers. I've been in more of an "up" state recently, which is part of the cycle of bipolar disorder. I'm hoping some of these changes will carry through when I reach a depressive state again.
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Feb 1, 2022 16:14
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Occasional lurker, first-time poster here. Just want to shout out cats. I'm in a really bad spot, definitely need to talk to someone. Basically haven't left my room in a month, haven't been able to do anything remotely productive, and yesterday my closest friend told me he doesn't want me around anymore. It's all a big anxiety and depression spiral. But my this big dummy is keeping me company.  He must know something's up, he's sitting in my lap purring and giving me mad headbutts. I'm really scared and lonely but he's always got my back. Mister Speaker has issued a correction as of 03:44 on Feb 2, 2022 |
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Feb 2, 2022 03:36
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A good cat. Pictured: Toby not respecting boundaries  Animals are great support. Sometimes people are, too. I know I do better when I have a larger support network. DBSA and NAMI helped me in that respect, as well as this thread. I feel less alone and more normal when I interact with people who have similar experiences. Feel free to PM me.
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Feb 2, 2022 20:31
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Developed an anxiety problem after my family got COVID, became briefly insomniac but a very short course of Clonazepam helped and improved the sleep issue. Looking into a CBT virtual therapist to start addressing the anxiety, and have been a searching via my insurance website and the Psychology Today directory. However it's slow finding someone, esp as I'm still working + looking after kids etc. Someone recommended reading "Unwinding Anxiety" just to get started while I'm setting up a proper therapist. It seems very popular, but the associated marketing, app and subscription service feels a little like a self-help scam. Has anyone read it or know if it's worthwhile?
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Feb 2, 2022 20:58
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Nocturtle posted:Developed an anxiety problem after my family got COVID, became briefly insomniac but a very short course of Clonazepam helped and improved the sleep issue. Looking into a CBT virtual therapist to start addressing the anxiety, and have been a searching via my insurance website and the Psychology Today directory. However it's slow finding someone, esp as I'm still working + looking after kids etc. i have found CBT and "unwinding anxiety" and the associated marketing, app, subscription things to be very unhelpful to me and people i work with. see my previous posts for more info
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Feb 2, 2022 22:34
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thehandtruck posted:i have found CBT and "unwinding anxiety" and the associated marketing, app, subscription things to be very unhelpful to me and people i work with. see my previous posts for more info Looked at those posts, thanks for the observations. Not particularly married to the idea of CBT therapy or anything, still figuring out the types of therapy available and what might help with anxiety issues. Will search more broadly. My instinct when I saw the various Unwinding Anxiety commercial products was mistrust, so maybe it's best to look elsewhere anyway.
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Feb 3, 2022 04:37
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I used Better Help (an online counseling service) for a very brief period when I was finishing my degree. It was like four 30 minute sessions a month for ~100 usd. You put in some details about your issues and what you want to work on when you register and a therapist reaches out to you. You have your sessions on their video platform but you can also opt for voice only, and there are pages where you can send text messages back and forth and they can send you worksheets and stuff. The therapist I worked with taught me about some strategies for managing anxiety I wasn't aware of, so that was helpful. It definitely wasn't a scam, but I never felt like I was getting my money's worth, so I didn't renew my membership for the third month and just let it expire. They never bothered me to renew or anything.
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Feb 3, 2022 05:06
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Look at this shithead proud of her handiwork.  
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Feb 3, 2022 08:20
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Nocturtle posted:Not particularly married to the idea of CBT therapy or anything, still figuring out the types of therapy available and what might help with anxiety issues. Will search more broadly. if i can offer one more piece of unsolicited advice: don't worry about the type of therapy. find a therapist who you can connect with and maybe even shares your worldview (or part of it). study after study shows the effectiveness of therapy is much more about the fit between therapist and client than the type of therapy used. and anxiety is one of the most common if not the most common reason go to therapy, so any therapist and any theory will be able to help you. consultation calls are free and u can do however many free consultation calls before starting with anyone. its good to get a feel for them there, u can even ask them about communism or capitalism or anything. and u can see them a bit and if u dont feel like u can talk to them ghost 'em and move on
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Feb 3, 2022 10:00
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Ronwayne posted:Look at this shithead proud of her handiwork. This is my arm. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
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Feb 3, 2022 10:15
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thehandtruck is right. the therapeutic relationship is the biggest part. the particular treatment modalities aren't quite as important in my opinion.
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Feb 3, 2022 11:31
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thehandtruck posted:if i can offer one more piece of unsolicited advice: don't worry about the type of therapy. find a therapist who you can connect with and maybe even shares your worldview (or part of it). Lazy_Liberal posted:thehandtruck is right. the therapeutic relationship is the biggest part. the particular treatment modalities aren't quite as important in my opinion. Thanks, this is very helpful.
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Feb 3, 2022 20:16
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