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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 17th, 2023

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  • You have to have an instagram account in order to have a threads account - it’s how you log in. I think whatever your Instagram handle is becomes your threads handle, or it’s saved for you.

    I wanted to see what it was like so I created a new Instagram account (not linked to any of my real personal info) and then a new threads account. I had a look for a couple of days and decided it was dogshit so I deleted both. I suspect an awful lot of people did exactly that.


  • For what it’s worth, the times I’ve been closest to suicide I no longer expressed it as “I want to die” it was “I can’t live anymore”. I know it sounds pedantic but for me it’s a good indicator of when I’m having a bad depressive episode vs when I’m a suicide risk. Wanting to die means you still care enough to want something, if that make sense? When I can’t bring myself to care about life, death, my loved ones, anything at all, that’s when I need help asap. Everyone is different of course, I just thought it might be worth sharing in case someone reading this recognises that apathy in a loved one.





  • It’s true that for an average Brit, eating beef 3x a week is worse for the environment in a year than their annual holiday to Greece.

    But billionaires aren’t just taking “a few private flights” they’re taking flights more often than I eat meat in the first place.

    I’ve cut down on meat and my water and electricity usage, I haven’t been on a plane in 10 years. I use the car about once a month. I recycle, reuse, repurpose, I very very rarely buy new things. I’m chronically ill and living in fuel poverty. I’m anaemic ffs. How much more are the poor expected to do when then rich do nothing?




  • I think that sounds super peaceful actually

    That’s the thing, it’s not peaceful. It’s unbelievably loud, like standing next to a car alarm or construction site. And every time you’ve finally get used to the rhythm of the banging and clanging, it changes pitch and tempo (? Idk the correct words) and any semi sleep-like state you’ve willed yourself into is disrupted. Plus it’s cold, the bed thing is hard and narrow and you’re not allowed to move at all - no wiggling to get comfy, no scratching your nose. You have to lie perfect flat and still in a cold, incredibly loud, uncomfortable and and sterile environment for 45 minutes.

    I’ve always slept with a blanket on my head - even as toddler. Even when it’s boiling hot I need a sheet or pillow case or something over my head. I love small cosy places. I love that feeling of hiding from the world. You do not get that while having an MRI scan on your brain, I promise you.


  • CT scans and MRIs are two different types of scans, done in different machines. A CT machine like a doughnut on its side - the hole you go in is wider and shorter. MRIs are more coffin-tubed shaped. If you go in feet first (for an MRI scan on your knee say) it’s ok because your head is on the outside. If you’re having a brain scan you go in head first, your head stabilised by a plastic support so you can’t move it. It’s so narrow in there you can’t bend your arm up 90 degrees, let alone sit up. The stabiliser stops you from moving at all. They put foam ear plugs in your ears and then big over ear headphones over that so the tech can talk to you and you’re not crippled by the noise. There’s a tiny mirror above your eyes, angled to you can see out of the tube. I’m not claustrophobic at all and I have to fight panic when I’m im in there. I think you may have had CT scans in the past, not MRIs. And if you had a MRI, you probably didn’t go in head first because it’s not really an experience anyone could describe as relaxing. Well maybe cave divers, or people who make homemade submarines might find it relaxing, but for your average joe it’s unpleasant.





  • I was 21 when I was diagnosed, symptoms started at 18. I was told I’d never be able to work, that I’d never have children, and I’d be lucky to see 30. I went to an irl support group and had to sit through a 55 year old woman sobbing because she needed to take early retirement and she really liked her job. At the time it felt so utterly minuscule compared to the loss I was grieving it just made me angry. I was angry a lot when I was younger. I’m 37 now so I beat the odds and I’ve learnt to live with the unfairness of it - and to accept that people like that 55 year old woman are perfectly entitled to grieve for their loss. Suffering is subjective, and if that’s the worst thing that ever happened to that woman, it’s terrible for her.

    RE the pain… MEDICAL CANNABIS. I’m in the UK and it’s only recently been made legal for medical purposes. You can’t get it on the NHS though, I have to pay privately and without a job that’s really hard. But it’s worth the sacrifice - my life has improved dramatically in the year I’ve been taking it. I was on a huge dose of gabapentin (sister drug to lyrica) 600mg at 8am, 12pm, 4pm and 900mg at 8pm. Plus NSAIDs, immune modulating drugs, benzodiazepines, amitriptyline, and 3 different opioids. I’ve reduced those drugs by about a third since I started medical cannabis and my pain is better than I can ever remember.

    Hope the lumbar puncture goes well - it’s not as bad as it sounds, promise! The bit of back pain you can get afterward is just like period cramps - a hot water bottle will help 🙂