#being a hypochondriac too 😂

[rexscanonwife]

I'm thinking about the specific kinds of anxiety I have, and subsequently how they'd translate to my self insert in Lazytown. It's usually pretty generalized, I do have specific things that set me off but most of the time it's a "here's how something can go wrong and will kill me" scenario that plays in my head which leads me to be a bit superstitious (I keep Odin's compass on me at all times when I leave the house etc.)

SOOO I had the idea that maybe Stephanie being the sweetheart that she is would maybe make her some kind of like...bracelet or a necklace that's meant to be a 'lucky charm' and when she wears it nothing bad will happen 🥺💖💖💖

[enlitment]

I'd love to hear about your thesis topic (if you're not already sick to death of talking about it 😂)!

Aa, thank you for reaching out, it's so nice of you to ask!!

I'm definitely not sick of talking about it yet! I suspect that it may be the other way around and people around me are starting to get sick of hearing about it 😅

The topic is broadly a mental health disorder which supposedly plagued early 18th century Britain interpreted through a philosophical lens.

More specifically, there was this physician and philosopher called Bernard de Mandeville, who was one of those people who had thoughts on absolutely every topic imaginable, spanning from economical and social theory to medicine (he was also a huge classics nerd but with people in the 1700s, that probably goes without saying).

Supposedly to gain more patients for his practice, he wrote this wonderfully weird medical treatise on how to deal with hypochondria (the name can be misleading, but back then it referred to an unspecified mental health issue close to our current understanding of depression). It is written in a form of a dialogue between a doctor and a patient, and it discusses various symptoms of the disease as well as practical advice on how to treat it (including some great wine recommendations and seemingly endless quotes from Horace and Ovid for some reason).

One thing that particularly fascinates me about the text is that it shows a kind of proto-therapeutic approach to the treatment of mental health issues and it places a lot of emphasis on the developing relationship between the doctor and the patient. The wife of the hypochondriac who suffers from the same illness as her husband is also present, so at times, I'm attempting to go for a slightly feminist angle (Mandeville was not exactly a feminist but some of his ideas about gender were genuinely progressive for a guy writing in the early 1700s).

I'm writing it under the philosophy department, so I sadly had to minimise the historical context in my actual writing. I did research it however! A lot has been said about how hypochondria characterised British people specifically and how an increasingly easy and comfortable life of the upper-middle class may have paradoxically contributed to it. It's also been linked to philosophers/men of letters since it seemed to have affected this group of people in particular (perhaps most famously David Hume who is my supervisor's number one guy).

The result I ended up with is a bit chaotic, but I genuinely had a ton of fun researching the topic! I got a chance to engage in one of my most favourite things in the world, which I guess could be called amateur psychoanalysis of people from the 18th century.

I've also argued by the end that it is useful to study early modern texts (and by extension all historical texts) since it helps us to see which aspects of the human experience remain unchanged over time. (Spoiler: although wine is no longer recommended as a cure, we don't differ that much from people living three centuries ago in all of the important ways. Most notably, we all need positive interactions with others for our mental well-being and to some extent, we all crave others' approval).

Actually getting it printed soon — then it's just anxiously awaiting feedback and then onto the defense.

Hope my answer is not too long or incoherent and thanks again for asking!

[skyfallscotland]

Hi there!

I’ve been researching a lot bc I’m sick of being in pain for no particular reason and If this is too personal, feel free to not answer this.

Were your EDS discovered when you were a child? Or when you were older? And how did it work? (Like the diagnosing part)

That’s ok! Of course some things are personal but when it comes to this I think it’s important to talk about it, because otherwise so many people suffer in silence 🖤

So sorry if anything’s come across misleading but I actually don’t have EDS. I have a plethora of other chronic illnesses that are often found as comorbidities with EDS. My personal cocktail includes chronic hemiplegic migraine, postural orthostatic tachycardia (which I see hints of in Violet too), nerve pain and chronic fatigue among others.

Basically my nervous system is 10/10 done with me and my cells and organs are like we’re gonna keep you alive…sort of…and that’s about it, don’t ask for more 😅

I was diagnosed with my hemiplegic migraines at 11 which was simple because it’s a classic presentation and they became chronic at 21. The nerve pain and the chronic fatigue and POTS came later. I had to fight every step of the way, especially because I'm a woman and suffer from generalised anxiety disorder, so it was very easy for doctors to fob me off as a hypochondriac.

If you think you might have EDS, I’d suggest talking to either a doctor or physiotherapist about it if you haven’t already and if they tell you it’s nothing, tell them you want them to persist until you have answers because no one should be living in pain.

I’ve diagnosed two friends now with hEDS 😂 (later confirmed by doctors) because it was easy to recognise and never picked up for them. I don't know anyone who was diagnosed as a kid personally (we're in our early 30's). One of them was confirmed after her kids were diagnosed (the daycare raised questions too) which I think was also the case for RY from memory, but I could be wrong? And the other her chiropractor mentioned it as well after I had, which pushed her to see a doctor.

I don't think there's much that they can/will do for you generally after diagnosis, it's more just guidance for preventative measures and assistive therapies and aids, at least in my friends' experience, but if you're having other comorbid issues there might be meds for those so it's worth asking 🫶

[semperreformanda]

life update

last june my boss let me go for “not being a good fit”

it didn’t take me long to put two and two together and realize that the big reason was because of my pregnancy. and the biggest support to this theory was he talked negatively about a coworker (who was in the company for 6+ years) who got pregnant, saying stuff like “I don’t want her back … I already know how it goes when employees get pregnant, they’ll start calling out … I don’t want to deal with that” he would say all that stuff to me and others behind her back so I knew I was only gonna stick around to save some $$$ and use the insurance as much as I could

(oh and she was forced to resign bc they literally did not want her there anymore 🙃)

but when it finally happened it drove me in anxiety and anger because I had relied on the insurance especially bc I AM PREGNANT

yes it is illegal yes I should have reported it but I had no energy to do anything

but God reminded me through it all that He provides and He does! and so silly of me to think He could provide for my greatest need (my salvation through Christ) but not provide for our little earthly needs

another reason I was annoyed was I was already planning to quit but they beat me to it 😂 but that was honestly the worst company I’ve ever worked for. I could not deal with the constant disrespect and the yelling and the cussing and their questionable ethics

they stole an engineer’s professional seal and stamp it on their projects WITHOUT HIS APPROVAL meaning all projects are “approved” 🥴 this was the last straw for me bc imagine all the hazards

anyways… that was almost 3 months ago and I honestly feel so relieved to not be working there anymore. I spent too many times feeling so incredibly stressed out and then even more stressed out that I may be hurting the baby from it

speaking of… I am already 27 weeks pregnant today 😭 I remember when I first saw that faint line and thought I was hallucinating things. we tried for months only with a stark white test every month, so seeing a shadow of a line sent chills down my spine. and 27 weeks later my little bubba has gotten so big and active 😭 I love him so much

like it’s so crazy how he’s so close to me but also so far it’s like a long distance relationship 🥴💀

also learned a lot about gestational diabetes bc my hypochondriac brain was convinced I HAD IT

apparently it’s not due to your diet and you can’t even cause it. shocking how this is not widespread knowledge, because so many moms feel guilty for failing their baby when they’re diagnosed but in reality it is mostly your placenta being a jerk 😭

so for the past few days when I got the call that I failed my 1 hour I acted like I had gestational diabetes 😭 became very picky with what I ate, which is hard bc my culture loves rice 😭 and I took 10 min walks after meals

all I could think about was my blood sugars spiking and how I needed to bring it down 💀

also I had to fast for at least 8 hours before I could do my 3 hour glucose test which was honestly so hard bc if you’ve been pregnant you know the pregnancy hunger pangs!!! I cried after my test because I was anxious about having GD and also I felt so bad for my baby 😭😭 like I starved him 😂 even though I know he’s fine in there because placenta n all dat

anyways I just wanted to let you guys in on that bc why not and also I’m bored and drinking chai while my husband works besides me 🙂🤠

[queen-anxiety]

My regular dentist sent a referral to the specialist dentists at the hospital. So that's where I've been today. It was an experience, and you know me I hate going to the dentist, but being in the hospital was out of the ordinary. I was first called to a small room where I would do an X-ray or some radiation on the jaw where the tooth is so that they would get a much clearer picture of everything. 🩻

I thought it was scary because I've never done anything like that before. My hypochondriac brain goes into overdrive thinking that now they'll find something else crazy. I had to take off all my earrings, but luckily I didn't have to take out my nose piercing. I was a bit grumpy about it but understood that it was to get a good picture, otherwise we would have had to redo it. 😖

Then we went into the dentist's room. It looks like you are at the dentist except that the light that the regular dentists have is much smaller. Here there were big surgeon lamps you see at the tv-series Grey's Anatomy. The dentist came and checked my mouth for like 10 seconds and says that two of my teeth had to be taken out. Oops, maybe I forgot to tell you why I was there 😂 Well, I have a wisdom tooth that is very bad with the roots and the location that means that the regular dentist I go to can't remove it because it's to too difficult for them to do it.

And the second tooth sits a little further back, and I accidentally broke it off when I ate some hard candy my partner had made, and I waited way too long to fix it so the tooth broke off even more so unfortunately it couldn't be fixed so it also has to be removed. So that's why im there. 🦷

He explained that he wants to do a 3D x-ray on the wisdom tooth to see where the nerves go so I will be called back to the hospital to do that and after that there will be a surgery to get the two teeths out. Exciting huh? 🫠