#i have to stop vaping for surgery

[spark1edog]

ugh this next few weeks of cutting down on nicotine is gonna be rough for everyone i’m sure

[allsadnshit]

It's so wild to me that people will get filler and Botox and do like 30 step skincare routines but refuse to stop drinking and vaping etc cause I had such a good FaceTime with my dad today and like not only is he showing up so different and attentive and strong and clear as a father now that he's sober but he looked so good and I kind of can't stop thinking about how he's in his 60's and has always had a bad complexion and after a year of not drinking and doing yoga and therapy he literally looks like a decade younger and I think it's such a scam people push plastic surgery and expensive skincare on us as a society and yet not a soul is suggesting that maybe the best thing for our health is not poisoning ourselves

Like so many of my loved ones are heavy drinkers (have at least one drink most days, heavier on weekends) and have problems with their immune system and get sick really easily which can def be affected by so many factors but like it's just crazy to see an alcoholic who's literally been in my life since the beginning get sober and be like wow it's not just a matter of addiction and substance it was like actually not letting his body function at it's true capacity

Like I wonder how many of us walk around drinking and smoking and then wondering why we have early hair thinning problems, dull skin, and constantly catching colds and flues while we actively destroy our immune system

Like we all know alcohol lowers our immune systems ability to fight and be strong and do its job but it's so amazing to actually see someone you love get healthier than you've ever seen them

Even though I've been sober for a few years now too it does really inspire me that it's worth the trouble not just emotionally and mentally but physically too in so many ways!!!!

[waittheydontloveyou]

Here have my brain

1. Piper says hi. Mostly I call him ‘kitty’ or ‘kee kee’. He sleeps and lays on me all the time. It feels like I have a sweet lil baby again and it’s kinda nice yall. We think he’s 2 months old now.

2. My face has been more dry/peely/red lately. Not sure if it’s the kitten or just my lack of self care honestly. It’s not new but it is worse. I have what I think is rosacea or eccema or both. I know my skin does better under different eating conditions and was absolutely perfect when I did keto a million years ago. But lol no

3. Trying ozempic. Just got week 5’s shot. Slowly losing weight. A few pounds a week. (I’m down 21lbs total🎉 just like 80-100 to go🤣 god that’s depressing). I feel like I can tell a difference in my stomach but i said that and the next day a patient asked me if I was pregnant so maybe I’m just imagining it🤣(this is a recurring thing, people asking me if I’m pregnant since gaining weight. It’s all in the very best place to store fat. My belly😒) sometimes I lie and tell people yes I’m pregnant bc I don’t want them to feel embarrassed for me. 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣 like when it’s a patient and imma have to deal with them all night it’s sometimes easier to just say yes so they’re not all weird for 12 more hours) anyways I’m 28 weeks and it’s a girl and her name will be Polly. (Lol jk)

Pros: appetite is that of a human. Portion control is done for me. Like I don’t even want to eat more than when I feel full. I FEEL full. Haven’t felt that in years since starting depression meds 11 years ago. I’m less nauseated than before starting it, I’m guessing bc I’m prediabetic and my blood sugars were shit.

Cons: literally none for me so far. I was nervous re nausea bc I was already struggling with that before. But it’s improved it. I still get nauseas sometimes but it’s even less than prior to starting the med. I started off at the lowest ever dose (4 units- max is 45 I think). Todays dose I did 8 for the second week. Nice to know when/if things are stagnate I can move up. Im doing this in place of weight loss surgery for now.

4. Weight loss surgery. I went to my appointment last week and honestly it scared the crap out of me. They were trying to rush it and make you sign contracts stating you’ll get a cardiologist, pulmonologist, nutritionist, psych, surgeon all to meet you and then monthly until your surgery and then see psych and nutritionist and them after and if you don’t you’re off the list and have to start over. Also I have to stop vaping and they test you and lol I’m here bc I have no self control lol. Also I couldn’t afford it. The only way I can afford the ozempic bc my friend is an NP and gets it for me.

5. I straightened up some and showered today. Where’s my prize?

[theheartofappalachia]

Here I am, sitting in a parking lot writing about the past few days. My mamaw just got out of surgery and is still in ICU and thank the gods for the hospital having power. I came up here to get gas, signal and charge my phone and hopped on tumblr and reddit for a few just trying to get my mind off things....

And what do I see? Politics about this disaster and people only caring about Asheville fucking everywhere. Listen, Asheville wasn't the only place hit in this storm and North Carolina wasn't the only state and for those of us in Virginia, Tennessee and southern West Virginia it's starting to get real goddamn irritating seeing yall only talk about North Carolina and even then you're only talking about it because Asheville is an urban tourist center therefore it's getting media coverage.

Fuck those poor bastards that live up the hollers and in the hills away from town right? 37 trees. I've cut 37 trees off of houses in the past 4 days(one of them being my own) and while the power flickered on for a second today, it's still out. People's food is ruined, we're shitting in holes in the ground because indoor plumbing doesn't work without power(and hauling buckets of water to flush isn't feasible for some people). You think we can afford to just replace a fridge or freezer full of food? It's not that simple, not in this economy.

Insurance? Yeah we live in old houses that Insurance won't cover to begin with unless we do thousands of dollars worth of upgrades and then many who have insurance are being denied. Yall say FEMA covers it? What a joke. FEMA is great for what it can do but it doesn't replace houses, nor does it give out lots of money.

Nobody cares about your fucking politics. I haven't seen one politician in the mud with us. Nobody cares about voting right now. This isn't the time regardless of what you idiots say. Read the fucking room. We deserve this because of how we vote? Fuck you, again. Stop being high and mighty and come help instead of sitting back with your vape in your hand going "Kamala will fix this" or "Trump will send all the aid" or "Biden is going to rescue everyone". Newsflash, none of them give a shit.

People are legitimately downvoting those of us who live in these areas on r/Appalachia because we're saying stop bringing politics into it or please stop saying you're upset that your vacation spot is gone. Ya'll tag shit Appalachia left and right now yet you didn't give a fuck about us before unless it was to say how pretty our leaves are as you go camping for a weekend and leave your trash laying around....and you'll forget about us the next time a big news story hits.

I've gotta get away from social media for a while. What I thought would take my mind off the roughest time of my life did nothing but make me hate people.

[magicisrealandsoismyally]

Been seeing a lot of this going around so I just figured I'd write about it. You do realize that people having their full bodily autonomy to make choices for themselves means they're going to make choices you don't like right?

People will do things that hurt themselves and that will never be a reason to take away their right to bodily autonomy.

People have the right to get piercings, to get tattoos, to get a nose job, to get a face lift, to get top/bottom surgery.

People are going to drink energy drinks, to drink coffee, to smoke weed and cigarettes, to vape, to do hallucinogenics, to take opioids.

People are going to hurt themselves. You cannot stop that by taking away their right to have the tools to do it. Because they'll just find it some place worse. When I was young, I went onto transphobic forums and sites because I hated myself and decided I should feel emotional pain. I also took way too long way too hot showers. My parents took away both. So I started getting far too close to fire for my own good.

The only solution is to give them both the tools to do it and the tools to stop. The Swiss and the French figured it out with opioid addiction recovery and it worked. It's called the Safe Supply movement. It works.

You don't get to decide what's okay for people to do with their freedom if it doesn't harm others. All you can do is guide them towards better choices, which is proven more effective anyways.

And if you still want to punish people for drugs, sh, and bdsm, then the only thing I have left to say to you is this:

It's not fine for 2 consenting adults to hurt each other in an agreed upon fashion, but it's fine for you to hurt people cause you don't like their choices? Don't kid yourself. The real predator is you. At least we consent to power dynamics.

[softlittleheartsandsparkles]

age regressors: omg dni if you post: ed/thinspo/self harm. cause those aren't good coping strategies (okay true... But I'm feeling like public age regression is also NOT healthy at this point.) Age regressors: omg don't reblog bras because like those are sexual cause they go on your sex parts! (um...? my what parts. So.. are you saying then mammograms are sexual? ultra sounds? breast biopsies? breast surgeries...? bruh wtf) & also they are scary and they totally heighten my experience of age dysphoria!! So please don't!!! I'm a baby! protect me! Age regressions: oh yeah! we should totally normalize smoking, vaping, weed, drinking, tattoos and piercings! cause cute babies need this stuffs! (the only reason why I highlight this one is these are things adults legally can do, however they have fucking hissy fits over BRAS, which is something people in their teens and preteens wear and need.... but like, omg one is for sex parts! there for its sexual! but like yeah nipple piercing? cool uwu thats totally a baby thing! you do you baby! its baby safe! uwu; we need to normalize all the baby things!) Age regressions: WHAT this is healthy! okay! Unlike junkies i'm not like shooting up& wasting money on drugs!! and like unlike people who self harm I'm doing so much better!!! and I don't have UGLY scars!!! ... BUT I'm actually coping! oh but don't you dare critique me, I'm actually a baby and I got trauma! & if your say anything mean to me, I'll tell you i'm crying, experiencing *ACTUAL* panic attacks and its not fair and i have trauma! So don't YOU dare. (... you realize that there's maladaptive coping... right? Like this isn't to say its healthy or good, but it's to say there's a term for this& a therapist would point this out to someone who might feel ashamed. Just like if someone went to a therapist and said 'I keep spending money when i'm sad, i've spent over $1000 this month, on things I don't actually want or like or need, i want to stop." - a therapist would say something delicate like: 'okay... well have you heard of maladaptive coping? *Explains what it is* You said you do this when your sad. Would you be curious in trying other methods to emotional regulate...? Lets do this and also can you keep track of the urge to spend and how you emotions are when they pop up okay...? *home work*" - Your also belittling people society has enjoyed belittling for a long time. And these same people are actually aware of the harm there doing to themselves and there bodies, and they feel guilt and shame but it's also hard to stop due to different habits& emotions like fear, not to mention prior treatment from therapy might frighten them off.... Equally those same people, also have trauma. The same word you enjoy yeeting around. They actually *have* it. And those same people, they deserve a lot of respect and more respect then your giving them. These are still people at the end of the day& have families. And your extremely ignorant and fucking rude. So maybe don't use your trauma to kick down others who are unable to defend themselves. Cause trauma isn't an excuse to be an asshole. Thanks.) Same age regression blogs: *reblogs childrens underwear and will go on and on about age dysphoria and how there just coping& age regression is just oh so beautiful& super duper pure and super duper healthy and super duper adorable* Hey! WHY ARE DDLG/ERS FOLLOWING ME! I don't understand!?!1 don't you get it!1!1! there's a BaBy running this blog! I demand baby safe blogs only!! (your 24 years old, posting you 24 going on 2, reblogging kids underwear, and speaking about needing a cg, sfw "spankies" when your "naughty" & you say your a "baby brat", and you need someone to lead you around this 'world'... etc. wtf do you expect? your showing off in the very least is kink, its also borderline fucking uncomfortable stuff like reblogging kids underwear, & Is extremely triggering and wonders into areas I shouldn't have to fucking mention. But oi, your a "baby".)

[rgbflag]

Since I had to stop smoke * I sneak a lil vape pull before bed* cus I’m bout to have a major surgery, I’ve been reeeaaallllyyy on the edge.

But I kinda like it? It forces me to be more present in my body and aware how I react to ppl.

But still a piss cunt

[morning-jellyfish-in-a-teacup]

So about the diet plan I mentioned ... already had to change it. Like I said, I'm a diabetic so changes might need to happen. Yesterday, I woke up with a low blood sugar (like danger low at 37) so I drank half a coke to raise it and used the vape I bought whenever I got hungry.

Well, before going to bed, my sugar dropped again. Finished the coke and that didn't raise it enough so I made a small wrap (tortilla, arugula, cherry tomatos, cucumber, red onion, falafel, feta, olives) and ate that. Then my blood sugar rose and I could go to bed.

So I made a new plan to try and limit my sugar dropping. I'll try fasting every other day as well as I can, but aim for at least 3 days out of the week. Going to try another fast today but we'll see how it goes.

Also still no word from my friend. The hope I've had that we can mend things ... it's basically not here anymore. I sent another text saying if she'd like to meet in person before/after her finals to let me know. Then I started to have another panic attack that things are really done so I sent her that same text through dm's just to make sure she got it. She's having a medical procedure tomorrow and the recovery time is extensive so, even if this wasn't happening, we probably wouldn't be able to see each other over break. I've planned to send her a text to try supporting her after her surgery ... and I might need to call it there. I literally don't know what else I can do to try mending things. Meeting in person last week seems like a huge mistake, it's made a bad situation even worse and just caused more misunderstandings. She's told me before that she can cut people out of life easily if she feels abandoned and like they aren't trying, hence why I've been trying like I've never fucking tried before to fix this. But now it seems like she's the one that stopped.

[residentdormouse]

Positively Pleasant ‘P’ Words Tag Game

Upon predicting the password to procure the pined after prose, I’m pondering the paradoxical feeling of pride and perturbation. Perhaps this puzzlement proves the philosophical predicament of whether perpetually pushing for pleasurable pursuits only pollutes our ability to perceive the peace provided from our passing progress. Maybe proportional precaution is needed to prolong preoccupation before its purpose pales against the prize.

(AKA, I found the word, but now there’s no other side quests to focus on. 😂)

My words: Past, Power, Present, Pull, Print

Your Words: Quick, Quiet, Quirky, Quaint, Quote

(@mrsmungus - Apologies if there are goose eggs; I tried to pick ones I could find myself, but it’s ‘q’ - we knew this time would come.)

Past

“I don’t understand. He’s smart, and funny, and has so much potential… Why is he making choices to sabotage himself, and… I just… ” she let out a frustrated shout, unable to put the rest of her thoughts to the adequate words.

They walked for a bit longer in silence until Nick stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. He pulled back out his pad and wrote out another note, slower, more thought put into this message.

‘The world isn’t kind. You fight back against it or blend in until it becomes who you are too.’

She nodded with a sigh. The idea was insightful, and she couldn’t argue with it; it actually made a lot of sense the more she mulled it over. Harold had many times made the comment about his past, how he had been regarded, his treatment from peers and even family. Maybe that was who he became now too, but she truly hoped not.

Power

Further dream discussion took off. Were there drugs that could help? Could there be a way to block this? There were no answers, only another point nobody had touched yet, one which Glen felt a need to chime in on: did they want to?

"It seems to me, we're getting set up in a tug of war. Whether it's good vs evil, judgment day, powers higher than us playing a game, who's to say… What is clear to me: there's a protagonist and an antagonist forming, and these dreams, they’re giving us background. We take that away… well then, we're just opting to play the game blindfolded. Now, can’t speak for any of you, but personally I'd like to read the premise before making moves. Maybe, I don't know, maybe there’s something useful buried there."

Harold scoffed at the idea. "So you're saying what? Our dreams are relaying vital information so we can, what, fight for God or the Devil?"

"I'm saying I don't know. But I’d like to.” Harold scrunched up his face, still not giving it any real consideration. Glen took a couple more puffs from his vape, and pressed on with a light chuckle, "I think I know what your problem is, Harold."

"Glen…" Stu tried to give a warning to not poke the bear. Glen never knew how to listen to that instinct however.

Present

(Possible gore tag, but I had to. It not only has Present, but Past and Pull too.)

Maybe Hayden did have a history in medicine; as she stated, there was no way to know. But to do an invasive surgery without even remembering those past experiences? That wasn’t even touching the fact there was only a small possibility it was there in the first place.

That was just the basic facts. The little things, the barely visible shimmer of light in the cavity, the way muscles and skin seemed to move away or pull together on their own milliseconds before Hayden’s hands got there, how these events coincided with a distinct drain to her... If he wasn’t already looking for irregular things, these would have been dismissed. Tricks of light. But they were too far into the unknown to turn back now, and his eyes were open.

He wanted to ask her about everything. Not necessarily the past; she would only give him the same sad smile and shrug as she always did. But her thoughts at the time… Did she see what he did? Did she know?

The ordeal was clearly taxing on her, so he was fine to leave it on the back burner for now, but he couldn’t unsee what he saw. By the tree earlier, she wasn’t completely present. His mind equated it to a dimmer switch and she was set to low. If she wasn’t actively on his mind, he would have completely overlooked her sitting there. The differences between the girl he met on the trail that first day, and the one sitting by that tree; he couldn't explain it, but he would certainly not forget it.

No, she was a puzzle with too many missing pieces, but he was good at filling in blanks.

Pull

(I had a decent excerpt from earlier in Chapter 9 - one of my personal favorites for reasons - but then I went down a little further and noticed there are FOUR uses of Pull in this Harold dream. FOUR! I feel I need to now post this in shame for my lack of variance.)

Harold pushed himself up off the pavement. Blood lingered in his mouth, and he spit it off to the side of the road. The asshole with a beard threw a punch, but Harold felt a pull backwards.

Beard tried to steady himself as a gun appeared in Harold's hand. He held it up and pulled the trigger. One threat down. Scruffy douche bag to his right was an easy target. Another neutralized. One more to go.

A shot rang in his ears, but it missed by a mile. He spun and quickly pulled the trigger on the third assailant; three for three.

"Feels good, doesn't it?"

Harold nodded. Moving to hand the gun back to Flagg, he noticed the man's expression had changed, eyes adopting a red glow and his smile widening. His hand now moved over Harold’s own, taking aim for him. The movement was quick, fluid, and when the dark man pulled back, Harold’s aim was now set on Redman. "Keep it."

Looking back one last time, Harold could now longer see the denim clad figure, but he could still hear his voice. "You may find a use for it."

Harold went to tighten his grip on the item, but his hand closed further into a fist. The gun was gone, but as he slowly relinquished his grasp, a black stone with an unnatural shine revealed itself in his palm. A real smile found its way onto Harold’s face.

Print

(I was decently worried about this one. There are only two times this has showed up, and one was literally the last section of Spiral, so guess this is all I got…)

Sitting at the desk, she made herself comfortable and grabbed a pen. Nobody could really miss one blank book in a cottage full of hundreds, and she felt like doodling. But this one was not longer blank. Quickly scanning the pages, she noticed it was all observations she had. Specifically about Glen.

When she closed the book and turned it over, she noticed his name beautifully written along the spine. Standing in a rush, she began to scan the room again. Another book lay next to Glen's; 'Stuart Redman' was written in bright lettering.

She backed away and noticed the previously blank canvas on the wall was now an acrylic painting of Kojak; the signature H.F. was printed in the bottom corner. Another hastily done paper sketch of her, Glen, and Kojak was pinned next to it.

Turning to her left, she stopped dead in her tracks when she noticed the dark painting sitting on the floor by the door. Blacks, grays, and two bright red eyes. 'Flagg' scrawled across the bottom in blood red calligraphy.

[watermelonlovershigh]

My aunt got diagnosed with lung cancer that was late to be diagnosed and now traveled to her throat. She smoked over a pack of cigarettes a day. So the lesson you should take from this is, don't smoke kids. You could end up with lung cancer and die.///Yep my mom's lung cancer was caught early and had surgery but she already had a tumor in her throat. She even stopped smoking when i was 13 and still died from it 2 years ago.

Oh wow i'm sorry. See my aunt, who's been married to my mom's half brother for 30 years or more, kept being misdiagnosed last year because they didn't look into her issues further. They kept putting it off as covid and then bronchitis because she was having breathing issues and it was taking her forever to get better from sicknesses. She finally went to a doctor that looked further into her issues and that's when she got diagnosed. She's going to MD Anderson in Texas next week because it's one of the top cancer hospital in the country.

She was never scared of smoking because she claimed to have an uncle who lived to 100 and smoked every day of his life. I feel like when people do get lung cancer from smoking its out of pure luck, or unluck i should say. Because i have known people to lived a long time as a smoker. But then again others do not. So i just say don't smoke to begin with.

Especially all these teens and young adults who smoke vapes. I'd never even try those because i feel like i have a very addicted trait about me where i know if i get addicted to something i would struggle to stop.

[altheterrible]

At the end of October, I made what was basically a throwaway post about Lung Health Day. Basically, this is a day that is “dedicated to raising awareness about chronic lung complications and educating others on how we can make a difference.” (https://www.michiganinstruments.com/2022/10/us-lung-health-day-2022/)

I only have one working lung, due to something called diaphragm paralysis, which is a fairly rare and unknown lung condition. It was caused about five years ago when I fell down a flight of stairs and injured a nerve in my neck, leading to paralysis of the right side of my diaphragm. Basically, my right lung is now a useless crumpled up ball in my upper right thoracic cavity. Thanks to this injury, I now have chronic shortness of breath that has placed a lot of limits on my physical abilities. It has also caused a slew of other weird effects too numerous to list out. Obviously, this has impacted my quality of life, and I’ve spent these last 5 years trying to adapt to a new normal. Surgery might help, but I can’t afford it at the moment, and until then, this is my life.

My post was simple. I made a polite request on behalf of people with lung problems: please don’t smoke or vape in places where other people can’t avoid exposure to your secondhand smoke, such as bus stops or near doorways.

This post has over 7000 notes now, and it’s by far my most popular post. Mostly, people have been supportive. But there have been some less than supportive comments as well—and I’m now getting weirdly aggressive anonymous asks accusing me of things I never said or implied in any way—so I want to address that.

My reasoning for my original post, which I did not outline (as it was a throwaway post that I never expected would go anywhere) was that lung diseases are by and large invisible, so you never know who your smoke is affecting. If someone is already having trouble breathing, inhaling smoke is uncomfortable and can lead to further shortness of breath, especially if they start coughing.

Obviously, being unable to breathe sucks. It’s scary. I’ve been living with constant shortness of breath for almost 5 years, and you know what? It’s still scary. If I inhale secondhand smoke and start coughing on top of my regular shortness of breath, that’s MORE scary.

People with lung problems can end up coughing so much from secondhand smoke that we throw up. We get headaches. We get dizzy. I’ve even had a panic attack because of a coughing fit triggered by secondhand smoke. I think I speak for most people with lung problems when I say that we would like to avoid those things.

My post wasn’t asking for much. I didn’t demand for smokers to never smoke anywhere in public, ever. I never said I thought that smoking should be illegal. I never said I think that smokers are bad people. I just thought it would be nice if I could wait for the bus or walk into a gas station without ending up coughing so hard I turn blue.

Most of the comments on my post have been from other people with lung disorders describing their experiences navigating issues with secondhand smoke. Other comments have been from people who don’t have lung disorders specifically, but have other medical problems that are exacerbated by secondhand smoke, such as migraines and allergies. I’ve enjoyed learning about how all these other people with various other lung and non-lung issues are affected by secondhand smoke.

I think it’s important for people with disabilities to be able to talk about their lived experiences, and I am happy my post provided validation for their feelings and a space to vent. I don’t agree with everything every single one of these folks has said in the comments of my post; a lot of people have been angrier about smokers than I was. That said, I don’t feel like it’s my place to tone police them or tell them how to feel about their experiences with their disabilities. And really, I think anger, irritation, and frustration are normal responses to people whose actions are causing you harm, whether that harm is intended or not.

Thus, I haven’t been aggressively curating the comments on my original post. However, I did end up hiding 2 comments because I felt like those commenters were inappropriately hijacking a post about the experiences of disabled people to address tangentially-related issues. The issues they raised were important in their own right, but my post was not the place for those comments. Speaking over those with lung diseases and other issues that are directly exacerbated by secondhand smoke to call attention to the needs of smokers as addicts was, I felt, tasteless. Still rather than call out those people directly, I just hid their comments.

I don’t know if it’s related, but I have in the last day or so gotten two angry asks saying things like I am ableist against addicts, I’m a puritan, and I’m classist (because poor people tend to be smokers, I guess?). My original post, which I wrote in 30 seconds on my phone, says nothing that could be construed in that way, so I’m not sure where it’s coming from. I would like for it to stop.

I guess the TL;DR for all of this is that just because a stranger comments something on a post I made a month ago, that doesn’t mean I’m in full agreement with everything they said. But also, as a disabled person, I’m not going to tell other disabled people how to feel about their lived experiences as disabled people. And finally, it’s kind of shitty to hijack a post calling attention to the harm caused to disabled people by secondhand smoke to ask those disabled people to consider the needs of smokers, actually.

[phosphorus-phasmic]

As someone who works with Respiratory patients every day. Vaping is likely to cause a condition called Bronchiectasis. It is a permanent scarring of the lung that results in you being vulnerable to respiratory illness but also can cause or exacerbate Asthma and basically means you will forever be coughing up mucus every morning for the rest of your life. Vaping does this by inflaming ur lungs linings. There have been an increase of "lung injury" associated with Vaping and I have enough friends who have tried it who ALL convey to me that it physically hurt to vape.

There is no cure for Bronchiectasis, unless ur scarring is localized to a single lobe, in which case that lobe can be removed. But who knows if you will be considered lower on the list for surgery for this simply bc you have vaped.

Typically, Bronchiectasis is the result of having several unresolved Pneumonias or intense lower respiratory infections. My Grandmother was diagnosed with it when she was 6. Yrs old. She is now 79. She probably had it before 6, and one of her earliest memories is her being able to recognise she was getting another chest infection, she was a VERY sick little girl.

Having Bronchiectasis, all across her lungs, has not stopped her from having a fulfilling life, but is has taken her until 2023 to actually get the care she needs for her condition and for her to see any improvement.

People treat her like she has the plague bc she coughs all day, every day. She gets sick much easier than anyone else around and oftentimes she struggles to sleep bc laying down only makes her cough worse. It is a chronic illness that will alter your life forever, and to get the appropriate care you need to be proactive and have a good respiratory specialist on your care team, which is expensive.

And if you don't have a good respiratory specialist, you will deteriorate, you will struggle to breathe, you will cough up your lung every day and inevitably need 02 supplementation, IF you can get it. You may even need a lung transplant if they'll even give it to you. And you will then die.

It is a horrible, slow condition. And you MUST stop vaping.

I know I sound like your mom but you kids need to stop fucking vaping

[spark1edog]

day 3 of not smoking/vaping is going ok, its getting a little easier. i still feel super left out when everyone is on the porch smoking and i just have to have a lollipop/gum and blow some bubbles =_= but its ok im working towards something and irs a finite amount of time to spend on letting my lungs rest in preparation for surgery. its not like im just depriving myself of something for the sake of it, and i have some edibles to get me by in the meantime. i did read that you’re supposed to stop weed completely too but my surgeon has not given me any specific pre op instructions yet so im just going to use the edibles for now and see what the office says.

[candaceandbentleysgreatadventure]

It’s been 2 and a half years….

Let me catch you up. I FINALLY quit vaping and have been off nicotine for almost 2.5 years. I went an entire year and a half without cannabis. I lost some so called friends. I got diagnosed with diabetes. I got pregnant and gave birth to the most beautiful little girl. I bought a car. I started a small business. I had gallbladder surgery. My grandma died. Life.

Losing my grandma and having a surgery all within a week has literally rocked my shit. I usually shake things off pretty fast. I am struggling this time. People close to me have started noticing. I’m having nightmares and I have paranoia and anxiety. I’m so overwhelmed and tired.

And. For the first time in probably almost 3 years… I want to get high. Not blazed on pot high, I wanna get ripped on the opiates. I had to get weaned off those bad boys not even two weeks ago. Docs had me on dilauded which happens to be my DOC and fentanyl to manage post surgery pain.

What’s stopping me? The precious little life beside me sleeping peacefully. So we stay put, we choose life, we choose her, because even tho things are a little dark and twisty her little smile can brighten up anything.

Hi my name is Candace and I’m still a fucking addict. 8 yrs and 11 months.

[izzysbeans]

i live in europe and i don't have to tell you that here, things like being addicted to caffeine, smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol regularly are highly glamourized. Let me prefis this by saying that i do not believe ANY of these things are good for you but also that is not the point i'll be attempting to make in this post, because i believe all consenting adults have every right to inform themselves and pick their own poison. What i wanted to talk about was vaping. NOW LET ME BE VERY VERY CLEAR I DO NOT THINK VAPING IS IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM GOOD FOR YOU. But people here seem to be under the impression that vaping is waaaay worse then cigarettes or alcohol. like that little mint flavored machine with varing amounts of nicotine will cause lung cancer faster then the 30 cigarettes a day you've been smoking for the past 20 years. It is very normalized here for people to smoke cigarettes, i smoked my first cigarette when i was 12. Now i am by no means an expert, and i know that prohibiting young people from doing things has never been a good way to stop them from doing them, and people should absolutely be informed of what they're doing when it comes to anything potentially addicting. But this idea that it's very glam and "old money" and "classy" to smoke cigarettes, but then vaping is really bad for you and you're going to DIE, and like drinking 5/6 espressos a day is normal and cool but drinking a redbull or a monster energy is EVIL, and like alcohol is just totally fine all the time is like ??? I don't know dude i feel like that's really weird and another instance of just rich people trying to differentiate themselves from the poor like vaping was fine when it was expensive and new and it seemed like it wasn't nearly as bad as cigarettes but now that everyone can buy a vape from a vending machine and a lot of very young people are vaping so much they end up in the hospital for it all of a sudden it's the worst thing that's ever happened and we're back to cigarettes like ??? again, none of these things are good for you. But i feel like this has been one of those things like plastic surgery were getting things done got really popular and the market expanded to people who weren't as rich and so rich people went back to all natural again. idk I'd love to here your thoughts about this and also if you're a scientist and know things I don't about vaping vs cigarettes and coffee vs energy drinks ecc I'm really interested

[new-year-tiny-me]

My experience with semaglutide:

i started taking it back in early September (I am not diabetic, but was prescribed it by my PCP because of my PCOS symptoms). As someone who has struggled with BED and binge/restrict cycles for the majority of my life, it was an absolute godsend. i don’t know how to explain it other than it finally quieted all the food noise that is constantly going on in my head. i’m now just never really hungry and never really even think about food and that’s crazy for me because every minute of every day for as long as i can remember i was only ever thinking about food and weight and my body. the only side effect i really experienced was nausea every once in a while, but for the most part it has made my life so much better. the weight just melted off. it was like i would just wake up and suddenly my clothes were falling off of me. i’ve struggled with my weight my whole life because of PCOS and other hormonal imbalances and my weight hasn’t been this low since i was in elementary school. and it was effortless. i didn’t need to change anything about my lifestyle. i ate exactly what i was eating before (i was always a healthy eater when it came to my meals, it was just the binges that were usually unhealthy, processed foods) except i didn’t binge. not once. i have no desire to. i’m genuinely always full it’s crazy. i forget to eat more often than not and when i do eat, it takes me so long to do it that im actually enjoying all of the food i eat and getting full before i can finish any meal. i’m truly savoring food and enjoying meals now. this is how i imagine life is like for those people who “forget to eat” or just naturally don’t really have an appetite. i’ve saved so much money on grocery shopping and eating out. my skin completely cleared up. i probably should have been exercising and would probably be a lot more toned, but other than that my body looks great. i’ve lost 45 lbs since i started and i plan on losing at least 10-20 lbs more (i haven’t taken it in about 3 weeks because i just had surgery and have been recovering, so i’ve just been maintaining for now, but will start again today). i know there’s a lot of controversy surrounding it, but as someone who’s been on it for six months, i can say that i’ve only had a positive experience with it and am so incredibly thankful for it. i’ve also stopped vaping, don’t drink alcohol as much as i used to and don’t really drink caffeine anymore, and that was all unintentional. i just didn’t want to do those things anymore. (my doctor says there’s actually research being done that shows it can help people with serious addictions). i would not be surprised if in the near future semaglutide is used to treat BED in tandem with therapy bc the way it just quiets the binge monster in the brain is unreal. i’m so privileged to have been able to have access to it and have had the results i’ve had. it has been nothing short of life saving for me.