#in may i was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and have been on meds since

[femstyles]

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[kny111]

Need help with housing - Mutual aid - Landlord harassment

Hey everyone, as some of you may know I recently separated with my partner whom we had a child with and have been struggling with paying rent and expenses for my self and baby since she moved. I’m still unemployed looking for part time work to have time for my baby and pay rent and utilities. In total the monthly expenses I’ll be dealing with now will be $2,000 at the very least which I don’t have. I’m struggling finding government rental assistance to help me cover the costs so I’m going here after months of dealing with this silently as I normally do from survivor’s guilt. I was in financially abusive situation and I’m still dealing with the symptoms from lack of appetite, energy to do anything, depressed, anxious.  I was dealing with my recently diagnosed thyroid (hypothyroidism) situation (I’ve had it for a while as does my mom but was only recently diagnosed with it this year) and the symptoms that come with it.

The same week I had missed my dose for my meds 2nd day I had pulled my muscles (likely from the condition + having been biking + doing hard labor without stretching) and was literally immobile for like 2 weeks or more I lost a lot of muscle mass and still struggle walking up without feeling a bit of that stress from the initial leg pull on my calf. Weeks later, as my legs were healing, the landlord ( white dude from 181 realty corp) illegally broke into my apt with super’s help even after I saw the txt he got where my partner told him I live here supposedly because of non-payment/non-lease renewal which still does not grant any one that access if you’ve lived in the dwelling for over 30 days as the law states. The situation gave me PTSD, more social anxiety and depression, suicidal ideation and loss in interest for a lot of things, emotionally distressed most the times. And now I’m in housing court again dealing with landlords engaging in criminal shit cause the city lets em do whatever they want at the expense of poor folks. I had to file a harassment case against him for the illegal break in and have a court day for may. I’m also planning on suing for the emotional, physical, and financial damages done because I had to climb back up into my apartment through the firescape my neighbor allowed me through with my legs still fucked up since he had locked me out. The same day I had to spend 580$ dollars for a new locking system. He tried coming back the next day and tried fucking with the new lock, I called the cops on him. They told him (after asking me for proof of address so imagine if I didn’t have that shit) that I have every legal right to be here (and from what housing court told me they should have actually arrested him for the break in). Right now I just need any help, love, kind words as per usual because I don’t have a large support group right now and I’m dealing with a lot of superstitious people (my family included as they typically side with the person who got money) that aren’t too helpful. I would deeply appreciate any financial help as that’s what I’m most distressed about now. Feels like I got left behind after doing so much of the housework that never got done just because niggas aint have a job in a pandemic they actually gave a fuck about from the start. Thanks for reading, again, any help is appreciated tenfold. venmo: @kennyg183

cashapp: $kennygmz

Update: I didn’t at the time of posting this on April 17th, upload any proof along with the post out of respect to those donating money so they know I’m not on here tryina con no one. Here are some of the bills I’ve had to deal with since the whole ordeal.

This was from when I had spent the day at the hospital just to get checked out and told I was fine after my financially abusive ex had called them on me. This was the subtotal I have to deal with.

This was from when the landlord (even after knowing I was still living there as evidenced by text kept between my ex and he) broke into my apartment with the help of the super (both while males). This had happened after I had injured my leg and had stepped out to get emergency cash from the bank, in between the 30 minutes it took me to do this they were already there doing breaking in illegally despite my rights.

This is the current subtotal of my rent, I blocked out the name because this is my ex’s name since she had rights to the lease. I had sent a check of the exact rent amount and he never took it, instead charged double as though I never sent a check (my bad, I checked and it shows as this on the paper check they sent but I was told he did cash it in by my local bank). Here’s a copy of that check:

I’m still readjusting the apartment to my new living situation and I’ve been planning to start selling my art again by investing in a small stock room here where I can try making some money with that and courier/delivery gigs with my bike. It’s going to cost me to get the stock room up and going and will need a printer to make my own copies of my work for once and delivery my self if buyers are in my range if not will deliver the standard mail like I normally did. Any help in these endeavors would be really appreciated as I’m going through lots of turmoil. Thanks. - Ken

[majesticartax]

HELLO EVERYONE!

i am indeed alive :D i had to take a bit of a break from social media and writing to get a handle on myself and my emotions and mental and physical health. WAY TMI beneath the cut :3

Early last month I was called some very terrible things by some people in the hq fandom - it was only a couple ppl and no one I knew or had interacted with before, but it was enough to leave me shaken and terribly sad and feeling betrayed, unsure of whether I really wanted to be a part of the fandom anymore, and with quarantine still ongoing and now the protests and my country again proving that it as a whole doesn’t give a shit about civil rights or human lives, i’m just...spent. the month of May is already triggering and a difficult time of year for me as well (bc trauma) and to top it all off my physical health has been utter garbage for a while and my doctor has been less than helpful. so i’ve been taking a break from everything and trying to take more time for myself and exercise as much as my body allows, but it has been a struggle. i’m tired all the time, i can’t think well most days, my memory is terrible, i HURT, i have episodes where i can’t get enough air, i recently had a sudden weight gain that goes against the body shape i’ve had since i grew into a human, and last but not least, a couple weeks ago my thyroid was swollen to the point where it became hard to swallow. so yeah. something obviously has been very wrong with me. I’ve always been a physically healthy person, so everything that’s been happening has been wearing away at me for a very long time and I just figured that feeling this way was something I’d have to accept and live with from now on.

BUT!! just this week i was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. FUCKINNNNG SKJSHSHDKSJAG FINALLY. i was so relieved and happy that i teared up when I read my blood labs. i started meds yesterday and i can’t wait to finally feel right again after TWO YEARS of weird symptoms that my doctor just shrugged her shoulders at. i know that i’m finally going to feel better and like myself again. Every. Single. Symptom. That has been killing me points to a thyroid disorder. What the fuuuuuck ahhhhh I’m so so so happy 😭😭😭😭

so anyway. that’s what’s been going on for the past month. i haven’t quit writing! i still think about it every day, but honestly it has become a source of anxiety for me since i know people are waiting for updates. no one has been unkind and i appreciate every single ask and comment and message i get, but, shit, i want updates too!! it’s been extremely exhausting and distressing to sit down to write and have all these ideas but not be able to coax them out of me, not being able to think clearly enough to string two sentences together and being on the verge of tears thinking that i lost the ability to write.

but i can already feel the fog lifting - just knowing that i’ll be okay again after years of unpleasantness and feeling like a nuisance and a disappointment has done wonders for my headspace. i already have a healthy lifestyle so all i have to do is wait for my meds to start working and i’m PUMPED. i’m not going to give an exact date as to when i’ll start updating my fics again because it’s been hugely depressing for me not being able to hit that deadline just because my brain won’t operate, and i’m sick of letting myself and my readers down, so I don’t want to jump the gun and get all jazzed when I still might have some residual brain fog to kick. 

but seriously, don’t worry i’m not going to stop writing! thank you to everyone who’s shown me kindness and concern over the last few weeks, to those of you who have asked if I’m okay 💕 and ENDLESS thank-yous to everyone for your patience :))

I’m going to start working on replying personally to asks and messages in a day or so (they’ve been piling up for so long i’m so sorry 😫) but i figured you guys deserved an explanation for my quasi-disappearance. I hope everyone is doing well and staying safe, and I look forward to joining you all again very soon ❤️

[blindkite]

While it's none of my business, may I inquire about what ails you?

I’ve actually been pretty open about my illnesses (since it affects my commissions work and anything schedule related) so I don’t mind! 

Some of them need a little explaining as to what they are, and it’s kinda a long list. I have alot of health problems.

Hashimoto’s disease is my main issue, its a type of autoimmune disease that causes hypothyroidism, aka, i regularly have to get blood tests and up meds to keep up with its fast progression. Not fatal, but its a fuckin pain in the ass i tell you.

Normally it isnt such havoc to deal with, but I’ve actually had symptoms of this since childhood, so I was ALWAYS being tested for thyroid issues, but nothing came up, so it was chalked up as whiny kid just complaining and faking sick for attention. 

I went an extremely long time misdiagnosed because i had a rare variant of it that required a nonstandard test to find, (It’s called Test Negative Hashimoto’s, cause it shows as negative on general tests)  so by the time i was finally diagnosed and put on meds, alot of damage had already been done to my body and there was no reversing it. If it had been caught sooner, I would never of become this sick, there’s even a chance it could of been stopped entirely. All it would of taken was one doctor to think to try the alternate test, instead of just blaming it on being a whiny kid.

As you can tell, I’m extremely salty about this.

Next up,

Ehlers–Danlos syndromes (EDS), I have the hyper-mobility type, which means my joints love to lock and dislocate over literally nothing. washing dishes? not anymore, now your fingers refuse to move. walking? hope you didnt need that knee to bend. again, its more annoying than anything. I do sound like a box of rice krispies whenever i move tho (snap crackle pop)

Fibromyalgia is also in the mix, this is a recent diagnosis since it was kinda hiding behind the EDS, since they have similar all pain all the time. Tho this has the bonus of hurting a fuck ton if you poke me, and pain in random places for no reason! Also I’m young and in a state that fears opioid/pain medication abuse so, all i get is some Alleve and a prayer!!!!

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is also a newbie diagnosis, because it was hiding behind the hashimoto’s, which also causes digestive issues. Also I have the annoying version you can’t take medication for, I either strictly control my diet or i fucking suffer. I’m basically in a constant state of, the more they treat, the more they find wrong, which is not great.

Last up is Circadian rhythm disorder, aka, I was born naturally nocturnal. And no, it is not a matter of a strict schedule and some melatonin to fix. Been there, tried that. Because of the life long sleep issues (i was literally like this as a baby), i’m prone to insomnia if my natural sleep is fucked with, with the bonus of getting super vivid hallucinations! FUN!!! So yeah, I fuck with that as little as possible. It does what it wants, and I’m just along for the ride.

AND WHAT AGGRAVATES AND MAKES ALL THESE THINGS WORSE??DRUMMROLL PLEASEEEEEE~!

STRESS. STRESS IS WHAT MAKES IT WORSE.

As it is, i already have Anxiety + ADHD (or High functioning Autism, as my doctor recently realized it might actually be??) so bad its like i have boss music playin 24/7, so my very spanish soap opera like family who loves to find trouble no matter where they go, makes it very hard to NOT be stressed. Which means my health very often spins out of control. And when its out of control, they all eat into each other.

Which results in an extremely shit a immune system, pain, dangerously low amounts of sleep and fevers on a weekly basis.

None of it is fun, its very complicated and just an all around not great time.

Thanks for coming to my TED TALK 

[dollsome-does-tumblr]

Question about hypothyroidism under the cut! I’m really curious to connect with people who’ve got this condition because I’ve had it for years but I’ve never really talked about someone else about it or gotten as much information from doctors as I wish I could!

So, I’ve been on 50mcg levothyroxine for like the past six years after being diagnosed with hypothyroidism (just found out today from a more thorough doctor that it is indeed Hashimoto’s) when I had a TSH of like 16 in a blood test. [I absolutely cannot shake the suspicion that it was from going on birth control pills, since the condition kicked in about six months after that and that was the only health change I’d made and THERE’S PROOF THAT ESTROGEN EFFS WITH YOUR TSH LEVELS, but no doctors agree with me here, so I may just be Fox Mulder-ing on this one, haha.] I never actually really had traditional symptoms of it; my foremost symptom was that my thyroid gland was really swollen, and so I was medicated to get that under control (which fortunately worked!). For the past many years my TSH has lived between like .8 and .35. I’m a super diligent medicine-taker, so I hadn’t missed any doses prior to this summer. I missed one last month when I didn’t feel up to taking pills after an endoscopy, and then today I decided not to take it because I often have issues with my thyroid swelling during my placebo pill week for my BC pill, and I wanted to see if not taking a new dose would curtail that from happening as severely as it usually does.

DISCLAIMER FIRST: I know that levo has a really long half-life and therefore you don’t really notice its impact on your system until many days have passed and it’s built up in your system, but I swear, I’ve felt that it does have an immediate daily impact to some extent. (For example, I try never to take it and then not eat for longer than a half hour at most afterward, because I get SUPER jittery from it. I seem to feel better when I eat more like 15-20 minutes after taking it.)

I have noticed today that my thyroid doesn’t seem as swollen (huzzah), the sense of chest/sternum tension that I usually have lately is really relaxed, and that my heart just feels way less, like, out of control intense? I’ve been trying for like a year to get doctors to do tests on my heart function because I am really wary about damaging it from over-medication, but since my levels are all within normal range on blood tests (though in the case of my TSH, on the very low side of normal that sometimes traipses into hyper- territory), nobody has really taken me seriously. I had one EKG last year and one this year and that’s it.

Everyone seems to think it’s just anxiety, which I totally get and which it could very well be ... but being on too much thyroid med literally causes anxiety!

I get that this could totally just be me feeling a placebo effect today because I know logically that this is a very slow-moving medication, but I’m really curious about whether I have been persistently taking just a tad too much of this med for yeeeeeeeears. And also curious about how long you can keep doing that before it has longterm adverse effects.

I definitely don’t plan to just stop taking my medication, but I wonder if not taking it, like, once or twice a week might help. Obviously I will work up the social fortitude to ask a doctor about this (”What are you talking about? You’re fiiiine! Keep taking the same dose!” they’’ll inevitably say) rather than asking Tumblr, but I’m just curious about what other peoples’ experiences w/ this condition have been like, if you feel like sharing!

TL;DR - I’ve felt sure for years that I’m slightly over-medicated for this condition but I have no idea how to get a doctor to take me seriously about it since my blood tests are all normal!

And now back to your regularly scheduled fangirling!

[thelittleyellowpill]

Testimonial Tuesday

Nrf2 Testimonial - Rheumatoid Arthritis, Thyroid, IBS below.

Take the opportunity to experience health benefits. PM me for info and to purchase 💖

Amazing testimonial😊

“I have been battling a complex war in my body for decades. Autoimmune disorders since childhood. I am hypersensitive to chemicals which can be anything from perfumes, diesel fuel, fillers in medications, pesticides, fertilizers, chemicals in foods etc. I was diagnosed over 25 years ago with hypothyroidism and about 10 yrs ago with RA. I have suffered with IBS for over 30 years..to the degree of being housebound because of it. I am overweight as a result of decreased mobility as well as long tern use of steroids (a poor diet as well). I learned how to detox my body and know the power of eating clean as it became a matter of life or death for me when my thyroid gland shut down completely after the birth of my last child, and was unable to take the medications needed to survive due to severe allergic reactions to them.

I learned how to rebuild my immune system organically and naturally. Needless to say I am not a novice at this game. When I developed RA, I went down hill so fast, that I went from having a productive active life, to having to crawl from my bed to use the bathroom. The arsenal of drugs that they threw at me to treat this hideous disease were ineffective, made me sicker, and I became addicted to opiates that provided me only minor relief from the pain. I was then approved for enbrel injections. Not only did my body tolerate it, it responded to it. I was able to wean myself of the pain meds and have been living life again to the fullest. I continued to struggle with IBS and my RA was manageable, and lived life gratefully, never forgetting how crippling the RA had been. I was never completely pain free, but enough to call it my miracle.

I was introduced to the little yellow pill about 4 months ago. I had a bit of a rough start with it. My IBS turned into the likes of a 24 hr enema of sorts. It was suggested I take half a pill for awhile which I did. I also at that time was due for my yearly physical. My thyroid tests came back abnormal for the first time in 20 yrs, I have been on the same dose of medication since being diagnosed and my test results suggested that I required a lower dose of medication. A followup blood test confirmed that I balanced out at a lower dose. I started taking a whole LYP and tolerated it. In fact, I no longer have any signs of IBS at all. For the first time since I can remember I am normal and no longer hostage to IBS. The ONLY thing different is the little yellow pill (LYP). I have tried everything under the sun, and nothing helped.

At the same time, my insurance dropped me and the new insurance fought paying for my enbrel. I have been off of it since starting the protandim. (not by choice, it just happened). I met with the Rheumatologist last week who saw that I had no visible inflammation, knowing that I have not been on any medication for 4 months. He wants me to have enbrel on hand in the event that I deteriorate, which I was comfortable with. I am no worse off than I was being on the Enbrel. His words.."It is highly unusual for RA to go into remission, that they see it occasionally" He was not ready to say I was in remission as I still have some stiffness in the AM. He asked me to document my diet, supplements, exposure to chemicals etc. I have waited to share any of this story because I wanted to be sure that I was experiencing long term effects - which I am. I am convinced that it has "healed" my IBS, affected my thyroid gland that caused my thyroid meds to be lowered, and may just be holding my RA at bay as well. While Enbrel has been a life changer for me, it is very hard on your organs.

One more added note, I have only discussed my process with my husband and my friend, Michelle along the way. My 80 year old mother had a knee replacement a while back and developed hip issues because of it. Almost worse than the knee issue. I told her that I had been keeping something to myself as I really weigh things out before I pass info along. I gave her a bottle of <The Little Yellow Pills>. She went from not being able to get up and down steps to having no pain in her hip. She had results in less than a week. I have put the LYP to the test. I have crossed over to being a believer.”

The Little Yellow Pill is clinically proven to reduce oxidative stress dramatically and oxidative stress is associated with over 400 disease processes.

[pandymonium001]

Test Results

I apparently forgot to post saying I had an appointment with my gynecologist’s nurse practitioner because after the 3 week period ended, I kept spotting and having numerous other periods that were roughly about a week long each.  I think I’ve had 4 periods in just over 2 months, with a total of 5-6 weeks out of 8, not counting spotting.  Anyway, she said that the birth control pill I’m on can cause the bleeding problem, but because I had been on it for numerous years and just started with this issue, she wanted to do bloodwork and an ultrasound just to be sure.  The ultrasound isn’t for a couple of weeks, but the bloodwork came back.  I have hypothyroidism, which is interesting because years ago my doctor decided to try and treat that even though my TSH was technically normal because it was in a range that could cause problems.  And while the medication did help for about a month, it stopped when I had a period and didn’t work again for me after that.  Other doctors said it was an issue, including at Mayo, so I took it off of the list of diagnoses and pushed it out of my head.  I guess now it’s out-of-range, though.  But it makes sense. 

I decided to look over the list of symptoms because I couldn’t remember what they were, and most of those definitely apply.  Specifically:

Fatigue - I’ve been struggling with this since the periods started.  Nurse practitioner thought it might be an iron deficiency from blood loss, and taking that has helped some.  But I am still struggling.

Increased sensitivity to cold - The other day I was complaining to my mom that it was cold here, so I decided to look up the temp, and it was 75.  I had been in long sleeves running the heater nonstop, and being cold has been kind of consistent.

Constipation - Not an issue

Dry skin - Not an issue

Weight gain - I stopped losing weight just before the extra periods started, and at the gynecologist’s office, I had gained 10 lbs back.  I also haven’t eaten great, but I didn’t feel like it was enough to cause that.  It probably wasn’t.

Puffy face - ??

Hoarseness - This has definitely been an issue

Muscle weakness - Fairly certain this has been an issue for years.  May or may not be related.

Elevated blood cholesterol level - Another thing I’ve had for years.  I assumed it was from being overweight, so it may not be an issue.

Muscle aches, tenderness and stiffness - Yep.  Again for years, though.

Pain, stiffness or swelling in your joints - Yep again, also for years.  I will note that for years I thought my pain was hormone-related because the first time I took the Synthroid, I felt amazing for about a month, including with my pain.  But again, it stopped helping.  And then the explanation of PCOS causing joint pain made me put that out of my mind as well.  Maybe it’s all connected.  I don’t know.

Heavier than normal or irregular menstrual periods - Yep

Thinning hair - Hard for me to tell.  I have really thick hair, and I’ve lost ridiculous amounts of it for years.  My hair is still pretty thick, though, so it could be normal for me.

Slowed heart rate - Not an issue

Depression - Definitely been an issue

Impaired memory - Also definitely an issue.  I was wondering the other day wtf was wrong with me.  I have forgotten to take some meds, forgotten which days I took the HCG, and I left the stove on for hours after I finished cooking.  It just has seemed like it was a lot for the time span, and I noticed it before getting the info about the thyroid

Anyway, I just wanted to write all of that down before I forgot.  I should have asked what my TSH level was but didn’t want to interrupt, and I forgot by the time she stopped talking.  I will find that out, though. 

[rruralroy]

Hey mothertruckers its rant time

So I have a slew of mental problems, yknow, the usual, and one relatively major physical health problem. For years (I'm talking since I was 14) I've had thyroid problems out the wazoo, and early this year, I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease. Now, for those of you that don't know, here's a quick rundown on thyroid stuff:

Hyperthyroidism: metabolism goes too fast

Hypothyroidism: metabolism goes too slow

Hashimoto's: fuck you I do what I want, I also make your thyroid attack itself

Now, we found this out only early this year because I finally started seeing an endocrinologist rather than just my family doctor, and the person I got on my first appointment was a lovely woman named Dee. She's the one that told me I had Hashimoto's, and you could tell by the everything about her, she was ready to console a scared 21 year old about an autoimmune disease. However, thanks to my lovely mother and her genetic pool, I kind of saw something like this in my future, and wasn't scared, but uber duber confused. How could my thyroid go hyper- and hypo- and the same time? Is there a special medicine? I've been on the same meds for almost seven years what if that screws me up? I asked question upon question upon question and she answered them all, and was very honest too, sometimes giving me answers like "well honey hashimoto's isn't a very well-understood disease so I can't tell you anything exactly, sometimes it's a case-by-case basis, but these are some options you can do." That day I left the office knowing two things: one, I had Hashimoto's disease, and two, I was fine, it was whatever.

However now we get to the actual ranty part of this post, and if you want to skip past everything else, here's a TL;DR in image form:

On my next visit to the office five months later (the first visit was during winter break, the next the beginning of this summer), Dee was not there, but that was whatever. I liked her, but I'm sitting here thinking "well all these people are professionals and specialists about thyroids, I just have to tell them all the same stuff I told Dee, with my additional problems." My additional problems, you may be wondering? Sudden weight gain (normal amongst thyroid problems, but I had started eating healthy and exercising so I was very confuddled) and sudden super high blood pressure (I'm talking 150/100, not good shit my friends, which is not common in thyroid problems). But in a weird way, I was excited to see someone new this time, not that I don't love Dee, but it's just always good to hear more opinions.

Correction: its always good to hear more opinions from people who know what they fuck they're talking about.

So after the nurse comes in and does the basic questions and whatnot, here comes this younger doctor fella, and I think to myself, "ooh, a younger doctor fella, he might have some Sweet Fresh knowledge on Hashimoto's that Dee might not have had." This was not the case.

He looks at my bloodwork and notes how it's odd that I seem to have readings for both hyper- and hypo-. I tell him I have Hashi's. He dismisses it completely. He asks what I came in for. I tell him about my weight gain (despite the lifestyle change) and high BP. He looks at my list of meds, thinks for about ten seconds, and tells me "the weight gain is probably from birth control. Keep up the lifestyle changes and you should lose the weight. As far as your blood pressure, cut back on caffiene, especially pops, and salt." I try to explain to him that I've been on the same birth control for six months and am only now experiencing weight gain, I don't drink pop, I drink one cup of coffee a day, and I don't eat a lot of salt. He just???? Repeats the same advice, and tells me maybe I should change my birth control.

This was only a month and a half ago, and I was already pissed then because he assumed by my weight I wasn't healthy (I mean, I'm not, I have an autoimmune disease, but this isn't the kind of healthy or unhealthiness he was referring to). Now, in the present, today, I'm EVEN MORE PISSED because a friend of mine opened my bespectacled eyes.

I was talking about my recent bloodwork, and she brought up some stuff about her thyroid and some concerns she had. I was giving her my spiel that I give everyone about thyroids, and also brought up that second doctor visit because it was reminiscent of an experience she had with her family doctor, and how I was just so confused about how some doctors can be so dumb. And then she said it:

"It's because we are women and overweight so they dont take us seriously."

And I was like. Holy shit. It never once crossed my mind that I was a woman. When I walk into that office the only thing I think of is "hello, my thyroid is a piece of shit, please help." It never crossed my mind that I've been overweight my whole life. I didn't think my gender and my weight mattered so much when my thyroid is literally trying to destroy itself. But there it was. That was why I had the least helpful doctor visit ever. Because women are always complaining about their weight, right? And well, they never want to take responsibility for it, they always want something medical to blame, right? And I just. Holy fuck. I'm just really tired of male doctors dismissing female patients.

I guess that's the moral here kids. If you have a uterus (or, even if you don't have a uterus and present as female, I'm sure it's still just as bad if not worse in that case), get a doctor with a uterus. Unless you know a doctor with a penis like, really well, like they're a family friend or you know them or something, just get a doctor with a uterus.

[greenlifestylemarket]

World Famous Psychiatrist Says: More Psychiatric Drug Treatment Means More Shootings Will Happen

(Natural Blaze by Jon Rappoport) Listen to this man. You’d better listen.

His name is Peter Breggin. He is a world famous psychiatrist. He has been called the conscience of his profession.

Here is an excerpt from his bio:

“Peter R. Breggin MD is a Harvard-trained psychiatrist and former Consultant at NIMH [National Institute of Mental Health] who has been called ‘The Conscience of Psychiatry’ for his many decades of successful efforts to reform the mental health field. His work provides the foundation for modern criticism of psychiatric diagnoses and drugs, and leads the way in promoting more caring and effective therapies. His research and educational projects have brought about major changes in the FDA-approved Full Prescribing Information or labels for dozens of antipsychotic and antidepressant drugs. He continues to education the public and professions about the tragic psychiatric drugging of America’s children.”

Recommended: Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones

“Dr. Breggin has authored dozens of scientific articles and more than twenty books, including medical books and the bestsellers Toxic Psychiatry and Talking Back to Prozac. Two more recent books are Medication Madness: The Role of Psychiatric Drugs in Cases of Violence, Suicide and Crime and Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal: A Guide for Prescribers, Therapists, Patients and their Families.”

“Dr. Breggin has unprecedented and unique knowledge about how the pharmaceutical industry too often commits fraud in researching and marketing psychiatric drugs. He has testified many times in malpractice, product liability and criminal cases, often in relation to adverse drug effects…”

Here is an explosive excerpt from Dr. Breggin’s recent column at Mad In America: “Psychiatrist Says: More Psychiatry Means More Shootings”:

“In the early 1990s, a federal court-appointed me to be the scientific expert for all of the combined product liability cases that were brought against Eli Lilly throughout the country concerning Prozac-induced violence, suicide and crime. Since then I have been involved in many cases in which judges and juries, and even prosecuting attorneys, have determined that psychiatric drugs have caused or substantially contributed to violence. For a lengthy list, see the Legal Section on my website [www.breggin.com].”

“In 2003/2004, I wrote a scientific review article about antidepressant-induced suicide, violence and mania which the FDA distributed to all its advisory committee members. This took place as the FDA Advisory Committee members prepared to review new warnings to be put in the Full Prescribing Information for all antidepressants.”

Recommended: Sugar Leads to Depression – World’s First Trial Proves Gut and Brain are Linked (Protocol Included)

“In my peer-reviewed paper [about the effects of antidepressants], I wrote: ‘Mania with psychosis is the extreme end of a stimulant continuum that often begins with lesser degrees of insomnia, nervousness, anxiety, hyperactivity and irritability and then progresses toward more severe agitation, aggression, and varying degrees of mania.”

“In words very close to and sometimes identical to mine, the FDA one year later required the manufacturers of every antidepressant to put the following observations in the Warnings section of the Full Prescribing Information:”

“’All patients being treated with antidepressants for any indication should be monitored appropriately and observed closely for clinical worsening, suicidality, and unusual changes in behavior, especially during the initial few months of a course of drug therapy, or at times of dose changes, either increases or decreases. The following symptoms, anxiety, agitation, panic attacks, insomnia, irritability, hostility, aggressiveness, impulsivity, akathisia (psychomotor restlessness), hypomania, and mania, have been reported in adult and pediatric patients being treated with antidepressants for major depressive disorder as well as for other indications, both psychiatric and nonpsychiatric’.”

“These adverse drug effects—including agitation, irritability, hostility, aggressiveness, akathisia, and impulsivity—are an obvious prescription for violence. Akathisia, which I also described in my article, is a psychomotor agitation that is strongly associated with violence.”

“The FDA Medication Guide for antidepressants warns clinicians, patients and families to be on the alert for the following:

acting on dangerous impulses

acting aggressive or violent

feeling agitated, restless, angry or irritable

other unusual changes in behavior or mood”

“This list (above) of antidepressant adverse effects from the Medication Guide should make clear that antidepressants can cause violence.”

“The FDA also acknowledges the risk of both psychosis and aggression from the stimulant drugs used to treat ADHD…”

“In the study of violence reports to the FDA, any predisposition toward violence in the patients themselves was largely ruled out because some of the most violence-inducing drugs were not psychiatric drugs, and were being given to a more general population. Some of the violence-inducing drugs were antibiotics, including Lariam (Mefloquine), which Sgt. Robert Bales was taking when he slaughtered 16 helpless, innocent villagers in Afghanistan.”

“[The authorities] do not foresee that the psychiatric strategy for treatment will sometimes lead to tragic outcomes like the school shootings. Nor do they realize that the overall evidence of harm from psychiatric drugs is infinitely greater than the evidence for good effects, as scientist Peter Gøtzsche has confirmed in Deadly Psychiatry and Organized Denial.”

“Calling for more spending on mental health and on psychiatry will make matters worse, probably causing many more shootings than it prevents.”

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“Not only do psychiatric drugs add to the risk of violence, but psychiatric treatment lulls the various authorities and the family into believing that the patient is now ‘under control’ and ‘less of a risk.’ Even the patient may think the drugs are helping, and continue to take them right up to the moment of violence.”

“Even when some of their patients signal with all their might that they are dangerous and need to be stopped, mental health providers are likely to give drugs, adding fuel to the heat of violent impulses, while assuming that their violence-inducing drugs will reduce the risk of serious aggression.”

NOTE: DR. BREGGIN ISSUES THIS WARNING: “Most psychiatric drugs can cause withdrawal reactions, including life-threatening emotional and physical reactions. So it is not only dangerous to start psychiatric drugs, it can also be dangerous to stop them. Withdrawal from psychiatric drugs should be done carefully under experienced clinical supervision. Methods for safely withdrawing from psychiatric drugs are discussed in Dr. Breggin’s book: Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal: A Guide for Prescribers, Therapists, Patients and Their Families.”

My comments: The tragedy of many mass shootings—many more than are highlighted by the press—is mirrored by the tragedy of psychiatric drug treatment.

Overwhelmingly, psychiatrists bury their heads in the sand, as they continue to dose patients with compounds that cause horrendous effects, including violence.

The psychiatric solution to mass shootings—more diagnosis and more drugs—becomes the cause for increased shootings.

Many mainstream reporters are aware of this, but they are constrained from telling the whole truth. Their media outlets are relying on pharmaceutical advertising for their very existence.

Legal authorities make it very difficult, if not impossible, to obtain information about which psychiatric drugs shooters were taking before they went on their rampages. Case in point, Sandy Hook, 2012—the (purported) killer, Adam Lanza, had been under psychiatric treatment. But an assistant attorney general for the state of Connecticut stated that the list of Lanza’s meds would not be disclosed, because that “can cause a lot of people to stop taking their medications.” Better for patients to keep taking those drugs—and then some of them will violently go off on innocent persons.

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In conversations with attorneys over the years, I’ve been told that judges, police officers, and prosecutors avoid the “psychiatric drug issue.” They don’t want to touch it. After all, friendly psychiatrists are part of the legal system. They often testify at trials. Further, “medical experts” will lash out and go on the attack against law enforcement if an attempt is made to link a violent crime to the effects of psychiatric drugs. (Dr. Breggin has managed to break through this code of silence. He is one of the only psychiatrists who has been able to testify in court about the true effects of psychiatric drugs.)

At the federal level, lobbyists for drug companies are crawling all over Washington DC. They exert an astonishing level of influence on law makers and bureaucrats. The issue of psychiatric drug-induced murder is obviously not on the list of permitted issues for open and extensive discussion.

Then there is the FDA. This is the agency tasked with approving every medical drug as safe and effective before it can be released for public use. The FDA will never admit its decisions have been fueling mass shootings across America. The Agency views the pharmaceutical industry as its partner. Placing warnings on informational drug inserts (as described above by Dr. Breggin) easily escapes the attention of psychiatric patients. Doctors who prescribe the drugs may or may not read those warnings. Even if they do read them, the drugs are THE solution to “mental disorders.” Very few doctors will seek other means of treatment.

The public is in the middle of a psychiatric plague. Learning the truth is the first step forward.

After that, we MUST preserve the right to refuse medication.

Freedom and life itself hang in the balance.

(To read about Jon’s mega-collection, The Matrix Revealed, click here.)

[polefitnessdancing]

New Post has been published on https://polefitnessdancing.com/eating-for-health-or-fat-loss-while-learning-to-pole-dance-at-home/

Are You Eating For Health OR Fat Loss While Learning To Pole Dance At Home?

Sometimes in the world of fitness, weight loss, and nutrition, even the best of us can feel confused about what to eat to get the results we want.

The fitness industry is a trillion dollar industry.  Marketers are working hard to make you believe that their product will give you better health, burn fat, give you more energy, glowing skin, reverse aging and so on.

I am now 38 and I find that the older I get the more my dietary needs change.  In addition, I have become wiser when it comes to marketers schemes to take my money.

Age and time has also taught me that weight loss isn’t something you should sacrifice your health over…. And yes, a too much of a narrow-minded focus on losing body fat can leave you with nutritional deficiencies, a hormonal imbalance, deteriorating teeth, and a number of other health problems you didn’t see coming.

Trust me I know, it happened to me when I was diagnosed with a thyroid problem.  I was in the top 5% of their patients who didn’t need educated about eating healthy organics, proper exercise, or the value of fitness in general, yet even though I was VERY educated on the proper foods and exercise and my body LOOKED like I was fit, the fact was that I had an abnormally high amount of nutritional deficiencies they had ever seen.  On the outside I looked good, but on the inside I was falling apart, especially emotionally.

My hormones were wrecked (Im still trying to straighten them out), my metabolism was broke, my teeth were declining, and I had the most HORRIBLE PMS you ever saw.

That’s when I really learned that nutritional needs change as you get older and that doing everything you can to lose body fat without consideration for my overall health was a mistake.

It’s easy to get wrapped up in losing body fat and lose focus of your overall health.

I always wanted to look lean and fit since I was in high school.  Fitness (and dance) have been a part of me for longer than I can remember.  I have followed nearly every diet trend, tried every healthy “green drink” out there, studied GMOs and Monsanto in college, followed popular stars like Suzanne Somers, and tried some risky things to shred body fat that all the fitness competitors were doing. And after all that studying, I’m a bit overwhelmed! I’m over agonizing over body fat and pounds and I’m over reading contradictory material about how foods are bad for you …. And then they are good for you next year.  I’m tired of the confusion and I bet you are too.

To be as lean as the women you see as top models in fitness magazines you must lead a somewhat unrealistic lifestyle, sacrifice a LOT, and put your body through a sliver of hell to get it to stay ultra-lean.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to live that way.

I do want to be healthy and toned.  I want to know my body is strong, flexible with very few (if any) visits to a doctor’s office/dentist.  I also want to enjoy my food, have a good beer, go to a party, laugh, and have less stress (  a lot less stress!!)

A healthy diet is still an essential component. So is exercise.  But you can’t exercise enough to compensate for a junk diet.  The only people I know that are able to “out work” a bad diet are major triathlon athletes.  I’m not that person.  I’m just an everyday girl and I always plan to be that way.

So what am I going to do about it?  And what can you do about it if you are on the same page?

Well, I believe the first step is to understand what your body needs.  While we are all human, we are not identical blueprints.  The needs we have in our 30’s are different than they were in our 20’s.

We all have different fitness levels, different abilities, different diet challenges, different budgets when it comes to grocery shopping, and some of us have been through pregnancy while others haven’t, etc.

We are not exact BLUEPRINTS of each other and therefore, the supplements we take and the food we eat will not be identical for health or fat loss.

For example, I recently read an article about a lady who had been trying to recover from joint and muscle pain and she found out the major problem was her allergy to lettuce!  She forced herself to eat it because it was “healthy” even though she didn’t like it.

That story inspired me, here’s why =>> I have hypothyroidism and take Armour Thyroid for it.  I truly believe I can get off the meds someday (call me crazy if you want).  But here’s my point:  I always hated eating eggplant, broccoli, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts.  I just don’t like them.  Come to find out, all those food inhibit thyroid function, making my condition worse!  My body knew what it did and didn’t want before I was even diagnosed!  I bet yours does too.

Now, my body likes sugary drinks too!  So let’s not get too crazy here.  But you caught my point, right?

What if each of our bodies know what it needs to heal and be healthy every day? Are we listening to our bodies?  Or are we listening to the media too much? These are thoughts I have been contemplating recently.

I believe truly healthy eating is by listening to your own body’s needs FIRST, and what the next hottest media trend is saying afterward.

I feel that we all have an internal knowing inside ourselves (our intuition) so to speak.  Call it what you want.  I feel a part of you and a part of me knows what to eat, what would give us more energy, and what would make us feel more alive.

We don’t have to believe every piece of advertising and we don’t have to believe everything people write.  We need to learn to believe in ourselves in a stronger and powerful way even when we go have fun on our dancing poles.

I feel I (we all) need to do this with food too.

You have intuition, take a chance and start using it!  Follow you heart with your eating habits too : )

And when you start to feel too fat or out of place like every woman does, just remember that the end of the day – the only real person you have to answer to is yourself.  You are the one responsible for loving you and setting up the guidelines within yourself for what is acceptable and not – don’t let the media decide for you.  Make a plan to lose weight pole dancing (or doing whatever you love) from your heart and intuition, not from what the media says.  Nobody knows you life like you do.

You can make a personal “blueprint” diet for you and your individual needs and it will be the last diet plan you will ever need for health or fat loss.

Trust me, following you own eating path to health may feel confusing and a bit lonely at first.  It’s even happened to me.  I have chosen to stay a heavier body weight than i used to be because I’m focusing on the health of my adrenals and thyroid.  I want better energy levels and to me, that’s more important than fat loss.

Does that choice affect me?  YOU BET! As a fitness teacher I feel a bit like a failure.  As a writer and dancer, I remember how I once looked in those pole dancing booty shorts and have MAJOR fears about recording more videos for my fans at a heavier weight.  The pressure to set an example and stay thin is enormous and no woman escapes it.

New choices are scary!  And there isn’t one person who will make a new choice for the better and feel 100% comfortable and that’s ok!  Do it anyway!

Do what’s right by you and your heart and do it now.  The older we get and the more time passes the harder it gets to undo the damage of poor eating and exercise habits.

Bring the love and joy back to your food and get rid of the boredom in exercise to make new choices easier as well.

I hope this helps you – it’s not a lot about learning to pole dancing for fitness in the article but I feel that nutrition is important and I want everyone to have more energy and just plain feel BETTER as we age, not worse!

Please post you comments below 🙂  I would love to hear your thoughts on this article.

[femstyles]

I saw your post about hypothyroidism and it possibly being an autoimmune disease and I just wanted to say that I have hashimotos disease, I've been on meds since I was 16, I'm 22 now and my doc was very confident that I'd be able to have kids. Obvs my case doesn't apply to everyone but if you've been on meds for a while and your doc is confident that they're properly adjusted, your thyroid shouldn't be a problem anymore. I hope you'll be able to have a baby one day, sending you all the love!!

Thank you for this! This helps me feel a little more optimistic.

Right now we don't know if my meds are correct, my obgyn was the one who found th hypothyroidism in May and got me some medication to start but now my endocrinologist is doing these labs to diagnose it officially and check if my meds need adjusted.

I'm so glad yours got sorted out early!!!

[proudsmartass-blog1]

I’m a Fraud, Trust Me!

I receive pretty regular messages from people on all platforms of social media that I can be found on (and some that I’ve either forgotten about or swear I signed up for in an Ambien Walrus-stupor), asking me how I can still find humor in everything with losing both parents, how do I cope with the grief, how do I cope with body dysmorphic disorder, have I beaten it? Etc. 

I’ve nothing to hide, and I don’t mind answering and sharing. I reach out randomly to others as well if I respect and admire the stuff that they’re saying. Sometimes they answer, sometimes they don’t and I’m convinced they think I’m a psychopath and I want to curl up in a corner and hide from the embarrassment that is Sam (when in reality they probably just didn’t know how to answer, didn’t have the time, perhaps just felt a bit put off by speaking with someone they don’t know personally...virtually anything but what’s running through my head most likely!).

So, first off...when I receive these messages, I feel the need to stress that I’ve not figured anything out! I feel like a fraud, giving out advice, because I don’t know whether I’m coming or going half of the time.  I know enough to know that I know NOTHING.

On Having Lost Both Parents

I’m still not healed from this, and I don’t know if there is such a thing as “healing” from it.  I walk around feeling quite lost and displaced, and feel like my life has lost its place for me.  I often feel this sense of homesickness that I can’t describe; that I want to go home, but I’ve no home to go to anymore.  I have no idea what direction I’m supposed to take in my life.  I still go to call my mother, at times, and she’s been gone for a year now.  I lost my father when I was a teenager, and never really had the chance to know him. I feel that parts of my personality now may have come from him, so that might be a way of knowing him in a sense.

I question everything that I do, every decision I make, and it absolutely sucks to not have anyone to check in with when I really need to talk about something. I have amazing friends that I’m thankful for and do not take for granted, but it’s just not the same.  I miss talking about my day. I miss being someone’s daughter.   

I haven’t been able to sleep since my mother’s death, and have horribly vivid nightmares when I do sleep.  I’ve started randomly flashing back to small snippets of memories in the hospital via smells, items, sounds that I’d forgotten...really bizarre things that have no significance.  A few friends have suggested that I may have PTSD.  They’re probably right. 

Something that no one prepared me for...when people offered to be there for me when I needed them, they didn’t know that they didn’t really mean it. They didn’t know that they were not capable of holding up to that promise.  This is not to say that their offer did not come from the heart, but I now understand how completely frightening my reality can be for someone who hasn’t gone through this yet.  Seeing my pain and what I’m experiencing is a horrifying reminder that it can happen to them, and they’d start to cry at the thought of losing their loved ones.  They hadn’t even lost their loved ones, but I, who HAD lost my parents, ended up comforting THEM, who were able to go home and hug their loved ones and have dinner with them, etc.  So I learned to just say “I’m fine,” whenever asked if I need to talk.  I could be having THE worst day ever...”Sure, I’m fine.”

On Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Where do I even begin? Sigh....

I don’t know how this even came to be.  I just remember always having it.  There was always something not right about what I saw in the mirror and in photos. I looked deformed.  My body was a strange shape. I was overweight (I wasn’t at that time).  My eyes and nose looked like they were not formed correctly. My reflection looked like I was gazing into a fun house mirror.  I often self-harmed to try and cut the ugliness out of myself, or to achieve the feeling of having a good cry when I was too numb to actually produce tears. 

Then I started gaining weight, and it didn’t make sense. I exercised, dieted, took diet pills, starved myself, made myself throw up after eating. I look back at photos of myself now and see there was absolutely nothing wrong with me! But the weight gain was due to a dysfunctional thyroid (hypothyroidism, which I call hippo-thyroidism because :/ ), which I still deal with. The medication I take for it, which brings my TSH levels down to where they’re supposed to be, ironically contributes to the weight gain, so I don’t take it regularly as I’m supposed to.  It’s kind of a cruel joke, actually.  If you look at me, you’d never think that I haven’t eaten in two days :/ I still struggle with my weight, and will always look like I could stand to lose 10-15lbs, no matter how I work out or how unforgivably mean I can be to myself when it comes to food/eating/restriction/purging. 

I was diagnosed with BDD in my very early teens, but gave up on psychology after three therapists didn’t make a dent. I toy with the idea of trying again, but I’m skeptical.  Plus, my copayments per session are not cheap.  And I’m not down with psyche meds for myself, personally.  I saw them destroy my mother’s body and I just feel they’re not worth it (again, for myself...I’ve seen them change lives for others, and I think that’s amazing!)

Here’s where it gets weird, though.  I spent my entire life up to last year battling the grotesque monster I saw in my reflection, trying to get a handle on myself and my anxiety over eating and gaining weight.  I actually was doing really well. I was going to the gym regularly, eating pretty healthy, not drinking, doing well with not eating junk food, and I could actually stand looking at myself in the mirror and having my photo taken.  I lost my mother, and with her unexpected death I felt like I’d unexpectedly died as well.  Nothing was recognizable anymore. I couldn’t process thoughts or emotions and just binged on booze for a month. I couldn’t eat food. I felt like I had lost all fight for my life. The only thing that was familiar was the monster in the mirror. Suddenly, it wasn’t the enemy anymore. I sort of felt like I just let it become me, like the two became one, and let it live for me until I was ready to slip back into my life once more...and I’ve been living that way since (which I realise is by no means healthy). 

As of right now, I cannot look in the mirror.  The reflection frightens me. I don’t recognise her. I hate her sometimes because I feel like she is a lie. And this isn’t even focusing on the flaws!  I REFUSE to be in photos.  I see myself as 50+lbs heavier than I actually am.  I have anxiety attacks when it comes to eating and go up to three days without food sometimes.  I’ll eat when I feel shooting pains in my gut (but then I’ll have ‘fuck it!’ days and enjoy two healthy meals, which is huge for me).  I make a point of not looking into full-length mirrors. They’re not worth the anxiety attacks. 

The best part? Next to no one knows that I suffer from this. I only bring it up if someone repeatedly offers me food and it becomes obvious that I keep declining. I’d rather be someone with food baggage than a dick to someone I care about!

On Dealing with This Clusterfuckerry

1. I do make a point of trying to laugh at myself/my circumstances as often as I can manage.  If I can find the humour in my circumstances and myself, I feel like I’m taking the power back. That perhaps it’s not so big and bad and  horrific, after all (bullsh!t...yes it is, but this little mind game that I play with myself works from time to time).  Also, I make jokes at myself before anyone else gets the chance to.  I’m taking that opportunity away from others, and showing that they have nothing on me/no power over me (a self-deprecating defense mechanism, of sorts).  As Carrie Fisher said, “If my life wasn’t funny, then it would just be true. And that is unacceptable!”

2. Friends (the people, not the TV show...although the TV show is pretty cool, too!)  With the exception of making them cry and having to comfort them when I talk about coping with being lost and not having parents, I have some pretty bomb-@ss people in my life. They’ve kept me rooted in reality, let me be an annoying emo wreck when I need to and love me anyway, indulged me in beautifully soulful conversations (sometimes at ungodly hours, without murdering me...thanks guys! :),  and reciprocate my snark in impressive fashion. I was dreading my birthday this week, but they went above and beyond to make sure I smiled and even nailed it with gifts that I said I didn’t want (a Sad Ghost Club ‘Still Sad’ hat (excellent website with cute stuff, by the way!), cologne and perfume for each of my moods/sides, and enough drinking chocolate for the year).   If I didn’t have them checking in on me regularly, I might not be here typing this right now. Seriously, they help me more than they’ll ever know!

3. I think it’s natural to compare ourselves to others, but I’m making an active effort to do this less. I’ll never be a ‘typical’ woman (see Gender post, if you haven’t reached “STFU, Sam!” level yet), I’ll never be the tall skinny-minnie type that I wish I could be.  And I think I’d be bored, quite honestly, if I were.  Deep down, I think(?) I like myself. 

I also make an active effort to compliment at least three random strangers daily.  People can be skeptical or sleazy, unfortunately (New York, what a town!), but for the most part the compliments are received well.  If I can make someone feel good about themselves, even for just a moment, I feel happy.  They feel happy.  We all win. 

So there it is...way too much info about me, how I deal with this nonsense, etc.  Whenever I get a “how do you deal...” message, I’ll direct people to this post!