#is this a medical condition or am i just quirky?

[the-fluff-piece]

Tropetember 8

Law's Amnesia

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Law gets knocked out and gets - AMNESIA! But not the boring medical kind, the fun quirky kind of tropes. He shows the crew a different side as he forgets who he is and what hardships he had to endure

"Kind of sucks when your doc is the one who would need help..." Shachi mused as he and Bepo monitored Law's condition.

He got a massive hit in the head from Luffy - by accident, the other captain swore. Now he was out and sleeping it off.

Bepo put his paw on Law's forehead, patting his captain for comfort.

You've offered to take over so the others could get some sleep. Taking a book and some tea with you, you prepared for an uneventful night.

Law had a light bruise in his head but it didn't make him any less handsome. His face looked stern, even when he was unconscious. His fine features were heartbreaking as always and you allowed yourself to let your fingers trail down his cheek - only to check his temperature and general condition of course.

When you felt his groomed goatee under your fingers, he twitched lightly, making you jump.

He grimaced in pain and groaned, opening his eyes slowly and lifting his head.

"Law, you're awake!" You stated the obvious as you tried to keep him down. Of course, your captain had to wear a half open shirt and of course, you happened to touch his bare chest.

"You need to stay in bed or you'll get dizzy!" You warned him.

"What?" He asked, his eyes looking at you with a confused expression.

With soft force, you pressed him into the bed again, while his eyes were fixed on your face.

"Who are you? Where am I?" He asked, the softness and higher pitch of his voice sounded unfamiliar to you.

"Captain that's not funny, it's me, y/n" you still had to press him down, he was surprisingly strong for just waking up.

"Captain? Who?" He pushed against you and sat up, shaking his head.

"Wow, cool stuff!" He looked around his own medical bay as of he was seeing it for the first time.

"And who are you again?" He asked you, looking you up and down with open interest.

"Are you some kind of mechanic? Is that your tech stuff?" His voice sounded excited and light, absolutely not like his usual self.

As he moved to get out of the bed you pressed him back down with all your power and only succeeded because you surprised him with a jump.

"Whoa, babe, slow down!" He chuckled as you found yourself half on top of him, both hands on his chest.

"You uhm.. you need to lie down, you took a serious blow to the head" you explained with urgency.

"So you're like...my girlfriend?" His eyes beamed like a little boy's in a candy store.

"You're cute!" He said as he grabbed your shoulders and drew you into an embrace.

"CAPTAIN" you screamed, trying to wiggle out of an iron grip.

"Where?" Law let go and looked around.

You jumped down from the bed and caught your breath - he has lost his mind!

And he was already swinging his feet out of the bed, energetically looking around like a 5 year old on sugar.

"I have to see the rest of this thing!" He ran towards the door, and you couldn't hold him back. He was far stronger and faster than you, instead he grabbed your hand and dragged you with him through the door.

"Wow, where am I?" He asked.

"The polar tang - your ship!" You said as you tried to keep up with his long strides.

"My ship? And my girlfriend! I'm so lucky! Just the name of the ship is weird" He laughed. He dragged you down the corridor and to deck, where he stopped dead in his tracks.

"A bear!?" He looked at Bepo in disbelief. The white bear sat on deck and enjoyed some cool night air. As soon as he heard Law's comment, he blushed and stammered excuses.

"Ca...captain??? You are awake?" He eventually got a hold of himself.

Law approached his first mate really carefully.

"A talking bear!" He said.

"SORRY" Bepo bowed down.

"Hey whaaa...?" Bepo blushed until he became a fleshy pink.

As he bowed down, Law grabbed his ears and was squeezing them thoroughly while making "awww" sounds and giggling.

"What's going on here?" Shachi appeared in the door, looking shocked. "He isn't supposed to be up yet!"

"He just...I think he has amnesia!" You said.

"Amnesia?" Shachi rubbed his chin.

"Could be. In any case, you need to get back to bed Captain!" He said to Law.

"Who's this captain?" Law looked around and finally stopped molesting Bepo, who sank to his as a whimpering white mess.

"You are! And we need you! So please go back to bed, you need rest!" Now Shachi helped you to push Law back in the direction of sick Bay.

"Me? Captain? Wow, my life is awesome! I have a cute girlfriend, a ship AND a crew???" He looked like he could burst from happiness and excitement.

"...girlfriend?" Shachi asked.

"He kind of decided that I am his girlfriend" you answered, blushing.

Shachi seemed like he wanted to make a sassy comment when Law suddenly dug in his heels and stared at his reflection in one of the windows.

He studied the tattoos on his chest and hands and let his hands run through his hair.

"I...I..." he seemed overwhelmed, "I look like a crook! A gangster! A...a..." he seemed at a loss for words.

"A pirate?" You helped him.

"Yes! One of those! That would be awful!" He said it with such upstanding distaste that you and Shachi just had to exchange a glance to come to the same conclusion.

"Of course your not a pirate. You're a...fashion model!" You told him.

"Woah, really?" Law seemed to relax again - and become more docile.

"Yes and I am your girlfriend! Let's go to bed, it's late!" It still felt strange to talk to him that way, but he seemed to like what he heard and followed you like a lamb back to his sick bed.

"See? That wasn't so bad. Now you just have to lay down again so you can rest." You indicated the bed with your outstretched hand.

"It seems really small" Law said.

"It's big enough for you" You said.

"And you?" Law blushed.

"What about me?" He confused you now.

"I mean...since you are my girlfriend, you sleep in my bed" He grinned.

"Uhm..." You had to swallow and looked at Shachi for help. He grinned, to. That bastard.

"You two are so in love, you squeeze into a tiny bed" He chuckled maliciously and slowly walked out of the room.

"So romantic! I love cuddling. I think" Law was absolutely on board and threw himself into the cushions, his arms open to receive you.

"Uhm...why don't you go to sleep while I work some more?" You said.

"I am hurt and need rest. You said so yourself! I need you to sleep" Law stated like a kid that just outwitted a grown up.

"Fine." You awkwardly settled on the bed, when Law shook his head.

"Your boiler suit is dirty. You don't sleep with that" He indicated some oil stains on your suit.

You never wore more than underwear and a shirt under that thing. It could get hot. But he really needed to sleep, so you pulled down the zipper under Law's lusty gaze. When you finally slipped it from your shoulders, he commented with another "wow" as he stared at you with undeniable adoration.

He opened his arms again and tucked you into his side as soon as you settled on the bed. Immediately you noticed his cold, clammy hands.

"Law, you're so cold, are you hungry? Are you dizzy?" You asked.

"So...sleepy...with...girlfriend..." he rested his head on your shoulder as he pressed against you and seemed to pass out again. You waited until he breathed deeply and evenly and slipped out of his tight grip.

He looked relaxed and content as he slept and you resumed your watch over him.

-----

Yes, I'm pretty sure that head injuries don't work like that, but this is tropetember so Law has the right kind of Amnesia and will be fine xD I hope you enjoyed it

Taglist@yeeeeezly @waitingmydemons @stariski @livwritesfics @violetmatcha

[autisticlee]

when I was on twitter the autism community was basically arguing autism is not a disorder and only how your brain works and you should have pride in it and not see it as a medical condition. just causes you trouble sometimes and the things that come with it are the disorders (like if comes with intellectual disability or adhd or etc) and you need to unmask and "be yourself" and everyone with higher support needs is ignored and told to shut up.

but on tumblr is opposite. the autism community mostly says is a horrible disease/disorder that does nothing but ruins your life and if you need even a little help you shouldn't be proud of it or say it's how your brain works. your brain is bad and wrong and didn't form correctly. it's a bad thing because it disables you and ruins your life. it's a bad thing that you shohuld never say is good and if you don't have many support needs then you need to shut up and stop talking over high support needs autistic and making autism look cool and quirky because you don't need 24/7 support.

it's annoying. I dnyt fit anywhere. i'm between them. it's a part of me, who I am. is how my brain works. I don't think it's WRONG like a disorder. my brain isn't broken! I don't need cure. but I DO struggle and need lots of help. it's disability too. i'll never be able to live independently and will always struggle because i'm autistic and because of other things that are along with it. I feel both sides at same time and don't see anyone else feel that way. is so lonely.

maybe this is why I can't get along with other autistic people. we are autistic too different. I don't fit anywhere even in "my people." either too weird and needy and they do things easier. or they think they struggle more and i don't struggle enough all the time and don't take my needs seriously when do need help....

[broketiredandinattentive]

Screw the social model of disability.

I need to get this off my chest.

The popular understanding of the social model of disability has undermined my ability to be taken seriously. Yes, I am going to make this about me.

When people get on their soapboxes and start insisting that certain conditions wouldn't be disabling if society accommodated for them appropriately, 99% of the time, I am who they are imagining. I am a high masking neurodivergent. And I mean high af masking. I have two degrees, a full time job, a house, a fiancee, a step child, pets, and a car. As long as I hide my teeth, there is no outward sign of my disability to a stranger. Maybe someone might notice my pupils if I'm hypomanic. Only the slightest hint that something is wrong, and I've never had somebody pick up on it unless they knew my diagnoses.

What you will notice is my lack of social comfort. I'm very weird. I'm high masking, so I can play it off well. I really lean into it like it's a bit. I am the manic pixie dream girl. I am the quirky autistic. I am the fun, wild, enigmatic neurodivergent. I am a lot of fun in small doses.

But I am also the person who makes other disability advocates sick. I am the one who is disavowed. I am the one who is accused of "speaking over" others whenever I use my voice. I live in the grey area between fucked up and not fucked up enough.

So I am the perfect example for a stranger to point at and say, "If society didn't expect [X] from her, she wouldn't be disabled at all." In that moment, I am wholly invalidated in a way they cannot fathom. In that moment, I truly am the manic pixie dream girl, having her individual experience collapsed into a surface level understanding of how she interacts with the rest of the world. My inner world is irrelevant.

I can't clean myself.

I can't clean my house.

I can't manage my finances.

I can't tell when I have to use the bathroom.

I can't tolerate sunlight.

I can't tell how long anything will take or has taken.

I can't predict my energy levels.

I can't follow through on projects.

I can't update this fucking blog regularly.

My teeth are rotting. My esophagus is dissolving. My spine aches, and I can't finish a meal lately, no matter how hard I try.

But go ahead and boil my condition down to a quirkiness that the world can make allowances for. Insist that it's enough to not expect me to be on time, and ignore how I can't manage a short to do list on a completely open, unscheduled day. At your very worst, insist that the abundance of accommodations you provide me are proof that I'm not actually impaired at all.

It's the same as the conversation we keep having about glasses. I can't see. I can put on glasses. I can put on contact lenses. Even when I do, my eyes are still the wrong shape.

I was born wrong. I just was. I don't have to pretend that I am perfect to love myself. Perfection is not a prerequisite for acceptance. Society has a lot wrong with it, but it is not to blame for my broken brain, and you cannot fix me by changing your behavior. I pity anyone who cannot feel both broken and beautiful.

This shit feeds the people who insist that people like me are faking. Boil my entire condition down to quirkiness, and you have a legion of people arguing that it's not real. Sweep all the ugly parts under the rug, and you have entire communities insisting that we don't need help. To these people, the litter box is overflowing, and my teeth are aching because I'm a loser, not because I'm sick.

I don't need society to see me as capable. I don't want to be reframed as not disabled. I need people to understand that I am impaired. I need people to understand that my medications and therapies are keeping me alive. I need to be given grace and accommodations, not to eliminate my conditions, but to allow me to live a dignified life with them.

When you insist that disability is relative, you're not decentering the neurotypical experience. You're just pretending that we're not the weirdos. But we are the weirdos. And that's morally neutral. You can acknowledge an impairment without imposing a hierarchy beyond that of simple function. Yeah, neurotypical people are, on average, better at paying bills than I am. They can be good at that. I'm okay with them besting me in that arena. My worth as a human being isn't sapped from my bones just because somebody else is better at taking out the trash when it gets full.

Just let me be sick, ffs.

[ghostcrows]

Uhg this is maybe gonna sound patronizing but sometimes people on here spend to much time making sociological theories and forget that evidence based practice >>>>> theories that tie things together and explain everything. Every time. Every time they trump it. So it’s like the current state of mental healthcare and disability accommodations being so bad leads to the theory of how pathology is a structural validation to stigmatization of neurodiversity esp things like schizophrenia. And that coupled with the hater mindset around how “popular” and “lol quirky” adhd and autism are being portrayed on social media (this sounds deeply unserious but it’s the best way I can put it) leads to people who are adhd and autistic which can be materially physically seen and is real dismissing themselves in favor of the theory. Like idk. People love to do lots of thinking and I am not at all trying to disparage it but even when you’re a radial anti establishment politically extreme leftist if you’re theorizing then you’re theorizing and venerable to the pitfalls of theories. Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo, and Michael Kremer won a nobel prize semi recently for doing the most water-is-wet thing and conducting experiments and looking at the results to determine policy change instead of basing policy on theory. It really opened my eyes to read about. The theory is just a tool to talk about the world. The world comes first always. Adhd being a physical condition of the brain does not fit into certain theories and so proponents of the theory will consciously or not, willfully or not, brush aside certain things that do not fit into the worldview supported by the theory or would be complicated or made worse by implementing the policy proposed by the theory. But it’s all just smoke. Does this make any sense. I saw someone say bipolar wasnt harmful outside of the stigmatization because they prescribe to the theory and I was so shocked. Manic episodes can lead to the bipolar person becoming physically violent and thank god for medication. Bipolar can ruin a life because of the things you do while in a manic episode and it can end a life in a depressive episode it’s like. Circling back around to denial of mental illness.

definitely does make sense i agree with this, we can speculate all day long but at the end of the day people are struggling, and they would likely struggle regardless of society's response towards their conditions

it really does loop back around in the end and its just frustrating

i understand not wanting to be pathologized, i understand not trusting the psychs, i understand that the system is as broken as it ever was with maybe a shinier coat of paint over it now and slightly less medieval torture methods deployed...but regardless how you classify mental illness or how you rename it, its a fairly consistent set of symptoms and experiences

its like when people have this idea that mental illness will cease to exist in the utopian post-capitalist world the revolution will bring

but the way i really know people still dont get it even within these circles is the way they cant seem to agree on how much of mental illness is even in the control of the sufferer. like theres always a point at which its simply an excuse, because, well i suffer from this and i wouldnt do that...in the fight against the stigma we throw so many people under the bus and end up only advocating for the people who can speak for themselves in the first place, the 'high functioning' people (who subsequently are not really allowed to show symptoms either because, you're too functional, you're too cognizant of your own actions, you must be doing it on purpose too)

and the anti-med stance is another i cant really get behind even knowing that yeah...you can go through everything they got and never find one that works for you, you can get meds that fuck you all the way up, even when youre on them you might still struggle, you might hate the side effects more than the illness...i get all that and i recognize all that and people totally have the right not to take shit they dont want to...but also i know people who need their medication...big pharma or not doesnt fucking matter cause its obviously something that tangibly helps enough people that we cant just not have it. same with therapy its totally understandable to lose all faith in that avenue of help but there will always be people who need that kind of service even in its imperfect state

reminds me a lot of a book i read called 'no one cares about crazy people' , every few decades we have a new dominating theory of mental illness and the people who are labeled mentally ill continue to struggle through every iteration of it

[camary1996]

Accept me as I am!

I may be a little odd and a little quirky, but I am a person with real feelings and I have some insecurities. Having been bullied as a child and as a adult I just need a friend who sees me as a person and whose not judgemental. A person who will not take my behavior personally. A friend that’s with me for the long haul. Someone who can handle someone who’s been sick with a medical condition all…

[kharmii]

small apology here, my rant about fakers, fauxtism and all that.

Gotta admit that I have stopped BNHA a few years ago. Not because I thought it was bad. I still like the world building and characters and how a lot of the Quirks reflect the personalities from everyone, I just didn't fully vibe with the direction the series took when it shifted away a little to hard from the academy life and all that. But gotta agree on Todoroki on all the points you've made. And I reach out to you in sympathy to you. Considering everything you've likely been through you have become incredibly strong, even if a little rough around the edges but honestly considering how things online are it's no wonder... I really admire you for being headstrong and being above so much stuff. And from your examples I also see that it's also from others being "others" causing more harm than good.

I have my own catalogue of examples of others having caused my depressions and anxieties (on top of many other things) and sometimes my attempts to step out of situations were outright ignored or dismissed. Too often others CAUSE people to react certain ways. And it really is just insulting when I see people see medical conditions as an aesthetic or a quirky personality trait or worse a free pass to be an asshole towards others "you can't be mad at me cause of my autism I dont know any better" bs

either way just wanting to know I really appreciated you talking about yourself and Todoroki and if anything it made me appreciate you even more.

Thanks for this! Tell me if I'm wrong because I like to play armchair shrink, (and it's totally projection) but is some of the resentment over fakers/fauxtism because they make it look fun and easy? -Like look at me! I'm (neurodivergent/mentally ill) and am having this great time expressing my quirkiness and individuality! I'm expressing my asshattery in a sassy and quirky way that will by no means create a fallout worse than the condition itself! People find me interesting after all!

Meanwhile, suffering from the abuse survivor's form of the 'tism, I've got the thousand-yard stare of that person not allowed to be quirky a day in my life. The slightest bit of weird behavior immediately got smacked down, and sometimes I'd be going about my normal business and get attacked out of nowhere wondering what I did this time. Then I get labeled as being cold and soul-less, like wait...are you saying that I'm not allowed to express my individuality in any way, but when I get that much closer to achieving 'perfection', then I'm accused of not having a personality at all? There has to be some sort of middle ground that every human being on earth is allowed except me.

Then there's the old 'Why don't you (x) like other (x)?' from Stalker Guy that couple times when we were still good. It was never anything having to do with a personality, more like yet another person trying to play puppeteer molding me into an ideal.

I just got into BNHA in January and had to limit myself to 3-4 episodes a day so I didn't binge burn through them. The X-Men fan in me loved the idea of a society of complex mutants, even with a greater suspension of disbelief. The "Hellish Todorokis" were a draw. At first, Shoto was such a 'blah' character, but then there's the first good abuse analogy where he wouldn't use his fire side because he didn't want to be like the dad he was pissed at. Ironically, some of his personality might be from abuse, but some of his stoicism and coldness might be because he actually takes after Endeavor. That's part of why Endeavor could never have hoped to become #1 or breed a future #1. Maybe he didn't understand that the sensitive warm-hearted All Might was the symbol of peace because he was one-part superpowers and one-part good public relation skills. :-P

The Endeavor redemption arc was good, even though the fandom got worked up about it. Come on now, it's okay for people to apologize and feel regret for the terrible things they did (how refreshing of a concept), and it's not like his family was like 'all is forgiven; let's pretend like it never happened'. They were still angry and hurting but willing to work toward a better relationship going forward. That's realistic and reasonable.

Every so often, I'll think to google if Dabi is still alive, but I shouldn't hold out hope. -Or maybe one could see it like...if he has to live his life blind and missing an arm, he's better off deceased.

As much as I loved Todoroki drama, it was the Meta Liberation Army that really grabbed me. What a waste of potential they all were! Maybe kids might be bored with them and happy they were one-shot villains, but as an adult, I loved the politician who used 'incite' to get the useful idiots going, or the goofball CEO doubling as a secret cult leader, or the skulking creepy hacker in charge of intel. Then there's my Himura ship I'm not advertising as incest because, even if I couldn't care less either way if it was or not, I'm sick of the foaming at the mouth crazies getting worked up about it. A person could be trying their absolute hardest to write a decent story in good faith, and the antis will glom onto the stupid kink and make it 100% defined by it.

[brainstreamjournal]

ADHD Blog #1 Navigating the ADHD Rollercoaster: A Personal Journey

Hey there, fellow adventurers,

As I've mentioned before, my blog will cover a range of topics—a direct result of my ADHD. This condition makes it nearly impossible for me to stick to just one interest for an extended period. I'm working around my dopamine deficiency by writing about all the things I love rather than focusing on a single topic.

In 2024, ADHD is a well-known topic, thanks in part to platforms like TikTok. Its fast-paced nature reaches a vast audience quickly, contributing to a broader understanding of ADHD and ADD. Personally, I was diagnosed at the age of 22, a common age for women to receive this diagnosis, whereas it's less common for men who are typically diagnosed at a younger age.

For those who haven't delved into the TikTok rabbit hole or haven't stumbled upon any ADHD-related content, let me provide a brief introduction. Keep in mind that I'm not a doctor or psychiatrist; I've been diagnosed for two years and am still learning. I'll share what I know and learn along the way. If you're interested in topics like these, I highly recommend doing your own research, talking to people, watching videos, reading blogs, or consulting a professional (and that's not me 😊).

ADHD—imagine a quirky and unpredictable ride that shapes the way our minds operate. It's like a rollercoaster—fast-paced, full of twists and turns, always keeping you on your toes. ADHD stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, a medical condition.

Think of it as a bunch of buzzing bees in your brain, each with its own agenda. Sometimes they all buzz at once, and other times, it's a solo performance. Attention becomes a game of tag, and focus decides to take coffee breaks without warning.

ADHD isn't one-size-fits-all; it's more like a buffet of experiences. Some folks have a constant whirlwind of thoughts, while others feel like their brain is taking a leisurely stroll through a park. We're all on this ride together, but each of us has our own ticket to the show.

Now, let's talk about the cool part. ADHD isn't just about challenges; it's also a hotbed for creativity. It's like having a treasure chest of ideas that pop up when you least expect them. Our minds are wired to connect dots that others might miss, turning everyday life into an adventure.

Just like any rollercoaster, there are highs, lows, and unexpected loops in the world of ADHD. Frustration might join you on the steep climbs, but then there's the exhilaration of creativity on the downhill stretches. It's a ride with emotions as diverse as the twists and turns.

In a world that often prefers straight paths, ADHD is our rollercoaster ride. It's a celebration of the fact that we don't all have to take the same route. Our minds are like rollercoasters—wild, unpredictable, and uniquely ours. And that's something worth celebrating.

So, here's to riding the ADHD rollercoaster—the wild journey of twists, turns, and surprises. May we embrace the ride, enjoy the unexpected moments, and remember that our unique minds are what make us shine.

[thorne1435]

Re system discourse

Im a system and I have no clue what our origins are. I dont think it matters. It doesnt effect our experience to know either way.

Afaik there hasnt been all that much research on "how systems happen" anyway.

Re resouces: Usually the more common something is the more resources become available as awareness grows. Even people on gluten free diets as a fad diet buy products increase demand which increases supply which helps celiacs.

What resources are there anyway, that endogenic systems might take away from traumagenic ones? Whos even to say traumagenic system are the "more valid" systems? Who's to say its even a binary?

I don't know much, but Im not here to tell people theyre lying about their own experiences. Why fight when we can help each other.

And if someone is faking, what does that change? Do we want to be the kind of people trying to work out whos faking and who's genuine, that just hurts everyone and is so divisive.

(I mean caveat, i know trisha paytas claims to be a system and I don't believe anything she says about herself but thats a 'micro celebrity' whos always talking shit not a random community member and also I recognize this is hypocritical).

Id rather be in a supportive community than always trying to snipe out who the fakers are and worrying if Ill be seen as a faker. Thats just exhausting. And immoral in general re disability.

"And if someone is faking, what does that change? Do we want to be the kind of people trying to work out whos faking and who's genuine, that just hurts everyone and is so divisive."

That's sort of what I'm worried about. It seems so antithetical to a progressive mindset to be looking out for a "True ____" be it a "True Transgender" or a "True Gay" or a "True System"

But at the same time, isn't it sort of weird when it's like an actual mental disorder?? Like, gay and trans aren't conditions they're just traits. But you have to go through genuinely traumatic events to be a system, and maybe that's why traumagenic systems are so upset about endogenic systems. I mean, there's like a degree of disrespect they perceive from it, I think.

And this isn't unlike what you'll see from transmedicalists who insist that they're more valid because they experience dysphoria and so anyone who doesn't is just a trender.

But, like, trans isn't an illness, y'know? Like, it's medicalized like one, but it's not a mental disorder, it's just a social thing.

I think for these people, it's a bit like saying "I have OCD" to mean "I am particular about details" instead of like "I am compulsed to do an action I don't want to do and I can't stop." or like saying "I have intrusive thoughts" to mean "I did a quirky, weird thing" instead of like "I considered doing something that I didn't want to do because of The Metnal Illness."

Though, maybe you're right. Maybe that's just exhausting and irrelevant and vaguely immoral.

IDK, I'm mainly playing devil's advocate here. I'm still not sure what to think exactly.

[johnsotherbastard]

one thing about me is im a sleepy gal, i am always tired. Knitting? i fall asleep. Watching something? i fall asleep. In the shower? eyes are closed, it’s a miracle im still standing. dont matter how well rested i am, a bitch always sleepy

[crookedkingdom]

the weird trivial thing i will getting mad about today is the way people joke about gluten free diets

[onecupofskim]

when are endos going to understand that systemhood and gender are two very different things that are not interchangable.

gender is a social construct. its an ideology. gender is the way you percieve and express your own identity, it can be fluid or stagnant or nothing at all.

a system is ONLY from when something traumatic happens that prevents a young brains parts of self from fusing and becoming one.

a system is not something you can just will into existance. its not an identity. its a disorder. a medical condition. its not a quirky fun thing. its not a new xenoorigin you can just slap onto yourself and call it a day.

stop equating breaking out of societal gender constructs and a mental disorder. its getting old.

Edit: this post is NOT for transmeds. you all can go fuck yourselves. I am NOT transmed friendly. I am literally a genderqueer person who uses they/it pronouns.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

I have a story regarding to "The Twitching Generation" or at least similar to it.

I have a female cousin who's dearly close to my family and she self-diagnosed herself with narcolepsy because she's constantly falling asleep during the day mostly of the time but her mom already took her to see a doctor and made several tests even with a polysomnography multiple times and they found nothing wrong with her. Her blood is clean, there's no disease or disorder of any kind that they could find in her.

So, what's causing her to fall asleep during the day? Well, her mom admitted during a lunch that she's always sleeping very late after midnight like between 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. and wakes up very late almost at noon, plus she doesn't eat properly and eat junk food and is addicted to social media. Here's the worst part: my cousin denies everything and insists that she has a medical condition despite having medical evidence that contradicts her.

This is the most eye-opening and shocking thing I've encountered in first-hand. Her family and my family have tried everything to convinced her to change her lifestyle since what she's dealing with could've been addressed easily with a 9-hour sleep, healthy food and less usage on the internet but she refuses to do that.

It's really sad to see someone, especially a family member destroy themselves for an irrational belief.

This is a great example of the problems with self-diagnosis and self-identification, and the devastation it brings.

Self-diagnosis isn't great. Even a trained professional might need to get you into an MRI or take a biopsy or something to be able to accurately diagnose you, and yet you think you can just read WebMD and accurately diagnose yourself? No.

Interesting how you never see self-diagnosers diagnose themselves with pancreatic cancer, liver failure, multiple sclerosis or malignant narcissism. They always seem to be the quirky, yet transparent ones that attract attention and sympathy, justify their behavior - which is sort of like "I can't help it, I'm a Scorpio!" - or both.

It wouldn't necessarily be so bad on its own. You look up your symptoms and try to guess what you've got. You go to the specialist and you find out "oh, I don't have Dissociative Identity Disorder, I have Type 2 diabetes because I eat like every day is Halloween, boy do I feel silly."

When the self-diagnosed condition becomes a part of the individual's personal identity, it becomes threatening to suggest otherwise. To paraphrase Kimberlé Crenshaw, 'we all can recognize the distinction between the claims "I am Narcoleptic" and the claim "I am a person who happens to have Narcolepsy."' To question any of this is to be regarded as some kind of bigot or hater for not celebrating this identity.

It also seems pseudo-religious when you think about it. What would convince her that she didn't have narcolepsy? When I ask a similar question to the religious, the answer, stated proudly and confidently is "nothing. Nothing could convince me that my god is not real." If you got an answer like that from her, you can be certain she's not rational and her belief is just as faith-based.

Since social capital is now calculated on acquiring "marginalized identities" and perceived "victimhood," not on ideas and values, it's even worse to dare point out that they don't have a condition at all, and are remarkably ordinary. That would be the worst thing of all.

It would be interesting to ask her about an article that you read, that she's no doubt well aware of, about an injection you can get every two months which will eliminate narcolepsy entirely. And whether she will be getting it. I would put money on her "narcolepsy" being the "wrong kind" or some other excuse.

What's really gross is that there are people who actually have narcolepsy, DID, Tourette's and other conditions who would love nothing better than to wave a magic wand and just be merely ordinary, to fit within the statistical bellcurve called "normal."

And then you have people mapping their personality traits or flaws onto these serious conditions and adopting them as an aesthetic, trivializing them in the process.

[erratic-brainrot]

I just been reading about Heart Diseases and chronic blood disorders for the last couple of hours. For South Park. To make South Park fan content.

And now I have headcanon Tweek with Dilated ccardiomyopathy (DCM) mainly due to pre-existing drug abuse and stress. (Also quirky note that Stan or randy could have this due to alcohol abuse)

{possibly paired with an overactive thyroid for a time due to medical treatment for arrhythmia, common with heart disease, but I need to read up more}

Possible with Graves’ disease (esp if I want to ignore meth based root, which I rarely do. But this disorder is very befitting of tweek)

With stress being a trigger. Externally very Tweek. But you could simply go for an overactive thyroid finding other root causes (as I did with his DCM Sortve)

There was more like a bone based illness? Possibly MS but I can’t find it in my tabs? But either way that’s what I found if you want to utilize my labour.

I probably will make actual essays in the future if I’m smart enough about chronic ailments for character writing. Since it’s good to research, and I find it really refreshing to write about?

More people have conditions than we talk about, with myself and many people I love with certain ailments that affect their life. And I am for all means encouraging of possible education or involvement through means of media. Even through South Park fan work lol.

[bi-rising]

so the thing is. i've always been pro non-binary and i want to continue to be but i have been reading some stuff and i'm worried bc it kinda makes sense and ik it's a bad thing but god idk i need to hear your opinion. so there's this post of someone saying trans ppl wouldn't exist in an utopia where genders aren't a thing and someone else explained how that was wrong because of disphoria and then said "while yes, there would be a lot less nb ppl bc gender stereotypes are more their thing..." and it got me thinking bc i never really understood what nb is. i also saw other people say that nb and genderfluid don't make sense because they're not about gender, but stereotypes about masculinity and femeninity. and i think i agree? (what i hear most from nb ppl is that they don't feel like they fit in with society's ideas of man or woman, but as a somewhat masculine cis woman neither do i? or many others at least) because those things are societal, you can be a binary gender while not agreeing with societal gender norms, or gnc. and what confuses me further is that most nb ppl are gender aligned. i reason they're aligned to the gender that corresponds their sex? (i'm asking from the deepest pit of ignorance😅) but if they feel like they don't fit in the binary genders, how can they be aligned with masc of fem? i mean for example a nb person who's female by sex and is very femenine, wears makeup, long hair, basically doesn't look androgynous at all, are they really not a woman who doesn't agree with gender stereotypes? bc i also feel like a lot of people are treating nb as a quirky thing to use to get in the lgbt community (like they wanna be oppressed, for whatever reason). idk. i'm a bit lost (and drunk), gender discourse is quite complex...

you're right, gender discourse is incredibly complex, especially when so many people are ready to jump down your throat and cancel you and destroy your friendships regardless of your intentions and/or level of knowledge. therefore, i'm also going to speak carefully on this subject, bc i feel that nb discourse is rife with people foaming at the mouth to ask any questions at all so :^)

anyway, i've seen that post before, and i think i agree with you as well. binary trans people have a disorder. it's been proven that trans people's brains have the neural pathways and neural structural patterns of the gender opposite of their sex. therefore, even in a utopia without gender roles and stereotypes, they would still be trans. that's also why it's incredibly important to keep transgender as a medical acknowledgement, not just to force insurance to help pay for gender reaffirming surgeries and therapies, but also to acknowledge that it's a real, neurological occurrence--and hopefully gain more research and acceptance of it.

and because of that, i also am in the same boat as you, where it's likely that nb people would not exist in such a utopia, or if they did, it would be an extremely small amount, even smaller than it is currently. from what i've seen in the nb movement is a lot of push against gender roles and gender stereotypes; i would cautiously hazard a guess that there are two main reasons for people identifying as nb

1) they are gnc

2) they don't "feel" their gender, as they believe cis people do, and conflate lack of femininity/masculinity or a neutrality towards one's own body with having a different gender

i personally can't see anyone having nb dysphoria, simply because the science isn't there for it. the body has two setting--male or female (please note that intersex people are not being considered here, as their condition is a birth defect and not the creation of a third gender or a lack of gender). therefore, there are female and male hormones; female and male neural structures; female and male neural pathways. i don't believe that there is dysphoria associated with not having a gender or having a third gender outside the binary--HOWEVER. however, i believe that many things can be mistaken for nb dysphoria

for example, many binary trans people have had a stage wherein they identify as nb for awhile. it's like a stepping stone, from what i understand, between believing they're cis to understanding they're trans. there is also trauma, especially sexual trauma, that can cause a disconnect between one's own gender and themselves. internalized misogyny/misandry can also be a culprit, or simply not wishing to exist within the boxes that female and male stereotypes push people into. and lastly, there's also body dysmorphia, which can be difficult to recognize for what it is. of course, it may be a desire to simply "be different" than other people, especially for those that are online a lot and have been bombarded with "cis is bad" for years and years, but i would like to give people the benefit of the doubt first instead of jumping to conclusions like that

despite all of this, i do think it is important to respect nb people and be courteous and kind to them. this is just my own opinion, and i personally will never attack or dismiss a nb person. the only problem i will ever have is if a nb person uses neopronouns, and that's bc i am neurodivergent and believe that pronouns equal gender. then, though, i believe that's a separate problem entirely from being nb critical

[missmentelle]

Would you say it's the same thing for ADHD? I was diagnosed as having 'traits of adhd' a few years back and always assumed it was more a reflection of the fact that i was diagnosed by a med student not being supervised who made some significant errors in the way she tested me as well as omitting what I thought were some significant observations from her writeup, but I've been wondering lately whether I am actually ADHD or not

It’s the same for all disorders - if a diagnosing professional wrote down on a psychology report that you have “traits of” a mental disorder, it means that they felt you did not meet the criteria for a full diagnosis at that time, most likely for one of five reasons:

You didn’t have enough symptoms to meet the minimum required for the diagnosis, or you were missing a key symptom that is required to make that diagnosis.

Your symptoms are not severe enough to warrant a diagnosis; they do not cause significant disruption or impairment in your daily life. 

Your symptoms only occur in one specific context (eg. you have symptoms at school, but not at home, work or with friends), or your symptoms are a side effect of medication or intoxication. 

Your symptoms have not been going on long enough to meet the criteria for the diagnosis, they don’t occur frequently enough to make the diagnosis, you have long symptom-free periods that negate the diagnosis, or your symptoms did not appear at an age consistent with the onset of that diagnosis.

You sort of meet the criteria for the diagnosis, but there is a different diagnosis that does a much better job of explaining your symptoms (this is sometimes listed as a “differential diagnosis”, rather than “traits of X”).

A report stating that a person has “traits of” a certain disorder or “features of” a disorder is actually extremely common. I’ve probably read more than thousand psych reports at this point in my career, and it’s quite normal for phrasing like that to appear on them. Usually, this is actually a sign that the person is being rather thorough - they are noting that they considered ADHD as a possible diagnosis but ultimately could not make the diagnosis for some reason or other. As I said, other reports may format this differently, and include a list of “differential diagnoses” in the conclusion - this is a list of diagnoses that they considered but ultimately ruled out for one reason or another. 

Unfortunately, learning that you have “traits” of a disorder doesn’t really tell us much, especially without seeing the full psych report. Maybe you didn’t have ADHD then, but you have since developed it. Maybe you don’t have it and never did. Maybe you have some other sort of executive dysfunction or disorder that explains your symptoms, but it was missed the last time around. Maybe a diagnosis of ADHD was warranted back then, and still is. Maybe you only have ADHD symptoms in a specific context, which would make you ineligible for diagnosis but suggests there is something going on that needs to be addressed. I don’t know enough about your case to know for sure. All that I know is that the only way to be sure if you have ADHD - or any other mental disorder that you may be concerned about - is to seek a second opinion and get another assessment done. 

(I’m going to give some clarification about what having “traits of” a disorder means for other readers who may have similar questions. You should know, though, that ADHD is actually slightly different than other disorders like BPD that you may have “traits of” - ADHD is a neurological condition that responds to medication, and if you are given ADHD medication when you don’t actually have ADHD, you are going to notice pretty quickly that you’ve been misdiagnosed. If you calm down and get more sleep while taking what is effectively speed, you can be pretty sure that ADHD is the correct diagnosis for you. People with other disorders like depression, agoraphobia, PTSD and BPD don’t have the same kind of litmus test available for their diagnosis.)

It’s important to remember that everyone has traits of at least one diagnosable disorder - most people will have traits of several. Some people are more easily distractible than others, some people have more trouble sleeping, some people are naturally low-energy or feel more intense emotions. If you browse through a copy of the DSM-V, you are going to find some stuff in there that sounds like it applies to you. Nobody has perfect mental health, especially in their teens and early 20s. But most people do not meet the criteria for the diagnosis of a mental disorder.

This is where we have to think critically about what a diagnosis actually is, why we do it, and what it actually means. Diagnosing a psychological disorder is not like diagnosing a medical disorder, where we can do some blood tests and scans and know exactly what a person has. Psychological diagnoses are always subjective, to some extent - we made categories to describe common clusters of behaviours and symptoms, and we decided where to draw the line between “someone who is just quirky” and “someone who needs formal psychological treatment”. Where exactly we draw that line has always been the subject of debate. 

We could make it so that everyone who has any sort of mental health flaw at all gets diagnosed with a disorder, but that sort of defeats the point of diagnosis - if almost everyone on earth has a diagnosis, then a diagnosis effectively becomes meaningless. There’s no longer meaningful distinction between “someone with an overactive imagination” and “someone with treatment-resistant psychosis” - it all just gets slapped with the same diagnosis. It can also lead us to “medicalize” behaviours that might not need to be “medicalized”. After all, if we diagnose someone, we need to do something about that diagnosis. Diagnosing them means we’ve identified that they need some sort of treatment or intervention. But do all quirks in human behavior really need to be ironed out with treatment? Do we really want to build a world where everyone who falls outside a very rigid definition of mental health gets told that they have something wrong with them? Likewise, if we make diagnosis too restrictive, that’s not good either. Now we have the opposite problem - if we make the criteria for a diagnosis too strict and too narrow, we miss people who might seriously benefit from having treatment. If we say “you need to be severely suicidal before we can diagnose you with depression”, we’re going to overlook a lot of non-suicidal people whose depressive symptoms are ruining their lives, and who could be treated if we just recognized them as depressed. If we are only diagnosing and helping the most severe of the severe cases, we aren’t really making good use of the tools available to us and diagnosis once again becomes basically meaningless, because not having one is no longer a good indicator of whether or not you need help. 

Diagnosis is a balancing act, and there are a lot of people who fall in kind of a grey area where it’s not totally clear if we should be diagnosing them or not. People are complicated, and they rarely fit neatly into categories. If we have a twenty-year-old girl who experiments with drugs, has a lot of short-term and casual dating relationships that end poorly, struggles to make and keep friends, and doesn’t really have a stable sense of who she is and what she wants, does she have BPD? Or is she just a normal 20-year-old? How would we decide? If we diagnose her, we might be pathologizing behaviour that isn’t really all that unusual for her age group, and making her feel like she’s defective for struggling with things that are pretty normal for someone her age to be struggling with; diagnosing her could make her believe that she’s incapable of healthy relationships, which could become a self-fulfilling prophecy. On the other hand, if we don’t diagnose her, we could be missing the fact that she does actually have a fairly serious disorder, and depriving her of the chance to get life-changing treatment that might help her develop the healthier, more fulfilling relationships that she has been missing out on. We could be leaving her to deal with her destructive behaviours on her own, without having any of the language or tools she needs to disrupt those patterns. 

If you’ve been assessed by a mental health professional and you have questions about how they reached the conclusions they did, I encourage you to ask questions and have an open conversation about your symptoms, possible treatments and needs. If you don’t feel that they have a good understanding of your case, I highly encourage you to get a second opinion on your diagnosis from another professional. Whenever possible, seek a diagnosis from someone who specializes in mental health - this should be a psychologist or psychiatrist (or in some cases, a neurologist), and not a general practitioner or family doctor (some family doctors can diagnose and treat basic depression, but even then, you should seek a referral to a specialist for further treatment and assessment). Also remember that diagnosis does not have to be a barrier to seeking therapy - anyone can get therapy, even if they do not meet the criteria for a psychological diagnosis, and everyone can benefit from seeking out a therapist to improve their coping skills, social skills, and general mental health.  Hope this answers your question! MM

[restlesslegs-uselesseggs]

13years of WTF!?

I will, throughout my writing, try to keep my language as clean as possible but do not expect a rose tinted, rainbow and kitten encrusted outlook on how things are...It’s just not going to happen. 

Being a noob, as the kids call it, at this whole blog thing I looked up blog prompts for chronic illnesses. Number 1 on the list was “write a letter to your pain”

uh huh. Well with time and a little exploration that may come later on but at the moment I want to document as best I can what actually has taken me to this point where I feel the need to talk about the issues surrounding chronic illnesses and mental health. Fun huh? 

Oh! Before I start, an update on last nights adventures with the teeth and pains. I ended up collapsing on my sofa at around 4am with my body pillow folded over to create a mountain to sprawl on and my hooded jacket on for warmth on top of the heating I finally decided to put back on. This visual delight was after a long haul of microwave bean bags on my jawline, paracetamols, hot chocolates, whole cloves stuffed next to my gums (and when that seemed insufficient, ground cloves rubbed into my gums), raising, stretching and pounding of the legs that would just not give up and when that didn’t work, several trips walking around the ground floor of my little cottage with my eyes practically closed bumping into furniture and I still managed to wake up about half 7 to scramble into some clothes, hitch a lift into college and finish my ceramics class! Boom! Mic drop lol. 

Also a good trick for anyone with gum or toothache, Sensodyne toothpaste...not just for brushing my friend! Rub some directly onto the area that hurts and it doesn’t completely go away but definitely takes the edge off. Safe to say I will making good use of Boots special offer of 2 for £7 at the moment. 

Anyway, returning to the subject at hand. The title of this post can potentially be self explanatory, but if not here’s the deal. Yes, I spent 13 years of my life undiagnosed and unaware of my fibromyalgia condition. 13 YEARS PEOPLE!! 

Reflecting back, my Drs and I feel that it probably started due to the trauma my body went through when I was pregnant and then the subsequent birth. No I’m not going to tell you how old I was but I was quite young. My body had already gone through some trauma however only around a year and half beforehand when I came down with Meningococcal Septicaemia, another one of my magical medical moments lol. About two thirds of the way through the pregnancy I started getting pain in the pelvic area and was finding it harder and harder to walk. Basically my bundle of joy had decided to press down on my pelvis which then subsequently snapped in affect and gave me the delight of continuing my pregnancy with Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction. I’d like to point at this point, I was a single mum to be living at home with mum and dad and my sister was my planned birthing partner. Hubby didn’t come into the equation until a month after the birth when he gallantly fell for me and took on my child as his own, and has ever since. 

My pelvis reattached itself as it does with SPD but I then started noticing maybe 6 months into motherhood that I was getting pains in my legs while walking. Initially I was putting it down to the extra weight put on with the pregnancy that just wasn’t shifting but eventually, no matter how much walking I did, things just weren’t getting any better so I went to the Drs who then referred me to get an x-ray (which also was the last time I remember having a period, but that’s another story for the PCOS posts) . Everything was normal. 

After that initial investigation most things are a blur as all I did was struggle on and on. We (hubby & I) were focusing on conceiving and with lack of periods etc nothing was happening and I went through countless blood tests and examinations and scans and consultations that I believe my brain has blanked most of it out. I do, however remember asking one of Drs whether or not they thought I was experiencing REALLY early menopause which was dismissed and which I’m still not convinced I wasn’t or am. 

But I digress...

Through the past 13 years I have jumped from job to job, being employed, being unemployed, trying to earn from home etc as I had no further education and no career path in front of me and with each job something would suddenly make it all intolerable and undoable and I’d be wiped out and looking for something easier. To me though, I just thought it was normal to feel like this after having a baby and being a mum, no one said any different. It wasn’t until I started noticing, around 2 years ago now, the cognitive deficiencies that comes with fibro that I was really starting to go mad and knew something wasn’t right. 

I wrote a list that was 2 columns, one A4 side of paper long of all symptoms and bodily functions that felt just were not right to my Dr, no joke and no I’m not a hypochondriac. More bloods were taken and surprise surprise, all normal. It wasn’t until i went to another Dr that things started to become clearer (and this is important, If you feel something just isn’t right and everything is coming back normal KEEP LOOKING FOR ANSWERS and definitely FIND THE RIGHT DR!! It makes all the difference). 

My mum had been researching to help me too and we were comparing conditions and ticking boxes on what all this could be and Fibromyalgia ticked them ALL!! I didn’t mention it to my new Dr and with a tearful explanation of what had been going on with my body and brain and one look at her screen with my medical history on it she said...”Have you ever heard of Fibromyalgia?” 

I’m not ashamed to tell you I burst into tears, flood gates were open and there was no turning back. My pains, my fears, my symptoms were finally being validated by a medical professional and I was NOT crazy!! 

Since then my condition has been verified by a rheumatology consultant and I’m now on medication to help me through it and I have finally embraced the fact that I cannot stand by a regular job, not one that requires physical activity anyway and with no non-physical skill sets, opportunities are not a knocking. 

So, here I am, returning to college to follow a creative dream of being my own boss as an artist, illustrator, animator and generally quirky in my own way. 

That’s it for today folks and remember these crucial points...

1. DO NOT DISMISS WHAT YOUR BODY IS TELLING YOU

2. DON’T GIVE UP LOOKING FOR ANSWERS

3. KEEP CHANGING TILL YOU FIND THE RIGHT DR

4. DO NOT LISTEN TO SKEPTICS, THEY ARE NOT LIVING IT, YOU ARE

Speak soon peeps x