#my options for birth control are just so fucking limited because of other medical issues i have

[fatfemmegf]

going to scoop out my uterus with a spoon

[bi-rising]

hey I just saw your post about PCOS being a hormonal issue not a gyno one while I was surfing the tag. I was diagnosed a couple months back and all my gyno did was a 2 min ultrasound and then prescribed me birth control. I would like to have actual help and more info on it but I'm not sure who I'm supposed to go to for that. Seeing as you were in a similar situation I'd appreciate your help.

seems like gynos really suck with pcos, don't they? 🥴 warning you now, this is going to be a very long post, because i'm essentially writing out absolutely everything i did and everything i've learned, so strap in for a ride aldksfjasldf

the first thing to do is research, research, research. i spent a whole week constantly on pcos websites (such as pcosaa and this article, tho fair warning, the article does use academic speech so it might not be the easiest thing to read) and watching videos and doing what i could to inform myself. the way you can know if you're looking at a credible resource is how the source defines pcos: does it pose it as a reproductive system disorder? or an endocrine (hormonal) disorder? if it talks about it as a reproductive system disorder, then it's probably wrong.

please note that i am not, obviously, a medical professional, but this is how i understand pcos works. i'll use me as an example just so i can use first person perspective, but it applies to pcos patients in general.

so, my cells are insulin resistant. that means that when i eat, my body releases, lets say, 100 (x measurement) of insulin. because my cells are insulin resistant, they say "hey, i'm only gonna use 50x of that insulin". but they still NEED that 100x to function. so my body releases ANOTHER 100x of insulin, so my cells go "ok i'll take 50x" and so while my cells now have the 100x they're supposed, to i now have 100x insulin floating around.

that extra insulin not only wreaks havoc on many systems of the body, it is the reason why most people with pcos that goes untreated end up with type 2 diabetes. the extra insulin is also converted (or spurs the creation of? i'm not entirely certain on the how here) into testosterone and other androgen (male) hormones. so your body has too much insulin, and now it has too much testosterone, too. that extra testosterone is what fucks with your reproductive system and prevents the follicles on your ovaries from maturing (which is what the 'cysts' are). it also often creates increased facial hair, acne (especially on the 'beard line'), and worse body odor. between the testosterone and the insulin, it's nigh impossible to lose weight.

also note that because your body has to release more insulin for your cells to get an adequate amount, you likely crave carbs and sugars (salty/crunchy things and sweets), and you're likely frequently fatigued, bc your body isn't, well, working correctly and it's taking more energy to perform basic functions.

secondly, take all this information that you know to your doctor. i legitimately wrote down some notes about this process in a little notebook and took it with me so that i wouldn't forget/get too anxious to bring any of it up. i also wrote down the things i had been doing to help up to that point (working out, what my diet was, etc etc) and what i was concerned about. lastly, i also wrote down what medications and supplements i had heard of in my research to see what my doctor thought of them.

my doctor's first 'attack' choice is ozempic--it's a weekly shot that helps to regulate insulin levels and also is pretty good at helping weight loss. be aware though that most commercial insurances don't pay for this, but if your doctor is good, they'll try to work around that so that you're not paying a frankly outrageous amount for it. also look out for sometime this fall, my doc said that the ozempic manufacturers are trying to get ozempic approved for weight loss (it's approved for other things) and that should help bring the price down?? anyway, that's my doc's preferred method, but because of my finances, we currently can't do that.

his second attack, which i'm now on, is metformin. it's a medication mostly used for diabetics that helps with blood sugar levels which, again, is that insulin issue. my mom has been on it for 14 years bc diabetes runs in our family anyway, so it's perfectly safe for long time use and definitely helps with keeping either away from or within the pre-diabetes phase. again, i've only been on it now two days so i can't say anything for me but we'll see how it goes lmao

he also approved of me using omega 3 (fish pills) supplements because they help balance things out in general, not just pcos, and he was good with me using spearmint, too. i'm starting out on one cup of spearmint tea a day and see how that effects me, but i've heard of people having up to two spearmint supplement pills and a cup of spearmint tea a day, too. spearmint is a 'defense', as far as i can explain it: it has (tho limited) research that it lowers the testosterone levels in women with pcos. so while it doesn't help with the insulin so it doesn't attack the source, it can help with the testosterone aspect, aka facial hair, acne, etc. i've also heard of cinnamon supplements and inositol supplements helping, but i didn't get a chance to ask about either of those from my doctor, so make sure if you want to give those a try, you talk about them and make sure they won't interfere with any of your other medications and get your doctor's approval on them, first.

thirdly, ask about what else you can do to help yourself. my doctor stressed the importance of a proper night's sleep, as well as advised to try to cut back on carbs and sugars (IMPORTANT NOTE: some people claim that you HAVE to be on a keto diet to get results with pcos. WRONG. please don't do this. keto diets are entirely unsustainable. and cutting back on carbs and sugars does not mean cutting them OUT, it just means if you want a snack, try reaching for a protein or a vegetable instead of a carb. but don't limit yourself!! please, be conscious about what you eat, and remember that sometimes yeah, a slice of cake or a serving of chips isn't going to kill you or set your pcos back. don't risk getting an e.d. just for the sake of your pcos). he also told me that the best exercise that i personally should do is either HIIT exercises or cardio, and to do at least an hour a day, even if it's 30 mins in the morning, 30 in the evening--and to work up to that so even doing ten minutes a day, then increasing it from there, is healthier and better than jumping straight into a whole ass hour. he also told me to aim for a certain heartrate. i don't remember the formula he used, but for me at 22 (based on age) he wanted me to try to aim for 150-160 bpm. again, especially with exercise, that was what he recommended for me. you're likely different from me, so ask your doctor and see what he says.

fourthly, and perhaps most importantly, DON'T BOTHER WITH A GYNO. all of this that i've gotten done for me was from my family doctor, so just the guy i go to for yearly check ups. see if you can do some routine blood work to give him (or her) as wide of a picture as possible, and then go in and talk with a regular doctor about this. a friend of mine also has a friend who actually goes to an endocrinologist to get her pcos sorted out, so that's also an option. gynos seem to just treat the symptoms; birth control gives you a regular period by helping with your estrogen, but that doesn't decrease your testosterone OR do anything with the insulin. my doc is keeping me on birth control pills just so that i have a regular cycle so we can watch and see if anything else happens to it, so it's okay to stay on the birth control, but ultimately, birth control pills don't do anything for pcos.

i know it's difficult and probably kinda scary/anxiety inducing if you're younger or just have anxiety, but you've gotta advocate for yourself in this case. you have to show the doctor that you know what you're talking about and that you're able to call him out on his bullshit if he doesn't take you seriously. also, if your doctor is helpful, don't be afraid to be frank with him about what your gyno did. like i've said with my experience, i got the validation of knowing that my gyno was wrong by explaining to my doctor how he treated me. you deserve better than what your gyno did, and you deserve to actually be treated as a person and your disorder be taken seriously.

i'm wishing you the best of luck, and i hope that you'll be able to get the help that you need 💕💕💕

[ellaintrigue]

Because you IDIOTS got me riled up now

Alright, I’m not going to kiss ass and pretend I’ve never said racist shit in my lifetime, but I truly do regard everyone as equals. The main reasons people accuse me of racism these days is because I am not sexually attracted to black men and because I disagree with radical Muslims. I remember my cousin that I disowned telling me that the screenshots and other things I have heard from Muslims in East Asia and the Middle East were “white conservatives pretending to be Muslims to make them look bad.” (I quote.) Before I showed her proof she told me Muslims did not have any sort of sexist or homophobic views.

Now, mind you, SOME, not all Muslims have these radical views. I do not hate Muslims or stereotype them as bad people. But even simple interactions have left a bad taste in my mouth so I do not PREFER that religion anywhere near me. One guy from India was down for a conversation even though he was ideally looking for romance. After we talked a while he confessed he needed to cheat on his wife with multiple women because she had gynecological issues. I asked him what the doctors said and he told me he forbade her from seeing a gynecologist because only whores go to them. He did not want to offend Allah so to keep his wife pure from the touch of a gynecologist he would continue to satisfy himself with sex from strangers. Dude.

Like I said, not all Muslims are nuts, it’s just that oppressive side, just like with conservative Americans. And this is dozens of interactions, including in real life. A Muslim customer at my last job found out my coworker was gay and proudly told him he would burn in hell for being married to a man. This is not a huge hoax created by conservatives like my cousin suggested. However this is a woman who once saw pictures of one of my abusers and said how attractive he was so I have no doubt that she was a few nuggets short of a Happy Meal, long before she made fun of my mother for having cancer.

Of course I don’t like conservatives either. I have mixed views and the way the left puts themselves in a box and the way the right puts themselves in a box makes me sick. Think for yourselves, and think on what you feel is right, not what the news feeds you.

So, pro-lifers, they believe all conception is life, blah blah, and they say that when a woman aborts she deprives a childless couples of the option to adopt. That’s bullshit and I won’t even get into how forced unwanted pregnancies are literal torture. The fact is, and just have we have been seeing in TV ads recently, thousands of kids age out of the foster system without ever having been adopted. I was aware of this long before it started being brought to attention. There are all these kids in the system without true love and support, and even worse so many get abused. It’s horrific.

But conservatives never talk about that, they just whine about fetuses and adoption. Fuck the kids that already exist. In fact, I have had conservatives tell me that adopting from the foster system is a bad idea because those kids have issues like being crack babies and most of them are black. BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK... So abortion is bad and all kids that are unwanted have automatic homes with loving Christian families, but hold up, not the black ones. QUOTE from one of these people “no one wants black babies.” That’s a literal quote. Basically, just like liberals stereotype them, conservatives want to save healthy white babies. But it’s not about saving them because, again, they don’t seem to give a fuck about foster kids in general. It’s all about nonstop breeding and controlling women.

I’m surprised they don’t want limits on breast exams and pap smears just like with abortion, but women need the first 2 to stay healthy (I mean abortions are for wellbeing too but you get what I’m laying down) so they can breed more and more. However, conservatives often dismiss birth control as bad, even for medical reasons like cysts because it’s either unnatural, or offends God. Yeah, I’ve been told that. I’ve also been called a whore for mentioning I’m on the pill. I was prescribed it for aggressive ovarian cysts, not just pregnancy prevention.

The brainwashed right has sadly earned most of its negative stereotypes, while I still dislike radical liberals. How is a cluster of cells considered human but a black child is regarded as trash? I’ve tested this theory a few times outside of the conservatives that outright said they didn’t want black or disabled children: when I’ve had the misfortune of encountering a pro-lifer I would mention the theory of tons of unwanted black babies and they couldn’t say anything except spouting insults at me, because, well, they’re racist. I have literally never met a pro-lifer that would be open to adopting a black kid. Maybe if some of them were black themselves but I’ve only met maybe 2 black people I can recall that were pro-life.

Basically, if you’re pro-life you’re not just brainwashed and sexist but you aren’t practicing what you preach because you aren’t going out and adopting all these children you claim are being saved from abortion and being given good lives.

[nerdgasrnz]

Hello!

It’s me, your friendly neighborhood artist & animator Lex AKA “nerdgasmz!”

So yesterday I learned that both of my parents are currently unemployed due to them being mistreated at their respective jobs, so I’m the only person right now making any income.

The problem with that is that at the current moment, as regular income, I only get paid monthly, and it’s not enough for me to pay my bills with- much less for me to support a family of 3 adults on. I’ve been job hunting and turned down repeatedly, but I haven’t stopped yet. Until I do land a steady job, I’ve been doing commissions again for the past couple of months.

You can learn more about my situation under the read more further down, but let me get on with it: This isn’t a gofundme or youcaring donation pool post or what have you. I feel that there are others who are in more dire situations who need help. But I do want to let you all know that it doesn’t take much to support me.

I have a Patreon!

For those of you who have known and followed me for years, you know the quality of my work, and what the goal of my work is: I want to entertain people and make their days a little easier by giving them some humorous or cool art to look at.

Because of this, I’m supported on my patreon account, “nerdgasmz”! In addition to 2D art, I’ve also been learning how to create 3D art and animations, which I post WIPS of on there. There’s much you have access to if you’re a public follower of my page, but for as little as $3 a month, you can view things that the public can’t!

I stream on Twitch and Picarto!

I do game and art streaming on my twitch channel, “miss_nerdgasmz”, and exclusively stream art on my Picarto channel, “nerdgasmz”. I have a donation link via Streamlabs (connected to my twitch) where you can contribute if you like what you see!

In terms of art, I usually stream my works in progress, like of certain drawings or my 3D work in Blender- but I also do a cool style of commissions stream where I do commissions LIVE for an audience, and you learn just how quickly I can draw in a time limit! (And because of current circumstances, you’ll probably be seeing some of those streams too!)

On twitch, I stream “Overwatch” during the evenings, and I mainly play Mercy, Zarya, Symmetra, Lucio, and Pharah- every other character I’m usually practicing. (Except Dva- I’m good at her, but I don’t main her) I’m usually grouped up with some friends where we make silly mistakes, some rare cool plays, and complain about the meta of Overwatch and what kind of balancing we’d wish to see in the game. You can check out some of my highlights in my tag, #Lex’s Overwatch Highlights

I also may stream “Dungeons & Dragons”, which I and many of my friends have been into lately (largely inspired by “The Adventure Zone” and “Critical Role”) But I and my friends haven’t fully arranged that yet. But hopefully soon!

Commission openings!

You can check my tag, #Lex’s billboard for openings! You can see previous commissions I’ve done for people in my tag, #Commission(s) and the tag is chocked full of art I’ve completed for others.

As I mentioned before, I do a special type of stream where I draw live for an audience, and I call them “Speed commissions!” The times can range from 15 to 30 minutes, depending on the type of art commissioned, but the art unfolds in real time, which can be awesome to see.

I’m also selling my drawing tablet!

I’m selling my Yiynova MVP10U tablet, which is what I’ve used for art for the past 2 years. I feel like my skills and needs have outgrown the resolution of this screen tablet, but it’s still really good and can be used by other artists who might be looking to upgrade to a screen tablet, but don’t have or want to shell out the money for a Cintiq. [You can find the full details about it in this post] And the price of the tablet is negotiable!!!

I do have my mom’s Microsoft Surface 3 that I’ve been using with her permission for art and I’ve learned how to use it as a drawing monitor with my Laptop.

For more detail about my situation, you can read under the cut:

So, the unemployment thing isn’t the only financial stressor, and I’m only listing issues that are more “immediately” urgent as they pertain to my family and I.

Problem 1.) Our house is pretty old and made with not-so-great craftsmanship by whoever built it. But our current, most important problem is that we have a leaking roof, and it’s been raining like crazy here in Missouri (setting records for floods in some areas) Thankfully we don’t have any flood damage- BUT the roof leaking is bad for my family’s health, because we all have allergies to things like mold and mildew, and allergy medicine can only do so much.

We had one half of our roof fixed, and that was to take care of leaking in our living room and my parents’ bedroom 2 years ago. However, because the other half isn’t fixed yet, our basement, bathroom, and cabinet where we keep our dishes are affected by the leaking. I put it in my budget to contribute to our roofing getting fixed, but I didn’t anticipate BOTH of my parents’ unemployment in that cost.

My mom says she’s going to file a claim with the insurance company for storm damage, and the deductible will be around $1000, so I’ve mentioned that what I was going to contribute to our roofing could instead go towards the deductible for her claim Last time we got half of our roof fixed was out of pocket and unrelated to insurance.) Basically, I would like to earn around $600 to contribute to fixing our roof. That’s my “minimum” goal, but if I somehow manage to earn enough to pay the whole deductible or for the other half of our roof out of pocket, that would be great as well.

Problem 2.) Our insurance was provided through my mom’s job, and our insurance ceased last Saturday. So we’re medically uninsured as well. My mom has a wide variety of health problems and her medications are expensive. In addition to that, I’ve been trying to take advantage of our insurance so that I’ll have access to mental health treatment. I’m diagnosed Depression and ADHD, so you can probably guess how helpful treating my conditions have been for my health and my work ethic.

I have medicine and pharmacy refills of Adderall and Lexapro to last me through September and possibly some of October, and we have enough on the family health savings card to pay for those out of pocket- but after that I’m on my own. And I have an outstanding balance at the treatment center I’ve been going to, due to the previous lapse in insurance (we were changing from my dad’s insurance to my mom’s at the time, and Cobra, a supplementary health insurance, was being extra stupid during that period.) Long story short is that I owe $600 for my treatment, due to the previous insurance lapse, and I would like to pay it off as soon as I can. It used to be around $800 or so, but we’ve been able to make payments to get it down to the $600 we owe now.

I was also planning on making an appointment with my family physician to discuss birth control options, because I feel like birth control would help with my aggressive PMS symptoms (every time I have PMS, my sleep patterns fuck up around the same time and I have a hard time working, even on my Adderall and Lexapro meds)

These are the costs that I feel need our immediate attention, and this doesn’t count other things that my parents pay for like the house payment, food, gasoline, car payments, and utilities. According to my budget, I need to make around $200 per week to help with these costs, until my parents and/or I get employed.