#with terrible side effects

[kerosene-saint]

they picked this of all images to show for me in my 8th grade year book.

[crimeronan]

been thinking about the rabies condition in writing lately, which is a GREAT post about stakes and characterization. basically exploring how if there's a 100% chance a character is doomed, then they can and will do extremely dangerous/damaging/contraindicated things for the slimmest hope of survival. which is one of my Favorite narrative devices

but while we're using health metaphors, i've been thinking about another somewhat complicated means of introducing character stakes, which i'm tentatively calling 'the autoimmune condition' for reasons that are. obvious

the premise itself is simple: the character has Something that they need to survive. they either can't live without this thing or they will lose something vital about themselves if they lose this thing. there is no replacement or alternative for the thing. what's most important are that the consequences for losing it are Extreme, rabies-condition-style

in the real life allegory, this is the immune system. which is great for being alive!

then the problem is introduced when this thing starts killing the character.

the character still needs it to live.

so: there is a 100% chance that you will die if you destroy the thing killing you. if you impair it through other means, there is a 100% chance of consequences, though the severity of those consequences is up to the author. (these are medication side effects in the real life allegory.)

if you do everything you're supposed to then you'll PROBABLY survive, but you're gonna have to play lifelong tug-of-war to balance everything, and you are often going to have to choose between two shitty options. bc there is no alternative.

this is a counterpart to the rabies condition in terms of stakes; with this condition, your character has to make complicated and difficult decisions about what they're sacrificing for their future. it's not the immediate life-and-death stakes of rabies, it's a slow decay instead.

what side effect consequences are they willing to take on?? and what are they NOT willing to take on?? where do their priorities lie in terms of symptom management?? what other solutions are they looking for?? what are they willing to sacrifice??

and perhaps most importantly: what exactly do they need to lose before they'll Accept the side effects / sacrifices that used to terrify them?? how high do the stakes need to be??

at what point is this character going to look back at the choices they've made up to this point, and realize that they no longer recognize themselves??

[quixoticanarchy]

Nothing new in this but I rly do find it unconscionably irresponsible of clinicians not to tell you the side effects of the medications they prescribe you. Especially if they have a fucking FDA black box warning for neuropsychiatric effects including anxiety, depression, and suicidality

Also ime doctors have told me the side effects of meds I'm going to have to take the rest of my life or I die ("you may run into issues with bone density or - the horror - weight gain...") but for meds that weren't actually life or death at all, they didn't tell me shit. And had I known, I would not have taken them! And my mental health probably wouldn't have tanked drastically in 2023, and I wouldn't have spent almost two years trying to get back to my baseline of 2022 before this fucking medication derailed me

[doveshovel]

Long-term side effects of housing a deity in a human body?

[baking-accident]

this ad is so threatening. why do I have to disappear for a month to become an alpha woman

[vee-lociraptor]

extremely messed up that covid can have long term mental side effects they don’t tell you about actually

[faaun]

raised my tolerence to vyvanse too close to the sun

[orcelito]

Haircut

[jessiesjaded]

random picture dump :)

[tulipe-rose]

I was going through a list of flowers, and their symbolism with the intent of finding some info for future reference when I came upon the Belledonna.

Atropa belladonna, commonly known as belladonna or deadly nightshade, is a toxic perennial herbaceous plant in the nightshade family Solanaceae.

An alternative name for the belladonna according to a review on one of the sites I looked through was 'The assassin's drug' in past history, because it tastes sweet, and causes death.

Another review came up to say that Belladonnas help with fevers, and a third one said that the op had a cystoscopy on their left kidney, and the surgical notes stated that once the stone, and equipment were removed, a "Belladonna & Opium suppository" was administrated (B&O for short); they are common after kidney stone removal procedures because they help control what is essentially a painful post-op cramping of the urethra.

The name originates from it's historic use by women, as bella donna is Italian for 'beautiful woman'. It was used to dilate woman's pupils since it was considered to be attractive, and seductive.

In light of my short research, I assume that Dazai used this as a pet name for the women he invites to double suicides knowing all of this. A beautiful woman that agrees to a double suicide would be a deathly one, but her presence would bring comfort alongside the death to come.

It would make a funny pun for florists/plant enthusiasts (me)/pharmacists, and maybe even doctors out there who are exposed to Dazai's flirtatious pick up lines.

'Just being in the presence of your beauty makes my heart race, my dear Belladonna!'

'You should go see a doctor then, my chemistry would start affecting your digestive system pretty soon if you don't hurry lol'

[shallowseeker]

Zach I

Zach II

Zach III

Cas can DIE?! Say it ain't so!

Bobby, demoralized

Dean and Cas's mutual, pissy fatalism

Love blooming, personal space

You're not much fun, so why am I laughing so hard?

Dean's anxiety at being a vessel

Sam: Guess what? I'm a vessel, too! Everyone, please panic.

Recruiting Dean

So I don't lose them later...

Stupid amounts of having fun, though...

[danielnelsen]

things aren’t going well with peach. while i think my dad’s very right to be concerned that she hasn’t eaten anything in nearly 60 hours (obviously i am too), im becoming increasingly concerned that she hasn’t slept at all in around 36 hours and prior to that she was under anaesthetic, which isn’t exactly restful, so it’s closer to 48 hrs

like dad took her back to the vet today and we’ve got injections for her painkillers now because she’s not eating, and also injections for fluids (because she doesn’t drink; she only gets water from her food), so the not eating is Bad but also kinda under management, but if she doesn’t sleep soon i’m extremely worried. dad was like ‘if she doesn’t eat by tomorrow afternoon we’ll take her back because the injections will run out’ but like. if she doesn’t sleep tonight we have GOT to take her back first thing in the morning so they can sedate her or something

[crimeronan]

i've graduated to only seeing my rheumatologist once per year provided nothing changes 🥳

[seilon]

I wish I could tell every young person with a uterus (especially with bad cramps and/or dysphoria and/or depression, etc) that there is a decent chance they just straight up don’t need to live with that. don’t let the stigma surrounding contraceptives and the expectation that you should just ride it out and suffer win. for the love of god if there’s a chance you can lighten or even stop your period and it’s symptoms all-together, unless there’s a legit health concern, your doctor should at least make you aware of that option. I want every young person to know that “birth control” is not just for birth control and it has the potential to make your life infinitely easier to live. do not give in to anti-pill propaganda im serious

[butchford]

Bitches will be like "damn am I overexaggerating how bad the current landscape is?" And then the top posts in a character tag that's not even involved will be "this post contains filtered tags [ship]"

[kiwi-and-pasta-at-3am]

My problem is that I genuinely think they kinda look alike