Posts by Megan Morales5

Zachary Thompson9 said:Just some off-topic rambling here... mostly regarding the difference between
sunscreen and sunblock.
I mean, why even bother discussing sunscreen versus sunblock—whatever the hell you want to call it...

How can you say that? Every single CVS and Walgreens is packed with stuff like this.

Zachary Thompson9 said:That's not quite right. The WHO didn't ban the term "sun block" itself—they’re just warning manufacturers against giving customers a false sense of security with high SPF ratings. They also advise against using products that lack physical blockers, like zinc oxide or titanium dioxide.
Don't confuse sunscreen with sunblock. 🙂

Look, I have to disagree. Using the term sunblock is misleading because absolutely nothing—not even those mineral-based ingredients—blocks 100% of UV rays. We're talking maybe 97% at best. Chemical filters don't even really "block" them; they just neutralize them, yet companies still slap "sunblock" on the label. I won't even get into that last part... it's honestly ridiculous. I know my way around mineral SPF levels since they're what you're supposed to use for toddlers after their first birthday—and besides, I have a young kid and a wife who’s dealing with pregnancy-induced Melasma, so she's read more literature on this than most experts. In my view, it's more accurate to say the term "TOTAL sunblock" should be banned. Because such a thing doesn't exist... and it just gives people a dangerous sense of security.

Zachary Thompson9 said:Look, if we're talking about actual sun blockers, anything with an SPF over 30 counts... according to the WHO. They basically tell manufacturers to stop playing games with labels like SPF 50, 100, or 200, because—to put it bluntly—it's all the same nonsense...
if you have sensitive skin, no number on a bottle is going to save you; you just have to stay out of the sun entirely.

The WHO actually banned the term "sun blocker" entirely. It’s impossible to block 100% of UV rays... My spouse could probably give you a much better breakdown of that, being in the medical field and all.

rustymoose54 said:that I’m filling up 😁 lately I’ve been living with double lungs. mashala. 😍

jadesailor14, there's no way I can claim a tax refund for that—my doctor insists that for everything to stay regulated, I should only take exactly what my Medicare covers, nothing more. and since that's only 40%... plus, I don't have the pharmacy receipts put in my name. though, I suppose I could start doing that down the road 🙂

Anyway, money isn't really a huge issue: I married well. 🤣

It’s fine to go off-topic when the topic is this kind of thing 😬

Maybe I misread the situation, but if I didn't—congratulations 🙂

brisknomad6 said:Good grief... 😲 😲

And then there's my guy in the tub... he was acting up yesterday too...

[action] brisknomad6 runs to the bathroom. For the sake of those few stray hairs, they pull their dear partner out of the tub. Reaching into the hamper full of dirty laundry, they grab the first pair of boxers they find and use them to wipe off the shampoo. Mumbling: "The man is actually going to kill me, he's going to be the death of me." [/action]

😁

Regarding the topic—yeah, I heard about that too. Now I only shower twice a month, and honestly, the silver lining is my water bill dropped significantly. The downside? I ended up single again. Or maybe that's also a plus... 😕

It turned into this absolute mania—he was clocking nearly 80 hours a week...

And her 😢 though let’s be honest, some women probably wouldn't even complain if their husbands showed these kinds of symptoms 😉 electricdriver78 was on medication before, but she isn't anymore because... how do I even put this... she just couldn't stomach the reality when she first started, and if she ever went back on them, she says it feels just like being a junkie 🙄 My heart mostly goes out to my old man. I have my own life and we don't live under the same roof, but he doesn't even recognize the woman he's loved his entire life anymore. I suppose it might help knowing your family is going through the exact same thing—as paradoxical as that sounds. It means you can actually understand what's happening. It’s honestly a miracle your dad physically endured it without catching some random illness that hits when your immune system tanks from sleep deprivation. You're right, though—my mom is very old school. I don't know how old your folks are, but she was born in 1949, which makes her old enough to opt out of certain things on her own, yet still too young to just give up entirely...

I’m honestly just baffled by how people take these kinds of medications without even bothering to understand what they’re actually doing to them. 😕Isn't that a bit irresponsible?

Enter, how are you supposed to know when the ideal time to taper off is? When you say 15 months isn't enough...

electricdriver78, thanks for the reply. It’s the same story with my mother—she was always such a polished, put-together woman, hitting the salon three times a week and always fully dressed and made up from head to toe 😁but now, you can barely find her looking decent past late afternoon. She'll be unshaven, still in her morning robe under the blankets, just disheveled, staring at the TV for hours... though I don't think she’s actually watching it, she’s just... staring... and she used to be so vibrant, so active. Now, you can't do anything to help her... plus, her moods shift so incredibly fast... it's exhausting. While she was on the pills, everything seemed fine—actually, she even picked up new hobbies and bought all sorts of gear for them, which is just sitting in a corner gathering dust now. She went on one trip and had more energy than the entire group combined... I guess when people that high-energy finally hit rock bottom, they just sink straight through the floor. 😢

electricdriver78, thanks for breaking that down—it gives me a better sense of what she was actually going through. How do Americans usually describe anxiety in English?

What’s the actual distinction between anxiety and depression... specifically when it comes to symptoms?

Seriously, props to you for hanging in there. Those symptoms sound anything but pleasant...

There’s always a reason to get back on medication—usually because of whatever is going on upstairs...

Kenneth Hernandez67 said:but the strength doesn't matter.

they just aren't antidepressants. it’s not the same thing.

Exactly. The worst part is taking a pill without even knowing why you were prescribed it in the first place.

As for this topic, my mother was on an antidepressant (Prozac) for a year—she couldn't get off it after the first attempt, though her doctor thinks the dependency wasn't physical, just psychological. Meaning, if they had given her sugar pills that looked identical, she wouldn't have even realized she'd stopped... 😉
During the second attempt to taper off, they spent months managing it—starting at half a dose, then a quarter, then every other day... basically, the tapering process is painfully slow.

electricdriver78, those headaches you had briefly after stopping the antidepressants—was that a physical reaction or a psychological one? Of course, you felt the pain physically, but was the root cause a lack of certain chemicals in your system, or just the panic of realizing you'd actually stopped the medication?

How soon did the old symptoms come back? And how are you handling it now? Any advice on how I might be able to help my mother through this?

I’d probably suggest trying acupuncture. It actually worked for my mother—and she isn't exactly the type to go chasing alternative medicine... It helped her deal with some menopause side effects, too. Fingers crossed!

rustymoose54 said:Do you have any siblings? If so, how old are they?
It might be better if you talk to them first...

I feel like one way to handle this is to sit your parents down for a real, serious conversation—tell them straight up that you've found someone you want to spend your life with and that you've already planned out your future together. The baby just sort of happened along the way 😁

Queen 🙂

jadesailor14 said:Whoa, looks like you're expanding the business?
At this rate, you'll be running a booth at the local state fair next...

Boss 😁

I’d honestly rather not read this—sorry, I really don't have anything intelligent to contribute here...

I’ve heard about that—my old lady actually tried it once. Did it work for her? Honestly... there's a massive power in autosuggestion, especially when you've just dropped a small fortune on it 😉

Stetan je za ovi i za usi 😉 😁

Goldman Sachs said:. This 56-day streak—it’s honestly terrifying how much it looks like a real human being... I don't think any sane person could ever dream of cutting someone's life line like that.

.

Nobody. Only pure lunatics and absolute monsters are capable of doing something like this. 🙄 ☕

Megan Reed said:hmm... to's a different story. to me, a fetus isn't a person. 😉 "personhood" is more of a philosophical concept, anyway—I don't spend my nights losing sleep over it—but if I had to set one condition, it would be that they actually have to be born first. 😉 [Yeah, yeah, I know what you're going to ask: what about a nine-month fetus...?] It's hard to say. All I can tell you—and I've already said this—is that, in my view, it isn't (yet) a person.

It’s a shame, really, because you were actually making some decent points until now...😉

Megan Reed said:I’m not making any claims. 😁 But I see it all the time—people who are anti-abortion already labeling a fetus as a person. Like I said before, I can agree that it’s living tissue, but that doesn't make it a person. And honestly, I don't view a tiny cluster of cells the same way I view a full-term baby right before birth... let's be real.

and

So, when does a fetus actually become a person? In your eyes, at least.

Maybe we could all just get along for once?!

Maybe... or maybe not. If anyone’s interested, they can go find their own answers...

Sean Grant85 said:I don't think that's quite right. If I try to put myself in a woman's shoes—if that happened to me—I'd choose to have the baby, so my conscience would be clear. But if... ......................................
Plenty of women on this forum have shared their stories, though the rules say I can't drop names here. One of them was very clear about how she still feels a deep sense of bitterness over that moment, even while she regrets losing the child. ................

You aren't a woman, so you can't claim to know how you'd react in her position. A woman might regret having an abortion and still believe, deep down, that it was the right call at the time. Those two things aren't mutually exclusive.

Honestly, those self-righteous moralists who preach against abortion should probably just stop sleeping together entirely if they aren't prepared to commit to keeping the baby 100% of the time—one guy actually lives by that rule, 😁 Toco—because that's the only way to be truly pro-life.

And what's to stop that child—assuming they aren't aborted—from growing up to be a productive worker, a good husband, a father, or maybe even a new Einstein...?

And what's to stop them from becoming the next Hitler? Or a serial killer, or something else entirely? There are no guarantees.

Sean Grant85 said:Look, I'm genuinely curious here—you already admitted you followed through with an abortion. How do you actually deal with all that? Personally, I don't think I could handle being in those shoes... but I guess I’d have to respect her decision, whatever it may be. Still, I can't wrap my head around how to live with the guilt if I felt like I should have done more to prevent it. Would I suggest marriage? Or maybe just stepping up to provide maximum child support?

If I were the woman, maybe I wouldn't go through with it—but I'd certainly take extreme contraceptive precautions, no matter how morbid that sounds...

And regarding the whole "biological machine" argument, I agree with you there, though I haven't really looked into how a woman manages the psychological aftermath of an abortion.

I mean, let's say you pull out in time, but a little bit still makes it inside—or maybe birth control just fails. What then? At that point, there isn't really any way to assign responsibility to either the man or the woman.

For me, it would be much harder to live with the conscience knowing my partner had a child she didn't want, and that I played a part in making her life miserable...