Posts by analogsailor98

Raymond Sanchez7 said:I find all these self-proclaimed altruists quite fascinating, especially those who seem to have absolutely no connection to actual experience or real-world events.
For instance, if I were just spinning nonsense, there would be both a lioness here and brightridge59 has gone through something similar, so perhaps none of them lose their minds the way I do, though I could also certainly offer my own testimony regarding experiences with former addicts.

So, here's an example of a former addict... someone who gave me a friendly nod about 14 years ago. You can't just generalize. Today, I'm a "normal" woman with a "normal" life, but back then, they gave me a 0% score for surviving—not for actually digging myself out of the gutter...

True enough, you carry a massive deficit through life—heroin changes you, and everything afterward feels incredibly dull...

But I can't help but notice one thing: people who actually made it out and know they're carrying a ticking time bomb inside themselves are way less likely to relapse than those whose main mantra is "NEVER again."

And it's hard not to see the stigma thrown at "survivors" when everyone starts grouping us all together....🤷

Christian Sanchez4 said:I realized I had to reach out to you, analogsailor98 😁

It seems like we always get the exact same group of people chiming in on threads like this 🤣

Hope everyone is doing well 👋 😍

edit: Good grief, this glitchy forum finally decided to work 😁 It took long enough for my post to actually go through 😁

The General Discussion area... still can't get this place to pick up any steam, plus trying to even hit "post" is a total nightmare unless you're feeling lucky...

But seriously, I actually wanted to hang out with you guys again😢

brightridge59 said:Hey there, analogsailor98 👋
It is always such a pleasure to see you popping up on my feed again. 🙂

Sadly, that is exactly what happens.

Hey, sweetie🙂

Jeffrey Stewart4 said:I am fully aware, deep down, that walking away would be the better choice—honestly, it would have been best if I had never even started this journey—but...
I just can't bring myself to leave; I simply can't.
How am I supposed to just abandon him? I want him to know that I’ll be there, standing by his side, ready to help if he falls back into that hole again. But at the same time, I need him to tell me the truth, because I feel like I've earned that much. Back when he was using, he wasn't one of those guys out committing crimes or stealing from neighbors, mostly because he comes from such a well-to-do family. The only people he's truly hurt are his parents and his sister. He has betrayed their trust a thousand times over, and they are living in fear, just like I am.

Been around long enough to see this before.

Take it from me—run.

You aren't going to fix him if he's already underwater, and he doesn't owe you the truth just because you've been loyal.
The fact that he didn't turn to crime because he had money to fund his habit? That doesn't make him a "good guy"—it actually makes it worse. He's just tearing apart the people who care about him because he doesn't give a damn about anything else.
There's nothing you can do. If you stick around and let him spit in your face, then yeah, be ready to wear that spit...
You can leave. And you should... Because one day, if you stay, you're just going to wake up exhausted, manipulated, and wondering why you can't even trust your own gut anymore...

Andrew Jones12 said:Keloids are just these hard, itchy lumps of scar tissue—for people prone to them, they can pop up from pretty much any skin damage, or sometimes just show up out of nowhere. They aren't dangerous and rarely turn into anything malignant, but while there's surgery and laser stuff available, it usually fails since the scar just grows right back in the same spot. There are treatments where a doctor injects corticosteroids directly into the tissue, or you can use hormone patches to help shrink them down.🙂

I mean, the kid doesn't even care about the keloid—he’s actually kind of proud of it, like some badge of honor for being a tough guy...
So, putting him through a surgical procedure with an uncertain outcome—only for the scar to probably just come back anyway—plus messing with corticosteroids? Seems pretty senseless to me.

I was honestly just trying to see if there were any serious long-term risks with a scar like that.
Maybe the doctor suggested treatment because of his sport—Judo—since that shoulder area gets irritated all the time from the friction of the gi...🤷

Gary James27 said:Don't sweat it:

Youth recovers—old timers? Not so much...🧐

Here I am again—eyes wide, totally spiraling. Took my kid for a routine checkup today—just one of those standard school physicals—and the pediatrician pointed out this keloid on his shoulder. She suggested getting it removed, which basically just triggered my whole paranoia thing. Everything I dig up online makes it sound like it's purely an aesthetic issue, you know?

I'm wondering how likely it actually is for something like that to turn malignant—especially since the surgeon we saw about a year ago wouldn't even touch it, explaining pretty clearly that it didn't make sense to do anything because...

Probably being annoying, but😲🤷

slyrider20 said:I heard this stuff is basically the safest painkiller out there. Is that actually true?
Lately, I’ve been getting headaches a few times a month—not like a normal headache, though. It’s more like sinus pressure that spreads out, if you know what I mean. My sinuses have always been a mess.
I also use Tylenol for hangovers.
Look, I know people will tell me to just stop popping pills, but I can't deal with the pain—especially when I'm forced to study—like right now 🙂
So, is Tylenol the way to go, or should I be looking at something else?

Solid choice. At the hospital, they used to give us Tylenol whenever the stitches were hurting too much to handle. And we were all new moms.👍

Btw, Tylenol film-coated tablets work wonders for headaches, and mine can be pretty brutal.

stormygardener83 said:

It’s just like any other good deed, really. If you sit on your hands when you know you could have helped—well, guilt is going to eat at you for a while. But if you actually step up? You feel like some kind of altruistic hero, and for a little bit, you get all enthusiastic and romantic about yourself—it’s a rush, and there's satisfaction there. It’s just human nature. Everything we do, deep down, we do it for ourselves, no matter how much the moralists and the puritans try to claim otherwise. I don't think I'm a bad person just because I find personal satisfaction in being helpful to others.
I'm not playing the victim here, either—not to anyone or anything. I did something good because I chose to do it. To me, acting like a martyr is just a form of passive sadism.

That isn't even normal behavior; it's just a byproduct of your environment and how you were raised. Capitalism is basically wired to function exactly like that.

Just tell me—if you help someone, do you actually feel better?
You don't help, and then you know you could have... doesn't that leave you feeling pretty crappy?
And honestly, can anyone even define what compassion actually is?

Sandra Parker3 said:Look at it this way. Our fundamental right to make our own choices gets trampled on every single day anyway, so nothing is really new there.
By stepping in, I’d just be buying them a little more time to rethink things.

Btw, about how the question was framed... standing at the "edge of a cliff"... I wouldn't do anything. I wouldn't even get close out of pure self-preservation. I wouldn't say a word to avoid causing some sort of backlash, and honestly, I feel like I'd be the hand that pushed them 🤷

Like I said before, we're all conditioned somehow. That’s exactly why, in these extreme scenarios, you end up questioning if anyone should even interfere with someone's freedom to choose. It's the same deal with addiction. We all know addiction is hell, right? But imagine being mid-argument, passionately attacking someone's slavery to substances or habits, and they hit you with the line that their "addiction" is actually one of the few things making them feel free... because hey, it's their choice.😲

The truth is, our fundamental rights are trampled on daily, which is why there are certain extremes where you just shouldn't touch them or challenge them.

I’d love to steal just a few more minutes from someone standing on a ledge, just to give them a chance to think... plus, the view from the top can be pretty damn beautiful.😉

stormygardener83 said:Even trying to talk someone out of suicide... isn't there a hidden layer of selfishness in that? Like, a weird little sense of satisfaction in being the one who "saved" them, you know?

Pretty much every good deed ever—if you don't step in when you could, guilt eats at you for a while. If you do step in, you get to feel like some altruistic hero, basking in that romanticized version of yourself for a minute... there's satisfaction in it. It's just human nature. Everything we do is ultimately for ourselves, no matter how hard the moralists and puritans try to deny it. I don't think I'm a bad person just because helping others gives me a little personal boost.😛
And look, I'm not playing the victim here—not to anyone. I did a good thing because I chose to. Every "sacrifice" is really just passive sadism, isn't it?☕

I don't know... if it were even possible, I wouldn't let someone jump, but doing so would be stepping on their fundamental right—the right to free choice. That's one of the few things that actually makes us free in a world where everything else is conditioned. In my view, we should live because we want to, not because we have to.🤷

Still, I'd probably try to pull them back from the ledge...🙏

The whole talk about selfishness really gets under my skin. Honestly, when I'm dealing with a massive migraine, being selfish is my entire personality. Now imagine someone whose sheer suffering has pushed them to the edge... they're just focused on their own wound and wanting the pain to stop. Call it selfishness if you want.🙄

Brenda Allen2 said:Alright, thanks for the input,
but am I just gonna be a total zombie tomorrow morning after taking Ambien? Like, am I supposed to pass out immediately or

Nah. You'll be fine in the morning. Ambien knocks you out quick—supposedly it's the closest thing to natural sleep you can get. Just don't go mixing meds without asking a doctor first... that's how people get hurt.
Good luck. Hope you get some rest😉

Brenda Allen2 said:I’m probably gonna move next month. I was just talking it over with a friend, and honestly, I'm losing my mind here. I’ve got some Ambien in my bag right now, and man, I am desperate.
g I have it in my pill bag, and I don't give a damn about anything else at this point.
So, should I just take it along with my Paxil or something? What do you guys think? Peace of mind isn't something you can put a price tag on. Seriously, just peace and quiet.

Skip the Paxil. The sleeping pills should do the trick. 👍

Just indifferent............ honestly, just indifferent.

Freedom is just a state of mind—a deep, private thing happening inside your own conscience.

It’s that inner voice accusing you and defending you behind all those walls we build up.

Alexander Lewis said:Sounds like a keloid scar to me. Honestly, just grab a second opinion from a plastic surgeon or a dermatologist. You can surgically remove them, though they might pop back up—not the end of the world.

Since we’re talking about a 10-year-old, I figure it’s probably better to get rid of the growth so he isn't dealing with kids picking on him at school.

The peer stuff is fine, really. In the locker room after practice, everyone already knows about his scar, and he's actually pretty proud of how he got it.😁 He jokes about it, so the other kids don't even notice anymore. It's on his shoulder anyway... I was more concerned about the diagnosis and what that actually means for him.👍

jadeseal17 said:A keloid is just any scar tissue that grows past the wound edge—it's not some huge medical emergency.

Man, thanks for being real with me. I was honestly freaking out here... thanks.🙂

So my son just got diagnosed with a keloid. The surgeon was all "don't touch it" since he's only 10—which is fine, I guess—but honestly, looking at that scar tissue growth is starting to freak me out a bit. Is anyone actually familiar with how much this stuff can spread or if there's any real danger here?😢

Kate Cox2 said:I actually had one instance where it arrived just two days after my previous cycle ended...
The sheer level of stress I was dealing with during finals week at university was definitely the culprit...

Look, I'm definitely stressed out—no argument there—but my cycle has always been super predictable, so this little hiccup actually caught me off guard.

Ladies, I low-key panicked when I realized my period showed up nine days early—just totally out of nowhere. Anyone else dealt with this kind of randomness before? I’ve got an appointment with my OB-GYN in ten days, but is this like... an emergency level situation?😲 Please tell me someone's been through this so I don't lose my mind.🙏

Sam Hughes5 said:Look, the CDC didn't invent hot water—that’s why we have a psychology subforum, isn't there?

Fair point. How do I move the thread?