Posts by Raymond Clark7

The lighting isn't exactly winning any awards, but hey, that’s what happens when you try to snap a selfie from the floor in an empty gym... I haven't really updated my back progress in a few years, so here we go... bodyweight lat pull downs x 5

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cosmiclynx79 said:I’m honestly on the verge of a total meltdown tomorrow. I might just lose it and snap at them. Why on earth are they giving priority to colleagues who either went to nursing school or managed to squeeze in some summer internship last year? I came straight from high school and my internship was scrapped because of COVID, so my entire practical experience boils down to working with mannequins. The focus should be on my potential, but clearly, they couldn't care less about that.

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That approach is honestly just totally counterproductive, you know? If you go in swinging, they’re just going to label you as someone who can't handle teamwork. Wouldn't it be better to just show them how much you actually care by asking if they can give you some practice materials to take home so you can work on your manual dexterity in private? That way, you're proving you have the drive to improve... and honestly, missing one summer isn't some huge deal that should stop you. 🕺 You still have a year and a half left, and you'll be doing this constantly during every rotation and lab exercise. If they won't give you new supplies, just ask for the used stuff. When I was starting out, I practically needed a third hand just to manage IV lines and catheters—and I didn't even know the formal terminology for peripheral venous catheters back then! I used to end up dropping sterile syringe caps and tubing on the floor because trying to maintain sterility while swapping out drops and managing the line was such a nightmare. I ended up taking supplies home, taping everything to my table or hanging it from a light fixture, just to figure out the best way to move so I could find a rhythm instead of looking like a complete amateur. I even practiced urinary catheterization using old Coca-Cola bottles.🤣🤣

loneskipper10 said:If you've got the brains for it, an IT career is a solid move—freelancing lets you dodge most of those draining social interactions. You can just code, and if you're struggling to focus, finding the right antipsychotics can help organize your thoughts and dial down the anxiety, assuming you don't run into too many side effects. There are also options for ADHD.

The catch with antipsychotics is the risk of tardive dyskinesia after long-term use; we're talking uncontrollable limb movements that make it impossible to stand steady. Sometimes it stops when you quit the meds, but sometimes it's a lifelong struggle. Here’s a patient dealing with tardive dyskinesia: https://www.primehealthchannel.com/w...skinesia-2.jpg
US pharmaceutical companies developed a specific drug for tardive dyskinesia, but it’ll set you back $7,362 for a 28-capsule supply at 40-80mg.
While the brain volume loss caused by antipsychotics is relatively easy to address, the movement issues mentioned above? Not so much.

Lately, students have been leaning heavily on Modafinil to study, though it can definitely wreck your sleep schedule.

these are the online doctors I was talking about 🤣 so just stay professional, okay? It's like when someone spends over a decade in university and thinks they definitely don't need an antipsychotic, but then some friend of a friend tells them something they read on Google, and suddenly they're insisting that's the absolute most essential thing ever...😁

Maria Price3 said:Why does any of this even matter?

Let her finish her degree first—that part is pretty straightforward, anyone can do it, and I’m sure Silence agrees. As for whether she’s actually competent at the job? Well, I guess that's for her future employer to decide.

And what's she supposed to do once she's there if her boss tells her, "Hey, you're doing great" (mostly just because they're desperate for workers), while she's sitting there every single morning with a knot in her stomach, knowing she's only 25 and still has another 40 years of this ahead of her?

Maria Price3 said:Why does any of this even matter?

Let her finish her degree first—that part is pretty straightforward, anyone can do it, and I’m sure Silence agrees. As for whether she’s actually competent at the job? Well, I guess that's for her future employer to decide.

It matters because social anxiety is a massive hurdle when nursing is basically 90% communication... the medical stuff is actually the easy part since you're working under a doctor's supervision, and you learn all the basic clinical administration during your freshman year, so what exactly do you think you're doing during the other two years?
It's about the teamwork, you know? You have to coordinate with patients, colleagues, doctors, and every other professional on staff, not to mention the hardest part (for me, at least)—dealing with family and kids. You have no idea how exhausting people can be; I mean, look at my mom... and you're out there trying to follow evidence-based practice, but they're insisting on some random treatment they read about on WebMD, so everyone ends up blaming everyone else. Then you try to refer them to the attending physician, but that doctor has 300 other patients and hasn't a clue about this specific case, so they just dump the patient right back on the nurse as the first line of defense... can you even imagine the delusions parents have when it comes to their children? They think they know more than you and the doctor combined, even when you're strictly following the literature and what's scientifically proven to work. Then they force these herbal supplements down their throats, and you can't explain to these stubborn people how those might interfere with their prescribed meds, so everything just turns into a mess... plus, you're the one standing there absorbing everyone's anger, grief, and joy, and you have to carry that weight every single day. You seriously need nerves of steel... and don't even get me started on dealing with coworkers. When you're the new person on a unit where the cliques have been established for twelve years, you'll get picked on, talked about behind your back, or given the silent treatment; if you can survive that, maybe you'll eventually join a clique or manage to transfer units...

In my opinion, if she's serious about finishing school, she should focus on paths where she can be more independent, like home health care... you get your assignments and spend most of your day on the road, right? 😁You drive to a location, do the job, head back, move to the next spot, and so on. Or, she could go the academic route and dive into research, staying in academia, though you'd still have to give lectures; you can't just do research, you have to participate in other people's studies and provide peer reviews... I don't know.

Maria Price3 said:She was just asking for tips on how to survive her clinical rotations, yet everyone here decided to pivot into interrogating her life choices instead 🤦. I’m curious—how many of you actually stick to what fits your personality and skill set (and, honestly, what’s best for your clients or users)?

Silence, we can't exactly tell you exactly how much Normbal you need to take, or if you should be taking it at all. We don't know you. Your priority right now is finishing your degree. To finish your degree, you have to pass the year. To pass the year, you have to get through these rotations. You'll just have to figure out your own balance.

As for the social anxiety, maybe try tackling that alongside your studies; it’s pretty common knowledge that exposure therapy is what builds up your resilience.

People are everywhere. There’s no avoiding them, regardless of whatever career path you end up taking.

It’s honestly kind of ridiculous to me that people are lecturing you about your schooling based on an anxiety issue. Sure, that level of panic is maddening, but please remember that nobody’s opinion really matters—except maybe a professor’s, since you need them to give you a passing grade. And, hey, there's always the small chance a brick might fall on your head during the next earthquake. Those are basically your only two actual concerns during these sessions. Just get through it, and once you're out in the workforce, you won't give a damn about 90% of the nonsense you're dealing with right now.

Yeah, because not every job fits every person... I could never be a pilot or a stockbroker... would you? I definitely couldn't be someone staring at Excel spreadsheets all day, like some accountant crunching numbers for eight hours straight...

If teamwork and structured exercises focused on diagnosis and intervention trigger intense anxiety for her, then this isn't the career for her, because that's exactly what she'll be facing for eight hours a day for the next forty years...
So, wouldn't it be better to admit "this isn't for me" and go do something else, rather than dragging it out for three or more years, suffering through stomach aches and thinking about self-harm or needing to visit a psychiatrist just to get a break? Shouldn't that be the wake-up call...

If you just want to pass the rotations, my advice is to learn which diagnoses pop up every single year; these sciences aren't exactly known for being creative. Focus on the diagnosis, not the person or the team around you... if you're stepping into a leadership role—like a head nurse here in the US—just constantly ask the rest of the team for vital signs and follow their lead. Do you want to hunt down a doctor for meds or a catheter, or are you going to rely on nursing diagnoses where you assess external inputs, bed positioning, body language, pain management, or stopping bleeding? If it's acute, determine how bad it is: can you handle it alone, or do you call for immediate intervention from the ICU? Basically, focus on the diagnosis and show off your medical knowledge; you don't have to be social in every single situation. Learn who is responsible for what and coordinate the data accordingly...

Gerald Gomez43 said:How on earth did you manage to enroll in that major given your diagnosis?
I suppose when you look at the career path, you realize you'll be constantly surrounded by people and tasked with helping them, so I just don't quite grasp why you made that choice.

Honestly, I realized that people just suffer through it because their parents insist on it, 🙂 but seriously, you really don't need that kind of stress in your life; it's not like you're going to be pulling in massive money from grinding like that, so why not just stop? Just switch over to something more chill that still pays the bills, you know?

If practicing under controlled conditions or following some imaginary, virtual scenario triggers your anxiety this much, how on earth are you going to handle it later when things get chaotic and there’s zero organization? Why even waste your time and money on this? You'd be better off training to be a lab tech or a speech pathologist—something where you mostly work solo or in one-on-one sessions so you can actually maintain a routine and some structure. Or, honestly, just power through college and eventually find a gig at a clinic where you can just take calls from home 🤷 though I guess that might just kill you with boredom; even lab techs have to constantly learn new stuff because the equipment is always being upgraded, but at least they have a predictable workflow to follow...

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Refreshing Summer Salad

200g tofu (20g protein) 180kcal
100g red lentil pasta (25g protein) 333kcal
cherry tomatoes
pineapple
low-fat yogurt

Just sear the tofu with some spices, boil the pasta, and toss everything together... total protein hit is around 650kcal :P

David Barrett85 said:I honestly have no clue how you guys manage to drop pounds without even trying; I mean, it’s just never happened to me, you know?😁

It’s just pure stress, honestly. Some people turn to food the second things get heavy, while others completely forget that eating is even an option. You get so locked inside your own head, obsessing over every little problem, that you don't even notice your stomach growling away until like 4 or 5 in the afternoon. Then suddenly you're like, "Oh, I guess I should eat now," but by that point, just the smell of food makes your stomach ache, and whatever you actually manage to swallow just comes right back up, haha. It becomes this weird cycle where you don't even realize you've dropped weight until the stress finally lifts and you start eating normally again, and then you're right back where you started.🤣🤣
You know how it goes when you’ve got enough going on with someone else’s life that everything else just falls to the wayside, right? Like, when you're so caught up in what's happening with your friends that food is the absolute last thing on your mind, so you just end up grabbing whatever random thing is in front of you every day and calling it a meal? 🤣
I mean, if you're a smoker, you basically just spend the whole day stuck in this endless loop, right? You grab a cigarette and a coffee loaded with sugar and milk, and that instant sugar rush hits your bloodstream so hard it kills any hunger for a few hours, only for the cycle to reset and leave you craving that next smoke and sweet coffee all over again... isn't that just how it goes?
Hey, I've got plenty of methods if you're looking, so what do you need? 😁

wiredtiger2 said:So you decided to hit a 2,000 calorie goal today, right? But instead of actual fuel, you're going all in on junk food. We're talking a hot dog or maybe a bacon cheeseburger and fries for breakfast, some heavy-duty deep dish pizza for lunch, and then finishing the night off with pancakes topped with Nutella and bananas.

If you smash that burger and those fries, you’re basically done for the day because that's already 2,000 calories right there, 😁 so unless you want to totally rethink your meal plan or just eat double portions of everything else, you might want to think about whether that's actually worth it.

I mean, probably a ton of people... maybe you should just drop a specific question about what's actually on your mind?

Seriously, what is it with people who have zero self-awareness but will go out of their way to mess with and harass everyone around them? Even when you try to warn them, they just sit there acting like someone else's psychological profile is more important than the actual health issue at hand, or even how much you’re personally suffering while dealing with it all... it just totally kills any sense of romance, doesn't it?

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Alright, let me keep this female streak going—5'1" and 108 lbs.
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Just figured I'd throw my hat in the ring for those bicep and forearm gains, even though I definitely carry more weight than her.😁 View on imgur

As for the abs, man, it really just depends on whether it's morning or night, you know?😁
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Just finish the full course of antibiotics and everything will go back to normal

Could she be dealing with a UTI? Honestly, when I’ve dealt with old urinary tract infections in the past, it felt like they were triggering some kind of psychotic break or dementia... they just weren't acting like themselves at all, you know?

Look, a 26-year-old not having a degree yet isn't the end of the world 🙂 I actually started my degree at 35... I mean, I did go through college in my 20s and finished, but your goals and what drives you just shift over time... if one path doesn't work out, you pivot to something else, and if that fails, you try a third... honestly, screw it... you'll find your footing eventually. You should work enough to cover your bills, sure, but really focus on whatever brings you actual satisfaction—even if it's just hitting the gym or getting into running, there’s a goal there too... and honestly, crushing all those little milestones just builds up your confidence overall...
College is just college... it's no guarantee of anything... if I had gone into cosmetology or been an electrician... something where you actually know how to do a job, I wouldn't have given a damn about a degree... it feels more like a status symbol than a real measure of skill or even wealth.... if I realized tomorrow that I was actually great at cutting hair or tiling a bathroom floor, I'd drop out in a heartbeat... who needs all that bureaucracy anyway?

Just do something that makes you happy and read whatever you want in your downtime

So, this is pretty much what we're looking at. I guess the shots look a little weird because of that high angle I was shooting from...

The overall vibe
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Quads
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Glutes
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If all these ladies over 35 are doing it, then why shouldn't I jump in too? 😁 I've been at this for two years now. 🎉
35 years old, 156 lbs / 51 kg. My routine is three full-body strength sessions a week and one session of power walking on the treadmill.

Before my workout
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After the workout... my obliques are popping out just a little bit and it’s kind of annoying, though I haven't even been targeting them specifically—I guess they just developed from all the deadlifts and squats.
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Back area—don't really train it directly either, but I suppose it happens because I'm always hitting arms and shoulders...
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The last time I did squats, I think I was using maybe 20 lbs... now I'm up to 75 lbs, except I don't have a squat rack here so I just lift them off the floor, clean them up, and drop them on my shoulders, you know how it is... honestly, I could probably go much heavier on the legs, but my arms just can't handle lifting more weight onto my back... once the gym isn't so crowded, I'll grab some shots of my glutes and legs... I'm feeling pretty good about the progress. 😁

Anyone else have some stories about gay experiences?