Posts by ironrider11

David Vaughn75 said:What’s the point of some wise little nugget of advice? It’s not gonna fix your problems, trust me.

You basically have to cultivate this specific headspace where you look at the absolute cesspool we’re all wading through and somehow convince yourself it looks beautiful.
It’s a total delusion, obviously—but hey, it makes dealing with the daily grind a hell of a lot easier to stomach.

So, self-defense is the answer?
"Just when I'm right on the edge of actually facing reality [due to some random factor; doesn't matter...]; I'll choose to hide behind illusions instead because I can't handle the truth. If I don't, I'll snap. And snapping is messy."
I mean, I get it. But by masking the problem [avoiding the truth], the "issue" never actually goes away. It just lingers. You're just delaying the inevitable. Basically just borrowing time until the next—likely much worse—total meltdown happens.

Hmm....

Just two primal drives. Making babies and staying alive.
Everything else is just a maze of "intellect/self-discovery...".......

Paul Martinez2 said:Reading through these comments is honestly quite upsetting.

Of course I would help a stranger if I were able to, let alone my own mother.

When you say she abused you mentally and physically, what does that actually entail? Are we talking about being disciplined as a child, or perhaps her not letting you stay out late when you were sixteen?

Looking at your story, it seems like everything revolves entirely around your own perspective.
Maybe try helping your mother by actually asking her what is going on in her life instead of making assumptions based on photos. Did you also conclude that you were solely to blame for everything else just by looking at pictures?

Perhaps it is time to take charge of your life and act with more maturity and responsibility.

Fine, just let everyone walk all over you and kick you into the gutter over and over...
Then when you finally... if you ever do... crawl out of the mud, maybe you can be wise and say you did your best to be a better person. "Just because someone else is trash doesn't mean I have to be." Sure. But in this day and age, thinking like that just maps out one path... Selfishness is one thing, but being delusional is something else entirely...

I totally agree with this part: "get a grip on your life and start acting like a responsible adult." Help people, even if it costs you something. Just don't waste it on the people who treated you like garbage. They don't deserve anything from anyone. They just get to learn who they really are...

Austin Garcia3 said:So, I’m dealing with some heavy stuff involving my mom—she’s been physically and emotionally abusive toward me my entire life.
We don't live together, and I still make visits every now and then. I’ve finally managed to reach this super fragile kind of balance where I just dodge any serious topics to keep the peace, but we still have a relationship. The real issue is that the fighting between her and my stepfather has escalated into physical violence. Honestly, she’s usually the one instigating it more than he is, but since he’s physically stronger, he ends up being the one blamed for everything.
The other day, she sent me a photo of her forehead—there was this huge injury covering half her face that could only have come from a direct hit. Then, she claimed it was just a "rash"?! But right after that, she sends another message showing a massive bruise on her arm. It’s pretty obvious she’s crying out for help, even if she won't say it directly.
I’ve thought about asking her to come stay with me for a bit, but I know that would just open the door for her to abuse me again—and let's be real, she wouldn't even be grateful. She’d probably just take her frustrations out on me. I really don't feel like she deserves me to sacrifice myself like that. I’m in a really vulnerable spot right now with a ton of responsibilities, and I know she’d mentally drain me to the point where I'd lose focus on my work. I’ve already missed out on way too many opportunities because of her outbursts, which always leave me spiraling into depression for months at a time.
Still, I can't shake this feeling that I'm a bad person if I don't step in. I'm even terrified that something might happen to her—like, maybe an accident, like she trips down the stairs.
I'm open to any thoughts or advice you guys might have.

That whole "blood is thicker than water" thing is total garbage. A father hitting his little girl, or a junkie mother forcing her kid into prostitution just for some quick cash... what does that have to do with family loyalty? Sure, maybe I'm being extreme, but it's easier that way. People use "gray areas" as a buffer to soften the truth. It's either black or white. Small deviations are fine, nobody's perfect... but living your entire life in a gray zone? Using "but" is just a way to manipulate the facts. If you've already found a way to escape the psychological torture—even if it's not clear how exactly she was abusing you—then that's likely the core issue. Why should you feel obligated to wreck your own life for someone who dragged you down and threw you to the bottom? How they treated you defines how you treat them... or it doesn't. You shouldn't have to sacrifice your own peace or your life out of some sense of duty or empathy toward someone like that, regardless of who they are.

no

Kevin Nguyen3 said:Well, isn't that the million-dollar question? Unfortunately, there isn't one single, precise answer to that. It all depends on the individual, the specific condition, and a whole mountain of other factors. For some people, even a tiny dose does the trick, while for others, it doesn't seem to help at all!
Generally speaking, when you're dealing with any kind of disorder, it might help ease anxiety—which in turn helps with insomnia—for a few weeks. But long-term? It doesn't really make sense to rely on it indefinitely because, in most therapy plans, doctors eventually introduce different medications, making the Normabel unnecessary. After all, identifying the actual root cause of the sleeplessness is what ultimately determines when and how much medication someone should be taking.

I tried "experimenting" this morning and took 6 or 7... Nothing.
Just felt sweaty and half-conscious from about 3 AM to 7 AM. Guess it doesn't work for me.
The cause was just being unable to pull my thoughts together for hours... total mental meltdown.
I haven't touched Adderall in a week, but this one conversation I had with someone triggered a massive downward spiral.
I hate how my brain just goes rogue like this...
I remember back in the day, Lexapro felt almost instant.
Normabel feels like a glorified placebo or some candy. Honestly, I doubt it's even doing anything for my liver or stomach...

e.. how much xanax [5] do you actually need to get a decent night's sleep?

Larry Lewis said:So I called my primary care doctor today to get a refill on my Seroquel 300 XR—which I've been on for a while now—and she tells me I've been on it too long and that the med is way too expensive. She flat-out refused to write the script and didn't even bother suggesting a generic... just said no. I have a psychiatrist's note specifically for this med, and I've been taking it for about two years. Usually, she'd just give it to me without a second thought, but now she's acting like this.
I know there have been some shifts in the healthcare system lately, but I don't buy that a GP can just deny you a prescribed medication without even mentioning a generic option... they can't just say no like that.
Anyone dealt with this? Has this happened to anyone else?

I freaking knew this was coming. Long live our "new bureaucracy"... basically just cutting everything down to nothing. The fact that she didn't even offer a generic? That's absolute insanity.
Goddammit... seriously...

John Hernandez18 said:Nate Silver probably thinks she isn't your type just because you’d never actually stand out next to her..
..honestly, I doubt anyone else besides maybe Miss California
She’s one of those rare, stunning blondes

N/A...... She needs to drop at least twenty or thirty pounds.. plus maybe a couple plastic surgeries, if she wants to be truly gorgeous. Like, really, really hot.



Why is it that women "mostly" in a group of similar guys always "notice" the guy with the dark hair, piercing blue or green eyes, perfect features, a smile full of flawless white teeth, and an athletic build...? It's like being slightly... or significantly mentally slow doesn't play any role in making a first impression. Or a second, fifth, eighth... sixteenth impression.

Forget what men say. Aside from frustrated hunters trying to prep their trophies, most guys don't care about "settling down." But if that's what "settling down" means, does it even matter here? Or is this whole "settling down" thing just a panic phase for women—driven by a "biological clock" and a desperate need for stability after realizing their own sex appeal or desirability is fading...? Now I'm just lost.... 🤷

fadedstag91 said:I’ve been told more than once that I care far too much about material possessions and not nearly enough about people—you know, interpersonal connections. Am I really the only one who doesn't see an object as just an object, but rather as something almost living? Take my car, for instance. I love it. I find myself walking around it several times a day, and honestly, I often just sit in it even when I have nowhere to go. While most people take their belongings for granted, I feel a genuine sense of respect and gratitude toward them. It would all be perfectly fine if I extended that same level of devotion to people, but that’s just not how it works for me. I tend to experience human relationships quite superficially; I struggle to forge deep, intimate bonds. Everything stays at a distance—mostly just occasional outings and social fun. When it comes to driving, I frequently find myself making excuses just so others won't ride along. There is nothing quite like being alone in the car, especially during a late-night drive where it's just me, the machine, and the music. Having a third person in the cabin just disrupts that harmony and ruins the atmosphere.

It’s the same story with money. Whenever I earn a significant amount, I perform what you might call a ritual. I lay all the bills out on the table and express my gratitude for the gift. I thank the money for coming into my life, using the law of attraction and a positive mindset to invite even more prosperity.

To make a long story short, I have several other "rituals" involving various physical items, but these are just a few examples. Is there anyone else out there who shares this kind of relationship with the material world? To most, this probably sounds eccentric, but to me, it feels entirely natural. What I'm wondering is: can a person live long-term this way—loving and tending to their car and their finances more than their own kin? Personally, I don't feel any guilt about it. I do try to cultivate a similar connection with people, but I'm hesitant to let them get too close; I don't like feeling vulnerable, and I certainly don't enjoy being someone else's object of desire.

There's no "fear" involved... With an attitude like that—which is pretty obvious, considering how many people have already chimed in on this [if a few people noticed, it's clearly a pattern]—you aren't exactly going to be anyone's target of desire or whatever. Maybe they'll eventually hit you where it hurts most... in the wallet. You definitely have what it takes to run for office in DC... for sure. And who knows, maybe one day you'll get sick; then you'll pivot... move on... stop caring about the money. Everything is relative. Nothing stays the same.

Kevin Nguyen3 said:Hmm, a decent post that ultimately says absolutely nothing.
Is being healthy and having an actual backbone a sore spot for the sick? It certainly feels that way. We all want to hold opinions built on solid foundations—on information that is, at the very least, somewhat verifiable.
But can you really be in the depths of depression (let's call it the common denominator of all mental struggles) and, with a perfectly sound mind, embrace the inherent challenges and risks of treatment? It’s an impossible mission. Or nearly so.
During those brief windows of time when I'm not being washed away by various ailments, I sometimes manage to gather my thoughts and actually process what I've read to see what's truly happening.
We have to weigh everything. Put it all on the scale.
What is the move? Do we act with full awareness of the consequences, or how do we balance treating ourselves while trying to follow our own logic?
What you're writing is rational, and yes, it makes sense. But given that context, how does one choose a path of treatment while remaining fully conscious of tomorrow's fallout?
There is no way.
Achieving even a semblance of a normal, acceptable lifestyle requires a combination of medication and psychological therapy.
There is simply no alternative.
All those trendy, advertised "natural" healing methods? They don't work anymore. Not for me.
Who do we give our money to anyway? This big pharma factory or that one?
Sure, we have choices, but I have to ask: how much does obsessing over these marginal details really matter when you are backed against a wall?!
Give me one meaningful answer that we can actually grapple with here in these posts.
You're right, you are, but there isn't a second chance.☕

There isn't a meaningful answer... being "in it" is the whole point of the post. In this day and age where info and misinformation exist about absolutely everything—where everyone wants to be informed on every little thing and try to use that info to their advantage—you hit this paradox. You get overloaded with info that ends up being totally counterproductive. Where do you draw the line between being obsessed and being ignorant? There's no answer. On a personal level, especially with sensitive topics like physical or mental health, it doesn't matter... any info you gather might randomly turn out to be total garbage. It's easy to accidentally steer yourself from the "right" path onto the "wrong" one, ending up deeper in the hole instead of getting out. It's all subjective; based on how someone perceives a specific method, therapy, or pill working, and how they vent their satisfaction or frustration about it... that venting can easily become part of someone else's solution, or the cause of their problem. It's highly individual. Information is health to one person, a sickness to another, a problem to some, and a solution to others. It's like they say... it just depends on how the wind blows. It's bizarre how we live in a society where every single person is both a producer and a consumer of whatever is being made, and money is the engine of this entire consumerist machine; it basically turns health into a commodity available only if you have the cash. How can someone who is physically or mentally struggling—or both—actually fight to grab a piece of that precious commodity? What should you try, and what should you dodge? What's worth enduring and what should you just walk away from? Who can you actually trust? We live in a society that loves to pretend we always have options, but how real is that? When you're backed into a corner, you'll inevitably grasp at whatever whispers to you just to make the pressure stop... How real was your perception of a "solution" in that moment? And how productive or destructive is sharing your experience with someone else, given how much they might actually listen or believe what you say...

Sometimes the path is right there in front of us, but we’re too blinded by xyz to see it. Other times, we spot it, but yxz makes it impossible to wrap our heads around. And sometimes, we think we’re on track, only to realize we were following the wrong damn thing all along........

"I knew nothing at all".. 😉

Jason Vaughn482 said:I honestly find myself questioning whether these physical ailments ever truly get resolved. You mentioned treating yourself for twenty years, riding the waves of better and worse phases while remaining tethered to a pill regimen... let's be honest, these medications aren't exactly "health food" for the liver, the heart, or any other vital organ. I recently read that Sanval could potentially lead to cancer or even a stroke. My doctor tried to put me on Valdoxan, but I shut that idea down immediately when she mentioned I’d need to monitor my liver enzymes every three weeks; frankly, the fear regarding my liver health is exactly what triggered this current bout of anxiety in the first place. I took Mirzaten for a year and it did absolutely nothing for me, until I realized it contained aspartame—so I started looking for Calixta instead. Not because it fixes my anxiety, mind you, but because it helps me sleep; I take half of a 15 mg dose alongside 10 mg of Sanval and I'm out. At the end of the day, we are all essentially addicts here, varying only in our dosage, if we accept the premise that these drugs function like narcotics, as someone pointed out the other day. I've been relying on Xanax and Sanval for years now because my doctor is constantly presenting me with a revolving door of new, experimental options—first it was Lyrica, then Mirzaten, then Solian. I haven't touched any of those except for Mirzaten, which at least allowed me to sleep well without side effects, though I did put on a little weight. So, I continue my routine with Xanax—never exceeding 1.5 mg, usually hovering around 1.25 mg—and 10 mg of Sanval; that has been my steady therapy for the last four years. My diagnosis is Generalized Anxiety Disorder, but in reality, my entire existence is fueled by health anxiety and the paralyzing fear of falling ill.

"They aren't healthy for anything"... Who says that? "I was just reading about it"... In some medical journal? Or maybe some random health blog? Total nonsense... What even counts as "healthy" anymore? We're talking genetically modified produce grown using petroleum-based fertilizers in soil that's been completely stripped of its nutrients over decades... or even worse, soil that's basically dead on its own. Then you've got hydroponics where stuff grows in nutrient solutions without any actual dirt at all. Or those fruits and veggies soaked in pesticides to keep bugs away, or loaded with fungicides just so they don't rot during shipping across the country... Is that "healthy"? And what about milk or meat that's pumping out aflatoxins, growth hormones, and antibiotics? Everyone’s got their own definition of "health," obviously. It's totally individual. Take two identical twins... they could react to the exact same chemical substance in totally different ways. One twin has a lethal allergy to shellfish, while the other can't touch peanuts. Shellfish is packed with Omega-3s, minerals like selenium and zinc, and a ton of B vitamins... and peanuts are loaded with Vitamin E, magnesium, and potassium too. All those "benefits" people talk about in studies? For one twin, they're life-saving; for the other, they're potentially fatal... and vice versa...

So you’re popping this specific pill and thinking that because you aren't feeling any side effects right now, you're somehow safe... like you won't end up with some massive, undocumented medical disaster down the road just from taking it... all while dodging another med because some big pharma company ran a scary ad campaign to freak everyone out... ridiculous...

We’re all just junkies here... everywhere... always hunting for that perfect "fix." Looking for that "pure health" hit that puts you in that zen, nirvana, total high feeling... trying to balance the soul, mind, and body. Or maybe we're just obsessing over something imaginary? This whole idea of "health from petroleum products"... honestly, we should just kick the word "health" out of our vocabulary entirely. Just call it what it is, like those warnings on a pack of Marlboros: absolutely toxic... regardless of how bad they are; they’re still legal, permitted, and easy to get your hands on.. "unhealthy" vs. maybe "possible/relatively healthy".......

"Man is a wolf to man."

David Vaughn75 said:Honestly, most people couldn't care less about what's actually happening inside the heads of people with schizophrenia; they're just too busy being terrified we might snap at them.

That's why it's actually super helpful to point out that, on average, people experiencing psychosis are only about 3% more prone to violence than the rest of society.

Most people couldn't care less about anyone living outside their little "safe space"...
How much more likely is violence from some "normal teenager" or someone just trashed on booze? Or maybe even a socially acceptable alcoholic...

Fertility glasses? 😁

crimsoncanyon2 said:..an absolute dream come true... 🤣
The only thing missing is some light sensory deprivation—then he’d really be living the high life. 🤣

maybe {better} stimulation instead of deprivation.. 😁

Maybe it’s not even a bad thing? The real question is where that ["I just can't be bothered.. happens way too often.."] feeling actually comes from. As for being isolated... hmm.. debatable..

She’d probably... or definitely... want you to be happy. Not suffering; wasting days [you never know what's waiting for you around the corner] on nothing... basically, living in a moment that's never coming back. Whatever brings you joy or satisfaction... just grab it and, generally speaking, enjoy life. Her passing can be a reminder of how life can be ruthless, cruel, and short... Memento mori.