It really depends on your dosage and what specific medication you're talking about—assuming you even decide to go down that road and start meds. A couple of years back, I was pulling 60 mg of Prozac daily along with some Eglonil, and my libido was basically non-existent. Eventually, I tapered off, and I think my body just built up a tolerance to that specific side effect over time. At the dose I’m on now—20 mg of Lexapro plus 1.5 mg of Klonopin—things didn't quite "click" at first; I wasn't feeling any real drive for sex for a little while. But after sticking with the same regimen for a bit, everything is working normally again.
David Kern14 said:Stigma is what happens when a close friend walks away from you, leaving you behind in a cloud of judgment or pure disgust just because you’re dealing with a mental health struggle—and they never come back. It’s also there in those nasty labels people throw around, using words like "psycho," "nutcase," or "crazy" to tear you down. You feel it when a job application gets tossed out, when people act weird about you being around their kids, or when you get the cold shoulder at a party because folks are scared of your diagnosis. That’s stigma, plain and simple. Honestly, almost everyone living with mental illness knows this feeling deep down; even if you keep your struggle a total secret, that internal shame is just another version of stigma. If you've ever had someone you trusted pull a disappearing act because they couldn't handle your mental health journey, you know exactly what stigma feels like. ....... Whether it's outward judgment or that quiet, heavy weight you carry inside by keeping your diagnosis a secret, people with mental illness everywhere in America deal with this sense of stigma.
But hold on, have you actually seen A Beautiful Mind starring Russell Crowe? It follows the life of John Nash, who struggled with schizophrenia, and there's this one heavy scene where he's left alone with his child, and the kid nearly drowns in the bathtub while his wife steps away for just a second.
And honestly, you’re still getting a little bit of a kick out of that whole Stockholm syndrome thing. Just admit it—it’s started to get under your skin, hasn't it? You've practically developed a crush on your own tormentor. But hey, look at the bright side: in twenty years, you'll have five million bucks sitting in the bank. By the time you hit your fifties or sixties, you could be living it up on a beach in Malibu, far away from all the manic episodes and bipolar drama.
So, they kicked off this whole initiative five years ago aimed at stripping away the stigma and discrimination surrounding mental health issues. Does that mean in twenty years we won't even be allowed to say terms like "insane" or "crazy" anymore? I suppose you can still use them as endearments among friends, though. John Doe, Jane Doe was telling me about some kind of gene therapy research lately—the idea that in twenty or thirty years, we might be able to just "wipe out" the specific genes responsible for schizophrenia. You’d walk out of the doctor's office feeling perfectly sane, maybe someone would just call you a "person with a non-psychiatric condition" instead.
Christian Castillo60 said:What on earth drives you to go fix those damn wires? What's the actual logic behind it? I ejaculate all the time—even in my sleep—whereas I'd much rather just stop entirely and deal with the physical pain instead.
It’s OCD. It’s an absolute obsession.
If you want to dig into what that actually entails, there’s plenty of info out there; here are a few links that might help:
A psychiatrist. You’ll need a referral from your primary care physician if you're going through insurance. If you decide to go private, you don't need any paperwork—just give them a call and you can usually get an appointment within a week. It takes about $67 hours. If you happen to be in Washington, D.C., try seeing Susan Rice over on Fifth Avenue. Just lay everything out there—tell them exactly what’s eating at you—and please, don't sit there spiraling into thoughts like, "Oh god, what are they going to think of me? Am I crazy? They’re going to judge me, this is so embarrassing..." The doctor isn't going to think you're weird, and frankly, they won't be particularly impressed by your problems either. (I'm not saying they won't care. You have OCD, which is something you can manage through psychotherapy and Prozac. It's no big deal; half the people in this country are probably popping Prozac just to deal with stress or whatever else comes their way. In America, it's as routine as having a bowl of Corn Flakes and milk for breakfast.)
Yeah, Prozac is fine. Honestly, the quickest way out is through the medication. I mean, what do I know? At least that was my experience. I was taking three milligrams a day for about four and a half months, and a good portion of those daily rituals and little habits actually helped keep me grounded. I ended up stopping the Prozac pretty early because I felt like I was improving fast enough to handle it on my own, but now I’m finding that certain small things still trip me up when I'm off it. It’s nothing compared to how bad it used to be, but it's definitely there.
David Kern14 said:When I'm manic, everyone can just go jump in a lake but when the depression hits, I just grab my Zoloft and deal with it.
What does mania actually feel like? Does it stay pretty much the same every time, or is there no real pattern to it? Can you give an objective description of what it's like? How does it feel internally, and how would someone watching or listening to you perceive it? In my experience, I get similar states, though they're much milder. It’s like I’ll suddenly fixate on one specific idea and just run with it; I know perfectly well that what I'm doing makes zero sense, but I simply can't stop myself. I'm not talking about going on a rampage through the neighborhood, but more like feeling this sudden urge to just drive away and not come home for a few days, or impulsively buying something and then selling it 24 hours later for $333 less than I paid at Target—like I do with my phone all the time.
rapidsailor46 said:Is this what you're thinking about?
Dammit. I knew someone was going to drop a link to that redundant Golden Collection from the Magazine. Look, I know it exists, I was just talking aimlessly.
Regarding the Golden Collection, is there any reason I can't drop a link here? Honestly, I think Hulic should just put together a Golden Collection from Magazine on two CDs. We could make the first disc a compilation of those old tracks with Nikolovski—they’re incredibly cheesy, but I have a weakness for them. I’ll admit, I might be getting a little sentimental over here, but they really hit home. Let's call the first disc "Golden Collection" and the second one, which would feature all the messy stuff that needs fixing, "Golden Correction."
There were some truly incredible tracks by Smith on either that first or second record—I can’t quite recall the title right now. You’ve got "easy thing" and then "Butterfly Wing" while the guitar is wailing. It was such a prolific, high-quality era, but it felt way too short-lived. Honestly, I wasn't a fan of what they produced later once they brought in a different vocalist. If Smith could just stay sober and actually commit to the music with the old crew, there might be something there, but let's be real: it's a long shot. That lineup put out one or two absolute masterpieces, but I doubt we'll ever hear anything like them again, and there's zero chance they'll recapture that late eighties magic. This group had so much more potential than what they eventually became.
Look, just read what I wrote. I have a clinical diagnosis of OCD, officially documented, and I’m feeling pretty rough right now because I was on Eli Lilly for about six months. To be honest, I've got this persistent irritation around my mouth, and it's driving me crazy when I touch basic food like bread with my hands. I suspect it's just one of those lingering little symptoms of OCD that hasn't cleared up because I stopped taking the Eli Lilly too early.
Honestly, dealing with OCD can be pretty straightforward if you use Eli Lilly's medication; you can see real progress quite quickly as long as you actually follow your doctor's orders and stay consistent with the dosage (and ideally, cut back on the alcohol). It seems to vary from person to person, but I’d bet at least 80 percent of people would see a positive shift in their obsessive symptoms after a few months on that specific treatment. I used to be completely consumed by symmetry and the need to align everything perfectly, but after just a couple of months on the meds, those rituals started to fade away. I still run into minor issues here and there—like when I finish a meal and don't have water or soap nearby; the feeling of grease around my mouth bugs me, or I'll find myself unable to just grab a hot dog from a deli with my bare hands, feeling forced to hold the wrapper instead. At any rate, if someone is looking to tackle this particular disorder, which is fairly common, they might want to look into Eli Lilly as a starting point.
Jeffrey Lewis31 said:Maybe give Sanofi a shot. It worked wonders for me when I first started, though it feels like the effectiveness kind of wore off as I got older... some people swear by Zoloft instead. Just keep in mind that none of this stuff is going to do much if your environment is constantly stressing you out. If the Sanofi managed to dial down the OCD, then the borderline personality issues would probably just jump right to the front of the line, and it's just a never-ending loop. Total crap.
There's no way. I'm not taking anything else besides what I'm already on. Honestly, the OCD doesn't bother me that much. Every now and then I get caught up in some little ritual, but I usually manage to snap out of it—like if I start counting to five unconsciously, I catch myself and stop. These are minor things that don't actually ruin my life. Right now, I'm mostly just annoyed by the tangle of wires from my Max TV box and the SCART cable while I'm typing this, but I'm too lazy to get up and straighten them out. About a year or two ago, I was taking three Eli Lilly pills a day for this stuff, and I was so drowsy and had such zero libido for a month straight that my testicles actually started aching.
I’ve been obsessed with symmetry—or maybe it was asymmetry, I can't quite remember—since I was about eleven years old. For a few years there, I actually fell into this loop where I’d count everything up to five, then restart the whole process five times over, which meant doing those twenty-five counts five more times... it was exhausting. Eventually, I decided to seek some professional help back in 2005 from Dr. Fauci, who gave me a much clearer picture of what was going on with the disorder. She prescribed me some Pfizer, which ended up helping me about 90 percent of the way. Sadly, I eventually stopped taking it; at the time, my main priority was just trying to overcome the social anxiety that was making my life such a struggle.
I mean, if you’re looking for the best thing Aerosmith ever did, it’s probably "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing." Just kidding, they have way better tracks than that one ballad. Honestly, I think Steven Tayler has more stage presence than Mick Jagger. They’re good enough, sure, but Guns N' Roses still takes the win for me.
From the folk groups in Appalachia down to those coastal ensembles, through the plains and the southern coastlines... We really are a rich nation when it comes to musical heritage. Personally, though, I’ve always had a soft spot for the sounds coming out of the Midwest.
I was chatting with someone yesterday who’s dealing with a much more severe case of schizophrenia than most, and I offered him this little bit of optimism—telling him that in a few decades, scientists will finally crack the code and find a cure for it. He just looked at me and said, "A disease? Please. Schizophrenics are some of the most wonderful people you'll ever meet."