@Amy Vaughn12 how much extra would it run me to throw a coffee roaster into this whole setup?
my husband would probably be jumping on the web via Wi-Fi first off, so I'm wondering if we could just fix that with one of those little USB antennas (I can't even remember what they call them 🙈) they sell over at Best Buy for $53? he used something similar on his old laptop once, and if I recall correctly, you just installed the driver, plugged it in, and you were good to go.
My husband is looking for a PC that won't feel totally obsolete in about a year, so fingers crossed our budget actually covers it.
We’d love to pick it up at a local Best Buy—ideally something already built so we can just grab it and go 😁. Of course, if anyone wants to suggest a custom build instead, I'm all ears.
I know my way around computers... okay, let's say "basic" is a generous term. So please bear with me if I ask questions that seem super obvious to you guys 🙂.
Also, looking for some monitor recommendations too, ideally under $500, and at least 19" . Thanks 🙏 🙏
Look, I have zero beef with young John Newman, but I really don't get why this thread is being swarmed by haters acting like psych meds are straight out of hell. There are plenty of other subreddits for that; I'm sure there's at least one dedicated to Big Pharma conspiracy theories somewhere out there 👍
Anyway, the whole point here is that we can lean on each other when things get rough or swap advice about side effects and stuff. I found so much actual help and support here when I needed it most, so it honestly sucks seeing trolls and conspiracy theorists just messing around for no reason 🙄
I'm totally with you on that 👍.
This thread helps me, personally, and I've learned how to just tune out the haters 😁. But unfortunately, I know there are people who get really triggered by this stuff, especially if they're new to meds or dealing with disorders for the first time. I remember back in the day, I used to take everything people said so deeply to heart, like it was gospel. If someone had told me back then that I was just some "snowflake" because I was taking pills, I probably would've just quit everything and jumped off a bridge. Not naming names 😬
So, here’s the deal—I’m thinking about tapering off the antidepressants. Right now, I’m on Xanax, amyzol, and Arvind. Arvind does the trick for me, and Xanax helps too, but honestly? I have zero clue if the amyzol is even doing anything at all. It’s just driving me nuts.
Jason Vaughn482 said:We share so many similarities... I need at least eight hours of shut-eye myself... but regardless of how much I sleep, I wake up feeling completely drained and find it nearly impossible to stir myself awake... I'm not quite sure what advice I could offer you, though, because I take Ambien and half a glass of wine, so perhaps that's just leaving me feeling drugged and heavy in the morning while I struggle to drift off at night.
Honestly, I’m totally over it—going to bed like a toddler at 10 PM only to wake up feeling absolutely trashed, while everyone else stays up until midnight (getting to actually watch a movie) and finds it way easier to get moving than I do🙂
Kevin Bailey2 said:I actually walked into an exam while my Xanax was still kicking in. I have zero clue what kind of nonsense I was rambling about, but I do know one of the toughest professors on campus was absolutely cracking up. He ended up giving me an A.
I once showed up to an exam so high on everything that I wasn't even sure which class I was taking. Out of 20 of us, only 7 passed. How I made the cut, only God knows—must’ve been on my side, especially since we're talking about the Ivy League here🤣
It’s not exactly insomnia, but my sleep quality is clearly trashed, so I’m wondering if there’s a way to fix this with meds. Basically, I’m getting at least 8 hours of shut-eye a night (not even counting those afternoon naps I take way too often), yet I wake up feeling absolutely exhausted every single morning. It doesn't matter if I slept 8 to 10 hours or just 4—it’s always the same story. I can’t shake the fog, and waking up feels impossible. Honestly, I’m so over it; I have to set a million alarms just to have a fighting chance at actually getting out of bed on time.
restlesstiger102 said:That’s awesome. Which hospital did you end up going to?
Merkur. Honestly, just give them another call to double-check, but they told me to show up on specific days of my cycle. Not sure if it works the same way for thyroid stuff, though.
So, I had my hormone levels checked at the hospital on September 12th. Got the results back around the 25th, but since I don't live in the city, I didn't swing by to pick them up until the 29th. I called this one clinic to book an appointment with an endocrinologist, and they gave me the first available slot on October 8th. When I finally saw the doctor, he basically told me my labs were two months old (?) and that I needed to redo more than half of the tests. And of course, he wanted me to do them right there at his clinic. Does anyone know if these results are too outdated for me to just take them to a different specialist? Like, how long does it actually take for hormone labs to be considered "expired"? Also, do they look at the date the blood was drawn or the date the results were officially released? Because honestly, I can't control how long a big hospital takes to process everything.
velvetmoose9 said:@Brandon Lopez6, looking at what Nicholas Myers laid out, I have to point out that sometimes the physical look of the ovaries—you know, from an Abdominal Ultrasound—just doesn't match the clinical picture or the endocrine labs. Like, the ultrasound might not look "bad" enough to fit the textbook definition of PCOS if we're going by the old-school standards.
Basically, I'm not sure if you can ever fully rule out that diagnosis either. 🤷
I get it. Nothing about my situation follows the textbook, honestly. I haven't even been sent for hormone testing yet. My regular OB-GYN told me I don't even hit the "big three" PCOS symptoms—acne, oily skin/hair, or weight gain issues—my ovaries just show up as multicystic on scans. It’s been a struggle just getting her to finally order this specific test.
Thanks to both of you, and fingers crossed that we figure out the root cause without having to go through a million more tests. 😁.
It’s looking pretty likely they’ll want to run more hormone panels, maybe some extra tests, and potentially an MRI of the pituitary gland.
Looking at the results, your LH and FSH levels are low, and your Estradiol is low too. When you see this combination—especially if you’ve been dealing with secondary amenorrhea (meaning your period used to be regular but then just stopped)—it points toward hypogonadotropic hypogonadism. There are tons of reasons why this happens. First thing is, we have to rule out whether you’ve been on any hormonal meds, like birth control, because those can definitely tank your LH and FSH levels. If you haven't been taking anything like that, then hypogonadotropic hypogonadism is definitely on the table.
There are way too many causes for this to list them all here. A huge factor—though certainly not the only one—is high stress, mental health stuff, being underweight, or eating disorders. But honestly, they need to check all the other pituitary hormones before making any real calls, because the differential diagnosis is massive. There’s a whole laundry list of conditions and illnesses that need to be ruled out first.
Also, your androstenedione is running high, which is interesting because it isn't paired with a rise in DHEA-S, which usually happens. This suggests that besides looking at the pituitary, we should probably keep an eye on the adrenal glands, especially since you mentioned the gynecological exam came back normal.
Bottom line: get ready for a marathon of tests and a visit to an endocrinologist. (Just a heads-up, Sister Rosalia Kaslik Medical Center is the main referral hub for this, though Chicago University Hospital Center is also top-tier).
Thanks so much. I forgot to mention I have ovarian cysts, but my doctor said it's nowhere near PCOS territory.
you want to know what I’m on? what they’re handing me 🙂 I started out on Lamictal, then switched over to Abilify. I burned through about four boxes of the stuff—since one box only lasts me two weeks—and then suddenly, I couldn't find it anywhere in my local pharmacies. They kept telling me it was out of stock, saying it might be back in a week or they could order it, but I never had the sense to stock up. So, I ended up driving to the next town over twice just to find it, and honestly, I just lost my damn mind. Last time, I told them to just give me whatever else they had, as long as the active ingredient was the same, and they gave me some generic version. I don't really feel a difference in how it works, but the fact that they can just run out of my meds like that... it drives me absolutely 🙂.
For some reason, they keep writing down that I take my Lamictal once a night, even though my doctor clearly prescribed two pills, and I’ve been on a two-pill dose since day one. The first time it happened, I probably looked like a total weirdo when the pharmacist asked, "So, how do you take this?" I just nodded, and she goes, "One at night." I was just staring at her like 😲. I'm super sensitive to any changes in my psych meds—it's something I always have to mentally brace myself for—so this really caught me off guard. But whatever, I'm still taking two exactly as prescribed, and if the people at the pharmacy want to write whatever they want on the label, that's on them 😳.
I don't have any text to work with! Send over the post you want me to flip, and I'll get to work on it.
goldengardener51 said:Sorry, I haven't been following your posts from the start, but if you're on Luvox, that means you saw a psychiatrist—so they prescribed a specific regimen, right?🤔 In that case, don't let the instructions scribbled by the pharmacy clerk dictate how you handle your meds.
Look, it’s not like you can just ignore it. If you're on Luvox, you have to take it every single day. There's really no point in trying to use an antidepressant on an "as-needed" basis. Luvox and Norvasc are two completely different worlds. 🙂