Posts by Brandon Lopez6

Gum? 🤷

Tyler Thomas6 said:I mean, isn't edge basically a super-expert when it comes to politics and history and all that stuff, even if I really dig your avatar...

nah, at least not according to this list -> click.

Susan Price30 said:Wait, didn't some of the mods just post on the PZK saying there was already an old rule stating you can't talk politics on the ZK? I think they mentioned it when those newer rules were being rolled out.😉

Maybe that’s why...

The thread was opened ages ago (if I recall right, it was even pulled from the misterij section), so moving it now wouldn't really make any sense. Politics is off-limits—meaning you can't go in on Democrats vs. Republicans, Biden, Trump, or anyone else from the old school parties—but talking about gay rights is fair game. Besides, this whole referendum thing started with a group of regular people, not as some calculated political move. To me, there's a massive difference between commenting on what a politician did and discussing this topic.🤷.

I'm with Hannah Thomas18 on this one—no idea why we're even talking about moving the thread. I don't post a ton, but honestly, I'd much rather hang out in this section of ZK than over in Politics. ZK is basically a giant melting pot for everything anyway; if you started scattering all these topics into other subforums, there wouldn't be much left worth reading here.

My neighbor has a son with Down syndrome who was hiccuping non-stop for like 24 hours straight. If I remember right, she just took him to his pediatrician instead of rushing to the ER, and nobody gave her any grief or told her she was being silly for bringing him in. I'm not totally sure what they gave him—maybe an injection or something? But anyway, the kid finally stopped hiccuping 🙂.

On Psychology Today , check out this thread on schizophrenia (click here — just ignore that poll at the top; it’s basically just people with the same diagnosis swapping stories and advice), and there’s also a specific one about hearing voices (click here). If you don't find what you're looking for there, you can always just start your own thread about what's going on with you.

Good luck 🙂

If you happen to get someone's email, don't even bother using Hotmail or AOL, or you'll just end up stuck in June forever.

crimsonmoose3 said:There's no need to take it literally. We spend our whole lives saying we don't have the will to "listen" to someone, even when they're communicating through gestures rather than words. It’s technically an incorrect way to phrase it... but people communicate in ways that are almost primal, much like an animal...

Look, I had to ask 😁.

Honestly, I don't really have any advice for you because there's no winning here. You can't please everyone in a situation like this—someone is always going to end up feeling left out.

Probably nothing.

crimsonmoose3 said:I'm not sure if this is the right thread for this. If the moderators think it belongs elsewhere, feel free to move it.

I need some perspective here. My brother is 30, but mentally he’s stuck at 13, if not older. According to his diagnosis, he’s autistic, has an intellectual disability, and is deaf-mute. It’s all due to a genetic mutation he was born with. When we were kids, we actually got along, despite the usual sibling bickering. Once I hit high school, his condition didn't bother me as much; I had grown used to his behavior over the years—the constant bragging that he was better than me, the teasing, and things like that. We still hung out and played together. But after high school, during a long stretch when I was unemployed, things shifted. He became exhausting to be around, and physical altercations started happening frequently. Most of them were triggered by me, because he would never just attack someone out of nowhere unless he felt he was defending himself.
Once I finally landed a job, I moved into my own room so I wouldn't have to share space with him anymore. His habits are impossible—he'll stay up until 1:00 AM glued to his computer while I have to be up at 5:00 AM for work. Over the years, I've drifted away from him emotionally. It is draining to listen to his daily obsessions with bodily fluids and filth, or his constant talk about women, followed by him spiraling when he develops a crush only to have the girl move away or get pregnant. One time, he just snapped, and it nearly ended in a tragedy within our family; he’s been on medication for years since then. Now, it’s the same routine every day, and he's getting lazier. He won't even take a plate to the sink; he just leaves it there. He's messy, to say the least. I eventually got into huge arguments with my parents regarding how he was being raised, and eventually, I just gave up.

As time goes on, I can't help but feel that my brother will simply become a lifelong burden. My parents want me to be the one to look after him, even though my only opinion is that he should be placed in a specialized care facility. They lose their minds when I suggest that, so I don't bring it up anymore. But now, as I start planning a serious life for myself, I realize that if the time comes when I have to introduce my partner to my parents or to her personally, I just won't feel "comfortable." To be honest, I feel embarrassed by how he behaves in public, at the dinner table, and everything else. The only thing I don't feel ashamed of is his obsession with hygiene, which is equally intense.

I don't hang out with him anymore. We don't communicate—well, he doesn't speak, he uses sign language—and I don't really "experience" him as a person anymore. There is just coldness. I find myself thinking that if he ever had to live with us, he would be a constant weight on my shoulders; I can already imagine the chaos and the stress. Besides, he can't be left home alone without supervision for a single day. And given my current work situation, it seems like a professional facility is the only real option.

My parents have always prioritized him over me, giving him special treatment and putting up with everything, naturally. So, should I feel guilty for simply wanting him to be in a facility where he can actually receive proper care? When I ask others about this, plenty of "smart" people judge me, asking how I could do such a thing or why I won't step up to care for him. None of them actually know what it's like to live with someone like him...

I'm not really following those parts in bold. 🤔

I'm about 99% sure that message is just gonna end up in your spam folder.

Henry Stewart73 said:Well, I guess may God help whoever actually ends up inheriting it all, right? Seems pretty logical that way...

laughing😉
that's exactly my point. You could inherit some shack out in rural Montana that needs all kinds of legalizing just to be habitable, and you'll end up losing money on it. There's no buyer. Even if you tried to give it away for free, who's actually going to step up?

As for this whole "I didn't get anything so I'm not helping them" thing (not talking about you, ladyChanel), honestly? It feels pretty spoiled and childish to me. These people clothed you, fed you, and supported you for at least 18 years. If they didn't toss you onto the streets the second you hit adulthood, it shouldn't be such a massive deal to chip in a few hundred bucks here or there to help your parents out when they get older. Personally, I don't think just being born entitled me to a penthouse in Chicago and a beach house in Malibu, plus a private jet to zip between them whenever I feel like it.
I've always been more about the "build it yourself" vibe than the "wait for someone to kick the bucket so I can inherit their stuff" approach.

Inheriting stuff sounds great on paper, but there’s a nasty side to it. It’s easy to talk when someone lands a condo in downtown Manhattan or a beach house in Malibu, but what happens when you inherit 60 acres of scrubland out in rural Wyoming? If your plot is tied up with five other parcels and you need everyone's signature just to sell it, you’re stuck. You’re basically paying property taxes on land that’s just rotting away while you wait for permission to do anything with it. I swear, people start drooling the second they hear someone "inherited something," without ever asking if they can actually sell it or make a dime from it.

As far as I'm concerned, my parents don't need to leave me anything. Most of the land they own is way out in the sticks or in places that weren't worth much back in the day, and they're even worse now. They inherited all this acreage around where we live, but it's not like we can actually build wealth off it. Nobody wants to buy it, nobody wants to lease it—hell, nobody’s even bringing goats out there to graze the grass.
I mean, it's not just us either. A huge chunk of people in my neck of the woods are in the same boat. This area used to be pretty decent before things went downhill, but now? That land is basically useless.

Steven Cook56 said:Tried that lead trick three times... didn't do a damn thing. So it really is all in my head? Even the parts where it feels like the air is too thick to breathe? :O

Yeah, basically what everyone's been telling you since this thread started.

silentowl74 said:Something along these lines PDP? Ah, you Americans...

nah, I mean more like, can a lack of progesterone actually trigger anxiety and panic attacks?

I'm not feeling 100% at all—honestly, I don't even need a test to tell me that. Just dealing with some light spotting right now (even though my ovaries aren't acting up or giving me any of those usual "it's coming" vibes). Might end up bleeding a bit later on 🎉.

Look, I know she won't dump me, I was just wondering if I actually need to give her a heads-up or not. My wife isn't exactly the most delightful woman on the planet, so I’d rather not call her unless it's absolutely necessary.

Larry King said:It’s totally standard—when I made the switch from Yasmin to Novynette, I didn't even get my period during that first month. Not a single drop. I actually called up my OB-GYN to double-check, and she told me it was completely normal; since the hormone levels are different, the thickness of the uterine lining shifts too, so the best move was just to start the next pack as scheduled. After that, my cycle came back, though it was way lighter than what I used to deal with on Yasmin.

I wasn't actually switching from another pill (might have phrased that weirdly in my first post), I just started taking them because I'd gone months without a period again. This is the first time I haven't bled during that first month, since usually, it kicks in right when I start the new pack...

I know thyroid issues can totally tank your mood and lead to depression, but I’m wondering how everything else plays into it—specifically female sex hormones.

I was falling down a Google rabbit hole yesterday and honestly, the info out there is all over the place. I really need someone to break this down with some solid facts, preferably in plain English that won't make my head spin 🙈.

So, I finished my first pack of birth control pills on Wednesday. According to the instructions, my period should show up in about two days. Based on what I've dealt with before using different brands, it usually takes three days, and I typically feel this weird pressure in my ovaries—more like an annoying discomfort than actual pain—about a day or two beforehand. But right now? Nothing. No bleeding, and honestly, zero signs that it’s even coming. I’m not feeling any of those usual symptoms I get whether I'm on the pill or just going natural.

I was wondering, is it actually possible to skip your period during the very first pack? I have this nagging feeling I read somewhere that it happens, but since I can't remember for sure, I figured I'd ask here. Also, if nothing happens, should I give my OB-GYN a call, or should I just start the next pack and wait until next month to see if things normalize?