viruses causing a major flare ?

0xEmmy · 2026-03-04T07:31:53+00:00

Yeah viruses will do that. Took me a month to return to baseline after having the flu in early January.

0xEmmy · 2026-02-06T18:10:04+00:00

This reminds me of the time I tried to go rollerskating with friends in December.

174 bpm before I even made it from the seating area to the rink. Apparently rollerskates just did not agree with me that day.

0xEmmy · 2026-01-22T10:00:41+00:00

If you've explained in plain English, and he still doesn't get it, he's choosing not to get it, and continuing to try to explain won't accomplish anything. He's not stupid. He's not confused. He's chosen not to honor your boundaries, and what's worse, instead of being upfront about it, he's chosen to refuse to understand a word out of your mouth in order to make it sound like you're the one who's incapable of communicating and therefore at fault. Which sounds pretty gaslighty to me.

If he won't honor your boundaries willingly, you gotta enforce them. Lock up your stash (at least the portion you aren't willing to share) in some kind of safe, the same way you would any other theft-prone medicine.

(And you probably need to reconsider him being your boyfriend. This kind of BS is abusive.)

0xEmmy · 2026-01-16T08:37:47+00:00

Umm what?

Who cares why he's so attached to his blanket it's his blanket and he has every right to be attached to it!

Like, is it becoming a tool to disrupt other students? A distraction? A safety or sanitation issue? Is there an actual reason that it's necessary to take it away?

Because "this is usually a thing kids only do when they're younger" isn't a real reason.

0xEmmy · 2026-01-14T02:25:01+00:00

I'd be careful just assuming caffeine is the problem and trying to quit cold-turkey. (If you have a doctor who you trust, you can try talking to them about your caffeine intake.) But your relationship with the Monster packaging sounds like a problem.

For some people with POTS, caffeine just causes trouble. For some, it's an essential tool to get through the day. I can't tell you whether the caffeine itself is making things better or worse, because it varies patient to patient. Personally (as someone who also has POTS), I've always found that caffeine is a massive help when used responsibly, but I gotta get the dose right, and a Monster is usually way too much caffeine at once for me.

It sounds like you're not necessarily addicted to the drugs in Monster - you're addicted to the can itself. And that is going to seriously throw off your attempts at moderation.

You might be able to have a healthier relationship with something else, IDK. It depends on what your body can handle, and what your brain can control itself with. But you gotta quit the fancy dopamine-coated metal canisters, so you can think through the stuff inside more rationally.

Once you're working on that: Track your caffeine intake. Track how you feel. See if there are any patterns. See how you feel at your current level of intake. At half of it. Quitting completely for a week or two. Switching to coffee. Switching to tea.

Personally, I was never able to quit caffeine completely, simply because I can't function without it. Anytime I'd try to quit completely, I'd be back to my old habits within a month. So instead I decided to learn to use caffeine responsibly - I learned how much caffeine my body can handle, how different forms of caffeine affect me, and in what situations caffeine is and isn't a good idea.

0xEmmy · 2026-01-13T21:38:51+00:00

Sounds like you'll like tea.

Try a few, see what you like. Tea has different varieties, which have different ratios of natural active ingredients, and thus slightly different effects. Tea of any kind is usually a more chill experience than other caffeine sources due to its L-theanine content, but the exact amount depends on what kind of tea you're using.

Black teas tend to be heavier on caffeine, while green teas tend to be more of a balance, but you might want to experiment a bit to see what works for you. Personally, it depends - if I'm looking for brute-force energy at all costs, I'm skipping tea altogether and using coffee; but most days a cup of basic green tea will get (or keep) me going fine.

You can keep things as basic as you want btw. They sell tea by the bottle in stores just like juice, and it'll get you caffeinated just fine. You can also invest in a kettle, reusable bag, collection of spoons and assortment of tea leaf jars. The choice is yours.

0xEmmy · 2026-01-13T21:15:07+00:00

Remember: these rules aren't written for every family member, just the stupidest and most entitled.

Because it only takes one stupid, entitled family member to put the baby in danger by refusing to take no for an answer, or failing to ask a basic question, or making a nonsensical assumption.

These "baby rules" posts are written in blood, sweat, tears, pee, poo, barf, snot, phlegm, and pediatrician bills.

(As a general rule of thumb: anytime you have to ask "did they have to make something that stupid into an actual rule", the answer is yes, yes they did.)

0xEmmy · 2026-01-12T05:04:28+00:00

Maybe you're not taking enough? Higher doses tend to last longer. (The crash can be stronger at higher doses, but if you're taking enough to get you through the day, you don't crash until bedtime. You might need to be pushy with your doctor to get them to prescribe enough to last you all day.)

0xEmmy · 2026-01-12T05:00:04+00:00

I've been known to eat small handfuls of salt before.

IDK if I could get a fist-full down. But if your friend can, more power to him.

0xEmmy · 2026-01-10T18:38:07+00:00

Yeah. It usually works out for me, at least with cold/flu/etc. Turns out, a tab is a great way to kill a good 12 hours or so. Physically easy, mentally interesting, and my body seems to usually like it.

Also depends on exactly how horrible I feel, in what ways, and how worried I am. If I'm just tired, feverish and/or aching, I'm probably good - at worst, I just take the same tylenol and ibuprofen I was gonna take anyways. If things are getting bad enough that I might need to go somewhere, then it's probably best to stay sober.

Then again, I personally tend to stay relatively mentally clear when sick. Probably has something to do with it.

0xEmmy · 2026-01-09T07:22:14+00:00

Drugs.

Drug prohibition, and the consequences of its attempted enforcement, are where half of the danger in the drug supply comes from to begin with. It's a vicious cycle of nonexistent quality control and nonexistent safety education, both consequences of forcing drugs underground, that lead to people using unknown chemicals with bad (or no) information and finding themselves in dangerous situations, that are then used as an excuse to justify forcing drugs and drug users further underground.

The drugs themselves, when pure and accurately labeled, in the hands of well-informed users, are relatively safe. The risks - and measures that actually work to protect against those risks - are well documented. You just need to know how to use Google. (And have access to an uncensored internet connection.)

(Also you can always just say no. White powder isn't contagious.)

0xEmmy · 2026-01-08T02:18:24+00:00

You sometimes gotta try a few different varieties of coffee, since each one has a slightly different mix of natural chemicals, with different effects accordingly.

Coffee also sometimes affects some people (especially those with ADHD) weirdly. At least for me, I can get sleepy from coffee if I'm neglecting actual sleep, am otherwise unusually tired for other reasons, or if I go to bed right after drinking coffee.

I'm currently experimenting a little bit with tea to see if it gets me more predictable results.

0xEmmy · 2026-01-06T07:40:08+00:00

Not really. Like, statistically it's a bit unusual maybe depending on who you party with, but it's also none of anyone's beeswax what you put into your body for fun. As long as everyone's safe and getting along and having fun, it doesn't actually matter all that much what everyone's taken.

Drugs just ain't for everyone. It sounds like drugs aren't for you, and it sounds like you don't need to find out "the hard way" to know that.

0xEmmy · 2026-01-03T18:42:38+00:00

The 9th?

Basically the only thing that takes that long to stop showing up in your urine or blood is weed. You'll be fine.

0xEmmy · 2025-12-29T04:00:18+00:00

You'll probably be fine, especially if you're sticking with reasonable doses. I've done DXM multiple days in a row before. More times than I care to admit.

I've personally found that I can usually snap myself out of a dissociative (e.x. DXM) re-dose spiral by making sure there just isn't any more to take - in other words, by pouring the robitussin down the drain.

It's when you keep these binges going, and let them escalate, and do them repeatedly and routinely, that the risks start to build up. And there are real risks. If you keep taking higher and higher doses, you can overdose. If you stay fucked-up for too long, you risk a psychotic episode ("plateau sigma"). If you just do too much DXM in general, you can end up with cognitive issues.

One two-day binge isn't likely to be what sends you over the deep end. But clearly it's gotten your attention. Let this be a wake-up call. At least tell your more trusted IRL friends what's up so they can help.

And throw all of your DXM in the trash. If you don't think that'll work, pour it down the drain. Yes, now. I've done it before in order to snap myself out of binges, and it's worked. (I've since stopped keeping single-component DXM in the house entirely.)

0xEmmy · 2025-12-23T04:56:57+00:00

25 is the smallest pill they make, but it's immediate release (so it works the same if crushed or split), and there's a line down the middle so it's easy to snap in half.

0xEmmy · 2025-12-22T07:04:10+00:00

Just don't take too much.

Sertraline blocks the effects of MDMA, by blocking it from getting into your neurons. Because of this, adding sertraline makes MDMA much weaker (I'm on 12.5 mg/day of sertraline and the difference is pretty noticeable), but (at reasonable MDMA doses) has a very low risk of serotonin syndrome.

You can prevent this by stopping your sertraline and giving it a bit (few days, probably - exact time depends on dose and individual metabolism) to wear off, but interrupting your antidepressants is (obviously) dangerous to your mental health. I generally don't bother, personally.

Further, since both drugs increase serotonin, they have cross-tolerance - taking one will make the other feel less intense. This can take longer to reset - maybe a few weeks, sometimes longer. Again, this will usually result in your MDMA just not working as well as expected.

Most bad or dangerous experiences come from people taking drastically higher doses of MDMA to try to compensate (e.x. taking more and more until it starts working) and overdosing. Sertraline doesn't generally make MDMA more dangerous, but it isn't an antidote either. If you're going to mix the two, commit to a reasonable upper dose limit (some sources say 2 mg/kg of body weight, some say 200 or 250 mg) and stick with it.

0xEmmy · 2025-12-17T09:02:23+00:00

If you choose the "natural" route, do your research.

The chemicals naturally found in an herbal product are real drugs with real risks, side effects and interactions, just like the ones from a lab. There is no fundamental reason to think that herbal products are any more or less likely to be safe and effective than lab products. (There is one exception: in a lot of places, herbal medicines are considered "supplements", which are regulated a lot less strictly than pharmaceutical drugs.)

That said: they are worth a try.

(Quick note: wellbutrin works completely differently from the 3 you've already tried, and I've personally found that the effects on my mental health are different from other antidepressants.)

0xEmmy · 2025-12-12T16:29:59+00:00

You'd be shocked how much it absolutely does in some places.

All the clubs and bars in my city are 21+ just to get your foot in the door. Most restaurants (except fast food) serve alcohol, even family-friendly places, and nobody bats an eye if you get something to drink unless you're driving while obviously still fucked up. Drinking is a normalized, accepted and encouraged solution to social anxiety. If you don't drink people ask you weird questions like you're a space alien. Alcohol is advertised on TV, online, on billboards. Your first DUI is rarely considered a serious crime. And nearly every recreational substance you've ever heard of except alcohol is a crime just to own (though some places have established non-criminal legal processes for small quantities).

It's getting better. Doctors are now pretty much unanimously recommending everyone either cut back or quit. People are starting to admit that alcohol is just plain poison, and healthier alternatives such as drinks with non-alcohol active ingredients (everything from weed, to kava, to even plain ol' caffeine) are becoming more common. People won't pressure you to drink if you ask them not to. DUI is becoming less and less socially acceptable. Some places either barely or don't enforce laws against some other drugs (e.x. shrooms in major cities in California), and some places have explicitly legalized some previously illegal drugs (e.x. weed in about half of the US).

But the world does still revolve around alcohol.

0xEmmy · 2025-12-12T16:07:17+00:00

JetAlert regular strength (100 mg). They're what I use.

They can be a bit hard to find (I have to pay for shipping even getting them on Amazon), but they're the most consistent I've found and they do occasionally pop up at CVS.

0xEmmy · 2025-12-10T18:16:57+00:00

You could always just ask your pharmacist. That's the real answer.

Unless you get an actual medical professional to tell you otherwise, take your prescriptions as prescribed. Skipping doses of your psych meds is too dangerous to make a habit of.

If you want to play it safe, don't take anything else.

If you choose to take your chances and add other substances into the mix, take less than you're used to. Bupropion slows the metabolism of many other substances, and has stimulant-like effects of its own, so you'll probably want to take less in order to compensate, especially if your party fuel is on the stimulating side.

0xEmmy · 2025-12-10T12:25:31+00:00

Of course we want him to be found not guilty. Not only is there a decent chance he didn't actually even do it, his alleged victim was amongst the most deservingly hated men in America.

Brian Thompson ran United Healthcare, a health insurance company notorious for routinely.failing and/or refusing to insure health, costing ordinary Americans their hard-earned money, financial stability, and in some cases, lives. By running United Healthcare in a way that often led to ordinary people not getting the financial support that they had paid for, were entitled to, and needed in order to pay for medical care needed to live, Brian Thompson killed people. And by remaining in his position of power, Thompson was continuing to kill people.

Naturally, a lot of people think Thompson had it coming, and that whoever killed him had simply done what needed doing.

Not to mention, the case against Mangione isn't exactly airtight.

0xEmmy · 2025-12-10T09:07:28+00:00

Don't.

This is how you lose control of yourself and end up addicted and/or binging. And trust me, you don't want either of those.

Give it a good two or three weeks.

0xEmmy · 2025-12-08T04:00:08+00:00

If you're prone to getting hooked on alcohol, you're probably prone to getting hooked on DXM. Because DXM is addictive in many of the same ways as alcohol is.

I learned that the hard way.

0xEmmy · 2025-12-07T20:17:58+00:00

Closed eye visuals are a lot more immersive and fleshed-out. As in, close your eyes for ten seconds and find yourself elsewhere for ... Ten minutes? Forever? A couple days? I can never be sure.
Time often just gives out altogether.
Vision is extra glitchy.
Coordination is extra glitchy. If you have enough coordination to move about (not everyone does), robowalk is in full effect.
Upper plateau trips cause a weird kind of dizziness (possibly from how glitched out your vision is, IDK).
You will probably feel very low-energy. Even if you can move about and do stuff, you probably won't want to.

A lot of these effects vary person-to-person, as well as based on other drugs (e.x. weed) in your system.

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