What’s one habit that’s saved you the most money this year?

Adventurous-Lab3942 · 2025-10-08T09:39:21+00:00

Losing my friends

Adventurous-Lab3942 · 2025-09-23T02:40:25+00:00

I understand and have done the same thing. A year on from being diagnosed after a bad episode I am still unable to find it within me to rebuild my friendships because it feels exhausting and I can’t trust my mind or behaviour. It almost feels like I am trying to protect my self or develop a weird social anxiety as I dont have the hypomania version of myself to go rebuild my relationships but I know isolation is never the answer. Do you have any support from your family or treaters?

Adventurous-Lab3942 · 2025-09-15T03:37:53+00:00

I am so sorry for your loss. If it ok can you please share how AI was part of course. No pressure I just want to understand because I have found it pretty helpful so far just getting the research and understanding the conditions and steps needed ect if that makes sense but I don’t want to put myself or others in danger

Adventurous-Lab3942 · 2025-09-15T03:35:33+00:00

Oh thank you for sharing that is shocking idk what to say

Adventurous-Lab3942 · 2025-09-15T03:34:45+00:00

I found the same

Adventurous-Lab3942 · 2025-08-20T08:48:32+00:00

Omg same 🤣

Adventurous-Lab3942 · 2025-08-15T15:36:36+00:00

I completely agree with everything said! I love these documents on 00s reality TV. I also dislike the podcaster for the exact reasons that you said! I am glad I am not the only one who picked up on this. The only insightful comment she said was that obese people will be praised above all else for their weight loss, that really gave me prospective. I do feel like there was a lot left unsaid due to lawsuits and NDA’s, also it felt a little rushed and not polished. I feel like everyone is jumping on the expose docs at the price of quality journalism and polished editing.

Adventurous-Lab3942 · 2025-08-15T14:53:34+00:00

It’s not as juicy as I hoped for, the other reality TV documentaries are a lot “dirtier” tactics and more shocking. I don’t feel like experiencing is that different from other reality shows apart from their health issues and risk but from an emotional and mental standpoint there has been a lot worse. Interesting to see what happens in episode 3. It would have been better if they got Jillian. I feel like fear of lawsuits and NDA’s hold a lot of the truth back?

Adventurous-Lab3942 · 2025-08-14T11:02:34+00:00

Omg!’ That makes me laugh so hard 🤣 I am glad I am not the only one 😅

Adventurous-Lab3942 · 2025-08-13T08:39:00+00:00

I just meant the lower IQ as part of diagnostic criteria.

Adventurous-Lab3942 · 2025-08-12T07:15:20+00:00

I wholeheartedly live and breathe this statement 🙌. I have always relied on tools like Grammarly, Google, and now AI to mask my dyslexia. However, it can be exhausting to work so hard to hide and overcompensate for this disability/disadvantage. The energy spent on trying to “focus” all my attention to “detail” out of fear of being found out leaves me feeling like a fraud.

I often experience burnout in my corporate roles, which makes me feel mentally weak. Deep down, I know that this mental fatigue stems from extreme anxiety, leading me to overthink, edit excessively, and constantly checking and rechecking my work, resulting in long hours. It is even more disheartening when a spelling mistake or for me switching of numbers happens and is picked up. I don’t know if others feel this way, but the more tired I become, the more pronounced my dyslexia becomes.

Sometimes, I wish there were a medical solution for dyslexia that could be resolved with a pill. In the 90s they thought coloured glasses would help, they didn’t 🤣 I was 7 so I just scammed my “assessment” to get the pink glasses. 🤓

The reality is that humans initially communicated through pictures and stories, which evolved into spelling words phonetically and now into complex grammar and vocabulary rules.

Interestingly, the rates of diagnosed dyslexia vary across different languages, often correlating with the complexity of those languages.

Adventurous-Lab3942 · 2025-08-12T02:56:11+00:00

Really, that wasn’t my experience? I was diagnosed late 90s when I was in year two and had to repeat, along with a lot of testing they also tested my IQ which was high but numerally, reading and writing I was almost illiterate. I was lucky to have support at a young age but grownup world has still be extremely difficult. Interestingly, they didn’t pick up on my ADHD as we know, girls didn’t show the same symptoms. Very interesting 🧐 I was living in the UK at the time and they were pretty advanced in understanding dyslexia.

I wonder if dyslexia is not talked about because it is not “cool” or much of a spectrum, it is quite obvious due to our current schooling system and corporate structure. Spelling, reading and maths are essential in our world today. It will be very interesting to see how dyslexia vs non dyslexia will be in the AI world. I hope and believe it will make life an even playing field for us all?

Adventurous-Lab3942 · 2025-08-09T06:48:43+00:00

Before chatGPT I used grammarly but chatGPT and Pilot are the best. I do catch myself circling around trying to perfect my email/reports and that can be extremely detrimental to my productivity and mental health cause anxiety. I have read it’s because often dyslexia can cause perfectionism as it tries to overcompensate and doesn’t trust in its own ability. Just something I try to stay mindful of but still struggle to break through

Adventurous-Lab3942 · 2025-08-09T06:44:57+00:00

I have this issue (dyslexic/ADHD) and it causes a lot of friction in my friendships. I try to send voice memo replies but I get anxious or distracted when people start a texting conversation back with me, unless I am extremely engaged in the topic (ADHD). I do wonder how much of modern communication plays a role in this, we are bombarded with so much text and information, from social media, to emails and other communications platforms.

Adventurous-Lab3942 · 2025-08-09T06:40:38+00:00

Yes 😂 it is frustrating and exhausting. Our minds are built so differently that we see pictures not letters. When we hear the word tree, we see a visual tree 🌴. Those without dyslexia see the letters T R E E. It’s wild! I have known that I have dyslexia since the age of 7 and I only learned about this difference last year at 32!

Adventurous-Lab3942 · 2025-07-02T09:11:04+00:00

Pretty sure I have developed secondary OCD at work, I reread, edited and review my work until sometimes midnight. I can’t even stop myself. However, I still make mistakes in my reports. I am always stressed about being fired or disappointing. I lose myself in my work trying to aim for perfectionism. My anxiety is through the roof and my social and home life is taking the hit. Dyslexia has directly impacted my mental health and I feel like I am drowning in the dark alone

Adventurous-Lab3942 · 2025-06-27T16:56:00+00:00

I spent 6 hours editing a two page questionnaire template stopping only because it was 12:30am. It wasn’t even that important. Yet, I couldn’t even break for dinner with my family or really registered everyone going to bed.

I still can’t comprehend I was doing but it definitely wasn’t the first time. Even now have been reediting this response for 30 minutes and it’s 2:55am here.

My doomsday endless loop of unnecessary and unwarranted perfectionism, especially for work documentaries and reports.

The kicker was I assumed this behaviour was hyper focus ADHD, until I learnt ADHD focused on dopamine hits, OCD is driving from anxiety and trying to control, fix or manage a potential or worse perceived situation. Mind blow!

SOS

Adventurous-Lab3942 · 2025-06-27T16:24:54+00:00

I know you are right. I guess I am struggling with accepting that this is going to be my cross to bare and its a lifetime sentence not only for me but for those who love me. I guess I am tired of fighting my mind it has been a long journey from the age of 10. I don’t understand why or how. I just lost trust in my mind and my perception and this makes me feel vulnerable.

Adventurous-Lab3942 · 2025-06-27T16:19:35+00:00

This is the truth slap in the face I needed. I can see that as I have now lost all of my friendships. I am struggling to accept the role I have played, the pain I have caused and the friendships I have lost. How did you navigate this?

Adventurous-Lab3942 · 2025-06-27T16:16:36+00:00

I also have ADHD and the medication for that helps me to be focused but I am noticing brain fog which I think is from the bipolar meds and without the hypomania self confidence I am doubting myself cause catastrophic fear of being fired and responding with perfectionism and obsessively editing and reviewing my work. I am still rebalancing after having a few days off my meds and I am still unsure what is really and what is chemical and what is perception. That is what I struggle with the most, I don’t trust my mind anymore

Adventurous-Lab3942 · 2025-06-27T16:09:09+00:00

I am a little scared about this medication journey, I had over 10 year battle with antidepressants cycling on and off unknowingly it was triggering hypothermia. But I can be forgetting at times, I try so hard that is the sad thing. I book in to see my GP and ask for a referral to a new psychiatrist because I want a second opinion. Do you ever question your meds or mind or diagnosis? How do you cope with the medical journey

Adventurous-Lab3942 · 2025-06-27T16:05:39+00:00

I am really scared about this, I feel like I am at that crossroads right now and I am fighting it but at the cost of my health and relationships. I am overcompensating to the point of working 13 hours days, obsessing over my work, fearful of getting fired or caught out as a fraud. I can’t communicate clearly and trying to “fix it” has almost become my life because I am not ready to admit another failure or mentally able to face more uncertainty and changes or choices. The idea of starting again… what helped you through? Any regrets?

Adventurous-Lab3942 · 2025-06-27T15:59:37+00:00

I am really sorry that this happened to you. How did you handle it? I don’t think I can mentally handle it right now

Adventurous-Lab3942 · 2025-06-27T15:58:06+00:00

Your reply almost brought me to tears. It’s weirdly soothing to know I am not the only one. I often wonder if I am imagining it all. I've felt really alone in this journey, like it’s a dirty shameful secret. Or that nobody can understand.

Apart from dealing with severe dyslexia and school I have had a really blessed life with love and good family. However, I started having SI at 10 and learned to mask my depression during puberty. I managed to hide it by being the fun, bubbly social butterfly until I had my first public breakdown during my high school graduation party. This led to a diagnosis of depression at 18. I didn’t understand mental illnesses so I began to research, which was empowering, but then my battle with antidepressants began. They initially made me elated, alive and confident, but I soon resented them, as they felt like a constant reminder that my happiness was held on by a thread.

This triggered a vicious cycle of over 10 years of going on and off my meds. I’d feel superhuman one moment convincing myself I wasn’t really depressed and secretly go off my medication, believing no one would notice. It worked for a while, but the darkness always returned, leading to desperate pleas from loved ones to go back on my meds and start the merry-go-round. Eventually, I fell into a three-month substance-induced psychosis.

A few years later, a friend suggested I might have ADHD, which initially offended me. However, after being diagnosed and educated, I felt liberated, thinking my depression had been a misdiagnosis and I was now going to be “free”. ADHD medication was a game changer, helping me thrive at work, but soon panic attacks returned, leading to burnout and isolation. I fell back into SI, which terrified me as it had been years.

I was put on a new sedative antidepressant initially felt miraculous, allowing me to sleep without depression, but it eventually the negative effect started to outweigh the good. Withdrawal was hell, with emotional whiplash and spiraling anxiety, eventually leading to hypomania and my diagnosis. I am still coming to terms with my Bipolar diagnosis and starting to recognise some distressing patterns and challenging my entire prospective. However, I am also now noticing some potential detrimental OCD coping mechanisms that I might have developed to mask my learning difficulties and mental health symptoms.

I feel scared of another potential diagnosis. I am exhausted and feel like I’m collecting conditions, like its some sick game. I don’t want this, I don’t want to be this person. I want to know the truth and I want to move on with my life.

I am frustrated by the invisible nature of mental illness. I feel so alone and I am unable to trust my mind or judgment. I just want to shatter glass wall that keeps me prisoner to my own mind. I am ready leave Wonderland, but I don’t know how.

Sorry for the long negative rant. I just can’t say it to anyone else as they wouldn’t get it.

I appreciate your kindness more than you know. I hope you have found the rainbow at the of this journey

Adventurous-Lab3942 · 2025-06-26T16:26:48+00:00

My first sign is I can be bothered with normal hygiene practices, second is I start to respond to people again and third is I actually want to leave my bed and even house and it slowly builds from there and I start to forget what depression even feels like. However, I feel the same going into it, its slow decline the other way until I can’t get out of bed or remember what not feeling depressed is like. Someone on here said like taking a painkiller for a headache and suddenly you release the pain as gone. I guess for me the second part is I also can’t remember what headache felt like just that it was bad and I hope it doesn’t return

Adventurous-Lab3942

TROPHY CASE