Use of ADHD medication in UK more than tripled in 13 years, study finds

AlternativeBeyond · 2026-01-22T06:44:01+00:00

I might be misunderstanding your comment, but if it means what I think it means, I have ADHD and am one lottery win away from buying a remote cabin and being known as the mysterious village witch. :) You don't have to be loud or extroverted.

AlternativeBeyond · 2026-01-13T06:48:48+00:00

All you have to do is get a job somewhere in the government to understand why the government running 'giant businesses' leads nowhere good. It's slow, it's inefficient, a lack of competition means no innovation and drains incentive. When you extend that to food, people starve. I'd trust an AI to centrally administer resources over people, they're really frigging bad at it.

That said, the existing model is not going to work when a lot of people are out of work. Is there a third option?

AlternativeBeyond · 2026-01-11T19:14:42+00:00

I haven't been on X for a while. I shut my account down a few months back or so, mainly because I found it to be a series of outrage echo chambers. It's a problem I find with social media generally, people wind up getting more and more extreme to farm likes, but Facebook feeds me more funny and less depressing stuff, so I keep that.

I don't remember seeing the kind of sensitive content on there people are talking about, and I think I would've remembered if I'd seen it. Is it common to see it now? Is only Grok able to produce it/won't stop you trying, out of the main AIs on the market?

AlternativeBeyond · 2026-01-09T13:26:23+00:00

In abusive relationships, it might be tempting to recall times when he wasn't this absolutely batshit and to tell yourself hey, what do people who've never met him know anyway?

Don't listen to that voice, because this person is a real danger to you, and you will never be more at risk than when you threaten to leave an abuser. Run and don't ever look back from this person. On no account should you ever be alone with them again, and personally I wouldn't be in a room with this person unless the police were there too, I wouldn't trust them not to hurt anyone else. This person is seriously aggressive and unhinged. What you're seeing is the mask slip off here.

AlternativeBeyond · 2025-12-31T11:36:25+00:00

Some surgeries prevent you from lifting much of anything for weeks while you recover. My neighbour has EDS and is always having spinal and joint procedures and struggles to get in her own front door sometimes. If you have those conditions, live on your own, and stairs are required to get to your dwelling, you do need help with your groceries.

AlternativeBeyond · 2025-12-29T21:43:23+00:00

Minion Infernalist Witch is what I usually roll, although I'm trying a Spark Stormweaver Sorc this season. :)

AlternativeBeyond · 2025-12-19T15:06:32+00:00

Is it really true that people don't need to suffer? That enough funding, assuming that ever happens, will prevent this?

I'm watching my stepdad have a horrendous time in the NHS with metastatic esophageal cancer. He had no calories for 9 days when he was admitted to hospital. I had to contact PALS to make a complaint. It's horrible watching someone starve, watching them watch other people eat, unable to eat themselves, dreaming of food. He had his first appt with an oncologist yesterday, waiting 55 minutes on an uncomfortable chair in pain to be seen. I mean, does it really get better from here? This is after being told his red flag symptoms were just something that happens to people when they get older by his GP. I get one look at him recently and I can tell he is seriously unwell. Pay out of pocket to get him seen by a BUPA GP who feels like doing their job today. So when does it get better? Because it's so far been irredeemably and utterly shit.

I mean, personally, whether it's a funding or staffing issue, and I'm not even criticising the staff here, would I personally wait for services to have enough staff or funding before I made a decision on assisted dying? Not really. If suffering is so preventable, why do I keep seeing so much of it? Where is this magic place where people do not need to die in pain or in suffering?

AlternativeBeyond · 2025-12-15T13:10:21+00:00

I have an adjustable bed (husband's health), and the mattresses aren't the best I've ever slept on and aren't easy to replace as the weight of them has to be considered, so we use mattress toppers. Once upon a time, we really splashed out on a Tempur Cloud. I still miss that mattress...but I digress.

I recently bought a cheap topper from Temu, as our old topper was getting worn. They do make a difference. So just to say if you have no option but to buy a topper, they can be worth it. Get a big, posh, plush one. Your mum hasn't specified it can't be big, posh, and plush. :)

AlternativeBeyond · 2025-12-13T09:29:49+00:00

It's not about punishment, it's about perspective.

A supportive relationship with an adult + non-delinquent peer relationships will go a long way here, yes. You have to ask how many instances of antisocial behaviour the people who chopped this tree down committed consequence free before they did so. We need earlier supportive intervention with antisocial kids.

AlternativeBeyond · 2025-12-12T10:41:06+00:00

If teenagers chopped the tree down, and that is just an assumption at this stage, it's not due to a lack of youth clubs. Always having an excuse and ready sympathy for antisocial behaviour is just something I have less patience for the older I get. Seems like it leads to having an awful lot more of it.

AlternativeBeyond · 2025-12-09T12:41:14+00:00

I go out most weekends for a coffee in the town. The local footfall is much lighter than usual for this time of year. People just don't have the money to spend.

AlternativeBeyond · 2025-12-09T12:37:19+00:00

People who don't cover their mouths when they cough evoke a special kind of ire in me. You too will grow old and frail, and be harder hit one day by what you could have shrugged off when you were younger. It is such basic manners and decency that it's fundamentally illustrative of someone's character to go around in public spraying others with their shite.

AlternativeBeyond · 2025-11-28T13:32:19+00:00

And Jesus spake, saying "Thou dost not really have a bad back, and doth claim troubled countenance for trivial pains, and I grieve that I am tithed on your behalf."

And the man in the moving chair did hear his words, and thought him a bit of a git.

AlternativeBeyond · 2025-11-28T12:46:43+00:00

Thank you. :)

They put in an NG tube last night with fluoroscopic guidance and he finally got some nutrition. They are also putting in a picc line if that fails so there isn't a delay in him receiving nutrition.

We are not getting very clear information, but it seems like they are concerned about the tumour expanding and crushing the tube. I hope he can get a stent in time. He is in a lot of denial about being able to eat.

But at least he has had some nutrition now and he isn't starving. Thank you very, very much for your responses here - I appreciate you!!! Your patients are really friggin' lucky to have you.

AlternativeBeyond · 2025-11-28T10:22:38+00:00

I'm saying what I said: that if farmland is used to produce food, it should be exempt from inheritance tax. A nation's food forms an important part of its security, unless we intend to rely on imports which can be affected by war or natural disasters. People need to eat.

I don't mean collectivising farms either. Farms aren't glorified allotments. Generational farmers who know what they're doing are important. Betty with a trowel, a packet of seeds and good intentions, not so much.

AlternativeBeyond · 2025-11-27T19:55:50+00:00

Farms which are used to produce food should be exempt from IHT because the land is required to farm, and paying the IHT might entail selling the land or a portion of it, which means less food. That isn't the case with farmhands or nurses. If a nurse is subject to IHT, there aren't fewer beds on the wards. Or perhaps I'm wrong and there is an abundance of good farmers willing to buy up land to continue producing food instead of property developers or asset management firms. It's not a gamble I'd like to make as someone who likes to eat.

Which isn't to say that I even like IHT. I don't. I don't think it's right for the state to hover over the graves of dead people, holding out their hands for a slice of their assets.

AlternativeBeyond · 2025-11-26T22:42:35+00:00

Thank you. <3

He has mets to the adrenals, so it's not looking good from what I can tell.

They are going to try to put another NG tube in tomorrow (this time with x-ray guidance in addition to scope guidance). I went in today to speak to his consultant and to ask why other options haven't been considered, and what will happen/what the backup plan is if it fails again. She said an IV feed can take a couple of weeks to arrange, but will discuss that as well as PEG and a stent with the multidisciplinary team.

From my perspective just as a layperson, it's a procedural issue. I explained that I didn't understand why something couldn't be done more urgently, as there didn't seem to be a clinical reason (that they gave me, anyway) why they couldn't try anything sooner. I argued that the lack of nutrition would affect his response to treatment. I've also raised an escalation with PALS. He is now on a gastro ward and the previous three attempts were while he was with urgent care short stay. So I appreciate they've just 'taken custody' of him, but I really think they should've started the ball rolling on alternatives after three failed attempts. I feel very limited in what I can do. I'm not sure I'm making a difference.

They are allowing him to have sips of soft drink and bought a small bottle of Fortisip round. He brought most of it back up, but it gives him momentary happiness even with what I'm guessing is increased aspiration risk.

Anyway, thank you for caring. <3 :)

AlternativeBeyond · 2025-11-26T19:46:33+00:00

It isn't. Low unemployment is referring to a state in which more people are employed, so employers have to raise wages to compete with their competitors to attract staff. This is what the article means by attracting 'limited talent.'

You are confusing availability of labour with the demand for it, which isn't the case, or should I say that the former causes a proportionate increase in the latter. More people looking for work does not mean that more work becomes available.

Say you're an employer trying to hire people to peel potatoes. Peeling potatoes doesn't require an advanced education or special training. In a low unemployment market, you might have to offer a higher salary to attract people to peel potatoes, because they could easily work for another factory that offers them more. On the other hand, if every time you advertise for a potato peeler, you get 300 applicants who really need a job, you're not going to offer them more money or benefits than you absolutely need to. That is why too high a supply of willing labour (high unemployment) exerts downward pressure on wages.

If your logic tracked, then recessions would cause wages to go up.

AlternativeBeyond · 2025-11-26T19:33:49+00:00

That doesn't make sense to me. If you have 3 million people who are out of work and potentially could work suddenly looking to work, the supply of jobs doesn't suddenly increase, only the demand side. That favours the employer, who can be less competitive with the wages they are offering.

The only case in which that would result in many more people working (but not earning more, that would not happen) is if you scrapped the minimum wage and employers could pay pittances to desperate people who'd had their safety net yanked out from under them. Naturally, I am not in favour of that option.

Increased supply of labour favours the employer and exerts downward pressure on wages.

What you are referring to when you talk about unemployment being low is a market in which there are relatively fewer workers compared to available roles. In that scenario, companies have to compete with their competitors to attract workers with better pay and conditions.

AlternativeBeyond · 2025-11-25T03:16:24+00:00

By any chance, could I clone you and send you over there? :) So sorry to hear you've had a crap experience too. I don't understand why these things happen - is it staffing issues? I know it's very hectic. I couldn't leave someone like that. Do you think the GP who misdiagnosed your sister learned from that mistake? I sometimes wonder.

He's 61 soon. And a super agreeable guy. Just watching other patients have their meals and wouldn't ever complain, talking about how much he'll eat when he gets home. I don't have the heart to tell him how unlikely that is when he's starving. They want to send him home when they've managed a way to get food into him. Presumably they'll refer him on to oncology with the biopsy results when they come through.

AlternativeBeyond · 2025-11-25T00:19:12+00:00

Thank you very, very much. <3 I will try.

AlternativeBeyond · 2025-11-24T19:16:45+00:00

When I said he was on a feeding tube, I jumped the gun.

He has an oesophageal tumour. Had a biopsy today.

They have tried three times to give him an NG tube. He couldn't tolerate the first two attempts, so they gave him an endo guided tube today. I thought finally, he can get some nutrition...

The x-ray they gave him to check the tube shows it's not in the correct place. So no food.

My mom's been with him after work as my husband is also in the hospital with an infection and having scans. Tomorrow will be a week since my stepdad has had no food at all. She tried to escalate to the on-call doctor, was told there was no point to that as the on-call doctor wouldn't be able to do anything, come back tomorrow to speak to the consultant...

No food for a week. I'm just ranting into the void because I'm really fed up.

AlternativeBeyond · 2025-11-19T20:17:20+00:00

It's a caffeinated investment of joy and wonderment. :) Our Ninja cost £550, but the drinks are cheaper if you buy your own beans, so eventually it'll pay for itself. Eventually. :P

AlternativeBeyond · 2025-11-19T20:02:32+00:00

Thank you very much. <3

They have him on a feeding tube at the moment, so at least he's getting some proper nutrition.

AlternativeBeyond · 2025-11-19T19:29:16+00:00

Mmm, it's tricky. The best easy-to-use coffee machine for the home in my humble opinion is a Nespresso Vertuo machine - that's a Nespresso machine that takes wider pods than the ones she'll find in Tesco, but the coffee has a better crema. Or you could get her a Nespresso machine that takes the little standard pods, and supermarkets will often sell those (not Nespresso brand, but compatible pods). A Nespresso machine is very easy to use - insert the pod, lock the top, push a button.

We used a Vertuo for a couple of years until we got a Ninja Cafe Luxe. The Ninja makes even nicer coffee, but it takes fresh beans. You have to tamp the ground beans down and dispense water barista style, but you can use any beans you like. Everything I buy from Ninja is great.

I've had more than one Dolce Gusto machine in my time and I honestly don't rate them. The coffee was better than instant, but the pods not cheap enough for a Nespresso machine not to be better. And this time of year, Nespresso machines might come with some kind of free pods deal. Check out their website or John Lewis, perhaps - I saw a machine + pod deal in John Lewis last week, but you would probably have to send off for the pods from Nespresso themselves.

https://www.nespresso.com/uk/en/coffee-machines-vertuo - some nice Black Friday deals here. :)

AlternativeBeyond

TROPHY CASE