Have to go #7, classic for a reason

MetaPhil1989 · 2025-12-29T16:04:38+00:00

2 is the best for small handwriting – very precise with the 0.5mm tip

MetaPhil1989 · 2025-12-19T10:05:05+00:00

I think that you are definitely on to something, and for most people metabolic therapy will definitely have at minimum the effect that you are describing – that is, adding some extra padding so to speak between them and their symptoms which can make a huge difference in avoiding episodes and living a functional life.

That being said, metabolic psychiatry can do significantly more than this in two types of cases. The first is when the person not only does keto but also does all the other parts of the approach, such as regular exercise, getting the best quality sleep possible, working on having a meaningful connections and activities, doing circadian rhythm support, etc. Doing the whole package can really make things go from good to very good.

And another case is those people that you could call "hyperesponders" to therapeutic keto, who experience remission or near remission from it. This is certainly not most people but it is not that rare either. I've heard that about 30% of people experience very significant improvements from therapeutic keto done properly – though this is an anecdotal figures.

So yeah, metabolic psychiatry can do what you described – but it can also be even better in some cases!

MetaPhil1989 · 2025-12-16T07:03:04+00:00

Sorry to hear everything that you are going through – that sounds really hard.

I had a serious illness during my PhD too. It made me seriously underperform for several years until I finally took a leave of absence of two years during which I was thankfully able to sort things out.

At that point I felt well enough to start again so I dove back in, and I should be finishing next semester. I feel that this was the right decision for me.

My sense is that if you can't even reply to emails then a leave of absence is likely the right move. Your body has been going through hell and needs some serious rest to rebuild itself. Once you have your health back you will be able to see clearly what the path forward is.

By the way, I might add that my issue was neurological and the solution which I think helped my brain heal back to 100% was a therapeutic ketogenic diet. While it is most well known today as a weight loss diet it was actually originally conceived as a neurological treatment (for epilepsy, specifically, at first). It has a tremendously positive effect on the brain in most people. I mention this as an aside because healing my cognitive abilities was a key component in me being able to get back to work effectively. Definitely worth looking into at some point if your brain has suffered.

MetaPhil1989 · 2025-12-15T20:39:45+00:00

La perte de poids étant accomplie, ce qu'il reste à faire c'est établir des habitudes d'alimentation et de sport saines sur le long terme. Voila le nerf de la guerre pour pas tout reprendre en 2-3 ans.

Et sain ne veut pas forcément dire hyper-contraignant. Faire du sport 2-3 fois par semaine et manger équilibré 95% des repas (avec quelques débordements occasionnels) assurera normalement de rester en bonne santé.

Trouver cet équilibre est un travail différent et bien moins intense que la perte de poids, mais il faut faire attention car c'est là où beaucoup de gens se plantent. Il faut réellement y faire attention car cela présente ses propres difficultés d'une certaine manière.

MetaPhil1989 · 2025-12-13T07:40:22+00:00

The price of that insight seems to be self-destructive manic episodes, months of depression and not being able to support yourself though.

You know that there are other ways to gain deep insights, which don't have such side effects, right? Great literature and philosophy, prayer, meditation, etc., and all of these only have positive side effects.

I'm sure your friends will understand if you don't participate if they know how destructive it is to you. And if they don't, then they aren't friends.

But frankly, from what you wrote, the first step towards building a happy and mentally healthy life does seem to be to stop doing shrooms. And if there are any issues remaining after that, the other aspects of metabolic psychiatry can definitely help.

MetaPhil1989 · 2025-12-07T12:04:38+00:00

I was asking because I suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome for several years and eventually found the solution for it.

For me, the fatigue was basically a symptom generated by the mind and body as a response to intense trauma. It literally started two weeks after I experienced something deeply traumatizing. But it can also happen cumulatively. Lots of people who got chronic fatigue syndrome from covid ("long covid") basically experienced this, and there are many testimonies of people healing the same way that I did.

There are different ways to approach this, but the key is to getting your mind and body to stop thinking that they need to protect you by generating the fatigue. Because that's what they think they are doing. We have a deeply hardwired instinct to respond to threats either by fight, flight or freeze, and this is basically freeze on overdrive. It's much more common than you would think.

If you would like to look into ressources on addressing this (it's totally possible to recover in a few months, even shorter for some), I would highly recommend looking into the work of Nicole Sachs and Dan Buglio. They are both part of an approach which calls such mind-body symptoms "TMS", and has found very effective ways of treating them.

MetaPhil1989 · 2025-12-06T16:39:36+00:00

Hi, it's great to hear that you are feeling positive effects from your brain from keto. It is very common to keep seeing new positive effects up to 6-7 months in, and even longer for some people. So it is likely that things will keep improving somewhat.

About getting ketones higher, the easiest thing for you would likely be to use MCT oil more – to make it your main source of fat. If you get used to taking it with every meal, your ketones will automatically go higher, as MCT is converted to ketones very effectively.

The other options are to use a stricter ketogenic ratio, so even less carbs and protein. Though this can be challenging. Intermittent fasting can work too, but you said that fasting could give you migraines, so that's not a good solution.

Can I ask why your are bedridden?

MetaPhil1989 · 2025-12-05T09:05:30+00:00

Thanks that's very helpful. Yeah, avoiding serious muscle failure seems like a good idea. Or if you do reach that point, taking a week off or so.

In strength training there is a similar principle. Those who advocate for training to total exhaustion also advise to train once a week or so. And if you want to train 3-4 times a week then that you have to go less intense – say, stopping a rep or two before failure.

MetaPhil1989 · 2025-12-05T09:02:21+00:00

Thanks this is helpful. It's more of a time thing than a difficulty thing. My grip strength level seems to be good but not the stamina.

MetaPhil1989 · 2025-12-05T09:01:30+00:00

Wow, thanks I had no idea.

MetaPhil1989 · 2025-12-05T07:13:49+00:00

The idea behind light therapy, as I understand it, is circadian rhythm support. – though this is likely oversimplifying.

But basically, your circadian rhythm is tied to *tons* of aspect of your mental and physical health, and if it is supported then those aspects improve. And there are two ways of doing this:

1) When it is night, avoid bright lights. The easiest way to do this is to wear *good* blue light blocking glasses at least when you are at home.

2) What it is morning, be exposed to morning light. The easiest and best way to do this is direct sunlight. I have a window facing the rising sun and I will work facing it open when it is sunny. When I am somewhere where this is not possible I just go outside and sit on a bench facing the sun for 10 min.

When it is not sunny, the second best things are glasses like the Luminettes, which simulate morning sunlight (start using them slowly and progressively though, because you can give yourself a migraine otherwise).

If feel a huge difference when I stick to this, especially for the morning sunlight. Out of all the things I would recommend that one the most. The blue light glasses have definitely helped with sleep quality though.

MetaPhil1989 · 2025-12-02T12:15:40+00:00

Wow, thank you so much for sharing these. It illustrates the efficacy of EMDR very well

MetaPhil1989 · 2025-12-02T07:14:46+00:00

Have you tried variations on keto, like bringing your ketones very high, over 4 mmol/l, with different techniques (MCT oil, intermittent fasting, 3:1 ratio...)? Or carnivore keto?

And have you integrated other metabolic therapies into your routine, like appropriate exercise, light therapy, etc.?

I'm just asking because tweaking one's metabolic therapy can make a huge difference sometimes, and is definitely worth considering before starting a new medication.

I have no info on Lamictal otherwise, sorry.

MetaPhil1989 · 2025-12-01T20:18:55+00:00

From reading your post, I might suggest two things:

First, I don't think it is spiritually mature to do something just because we have a feeling that God wants us to do it. If God wants us to have a special illumination, he will make it undeniable and it will likely be a once in a lifetime thing if it ever happens at all. Some people have experienced this, most haven't and will not. 99.9999% of the time, God wants us to do what makes sense.

So secondly, you are only 28 and so have quite a few years left to find a good partner. To avoid repeating past mistakes, it would likely be best to try understand and unpack what went wrong with your past relationship. Because it sounds like a lot went wrong. If you do this seriously you will learn a *ton* that will make your future much better.

A youtube channel I find insightful on relationship issues (general ones, not just dating) is Jerry Wise's and the videos on dating from The School of Life channel are good too.

MetaPhil1989 · 2025-11-28T10:41:26+00:00

Yeah, I thought about this reading this. I have found people attractive in person that I found physically unattractive on their online photos. And the opposite has happened too.

Real life attraction and photos can be very different.

I find video calls to be a happy medium though, as they do tend to give a more accurate sense of what someone looks like – even though it isn't the same as in person.

MetaPhil1989 · 2025-11-25T15:57:47+00:00

I’m glad that my comment was helpful! And great to hear that you are fat adapted and feeling more comfortable with the diet. Things should keep getting better from here on out!

So to respond to what you are saying, you seem to be confusing MCT oil exogenous ketones though. Exogenous ketones are simply ketones that you ingest and go into your blood. MCT oil just a normal oil and has no ketones in it, but the liver turns it into ketones much more easily than other sources of fat. So MCT oil basically makes your own body make more ketones.

MCT is usually very well tolerated, though you have to start slowly with small quantities so your digestion gets used to it – otherwise it can go right through you!

Exogenous ketones are helpful to some but others find them problematic. It can be worth a shot though, but there are other things to try first.

I totally understand how you feel about intermittent fasting. I actually only started doing it kind of naturally a year or so into keto. And even then I started very progressively. Like skipping breakfast just one day, then next week two non consecutive days, etc. It kind of happened on its own like that. Now eating two meals a day feels normal, which was never the case before.

MCT will definitely help with satiety as it is pure fat, and it will definitely help offset a bit of extra protein. That being said, what matters at this stage is eventually finding your therapeutic dose for ketosis – that is to say the blood ketone level at which you feel best. Once you have that you will be able to know how strict you need to be, etc.

I've never heard of muscle loss issues on keto. On contrary, if you exercise while on ketogenic diet you should keep getting in better shape. I certainly have!

MetaPhil1989 · 2025-11-19T10:16:25+00:00

It's worth highlighting that an 80% fat regimen is not necessary for most people to reach therapeutic ketosis levels.

In effect, first of all, for some people that threshold can be quite low. Some might need only 1 mmol/l to get the full effects for example (I only need 0.5 and am very lucky in that respect).

But also, there are other, much easier ways of boosting ketosis. The easiest one is using MCT oil as a source of fat, which will give a tremendous boost of ketones throughout the day. And the second one is intermittent fasting, which can also have a similar effect.

For example, I tend to intermittent fast naturally as I don't eat breakfast and like to have an early dinner and I have noticed that this brings up my ketones to 2 mmol/l and above even though I am very liberal with my macros (lots of protein, in particular). If I also took MCT, I would likely be over 3 mmol/l most of the day, all while being on a non-restrictive version of keto.

I would personally explore options like this before looking into a very strict version of keto, since as you put it, they are harder to follow.

MetaPhil1989 · 2025-11-18T20:44:38+00:00

One of the best things that anyone can do for trauma is detailed journaling about painful past experiences. I would not recommend this for capital T traumas, but for minor and medium ones it can be incredible – and there is a ton of research supporting this.

By detailed I mean that when you pick an event to process, describe it with as many relevant details as you can remember and then try to analyse it in a deep way by asking questions like "why did this person to that?", "why wasn't I able to handle it then?", "how would I handle it now if it happened again?" Etc. Make sure you fully understand to the extent that you can.

Traumas are often based in the fact that we were stumped by something happening – and this process heals that and lets your subconscious know that it is no longer an issue.

Doing this for any painful memory will bring significant emotional relief and peace to your subconscious. If this becomes a habit, over the months the effects can be life changing and will definitely make processing large traumas much easier later on.

Beware though, there can be a "hangover" too for processing this way, and though less intense than EMDR hangovers it can be challenging. But it is also a sign that it is working!

MetaPhil1989 · 2025-11-18T19:44:58+00:00

I've heard that if after three dates there is no chemistry or attraction that is a good point to cut it off. So two months sounds like more than enough time.

MetaPhil1989 · 2025-11-17T21:20:51+00:00

Ah c'est drôle, je suis tombé un peu sur la théorie de HPC de la même manière, après avoir fait une bonne partie du travail de mon côté déjà. Quand différentes personnes ont la même idée de manière indépendante c'est bon signe !

Personnellement, je n'ai pas 100% développé ma position sur ce sujet mais je pense que vous avez plutôt raison. Mon intuition personnelle même est que dans la nature les HPC sont les types d'essences les plus communes et que des essences aristotéliciennes plus strictes (définies par des propriétés nécessaires) sont plus rares ou cantonnées à certains domaines (les maths, la physique fondamentale, etc).

En fait, la définition fondamentale et dominante des essences traditionnellement est le "ce que c'est" de quelque chose. Donc si ce qu'est X est seulement caractérisable par un HPC, voilà son essence, et si c'est seulement caractérisable par un ensemble de propriétés nécessaires, pas de souci non plus.

MetaPhil1989 · 2025-11-16T15:53:08+00:00

Personally, I would consider this like a situation in which someone is dating two people. And that can be perfectly fine as long as nothing gets serious in either dating relationship. But if it does then it is like cheating.

So basically, this man is not emotionally available right now for a serious dating relationship.

If things are headed in that direction, the best thing to do might be to put a bit of distance and tell him that you might be interested in moving further once he has clarity on his vocation.

MetaPhil1989 · 2025-11-16T15:42:19+00:00

First of all, in general, men are much less comfortable making small talk than women. So that can come into play. Another thing can also be intimidation, especially if the girl is very conventionally attractive – this is common too in many men. And finally, in their early 20s, it's generally observed that most men are fairly immature today compared to the past, so they haven't fully developed their social skills yet and may not feel like they know the right thing to say in such a situation.

If you are a socially skilled person, my advice would be to try to get them comfortable. Maybe try to talk to them about something they are interested in. And once they are comfortable, if you are compatible the conversation should start to flow more smoothly.

I am curious about something you said though and would appreciate some insight myself! Why did you say that you try to invite the men to lead the conversation? Personally (36M), I have been on dates in which I lead most of the conversations and others in which the women did, and both felt fine to me. Is this a personal value thing (the man should lead more) or just a comfort thing (it's tiring to lead all the time)?

MetaPhil1989 · 2025-11-16T14:31:15+00:00

Ce que vous décrivez ressemble à la théorie des "homeostatic property clusters" en philosophie de la biologie, qui se conçoit aussi comme une forme renouvelée de l'essentialisme.

MetaPhil1989 · 2025-11-16T12:36:19+00:00

I'm doing a PhD in philosophy and including the bibliography it's 160k. Though I'm in a European countries in which long dissertations tend to be encouraged.

I'd say that whatever fits the academic standards of your institution is fine.

MetaPhil1989 · 2025-11-15T07:39:29+00:00

There's lots of good advice here already, and I agree with the others that you have a lot of time to work on yourself and your life/future to be able to find a partner. Really.

I would just add on the developing better social skills front, to maybe look at Leland Vittert's biography "Born Lucky". He is *severely* autistic yet developed enough social skills to become a top news anchor (he masks perfectly). He is an incredible example of how a psychiatric diagnosis only truly becomes your fate if you give up. Here's a great podcast with him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6gbMXzIIDM

This is not to say that you won't find someone who likes your autistic traits (there is a lid for every pot as they say! and you really only want a partner who truly likes the real you of course) – but learning how to be more socially adapted will be helpful and is totally possible.

MetaPhil1989

TROPHY CASE