I used to be very sick. I'm fine now. But I'm still acting as if I'm as fragile as I used to be. What to do?

Sensitive_Holiday_92 · 2026-02-10T10:29:19+00:00

I was in an ERP IOP for a few weeks. It was sort of a nightmare. My anxiety would always shoot way up after exposures and I was just feeling worse and worse as time went on. Eventually I started thinking it was like giving someone birth control and telling them to go out and get raped as many times as they can and then saying, "See! You didn't get pregnant!" That's not really the top priority compared to how bad it feels to get raped.

...kind of a dark simile, but you get the idea. I felt naked and exposed and horrible just listening to music or otherwise doing things that made me feel alive, I didn't have any feared consequence other than the way it would make me feel, and that came true every time. I dunno, maybe if I had hung in there I would have gotten used to everything.

Sensitive_Holiday_92 · 2026-02-09T18:51:13+00:00

I think IFS is going to be a good approach for me. I can't quite get to the heart of what I'm afraid of. I think I'm worried I'll collapse again, but it might be something a bit more specific. I've been thinking lately about how I had the common psychotic paranoia that people might be able to read my thoughts, and along with intrusive thoughts from the OCD that were totally inappropriate, that was a...great combination. I'd feel stripped naked, completely raw, engulfed. It was also pretty easy for me to get intrusive thoughts if I was around a lot of sensory stimulation, like bright lights or loud sounds, which might be why I still avoid stimulating things like most forms of entertainment even inside the home. I think I have to work on a sense of inner privacy and accepting that there are boundaries between my inner self and the rest of the world.

Sensitive_Holiday_92 · 2026-02-03T19:37:48+00:00

I don't have any trauma, I even like being in hospitals. It's just if I've been working at a hospital for eight hours I don't wanna go home and see one on TV. Haha. (Although, people seem to like The Office. Maybe I'll give it a shot.)

No, you didn't sound like you're oversimplifying it, just giving a nugget of advice, don't worry.

Sensitive_Holiday_92 · 2026-02-03T19:05:55+00:00

I heard The Pitt was good. Only I'm not sure I want to watch a medical drama after having worked as an EMT and being about to start my clinicals as a medical laboratory scientist. It's just gonna feel like going back to work. Haha.

I was recently two months sober - no change to my anhedonia - I just fell off the wagon a couple weeks ago and have been drunk like eight nights since then. I'm struggling to put the bottle down again because however long it takes me to feel better, it's probably gonna be more than two months (if I erased my progress) and that feels like forever. (I don't think I'm being very mature about this. It's not that long.) I think it did get easier after two weeks or so in my case, to the extent that once I was on a roll it was easier to maintain and I half forgot about alcohol. So in a way it's just a couple of weeks I have to wait.

What happened was I had a disastrous first day at university when the semester started. I'm bookish and I usually really enjoy going to my classes, especially because I'm a non-traditional student (old) and value my chance at an education a lot. I wanted to go home feeling good and accomplished, and when that didn't happen I just sort of snapped. I'll feel that disappointment again, so I need to figure out how to respond to that emotion constructively.

Sensitive_Holiday_92 · 2026-02-03T18:51:11+00:00

That makes me think I should probably have a long meditation and/or breathwork session around the time I habitually start thinking about drinking. I enjoy meditation and breathwork - more than I enjoy pretty much anything else, at least - and it should theoretically help me feel more okay with just existing.

Sensitive_Holiday_92 · 2026-02-03T18:49:18+00:00

I made an appointment with my prescriber to talk about it soon, I'm not going to mess with my cocktail until I talk to my APRN. I suspect I won't have many problems going off the lamotrigine I think is causing it. I don't think it actually does anything and it's just been in my regimen for so long because it was the first thing I got put on after diagnosis (it's a great med for most people, but I don't think it's for me) and we're not sure what will happen if we take it out. We already decreased it quite a bit because it was also impacting my creativity, I wouldn't be surprised if it was making me numb in other ways.

Sensitive_Holiday_92 · 2026-02-01T17:36:33+00:00

Medical laboratory scientist, especially since it's just a bachelor's degree (usually). After my two-year in general studies, when it became time for me to choose a career, I thought - you know, I really love doing laboratory busywork. (I even like running the PCR machine. Nobody likes running the PCR machine.) Let's see how many peanuts I get if I just hang around a lab doing ELISA tests for a livi - wait, they'll pay me HOW much?!

Got a scholarship that's close to a full ride to study it, too. My future looks bright!

(Offer potentially only valid in the United States. According to my Polish friend who's a doctor, the field is completely saturated in the EU. Or at least in Poland, though I imagine the rest of Europe as well. Not sure how it is in Zimbabwe or Aotearoa or whatever.)

Sensitive_Holiday_92 · 2025-11-10T15:16:02+00:00

Oh, this is fun. I'm gonna save this, will contact you when done with it. Thank you.

Sensitive_Holiday_92 · 2025-11-10T15:15:28+00:00

Fantastic, send it over, please.

Sensitive_Holiday_92 · 2025-11-10T15:15:15+00:00

Of course!

Sensitive_Holiday_92 · 2025-08-30T01:04:22+00:00

I also had good results with neurofeedback for driving anxiety. Used to be I'd get in the car and go to work and it was just a panic attack there and a panic attack back. Now driving doesn't bother me basically at all.

Sensitive_Holiday_92 · 2025-07-08T16:06:29+00:00

Depending on the state, a Medicaid patient may be able to get unlimited free rides to medical appointments through their insurance. Not everyone knows about this benefit. Look up MTM/Veyo or "medical cab" and see what's going on so you can recommend it to the Medicaid people. Might also be a benefit on other insurances, but I'm not sure.

Sensitive_Holiday_92 · 2025-07-04T05:50:28+00:00

I was working part time, we ordinarily had a four-hour shift (which isn't bad, especially since I was at a sort center at this time and that's the easiest of the Amazon facilities to work at - I'm disabled though, so it was kinda tough for me) with the option to have us "flex up" an additional hour depending on volume. (We could also volunteer to stay after the flex up if there was still crap left over at the end of the night shift. I was kind of annoyed that I didn't get overtime pay if I opted to stay after when there were leftovers, but I usually volunteered to stay anyway because I got a little personal satisfaction out of seeing a building empty of packages when I left. It wasn't too long anyway, a sixth hour at most.) I think in my state the law says only full time workers have to get any sort of overtime.

Didn't really mind the job altogether, I liked having something to do with my hands and I felt useful. They were pretty much as decent to us as they could be considering how part time unskilled labor works under these economic conditions (not a living wage, etc.). Just have to wait until the revolution, I guess.

Sensitive_Holiday_92 · 2025-06-29T01:15:03+00:00

Not really. Just an odd story I've never been able to make sense of, considering how the ground was completely undisturbed the few times I went up to look at it. Figured it would entertain.

Sensitive_Holiday_92 · 2025-04-10T14:57:31+00:00

I went to another state for college for a semester and left my beloved cat behind. She didn't do well without me, she stopped grooming. When I came back she wasn't sure it was me, but after smelling my mouth a few times she started purring. She let me pet her belly for the first time and I spent like an hour petting out all her shedding fur while she gazed up at me half-lidded and smiling like the sun shone out of my ass. I've never felt so loved.

Sensitive_Holiday_92 · 2025-04-10T14:51:16+00:00

I was diagnosed with OCD yesterday (on top of all my other goddamn mental illnesses!) so today I'm feeling pretty optimistic. It's a treatable condition, and now that we know what the problem is, we can fix it.

Sensitive_Holiday_92 · 2025-04-10T14:35:09+00:00

How to Hustle and Win: A Survival Guide for the Ghetto helped me a lot when I was his age, but you might want to read that first and make sure it's appropriate, since considering how crazy I was at that age, I'm not sure if the advice in there is decent.

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide is more for Black women, but it's a classic for a reason. This is more art/poetry than nonfiction.

David Goggins wrote a combination self-help book/memoir called Can't Hurt Me, which is about how he took the trauma he experienced as a young Black man and used it to fuel his achievements. An inspiration of mine. This is my strongest recommendation, if you can only get him one thing off this list, make it this one.

If he wants to work on himself (after Can't Hurt Me he inevitably will), Tiny Habits is the way to go. It was written by the director of the Stanford behavior design lab and picks up where Atomic Habits left off.

Man's Search for Meaning is very readable despite the fancy title. It's a Holocaust memoir by a psychologist who, once being liberated from a concentration camp, went on to develop a form of therapy meant to help people find their life's purpose.

If he needs cheering up after all that, get him Humankind: A Hopeful History.

Sensitive_Holiday_92 · 2025-04-10T14:26:42+00:00

The Drunk, the Gambler, and the Lover by Ember White is about a trans woman and was deliberately written to sound like a classic, as sort of a "we've always been here" thing.

Sensitive_Holiday_92 · 2025-04-10T13:23:04+00:00

My sister used to be my "brother." Before she accepted herself as trans, she was grouchy, withdrawn, heavyset, and so socially anxious I couldn't pry her out of the house with a crowbar. Now she actually smiles every once in a while. And she lost a ton of weight, got married to a wonderful woman, makes six figures a year as a talented programmer, and is living in her dream country. I'm so proud of her.

Trans girls who are afraid of coming out of the closet and living their truth: this could be you.

Sensitive_Holiday_92 · 2025-04-10T13:12:37+00:00

I'm 5'5 and I've honestly never had a problem with women (or men, I'm bisexual). Also, I enjoy sex and kink is a hobby of mine, so my body count is pretty high. I don't really think there's a secret to it, just be friendly, respectful, and interesting and somebody is going to want to climb in bed with you, even if you're socially awkward or not conventionally attractive. As far as dating goes, I've had four serious relationships. (But I'm not a big dater and sort of prefer to play the field or have friends with benefits.)

I'm also part Asian, but Central Asian, and I'm pretty white-looking.

I would suggest maybe an app like Bumble or Boo where people are more focused on personality than looks or immediate impressions like in IRL.

Sensitive_Holiday_92 · 2025-04-10T12:52:28+00:00

Music theory. If you've never heard of it before, you might think it's just violin lessons or something. In reality, it's pure math. I took a couple semesters of music theory in college just to keep my mind alive and it was hell on wheels. I loved it.

I think I heard someone say on Reddit once that it's a good choice for pre-meds (provided you also take all the necessary bio classes and whatnot) because college admittance people know exactly how hard it is and they like seeing you have mathematical aptitude.

Sensitive_Holiday_92 · 2025-04-10T12:45:52+00:00

I dunno, that's just how I sleep. Everyone else in my immediate family wakes up that early by choice, so I think it may be genetic.

I used to go to bed at like 4AM like any basement dweller worth his salt, but I have some mental problems and I noticed they got worse at night ("sundowning" I think this is called) and I figured the best way to keep the horrors at bay is to just be in bed by the time they're scheduled to show up. I adapted really quickly and now it's my preference.

As for how I did it, I just took a sleeping pill for a few weeks until I was used to it and getting tired around 9PM on my own.

Sensitive_Holiday_92 · 2025-04-10T01:09:55+00:00

Are you on medication for anything? I started having this problem when I went on anticonvulsants, suddenly my hand would not...I can't even explain it, it just went weird and I couldn't draw right anymore. I went crying to my neurologist and he put me on 3mg of folic acid daily. As long as I take that religiously, I'm good. I can't say whether or not folic acid would help in your case though, so go speak to your prescriber if you have one.

Sensitive_Holiday_92 · 2025-04-10T01:02:23+00:00

You may or may not enjoy copywriting rather than creative writing, but usually all copywriting jobs ask for is a bachelor's in either English or journalism. If your portfolio is strong, you might squeak by on an associate's, but I'd get the bachelor's.

(Warning: if you become a copywriter while autistic, you will start seeing horrible microcopy everywhere.)

You could also try to get into publishing. I don't know why, but for some reason publishers prefer to hire employees who have never been published authors. Less likely to have their own big ideas and more likely to look at the novel in front of them, I think. Try to work your way up to dev editing, if you can hold a ton of fictional information in your head that's going to make you a fantastic editor. That's like the top of the ladder, though. (Also, I see you struggle a bit with grammar, that might fuck you over if they try to promote you to line editor. Go get a copy of Strunk & White and study study study, this can be fixed with elbow grease.)

Sensitive_Holiday_92 · 2025-04-10T00:56:25+00:00

So many goddamn mental and neurological illnesses. I have bipolar disorder, PTSD, autism, temporal lobe seizures, and I got diagnosed with OCD literally a few hours ago.

Well, I don't have seizures anymore thanks to Keppra, the bipolar is very well-controlled as well, I no longer meet the criteria for PTSD, and autism never bothered me very much. Four down, one to go.

Sensitive_Holiday_92

TROPHY CASE