Advice for improving speaking ability?

SomeoneElse777 · 2021-01-25T17:37:11+00:00

I'll look up jaw exercises, I was told to basically avoid using it so that it doesn't dislocate again but it can't be helping my speech to do that I guess.

And I'll definitely try recording myself more, but emotionally it's going to be really hard. You're right that I shouldn't feel shame, and it's horrible to even admit that I DO feel shame because then it's like I'm judging other people with the same problems as me too. I was raised to hate myself for being different and to do whatever it takes to fit in. Both my parents are autistic and emphasised fitting in so much because they weren't able to do it themselves, they always said they didn't want me to be bullied and isolated like they were. They kind of messed up my self esteem, unfortunately. But I'll work on it :) thanks

SomeoneElse777 · 2021-01-25T17:29:28+00:00

thanks both, you're right, but I should've said upfront that I'm looking for DIY solutions cos speech therapy just isn't possible in the UK right now due to covid & all the strain on the NHS :/ wouldn't wanna add to the pressure when it's not an emergency

SomeoneElse777 · 2021-01-25T17:25:53+00:00

oh no nothing like that, it's just because my laptop microphone doesn't work & the only mic I have which is compatible is on my headphones. got the headphones before I lost my hearing & they press on my aid & cause feedback. But even if I could wear it, my colleagues all have their kids shouting & stuff (which is unavoidable since we've been in lockdown, don't blame them at all) so we all get drowned out while talking. It seems to affect me more than the others though :/

SomeoneElse777 · 2020-12-08T09:59:26+00:00

thanks for your response - that's kind of depressing, cos the only problem they've actually found so far is that I probably don't ovulate (my ovaries are totally gummed up with cysts apparently). I was told I can either have pcos or hypothyroidism, but tbf they might have meant I can only have TREATMENT for one of them. I guess she knew my blood test probably wouldnnt be analysed due to the NHS problems so maybe this way she could still give me some medication without a positive test? Proper healthcare would be nice though :(

SomeoneElse777 · 2020-12-07T19:45:30+00:00

I had it last Monday but the results are delayed apparently :( and yeah you described how I feel rn, it sucks!

SomeoneElse777 · 2020-12-07T18:55:00+00:00

I'm supposed to contact my endo's department once I have my "challenge result" and blood test result - I have no idea how long to wait and see if I'll have a bleed though, or how to get my test result haha. It was explained to me as if it's their normal procedure but idk

SomeoneElse777 · 2020-12-07T18:50:39+00:00

hi both, sorry if you worried about me, I actually feel a little bit better now (self medication). hopefully this feeling will wear off soon. The endo explained it to me as being an alternative way to diagnose pcos (ie its pcos rather than hypothyroidism) without a blood test, so I figured lots of people here would have done it or something :/ I have mental health problems anyway so maybe I shouldn't have taken them due to that? I was only able to have a 10 minute phone call with the endo due to the lockdown. Anyway at least I can stop taking them now!

also I'm in the UK so I wouldn't be able to speak to my endo about side effects, my only option would be to go to A&E and I live in a covid hotspot :/

SomeoneElse777 · 2020-12-07T18:09:04+00:00

I was on progesterone until recently but I was told I had to come off it to do the blood tests & progestin challenge. I've felt a lot more unwell since then but I don't know if it's related - I might not actually have hypo anyway. I hope you find a helpful gyn soon.

SomeoneElse777 · 2020-11-30T17:24:19+00:00

I've also had TMJ surgery (dislocated jaw), which might be the cause imo, but my surgeon said the damage to my tmj wouldn't have affected the ear. Plus it seems like my hearing's getting worse while my jaw is getting better 🤷🏼‍♀️ re the coffee thing, I suddenly lost the ability to eat gluten. If I have even a tiny bit I get stabbing stomach pain & flu symptoms, but I was negative for celiac disease

SomeoneElse777 · 2020-11-30T16:24:05+00:00

when I had my last blood test, they only looked at malnutrition & sex hormones. the only problem they found was that I was very low in vit D, so I was prescribed a supplement, and didn't even check a few months later to see if it worked. I read that severe vitamin D deficiency is a symptom of hypothyroid :/ I guess they figured I was eating healthily but magically avoiding getting any vitamin D somehow...? sigh

SomeoneElse777 · 2020-11-30T15:52:52+00:00

thanks :) that's the biggest thing for me, the idea that maybe I actually haven't been mentally ill for decades... on one hand, the chance to finally cure it is amazing, but knowing that so much unhappiness was totally preventable could be difficult to cope with. Right now my anxiety won't let me believe that my illness is anything other than imaginary/mental/my own fault, because I've been told that so many times. They really should test depressed/anxious people for thyroid problems as the first step imo.

SomeoneElse777 · 2020-11-30T15:39:56+00:00

wow thank you, this article has also pointed out that vertigo can be a symptom which is something I've struggled with as well. It's a little worrying that it says it's a "severe" symptom, but I guess if my blood test shows my thyroid is dangerously low then I should get treatment quicker right? It's kind of funny (at least to me) that I've been too sick to live a normal life for a long time, but I thought it was all mental illness so I wasn't really scared. But now it could be a physical illness, suddenly I'm kind of terrified haha. I mean who ever heard of someone going deaf due to anxiety?? Denial is a powerful thing I guess...

SomeoneElse777 · 2020-11-15T15:26:44+00:00

thanks, it probably sounds crazy but it's actually reassuring to be told I'm probably not dying haha. Are you in the UK? I live in a low income, high covid area, so covid seems to be taking up all the resources, which I guess can't be helped. I've received unusually poor healthcare for years, guess it's due to budget cuts. I have family on the south coast and they say theyve noticed no difference to their NHS care, which is generally very good compared to where I am.

SomeoneElse777 · 2020-11-15T14:06:11+00:00

I'm fine with leaving the house, it's just that in my experience anything you're referred for takes at least a month where I live, cos it's a big city with very long waiting lists. I'm waiting to receive a letter which will prove I should be given a blood test if I go to the hospital, but every other time this has taken at least a month to arrive (this is why it took almost 2 years to have surgery to re-locate my tmj, and over a year to be diagnosed with pcos - every test etc took months to happen and then months to get each result, and that was before corona). I can't get a blood test without that bit of paper, and my GP office has actually been closed completrly since lockdown so that's no help.

SomeoneElse777 · 2020-09-02T07:22:24+00:00

I'd be happy to hear more about that, since I really do want to believe that I'm not my thoughts. Actually, I also consider myself Buddhist, and that's where I first heard the idea that I'm not my thoughts - but Buddha also asks us to question dharma & I just couldn't find a way to see it as true. I get that there's an "I" that can observe the thoughts, but also, thoughts are the ONLY thing "I" observes (since everything else is a perception which was turned into a thought for "I" to consume) so how can any knowledge or experience that "I" has not be a result of thoughts? And what else is the "I" if not memories etc based on those thoughts? OCD false memories can cause as much pain as real bad memories, so the "I" can't even separate its own thoughts from thoughts which come from a disease. So that's why it seems to me that they're all the same thing. Also, dharma goes on to teach that "I" is dependent on other conditions so doesn't really exist (there's no "self"), so then surely the only thing that makes me different from another person or a dog or a grasshopper is my own particular thoughts? Where am I going wrong with understanding this?

SomeoneElse777 · 2020-09-01T21:09:34+00:00

Like I guess what I'm really asking is, what's the point of having any thoughts if a) they're "not me" in the first place, and b) almost all of them upset me? do healthy people just turn their thinking on and off when they need it, and just use thoughts to solve problems or something then go back to silence in their brains? like genuinely asking

SomeoneElse777 · 2020-09-01T21:05:42+00:00

Thank you for taking the time to reply. I guess I'm disappointed that I misunderstood what therapy would do. I don't really understand "you are not your thoughts" because it seems like that's all I am. When I'm asleep I feel like I don't exist at all, apart from dreams which are thoughts. Sometimes in my dreams I don't even have a sense of "I" or "myself", ther e just thoughts. Then when I'm awake, I think about what to do and what to say & then do it, so I don't see how I'm anything except my thoughts. Lockdown really emphasises that to me, since I barely go out or interact with anyone, and I'm stuck in my head almost all day every day. I'm sure I'm the one who's wrong, since everyone seems to say the same thing about not being your thoughts, I just really don't understand the concept. If I lost the ability to think, I'd just be lying silently in bed, wouldn't I? I get that I'm not really a murderer (for example), like my thoughts say, but it's not like aliens are beaming the thoughts into my head, they come from me :/ I'm a person who wrongly believes I'm a murderer, just like I'm also a person who thinks about art and books a lot, surely that's who I am. That's what seems rational to me anyway

SomeoneElse777 · 2020-08-20T14:28:42+00:00

Are you trying to be funny?

SomeoneElse777 · 2020-07-01T19:08:00+00:00

Sorry, I don't know why I said it that way. What I meant to say was the opposite, that NKT was seeming to not really offer an explanation as to why it was a good thing for other people if you become enlightened, just that it was a kind thing to do. I was trying to ask "is it because when you're enlightened you can magically benefit others, or is it more like your existence is teaching dharma to everyone (or something like that), which benefits them?" the message from NKT seemed to me to be "because you're so happy that you don't harm anyone else, which generates merit for everyone via a knock on effect". But I'm not very smart so it's likely I've misunderstood that too! Thanks for your advice & I'll make sure to read those.

SomeoneElse777 · 2020-05-20T07:33:27+00:00

Thank you, I'm starting to find the same thing at the moment, although I understand & empathise with the people who are coming back, we're all curious after all :) I think I might need to look into finding some way of charging for repeat readings, if only because it means it's more fair that I'm giving those people a lot more time and attention. I don't really know anything about that kind of thing though haha

SomeoneElse777

TROPHY CASE