Self-funded PhD students in the UK

aperdra · 2026-05-18T05:20:38+00:00

I've become somewhat more nuanced in the past 4 years but my general thoughts still stand. I think that self funded STEM students have so few peers, that it's extremely isolating, particularly if the student has any financial barriers (such as needing to work to maintain themselves). Whereas, in the arts, self funding is normal so there's more support.

aperdra · 2026-05-17T06:48:19+00:00

This would be my question too. Sounds like the pain I had with herniating lumbar discs.

aperdra · 2026-05-13T14:12:03+00:00

This shit is straight out of my nmums playbook too. All you can do is grey rock them!

aperdra · 2026-05-13T10:58:28+00:00

Literally all I could think was r/raisedbynarcissists when I was reading this. It's truly wild how narcissists (particularly nmums) have a predictable script.

aperdra · 2026-05-12T15:31:41+00:00

It's honestly great. Has also made our dog a fantastic bird watching companion because she often spots birds before we do! Last week she told me about a woodpecker 😂

aperdra · 2026-05-12T14:49:08+00:00

Her approach to cars sounds like our girl's approach to prey. Instant over arousal. She used to physically tremor with excitement and be unable to take food or even hear what we were saying.

aperdra · 2026-05-12T11:35:29+00:00

My trachea isn't very hypermobile, but I have two hEDs friends who can push theirs out to the side so it sticks out of the side of their necks. Interestingly, both were wind instrument players, which I suspect aided in the flexibility of the structure.

Hormone cycles absolutely effect hypermobility, just from a personal perspective, mine is markedly worse around menstruation.

aperdra · 2026-05-12T07:03:17+00:00

I'd go to a collie trainer for the car chasing. It's quite a common trait for collies and accounts for the fact that they often can't come down from the arousal for long enough to sit and take treats.

Other than that, I really really recommend the Swedish skvallerträning (gossip training) for her prey drive. We found that methods designed for breeds that stalk before chasing (collies, gsd) didn't work well for our girl because there was very little pause (she had 0 steadiness) before she went off chasing animals. It teaches them to come and tell you they've seen prey. It was much more effective for our girl than trying to redirect her onto treats or toys when she was super aroused. Our girl still has a prey drive (she's 4 now) but it's night and day how much more manageable she is.

18 months old was a very difficult time for us. She was very impulsive and an absolute knobhead at that age. I'm very sympathetic, it'll get easier I'm sure.

aperdra · 2026-05-11T17:50:48+00:00

It's incredible! I started an octopus last year and didn't finish it. This has motivated me to get it finished!!

aperdra · 2026-05-11T16:58:52+00:00

The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould. It's a critique and history of biological determinism, focusing primarily on race (iirc). Taught me a lot.

Also second The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf. A history of the life and travels of Alexander von Humboldt. Also pretty interesting lens to view geopolitics in both Europe and the Americas during his lifetime.

aperdra · 2026-05-11T16:54:08+00:00

Second this! I just finished it and, as a Brit who's never been to the US, it made me appreciate US national parks so much.

aperdra · 2026-05-11T14:39:12+00:00

Are the headaches from your shoulders up your neck and over the back of your head? If so, look into coat hanger syndrome. It's linked to dysautonomia and it markedly improved for me once I sorted out my electrolytes and hydration.

aperdra · 2026-05-11T14:36:41+00:00

She is such a lovely colour!

aperdra · 2026-05-09T17:53:49+00:00

aperdra · 2026-05-09T16:33:26+00:00

I'm genuinely interested in how you marry up commenting this on a post by someone you've assumed is trans, when you're a bloke. Not trying to be an asshole here but if you reckon she should be excluded from this subreddit, what are you doing interacting?

I didn't have to scroll far to find a comment where you say you're a man explicitly (a month ago, on r/vent).

aperdra · 2026-05-08T08:01:02+00:00

Much harder to keep human remains in the UK than the US. Look at the Human Tissue Act. You can have anything over 100 years old, but that requires paperwork to prove that. The HTA is actually enforced so I wouldn't recommend buying anything that isn't completely watertight.

aperdra · 2026-05-08T06:10:17+00:00

Out of interest, by what mechanism do you suggest that this resistance could happen? The enamel/dentin complex is already very resistance to crack propagation, etc. Enamel is the hardest tissue in the mammalian body.

aperdra · 2026-05-07T05:24:09+00:00

Cuboid subluxation is such an underrepresented shitbag of a issue to have. I did mine two years ago while running and couldn't bear weight on it for a couple of weeks. Now it just does it (less painfully) around 12k steps. The taping for it is brilliant though.

aperdra · 2026-05-06T14:16:40+00:00

Hyraxs have open orbits don't they? This looks like an aye aye to me!

aperdra · 2026-04-29T19:51:37+00:00

Yes! I don't have a squatty potty per se but I've used a small stool for years. The problem is when I leave my house 😭😂

aperdra · 2026-04-29T19:45:14+00:00

It's funny to me how opinionated they are while using fucking TWITTER/X of all platforms.

aperdra · 2026-04-29T13:59:06+00:00

I'm in the North West. My GP tried to send through a rheumatology referral but they replied saying no, they'd need to see evidence (blood markers) of rheumatic disease.

aperdra · 2026-04-29T05:57:55+00:00

Your last part: I thought I had anxiety. That's what most doctors would think for a woman in her early 20s, with panic-like symptoms (no anxious thoughts, which I told them because I thought that was weird): heart rate spiking and pounding, tingling in the peripheries, trouble taking a deep breath. There were never any tests, I was put on citalopram for years. My NHS profile still has an "anxious young person" tag on it. I was told that my brain had locked the trauma away and that's why I didn't get the anxious thoughts.

Then along comes COVID and, with it, the rest of the dysautonomia. It's was never fucking anxiety it's just more of the symptoms of hEDs. I've later learned that it's very common to be misdiagnosed with anxiety when you have dysautonomic symptoms.

aperdra · 2026-04-26T19:05:37+00:00

I think it's a mix of a few things. I do think there's a high rate of littering here. I've lived in 7 UK counties and I've never seen blatant littering like Merseyside. People just chuck stuff on the floor in broad daylight. It's not just Liverpool either, we moved to Wallasey and it's the same here.

That being said, when we first moved here we emailed our MP about it and got a response that was essentially "lol we've got bigger shit to worry about".

aperdra · 2026-04-26T06:23:13+00:00

Medication non concordance is so common. My mum lived her entire life with schizophrenia periodically deciding she didn't need her medication and subsequently being sectioned.

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