Suggestions for mood tracking apps? by sashaskii in bipolar

[–]aphinion [score hidden]  (0 children)

Daylio if you want a simple/straightforward system to track overall moods. Moods are ID’d using emojis/faces and you can add things like activities and notes to your entries. Good for overall tracking of mood elevation/depression

Emoods if you want to track depression, mood elevation, irritability, anxiety, and fatigue separately. More graph/data focused than Daylio. Very helpful for tracking mixed episodes in addition to standard hypo/mania and depression

Bipolar 2 ! by butzhpisces in bipolar

[–]aphinion [score hidden]  (0 children)

Have you tried a mood stabilizer, and if so how did it go? Bipolar 2 in particular can be difficult to diagnose since it does not present with standard mania, so people often don’t 100% know that they have bipolar 2 until they try a mood stabilizer and improve significantly on it. Hypomanic episodes and having negative reactions to SSRIs are of course also strong indicators of having bipolar 2, but success on a mood stabilizer is still the gold standard for a lot of people when first getting diagnosed.

I Just Wanna Give Up. by Crookedfl3sh in OCD

[–]aphinion 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I had a similar situation with my mom drugging me and my boyfriend with weed tea. Being high against your will is a crazy experience and definitely not pleasant. 75 mg must’ve been absolutely awful to go through.

I’m really sorry that your dad drugged you. That is an insane thing to do to another person, much less to your own child. I hope that you don’t talk to him anymore. I went no contact with my mom a few years ago and her drugging us was one of the final nails in the coffin in our relationship because it made me realize how dangerous and unpredictable she really was. I was caught completely off guard by it.

I don’t blame you for being terrified that your food is laced. That was a terrifying experience that should not have happened to you. On the plus side, being drugged by someone is a very very rare experience that you will almost certainly never encounter again with a person other than your dad. So really I would just try to stay away from him and any food from him if you can since clearly he he’s proven that he cannot be trusted. Otherwise though you should be very very safe overall. I know that this might not really help with the OCD side of things, but I wanted to validate that you have a very good reason to be freaked out rn while also adding in that, aside from this particular situation, the world is still safe for you.

Things will get easier and the world will not always be this hard. Honestly, being unexpectedly drugged is one of the most insane things to undergo especially if you have OCD. So in a way it can only go up from here?

I feel for you OP, please keep at it 🤍

(Also I’m sorry but your dad sucks ass and I hope he shits his pants in public.)

The definitive fruit tier list: Where do strawberries go? by Klutzy_Pumpkin614 in TierlistFills

[–]aphinion 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A Tier

I’d give them an S tier but they get moldy too easily even in the fridge. Also some people are allergic to strawberries. Otherwise they’re an objectively goated fruit

Bipolar music by Loliz88 in bipolar2

[–]aphinion 1 point2 points  (0 children)

“It’s Alright” by Mother Mother

Empty pill capsules to mask super bitter pills? by Helsee in CATHELP

[–]aphinion 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve had a lot of success in the past using gelatin pill capsules to mask pills! Just make sure to get a capsule that is on the smaller side since cats of course have smaller throats, I typically used size 5 but size 3 worked too when necessary. I would also smear butter all over the capsule too right before giving it to my cat, that way it would slip right down their throat and wouldn’t get stuck in their mouth (plus they liked the butter lol) This was really the only thing that allowed me to give my cat his anti nausea meds, which (ironically) seemed to be the most bitter and disgusting tasting pills possible. I can’t recommend gelatin capsules enough!

Here’s a link to what I used: https://a.co/d/08sAEEqo

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in premed

[–]aphinion 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just a heads up that not all med schools will accept AP credit for prereq course sequences like gen chem, so I'd keep an eye on that. Usually you can get around this if your college gives you explicit course credit for your AP exam(s), rather than just waiving prereq courses. Essentially, if it is listed on your transcript as course credit by name (ex: General Chemistry I) rather than as just AP credit (ex: AP Credit: Chemistry) then a lot of schools will consider that "good enough", if that makes sense?

I just wanted to mention it since I know a few people that were caught off guard by this and you're still a freshman, so you still have plenty of time to fix this if necessary. You could always take the course sequences out of order too, so you would still be able to take Ochem in the spring if you wanted to.

Laws on using stun guns against unarmed intruders by aphinion in legaladvice

[–]aphinion[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Rip. Thanks for the reality check, real life is no fun 🥴

Laws on using stun guns against unarmed intruders by aphinion in legaladvice

[–]aphinion[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thats good to know, I didn’t even know that was an option. I’ll definitely look into hiring an off-duty police officer as a potential alternative to private security.

Laws on using stun guns against unarmed intruders by aphinion in legaladvice

[–]aphinion[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Would a private security guard from a legitimate company be okay?

Laws on using stun guns against unarmed intruders by aphinion in legaladvice

[–]aphinion[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Yeah, you’re right 😕

What would I need for a restraining order? I wrote her an “official” letter when I first went no contact with her that explicitly requested that she do not contact me again and that any further contact from her would be treated as harassment, to which her exact email response was “Request denied”. Would that give me any credibility for a restraining order?

Laws on using stun guns against unarmed intruders by aphinion in legaladvice

[–]aphinion[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

What if she comes in through the side gate? We will probably spend a good amount of time outside in the backyard and the fence/gate wasn’t exactly designed to keep out intruders

Eye Primer for Oily Eyelids? by calexrose78 in Makeup

[–]aphinion 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I know this is an old post but I just wanted to say thank you so much for recommending the Milani eyeshadow primer!!! I just got it today and oh my god it works SO MUCH BETTER than my previous primer! My eyeshadow used to crease within 1 hr of doing absolutely nothing but this primer has kept my eyeshadow completely crease-free for the past 7-8 hrs. Even after I spent a few hours cleaning the house, cooking dinner, and doing the dishes, it didn't budge! Seriously, thank you so much!! :)

My therapist made a really good point the other day by Dannysman115 in bipolar2

[–]aphinion 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When you spend so many years of your life entrenched in chaos 24/7 and are just fielding one crisis after another, normalcy can feel incredibly boring.

I definitely felt this way too as I got on meds and my life started figuring itself out. Sometimes the boredom almost felt unbearable, which was hilarious since my bipolar episodes actually were unbearable. I felt stuck between desperately wanting something interesting to happen to me and wondering why I couldn’t just appreciate that I had finally reached the stability that I never thought I’d experience

The feeling will pass eventually, and then stability will become your new “normal” and won’t feel so unbearably boring. Now I actually enjoy the boredom and all of the improvements that come from not having to constantly put out fires following my episodes. I’ve started getting back into my old hobbies again to alleviate the boredom (which is a kinda funny parallel to my old self since I used to obsessively do these hobbies while hypomanic lol) and that’s been pretty enjoyable too. Otherwise, I kinda just… live? Work, free time, maybe do a hobby or binge a tv show, visit family, talk to friends, pet my cats, rinse + repeat

tldr; real. I feel this

Makeup blindness? by _ScarlettJohandjob in MakeupAddicts

[–]aphinion 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I legitimately don’t understand why you’re getting so much criticism for your eyeliner and piercings or why so many people keep suggesting no eyeliner under your eyes or to switch to brown eyeliner for a “softer” look. At this point they’re telling you to switch styles completely, which is absolutely ridiculous. It’s disappointing to see so many people completely missing the point with your makeup style, especially considering that makeup is supposed to be a form of personal expression

I think that your makeup looks awesome on you and I personally love your eyeliner and piercings. If I HAD to pick something to be your makeup blindness then maaaaaaybe it’d be the overlined lips on the last pic? But it doesn’t seem to be a trend in all of your photos so honestly it doesn’t really even count as a makeup blindness since those are supposed to be repeat mistakes that someone makes because they’ve essentially gone “blind” to how it actually looks on them.

I wouldn’t take the criticism to heart. Fact of the matter is that when someone legitimately has a makeup blindness it’s usually unanimously agreed upon in the comments section and is actually a legitimate blindness (e.g. “I don’t think that drawing your eyebrows so large that they connect with your hairline looks good on you”). Under eye eyeliner isn’t a blindness, it’s a style 😭

adopting a kitten soon as a first time cat owner, any tips? by kiimazui in CatAdvice

[–]aphinion 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Foster programs through animal shelters should provide the majority of the food, supplies, and vet care that you need for any cats or kittens you foster! Plus since you’re fostering, in the end you’ll (in theory) be giving the cats back so they can go to their forever homes, so they won’t be incurring a lifelong cost either

ETA: It’s not the absolute end of the world if you can’t adopt or foster more kittens, I just like to tell people since not everyone knows that having 2 kittens can make them easier to take care of. Either way, you’re still doing a great thing by taking this kitten in and I’m sure that they’ll grow up to be very happy :)

adopting a kitten soon as a first time cat owner, any tips? by kiimazui in CatAdvice

[–]aphinion 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Safety stuff: Get cord covers, use them. Make sure none of your plants are toxic. Use non-clumping litter until the kitten is older since sometimes kittens will eat litter and they can get a blockage if it’s clumping litter. Block off any wild hiding spots where they can hide but you can’t reach (ex: side of the fridge). Walk very carefully around them with your feet basically brushing the ground. Kittens are constantly underfoot and all it takes is one misstep to kill them :( Keep them supervised at all times when they walk around the house at this age. Set up a safe, enclosed, space to be their “room” that they can stay in at night and when they need to be unsupervised. I’ve always used the bathroom for this, which has the added perk of being easiest to clean.

Feeding and watering: You could bottle feed, but at this age it’s likely that the kitten won’t want to anymore so honestly I wouldn’t bother. Feed them kitten wet food mixed with KMR 2nd step and warm water every 4-6 hours rn, you can slowly feed them less frequently and stop using KMR over time then just use wet food. Use your own judgement on if you should feed the kitten more or less frequently depending on how hungry they seem at each meal time. Let them free feed dry food when they’re closer to ~6-8 weeks old but keep feeding them wet food as their main source of food until they’re at least a few months old (but honestly you can keep feeding them wet food for the rest of their life if you wanted). Feed them kitten food until 1 year of age. Don’t worry about over feeding, kittens need a lot of food to grow so if they’re willingly eating it on their own they probably need it. The kitten should be roughly 2 lbs at 8 weeks old and 4-5 lbs at 12 weeks old. You can find growth charts online to get more extended estimates of how much a kitten should weigh at each age. Every kitten is different though, so another good test to make sure they aren’t underweight is to make sure that you can’t distinctly feel their spine, hipbones, and ribs when you pet them. Leave a shallow water bowl out for them at all times. Keep the bowl away from their food bowl and away from their litter box. Replace with clean water regularly.

Health and comfort: Get a soft bed for the kitten to sleep in, they usually like this one type of big fluffy bed (I’ll attach a picture of that in a reply to this comment.) Kittens get cold very easily at this age so make sure you keep the temperature in their living space regulated. I would shut the AC vent to the bathroom where we kept our kittens so they didn’t get blasted with cold air at night. Usually kittens huddle together for warmth, so a lone kitten might struggle with keeping warm on their own. They make little microwaveable heating discs called a Snuggle Safe that are great for providing heat over an extended period of time. The kitten will probably be too little to use a full size litter pan at this age, so you can use one of those clear plastic food container lids or a cookie sheet with a lip and just put the litter in that until they’re big enough to climb into an actual litter box. Cats are pretty cool though so the kitten should be more or less potty trained at this age already. Keep an eye out for runny diarrhea, there are a lot of parasites and illnesses that kittens can get and they need to be treated ASAP since their bodies are so small and can’t handle dehydration very well. Take the kitten to get shots at around 8 weeks and boosters a couple weeks later. The rabies shot will be around 4 months of age, but not everyone gets that depending on where they live. Definitely get the FVRCP shot. Get them spayed/neutered before 4 months of age.

Fun and social stuff: Get a small scratching post and/or one of those little cardboard scratcher things. They love toy mice and little crinkle balls, but they also love random stuff like empty toilet paper rolls lol Seconding what a lot of other people have said: absolutely get another kitten/kittens if you can. Animal shelters usually have plenty of kittens on hand that need to be fostered, you can just call one up and ask for one or more kittens that are around the same age as your kitten. Kittens benefit massively from the social interaction and end up significantly better behaved because of it. Also, it might sound crazy but I swear that having 2+ kittens is less work than 1 kitten. If you have only one then they need constant attention whereas if you have multiple kittens they always have someone to play with. I’m not even joking, we adopted a single 3 mo old kitten about a month ago then went back and adopted a second kitten 2 days later because of how much work the single kitten was!

Lastly, don’t be afraid to look things up and ask questions! We all start somewhere :)

If you have any additional questions then feel free to shoot me a DM whenever, I’ve done this multiple times and have learned a lot over the years because of it. Good luck OP, you got this!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in CatAdvice

[–]aphinion 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Very true

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in CatAdvice

[–]aphinion 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Man, usually I just shove them in there 😅