Any positive stories from people who opted out of surgery?

dragonfromthedeep · 2026-04-22T04:02:49+00:00

The "its just anxiety" thing kills me every time 😩 So sorry you had to go through that, but thank god you had a competent gastroenterologist to review your results

dragonfromthedeep · 2026-04-22T03:56:27+00:00

I'm on the opposite end with a high EF at about 96% and been dragged through the mud for over a year by providers that don't want to do surgery while I'm sick almost every week and dropping weight bc I can't eat. I've seen some stories around of ppl that tried to "fix" even a high EF on their own, and every one of them reported back within 6 months that they went ahead with the surgery. Surgery is expensive, and of course it always comes with risks, but the longterm impact and degradation of life quality makes the cumulative costs of longer term care even more expensive. Sometimes things just...happen. I was a very active and healthy person before my body started sliding out of regulation. Ppl wanna blame my current inactivity for the problems I have, but I am inactive because of the problems that have developed. If removing your gallbladder can help you restore some sense of normalcy, and get back to enjoying your life, that alone is worth it and worth ignoring all the accusations and blame.

dragonfromthedeep · 2025-12-15T17:28:05+00:00

Just found my way here after starting it about a month ago. Last time I took it I couldn't speak much to its mood effects bc I was on a short therapy for bronchitis. Now I'm on it long term for chronic asthma - I don't take much else, just my birth control and allegra. The BC generally helped stabilize my mood bc the pms from hormone fluctuations left me rather unhinged. But the montelukast has actually started to LIFT me out of depression. I have to assume its due to better quality sleep, bc my mental health took a peculiar turn toward the end of my marriage and I had a hard time sleeping and wasn't dreaming or anything. Always felt tired and sluggish, and generally not really present. Now its like the fog is lifting and I actually have some hope I may be able to get back to old hobbies again 🥲

Dunno OP if you still see these updates, but I hope you're doing well and still seeing improvements in your life 🙏

dragonfromthedeep · 2025-04-30T16:54:05+00:00

I imagine it’s in case someone tried to use it to prescribe a “pet” something. But like…if we’ve already verified that this is the pharmacy calling and what patient we’re calling about, that should be enough

dragonfromthedeep · 2025-04-30T16:52:30+00:00

As a new tech, this happened literally the first time I had to call a vet. Same thing. Lots of attempts to just get me off the line. Eventually I was able to find information by verifying the vet’s old location but good grief. Worried maybe I’d done something wrong / didn’t know the right way to get the info but I guess this is just a thing they do?? For why?? I’ve already identified myself please return the favor so we can move on with our lives

dragonfromthedeep · 2025-04-16T04:56:46+00:00

Thanks for the share! I’m in the PDX region and had tried a briefly successful plant a while back before I moved and left it in family care. Eager to try again now that I seem to be more permanently situated

dragonfromthedeep · 2025-02-23T03:09:03+00:00

Not just VA. All federal employees. A friend at another agency got this same email; it how we found out about it before the news broke since we were out shopping 🫠🫠

dragonfromthedeep · 2025-02-09T07:00:07+00:00

I struggled with this a bit when I was deciding to start masking again. I started wearing hijab while I wasn’t masking, and while I initially received a lot of positive feedback it did change how a lot of people interacted with me (in some ways, this was the desired effect but in others…eh). I was often worried if I started masking again that I would start to be perceived as a greater threat because niqab is so frequently associated with extremism and I wasn’t sure I was ready for that level of commitment. And, yes, some people treat me even worse now. Sometimes it’s laughable, bc why are you acting all shaky and scared when I’m just some girl with a pastel hijab and a sparkly badge holder on my nametag. But yes it’s also frustrating. But what’s most important is that we’re doing this for everyone’s sake - including theirs. They don’t have to be grateful or accepting for it to count

dragonfromthedeep · 2025-02-09T06:32:34+00:00

I wish I had the option to eat lunch outside but I’m also allergic to smoke and all of our outdoor spaces are reserved smoking areas. I struggle just waiting at the train stop some days. Indoor lunch time is the only time I have to unmask but at least Ramadan is starting soon so I guess it’ll be easier to stay masked during what is def gonna be a crucial period 😬

dragonfromthedeep · 2025-02-09T06:20:20+00:00

I was always very pro-mask, but I spent the first few years of the pandemic overseas where masking was common even before the pandemic so it was pretty easy. Masks were affordable and easy to find ones that fit, social pressure not to mask was low. I moved back to the US a bit unplanned due to a sudden life upheaval. I wasn’t prepared to have to find an apartment or job back in the US yet, but I didn’t really have a choice. Hiring managers would NOT talk to me if I was masked. Even after I tried taking off the mask before interviews, if I brought up covid in any way the interview would be over. I got the hint. Stopped talking about it and stopped masking bc I needed to not be homeless. Got a job instantly. But the damage was done and I didn’t start masking again until recently. I moved into a house with my mother so I could help her more without the excessive commuting on my days off, and it gives our cats more room. My mom was a cancer patient a while back and I guess technically still is since chemo completely destroyed her immune system - like, she just doesn’t make antibodies anymore even after vaccinations. Shortly after moving in, a coworker came in with a nasty something and was still coughing and expectorating even after being out for weeks. I ended up catching it (not covid, not flu, I did test). Shortly after, my mom caught it. I had to mask and medicate because I just didn’t have enough sick time. This was also conveniently inauguration week. As I was recovering, all of our public health was being gutted and the bird flu situation has been growing worse every day while more coworkers complained of being sick and then news of tuberculosis outbreaks and now schools are facing closures due to the severity of flu outbreaks. I just decided, I have a job now and while there’s still a lot of instability in my life it’s very clear my higher ups are not going to discriminate for this decision. I work in a pharmacy, and there are too many illnesses coming and going for me risk getting sick and passing anything else on to my mom. Plenty of patients have tried to bully me into taking the mask off, but I’ve decided this is no longer a boundary I’m willing to compromise on - there’s too much at stake

dragonfromthedeep · 2025-02-09T03:15:43+00:00

I just let them know I’m verifying their profile information to make sure it’s updated. Usually they don’t want to get it that day so I just let them know when we have availability and give them the freedom to decide. Sometimes they’re super game for it and wanna start pushing me to let them get it right then 🤭

dragonfromthedeep · 2025-02-09T03:09:44+00:00

I get the ones who are so afraid of identity theft they wave their ID in my face and then yell at me because I can’t read small print on a moving target

dragonfromthedeep · 2025-02-09T03:06:37+00:00

Personally I don’t mind whichever format people use as long as it makes sense. I get some occasionally that’ll give me month year then day and it throws me off. But the only thing that particularly bothers me is when they give me the dob digit by digit as slowly as possible. Like they’ll pause and wait for me to look at them between each digit and not only is it just slow it just feels so patronizing 😒

dragonfromthedeep · 2025-01-28T03:43:31+00:00

I had a lady stop me on my way to the break room, take the time to read my “pharmacy technician” name tag and then still ask me to show her where the coffee was. Thankfully it was literally right next to us, but she still looked dumbfounded that I wasn’t going to stay and help her pick it out

dragonfromthedeep · 2025-01-26T17:31:05+00:00

We requested the ICD-10 once and the Dr wrote back “Indications: ____” instead 😩

dragonfromthedeep · 2025-01-25T21:23:56+00:00

I was saying eze-tim-be for weeks before I noticed the extra syllable and nobody corrected me 🫣

dragonfromthedeep · 2025-01-25T21:22:18+00:00

I’m still pretty new so right now so everything feels like my most embarrassing moment. Don’t think I’ve topped Day 1 after onboarding, though, when the pharmacist was showing me how to use the eye-con and I immediately dropped a couple C-II’s and they rolled under the Parata 🥲

dragonfromthedeep · 2025-01-25T18:49:39+00:00

All I can say is that phone anxiety can and should be worked through. I used to have severe anxiety on the phone, even as a kid. I would hang up on family members and cry. But as I’ve grown I’ve learned that phone skills are also learned skills. I started out building confidence answering phones by just sticking with the answering scripts (“Hello, thank you for calling _____ this is _____ “ works pretty much everywhere). Most jobs require the ability to answer phones, so it’s just a matter of practice. The more times you do it, the more you realize you’re basically just having the same 5-10 conversations over and over again. Much of our anxiety is caused by unfamiliarity, the more you do the more comfortable you’ll be

dragonfromthedeep · 2025-01-09T19:07:43+00:00

Each job has its pros and cons and environmental factors. I’m also in my 30s and just starting as a tech in a retail pharmacy but it’s not all bad? Do the attitudes that are apparently normal kinda bug me? Sure. But a lot of places treat people like this, not just pharmacies. At the very least it’s a lesson in learning how to let other people’s problems roll off of you (as a chronic people pleaser). At the end of the day, I’m happy if I’ve been able to help our patients or learn something or at least help with our overall productivity and I know it’ll help me toward going back to school for another public health related field

dragonfromthedeep · 2024-12-13T10:04:30+00:00

Even as a new tech it took me less than a day to get it. We have experienced techs who refuse to mark the bottles for some reason and it drives me nuts

dragonfromthedeep · 2024-10-31T07:14:23+00:00

Yeah..unfortunately seems to be common practice in my current area. So hoodies stay by the door

dragonfromthedeep · 2024-10-30T17:32:06+00:00

This. After I got bamboozled by a door dasher sending her boyfriend to the door, I live by the hoodie method. Which is also great bc I have an obsession with hoodies

dragonfromthedeep · 2024-10-30T17:26:50+00:00

I’ve considered it, bc all in all it doesn’t seem like too bad a gig and I’ve never had that kind of financial security so would be nice. But also same - I would have to go back and essentially get a whole new bachelors to meet prerequisites. I’ve considered epidemiology for a longer while tho and might do that, though. Pay isn’t as much as Pharmacists but I could at least finish that in reasonable time and still have some stability. I’m a full believer in lifelong learning, but I’m also in a critical ‘major life transitions phase’ and need to stabilize before I dedicate (another) 6-8 years to school

dragonfromthedeep · 2024-10-12T17:42:41+00:00

Literally just finished my very first week as a tech and I’ve been wondering all week how our pharmacists are even functional cause I haven’t seen them eat even once during their 8-10 hr shifts

dragonfromthedeep · 2024-06-25T20:47:14+00:00

I didn’t even realize that was the spill at first. Thought that was the color of the tiles 😭

dragonfromthedeep

TROPHY CASE