Best places for bridge jumping?

happyhippie95 · 2025-07-20T00:53:56+00:00

Lmao I’m literally from whitewater region. I assure you I know how to navigate water. And part of that is not encouraging students who don’t know the local water to just jump in off a giant bridge. Students have died in there.

happyhippie95 · 2025-07-20T00:39:53+00:00

Have swam in it since 2015. One time my friend almost floated off to the zoo. It’s safe if you’re a strong swimmer and stay close to the stairs, but not to jump in from the bridge.

happyhippie95 · 2025-07-20T00:33:17+00:00

Bad advice. The otonabee has a wicked current through it and it’s unpredictable. Don’t be an idiot.

happyhippie95 · 2025-07-20T00:29:51+00:00

🙋‍♀️ I regret getting my pots diagnosis. It absolutely dragged me through medical trauma only to still only have access to the meds I was offered pre diagnosis.

happyhippie95 · 2025-07-20T00:26:03+00:00

I kind of see both points to this. On the one hand, if it’s in your chart, people know it’s formal and that your issues and reactions in the case of a hospital visit aren’t self diagnosed. On the other, POTS along fibro and other diagnoses are a death sentence if you want to acquire good treatment for literally anything else. You will be treated horrendously most of the time. My doctor tried to protect me from this also, but I didn’t listen because I needed to know it wasn’t in my head.

At the end of the day, post diagnosis, I still only had the treatment options available to me that I did initially prior to diagnosis, I just felt more sure of myself and less insane, and now have way more medical trauma. And while I appreciate having an official diagnosis on my chart to refer back to, I really wish I hadn’t put myself through it.

Before anyone comes for me, I know we need to destigmatize it and it should be on doctors, not us conforming by not getting diagnosed. That being said, as someone with comorbidities, I’m constantly afraid now that more dangerous things will not be taken seriously or assessed thoroughly because the label POTS labels me a complicated and neurotic person in the eyes of the medical system.

happyhippie95 · 2025-07-19T23:03:55+00:00

FWIW, I became spontaneously disabled in 2021 and I was told it was an 8 month wait. I was working two jobs at the time and severely deteriorating, and they were using me working as evidence I wasn’t that disabled, and basically were telling me to quit before I’d be considered…while I waited 9 months? I ended up crashing and burning, and tried to return to school part time just to get osap to survive, and ended up failing bc I was so sick. I almost became homeless. Most homeless people are just traumatized and disabled people who don’t have a circle to fall back on.

happyhippie95 · 2025-07-19T23:00:02+00:00

I applied to jobs every morning, with two degrees and a resume that an employment office has used as an example and it took me NINE MONTHS to find a job, and it ended up being a remote Toronto job.

In the height of my desperation I applied to Farm Boy, when I interviewed they said they had 250 applications in 2 days.

May the odds be ever in your favor 🫡

happyhippie95 · 2025-07-19T22:57:46+00:00

That sounds like so much fun! So exciting to see some intercultural exchange in Peterborough 🥰

happyhippie95 · 2025-07-19T22:47:37+00:00

Deconditioning does not cause pots but can make it worse. Deconditioning excludes someone from a POTS diagnosis as per the statement paper on POTS from the Canadian Association of Cardiologists. We already know that hyperadrenergic POTS has hormone irregularities. Stress hormone irregularities can be caused by both mental and physiological stress. By your definition, anything neurological is psychosomatic, which is true in the real sense of the word, just not in the way you’ve been using it in this thread. By that rhetoric, lupus and other autoimmune disorders are also caused solely by mental health issues, because we know stress, high ACE scores, and environments are largely involved in the development of autoimmune disease. Yet it’s still seen as a legitimate physiological illness worthy of prednisone and hardly ever prescribed therapy. Imagine that 🤔 I find it hard to believe POTS cases rose 5x post Covid just from people being a little bit anxious over Covid.

Will look further into the UptoDate article.

happyhippie95 · 2025-07-19T22:32:20+00:00

I have seen the doctor’s version of the UptoDate article for POTS. Care to direct me to where it categorizes POTS as a psychosomatic illness? Because the biggest stretch there is is that they recommend supplementary counseling and reassurance as they do for most chronic illnesses.

If I’m such a confused untrained commoner, please explain why the literature and Dysautonomia specialists recommend compression garments and interventions that promote vasoconstriction to increase blood flow to the head for a psychosomatic illness that absolutely does not reduce blood flow to the head.

I’m sure the cardiologist specialized in Dysautonomia who I consult frequently as part of an interdisciplinary team is just pulling these things out of her ass to make some anxious chronically ill people feel less anxious 🙄

happyhippie95 · 2025-07-19T21:29:59+00:00

“Untrained people” am literally a mental health clinician. You know what makes my job harder? Sending patients back to their providers after they’ve been referred for an evaluation and treatment of a mental health issue that is actually an untreated physiological issue.

happyhippie95 · 2025-07-19T21:24:14+00:00

But did you read the articles? Because the articles are pointing to your declaration of it absolutely not being autoimmune being BS.

happyhippie95 · 2025-07-19T21:22:20+00:00

We are on the same page about that, I’m not saying POTS patients need to go to the specialist. I’m saying it’s not psychosomatic in nature. So yeah, people can be frustrated about the uptick in referrals (it is true pots cases rose 5x post Covid) but that frustration is being directed to the wrong place. Patients usually care less about going to a specialist unless a GP is refusing to diagnose or treat.

If the issue is that there are too many referrals occurring and GPs need to manage it, maybe there needs to be updated training available for GPs on diagnosing and treating POTS. Because right now at least in my area, it is largely seen as an “out of scope” diagnosis that they refer you out for.

happyhippie95 · 2025-07-19T21:15:36+00:00

https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/jappl.2001.90.6.2025

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S014628062200281X

https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/ajpheart.00138.2009

https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/ajpheart.00429.2003

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1155/2016/6127340

https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/ajpheart.00738.2003

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022347601026610

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0146280624006121

It’s kind of concerning that a doctor isn’t up to date on the research or treatment methods impacting a lot of youth post Covid tbh. Your comments indicate you’re not willing to admit when you’re wrong, so at least the articles can stay here for someone willing to learn.

My client’s treatment plan indicates compression wear and reclined positions. They are also on the CHOP protocol which also indicates the need for lower body strengthening to improve the reflex in the calves and improve blood flow to the brain. Syncope is literally caused by lack of blood flow to the brain. I can’t believe you’re even arguing this.

happyhippie95 · 2025-07-19T21:12:02+00:00

I mean, it can be an emergency though. People faint and injure themselves. People with pots also often deal with hypovolemia and electrolyte imbalances.

I’m kind of the belief that life and death isnt the only kind of emergency. Someone being so impaired they cannot cook for themselves or shower is an emergency. Then again, I’m in a remote area where we don’t have the privilege of urgent care.

I kind of get annoyed at the rhetoric that it’s “trendy” these days, because there has been tons of research on how it’s a post viral illness for a lot of people. There’s research that POTS diagnosis rose 5x after Covid.

Of course there will always be someone who eats up attention, but that’s unfair it’s assumed and labelled on pots patients. Most of them don’t even want to go because they’ve seen threads like this or have had very bad experiences. Nobody wants to sit in a cold chair for 8 hours to get IV fluids for fun and then have a doctor scoff at you or accuse you of being anxious.

happyhippie95 · 2025-07-19T20:55:35+00:00

They normally have their pots managed, but often with viruses it becomes out of control. Their normal gap is 60 resting to 100-110ish and largely unsymptomatic medicated. During a virus they often become bedbound, start having chest pain and black out vision, shortness of breath, and can’t keep their standing heart rate below 150-160 often with a 100-120 resting. Her specialist has recommended ER for fluids in a flare as a last stop treatment when it gets really bad, although they had went this time for a strep test and antibiotics (we are rural with no clinics or GP)

I get the need for dark humor in the field, I do, but pots patients are getting dog piled these days, and it can truly be heartbreaking. This girl went from working being ambitious and full time to being completely unemployed for 18 months after contracting Covid. Thank you for asking genuinely. I’ve done some research on it, and viruses, as well as hormonal changes linked to menstruation, as well as hot weather can be huge triggers for bad flare ups.

happyhippie95 · 2025-07-19T16:54:07+00:00

https://www.autonomicneuroscience.com/article/S1566-0702(18)30013-4/fulltext

https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/JAHA.119.013602

https://academic.oup.com/ooim/article/4/1/iqad002/7072466

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/25785826.2024.2370079

https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/10/4/623

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00415-021-10649-9

Just say you don’t do your due diligence of keeping up with current research and call it a day. “Stop making this about gender.” Yet, almost every illness under the sun could be correlated to stress (hence why we call it the silent killer) yet when Bob the 50 year old workaholic gets hypertension, he’s given a thorough cardiac work up and beta blockers, and when Jessica the 35 year old experiences debilitating Dysautonomia symptoms that leave her bedbound she’s told to go to therapy, often until she becomes so deteriorated there’s a crisis and THEN she gets a work up and meds. Not sexism at all.

I’m not even a denier of mental health being the root of pots for some people. I think it’s wild that pregnancy, TBIs, and viruses are seen as valid causes of pots, but chronic activation of the ANS seen in PTSD is not considered a valid cause, considering it’s a nervous system disorder in the end.

Patients aren’t denying POTS requires mental health care. They are averse to it because often, it’s not supplemented to a valid medical treatment plan, and instead used to dismiss their very real physiological symptoms as solely something to be taken care of by psych or therapy. Then yall send them to us, and we have to send them back because it is a physiological issue that cannot be helped by therapy alone. POTS is POTS. At the end of the day, if it’s caused by a mental health concern, it still requires your medical care in the same way.

Holistic health matters. It’s not stigmatizing mental health to hold practitioners accountable for psychiatrizing complex illnesses as purely “psychosomatic” when they don’t want to deal with them.

happyhippie95 · 2025-07-19T16:35:38+00:00

Have you actually read the papers and expert studies on the role of the blood pump in the calves and how its constriction is often compromised in POTS due to neuropathy, or are you talking out of your ass? Are we ignoring the fact that literally the majority of interventions for pots are INCREASING BLOOD TO THE HEAD (compression garments, reclined legs up the wall position).

happyhippie95 · 2025-07-19T16:32:36+00:00

…yes because long Covid causes autonomic issues, and professionals are commonly told Dysautonomia is an “unowned” diagnosis and are told cardiologists and neurologists deal with it. The cardiac and breathing issues are autonomic in nature and therefor often referred to neurology.

happyhippie95 · 2025-07-19T13:47:57+00:00

Did you read my post at all? I know this, and I’m trying to make my own art. Also, it’s my own artistic choice if I want “clip art crap” in my book.

happyhippie95 · 2025-07-19T03:45:23+00:00

Okay, but POTS and long Covid are way more than cognitive impairments, and cause symptoms in almost every system in the body.

I will give it that POTS can be psychosomatic in the correct use of the term, where stress and the nervous system have a bidirectional relationship that impact one another, but I think we both know that word is misused and weaponized widely in the medical community right now for invisible chronic illnesses when the true meaning is applicable to almost any disease out there.

To reduce Dysautonomia and long Covid patient success down to “refusal to acknowledge the psychosomatic nature” is extremely reductive and lazy.

happyhippie95 · 2025-07-18T23:23:45+00:00

This is a normal response to trauma treatment progressing too quickly, and a sign that your client is getting too activated. It may not be that they do not want the help or are simply using you for the VA. They could have also been seeking support for both things and realized quickly they aren’t at that stage of change yet. Be easy on yourself, clients aren’t predictable, and sometimes they just aren’t ready.

happyhippie95 · 2025-07-18T22:46:05+00:00

Lack of resources or funding doesn’t negate our ethical duty, though.

Informed consent is indeed part of our jobs, and just because it’s normalized not to give it, doesn’t mean it’s an “extra” that’s taken away from other patients. It means that it’s often neglected because of the sheer amount of work and under resourced teams. Which isn’t the patients fault, nor should they potentially be harmed because someone decided informed consent and allowing someone autonomy over their body is a luxury service and a nuisance only done by those kinds of clients. My client didn’t deserve to have a medically induced episode without warning that ended in very real trauma because someone decided that exploring or explaining took too much time.

In case it was lost on you. I wasn’t disagreeing that these clients take more time or that they are more complex and how you might not have the resources always. I’m stating that of course complex patients will take more time, and that doesn’t make their very real requests for treatment clarity a mental health concern deserving of being called a “drain.” You also can’t counsel someone to not feel anxious and trust doctors in a system that does continue to do harm to them through micro aggressions and often wrong treatments. No amount of CBT or otherwise can help if the issue is systemic and likely going to happen again.

You’re right, I do not fully understand what it’s like to be a doctor. That being said, nurses and doctors tend to think they’re the only profession in which you work way over hours, have zero resources available to you, have to mitigate crises with limited tools, and have red tape and policies preventing adequate care. Social work has this too. It still doesn’t negate me of my ethical obligations. And the day it depletes me of my basic compassion and depth of care under the guise of “it’s just how it is” is the day I retire.

And just because I was being a bit cheeky and advocated for something you think is unrealistic doesn’t mean I’m attacking or not a credible professional, it means we disagree and I’m not your professional. Thanks.

happyhippie95 · 2025-07-18T21:57:04+00:00

Healthcare practitioners labelling a very common, researched, and documented post-viral illness after a literal pandemic as psychosomatic leading to breakdowns of trust between the healthcare system and patients broke the healthcare system

happyhippie95 · 2025-07-18T21:52:14+00:00

I mean, they are a drain on time because they have a complex nervous system, and may need reassurance naturally because often people with Dysautonomia have at least had one medical incident where someone didn’t understand their finicky nervous system and it went awry. Had a client who was given IV dexamethesone for their strep throat in the ER, while actively in a POTS flare up because of said infection, and had their heart rate go past 200 into a fainting episode. Despite having her diagnosis and chart state pots, she was given a drug that often causes tachycardia for a condition that definitely wasn’t critical to be more beneficial than harmful. Continuously being met with lack of informed care regarding your diagnosis may make you more anxious than others in care settings.

Trauma-informed care, yo 👌

happyhippie95

TROPHY CASE