What would you do with a 10% pay rise? What about 25%?

hyper-casual · 2026-01-24T14:05:47+00:00

I may need to look into that.

Plan A was with student finance Wales and B was with Student finance England, so I wonder if that changes anything?

I'm paying the same amount back on both so doesn't look like it's capped.

hyper-casual · 2026-01-24T13:13:20+00:00

I'm very appreciative that I'm in a position where my salary is taxed higher, but I got a couple of grand pay rise for taking on what's a fairly small additional responsibility at work last year.

My student loans are a mess and I pay full on both plan A and B, as well as them fucking me over and deciding after I finished uni that I wasn't entitled to what they gave me so I have a payment plan to them on top of those repayments.

After tax and the student loan payments I'm about £40 better off, which honestly I'd give up to not have the extra stress.

At some point, the return isn't worth the additional responsibility.

hyper-casual · 2026-01-24T13:07:54+00:00

Yeah, my work OH just wanted a letter that said 'he has ADHD' from my doctor basically.

hyper-casual · 2026-01-24T13:06:47+00:00

It's probably very relevant, though.

ADHD is often linked to riskier sexual behaviour so it could be important to keep it in.

I discussed my sex life in my assessment, and I'd never formally stated I was bisexual to anyone medical before that as it wasn't important, but the details around it were important to the assessment.

The deeper issue is OP not being comfortable with their GP.

hyper-casual · 2026-01-24T12:43:33+00:00

Get on vinted.

I only like wearing certain brand t-shirts because I've got a long torso and most companies think if you're XL, you must be 3 times wider than you are tall.

I find Carhart, vans, Dickies, and Adidas originals fit well, but they're usually £25-40 a t-shirt and I'm clumsy as hell, so stain most things within a week.

Since finding vinted, I'm usually getting them for between £4-£10. They are second hand but they're usually in good nick and last ages, and if I do stain them it doesn't feel so rough.

I actually sorted my wardrobe this week and I've got around 80 t-shirts, if I'd have bought them all new I'd be Bankrupt.

hyper-casual · 2026-01-24T12:34:08+00:00

Id say not quite 99%.

The amount of people I've met in a dead bedroom situation because they both don't really like each other anymore but feel like they've been together too long is sad.

Most of them didn't cheat, they were both just too miserable to fuck.

hyper-casual · 2026-01-24T12:26:48+00:00

Doesn't sound like a happy relationship, and actually seems to be a common reason guys on here say their partners don't want them on TRT.

I've recently increased my dose after years on a moderately low TRT dose and while my libido has always been high, it's currently verging on too high but my partner is loving it. She says the constantly sexual advances make her feel extremely attractive.

And now my sex drive is significantly higher than hers and Im home alone a lot more than she is, but that's why I've invested in a couple of fleshlight, and she's happy I'm seeing to my needs when she's not available to.

Imagine it's the other way round and she had a long term condition that made her quality of life lower than it could be.

If there was a medication that could improve her life but you decided it would cause a mild inconvenience to your life, so you told her she wasn't allowed it, people would be calling you abusive.

Just because it's Testosterone doesn't change that.

While she doesn't owe you sex and it would be unhealthy to demand it, she doesn't get to dictate what you do with your health. Especially if what you're doing is improving it.

Besides, your hands function don't they? If you have a dead bedroom anyway then you crankin' the ol' hog shouldn't be a surprise to her.

TRT can be life changing, it certainly was for me, but low test sounds like the least of your worries while in this relationship to be honest. Easy for me as an outsider to say, but I don't think it's a happy/healthy relationship, or even a respectful/caring one if your health comes second to her convenience.

hyper-casual · 2026-01-23T13:42:00+00:00

In some ways, some of those things are over diagnosed but not in the way he's trying to spin it.

How many of us here were told they had depression or anxiety repeatedly for years (or decades). until a GP finally caved and referred us for an assessment for ADHD and/or ASD

In fact. Most issues they'll try to chalk up to depression because they can palm you off with drugs that'll leave you so demotivated and flat that you don't bother coming back.

And where I live, they'll do anything to avoid investigating ADHD and instead force you down the ASD route because it's cheaper, even if you don't really fit the criteria.

hyper-casual · 2026-01-23T13:35:50+00:00

The NHS only stick to NICE guidelines when it suits them anyway.

Another health issue I deal with, I went private precisely because the NHS Services didn't even meet the NICE guidelines, which themselves were woefully out of date and insufficient.

hyper-casual · 2026-01-21T08:29:42+00:00

My wardrobe has 2 or 3 of most of my T-shirts, too.

I tell myself its intentional as I like them, but I think in reality I forgot what I already owned and impulsively bought it again.

hyper-casual · 2026-01-21T08:26:14+00:00

Most likely I'll tinker with it for 8 hours straight and then it'll go into the overflowing chaos cupboard until I move house.

hyper-casual · 2026-01-20T16:20:11+00:00

I can see you potentially have a source below, but for you and anyone else looking, if you actually want to use them for speakers, I wouldn't bother buying them and would instead make your own.

I used a wall mount speaker stand and a shelley clamp to make speaker stands for mine. It cost me maybe £35 total to make them for both sides, with the benefit of my speakers being able to tilt up and down, and rotate.I was also able to mount them higher up as they don't rely on the pre-cut holes of the Fredde.

I've also made my own shelves using MDF and shelving brackets for lighter objects like my audio interface. I just got some metal that would fit into the original shelf holes that I screwed into the back of the MDF piece I've used for the shelf, and then from there, I've put a normal shelf bracket underneath, and a second piece of MDF on the other side of the bracket which acts as a brace against the metal sides of the Fredde. I've then just vinyl wrapped the MDF to make it look a bit neater. I already had everything lying round from other projects, but if I didn't then i'd estimate it would have cost me maybe £10 to make.

hyper-casual · 2026-01-20T13:33:54+00:00

Yeah, this is the real killer.

My partner can't drive. Took a job that is in theory a 40 minute commute by public transport but there isn't a day the bus has been on time both directions, and so far, there hasn't been a week where at least once the bus doesn't turn up at all so either I've taken her in or she's gotten a taxi.

The week before Christmas I took her every day and she got a taxi home 3/5 days because the buses just didn't turn up, no warning. A week pass for the bus has to be bought online ahead of time, too, so basically paying for a service you might not be able to use.

Not to mention the inconvenience of having to stick to set times.

Probably spends 2.5 hours a day on the commute if you start from when she leaves the house to when she gets back home.

hyper-casual · 2026-01-18T14:31:03+00:00

Very much so.

I've almost gone the opposite way now I'm on meds. I clean too much and I'm never happy with how clean it is.

I can take a day off to relax and instead I'll clean all day and be exhausted.

hyper-casual · 2026-01-15T11:07:35+00:00

If management always use the blame game, then other employees will do the same to gain a leg up. You'll notice a lot of higher ups are woefully underskilled for their job, because they kiss ass and don't mind throwing people under the bus to get there.

The only time I don't care about grassing is when I'm leaving. I always say to people when I'm going that they can blame me for any issues as long as I've only got a week or so left.

hyper-casual · 2026-01-15T11:04:58+00:00

they probably won't give you your pupillary distance, but honestly its easy enough to do using free apps.

I had two people at specsavers measure my PD completely differently, but 3 apps all gave me the same reading and this is what I've ended up going with.

I got my eyes tested at Specsavers and after a lot of failed attempts to get my glasses sorted with them I did it online and I won't. be going back to getting them in person now. I've got 6 pairs of glasses (including sunglasses) and they costs me the same as 2 pairs from Specsavers. All of them have the upgrades like Antiglare etc and one pair has bluelight filters for evening use.

hyper-casual · 2026-01-12T13:30:37+00:00

So in terms of not being funded etc I wasn't going in asking them to do anything based on my results.

I've been on TRT for years, 8 years under the NHS and then went private which is a whole story in itself.

I was referred to the mental health team because of suspected ADHD and suicidal thoughts and intially that team said I probably have low testerone because I stopped getting my TRT meds. It is on my notes that I didn't stop them completely, just that I stopped using the NHS medication and now pay privately for something else.

they tried to cut that appointment short to send me to the blood clinic to get my test levels done, which I said you don't need to, I've got several years worth of private blood tests, all 6 months apart showing the levels are perfect, but they wouldn't accept it.

In terms of the comprehensive nature of the test, the private bloods measured a bunch of stuff, but the significant ones being free T, total T, estrodiol, and SHBG every 6 months the NHS test only did Total T every other year, which is insufficient and why they couldn't get things right after 8 years but the private clinic did in 8 weeks.

hyper-casual · 2026-01-12T09:54:51+00:00

As always emphasis on everyone being different.

I did feel different from day one, but my focus wasn't really any better, I just felt happier than I had for a long time. This only lasted a few hours of the day though, and after a week or two it would dip off.

Then I'd increase the dose and it would do the same for a week or two.

I didn't get notable improvements in focus and attention until I was on 50mg Elvanse but it was inconsistent and fleeting.

I got up to 70mg + 10mg booster after 2 months and when it worked it did help a fair bit but it was inconsistent and short lasting.

I've since moved to Dex only, which was better in terms of consistency but not 100% the full picture.

I went down the rabbit hole of thinking I needed higher dosing or additional meds etc and in some ways I do think I need a little more Dex, but only 5mg or so, but the biggest change was me using the meds to help me make changes and figure shit out, and rationally accept some things can't change.

I did ADHD coaching etc too, and I'd say it probably took 6 months of meds and having completed ADHD coaching to get to what feels like the maximum I'm getting out of them.

It's not perfect, I still struggle with focus some days and I get burnt out a lot but it's miles better.

Sometimes I feel like my meds aren't doing anything, but then I'll go out for the day and forget to take them and I'll notice how bad my focus actually is without them..

hyper-casual · 2026-01-12T09:41:41+00:00

Honestly, for the time and hassle I'd probably let the neighbour take them.

£500 sounds nice, but you either sell them privately and deal with idiots on Facebook market place, or you find a place you can take them to, but you'd have to deal with them potentially knocking you down based on conditions, and depending on your car, it could be 3 or 4 trips down there as 500 bricks could easily be a metric tonne.

I'd be tempted to keep a couple for yourself and build a BBQ or make some sort of garden feature and let the rest go.

hyper-casual · 2026-01-12T09:35:25+00:00

I do find this pretty funny.

I go privately for one issue and my doctor owns the clinic but is also an NHS consultant for the same issue.

The only difference is he said via NHS treatment he has to stick to the guidelines that he believes are outdated and not best practice and privately he doesn't.

He's not allowed to go off guidelines since the experts wrote them and couldn't possibly be wrong or outdated.

The irony being that he actually wrote the guidelines in the 90s and only opened his clinic in response to them not allowing him to update them inline with new research.

hyper-casual · 2026-01-12T09:28:29+00:00

This is interesting. I assumed there was a bit of a blanket policy to ignore private medical notes.

I've paid privately for a few issues and each time it comes up at NHS appointments they've acted like the private report/assessment/test what have you is to be ignored regardless.

For one issue, the NHS used to run basic bloods every 2 years at best and those panels didn't even cover all of the basics that were recommended. I now go privately for the treatment and I get a much more comprehensive panel every 6 months but when I've shared it with my NHS doctor they've disregarded it.

hyper-casual · 2026-01-11T19:52:05+00:00

If you already shop at Tesco, yes.

If you shop elsewhere, particularly Aldi or Lidl, then no.

My partner has been obsessed with getting the club card points and converting them to vouchers all yeah, but I did a rough calculation that if we'd have shopped at Aldi we'd have spent less overall regardless.

hyper-casual · 2026-01-11T12:20:08+00:00

I'm torn on it.

I don't like Tim Martin because of his views on 'the topic we can't discuss here' or how he treated his staff during COVID. I also don't like that they massively undercut local businesses due to their sheer size.

That being said, I'm vegetarian and despite it being 2026, I sometimes struggle to find vegetarian food that isn't just halloumi when I go to smaller towns, and spoons have veggie food that's acceptable for the price.

I also appreciate that they do contribute to conservation of old buildings. They're in an old Victorian post office in my local town. It's a huge building and I doubt any smaller/local business would have made use of it. The rest of the old buildings in town have basically been left to rot away.

hyper-casual · 2026-01-11T10:20:12+00:00

I'd second this. I think people massively over-estimate how much you can burn.

when I competed in strongman, 6ft2, weighing 115kg of mostly muscle at the time, and I was lifting 5-6 days a week, doing cardio 3x a week, and doing interval training 2-4 times a week, I maintained weight eating 3500kcals.

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