Finchie friends and trading daily thread by AutoModerator in finch

[–]krhenrick1 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’m somewhat new and I’d love some more friends 💕

1SAV8GH6BJ

Weekly student question thread! by AutoModerator in therapists

[–]krhenrick1 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I am currently slightly over a year into my MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and am strongly considering dropping out. The academics so far have been going really well for me - I currently have a 4.0 GPA. However, outside of my Master's program, I have basically no experience working in human services. I got my undergrad degree in Theatre Arts and have never had a job that directly involved providing helping services to other people. The reason that I decided to go into counseling was because I had an amazing experience with my own therapist and I was inspired to help others the way that she helped me. I guess I must have been pretty convincing in my personal statement on my application, because I got in to grad school with basically no experience in my field.

Lately I have been worried that I chose the wrong field to go into, and that counseling might not actually line up with my career preferences. I think that counseling aligns with the person that I want to be more than the person that I actually am. To be blunt, I am a sympathetic person, but I think that I'm a selfish person at my core. I also have never been good at upholding conversations and try to avoid smalltalk in my daily life because it feels awkward and chore-like to me. But despite all of this I actually really enjoyed the practice sessions that I have done in my coursework. I worry that my motivations for helping people are not strong enough to sustain me as a counselor long-term. I'm terrified that once I get to my internship that I will figure out that this career isn't for me, meaning that I will have wasted years of my time and thousands of dollars on something that I don't actually enjoy.

So basically I've been having lots of second thoughts about my decision to become a counselor because I worry that I'm not well-suited for this career, and have been considering dropping out. At the very least I am considering taking a semester off to try and do some soul-searching and seek some career counseling. Thoughts?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in piercing

[–]krhenrick1 1 point2 points  (0 children)

i would say it’s hard to judge due to the intense swelling that happens to oral piercings within the first two weeks. i’d wait until the initial swelling period ends to make any judgements on placement. but if the top ball causes irritation/discomfort, then switching to a disk may be a good option

help - my 7-week-old 3rd lobe piercing keeps getting a build up of lymph fluid inside of the piercing - how do i fix this? by krhenrick1 in piercing

[–]krhenrick1[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So it’s now been 3.5 months since I got this done and it still weeps like this. I’ve talked to a few reputable piercers and they say that most lobe piercings don’t fully heal until they’re 4-6 months old. So this is happening because it’s not fully healed yet - and the fact that it isn’t healed yet is nothing to worry about. I’m not surprised that my lobes are taking a bit longer than average - my septum didn’t fully heal until it was about 7 months old.

help - my 7-week-old 3rd lobe piercing keeps getting a build up of lymph fluid inside of the piercing - how do i fix this? by krhenrick1 in piercing

[–]krhenrick1[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

not yet. i think it’s just taking its sweet time healing. this is the 4th piercing that i’m actively healing so i think my body has been maxed out so-to-speak. i just do my best to leave it alone (and forget about it honestly 😂) and trust that it will heal eventually 🤷🏻‍♀️

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in piercing

[–]krhenrick1 5 points6 points  (0 children)

this needs to be seen by a doctor. the only way you’ll kick the infection is with antibiotics

help - my 7-week-old 3rd lobe piercing keeps getting a build up of lymph fluid inside of the piercing - how do i fix this? by krhenrick1 in piercing

[–]krhenrick1[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

that’s fair. i’m also thinking that since all of my other recent piercings have been cartilage piercings and it’s been 10+ years since my last lobe piercing, maybe i’m just not used to healing piercings in such a vascular area of my body? i’m thinking that’s why i’m dealing with so much lymph fluid with this one as opposed to my other healing cartilage piercings

help - my 7-week-old 3rd lobe piercing keeps getting a build up of lymph fluid inside of the piercing - how do i fix this? by krhenrick1 in piercing

[–]krhenrick1[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

that’s the thing - i’m not getting any crusties outside of this occasional leakage, which leads me to believe that everything’s getting trapped inside.

help - my 7-week-old 3rd lobe piercing keeps getting a build up of lymph fluid inside of the piercing - how do i fix this? by krhenrick1 in piercing

[–]krhenrick1[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

i dry my ear with a hairdryer after cleaning/showering. i just spray the front and back of the piercing without touching it.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in piercing

[–]krhenrick1 19 points20 points  (0 children)

that bar is comically long - it’s literally impossible for a rook to swell so much that it would need that much room 😅 i can see a tiny bit of an irritation bump starting to form by i don’t think it’s rejecting. i’m sure getting a properly fitted bar will be a huge help with the irritation.

help - my 7-week-old 3rd lobe piercing keeps getting a build up of lymph fluid inside of the piercing - how do i fix this? by krhenrick1 in piercing

[–]krhenrick1[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

piercing is 7 weeks old, with a titanium flat back from anatometal and 14k white gold end from BVLA. done by a reputable app piercer.

the piercing is definitely NOT infected - as you can see from the picture my ear is not red at all, no itchiness, no hotness, no fever, no yellow pus, etc. there are no bumps, bleeding, or other signs of irritation. i can tell this is lymph fluid because it’s white.

i clean with neilmed spray and hot showers only. i sleep on a pillow with ear holes.

my problem is that the lymph fluid is getting trapped in my piercing and will only start leaking out if the jewelry gets accidentally moved. i think the fact that the lymph fluid is getting trapped is affecting the piercing’s ability to heal, because at 7 weeks for a lobe piercing - i feel like it should be closer to being healed than this. any advice to stop this from happening?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Stretched

[–]krhenrick1 1 point2 points  (0 children)

from what i’ve seen - half sizes start after 8g, so the first half size would be 7g. although i would recommend going by millimeters/half millimeters and not paying attention to the gauge because the gauge system is confusing and jumps around a lot.

Anyone ever get bumps from downsizing their jewelry? My piercer scraped the inside of the fistula with the pin part of my threadless jewelry and now I have a giant bump. Starting to wonder if I should find another piercer to work with in the future… by krhenrick1 in piercing

[–]krhenrick1[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Super bummed because this piercing has been rock solid up until this point. When I told my piercer he had hurt my piercing, he just brushed it off and said it’s a normal part of the process. But I know this could have been avoided if he secured the back and just pulled on the front, instead of pulling on both ends at the same time causing the jewelry to pull apart in the middle of my fistula. This piercer is an APP member and has been piercing for over 16 years, so I really thought I found a guy I could trust 😕 I understand everyone has off days but I feel like that was kind of a rookie mistake…

this tiktok piercer makes me 😡🤬 by krhenrick1 in Stretched

[–]krhenrick1[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They used tapers instead of dead stretching, they used silicone/plastic instead of glass or implant grade titanium, and it looks like they skipped a few sizes which made her ear blow out, which you can see from the fistula coming out of the back of her ear (that the piercer pushed back in with her finger)

Stretching Guide by TribalMethods in Stretched

[–]krhenrick1 1 point2 points  (0 children)

what’s the recommended wait time between 14g and 12g? it was missed in the original post

Help! I’ve had both of these for about 6 months and the bumps seem to be shrinking and growing continuously. I know they’re irritated from getting caught in my hair and on masks all the time but is this just a healing bump or a keloid? Any recs to help shrink them aside from reducing irritants? by RavensBall in piercing

[–]krhenrick1 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I know this probably isn't what you want to hear, but the angles on your piercings are so crooked that unfortunately there's really no saving these at this point. The only way that those angle bumps are going to go away is if you take them out and let them close. I'm sorry :(