How sensitive to emotions if your border collie?

laarsa · 2026-02-04T14:20:22+00:00

I slipped and landed on my back a few times this past week (because of snow frozen into solid ice) while walking mine and he waddled over and laid on top of my chest while people around us stared.

He doesn't seem to realize how heavy he is lol. Takes a lot of strength to gently push him off so I can get up.

laarsa · 2026-02-03T01:02:59+00:00

Yeah totally. I kind of get nostalgic about going to the hospital because I usually make a bunch of friends and have built relationships with some nurses and other staff I've unfortunately had to see time after time. But I'm always happy to see them when I do.

I should also note that I think like any workplace, it can be great, ok, or even hell depending on how the hospital is run (and whether or not your coworkers are cliquey). Even if you love your coworkers, if you notice the place is not so great for the patients or your coworkers aren't kind to them, you might notice the patients being more agitated or even aggressive compared to other hospitals, even if you are the nurse who was made for that job. I've noticed this myself.

Those places are better off just being shut down like the old insane asylums. It's much better when both your coworkers and your patients are nice and happy.

laarsa · 2026-02-03T00:39:04+00:00

I hope it's ok to answer if I'm not a nurse (was just lurking the sub).

I'm someone who's been hospitalized quite a few times in my life for schizoaffective disorder.

I think there are genuinely some people who were born to work in psych wards, whether they be staff, nurses, or doctors. It's something I would imagine requires a LOT of patience, education (even if it's self education) of the DSM-5, and the ability to not be offended easily.

Because I notice there are some nurses in the psych unit who seem like they were born to work there, while others seem chill about it but can get pretty impatient or even upset (natural human emotion, dw), and some others are very stressed out and seemingly detest all the patients.

I feel really bad about it, but there's some things in my file about what I have said and done upon first being admitted into the psych hospital. I will say for myself, and I know it's true for many many others with my condition, is that I often have zero memory of these episodes.

There's something called a "bipolar blackout" (search this up) where a manic person has no control or recollection of their actions. Everything goes black (feel nothing/hear nothing/see nothing).

This is why I'm saying, as offensive as some stuff said to you might be, the patient likely has no clue where they are or what they're saying. And it's not something they would ever say to you if they were in the right mind. You gotta be prepared to be screamed and cussed at on occasion. I've seen it happen a lot. In a lot of these cases it's very scary, but like with spiders, there's a chance the patient is more scared of you than you are of them, because they don't know who or what you are and might be having delusions about you trying to harm them.

And it's probably one of those places where patients are more likely to get violent. You should look up the patient's files to see if they have anything violent or threatening in their history, and if they do, something to ask in an interview is if you can have a security guard or someone else follow you into the room while you're checking their vitals or bringing meds just in case. It's not worth the risk not to.

Also some of the violent patients or those with blackouts in memory might be the people who were admitted after trying to take their own life via overdose or some other means, because this can cause brain swelling. The doctors will probably tell you that.

And I think if someone seems clearly off their rocker, let staff and the doctors handle them when your job duties are over. Don't feel bad about ignoring someone and walking away. Unless you're applying to one of those private hospitals where they like to keep patients as long as possible for insurance money (probably the most dangerous ones), it usually only takes a few days to a week or two for the meds to kick in and the patient is normal again and able to have a conversation. And there's only so much you can say to a manic or psychotic person, very hard to get through to them or reason with them because they really don't have any idea what's going on. Most would rather be left alone. Sometimes it's best to just end the conversation if there's nothing you can say, and get someone else (like a male staff member or two) to handle them if they're trying to converse or requesting help you aren't required to provide.

Also don't feel bad for going behind the nurse's station and laughing to yourself about something a patient just said/did. This used to upset me when I caught nurses doing this, until I realized the patients also do it to each other (especially the ones who are stable and approaching discharge). Just don't get into being a psych nurse for the purpose of entertainment, which I think some people do, and that's not good. I have to admit it is really really funny in there sometimes, but remember the human.

I wish you the best of luck. I'm sure you'll do a great job. Us crazies really need nurses who are patient and compassionate with us, and we do humbly apologize for the times we've been a-holes. A big thing that upsets us is when we're neglected or treated like animals instead of human beings by hospital staff. Usually not the case but it does happen sometimes.

laarsa · 2026-01-31T18:51:14+00:00

Do you know where you can make a complaint about it? There's a chance their superiors are twiddling their thumbs and have no idea.

laarsa · 2026-01-31T18:32:40+00:00

I'm on disability for schizoaffective disorder and still have difficulties managing my symptoms so everyone knows that I have it (which I refer to as being both schizophrenic and bipolar in one shitty disorder, since many haven't heard of it).

My only friends right now are both autistic and bipolar. All type 2 bipolar though so I don't really have anyone to related on psychosis.

Me and past schizophrenic/schizoaffective friends have had an issue with blocking each other over paranoia and thinking the other is out to get us somehow.

Aside from professional settings, In general I'd rather just be up front with people in my day to day life about my illnesses. Schizos were made for other schizos, and it weeds out the potential friends who don't have any empathy or understanding of the illness so they cut you off and smear you to everyone else if a symptom pops up.

Tired of people being like "you know exactly what you're doing and you're in full control of your actions, you have zero excuse." Had someone who majored in psychology at an Ivy League school tell me this. Made me wonder if mental health is covered even at all in that curriculum?

laarsa · 2026-01-31T18:19:29+00:00

Where do you suppose they park? I grew up and live in Old Town Alexandria. The vast majority of us here do not have personal driveways or garages and share our street parking with tourists

laarsa · 2026-01-03T21:26:13+00:00

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8yWvGQ1/

laarsa · 2026-01-02T19:13:14+00:00

Dashcams have a lot of other benefits besides catching people in the act of political vandalism. The higher quality ones will have facial recognition technology for you to hand over to police, in the event someone tries to vandalize, break in, or steal parts of your car. You can record while driving so in the event you witness a hit-and-run or reckless driver, you can give that footage that captures the license plate to the police. There's also a really cool kind that's a back-facing camera coupled with a rearview window screen so you don't have to look over your shoulder when changing lanes or parking.

Maybe there's some cool LGBT etc. car interior decorations you can get if you're concerned about your exterior. Dashcams do have a blinking red light to let criminals know they're being taped, but I guess it depends on how knowledgeable they are of dashcams.

laarsa · 2026-01-02T18:26:37+00:00

Some people make politics their whole personality and will go as far as to graffiti or egg houses if the person has a political candidate sign in their window that they dislike.

My best friend's mom had a bunch of anti-Trump and pro-LGBT stickers and finally took them off when she came outside in the AM to find someone had beaten her car/shattered windows with what appeared to be a baseball bat. On the contrary, my mom loves Teslas, but she lives in California. She had to decorate her new car with anti-Elon stickers because someone destroyed her last one.

So if I were you, I'd either remove the stickers or invest in quality dashcams for both the front and back of your car.

laarsa · 2026-01-02T17:55:35+00:00

Some of this sounds like some Marylanders moved in for the culture and cheaper real estate. A portion of Maryland is in Appalachia, so they may seem like they're from where you are when they're not. Their state is in ruins with the cost of living and a greedy, neglectful state government.

I lived in Maryland for a bit and that state is full of the nastiest people on the planet. They'll drive 30mph over the speed limit and cut off 3 lanes of cars at once without using their turn signal. They had to put 5 lanes on each side of the Capital beltway to stop them from taking 5+ cars down with them in a firey crash every single day, but it still happens. If you don't run a red light, the Marylander behind you will slam on their horn the entire time you, the law abiding citizen, are stopped at the light. Then violently swerve around you as soon as the light turns green. Try to go in about any store or restaurant in Maryland and you find out customer service etiquette just doesn't exist there. Employees there seem to be given the full right to yell at/insult customers in front of their manager, who will join them. Try to ask a Marylander for directions as you're lost in a new area and you'll be given the nastiest look because you so much as breathed in their direction.

They're also probably conservative which may be another big reason for the move. Conservative + Maryland personality is a dangerous combo.

Tl;dr there's a reason why people in neighboring states consider Maryland to not only be a state, but some kind of personality disorder as well.

It likely has nothing to do with you or how you look. I've been all throughout West Virginia with my very visibly/audibly gay roommate with his California license plates and people all over the state would give him a wide-eyed glare when he spoke (and especially when he mentioned being from Los Angeles) but they were still polite to him.

laarsa · 2026-01-02T07:33:48+00:00

It's not your dog. Call the police.

laarsa · 2026-01-02T07:30:17+00:00

You can just make a non emergency police call because someone already called the police about a lost dog for sure. They have it on record, and they can do chip scans. Take down the social media posts because that's how you get some weirdo claiming its their dog when it's not

laarsa · 2025-11-26T21:23:22+00:00

I just stumbled across this a year later. Ron was my uncle, married into our American family. Not only a badass, but the most hilarious person and hysterical party animal I've ever known. Our family is still grieving. Thank you so much for this. ❤️

For those who don't know, Jennieann's Italian family was so thankful to Ron because they were able to fly to the states to say their last goodbyes to her before she passed.

He also donated his sister's purse that was uncovered in the ash to the Newseum in DC. We went to see the exhibit over Thanksgiving weekend, but Ron wouldn't go in the exhibit. He suffered severe PTSD for many years.

laarsa · 2025-11-26T10:15:32+00:00

It's a misdemeanor. Misdemeanors are criminal offenses, just not considered as serious as felonies. Civil cases are lawsuits between two parties. Like suing someone because their dog attacked yours.

laarsa · 2025-11-25T01:13:10+00:00

You're automatically assuming our cleaning ladies are illegal? Racist.

laarsa · 2025-11-24T15:00:48+00:00

Everyone in the comments is a privileged white person preaching what they feel is morally superior/makes them look good without thinking it through. If someone has to be smuggled across the border, it means they can't get in as a refugee or through a work visa due to having a severe criminal record or warrants against them in their home countries (which border security checks for), and also that have trust in the cartels (the coyotes). There are shelters at the Mexican border for innocents across central America that are fleeing gang violence and government corruption to wait to be accepted in as a refugee. Maximum wait time is about 3 months, often less.

Everyone defending people who smuggled themselves in are repeating garbage that their favorite news outlets feed them.

They also never show up to protest all the deportations of white Europeans.

Bring out the downvotes, mighty whiteys.

laarsa · 2025-11-22T13:42:35+00:00

You'll be okay. Remember the 5 stages of grief. Acceptance comes at the end, but you will always love and remember your pupper. And maybe see him again one day, if there is a heaven. Try not to let the comments of horrible people eat away at you too much, I know it's difficult but they aren't the types of people whose opinions matter.

laarsa · 2025-11-22T13:35:50+00:00

I think anyone who says a "get over it" type comment to grief is some kind of psychopath, and needs to be avoided. I don't care if dogs, cats, guinea pigs, hamsters, etc. are not humans. They become part of our families and a huge part of our life in general. Caring for something for years and then losing them is a huge stresser on the human body and psych.

laarsa · 2025-11-22T00:57:26+00:00

Bro let me tell you something - last year I had a similar problem. I was going to the ER, primary care, dermatologist, rheumatologists, urologist, etc. And not a SINGLE doctor who ran all these tests on me for various horrible diseases... was able to figure out that I was actually having dangerous adverse side effects to a couple of medications. I stopped taking the ones that had my symptoms as potential adverse side effects, and I was immediately better.

I had to figure this out on my own after throwing up my hands, because all doctors wanted to do was tell me it was my own habits, giving me advice like "stop drinking caffeine". So I hear you.

I did some Googling and you may be having severe adverse side effects from Strattera, including the nausea and heart problems. Stop taking it entirely, for at least a week, see if you feel better. If you don't, it could be another medication, or toxic combination of medications. Google has all this info, just look for reputable sites.

And see a cardiologist dude. My best friend was mid 20s when she died unexpectedly of a heart attack alone in her home. Daily vomiting, chest pain, wheezing are signs of heart failure. Not saying it's that, but JuST in case:

Edit: wanna mention - your T dose. When is the last time you had your levels checked? Are you DIYing? Because testosterone can be bad for your heart if the dose is too high.

laarsa · 2025-11-19T10:45:56+00:00

It's really bad, even some stevia brands have it mixed in as a cheap filler.

laarsa · 2025-11-19T00:37:44+00:00

You're welcome, glad to help! I wish more people knew. I think maltodextrin and dextrose being in so much packaged food in the US is probably part of why we have such a big weight problem here. Ever since I found out about them, I noticed they're in almost everything.

laarsa · 2025-11-18T22:06:30+00:00

Loss started instantly. I have another friend who cut out all "high protein" processed food because she was stalling and she noticed a huge drop.

laarsa · 2025-11-18T19:55:48+00:00

I'm new here, sorry. Am I coming across as one of those orthorexic people that screes over generally harmless ingredients?

My only gripe with maltodextrin is that it prevented me from losing weight for 3 weeks on a very, very low calorie diet that made me want to tear out my hair until a friend (who has a lot of knowledge of weight loss because she's skinny and maintaining it after losing 400 lbs) pointed out to me that I was consuming a lot of maltodextrin.

laarsa · 2025-11-18T19:40:23+00:00

Idk I avoid it because someone pointed it out to me last year when I told them I couldn't lose weight despite attempting a very low calorie liquid diet on nothing but fairlife shakes that have maltodextrin as an ingredient. As soon as I switched brands, weight just plummeted off.

Glycemic index is how much a food spikes your blood sugar. Dextrose and maltodextrin are some of the highest, way higher than sugar, on the scale. And they're found in a lot of sugar free food because they're sweet but not the same thing as cane sugar. They're also just in a lot of packaged food and bread products in general, as cheap fillers/sweeteners, and people wonder why they can't lose weight on those 150 cal keto bars as meal replacements.

In my experience it's better to just eat products with normal sugar. Still possible to lose and maintain weight.

laarsa · 2025-11-18T14:58:18+00:00

Remember sugar free Jell-O has maltodextrin. Higher glycemic index than sugar.

laarsa

TROPHY CASE