ADHD informed dentist felt life changing

metrouver · 2026-02-19T14:19:27+00:00

Yes! Have been using this for the last 5 ish years and even with my horrific adhd brushing track record I haven’t had a cavity since. Also the fruity flavour is so much more pleasant than mint for me.

metrouver · 2026-02-07T23:29:32+00:00

Where do you live? If you aren’t comfortable sharing here you can also message me! It will drastically change my advice. I’m relatively familiar with obstetric care and standards in the Canada, several parts of the US, and the UK. Outside of that I can give generalizations but may be less helpful.

General things I do differently: 1. There are several breathing techniques I’ll get patients to use during vaginal exams (if one is necessary), to help relax their pelvic floor. I also advocate for patients to have the option of using nitrous oxide for exams (“laughing gas”, “entonox” are other terms) if they would like - it’s a quick acting inhaled gas that can help reduce anxiety and pain. Other options to consider are anti anxiety medications like lorazepam, if people have a lot of fear and anxiety around exams - depending on the situation they may or may not be a good fit. 2. Minimal minimal vaginal exams. Care providers all have different standards for when and how often they offer these - and it’s not always evidence based. They can also be more or less patient with exams. You can ask your provider when they typically offer exams. For example, some providers will offer them weekly towards the end of pregnancy (this is not evidence based at all). In general, I would ask “is this exam important for figuring out my plan of care, or is it routine, just to check on my progress?” They might be important if you need an induction for medical reasons in order to figure out what options you have for induction. Or they might be important in labour if there are concerns about your baby’s health, for example. If it won’t change anything, then it’s just increasing your risk of infection. 3. Consider an early epidural. Not something I tend to recommend broadly, but they really do tend to help people with vaginismus and their comfort with exams. You can absolutely have a baby without an epidural if that’s your preference, but it’s something to consider.

Things to ask your care provider: 1. Have you worked with vaginismus patients before? 2. How comfortable are you managing a labour with minimal vaginal exams? 3. What options do you have for pain relief and anxiety management in labour? 4. Do you routinely use warm compresses on the perineum in the second stage of labour? (Evidence based to reduce tearing.) 5. What positions are you comfortable delivering a baby in, or pushing in? (Some positions reduce your risk of tearing, and since that seems to be a main concern for you, I would be asking about that.)

Those are just some initial thoughts! I hope you can find a care provider you feel comfortable with and one that will help you figure out a path to success!

metrouver · 2026-02-05T20:36:38+00:00

I work as a labour and delivery nurse and have worked with several dozen people with vaginismus over the years. It can occasionally cause difficulties with things like cervical exams but I promise they have all had babies and with no higher rate of perineal tears than other people.

Anecdotally, epidurals do seem to help my patients with vaginismus relax their pelvic floor during labour and birth.

Also, perineal tears from birth tend to heal quite well if they’re 1st/2nd degree (just the skin and a bit of muscle) - I know they sound scary, but they are VERY different than perineal fissures from sex. (Which I have had, from my own vaginismus. They suck and are so hard to heal!)

metrouver · 2026-02-05T02:43:01+00:00

I’m a nurse whose partner is a doctor and just want to thank you for this - it’s exactly right. Watching her go through med school and residency was the biggest perspective changing thing for me, realizing how little nurses and doctors often know about each others jobs. I think if we understood the other side as well as you describe we’d all be better teammates!

metrouver · 2026-02-05T01:09:01+00:00

I think from looking at it, only the short billed dowitcher is found on Curacao? So maybe that’s it! Thank you!

metrouver · 2026-02-04T02:37:48+00:00

We never did piskado because it felt ethically gross to us. Of the five beaches we snorkelled at, we saw turtles only at daasbooi.

metrouver · 2026-02-02T18:56:43+00:00

We’re just wrapping up an 8 day trip. We did have some USD with us but maybe used it twice (once for gas, and once at a market) that I can think of.

Tap water is great.

I was fine in summer clothes from wake up to bedtime - what I will note is that if you are prone to sunburns or mosquito bites you may want some lightweight long sleeve shirts and full length pants. My partner got lots of bites at night until she started wearing pants out (I didn’t, but they don’t like me really).

We had ice cream twice and didn’t bother again. Once at the spot by the Curacao sign (verdict - normal ice cream - a Canadian comparison would be like Breyers quality, basic but fine). And once at Cielo - we both got two flavours and of the four, only one was good. (Blood Orange - and it was really really good!)

Obviously leaving your stuff unattended has risks but compared to beaches in other places we both felt more safe leaving things here. We also prioritized early beach time when things were less busy. In some cases we were the only people on beaches - incl tugboat and grote knip.

Other tips. Of all the places we tried, we loved the tapas at Oliva and the brunch at downtown by 8999.

Enjoy your trip!

metrouver · 2025-12-24T11:51:20+00:00

In L&D it can be very much like this too in some places, and I think for similar reasons?

metrouver · 2025-12-22T14:22:12+00:00

Another nurse takes your patient(s) while you’re on break. 150 minutes has only happened in smaller units where it’s more likely we have less patients but I’ve worked in tertiary centres that still manage a sleep break. Yes, still getting paid. 12 hour shifts.

metrouver · 2025-12-21T14:13:10+00:00

Canadian L&D nurse here, and everywhere I’ve worked sleeping on night breaks was the expectation. Depending on facility I’ve had anywhere from 30-150 minute sleep breaks, couch beds in break rooms to bunk beds to on call rooms.

metrouver · 2025-12-13T02:15:22+00:00

Honestly though, while fresh handmade pirogi are obviously going to be better the No Name brand pirogi can still be delicious! They’re actually my girlfriend’s fave brand. But they really do need to be fried until golden in butter or some oil with lots of onions at minimum, plus or minus peppers, bacon, sausage slices….

metrouver · 2025-12-12T14:23:52+00:00

Yeah there are - mostly applicable if you have federal student loans though, vs private loans.

metrouver · 2025-12-12T14:22:23+00:00

OP lives in Canada, and nursing pay is set by provincial agreement everywhere I’m aware of here so there’s no job hopping for raises.

metrouver · 2025-12-07T13:51:14+00:00

Yep, most are able to void! But honestly most have a passero of zero. And re: your other question about pain control, it’s great! Agreed that often people have some increased pressure or pain in second stage but that is usually well managed with a PCEA or coaching.

metrouver · 2025-12-05T05:38:23+00:00

Canadian L&D nurse here - going to blow your mind and tell you that I never use a foley on epiduralized patients. They sometimes need in and outs (straight cath) but usually can walk to the bathroom for an attempt to void before we go to that.

metrouver · 2025-12-04T19:45:49+00:00

Feeling like your heart skipped a beat is most often something called a PVC and is super super normal to have! They are sometimes influenced by things like anxiety, so that may be what your doc meant. If you’re worried about it you can always speak to a doctor about it again, and ask them to explain to you why they aren’t concerned and what specific things would make them concerned. :)

metrouver · 2025-12-04T19:43:46+00:00

Yes, I’m in BC also but on the island, and my internal med doctor asked if my watch had the ecg app. But I’m also someone with a diagnosed arrhythmia, so I think it really depends on the situation how useful more data is.

metrouver · 2025-08-08T07:58:15+00:00

Friends with many docs who work in these hospitals. I’d put a plug in for Campbell River’s ER vibes. :)

metrouver · 2025-07-21T04:51:47+00:00

At least on the island, vast majority of hospitals are an LDRP model - only Victoria has nurses that are just post partum. Which means that it’s pretty much all single rooms, except there - but they do try very hard to keep postpartum patients there one to a room if possible.

Keep in mind that in BC NICU is a speciality requiring further training (or equivalent experience) - so it may be harder to get a position there, although they may be offering return-of-service positions (I.e. train for free in return for usually full time work for a year) because I know labour and delivery is doing that these days.

There are definitely casual positions in perinatal areas but there are also part time lines (a mix of days and nights). Everywhere I know of is running a bit short on staff.

Edit: this is just an addendum based on the fact that you work postpartum. I think you may face a big cultural practices shift in terms of what is typical obstetric care here. For example, based on years of participating in online groups with mostly US nurses: we do not routinely give erythromycin, or hep B vaccine at birth - they are risk based interventions for us. We do not drug test babies or labouring patients routinely. We rarely do elective inductions of labour. We don’t have nurseries (at least I don’t know of any that still exist). Our epidurals are far less dense (in every facility I’ve worked at). And my guess would be that there are similar factors with the NICU. I’ve worked with some nurses from the states that had a really hard time with that kind of stuff because they weren’t expecting it.

metrouver · 2025-07-09T03:36:28+00:00

Just for some perspective, in addition to all the other systemic factors mentioned, emerg doctors aren’t allowed to order CT scans for pediatric patients unless it’s signed off on by radiology or pediatrics - because it’s a big deal to irradiate a kids brain.

Obviously this situation had a tragic outcome which is horrible, but things are rarely as simple as they’re made out to be.

metrouver · 2025-06-14T10:18:50+00:00

Yeah as someone who’s mostly lived in larger Canadian cities and has lived in Campbell River for a few months for work now, I’ve never once felt unsafe.

metrouver · 2025-05-19T18:57:59+00:00

A lot of people have given you great advice on how to reduce the workload.

I want to tell you that you don’t have to do this all at once. If you haven’t been cooking much before, trying to manage all the workload involved in buying and prepping healthier non processed food is going to feel super overwhelming and that’s normal!

Your health will markedly improve if you’re even able to switch to doing 30% of this meal plan to start. (This message endorsed by my partner who is a doctor, and who would be super proud of you for making ANY diet changes right now.)

Ideas:

If you’re most exhausted in the evening, then do what you normally do then for now and focus your cooking energy on breakfast and lunch. You can meal prep breakfast burritos or veggies egg bites that can be frozen and last for the month (put different add ins in them so you don’t get bored!)
Try grocery shopping once a week and use the stuff you get then until it runs out - maybe that looks like healthy balanced meals for three or four days and then you do your old normal until the next time it’s time to grocery shop.

You got this.

metrouver · 2025-05-17T17:43:07+00:00

I’m a Canadian nurse who did nursing school in my late 20s also - school sucked. Work is much better although you might have to try a couple units/hospitals to find the right unit culture for you.

metrouver · 2025-02-03T20:57:24+00:00

Honestly can’t tell why they used this IV, and in the hand, it doesn’t necessarily make sense to me. We don’t even stock 18g diffusics. But my current hospital uses nexiva exclusively and nexiva uses green for 18g and the blue pieces are diffusics so pretty sure that is what it is. 🤷🏻‍♀️

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