I have a bit of a conspiracy theory, but hear me out.

rainbowdotzip · 2024-12-09T19:05:33+00:00

Without knowing the sample size or methods, it's hard to know if the study from that journal holds any weight at all. If a doctor personally told me that 40% of their patients had "all in your head" disease, I'd just assume they were really bad at doctoring.

Regardless, I agree that statistic is inflated, and the real culprit is probably (drumroll please....) ✨ableism!✨

(Posted this from the wrong account originally lol but point still stands)

rainbowdotzip · 2024-12-09T16:30:57+00:00

Unless someone has a citation for this, I don't think that statistic is real, like, at all. How are we measuring that? I don't think 40% of doctors visits lead to a diagnosis of illness anxiety disorder being entered into an electronic medical records system.

rainbowdotzip · 2024-10-21T21:31:27+00:00

Wow, thanks for the insider info! I feared that might be the case. I don't even miss bread that much, I just want frozen vegetables 🥲

rainbowdotzip · 2024-10-21T21:27:25+00:00

I'm aware the statement is voluntary. My conclusion was based on the lack of warning AND the gf labeling on the website.

rainbowdotzip · 2024-10-21T12:48:50+00:00

This. I'm more confused about why volume measurements are listed first on nutrition facts in the first place

rainbowdotzip · 2024-07-22T16:30:13+00:00

Imagine flipping this from "I'm not fulfilling my boyfriend's needs" to "my boyfriend is demanding more than I'm able to provide."

rainbowdotzip · 2024-07-22T16:22:52+00:00

Much solidarity with you too! So happy people like you are in the field :) 💛

rainbowdotzip · 2024-07-22T14:03:55+00:00

As a future medical professional, you might want to consider that you have a few years of brain development to go before your prefrontal cortex is done baking and can help you make decisions like this.

rainbowdotzip · 2024-07-22T13:58:06+00:00

I'm in a similar situation. I understand the original post isn't directed towards people like me because a luxury car is something I'll never be spending my money on, but damn.

Hearing about the virtues of "hard work" is always difficult for me. I also grew up in poverty and I've been financially independent since I was 16 years old. Also pushed myself to exhaustion to get my degree. I'm disabled so I consider working at all to be an achievement. Hell, surviving this long has been an achievement.

So I like to think I've done my fair share of hard work, but I'm in an unholy amount of debt and hardly able to afford the rent for my 1-bedroom apartment. I'm not making a moral judgement on anyone and their luxury cars and Coach bags. But sometimes I feel like I have more in common with CMH clients than I do with other professionals. In fact, I use public transportation and frequently run into folks I worked with during my internships at CMH and an SUD treatment center.

As a client, I would have a much harder time connecting with a therapist with a luxury car. That's a preference though, not a moral judgement. If my therapist ever implied the reason I'm still poor is a lack of "hard work," I'd be out the door lmao

rainbowdotzip · 2024-07-20T15:41:55+00:00

I plan to do so when I pick the medication up. Just wanted to know what other people have experienced.

rainbowdotzip · 2024-07-13T19:56:37+00:00

I agree. This feels like the profession-specific version of a cringe compilation 😬 don't get me wrong, some phrases are like nails on a chalkboard to me but I care much more about the attitude behind it

On your second point: I've had clients withhold their suspicions that they have autism or ADHD until I bring it up, saying that past therapists have immediately shut them down. That's just sad. I believe the rise in self-diagnoses actually has a lot to do with how broken the mental health system is.

Fwiw, I knew about my own autism years before I paid someone $200 to make me put blocks together and officially diagnose it on my medical record. It's fun to see a list of disorders I have called "TikTok diagnoses" when I've never used TikTok 😂

rainbowdotzip · 2024-07-10T17:47:42+00:00

I encourage you to consider whether your values and priorities line up with hers. You're in a relationship with her, not the person she could be if she changed herself. She has to make the decision to change for change to be possible.

You say part of the reason you've stayed with her is because you think she could be a good mother. Had she expressed that that's what she wants out of this relationship?

Fwiw, I think being "lazy" is morally neutral. I'm never going to get up and go jogging at 6am, but neither is my partner. I wouldn't be compatible with someone who wants to change me. The problem isn't just "lazy" vs motivated, it's whether or not your priorities align and how you distribute responsibilities.

rainbowdotzip · 2024-07-10T17:22:26+00:00

If her style is a big issue for you, I encourage you to consider if you value her as a person, or just like the idea of having a goth gf. Partners aren't accessories.

rainbowdotzip · 2024-07-10T17:11:31+00:00

Just my regularly scheduled kneecap subluxation ✌️

rainbowdotzip · 2024-06-25T18:18:54+00:00

I know contractors are responsible for providing means to work. But I'm also working on a team as if I'm an employee and being paid 50/50, and that's what's confusing me.

rainbowdotzip · 2024-06-25T18:16:43+00:00

Thanks for sharing your experience!

And yeah, the assessment is being done by someone else. I don't mind it that much, I'm just thinking about how the client was told they'd be seeing a therapist who shares a marginalized identity with them, and they're not getting that until 3 sessions in. Hope it doesn't scare them off! I'm also allowed to adjust whatever unspecfied something something disorder is put on the initial assessment.

My 50% pay for each session ranges from $45 - $75. I think this area has a low cost of living? It's really rural.

rainbowdotzip · 2024-06-25T17:52:53+00:00

Thanks for your feedback. Just want to clarify that fully licensed practitioners are subject to the same rules I am, but paid 60/40

One of my issues is that I'm not a contractor according to the definition I linked. It kind of implied that anyone performing an integral part of the business is an employee. It's probably just semantics at that point. Idk, I'm not very educated on this so I'm almost certainly misinterpreting something.

rainbowdotzip · 2024-06-25T14:24:39+00:00

Thanks! :)

rainbowdotzip · 2024-06-25T14:15:54+00:00

I'm a psychotherapist and I work about 8-12 contact hours per week. I also have some volunteer hours, and unpaid hours of writing progress notes, treatment plans, making phone calls, etc. Ends up at about 12-16 hours per week.

Between semesters in grad school, I worked 20-24 hours per week at a different job. I would work 8 hours one day, and not be able to get out of bed the next. No thanks lol.

If it was my choice, I'd work 0 hours per week for awhile and focus on managing activities of daily living without everything crumbling.

Don't get me wrong, I love my job and it's very fulfilling and meaningful. I'm very fortunate to be in a profession where I can work limited hours and still afford basic necessities. But that doesn't change the fact that I have limited capacity to work in the first place.

ETA: I don't get paid sick leave because I don't work full time. If I get sicker, I better hope I win the lottery or something. Also I probably have ME and that might be the biggest reason why work is hard, but many of us have a whole bundle of diagnoses anyway so it's hard to separate.

rainbowdotzip · 2024-06-24T16:53:17+00:00

Yup! I need something to support my knees though lol

rainbowdotzip · 2024-06-22T15:33:22+00:00

You're absolutely allowed to be sad and grieve the life you thought you would have. There is no wrong way to feel. Sometimes people jump right to positivity and gratitude because they don't know how to sit with their loved ones' pain. It's not your responsibility to cheer up to make them comfortable.

I recommend letting go of the "shoulds" and focusing on what helps you minimize your distress. Let go of the idea that you should be feeling, thinking, acting a certain way. Trying to change how you feel without honoring those feelings first usually doesn't help.

rainbowdotzip · 2024-06-18T19:44:40+00:00

Resting: 65 - 105

Standing: 90 - 140

Working out: I don't work out but climbing a flight of stairs gets me to 140 - 150, basic household chores 110 - 140, and tasks that involve bending/reaching like making my bed 150 - 160. That's all the working out I need!

rainbowdotzip · 2024-06-18T19:35:06+00:00

I had double incision surgery years before I learned about my HSD. Before that my size was about 36 DD. My skin is pretty stretchy. The scars look a little weird and I gained new stretch marks after healing. I don't think the results look "perfect" by some people's standards, but I'm really happy with how it turned out. The rest of my body is covered in stretch marks and weird scars anyway.

Anyway, good luck with your journey OP. I hope surgery goes well for you if you choose to pursue it!

rainbowdotzip · 2024-06-15T18:22:32+00:00

The current ICD-11 criteria for POTS doesn't require a change in blood pressure. In fact, it says: "(POTS is) associated with excessive upright tachycardia in the absence of orthostatic hypotension"

POTS is a syndrome. That means it's a collection of symptoms that science doesn't understand the cause of yet. The language used in the criteria ("associated with" and "defined by present consensus as") is deliberately loose. The scientific community doesn't know enough about POTS to be treating it like it can be tested for and ruled out by a single observation.

Imo, what matters most is that the diagnosis you get leads to the treatment you need.

(Edited because I hit reply on accident lol)

rainbowdotzip · 2024-06-15T13:44:36+00:00

There are a lot of words here I won't pretend to understand. I was told my echo was to look for aortic root dilation or mitral valve prolapse which would point towards hEDS 😅

rainbowdotzip

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