fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #5097 ]

[ SECRET POST #5097 ]

⌈ Secret Post #5097 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 45 secrets from Secret Submission Post #730.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Because I need some. Maybe you do too?

Hi!

I've been having depression for a while, and a doctor prescribed it to me. He was super casual about it and I got the impression he prescribes it liberally.

I talked to two friends who take it. One said she suffered no side effects, and it helped her a lot.

The other said the side effects will be severe and that it should only be taken as a last resort.

Did you try it, did it help, and how bad were the side effects?

I'd consider that to be a pretty heavy duty drug (brand name is Zoloft).

Have never taken it or anything like it.

Basic info:
https://www.medicinenet.com/sertraline/article.htm#what_are_the_side_effects_of_zoloft

User reviews:
https://www.everydayhealth.com/drugs/zoloft/reviews

I took it for a while! Here's my experience-- I had very few negative side effects, and after the two-week balance out period, I felt that it worked very well. Until it didn't. I noticed a slow backslide was happening after about... nine months or so, I guess? So I went to my doc, who said that could happen, so she upped my dose. Two weeks later, things were golden!

Until they weren't. So she upped my dose again.

I did that two more times before I was like "...ok we can't just keep increasing the dosage FOREVER, so clearly this isn't working??"

It's a shame, because those golden patches were genuinely just... amazing. They just didn't last.

The one I had the most luck with, both in terms of how I felt and how it lasted, was Cymbalta (duloxitine). An SNRI as opposed to an SSRI, but that was apparently what I needed. Horrible insomnia for a couple of weeks as I got used to that, though. Woof.

Try it. I had a lot of side effect - sleepy, no energy, a weird taste.
If you dont trust the doctor better go to another. Tell the doctor that you're afraid of side effects, see what they say.

Re: Experience with sertraline?

(Anonymous) - 2020-12-20 00:19 (UTC) - Expand

I've been on sertraline for a year now and it's been very helpful with few side effects, moreso than any other antidepressant I've taken. Ime, these meds are like any other meds and it may work for you or it may not. You don't really know how your body will react until you try.

It was the first SSRI I took and it literally saved my life. Then after a couple of years it stopped working so well. I understand that's common for SSRIs, you need to keep switching to different ones. Since then I've been on Prozac and Celexa.

I had side effects—head sweating, weird sensations in my body, changes in my sex drive and orgasms. They were bearable.

The sexual side effects were the most noticeable. My initiatory sex drive just disappeared. I went from wanting to masturbate once a day to wanting it once a week or so. It became much harder to have orgasms...but on the bright side, once I got there I had multiples, which I hadn't been able to do before.

I left a response on yesterdays advice thread with some links, idk if you saw it.

I was on sertraline for nearly five years, but it was half of the lowest dose they manufacture. I did not have any side effects that I noticed, and I'm sensitive to medications and if there's a freak side effect, I'm likely to find it. In fact, the reason I was on it was because it was the only antidepressant at the time that didn't make my suicidal ideation worse.

The sertraline helped a tiny bit, but roughly a year ago, the psychologist who oversees my therapy suggested trying Effexor. That's been like magic for me. My doctor and I worked on the dosage because a high enough dose makes it impossible for me to sleep, but at the right dosage, my suicidal ideation is just gone. It only creeps back when it's almost time for the next dose. So it's still there, but at least I'm no longer in a perpetual wrestling match.

Antidepressants are a pure crap shoot 99% of the time. Just don't be afraid to speak up if one isn't working for you, ASAP.

Any tips on how to deal with a very specific type of anxiety?

I am not a nervous or cautious person typically. I have no problem with the typical triggers for anxiety, such as making phone calls or traveling alone. I've even walked home alone on unlit streets after midnight. You might call me a moron with little self-preservation instinct! However, when it comes to something that could directly impact my immediate professional/academic future, I am a complete basket case. It took about a year and a half at my current job before my boss saying, "can we talk?" didn't just stop me dead in my tracks. This past week, I reached out to two profs I liked from undergrad regarding possible graduate school recommendations and now that they've responded, I just cannot make myself look at those e-mails. I shoved them into a separate folder in my work inbox on Thursday and that was the last I saw them.

tl;dr how do I stop being such a complete weenie.

I'd also love any advice regarding grad school/pursuing MAs in general. Let me drink in your wisdom, educated anons.

You remind me a lot of myself. I'd just suggest ripping the bandaid off. Open the email and you'll have no choice but to read it. It's unlikely they'll have refused to help. I reached out to five professors and all but one wrote me recommendation letters. You just gotta open the email. That's my opinion.

Eat the frog, anon. Line up at least one thing you enjoy doing for afterwards. Then first thing one morning just do it.

Re: Advice

(Anonymous) - 2020-12-19 23:24 (UTC) - Expand

I agree this might be one of those rip-off-the-bandaid situations, because waiting won't make it easier - it'll just give yourself more time to be anxious and conjure up worst case possible scenarios.

Or, if you have a friend you trust, have them open the e-mail and break the news?

I went through a phase when I opened stressful emails on a library computer. It gave me that little bit of distance. I was very careful to log out of my account afterwards!

tbh this is a bit weird but, if there's an email I'm scared to read, I'll wake up in the middle of the night to read it. If it's good, yay! I can go back to sleep delighted and if it's bad, I can cry myself to sleep and, when I wake up in the morning, it never feels quite as bad.

A friend of mine has this same problem about emails. Sometimes she'll ask me to be on the phone with her while she opens the scary email.

Re: Advice

(Anonymous) - 2020-12-20 10:26 (UTC) - Expand

I left this comment on the last secret post but it was too late, so I'll ask again haha.

I have a problem of self isolation since forever. Been meaning to change it and starting though fandom could be helpful! Any tips of where to look to people? And also how to sound approachable?

I don't know where fandom is now either but from my experience with fandom, it's easy to ease into it if you start with finding the communities and then commenting on posts, just getting comfortable speaking up.

Find the people you like and want to talk to and start being a nuisance. Some of them will be more enthusiastic than othes. Don't wait fo people to notice you first.

Any writers have experience with Patreon? What was it like and how did you promote yourself? How much did you find you could make off of it?

I'm finally going to buy one, and I was wondering if anyone has a particular brand the prefer? I'm looking to get a bidet attachment (not the seat or a standalone) or maybe a nozzle?

I was just curious if anyone has a bidet they would recommend, and if you happen to have a version with "feminine wash" how that has been (if not, but you use it for the front as well as the back, how has it been?).

Thanks, if anyone replies.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/71/47/c7/7147c711fc3af138035b83dfa9eace35.jpg

I have a small washing basin and a nozzle. A metal one is more durable but heavier. I switched to a metal one after the plastic one became worn down then to a platic one again.

I prefer the handle on the inside.

This's the model I have rn:
https://cdn10.bigcommerce.com/s-0ihhf/products/103/images/321/sprayerimages__05198.1407442838.560.850.jpg?c=2

Re: Bidets?

(Anonymous) - 2020-12-20 16:44 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Bidets?

(Anonymous) - 2020-12-21 00:50 (UTC) - Expand

I'm a very recent convert, but I love the bidet I currently have:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RSTY8R2/ref=sspa_dk_detail_4?pd_rd_i=B07RSTY8R2&pd_rd_w=BrpIb&pf_rd_p=48d372c1-f7e1-4b8b-9d02-4bd86f5158c5&pd_rd_wg=4Tm0Y&pf_rd_r=81QK6HJD98B0C95R9PSD&pd_rd_r=03bfe268-35be-41e1-8a6d-7b990c7ac68b&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExMFNENzhDTUE3QktEJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMjczNDAwMk5NUUgzUzFFSjVSVyZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMTI2NDc4MUI0WlBRNkNHSlFTUSZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2RldGFpbCZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU&th=1

It comes with everything you need to install, though I had to have building maintenance do it since once I get on the floor, there's no getting up. But it's relatively straightforward, and the instructions were clear.

Shutting it on and off at the t-valve easily becomes habit. It's like turning a faucet on and off. For guests, they don't have to use the bidet, and even with a bidet, you'll still need a little toilet paper to mop up the water since a handheld doesn't have a dryer for afterward. Unless you go for a dedicated rag or cloth for the job, that is!

I use it for both the back and the front, but I sanitize the end of the nozzle after I use it for the back because I'm paranoid and prone to UTIs.

The only downside I've found is that since it's just a nozzle, there's no heating function. So if you live somewhere with cold weather, it can get a bit.. brisk. Especially in the front.

I really wish I'd been brave enough to make the switch much earlier. I don't know if I could ever go back to just toilet paper or wet wipes.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ SECRET POST #5097 ]

Advice

Just waiting for the thread to collapse

Experience with sertraline?

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Bidets?

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