I think I need to write this on my wall. Or the insides of my eyelids.

Or on my bathroom mirror.

As a desktop for my home machine.

TOTALLY.

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{{{Scola}}} Here's to better days, for all of us that could use some. OK, now I feel a bit better about rejecting someone's story so harshly. But it was dreck absolutely. Maybe I read these things because I'm the only one who'll bring the hammer down?

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Oh, the past is a perfect predictor of the future, provided you keep living in the past an not move on. Yours truly being a prime example.

Continuing to live in the past makes sense on one level, because at least it's a known factor. Even if it's shitty upon shitty, it's familiar. Every crap-ass relationship I had prior to this one is a testament to that. t edit Dysfunction = "home," to me, for a long goddamn time. And even though it was nightmarish, it was still home.

Moving on? Is fucking HARD. And scary. It's unfamiliar and unknown, and that? Sucks.

So having disparaging thoughts about oneself for being slow with the moving on is unfair to oneself. That shit is hard.

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Question for those who know about pharmaceuticals: can Tramadol depress you (emotionally)? I know it does physically, but I was wondering about the mood element.

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can Tramadol depress you (emotionally)? I know it does physically, but I was wondering about the mood element.

I think that, in a general sense, anything that affects the central nervous system can also affect your mood. That's not to say that it always does, just that it wouldn't be unheard of.

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Thanks.

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Does anyone here take insulin? I suspect that's where I'm headed, and I'm dealing with probably old information in my head and a general sense of "If you took care of yourself, you loser, you wouldn't need this." How intrusive is it, am I doomed to be on the stuff forever, how much of a pain is it (literally and figuratively)?

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Connie, I'm not personally on insulin, but I have many diabetic family members. GENERALLY, once insulin is required, it's permanent. It isn't necessarily something that can be avoided by rigorous diet control, though the onset of its requirement can be delayed that way (and it's not a matter of "you're a loser with no self-control", either - the US food industry makes it nearly impossible to control sugar intake. You'd basically need to home-grow and home-prep EVERYTHING YOU EAT, EVER.)

And it's progressive. Some people progress really slowly, but again - generally - over time, the dosage must be increased. It's a nuisance of progressin: as you add insulin from outside, the pancreas starts producing LESS, and so forth.

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Thanks, all.

Scola and Sean, you're both awesome. Just thought it worth mentioning.

Someone suggest to me that I might had a test anxiety, after describing how Statistics final made me feel like: like I'm standing on the edge of a cliff, and all I have to take is one small step to do what they want me to do. It's not that I can't to it: it just that it seems totally irrational for me to do so.

However, I didn't really freeze today. Just sometimes had to stare at a problem for 10 minutes, to realize it's Very Simple Shit and spend 30 seconds solving it and writing it down.

I don't know - can you even have a test anxiety for just one subject? I seriously don't have any problem whatsoever with memorizing 900+ years of historical or philosophical narratives, as long as they're not in a form of equation.

And given that now I kindda want to switch from being an information management girl to web analyst, it kindda sucks.

Also, the Whigs' tribute album with hot mocha and cool breeze is wonderful.

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As always, Tom Scola and Teppy are both wise and loving.

connie,

"If you took care of yourself, you loser, you wouldn't need this."

is not only something you have no way to actually know for sure, but even if factually true, the kind of thought that is singularly useless for living a healthy, happy life in the Now (see above discussion of the Past as a place of residence). From my observations of loved ones who have used it, it is a smidge more fuss and bother than continual testing, maybe on a par with, say, a nebulizer. If your body currently needs injections of that hormone in order to have optimal functioning right now, it is no less a failure to do it than for someone whose brain chemistry is messed up to take psychotropic meds.

As for being doomed to use it forever, I can't predict that. You might wish to check out Richard K. Bernstein's book [link] Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution. I believe he discusses ways to eat that will reduce, if not eliminate, the need for using insulin. But you may find it is more restrictive than you care for.

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