Mental Health & The Election

[HeelingAg]

Oh, Prednisone will bring on alllll the negative emotion. I'm sure that's a major contributor. Plus the hurricane and its aftermath... you're really going through it! Hang in there...

Prednisone can be an absolute brutal muthafucka on mental health.

 

[UNCatTech]

If you Google mental health/anxiety and election, you will find dozens of news stories, websites, etc. in the recent days and weeks discussing how people are freaking out and letting their mental health deteriorate regarding the upcoming election.

I've said before that around 15 years ago, I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder. It's not something that affects me on the daily, like in an upfront way, but sometimes I will get in a bad mental space for a few weeks or months and then go years without problems. I usually get on an SSRI or tough it out when I'm in a bad state.

That aside, I'm fairly certain that this election is causing me to have physical symptoms of anxiety. My heart feeling like its skipped a beat, heat flashes, vertigo, upset stomach, etc. All of these things have been happening for the last handful of weeks.

Thus, instead of mainlining this stuff 24/7, I probably just need to check in periodically.

How's your mental health doing?

Rock, I hope that you are able to find the help you may need to deal with any issues you are working through.

I thank you for your work in bringing this board to life for us. Honestly this is great therapy for me.

 

[heelinhell]

My family has experience with so many different expressions of mental health issues, I've learned so much over the years and still know that I do not know enough.
I'm glad to see society seems to be heading the right direction with awareness and treatment, but we are a long way from having the tools to really deal with it. I just hope that we keep going.

At this time, I'm actually in an ok place, but my wife and I are having to deal with the impending passing of my father and how we are going to take care of my mother. So, there's always a challenge.

There is one thing. So many know the story of the struggles of my middle daughter. I'm so happy that she is doing really well. She put her opening a bakery on hold for now and took a job at Sams in the bakery about 7 months ago. She's already been promoted to shift manager and increased her salary 50%. But listening to her talk about work and dealing with customers and employees, you can tell that she learned so much from the therapy. She's very understanding, compassionate, and really reads people well. I think that she would make a great counselor. She's just in a good place right now and that makes my wife and my life much better.

This makes my day !

You may not remember but we had a few exchanges about your daughter a few years ago. I am so happy she is doing well. I confess I'm a bit tearful (in a good way) to hear she is ok.

And I agree that her understanding ,compassion, ability to read people well and empathize along with her own personal experience are qualities that would make for a great counselor

 

[UNCatTech]

Not to get off topic... but I have the absolute opposite reaction to weed. I get so weird and paranoid. It's not a positive experience for me, even at very low doses. I just can't understand everyone's love for the stuff.

I haven't smoked in at least 35 years; I just didn't like the lethargic feeling. If I were to do any drugs again, they would have to be a type of uppers maybe with some hallucinogenic effects.

 

[Paine]

I haven't spoked in at least 35 years; I just didn't like the lethargic feeling. If I were to do any drugs again, they would have to be a type of uppers maybe with some hallucinogenic effects.

I know it can come off as callous when weed smokers say you need to try another strain, but it may be true. I also use a dry vape (one where you load the bud into a glass stem and it heats it to your set temp) rather than smoking. I think a lot of lethargy comes from the side effects of combustion rather than the weed itself, though of course indica strains will make you more lethargic than sativa.

Look into some sativa THCa here in NC if you’re interested. WNC CBD has some good stuff and you can order online. I find that I get anxious with indica because it makes my whole body feel heavy, but sativa is a head high that is more energized, buzzy, and creative feeling.

 

[nycfan]

I have worked in an incredibly high stress job for over 25 years now. So I sort of thrive in a high stress environment by consuming as much available data as I can, pretty much non-stop. I am senior/old/in demand enough that I rarely pull all-nighters or go 48+ hours without sleep anymore, but I still am essentially on call 24/7. I do work to 10 or 11 and then get up at 3 am to check status or do calls overseas or whatever, but I delegate to associates in the gaps and get sleep. And the all-night pressure is not the same now as it was even 5 years ago.

As others here may tell you, being a Big Law transactional lawyer is not considered a healthy lifestyle choice, but I am who I am at this point.

Often (during business hours especially) I drop links and data here without comment b/c I don’t have time to analyze or respond, I’m kind of aggregating news as I do issue-spotting and counting on your responses to digest it for me by the time ai have capacity to read/respond to your reactions.

I just don’t want to poison you all with my high stress processing framework., though. Today, I’m feeling very guilty about that.

 

[superrific]

I feel I’ve been adversely affected. I think I suffer from trump derangement syndrome… which I can only assume is a thing. This can manifest itself with how I can be so short with conservatives on the boards. (This awesome new board, and IC ZZLP before). I’ve gone off on a couple folks at the gym where I go. Not proud of it. Embarrassed really.
I blasted my wife the other night, I was drunk. She said something that pissed me off. She took it remarkably well, ignored me, knew I was drunk, and I think she also believes I suffer from TDS. The next morning she calmly discussed it with me. Wants me to quit binging on election and negative trump shit. Again, I was embarrassed, remorseful, contrite, apologetic. But I was left wondering what the hell came over me? I mean, I was like Dr, Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Completely off my rocker.

I’ve been drunk before and my wife’s pissed me off, but I’ve never gone off like that before. I think I may need help.

All that said, I’ve been a total wreck the past two weeks due to hurricane, aftermath, searching for lost mother, trump, election, insurance adjusters, poor digestive health due to terrible diet during 8 days of no power, no water… eating a bunch of totally unhealthy shit. Been down in my back for over a week - 2 chiropractors, 2 massage therapists, trip to the Ortho for X-rays and now a round of prednisone (which I understand can make one cranky and hot-headed.)

I’m not in a good place and will feel much better after the election and we can dig out from under the hurricane shit here in WNC. Ain’t nobody having too much fun in WNC these days. I’m not. Tar Heel football sux. The damn Yankees and possibly the insufferable Dodgers or Mets are in the WS which really sux for a Braves fan… I guess I’ll quit bellyaching now…

Wow. That's a fucking lot to deal with. A lot of people would be in a bad place with all of that. I always find that sports team failures feel like the coup de grace for some reason. It's like, "my life is shit, everything is going wrong, and to top it all off, the Tar Heels suck." So I hear you on the football woes.

My advice: let the baseball go. I've been a Braves fan since the early 80s, so I get it. But the baseball playoffs are such a crap shoot that it barely even matters. It doesn't bother me if the Mets get a little taste of victory. Since about 1990, we've been kicking their ass up, down and around. The Dodgers purchased a ridiculous roster. Nobody can compete with that except by luck or Dodgers' injury. It's the way the game is. And it's been a long time since the Yanks had success, so they don't bother me like they used to.

Point is: the Braves are a pretty fucking good team to root for, all things considered. They consistently win, rarely suck, and do it all with a middling payroll. It's not like the Dodgers, whose season fails if they don't win the whole thing. The Braves do pretty well. This year, we got hammered with injuries.

 

[superrific]

I know it can come off as callous when weed smokers say you need to try another strain, but it may be true. I also use a dry vape (one where you load the bud into a glass stem and it heats it to your set temp) rather than smoking. I think a lot of lethargy comes from the side effects of combustion rather than the weed itself, though of course indica strains will make you more lethargic than sativa.

Look into some sativa THCa here in NC if you’re interested. WNC CBD has some good stuff and you can order online. I find that I get anxious with indica because it makes my whole body feel heavy, but sativa is a head high that is more energized, buzzy, and creative feeling.

Sativa >>> Indica.

 

[finesse]

I believe in equal rights.

 

[CFordUNC]

I have worked in an incredibly high stress job for over 25 years now. So I sort of thrive in a high stress environment by consuming as much available data as I can, pretty much non-stop. I am senior/old/in demand enough that I rarely pull all-nighters or go 48+ hours without sleep anymore, but I still am essentially on call 24/7. I do work to 10 or 11 and then get up at 3 am to check status or do calls overseas or whatever, but I delegate to associates in the gaps and get sleep. And the all-night pressure is not the same now as it was even 5 years ago.

As others here may tell you, being a Big Law transactional lawyer is not considered a healthy lifestyle choice, but I am who I am at this point.

Often (during business hours especially) I drop links and data here without comment b/c I don’t have time to analyze or respond, I’m kind of aggregating news as I do issue-spotting and counting on your responses to digest it for me by the time ai have capacity to read/respond to your reactions.

I just don’t want to poison you all with my high stress processing framework., though. Today, I’m feeling very guilty about that.

You should absolutely not feel guilty in any way, shape, or form. You have not done anything wrong. You don’t control how other posters’ manage and handle their emotions. Don’t put that on yourself.

The only slight thing I’d say is that because so many of your posts are posts of Twitter, and because Twitter has become essentially a slightly better version of 4chan at this point, I think it’s understandable that you are feeling a bit of doom and gloom. Anybody who spends that much time on Twitter would. Even Aaron Rupar is going through it!

 

[nycfan]

Wow. That's a fucking lot to deal with. A lot of people would be in a bad place with all of that. I always find that sports team failures feel like the coup de grace for some reason. It's like, "my life is shit, everything is going wrong, and to top it all off, the Tar Heels suck." So I hear you on the football woes.

My advice: let the baseball go. I've been a Braves fan since the early 80s, so I get it. But the baseball playoffs are such a crap shoot that it barely even matters. It doesn't bother me if the Mets get a little taste of victory. Since about 1990, we've been kicking their ass up, down and around. The Dodgers purchased a ridiculous roster. Nobody can compete with that except by luck or Dodgers' injury. It's the way the game is. And it's been a long time since the Yanks had success, so they don't bother me like they used to.

Point is: the Braves are a pretty fucking good team to root for, all things considered. They consistently win, rarely suck, and do it all with a middling payroll. It's not like the Dodgers, whose season fails if they don't win the whole thing. The Braves do pretty well. This year, we got hammered with injuries.

Here here about the Braves. I was so tense last season when the Braves lost to the Phils (my husband is a lifelong Phillies fan) I accidentally murdered a stress release ball and it leaked blood red goo everywhere. I decided to find a better approach to my baseball and sports fandom right then and it has helped — I think I was letting other stress explode via sports to the point I was magnifying rather than relieving other stress.

 

[Paine]

You should absolutely not feel guilty in any way, shape, or form. You have not done anything wrong. You don’t control how other posters’ manage and handle their emotions. Don’t put that on yourself.

The only slight thing I’d say is that because so many of your posts are posts of Twitter, and because Twitter has become essentially a slightly better version of 4chan at this point, I think it’s understandable that you are feeling a bit of doom and gloom. Anybody who spends that much time on Twitter would. Even Aaron Rupar is going through it!

Agree. I appreciate nycfan for dropping polls here precisely so I don’t have to use Twitter. It’s a cesspool.

 

[HeelingAg]

Sativa >>> Indica.

Well, that greatly depends.

I fucking hate the sativa experience. I’m not here for the wired munchies and alternating hyper-focus and flitting about. Drugs are a comedown for my purposes, and unless I want a mind expansion experience (mushrooms 2-3x/yr), their purpose is to help me melt into the couch or bed.

 

[superrific]

Well, that greatly depends.

I fucking hate the sativa experience. I’m not here for the wired munchies and alternating hyper-focus and flitting about. Drugs are a comedown for my purposes, and unless I want a mind expansion experience (mushrooms 2-3x/yr), their purpose is to help me melt into the couch or bed.

Fair enough. I mostly use it for erotic purposes, so the focus is a good thing for me, not a bad one.

 

[wmheel1287]

Not to get off topic... but I have the absolute opposite reaction to weed. I get so weird and paranoid. It's not a positive experience for me, even at very low doses. I just can't understand everyone's love for the stuff.

Same for me. I go crazy, can't talk, have weird zombie hand movements and generally am a miserable (sometimes crying) mess. It's a no for me.

 

[Peppers49]

I have worked in an incredibly high stress job for over 25 years now. So I sort of thrive in a high stress environment by consuming as much available data as I can, pretty much non-stop. I am senior/old/in demand enough that I rarely pull all-nighters or go 48+ hours without sleep anymore, but I still am essentially on call 24/7. I do work to 10 or 11 and then get up at 3 am to check status or do calls overseas or whatever, but I delegate to associates in the gaps and get sleep. And the all-night pressure is not the same now as it was even 5 years ago.

As others here may tell you, being a Big Law transactional lawyer is not considered a healthy lifestyle choice, but I am who I am at this point.

Often (during business hours especially) I drop links and data here without comment b/c I don’t have time to analyze or respond, I’m kind of aggregating news as I do issue-spotting and counting on your responses to digest it for me by the time ai have capacity to read/respond to your reactions.

I just don’t want to poison you all with my high stress processing framework., though. Today, I’m feeling very guilty about that.

You are an enigma, and I mean that in the most complimentary way possible lol

 

[superrific]

Here here about the Braves. I was so tense last season when the Braves lost to the Phils (my husband is a lifelong Phillies fan) I accidentally murdered a stress release ball and it leaked blood red goo everywhere. I decided to find a better approach to my baseball and sports fandom right then and it has helped — I think I was letting other stress explode via sports to the point I was magnifying rather than relieving other stress.

Yeah, sports can do that. That's what I find cruel about them, and why I kind of like it when the Heels have low expectations for a season.

The problem, of course, is that as a fan you want the team to win a championship, and thus losses are so much more painful than wins. And you're going to lose more often than not (l.e. not winning championship). So it can be a never ending loop of frustration.

One thing that I find helpful is the old Bill Simmons rule -- after your team wins a championship, you can't complain for five years. Of course, he broke that rule within 18 months, but whatever. So the Braves won a WS a couple of years ago. That puts us ahead of most other teams in baseball. We had our fun times. Now just take it as it comes and thank god you're not a Pirates fan.

I'm also a Rams fan. They won a SB a couple of years ago. Now they suck. It's OK, though. We won a SB! In fact, I was so close that year to a rare trifecta: Braves won WS, Rams won SB and Heels almost won March Madness.

 

[BillOfRights]

I feel I’ve been adversely affected. I think I suffer from trump derangement syndrome… which I can only assume is a thing. This can manifest itself with how I can be so short with conservatives on the boards. (This awesome new board, and IC ZZLP before). I’ve gone off on a couple folks at the gym where I go. Not proud of it. Embarrassed really.
I blasted my wife the other night, I was drunk. She said something that pissed me off. She took it remarkably well, ignored me, knew I was drunk, and I think she also believes I suffer from TDS. The next morning she calmly discussed it with me. Wants me to quit binging on election and negative trump shit. Again, I was embarrassed, remorseful, contrite, apologetic. But I was left wondering what the hell came over me? I mean, I was like Dr, Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Completely off my rocker.

I’ve been drunk before and my wife’s pissed me off, but I’ve never gone off like that before. I think I may need help.

All that said, I’ve been a total wreck the past two weeks due to hurricane, aftermath, searching for lost mother, trump, election, insurance adjusters, poor digestive health due to terrible diet during 8 days of no power, no water… eating a bunch of totally unhealthy shit. Been down in my back for over a week - 2 chiropractors, 2 massage therapists, trip to the Ortho for X-rays and now a round of prednisone (which I understand can make one cranky and hot-headed.)

I’m not in a good place and will feel much better after the election and we can dig out from under the hurricane shit here in WNC. Ain’t nobody having too much fun in WNC these days. I’m not. Tar Heel football sux. The damn Yankees and possibly the insufferable Dodgers or Mets are in the WS which really sux for a Braves fan… I guess I’ll quit bellyaching now…

That's ... A LOT.

You deserve an award just for making it to the end of each day. Seriously, I'm impressed, and your wife handled that amazingly well. We are only human. Give yourself some grace. Sometimes all you can do is put one foot in front of the other. Sometimes it can seem overwhelming. I find that just checking out for a minute, or 5, can help. Focus intensely on my breathing. Practice gratitude. We can do this.

 

[Paine]

Sativa >>> Indica.

I rarely, if ever, use indica. Either super high sativa strains for socializing, playing video games, etc. or sativa dominant hybrids if I want to relax. With the super high potency of weed these days, indica is just too much for me most of the time.

 

[finesse]

I'm mostly smoking THCA concentrates of various types like dabs, diamonds and isolate. Generally smoke it on top of THCA bud. Most of it is touted as being 99+%. I do have an ounce of delta 8 oil that is only about 95% and less potent in general. I have enough to make up the difference, though.