Quark

This is why you are not exempt from statements about “all men” even if you are overall good.

You benefit from the bar constantly being lowered by systemic issues within the gender.

i HATE self-censorship for a lot of reasons, but being in crisis work makes it even more frustrating. who are you censoring for? like i am being so fr, WHO are you censoring for? have you even thought it through? people who have been raped know that they have been raped. if someone attempts suicide or is grieving someone who did, saying "sewer slide" isn't going to protect them from any of the feelings. a murder victim's family isn't going to feel better bc you said "unalived" instead of murdered. if anything, it's just extremely invalidating and othering. it's saying "what happened to you is so bad that i won't even say the word," which is NOT trauma-informed care. you are not protecting survivors/victims when you self-censor. the ONLY things you protect when you self-censor are the puritanical ideologies that are being encouraged by rich fascists who want your money and obedience

As someone who has epilepsy and used to have several grand mal seizures a day, I’d also like to add that “offer help” can range anywhere from keeping the person calm to explaining to them where they are and what they were doing to even just telling them they should sit and rest for a while longer (lack or coordination is common, and it can be hard to walk straight or see clearly).

It’s okay for them to take up to a half hour to fully regain their bearings and sort out what they were doing prior to the seizure. Just answer any questions calmly and be there for support.

If they come around and you start to panic or shake them or ask them what the heck is wrong with them they are going to freak out and panic too.

I cannot stress it enough that this is bad.

DO NOT CALL THE POLICE. I’m dead fucking serious. I had a grand mal in public once and the POLICE were called and imagine coming out of the seizure, feeling like you got smacked in the head with a sack full of bricks, confused, dazed, in desperate need of some sugar to boost low blood pressure and some DIPSHIT has called the police and I was being threatened with being ‘drunk and disorderly’. It took a phone call to my doctors office to get them to back off. The police cannot properly deal with sick people. 

Offer help can be:

assuring person where they are/what time it is

getting them something to drink if they can; seizure burns so much energy and does cause a blood pressure drop

getting them safely to transport or a carer

getting them some dignity like a blanket/towel [loosing control of your bladder and bowels is fucking horrifying]

ensuring they have a way to get home. Someone who has just had a seizure should NEVER DRIVE straight after

calling emergency services if you notice any of these symptoms because they may have stroked out.

Why you shouldn’t put anything in someone’s mouth: they will choke. Yes, they may bite their tongue but I can assure you it’s less traumatic than cracking your jaw on someone’s greasy wallet or choking on a spoon.

Because PNES seizures aren’t caused by the same thing as epileptic seizures, they can look similar but people can be semi-conscious during them, generally do not lose full control of their bodies (bladder/bowels and other reflexes remain), and importantly, they can last longer than 5 minutes (even hours) without causing long-term damage.

The “do not call the police” point was especially vital for them, because people with PNES are more vulnerable to medical abuse by professionals who think they are “faking” because the seizure isn’t epileptic, and a person with PNES may have medical trauma from being treated cruelly by doctors, family members, etc. while seizing in the past. This study looked at stigma around PNES (also called functional seizures; I’m using PNES because its what my coworker called it):

Literature suggests that it can take years for patients to finally get a diagnosis of FS, but once they receive the diagnosis, it is often met with negative stereotypes and perceptions that lead to stigmatisation and treatment resistance. […] Moreover, with 34 of the 70 included data sources reflecting HCP [healthcare professional] stigma, one of the main themes that arose from this review illustrated the importance of HCPs’ acknowledgement and acceptance of their role in both perpetuating and reducing FS stigma. From our review it became apparent that HCPs’ negative attitudes towards patients with FS persist in the health community, often because of a lack of knowledge, general awareness, understanding and medical training with regards to this disorder

For my coworker, they expressed that one of the most important things for them was to just not be alone, to have someone verbally saying they were with them and it would be alright, and then to be supported according to their needs once the seizure ended. Their seizures were often triggered by stress, or from trauma triggers, so being treated with compassion, having their body respected, and having a calm environment during and after the seizure were very important.

some quick fun facts for you!

whales originally evolved from a kind of wolf with hooves called Pakicetus

their closest living relatives are even-toed ungulates such as hippos (unsurprising) and cows (very surprising)

baleen whales (the ones with giant hairbrush mouths) are called 'mysticeti' which translates to 'moustache whales'

the latin name for the blue whale, the largest creature to have ever lived on earth, bigger than all dinosaurs, is 'balaenoptera musculus' which translates literally to 'little mouse whale'

Southern right whales are so friendly they are surprisingly dangerous to dive with. They can't properly hug so they say hi by gently swimming by and rubbing their side against the side of their new friend. Unfortunately they are the size of a truck and 'gentle' for them is 'equivalent to being kicked by a horse' for you

the humpback whale has the longest limb on earth - its pectoral flippers can be 5 metres (16 feet) in length. The edges of these flippers are covered in sharp barnacles, essentially giving them knives for arms. You sometimes see predatory ocean-going dolphins (orca, false killer whales, pilot whales) with scars as a result of getting slashed by a humpback

humpback whales don't just use their knife-arms to defend themselves! They've been observed protecting other whale species, seals, and even people!

sperm whales are the largest toothed predators on the planet however they do not use their teeth to eat - they feed on squid by suction! the teeth are for mating rights duels and it's relatively common to see male sperm whales with broken or deformed lower jaws

whales still have hip bones! they are tiny and undeveloped and not connected to the rest of the skeleton

the bowhead whale lives in and around the arctic. its blubber (insulating fat in place of fur) can be 50cms thick and it has a special organ in its mouth to prevent this insanely thick blubber from causing it hypothermia! the organ is very sensitive to temperature, so when it opens its mouth to feed the cold arctic water flows over the organ and allows cooled-down blood to travel around the whale's body

sperm whales can control their buoyancy! they have this big ol' contraption in their huge heads called the spermaceti organ (it's white and liquid. early whalers thought it was a weird giant head testicle. this is where the name comes from) that is a very flammable wax, and blood washing over it makes it liquid while restricting blood turns it solid! this is what allows them to dive to depths of nearly two kilometres. they can hold their breath for an hour and a half

they are very cool and weird and I love them ever so much but sadly most whale species are endangered :( many of them were hunted to near-extinction for their oil, and as they reproduce similarly to humans (long pregnancies producing one baby every two-to-ten years) their population recovery rate is very slow :(

many die from getting tangled in fishing equipment, many more from ship strikes, some are starving because they're accidentally eating plastic waste that's wound up in the ocean, and most recently, human presence in the oceans is causing all sorts of noise that confuses, distresses, and even deafens them! some deep-diving whales have been found dead from the Bends, the same condition we see in human divers who surface too quickly without adjusting to the water pressure. It's painful and scary :(

you can help! buy certified dolphin-safe fish, dispose of your rubbish safely, and check out your local conservation societies! a lot of them are working to trace whale migration routes so we can reroute our shipping away from them, and others are protesting against Navy SONAR tests in the ocean

Stunner fact: sperm whale echolocation is loud enough to shake a human's organs apart at close range and they are in fact the loudest animals on earth :o

Scunner fact: squishy :/

Megafauna are so cool!!

some quick fun facts for you!

whales originally evolved from a kind of wolf with hooves called Pakicetus

their closest living relatives are even-toed ungulates such as hippos (unsurprising) and cows (very surprising)

baleen whales (the ones with giant hairbrush mouths) are called 'mysticeti' which translates to 'moustache whales'

the latin name for the blue whale, the largest creature to have ever lived on earth, bigger than all dinosaurs, is 'balaenoptera musculus' which translates literally to 'little mouse whale'

Southern right whales are so friendly they are surprisingly dangerous to dive with. They can't properly hug so they say hi by gently swimming by and rubbing their side against the side of their new friend. Unfortunately they are the size of a truck and 'gentle' for them is 'equivalent to being kicked by a horse' for you

the humpback whale has the longest limb on earth - its pectoral flippers can be 5 metres (16 feet) in length. The edges of these flippers are covered in sharp barnacles, essentially giving them knives for arms. You sometimes see predatory ocean-going dolphins (orca, false killer whales, pilot whales) with scars as a result of getting slashed by a humpback

humpback whales don't just use their knife-arms to defend themselves! They've been observed protecting other whale species, seals, and even people!

sperm whales are the largest toothed predators on the planet however they do not use their teeth to eat - they feed on squid by suction! the teeth are for mating rights duels and it's relatively common to see male sperm whales with broken or deformed lower jaws

whales still have hip bones! they are tiny and undeveloped and not connected to the rest of the skeleton

the bowhead whale lives in and around the arctic. its blubber (insulating fat in place of fur) can be 50cms thick and it has a special organ in its mouth to prevent this insanely thick blubber from causing it hypothermia! the organ is very sensitive to temperature, so when it opens its mouth to feed the cold arctic water flows over the organ and allows cooled-down blood to travel around the whale's body

sperm whales can control their buoyancy! they have this big ol' contraption in their huge heads called the spermaceti organ (it's white and liquid. early whalers thought it was a weird giant head testicle. this is where the name comes from) that is a very flammable wax, and blood washing over it makes it liquid while restricting blood turns it solid! this is what allows them to dive to depths of nearly two kilometres. they can hold their breath for an hour and a half

they are very cool and weird and I love them ever so much but sadly most whale species are endangered :( many of them were hunted to near-extinction for their oil, and as they reproduce similarly to humans (long pregnancies producing one baby every two-to-ten years) their population recovery rate is very slow :(

many die from getting tangled in fishing equipment, many more from ship strikes, some are starving because they're accidentally eating plastic waste that's wound up in the ocean, and most recently, human presence in the oceans is causing all sorts of noise that confuses, distresses, and even deafens them! some deep-diving whales have been found dead from the Bends, the same condition we see in human divers who surface too quickly without adjusting to the water pressure. It's painful and scary :(

you can help! buy certified dolphin-safe fish, dispose of your rubbish safely, and check out your local conservation societies! a lot of them are working to trace whale migration routes so we can reroute our shipping away from them, and others are protesting against Navy SONAR tests in the ocean

Grace: ....What?

Rocky: Grace not know own earth greatest mafia movie ever made question?

Grace: .......