#patho replies

@saint-ripu said:

Patho, does opium itself cause the same sort of symptoms, or is it its own subject? I have my character Atlas who canonly fights a dependence on opium, but I skip it a lot because I don’t have this kind of amazing knowledge on the drug.

As far as I know, yes, straight opium and medications containing opium (like laudanum, for example) have the same side effects as opium derivatives, and also result in similar withdrawal effects if physical dependence or addiction is a factor. An opium overdose will also lead to the same problems you see with other narcotics.

:u but why?

You mean why did she hit me? I don’t fucking know. She’d been brought in for aggressive behavior in the first place and was super upset and remorseful by the time she got to the ED, and we had a really long talk about how aggression wouldn’t be tolerated in the ED and we’d be cool with her if she’d be cool with us. All standard stuff for the folks brought in for aggressive behavior who are calm by the time they get to the department. She was totally chill for over two hours until I asked to verify a phone number so we could work on getting her a ride home, at which point she straight up fucking hit me hard enough to knock everything I was holding onto the floor.

I also got a bipolar diagnosis & got put on a lot of different meds that fucked me up. How ADHD presents in women I think gets brushed off as other shit. I hope the adderall helps <3

Oh my god, you too? That’s bananas. I wonder how common it is for women with ADHD to get misdiagnosed as bipolar. Even at the time I didn’t really feel like it was a diagnosis that fit, but I figured hey, this person has a psychiatry degree and presumably knows a hell of a lot more about this shit than I do. But eventually I hit a point where the idea of having a psychotic break if I stopped the meds was honestly preferable to doing so much horrible, horrible shit to my poor defenseless liver, and so I dropped that psychiatrist and stopped the meds and...SURPRISE!!! Turns out I’m not bipolar after all!!!

(every psych person I’ve seen since has responded with, “no?????? you’re not???????” whenever I mention that particular diagnosis, which is simultaneously encouraging and depressing)

I just got my ADHD diagnosis and Adderall XR a couple of months ago. Nobody thought anything was wrong with me until everything festered into depression. I was on meds for anxiety and depression for YEARS, which didn't treat the underlying problem. Wasn't till I saw ADHD bingo and similar posts on this hell site that I was like hm...maybe I have this... After going on Adderall, I’ve found that my anxiety has mostly vanished because it was due to not being able to get shit done. The only exception is when I have coffee in addition to the Adderall, and then I’m down for a Bad Time.    

Apparently my psychiatrist had been circling around the idea for a few months, but wanted to wait until he was relatively sure before we added another diagnosis and a new medication to the mix, particularly since I didn’t do well at ALL when we tried anti-anxiety medications.

And then I had a session where I spent a lot of time talking about how I always feel like I’m perpetually spinning my wheels and getting nothing done whatsoever and feeling like I can’t focus and always stalling out on projects and being so painfully aware of deadlines but procrastinating anyway and then freaking out about the procrastinating, and once I wound down he was like, “hey, can you fill this questionnaire out for me real quick?” and...BOY HOWDY, DO I EVER MEET CRITERIA.

thankfully amphetamine is active and not especially subtle in a way most pharmaceuticals aren't, so you should know pretty soon whether it agrees with you or not.

Yeah, that’s more or less what my psychiatrist and the pharmacist both said. A lot of my anxiety seems to circle around things like executive dysfunction and whatnot (IMAGINE THAT) and so it’s entirely likely the meds will actually help with that side of it, but...stimulants are still stimulants. A feeling of low-level, free-floating physical anxiety is definitely something I can manage; a full-blown panic attack, on the other hand, is something I’d prefer to avoid if I can help it.

Why isn't this a thing yet? XD

“You’re more than welcome to take the couch,” Frank says without looking up from his laptop. “I’ll be up late working on this anyway, and I’d hate to disturb your beauty rest.”

The aforementioned couch is a massive leather monstrosity lurking in the other room of the suite. He’s relatively sure it folds out into a bed, and he’s likewise sure it’s a hell of a lot nicer than his own bed at home, which isn’t so much a bed as it is a blanket nest piled atop a mattress and box-spring he bought off the internet five years ago. Hell, if Jensen were anyone but Jensen, Frank would probably offer to take the couch himself.

Unfortunately, Jensen is very much Jensen, which means he’s currently stretched out next to Frank on the bed, drinking a whiskey and reviewing his notes on the conference and showing a completely unnecessary amount of skin. The little smirk he gives when Frank finally looks up to see if he’s listening is also completely unnecessary, largely because it does unfortunate things to Frank’s hindbrain.

“Beauty rest, huh?” Jensen says. He sounds amused.

“So?” Jensen’s smirk widens. Frank kinda wants to punch him, but that would involve touching and Jensen appears to have developed a pathological allergy to shirts. “What? What’s so funny?”

are you me? i'm frantically re-organizing my entire desk/office situation out of no where tonight. JUST SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA I GUESS

you know how it is. you’re drinking a beer, chatting with a few of your pals online about various fandom things, and sUDDENLY YOU NEED TO CLEAN EVERYTHING RIGHT THIS SECOND RIGHT NOW WE ARE AT DEFCON ONE PEOPLE THIS IS HAPPENING!!!!!!

what fandom is this because i really want to read it

it’s a story for John Scalzi’s novel “Redshirts” (which is basically a self-aware Star Trek AU featuring original characters anyway, so it lends itself nicely to fic using ALL OF THE TROPES)