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Ouch.

@whumpingmydarlings

Sam | They/Them| Lover of BREAD | 20s
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arahir

you! the person reading this! please tell me one good thing that happened to you today

My dad sent me to his That Guy for a new headlight because my guy was like “oh yeah you have to take off the whole bumper” (spoiler: no you don’t) and he just finished, and I asked how much it was and he said my dad prepaid it 😭😭😭😭😭😭 it’s an inexpensive repair BUT STILL.

I made a joke in class and everyone laughed pretty loud :)

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elierlick

Ending the stigma of drug use will save lives.

“Never Use Alone” is a number you can call when you have no choice but to use when you’re alone.

If you call (800) 484-3731, an operator will answer your call, and ask for your first name, location and whether you have any allergies, or medical conditions. After you’ve given us this information you can go ahead and inject your substance. After you’ve ingested the substance, we will continue communicating with you. If you do not respond after 30-45 seconds, we will notify emergency services of a possible overdose at the location you’ve given us.

We will never shame you, judge you, or preach at you to quit. If you are ready to quit though, we have treatment resources for every state in the US. Regardless if you have insurance, or not. We will do our best to connect you with the help you need. please call. We are on standby.

—-

This seems like a solid and real thing, I did my best to vet them and found their FB: https://www.facebook.com/Neverusealone/

They also seem to help with getting Narcan.

holy shit this can actually save Real Lives like dudes this isn’t a joke and isn’t to be passed off

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dopaminerjic
Never Use Alone doesn’t have an app (yet) but there are two apps that can be used all over the world. One that is available only on iOS last time I checked is The Canary Overdose prevention app and the other is Be Safe by The Brave Coop. They are both very easy to use.

from this reddit thread that has a lot of people talking about the hotline, including sharing their own experiences. additionally, it looks like there are also similar overdose prevention hotlines in other countries now, such as canada and scotland

For those in the notes wondering about their cop policy, here’s what they say on their website’s FAQ:

All operators are harm reductionists. Our goal is to reduce harm, not increase it, by getting you arrested. Our hope is that only EMS responds, but the truth is, we cannot guarantee that. To reduce the chances of the police showing up with EMS, when we call EMS, we report it as an “unresponsive person”, rather than an “overdose”. When you call 911 and report an “overdose”, a lot of times, police will automatically respond to those calls. So, by reporting it as an “unresponsive person” it reduces the chances of police responding.

They also say that all of their volunteers have personally experience with substance use, and that they do not accept volunteers employed by addiction treatment centers.

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bedbugbiting

My face is having uncontrollable spasms. Great. It hurts really, really, really bad.

I think part of why I have trouble explaining pain to the doctor is when they ask about the pain scale I always think “Well, if someone threw me down a flight of stairs right now or punched me a few times, it would definitely hurt a lot more” so I end up saying a low number. I was reading an article that said that “10” is the most commonly reported number and that is baffling to me. When I woke up from surgery with an 8" incision in my body and I could hardly even speak, I was in the most horrific pain of my life but I said “6” because I thought “Well, if you hit me in the stomach, it would be worse.”

I searched and searched for the post this graphic was from, and the OP deactivated, but I kept the graphic, because my BFF does the same thing, uses her imagination to come up with the worst pain she can imagine and pegs her “10″ there, and so is like, well, I’m conscious, so this must be a 5, and then the doctors don’t take her seriously. (And she then does things like driving herself to the hospital while in the process of giving birth. Probably should have called an ambulance for that one!)

So I found this and sent it to her. Because this is what they want to know: how badly is this pain affecting you? Not on a scale of “nothing” to “how I’d imagine it’d feel if bears were eating my still-living guts while I was on fire”. 

I hate reposting stuff, but I’ll never find that post again and OP is deactivated, so, here’s a repost. I can delete this later, i just wanted to get it to you and I can’t embed images in a chat or an ask. 

This is possibly why it took several weeks to diagnose my fractured spine.

Pain Scale transcription:

10 - I am in bed and I can’t move due to my pain. I need someone to take me to the emergency room because of my pain.

9 - My pain is all that I can think about. I can barely move or talk because of my pain.

8 - My pain is so severe that it is difficult to think of anything else. Talking and listening are difficult.

7 - I am in pain all the time. It keeps me from doing most activities.

6 - I think about my pain all of the time. I give up many activities because of my pain.

5 - I think about my pain most of the time. I cannot do some of the activities I need to do each day because of the pain.

4 - I am constantly aware of my pain but can continue most activities.

3 - My pain bothers me but I can ignore it most of the time.

2 - I have a low level of pain. I am aware of my pain only when I pay attention to it.

1 - My pain is hardly noticeable.

0 - I have no pain.

It’s also really important to get this kind of scale to people who have chronic pain, because chronic pain drastically lowers your perception of how “bad” any kind of pain actually is, and yet something like this pain scale is extremely user friendly. 

For example, if someone asked me how much pain I’m in at any given time, I’d say hardly any, and yet I’m apparently at a chronic 2.5, and it only goes up from there depending on the day. 

There’s also a similarly useful “Fatigue Scale”

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jedijenkins

I haven’t been below a 5 on this scale for 4 years 

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nerdgasrnz

Here’s the fatigue scale

Fatigue scale image desc:

10: can barely move; can’t talk

9: can barely move; can talk

8: can move, but can’t do much more than watch TV

7: can watch TV and play a game on my phone simultaneously

6: can do work on my computer lying in bed

5: can get around the house, but definitely couldn’t go out

4: can run a light errand

3: can get in my 10,000 steps, making my fitbit happy

2: can do three or more activities in a single day

1: going clubbing!

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eruvadhril

See also the Mental Health Pain Scale by Graceful Patient:

Mental Health Pain Scale transcription:

MILD

1 - Everything is a-okay! There is absolutely nothing wrong. You’re probably cuddling a fluffy kitten right now. Enjoy!

2 - You’re a bit frustrated or disappointed, but you’re easily distracted and cheered up with a little effort.

3 - Things are bothering you, but you’re coping. You might be overtired or hungry. The emotional equivalent of a headache.

MODERATE

4 - Today is a bad day (or a few bad days). You still have the skills to get through it, but be gentle with yourself. Use self-care strategies.

5 - Your mental health is starting to impact on your everyday life. Easy things are becoming difficult. You should talk to your doctor.

6 - You can’t do things the way you usually do them due to your mental health. Impulsive and compulsive thoughts may be hard to cope with.

SEVERE

7 - You’re avoiding things that make you more distressed, but that will make it worse. You should definitely seek help. This is serious.

8 - You can’t hide your struggles any more. You may have issues sleeping, eating, having fun, socialising, and work/study. Your mental health is affecting almost all parts of your life.

9 - You’re at a critical point. You aren’t functioning any more. You need urgent help. You may be a risk to yourself or others if left untreated.

10 - The worst mental and emotional distress possible. You can no longer care for yourself. You can’t imagine things getting any worse. Contact a crisis line immediately.

These are so important! SO SO IMPORTANT SHARE THIS AND SAVE IT TO SHOW YOUR DOCTORS!

This is the first time I’ve seen the fatigue scale, and HOLY MOLY that’s a revelation!!! These should be on all hospital and doctor office walls.

I’ve never seen the mental health one! or the fatigue one! I printed out the pain one and gave it to my GP. 

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I honestly cannot believe how far T(W)ERF rhetoric has spread on this site. They used to be the ONLY ones I saw openly mocking the concept of identifying as queer, the ONLY ones I saw referring to people as ‘kweer’ in a mocking way.

You all are so 100% certain you know how to identify radfem and T(W)ERF rhetoric and can’t possibly fall victim to it but guess what.

They are nowhere near above pulling this shit. And you all are falling for it.

And if you think that screenshot is an isolated incident, think again!

There are countless radfem and T(W)ERF blogs that I’ve blocked that said ‘secret radfem sideblog’ in the description.

Like, it’s great that we’ve made being a T(W)ERF so unaccepted on this site that they can only be open about the most toxic of their views in secret side blogs rather than on their main, but it’s time to accept that they’re taking advantage of that in a really fucking insidious way.

Just a tip on how to recognize these blogs. If you follow someone and you start getting suggested t*rf blogs that’s a good sign the person has sideblog for that stuff. There was some cowboy blog I followed a while ago and I used to get follow suggestions saying “this blog is similar to cowboy whatever” and it was a ton of t*rf shit and low and behold they ended up outing themselves

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nothorses

This is why we learn about what actual TERF ideology is. Saying “trans women are women” and “TERFS not allowed” and putting “TERF destroyer” or whatever in your bio is not enough. Learn how TERFs actually work, and what they believe, and where it stems from, and how they express diluted versions in order to warm up non-TERFs to their ideas.

Do the fucking work. Unfollow/block people who express TERF ideas even if they don’t label themselves as TERFs, challenge those ideas in your community, and you won’t have to worry about secret TERF blogs anymore.

Just in case you happen to be unaware, some of the “radfem lite” they post to warm you up to their rhetoric, just off the top of my head:

  • Ace/aro exclusionism
  • Bi exclusionism or claims that bi people are “less queer” bc of “straight passive privilege”
  • Saying you have to be dysphoric to identify as trans
  • Invalidating nonbinary people
  • Calling queer a slur regardless of context, saying people can’t identify as queer, and saying that it can’t be reclaimed
  • “Mogai hell”, “kweer”, or otherwise mocking less common labels and claiming they are “just cishets who want to feel special”
  • Excluding sex workers from feminist discussions or claiming that sex work is inherently evil
  • Basically anyone who thinks they can determine what other people identify as

The following are some red flags I’ve seen:

  • Men are evil
  • Women are pure
  • Black and white framing
  • Talking about separating the communities
  • Only this group can use these words
  • Lesbians are better than bi women
  • Straight women deserve/should not be surprised if they get abused
  • Panphobia
  • Think of the children
  • Anti kink
  • Cringe culture/who let these weirdos in/calling people freaks
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“Most hospitals in America are non-profits, which means they must have financial assistance or Charity Care policies. This is gonna sound weird, but what that means is that if you make under a certain amount of money, the hospital legally has to forgive your hospital bills. Let me show you how this works. Type in the hospital name with ‘financial assistance’ after. Should be the top link. Let’s check. What you wanna do is look for financial assistance applications and policies. Let’s check the policy. From here, what you’re looking for is a sliding scale of benefits. 0-300% of the poverty guidelines, they will forgive 100% of your medical bills. So you can see here that 300% is $37,470, so if you make under that amount, the hospital will legally forgive your medical bills. If you’re a larger household, you can check it out from here. If you wanna test it out, I run a non-profit that does this so DM me, and I will actually do it for you, and see if we can crush those medical bills.” The guy’s Tiktok handle is @dollarfor.

The majority of my immediate fam works for hospitals and had no idea this was a thing. I find that insane but not at all surprising. Of course, there are probably all sorts of loopholes or requirements depending on the hospital or what sorta medical insurance you have. This might be helpful to check out.

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brennacedria

Even if you make "too much" for full dismissal of your balances, hospitals will often do partial waivers of the total due. Now you might owe half, or 20%, or whatever. Even if you don't think (or actually know) you qualify for dismissal, try it anyway. Fill out whatever paperwork they give you, give them your income and bank estimates, and get an often MUCH LOWER bill, if you still have a bill at all.

One other thing to be aware of, tho: if you get any non-hospital services (a specialist who works IN the hospital but not FOR it, for example) these bills usually aren't included in hospital debt dismissal. Many of those services will have programs of their own, tho! The ones I dealt with most recently honored the hospital's percentage off with documentation, even tho there's no actual affiliation between the two businesses.

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graycatluna

Hey, could you do me a favor?

Could you just RB this?

The little RB statistics chart is so pleasant and stimmy to look at and I want to see what it looks like when it gets really REALLY huge because it makes me think of some deep sea lifeform

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going thru phone pics and found this thing that was tacked up next to the toaster at my old job, if anyone needs some light toast eating reading material

Would anyone be kind enough to transcribe this or link to a text version?

Everything Is AWFUL and I’m Not Okay: Questions to Ask Before Giving Up on Yourself

Are you hydrated? 

If not, have a glass of water. Dehydration can mimic or increase feelings associated with anxiety and a well hydrated brain functions optimally. Avoid excess caffeine. 

Have you eaten in the past three hours? 

Don’t be a victim of hanger! Get some food–something with protein, not just simple carbs or high-fat. Nuts, hummus, and veggies are great options to feed your studying brain. Keep healthy snacks within reach to avoid mindlessly chowing down on sweets. 

Have you stretched your legs in the past day? 

If not, do so right now. If you don’t have the energy or time for a run or a trip to the gym, just walk around the block or building. Even minimal exercise preps the mind for learning so that you can focus better and recall things easier, plus it’s good to get a change of scenery. 

Have you said something nice to someone in the past day? 

Do so, whether online or in person. Make it genuine! We bet your study partner would appreciate a compliment. 

Have you moved your body to music in the past day?

If not, jog for the length of a song at your favorite tempo, or just dance around your bedroom for the length of an upbeat song (singing along is a bonus) 

Have you cuddled a living being in the past two days?

If not, do so. Don’t be afraid to ask for hugs from friends of friends’ pets. Most of them will enjoy the cuddles too; you’re not imposing. 

Have you started or changed any medications in the past couple of weeks, including skipped doses or a change in generic prescription brand? 

That may be screwing with your head. Give things a few days, then talk to your doctor if it doesn’t settle down. 

If daytime: are you dressed? 

If no, put on clean clothes that aren’t PJs. Give yourself permission to wear something special, whether it’s a funny t-shirt or a pretty dress. 

If nighttime: are you sleepy and fatigued but resisting going to sleep? 

Put on PJs, make yourself cozy in bed with a teddy bear and the sound of falling rain, and close your eyes for fifteen minutes while focusing on breathing deeper with every breath- no electronic screens allowed! Adequate sleep is a necessity for stress management. 

Do you feel ineffective? 

Pause right now and get something small completed, whether it’s responding to an email, loading the dishwasher, or tidying up your room. Good job!

Do you feel unattractive? 

Take a darn selfie. Your friends will remind you how great you look. You are always insta-worthy. 

Do you feel paralyzed by indecision?

Give yourself ten minutes to sit back and figure out a game plan for the day. If a particular decision or problem is still being a roadblock, simply set it aside for now, and pick something else that seems doable. Right now, the important part is to break through that stasis, even if it means doing something trivial. 

Have you over-exerted yourself lately–physically, emotionally, socially, or intellectually? 

That can take a toll that lingers for days. Give yourself a break in that area, whether it’s physical rest, taking some time alone, or relaxing with some silly entertainment for a little. Time spent refreshing yourself is never time “wasted!” 

Have you waited a week? 

Sometimes or perception of life is skewed, and we can’t even tell that we’re not thinking clearly, and there’s no obvious external cause. It happens. Keep yourself going for a full week, whatever it takes, and see if you still feel the same way then. 

You’ve made it this far; and you will make it through. You are stronger than you think.

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