I capped out on Lamictal at 400mg a day and was still having seizures, so my neuro put me on 2000mg of Keppra per day on top of that. Has anyone had any strange interactions between the two? When I was just on Lamictal, I felt very numb and gray most of the time. Now with Keppra I'm swinging between happy, angry, sad and wanting to commit sewer slide. Most of the time I feel nauseous and some days I can barely get out of bed.
It's only been about 2 weeks but I'd expect some sort of change by now. I'm normally pretty quiet and reserved but I've been super aggressive and anxious lately.

Basically I have a history of a mood disorder, not clearly just depression but not clearly in the bipolar category either. I briefly had a bipolar diagnosis after an SSRI reaction, but it was later removed as it didn't totally seem to fit. I have PMDD which complicates things. I often wonder if my hormones just got a little out of whack and that is the root of everything. Birth control helped and I don't get a period anymore so I don't get those massive swings that time of the month.
I have had bad reactions to several psych meds including almost being hospitalized with an SSRI. Oddly got irritable on lamictal, too. It might be a metabolism thing, though, as it happens almost immediately after taking them and at small doses. I also find things like sleep, exercise, stress, amount of caffeine, exposure to sunlight, all affect my mood. Sometimes I just wake up on the wrong side of the bed irritable or depressed. My irritability can be intense, like I want to punch a wall. People who know would not say that I am a generally short tempered person, but on the wrong day at least internally it is quite bad. I can get pretty bad mood swings. I can be okay one week, but feel hopeless and like I don't want to live another week. But, given the right "ingredients" in life, I can feel okay sometimes even quite good. Side note is I have OCD that interacts with these moods and gets worse when my mood is off.
Sometimes I think I need to consider a mood stabilizer, other times I feel like I just need to work harder to control the things that mess up my mood. It doesn't check off enough boxes for bipolar and sometimes it only lasts a couple of days or so.
Can anyone relate to this or know anyone with similar issues? Not looking for a diagnosis, just other people's experiences.

(Question is in bold because I gave a lot of context.)
So I started propranolol/beta blockers(10mg that I take 3x a day, he originally said to start with 2 but to go up if I feel I need it. I'm prescribed the 3x daily already, though- and on the first day when I tried two, I felt my heart rate spike again after the second dose hit its' half life, so I moved to 3.)
Just started these on Wednesday, after seeing a cardiologist & being diagnosed with "Disorder of the Autonomic Nervous System- Unspecified". (I will hopefully be getting a TTT soon to narrow it down, but one of the receptionists said that I had to wait to be called about that one... I suspect it's HyperPOTS, personally. But rn it's just ~unspecified~ dysautonomia.)
I also have ADHD, and have been taking stims(ritalin) for that for over a year now, that is also 10mg that I take 3x a day.
((The stim does not significantly affect my heart rate, though. I've struggled with the high heart rate & blood pressure since I was 7 or 8 years old, 15-16 years ago, I just kept getting dismissed because of things like "You're young, you're just out of shape. Exercise." or "Do breathing exercises." or any other invalidating excuses they could find not to treat me, that were near impossible DUE to the condition I had remaining untreated.))
So; I've been staggering when I take them, because I feel like taking both at once might impair how they work? I've been taking my ritalin first, and then an hour later I'll take the propranolol.
My questions are -- Do I need to be doing this at all? Should I do it in the other order? Should I be putting more/less time in between them?
I'm nervous to call, because not only is my cardio out of the office for a couple weeks- But also last time I had a question, the receptionist was really rude & tried hanging up on me. (The next receptionist was kind and when I mentioned this experience, she apologized and said she thinks she knows who it was- But now I'm still nervous that I'm gonna get that rude lady again... I did have someone suggest to call the pharmacist and ask, I might end up doing that.)
These aren't the only meds I'm taking- I also take Buspirone 15mg 3x Daily, Lamictal Xr 50mg 1x Daily, and Mirtazapine 22mg (1.5 15mg Pills) 1x Daily. Along with a few supplements, Vitamin B Complex, Vitamin D, and Calcium.
I also have a genetic resistance to SSRIs. I tried several in my teen & young adult(younger adult? I still count as a young adult I guess. I'm 23 now.) years. I know those are first option for mental health & also an option for dysautonomia- But they are not an option for me at all due to genetics.
I know the buspar & mirtazapine are also supposed to lower heart rate, and ritalin spikes it in some people- But I'd guess that I'd probably be doing pretty bad by now if they were interacting in a bad way?
But I'm not doing bad at all- This is the closest to normal my heart rate has been (highest it got going up stairs yesterday was 120! Usually it's 150-160. I also didn't get an adrenaline dump when I responded to an online comment, which is a first for me), and this is the ABSOLUTE BEST that my mental health has EVER been!
I just want to make sure I'm getting the full positive affect I possibly can from my medications, and that I'm doing my best to avoid any potential complications.

I (29F on 300mg lamictal) have been struggling with acne since going off of hormonal birth control and considering accutane.
I can’t find anything flagging an interaction and seizures are listed as a rare/very rare symptom.
I have juvenile myoclonic epilepsy so I’ve been seizure free for a few years now, but still deal with twitching here and there.
Anyone gone through accutane treatment and had any issues?

Hi all. Last week I got into black coffee for a few days and not sure if I was manic or not but I was definitely impatient, ruined a relationship I had just started, blacked out for the majority of the week- I don’t remember it much. I felt I lost control because of how impatient I was with things. I still am. Everything was going fast, the need to speed through everyday. My social interactions were so bad, I was so rude. Not sure if being bipolar2 makes me sensitive to coffee or stimulates. I’m on Lamictal if that changes anything.

Hi folks. What impact does Lamictal have on hormones? My doctor recently bumped up my lamictal from 100mg to 200mg, and decreased my lithium from 900mg to 750mg.
I started experiencing really bad PMS symptoms around 1-2 days after ovulation. Exhaustion, nausea. It lasts for about a week.
I normally walk 90 minutes daily (or run for 60 minutes), I generally have great endurance and stamina… but the last two months I could barely walk 45 minutes, and when I do, I’m dragging most of the time.
I know that lamictal impacts estrogen; given these symptoms, I’m thinking it impacts progesterone, too?
Can you provide any insight, share any papers or web resources that explains the interactions between hormones (especially fluctuations in menstrual cycle) and lamictal?
Thank you so much.

I've been on birth control for 3ish years for hormonal acne, but recently, I've been going off it for as long as possible because of side effects, and then starting the new pack when my acne comes back. I skipped it for about a month, then went back on it. I've been taking it consistently for two months, and both times I started the new pack, the first two or three days have been coming with morning sickness. I wake up nauseous in the morning and throw up every 15-30 minutes for 3-4 hours, to the point where there's nothing left in my stomach and Im just dry heaving and choking for minutes at a time. It's seriously miserable, and I'm curious if anyone else has experienced this? It has never happened in the past, even when I went off it for months, and not even when I first started it. There's a 0% chance that I'm pregnant. I've tried eating food before and after taking it, but nothing has worked. The other meds that I'm on are cymbalta, wellbutrin, and lamictal. Could this be caused by the interaction of my meds?

Hello all,
I have not been as active in this community as I should be, yet I have interacted with many in DM's, most from seeing my posts and reaching out to me to hear more of my story. I'd like to introduce myself, tell my story as quickly as I can, and most importantly, see if there's any others out there that do beef only at a high fat percentage for mental health. I need others in my life on the same path to keep me accountable. Also, helping others helps me greatly.
I urge you to take a few minutes and read what I have written. I know it is long, but it just may be worth it and make a difference in your day or even your life.
I am a male, 47, 5’6”, 150lbs, married with one kid, living in NJ. I have suffered mental health issues since I was a kid, but started my first treatment at 13, which was for my most recurring and prominent symptom: anger. My other prominent issues are irritability, depression, and a sense of wanting to die, but not actually kill myself, just yearning for my suffering to end.
When I am off, I am a huge jerk, I yell at my kid and our relationship is greatly strained, I am mean to my wife, I procrastinate and can’t start projects, and if I do, I don’t finish them; if a stranger in a parking lot who glances at me for a split-second pisses me off, I want to know what the F they are looking at and wanna go kick their you know what. Life can feel impossible, and I hate it and myself so much.
When I am on, I am happy and calm, I handle my kid’s issues with ease and we are best buddies, I am friendly to my wife, and that same passerby in a parking lot gets a smile from me and I am super-friendly. I tackle a to-do list with vigor and do everything from start to finish. Best of all is life is so easy and I am excited for every minute. I love living and myself!
From age 13 until now, I have suffered substance abuse, attended two separate IOP's (intensive outpatient programs), done many, many years of therapy, and taken all the available drug types. The only meds that ever worked were seizure drugs, and Lamictal was the best for me. I also started smoking pot when I was 16, which was the only thing that ever made me feel ‘normal.’ Unfortunately, I am a huge addict, and I did lots of other drugs for a long time, but pot was always my main drug of choice. It took me a long time to realize the anti-seizure effect is why deep ketosis works for me. The pot strains that worked best for me are the ones used for seizures, then add in Lamictal, and the diet; they all work in similar ways. Had a major light-bulb moment when I put that together.
As for my diet, I was vegetarian/vegan for 20 years, the last few were raw vegan. As I ate more plants, and less animals, my physical and mental health declined, but I just thought I needed to find the right plants or supplements. I started to add meat back about 10 years ago, but still ate mostly SAD, and because I smoked pot to feel well, I’d eat massive amounts of carbs, mostly late at night before bed. For a few years my annual blood checks showed I was prediabetic, Fasting glucose was 96, then 104, with 106 being my highest.
When my kid was born in 2016, I was powerlifting heavily and eating low-carb to attempt to stay lean and get stronger, but I didn’t really know what low carb was back then, I just knew when I tracked my food intake and kept my carbs below a certain amount, I felt better and didn’t gain weight. Those of you who know, having a kid changes everything, plus, two months after she was born, I had a nasty fall off a ladder, dislocated my hand, and shattered my wrist; it was severe enough that they considered fusing my hand to my arm, which would mean I could no longer bend my wrist. Luckily, I am fully recovered, and it does not bother me or hinder me in any way; that’s a whole other story.
It took 2 years to recover from that injury, and during that time, we were tight on budget, so I was eating pasta and homemade sourdough bread every day. In addition, I couldn’t exercise how I wanted to. This all led to putting on 40lbs, having terrible skin, eye, and other issues, and I was angry, miserable, and wanted to die. Man, I still miss the process of making sourdough, I was 2-years in at that point, made two loaves every week, and the starter was like my baby.
Anyway, in 2019, I had enough of feeling so terrible and remembered that lowering my carbs helped in the past, so I started that. I removed bread and pasta, tracked carbs, and I lost 20lbs quickly, and felt much better. I naturally got myself down to what might be considered paleo, and ate things like meat, eggs, avocado, nuts, and cheese. I vividly recall hearing Vinny Tortorich, the NSNG guy, on Adam and Dr Drew’s podcast talking about a carnivore diet, where people ate only meat. It sounded like the most ridiculous and impossible idea, but the thought stuck in my mind. As I began to eat more meat and less plants, I couldn’t ignore that I felt so much better, and life was getting better and easier. So, I followed that path.
Within 6-8 months, I was almost full meat-only, with some butter and cheese and maybe other little things added in. I lost another 20 pounds and felt awesome mentally. However, this is when I started having electrolyte and energy issues. I discovered I needed more fat and started buying fat trim from my local butcher. This is also when I started to see a carnivore presence online and listening to Paladino, when he was still actually a carnivore, not the carnivore-ish thing he does now, lol. Because of him though, I began to eat organs and seek out as much of the animal as I could. I still regularly eat liver and heart, and marrow and brains for their mostly-fat content.
I don’t want to bore anyone with too much detail, so I’ll skip ahead. I’m passing over so many details of my journey, and if anyone is interested in chatting about it, please feel free to reach out. Over the next 4.5 years, until now, I have been experimenting heavily and have found that beef only, at a fat ratio of around 90%, or higher, is what works best for me. Digestion and skin are perfect, and mood is bliss. Dairy, wheat, and gluten, cocoa, and sweeteners like monk fruit and stevia are some of my worst offenders. If I eat those items, within 48 hours, my anger and skin issues return, along with many other symptoms including pain in my healed wrist and other body parts. When I add in pork or chicken, even pasture raised, I will have some type of issues and it is less than optimal. This is how I found my HFBO path.
I have had periods of time where I felt the best I ever had in my life. I am a different person when doing this right, and can be a great father to my kid, which is the most important thing to me. I am not perfect, and I am still figuring things out and stumbling along the way, but I have a formula that works very well for me, only if I stick to it.
Here’s my key ingredients for success:
1. HFBO / high-fat beef-only, 90% fat, at or above maintenance calories so I do not lose weight. Ketones at or above 1.2.
2. Beam minerals, both electrolyte and trace mineral liquids, the capsules, and the sprays.
3. Physical activity and sunlight, with sprinting as my main exercise. (shout-out to Dr Shawn O’Mara)
4. Enjoy life and have fun.
Currently, and for many years, I do what is called OMAD, oh how I hate names and labels for everything. I was doing OMAD loooong before I knew it had a name and was a thing. I didn’t wake up one day and say, yeah, I think I’ll try OMAD next, I just naturally gravitated towards it. I had a 6-month period 2 summers ago where I did rolling 48s, and I have done many extended fast of 3-5 days with my longest being a few hours shy of 6 full days.
Unfortunately, I don’t always stay on track. Sometimes all it takes is a cold and being tired for my body to crave more energy, and if I am not careful, I either eat too much meat/protein, which, yes messes me up, or I eat carbs. Last week, this happened, and I had two days of eating stuff I shouldn’t. My remedy to get back on track is fasting. I started fasting on my own, before I knew it was a thing, then I found Cole Robinson and the snake diet. I love the Cole of 5-7 years ago when he was calmer and did hour long videos with so much info.
So right now, I am 90 hours fasted, and I feel amazing. This has been my best extended fast to date, and I have done lots of them. I credit Beam minerals for this, so anyone with electrolyte issues, like cramping or headaches, please check them out. I am full of energy and about to ride my onewheel for an aggressive 20 minutes on some trails, which, for those who don’t know, is physically demanding, then I will kayak as exercise on our local creek.
Check out my glucose and ketones numbers from the last few days, measured on a keto mojo:
Sunday morning, last day of eating crap:
Glu/Ke
105/0.5
Monday, after a 24 hour fast and working hard in the sun:
69/0.7
Wednesday evening, after 72 hours fasting (lowest glucose reading ever):
42/2.7
Thursday morning, after 85 hours fasting:
53/3.8
Plus, I am down 6 pounds, back to my weight before I ate way too much and too much junk for a few days.
Ok, let me wrap this up. I have met some incredible people here. One guy is close to me in Long Island, and I have become great friends with him, we talk all day every day. I love this dude, and while he is brand new, and is just starting to carve his path, he helps me more than he could ever know. Another guy I just met from Ca, is amazingly just like me and eats HFBO. We just spoke on the phone yesterday, and I can sense a great friendship building there. There’s a woman in Canada who does beef only, and we have spoken, but not as much as I’d like.
The LI guy and I have discord servers set up to bring us together. For him, he’s in need of others just staring out. I am there and willing to mentor and help in anyway I can. For myself, I want to interact with people that are trying to do what I do, and also expose the community to a version of metabolic therapy that has done amazing wonders for me. I don’t see anyone talking about HFBO as an option, and I feel it could be a major game-changer for many suffering people. So, let’s get the word out and bring like-minded people together! Feel free to reply here or DM me.
As a side note, my child also suffers similar symptoms and we have tried several meds. It was the typical med experience and only work somewhat for some of the time. She’s only 7 and suffers greatly. The next move by her neuropsychologist was to put her on SSRI’s, but my wife and I agreed we didn’t want that, especially after some terrible med experiences with her already. With the help of her neuropsych, she’s been on a therapeutic ketogenic diet since the start of school year and has experienced so much improvement. We keep her fat 75-78% and she still eats up to 50g/carbs a day, sometimes more. We track her ketones on a Biosense breath meter 2x/day. If anyone is interested in chatting about that, hit me up. My kid and I are starting a YouTube channel to share our experience along with the other typical social accounts. I see a void in the community for this content and feel we could help many people.
If you made it this far, I sincerely thank you. Writing this post has helped me and you reading also helps.
Edit: I have my socials setup and my handle is @MT4MH on Instagram, Facebook, and X. Same on YouTube, where I posted my first video, which is me narrating this intro with extra content added in. My email is MTforMH@gmail.com.
MT4MH = Metabolic Therapy for Mental Health

I'm about to start medication for the first time ever and the psychiatrist has recommended me to start with Carbamazepine (Tegretol) + Quetiapine (Seroquel XR). I'm a type 2 Bipolar with rapid cycling and I experience depression 80% more often than hypomania and in a way more severe form. After reading online, it seems like Tegretol is usually recommended to treat mania and have seen people say that this medication makes them more depressed.
I would have expected to be recommended Lamotrigine (Lamictal) instead since it seems to target depression more heavily? I'm a bit scared to start medication now. Anybody with experience with these medications and the effect in your depression?
PS: Is it bad if both medications interact with each other? Seems to be the case with these 2.

Does anyone else feel like SSRIs make them worse? My MD says I need them (was on Celexa and now on Prozac) but I still have crippling agoraphobia, and I’ve tried like 7 different SSRIs. I don’t think any of them helped at all. I’m on week four of Prozac and feel like I should stop it.
I also take Adderall and Wellbutrin for ADHD, and Lamictal as a mood stabilizer. Lamictal definitely helps but not sure about Wellbutrin.
I am prescribed Ativan but don’t like taking it for fear of getting hooked, or not being able to drive/being sleepy.
My agoraphobia is out of control and I am missing out on life and new opportunities that are being offered to me. I’m just too ashamed and socially anxious to make myself do anything at all.
Has anyone had similar experiences? Are these drugs interacting in a bad way? I’m trusting my doctor but I also still can’t leave my house and feel like I’m worse than before. But maybe it’s not the meds… halp 😔

I’m super sensitive with medications and I first felt this want to jump out of my skin bc I’m so restless when my psych had me try lamictal. I took it for 2 days, 2 doses and I immediately felt off. I had other side effects from the lamictal like lock jaw and headache. So from what I’ve read from the posts on here, once you experience akathisia, you are more likely to experience it again and with any other medication? I went off the lamictal. Tried Geodon and had a weird interaction. Not I’m on caplyta. The first week of taking it, I was actually tired all day. But not I’m starting to have akathisia symptoms from this Caplyta medication instead. It that even possible this far into taking caplyta? I’m on week 2. I had a headache the first day that went away. I’m worried that I will have this issue with every antipsychotic even the atypical ones. I’ll be weirdly tired during the day and awkwardly at night I’ll be like purposefully switching and scratching and moving my body around to deal with the insane feeling of restlessness inside.
Is it even possible for akathisia to only affect a person at night? I hope this will eventually go away but not I’m reading from other people experiences that even tapering off a med can cause this feeling. Btw from these 3 meds I’ve tried, they have all been at the lowest dose.
What supplements might help with akathisia that actually work for ppl. I don’t want to be on yet another medication with this trial and error. I feel like im an experiment. Lol

I started Cymbalta like three weeks ago. I have Fibromyalgia (dx by a rheumatologist in January). This is the first med I've taken to treat the fibro. I think it is working because I'm definitely in less pain but I'm noticing some undesirable side effects.
I was taking it in the morning up until two days ago. I'm usually tired all the time (thanks to the fibro). I guess on a scale of 1-10, 1 being feeling great and well rested and 10 being I can't stay awake to save my life, before the Cymbalta I was averaging a solid 5 daily, sometimes a 6. I started the Cymbalta and it shot up to a 9. When I say 9, I mean I couldn't stop yawning throughout the day, felt like I had to keep moving or I would fall asleep, I would literally come home from my 7-3 and climb right into bed and go to sleep. Then the next morning I would hit snooze until the last possible second and risk being late for work.
I talked to my grandma who is a retired behavioral health nurse and she suggested I take it at night instead of in the morning to see if that helps. Gradually over the course of a few days, I shifted the time I was taking it by a few hours until I got to about 8 p.m. at night which is normally when I get ready for bed.
Like I said it's only been a couple of days of taking it at night but I do notice a difference in my energy levels-- no longer yawning constantly, I actually went on a date today after I got off work (my first social interaction outside of work in weeks) instead of going straight to bed. So, yay for that.
But I noticed something else weird.
I've always had a high libido (I have bipolar II). I've been on Lamictal and Vraylar for like two years and have been on Vyvanse for a few months for my ADHD. When I say high libido I mean I would think about sex a lot (and then feel guilty for religious reasons) and basically constantly be in "the mood" (and then just suffer for religious reasons lol).
I took Cymbalta for the first time and it was like a balloon getting stuck with a pin. Poof, gone. All the thoughts, all the feelings of being sexually frustrated gone throughout the day. That was consistent the whole time I took it in the morning. Well, like I said, I started adjusting the time I took it and as soon as I messed with that, BAM. My libido is as high as the eiffle tower. And when I say that I mean I actually pushed through religious guilt and purchased a sex toy because I couldn't stand it.
Has anyone else had this experience with Cymbalta? I'm guessing logistically it causes low libido, which is why when I was taking it consistently in the mornings it became non existent and then when I messed with the timing it somehow did the opposite? I don't know, honestly I'm kind of freaked out lol.

Hey everybody, was wondering if anybody’s been in my situation and what has worked out for you.
My (33F) epilepsy started in 2012. Keppra wasn’t enough, so lamictal was added. I was seizure free for a couple of years, but then epilepsy found its way to me again and, despite increasing both Keppra and lamictal the seizures were not controlled. Recently my neurologist added phenobarb (just one pill in the evening). It worked for a while, but seizures showed up again… I’ve had one just this evening :( anybody else with a medication resistance like me that can give me some support? Maybe I should start asking for some other medication? Being a woman at my age the doctor is hesitant to provide something that may interact with a pregnancy that I may want to have in the future.
Thanks all 💜

So I've been on lamictal 200mg 1x day for the last couple of months and at first I felt like it was really helping and in a lot of ways I think it has. I've been in denial about but I think it's numbing me out emotionally. I reel like my range of emotions is so small, I feel like things that would usually excite me haven't, and I'm fearing it's affecting my quality of life and my relationships. I feel excited sometimes but very small amounts and nowhere near as much as I used to. I feel like I haven't gotten upset or bothered by things that used to get me but sometimes I feel almost bored or empty when I'm around people or things. I feel like I I have to get higher or do more risky things just to feel much of anything... and when i interact with people i feel like a robot and like i have to think ahead of what their needs are in order to fuffill them and it doesnt feel natural sometimes. Tonight is the first time I've cried in almost like 2 months (I'm a former weekly cryer). Has this happened to anyone? Any thoughts? Advice? Gonna follow up with my psych. I have bipolar 2 if that helps fill in any info.

So first off, I am doing great now, I am newly returning to therapy after watching the Netflix documentary “The Program” and hearing someone say something to the effect of “therapy was used as a tool of abuse, so although we all really need it, we don’t seek it out”
I have a husband and we have been together for 6 years, 3 dogs, and a house. I struggled with keeping a job in my 20s because my trauma from the troubled teen industry has spilled over into my life at times. I put myself through college slowly and now work in finance.
—- before chamberlain ——
I had behavioral and authority issues growing up. My mom would verbally abuse me and occasionally hit me (maybe 5 times in my whole life), but she would berate me for nothing, start a fight and kick me out of the car miles from my house and force me to walk home, she would then shower me with gifts and trips. I recognize now this is an abuse cycle, I did not know that as a child obviously.
My dad overdosed from oxy and booze when I was 11. He had been struggling with his addiction for a long time. My mom kept him away from us and we never saw it. He went to prison when I was 7 or 8 and he wrote letters saying he was in Africa.
My mom never wanted me. She got drunk when I was in my 20s and told me I was a “whoops baby” it put all of her behavior in perspective for me. She had presented me my entire life, it’s why I was scapegoated for everything wrong in her life rather than my two older sisters, my two older sisters would also misbehave, but never got treated like I did.
My behavioral issues were all verbal, I very rarely ever put my hands on anyone, but my upper middle class school did not have detention, just in or out school suspension. I was suspended if I refused to participate in something like gym, or if I said “fuck” I was marked as troubled and always got suspended, even if it genuinely was not my fault.
My mom would trick me into saying I wanted to die at the age of 10-12. It literally feels like watching cops interview and convince a mentally ill person to confess to a crime they didn’t commit. She would ask me if I was unhappy, and ya, I was. She would ask me if I “didn’t want to be here anymore” and like. Ya. This place sucks. I hated being angry and not having the emotional capability to realize my circumstance and rise above it. I didn’t have the words or thoughts outside my own experience. I thought everyone had what I had, I thought my mom was like all other moms. She would trick me into saying I wanted to die so she could put me in a locked unit for a week and go traveling or just have “a break” from me.
My two sisters never had this with her. They still speak to her and one of them even lives with her with her children. I see my mom with my baby nephew and I’m angry that she “gets” to move on.
My mom shopped me around to different psychiatrists until she found one who who tell her what she wanted. I went to 2 with no diagnosis, and the last on diagnosed me as “shows symptoms of bipolar” I was around the age of 12-13 at the time. He then put me on a range of drugs that made me a zombie. Lithium, reciprocal, Lamictal, and a bunch of names that I don’t remember.
I am currently seeing a therapist who said the most important thing I’ve ever heard, she said “your mom needed something to be wrong with you because then it wasn’t her fault”
CPS had been called anytime I let slip that my mom did something. They called her to tell her CPS was coming, she would tell me “ if they take you, you will be raped every day and locked in a basement. She would then clean the entire house and put on her best mom mask for the day. I would lie to CPS and say nothing was wrong. honestly, knowing what I know now about the system, I don’t think they would have taken me from her, they probably would’ve just made her take a class.
——— chamberlain ——-
I had a bully in public school and she was catty and mean. She spread a rumor about me and I confronted her. She called me a fucking cunt, a word that I was taught to never say. I called her a fucking bitch and I got suspended and she didn’t. I was in 8th grade at the time.
I was a mean little girl, don’t get me wrong. But of all the things to be the final straw, it is actually funny to me that it was this. I was so mean to some people and I’m surprised it wasn’t another thing.
My mom had had enough and pulled me out of school. She made the school pay for my chamberlain stay, because of “No Child Left Behind” I had a right to an education and the school “couldn’t provide” it.
We settled on chamberlain because at the time, I only had to wait 2-4 weeks to be able to go home (I really don’t remember the rule) but the next Harry Potter was coming out and we always went to the midnight showing when my dad was alive. It was a special thing that my mom kept up after he passed.
I was put into 3P, a “general” girls house. My house parent was Heidi but she was extremely pregnant and left. She was replaced temporarily with a woman whose name sounded like Martcia (maybe) they would all constantly say fucked up shit to us. They weren’t social workers, they were just there to make sure we behaved according to them.
Chamberlain boasts on their website that they take all sorts. Autism, schizophrenia, drug abuse, behavioral issues, and whatever else, they don’t talk about how they put all of those people in the same room and what that looks like. As someone who just had loose behavioral issues, being in a room with extremely aggressive people, I was constantly targeted and bullied. I was beat up a lot of times. I had my clothes stolen. I had items of mine stolen from both staff members and other students and I verbally, bullied by both staff and students.
I never had an eating disorder, but for some reason my file said I did. I was a really average weight and never binged and purged and I always ate everything on my plate, for some reason though they treated me like I was anorexic one of the house parent would go around and say things like “where are my little purgers?” After we ate to make sure we weren’t puking. If a 13-year-old girl is throwing up after a meal. They really should not be spoken to that way.
I had a couple friends, one of them, shortly after he left Chamberlain, overdosed and died. Another went on to basically block all of us and go no contact which I think is something that a lot of us have to do to get over it every once in a while, I’ll remember someone’s name and I’ll google them and I’ll see that they either died or were in jail multiple times for something like drugs, theft, or assaulting a cop.
It hurts to see that.
Eventually I got to be recognized as a non threat, non interesting student. I was moved to 32p, which is the admissions office, or was at the time. It had no cameras, and all of the girls that lived there were also high level, non risks.
I have really sensitive skin, this is so silly to talk about, but I get hives from walking through someone else’s perfume, and that hurts! sometimes it gets so bad that my skin starts to scab and really gross and basically fall off from the reaction. My house parents at 32P, Donna would assign me to vacuum and make me use this powdered substance on the carpet to then vacuum up and make the room “smell nice” the first time I had this chore. I got really bad hives on my chest and any exposed skin, including my face. The next time I got this chore, I asked if I could not use the powder and she looked at me And said, “but I like the smell”, I told her that I got hives and I asked her if I could switch with somebody else, but she made me do it anyway, and I got hives. She would always use it even though she saw that I was suffering and thinking back on it, I think she did it on purpose.
The good ones leave. At 32P I had two house parents, and forgive me if that’s not what they’re called but it’s like the head staff person in charge and then there are other staff around but at 32P we only ever had two staff because there were only like 7 of us, one of them was named Lindsey and she seemed to really understand how hard it was for us to be there. She was tough, but extremely fair. At 3P, it felt like you were never allowed to have fun, at 32P it felt like all you had to do was follow the rules, and then you could have fun. We would all sing and dance to music, we did karaoke in the car, on free iced coffee Day at dunks she would bring us all so we could get a free iced coffee. I find it really funny because these moments of joy at Chamberlain are a joke. Imagine reflecting on your time in a place and the only positive memory you have is that you got to sing in the car and get an iced coffee once a year.
Again, all of the girls in this house were not physical threats, not drug users, really pretty chill people all around. I was the youngest girl there, all of the other girls were 17 to 18 and I was 14 to 15. Lindsey ended up quitting to work in interior design, or that’s what they told us. Jobs like this are low paying and attract people who need a job, the people that stay are typically not great employees because great employees can do anything, and they can move on at any time. Very few staff members were “good people” I remember a lot of the staff who had been around the longest or some of the meanest — there were very few exceptions, Stephen Diggs was the nicest guy I’ve ever met and I wish that everyone there was like him. He treated us like people, not criminals.
Chamberlain was, at the time, a restraint first facility. Some staff members would purposely set off students with anger or autism just to restrain them. They would purposely upset a student who is known to get upset by saying things that they knew would trigger them just so they could restrain the. I regularly watched staff throw students across rooms for just being a little upset. I have trauma flashbacks of seeing young kids bodies bounce off of the ground. The first thing that they should do if a student is upset is get everybody to leave the room, that is not what they did while I was there.
I remember there was a student with Tourette’s, whose Tic was saying some phrase, I don’t remember what the phrase was, but a staff member would tease him by saying the phrase and getting him to freak out, and then they would restrain him.
I have some other loose memories, I have been repressing a lot of what happened there for a long time, and a lot of it is lost as I am now 31 years old and I was heavily drugged while I was at Chamberlain, but I remember that one of the students who was 18 years old, I think her name was Anna. She ran away with a teacher named Greg Rosenthal(?) Rosen-something. I also remember that a student who was from Bermuda ran away, when they caught her and made her come back, they forced her to take Plan B. I remember hearing about it directly from her, and I believe that that happened.
Staff would bully you and then reduce points if you reacted in any way, other than laughing it off, they would say things to make you feel small, then they would tell you to get over it. They would tell you that you’re misbehaving because you’re getting upset, even if they were the ones that said something wrong. In my adult life, I struggle to see red flags, because of the type of things that happened to me at Chamberlain, where something bad would happen and I would feel like something bad was happening and then a staff member would tell me to get over it and let me know if I should leave or not.
Chamberlain is not a therapeutic environment. I got therapy once a month because I was a nonproblem student. I saw students with larger issues than me have therapy once a week. All of the teachers and the staff are just trained to restrain you, they are not trained in therapy or how to de-escalate or anything.
They show off the good students on the website, I got to go to that flight school in Cape Cod and it was really cool, I was the only girl and the flight - Program and I remember having a crush on one of the boys and trying to hold his hand, I was maybe 14 at the time and one of the problems with Chamberlain is you cannot touch, and at that time that’s a normal thing to crave - human contact - a hug or holding hands is really normal and they take that away from you. I am so weird about physical contact now as an adult because if you touched someone you would fail to earn, I am comfortable with my husband, touching me, I don’t touch my friends, I haven’t hugged my sisters, it’s something that I am currently working on and I hugged my sister last week when I saw her and I’m proud of myself for that.
They will lie to your parents, I was aggressively assaulted by one of the students who was around 250 pounds (I was maybe 125 at the time) she was 16-17 and I was 12-13. she threw me to the ground and jumped on my back and beat me and I wanted to press charges, I was talked out of going to the hospital, Even though I had severe pain all over my body and I was really worried that I fractured something, I still have a scar on my back from her jumping on me and breaking my skin. I called my mom that night crying and I told her what happened and she asked to talk to my house parent. my house parents said that, I instigated it and insinuated that I deserved it. She then phrased to my mom - “What if your daughter had been the one to assault someone, you don’t wanna ruin this girl’s life by pressing charges”. They made me out to be a liar and I am not a liar.
I have never hit anybody in my adult life, I maybe hit a kid when I was very small, like 5 to 7, but what this girl did to me was absolutely brutal, and she walked me far enough away in the field and made me feel comfortable talking to her about a problem that we had against each other that I felt like was misunderstanding. She tricked me and it was premeditated and she jumped me.
Chamberlain put me in a classroom with people who were older than me, I was at the end of eighth grade and I was put in with 10th graders because I was ahead for their program I guess? I had already learned a lot and they put my learning ahead of where I was socially, they put me in a room with 15 to 16-year-olds who had a variety of different issues than me, including extreme drug abuse, schizophrenia, at the time “Asperger‘s“, bipolar, aggression, and it was really difficult. I was relentlessly bullied for months until a new girl came in. She was a little bit weirder than me and then she was the target and I felt so relieved.
——after chamberlain ——-
After Chamberlain, I went to a “in between school“ for about six months and then I returned to public school for my junior and senior year. I pushed Chamberlain into a box and acted like that was a different person, I acted like I was above it, and beyond it, and over it. I was very clearly not.
I graduated summa cum laude from my high school and had a loving, caring boyfriend and a stable relationship. I got into almost every college I applied to, including WPI, which was my reach school. I ended up going to UVM in Vermont for one year before dropping out because I was struggling so much socially and emotionally up there. I didn’t know how to have friends because of Chamberlain. It’s something that I still struggle with now. I ended up, dropping out and coming home to live with my mom, which was rough because she had abused me my childhood. I got a job in retail and got my associates degree, I eventually left retail to work in medical records in a hospital and felt that the only reason I kept that job was because it was a night job and I didn’t have to talk to anybody.
Eventually, I began working for myself doing weird a social media job, this worked for me for a really long time because I didn’t have to interact with anybody, and a lot of my audience were people who were not that great socially too, so I felt we were on similar footing. I eventually graduated college at the age of 29, I put myself through it a class at a time, not wanting to take on any student debt. During this time I had on and off jobs, a dog walker, a bartender, at a winery, as an administrative assistant, a part-time bookkeeper, I started a craft business that was successful for about three years, but I struggled to keep any job long enough because I was always a little odd. People love to meet me, they don’t like to get to know me.
I never had friends growing up, even after Chamberlain. I thought everybody hated me, and still think that way. When I went back to public school, a lot of rumors were spread about me about where I was, that I was in jail, Juvy, that I had a baby, it was all just crazy and I struggled to find people who wanted to talk to me and get to know me.
My mom continued to assert control over me until I left her house, she tried to charge me a lot of rent that I could barely afford so I couldn’t afford to save up so I could leave. because she wanted me to stay because if I stayed, then she could control me.
In my 20s, I tried a few times to approach my mom about my childhood, about Chamberlain, about her behavior, and it has never worked out. Obviously, I have a lot of negative feelings about what happened to me what happened because of her, and my behavior. It’s hard because, I take responsibility for what I can, but I was a child. The first time I was suspended, I was in kindergarten, that’s not normal. I felt that there was no one looking out for me my whole life. I had one really great therapist that gave me an “a-hah!” Moment. She said to me something like “your mom is always going to be this way, you can always expect her to be this way. The only thing that you can do is control how you respond to it.”
I decided last month to go no contact with my mom. She called me once last week and I picked up. We spoke for two minutes and I hope that’s it.
I don’t think she’s even realized that I’ve gone no contact because I live in a different state, and she genuinely does not care about me.
——- my actual diagnosis —- I have adhd and c-ptsd. I had behavioral issues because no child should have to be yelled at in the morning and sent to school and expect to behave.
If you have any questions, let me know.

Hi everyone! I've been taking birth control (the pill, levonorgestrel-ethinyl-estradiol blend) for about a month now to regulate my period. I was just prescribed Lamictal by my psychiatrist for some mood regulation stuff. She is aware I'm on it and said it might make the birth control less effective for pregnancy prevention (not using it for that), or so I thought, and someone at CVS said it might make the Lamictal less effective. Are both true? Only one true? Google is confusing me lol.
Thank you!

DAY: APRIL 15 2024
​

• 4-15-2024HOW WATCHING SPORTS CAN BOOST WELL-BEING Researchers investigate the impact of watching sports on well-being, utilizing diverse methods including data analysis, surveys, and neuro-imaging experiments, revealing positive psychological and neurological effects. For many individuals, sports have long served as a source of enjoyment and relaxation. Watching sports, particularly at large gatherings, goes beyond entertainment. It […] Read More
• 4-15-2024‘FEELING LIKE A BURDEN’ CAN BE MOTIVATOR FOR SUICIDE IN PRETEENS Quiet preteens who feel they’re a burden on others are more likely to have suicidal thoughts and behaviors, a new study reports. Criticism from parents or caregivers also increased the likelihood of suicidal thoughts and behaviors, researchers found. Preteen girls with these traits are at especially high risk, according to the study published recently in […] Read More
• 4-15-2024ACUTE CARDIAC EVENT REPORTED IN 22.4% OF SENIORS HOSPITALIZED WITH RSV More than 22% of older hospitalized adults with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection experience an acute cardiac event, according to a study published online April 15 in JAMA Internal Medicine. Rebecca C. Woodruff, Ph.D., M.P.H., from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and colleagues conducted a cross-sectional study examining surveillance data […] Read More
• 4-15-2024LOCAL GREENERY AND LOW CRIME RATES MAY REDUCE DEMENTIA RISK FACTORS Living in areas with shorter distances to greenspace and lower crime rates are associated with having fewer modifiable dementia risk factors, Monash University-led research has found. Published in Preventive Medicine Reports, the Australian study investigated neighborhood characteristics associated with dementia risk and cognition. It found a doubling of distance to greenspace was equal to being […] Read More
• 4-15-2024PARKINSON’S DISEASE ALTERS EMOTION-RELATED BODILY SENSATIONS, FINDS STUDY Symptom-related bodily maps. The pixelwise effect sizes in control subjects (A) and individuals with Parkinson’s disease (B); there are significant differences between groups in the linear model (C) and PD-related pattern (D). Researchers at the University of Turku and Turku University Hospital in Finland have shown that bodily sensations […] Read More
• 4-15-2024COLORADO HAS LOST DOZENS OF AUTISM CLINICS AS STATE STRUGGLES TO SHORE UP FUNDING For the first time in years, Jay Ortengren has seen his 16-year-old son, Ethan, reach milestone after milestone as he lives with a severe form of autism. Ortengren and his family uprooted their lives in search of the best treatment for Ethan after he was diagnosed as a young child. Finally, they seemed to find […] Read More
• 4-15-2024RISING COMPLAINTS OF UNAUTHORIZED OBAMACARE PLAN-SWITCHING AND SIGN-UPS TRIGGER CONCERN Federal and state regulators aren’t doing enough to stop the growing problem of rogue health insurance brokers making unauthorized policy switches for Affordable Care Act policyholders, say consumers, agents, nonprofit enrollee assistance groups, and other insurance experts. “We think it’s urgent and it requires a lot more attention and resources,” said Jennifer Sullivan, director of […] Read More
• 4-15-2024STUDY SHOWS KEY ROLE OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND BODY MASS IN LUNG FUNCTION GROWTH IN CHILDHOOD A new study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) sheds light on the growth of lung function in children. The results show that increased levels of physical activity and a higher body mass index (BMI) play a key role in the recovery of early deficits. These findings, published in the journal Thorax, […] Read More
• 4-15-2024NEW WAY FOUND TO TREAT EARLY RELAPSE IN LEUKEMIA Acute myelocytic leukemia (AML). Researchers at Peter Mac have found a new way to treat a form of leukemia that stops the disease in its tracks to prolong remission. The research, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, has shown how a new combination of a molecular technology called measurable residual disease (MRD), medication and […] Read More
• 4-15-2024SOCIAL MEDIA ALGORITHMS MAY SKEW PERCEPTIONS OF THE RISKS OF BIRTH CONTROL Myths about birth control are as old as the hills. But social media platforms, in particular TikTok and Instagram, are allowing false information to proliferate in new and dangerous ways. The stakes are high. The twin forces of birth control-related misinformation, often from women sharing their personal experiences, and disinformation, typically posted by right-wing activists […] Read More
• 4-15-2024RESEARCHERS IDENTIFY BRAIN REGION INVOLVED IN CONTROL OF ATTENTION Researchers at the University of Iowa in a new study have linked a region in the brain to how humans redirect thoughts and attention when distracted. The connection is important because it offers insights into cognitive and behavioral side effects to a technique being used to treat patients with Parkinson’s disease. The subthalamic nucleus is […] Read More
• 4-15-2024BLINKING FOUND TO DO MORE THAN SIMPLY WET THE EYES—IT HELPS BOOST VISUAL SIGNAL STRENGTH Eye movements associated with blinks and their consequences on luminance transients. (A) Distributions of blink-induced gaze displacements. Data represent the offsets in horizontal (top) and vertical eye position (bottom) between the times at which the eyelid starts moving and its return to normal opening. (B) Contributions of eye movements to the strength of the luminance […] Read More
• 4-15-2024TARGETED LIVER CANCER TREATMENT KILLS CANCER CELLS AND COULD CUT CHEMO SIDE EFFECTS 3D printed gel patch Drug-loaded 3D printed films could change cancer treatments forever as world first research from the University of South Australia shows that new films not only kill more than 80% of liver cancer cells but could also significantly reduce recurrence rates while minimizing systematic toxicities of traditional chemotherapy. Created […] Read More
• 4-15-2024RESEARCHERS DISCOVER CAUSE OF A NEW RARE GENETIC CONDITION: GLUTAMINE SYNTHETASE STABILIZATION DISORDER An international team of researchers has discovered what causes an unusual and incredibly rare genetic condition, giving hope to the families with it and others with related disorders. Led by the University of Otago, with academics from across the U.S., South Africa, U.K. and Europe, […] Read More
• 4-15-2024SPECIFIC NASAL CELLS FOUND TO PROTECT AGAINST COVID-19 IN CHILDREN Important differences in how the nasal cells of young and elderly people respond to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, could explain why children typically experience milder COVID-19 symptoms, finds a new study led by researchers at UCL and the Wellcome Sanger Institute. The study, published in Nature Microbiology, focused on the early […] Read More
• 4-15-2024INWARD ATTENTION AS A TOOL FOR MENTAL HEALTH From a young age, people learn the importance of paying attention to the environment around them. Less emphasized is the value of paying attention to their inner environment. Neuroscientists are increasingly studying how looking inward via mindfulness training can affect everything from depression and memory to stress levels and aging. As researchers work to uncover […] Read More
• 4-15-2024ONE IN FOUR US ADOLESCENTS IDENTIFY AS NON-HETEROSEXUAL, COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS FINDS A recent Northwestern Medicine comparative analysis of national survey results found that 1 in 4 U.S. adolescents in grades 9 through 12 reported their sexual identity as non-heterosexual, according to findings published in JAMA Pediatrics. The study, led by Gregory Phillips II, Ph.D., associate professor of Medical Social Sciences and […] Read More
• 4-15-2024COVID-19 POSES GREATER RISK OF DEATH TO THOSE WITH CANCER, LARGE STUDY FINDS Admission numbers, symptoms, and illness severity and mortality over time (A) Admission numbers over time by cancer minus frequency and total numbers. (B) Proportion of patients on cancer treatment who were symptomatic over time. (C) Illness severity over time, measured by the inflammatory components of the 4C score. (D) Mortality rate over time in patients […] Read More
• 4-15-2024REAL-WORLD DATA FILL KNOWLEDGE GAP TO ASSESS TREATMENT OPTIONS FOR INFANTS WITH SPINAL MUSCULAR ATROPHY Findings from a recent study in the Journal of Neuromuscular Diseases demonstrate the effectiveness of disease-modifying treatments (DMTs) in infants with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). The study’s results add further support for gene therapy as a treatment modality that can deliver durable transformative effects for these vulnerable patients. SMA is a rare, debilitating neuromuscular disease […] Read More
• 4-15-2024CIRCULATING BIOMOLECULES IDENTIFY PATIENTS WITH ATRIAL FIBRILLATION AT HIGH RISK OF CARDIOVASCULAR EVENTS An analysis of the biomolecule substudy of the EAST–AFNET 4 trial has revealed that biomolecule concentrations in the blood of patients with atrial fibrillation can be used to identify patients at high and low cardiovascular risk. The findings were published in Cardiovascular […] Read More
• 4-15-2024WHY WEIGHT STIGMA IS MORE THAN JUST BEING MEAN TO OVERWEIGHT PEOPLE People may think weight stigma only manifests as rude comments, is harmless or can even do some good. At worst, it means overt discrimination, for example, if somebody isn’t hired for a job because of their weight. But the reality is that weight stigma is often insidious, and pervasively entrenched into our society and environment. […] Read More
• 4-15-2024PATHOGENESIS, BIOMARKER, AND INTERVENTION THERAPY Potential influences of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). ASD is a heterogenous group of neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by social communication impairments, repetitive behaviors, restricted range of interest, and other clinical considerations. ASD is a multifactorial disease that involves the interactions of genetic and environmental factors. The genetic factors include genetics (single gene disorder, copy number variations […] Read More
  
• 4-15-2024EXPERTS GROUP SAYS ABORTION IN GERMANY SHOULD BE DECRIMINALIZED DURING PREGNANCY’S FIRST 12 WEEKS
  
• 4-15-2024ONE IN FOUR US ADOLESCENTS IDENTIFY AS NON-HETEROSEXUAL, COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS FINDS
  
• 4-15-2024WHAT DOES SCIENCE SAY ABOUT THE INGREDIENTS IN FUNCTIONAL BEVERAGES?
  
• 4-15-2024BLINKING FOUND TO DO MORE THAN SIMPLY WET THE EYES—IT HELPS BOOST VISUAL SIGNAL STRENGTH
  
• 4-15-2024PHYSICAL ACTIVITY LOWERS CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE RISK BY REDUCING STRESS-RELATED BRAIN ACTIVITY, STUDY FINDS
  
• 4-15-2024TARGETED LIVER CANCER TREATMENT KILLS CANCER CELLS AND COULD CUT CHEMO SIDE EFFECTS
  
• 4-15-2024CZECH WHOOPING COUGH SPREAD ACCELERATES, THREE DEAD
  
• 4-15-2024LARGE STUDY FINDS ANTIBIOTICS AREN’T EFFECTIVE FOR MOST LOWER TRACT RESPIRATORY INFECTIONS
  
• 4-15-2024KIDNEY DISEASE INTERVENTION OUTCOMES ENCOURAGING, DESPITE NULL RESULT
  
• 4-15-2024WORLD-FIRST MICROSCOPIC STIFFNESS PROBE COULD ADVANCE EARLY CANCER DIAGNOSIS
  
• 4-15-2024BREAKTHROUGH AEROSOL HUMAN INFECTION MODEL GIVES HOPE FOR FUTURE TB VACCINE DEVELOPMENT
  
• 4-15-2024BOOSTING THE BRAIN’S CONTROL OF PROSTHETIC DEVICES BY TAPPING THE CEREBELLUM
  
• 4-15-2024RESEARCHERS IDENTIFY BRAIN REGION INVOLVED IN CONTROL OF ATTENTION
  
• 4-15-2024CIRCULATING BIOMOLECULES IDENTIFY PATIENTS WITH ATRIAL FIBRILLATION AT HIGH RISK OF CARDIOVASCULAR EVENTS
  
• 4-15-2024COVID-19 POSES GREATER RISK OF DEATH TO THOSE WITH CANCER, LARGE STUDY FINDS
  
• 4-15-2024POVERTY LINKED WITH BRAIN CHANGES THAT CONTRIBUTE TO BEHAVIOR, ILLNESS AND DEVELOPMENT
  
• 4-15-2024PATHOGENESIS, BIOMARKER, AND INTERVENTION THERAPY
  
• 4-15-2024REAL-WORLD DATA FILL KNOWLEDGE GAP TO ASSESS TREATMENT OPTIONS FOR INFANTS WITH SPINAL MUSCULAR ATROPHY
  
• 4-15-2024WHY SOME ADULTS MAY NEED ANOTHER DOSE OF MEASLES VACCINE
  
• 4-15-2024MANY PEOPLE WITH BREAST CANCER ‘SYSTEMATICALLY LEFT BEHIND’ DUE TO INACTION ON INEQUITIES AND HIDDEN SUFFERING
  
• 4-15-2024PRESSURE TO LOSE WEIGHT IN ADOLESCENCE LINKED TO HOW PEOPLE VALUE THEMSELVES ALMOST TWO DECADES LATER
  
• 4-15-2024CAN ANIMALS COUNT? NEUROSCIENTISTS IDENTIFY A SENSE OF NUMERACY AMONG RODENTS
  
• 4-15-2024A QUARTER OF DEATHS AMONG YOUNG ADULTS IN CANADA WERE OPIOID RELATED IN 2021: STUDY
  
• 4-15-2024NEW RESEARCH EXPLORES DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT
  
• 4-15-2024ONLY 26% OF AMERICANS SAY THEY GET AT LEAST EIGHT HOURS OF SLEEP, NEW GALLUP POLL SAYS
  
• 4-15-2024SPECIFIC NASAL CELLS FOUND TO PROTECT AGAINST COVID-19 IN CHILDREN
  
• 4-15-2024HUMAN MUSCLE MAP REVEALS HOW WE TRY TO FIGHT EFFECTS OF AGING AT CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR LEVELS
  
• 4-15-2024MICROPLASTICS MAKE THEIR WAY FROM THE GUT TO OTHER ORGANS, RESEARCHERS FIND
  
• 4-15-2024WHY WEIGHT STIGMA IS MORE THAN JUST BEING MEAN TO OVERWEIGHT PEOPLE
  
• 4-15-2024STUDY FINDS INVERSE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN WEIGHT LOSS DRUGS AND MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS
  
• 4-15-2024RESEARCHERS DISCOVER CAUSE OF A NEW RARE GENETIC CONDITION: GLUTAMINE SYNTHETASE STABILIZATION DISORDER
  
• 4-15-2024RESEARCHERS INVESTIGATE THE DIETARY IMPACTS OF DAIRY WITHIN THE JAPANESE POPULATION
  
• 4-15-2024INWARD ATTENTION AS A TOOL FOR MENTAL HEALTH
  
• 4-15-2024SYDNEY ATTACKER HAD ‘MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES’ BUT MOST PEOPLE WITH MENTAL ILLNESS AREN’T VIOLENT
  
• 4-15-2024EXPERT CALLS FOR BROADER VIEW IN DETERMINING EXTREME HEAT’S IMPACT ON HEALTH
  
• 4-15-2024LECTURER DEVELOPS DIGITAL MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAM FOR CHILDREN OF DIVORCE
  
• 4-15-2024SYDNEYSIDERS WITNESSED HORRIFIC SCENES ON SATURDAY. HOW DO YOU PROCESS AND RECOVER FROM SUCH AN EVENT?
  
• 4-15-2024PLANNING SAFE SUMMER CAMP FUN FOR KIDS WITH ALLERGIES AND ASTHMA
  
• 4-15-2024PREGNANCY-RELATED DEATHS ARE THREE TIMES MORE COMMON AMONG BLACK WOMEN AND THE VAST MAJORITY ARE PREVENTABLE: REPORT
  
• 4-15-2024ENDOSCOPIC SLEEVE GASTROPLASTY IS COST SAVING VERSUS SEMAGLUTIDE, FINDS STUDY
  
• 4-15-2024HAVING OPTIONS CAN LOWER VACCINE HESITANCY, FINDS RESEARCH
  
• 4-15-2024PHYSICIAN EMPATHY INVERSELY LINKED TO PATIENTS’ BACK PAIN INTENSITY, HRQOL
  
• 4-15-2024HIGH-EFFICACY THERAPY FOUND TO CUT DISABILITY PROGRESSION IN PEDIATRIC MS STUDY
  
• 4-15-2024AI SOFTWARE COULD ADVANCE VOICE BOX CANCER TREATMENT
  
• 4-15-2024CHOLERA SPREADING IN HUTHI-CONTROLLED PARTS OF YEMEN: UN
  
• 4-15-2024EPILEPSY DRUG PREVENTS BRAIN TUMORS IN MICE WITH NEUROFIBROMATOSIS TYPE 1
  
• 4-15-2024RESEARCH EXPLORES WHY WE REMEMBER WHAT WE REMEMBER
  
• 4-15-2024STUDY FINDS SIGNIFICANT OVERLAP IN NEUROCHEMICALS FROM LONG COVID AND ME/CFS PATIENTS
  
• 4-15-2024REMOTE MONITORING OF HEART ATTACK PATIENTS FOUND TO REDUCE HOSPITAL READMISSIONS
  
• 4-15-2024TO CLOSE RACIAL GAP IN MATERNAL HEALTH, SOME STATES TAKE AIM AT ‘IMPLICIT BIAS’
  
• 4-15-2024PEDIATRICIAN OFFERS ADVICE ON WHAT TO DO IF A CHILD’S ADHD MEDICATION IS OUT OF STOCK DURING THE SHORTAGE
  
• 4-15-2024WHAT RUNNING THE LENGTH OF AFRICA DOES TO THE BODY
  
• 4-15-2024CANADA LIKELY TO MISS WHO’S HEPATITIS C ELIMINATION TARGET, RESEARCH SHOWS
  
• 4-15-2024AFTER UPHILL BATTLE, COMPANY IS POISED FOR TAKEOVER OF BANKRUPT CALIFORNIA HOSPITAL
  
• 4-15-2024NEW VACCINE STRATEGY MAY MEAN THE END OF THE LINE FOR ENDLESS BOOSTERS
  
• 4-15-2024STUDY SHEDS LIGHT ON THE MECHANISMS UNDERLYING THE DEVELOPMENT OF MALIGNANT PEDIATRIC BRAIN TUMORS
  
• 4-15-2024NEWLY FOUND RARE CELLS COULD BE A MISSING LINK IN COLOR PERCEPTION
  
• 4-15-2024PSYCHEDELICS COULD MAKE MENTAL HEALTH WORSE IN PEOPLE WITH A PERSONALITY DISORDER
  
• 4-15-2024AI TO IMPROVE CATARACT SURGERY IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH
  
• 4-15-2024STUDY REVEALS AI ENHANCES PHYSICIAN-PATIENT COMMUNICATION
  
• 4-15-2024STUDY FINDS HIGHER RATES OF ARREST FOR BLACK ADULTS WITH PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS
  
• 4-15-2024DOES THE HPV VACCINE PROTECT AGAINST CANCERS AND GENITAL WARTS?
  
• 4-15-2024NEW MECHANISM UNCOVERED IN EARLY STAGES OF ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE
  
• 4-15-2024UTILIZING META-ANALYSIS OF TUMOR MARKER BLOOD TEST KINETICS IN OVARIAN CANCER PATIENTS
  
• 4-15-2024RESEARCH INVESTIGATES IMPAIRED MUSCLE FUNCTION CAUSED BY CHILDHOOD TRAUMA
  
• 4-15-2024RESEARCHERS SAY COMMON DEMENTIA MEDICATION DOESN’T INCREASE RISK OF DEATH, LIFE-THREATENING HEART ABNORMALITIES
  
• 4-15-2024COULD PEDIATRICIANS DO MORE TO HELP?
  
• 4-15-2024USING SCREENS BEFORE BEDTIME AND GOING TO BED LATE ASSOCIATED WITH INCREASED RISK OF CHILDHOOD OBESITY: STUDY
  
• 4-15-2024BIDEN IS RIGHT ABOUT $35 INSULIN CAP BUT EXAGGERATES PRIOR COSTS FOR MEDICARE ENROLLEES
  

Abstract
Objectives: During fasting, liver pivotally regulates blood glucose levels through glycogenolysis and gluconeogenesis. Kidney also produces glucose through gluconeogenesis. Gluconeogenic genes are transactivated by fasting, but their expression patterns are chronologically different between the two organs. We find that renal gluconeogenic gene expressions are positively correlated with the blood β-hydroxybutyrate concentration. Thus, we herein aim to investigate the regulatory mechanism and its physiological implications.
Methods: Gluconeogenic gene expressions in liver and kidney were examined in hyperketogenic mice such as high fat diet (HFD)-fed and ketogenic diet-fed mice, and in hypoketogenic PPARα knockout (PPARα-/-) mice. Renal gluconeogenesis was evaluated by rise in glycemia after glutamine loading in vivo. Functional roles of β-hydroxybutyrate in the regulation of renal gluconeogenesis were investigated by metabolome analysis and RNA-seq analysis of proximal tubule cells.
Results: Renal gluconeogenic genes were transactivated concurrently with blood βhydroxybutyrate uprise under ketogenic states, but the increase was blunted in hypoketogenic PPARα-/- mice. Administration of 1,3-butandiol, a ketone diester, transactivated renal gluconeogenic gene expression in fasted PPARα-/- mice. In addition, HFD-fed mice showed fasting hyperglycemia along with upregulated renal gluconeogenic gene expression, which was blunted in HFD-fed PPARα-/- mice. In vitro experiments and metabolome analysis in renal tubular cells showed that β-hydroxybutyrate directly promotes glucose and NH3 production through transactivating gluconeogenic genes. In addition, RNA-seq analysis 3 revealed that β-hydroxybutyrate-induced transactivation of Pck1 was mediated by C/EBPβ.
Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate that β-hydroxybutyrate mediates hepato-renal interaction to maintain homeostatic regulation of blood glucose and systemic acid-base balance through renal gluconeogenesis regulation.
Keywords: renal gluconeogenesis, ketone bodies, acid-base homeostasis, glucose metabolism
Hatano, Ryo, Eunyoung Lee, Hiromi Sato, Masahiro Kiuchi, Kiyoshi Hirahara, Yoshimi Nakagawa, Hitoshi Shimano, Toshinori Nakayama, Tomoaki Tanaka, and Takashi Miki. "Hepatic ketone body regulation of renal gluconeogenesis." Molecular Metabolism (2024): 101934.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212877824000656/pdf?md5=6824c745ea33ff0bb04c8419a18d2915&pid=1-s2.0-S2212877824000656-main.pdf

I know this isn't a common reaction people have, but I was able to test my theory yesterday and it's true: For me, lamotrigine (not brand) tends to ramp up my negative, judgmental thinking to the point of discomfort.
It can help with depression and the "I have no right to walk in that store or ask a question" kind of fearful thinking. But racing around with "I hate everybody and I know they hate me" narrative eating my brain after I take it feels more destructive.
I'll be relatively fine moving around in the morning, but after I take the lamotrigine, my response to everything is "eff this sh*t" or obsessing on every word that come out of my mouth, every potentially harmful interaction. It is loud and all-consuming.
Ex: I went into work yesterday kinda feeling meh (pre-lamictal) . I have been historically feeling very judged and in subordinated around my first client, but last week was a long one and kinda didn't give AF...I tried to focus on work and the interaction was rather relaxed and pleasing. I would normally be mapping out her every internal thought or hearing my words fall apart mid-sentence.
My next client I have a pretty good relationship with. I complimented his new haircut and was pretty relaxed, happy to see him. I'm starting to feel that "dopey" feeling I get if I go too long before taking the Lamictal, so I took 50mg (half my normal dose). By the end of my appointment I'm reading his mind, hyper focused on my sexual orientation vs his orientation, and talking to him requires so much effort. Everything became awkward and terrible.
For the rest of the day I'm resentful of everything I see, narrating my own movements, ruminating on the suck, feeling hateful. Angry about the song on the radio, how my dinner tastes, the neighborhood I live in.
This morning I'm depressed and unmotivated but even moreso because I know I can't just stop taking the Lamictal, but I will become racy and alienated and mean as soon as I do.
Obviously, my own psychology is to blame underneath it all, but I've been taking this for almost 20 years and there's always been some flavor of this. I personally think it's cranking up my trauma defense mechanisms--hiding the pain and fear with racy brain chatter.
Is this relatable for anyone?