i have been vaping for almost 5 years and i have been wanting to quit for a while now. i am graduating high school soon and i think with graduating high school, i need to also put down bad habits i have that obviously won’t help me in the long run.
i am just filled with stress and anxiety. whenever im stressed or worried i need SOMETHING to calm me down, and i choose nicotine unfortunately. i don’t say this lightly nicotine has ruined my life. i have developed an eating disorder, i have constant irritability and anger issues, it fucked my gut over, and i’ve probably spent over two grand just on nicotine products.
nicotine is a constant worry for me. i always have my vape on me, at school i leave at least two times a period just to get a buzz. it got so bad i bullshitted and got a 504 plan so i could leave class whenever i want. i always make sure i have a job or getting money in some way to fuel my addiction. when i didn’t work and drive when i was younger i stole money from my parents to get vapes, and that is something i will never forgive myself for.
i am very sick of nicotine. i am sick of how skinny i am, how my stomach hurts constantly, how im blindly wasting money, how i have no appetite, how i sound like that one example smoker from that old real cost commercial… (i smoke lots of weed too so nothing is helping rn) just sick of it all. this past week, i’ve been vaping in increments, in the morning, between class, and at night. i will also chew gum during the day. today was just really bad. i have finally ran out of pods and i currently have nothing but gum. this morning was really hard. the headache almost drove me to suicide and i couldn’t stand the sound of my moms voice. the whole day all i thought about was nicotine, and how good a buzz would feel. i went to the gym today which helped my cravings, but after i went to my friends house and had to leave because i felt i was being to mean to them because of the withdrawal.
this genuinely sucks but i brought this upon myself. i am just powering through thinking about how good it’s going to feel once i successfully quit. but i don’t know if i can go through another day of withdrawal. this is not good. i am not sure if i can do it

I am currently in the process of quitting marijuana after 10+ years of nearly chronic usage. The withdrawal side effects are: no appetite, snappy anger, and the most wild night sweats imaginable. But to be honest, I don't really care about the side effects; I am just seeking something that will help me think about marijuana less. I'm thinking something like 'Free and Easy Wanderer' perhaps? I know I should get a real prescription from a practitioner but I am currently unemployed so I'm open to whatever help I can get (students/armchair-expert TCM people are welcome!)

Please, for the love of all that is good on Earth, how do I stop this from happening?
I just spent 30 minutes ensuring my patient could get primidone so that she would not go into a withdrawal seizure. Her insurance almost refused it regardless! She is 9 days early for her refill and I effectively doubled the dose (obviously with a slow titration) because I saw her last week.
Nearly all of the medications I prescribe start at low dosages and increase slowly using the lowest dosage formulation to fine tune my treatment. I am constantly notified that patients are requesting early refills because they are increasing as I've recommended. I do not know at the start if the patient will stay at the starter dose or have moved to a significantly higher dose by the 1 month mark.
I have to call pharmacies and then insurance companies to tell them I am increasing the medications. Even then, they will refuse to cover the medications due to a quantity limit. I'm talking about cheap medicines that I'll often just have patients pick up via GoodRx.
I'll give examples:

• Increasing TCAs for headaches/migraines. I start nortriptyline 25mg qHS and increase by 1 tab as tolerated every 1-6 weeks (patient preference) up to 100mg qHS.
• Increasing propranolol or primidone for tremors. My patient today was at 200mg qHS (50mg tabs) and I wanted to slowly push her up to 250mg BID to complete the medication trial. Jokes on them! Now she has to get 900 tablets to get a full 90 day supply to ensure insurance does not refuse an early refill, and for all I know she will not tolerate ANY morning dosage. I have plenty of patients who start at propranolol IR 20mg daily and increase slowly up to 60mg BID.
• Increasing Sinemet IR from 0.5 tab BID up to 3 tabs TID (in select patients) over the span of months. Pharmacies often refuse the order but I cannot write out how to increase this medication in 150 characters or less (hint, I use a medication chart and print it out for them).
• Increasing risperidone for my Huntington's patients from 0.5mg qHS up to 5mg BID. I had a poor refugee family that did not speak English lose valuable time with their loved one before insurance refused to cover the 0.5mg tablets due to quantity limits. I called the company who directed me to Optum who directed me to her insurance who directed me back to Optum. I faxed a request for insurance approval and NEVER heard back!

It does not reliably work to:

• Order more pills than what would be the daily dosage per month at the starter dose.
• Write in the prescription itself that the medication is being increased.
• Reorder an entirely new prescription using the same lower dosage just before 1 month later as we are still increasing the medication.

Can any pharmacists, MDs, or, heaven forbid, insurance rats help a young physician trying to navigate this field of shit? What is the fool-proof way to stop having to haggle for my patients?

tl;dr: Did Sunosi make you feel more sleepy? If you stopped taking it for any reason, did you get bad headaches/body aches or any other side effects/symptoms?
I've been taking 70mg of Vyvanse and 20-40mg of Ritalin as needed for about 4-5 years now, and the combo works "okay". It's kind of manageable, but not great. I tried Wakix for two months in 2022 but it made me depressed, and as I have bipolar II with a history of chronic depression that's a no-go, so I stopped. About four months ago I started Sunosi and was up to 150mg - and it felt like it did nothing to help with the sleepiness/exhaustion, and even seemed to make me feel more sleepy? Like with just the Vyvanse/Ritalin combo I still get sleep attacks where I need to lie down, but I can't actually sleep - I have to just relax as if I'm going to nap for at least 30-45 minutes and then I'm (usually) good to go. But with Sunosi in the mix I would actually fall asleep when I napped during the day and I couldn't nap for anything less than 45 minutes, usually more than an hour, which is not dissimilar to how it was before I took any stimulants. I didn't notice any emotional or mental side effects, pretty much just the sleepiness.
I stopped taking the Sunosi about a week ago to see if it was really making a difference, and now I'm definitely having more headaches/migraines than usual (I have chronic migraines as it is), and my regular medication doesn't always make it stop, but I can't be sure if it's from stopping the med or if my migraines are just acting up. I also felt *really* nauseated yesterday morning and actually had to leave work, and my stomach has felt kind of messed up in general. I do feel a bit less sleepy and foggy during the day, but the headaches really suck, and I feel like my pain levels have been worse in general too.
If you've been on Sunosi did you notice any negative effects (other than agitation)? Did you ever feel more sleepy? And if you stopped it, did you have any "withdrawal" symptoms or negative effects? Everything I've seen says that Sunosi doesn't cause withdrawal issues, but I've had some weird side effects with other meds that supposedly weren't common, so I just don't know.
For context: I have narcolepsy w/o cataplexy, bipolar II disorder, ADHD, chronic migraines, and am being evaluated for Ehler's-Danlos Syndrome. I take 70mg Vyvanse, 20-40mg Ritalin, 300mg of Lamictal, 100mg Zoloft, 10mg Abilify, 5mg rizatriptan as needed and just started Emgality injections for migraines

For context, I've been on Lexapro (10 mg) since 2013, and was diagnosed with depression & GAD at that time. The first year or so I felt like it was helping me, but after 3 years I upped the dose to 20mg which didn't really help with symptoms, so I went back down to 10mg and tried to quit Lexapro twice without success due to horrible withdrawals (brain zaps, feeling dizzy and unable to concentrate).
I was also a daily Marijuana smoker from 2018 to 2023, but quit completely this year in January. I started tapering the Lexapro from that point, taking 10mg and 5mg every other day, then taking 5mg every day (current) and I'm going to follow that with 5mg every other day for at least 2 weeks if not a month. This is the first time I've had no brain zaps trying to quit Lexapro, which was very encouraging!
This week I started an OCD assessment with my therapist and then got a script for Anafranil from my psychiatrist, taking 25mg for a week then 50mg from then on. I'm still weaning off the Lexapro, and was warned by a pharmacist to avoid taking both at the same time because doing so could induce serotonin syndrome.
TLDR: For now I want to ask if anyone has experience switching from these specific drugs, and any experience with swapping from an SSRI to Anafranil in general. Also if anyone has experience taking both/tapering, for now I think I'm going to completely taper Lexapro then start Anafranil without taking them around the same time just to be safe. Thanks for reading, and for any advice!
EDIT: I am also on 250mg of lamotrigine and like that so I'm definitely staying on it, forgot to mention it. also taking 80mg of propranolol but I might drop that bc I don't find it helps much of anything (started taking it for hand tremors/not mental health related)

Okay so to preface, I know I am young and I still have my whole life ahead of me, but this truly feels like something I don't know how to come back from. The beginning is a vent but the last paragraph is the actual question.
TL;DR I was in a completely healthy happy relationship that now after it ended, I don't know how to move on or love again. i feel completely stuck on him and would do anything to get him back.
I (18F) met my ex-boyfriend Nick (20M) after I graduated high school through a mutual friend. He was on a road trip at the time to visit his family back home, he lived across the country from his family for work, I had gotten his Snapchat through one of my close girlfriends who was dating one of his friends. One of the first things I was told was he had never been in a relationship, and never kissed a girl. I thought this was INSANE because if you saw this man (tall, muscular, dark hair and iconic jawline) you wouldn't believe for a second that he doesn't have girls fawning all over him.
Ironically, I had gotten his snap right as he left for this week-long road trip, so the first week we communicated was solely through pictures. I thought he was dry at first, but he was really (and I mean really) cute. I ended up getting the courage to call him so we could properly chat. He was super funny, sweet, and nerdy. I remember I couldn't wait for our first date. Fast forward a month and Nick and I are dating, things are going better than ever. I truly have never felt more loved, supported, and protected than when I was with him. He bought me flowers "just because", and would keep his fridge stocked with my favorite drinks. He taught me how to play chess and video games, would always have a hand on the small of my back, and for the entire length of our relationship, I never so much as touched a door handle.
I have a history of problems with mental health, specifically eating disorders and depression. Even though I was his first relationship, he handled it in stride. I occasionally had panic attacks, and somehow he just knew innately how to deal with them. One thing I had never experienced before was someone lightly blowing on me while having a panic attack, which I have since learned is one of the only things that can calm me down. I had asked him once how he knew what to do and he just said it just "felt right" . That was how things worked with him. He saw a problem and solved it. I barely ever had to ask him to do anything more than once if at all. My family loved him, and he helped my dad out around the house, joked around with my sister, and had a great relationship with my mom. We were the couple my single friends wanted to be like. I had been through so many awful relationships and situationships that I truly thought this was the universe apologizing.
The issue, however, comes down to how we grew up. Nick grew up in a very religious and right-wing state, whereas I grew up more west coast in a relatively liberal area. Before I met Nick, when I started recovery from my ED, I discovered marijuana. Weed was something that genuinely helped me eat, deal with my anxiety, and helped me sleep. I can admit during my senior year of high school I took it a bit far, and definitely smoked more than my fair share. He knew about this early into the relationship, and he never really liked it, but he knew it was part of my life. Being someone who grew up religious, Nick was adamantly anti-weed, and I knew this so while we both knew about my usage, it was kind of an unspoken issue. I never smoked around him, avoided calling or messaging him when I was high to avoid him being uncomfortable, and I did my best to not talk to my friends about weed when around him either.
Fast forward a few more months, and we had plans to go to the zoo after I had gone on a hike with my friends. He picked me up and drove me to a parking lot off the highway and explained that he wanted to talk. I have pretty bad abandonment issues so I immediately went into fight or flight mode and asked if he was breaking up with me. With tears in his eyes, and not looking at me, Nick mumbled yes. Cue the instant and debilitating panic attack from me (arguably the worst one I've ever had). He somehow managed to calm me down enough to talk, and he explained that the weed was a huge issue for him even though he said he was fine with it in the past. I was shocked and blindsided because as far as I knew, we were just going to the zoo. I tried to explain how it helps me and I could quit if he wanted me to, and he said that was not what he wanted. he just couldn't think of me the same way knowing I smoke. While we were talking, I had texted my mom to come get me. We were trying to work things out, at this point we are both crying, he said he loves me and wanted to be with me, but he doesn't think he could get over this. My mom gets to the parking lot, I sort of stumbled to the car, basically holding myself together by a thread. As soon as I closed the door I screamed. A blood curdling scream that held so much anguish and pain that my mom started crying. I truly felt like I had lost a limb.
Those three days without contact were brutal, and on the fourth day, I caved and called him. We met up that day (I called him at 5am and we met up around 6am) and we both apologized. He said he felt like he made a huge mistake, and that he hadn't been able to stop thinking about me. I promised I would stop smoking weed, and we both swore to each other that there would be no more secrets or issues between us, that we would talk about how we feel as soon as we feel like something is wrong.
For a while this worked, the no-smoking wasn't too bad, even though it was still a point of contention between us. But then I started to remember why I smoked in the first place. I became more depressed, food stopped looking good, and I was withdrawing into myself. He noticed this and we talk about it, but ultimately there was nothing we could do, because I knew I would lose him if I went back to smoking.
Things were good for a while, we talked about everything, and every issue got resolved within the week if not the day. I had my person back, and life felt good again. Everything was going smoothly up unitl a few weeks before our 6 months (I know this was a lot to happen in 6 months). I started to feel Nick going distant, not cold or anything, and he said nothing was wrong, but I could tell something was nagging at him. One Monday, he called me and said he wanted to talk. This immediantly raised red flags because last time he said that we broke up. we facetimed and he confessed he was feeling like he wasn't being true to himself in the relationship. He felt like he wasn't going to the gym as often as he wants, and he doesn't have any time to himself. This one conversation ended in him driving to my house, a hours-long confession of everything he had been bottling up, and when he left that evening, I was single again.
My actual question paragraph is below:
I hope now everyone has context for why this relationship was so influencial in my life, and now getting to the part i need advice on. It has currently been about a month and a half since we broke up, and though I was half-hearted trying on dating apps, and I am somewhat talking to a guy right now, I can't stop thinking about Nick. I know if it didn't work out not once but twice, its probably going to happen, but I haven't had such a deep connection so fast before, and I don't want to give up on us just yet. its not that I don't want a relationship right now, but if its not with Nick I don't know if I want one ever, he taught me to never accept less than I deserve, and that I am worth loving and being treated like a princess. I have never felt more appreciated, safe, or cherished than when I was with Nick. Is it worth moving on? Or am I leaving my soulmate? Is it possible to feel love like this again? Is it worth messaging him or will I just get my heart broken instead?
Sorry for the long post, I guess I needed to get stuff off my chest. Any advice or similar experiences are welcomed, thank you!!

27F, smoked for 10 years, from 2020 to 2023 the daily amount was approaching 2 packs a day, for the last 6 months it's been like 12-14 a day on average, or even 10 and less (moved to an apartment where i can't smoke inside but i can smoke on the balcony, which naturally decreased the frequency of smoke breaks).
quitting backstory: since the beginning of may 2024, i started getting violent headaches that were persistent and didn't go away with NSAIDs. went to a neurologist, was diagnosed with migraines, anti-migraine pills didn't work, a combo aspirine/paracetamol/caffeine drug that is very popular and cheap in my country did work for some reason. so, after a week of suffering, the episode stopped. and resumed 3 days later, i assumed smoking was the reason (the day headaches came back was when i resorted to smoking my usual amount of cigarettes, which is slightly above half a pack). so, i quit, currently on my 3rd day, i guess it works as an anti-migraine measure but at the same time quitting cold turkey turned out really goddamn detrimental to my life, and i need some advice.
the problem: well, first things first, i can't work for shit. i can't concentrate on anything, and all my willpower goes into the "don't smoke" task, so i can't really do anything else. i'm just sitting there with my teeth clenched. also, i'm getting really emotional, i spent the entire morning today crying my eyes out uncontrollably because i hate my job, i hate every second of my life, i hate myself, i hate this and that, and basically everything, and i just want it all to stop. my last 6 months, even if we're excluding the whole debilitating migraines issue, have already been quite stressful due to many things, and now on top of that i have even more stress, and i just can't take it anymore. even my boyfriend who encouraged me a lot to quit smoking due to migraines and is very proud of me finally doing that talked to me today (i called him because i was crying a lot, felt like absolute crap, and needed a distraction so i don't relapse) and suggested weaning off instead because of my current mental state.
what i'm already doing: i can't use stuff like nicotine gum bc i'm quitting nicotine specifically (since it causes vascular problems, which in its turn manifested as migraines) so i use nicotine-free disposable vapes that for some reason die very quickly, and these are a lot more expensive than cigarettes, which pisses me off a lot. however, if i didn't use these, i'd relapse on day 1. also, some other oral fixation treats i'm using: chewing gum (a lot of it, actually), fizzy drinks (coke zero turned out to be the best distraction btw, maybe because it also contains caffeine which is a stimulant too), unhealthy amounts of water, apples. i'm trying not to pacify myself with food because i'm terrified of gaining weight. still, these measures helped me get relatively easily through the first two days but right now i'm a complete mess. i know it's beneficial, and, well, i very much appreciate not having headaches but honestly, i feel so miserable right now. i feel punished for something i didn't do, it's like all the fun things are forbidden, even starting a morning with freshly brewed coffee because it's a trigger. i can't drink, i can't go out at all, the only thing i'm allowed to do is all work no play, and i can't even work because of withdrawals.
the question: if i keep living like that, i may end up losing my job and a lot of people from my surroundings due to me being an angry and miserable mess. i also don't want to be a nuisance to my boyfriend, i'm already a lot, first, this whole migraine shit that rendered me non-functional, now withdrawals. i want to be able to focus on tasks and i want to be fun to hang out with and spend at least a couple days not in tears, what can i do? should i actually wean off instead of cold turkeying myself into unemployment and social isolation?

26M
I was given Bisoprolol 5 and Amlopidine 5 in Jan,2021 when I was diagnosed with Hypertension (160/90). I was weighing a lot, had bad eating habits, no exercise etc. Fast forward to 2024, I have reduced around 20 kgs, eating clean, 5-6x exercise weekly. My BP has reduced to 110/70. I have started tapering Bisoprolol from 5 to 2.5 mg. I usually have my BP checked twice a day and it is usually around 100/70 or 110/70. HR stays around 65-75 BPM. It has been 10 days, but I have headaches and weird chest pinches, though not painful. I am a bit worried if these are normal withdrawal symptoms of bisoprolol stopping after 3.5 years.
Let me know your experience or anything you want to share or warn me. Also if anything helped you during the taper process.
Thanks

I will make daily updates in here. It's been quite a journey for me. Will post my history prior to effexor below.. So far am on day 3.
Day 1 - 5/13/2024
Took at 10:00
Anxiety was sky high when I took but settled some 45 minutes after taking.
12:00 feeling jittery and kinda spaced out?
14:00 extreme anxiety
17:00 nausea / dry heave
18:00 headache
Stomach rumbling at night which was kinda funny listening too tbh.
Day 2 - 5/14/2024
Took at 10:10
Really bad anxiety after taking.
Felt really weird before noon
At noon stated reading a book called Hope and Hell for your Nerves by Dr. Claire Weeks.
From 12:30 - 13:45 I felt an overwhelming calmness that freaked me out kinda. I felt at peace, really strange.
16:00 nausea when I yawn
Increased jitters and burning chest (anxiety) at night while settling down for bed.
My story and history :
since December I have been suffering with anxiety which has progressively gotten worse to the point where it has made me depressed as well. As of this post I am at an all time low and am in desperate need of relief. If you make it to the end I will explain what I am going through.
I am a male in my late 30s and have had two bouts of anxiety / depression in my life both of which lasted 3 months (2015 and 2020), and were cured with therapy. This time seems different..
I have a very stressful job which requires me to work 7 days a week with the only break being when I take vacation or slow times in the industry. It pays really well and helps me provide my wife and two young kids a good life so I put up with it in the hopes I can manage the stress better in time. I mention the above because I truly believe it has alot to do with the state I am in now.
I have always been caring, outgoing, light natured, and humerous throughout my life and also pretty sensative. I really want to go back to that and hope treatment will help.
I also realize I am my own worst enemy in getting treatment as you will see in the paragraphs below.
When I was a teenager into my early twenties I was carefree and would try most drugs to fit in. Extacy, lsd, mushrooms, pills, etc.. Never touched the extremely hard stuff. Marijuana was my best friend and I smoked a ton of it. Hello panic attack! I remember the first time I got one after smoking Marijuana in my early twenties. It was horrible! I couldn't smoke Marijuana anymore afterwards because it would induce a panic attack. I told myself it was God's sign telling me to stop so I did. I haven't smoke Marijuana since.
Fast forward a few years from then I was introduced to a medical condition called gout. It is very painful and the first time I was treated for it I was given narcotic pain medication and an anti inflammatory. I took both when I got home and it provided relief. Being this was my first experience, I wanted to research gout a little more and I did just that on the internet. Here comes the part where my life changed for the worse..
For some reason, I also asked google if you could overdose on the pain medication I was currently taking. No clue why I wanted to know but as soon as I read you could, I instantly had the worst panic attack I ever experienced.
Ever since that point in my life I have refused to take medication in fear of another panic attack. From that point forward, my mind associated taking medication with panic. For the years afterwards I always had a panic attack when I tried to take anything including something as simple as advil.
Anytime I would be prescribed something I would obsessively research it, watch videos on it, read reviews, etc.. I would psych myself out and not take it.
Fast forward to 2015 when I finally moved out of my parents house. I won't go too much into it but I had my first bout of extreme anxiety and depression from it. It was a big change for me and it took a few months to pull myself out of it with the help of a therapist.
Life was absolutely WONDERFUL after that. I was on my own, found the love of my life, got married in 2018, and was the happiest I had ever been.
2020 was my second episode of anxiety and depression. In a matter of 6 months I lost my grandmother, godmother, my one year old boxer puppy, and my father in law. I also had my first child. Not to mention it was covid time...After everything settled down from the chaos it hit me like a ton of bricks. Bam!..anxiety and depression. It was awful and I knew I needed help. I started therapy and it helped tremendously. It was suggested that I also see a pyschiatrist. I did and he prescribed me prozac to take along with therapy. I was not going to take it. We all know how I am with my phobia of medication.
One day I said screw it and out of nowhere threw it in my mouth and swallowed. I expected the worse. Nothing happened...I continued to take it for 4 days and didn't notice anything bad happening to me. I was happy about that.
The 5th day I had a panic attack because I started to feel really strange. I don't remember exactly how I felt but I remember calling my sister and telling her I feel really weird. She assured me it is normal and to keep on which I did.
The 6th day I took my pill in the AM and all was well. I was tired so I stayed in bed. Out of nowhere I felt a rush of bad bad bad energy take over my body. It is hard to explain. It was like a rush of anxiety but with it was a sense of hopelessness and dread. I had experienced in my first bout back in 2015 but not this severe. I was scared and called my psychiatrist and left a message. I immediately went to my mother's and cried cried cried. The feeling subsided. My psychiatrist called me back very quickly and when I explained what I felt he told me to stop taking it and to take the ativan he prescribed if needed.
I stopped the medication and never took an ativan. I got better over the next couple months through therapy and all was well.
I did have a tiny breakthrough and convinced myself to take a medication to stop my reoccurring gout attacks. It is called allopurinol and is regarded as one of the safest medications out there. It took alot of courage and of coarse I read every review there is on it but I eventually just threw it in my mouth and fell asleep. Have been taking it daily for two years now.
Fast forward to December of last year 2023. The stress from work and medical issues throughout 2023 must have built up and I had a breakdown. I started to get anxiety and small feelings of the hopelessness I mentioned above. December into January into February I dealt with it and kept telling myself it will pass like the other times. It didn't and kept getting worse. I finally sought help from a psychologist in late February / early March. After the first few sessions I would immediately get a high from the previous hours talk. It was fantastic but eventually wore off a few hours later.
The anxiety I was experiencing / am experiencing is absolutely horrible. Non stop jaw clenching, chest pains, tension, blurred vision, lack of good sleep, extremely heightened senses, etc. I am good at telling myself it is anxiety and will go away. I don't freak out over it into full blown panic but I feel like I am always borderline panic while also being exhausted. It's very uncomfortable. I have had multiple health checkups and all is fine.
I decided to call my old psychiatrist because it had been 3 months with minimal relief. I was told he was retiring and he referred me to someone else who I am now seeing.
He prescribed me Paxil and klonopin in marxh and of coarse my phobia stopped me from taking it. We did a gene test to see which medicine would work for me and paxil was a good fit. I just couldn't do it. For the next few weeks I seemed to be getting better by getting out and doing things. I even started fishing again which was a huge passion of mine. Things were looking up!
Anxiety was going from an all day thing to maybe a couple hours type of thing! I was hopeful...
Let me introduce you to my buddy kidney stones...
Middle of April I woke up to EXCRUCIATING pain. I eventually went to the ER that day after hours of suffering and they told me I had 2 kidney stones. They sent me home with the same narcotic pain medication that started my panic attack journey when I was younger and also some other medication. From that Tuesday to Thursday I was in crippling pain and refused the pain medication. It got to a point where I almost blacked out from the pain so I had no choice but to take it. I popped it and finally got some sleep. I think I didn't freak out after taking it because my body was in shock from the pain. I woke up 30 minutes later to the excruciating pain again and said enough was enough. I went back to the ER and they did an emergency surgery and put a Stent in me to stop the pain. It worked and was a huge relief.
After catching up on sleep and recovering, I started to get my anxiety back. The next two weeks while waiting on my second surgery my anxiety, which was on the right path prior to this stone, came back to it's previous 10/10 levels. Jaw clenching, blurred vision, etc..
I toughened it out AND not to mention, completed a full 14 day coarse of a strong antibiotic due to a kidney infection! I was so proud of myself. With my newfound proudness, I called my Pyschiatrist and set up an appointment for the following week after my second surgery to discuss some things.
I had my second surgery last Friday the 3rd and they removed both stones. I went home Friday night with another stent in me which I was told to remove from home on Monday by pulling a string that was hanging out of my penis head (sorry for TMI) which in turn pulls the stent from my kidney down and out through my penis. I did that on Monday and it wasn't bad at all.
The Saturday after my surgery went fine. I'm sure I felt good because I was still coming off anesthesia but boy o boy that Sunday I woke up after sleeping 12 hours to a horrible panic attack. Imagine waking up from a dead sleep to the biggest adrenaline dump you could imagine. It was awful and lasted ALL day! I experienced derealization and every symptom you can think off. I should have taken a klonopin but my phobia told me it would make it worse so I didn't. It settled down into the evening and I was absolutely exhausted.
Monday I woke up to another panic attack but not as severe and Tuesday another panic attach which was even less severe. Wednesday the same and this morning has been the first morning I haven't woken up to an adrenalin dump. With that being said, this whole week has been absolutely horrible with 10/10 anxiety. I rarely get breaks from it. At night it calms down and I feel normal. Because of that, I chase that normal feeling and stay up way too late lol.
Anyway, leading up to my psychiatry appointment today, the last few weeks I have been obsessively looking up the 2 ssris and 1 snri my gene test said I was compatible with. Prozac (go figure), paxil, and effexor. I was also compatible with welbutrin.
Paxil I am terrified of because it is supposedly the dirtiest and worst for weight gain (I am a 240lb male).
Prozac I tried previously and I think I didn't give it enough time. I am not 100% sure that dread / hopeless feeling was suicide ideation but the feeling is in a class of its own compared to my normal anxiety.
Effexor I am scared of because of the withdrawel and alot of YouTube reviewers said it made them feel high and wired for the beginning. The horror stories of coming off it scares me too.
Welbutrin I hear great things about but heard it is bad for anxiety which is my main concern.
My overall fear is that any of these will make me lose control and make me not myself. I am also scared that I don't remember what normal feels like and feeling normal will scare me. Crazy to say that. Ultimately he prescribed me Effexor 37.5 for 2 weeks and then upping it to 75mg. He said to take the klonopin if I need it starting up. I have 15 of them.
I know I need to do something because I can't live like this. My wife, my 4 yr old, and my 2 yr old need their father and husband back. It's not fair to them. I'm tired of staying in bed all day. I'm tired of not caring if I wake up. I'm tired of not being the best employee I can be, I'm tired of not being in contact with my friends anymore, I'm tired of not caring about my hobbies, Im tired of being tired, and most importantly I'm tired of feeling like this.
I will start the effexor and update this thread with my progress.

Post for anyone interested in what happens when you miss your shots and have to start over.
Context: I missed 2+ weeks of Zep after my 3rd month. I was at 5mg and was supposed to go up to 7.5mg but couldn’t find either after a tireless search, so I moved to start over at 2.5mg (which I was able to find more easily).
Side effects: Headaches! Once I went off the medication, I noticed an almost daily headache with more frequent teetering into migraine territory from what I can only assume was the withdrawal symptoms.
Weight: I only gained back 0.8 lbs in the 2-3 weeks without my shot, but the food noise has been a slowly creeping back up and it was getting harder and harder to stop the binge eating.
Today: I am now back on 2.5mg shot and back to “Zeppy normal”….Food noise gone, sugar cravings gone again, binge eating gone, etc. and I’m very happy that it’s still working effectively for me.
So, long story longer… if you have to go off Zeppy for a couple weeks and start over, you might be ok. Part of me would love to stay on this medication for life, provided it’s still working and I have no long term negative side effects.

Hi everyone, I've been lurking this subreddit for a while and it's really nice to know I'm not the only one who has this. I spent over 2 years not knowing what was happening to my vision until googling "static vision" and this subreddit came up and I was like "YES, that is exaclty what I've been experiencing". Here's a bit of background:
My visual snow started in March of 2020 when I began taking a medication called clomiphine (clomid) for an unrelated hormonal issue. Pretty immediately I started noticing visual side effects from the medicaiton, which included a blurring, and darkening effect over my entire visual field. I stopped the medication after about a week after speaking with my endocrinologist. These acute visual effects seemed to lift, but over the course of the next few days I noticed that my vision seemed generally worse and that I couldn't stop seeing eye floaters. I experienced the visual "veil" of static over my vision, an abundance of eye floaters especially when it's bright out, terrible night vision, and palinopsia. Never had aura migraines or headaches. I may be one of the lucky ones because over the past year I've seen some major improvement, I don't know if it is just due to the passage of time or what but here is what has helped me:
Etifoxine: I noticed after taking this for about a week my visual snow just seemed different, it was still there but not as noticeable. Almost as if the fuzziness effect was sort of absorbing all the floaters, I also noticed that my night vision improved. This effect was drastic as when I took a flight recently I saw way fewer floaters when looking out of the window (ususally I can see a full field of floaters while looking at the sky from a plane, or while ice skating for some reason). I actually wouldn't say there are fewer floaters, but it's as if they are "softer" and I can see through them. I still have some and plan to take another course in a few weeks.
Switching prescriptions: I accidentaly wore my old prescription glasses for a week and didn't notice. When I went back to my new glasses I felt my brain was confused and my visual field trying to adjust. Weirdly it felt like there was an improvement in the sharpness of my vision. Now I occasionally wear my old glasses for a few days and I feel like my visual snow is a little improved for a few days and might have some long term effect.
Kratom: take this one with a grain of salt as there is some controversy around kratom. I don't think anyone should take this supplement regularly as it is addictive and can cause major withdrawals. There's an entire subreddit devoted to the terrible withdrawals this opiate-like drug causes. I think it also might be bad for the liver. I'm a bit of a degenerate so I bought some to see what it was like. When I took a high dose I noticed my vision acuity was reduced similar to how it gets when I'm really tired, everything just looks a little glazed and kind of glassy. But for whatever reason when it wears off the next day my vision seems improved, and these changes seem to persist! Again, use at your discretion but this was a game changer for me.
VS relief Overlay: another user made a VS overlay that I use and it's also helped me alot while i'm working at my computer: https://github.com/belvederef/visual-snow-relief-overlay/releases/tag/v1.5.2
I don't think it does anything long term but does seem to help while I'm using my computer.
Anyway that's been my experience so far! Hope this helps some of you! and let me know if you have any questions and don't despair! I think this is something that will be solved in our lifetimes.

The biggest changes in the update are backend ones. We've made lots of progress on and our backend systems are healthier than ever! Work on that front continues as we ensure our systems will be capable of running smoothly as the game and our player base grows.
The main changes that are visible to you as a player though would be the changes to player to player item sending and daily boosts. Read on!
Changes

• Player-to-player item sending changes. The item sending system was in need of a couple of tweaks to ensure that it'll continue to work as expected as we overhaul our backend systems this year for better scalability. Hopefully these changes will provide a more user friendly experience as well!
  • Items can now be sent to offline players. Note: the recipients username is case insensitive but they'll need to log out once after this update lands for case insensitivity to work
  • Items are no longer directly added to the recipients inventory when sent - instead, they're added to an item withdrawal box which can be accessed from your profile. All items you receive from other players will be listed here and you'll need to claim them to add them to your inventory - or you can discard them if you don't appreciate someone's gift.
  • You can have 20 items from a specific player in your withdrawal box. Afterwards, you'll need to claim or discard the items for them to be able to send you more
  • Your item withdrawal box can hold 60 items in total
• Whitelisting system has been removed and you can now send items to anyone at any time. With these new changes in place, I believe the whitelisting system is just an extra step and an unnecessary headache as you'll now claim any items sent to you before they're added to your inventory
• Daily experience boost changes
  • Premium players no longer have a 2h cooldown period when claiming daily boosts
  • Boost can be paused. After pausing and resuming the boost, there's a 3 minute cooldown before you can pause it again
  • Boost will not be consumed whilst offline if it's paused OR if you logged out whilst idle and the boost didn't get used on anything
  • 8 hours is still the limit per day and your boost carries over when days change. Your maximum boost time is 16 hours
• The settings popup now contains a "Blocks" tab where you can block other players. Blocking a player prevents them from sending you items, inviting you to combat and raids parties and you won't see their messages in chat
• Settings can now be accessed from main menu. The language dropdown was removed as a result as they can now be accessed from inside the settings popup
  • Note: some tabs are unavailable in the main menu as their settings are player specific
• For better accuracy and to be less error prone, the combat stats calculations now uses session data to calculate your stats and are thus guaranteed to be accurate. There is also a "Simulate expected stats" which runs the simulation as it has done before so that you can instantly see what kind of stats you can expect to see with your current setup
• All smithable armour has been graphically reworked by ZoEzi!
• When listing an item for sale, the default price is now 0 instead of 1 and you'll be told to select a valid price if you attempt to list an item for 0 gold. This is to prevent accidental 1 gold sales that happen to the best of us from time to time
• Renamed Questing scroll to Questing token
• Default FPS target on mobile is now 30 instead of 60
• Excess whitespace is now removed from chat messages
• Added a loading screen to guest username updates and added a character limit to the input field
• Attempting to update your guest username to a name that's already taken will now tell you so rather than hitting you with the ambiguous "Operation couldn't be completed" error message
• Raids 1 & 2 have a new background
• A detailed error message is now displayed when you attempt to purchase items from the game shop on a standalone client that's been launched outside of Steam

Bug fixes

• Fixed some quests not showing the exclamation mark in the quests popup even if you didn't have the resources to complete them
• Fixed typo in the "You need to be connected to the chat to do this" message
• Fixed a bug where if you had the clan view open when you got kicked out of the clan, your old clan would remain visible (but you wouldn't be able to interact with it)
• Fixed an unnecessary desync disconnect that would occur if you initiated an item sale, left the confirmation popup open and your owned item amount was less than originally when you confirm the sale
• Chat input field no longer accepts rich text
• The minimum selectable value in the clan quest donation slider is now 1 instead of 0
• Quests popup is now closed if you have it open when quests regenerate
• Guest restrictions that weren't properly enforced before
  • You can no longer accept invitations to clans until you've registered
  • You can no longer participate in group combat or raids until you've registered
  • You can no longer receive items from other players until you've registered

Not sure if this is the right subreddit to post but I was diagnosed several years ago with general anxiety disorder and mild depressive disorder. I don’t take any medications for it.
Anyways, I have started to notice that typical “withdrawal” symptoms from very small doses of common drugs cause strong reactions for me. For example, the day after drinking (even if I’m not hungover) or smoking weed usually causes a pretty significant serotonin crash for me and significant irritability (along with a dull headache and low energy). Recently, even caffeine has been having this effect after a week of drinking coffee.
Now I know those symptoms are normal but I feel like they’re amplified for me to the point where I am too upset to literally talk to most people for sometimes hours on end and have to take steps to calm myself down. I tried 5-HTP (250mg) and even noticed that the day after taking that, I would also get very irritable. I also tried L-Theanine which didn’t really work for me but I may have not taken a large enough dose.
At this point, I’m wondering if there’s any natural supplement or combination of supplements that I could take that may balance out some of these effects. Is there anyone that had a similar issue and found something that works?

i needed your advice regarding a very concerning matter. My partner who I am about to get engaged to, is mentally not doing okay & I feel like he has been afflicted with Nazar. We are not even engaged yet but my parents announced it to literally everyone in the family, even some jealous cousins of mine, they keep sending them his photos We used to be so happy & everything was peaceful but all of a sudden, he started withdrawing himself emotionally from his family, from me, from activities he enjoys usually. Months back he told me that he has a sense of impending doom, like something really bad will happen to him, and i just told him that youre overthinking. However, weeks later he said that he hears muffled voices calling out his name from within the walls of his home, and they are not clear and not loud, just shanty voices but his name is clearly called. I told him to recite Surah Baqarah and Ayat ul Kursi so those voices stopped! Now he has such sudden bursts of anger its like he acts really zoned out and he says he just wants to isolate. He has uncontrollable anger & says things he doesnt mean. Says he doesnt find peace in anything and doesnt want to go out with friends. he complains of crying at night due to no reason. He says he suffers from random headaches as well. He feels like someone has placed a block on his happiness. Sometimes even i feel like my heart gets hardened towards him & i have random doubts of doubting my love for him & our future and my feelings for him. I feel like someone has done something on us & our happiness and our marriage process which was going calm 🥹 i feel like we both are afflicted badly with the evil eye. ive prayed so many times that if Allah didn’t destine him for me, just make him go away but nothing like that happens, we find sakoon in each other but its just this thing which is mentally torturing us, like some waswasa? plss help

**I am NOT OP. u/ThrowRAexnocustody is the OP of this story.**
Trigger Warnings: Physical abuse, emotional abuse, drug use
AITA for telling my daughter's biological mother that she doesn't deserve to call herself a mom?, Posted October 14th, 2023
I (26F) am engaged to my fiance (33M) Brandon and have grown close with his daughter Lucy (4F). Lucy's biological mother Natalie (30F) has lost all physical and legal rights to her daughter due to neglecting her severely when Lucy was an infant, not to get into great detail but Natalie is addicted to opioids and Lucy had a withdrawal period.
Lucy and I have gotten close as I have dated my fiance for almost 4 years, Lucy was born 9 months before I came into Brandon's life, we met at the hospital as Lucy had some major health issues in her infancy due to Natalie and I have a chronic illness that pushes me into pancreatitis. She now calls me Mama even though neither I nor my fiance asked her to do so. I read her bedtime stories and I'm helping her learn to add and subtract.
During a get-together for Brandon's birthday I hosted at his house, Natalie showed up with her new boyfriend neither were invited. She tried to give Lucy a hug but Lucy didn't know her. She came to Brandon and me instead and told us a stranger had come. She then asked me to make up her plate because Natalie began to throw a tantrum in the middle of the party shouting about how she was going to take Brandon to court and because she's the mom she'll win full custody because she deserves to be in her daughter's life. During this time Brandon took Lucy inside because she had started crying because she was scared.
I admit I snapped. I told her she has no right to call herself a mother because she abandoned Lucy to go get high and sleep around. She hurt my baby so bad that she's 4 and needs to go to therapy and has physical health issues because of her. That she refuses to put her baby first and at best she's an egg donor. I told her to get the fuck out of my house and never come back. She wailed all the way back to her boyfriend's car.
I admit I think I went too far. I know that drug addiction is a disease and people who suffer from substance abuse disorder need help, I think I went too far saying she was at best an egg donor. Brandon said I did nothing wrong. AITA?
Final Verdict: NTA
Relavent Comments:
NTA
MARRY then ADOPT Miss Lucy

As soon as we finalize our marriage!

NTA but prepare for worst:
It's concerning she got into your birthday celebration. Who told her about the time and place? Who opened the doors? Talk with a lawyer about all the possibities.
Ex-mom is delusional and selfish. There are two most probable outcomes: your extreme and emotional reaction knocked some sense into her that she has zero chance to make it work. Or, worse, she will retaliate and fight for custody just to prove to herself you were not right and she is not a bad mother.

I think my STBMIL told Natalie's mom. As Lucy has a relationship with her bio grandma.

Sounds like it's time for a talk. This may have been a slip up or you may have a leak.

It was a slip up. She posted about the "Last BBQ of the year" And "Happy Birthday!" on Facebook.

YNTA. This person showed up uninvited at your fiance's birthday party and became unhinged? If it happens again, call the police so it is documented. I know she is an addict but she has no right just showing up. Have her parental rights been terminated? It sounds like she has lost her rights but there is thing called a TPR. Also if Brandon had an attorney he should let them know this happened. Let Lucy's therapist know too. You are in effect the mother and I hope you get married right away.

Yes they have been terminated.

OP, in your post you mentioned that Natalie has left the family to sleep around. Do you and your partner know for sure he is the bio father? I have no idea where you live and how family law works under these circumstances, but maybe just make sure you are on the safe side? All the best for you and your little family.

Yes, to get full custody, Lucy and Brandon had to get a DNA test, he's the dad.

Why did he get an addict pregnant in the first place?

He did not know she was an addict at the time and she poked holes in their BC.

Super off topic but right?! And in 9 months he found someone else to essentially become a mom to her. Oof.

We were friends almost a year before we started dating, my room was the one next to the picu, and he'd pop in for a chat every so often when we were there at the same time. He is a walking green flag who takes responsibility for his actions.

So instead of him being concerned for his kid... he comes and flirts with you. You were only 22 at the time and he was almost 30. Why are you fighting his battles for him? He should have been speaking with BM not you. Plus he had a new chick to raise his kid for him. You see green flags while I see red.

He walked into a quiet room while Lucy was getting a babygram... he looked exhausted so I let him play Assassin's Creed II on my console and we got talking. I told him I wasn't perma but was having an extended stay so if he wanted to talk to an adult about anything but babies my room was between the PICU and the Mat ward.

ESH. She shouldn't have shown up causing a scene unannounced. But she's not your baby. This was not your fight to have, it was your partners. You overstepped. You did go too far.
And I don't believe she has anything to do with a four year old being in therapy for something that you claim all happened when she was an infant.

She is in physical therapy for a hip dysplasia that she struggles with due to Natalie dropping her when she was an infant, she also has significant trauma from the severe neglect.

I'm not doubting the physical issue. I'm doubting the therapy. You said she lost custody for neglect when she was an infant were you hyperbolizing or was she actually under a year old?

No she has major emotional trauma from the extreme neglect. She has night terrors and she doesn't know how to explain them. It's play therapy for now, but will transition to talk later on.

NTA
You have been this child's mom. You.
Bio-mom cant just come rushing back into the child's life on a whim. She lost her rights (im assuming) by court decree. That means If she wants her rights back, she has to go through the courts and prove that she has changed. Obviously that hasnt happned yet.
You do have the right to react like you did, but since Lucy is in the dark as to who this other woman is, you would have better served her by just telling the woman to get out of your house. These comments may be used against you later with relatives and the courts, although who knows to what effect. Its still going to be a headache for you.
The judgmental comments (while I agree with them) are something you dont technically have the right to make yet. Once you are married and better established as a family unit, you will have a better leg to stand on. While I hope bio-mom gets her head out of her arse and gets her life together, I dont have much faith in that.
If you eventually are allowed to adopt, please do so, as that child needs you. Keep up with being the good mom that you are though.

Lucy is aware that she came from another mommy's tummy and that I'm an adult who loves her, and whom she considers her mom. She is aware that she has a biological mother and that I am not her bio-mom. She doesn't know her bio-mom was Natalie. If she got clean, Brendan and I would want Natalie to meet Lucy.

OK, thats fair. When this woman gets clean...
Well, you stepped up to be a mom when you didnt have to. Once you get married, that will solidify your right to claim being Lucy's mom. Time will build on that.
While I doubt that bio-mom will get clean in time to have any real relationship with the child, while she is still a child, I also worry how this woman will behave once she actually does get clean. Ive personally seen too many recovering addicts that have some bizarre notion that now that they are clean, all will be right with the world, they will get custody, and everything will go their way.
I hate being a pessimist.
Like I said though, keep being the good mom that you are to that girl. That is the positive, good, and right thing to focus on.

She is currently not attempting to get clean. - her mother told me this.

Not enough info. So where was the father when the mother was neglecting their child? And how has it come so that the father’s been dating you 9 month after a birth of his child?

He was in Kuwait. He's a veteran. My hospital room was right between the mat ward and the picu. So I was an adult who was alone surrounded by kids and I had my grandpa drop off my consoles at the hospital due to an extended stay, Lucy was suffering with health issues of her own. We met while I was playing Assassin's Creed II in one of the quiet rooms.

Ok. I saw your update where you had written about Lucy’s mother is no more than an egg donor. No, she is more than that. She gave birth. And by your logic you are no more than a caregiver. Lucy deserves to know who her mother is. And the best thing everyone around can do is to help her mother to stay in Lucy’s life. Her father decided to abandon his wife and mother of his child. When did her problems with drugs start? Before or after she gave birth? Like he had no idea what was going on? He did nothing about it. He decided it’s better to go bang another chick and have “a fresh start”. ESH.

She was never his wife. Her problems with drugs started before his deployment. And well before Lucy's birth. He did not know because she hid it from him. When he found out he had her rights severed.

Well I want to apologize. It's a triggering theme for me and now I understand why. You're going through a rough period, I wish you to stay strong. Taking a kid to a safer place is a good decision. Accepting a kid who is not blood related to you is not something everyone might do, and you're a good person. Calling a woman who gave birth an «egg donor» is awful, but people say even worse things being under emotions, your reaction is totally justifiable. I can imagine the Lucy's mother is suffering, but if she can't help herself, she doesn't deserve to be around indeed. You are not the asshole. I am.

You're not an asshole for a trauma response :) Happy Healing!

INFO: have you or the dad done anything to help this victim of the opioid epidemic or have you only demonised them and nothing else? Has the bio mother been given a chance to change and improve their life? How did they get addicted?
Just to clarify both Natalie and Lucy are victims of the opioid epidemic here. Being a victim doesn’t necessarily make the mother in anyway blameless, but how those around her acted and supported her is very important context here.

She started taking opioids at parties, not due to injury. I know because that was a piece of evidence that led to her rights being taken away.

UPDATE: AITA for telling my daughter's biological mother that she doesn't deserve to call herself a mom?, Posted October 20th, 2023
Original Post: https://www.reddit.com/AmItheAsshole/comments/1773wj4/aita_for_telling_my_daughters_biological_mothe
Hello everyone! It's been a very interesting few days and I have an update. So a few days after she crashed the party Natalie got arrested and arraigned for possession with intent to sell an illicit substance. From what her family says, the substance was cocaine, not opioids.
Lucy is doing fine and is loving her first year of kindergarten. My Fiance asked her if she wanted me to become her mama on paper. She said yes and now we're planning on doing family vows at our wedding. We are getting married on the 15th of December, as that is a very significant day for us (The day Brandon and I officially started dating.)
We have spoken to a lawyer and he has told us that even if Natalie got clean she would never get her rights to Lucy back, so we don't need to worry. I hope she gets clean in prison.
I want to add that even though I am not Lucy's biological mother, she will always be my daughter. And Brandon and I are not going to have children together so she'll be our only kid. Thank you so much for your support and your criticism!
**Reminder - I am not OP**

Biden's approval rating is at 38 percent and that is pretty consistent across a number of polls. He had decent approval numbers before the Afghanistan withdraw, but his numbers have never really recovered from the messy way it unfolded in the media. All president approval rating decline over time. None since Truman been re-elected with a sub-40 percent approval rating. The public don’t know or don’t seem to give a fuck or shit about any of his accomplishments either:

Unfortunately for Biden, less than a quarter of Americans have “heard a lot” about his signature legislative achievements: “Congress passing a law that will enable Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices” (23%); “Congress passing infrastructure investments in 2021” (20%); “Congress passing climate and clean-energy investments in 2022” (18%); and “Congress passing a gun safety law in 2022” (14%).

In contrast, far more Americans have heard a lot about Biden “physically stumbling at public events” (47%); making “verbal gaffes” (41%) and “falling asleep at public events” (33%). It’s not particularly surprising, then, that just under a quarter of Americans (24%) think Biden has accomplished “a lot” as president A recent NYT/Sienna poll showed Trump winning 20% of the black vote and coming within 1 point of Biden with voters below 30. I would argue the NYT polls are too optimistic for Biden's chances, because Trump tends to outperform his polls given his ability to attract low propensity Republican voters and pollsters' inability to capture these people. This was one of the top pollsters in the country. The fact that Trump is approaching 50 percent in these polls instead of a 43-41 split with undecideds demands that Democrats change course with their nominating contest immediately.
Before you say that sounds preposterous, you need to think of these responses in the context of a more nuanced expression of frustration and dissatisfaction. Black voters and young voters aren't saying they will vote for Trump. They are saying they will stay their asses home on election day if Joe Biden is the nominee.And I think there is every reason to take their threat seriously:

Trump’s claim that many black voters stayed home, though, is correct. On Sunday, the New York Times published research from a group of political scientists and data analysts that breaks out how voters who supported President Barack Obama in 2012 behaved in 2016. Most of them, unsurprisingly, voted for Hillary Clinton. Nine percent voted for Trump. Seven percent didn’t vote. Those percentages aren’t distributed evenly by race. According to the analysis, 12 percent of white voters who had backed Obama in 2012 voted for Trump four years later. Eleven percent of black Obama 2012 voters stayed home.

In 2016 Hillary Clinton performed much worse than Obama '12 in the key battleground states because so many base voters preferred to stay home than vote for her:

2016 was an election cycle in which Trump’s margin of victory was one of the narrowest in U.S. history. It came down to about 78,000 votes in three states, including Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. It’s hard not to wonder, then, how the decrease in turnout among black voters might have affected the outcome. In Michigan, where 14 percent of residents are black, Trump won by 10,704 votes of 4.8 million cast. In Pennsylvania, he won by 44,000 of 6.2 million cast — with blacks making up more than a tenth of the population. Clinton wins those states, and the 2016 race is essentially a tie.

In other words, "Not this woman!" the base said. And today Biden’s numbers are very similar to where her’s were. In fact, he's polling worse than she was in August 2016. Young voters and black voters are pissed that he hasn't delivered on things like reforming the court, voting rights, student loans etc. The shit with Israel where we have promised the Israeli government unconditional support and military aid while they level Palestine isn't helping him. A majority of Americans now disapprove of his handling of the conflict.
The White House has said that polling a year out doesn’t mean anything. But 55 percent of the voting public having a negative perception of you is a lot to turn around in less than a year when they have 3-4 years of previous knowledge of you as president informing their opinion.
They have also pointed to the success of measures like abortion and marijuana legalization in the recent off year elections as a good sign, mistakenly. These elections indicate that voters like abortion and weed. They do not like Joe Biden. Unless he changes his name to Abortion and Weed, there's no reason to think the success of these referendums (deep-red Trump country Ohio legalized abortion for pete's sake) carries over to Biden himself when he's on the ballot.
His numbers are about as bad as they can get for a sitting president:

Only one-third of U.S. adults say they approve of President Biden’s job performance — a record low for his presidency and for any president in the last 15 years. In an ABC News/Ipsos poll, conducted Jan. 4-8, only 33 percent of those surveyed said they approved of Biden, a drop from the previous poll in September 2023, when 37 percent approved of his performance. Biden’s disapproval rating is 58 percent, up from 56 percent in September.

The party is taking an unwarranted gamble nominating someone whose approval rating is in the 30s and the base has lost trust in. It's totally unwise to run somebody that the base and 55 percent of voters have a negative perception of. These numbers matter particularly when you're talking about how razor thin the vote margins in some of these swing states were in 2020. When he loses next year Reddit will be sitting here posting about how "stupid" "entitled" "low information" the voters are when they sent a message loud and clear in polling a year before the election that he was not their first choice.
We have seen this before. Both parties run historically unpopular candidates, and Republicans eak out a win because Dems stayed home. It is not an inevitable outcome. There is still time to course correct and dump Biden, but Dems need to act quickly and find a younger nominee.
Why aren't they doing it??

Obviously, I'll be vague about the more sensitive or identifiable details, but here is a rundown of what has happened.
Recently moved back from overseas and looking for employment. This is in England.
Nov '23 - Interviewed for a role. I was told I was the last person to be interviewed on the way out, but an interviewer corrected that as an Executive was wondering whether to approach someone else about the role. A couple of days later I was told that I wasn't successful, but that they're putting me forward for another role that I might be suitable for.
Dec '23 - Meeting about the other role. It sounded great, and it was strongly suggested that I was the only candidate for the role. I got positive feedback and was told by the person in Talent (let's call them TK) that there needed to be a meeting to confirm the specifics of the role. This got pushed back a few times and I was told that it was definitely going ahead in the new year. As I had been living with family whilst I found my feet, I asked for a firm assurance that it would as I needed to move for the role, and my living arrangements were increasingly unstable and I'd need to move to a different city. I got firm assurance, and so my girlfriend and I moved into a flat closeby with a year's lease.
Jan - Feb '24 - The meeting kept being pushed back, or was vague. TK didn't keep me up to date and wouldn't always reply to texts/emails within a reasonable time. I got repeated assurance that the job was going ahead shortly. I was eventually told the job description had been finalised and I was sent a copy to review. I read it and said I was happy to move forward. I was emailed a conditional offer of employment document that was referred to as a contract. The conditions were;

1. Evidence I am eligible to work in the UK
2. Successful medical
3. Satisfactory references
4. Evidence of qualifications
5. Security clearances (incl overseas checks for the 2 countries I'd lived in outside of UK)
6. Successful 12 week probation
7. Agreement that employer can deduct any liabilities from salary
8. Acceptance of T&Cs in job offer letter

I signed the document and returned it. The week afterwards, I attended my medical and provided my ID documents for the checks to be carried out. The week after that, TK called to say that a new Executive had decided to take a different strategic direction and that the team I would be a part of had been pulled. For this reason, my job offer was withdrawn. I asked about the contract that I'd signed and TK said that they'd check. They called back the next day to explain that my overseas checks hadn't come back yet so they didn't owe me anything.
March - May '24 - I wanted to see if my checks would eventually come back, as that would satisfy another of the 8 conditions. My UK and one of the overseas ones came back clear, but the second overseas one was cancelled by the employer. I had independently had one carried out in this process and that came back clear, so I know I wouldn't have failed it. Following ACAS rules, I had already informally raised my concern over the phone, and so a formal grievance was the next step. The job offer had been withdrawn, but there had been no conversation around the document that was referred to as a contract, not even verbally. In that document, there are two sentences next to each other that are a little unclear:

Your notice period to \employer* will be 3 months from either side.*
\employer* will give you 1 month's notice for the first 4 years of employment and an additional 1 week for each additional full year of service up to a maximum of 12.*

These are right next to each other, but seem to contradict. I've also never seen the phrase "from either side" before.
In my grievance, I explained the negative effect this has had on my financial stability and mental health, and pointed out the notice period above. I also mentioned that I was now locked into living in an unfamiliar city, and that my future job search was now very limited to the area. I didn't ask for a specific outcome, just that I'd like to start a constructive dialogue and that I'd like to see their grievance policy. They've replied and reinforced their position that they don't contractually owe me anything as I didn't satisfy condition 6 - the probation. They also said that they'd offer 4 weeks' wages as an ex gratia. I haven't replied, as I'd like to properly understand my options.
Questions

1. How do you interpret the notice period?
2. Can a company withdraw a job offer and a contract without honouring a notice period for the reasons they've given (change of strategic direction / haven't completed probation). I haven't been given a chance to complete the probation and so it's not like I've underperformed or been frequently absent.
3. Is there a difference between a job offer and a contract, and do both have to be formally withdrawn?
4. Am I right in saying that because they haven't followed the ACAS Code of Practice for Grievances?
5. Do you think I have a case that is worth pursuing in ACAS' Early Conciliation / Tribunal?
6. Is there anything else I've missed?

Thanks so much, this has been a huge headache over the last 6 months.

So long story short, I've been on 25mg of Zoloft for 3 years and have no regrets -- it helped me get through a time when my physical anxiety was horrific, and has continued to help me cope with everyday anxiety and intrusive thinking. With my doctor's supervision, I made the decision to attempt to go off of it now that I'm on a couple of new medications. I slowly tapered over the course of a month and have now been totally off of it for about a week.
My biggest physical symptoms during the withdrawal process have been slight nausea, headaches, increased sweatiness, and fatigue/lethargy (and also some wildly vivid/weird dreams). Emotionally, I've noticed a slight increase in the intrusive thinking and mental anxiety (not so much physical), which I was expecting.
But I think the thing affecting me the most right now is mood swings, and particularly irritability. I've swung from high to low moods several times within the course of a day -- usually starting out pretty cheery and then gradually getting lower and lower until I'm on the verge of tears, then eventually swinging up again.
But the irritability I'm feeling is the worst part, and the person it's affecting the most is my partner (who I've been with for 10 months now) -- which probably makes sense considering they're who I spend the most time with. It's really unfortunate timing since we took a big step in our relationship a month ago, and now I'm finding myself annoyed with this poor person's entire personality and suddenly questioning this big step we took (which then, of course, leads to more anxiety).
I'm 99.9% sure what I'm experiencing is related to the medication and not an indication that I should make some drastic decision about our very healthy and thriving relationship, so I'm not looking for advice in that aspect. I'm more just curious if anyone else has had a similar experience with their sertraline withdrawal.

Was anyone else put on Venlafaxine for their adhd? I was put on 150mg during the shortage as my gp said SNRIs can help with adhd symptoms as well as low mood/anxiety. Unfortunately I felt no benefit from it, but luckily 2 months later elvanse became available for me to start titration.
Now my gp has told me to stop taking Venlafaxine because of the serotonin syndrome risk and the withdrawal symptoms are horrible. I had asked about tapering off but he said as I only took it for 2 months I wouldn’t have any withdrawal symptoms. So far it’s been constant crying and nausea, terrible headaches, insomnia. Plus the added bonus of not feeling the effects of the adhd mediation because I feel so sick.
Does anyone know how I can ease withdrawal? I’ve waited almost 2 years to titrate and I feel as if I am wasting some of it because I feel so sick from quiting another medication.

I was put on venlafaxine during the adhd mediation shortage by my gp. I tried to stick it out for the longest time (over a year) but there was no end in sight and I was struggling badly. My gp said that SNRIs could help with adhd symptoms as well as anxiety and low mood. So I was put on 75mg and then moved up to 150mg. Unfortunately I didn’t really feel any benefits from taking it. Then 2 months later, elvanse became available for me to start titration.
I asked my doctor about tapering down from the venlafaxine as he had told me about the risk of serotonin syndrome when combining the two meds, but he said since I was only on it for two months I could just stop it and I shouldn’t withdrawal at all. I did taper down from 150 to 75 for a week before seeing him and felt completely fine, so I took his advice.
I stopped taking it all together 5 days ago and my withdrawal symptoms TERRIBLE. I’m nauseous when I eat and when I don’t eat. Constant crying, feeling sick, terrible headaches, insomnia. Plus the added bonus of not feeling the effects of the adhd mediation because I feel so sick.
Does anyone have any tips that can ease withdrawal and does anyone know roughly how long it may last? Does the low mood ever pass? cause I feel miserable atm. I have tried benadryl, Dramamine and ginger chews for the nausea, but those haven’t helped.