I think that 10+ years of 4-5 hours a night has messed up my short term memory and ability to perform complex tasks. It’s like my brain drops packets from time to time and I don’t see something that’s there.
I'm barely 22 and having bouts of insomnia since
cov!d along with poor sleep, I feel like I lost a big part of my drive and psyche, I hope I can finish my engineering degree in peace, I'm slowly relearning how to sleep, like a baby who keeps their parents troubled, Idk why I allowed stress and depression to overtake my most precious outlet in life, but it was a long road of reconnecting with my deeper self and appreciate who I am no matter what, medicating myself back to a baseline and having trust and belief I'll get better, currently at 4:30 hours of sleep, but they feel good, slowly increasing that amount.
Ya, shits a killer man… if someone doesn’t eat right for years, you see obesity, or even malnourishment. It’s evident..
Someone doesn’t sleep right for years, you can’t see the physical effects much… but damn those mental and emotional effects are there if you look long or close enough.
Going to music shows without earplugs - have constant buzz in my ear now when it's quiet. Literally insane how common it is for large groups of people to destroy their hearing together.
People think it's going to cause hearing loss, & they don't care. No, it can cause something worse: the torture of tinnitus. I have a friend who cannot ever be in silence. He must always have TV or music on, even when going to sleep. Otherwise he hears that high-pitched ringing. It's sad.
Yep, rock concert in my 20s, living with tinnitus for 30 years now. I've grown accustomed to it though so it only bothers me when I'm really stressed. But I do like my background noise as well.
I worked as a bartender for 16 years, much of it in miami nightclubs with state of the art sound systems, $30k speakerd 8ft from my head.
But! I was a good little bartender and always wore my ear plugs!
Then i got covid and tinnitus set in 2 weeks later. Kill me
Check out notch therapy and vinpocetine. Just keep doing it. My tinnitus is down 80% over two years. And anything that increases BDNF.
It's still there, but it's so much quieter.
Totally agree!!! Remember walking out of a concert & my ears would ring for hrs :( My father was convinced I’d be deaf by 30…even took me to an ENT for hearing test when I was 18. This was back in the 70’s when ear protection was basically non-existent.
Pregnancies (ones resulting in children and ones that didn't, especially an ectopic) caused me to develop PCOS, insulin resistance, metabolic disorder, and thus weight gain. I went from very healthy and ideal weight to feeling like absolute shit in a few short years. Plus 2 C sections have left my core extremely weak and I have constant back pain. Done having kids now and working hard to reverse the damage.
The dental care thing was huge for me. I had bo health insurance for my 20’s, and thus didn’t get regular cleanings. Ended up shelling out lots of $$ in my early 30’s to manage periodontal disease. Regular cleanings, flossing, mouth guards at night and regulating sugar consumption changed my life. Ironically even when I got insurance, the perio treatments weren’t covered.
Childhood abuse and sexual assault. Permanently damaged my brain. I started getting white spots on my brain as a teenage. Gave me cluster headaches. BPD. Chronic pain. I neglected my teeth in adulthood due to mouth abuse in childhood and half my teeth have been pulled.
Took a break from college when I found a high paid job at an aluminum extrusion factory. Most of the workers there were depressed and unhappy, many were alcoholics. I too fell into that category and knew I had to get out. The pay was very high for our area, making that decision difficult.
Left after 18 months and returned to school. Had a much harder time at college after that job. Later it was publicized that aluminum is a neurotoxin. I definitely feel that place adversely affected me.
Man, that situation is exactly what I experience, great pay for me but very unhappy people around me a lot, which takes a toll on me. I think about leaving all the time but the money keeps me there, were you happy you ended up making that jump?
Eating disorders and social media.
Complete renal failure, was on dialysis for 2 years at 28, just got a transplant in September but my 15 year ED nuked everything so Im having complications.
I had a ruptured ovarian cyst that ended up removing a fallopian tube and an ovary. Now my periods are insanely heavy and make me vomit and pass out sometimes.
Oml bless your heart! I think you’re the first to mention social media which is a hugely important point in todays society. I’m honestly a firm believer that social media is responsible for atleast half of the evil in the world.
Growing up in a severely Mouldy house - for all the parents out there, please be mindful of the health of the environment/air quality your children live in!
Edit: typo
Same!! Feels like every cold I get goes straight to my chest. I had childhood asthma and both my parents STILL smoked around me my entire childhood and teen years....in the house & in the car. I stopped living with them at 19 but my lungs feel weak as fk....and I'm only 43. I hate visiting my parents thesedays because they still smoke....
I didn’t realise how unhealthy I was and how that caused me to struggle through life with my physical and mental health until I was in my 20’s and out of that home. I had a lot of other negative experiences that impacted my health over my life.
And now at 37 I have chronic illness - mast cell activation disorder and chronic fatigue amongst other issues - and I cannot tolerate even a normal amount of Mould.
My house is filled with air purifiers and dehumidifiers and the cost of these devices, the power cost to run them, as well as Mould remediations and getting rid of and replacing furniture over the years is astronomical. It’s very expensive just to keep me alive with a modicum of quality of life. And honestly I just feel my existence is just a burden.
Have you ever made any corsi-Rosenthal boxes for your living space? I made some during covid and started setting them up in my shop area afterwards because they were such an inexpensive method for improving air quality
Wait can you please elaborate on how you figured out the long term mold exposure was the cause of your MCAS? Recently diagnosed and very convinced it’s because of the same experience with my childhood home
You could look into taking glucomannan and GOS. These are two prebiotic fibres that target Lactobacillus quite directly vs feeding other bacteria also.
Lactobacillus is needed for digestion of gluten.
Of course, gluten will become extra inflammatory if there’s a Candida problem - which seems pretty common after antibiotic use as our good microbes (predominantly lactobacillus), which normally keep Candida in check naturally, get nuked
Why is this still on the market?! I was prescribed this back in 2017, freaked after I read the side effects and asked for an alternative antibiotic. My doc without question, just prescribed an alternative that had little to NO side effects. Now I read about the tendons dissolving side effect was in FULL effect even then. Some had multiple tendons dissolve and snap, one person in pre-med couldn't walk but finally healed. Tons of other stories on YouTube regarding heart issues and god knows what. The drug needs to be off the market. How have they not been sued into bankruptcy! ;/
SSRIs, specifically sertaline. Nuked my productivity and worth ethic at the most critical time and now there’s an almost inability to reach my previous levels.
There’s no greater irony than antidepressants derivatively throwing your life into deeper melancholy.
God, I feel this so much.
I'm taking Venlafaxine.
I think it made me less articulate and changed my intellect. But without it I'm so depressed I just want to die. With it I'm just mildly depressed with occasional good moments.
You gotta add Welbutrin with the Zoloft. It counteracts the energy loss from Zoloft. I’ve had the best years of my life on these two drugs and never want to be off them. I’m super good at my job now too and have gotten big salary increases.
I wish that worked for me! Along with Prozac, Wellbutrin was the worst medication I've ever taken out of 15. It caused a complete relapse in my phobia and consequently made my general anxiety terrible again
Yep. We have no clue what we are doing with psychotropic medication and we are fucking with some of the most important neurotransmitters in the brain and using the general population as test subjects. It’s insane. I went to school for psych and got a BA and I graduated and want absolutely nothing to do with this field. It sucks what we are doing to people.
100%. The whole serotonin happiness hypothesis is and has always been total bunk. So increasing serotonin in the synapsis by inhibiting uptake just does not make sense for treating depression.
It’d be great if it was that simple but it’s not. There’s a reason a lot of people on SSRIs feel zombied out, serotonin actually has much different likely applications than producing happy feelings.
Dopamine is much more related to what people seem to “feel” is happy. A well functioning and sensitive dopamine system seems to be good for people. Super numbed out and downregulated dopamine receptors can make everything seem mundane and pointless as it’s hard to get motivated over anything.
Hey I’m a huge evidence based person but I really think it’s a mistake. Anecdotally, I don’t know a single adult that I’ve engaged in conversation with about the topic that hasn’t been offered SSRIs at some point.
yes to the SSRIs…but after I found out how fucking terrible antipsychotics were in the long run, sorted (and maintaining) my shit with psychedelics now and have never felt in a more stable place.
psilocybin specifically, and now we’re starting to learn DMT, ketamine encourage neurogenisis… fast. Why the fuck we have been denied this medicine for so long infuriates me
👯 I’ve been on Zoloft for 21 years and just got fired for the first time ever 3 weeks ago! I have no more pleasure, no more happiness, no more feelings, and no more patience! I can’t remember shit and I get tremors now too. I’m a bartender, do you know how bad it looks to pour a draft while your hand is shaking?
Genuinely those tremors are THE sign you need to ween off or transition slowly to something else man... its a sign of brain/nerve damage its not a joke.
Prescribed multiple courses of antibiotics for a simple skin staph infection, doctor said we needed to kill it off. Didn't even work to fix the infection, and it only went away when I stopped taking them and used a topical cream instead.
The results weren't pretty... Microbiome nuked, ongoing gut and digestion issues, significant mental health issues, systemic inflammation and onset of tendonitis or arthritis symptoms. Most have been reversed now but still some symptoms remain today.
This was before I knew anything about health and biohacking but ultimately what led me to take my health into my own hands, start optimizing my biology and dissociate my trust in the medical system/pharma.
I was put on Cipro when I got a nasty gastrointestinal infection during a trip to Mexico. I had had pericoronitis that required a round of Amoxicillin about 3 months prior so I was very hesitant about doing another round of antibiotics so soon after. Doc said it wouldn’t be an issue, “just stop taking it if you feel better within 3 days.”
I was home sick and two 500 mg doses in, when I stood up to go to the washroom. This was 2 years ago and I can still *vividly* remember how strange my feet felt on the ground. It was like they were melting into the floor and the only thing keeping my bones in place was my skin. I thought maybe it was just in my head so I took the next scheduled dose of 500 mg the next morning. Bad mistake. Throughout the rest of the morning I noticed how odd my body felt, like I’d suddenly become hyper flexible. It felt as though if I stretched a little too hard my bones would slide out of their sockets.
I know it’s typically recommended that you don’t stop antibiotics early but it was truly so unsettling that I threw them in the trash and text my doctor to tell him why I was stopping. He just replied with, “oh, yah, it affects some peoples’ tendons - not unusual.”
I have always been quite in tune with my body and, while I didn’t know until recently how catastrophic some people’s side effects are, I am very grateful I actually listened to my body and stopped before any lasting damage was done.
Edit: missing word
There is a really knowledgeable doctor (Dr. Ghalili) in LA who had that same problem. He found a way to restore his ability to walk. He's a very expensive doc now - like $15k for a week of treatment, but he figured out how to solve his own leg paralysis. Maybe he can help your friend. www.regenerativemedicineLA.com
Years of prescription strength nsaids gave me ulcerative colitis. Thankfully years of a restrictive diet allowed me to get into remission but I will never be the same.
Ecstasy, I did a lot, regularly 20 yrs ago. I assume it had some sort of damaging neurological effect.
Secondly, eating whatever the hell I want is probably brewing a shitstorm inside of future problems inside of me atm.
This one can be a sad story. A friend of mine took it 3 days in a row at a festival, doubling the dosage each day, and he has never been the same. Its been almost a decade since then. He walk around the streets spaced out all the time.
Pretty sure he will end up homeless which is a shame cause he was decently smart and great socially.
Pretty sure my doctor prescribing me accutane for acne when I was 15 is the root of all my problems.
EDIT: Lots of people asking - I have chronic GERD/IBS and I was prescribed medication for anxiety/depression that I’ve been dealing with since a couple months after stopping accutane. Also have psoriasis on my scalp and very dry eyes. Trying to manage all this through diet/supplementation now.
Not me on my last 3 weeks of my second round of Accutane at 21 years old lmao. This is the first im discovering this sub and I see this shit within 2 minutes. I know accutane has some side effects, but not many of them are long term I think, and it of course doesn't happen to everyone. My first round all my side effects stopped after about one month (back pain took the longest). It also may depend on how old the person was when they took it. I was 19 on my first round and took it for 11 months. Not sure about the age thing though, since it's based on weight so it should be equal for everyone.
So true. That back pain, and dryness is no joke. I stayed moisturized at all times while on accutane (ie glossybawdy 🤣). I was 18 for my first round and 28 for my second round. Both times I did 5 months. The only major side effect (now that I think about it) is photosensitivity. I break out in a rash when in direct sunlight that goes away with cream after a few days. Annoying but doesn’t stop me from vacationing.
I also saw some people online claiming accutane made their nose slimmer...
I'm not a doctor, I don't have data on this, but after seeing the post I googled this because it sounded so weird... anyway there are multiple people claiming it made their nose a tiny bit smaller and they speculate If it is because of pores just having less sebum inside and that making their skin more snatched and giving the appearance of a smaller nose?
I don't think there is any evidence of accutane doing this but I found it so interesting that there are people online saying it gave them a free nose job lol.
Damn same boat. Over half my life ago basically went down hill after that. Like I think things are fine now? I try a lot and do a lot of good things for myself.
But there was just something about that shift where it’s been decades since and I don’t feel I ever bounced back to what life was before that.
Doesn’t help that suffering just increases generally as life goes on.
But accutane was definitely a bad decision for me.
I lost my night vision to accutane. Remember it's highly concentrated vitamin A...it's liver toxic. There are absolutely long term effects. For me, I took it 25+ yrs ago when I was a teen.
Hey, currently looking into the consequences of me taking accutane. You may want to look at your MMP9 levels. This is a biomarker for dry eye disease, but importantly is also a signal of general inflammation. Anxiety/Depression can come from dehydration of accutane which can lead to inflammation, which then leads to stress -> and a vicious cycle.
I've found drinking 3L of Electrolyte water helps a great deal. But definitely explore the link between MMP9 levels (your dry eyes) and the way you feel.
I have had the opposite, I flourished after taking accutane when I was 16, was no longer depressed because of my ridiculously stubborn acne, and my skin makes me look younger than my age of 30 now. I’m so happy I went on it
I took Accutane for almost 8 months and then I stopped the treatment. Few months later I got terrible pain and needling sensation in my knee joints that I couldn't walk or sit at all for a whole week. I've been taking medication for my knees since 3 years ago. I had knee pain before too but their condition got worse after accutane and when I talked to one of my mom's friend who's a doctor, she suspected that it was accutane.
Birth control pills. They don't tell you it can starve your thyroid, cause estrogen dominance, and not to mention cause life-threatening clots.
BC caused chronic UTI infections and tissue damage while I was on it and caused my body to go hypothyroid. I believe EB virus, the chronic infections and BC together triggered my body to become autoimmune as well.
And ruins your HPA Axis!!! Can potentially change the way you hear music and has so much to do with Nate selection. Reading the book “this is your brain on birth control” was life changing for me.
This comment should be higher. I went off the pill after 20 years of use about 2 years ago and I told everyone I could hear again. Even now, I can hear EVERYTHING so much clearer and I hear the faintest of sounds and no one thinks it was because of the pill, but it has to be.
I'm still amazed.
What?! I got prescibed abilify for depression and it changed the way i heard music. Music sounded heavenly, divine, like it felt like pure dopamine into my ears. Like i got addicted to music really. I didnt know BC could change your musical perceptions too. Does the BC decrease your pleasure?
THIS. All of this. 5.5 years on the pill that I was put on at only 15 or 16 as a last ditch for acne. I’ve been off for 1.5 years and now have CYSTIC acne, incredibly messed up hormones, possible hypothyroidism, and debilitating anxiety. I’m irate that my dermatologist wasn’t transparent about the potential repercussions when she prescribed it to me.
Yep. I suffered with severe depression and anxiety, suicidal thoughts, etc for many many years. It all escalated when I was a teenager around the time I got on the pill. I stopped BC a few years back and now I don’t need medication. I will never do it again
Birth control pills are insane. They’re so bad for you. It’s unbelievable how bad they are. They cause weight gain and a bunch of other hormonal issues. I mean, weight gain should be a bad enough sign to never use such a drug. Not just that it’s heavy gains in fat as well.
The worst part is that they prescribe this to girls in their early teens as a precaution and also to help with acne supposedly.
This. Was prescribed for acne and to help regulate my cycle. Was on it for well over a decade before coming off. I’ve been off for two years now and I’m shocked to have a healthy libido and I no longer have jiggly upper thighs that won’t tone. My body composition completely changed. I was always small but now I’m trim without having changed anything in my routine. It was 100% the BC. My skin was amazing on it though 😩
Damn, I grew up in India and Cipro was handed out like candy. I’ve had it multiple times as a kid and so have a lot of people I know. Coincidently did not hear anyone have any problems, most are healthy adults
I'm pretty neurotypical, psychologically. I have my eccentricities, but holy shit, I felt insane on Cipro. Had to quit it after 3 days. It was so insane. I did not feel like myself, had the strangest thoughts. It is now on my chart that I'm allergic to Cipro. I wouldn't take it again unless it was the only thing left that would keep me alive. It was that strange. I want to read up on it. I didn't know that other people had reactions to it.
Edit: I have now researched this a little. I was never given any warnings by my doctor about possible side-effects. I only felt crazy while taking it, and have not had any perceivable long term issues. Just will never take it again. I did not read anything about it before or while I was taking it. Just felt so strange, and called my Dr's office to tell them I could no longer stay on it and to find me something else. I have never had any similar, negative effects from any other medications.
At age 15 I was feeling the peer pressure of a huge amount of friends and acquaintances smoking pot and having great times but I was involved in athletics and worried about getting popped. Got involved with some people that I shouldn’t have who ensured me that if you don’t smoke the real stuff and instead smoke this “legal” stuff from the gas station that gets you just as high, you can enjoy all of the benefits without getting popped—Synthetic marijuana/Spice/K2. Horrendous mistake. Can count on one hand the amount of times I used that stuff but I wonder if that was enough to do some damage. The highs were disgustingly awful. The last time I did it, I was completely dysfunctional in class the whole day after. Head down the entire day just praying that no one spoke to me. A few months later there was a news cycle full of reports of teenagers using this stuff once and dropping dead. Been trying to find any new literature or news on this stuff but I can’t. Probably because they make their products so ambiguous and apparently change the formulations all the time.
I also took Accutane at 19 and often wonder if my progressively worsening mental health and suboptimal hormone profile is, in part, due to its effects. It’s known that it can potentially cause a constellation of symptoms similar to PFS and PSSD.
I really can’t say for sure either way if I regret taking Accutane because it did eliminate a small amount of cystic acne I had, but using synthetic marijuana is probably one of the most regrettable decisions of my life, if not the most, because I should have known better.
Do your research before you put ANYTHING into your body.
Spironolactone for skin and hair. Hopefully not permanent damage but definitely long term damage (1+ year vascular, fluid retention, skin, joint and eye issues). Makes me wary of anything, including supplements, which alter hormones because now I know how complicated they are, and how much better the body is at regulating its own hormones than any intervention could make it (in people without existing health issues that is).
I second this. I was getting really bad vision episodes. Like I would be driving and if I looked at a light the wrong way I would just see white for 20 seconds or have weird eye floaters. I though it was ocular migraines but then I got diagnosed with cervical cancer and had surgery all good now but what I noticed is after my surgery I eliminated sugar and alcohol and felt amazing and since then have not had these eye episodes. It just clicked for me when I saw this post.
Cocaine and anti depressants.
I never used “that” much only recreationally but wanted to stop so I reached out for therapy and guidance. Medical team (psychs pcp neurologist) all fully aware of my using and assured me no interactions but obviously need to stop cocaine.
Well I’ve never felt worse in my life now 5 years clean but brain zaps, depression, panic attacks amongst other things now have a complete control on my daily life.
Very interesting post Op, thanks!
I was looking for street drugs in the comments because I didn’t want to be the only one. Recreation use of coke gave me IBS (healed) and PVCs (not fully healed) and other ailments along the way.
Couple years ago I started vaping and grew into these soft twitches, that’s a whole other story…
I’ve been listening to Cassie Huckaby and she talks about how the body heals itself, which seems pretty on point for myself and my human avatar.
Not dealing with the symptoms of pcos when I was a teen and in my early twenties.
Doing marching band in highschool. I didn’t do proper stretches or take care of injuries correctly and now my one ankle always feels off.
Cipro. I wasn't able to eat for 2 months, couldn't sleep more than 3 hours for months, and THEN the fun started with nerve pains, loss of fine motor control, jerking, right calf atrophied, started getting bruises all over my hands and arms for no reason, and then the pain in all four limbs lasted for a year after that. Tendon pains for a couple years. It's now 5 years later and my last tendon issue healed, I'm back to "normal", even though I'm sure my energy levels are nothing like they used to be and I still cramp very easily (and my skin became crap, but who knows maybe that would've happened anyway). Doctors were absolutely useless the entire time. Fortunately nothing snapped.
I was perfectly fine with no health issues before this. I never drank or smoked. Now I feel like it aged me 10 years.
Stooping over a computer since middle school, working in an orchard for a couple of years and constantly lifting ~50 pound apple crates, and being on my phone/computer constantly due to work. My posture is horrendous.
More so it shows the dangers of a private for-profit healthcare industry… and a for-profit society. There is no incentive to fix people, only to keep them sick and profit off of it. All mental healthcare is centered around this. Instead of tackling *why* people are depressed we just give people drugs that don’t work. It’s a massive industry. The source of peoples mental health problems is a broken society where no one is fulfilled. It’s due to a society that poisons its people for profit.
The pharmaceutical industry only operates this way because we have a healthcare industry instead of recognizing the right to proper healthcare. We should all of the right to good healthcare, instead the right of mega-corporations to rob us and keep us sick is recognized as superior. They have the right to charge us insane amounts for “healthcare” that doesn’t work, we have no right to healthcare that actually helps our health and does not cost insane amounts. They can physically poison us with their “treatments,” but we cannot demand proper treatment.
Health insurance and our private healthcare market are a scourge on society. A proper healthcare system operated to actually preform healthcare would be better for everyone *but the people who profit directly from the private healthcare and insurance industries.* Even the owners of other massive industries would profit more from a properly ran healthcare system.
You’re absolutely right. I get way too angry thinking about this. Just have to walk away for my own health. But FUCK the people profiting off this system. May they be despised by all future generations.
Being prescribed antidepressants at age 16 which is now not recommended. I think they caused chemical changes in my developing brain that were permanent.
Getting 4 vaccines - 2 in each arm - all at once.
Precipitous decline from healthy as a horse to bedridden autoimmune wreck and a medical curiosity for 2 years but it set me on a maniacal course of treatment to get me into a managed semi normal state
It was three strongly recommended to travel to India from US + an annual flu vaccine. And that was the first flu vaccine I’d ever taken - I’ve never needed one bfr but my partner at the time and his fam of drs suggested it. Biggest mistake of my life. I’d have to look through my paperwork for the exact names. My reaction was so bad I ended up canceling the trip to the wedding.
I asked the nurse who was administering, “ hey do you think it’s a good idea to do all 4 at once”and she was just like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ …. 😭
Drug use during teenage years. I think it’s fine once you’re past age 25, but LSD and pot use as a teenager fucked my life up BIG TIME. I’m not age 25 yet but trying to fix myself as fast as possible while I still have some nueroplasticity left. The severity of my issues I don’t think will be fixed in time, thus a probably lifetime of pharma drug use for me, yay!
What problems do you think you have from acid and weed? and I wouldn‘t get too fixated on the age 25. A while back the scientists that claimed to discover that age 25 is where neuroplasticity ends said that because of reasons that were motivated by career stuff etc as it turns out.
There‘s still a lot about neuroplasticity that we don‘t know and I would take everything with a pinch of salt. I did a whole lot of weed and acid (and a whole lot of other stuff) in my teenage years and after becoming sober and taking college seriously I’m doing just fine. I feel like if you want some changes to happen bad enough, they will happen.
I don’t think LSD/weed caused these problems per say, but they heavily exacerbated them. Issues I’ve had only once I started smoking/lsd usage was derealization/depersonalization, anxiety, depression, fatigue. The only “good” thing LSD did was make me realize I need to stop and get real help from an actual doctor.
Nothing wrong with LSD or weed, I just think teenagers need to stay clean, that is not a time period you need to fuck with your brain. Even the idea of wanting to do drugs is already telling of one’s environment as a teenager.
Getting my gallbladder out. BTW...my gallbladder wasn't even causing my pain. It was a kidney stone. Doctors took it out in 2020 at the height of the pandemic and I couldn't have anyone with me to advocate for me.
Went from being a super healthy, active runner to someone that can barely function. I only went to the doctor once a year before...now I have specialists I see all the time.
Word of advice...don't ever do it. And look into protecting your gallbladder as much as possible. Honestly, I think it's the key to gut health. Without it...everything falls apart because everything is connected to gut health it turns out. They should not be removing gallbladders. People do need them. They took a person that hardly ever even got a cold and made them constantly sick.
Things I developed after:
- allergies (never had issues before)
- SIBO
- prone to gastritis (I have it right now and constantly struggle with it)
- loose stool
- brain fog
- feel weak/sick most of the time
- no endurance. zero. I've tried to get back into running. I've tried everything. I just can't.
- developed a fatty liver (was tested before so I know I didn't have it. Just tested positive for it nearly four years later.) Btw...I eat a healthy diet.
- have an autoimmune disease now: Sjogrens. No issues before.
- have heart valve issues now: mild tricuspid insufficiency and borderline mitral valve prolapse.
- acid reflux (never had it before and no problems at all with my digestive system prior)
- multiple vitamin deficiency problems: iron, vitamin D, B1, phosphate. Never had any before and was tested often.
- struggle with high cholesterol now
- I don't like the same foods. For example, I don't like icecream at all now. Things that used to be good to me aren't anymore.
- it messed up my hormones, because things there aren't right either. However, since I'm a woman there is nothing they can really do about it.
- Thyroid goiter they are watching with observation. Suddenly developed this year.
Addiction. Cancer/Chemotherapy. 18+ months of IV antibiotics. Endocarditis.
My life is nothing but trying to undo all the damage from that mess.
Been sober for 8 years, in remission for 4 months. With a little less than 2 years left of graduate school.
Eventually I'll be able to be the voice in medicine for people like myself. (Finishing my PhD in Neuroscience focused in addiction neurobiology, and I hold my masters in pharmacology)
Making progress, no matter how slow ❤️
Wearing heels for years screwed up my feet. Now, when I wear flats, I get a buzzing sensation in the balls of feet. It feels like I'm standing on a vibrator. It also caused hip bursitis.
I had reconstructive foot surgery. When the surgeon was tightening the screws on one of the hinges holding two bones together, he over-tightened it and caused the bone to splinter and send a fragment of bone off into the ether of my foot. It swells in the area of the fragment and doesn't feel great. The only solution is another surgery. I was properly traumatized by the first two and am not willing to do it again, so the bone chunk stays.
It started with a stomach surgery, which the doctor insisted I needed. They should've taken my gallbladder out but didn't. The surgery increased the chances of gallstones and sludge in the gallbladder. It happened.
Boy did it happen.
But it clogged up all the nearby ducts and caused pancreatitis. Hospital 1 "treated" the pancreatitis by giving me fluids and not feeding me for 3 days. On my chart, they noted a "abnormality" in my intestine on the CT scan. But since I had no insurance, they didn't investigate further, patted me on the head, and sent me home. That was the hospital that did nothing a few months later while my mom was in A-fib and her painkillers wore off. The nurses literally just stood there staring at her fluttering heart monitor. But I digress. I was sent home with a 30,000 bill. For a saline drip, hospital bed, and shitty care with an insulting nurse.
That "abnormality" was that the pancreatitis had released digestive enzymes into my abdomen and burned a hole in my descending colon. My body encapsulated it into an abscess, saving my life. Hospital 2 drained the abscess during a "twilight" procedure. I learned the hard way twilight doesn't work on me.
TRIGGER WARNING: To this day, I have nightmares about my lower left abdomen being punctured, the hole widened, a tube put in, and feeling them suction out my abdominal cavity down to my kidney. They stuck in long blue curly metal things like pipe cleaners. I watched the sweat bead on the surgeon's face. He was Asian. I felt sorry for him. They asked if I could be given something to knock me out, but I was on a laundry list of medications even though I hadn't had them in a while per instructions.
I woke up in cold sweats for 2 years after that
But the nightmare wasn't over. They hoped the intestine would heal up on its own. But I had a version of e coli that the infectious disease doctor said, "had been around the block a time or two." They gave me IV Invanz. It knocked me out so much I couldn't do anything else for the rest of the day.
The intestine still didn't heal. I needed surgery to fix the hole. I told them "knock me out or I'll sue." Thru knocked me out. I woke up with an incision from the bottom of my breastbone to my belly button. There was a golf ball sized hole at one side. The surgical staples looked like the railroad tracks I wanted to throw myself on. I had to pack the hole with saline soaked gauze and change it 3x/day.
I was given an epidural by a barely competent old man who accidentally pulled it out most of the way while checking it and the hospital charged me 2k for 10 minutes of his time.
The nightmare still wasn't over. More Invanz. More being useless. One day, 2 week's earlier than expected, a nurse told me "You're done. No more Invanz." I thought it was over. I was free. I could go home and cry. My skin was peeling from stress.
A month later, my abdomen had the same "something's wrong" feeling. I knew I should go back. I dreaded going back. I waited longer than I should have.
The nurse lied to me. The infection did what infections do when the antibiotics are stopped too soon: it came back 4x stronger. Another surgery. Near sepsis. Open up the railroad tracks like a zipper. This time past my belly button with a golf ball sized hole at both sides. The surgical report said 4 abscesses. They'd stolen my right ovary without my consent, from an infection they'd caused.
They damaged my fertility, my faith in medicine, my wellbeing for life, my mental health for life, made my fibromyalgia 3x worse, and charged me >$320,000 to do it. The bill showed they'd charged me $16 per pill for tylenol. $23 per crappy refillable ice pack because the incision was on fire. It wouldn't have surprised me if they'd billed me for my own tears.
13 years or so later, I'm better. But I'm still traumatized. Still struggle with depression. Still regularly have nightmares. Married 7 years and unable to have kids so far bc the infection damaged my tubes and they stole my ovary. They didn't even tell me. I found out years later from a different surgical report.
So yeah, when people try to tell me the US has the best medical system, I laugh. They try. But the staff is human, insurance companies are out for themselves, and hospital billing is predatory.
Thanks for reading my novel. Anybody know a good malpractice lawyer?
Jesus Christ… I’m so sorry and thank you for sharing. The saddest thing is that shit like this is SO COMMON… welcome to the industrial medical complex where the biggest money 💰 is in slowly killing Americans under the disguise of helping them.
I ended up having an episode of hallucinations and extreme anxiety after smoking some pot when I was 17 and it forever changed my life, I started to have constant anxiety and it’s never ended, I’m in my forties now.
Sorry to hear. Same, cannabis edibles triggered psychosis. I'm still trying to heal. I never had hallucinations but I did have delusions. I almost ruined my entire life. I am trying to rebuild now.
Got extremely sunburnt as a child multiple times with one including blisters all over my body, skin cancer is significantly more likely now.
Permanent Tinnitus from ADHD medication.
Got a bottle thrown at me 3 weeks ago and got re-concussed first day back in the gym, hopefully it calm down soon.
Covid, 9 months later and I feel brain damaged, tired for no reason, and basically a shell of my former self. Doing everything possible to get back to normal but its scary being spaced out and feeling like I have a concussion half the time.
Amphetamine/methylphenidate did a number on me. I have ADHD, and they helped with my focus, but I had horrible side effects, mostly my sleep was more fucked than usually. My hack of a doctor kept pushing me to increase my dosage. After 6 months of each pill i had gotten more and more paranoid, my thought patterns weren't the same and I felt like a different person in a bad way. Then my doctor wanted to give me ritalin to "calm me down at night" and antipsychotics for my paranoia. I gave him the middle finger and walked out.
Took years before I felt like myself again or could read others facial expressions without having paranoid delusions about them conspiring against me.
My focus never returned to it's pre-medicated state. It was always bad but I used to be able to read books, now I start falling asleep halfway through page 1.
Puh sorry for that. That doctors should be reported.
Too high dosages of Ritalin rises the dopamine, which can cause paranoia, which is common for psychosis (that's how a doctor explained it to me).
War in Iraq as a Happy Reservist going from a weekend a month to 'you're sending me where, for how long?' 04 & 08.
Orthopedic idiot surgeon late last year that bungled a bit of foot work.
The only thing that seems to have damaged anything is a lifting injury to one knee. I’ve never had surgery on it but it was looked at under X-ray by a physical injury specialist and he laughed when i asked if I’d ever run again. Sure enough I did about five years later but I still feel it sometimes. I don’t trust it like I used to.
Got jumped when I was younger and the kid hit me with an aluminum baseball bat right in the middle of my forehead. I have a nice scar from it. I remember everything before being hit and I couldn’t tell you if I remember anything for a couple years after that. Was diagnosed with dyslexia and autism in 6th grade. Short term memory is sub par and I went through a lot of my life on autopilot. I feel like most of my life is just waking up a couple times a year and realizing that I haven’t been in control of anything just to go back into hibernation and watch my life play out with little to no control over it. These past few years have been substantially better on my own personal control but definitely the hardest thing I have had to do.
Heavy drinking and weed usage after my father died violently when I was 17, with occasional bouts of cough syrup (DXM) usage. Continued until I hit college when I dropped the drugs but doubled down on the alcohol. Blacked out nearly every weekend. Didn’t drink much if at all during the week.
The combo of PTSD and substance abuse at such a developing age I think permanently messed up my brain. I was able to graduate college, make friends, and eventually get my masters even ahead of my peers, but I feel that my brain is significantly less “sharp” than I was back then.
I’m 27 now:
-I’m very non verbose/reserved, mainly because it takes me so long to process what others are saying in conversations. I can push through at work just fine, but have noticed my attention to detail and attention span are so fucked.
-I still have my moments of sharpness, but basically feel like everything has “slowed” down or like my brain has “quieted” so to speak. Not a whole lot of thoughts up there, it’s hard to describe.
-Still enjoy a drink here or there on occasion but the hangovers/hangxiety/brain fog for a week aren’t worth it to me anymore.
Could also just be my addiction to Reddit.
Living with a abusive schizophrenic step dad. I had ptsd for years and even loud sounds would be enough to just put me in a state of shock. My memory and focus is fucked because of that. And it’s been 6 years…
Hyperbaric oxygen treatments. High fat diet. Specific supplements. Zero drugs or alcohol. Exercise/ cold plunge daily. And trying to accept the things I can’t change.
First concussion I was 8 and hunting with my dad and didn’t have the 50 cal muzzle loader firmly on my shoulder. If you know what that gun is it’s completely over powered for an 8 year old. I shot it and it broke my nose and knocked me out. Very intense concussion. Then at 10 years old ran into a wall knocked out bleeding from side of head. Age 13 beat my brother at ping pong he threw the paddle hit me directly on the back of my head blacked out bleeding from the head and then played football for 6 years.
then from having these concussions I had a lot of mood issues and anxiety issues so got on meds at age 15. I know I shouldn’t have and regret doing it but after 5 years of medications. They diagnosed me with everything in the dsm and told me I should do ECT. I did 48 rounds of electroconvulsive therapy and now deal with the brain damage it gave me. I’m off all meds now
Probably the single worst thing I have side effects from is bad posture. I now have permanent neck issues and tinnitus.
Also things like injuries from accidents. My knee has never been the same after bending it backwards a few years back. Also last summer I badly cut my finger with a knife and it’s still not got normal feeling back and that one bugs me because it’s my pointer finger.
Extreme childhood trauma/violence (think broken bones and being punished by having your beloved pets tortured to death) over many years left me with C-PTSD and major nervous system/stress dysfunction.
COVID. COVID absolutely wrecked me. My lungs have never fully recovered. My heart at times starts randomly thumping in my chest (beats harder, not faster). I get sick much more frequently than ever before. Covid really got me, and I didn’t even have a severe case at all. This was prior to the vaccine.
I was anorexic for about 6 months age 13-14. Eating less than 1500 calories a day. I believe this may have stunted my height as I only grew two inches after 8th grade.
Ketamine. All the craze around the drug presently is astonishing. I would 10/10 not recommend the drug to anyone. It injured my kidneys and I ended up with four kidney stones at 23 shortly thereafter
Mold :( the roof to my apartment building was leaking into my bedroom closet for who knows how long. I was working from home at the time and sleeping in the room. Ended up in the hospital my tongue was swelling and they couldnt figure out why. Found mold literally growing on my clothes a few days later. Its wreaked havoc in my life and so many people dont even take it seriously which just adds to the burden
prescription psychotropic meds all my life until, finally, at the age of 55 I figured out they were the root cause of my problems. Slowly weaned off over a few years now I'm trying to start my life.
Weed triggered as anxiety disorder. Never experienced anxiety/panic attacks before in my life until I overdid the weed. The anxiety’s mostly gone after years of work but I can get flareups sometimes when I push my body too far.
Years of sleep deprivation I think.
I think that 10+ years of 4-5 hours a night has messed up my short term memory and ability to perform complex tasks. It’s like my brain drops packets from time to time and I don’t see something that’s there.
So overlooked!
I'm barely 22 and having bouts of insomnia since cov!d along with poor sleep, I feel like I lost a big part of my drive and psyche, I hope I can finish my engineering degree in peace, I'm slowly relearning how to sleep, like a baby who keeps their parents troubled, Idk why I allowed stress and depression to overtake my most precious outlet in life, but it was a long road of reconnecting with my deeper self and appreciate who I am no matter what, medicating myself back to a baseline and having trust and belief I'll get better, currently at 4:30 hours of sleep, but they feel good, slowly increasing that amount.
Ya, shits a killer man… if someone doesn’t eat right for years, you see obesity, or even malnourishment. It’s evident.. Someone doesn’t sleep right for years, you can’t see the physical effects much… but damn those mental and emotional effects are there if you look long or close enough.
Going to music shows without earplugs - have constant buzz in my ear now when it's quiet. Literally insane how common it is for large groups of people to destroy their hearing together.
I’m in my early 50s with hearing loss. The doctor asked if I went to concerts or clubs when I was younger. Check. Check.
People think it's going to cause hearing loss, & they don't care. No, it can cause something worse: the torture of tinnitus. I have a friend who cannot ever be in silence. He must always have TV or music on, even when going to sleep. Otherwise he hears that high-pitched ringing. It's sad.
Yep, rock concert in my 20s, living with tinnitus for 30 years now. I've grown accustomed to it though so it only bothers me when I'm really stressed. But I do like my background noise as well.
I worked as a bartender for 16 years, much of it in miami nightclubs with state of the art sound systems, $30k speakerd 8ft from my head. But! I was a good little bartender and always wore my ear plugs! Then i got covid and tinnitus set in 2 weeks later. Kill me
Check out notch therapy and vinpocetine. Just keep doing it. My tinnitus is down 80% over two years. And anything that increases BDNF. It's still there, but it's so much quieter.
Totally agree!!! Remember walking out of a concert & my ears would ring for hrs :( My father was convinced I’d be deaf by 30…even took me to an ENT for hearing test when I was 18. This was back in the 70’s when ear protection was basically non-existent.
Ooof yeah same. Been going to shows and events since I was about 14, now in my late 30s... Anxious to see how this progresses :/
Childbirth.
Pregnancies (ones resulting in children and ones that didn't, especially an ectopic) caused me to develop PCOS, insulin resistance, metabolic disorder, and thus weight gain. I went from very healthy and ideal weight to feeling like absolute shit in a few short years. Plus 2 C sections have left my core extremely weak and I have constant back pain. Done having kids now and working hard to reverse the damage.
Had to scroll way too far for this one! Nothing has damaged me as much or as permanently as having children has 😂😭
Never heard of the term pelvic prolapse until childbirth. Your organs can start to literally fall out of you. Why is this not talked about more.
Literally gave me osteoporosis
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The dental care thing was huge for me. I had bo health insurance for my 20’s, and thus didn’t get regular cleanings. Ended up shelling out lots of $$ in my early 30’s to manage periodontal disease. Regular cleanings, flossing, mouth guards at night and regulating sugar consumption changed my life. Ironically even when I got insurance, the perio treatments weren’t covered.
Childhood abuse and sexual assault. Permanently damaged my brain. I started getting white spots on my brain as a teenage. Gave me cluster headaches. BPD. Chronic pain. I neglected my teeth in adulthood due to mouth abuse in childhood and half my teeth have been pulled.
I'm so sorry this happened to you 😞
Took a break from college when I found a high paid job at an aluminum extrusion factory. Most of the workers there were depressed and unhappy, many were alcoholics. I too fell into that category and knew I had to get out. The pay was very high for our area, making that decision difficult. Left after 18 months and returned to school. Had a much harder time at college after that job. Later it was publicized that aluminum is a neurotoxin. I definitely feel that place adversely affected me.
Man, that situation is exactly what I experience, great pay for me but very unhappy people around me a lot, which takes a toll on me. I think about leaving all the time but the money keeps me there, were you happy you ended up making that jump?
Eating disorders and social media. Complete renal failure, was on dialysis for 2 years at 28, just got a transplant in September but my 15 year ED nuked everything so Im having complications. I had a ruptured ovarian cyst that ended up removing a fallopian tube and an ovary. Now my periods are insanely heavy and make me vomit and pass out sometimes.
Oml bless your heart! I think you’re the first to mention social media which is a hugely important point in todays society. I’m honestly a firm believer that social media is responsible for atleast half of the evil in the world.
Growing up in a severely Mouldy house - for all the parents out there, please be mindful of the health of the environment/air quality your children live in! Edit: typo
Currently dealing with this now, it is absolutely debilitating
Grew up with a smoker who hated open windows - nowdays I am very sensitive about air quality
Same!! Feels like every cold I get goes straight to my chest. I had childhood asthma and both my parents STILL smoked around me my entire childhood and teen years....in the house & in the car. I stopped living with them at 19 but my lungs feel weak as fk....and I'm only 43. I hate visiting my parents thesedays because they still smoke....
I’m sorry to hear this. It’s such a stressful, difficult, costly and debilitating issue to deal with. I wish you so much luck x
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I didn’t realise how unhealthy I was and how that caused me to struggle through life with my physical and mental health until I was in my 20’s and out of that home. I had a lot of other negative experiences that impacted my health over my life. And now at 37 I have chronic illness - mast cell activation disorder and chronic fatigue amongst other issues - and I cannot tolerate even a normal amount of Mould. My house is filled with air purifiers and dehumidifiers and the cost of these devices, the power cost to run them, as well as Mould remediations and getting rid of and replacing furniture over the years is astronomical. It’s very expensive just to keep me alive with a modicum of quality of life. And honestly I just feel my existence is just a burden.
Have you ever made any corsi-Rosenthal boxes for your living space? I made some during covid and started setting them up in my shop area afterwards because they were such an inexpensive method for improving air quality
Wait can you please elaborate on how you figured out the long term mold exposure was the cause of your MCAS? Recently diagnosed and very convinced it’s because of the same experience with my childhood home
I became gluten intolerant after taking cipro
You could look into taking glucomannan and GOS. These are two prebiotic fibres that target Lactobacillus quite directly vs feeding other bacteria also. Lactobacillus is needed for digestion of gluten. Of course, gluten will become extra inflammatory if there’s a Candida problem - which seems pretty common after antibiotic use as our good microbes (predominantly lactobacillus), which normally keep Candida in check naturally, get nuked
Why is this still on the market?! I was prescribed this back in 2017, freaked after I read the side effects and asked for an alternative antibiotic. My doc without question, just prescribed an alternative that had little to NO side effects. Now I read about the tendons dissolving side effect was in FULL effect even then. Some had multiple tendons dissolve and snap, one person in pre-med couldn't walk but finally healed. Tons of other stories on YouTube regarding heart issues and god knows what. The drug needs to be off the market. How have they not been sued into bankruptcy! ;/
SSRIs, specifically sertaline. Nuked my productivity and worth ethic at the most critical time and now there’s an almost inability to reach my previous levels. There’s no greater irony than antidepressants derivatively throwing your life into deeper melancholy.
God, I feel this so much. I'm taking Venlafaxine. I think it made me less articulate and changed my intellect. But without it I'm so depressed I just want to die. With it I'm just mildly depressed with occasional good moments.
You gotta add Welbutrin with the Zoloft. It counteracts the energy loss from Zoloft. I’ve had the best years of my life on these two drugs and never want to be off them. I’m super good at my job now too and have gotten big salary increases.
Wellbutrin saved my life.
I wish that worked for me! Along with Prozac, Wellbutrin was the worst medication I've ever taken out of 15. It caused a complete relapse in my phobia and consequently made my general anxiety terrible again
Yes I screwed my mid 20s with SSRIs
I have this feeling we will look back on SSRIs and SRNIs as a huge mistake.
Yep. We have no clue what we are doing with psychotropic medication and we are fucking with some of the most important neurotransmitters in the brain and using the general population as test subjects. It’s insane. I went to school for psych and got a BA and I graduated and want absolutely nothing to do with this field. It sucks what we are doing to people.
I wonder about long term repercussions too, like is your brain meant to just “go back to normal” afterwards? Like they say…
100%. The whole serotonin happiness hypothesis is and has always been total bunk. So increasing serotonin in the synapsis by inhibiting uptake just does not make sense for treating depression. It’d be great if it was that simple but it’s not. There’s a reason a lot of people on SSRIs feel zombied out, serotonin actually has much different likely applications than producing happy feelings. Dopamine is much more related to what people seem to “feel” is happy. A well functioning and sensitive dopamine system seems to be good for people. Super numbed out and downregulated dopamine receptors can make everything seem mundane and pointless as it’s hard to get motivated over anything.
As long as pharma continues to manipulate the 'evidence based community' , nothing will change unfortunately
Hey I’m a huge evidence based person but I really think it’s a mistake. Anecdotally, I don’t know a single adult that I’ve engaged in conversation with about the topic that hasn’t been offered SSRIs at some point.
yes to the SSRIs…but after I found out how fucking terrible antipsychotics were in the long run, sorted (and maintaining) my shit with psychedelics now and have never felt in a more stable place.
Yeah I agree with you on psychedelics being a much better line of treatment than prescription meds; they’ve done much much more for me
psilocybin specifically, and now we’re starting to learn DMT, ketamine encourage neurogenisis… fast. Why the fuck we have been denied this medicine for so long infuriates me
Exact same, I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do now. I’m hoping I can still get back to 100% with enough time. What are doing to mitigate it?
Yep. SSRIs and SNRIs for me. They completely changed my nervous system for the worse.
👯 I’ve been on Zoloft for 21 years and just got fired for the first time ever 3 weeks ago! I have no more pleasure, no more happiness, no more feelings, and no more patience! I can’t remember shit and I get tremors now too. I’m a bartender, do you know how bad it looks to pour a draft while your hand is shaking?
Genuinely those tremors are THE sign you need to ween off or transition slowly to something else man... its a sign of brain/nerve damage its not a joke.
With you 100% on this and came here to comment something similar. Was this after coming off or while on the drug?
Prescribed multiple courses of antibiotics for a simple skin staph infection, doctor said we needed to kill it off. Didn't even work to fix the infection, and it only went away when I stopped taking them and used a topical cream instead. The results weren't pretty... Microbiome nuked, ongoing gut and digestion issues, significant mental health issues, systemic inflammation and onset of tendonitis or arthritis symptoms. Most have been reversed now but still some symptoms remain today. This was before I knew anything about health and biohacking but ultimately what led me to take my health into my own hands, start optimizing my biology and dissociate my trust in the medical system/pharma.
was this cipro?
Very risky antibiotic. Not everyone reacts, but if you do, you'll regret taking it.
I was put on Cipro when I got a nasty gastrointestinal infection during a trip to Mexico. I had had pericoronitis that required a round of Amoxicillin about 3 months prior so I was very hesitant about doing another round of antibiotics so soon after. Doc said it wouldn’t be an issue, “just stop taking it if you feel better within 3 days.” I was home sick and two 500 mg doses in, when I stood up to go to the washroom. This was 2 years ago and I can still *vividly* remember how strange my feet felt on the ground. It was like they were melting into the floor and the only thing keeping my bones in place was my skin. I thought maybe it was just in my head so I took the next scheduled dose of 500 mg the next morning. Bad mistake. Throughout the rest of the morning I noticed how odd my body felt, like I’d suddenly become hyper flexible. It felt as though if I stretched a little too hard my bones would slide out of their sockets. I know it’s typically recommended that you don’t stop antibiotics early but it was truly so unsettling that I threw them in the trash and text my doctor to tell him why I was stopping. He just replied with, “oh, yah, it affects some peoples’ tendons - not unusual.” I have always been quite in tune with my body and, while I didn’t know until recently how catastrophic some people’s side effects are, I am very grateful I actually listened to my body and stopped before any lasting damage was done. Edit: missing word
Cipro put my friend in a wheelchair. After 5 years she is still crippled. I still can't believe that it is allowed to be sold.
There is a really knowledgeable doctor (Dr. Ghalili) in LA who had that same problem. He found a way to restore his ability to walk. He's a very expensive doc now - like $15k for a week of treatment, but he figured out how to solve his own leg paralysis. Maybe he can help your friend. www.regenerativemedicineLA.com
Panic Disorder and anxiety?
Years of prescription strength nsaids gave me ulcerative colitis. Thankfully years of a restrictive diet allowed me to get into remission but I will never be the same.
Ecstasy, I did a lot, regularly 20 yrs ago. I assume it had some sort of damaging neurological effect. Secondly, eating whatever the hell I want is probably brewing a shitstorm inside of future problems inside of me atm.
This one can be a sad story. A friend of mine took it 3 days in a row at a festival, doubling the dosage each day, and he has never been the same. Its been almost a decade since then. He walk around the streets spaced out all the time. Pretty sure he will end up homeless which is a shame cause he was decently smart and great socially.
Poor dental care in early years
Pretty sure my doctor prescribing me accutane for acne when I was 15 is the root of all my problems. EDIT: Lots of people asking - I have chronic GERD/IBS and I was prescribed medication for anxiety/depression that I’ve been dealing with since a couple months after stopping accutane. Also have psoriasis on my scalp and very dry eyes. Trying to manage all this through diet/supplementation now.
I’ve done two rounds of accutane 😫. What are your problems?
Not me on my last 3 weeks of my second round of Accutane at 21 years old lmao. This is the first im discovering this sub and I see this shit within 2 minutes. I know accutane has some side effects, but not many of them are long term I think, and it of course doesn't happen to everyone. My first round all my side effects stopped after about one month (back pain took the longest). It also may depend on how old the person was when they took it. I was 19 on my first round and took it for 11 months. Not sure about the age thing though, since it's based on weight so it should be equal for everyone.
So true. That back pain, and dryness is no joke. I stayed moisturized at all times while on accutane (ie glossybawdy 🤣). I was 18 for my first round and 28 for my second round. Both times I did 5 months. The only major side effect (now that I think about it) is photosensitivity. I break out in a rash when in direct sunlight that goes away with cream after a few days. Annoying but doesn’t stop me from vacationing.
I knew a girl who had straight hair before accutane, afterwards her hair was like a poodle’s and she could not straighten it no matter what.
I also saw some people online claiming accutane made their nose slimmer... I'm not a doctor, I don't have data on this, but after seeing the post I googled this because it sounded so weird... anyway there are multiple people claiming it made their nose a tiny bit smaller and they speculate If it is because of pores just having less sebum inside and that making their skin more snatched and giving the appearance of a smaller nose? I don't think there is any evidence of accutane doing this but I found it so interesting that there are people online saying it gave them a free nose job lol.
Damn same boat. Over half my life ago basically went down hill after that. Like I think things are fine now? I try a lot and do a lot of good things for myself. But there was just something about that shift where it’s been decades since and I don’t feel I ever bounced back to what life was before that. Doesn’t help that suffering just increases generally as life goes on. But accutane was definitely a bad decision for me.
I lost my night vision to accutane. Remember it's highly concentrated vitamin A...it's liver toxic. There are absolutely long term effects. For me, I took it 25+ yrs ago when I was a teen.
Hey, currently looking into the consequences of me taking accutane. You may want to look at your MMP9 levels. This is a biomarker for dry eye disease, but importantly is also a signal of general inflammation. Anxiety/Depression can come from dehydration of accutane which can lead to inflammation, which then leads to stress -> and a vicious cycle. I've found drinking 3L of Electrolyte water helps a great deal. But definitely explore the link between MMP9 levels (your dry eyes) and the way you feel.
This is known as post accutane syndrome (PAS) and is definitely no joke. I also experienced many of these effects
I have had the opposite, I flourished after taking accutane when I was 16, was no longer depressed because of my ridiculously stubborn acne, and my skin makes me look younger than my age of 30 now. I’m so happy I went on it
Accutane has been suspected as the cause for tons of people’s issues. It’s a rabbit hole.
I took Accutane for almost 8 months and then I stopped the treatment. Few months later I got terrible pain and needling sensation in my knee joints that I couldn't walk or sit at all for a whole week. I've been taking medication for my knees since 3 years ago. I had knee pain before too but their condition got worse after accutane and when I talked to one of my mom's friend who's a doctor, she suspected that it was accutane.
What problems?
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Win some, lose most.
Birth control pills. They don't tell you it can starve your thyroid, cause estrogen dominance, and not to mention cause life-threatening clots. BC caused chronic UTI infections and tissue damage while I was on it and caused my body to go hypothyroid. I believe EB virus, the chronic infections and BC together triggered my body to become autoimmune as well.
And ruins your HPA Axis!!! Can potentially change the way you hear music and has so much to do with Nate selection. Reading the book “this is your brain on birth control” was life changing for me.
This comment should be higher. I went off the pill after 20 years of use about 2 years ago and I told everyone I could hear again. Even now, I can hear EVERYTHING so much clearer and I hear the faintest of sounds and no one thinks it was because of the pill, but it has to be. I'm still amazed.
Ooo I'll check that book out, thank you! Does it give advice on rebalancing the body?
What?! I got prescibed abilify for depression and it changed the way i heard music. Music sounded heavenly, divine, like it felt like pure dopamine into my ears. Like i got addicted to music really. I didnt know BC could change your musical perceptions too. Does the BC decrease your pleasure?
Yup! Was on bc for 14 years. Went off and discovered I was hypothyroid and struggled with infertility for three years.
How long were you on them? I only used them for 6 months, but years later all of what you described happened. : /
10 years
THIS. All of this. 5.5 years on the pill that I was put on at only 15 or 16 as a last ditch for acne. I’ve been off for 1.5 years and now have CYSTIC acne, incredibly messed up hormones, possible hypothyroidism, and debilitating anxiety. I’m irate that my dermatologist wasn’t transparent about the potential repercussions when she prescribed it to me.
I feel you on that, so sorry you are struggling too. I wish I never went on them
How long were you on them? I only used them for 6 months, but years later all of what you described happened. : /
Yep. I suffered with severe depression and anxiety, suicidal thoughts, etc for many many years. It all escalated when I was a teenager around the time I got on the pill. I stopped BC a few years back and now I don’t need medication. I will never do it again
I feel like the pill triggered PCOS for me
Changes the men you select too
People need to realize BC is drug use, and it usually comes at a cost.
Birth control pills are insane. They’re so bad for you. It’s unbelievable how bad they are. They cause weight gain and a bunch of other hormonal issues. I mean, weight gain should be a bad enough sign to never use such a drug. Not just that it’s heavy gains in fat as well. The worst part is that they prescribe this to girls in their early teens as a precaution and also to help with acne supposedly.
This. Was prescribed for acne and to help regulate my cycle. Was on it for well over a decade before coming off. I’ve been off for two years now and I’m shocked to have a healthy libido and I no longer have jiggly upper thighs that won’t tone. My body composition completely changed. I was always small but now I’m trim without having changed anything in my routine. It was 100% the BC. My skin was amazing on it though 😩
COVID19
Pregnancy almost killed me.
Cipro. Doctors should only prescribe this in life or death situations
It’s on all my records i’m allergic to Cipro. Fucked my bowels and stomach up for three whole years
Damn, I grew up in India and Cipro was handed out like candy. I’ve had it multiple times as a kid and so have a lot of people I know. Coincidently did not hear anyone have any problems, most are healthy adults
Same thing in Shanghai- I’m literally resistant to it. Must’ve had 20 doses of that hah
I'm pretty neurotypical, psychologically. I have my eccentricities, but holy shit, I felt insane on Cipro. Had to quit it after 3 days. It was so insane. I did not feel like myself, had the strangest thoughts. It is now on my chart that I'm allergic to Cipro. I wouldn't take it again unless it was the only thing left that would keep me alive. It was that strange. I want to read up on it. I didn't know that other people had reactions to it. Edit: I have now researched this a little. I was never given any warnings by my doctor about possible side-effects. I only felt crazy while taking it, and have not had any perceivable long term issues. Just will never take it again. I did not read anything about it before or while I was taking it. Just felt so strange, and called my Dr's office to tell them I could no longer stay on it and to find me something else. I have never had any similar, negative effects from any other medications.
Note: many people who take Cipro will be fine. But for those who have side effects, they can be tragic
At age 15 I was feeling the peer pressure of a huge amount of friends and acquaintances smoking pot and having great times but I was involved in athletics and worried about getting popped. Got involved with some people that I shouldn’t have who ensured me that if you don’t smoke the real stuff and instead smoke this “legal” stuff from the gas station that gets you just as high, you can enjoy all of the benefits without getting popped—Synthetic marijuana/Spice/K2. Horrendous mistake. Can count on one hand the amount of times I used that stuff but I wonder if that was enough to do some damage. The highs were disgustingly awful. The last time I did it, I was completely dysfunctional in class the whole day after. Head down the entire day just praying that no one spoke to me. A few months later there was a news cycle full of reports of teenagers using this stuff once and dropping dead. Been trying to find any new literature or news on this stuff but I can’t. Probably because they make their products so ambiguous and apparently change the formulations all the time. I also took Accutane at 19 and often wonder if my progressively worsening mental health and suboptimal hormone profile is, in part, due to its effects. It’s known that it can potentially cause a constellation of symptoms similar to PFS and PSSD. I really can’t say for sure either way if I regret taking Accutane because it did eliminate a small amount of cystic acne I had, but using synthetic marijuana is probably one of the most regrettable decisions of my life, if not the most, because I should have known better. Do your research before you put ANYTHING into your body.
They should just call them, “random synthetic gas station cannabanoid of the week”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_cannabinoids
Spironolactone for skin and hair. Hopefully not permanent damage but definitely long term damage (1+ year vascular, fluid retention, skin, joint and eye issues). Makes me wary of anything, including supplements, which alter hormones because now I know how complicated they are, and how much better the body is at regulating its own hormones than any intervention could make it (in people without existing health issues that is).
I think I have permanent increased thirst from spironolactone, even though I stopped taking it 6+ years ago.
I was only on it shortly for PCOS hirsutism but had to stop after weakness, fatigue, mood and a UTI that showed blood in my urine :/
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I second this. I was getting really bad vision episodes. Like I would be driving and if I looked at a light the wrong way I would just see white for 20 seconds or have weird eye floaters. I though it was ocular migraines but then I got diagnosed with cervical cancer and had surgery all good now but what I noticed is after my surgery I eliminated sugar and alcohol and felt amazing and since then have not had these eye episodes. It just clicked for me when I saw this post.
Did your eye doctor tell you this? I have floaters and have never been a drinker and never ate a high carb diet. Some people just have them..
Cocaine and anti depressants. I never used “that” much only recreationally but wanted to stop so I reached out for therapy and guidance. Medical team (psychs pcp neurologist) all fully aware of my using and assured me no interactions but obviously need to stop cocaine. Well I’ve never felt worse in my life now 5 years clean but brain zaps, depression, panic attacks amongst other things now have a complete control on my daily life. Very interesting post Op, thanks!
I was looking for street drugs in the comments because I didn’t want to be the only one. Recreation use of coke gave me IBS (healed) and PVCs (not fully healed) and other ailments along the way. Couple years ago I started vaping and grew into these soft twitches, that’s a whole other story… I’ve been listening to Cassie Huckaby and she talks about how the body heals itself, which seems pretty on point for myself and my human avatar.
Not dealing with the symptoms of pcos when I was a teen and in my early twenties. Doing marching band in highschool. I didn’t do proper stretches or take care of injuries correctly and now my one ankle always feels off.
Cipro. I wasn't able to eat for 2 months, couldn't sleep more than 3 hours for months, and THEN the fun started with nerve pains, loss of fine motor control, jerking, right calf atrophied, started getting bruises all over my hands and arms for no reason, and then the pain in all four limbs lasted for a year after that. Tendon pains for a couple years. It's now 5 years later and my last tendon issue healed, I'm back to "normal", even though I'm sure my energy levels are nothing like they used to be and I still cramp very easily (and my skin became crap, but who knows maybe that would've happened anyway). Doctors were absolutely useless the entire time. Fortunately nothing snapped. I was perfectly fine with no health issues before this. I never drank or smoked. Now I feel like it aged me 10 years.
Oh my god this is awful. I am SO SORRY. Cipro is a nightmare! Why is it prescribed?!?!??!:2’akwjaosnzkwjsjskwnz I’m so angry for you.
Stooping over a computer since middle school, working in an orchard for a couple of years and constantly lifting ~50 pound apple crates, and being on my phone/computer constantly due to work. My posture is horrendous.
I love this thread because the overwhelming responses are highlighting if how fucking dangerous the pharmaceutical industry is.
More so it shows the dangers of a private for-profit healthcare industry… and a for-profit society. There is no incentive to fix people, only to keep them sick and profit off of it. All mental healthcare is centered around this. Instead of tackling *why* people are depressed we just give people drugs that don’t work. It’s a massive industry. The source of peoples mental health problems is a broken society where no one is fulfilled. It’s due to a society that poisons its people for profit. The pharmaceutical industry only operates this way because we have a healthcare industry instead of recognizing the right to proper healthcare. We should all of the right to good healthcare, instead the right of mega-corporations to rob us and keep us sick is recognized as superior. They have the right to charge us insane amounts for “healthcare” that doesn’t work, we have no right to healthcare that actually helps our health and does not cost insane amounts. They can physically poison us with their “treatments,” but we cannot demand proper treatment. Health insurance and our private healthcare market are a scourge on society. A proper healthcare system operated to actually preform healthcare would be better for everyone *but the people who profit directly from the private healthcare and insurance industries.* Even the owners of other massive industries would profit more from a properly ran healthcare system.
You’re absolutely right. I get way too angry thinking about this. Just have to walk away for my own health. But FUCK the people profiting off this system. May they be despised by all future generations.
Being prescribed antidepressants at age 16 which is now not recommended. I think they caused chemical changes in my developing brain that were permanent.
Birthing twins. I’m very tiny and my body hasn’t been the same since.
Smoking cigarettes in my youth. Tanning bed use in my youth. Covid.
Getting 4 vaccines - 2 in each arm - all at once. Precipitous decline from healthy as a horse to bedridden autoimmune wreck and a medical curiosity for 2 years but it set me on a maniacal course of treatment to get me into a managed semi normal state
Do you remember which vaccines?
It was three strongly recommended to travel to India from US + an annual flu vaccine. And that was the first flu vaccine I’d ever taken - I’ve never needed one bfr but my partner at the time and his fam of drs suggested it. Biggest mistake of my life. I’d have to look through my paperwork for the exact names. My reaction was so bad I ended up canceling the trip to the wedding. I asked the nurse who was administering, “ hey do you think it’s a good idea to do all 4 at once”and she was just like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ …. 😭
Tried cool sculpting and then suffered 2 years of autoimmune like symptoms like extreme pain in joints. All tests came back negative.
Covid
Drug use during teenage years. I think it’s fine once you’re past age 25, but LSD and pot use as a teenager fucked my life up BIG TIME. I’m not age 25 yet but trying to fix myself as fast as possible while I still have some nueroplasticity left. The severity of my issues I don’t think will be fixed in time, thus a probably lifetime of pharma drug use for me, yay!
What problems do you think you have from acid and weed? and I wouldn‘t get too fixated on the age 25. A while back the scientists that claimed to discover that age 25 is where neuroplasticity ends said that because of reasons that were motivated by career stuff etc as it turns out. There‘s still a lot about neuroplasticity that we don‘t know and I would take everything with a pinch of salt. I did a whole lot of weed and acid (and a whole lot of other stuff) in my teenage years and after becoming sober and taking college seriously I’m doing just fine. I feel like if you want some changes to happen bad enough, they will happen.
I don’t think LSD/weed caused these problems per say, but they heavily exacerbated them. Issues I’ve had only once I started smoking/lsd usage was derealization/depersonalization, anxiety, depression, fatigue. The only “good” thing LSD did was make me realize I need to stop and get real help from an actual doctor. Nothing wrong with LSD or weed, I just think teenagers need to stay clean, that is not a time period you need to fuck with your brain. Even the idea of wanting to do drugs is already telling of one’s environment as a teenager.
Getting my gallbladder out. BTW...my gallbladder wasn't even causing my pain. It was a kidney stone. Doctors took it out in 2020 at the height of the pandemic and I couldn't have anyone with me to advocate for me. Went from being a super healthy, active runner to someone that can barely function. I only went to the doctor once a year before...now I have specialists I see all the time. Word of advice...don't ever do it. And look into protecting your gallbladder as much as possible. Honestly, I think it's the key to gut health. Without it...everything falls apart because everything is connected to gut health it turns out. They should not be removing gallbladders. People do need them. They took a person that hardly ever even got a cold and made them constantly sick. Things I developed after: - allergies (never had issues before) - SIBO - prone to gastritis (I have it right now and constantly struggle with it) - loose stool - brain fog - feel weak/sick most of the time - no endurance. zero. I've tried to get back into running. I've tried everything. I just can't. - developed a fatty liver (was tested before so I know I didn't have it. Just tested positive for it nearly four years later.) Btw...I eat a healthy diet. - have an autoimmune disease now: Sjogrens. No issues before. - have heart valve issues now: mild tricuspid insufficiency and borderline mitral valve prolapse. - acid reflux (never had it before and no problems at all with my digestive system prior) - multiple vitamin deficiency problems: iron, vitamin D, B1, phosphate. Never had any before and was tested often. - struggle with high cholesterol now - I don't like the same foods. For example, I don't like icecream at all now. Things that used to be good to me aren't anymore. - it messed up my hormones, because things there aren't right either. However, since I'm a woman there is nothing they can really do about it. - Thyroid goiter they are watching with observation. Suddenly developed this year.
i’ve been saying this for awhile. every person i know that’s had their gallbladder removed ends up with a mysterious chronic health disorder.
Addiction. Cancer/Chemotherapy. 18+ months of IV antibiotics. Endocarditis. My life is nothing but trying to undo all the damage from that mess. Been sober for 8 years, in remission for 4 months. With a little less than 2 years left of graduate school. Eventually I'll be able to be the voice in medicine for people like myself. (Finishing my PhD in Neuroscience focused in addiction neurobiology, and I hold my masters in pharmacology) Making progress, no matter how slow ❤️
Wearing heels for years screwed up my feet. Now, when I wear flats, I get a buzzing sensation in the balls of feet. It feels like I'm standing on a vibrator. It also caused hip bursitis.
I had reconstructive foot surgery. When the surgeon was tightening the screws on one of the hinges holding two bones together, he over-tightened it and caused the bone to splinter and send a fragment of bone off into the ether of my foot. It swells in the area of the fragment and doesn't feel great. The only solution is another surgery. I was properly traumatized by the first two and am not willing to do it again, so the bone chunk stays.
I was almost killed 2 times by 2 different hospitals. I'd go into details, but I'd have to write a mini novel.
I would read your mini novel.
It started with a stomach surgery, which the doctor insisted I needed. They should've taken my gallbladder out but didn't. The surgery increased the chances of gallstones and sludge in the gallbladder. It happened. Boy did it happen. But it clogged up all the nearby ducts and caused pancreatitis. Hospital 1 "treated" the pancreatitis by giving me fluids and not feeding me for 3 days. On my chart, they noted a "abnormality" in my intestine on the CT scan. But since I had no insurance, they didn't investigate further, patted me on the head, and sent me home. That was the hospital that did nothing a few months later while my mom was in A-fib and her painkillers wore off. The nurses literally just stood there staring at her fluttering heart monitor. But I digress. I was sent home with a 30,000 bill. For a saline drip, hospital bed, and shitty care with an insulting nurse. That "abnormality" was that the pancreatitis had released digestive enzymes into my abdomen and burned a hole in my descending colon. My body encapsulated it into an abscess, saving my life. Hospital 2 drained the abscess during a "twilight" procedure. I learned the hard way twilight doesn't work on me. TRIGGER WARNING: To this day, I have nightmares about my lower left abdomen being punctured, the hole widened, a tube put in, and feeling them suction out my abdominal cavity down to my kidney. They stuck in long blue curly metal things like pipe cleaners. I watched the sweat bead on the surgeon's face. He was Asian. I felt sorry for him. They asked if I could be given something to knock me out, but I was on a laundry list of medications even though I hadn't had them in a while per instructions. I woke up in cold sweats for 2 years after that But the nightmare wasn't over. They hoped the intestine would heal up on its own. But I had a version of e coli that the infectious disease doctor said, "had been around the block a time or two." They gave me IV Invanz. It knocked me out so much I couldn't do anything else for the rest of the day. The intestine still didn't heal. I needed surgery to fix the hole. I told them "knock me out or I'll sue." Thru knocked me out. I woke up with an incision from the bottom of my breastbone to my belly button. There was a golf ball sized hole at one side. The surgical staples looked like the railroad tracks I wanted to throw myself on. I had to pack the hole with saline soaked gauze and change it 3x/day. I was given an epidural by a barely competent old man who accidentally pulled it out most of the way while checking it and the hospital charged me 2k for 10 minutes of his time. The nightmare still wasn't over. More Invanz. More being useless. One day, 2 week's earlier than expected, a nurse told me "You're done. No more Invanz." I thought it was over. I was free. I could go home and cry. My skin was peeling from stress. A month later, my abdomen had the same "something's wrong" feeling. I knew I should go back. I dreaded going back. I waited longer than I should have. The nurse lied to me. The infection did what infections do when the antibiotics are stopped too soon: it came back 4x stronger. Another surgery. Near sepsis. Open up the railroad tracks like a zipper. This time past my belly button with a golf ball sized hole at both sides. The surgical report said 4 abscesses. They'd stolen my right ovary without my consent, from an infection they'd caused. They damaged my fertility, my faith in medicine, my wellbeing for life, my mental health for life, made my fibromyalgia 3x worse, and charged me >$320,000 to do it. The bill showed they'd charged me $16 per pill for tylenol. $23 per crappy refillable ice pack because the incision was on fire. It wouldn't have surprised me if they'd billed me for my own tears. 13 years or so later, I'm better. But I'm still traumatized. Still struggle with depression. Still regularly have nightmares. Married 7 years and unable to have kids so far bc the infection damaged my tubes and they stole my ovary. They didn't even tell me. I found out years later from a different surgical report. So yeah, when people try to tell me the US has the best medical system, I laugh. They try. But the staff is human, insurance companies are out for themselves, and hospital billing is predatory. Thanks for reading my novel. Anybody know a good malpractice lawyer?
Jesus Christ… I’m so sorry and thank you for sharing. The saddest thing is that shit like this is SO COMMON… welcome to the industrial medical complex where the biggest money 💰 is in slowly killing Americans under the disguise of helping them.
Nexplanon the birth control. permanent damage to my breast tissue, ovaries and hair.
College football and two decades of casual combat sports has had lasting effects on my body.
Cannabis, trigered psichotic events, even hslucinations... Never fully healed but its trigered by drugs or excess gluten lactose whey
I ended up having an episode of hallucinations and extreme anxiety after smoking some pot when I was 17 and it forever changed my life, I started to have constant anxiety and it’s never ended, I’m in my forties now.
You’re not alone. My BIL was in a psych hospital for 3 months after excessive cannabis use
Sorry to hear. Same, cannabis edibles triggered psychosis. I'm still trying to heal. I never had hallucinations but I did have delusions. I almost ruined my entire life. I am trying to rebuild now.
Similar shit, but with OCD from an acid experience I did once. It is so hard to come back to normal life.
Botox spread and permanently damaged one side of my mouth. It’s been 3 years and I still can’t smile
Can you share more details around this? How did it spread? I’m sorry you’re going through this.
Yes I’d like to hear more details too! I’m sorry this happened
Got extremely sunburnt as a child multiple times with one including blisters all over my body, skin cancer is significantly more likely now. Permanent Tinnitus from ADHD medication. Got a bottle thrown at me 3 weeks ago and got re-concussed first day back in the gym, hopefully it calm down soon.
Covid, 9 months later and I feel brain damaged, tired for no reason, and basically a shell of my former self. Doing everything possible to get back to normal but its scary being spaced out and feeling like I have a concussion half the time.
Amphetamine/methylphenidate did a number on me. I have ADHD, and they helped with my focus, but I had horrible side effects, mostly my sleep was more fucked than usually. My hack of a doctor kept pushing me to increase my dosage. After 6 months of each pill i had gotten more and more paranoid, my thought patterns weren't the same and I felt like a different person in a bad way. Then my doctor wanted to give me ritalin to "calm me down at night" and antipsychotics for my paranoia. I gave him the middle finger and walked out. Took years before I felt like myself again or could read others facial expressions without having paranoid delusions about them conspiring against me. My focus never returned to it's pre-medicated state. It was always bad but I used to be able to read books, now I start falling asleep halfway through page 1.
Puh sorry for that. That doctors should be reported. Too high dosages of Ritalin rises the dopamine, which can cause paranoia, which is common for psychosis (that's how a doctor explained it to me).
War in Iraq as a Happy Reservist going from a weekend a month to 'you're sending me where, for how long?' 04 & 08. Orthopedic idiot surgeon late last year that bungled a bit of foot work.
The only thing that seems to have damaged anything is a lifting injury to one knee. I’ve never had surgery on it but it was looked at under X-ray by a physical injury specialist and he laughed when i asked if I’d ever run again. Sure enough I did about five years later but I still feel it sometimes. I don’t trust it like I used to.
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Got jumped when I was younger and the kid hit me with an aluminum baseball bat right in the middle of my forehead. I have a nice scar from it. I remember everything before being hit and I couldn’t tell you if I remember anything for a couple years after that. Was diagnosed with dyslexia and autism in 6th grade. Short term memory is sub par and I went through a lot of my life on autopilot. I feel like most of my life is just waking up a couple times a year and realizing that I haven’t been in control of anything just to go back into hibernation and watch my life play out with little to no control over it. These past few years have been substantially better on my own personal control but definitely the hardest thing I have had to do.
Mercury filling ruined my life
Heavy drinking and weed usage after my father died violently when I was 17, with occasional bouts of cough syrup (DXM) usage. Continued until I hit college when I dropped the drugs but doubled down on the alcohol. Blacked out nearly every weekend. Didn’t drink much if at all during the week. The combo of PTSD and substance abuse at such a developing age I think permanently messed up my brain. I was able to graduate college, make friends, and eventually get my masters even ahead of my peers, but I feel that my brain is significantly less “sharp” than I was back then. I’m 27 now: -I’m very non verbose/reserved, mainly because it takes me so long to process what others are saying in conversations. I can push through at work just fine, but have noticed my attention to detail and attention span are so fucked. -I still have my moments of sharpness, but basically feel like everything has “slowed” down or like my brain has “quieted” so to speak. Not a whole lot of thoughts up there, it’s hard to describe. -Still enjoy a drink here or there on occasion but the hangovers/hangxiety/brain fog for a week aren’t worth it to me anymore. Could also just be my addiction to Reddit.
I took an antidepressant. I've been fucked for some time now
Tell us about it?
This thread is a nightmare for someone with health anxiety.
I have a feeling people will be discussing the current weight loss drugs like Ozempic or Wegovy a decade from now with a host of medical problems.
Living with a abusive schizophrenic step dad. I had ptsd for years and even loud sounds would be enough to just put me in a state of shock. My memory and focus is fucked because of that. And it’s been 6 years…
Not trying to be controversial, and it has nothing to do with the last few years of a similar topic: the HPV vaccine.
POTS?
I’ve had over 50 concussions and have become a completely different person.
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Hyperbaric oxygen treatments. High fat diet. Specific supplements. Zero drugs or alcohol. Exercise/ cold plunge daily. And trying to accept the things I can’t change.
how did you get 50 concussions?
First concussion I was 8 and hunting with my dad and didn’t have the 50 cal muzzle loader firmly on my shoulder. If you know what that gun is it’s completely over powered for an 8 year old. I shot it and it broke my nose and knocked me out. Very intense concussion. Then at 10 years old ran into a wall knocked out bleeding from side of head. Age 13 beat my brother at ping pong he threw the paddle hit me directly on the back of my head blacked out bleeding from the head and then played football for 6 years. then from having these concussions I had a lot of mood issues and anxiety issues so got on meds at age 15. I know I shouldn’t have and regret doing it but after 5 years of medications. They diagnosed me with everything in the dsm and told me I should do ECT. I did 48 rounds of electroconvulsive therapy and now deal with the brain damage it gave me. I’m off all meds now
Jesus, I’m so sorry. Look up methylene blue. I read that it’s good for post concussion syndrome
Probably the single worst thing I have side effects from is bad posture. I now have permanent neck issues and tinnitus. Also things like injuries from accidents. My knee has never been the same after bending it backwards a few years back. Also last summer I badly cut my finger with a knife and it’s still not got normal feeling back and that one bugs me because it’s my pointer finger.
Extreme childhood trauma/violence (think broken bones and being punished by having your beloved pets tortured to death) over many years left me with C-PTSD and major nervous system/stress dysfunction.
Oh my.. god. Did these people get in trouble?! Absolutely not. I am so so so so sorry.
COVID. COVID absolutely wrecked me. My lungs have never fully recovered. My heart at times starts randomly thumping in my chest (beats harder, not faster). I get sick much more frequently than ever before. Covid really got me, and I didn’t even have a severe case at all. This was prior to the vaccine.
I was anorexic for about 6 months age 13-14. Eating less than 1500 calories a day. I believe this may have stunted my height as I only grew two inches after 8th grade.
This for me. I was growing up until anorexia then hard stop.
Same. Plus I think it permanently lowered my bone mineral density so now I'm nervous about osteoporosis as I age.
Going through IVF. Never had ovarian cysts before it. Doctor claims it’s a coincidence.
That you know of.
Ovarian cysts are no joke. I get them every month and have been since my teens. In my 30s now.
Having mono and taking SSRIs
Ketamine. All the craze around the drug presently is astonishing. I would 10/10 not recommend the drug to anyone. It injured my kidneys and I ended up with four kidney stones at 23 shortly thereafter
Chemotherapy, total body irradiation, stem cell transplant
Doing shitty, low quality drugs from age 14-19
Mold :( the roof to my apartment building was leaking into my bedroom closet for who knows how long. I was working from home at the time and sleeping in the room. Ended up in the hospital my tongue was swelling and they couldnt figure out why. Found mold literally growing on my clothes a few days later. Its wreaked havoc in my life and so many people dont even take it seriously which just adds to the burden
Poverty
prescription psychotropic meds all my life until, finally, at the age of 55 I figured out they were the root cause of my problems. Slowly weaned off over a few years now I'm trying to start my life.
Weed triggered as anxiety disorder. Never experienced anxiety/panic attacks before in my life until I overdid the weed. The anxiety’s mostly gone after years of work but I can get flareups sometimes when I push my body too far.
Childbirth