I don’t mind at all and I’m glad you ask, if I can help someone going through this I’m thrilled! :)

Turns out I’m bipolar (although several doctors told me I wasn’t, I’m not a psychiatrist and I’m absolutely not trying to diagnose you but I wouldn’t take one doctor’s opinion for granted). Exactly as you did I first showed an improvement with Escitalopram but then it kinda faded (I wonder if it doesn’t modify the dopaminergic system because after the first phase of improvement I started craving for pleasures, and started eating, drinking and smoking a lot of weed…i.e. gaining a lot of weight). In the end and after several years (Escitalopram was the first treatment I tried) I finally found a good psychiatrist who decided to try a bipolatoty-oriented treatment, which worked and confirmed the diagnosis. I now have a two-molecule system: lamotrigigine every day (acts as a “floor” for my mood preventing depression) and aripiprazol as a “ceiling” which I adjust (0, 1, 5 or 10mg in the morning) depending on my mood to avoid manic phases. It’s worth noting that I too had a couple of relatives with likely (but undiagnosed) thymic disorders (whether bipolar or cyclothymia, it’s unclear). Together with regular sessions with a psychologists and a good hygiene (regular sleep schedule, limiting stress as much as possible and fighting my addictions) it does the trick and I’m no longer suicidal or clinically depressed most of the time.

Don’t worry about the long message, these things deserve to be discussed at length. If you ever wanna talk to someone who knows what you go through, I’m available btw, some internet anon had been there for me when I needed it, I am happy to help if you’d like.

Sertraline didn’t do the trick for me…neither did mirtazapine, or Escitalopram, or Quetiapine. Psychiatric drugs are life savers but finding the one that’ll actually save your life can be a freaking pain (if anyone reading this is in that “still looking” stage, don’t give up though, once you find one that suits you it’s a game changer, life can have colours again).

I agree, not all natural products are innocuous but still isn’t the point that organic IS less awful? I’m thinking especially regarding biodiversity and conditions in which the animals live (at least in France, it is the label with the strictest standards for animal “welfare”). I get that it’s not perfect but I don’t think we should wait to have the perfect system to get rid of some of the absolutely shitty parts in the current system.

Is it more expensive? To the customer yes. For real, once you include environmental benefits, health costs from cancers etc and take into account the fact that organic farmers usually receive zero help from governments (I’m considering the french case here), you realise that the price gap is not as big as you think and that a major part of it is because pesticides have made agriculture unnaturally “cheap” (i.e. with a lot of invisible costs).

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Tough, though and thorough were a major step for me back in the days…I never knew which one was which nor how to spell them, I felt so frustrated!

I agree with @RedditIsDeddit , it does not help. It may even make things worse. All this meme does is make me feel misunderstood and despised by others (While some of them don’t even understand what I actually go through). Tobacco is a terrible addiction. I quited for two years but fell again when I broke up with my ex. During those two years I dreamt of smoking at least once a week and gained 15kg. I grew up in France in the 90s and then the country did a pretty shitty job protecting kids (I started buying cigarettes for myself at 14 and it was easy because the tobacco shop owner didn’t bat an eye). I think the solution is prevention and children’s protection (by preventing access) to ensure that they don’t start. For those who already smoke the best is kind support not guilt and disdain. (And total bans don’t help either, we just feel left out when the government who now bans us from every place and treats us like awful weak-willed bastards initially incitated us to smoke two decades ago with adds and easy access).

Thanks, that’s incredibly kind of you ! I have a good support network and I’m doing everything I can to stay safe in spite of a chronical disease but I still have a plan in case one day the pain becomes unbearable and the disease wins. I agree with you, such laws could save so many people from so much suffering. I don’t know if this is needed but know that you can also reach out to me if you ever need to, I am a good listener according to my friends. ^^

F*ck, there goes my plan. Thanks for sharing the info, I’ll be careful and make sure to pick some non-diluted helium if/when it comes down to this, you may have just saved me from a very bad outcome!

Lol, at first I thought “oh this is going to be a mean and not very inclusive comment”, I’m glad it wasn’t!

Thanks for clarifying, I don’t know anyone with ADHD (at least diagnosed) so this helps me understand ADHD !

Is this truly an ADHD thing though?

I see what you mean and when I first heard that saying I thought so too. That’s why I developed a bit after. In my opinion it does not mean “if you’re not with us you’re against us in an irreversible manner” at all (I don’t fight against individuals, I fight against a toxic ideology). To me, it mostly aims to denounce the fact that centrists are actually right wing people who don’t admit it. And, at least in France, the situation tends to confirm that : Macron was officially “neither on the left nor on the right” and it has become clearer and clearer that he is, in fact, completely on the right end of the political spectrum (if not worse for some of our ministers like Retailleau who clearly carries a far right ideology).

In France we have a saying “Si t’es pas de gauche, t’es de droite” i.e “if you’re not a leftist, then you’re on the right wing” meaning that if you do not explicitly reject the paradigm supported by the right then you’re implicitly accepting it and thus indirectly support right wing and conservatism.

As we say in France…cheh !

This is a cognitive task aiming to assess whether kids can trade a small reward now for a bigger one later (it tests inhibitory control and ability to project oneself in the future). This experiment was conducted by comparative psychologists and, if I recall well, they also compared the kid’s performance to that of some primates to understand the evolution of the human mind.

Depends on the purpose. For documents (especially those on which people work collaboratively over long periods of time) I find YYYY-MM-DD ideal. It spares the issues around day or month first when Europeans and people from the US work together, the document are easy to sort and, if it takes more than a year to complete the project (as is often the case in research) things don’t get messy.

The fourth kind is the reason I hardly ever pet any cat XD

XD fair enough ! Tbh I was just trying to see if this could be made into a joke. I’ve never had a proper taco (except maybe once, but I was drunk as hell and it was a very poorly made imitation that I wouldn’t call a taco) so I wouldn’t know what to eat it with. Please enlighten me, what kind of sauce do people put on tacos (if any)?

IMO, the end of the post’s title should be “ketchup or mayo ?”

I was actually joining the chat to write that things are not that different in biology. I have a PhD and 7 years of postdocs behind me. Over the years I have :

• been denied a management position because “the team was only men, who wouldn’t listen to me” (spoiler alert, they put an incompetent guy in charge who screwed up massively and I ended up taking over, successfully).
• had a boss who systematically doubted my opinion (while he was not a specialist of the topic) but listened to the very same argument from a male colleague
• had male Masters students who could speak uninterrupted during meetings when I couldn’t
• got denied a tenure position for a guy with the same profile (literally the same topic and same labs) but much less experience than mine (like 5 years younger) This last one broke me, I ended up quitting academia

My pleasure! I’m sure it will come back and if you’re in Paris you should be fine even if it doesn’t. :) Enjoy France (in spite of what the world says, we’re not all jerks, I swear!).