Again I’m sorry you had to go through this. Thankfully you regained the ability to walk. Apparently the bariatric surgery had little to no adverse side-effects? I actually had a coworker who had gone through this same procedure in the past. She was also on Ozempic or some other insulin-adjacent (?) weight-loss medication. Also what’s the deal with the doctor suggesting this? Is this like a standard procedure? I’m not that knowledgeable on pediatric medicine or childhood obesity.

You are not intruding, and let me say we welcome you here in the mega and the comm. It’s always nice to see a new face in here

Thank you (: I have a long history of overthinking absolutely everything, so it follows I do it online as well :D

Now that I’ve read your story of how you ended up here, let me first tell you I am so glad you found your partner and that they’re helping you so much. It’s so important to have someone supporting you, especially with disability related problems. Give them a big hug when you get the chance, alright?

Yes, she’s amazing! I’m lucky beyond belief we found each-other. Our neurodivergences seem to embrace one-another’s as much as we do physically. So you can be sure I hug her often (: I’ve been in many dark places through my life, and have had my share of toxic traits and behavioral issues. Thankfully the amount of therapy I managed to get through before the state came in to fuck everything up helped me work through these, with time passing and her safe presence doing a lot of the lifting afterwards. She helps me to not believe myself when I think I’m just my past toxic traits and behaviors entirely, but am actually the warm, understanding and kind person people have told me I am.

I have so much respect for your choice to become a cook. I’ve heard nightmarish stuff from training/internships etc and I salute everyone who actually chooses this path.

Oh believe me, it’s worse. And I join you in saluting cooks, it ain’t easy. Backbreaking work in hot, steamy, often crowded and noisy places, with little thanks and even less pay. Serving tables in a restaurant or being a bartender is no walk in the park either, but in my experience bartending can be a more chill experience. At least, outside nightclubs. Thankfully my pubs were mostly chill customer-wise.

I am also glad to hear I’m not the only one who’s realized working with people is actually a great thing after being a loner for the longest time. I can imagine you working as a bartender, just by how you describe your experiences.

Yeah, it was a long process to grow from “everyone hates me and I hate everyone” to “wait, actually people like me and I like people”. I’m much happier now than I was like 10-15 years ago (but then again I was really suicidal back then, you couldn’t really get lower than that). And hah, thanks (: I’ve been complimented for my way with customers by employers and coworkers before, and I’ve learned to accept these compliments.

As for the brain fog, long covid is certainly an option, but I can also tell you (fellow type 1 here, for almost 30 years), that constantly high glucose levels really fry your brain, even in shorter periods of time.

Oh hey, 31 years here. And yeah, it fits now that you say it.

As a small little side note, diabetes is also known to cause depression in almost half of all affected people, and that hardly gets talked about.

It’s funny (if it wasn’t so sad) how long it’s taken for the medical establishment to realize this. Like who would’ve thought chronic illnesses can cause psychological problems also? The diabetes central in my hospital did indeed direct me to a “diabetes psychologist”, but for one reason or another that didn’t last. Nor did it provide any help. But hey, at least they tried.

Depression and anxiety, in my opinion, are never stand-alone issues. They always have an underlying root cause, and people pushing you aside for it are being toxic as fuck. You deserve proper care, just like everybody else, and BPD gets flung around for a lot of people that are “difficult”, and it trivializes those who are actually affected and those who need a different type of care.

I’ve had this bell curve of opinion on psychiatrists. At first (like closer to 20 years ago now) I didn’t want treatment, because I thought I’d just off myself eventually. Then I came around and sought help from these professionals, with warying amounts of success. Now I’m back at not trusting these “professionals”. The amount of shit surrounding the BPD diagnosis for the population in general is sickening, apparently when it comes to female autists especially. Also having a stamp in the papers that claims you have “attention seeking behavior” that follows you along from doctor to doctor is fucked.

I also want to say I’m proud of you for getting clean. It’s such an enormous feat, and I’m happy that you’ve managed to accomplish this!

Thank you! Though I want to mention that I still do partake the devil’s cabbage from time to time. I’ve cut out alcohol and other hard stuff, though (and alcohol was the absolute worst of all, simply because of how easy it is to access). I am not going to advocate any substance for anyone to use all willy-nilly, but I believe there could be some therapeutic advantages found among illicit substances. This is obviously completely my personal and anecdotal evidence, so the “could be” is doing some extremely heavy lifting. So everyone reading please, don’t take a stranger’s advice on the internet and most importantly stay safe.

Again, I’m happy you shared your story with us and that you found the courage to do so. If you have questions concerning diabetes in particular, my inbox and the chat are open. Take care of yourself, one step at a time. Sending you lots of love, comrade

Thank you for making me feel so welcome. I’ll keep that in mind (: lots of love to you also, comrade (:

I’m sorry you have had to go through that, comrade. I’ve had diabetes since early childhood, and grew up as a small boy. I’ve been ridiculed and felt alienated from my peers (other boys, no wonder I often felt more comfortable around girls) for most of my childhood. It is sad that there exists a concept of “being normal” in everyone’s minds, because that necessitates the existence of “being unnormal” also. I learned to embrace the societal rejects and pariahs before I embraced communism, which only strengthens my resolve to fight for all people’s liberation. I am happy that you are better now. If you don’t mind me asking, what do you mean by “steroid reaction”? Was this something that was supposed to aid your legs, or something unrelated?

workers of the world, is our sinister plot to overtake the rules-based world order through infiltration cooked now?

LEAVE RSHA 26-2599 ALONE… LEAVE HER ALONE

I’m feeling like an impostor writing here, but some messages in this thread have helped me get over this feeling. So here’s a general rant about my life.

I have been struggling with my legs for about a year now. It’s weird thinking back on my life for the past few years. I was in a constant state of mental health related rehabilitation between 2015-2024. Multiple hospitalizations early on, heavy doses of meds, and finally a form of therapy that actually worked (funnily enough it was dialectical behavioral therapy, which I feel kinda prepped me into diamat). Then in 2019/2020 I was basically told by the government (who were subsidizing my living/therapy in a private rehabilitation unit, but the government also fucked up my therapy by claiming to move it into a public provider which just never fucking happened, restoring which was it’s own fucking battle) that my rehabilitation was complete (against my and my doctor’s opinion, but I guess I was delusional enough to believe them) and that I should move into the workforce. By then I had found enjoyment in cooking, and had heard from people in my life that I was actually kinda good at it, so I decided (foolishly, as I’d learn quickly) that I could go to vocational school to become a cook/chef.

And so I did. Studying to be a cook during the pandemic was… weird I’d say (how exactly does one have cooking classes through Teams?). Even weirder was being 12 years senior to my classmates, most of whom were fresh out of comprehensive school. The unresolved mental issues, undiagnosed neurodivergence and ongoing substance abuse issues (along with a chronic illness in type 1 diabetes that I didn’t treat) didn’t help with trying to keep up with the pace, especially in the mandatory internships that are a staple of the local vocational schooling. One internship later in the school resulted in me having a doctor’s mandated 2 week sick leave for “depression”, after being berated and talked down constantly by the manager in that restaurant.

This particular internship is still the reason I cite for deciding that I will never work in a professional kitchen. But during these studies I had learned that I am actually really good in customer service and enjoyed “dealing” with people (despite the fact that I had been a loner my whole life, and had withdrawn completely from social life during my mental health crises, outside of drugs and alcohol). Every study module that had any amount of customer service in it was graded better than those without. So in the end I switched studies to become a bartender. In fact, for a few months in the beginning of 2020 I had volunteered as a bartender in a local venue. But then Covid closed that down and I started the school instead.

Well long story short, I had been employed as a bartender in a few local bars since 2022ish. Living in a small city with even smaller circles helped get these jobs. Trying to juggle three jobs was a mistake though, and the stress and exhaustion this caused me made me break down one night in the worst of these places (a night club) and had me just straight up leave in the middle of a shift. The previously mentioned issues with mental health, neurodivergence, substance abuse and diabetes hadn’t gone anywhere neither. But still I kept on keeping on, unwittingly burning the candle from both ends. Last year’s summer was the beginning of the end though. The previous year had seen many older workers leaving my places of employment, and thus being the most senior I had more and more responsibility and pressure from my employers to do more and more. Way beyond my ability to cope. And eventually my legs kinda broke I guess.

As it now stands, I have osteoarthritis in both my hip joints, and also my lower back is killing me (but that could just be the scoliosis I’ve been told I have, and that I’m getting old). Nothing else has been determined yet, but the brain fog I am experiencing has lead me to suspect the possibility of long covid. Or it’s just chronic pain, or diabetic neuropathy, I don’t know. I have managed to get rid of the substance abuse completely, and my mental state is much more stable now, and also I have gotten a grip of my diabetes (all of these in no small way thanks to my wonderful partner, who I met in 2024), and yet the pain persists. This makes me think, was I just so stressed out by work that I hadn’t realized in how much pain I am before? The fact that my blood glucose levels were constantly high for years on end might have dulled the general pain, I really don’t know.

Now I’m hoping to get some doctor to listen to me. I’m not sure what I should focus on. Getting some stronger pain medication would be nice, and with that could come the possibility of disability pension of some kind. I have no idea how to reach it, and my country’s bureaucracy moving always at a glacial pace really doesn’t inspire hope. A limbo of waiting to be denied. Another issue I might want to get checked would be the neurodivergence, but after a lifetime of being told “nah, you’re just depressed/anxious/borderline personality disorder” and being given medication that just makes me worse makes me not want to deal with those people again. So remains to be seen I guess.

Anyway, thanks for reading. I hope I’m not intruding.

I would like to join this one also (:

Hello, I would like to join (:

I think I saw one link to Ukrainian version of BBC? I’m not sure how far this has reached.

Oh yeah, totally. I will never forget my country’s leadership’s undying loyalty for both Ukraine and Israel, and most likely the eventual unraveling of the Ukraine myth will result in more disillusioned people among the local populace. Which, in turn, will (hopefully at least) eventually lead to more broad support for a socialist revolution. But, given the reaction this piece of news has brought from lemmy liberals, all this will take some more time.

Nazis doing nazi shit ig. A representative of Ukraine’s armed forces mentioned how there are multiple such places across Ukraine. Some locals claimed that they were being extorted money to visit their captive relatives / in order to get them freed. Whatever the reasons, it’s fucking heinous shit.

“they”, this sounds like russiagate bullshit. kinda goes hand-in-hand with european politicians blaming everything on russia and every liberal user calling us russian bots. it’s just the 21st century version of judeo-bolshevism and asiatic hordes, detached from nazism to make fascism more palatable for modern audiences.

gotta be honest, gives me the ick. punchy chinese webizens burns seems to be some thing now, apparently, and it certainly is. but also ick

SOMEBODY, PLEASE, CHECK ON IAN

Ah, well, then… Have you tried landing a group of marines on Kharg island? You will not regret landing a group of marines on Kharg island. inside very Soft and Comfort marines sleep soundly put marines in Kharge island. Put marines in Kharge island. no problems ever in kharge island because good Shape and Cover for marine from big balsitci missle strikes…

Ugh, I hate when that happens. My solution? Start giving them testosterone shots, but give yourself more. This way they will see things your way, but not challenge your masculinity more. No bad can happen, only good happens.

2 billion kilowatts, or 2 million megawatts, or 2 thousand gigawatts, or 2 terawatts. that’s a lotta power

Land a group of marines on Kharg island.You will not regret landing a group of marines on Kharg island.

There’s that old adage about America’s enemies and allies. Apparently the Europeans didn’t get the memo.

Stubb especially is an extremely US/NATO-minded ghoul, so him doing something even as seemingly ineffective as this without prior authorization seems extremely unlikely. Maybe they’re just playing for time until it’s time for European armies to march for Moscow again.