Caring for my mom in her final days really messed me up, but I survived it and eventually recovered, and I’d do it all again if I had to. — Medical History My mom, Barbara, had been ill for a very, very long time. She had an amazing work ethic, and she valued that about herself. I admired it about her, and I emulated it. It was a necessary thing, and it is for many people. She was diagnosed with rectal cancer…

These talks can literally change lives. — While these are not the only talks that have changed my worldview, they are talks I see as being incredibly noteworthy in one way or another. Therefore, I feel a strong desire to share them with others. Please enjoy! How electroshock therapy changed me Speaker: Sherwin Nuland Tags: Medicine, Psychiatry, Mental health, Depression Why it matters…

Chronic illness got me like “frustrated screeching noise.” — It takes jumping through countless hoops to get treatment for chronic pain, and I had one psychiatric nurse practitioner tell me I couldn’t possibly have ADHD because I held a four-year degree and was in grad school at age 22. No Adderall or Percocet or Modafinil or B-12 injections, not…

Fox News anchors don’t appear to be social distancing at all. — The paradox of freedom and safety is that you can never have both perfect freedom and perfect safety at the same time. In order to be protected, some amount of freedom must be lost in the bargain. …

As intelligent creatures, we must be careful to use our powers for good. — Most people want to improve themselves in some way. Whether it’s mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, or otherwise, there is a very human-y thing in us that asks the question, “What next?” It can drive us to consume, to always want the next, newest, shiniest toys and gadgets. A lot of…

I’m trying to avoid being furious, but they’re not making it easy. — 00. Preamble I did receive the first two economic impact payments, abbreviated EIP1 and EIP2, so I know that the infrastructure is there, so to speak. My monthly payouts from Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) each include “TREAS” in their description, so I know these agencies are…

My mom died in 2017. This is how it went down and what I learned in the process. — [Warning: contains medical kerfufflery and a lot of talk about death and dying, in case that wasn’t clear.] It may be a controversial opinion, but I truly am in favor of assisted suicide under certain circumstances. If the person knows that their illness has no effective treatment, or that the…

It didn’t have to go down like this. — The first thing you have to understand about my mom is that she needed an advocate by her side, and the first thing you have to know about me is that I didn’t trust anyone else to do it. Years ago, that might not have been possible. But there seems…

There was no way I could have known, but I did. — This is a story in three parts. It chronicles three times when I had physical symptoms that led to surprising, real-world revelations in my little universe of one. Is intuition something you’re born with? Can it be trained? …