#and physical pain DOES RESPOND to placebos

[writeitinsharpie]

love house md as a dumpster fire trash medical drama show but istg they needed one (1) single person with chronic pain on the writer's team

[radical-revolution]

Buddhists have long believes that visualizing the Medicine Buddha promotes healing. Bodhipaksa suggests a mechanism by which this might actually work.

The effects that the mind has on the body are as mysterious as they are profound. We’re all familiar with the placebo effect, where a medically inactive substance that looks like a medicine leads to actual healing. In one dramatic demonstration a doctor flicks a switch. He says that this wirelessly turns on and off a device implanted in the brain of a patient with Parkinson’s disease. When the switch is “on,” the patient’s trembling dramatically subsides. When the switch is off, the patient begins to shake uncontrollably. But although the patient genuinely does have a device implanted in his brain, and although the device works, in this particular instance the switch is not connected to anything.

The patients are not faking their symptoms. This particular study showed that the chemistry in the brains of the Parkinson’s sufferers actually changed, depending on the position of the switch. In Parkinson’s, there is a chemical that’s deficient in the brain. In this test, the brain produced that chemical in higher quantities. Real healing was taking place.

Doctors are well aware of how to use the placebo effect. They see their white coats not just as a kind of overall, but as a healing talisman, the very sight of which is medically helpful to those who are sick or in pain. Parents are also highly aware of the power of the placebo. The ritual of “kissing the boo-boo” is a time-honored one.

People can be disparaging about the placebo effect, as if responding to a fake medicine or feeling better at the sight of a doctor’s white coat are signs of weakness, stupidity, or gullibility. But I think that’s a shortsighted way of looking at this particular mind-body interaction. Deep down we want to be healed, we want to be healthy, we want to be well.

Often, though, self-doubt and self-hatred “poison” the mind and body. We doubt that we can get better and that we have the resources to get better. Sometimes we think we don’t even deserve to get better. The placebo allows our deeper, more authentic desire for wholeness and well-being to express itself. So, AIDS patients who are asked to visualize their white blood cells multiplying as if they were breeding rabbits find that their white blood cell count does actually increase.

I’d like to tie one more piece of research to what I’ve just said, even though it’s not about medicine and isn’t ostensibly about the placebo effect. In one study, students were divided into two groups before being given a general knowledge quiz. One group was asked to think about a professor. The other group was asked to think about soccer hooligans. The group “primed” to think about the professor did significantly better on the quiz than did the other group.

When I put these two things together, I wonder what would happen if people were to visualize a healer. Would this actually boost their immune response and promote healing? As far as I’m aware this study has never been done, but I suspect that visualizing an archetypal healer would have a measurable effect on the body’s ability to heal itself. I suspect also that the healing power of this visualization would be even stronger if they were some kind of contact being visualized –– for example, if a ray of light were to emanate from the healer and touch us on the body.

Could it, in fact, be that this experiment has already been carried out, albeit in a nonclinical setting? For many centuries, Buddhists have been visualizing “deities” (this word, in Buddhist parlance, refers to Buddhas and bodhisattvas rather than to gods). Some of these visualizations have been of the great Master of Healing, Baishajyaguru, also known as the Medicine Buddha. It’s been long believed that meditating on the Medicine Buddha can promote the healing of both physical and mental illness.

In this kind of meditation, the Buddha is imagined as the beneficent presence, sending us blessings. And in many forms of visualization meditation, the figure we are imagining sends forth rays of light that touch our body. And the recitation of the mantra –– oṃ bhaiśajye bhaiśajye mahābhaiśajye bhaiśajyarāje samudgate svāhā –– is a way of calling forth our own innate healing abilities. It has been found, in fact, that even a brief training in mindfulness meditation can boost the immune response, but I’m suggesting something that goes beyond even that. Bearing in mind, day after day, the image of an archetypal healer may be a way of harnessing the power of the mind to bring about wholeness and health.

Posts by Bodhipaksa

[medsvillaonlinepillsstore]

What erectile medication works the quickest?

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Yohimbine

Yohimbine, a naturally occurring chemical having distinct effects on the body, is the main component of Yohimbine bark. It has been studied on both male and female erectile dysfunction patients. The vascular system is affected, which improves nerve impulses and blood flow. The goal of the study was to evaluate Yohimbe's ability to cure erectile dysfunction. Final results showed that 14% of subjects had a full erection, whereas 20% only had a partial response. The placebo effect was experienced by three participants.

Yohimbine possesses a wide range of additional advantageous qualities in addition to those found in medicines. In men with erectile dysfunction, it enhances blood flow and erectile function. However, there are negative consequences. Many over-the-counter natural medicines could have negative interactions with other prescription drugs. Consult a medical professional with experience in treating men's health conditions for the quickest erectile dysfunction treatment.

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Treatment with extracorporeal shock waves

This treatment stimulates the body's innate capacity to produce new blood vessels by delivering low-intensity shockwaves. Most ED therapies aim to enhance blood flow to the penis, and this is what the waves accomplish. Unlike medications, shockwave therapy takes some time to begin working and does not require anaesthesia. Without anaesthetic, it usually takes 15 to 20 minutes.

Patients with mild to severe vasculogenic erectile dysfunction can benefit from low-intensity extracorporeal shock wave therapy since it is both safe and effective. Research shows that young people with short-term ED and no comorbid diseases respond particularly well to this medication.

You might be familiar with Vilitra 20 mg if you're looking for treatment for erectile dysfunction. Fildena is a generic alternative that is available in various strengths. The length of the therapy program could range from six weeks to a whole year, depending on the patient. In the event that the victim feels the need, take a pill of Fildena Super Active. The recommended dosage of this medication is all that should be taken. Neither the female nor the pediatric populations are permitted to utilize it.

PDE-5 medications

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While stress may improve focus, it can also have harmful bodily consequences. Your immune system may gradually deteriorate, increasing your susceptibility to illness. Stress can worsen a mental disorder's symptoms by triggering manic or depressed episodes and encouraging hallucinations. Therefore, it's crucial to deal with your stress right away and work towards recovery. Here are some tips for controlling stress so you can eat. PDE-5 inhibitors were first discovered by accident. Up until recently, the only effective treatments for erectile dysfunction were penile implants or intracavernosal injections.

[sampanburst32]

9 Ways To Get Relief From Arthritis Pain Naturally

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[ereawrites]

Dick Grayson x Reader - Mania

this was requested by: anon

word count: 10.5k / rating explicit

a/n: sex pollen so auto dubcon (?), but both reader and dick are affected so idk

taglist: @daddyissuesmademe @idkmanicantenglish

It's your fault, really. You should never have got involved in the first place, but the temptation was just too great to resist. How could you pass up the opportunity to investigate Poison Ivy's pollen? This was the first decent sample any of you had ever managed to get - even Bruce, though you suspect there have been a few times he's managed to get up close and personal with the pollen - and normally Tim would handle it, but he's away on business with Bruce, and Damian's too young to deal with intensive research, and Jason just can't bring himself to care. So, that left Dick, and you could've left it at that. You should have. Then again, Tim did text you to recommend that you helped Dick: actually, you would never have left your room if it hadn't been for his intervention. It's Tim's fault.

The thing is, everything was fine at first; you've, perhaps, been harbouring the slightest crush on Dick for a while now, and it's always nice to spend time with him. He's fun to be around, even if his classic charm sometimes borders on teasing flirtation, and he's got such an incredible mind. You forget that, at times - he has a bad habit of putting himself down as the 'kind one' of the family, the emotional support or the comic relief, and he forgets to let himself be brilliant, too. He doesn't realise you've noticed that. Or maybe he does, but he doesn't say anything, and you've happily spent the past two hours studying Ivy's pollen together.

"It's definitely pheromonal, but I've never seen a chemical composition like this before-", you say, eyes glued to the computer screen. Dick is leaning over the back of your chair, one hand on your shoulder and one hand on the desk beside you, and you shouldn't feel as tense as you do. "-look, this section doesn't occur naturally in any species we've seen. She's synthesising these pheromones somehow, it's not like she's injecting them, but I just - I don't get how."

He pushes off from the desk, grabs the back of your chair, and spins you to face him with a half-smile. "I hate to break your train of thought, but I think we need a biochem specialist.", he says, and you suddenly notice how tired he looks: his eyes are still vibrant, warm, but exhausted. "We've done as much as we can on this, right? No shame in calling in the big guns."

"Tim?", you reply, knowingly, relishing in the way Dick's smile grows into a full grin. He's still gripping the edges of your chair, effectively caging you in: you are not looking at his arms, and you can be certain of this because you are looking very, very intently at his face.

"Having a genius brother has its perks, I know. I'll call him now. It's late in Tokyo - he won't be in a meeting, he'll probably just be awake in his hotel room, tapping away at his laptop.", Dick says, finally moving away to fetch his phone, and his voice trails off into a mumble that he clearly doesn't mean for you to hear. "God, he worries me. He really does."

It's much too warm in here: you sigh, and shrug off your jacket, slinging it over the back of the computer chair before calling out,"You're such a mother hen sometimes, Dick."

"I care. Sue me.", he replies with a faux scowl. "You don't complain when you're ill and I bring you hot soup."

"You're a good cook, what can I say?"

"Husband material!", he chirps. You feel your stomach leap and your cheeks heat up at his words. He's only teasing, but the truth of it is, it has more effect on you than you would like to admit. Thankfully, he's quickly distracted by the crackle of Tim picking up the phone. "Timmy! How's things?"

Tim's voice is dry, as always, but with a noticeable undercurrent of frustration. "Shit. I hate it here."

"Hey, Tim. Bad day?", you say with sympathy. You feel a little bad for bothering him, now; as hard as everyone in the family works, Tim definitely pushes himself the hardest.

"I'm the youngest person here by at least twenty years, and my stomach can't handle sushi. Plus, Bruce gets separation anxiety from the rest of you. The one upside is that I've been able to practice my Japanese.", Tim replies. You feel bad for him, of course, but the image of him having to comfort a homesick Bruce has you suppressing a snicker.

Dick shoots an amused smile at you - he's too beautiful when he smiles, it isn't fair - that starkly contrasts the comforting tone he uses to respond to Tim. "Don't worry, darling brother - I've got something exciting for you! Check your emails - wait, only the most recent one, though, I sent you a link to a Red Hood fanpage-"

You interject with an accusatory wave of your finger. "Why the fuck didn't you send me that? Red Hood is sexy." If Jason were here, he would probably threaten to shoot you, but as it is, Dick's amusement only grows. His smile is so infectious, like it spirals out into the air and right into your chest, and you can't help but smile back at him. You don't know if it's the warmth of the room or simply from Dick himself, but you feel as though you're going to need to step outside for some fresh air soon.

"Because of your raging crush on Nightwing, probably." Tim cuts in, and you could fucking kill him. Dick gives you a pleased wink. "I'm looking at a pheromonal compound, right? Ivy's special formula?"

You muster as much venom into your voice as you can, without pissing Tim off so much that he leaves you to deal with this on your own. "Fuck you, Tim - and yeah. It's a newer version, though - I think she's evolving, if that makes sense? Her physiology is definitely changing." Tim gives a thoughtful hum in response to your words: you imagine it's in agreement.

Dick continues your train of thought. "We think she's working with someone else, or she's been experimenting on herself, maybe. Do you have any ideas about how she's making the new chemicals?"

"I'll need a few hours. Send me all the data over. You're right about it evolving, though - it's definitely airborne. Shit, this is actually really interesting - the molecules are more compact, smaller, so she doesn't need to rely on physical touch through her plants anymore-"

The rest of Tim's words are lost to a wave of horror. Airborne, he said - you'd doubt it if it wasn't for the similar shock that's written over Dick's face - and you have not been treating this sample as airborne. Ivy has always relied on physical, tangible contact to use her chemicals: you couldn't have known, there was no way you could've known, neither of you are experts on this kind of thing - you've fucked up.

"Airborne? How... airborne are we talking? Like, don't-sniff-the-test-tube?", Dick asks, cautiously, maintaining eye contact with you all the while. *Please, God, let it be don't-sniff-the-test-tube and nothing more than that. Please.*

"Shit, you haven't been wearing respirators - have you?". Tim sounds positively horrified. It does nothing to allay your fears, the worries that you've both been infected with Ivy's pollen; in fact, he all but confirms it. Everything is beginning to fall into place now. The tension around Dick - more so than usual, at least -, how warm you're feeling, the mental sluggishness that had you calling Tim in the first place.

You're angry at yourself, for your own stupidity - not Tim, but you're panicked, you're so unbelievably freaked out, and so you can't help but snap at the phone. "How were we meant to know, man? Ivy's never even hinted at having something of this level before!"

"You're working with chemicals, unknown chemicals, I hate-"

Dick cuts in before this can turn into a full-on confrontation. You've got no idea how he's managing to keep a level head. Perhaps the pheromones are already taking a more severe effect, or maybe it's a placebo effect, and you pray that it is, but you can already feel your heart beginning to pound against the confines of your chest. "It's just pheromones, right? We know it's not toxic, at least - Ivy's victims only take a few days to come around, at most. They're just kinda fucked up for a few days."

You admire Dick so, so much. He's right, he's always right, he always manages to keep you calm and make you feel safe: you'll just have to stay with him, and you'll be okay. If you stay here, he can comfort you, and maybe the impacts of the pollen won't even be that bad. And, if they are, well, there's no one else in the manor tonight, and Dick's so handsome and kind and strong, and maybe he'll - fuck.

Tim snickers. "Fucked, indeed. Only when Ivy's in a good mood, though. You guys better get ready for a tough night. I've heard it can get really bad, especially if you're deprived of - oh, fuck, I can't talk about this, this is too funny but it's so weird, oh my god-", and he dissolves into a fit of awkward, stunted laughter. Dick fixes you with an apologetic look, but you swear his golden cheeks are tinged with red.

"How long until it kicks in?", he asks. It's a stupid, stupid question, because you feel like you're close to dying already. You know what he means, though: when will it get bad? You've seen Ivy's victims before. They're entirely without dignity, practically begging to be touched, sobbing from the pain of it all - and you've only heard rumours about the depraved things they let Ivy do to them. What they ask her to do to them.

The huff of Tim's breath crackles through the phone. "Uh - I don't know, maybe an hour? A little less, since Bruce never opens the windows in there. Just seal the sample up, drink plenty of water, and try not to freak out. It'll pass. You won't die."

///

You thought you could do it - stay in your room, deal with this alone, avoid any potential awkwardness with Dick -but you can't. It's barely been an hour. Sixty-seven minutes since you left the cave, to be exact. Sixty-seven minutes since Dick grabbed you by the waist to halt your speedy departure, touch light but insistent, and said if you need anything, come to me. His eyes were dark when he said it. Deep, dark blue, an ocean that you could get lost swimming in; but pupils already dilating, breath already speeding up. He meant it as nothing more than a kindness. Still, though, that hasn't been enough to stop you from coming onto your fingers with the image of those eyes burned onto the backs of your eyelids.

Ivy's pollen is designed to induce lust, yes, but only for the first person you see after you're infected with it. This means two things: firstly, that you need Dick more than anything right now. Your head is pounding, your lungs feel like they're on fire - the sensation between your legs isn't aching, it's agony, and you've spent fifty-two of the past sixty-seven minutes trying, and failing, to fool your body into believing that your fingers are his. The first thing you know, is that you need him, because you saw him right after you were infected. The second thing you know - there was no one else in that room. You were the only person Dick could have seen.

So, stupidly, you seek him out. You go back down to the cave, without even taking the time to wash your hands, because that's what your body is telling you to do, and you're acting more and more on instinct. Potential awkwardness be damned. He'll fix this.

Dick's facing away from you, reclined in the computer chair: his posture seems almost relaxed, just almost, legs sprawled out and left elbow visibly sticking out from around the back of the chair, like he's got one hand close to his head. You'd assume he was still looking at the computer, if you weren't so hyperaware of everything right now, but you are, and you notice more. From what you can see of his body - it's low-blue-lit from the computer screen, enough that you can make out the muscle of his legs through his sweatpants if you squint, but it's not enough, you need to see more - he seems tense. Too tense. Normally, you'd sneak closer, but your head is practically spinning now and Dick will help you. He'll make this better. Your voice is hoarse and dry when you manage to call his name.

He immediately jolts in his seat, spinning to face you, and now that he's backlit by the computer, you can barely see more than the outline of his body. God, he looks so lean, so tall - "Are you okay?", he asks, and he sounds almost as bad as you feel. You swallow thickly before responding - and, through the fog in your head, you realise that your jacket is clutched in his left hand.

You, miraculously, manage a weak smile. "I just - I thought maybe it would, you know, be better to... be together, during this. In case - if one of us needs help, or something. I don't know.". You sound stupid. Dumb. You feel it, too, and you can't even bring yourself to care. The mere sight of him is helping: it doesn't remove the pain, or any of the physical sensations, really, but at least the panic of not being near him is being soothed.

"That's - yeah, okay. How are you feeling?", Dick replies. His voice is barely more than a whisper, but you hear it as clear as if he were right up against you. Chest pressed to your back, lips on the curve of your jaw, that voice going right through you and into the pits of your stomach.

It's wrong, to think of him like this, when all he's doing is trying to check that you're alright. He knows you aren't, but he's trying.

The best thing you can think to do is make a weak attempt at a joke. "I've got a newfound fear of Ivy." Dick even huffs out a laugh, but it's just as half-hearted as your words. "I didn't think it was going to be this bad at first, Jesus - but it keeps getting worse, and, it just-"

"-it hurts. I know.". Dick nods. As you take a step closer to him, you realise that your eyes have finally adjusted to the relative darkness of the cave, and you realise that you can see his cock straining against his sweatpants. He's hard. What's more, there's a distinct wet patch leaking through the material.

When you entered the cave, you couldn't see one of his hands; the chair wasn't moving enough for him to be stroking himself, and you're not sure whether you're glad he wasn't, but now that you think of it, there was definite movement. Like he was palming himself through his sweatpants, maybe. And the hand that was close to his head, it's clutching your jacket, he was holding your jacket close to his face while he-

"Dick - were you...?"

He sighs, halfway between embarrassed and resigned, and sinks back down into the computer chair. He keeps your jacket clenched in a white-knuckle grip. "I had to take the edge off somehow, right? I'm sorry, I didn't think you would be coming back down here, I never meant to make you uncomfortable or anything-"

"I'm not uncomfortable.", you blurt out before you know what you're saying. Dick's expression visibly shifts - you don't have the mental clarity to figure out into what, exactly - but you can feel your own eyes widen as you process  the implications of what you just said. "Oh, fuck - I didn't mean it like that, I - sorry."

Dick just shakes his head. He must mean for you not to worry. You stand in silence for a while, not exactly awkward but certainly thick with tension, before he pats a hand onto the desk beside him. "God, this is worse than I thought. Do you wanna come sit down?"

Do you? Although being closer to Dick sounds like the only thing you want in the world right now - god, you can't help but think about how good he would look, if you were close enough to really study him, now that you're beyond giving a fuck about etiquette - you're also acutely aware of how difficult it'll be to control yourself. Undeniably, you want him. You've wanted him for months, really - but the pollen has taken that desire and multiplied it tenfold, made it so that it's all-consuming and painful. In your room, nothing more than imagining him, it was bad enough. Now, now that you can see his fucking cock, now that the image of him rubbing himself with a blissed-out look on his face, it's almost impossible to control.

You move to sit next to him. You can't help yourself. Once you start moving, you feel like it's all in slow-motion: Dick's watching you, dark eyes trained so closely on your form, and you're wearing nothing more than a tight-fitting pair of leggings and a thin t-shirt. After what feels like an age - too long to be apart from him - you reach the desk, and upon clumsily perching yourself on it, you see Dick looking as though he's about to pass out.

"Fuck, did I - did I do something wrong? I'm sorry-", you say hastily, but he instantly shakes his head and trains his eyes on yours. The blue is nearly gone. It's all blown-out pupils now, so much that his eyes are nearly black.

He licks his lips as if to wet them. "-no, no, but - when you were in your room - when you were alone - did you do anything to take the edge off? Did you touch yourself?"

You could say no, if you wanted to. You could lie. He would know, but he wouldn't press it, and you could save yourself the shame. For all that Dick must be struggling just as much as you are, he's exceedingly kind, so much that no amount of fucked-up drugs could change that: he's still your Dick, underneath all of this.

"Yeah.", you admit after a heartbeat, and your stomach lurches when you see his cock twitch through the sweatpants. Still, you're embarrassed, and you feel the need to explain yourself just a little. "It felt like my skin was on fire unless I did. It still feels like that, though - like it just wasn't enough, I guess."

"I can smell it on you.", Dick says lowly. Oh, God. That's hot. That's so, unbelievably hot - especially when you see his cock twitch again - but absolutely mortifying. You're torn between wanting to jump on him, right here and now, and retreating back to your room. You compromise by burying your face in your hands, and letting out a pathetic whine to signal how fucked-up you are right now. Maybe you can calm down, now that you don't feel on the verge of a panic attack from being away from him, if you take a few deep breaths.

Naturally, Dick hardly gives you the chance. You feel his hand come to rest on your knee out of nowhere; it's a gentle touch, but you can feel him trembling, and the touch sends a bolt of electricity through you that's strong enough to make you jolt. "I want to help you. The whole point of these pheromones is to make it so that you need touch - it only hurts because we're not getting that. So, I can-", he says raspily, punctuating the pause with a reassuring squeeze to your lower thigh, "-touch you, just... platonically, if that's what you want. What you need."

His voice drops down an octave with the last sentence - you whine again, involuntarily, but you just about manage to turn the sound into words.

"Dick, you don't have to - we can just push through this, I know it'll be uncomfortable for you - I mean, I know it's not like we haven't hugged and stuff before, but this is different, I don't want you to feel forced because you feel bad for me."

Dick must lean forward, closer to you, because his palm slides further up your thigh. The pain that prickles insistently under your skin is beginning to turn into fiery heat: not unpleasant, but desperate, hot, and you're starting to feel like you're not going to be able to stop if he asks you to touch him. "I don't feel bad for you.", he insists, reaching up with his free hand to peel your hands away from your eyes. He curls his fingers around yours as he continues. "I just want to make you feel better - both of us feel better. See, it's already helping, right? Just relax. This is bad enough as it is."

His thumb starts to trace circles on the inside of your thigh. It's nowhere near high enough to be considered sexual, but the movement has your legs almost trembling. You wonder if he can feel the tension of your muscles. "It's... it doesn't hurt anymore. Thank you.". And, technically, you're not lying: it doesn't hurt, in fact it feels fucking incredible. You spent fifty-two minutes trying to replicate this sensation. He's only touching your thigh, it has no business feeling this good, but each little beat of his thumb has waves of pleasure crashing through you. God, how good would it feel to fuck him like this? You're shaking, and you know it, and it only makes him tug you by the hand to stand up.

Even the loss of his touch on your thigh feels devastating, but Dick's next words are more comfort than you could have imagined possible. "Here. Come sit, if you want.", he says - whispering again, voice so low and so deep, but it's just the effects of the pollen, you tell yourself - and gestures to his thigh. "You can lean back into me, don't worry, it'll be better for your back."

This has to feel as good for him as it does for you. Logically, it has to. You've both breathed in the same pollen, his skin has the same sheen of sweat that you can feel on your own skin, you're both trembling in every part of your body, and he's still rock hard. You can feel yourself leaking, god, enough that it might have dampened your leggings and left a wet spot on the desk. What would Dick do, if he saw that? He's clearly turned on, but maybe he still has the good sense to avoid fucking: maybe his view of you as 'just platonic' is so deeply ingrained, he would never touch you down there to feel how wet he's made you. Or, maybe he wants you like you want him.

"Are - are you sure?", you stammer. You can't stop looking at his lap. His cock, painfully obvious (and he mustn't care, because he blatantly drew your attention to it), and the corded muscle of his thighs, spread out straight to form you a perch.

"Mhmm...", he hums from somewhere deep in his chest, and suddenly you're grateful that he's still holding your hand, because the sound almost makes your knees buckle. He tugs gently. "Only if you want to be close to me, though."

He says that like an afterthought - like he knows exactly what you want, and like he's hungry for your touch and doesn't want to consider the idea that you don't want to give him it. You can't bring yourself to look at him before you move to sit in his lap, because you know he'll see the desire, and for now, you're still pretending that you don't want to push him down in that chair and ride him for hours. He'd like that, you think. He'd like it if you pulled his hair while you did it.

Dick lets go of your hand so he can take your waist in both hands, guiding you down onto his lap and gripping harder when your ass inadvertently brushes over his cock. You don't mean to do it, of course, and you jump like you've been shocked: you shuffle further down his thigh to avoid another mishap, but the movement causes your pussy to just barely drag against the hard muscle - you hardly manage to control your moan, forced to sink your teeth into your lip. Thankfully, Dick doesn't seem to notice, and he helps you lean back so his chest is pressed to your back, before lifting his arms to rest on the armrests. From here, he begins to rub soothing lines up and down your arms, and he tips his cheek down to rest against your shoulder with a relieved sigh.

"Fuck, that... yeah, that feels better.", you practically gasp. Feeling him pressed up against the entire length of your body, as torturous as it is, is the most relief you've gained all evening; his legs are shaking just enough that you can feel it in your core, though, and you're forced to tilt your head back to rest on his shoulder. You'll lose your fucking mind if you don't start to relax, he's right.

With your neck exposed, though, you can feel Dick's hot breath tickling your skin when he speaks. "Good, right? It feels good?". For the first time, you really hear the tension in his voice. So much so that you can't pass it off as your own projections, or a trick of his tone - he's just as desperate as you are, holy shit, he sounds halfway to begging, he sounds like he's dying to know that his touch is making you feel good. Your hips twitch of their own accord.

"Yeah... Dick?", you whisper after a few moments. He nods in response against your shoulder, a slow, dragging movement that feels like honey dripping through your veins from the point of contact. "Are you really warm, too, or like - is that just me? I - I feel like I'm burning up... Do you mind if I..." - you trail off, instead opting to tug cautiously at the hem of your shirt.

He sucks in a deep, rapid breath that you feel press against your back. For a moment, you worry that you've gone too far - it feels so good, but it's too weird, too strange for him even now - but then he slowly curls his fingers around the hem, replacing your own hands, and starts to pull upwards at a torturous pace. His knuckles drag over your lower abdomen for just a second and your hips twitch again, and he definitely felt it this time but he says nothing, and his breathing is warm and fast against the skin of your neck; with the shirt discarded, you're left in nothing more than a thin bra. Although the room feels warm, furnace-hot, you're all too aware of the blatant hardness of your nipples, and you tell yourself it's okay, he won't notice, because you're facing away and he won't - his palm drags against your breast on the way back down and it feels so good, too good, and you can't help but whimper, "Fuck, yes-"

Three things happen in quick succession. Dick freezes, you realise what you've done and move to jump up and run for the hills, and then Dick grabs your hips and pulls you back into him, right over his cock, this time. The friction makes both of you let out a breathy sigh, but where you clap a hand over your mouth, Dick follows it up with a hoarse proposition. "I can touch you properly, if you want. It'll make all this go away, I promise - do you want me to?", he rasps, pressing one, quick kiss to the skin where your neck meets your shoulder. "Do you want me to touch you?"

His grasp on your hips is tight, wanting, but gentle enough that you know he wouldn't stop you if you tried to leave again. When you make no move to do so - you're frozen, you can't believe he's just offered to do what your body is screaming for - Dick pulls at your hips, slowly, dragging your ass over his cock and then pushing you back down. He repeats the motion a few times, rolling his own hips up into you a little more with each motion, and soon your muscles start to work so you can grind down onto him. Dick rewards you with a quiet moan - oh, you want him to do that again, you're going to make him do that again, louder and louder - and then, with a touch so light you could cry, he traces one hand over your hipbones and down to your pussy.

One finger traces your slit through your leggings, and you hear yourself moan, but you're hardly aware of making the noise - just this simple touch feels almost as good as the orgasm you had earlier, even just this feather-light pressure through two layers of fabric, and every nerve ending in your body sets alight at once. This is what you needed, more than anything, for Dick to touch you and drag you down onto his cock, and you're so overwhelmed that every muscle in your body goes lax, leaving you to collapse into his chest.

Dick rubs gently at your pussy a few more times, like he's exploring you, and then suddenly he taps right where your clit is. You cry out, and he sighs against your neck. "God, I can feel how wet you are already. You should have told me, I would've done something sooner, you know that - fuck, you're so wet, let me - let me finger you, huh? Please?"

"Yeah - please, Dick.", you whine, and when you say his name, he moans and shoves his cock up against you again. He mumbles something into your skin that you don't quite make out, and then his hand is fumbling with your waistband, clumsily slipping into your underwear and then he's there, his fingers are brushing right against your clit, you sob out a broken cry - you're so wet that his fingers brush right through your folds, gliding like silk, and by the time he reaches your hole, two fingers easily sink in right to the knuckle.

Your pussy instantly clenches down, hard, and you feel more full than you thought could be possible. Dick moans into the skin of your neck and gives you a moment to calm down, to soothe the desperate jolting of your hips, before he starts to pump his fingers; slowly, at first, but soon picking up into a faster and more urgent pace. With each movement, he scissors his fingers a little, spreading you wider every time, and he starts to mouth at your neck with hot, wet kisses. "Do you like that, yeah? Am I making you feel good? Is this what you need?"

You fling an arm behind you to grasp at his hair, and when you tug after a particularly delicious curl of his fingers, he bites down hard onto your shoulder. "Fuck, yes, yes - please don't stop, please, Dick, don't stop-"

"I'm not going to stop, don't worry, I've got you - I'm here, I'm not gonna stop, you sound too pretty for me to stop, fuck - I knew you would sound pretty, keep making those noises for me."

Your body feels like it's going through the most intense orgasm of your life, especially now that he's given up on pumping his fingers in favour of curling them in rapid beats against your g-spot, but you know that you're not even coming yet: you're close, though, judging by the way the room is spinning around you, and the pressure building in the pit of your stomach - "I think I'm close, Dick, - oh, oh, oh my god, I don't - it's never felt like this before, I don't - fuck-"

"I know, I know, baby-", he croons, and the pet name has you tugging at his hair again, the other hand white-knuckled on the armrest, "-it's okay, it's gonna feel different - it's gonna feel better, I promise, it's going to be so good, I'm going to get you there, baby, come on."

"Fuck - fucking - Jesus, Dick, keep going, just like that-!", you all but shout, and Dick continues the massaging movement right up on your g-spot: the positioning of his hand means the heel of his palm is dragging over your clit, and your hips are frantically grinding up into his hand - god, you're gonna come, the world feels like it's crashing down around you, you feel the contractions start a few seconds before it actually hits you and it's going to be earth-shattering, you know it, every muscle in your body tenses up and through it all you hear Dick whispering, come on, that's it, I've got you, come on, come on, and then you're coming-

Distantly, you can feel his fingers continue their movements inside of you, unrelenting - and the other hand keeps a firm grip on your hips, grounding you onto his lap - but other than that, all you know is the white-flash across your vision and the pleasure slamming into each nerve in your body, one by one and then all at once: this is better than anything you've ever felt, better than every orgasm put together, and it feels feels for a moment like you're actually going to black out from the sheer intensity of the pleasure.

Then, suddenly, you're back in reality. Dick is heaving for breath against your shoulder, but it's nothing compared to the way your own lungs are screaming for air - god, you think you were screaming, given the scratching sensation in your throat - and his fingers are back to a slow, steady pumping, in and out of your swollen pussy. It hurts, a little, but this one orgasm has done nothing to sate your desperate hunger: in fact, it's only made it worse, only increased your desire for him, and you swear his cock is impossibly harder against your ass now.

"You - you're dripping onto my hand, baby, oh my god...", Dick pants, and there's a heartbeat where neither of you move - then, you feel his breath hitch, and suddenly his other hand is shoving unceremoniously under your waistband and going straight for your clit. He picks up the pace with the two fingers still inside you, matching each curl with a flick over your clit, and the motions are all so frenzied, those of a man possessed with some ravenous desire, like his one purpose is to have you writhing in his lap, and you give a wordless cry - too overcome with blinding pleasure to actually make a sound - that allows you to hear his ragged words. "Please, give me another one, one more - I want to make you squirt this time, it's going to be so good, I promise, just give me one more, pretty girl-"

This time, it's not just one wave of pleasure, spreading from your core and emanating outwards; no, it's wave after wave after wave, violently crashing over you and completely overcoming every part of your body, unrelenting and constant - this one lasts at least twice as long as the last, but you're hardly in the right state of mind to keep track of time, and every wave of pleasure that rushes through you is tenfold stronger than the last. You hear yourself shriek his name in the most pathetic, broken tone, and Dick cages you in against his body as best as he can as he keeps both hands working at your pussy, and you realise you're sobbing when he finally, finally stops.

When his fingers slip out of your pussy and exit your leggings, they're dripping wet. Dick audibly gasps, and then he brings his fingers to his mouth and sucks, moaning around the digits, and through hazy eyes you can see the most fucked-out look on his face just at the taste of your cum. He licks his fingers clean - you feel your pussy clench down again at the sight - before opening his eyes, fixing you with an intense stare, and panting, "You taste so fucking good - baby, I'm not going to be able to stop, I'm sorry, I need this, I need to fuck you - please."

He's asking permission, you realise. Neither of you are in control of what you're doing anymore, and he's still asking, as best as he can, if he's allowed to fuck you. There's a terrified look in his eyes, behind the frenzy and the lust - you clumsily crash your lips against his. He tastes of your juices, but it's one of the hottest things you've ever experienced, and he moans openly into your mouth, eagerly meeting your tongue with his own. You're exhausted, but kissing him renews your energy tenfold. You're suddenly overcome with the urge to feel his cock - inside you, yes, but you want to see it first, you want to make him cry out and moan and gasp for you - so you manoeuvre in his lap, keeping your mouth against his, to straddle his narrow hips and face him.

"Ah - ah, god, that feels amazing.", Dick moans, broken up between sloppy kisses, saliva starting to drip down both of your chins - but it's hot, so hot - as you frantically reach down to palm at him. The instant you finally touch his cock, you're gone: there's no stopping now that you can feel how achingly hard he is, now that you feel how he twitches under your hand each time you kiss him, and it takes much longer than you would like to undo the drawstring of his sweatpants, pull them down, and wrap your hand around the exposed length of him. He hisses as his whole body jerks.

Instantly, you set a frenzied pace of stroking him, relishing in each ragged moan that you rip from his throat; he's leaking into your palm, you realise, dripping over your fingers as you pull him back by the hair and attach your lips to his neck. When you suck a bruise into the softest part of his skin - the salty-sweat-tangy hollow beneath his Adam's apple - he shouts out your name, loud, followed by, "-fuck, fu- let me fuck you, baby, please, I - I'm close, you have to stop-"

"Come on my hand, Dickie.", you plead, and you're granted a thick spurt of precum when you lick a stripe up the column of his throat: he tastes so good, his skin so hot under your mouth, you can't stop, and you croon right into his ear, "It's - it's gonna last for hours, still, you're still gonna be hard - I'm still so needy for you, Dickie, look - come on my hand, let me see it, please. You can fuck me after, just come for me where I can watch it, oh - oh, please." His moans start to pick up in volume and frequency, coming from a place deeper in his throat. He's close, you know.

You've started to grind onto his thigh somewhere along the way. It feels amazing, it feels even better because you know he's twitching and aching for you just inches away - once you finally drag yourself out of the crook of his neck, you see that you've left a damp streak on his sweatpants in the wake of your hips, and the steady stream of precum leaking from his cock has soaked the material higher up. "Come on, Dickie, come on, let me see you come, I wanna see it, I - I'll, fuck, I'll lick it clean after, Jesus-", you blurt out, too far gone to be horrified at the ease with which the words spill from your lips.

"Oh, baby, shit-” he cries, and then his voice dissolves into a broken jumble of incoherent mumbles and whines. His cock twitches hard in your palm, once, twice, three times against the rapid pace you maintain on him, and then Dick bucks his hips up into your hand, back arched, perfectly still and tense; he comes hard, almost whimpering, head thrown back and eyes tightly shut, looking so, so perfect as you stroke him through it and grind feverishly onto his thigh. It's the image of his cock that has the breath snatched from your chest, though. Several thick ropes of cum spurt from him as you work him through it, some hitting the skin of your abdomen and some dripping down the length, and it just keeps going, no sign of stopping until Dick completely collapses, after almost a minute of moaning and coming - your hand is drenched with him.

The sight of his cum dripping from your palm makes something in your stomach clench hard, painfully, and suddenly you need to taste him, you have to, it hurts so much and it'll go away as soon as you get your mouth on him. You scramble off the chair, almost falling to your knees in front of him - he rushes to steady you, even with weak and shaky arms - but you don't care about how graceful you look right now. As soon as you manage to nestle yourself between thighs, you lick flat up the underside of his cock. The taste of it makes your eyes roll back in your head. Dick spits, "Holy shit!", and it trails off into a deep gasp as you wrap your lips around him and sink down as far as you can go. You'd take your time, usually, but everything in your body is screaming for you to taste him, let him fill you, and you're in no position for argument.

With each dip of your head - punctuated with a moan from the man above you, each one becoming closer to a growl, animalistic, and you think the pollen is beginning to send your bodies into total overdrive now - you take him as deeply as you can. You're nearly gagging, but that's what you need. His hands tangle into your hair; at first, you can tell he's trying to be as gentle as he can, but that's soon overcome with a tight, guiding grip that pushes you further down onto his cock with each bob of your mouth. The burning heat under your skin is killing you now, too much to ignore, so you manage to shuffle out of your leggings and underwear and kick them away: Dick groans roughly, maybe because he can smell you more clearly now-

"Come here, pretty girl-", Dick says, sliding his hands from your hair to lift you up by the jaw. You mean to whine, perhaps beg him to let you back down, because he feels so good in your mouth - then you see the look on his face. He looks totally gone. Nothing like the Dick you know, warm and gentle and relaxed: his eyes are completely clouded over, lips parted and slick with saliva, brow furrowed with something between pain and carnal desire. You imagine you look much the same, with spit dripping from your chin, the heat you can feel burning your cheeks, and the wetness you feel running down the insides of your thighs. He meets your eyes, and there's a moment of stillness. One thumb slips from your cheek to trace over your lower lip.

Then, both of you move at once - you surge forward to kiss him again, those perfect, pink lips - you fumble with the hem of his shirt, ripping it up and over his head while barely leaving his mouth for a second - Dick's hands slide down your body to your waist. He pulls you into him as he leans forward, half-supporting your weight, and suddenly your back is against the floor and he's on top of you, kissing you hard and bruising, the chair long since kicked away and forgotten about. Every inch of freshly exposed skin feels like molten silk under your touch: you slide greedy hands over his torso as he licks into your mouth, feeling the network of ridged scars and each ridge of muscle. Thankfully, Dick grants you a few precious, savoured moments to feel his skin, while he alternates between rolling his hips against your bare pussy and kicking off his sweatpants.

It's all ungraceful and clumsy - wet kisses stolen between your movements, each of you moaning against the other's lips - and it takes much, much too long for both of you to finally shed yourself of all your clothes. Dick's hands grab greedily at your breasts as he ruts his hips against you a few times, and you can feel how your wetness spreads over his cock. Then, his hands fly down to find your knees, and he drags them to fit around his waist, pulling up until your hips are fully tilted, the stretch of your muscles verging on uncomfortable. "Oh, fuck, that's it, baby. Keep your legs there for me, won't you? Come on, wrap your legs around me - I want to get as deep as I can, it's gonna feel amazing, I promise.", Dick says, bordering on a growl now that his voice is so deep and strained, and you do as he says immediately. You need him inside of you, now; you hook your ankles behind his back, kiss him, and desperately grind your hips into his.

And then, with one deep roll of his hips, he's inside of you. One quick thrust and he's buried to the hilt, and, God, he fits inside you so perfectly: your body all but melts at the feeling of finally being filled, and you keen as you instinctively use your ankles to press his hips further into you. Dick's just large enough to stretch you out, even with how wet and ready you are, without becoming painful, and the pollen means it only takes you a short moment to adjust to his size before your body is pleading to be fucked. He's shaking and panting with restraint above you whimper, "Ho-holy fuck, Dickie, please... please move, oh my god."

"I know, baby, I know.", he says, breathlessly, voice tight with pleasure but still sympathetic. Even with him motionless inside you, it already feels so good, better than anyone you've ever fucked, and you can hardly stop yourself from grabbing him by the shoulders, pushing him down, and riding him. "It just feels so good, you feel so good - I don't want to rush it, I want to make it last. Jesus, my body feels like it's on fire while I'm touching you, I - oh, fuck, I want to take it slow, make you feel so good you cry-"

"-We have all night to be slow, Dick, you can do whatever you want to me, just fuck me-"

Dick's hips roll into yours and a drawled curse falls from his parted lips. He pulls out, almost completely, enough that you panic and squeeze him tighter with your thighs, but then he pushes back into you, slowly, letting you savour the way each nerve ending inside your pussy is set ablaze; he repeats the motion, faster, his curses morphing into sweet mumbles of your name each time he bottoms out. You can hardly breathe - it feels so good, and each thrust of his hips is met with a pollen-driven roll of your own, so it's half-grinding, half-fucking - the slight curve of his cock has him dragging deliciously against your g-spot every time. His movements are picking up in intensity now, and you can tell the pollen is taking him over completely. The same is happening to you: fuck it, you don't want to think about the pollen anymore, you just want him.

"Ah, yes! Yes, right there-right- keep going-", you cry out after a particularly hard slam of his hips. Dick is propped up on one elbow, hair clinging to his forehead with sweat, and the other hand slips down to grab at your ass and pull you up into him. He's deep enough that it hurts, but it's the best pain you've ever experienced. "Fuck, faster, please!"

He obeys, mercifully, and you think you can see sweat starting to bead on his temples. "Is this what you need, pretty girl? Come on, tell me what you want - tell me I'm making you feel good, because you're making me feel so fucking good, I swear, better than I ever even imagined - fuck, you're so wet, are you going to come again? Please, please let me make you come on my cock."

The combination of his cock inside you, and his pelvis bumping against your clit, and the overwhelming sensations coursing through your body: it's all too much to bear, your body is going into total overdrive, and it's so embarrassing that he's got you like this. You never normally beg, you never normally come so fast, but this is different and addictive and incredible - you cry out an affirmation to his words, and suddenly his hand is gripping your chin. He's fully collapsed onto you now, and his movements are more frantic rutting than anything else.

"Look at me-", he pleads, using his hand to guide your face so you're staring right into those glassy eyes. "-look at me while you come, and it'll make me come."

You can feel your muscles beginning to tense up as your orgasm starts to grow. Already, your world is spinning, and you feel halfway to blacking out from the sheer intensity, so you tangle your hands into his hair as a way to ground yourself. "Please come inside me!", you whine - the idea of being filled with his cum, letting it drip out while he fucks another load into you, it's fucking mind-blowing and you can't imagine anything better than feeling him shoot into you while you come on his cock.

Dick's jaw clenches tightly. "Are - are you sure, baby? Is that what you want?"

The next thrust hits you perfectly, and you can't help but pull him tighter into you, so his head drops to the crook of your neck. "I need it, Dickie, you know - you know that - you need me too, right? Fuck, fuck - it's gonna feel so good, I'm so close-". He spends a few moments sucking a bruise into the most tender skin of your neck before moving to press his forehead to yours. Each rough movement of his hips has you jostling against the floor; your nipples are dragging against his chest every time, making you keen, and your swollen clit is being hit so perfectly by his hips, and he's making the most perfect and breathy noises against you - he looks so fucked-out, so gone, so completely absorbed in the feeling of his cock inside you, and your vision is starting to blur at the edges as the spark in your stomach finally bursts into flames-

"That's it, baby, come for me just like that.", Dick gasps, just as your orgasm rips through you. You've got no choice but to clutch at him desperately and ride out each devastating wave as a scream tears itself from your lungs: it feels like your body is tearing itself apart with each ripple of pleasure emanating from your core. Like your body is folding in on itself like a black hole does, when everything becomes too much to bear. You actually feel like you've died, you must have, this is too good and too much and too overwhelming - you hang on to Dick through it all, and your pussy clenches down so hard he can barely move inside you, and he chokes out your name before his own orgasm hits him.

You've come down just enough to process the way he looks and sounds as he comes. Your eyes are still hazy - you kept them on him, you must have - but you nearly come again at the mere sight of him. He's too far gone to even make sounds, and instead he stutters out broken breaths through wet lips, cheeks flushed and eyebrows furrowed hard, and his eyes stay fixed on you the whole time. Even as the rest of his body spasms and rocks into you uncontrollably, even as the hand on your chin slips down to your neck and squeezes, he keeps staring at you with all the lust in the world. The best part of it all, though, is how you feel his cum spilling out into you; even more than he shot onto your hand, somehow, and you realise you're crying from how relieved your body is. Fully, fully, crying, and Dick kisses away your tears as he collapses against you.

Despite how both of you are wincing at the overstimulation, neither of you ever stop moving through it all, and you keep grinding gingerly, carefully but sloppily, against each other even while you gasp for breath against each others' lips. It can't be more than ten seconds from when you come down, before you can't control the urge to whisper, "Give me another one, Dick, please. Keep fucking me." It hurts - it hurts because he's not fucking you, he's not moving enough - you need more.

Dick keeps rolling his hips against yours in shallow movements for a few seconds. His mouth is occupied with sucking more bruises into your neck, up your throat and across your jaw: he's mumbling something incoherent, slurring his words. Each fresh bruise has you gasping his name. You're going to be covered in marks after this - not just your neck, his grip on your ass and hips has been tight enough to leave bruises there, too - and you're entirely certain you've left scratch marks down his back. You nearly come again just at the thought of that; Dick, walking around for days with your marks left on him. Scratch marks under his dress shirts when he's on business, or under the tight material of his Nightwing suit, or blatantly visible through the obscenely sheer shirts he wears out clubbing. He's going to be marked as yours.

"You look so pretty like this, holy shit-", he says, pulling his head from your neck to admire his work. "You're so gorgeous - you always are, you always fucking are - but you look even better when you're mine, fuck-"

“-make me yours, then, please-"

You gasp in shock and disappointment as Dick suddenly pulls out, and his own face crumples at the loss of touch, but his palms are firm and insistent on your waist - he kisses you once, firmly, before he's manoeuvring your body like putty in his hands. You're flipped onto your stomach with another whisper of how pretty you are, and then Dick runs calloused palms down the soaked flesh of your thighs, up over your ass, over the curve of your spine and all the way up to gently, gently, press your cheek flat against the floor. He follows his hand with hot tongue, and when he reaches your ear, he murmurs, "You taste so good, pretty girl. Stay there for me. It's okay, let go. I've got you."

Uncontrollably, your ass jerks up and backwards against where his cock is pressing into you. He chuckles. He fucking laughs with his lips pressed to your cheek - maybe having came inside you has cleared his head enough that he can think straight enough to find your desperation funny - and one of his hands slides back down your body, spreading your pussy open for him to look at. You sense his body tense as he gazes at you. "...My cum is dripping out of you, oh my god."

Fuck it back into me, you think, but you're too far gone to string together a coherent sentence anymore. Your body can do the talking. You keep your cheek pressed to the floor, maybe because your muscles are too exhausted to lift your head, or maybe because it was so fucking hot how Dick pressed your head down, but you manage to meet his eyes. You plead with him as well as you can.

Dick's piercing blue eyes roll right back into his skull when he pushes into you again. From this angle, he feels even deeper than before: with one of his hands running lines up your spine, and his lips wet against the backs of your shoulders, and the steady, strong pace he sets fucking you, you're brought to the verge of tears again within minutes. You can hardly move your body to work with him in this position: he uses the weight of his body to press you into the floor, and each thrust of his hips has you moaning loud against the floor.

He brings a string of kisses and nips up your nape, so he can kiss your cheek again. It's sweet, a gentle gesture, only amplifying the pleasure that each deep snap of his hips brings. "I - I'm not hurting you, am I? I know it must be sensitive, baby, I understand if it's too much, I know - you can tell me if it's too much-"

"-no, please-", you whimper, terrified he's going to stop, "-it's so good, please, Dickie, you're exactly what I need-", and then your voice cuts out into a broken sob as one of his hand snakes between your body and the floor to find your clit. The rough pad of his finger brushes over it a few times, eliciting whimpers from you, before he settles for simply resting his finger on your clit. With each thrust, your hips are jostled against his finger just enough to send sparks of electricity shooting through your veins - every time, it feels like flames licking through each limb, and he's fucking into you so perfectly, claiming you with teeth at your neck, rasping your name against your skin - there's wetness against your cheek, like you're drooling, and you're almost certain you can feel the wetness of your pussy dripping onto his hand.

You're so swollen with desire, you can feel how tightly you're clenching down onto his cock. The mind-blowing pressure Dick's applying to your clit is only making it stronger. "You feel so good, baby. So, so, fucking good - holy shit, you're taking me so well." Then, there's a savage thrust of his hips, one that has both of you crying out in surprise and pleasure: he freezes buried to the hilt inside you. "You're going to make me come again soon, sweetie."

That means more of his cum inside you, more of his delicious moans and groans as he comes, and you say, "God, please-"

"-not yet, I want to make you come for me again. You feel so tight and hot when you do - I need it again, I want nothing more than that, please - you think you can give me another one, huh? One more for me?"

"I - I - yeah.", you stammer. You can, you know you can - your body is practically vibrating from how hard you're trembling on the edge of another orgasm - but you don't know when it's going to stop, you don't know it ever will - maybe this will go on all night, maybe he'll fuck you for hours on end and make you cry and let you lick your mess of his cock. But maybe it won't. Maybe your body will give out, or the pollen will leave his system: this will end and nothing will ever compare. You don't want to come again if it means the end of this pleasure. "...Promise you'll keep going after, Dickie."

Dick starts rubbing rapid circles on your clit with his ring and index finger, and kisses your hairline to soothe you as you sob again. "I'm only going to stop if you ask me to, baby, I promise. You feel too good to stop, I swear - I never thought you would be so fucking perfect, but now I know, I can't stop - I'm right here, I've got you, I'm going to make you come so many times you forget your name if that's what you want."

God, you're going to come again, holy shit-

He hardly gives you the chance to come back around before he's crooning, "-one more, one more for me, right on my cock like that-"

You can't even breathe. Your lungs are on fire, your vision is completely blacked out even once the second orgasm ends, your muscles and bones have turned into mush and you can't feel anything other than the sensation of flying. You're weightless, Dick is the only thing grounding you - he coaxes you down from the aftershocks with soft kisses to your cheek, and his hand tracing circles onto your aching hip, and the muscles of his abdomen are flexing with restraint against your back. "I'm gonna come, baby-", he hisses, and you manage the barest nod and then he sinks his teeth right into your shoulder as he starts pounding into you like a whore, fuck, it's sending you spiralling out of control again-

"Fuck, yes, take my cum like that, that's it, keep coming for me, holy shit-"

You're both boneless and drenched in sweat by the end of it. You're collapsed against the floor, Dick's collapsed against you, and he's still hard inside of you. You can feel his cum - it must have spilled out onto the insides of your thighs, judging by the wetness you feel there. His cock twitches inside of you with every ragged breath he takes. You're so exhausted; this is destroying your body, it's ripping you apart from the inside out, and you're terrified that if you come again it'll split you into pieces. And you want that. You twist your body, wincing against the waves of pleasure that crash over you at even the slightest movement of his cock inside you, and kiss him.

[anexplanationofunfortunateevents]

MARIANNE WILLIAMSON IS EXTREMELY FUCKING DANGEROUS

You almost certainly didn’t watch this week’s Democratic presidential debates. I sure didn’t. Aside from being more than a year out from the election, they’re not helpful, because the format of these early debates is almost aggressively bad. But I have read the news coverage of the first debate, and I am extremely alarmed to see self-help evangelist Marianne Williamson getting positive responses – despite some entirely justified comparisons between her campaign and Donald Trump’s.

The reason that the cynical theater critics of the American political press think Williamson is the Democrats’ Trump is that she’s a wealthy kook they don’t take seriously.

The actual reason Williamson feels like a Democratic Trump is that she’s a scammer who has a decades-long history of shockingly dangerous rhetoric about and exploitation of marginalized people.

Like Trump, Williamson is "skeptical” of vaccine science - that is to say, an anti-vaxxer. Unlike Trump, she is able to stick with a consistent position for more than five seconds. Williamson has a documented history of manipulating vulnerable people to reject the medical care they need in favor of her particular brand of crystal-mongering “positive thinking.” In the 1980s, she profiteered off the AIDS crisis, telling HIV+ gay men to think of the disease as their “Angels-In-Darth Vader-Suits” and promising that she could coach them to overcome it with acceptance and positive thinking. Please, please pay attention to gay men who lived through that era about how fucking monstrous this is.

She is hostile to psychiatric medicine. In practice, that mostly means she lectures people to stop taking their meds. But she, like the right-wing propagandists at InfoWars, also blames mass shootings on antidepressants. Seriously. And she sells eating disordered rhetoric dressed up as new age woo.

In fact, she’s hostile to medical science in general. She claims in her book that “cancer and AIDS and other serious illnesses are physical manifestations of a psychic scream” because “sickness is an illusion” that “does not actually exist” and only seems to respond to medical care because of the placebo effect.

Naturally, she has dismissed criticism on this point as fake news.

Like Trump, she’s a talented con artist, which means that she knows how to capture voters’ attention by appropriating and regurgitating language on an issue that’s important to the party’s base. With Trump, it was his campaign promises to protect Social Security and Medicare. With Williamson, it’s her comments about reparations and racial injustice. Racial injustice is important and reparations are good. So are Social Security and Medicare. Someone who exploits people as a career is still dangerous even when they say the right things; that’s how they get in a position to exploit people. Whoever she stole her reparations commentary from was correct in their diagnosis. That doesn’t mean she cares about people of color more than any of the other marginalized groups she’s latched onto – which, incidentally, is exactly as much as Donald Trump cares about Medicare recipients.

Williamson has spent decades exploiting the predatory psychology of the “prosperity gospel,” but applied to health instead of finance: if you were pure enough of mind and heart, everything would be fine for you! Oh, things aren’t fine for you? Well, I can enlighten you, for this low, low fee! It’s Trump University, except she victimizes cancer sufferers instead of aspiring real estate agents.

Unfortunately, she is also like Trump in that the press fucking loves her and is giddily shouting over the people she endangers.

The issue here is not only that she is a bad person who should not be president, although that is obviously true and we’ve all seen how that shit can get out of hand. It’s also that just being on the stage with decent people legitimizes her. Her airy-fairy magical thinking receives praise for “recognizing the gravity of our moment” and becomes an excuse to denigrate the serious candidates who are offering compassion for people’s problems along with rationally defensible public policy ideas to solve those problems.

Her presence is distracting and cruel to important parts of the Democratic coalition. The July debates were supposed to be about health care. If disability activists, LGBTQ voters, or women who have suffered from a dangerously disordered relationship with their bodies tuned in to hear about health care, they could not avoid the painful reality that someone on that stage thinks their health care needs would disappear if only they’d think happy thoughts. And now, if they want to learn about health care policy, they have to get their information from reporters who have publicly legitimized or even praised this person.

This is unacceptable. It needs to stop now.

When she is off the stage, we will be able to have an interesting and possibly even useful conversation about the respective vulnerabilities in the progressive and conservative coalitions to toxic con artists, and the similarities and differences between the dangerous charlatans who were drawn to each party. That will only be possible AFTER she takes her toys and goes home, which in turn will only happen when she stops making the debates with even 2% in opinion polls, or when the campaign becomes a liability for her brand instead of yet another scam. Make sure people know exactly who she is – especially if they’re starting to fall for it.

[asgardianthot]

Flesh And Bones - part 1

Sam Wilson x Bucky Barnes

Soulmate AU

In a world where people bond with their soulmates through physical pain, living in the same compound makes the search much easier (or it should, if they weren’t so damn stubborn)

TW: self-inflicted injuries

words: 1742

A/N: this is my first time posting a series on the tumblrs but I’ve had the idea for months so here goes nothing

Series Masterlist

Pain is such human extravaganza.

For your body to react to certain dangers or stimulations that trigger specific nervous patterns, that’s something most living creatures are built with. We are but machines; when you lay your hand over fire and it hurts, your nervous system is alerting the rest of your body of harm and yelling at it to get away from said harm, similar to how old hair dryers would stop functioning when they overheated to prevent explosions.

That, we have a general idea of. Pain is natural and not a construct.

But suffering. Aching from love, or the lack of it… nobody does it better than humans. Super-humans included. Enhanced, hyper-trained, whatever. The pain parade of romance is something so deeply rooted into the dumbest parts of our brains, that that must be the reason behind soulmates.

The point is, it is only logical for such a cruel universe to bond love and pain so tightly.

It’s simple, really. Sometime in the speck of dust of time in which we live, a person will get injured. They’ll bump their toe on a kitchen counter, fall on their butts, cut their finger while chopping vegetables, or maybe get into a chaotic car accident. No matter the damage, when the universe decides that hurt idiot is your hurt idiot, you’ll feel their pain on your own skin. It also didn’t matter if you knew the person or not, only chances were your soulmate was a complete stranger.

At first it comes like a tingle, a small pinch or even the ghost sensation of a scratch. But if your soulmate is nearer than they should without you realizing who they are, the sensation becomes full and the closer they are the more vivid their pain feels on your own skin. It is extremely uncertain, however, if it has to do with spatial proximity, or emotional.

Sam Wilson would eventually sit on the park, after his morning jog, or afternoon jog, and contemplate people. He enjoyed the easiness, the memory of a time before the army, when his life was simple. No PTSD, no Avenging. To be fair, the Avenger life was the cure to the PTSD somehow, for Sam Wilson was a man of action and the more quiet his life was, the more his mind wandered. He loved the agitation, the missions, the feeling of helping people, yet every once in a while, or once a day even, he would simply sit and watch the futility of civilian’s walks around the park.

A woman sat next to him and didn’t offer any sign of kindness. She seemed busy -occupied- in the way that she moved and looked around, which is why he didn’t look at her any longer so she wouldn’t feel uncomfortable. However, he then began getting the feeling that she was keeping an eye on him, and when he glanced at her nervous hands, he noticed the poor woman holding a needle to her skin, poking her own hand a few times.

A desperate soul.

On one side of a binary coin, some people don’t believe in soulmates. They aren’t the easiest to spot, and when a couple like that is seen, there is no proof for a simple skeptical individual that they actually felt each other’s pain. There were studies proving the neuronal effects, and were those hard to execute, but not everyone fell for them. Some argued that it was psychological placebo, that the person forced themselves to feel their lover’s feelings, some accused the studies to be biased or false. Some were old and hadn’t found one so why would they believe soulmates were real? They’re not necessary. You don’t just love the person you’ll want to spend the rest of your life with, and them alone, there’s all kinds of love and affection. Then, well… some were simply bitter, covering up their fear of never finding one for themselves.

On the polar opposite, there were the desperate ones. They would inflict harm on themselves in public spaces, expecting a reaction from the passersby.

More than once had Sam seen a man stab their own leg or cut through their palm yelling ‘can anybody feel this?’ as if they feared this was their only shot, forcing the Falcon to run and make them stop hurting themselves along with other civilians. Some couldn’t wait. And Sam never understood why someone wouldn’t be able to enjoy life if they didn’t know their one and only; It made dating much more relaxed and fun and honest. Perhaps that person would eventually become your soulmate, and even though the probabilities of that happening were slim to none, it didn’t need to ruin every romantic relationship in your life.

Therefore with pain in his chest, he addressed the young woman whose eyes were directly analyzing Sam’s hand.

“Hey, lady?” he asked her, earning a big pair of hopeful eyes to find his; yet he had to give her a sad frown to let her know he wasn’t who she was looking for, thus gaining a mimicking disappointed look, “It’s not worth all this trouble.”

Her expression quickly turned into one of distance, like she was trying to protect herself from people who didn’t understand her. She sat back and allowed a smirk to take over her face as she stared into nothingness.

“You’re one of those people who think it’s all a hoax? A construct?” when obtaining no reply, she kept pressuring the Falcon, “Placebo effect? Self-conditioning?”

Sam didn’t give in. He simply took a big breath and sat up from the bench. When he turned to face her, her eyes weren’t as distant.

“No.” He said calmly, “I think yours will come when it’s time. Until then,” he raised his eyebrows a bit, “you’re just hurting yourself for no reason.”

Sam walked away before he could see the young woman’s lower lip tremble.

-

“I didn’t eat your cereal.” Bucky protested, plopped on the couch that faced a flat screen.

Sam, however, wasn’t buying it. He held his ground, one hand on his hip and the other agitating the skimpy remains inside the carton box, making it rattle.

“It’s empty.” He insisted, in a way that screamed paranoia over being accused of overreacting or being crazy.

Instead of acting in an opposite behavior, he gave Bucky all the more reason to treat him as if he were going insane.

“Well, it wasn’t me.” The soldier replied easily, not flipping through the channels anymore but surrendering to a local news one; after a sigh, he looked at the accusatory, “Maybe Steve did it.”

Sam pursed his lips before turning to Steve with a dead look on his face.

“Steve, did you eat my cereal?” he asked condescendingly, already knowing the answer to be no.

As a matter of fact, the blonde’s shirt had small dark spots where he sweat his morning jog on, his hair was still perfect for a regular person but a bit disheveled for Captain America’s inhuman standards, and he was focused on drinking from a water bottle.

He tilted his head to Sam, who nodded, more agreeing with himself than with Rogers.

“You’re the only one who stays on the couch all morning.” He braked back at Barnes.

He didn’t respond this time, perhaps because he was, once again, being accused of being lazy and not using his time nor his gifts wisely. Perhaps because he was just tired of saying he didn’t eat the cereals in question when he had undoubtedly and decisively eaten the cereals in question.

Paying attention to the random local news he’d landed on, he got the gist of what the reporter was saying. They were presenting a quirky story of a bitter man suing his soulmate. He claimed the only reason he got into a car accident was because he felt a sudden sharp pain in his foot and got distracted, and therefore, was asking for his soulmate to pay off the insurance money. Of course they had to find the soulmate who was allegedly responsible for the crash.

“That’s ridiculous.” Bucky mocked.

Sam sat next to him, already having dropped the subject of the missing cereals. He listened to the reporter interviewing the odd man and let an amused but very quickly evaporated smile.

“People have been pulling stunts like these for ages, you can’t be surprised.”

Barnes glanced at him for a second, then returning to the TV. He still thought it was the stupidest reason to sue he’d ever heard of.

“It’s insane.” He said anyways.

“I think it’s sad.” Sam derailed the commentary on an opposite direction, “Can’t be fun starting your lifelong love story through a lawsuit.”

Steve joined the conversation from behind the couch. “I’m pretty sure it’s just a way of getting their attention. You know, find them whatever it takes. It’s actually kind of romantic.”

Bucky scoffed. He couldn’t stop Steve from being such a hopeless romantic and blindly believe in fairy tales where there was none, but he could still be annoyed by the fact.

“A little convenient, isn’t it?” he raised an eyebrow in judgement, yet not turning around to face the blonde.

“What?” Sam shot defiantly, “You don’t believe in this stuff?”

They both knew he was referring to the soulmates paraphernalia. With his glum attitude and dark observations, Barnes did seem like the kind of people to discard the idea of a soulmate. Love that never changes, souls that bond… it did not sound like James Buchanan Barnes’ cup of tea.

“Not the whole part.” He admitted, “I think there’s a lot of bullshit to it.”

The smirk grew on Wilson’s face, “So you’re one of those wacko conspirationists?”

“What if I am?” Bucky shot back, just to mess with him.

He wasn’t though, or not when it came to soulmates, at least. NASA and the government, on the other hand? The man had seen too much inside Hydra to not believe any crazy theory to be possible. He dropped the subject and became more serious, shrugging a little.

“All I’m saying is there’s lots of rules and conditions, I mean, who makes the calls?” Bucky questioned, almost angry, “Who chooses everyone’s partners? And what if you hate your soulmate?”

“That’s the point.” Steve intervened with his bright optimism, “You won’t. They’re your other half.”

Bucky pursed his lips and picked up the remote to switch channels again.

“Sounds real dumb.”

[infernotoaster]

Let’s Learn About: Allergies

Another day, another time someone almost killed me. We teach kids about allergens, but there’s a shocking amount of misinformation floating around that has led a frightening number of adults to come very close to killing people, so today, I’m going to teach you about allergies and how to not kill other people. 

What are allergic reaction?

According to the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI) 

“[a]n allergic reaction occurs when the immune system overreacts to a harmless substance known as an allergen.”

Note that it is not the person overreacting, but a physical system over which they have no control. 

“Allergies are among the most common chronic conditions worldwide. Allergy symptoms range from making you miserable to putting you at risk for life-threatening reactions.” [x]

I want you to go back and read that again. Symptoms range from making you miserable to putting your life at risk. 

What is an allergen?

The AAAAI says 

“[a]n allergen is a usually harmless substance capable of triggering a response that starts in the immune system and results in an allergic reaction.” [x] 

Note that these are usually harmless. Meaning that just because it doesn’t impact you or anyone else you know, that doesn’t mean that this person isn’t impacted negatively by it.

“The immune system protects the body from infections, viruses and diseases. In some people, substances such as pollen, certain foods, latex, mold, pet dander, dust mites or insect stings are allergens that trigger the production of antibodies called Immunoglobulin E (IgE). These antibodies travel to cells that release chemicals, causing symptoms most often in the nose, lungs, throat, sinuses, ears, lining of the stomach or on the skin.” [x]

It is also important to note that there are many ways for an allergy to manifest in a person, and not all of them are visible to you. Sneezes and rashes are visible, but internal swelling cannot be seen. Which means that you can only rely on the person having the reaction to tell you that they are having the reaction and cannot decide that they aren’t. 

What is a food intolerance?

A food intolerance, or a food sensitivity occurs when a person has difficulty digesting a particular food. This can lead to symptoms such as intestinal gas, abdominal pain or diarrhea. [x]

What’s the difference between an intolerance and an allergy?

“A food intolerance response takes place in the digestive system. It occurs when you are unable to properly breakdown the food. This could be due to enzyme deficiencies, sensitivity to food additives or reactions to naturally occurring chemicals in foods. Often, people can eat small amounts of the food without causing problems.

A food allergic reaction involves the immune system. Your immune system controls how your body defends itself. For instance, if you have an allergy to cow’s milk, your immune system identifies cow’s milk as an invader or allergen. Your immune system overreacts by producing antibodies called Immunoglobulin E (IgE). These antibodies travel to cells that release chemicals, causing an allergic reaction. Each type of IgE has a specific “radar” for each type of allergen.” [x]

At this point, I think it is incredibly important to talk about gluten. A lot of people say that they are gluten intolerant, but like to cheat. Listen, I’m lactose intolerant I like to cheat. I will be sick, but its worth it. That still doesn’t make it ok to expose people to things because it does hurt. You don’t get to choose how/when to make someone else sick. 

This is radically different than an allergy like celiac though. 

“Celiac disease, sometimes called celiac sprue or gluten-sensitive enteropathy, is an immune reaction to eating gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley and rye.

If you have celiac disease, eating gluten triggers an immune response in your small intestine. Over time, this reaction damages your small intestine's lining and prevents it from absorbing some nutrients (malabsorption). The intestinal damage often causes diarrhea, fatigue, weight loss, bloating and anemia, and can lead to serious complications.

In children, malabsorption can affect growth and development, besides causing the symptoms seen in adults.

There's no cure for celiac disease — but for most people, following a strict gluten-free diet can help manage symptoms and promote intestinal healing.” [x]

What happens to someone who has been exposed to an allergen?

I get this all the time. People have no idea what happens to people who have been exposed to an allergen, food allergies or otherwise, or else they compare it to their own seasonal reactions. According to the US FDA

“Symptoms of food allergies typically appear from within a few minutes to 2 hours after a person has eaten the food to which he or she is allergic.

Allergic reactions can include: 

Hives

Flushed skin or rash

Tingling or itchy sensation in the mouth

Face, tongue, or lip swelling

Vomiting and/or diarrhea

Abdominal cramps

Coughing or wheezing

Dizziness and/or lightheadedness

Swelling of the throat and vocal cords

Difficulty breathing

Loss of consciousness” [x]

Wait, loss of consciousness? YEAH. 

“Anaphylaxis (pronounced an-a-fi-LAK-sis) is a serious allergic reaction that happens very quickly. Symptoms of anaphylaxis may include difficulty breathing, dizziness or loss of consciousness. Without immediate treatment—an injection of epinephrine (adrenalin) and expert care—anaphylaxis can be fatal.” [x]

Well, you’re just like. A little allergic, right? A LITTLE of an allergen won’t hurt? 

According to Food Allergy Research & Education, 

“There are no mild or severe food allergies—only mild to severe reactions. What caused a mild reaction in the past may lead to a severe reaction in the future, and vice versa. Never let your guard down. Always take precautions to prevent allergic reactions before they happen.

From the moment you know or suspect you or a loved one has ingested an allergen, take action. Even mild symptoms can quickly progress to a severe reaction, or anaphylaxis. You should be watchful and prepared to give medication—seconds count!”[x]

It is also incredibly important to remember that “You can develop a food allergy at any age, even to a food that you’ve safely eaten before.” [x]

“Currently available data makes it very difficult to estimate safe levels of food allergens. The amount that may trigger allergic reactions observable by others ranges from a tenth of milligram in rare cases, up to grams and sometimes tens of grams, with considerable differences between individuals as well as between allergens. Current knowledge seems to indicate that, across the allergic population as a whole, as the dose of food is decreased so does the severity of symptoms and the proportion of allergic people who react. However, patients who in diagnostic challenges with milk, egg, peanut, soy and wheat experienced more severe reactions tended to react to a lower dose than those experiencing milder reactions. A review of diagnostic challenges conducted since the 1970s reveals that the majority of food-allergic individuals tested need to eat more than 500 mg of the offending food to experience allergic reactions, but a significant minority reacts to lower amounts.” [x]

But you didn’t eat it, and there wasn’t enough for you to smell!

Listen I hear this all the time. THIS IS NOT THE PLACEBO EFFECT, this is not my brain getting upset, this is my body responding to molecules that can kill me. I’ve had people use my keyboard with dirty fingers and then I’ve used it, touched my face, and had hives. I’ve had people open bags of my allergen in the same room and been impacted even though I had no idea what they were doing until my throat and tongue started swelling. Its not about “smelling” and it’s not about noticing, it’s about coming into contact with it. The Mayo Clinic says there are three ways to come into contact with your allergen:

Direct contact. The most common cause of peanut allergy is eating peanuts or peanut-containing foods. Sometimes direct skin contact with peanuts can trigger an allergic reaction.

Cross-contact. This is the unintended introduction of peanuts into a product. It's generally the result of a food being exposed to peanuts during processing or handling.

Inhalation. An allergic reaction may occur if you inhale dust or aerosols containing peanuts, from a source such as peanut flour or peanut oil cooking spray. [x]

And the AAAAI says “Unlike an intolerance to food, a food allergy can cause a serious or even life-threatening reaction by eating a microscopic amount, touching or inhaling the food.” [x]

---------

What can I do then?

1. Trust people when they tell you that they have an issue, even if you can’t see it.

2. Ask them what you need to do to protect them.

3. Don’t play fast and loose with their medical boundaries. Your snacks/perfumes/whatever is full stop not as important as someone’s life. 

[goosegoblin]

Hi my girlfriend is about 7 months into recovery from an ed (she's doing so well im so proud of her!) and she deals with bad nausea and cramps whenever she eats. do you have any advice to help? thank you!

Oh BOY 

(first of all you being so proud of your GF fills my heart with love! bless you!)

So eating disorders will absolutely fuck your gastric tract and your mind up, and it blows! Truly, it blows!

My first piece of advice is- and has to be- make sure she’s seen a doctor and been honest and open with them. If she’s at seven months I’m assuming she’s out of the window for refeeding syndrome, but EDs can sometimes cause more long-term issues like gastroparesis, and that’s something you need to get checked out. 

Moving on from that, there’s a few different things to mention. The first is how her ED manifested. People who purged regularly, for example, often find their body gets ready to throw up even though they… do not want to. If you train your body to know that food doesn’t sit in the stomach very long, it starts to respond automatically. If you’ve restricted to small amounts of food, you need to re-stretch your stomach to a normal size, and that will involve feeling uncomfortably full at times. If you’ve cut out a wide range of foods, re-introducing them may cause pain, etc etc.

The standard advice for digestive issues involves keeping a diary of your what you eat and what symptoms you experience. There is a strong chance she will find this triggering. If she does, look into alternatives. Maybe you keep the diary, writing down what she ate and how she felt. Maybe she uses an app like Recovery Road or Cara where she can plug the data in and then carry on with her day without thinking about it. Maybe she doesn’t write down what she ate as such, but things that are likely to have affected her within it- lactose, high fibre, high FODMAPs, high acid, etc etc. Do not start cutting things out without speaking to a doctor or dietitian (NOT nutritionist)! With EDs, the road to hell really is paved with good intentions, and many a relapse has been led by ‘maybe I’ll feel better if I cut out gluten…’

I also have to mention (sorry!) that some of the pain and nausea is likely psychological. Not all of it- god, no- but anxiety can very much produce those symptoms, and not only is she recovering from an ED, she also knows she’s going to feel physically shitty every time she eats. That’s enough to make anyone anxious. Planning distractions after meals- doing a puzzle together, playing a game together etc- could help a lot. Depending on where she is in her recovery, introducing some gentle exercise (e.g. walks together) could be nice.

In terms of symptom relief (doctor! most important! i am not a medic!), she can try sipping on ginger tea (good for nausea) or peppermint tea (good for bloating). Holding a hot water bottle to her stomach might held with the cramps, and there are some yoga poses that are meant to help with trapped wind (they’ve never worked for me- I find lying flat on my stomach works best). She could try using Sea Bands, which are bands that press on acupuncture points on your wrists to reduce nausea (my stance on sea bands: even if they’re placebo, they work for me, so I’m going to keep believing they work to keep the dream alive). Nausea can sometimes be linked to acid reflux/ your body over-producing acid, and anti-acids or pink bismuth can be nice for that. Personally I find that feeling too hot is a really big nausea trigger for me, so if I notice that happening I’ll sometimes strip my clothes off and press a wet towel to my head to kill it before it starts. I also find CBD oil/paste to be a huge help, as it tackles both my anxiety and my nausea. 

Again, seeing a doctor is paramount, because depending on the rate of her recovery, I wouldn’t necessarily expect to see pain and nausea after every single meal? Then again, IBS and similar issues are common during and after recovery. Think about it: you starved your gut bacteria or washed them with acid or made your body shit itself for days on end. Your body has no idea how to handle food. It’s gonna need to relearn that. There’s a link between IBS/gastric issues and EDs, and nobody is entirely sure of the direction of that link, so it could be that she was always pre-destined to end up with a janky digestive system. If so: welcome!

xxx

[daggustafsson]

How the painkiller paracetamol affects health and the psyche

Many people reach for paracetamol - but is it harmless? Studies show that the painkiller can influence character.

Paracetamol is one of the most frequently used painkillers in Germany. According to a recent survey by the Consumption and Media Analysis (VuMA), a total of 17 percent of more than 23,000 respondents said they had taken paracetamol within the past 12 months.

The painkiller is generally available without prescription at any pharmacy. Accordingly, the inhibition threshold of many to reach for a tablet in case of pain or fever is low. But more and more studies indicate that paracetamol could have enormous effects on the psyche.

Paracetamol: How the painkiller works in your body

Unlike ibuprofen, paracetamol does not act directly on the inflammation, but works through the central nervous system. Its effect has not yet been conclusively explained. However, many experts assume that the drug influences special tissue hormones.

These are responsible for causing warning symptoms such as pain and are therefore considered protective hormones. Painkillers impair the synthesis of these hormones, which ultimately also reduces pain. However, although paracetamol can be bought without a prescription close attention must be paid to the dose:

Active ingredient Maximum dose: Per intake/per day for healthy adults.

Paracetamol 1000 mg/4000 mg

Ibuprofen 400 mg/1200 mg

ASA 1000 mg/3000 mg up to 65 years, 2000 mg from 65 years onwards

The generally known side effects of paracetamol are listed on the package leaflets. Liver and gall bladder disorders, for example, are rare. Skin disorders also occur with a frequency of less than 1 in 1000. Very rarely (less than 1 in 10,000 people treated), immune system disorders such as allergic reactions and narrowing of the airways may occur. As soon as side effects occur, a doctor should be informed. However, studies repeatedly point to other effects. For example, a long-term study from the USA with more than 55,000 participants came to the conclusion that paracetamol can damage hearing. However, they had taken the drug more than twice a week.

Paracetamol: Side effects and effects of a severe overdose

Because paracetamol is often contained in combination preparations, an accidental overdose is a health hazard. According to the MSD manual, many medicines for children in particular contain paracetamol, which is available in a wide variety of forms. "A parent may try several of them at the same time or within several hours to treat fever or pain without realising that they all contain paracetamol," the information portal said. Although paracetamol is comparatively safe even in high doses, the drug is by no means harmless.

Paracetamol poisoning usually manifests itself in four stages with very different symptoms:

Stage 1 (a few hours after ingestion): Possible vomiting. Many affected people have no symptoms at all in this stage.

Stage 2 (24 to 72 hours): In some cases vomiting, nausea and abdominal pain. Blood tests show liver dysfunction.

Stage 3 (3 to 4 days): Worsened vomiting. Function of the liver impaired and jaundice and bleeding develop. Kidney failure and an inflamed pancreas may develop.

Stage 4 (after 5 days): Affected person recovers or liver failure and failure of other organs develop. This can be fatal.

Quelle: MSD Manual

Paracetamol: Studies show how the painkiller also affects health and psyche

However, more and more studies are now coming to the conclusion that taking paracetamol can have psychological side effects as well as physical ones. In 2015, researchers at Ohio State University showed in a study that the drug not only dulls pain - but also emotions. The test subjects were asked to rate emotionally charged images. The group that had previously been given paracetamol rated the emotions significantly lower than the placebo group.

Building on this, another team from the university investigated the influence of paracetamol on risk-taking behaviour. Several studies with a total of 545 female participants showed that those who had taken paracetamol were more willing to take a risk. They rated bungee jumping or walking alone at night through an unsafe area as less risky. According to the experts, this could be because their negative feelings are reduced by the painkiller. One of the study authors underlines the negative effects that such behaviour can have. Paracetamol: A study determines the influence of the painkiller on psyche and character

Paracetamol is a drug recommended by the Center of Desease Control and Prevention to treat mild courses of corona. "Perhaps people with mild covid symptoms who take acetaminophen will choose to leave the house and socialise because they perceive the risk to be low," co-study author Baldwin Way tells Ohio State News. Can paracetamol affect the Corona vaccine? That is the current state of research. (Sophia Lother)

More interesting health related topics you can find on https://pharmastore.se/

The information mentioned in this article is not a substitute for seeing a health care professional. Only specialists can make the right diagnosis and initiate a suitable therapy. The use of medicines or food supplements should be discussed with a doctor beforehand.

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A Guide on Electrical Muscle Stimulation

Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS) has always been a little confusing to performance coaches and sports medicine professionals because the research is cloudy at best. Many of the reasons behind the limitations of science are the ethical boundaries you need to navigate, and the expectations you have with the results of those studies. I recently spent more time working with EMS, as more and more athletes are using EMS devices on their own and we are dealing with the hangover of injuries still lingering in the off-season. What I have learned is that the science is not perfect and there are no best practices.

There has been a resurgence in EMS in sport over the last five years because of Bill Knowles, Derek Hansen, and Henk Kraaijenhof sharing their experiences with athletes. I believe that EMS suit inluding electrostimulation vest has a place in sports performance and the rehabilitation of athletes, but we don’t have a solid explanation of why some athletes don’t respond to it while others seem to come alive from it. In this first piece, I will review some of the current literature on EMS and present a healthy perspective on this modality. (Part 2 will be published as “The Top 6 EMS Protocols for Sports Performance.”)

A Brief History of Electrical Muscle Stimulation in Modern Sport

Without getting into any unnecessary background on electrotherapy (such as a retelling of the way the ancient civilizations used electric fish or citing references to Volta and Galvani), it’s valuable to know how e-stim or EMS has been part of sport in the last few decades. Outside of product design, very little innovation has occurred since the 1950s, making EMS more of an art than a science. Coaches and therapists are sometimes frustrated because transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, or TENS for short, gets confused with sports electrostimulation.

To understand the difference between TENS and EMS, you need to know just a little bit about engineering and biology. TENS targets the sensory nerves, while EMS attacks the motor nerve and attempts to recruit as many muscle fibers as possible. TENS is currently used—mainly in vain, in my opinion—to manage pain. In 1965, Ronald Melzack and Patrick Wall proposed the “gate control theory” of pain. What we know about the pain experience is extremely complex and personal, making the TENS intervention for sport very dated and extremely limited for athletes. Some research has shown positive findings, but the modality method of working with athletes in pain is lazy and proven unproductive in clinical research.

EMS focuses mainly on sending current to muscle groups in the hope of eliciting either a recovery response or a performance response later. Based on the current literature, recovery indices appear very limited, and performance benefits have shown up enough with some populations—including athletes—to be accepted as valid complementary treatments. The truth is that our understanding of electrostimulation is usually confined to a few studies on stroke victims and post-surgical wasting, and nothing I have seen has excited me.

What interests me, instead, are the clinicians who have used EMS creatively. Some of the studies on cellular and performance outcomes are strong enough to show that EMS isn’t just a placebo. I have used the Compex systems for nearly 20 years, and have some experience with the Marc Pro, PowerDot, Globus, and ARPwave. If I had to conclude which I think works best, it will be a short answer: All of them work, so choose one based on your needs and not its features.

If you were to go to a medical bookstore and check the physical therapy section on EMS, you would see that it tends to be a set of protocols based on pad placement, current settings, and scheduling sessions. This approach is nowhere near the same as what the modern clinician does and, since we are now entering the bionic athlete era with gait retraining, this only widens the gap between practice and research. It’s easy to shout that you’re ahead of the research, but without evidence, much of what clinicians do becomes like the dated RICE protocol that we still see people clinging to.

A Rapid Review of Electricity for Coaches and Therapists

Electric current can flow in different ways, such as through a wire, or something lesser known, such as a plasma state. The current generated from a muscle electrostimulator uses a conductive pad to transfer through the skin, causing the muscle to contract. The specifics of the muscle contraction will come later, but the important information is that electricity from medical muscle stimulators is more complicated than voltage and ampere. Electricity is not just about whether something is “on” or “off,” and we often take much of the technology we use for granted, especially the safety of the muscle stimulators. Most companies that get involved with e-stim devices are regulated, but it’s up to the consumer to do their homework on the quality of the product.

Experienced coaches and therapists commonly refer to stimulation parameters and share their practices, including the use of different types of settings, such as Russian Stimulation or strength protocols. Stimulation parameters and waveforms can be the subject of their own article but, for the most part, duty cycle, frequency, intensity, and ramp details are part of electrotherapy theory, but are not very well-documented. Regardless of the intimate details, many parallels exist between classic training principles and the current clinical practices of EMS use. Cycles, or waves of energy, are part of a “unified training theory” proposed by several coaches and sport scientists. EMS should be used to improve athletes, similarly to loading the body with training or rehabilitation.

Companies must do their job, not only to prove their machines are delivering exactly what they promise, but also to ensure that their products are used as intended. Most companies have terrible product education, and visiting their YouTube channels makes me cringe more than their highest simulator settings.

The Science of Electrical Contractions With Muscle

Sending electricity through a muscle group sounds like a bad science fiction movie, but that’s precisely what athletes are willing to do to get or feel better. It’s a priority to know what EMS can do physiologically and what is likely ineffective. Five years ago, pioneering researcher Nicola Maffiuletti summarized the differences between a normal muscular contraction and one from electrical stimulation in his NSCA journal article. The two types of contractions have similarities and differences that a coach should know. Overall, EMS is not going to make a major difference. However, like all things in sports training, the little things matter.

One development that throws this concept out the window is the rise in functional electrical muscle stimulation, equipped with electrostimulation shorts, which incorporates active training with the simultaneous overlay of EMS. While we can assume that the merging of both contractions will yield a hybrid result, most of the research is with disease models and only clinical rehabilitation has shown merit with this in early post-operation subjects. I have yet to see a single study with elite athletes performing EMS in conjunction with conventional training, but the case reports and work with spinal cord injury patients is promising.

Finally, EMS is used to help with neuromuscular adaptations and, while sessions may prevent atrophy, the improvements are from neural drive-like mechanisms, not from increased protein synthesis rates. EMS doesn’t directly create hypertrophy changes to the muscle, and a study on nutrition and e-stim showed no acute changes.

What is also important to know is that electrically stimulated muscles are, for the most part, superficial, and that is useful for propulsive muscle groups. Some rogue therapists are using fine needle EMS with low current for deeper muscle penetration for rehabilitation purposes. Most EMS experiences are one muscle at a time, but some athletes are getting simultaneous total body sessions. Nobody knows if total bodywork is more time-efficient or if a possible synergistic benefit exists, but down the road, studies will likely discover if there is a value beyond convenience.

The Scientific Benefits of Stimulating the Neuromuscular System

If you were to read a catalog of features and settings for a personal e-stim device, the list would be very long, ranging from relaxation massage all the way to explosive strength. While, technically, different settings will have unique stimulation protocols from the device programming in the electrostimulation center, the reality is that only three purposes exist with EMS and the research is enough to form a realistic expectation. The three EMS benefits are strength training, rehabilitation, and a little regeneration. Distilling the benefits more, you can make an argument that EMS helps with general muscle strength and facilitates low-level recovery for travel. That’s about it, but it’s enough to warrant investing in it, especially when sport moves into the unfortunate health compromise for winning.

Sports Performance

EMS and strength, and the results that may lead to jump and sprint performance, are mixed in the research. However, enough research shows that if EMS is done with specific protocols, a positive result is possible, especially with the less-trained athlete. So far, much of the work has been done with soccer, and some recent investigations of youth jumping performance and plyometrics had favorable outcomes.

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Dry Needling Therapy Brisbane - How Does It Work?

A small, sterile solid filament needle is introduced into the skin during a Dry Needling Therapy Brisbane to stimulate the underlying myofascial trigger points. A dry needling treatment does not require the injection of any liquid or medication into the patient.

A twitch of the muscle fibres occurs when the muscle is stimulated with the needle, removing stress from the joint, nerve, or vascular tissue. As a result, muscular activity decreases significantly, allowing it to relax and reducing discomfort and dysfunction. Dry Needling Therapy Brisbane works by causing a short muscle contraction, which subsequently allows the muscle fibres to recover to their normal, uncongested state.

The purpose of dry needling at massage therapy clinic Brisbane is to relax the muscles by releasing hyperactive muscles and “untightening” the continuous muscle fibre tension. Dry needling has been proved in multiple clinical investigations to have favourable effects on patients. Because everyone is different and responds to treatments differently, it's vital to remember that dry needling isn't a one-size-fits-all solution.

In a study of people with myofascial pain syndrome who had dry needling done on their bodies vs. a placebo group, those who had dry needling done on their bodies reported less pain, a better quality of life, and a lower need for drugs.

Patients who are new to Dry Needling Therapy Brisbane may be nervous, as they are with any needle therapies. However, at Results, your safety is our main priority, and we are committed to providing excellent treatment to all of our patients. Massage Therapists Brisbane therapists have four times the training and education of all physical therapists in Australia.

Please visit our Align Massage website if you have any extra queries about the treatment. To find out if Dry Needling Therapy is correct for you, make an appointment with us today! We're excited to meet you and get you started on the road to recovery!

Dry needling is a thorough treatment that can bring considerable positive advantages to patients when used in conjunction with exercise and manual therapy.

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The Role of Acupuncture in Pain Relief

For many of you, Acupuncture may seem like an exotic and dubious treatment. Many people who have been advised surgeries and life-long medications have been cured of their conditions with acupuncture.

Yes, you read it right!

We can talk in length about individuals who have been treated by us and who are living a normal happy life! Click here to read about what our satisfied clients’ have to say.

Acupuncture is an ancient art of healing that is now accepted as a treatment for lower back pain, neck pain, osteoarthritis, depression etc. Acupuncture plays a tremendous role in treating chronic pains. It is a part of Traditional Chinese medicine that has been acquired in the Western world also.

Each individual responds to acupuncture differently! It can take very few to 10 sessions to eliminate symptoms! Once our body is alleviated, no further sessions are required. Chronic conditions may require more number of sessions.

The general theory of acupuncture is based on the patterns of energy flow (Qi) through the body that is essential for health. Disruptions of this flow are believed to be responsible for the disease. Qi (pronounced "chee") is the flow of energy along the paths that connect the acupuncture points.

There is evidence that acupuncture influences the production of and distribution of a great many neurotransmitters and neuromodulators, and that this, in turn, alters the perception of pain. – David Eisenberg

Did you know that the WHO (World Health Organization) has recognized the effectiveness of acupuncture for about 60 conditions from high blood pressure, infertility, cold, depression, headaches to irritable bowel syndrome!

Now isn’t this amazing? No medicines! No surgeries! Just needle pressing to cure your disease. Let us understand in-depth about acupuncture therapy, its benefits and much more!

What is acupuncture?

It is a part of traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) that stimulates certain body points, by pressing needles into the skin to alleviate various health conditions.

How does acupuncture work?

As we mentioned earlier, acupuncture is a part of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), that is more than 2500 years old. It is an effective therapy that cures you of your medical condition and allows you to live a normal life. People who have been advised surgeries have been cured by a few sessions of acupuncture therapy. If you have been advised a lifelong medication for a particular condition, you must definitely check with the acupuncture therapist and check on how acupuncture can benefit you.

You might wonder about the science behind acupuncture, right? Is it scientifically proven?

Acupuncture stimulates the affected points using thin metal needles that penetrate into the skin. The pressing of needles stimulates your nerves, muscles and the connecting tissues that result in the production of chemicals that act as natural painkillers like endorphins, encephalin and few other neurochemicals in the muscles, spinal cord and brain. The released natural painkillers activate other chemicals and hormones that influence your body's regulating system allowing it to heal naturally.

The needle prick in the acupoints corrects the imbalance, promotes self-healing by removing the blockage and allows a positive flow in your body. The Chinese Acupuncture helps regulate your physical and emotional well being. Researchers and experts have used neuroscience to explain acupuncture. This has been practised since ages to cure many medical conditions successfully.

How can the acupuncture points be stimulated?

The acupoints can be stimulated by:

Pressing of needles.

Warming with a smouldering herb

Manual pressure (acupressure) Cupping

Is acupuncture a painful process? Does it hurt?

Not at all! One misbelief about acupuncture is that it is painful, thus scaring people away. The thin needles used for pressing cause very minimal or no pain at all. The prick lets you experience positive sensations that result in you getting better.

In very rare cases the individual experiences pain in the first session, this is because certain points will be getting activated for the first time.

What type of needles are used in an acupuncture treatment?

There are many kinds of needles used for acupuncture treatment. In ancient Chinese acupuncture clinics, they used 9 different needles. Today, the majority of acupuncture specialists use metal filiform (thread-like) needles that are made of stainless steel.  Did you know that in some cases they even use silver and gold needles?

Are you concerned about the safety of these needles?

The needles used are pre-sterilised, one time use disposable ones.

Are you wondering about the number of sessions you would take to get cured of your condition?

The number of acupuncture treatments required in each case is different and each response is different. One acupuncture therapy doesn't suffice the need. One or two sessions a week for five to six weeks is the normal course of treatment.

How effective is acupuncture therapy?

Acupuncture points stimulate the central nervous system which enables the body's natural healing abilities and promotes well-being. National Institutes of Health (NIH) have proven that acupuncture is effective in treating the following:

Nausea due to surgical anaesthesia and chemotherapy

Dental pain after surgery

Addictions

Headaches

Menstrual cramps

ennis elbow

Fibromyalgia

Myofascial pain

Osteoarthritis

Lower back pain

Carpal tunnel syndrome

Asthma

Stroke rehabilitation

Benefits of acupuncture treatment:

It reduces stress: Acupuncture calms the body and is very relaxing.

Reduces back pain, neck pain and other chronic pains: If you have been advised surgeries or lifelong medications for your chronic pain, you should definitely consider acupuncture. There is no better way to promote your body’s self-healing abilities than this. Our successful therapies talk for themselves.

Relieves joint pains and headaches: National Institute of Health (NIH) suggests that acupuncture helps treat back & neck pain, knee pain(osteoarthritis) & headaches including migraines.

Reduces eye strain: Along with treating chronic eye conditions, acupuncture boosts the visual acuity, reduces sensitivity to light, eliminates eye floaters, blurred vision and dry eyes, decreases excessive tearing and heals redness, swollen and painful eyes.

Improves immune system: Acupuncture regulates your immune system by getting to the root cause of the medical condition. It enables the self-healing ability of your body and gets it back to normal.

Boosts both physical & mental health: Depression, anxiety, insomnia and post-traumatic stress etc are some of the mental health disorders that acupuncture can treat.

Aids digestive conditions: Nausea, vomiting, irritable bowel, constipation, diarrhoea, ulcers, Crohn's disease, postoperative ileus, and even gallstones can be successfully treated with acupuncture therapy.

Reduces allergies and the cigarette craving: Acupuncture reduces the allergic conditions of your body. It also treats seasonal allergies like asthma, sinus etc. A natural way to repress your nicotine addiction - acupuncture along with herbs will benefit you.

A word from Ayushyaa Clinic

If you experience any difficulty in managing pain or other health conditions with the sham or placebo methods, then acupuncture is worth a try. You must choose the right clinic, the acupuncture specialist and the best acupuncture treatment for your healing. Our team of experts will be available to answer all your queries.