#substances tw

[alarrytale]

Hi Marte. Do you think it'd be possible for Louis to undo or reverse some of the damage done to his body if he went to rehab? I'm scared that he won't live a long life with all his drug and alcohol use, bad diet, and not getting enough sleep :(.

Hi, anon!

What damage are you talking about? The visible ones or the not visible ones? I think much can be reversed, but some things have progressed the aging of his body and that can't be reversed, only slowed down. I'm not sure how damaging the weed is, but it's very clear he's got stonerbrain. I don't know how much he drinks, but i think that's reparable. The smoking is what makes the most damage i think. It's the thing that ages him the most and is the worst vice. Stress and lack of sleep and bad diet is quite reversable. The longer it continues the more damaging it's going to be. He's still relatively young, and i don't think anything is worryingly bad yet. I don't like the way it's going though. I wish he took better care of himself and his mental and physical health.

[system-of-a-feather]

(CW: substances)

Confession about short sightedness even from our overtly long vision system, we never have done any thing anyone could call substances other than prescriptions largely due (and thanks to in some cases) our over the top trauma driven perfectionism and OCD and all

And large parts of the system are very anti substances (on a personal level not for others, we all live by you do you mentality) but since XIVs come back he has major stupid self destructive high chasing impulse issues and has unintentionally gotten us used to the "well it COULD be good" and half jokes on "the good meds"

And since we got the surgery we were prescribed Vicidin and XIV was like "We got the good stuff and can use them legally" and me being used to him and usually the smart one who emphasizes the Joking rather than the Half in Half Joking goes "Yep 👀 We get the good shit"

And for three days without really thinking much on it we've been popping them every 6 hours as prescribed to the T and it wasnt until I was chatting with XIV in the shower that I was like

"Yo wait, we probably shouldnt be taking them if we dont have bad pain, like I know they say to take some pain meds early even if there is no pain to stay on top of it but shouldnt we like... use the non opiods first 😂 cause theyre much less difficult to wean off than a routine opiod 😂 Cause even if we legally can I dont think that removes it technically still being mild abuse and a bad idea"

and he was just like "..... yeah probably."

And the past two days have just been on Ibuprofen or nothing cause we honestly dont have pain so long as we dont over exert ourselves

But a large reason we dont do substances is cause we have an EXTREMELY prone nature to compulsive behavior and addiction so its high risk.

[newsfromstolenland]

I don't think I can fully put into words the irreparable harm that the psychiatric system in canada has done to me and many others

I want to talk about this, so for the purpose of organizing my thoughts I'm going to sort this into three parts: psych wards, substances, and the concept of functioning

Psych wards: I've known people who have had positive experiences in psych wards. but for the most part, I have heard of many negative experiences. in the interest of privacy for others, I will be basing this off of my own negative experience.

psych wards remove a significant amount of people's autonomy. most people can't leave without clearance from a doctor. there are cameras everywhere. rooms and bathrooms are often strictly gendered. phones, computers, and tablets are usually not allowed. personal items are limited and highly scrutinized, as is personal clothing. transphobia, racism, ableism, homophobia, and misogyny are rampant.

I was in a psych ward when I was 15. at the time I was a trans boy. because I refused to stay in a "girls" room, and they refused to put me in a "boys" room, they instead put me in the psychiatric intensive care unit with the adults because the rooms weren't gendered there.

In the psychiatric intensive care unit, there are cameras in the common area, bedrooms, and bathroom. every time you change or use the bathroom, you are monitored and recorded.

the staff regularly misgendered me, and refused to let me keep even an mp3 player.

the result is being imprisoned, having your privacy invaded, being misgendered and disrespected, losing your autonomy, being isolated from the world, and being stripped of any comfort items.

Substances: there's a lot to be said about the way substances are viewed in psychiatry. first of all, the use of non prescribed substances is vilified. even smoking weed is stigmatized, let alone using other substances. self-medication is treated as reckless behaviour, rather than an impact of a failed medical system. recreational substance use is treated as a moral failing. I once had a psychiatrist threaten to take me off of my medications unless I stopped smoking weed (and no, it was not because my meds interacted badly with weed). of course, all this meant was that I never told her the truth about my substance use again.

second, prescriptions are not given in an adequate way. there is a combination of over prescribing and under prescribing, neither of which are safe. for example, people are denied necessary prescriptions if doctors identify so-called "drug seeking behaviour". people are denied medical marijuana due to stigma. medical marijuana is also denied by places like CAMH, and instead significantly more dangerous drugs are prescribed. not so coincidentally, CAMH receives lots of funding from pharma companies, and not from medical marijuana companies. when I was in a psych ward, I had a prescription for a medication taken as needed when I had panic attacks. rather than giving it to me accordingly, I was given double the dose regularly three times a day. unsurprisingly, I became addicted to it and only recently (7 years later) managed to stop using it beyond when it was needed. on the other hand, when my ex was in a psych ward, they were denied their medical marijuana.

The concept of functioning: I've been a patient/client of quite a few psychiatrists and therapists over the years, and something that has come up a lot has been the concept of functioning. Being considered a functioning member of society is extremely arbitrary, but under a colonial capitalist system it typically comes down to working full time and building/maintaining a nuclear family. Obviously this is inherently harmful as a goal to set for mentally ill people, and creates feelings of self-loathing when we are unable to achieve it.

the mental health field's focus on neurodivergent people becoming "functioning" is not done for our benefit, the goal is not for us the function how we want to. the goal is for us to be able to work all our lives and contribute to capitalism.

I'm not trying to say that the mental health system never does any good. I now have the necessary medications to not struggle for every second of my life. my point is that many parts of our psychiatric system are harmful, exploitative, and dehumanizing.

something needs to change, and fast, or more people are going to be hurt by this

[spider-shoes]

did @the-g-m's dtiys yayy ^_^

hi taglist @oceans-calling @glow-duo @areus-in-a-little-cave @rosebur @neonkoii @aimsbucks @ranvwoop

[ungalobrando]

Seriously... sometimes I wish the fandom would treat Ungalo with more respect.

Like, there are exceptions of course. I love everyone who treats him like a human being. But also the amount of people who draw him in a mocking way, if they include him in their art at all, is just. Oof. Ouch.

Yeah I get it, Ungalo ugliest son, Ungalo ew wtf is that thing, Ungalo nasty Ungalo gross haha Ungalo's mom is probably a deformed something. I make jokes about him being a sweaty gremlin sometimes too.

But it would be nice if sometimes everyone could take a step back and be like hang on. This man is a drug addict who has been on heavy drugs for a long time. If you don't have an addict in your family or friend circle yourself - have you ever seen pictures or videos of what substance abuse does to people? If you're in the headspace, go ahead and look up some before and after pictures. It's heartbreaking. Most of what we got to see of Ungalo in the manga so far is him being the shell of a person. He's on the verge of death when he's first introduced. And he's on the verge of death when he's last seen. Cast aside like garbage after he becomes useless tbh. And it pisses me off...

Yes, I know, he's fictional and I shouldn't get so worked up about it. But sometimes I can't help but wonder what Ungalo would look like without the sunken face, bad teeth, and what he's like underneath those anger issues. I wish I could hold him. I wish I could tell him that he's so much more than his struggles, even if they overshadow so much of him. I wish he knew he's worthy of recovery, and he's worthy of being happy. He's worthy and lovable and you can pry that fact out of my cold dead hands.

[mysapphicmercy]

By far the best thing I’ve added to my Redbubble

[borderlinejackiee]

[waffles-and-flapjacks]

I am coping in the worst way and paying for it thoroughly lol. I really need to lay in bed, my whole body aches so bad plus the waves of nausea (worst feeling in the world) and weakness yet I have to work.

[uran8ate]

in Disco Elysium I was expecting there to be some kind of “addiction mechanic” that would add a long-term downside to taking drugs, and was surprised not only by the absence of any such mechanic but also that the benefits of drugs greatly outweighed the cost. anyways fast forward to the late game and I was downing three bottles of pyrholidon and smoking an entire pack of cigarettes before attempting any check, and it was only then I realized there was in fact an addiction mechanic

[lacquerheadd]

pov: you ask the good mayor for some chems…

[system-of-a-feather]

By the way, do whatever cringey shit it takes to cope in the healthiest way possible and make decisions in your best interest.

Like this body has a horrendous oral fixation, and Aderis and myself have really bad impulse control when we are stressed + an really strong drive to use substances which our body has actually managed to very well dodge solely because we have obsessive, control freak, super stressed and anxious parts for better or worse. It's something I used to hate the fuck out of and think was excessive but thinking on it, its definitely a good idea cause we have 0 resistance against any form of addiction and very easily develop psychological dependence on things that aren't even chemically addictive, so like 100% if we were to dip our toes into that, it could easily be an avalanche

Even said, specifically for me, the urge to start smoking is stupid hard to deal with a lot of the time between my very very very intense oral fixation, my impulsive short sighted "funny and aesthetic" brain, and the fact I'm a mentally ill traumatized bitch and like, ever since I've been back and aware of myself I've been like "I REALLY want to smoke" and everyone in the system being like "NO." and then them chucking me a different chew toy to help redirect that urge and energy

But at a certain point our crackhead child (little, nickname) grabbed a tooth pick to chew on or something I forget, and my brain fucking clicked that it very deeply itched the exact need and feeling my brain needed almost perfectly without actually having the chemical shit. And a lot of the time when I'm chewing on one, I'll unintentionally and without thinking of it, handle it like a cig because my brain just substitutes the psychological itch.

My "predecesor" in the system (aka Aderis) had a similar issue with drinking and while mine came more intuitively, but she figured out in early middle school that since we had no access to alcohol and "would die" if we tried, she just pretended Dr Pepper cans and bottles were booze and told herself it was a depressant that numbed and calmed shit down. To this day, Dr Pepper post-breakdown mostly actually mellows us out and lowers anxiety which is wild since Dr Pepper has caffeine which is supposed to do the opposite

And yeah, is it cringe for someone to act as if a tooth pick is a cigarette? Yeah, is it cringe for someone to act and treat Dr. Pepper like its alcohol? Yeah. But is it better to be "not cringe" or cringe and not slipping down a really unhealthy slope?

Not saying its bad to have picked up the habits or to have substance use issues - god no. That shits complicated, rough, and honestly - if it wasn't for the fact that the system has done an amazing job keeping the body clean - probably would use them myself.

But like, main point is that fucking like. Be cringe if that helps you live a healthier life and / or a life closer to what you want.

People can call me a cringe edgelord wanna be for how I handle my toothpicks, cause I really don't care about 1) being an edgelord beyond the meme and 2) don't really care what people say about that cause I do this cause it makes me feel good and helps me think and process shit better and I'd rather have a psychological dependence to toothpicks than I would to tobacco and nicotine. If someone has an issue with that, thats their problem.

[its-simply-just-krys]

anonymous ; found on pinterest

[trishilo]

Loser core

[borderlinejackiee]

[permanently-sprained-ankle]

“I’m chronically ill, not drug seeking! I don’t want to be mistaken for an addict trying to get opiates in the emergency room!”

I totally understand not wanting to be mistreated, bullied, and denied treatment, or being misdiagnosed with a disorder you don’t have (in this case, substance use disorder). It shouldn’t happen, period.

The problem is when chronically ill people act like they’re better than addicts just because they themselves are going to the ER for a “real” reason. (If you don’t do that then I’m not talking about you)

Have you considered that the addicts and “drug seekers” shouldn’t be treated that way also? They too are seeking medical treatment for a disorder and/or withdrawal. Everybody deserves adequate treatment, yes, even if they are doing so because they are addicted to a substance.

[Image ID: White text in a Galaxy background reads If you: Derail my posts; are an “aspie”; run a sh/ed blog; are under 16; are a TERF; think cripplepunk is for mental disabilities; think that autism isn’t a disorder; are pro-transabled, trace, transage, etc; are pro-map or pro-zoo; are a transmed; want to completely demedicalize autism, I will probably block or mock you. End ID]

[chronicallycouchbound]

People who use drugs deserve love and kindness.

Abstinence is not the only form of recovery. AA/NA doesn’t work for everyone. Sometimes people choose to use instead of meeting other needs, which is valid. Some people use for recreational purposes. Some people use for medicinal purposes. Some people who use have substance abuse disorder. Treatment looks different for everyone. Not everyone needs or wants treatment, for various reasons. The only thing Naloxone enables is breathing. Active use is not shameful. People who use drugs often also deal drugs. People in recovery should not shame active users. Active users deserve love. Active users deserve someone to check in on them, get them safer use supplies, and get them pizza. Active users deserve to be listened to. They deserve better than to have that be the first time anyone ever treated them as human since they began using.

Let’s care for each other.