Bleck... the texture ugh... ewwie wont touch soggy noodles... my senses of touch tries to kill me if I try...

tolkien...

uuurrrgghhhh as hungry as this convo is making me, it's bedtime. I might be home all day tomorrow if peeps don't call, so I'll be on a lot^^ I'm gonna make a quest thread, and a rp, and a art shop, and heh ehhehehehehhehehheh

I have this thing where I chew chunks of skin off the inside of my cheeks and lips. I also tend to "bite" chunks off of and around my nails.
I've done this for years as a stress reliever but now it's just a bad habit. I recently learned it's a form of OCD (obsessive compulsive) and it's properly known as Dermatophagia.
@[email protected]
I also enjoy biting lots of different things, including my boyfriend, but I think that's just a natural instinct or fetishistic behavior.

I bite my fingers too o.o not really the nails so much as the actual finger...

I've been diagnosed with depression/anxiety... I also have Klippel-Feil Syndrome (link goes to Wikipedia, since I suck at explaining it concisely), but fortunately none of the more serious side effects like heart problems, etc. Oh, and slight scoliosis as a result of the Klippel-Feil. Annnnd I was born with an ear defect that's caused me to be really susceptible to ear infections from contact with water, so I wear earplugs when I swim/shower.

Depression/anxiety has impacted my life a lot... I also have had some trouble with socializing "properly" with others (looking people in the eye, knowing when to say something and what to say, etc), but that's gotten a lot better with time and practice, and now I'm much more comfortable being around other people I'm not well-acquainted with.

Something that's helped me recently in trying to deal with my issues, depression-related and not, has been going to see Tony Melendez in concert. He's a musician who was born without arms as a result of a medication his mother took while pregnant with him... so he learned a special tuning system to be able to play guitar with his feet! He was genuine and good-humored at the concert, and it was just really inspiring and motivating.

Something that was said at his concert struck me: "Disability is a mindset." While that may be true for some and not as much for others, it struck home for me. I was like, "Well, heck. I've got a guitar lying around at home but have been making up these excuses as to why I 'couldn't' play it. I've got both hands. What's MY excuse?"

So I went home and picked up my guitar, chose a song to learn, found the chords... and am actually loving it. :)

I also am working with a job rehabilitation center, which basically helps people find jobs that are willing to accommodate/work with their respective disabilities. In my case, it's my depression/anxiety, since this has impacted my ability to work in a "real life" work setting in the past. I reaaallly want to just go out and hunt for jobs on my own (along the lines of office admin stuff), but I want to give this a shot first.

Partially as a result of my Klippel-Feil, I'm not as strong as others my age would be, so I went to physical therapy to help increase my strength and range of motion. Annnnnd I'm going to my first counseling session in over a year for my depression/anxiety.

Wow, long post is long. XD

Too long; don't want to read? Depression/anxiety, Klippel-Feil Syndrome, scoliosis, ear defect. Tony Melendez learned to play guitar with his feet because he was born with no arms. Went to physical therapy, going to counseling again. CHEEESE. (okay, cheese was not mentioned before. But whatever. It seemed fitting to conclude this with for some strange reason)

I have depression and anxiety issues.

The anxiety is the worst of the two, personally.
Heightened sense of fear and angst for no real reason.

I was also diagnosed with be Agoraphobia.

@ wandering: wow are you for real?? cool ^^ lol and you probably wouldn't bother me if you did that XD it's nice to be noticed, ya know? :P oh btw i think my number/color synaesth. helped me with my number associations (multiplication/division "fact families" for example) because when i was trying to find a way for my little sister to remember her times tables, i thought of how i remember them and it occurred to me that i just remembered how they "felt" like if two warm colored numbers equaled another warm color or that 7x7 for example didn't make any sense because the orange-ish color didn't match the periwinkle and dull olive green (49) so i remembered it because it didn't make any sense in my head lol so since my sister doesn't see numbers that way, i was just like... "ummm sorry i can't help you, sis... go as mom lol"

---------- Post added 09-26-2012 at 06:14 PM ----------

*shrud* i think that's completely, totally understandable lol... all of that random energy and noise is enough to drive me crazy o.o i used to be like you (i still do my best to avoid large groups of people for extended periods of time but some family gatherings i sort of can't refuse to attend, unfortunately...), but about 2 years ago, i made myself become more concise expressing my thoughts verbally and interacting with people because well i consider myself to be a highly intelligent person and i was tired of people thinking i was just a quiet nerd lol. or stupid because i couldn't seem to explain anything out loud. haha now i'm a talkative nerd that likes to talk to anybody that i deem interesting and in the right situation, i'll never shut up XD but that's just around close family and my few awesome friends ^^ otherwise, if i choose to be, i'm invisible. which can kinda be annoying sometimes, you know? like you wish someone for once would just acknowledge your existence o.o but that's what friends are for, i suppose ^^ anyway... i'll cease my rambling now :P

Ramble away... it's good for gold count Just keep it semi related ^^

I see... I never really saw in feelings... but I have a strange attraction to certain numbers... let's see... most of them are prime numbers I think.

1,3,5,7,9,12,15,25,32, stuff like that... the rest of the numbers I consider "not as good" for some reason... and I've written it out as far as 1,000+... there's NO pattern o.o I just love how they look... I... guess?

@ Goblin - I can imagine it would make you feel bad that they could play a guitar and you couldn't I saw man that rides the bus here almost every day, he is deaf (90ish percent i think) and completely blind, yet he can walk around the city without problem minus cross the street (idiots never stop for people). He even once walked to the curb from a long ways away because the driver (through a computer or whatever I forget) told him it was X feet away...

@Poet-- Yeah, it was like... I have no excuses anymore! :P Luckily I really enjoy it. Oh, that's really cool. People like that are really inspiring and a kick in the rear motivation-wise. For me, anyway.

Yeah, I agree... it's embarassing that a blind/deaf guy knows this city better than I do @[email protected] seriously... I can SEE it and he could probably give better directions

When I was in grade school, I think the huge "everybody's kids has ADD" thing was going on.
I remember 5th grade, my parents started me on some unknown medication, and I had to see a psychiatrist.
And I had to take meds daily and see the school counselor.

Annnnnd that is about all I remember of 5th grade. I don't remember projects I did, funny things that happened, etc. I was told my grades dropped drastically. I remember my dad telling me to tell the psychiatrist that I wanted to be off medication.
Somehow or another, I did get taken off. But yeah...large memory lapse there. It's bizarre. I like to think that I have a very capable mind, and to not remember such a large chunk of my life is actually pretty scary for me.

So I do not know for sure if I myself have any diagnosable 'disorders'.
I do know that we're all just people, here. And no one should fear or disrespect someone with a disorder or disability.
c:

I know a friend with this anxiety disorder (no clue what the exact name of the disorder is, sorry) and she gets frequent panic attacks and gets stressed out very easily. She used to be a bit hard to be around too (would get angry too easily, get jealous easily, was even a bit insulting at times...), but the medication she's on has really helped over the years.

I think so many "disorders" and over-diagnosed though. I remember reading somewhere that a survey was done in this kindergarten/1st grade class and the teacher thought that at least 40% of the boys in her class had ADD... >.> Yeah. I think people just realize that they act "strangely" then automatically jump to conclusions. "I get stressed a lot... I must have anxiety!" Do you get panic attacks? Do you cut yourself? Have you actually planned or are planning out a time and place at which to kill yourself? Do you have paranoid dillusions that someone or something is out to get you so, as a result, you can't even leave your own house? You don't need meds for simply being stressed sometimes. Sometimes life sucks, but you can't blame life on psychological problems.

That happened to a friend of mine. Parents thought he had ADD, went to get it checked, doctor's like, "Yes! You do have ADD!", gave him meds... SEVERAL YEARS LATER: Actually...no! They realized that he didn't have ADD, he never did, but because they gave him the meds he lost so much weight and now he's 18 yet only 70-80 lbs. It sucks. In addition to that, it turns out the meds might have actually GIVEN him a learning disability. He's in special ed. If you think you have something and insist on getting it checked...fine, but be careful. And ask yourself, is it really so serious that you need to go on medication?

---------- Post added 09-28-2012 at 08:59 AM ----------

Goblin Maiden: Hmm, cheese...

@ Emma - So true sometimes meds can really screw someone up if they are misdiagnosed... though I wouldn't mind not having memories of a large chunk of my life. >.>" that's the story of my memory...

@ Tany - So true... if it makes you different then it is fine. If it is affecting your life, then pursuing medication would be a good idea.
But honestly most KIDS at a young age are screwed up... they talk to imaginary things, play with them, they play imaginary games... =.= but that's normal...

Haha, tell me about it. Kids these days... xD

Heck my 4th grade teacher asked my mom if I was a "retard" o.o
Apparently I was a VERY messed up kid...

Retard is such a degrading term to use. But then again I hear that in the US 'mental retardation' is an accepted medical term. I don't like it.

I've never been diagnosed but I can't keep still or concentrate for long periods of time...I don't know what that would really be! I'm always bouncing my foot.

Honestly I'd prefer "You have THIS disorder" to "You are a retard" because one is basically saying "Here is the problem" and the other is saying "Sucks to be you"

=.=

I have good friends who have been diagnosed with depression, anxiety, aspergers, and ADD. Some of them I haven't even noticed they had a disorder until they brought it up. I myself have been diagnosed with depression and I'm starting to wonder if I have a mild form of social anxiety since I'm afraid of approaching people. It's pretty hard to deal with it sometimes, but I'm grateful that I have a supportive group of family and friends who really do care about me. And this thread alone lets me know that I'm not alone in my struggles.

I have ADHD, but haven't taken medication for it in sixteen years. They made me feel like I wasn't myself and would either turn me into a zombie or put me to sleep all day. I hated those medications. I also used to be on medication for Tourette's, but as I grew older I "grew out" of it, as most children do. It was bad enough that I had trouble completing sentences, though now I just have a few tics. (Blinking six times, hard, clearing my throat three to six times, etc.)

Recently I was in a psych ward and I was diagnosed with severe depression, severe anxiety, PTSD, and for a while they thought I had bipolar (type II), but I haven't been officially diagnosed, and the symptoms have gone almost completely away since I started on my anti-depressants/anxiety and anti-psychotics. I also have had insomnia since I was a pre-teen, but one of the medications I take, Trazodone, helps me fall asleep and actually stay asleep for more than thirty minutes at a time, and prevents me from spending hours trying to fall (back) asleep.

The depression and anxiety got to a very bad point. I almost couldn't leave the house on most days. But now I leave the house and I can make eye-contact with people! The ADHD, I don't really consider a bad thing. I've gone so long without medication that I've learned to deal with it as best I can without. I still have trouble following conversations sometimes, because I can't shut out everything I'm hearing, and trouble learning new skills, but... I can live with these things. I'm just so glad the depression and anxiety is manageable now. That's a miracle in itself.

Wow, that's quite a bit Mimi. Good to see that you can live without ADHD meds. I know that a lot of meds are "Depressants" that just make you feel like a zombie. It's sad, they should know nobody wants to feel like that.

About the trouble learning new skills. If you have ADHD the way your brain works is already pretty different. I don't think it's that you have "trouble learning" as much as you need to learn a different way.
I've been like that for years that I learn so completely different from the norm. But before that I wasn't learning at all. My mind wandered, I couldn't focus, and it was just a mess. ^^ Try and experiment with different learning methods and see if anything helps.

I have Bipolar 2. Which acts a bit differently than Bipolar 1. The mania for me isn't necessarily a 'high' or good feeling. Instead I get irritated easily, racing thoughts, anxiety, and a few other aspects. I've heard the depression part may be worse than Bipolar 1. Another side of this is I have rapid cycling between my 'mania' and depression. So, I could go back and forth several times in a day. I was misdiagnosed for a while. They thought I had severe depression with suicidal tendencies. So, I went through so many different depression meds, I lost count.They only treated half the disorder. Took about 2-3 years for them to figure out it wasn't working. Must have changed meds about every 2 weeks during that time. Had a psychiatrist recently look at all those meds I took in the past. She was dumbfounded by them all.

Once I was diagnosed, they prescribed an 'experimental' drug at the time. They know very little about Bipolar 2, there's more info on 1. So, I tried it. It was amazing! It works perfectly for me, keeping me 'normal' or level. Doesn't put me in a med haze, either. The med was originally for people with epilepsy. Oh, and I also have to have therapy for it. With both it really helps.

I also have agoraphobia, PTSD, and maybe a touch of OCD. (Only OCD about some things.) Sorry, about this being so long...

I'm still convinced that a lot of the common 'disorders' of today--particularly in youth--aren't disorders at all.
So it's natural to assume that I don't have any.

I'm pretty sure I don't have any actual disorders, but I have some pretty crushing self-esteem issues that I've had to get over. The sort of
"Do I want to go to the movies?
Nah, I'm too despicable today and I don't deserve it and I'm such a selfish b*tch for wanting to go when I could be helping solve world problems"


Some days it can get almost as bad this poor girl has it all the time. It's been getting better lately, though I still can't quite handle a negative comment. I actually feel bad posting this, since everyone here seems to have things way worse than I do, and that I shouldn't be complaining about my charmed life O.O

I am ADD and have anxiety. You can tell when i am off my meds cause i eat like there is no tomorrow and i talk non stop......It used to get me in trouble at school.