It turns out that you can become the person you’ve always envisioned but you’ll still have the person you were before inside of you and you have to treat them with as much forgiveness and love as possible

My face is having uncontrollable spasms. Great. It hurts really, really, really bad.

I think part of why I have trouble explaining pain to the doctor is when they ask about the pain scale I always think “Well, if someone threw me down a flight of stairs right now or punched me a few times, it would definitely hurt a lot more” so I end up saying a low number. I was reading an article that said that “10” is the most commonly reported number and that is baffling to me. When I woke up from surgery with an 8" incision in my body and I could hardly even speak, I was in the most horrific pain of my life but I said “6” because I thought “Well, if you hit me in the stomach, it would be worse.”

I searched and searched for the post this graphic was from, and the OP deactivated, but I kept the graphic, because my BFF does the same thing, uses her imagination to come up with the worst pain she can imagine and pegs her “10″ there, and so is like, well, I’m conscious, so this must be a 5, and then the doctors don’t take her seriously. (And she then does things like driving herself to the hospital while in the process of giving birth. Probably should have called an ambulance for that one!)

So I found this and sent it to her. Because this is what they want to know: how badly is this pain affecting you? Not on a scale of “nothing” to “how I’d imagine it’d feel if bears were eating my still-living guts while I was on fire”. 

I hate reposting stuff, but I’ll never find that post again and OP is deactivated, so, here’s a repost. I can delete this later, i just wanted to get it to you and I can’t embed images in a chat or an ask. 

This is possibly why it took several weeks to diagnose my fractured spine.

Pain Scale transcription:

10 - I am in bed and I can’t move due to my pain. I need someone to take me to the emergency room because of my pain.

9 - My pain is all that I can think about. I can barely move or talk because of my pain.

8 - My pain is so severe that it is difficult to think of anything else. Talking and listening are difficult.

7 - I am in pain all the time. It keeps me from doing most activities.

6 - I think about my pain all of the time. I give up many activities because of my pain.

5 - I think about my pain most of the time. I cannot do some of the activities I need to do each day because of the pain.

4 - I am constantly aware of my pain but can continue most activities.

3 - My pain bothers me but I can ignore it most of the time.

2 - I have a low level of pain. I am aware of my pain only when I pay attention to it.

1 - My pain is hardly noticeable.

0 - I have no pain.

It’s also really important to get this kind of scale to people who have chronic pain, because chronic pain drastically lowers your perception of how “bad” any kind of pain actually is, and yet something like this pain scale is extremely user friendly. 

For example, if someone asked me how much pain I’m in at any given time, I’d say hardly any, and yet I’m apparently at a chronic 2.5, and it only goes up from there depending on the day. 

There’s also a similarly useful “Fatigue Scale”

I haven’t been below a 5 on this scale for 4 years 

Here’s the fatigue scale

Fatigue scale image desc:

10: can barely move; can’t talk

9: can barely move; can talk

8: can move, but can’t do much more than watch TV

7: can watch TV and play a game on my phone simultaneously

6: can do work on my computer lying in bed

5: can get around the house, but definitely couldn’t go out

4: can run a light errand

3: can get in my 10,000 steps, making my fitbit happy

2: can do three or more activities in a single day

1: going clubbing!

See also the Mental Health Pain Scale by Graceful Patient:

Mental Health Pain Scale transcription:

MILD

1 - Everything is a-okay! There is absolutely nothing wrong. You’re probably cuddling a fluffy kitten right now. Enjoy!

2 - You’re a bit frustrated or disappointed, but you’re easily distracted and cheered up with a little effort.

3 - Things are bothering you, but you’re coping. You might be overtired or hungry. The emotional equivalent of a headache.

MODERATE

4 - Today is a bad day (or a few bad days). You still have the skills to get through it, but be gentle with yourself. Use self-care strategies.

5 - Your mental health is starting to impact on your everyday life. Easy things are becoming difficult. You should talk to your doctor.

6 - You can’t do things the way you usually do them due to your mental health. Impulsive and compulsive thoughts may be hard to cope with.

SEVERE

7 - You’re avoiding things that make you more distressed, but that will make it worse. You should definitely seek help. This is serious.

8 - You can’t hide your struggles any more. You may have issues sleeping, eating, having fun, socialising, and work/study. Your mental health is affecting almost all parts of your life.

9 - You’re at a critical point. You aren’t functioning any more. You need urgent help. You may be a risk to yourself or others if left untreated.

10 - The worst mental and emotional distress possible. You can no longer care for yourself. You can’t imagine things getting any worse. Contact a crisis line immediately.

These are so important! SO SO IMPORTANT SHARE THIS AND SAVE IT TO SHOW YOUR DOCTORS!

This is the first time I’ve seen the fatigue scale, and HOLY MOLY that’s a revelation!!! These should be on all hospital and doctor office walls.

I’ve never seen the mental health one! or the fatigue one! I printed out the pain one and gave it to my GP. 

ok!!!

Yeah okay, I’ll reblog that!!

If you see this on your dashboard, reblog this, NO MATTER WHAT and all your dreams and wishes will come true.

Oh hey! Haven’t seen this in forever! Didn’t reblog it when it came across me before, not gonna skip it this time, I need some good vibes.

Dealing With Executive Dysfunction - A Masterpost

This is the sacred texts, this is the holy grail.

“What if we could let go of the binaries of good or bad, beautiful or ugly when talking about feelings?

What if we could see all feelings as necessary arrows, pointing us towards needs that are met or unmet?

What if we looked like the hard, messy, so-called ugly feelings with curiosity and compassion, rather than repressing them out of shame?”

I'm trying to write a post about tick safety and avoiding tick bites, but a lot of the info on websites is like "Avoid going in the woods, in plants, and where there are wild animals" and "Activities like hiking and gardening can put you at risk" and I'm like thanks! This is worthless!

As ticks and tick borne illnesses are expanding their range, I think it's important for people to be educated about these things, and I think it's especially important to give people actual advice on how to protect themselves instead of telling them to just...avoid the natural world

Rough draft version of Tick Advice:

The above is useful for figuring out whether an area is likely to have lots of ticks, and how vigilant you have to be in that area.

If you're careful, you can usually catch ticks before they bite you, but if one does bite you, it's not the end of the world. Since tickborne diseases are different regionally i suspect this advice will differ based on where you are, but the important thing is remove the tick with tweezers (DON'T use butter, a lit match, or anything that kills the tick while it's still attached, please) and contact a doctor to see what to watch for. Most illnesses you can catch from ticks are easily treatable if you recognize them when symptoms first appear

Also, don't assume that just because you weren't in tall grasses you don't need to be checked.

Some advice from a former camp counselor:

- If you’re camping, check your towels, blankets, and anything else you’ve hung up before letting it touch your body. Ticks are drawn to wet towels and find it an easy jump to a person.

- If you’re out with a dog, check them over thoroughly before you pet them. Anti-tick medication can kill ticks that attach to your dog, but they can still hitch a ride on fur and then jump on you. Consider getting an outdoor comb and wear gloves while checking.

- Invest in a pair of fine-tipped tweezers to remove ticks. There are a ton of special “tick removal” tools that will work, but they’re essentially a riff on a basic set of fine-tipped tweezers. The fine tip allows you to pull a tick off without killing it while it’s attached. Standard, blunt-edged tweezers for eyebrows don’t work as well, because they can crush the tick’s body and release germs into your skin at the bite site.

- If you have a tick on or near your genitals, just go to a doctor. Just...just do it. Trust me. I’ve seen this happen. Do not engage with the junk tick.

- When you need to remove a tick, grasp it firmly with your tweezers as close to the skin as you can get it. If you can, grasp it under the head. Pull straight up - do not twist the tick. That’s going to be your best bet to pull it all off without leaving the head or mouth embedded.

- If you do break the tick, leave the mouth alone - don’t dig in to get it, since that can break your skin more and cause infection. Without the tick attached, the mouth should eventually fall off. If it doesn’t within a day or so, call a doctor.

- Disinfect, disinfect, disinfect. I’d recommend hitting the area with rubbing alcohol several times.

- Keep the tick in a plastic bag in your freezer or fridge. It’s gross, but if you start having any illness symptoms, it can be helpful for your doctor to have the tick itself.

- Watch for a rash on the site, a fever, chills, or body aches. If you experience anything like that, go to an urgent care or hospital.

- Don’t panic! Lyme disease is treatable. The quicker you get medical treatment, the less likely that you’ll have significant long-term effects.

Speaking as a long time outdoorsman this is all great advice. I’ll add one thing: in the past many places have had traditional tick seasons. Be aware that these seasons are shifting and expanding due to global climate change. I’ve spent a lot of time in the central Rocky Mountains and traditionally tick season was early to mid spring. That has shifted to late winter in the valleys and ranges to mid summer at higher altitudes.

Additionally, tick species ranges and the tickborne illness ranges have also been shifting because of climate change. Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever used to be moderately common in the Rockies and has expanded east.

Teal deer: don’t rely on traditional information, verify seasons and ranges before assuming you’re safe.

Do not engage with the junk tick.

Other protip: a deep woods style bug spray can repel ticks. Spray the insides and outsides of your shoes and also your socks. It helps a LOT.

I went from getting a dozen ticks to getting zero after doing this. Be aware that deep woods bug sprays are poisons and keep them away from non human animals and use sparingly on skin.

what drugs were they on when they made this

Cab Calloway rotascoped!

Whoever thought of this was drinking absinthe

Thanks, Now I have nightmares

this was long before cartoons were ever thought of as ‘for kids’, the target audience of this one was roughly 20-40 betty boop cartoons featuring cab calloway singing, yes, but slang has changed so much you dont realize he was singing about opium, sugar daddies, death, weed, sex, booze, and gambling back when gambling was nearly as tabboo as sex and drugs. ‘minnie the moocher’ where cab calloway is a dancing walrus is specifically about someone who does literally everything on that list but die

most of the animation studios had their ‘thing’ to make their animation stand out, disney had fluid motion linked with quality music, warner brothers had top notch dialogue with carefully crafted facial expressions, MGM had comedic timing down to the individual frame that no live action comedian could dream of achieving, terrytoons had the budget of a ham sandwitch and a fistfull of nickels fleischer studios however had authentic jazz and heavy toned subject matter, often crossing the line of what we think of as ‘cartoon violence’ into realistic

idk why this is making me so emotional???

I love this. I’ve always had a love for cartoons

Cab Calloway, he was a legend performer and entertainer, although he’s listed as a jazz singer he did much more with his voice, his singing style and delivery was very unique. Cab (with his band) was the first black artist to sell over a million copies of a single record and he paved the way for many artists to come. Happy Black History Month.

sorry to make this long post longer, but I feel like it needed some actual photos of Cab Calloway, who is, in fact, the greatest

The Panama Canal

so I got into grad school today with my shitty 2.8 gpa and the moral of the story is reblog those good luck posts for the love of god

okay so i just got my dream job??? a week after applying to it?? and now i’m thinking….maybe this is the good luck post

…..not even six hours later i got an offer of a well paying full time long-term job with free room and board in queens in nyc, allowing me independence and a way to escape an abusive situation and an unhealthy environment

likes charge reblogs cast, folks, this is the good luck post

i need all the help i can get for finals

Hey so

the last time I reblogged this post right before I got a great job, in a permanent work-from-home position, with benefits, retirement, and a salary literally 3x what I was making before, doing something I really like. 

So you know. 

This might be the real one, y’all.

At this point literally anything helps.

For my upcoming mid terms, semi finals and finals. Please.

Eh fuck it let’s do this not like i’m gonna lose anything anyways

Learn to articulate how you're feeling without accusing anyone of having bad intentions. You can say "I'm afraid of being alone" without saying "you're just going to leave me like everyone else." You can say "I need some reassurance" without saying "you probably don't love me anymore." You can say "I'm afraid I've hurt your feelings and I'd like to talk it through" without saying "you don't even like me anymore." You can say "I want to spend more time with you" without saying "you've gotten tired of me." You can say "I feel misunderstood" without saying "you always judge me." Try not to let your emotions get the best of you. Have a conversation focused on finding solutions instead of escalating the conflict.

hope is a skill

hope is a weapon you are trained to wield

favourite additions

You cannot hide this in the tags, bestie. This is too lovely to keep a secret.

It may not be apparent to everyone how to easily find out who wrote the poem in the tags, so: @mumblesplash

(an instant-classic example of a Tumblr thread where so many people add value!)

@mumblesplash I would like to humbly request your blessing to have this tattooed one day.

:0000 absolutely!!

@mumblesplash I love your poem, can I set it to music?

YES

I really cannot emphasize enough the mental health benefits of abandoning the idea that you're special.

This goes both ways, both "You don't have to do everything singlehanded" and "You're not uniquely awful."

some e-cards you can send to help with distance communication ♡ free to use privately, if you’d like to repost them publicly please credit! 

currently reading:

on my non-fiction reading list:

on my fiction reading list:

Shoutout to everyone feeling “behind in life." Know that this is a myth. Your life is unfolding at its own unique, perfect pace. Every path is unique, and every step, no matter when it’s taken, is exactly on time. Stay the course; triumph awaits.

Coping 101 - a masterpost of down to earth resources

This post doesn’t contain links to many professional resources - it’s a list of coping tips from people who are mentally ill/disabled themselves and who all decided to share what has worked for them here on tumblr. In the last 7 months I have been sharing content created for and by mentally ill/disabled people on this blog - and to celebrate reaching 5000 followers, I have decided to collect all the best coping tips I’ve come across in one easily accessible place. Enjoy!

Managing emotions:

Managing anxiety:

Managing depression:

Managing executive dysfunction:

Managing negative thinking:

Managing self care:

Managing school:

Managing urges to harm yourself: