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6 votes
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Breakthrough male contraceptive pill derived from Chinese medicine
17 votes -
Thinking about death
Up until recently my girlfriend’s grandmother had a relatively good life. She’s taken care of, had some interesting allucinations, slept most of the day and had funny interactions with her...
Up until recently my girlfriend’s grandmother had a relatively good life. She’s taken care of, had some interesting allucinations, slept most of the day and had funny interactions with her grandaughter, some of which ended up on Instagram.
In recent weeks, she started refusing food and spent days at the hospital. The sudden lost in autonomy made her hostile. It’s a struggle to change her diapers. The situation was made worse by the feeding tube up her nose, which she attempts to remove non-stop, and can only be replaced at the hospital. We had to restrain her arm. That is no way to live.
She's made it very clear she does not want to be in this world any longer. Today I heard a hundred year old lady scream, multiple times: "just let me die!".
I don't know what to make of it.
Edit: I'd like to thank everyone's answers. I wasn't really looking for a solution since the legal situation in my country does not allow for any wiggle room. But it is always nice to read the smart people of Tildes passionately explore their ideas, sharing knowledge with compassion. Sometimes it is enough to feel less alone. Thank you and good night.
15 votes -
Counterproductive public-health messaging during the pandemic
9 votes -
Why prehistoric humans needed no braces: Crooked teeth are a modern phenomenon and a telltale sign of an underlying epidemic
19 votes -
Anyone have any homemade smoothie tips or tricks?
My husband and I invested in a smoothie blender for the purposes of incorporating more fruits and veggies into our diets. We made our first batch this weekend — quite tasty, but definitely not...
My husband and I invested in a smoothie blender for the purposes of incorporating more fruits and veggies into our diets. We made our first batch this weekend — quite tasty, but definitely not perfect. Does anyone more experienced in the art of homemade smoothies have any wisdom they can share as we start to experiment with them?
8 votes -
The US' vaccine rollout is world-beating. That doesn't mean it's good enough. But let's take a moment to appreciate it.
7 votes -
Bring back the nervous breakdown
14 votes -
NHS staff create videos in many different languages to discuss the importance of covid vaccination for people with diabetes
@Partha Kar: To tackle the issues of #Vaccine uptake in those from ethnic minority population,I am joining hands with many colleagues to create a series of videos - specifically for those with #Diabetes First up? @alkapandey08 in Gujarati 🙏🏽Please use and cascade as you can pic.twitter.com/PpAY49lj6l
11 votes -
Hiding COVID-19: How Donald Trump Administration guidance suppresses photography of the US pandemic
6 votes -
Known knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns: the complexities of COVID-19 vaccine prioritization
8 votes -
Los Angeles Department of Public Health urges film industry vigilance to help contain COVID-19
7 votes -
Smartwatches monitor your health: An overview of what you get for the money
5 votes -
Tethered to the machine: For years, Jamarcus Crews tried to get a new kidney, but corporate healthcare stood in the way
7 votes -
How New York City vaccinated six million people in less than a month
8 votes -
US FDA clears Pfizer vaccine, and millions of doses will be shipped right away
17 votes -
'Natural immunity' from Covid is not safer than a vaccine
7 votes -
Moscow begins distributing the Sputnik V Russian-made COVID-19 vaccine to the most exposed groups via seventy clinics
10 votes -
Jreg (Greg Guevara) has recently "toured" his apartment and people are genuinely getting concerned about his mental health and wellbeing
Admittedly the forcibly neutral headline should probably be changed. The video has been unlisted but this is the link. One important thing to note is that he recently made a video satirizing how...
Admittedly the forcibly neutral headline should probably be changed.
The video has been unlisted but this is the link. One important thing to note is that he recently made a video satirizing how people pretend your life condition doesn't affect your mental health implies that wasn't satire, which is incredibly concerning.
He deleted the comment where he talks about his landlord but it has been screenshotted here. It's also proof that's actually where he lives.
Someone has unironically compiled how that house violates Canadian/Ontarian legislation
r/jreg is in some mix of meme-ing and genuine concern.
9 votes -
The doctor who challenged the unicorn myth
6 votes -
UK authorises Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine
12 votes -
Educational and fun podcast episode about vaginal health: Dr. Jen Gunter with Jameela Jamil
4 votes -
No game days. No bars. The pandemic is forcing some men to realize they need deeper friendships.
30 votes -
NHS to trial blood test to detect more than fifty forms of cancer
9 votes -
How Iceland hammered COVID with science – the tiny island nation brought huge scientific heft to its attempts to contain and study the coronavirus
9 votes -
Scottish Parliament unanimously passes a bill to provide menstrual products for free across the country
30 votes -
Covid-19 vaccine candidate is 90% effective, says manufacturer
30 votes -
Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine goes to US Food and Drug Administration today for emergency authorization
12 votes -
Why is Finland coping so well with the coronavirus crisis? No other European country has lower rates.
10 votes -
Denmark's Minister of Agriculture has resigned over an illegal government order to cull the country's farmed mink – Mette Frederiksen also faced opposition calls to resign
7 votes -
The German government's new coronavirus ad, subtitled in English
@Axel Antoni: The German Govt's latest Corona advert - now subtitled in English. Quite good. pic.twitter.com/nbRZIm9RcN
11 votes -
Polish government delays abortion ban after two weeks of protests across the country
26 votes -
Why the extortion of Vastaamo matters far beyond Finland – and how cyber pros are responding
4 votes -
Finland's interior minister summoned an emergency meeting after patient records at a private Finnish psychotherapy center were accessed by hackers
5 votes -
Trump will undergo televised medical evaluation on Friday night, Fox News announces
18 votes -
Planning is GREAT: Britain was supposed to be the most prepared country in the world. Then an unexpected enemy arrived
6 votes -
Sweden has the highest proportion of drug-related deaths in the European Union, with eighty-one cases per one million citizens – nearly four times higher than the EU average
11 votes -
CDC coronavirus testers pulled from Minnesota after hostile and racist encounters
5 votes -
Oakland Airport wants to attract passengers with free rapid Covid testing
2 votes -
Japanese sex business operator sues state over virus cash handout snub
7 votes -
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater remake reflects the changing culture of skateboarding
11 votes -
The distribution of vaccines in the 19th century
4 votes -
Finland has deployed coronavirus-sniffing dogs at the Nordic country's main international airport – a four-month trial of an alternative testing method
9 votes -
United States House subcommittee releases coronavirus task force reports kept secret by the White House
18 votes -
Unraveling the mindset of victimhood
4 votes -
Life has gotten a lot more stressful for me lately
I find it difficult to reach out to people, especially so publicly, but this shit is getting out of hand, and I need to let it out. Tonight I couldn't sleep because I've lost some sensitivity in...
I find it difficult to reach out to people, especially so publicly, but this shit is getting out of hand, and I need to let it out.
Tonight I couldn't sleep because I've lost some sensitivity in my left arm. You know how you get the numbness in your arm in the morning when you sleep on it at night? Except I haven't: it just started to go off slowly, fully functional but clearly numb in places. Tonight's different because in addition to my arm, like the last time, several other parts of my body express the same symptom: my right foot and my right shoulder. It's one of the most terrifying things I've experienced in a long time.
I think stress is finally getting to me.
I'm pretty sure it's stress because I'm an otherwise-healthy young male with no history of chronic disease – or susceptability to common ones, even – with a stable diet and lifestyle. I haven't had significant changes in my routines or preferences for a long time, except for the fact that I started walking more. I haven't been outside the city, let alone the country, for almost a year.
The only major thing that's changed is my living situation.
I've been trying to make it as an independent creator – writer, developer, designer, modder – for a year now, maybe two. I've been working on several projects publicly and a lot more privately: mostly writing, some development, my website included. It hasn't been arduous but has been very long without much result to speak of. I haven't been marketing myself a whole lot, and frankly, there isn't much to show aside from a lot of peripheral talk (like the production logs of the website or Mythos).
I live alone in a small studio owned by my parents. They also afford me a small weekly fund of about $27, for just about $110/mo.. Even in Russia, where I live, that isn't a lot of money – you get to buy just about enough food for a month, and that's it – but I get it for existing, so I don't complain. On the surface, it's a stable and excellent arrangement that I should be nothing but grateful for.
Last week, I made an error in telling my parents it might be a good idea to sell the studio and use the funds to move to a bigger city and let myself live off them while I develop my non-career career path (they've made it clear with anything but a written statement this studio is meant to be for me, and the ownership is but a formality to avoid paying more taxes). My mother lashed out at me: how stupid of an idea it was to rent when I have a perfectly-good apartment, and where would I end up when I eventually spend everything down to the last dime... I don't remember the rest of it 'cause I tuned it out, for the sake of my emotional stability at the time.
I haven't told them about what I'm trying to accomplish here: they think I'm looking for a site designer position. I haven't told them a lot of things: about my depression, about my anxiety, about what I like, what I want, what I need... I wouldn't want them to know 'cause I already feel trapped in their influence on my life. They've been helicopter-parenting my whole life, and every time I tried to gain that much autonomy and freedom, I've been met with resistance, and blame, and "what will people think of you", and even fake tears. There's no dialogue to be had, and the energy it takes to make any kind of meaningful progress is the energy I don't have.
So, I've been trying quietly to make it on my own.
I've been using depression-induced mood swings to maintain some degree of order in my life, but recently it's become impossible. My apartment is a mess, and I keep up only what I immediately need; even that takes a lot. I had a brief few days of victory recently when I push through sleeping later and later until I started waking up very early, when I feel most energetic and positive – and even that eventually washed away. It's a good day when I'm able to get one thing done. The rest of them I weather out as best I can, including spending much more on comfort food (and gaining proportional weight) than I should. It also usually involves a lot of gaming and mindless watching of Internet videos, for what seems to me obvious reasons.
I've been through periods like these before, but they've never felt quite so hopeless. I need to make money to get the freedom I need, which I can't do because I barely have the energy, which is because I can barely afford to live through the week with the vices that keep me steady, which I need because I don't have the freedom I need...
I'm not lazy. I can work long days. I have been working long days on projects that promised some degree of "more freedom". Back when I thought Intergrid would be my saving grace, I'd work studiously to make it happen by a set deadline. Earlier still, I'd work for $80/mo. on a website redesign that didn't go through. (It was for a friend, and what may be a quarter of rent for you had been almost double my monthly allowance, and it was perfectly enough 'cause I was enjoying the work.) I don't waste my days on senseless entertainment if I can help it: I have several projects I'm working on when I can, that I enjoy doing and would do for free if I had a financial base otherwise.
So why not find a job?
The jobs I did hold previously – a couple of days each – gave me no hope for finding something locally. I live in a semi-rural region of Russia where modern job opportunities aren't very present. People here work hard physically but not intellectually. (First-world problems, I know, but at this stage I can't afford to waste what little energy I have.) Jobs elsewhere? I don't think I'd cut it. For all my experimentation and trying things out and showing bits and pieces here and there, I don't have a portfolio worth a damn, and the last time I tried making one felt like grinding my teeth on a metal rail. That $80/mo. job I had, I had because I mentioned to a friend that I could take that thing he wanted to do for him, and he said "Yeah, okay, you've been talking a lot about web design so far, handle it for me". I don't think someone who doesn't know me would be that trusting.
So it feels like doing something I enjoy – which doesn't take away what little energy I have – is the only way for me, at least at the moment. Make enough to be able to move out to most places in Russia and not have to worry about food and the roof over my shoulder.
What I'm going to try is stick to a schedule. I prefer to take my time, work out the kinks and iron out the bugs before publishing something. Given the circumstances, however, it may be time to employ some mental tools. I've heard advice before about publishing a story, or a sketch, or an episode of the podcast every month, or ever week, as long as it's on rails. Good story? Bad story? It goes out. I have a few stories I want to tell, but I've been keeping 'em "unlisted" for a long time now, hoping to work it all out beforehand. Maybe rough as they are, I'm better off with them seeing the light of day. Like I said: I'm not lazy. I just need to find a way to make it work.
20 votes -
Online, no one gets to be young
17 votes -
Smartphone cameras can now detect diabetes with 80% accuracy
5 votes -
How to think like an epidemiologist
6 votes -
How not to lose the lockdown generation
9 votes