I am worried about it. But there’s nothing I can do, really. It’s scary. That’s ok. People telling you to not be concerned with death or that they are glad they will return to the earth or some bullshit can continue to eat their false hope. I’m not interested.

It’s a valid fear and worry.

Everyone should fear death. It’s what keeps us doing smart things like looking both ways before crossing the street or not drinking random containers of suspicious liquid. It’s healthy to fear death to a degree.

The question is that is this impacting your life in a significantly negative way? Is it causing daily intense distress? Is it causing you to become a shut in and not leave your home? Then it’s worth addressing.

If it’s not significantly negatively impacting your quality of life, then there’s nothing that needs to be changed about your viewpoint.

I started fearing death more than ever a few months ago. I chose to do maybe what the opposite of what my fear told me and I learned to ride a motorcycle. So I’m still out here living life.

Only on very very very rare occasions. Typically from watching sex scenes on TV and in movies. And I only very rarely watch shows with sex scenes anyway (not because I’m trying to avoid them…just because they don’t tend to show up in most media I consume). Tried porn but it doesn’t do it for me. When I’ve tried to do something about the feeling to see where it takes me, it unfortunately has just never led anywhere. I don’t generally view people that way outsode of TV/film. I guess my brain doesn’t spontaneously come up with themes like that outside of TV and film. I’ve always been curious to see how MDMA might affect someone like me.

If you just randomly wanted to know everyone, I’m also an outlier from the opposite pole of the spectrum lol.

For my it’s maybe several times a year when I get curious enough to try. Never has worked out tho. I always compare it to that to me it probably feels like what touching your elbow is like. It just feels like my body and nothing “good” or interesting happens when I try. It’s like someone forgot to hook up my wiring or something. Always been this way.

I will say that I tried an SSRI once before (but not Prozac), and honestly I don’t know that I would have done it again if I knew the withdrawal gets that frustrating. I even went off the way my provider told me (and even a tad slower), so it wasn’t like I went cold turkey or anything. Luckily on my worst day it was a weekend so I had off of work but goddamn.

I don’t understand why Prozac seems to have fallen out of favor. Significantly reduced withdrawal symptoms seems fantastic.

I agree with the other person… medication isn’t one size fits all. I’m taking a medication for reasons that seem to be “off-label” usage after trying several different ones. If you feel like your medications aren’t helping to tackle the main issue, then it’s best to talk to your provider(s) about it.

That being said, mental health medications aren’t magic. And there’s never going to be something out there that solves everything. The right kind of therapy modalities with the right type of therapist(s) can take you further in particular areas that you’re struggling with.

Like with anxiety, for example. It’s such a broad as fuck category. You can try throwing meds at it, sure. And they may help to a degree. But do said person’s anxieties typical revolve around particular themes? In that case, targeting these themes with therapy is going to be helpful and is not necessarily treated the way as someone with other types of anxieties.

Someone with trauma based anxieties/reactions may respond to different types of medications and treatments versus someone with performance based anxieties for example.

Neither of the ones you mentioned are ones that I’ve tried so I can’t unfortunately give my experience with them. Have you been on them long?

I did not know that about benzene.

What I will say though is that sunlight is carcinogenic. Cancer of all types has always existed, but we’re better about detecting it and treating it nowadays.

The reason why skin cancer is so much more prevalent now is because things like tanning and spending time in the sun are more popular in the western world than they were ages ago. People long ago used to physically shield themselves from it (before sunscreen). Asian cultures actually retained the desire to shield themselves from the sun. Whiter skin is more desirable in these countries, so people avoid tanning.

Long ago in the western world, whiter skin used to signify wealth. Farmers and day laborers would get tan tending the fields and such. So if your skin was whiter, it meant you could afford to be inside while people were doing physical labor for you.

Now in the western world, it’s the opposite. Since most jobs nowadays are in the office, having tanner skin signifies having more wealth as you have more free time away from the office to sit in the sun.

In very ancient hunter gatherer times, I’m not sure that recreation was much of a thing. People likely tried to shield themselves from burns and such, but who knows. In ancient hunter gatherer times, you’d likely die of infection or malnutrition before cancer anyway.

Edit: Altho to be clear, I’m not saying that no sun is good either lol. Sun is actually super important for certain things like vitamin D! It’s just that it’s also carcinogenic!

I really should get back into doing this, but I live in such a hot and humid climate that this means death unless I get my ass up before dawn lol

That sounds like a blast, but you really should put on sun screen!!

I was going to attend my weekly dance class, but it looks like it got too popular and the class is full!!! So I’m not really sure!!

This isn’t what you asked exactly, but I know they can externally disable a pacemaker once the patient is determined to be deceased so it will stop trying to shock the heart back. Otherwise it will continue to try to save the person.

People love to hate on things that get popular. Tale as old as time. It’s “cool” to hate something that is trendy.

Thank you for a sane take. So many people online seem to not understand the reality of things like drug addiction, alcoholism, homelessness, etc. None of these are quick fixes and all of these spiral into one another.

Glad to hear your slower taper is helping out! Oh man…on one of my worst days of zaps and dizziness I decided to go for a walk jamming to music then play with my cat. HUGE MISTAKE lmao. Trying to dance around would have definitely put me further on my ass than that already made me, but I’m glad it helps you lol!!

The second sentence always pissed me off when someone would tell me it. But it is true lol.

Hope the best for you guys!

How are you doing now, OP? My provider had me decrease mine much quicker than yours. It was about a week of dizziness and brain zaps to the point where one day it was actually quite disabling (luckily it was a weekend day so I wasn’t at work). But it gradually eased up. I tried taking Dramamine or something like that to see if it would help but I don’t know that it did anything.

Did you end up switching meds or just not going to be taking anything anymore?

I echo therapy if it’s doable, but it’s not really a “cure-all”. I went through a LOT of different therapists and then finally went through a traumatic event before the traumatic event (with the background work of one of the therapists) oddly enough made that self-hatred click off like a light switch. The hope with therapy is that you find someone who clicks well with you and can help you dive into this.

I will say this…

I suddenly realized that I was a human being.

It sounds weird to say that I never realized it before, but that’s how it is. I would talk about myself like I was some sort of evil monster…a demon even.

But take a step back for a second. You’re a human being. You fucked something up? Guess what, you’re a human being. You have a character flaw? Guess what, you’re a human being. You’re not an automaton. You’re not an android. You’re not a robot. You’re a human being. You are flawed. But your flaws don’t make you any less of a human being…they make you MORE human and MORE worthy of love for it, not less. You are no different from me or any other poster here. We are all flawed beings. Always expecting that you should just know better or do better are just setting yourself up for failure.

There is a Japanese concept called kintsugi. When a dish or other piece of glassware breaks, it isn’t just glued back with super glue. It is glued back with gold…reforming a functional dish, but putting its flaws on display as something beautiful.

I know that I’m babbling on with things that may or may not help or anything, but it’s where my path went and you can eventually end up there too.

Here’s a bit of a breakdown with specific steps that were involved with mine

1. Tried out a bunch of therapists, medications, etc. I stuck with one therapist for a while to be consistent even tho it didn’t feel overly helpful. But one of her exercises she had me do was to write down all of the positive things about myself. I thought it was stupid but I did it anyway.

2. I said the positive list out loud.

3. The traumatic event happened and I angrily said the positive list out loud again…this time to someone who hurt me.

4. I realized that I was a human being. (And so are others!)

5. For many months, I would occasionally repeat this affirmation to myself: “You are a human being.” I have given this affirmation to others as well. I like it because it is NOT pretending that you are better than you are, but it’s very positive in its own way. Haven’t needed to do it anymore, but it helped a lot for like 6 months.

6. I bought some wristbands online with positive affirmations and I have worn them nearly daily for the past maybe 8-10 months. I keep the words on the inside so that only I can see them. It sounds incredibly cheesy because it is, but it honestly has helped me a lot. I have different ones so I can be more mindful of what affirmation I want at any given time.

7. I continued therapy and changed medications several times until I was more stable. I have been on the same medication for around 6 months now and only see the therapist occasionally to check in.

So in all, my combo was intense therapy + traumatic realization + doing cheesy things to try to uplift myself + meds. Long fucking road.

I’m sorry I know this is long and rambling and maybe an intimidating read. Have you ever sought therapy before?

Is the infuriating part supposed to be that someone got to the butter before you? Or is it that you don’t like how it was scooped? What is the “correct” way if this is “incorrect”? Genuinely curious.

I definitely feel the same. For years I had watched hone renovation shows with my mom and they looked nice but at the end they started to feel all soulless. Stumbled into this one home reno show several years back that was totally different. I was practically in awe…colors, wood tones, reasonably priced remodels! Idk if the show is still like that or not, but it really felt like a breath of fresh air.

I’m a Millennial, so I get that this stuff has been trending with people my age for the past decade or so, but I’ve just not been into it either.

Needed to buy a car several years ago and I went out of my way to try to find a car with a COLOR. It was a bit more of a hassle, but I’m glad I did.

Goddamn man. I hope you find out something that helps you eventually. Some of my friends swear by magnesium supplements. Although I think it’s only a particular kind of magnesium supplement maybe?

Haha yes, mine is an antipsychotic! I’m on Seroquel, altho a pretty low dose. I’m not given it for sleep, but I see why it’s used as such! Sorry you had a rough go with antipsychotics! How has your sleep been nowadays?