286- blogtober conclusions

October is ending in a few minutes. It's also the end of #blogtober challenge, and for this occasion, I'd like to share my thoughts and what I've learned from this experience.

285- Projects around men and mh

Discussing mental health, stigma and related subjects with my wife, over breakfast this morning reminded me additional reasons why I'm so passionate in blogging about mental health : I'm a non-binary man, who don't man-up, who discusses openly my past experiences, and their lasting long-term effects on my mental and physical healths. 

284- A little dermatological update

Remember I discussed a biopsy I had 2 & half weeks ago ? Well, the dermatologist had stitched me, with the metallic, non-body degradable kind ; a choice I hadn't understood back then, nor today.

As he's away on vacation, I had to go to a local nurse office for the stitches retrieval. I'd taken a full gram of pain killer prior, and I asked my wife to accompany me as I feared a anxious experience.

283- A mentor

A mentor/teacher is the topic of 52weekgratitude's 43rd week that starts today. 
First, I want to mention that I only use the image and meme quoting a wisdom by Mr Spock our of respect, and that I upon research, it seems to fall under the fair use principle. If I'm mistaken and asked to remove, I shall do it. 

282 - A weekend of massive exposures (14-15/10/2017)

This past weekend has been one continuous series of exposures, and I feel quite proud about my progress in socializing.

After several days of shopping and running errands, the weekend arrived. Saturday evening was a friend's 27th birthday, and she had invited everyone as early as a whole month early, through a FB event. As I was struggling a lot with my mental health, especially cptsd and depression, I wasn't sure I could attend it and had told her that it was too early for me to even guess. 

281- 52weekgratitude catchup : 39-42

Another catchup session for 52weekgratitude. 


Here's the breakdown of the past few weeks 

39 my heritage

40 greatest accomplishment

41 Hobbies

42 my favorite possession

280- Daily impacts (1) : CoproCarnoHemoEmeto

Note : once this entry starts, it's 1,542 words 8,420 characters, with multiple trigger warnings.  Please beware that due to the topics at hand, I personally would recommend reading far away from meals. 

This is an expansion of what I wrote (as a last minute piece) for Jodie's what it feels like series. My original text appears on her blog and with her approval, I now post the fuller version which took me over a week to finish. 

It's also a second part to my previous entry about these phobias, and thus could be sub-titled "4 interwoven phobias (part II)". 

279 - Cyclothymia... or ?

I want to discuss a possible mis-diagnosis, and un-diagnosing it as a result. 

Back in 2008, upon reading  this book which I discussed with my first psychotherapist and described my mood swings, she had confirmed that I was suffering from cyclothymia.

However, as my wife wanted to better understand my mood swings, their cause and how to help me, she researched it and knowing me the past 12 years, she just doesn't agree that I may have cyclothymia ; Because, I don't exhibit hypomania nor take huge risks which should come with it, nor ever display a huge self-confidence.

278- Mental health Shout-outs shutdowns

 

Back in June 2016, I had started sharing shout-outs to various mental health bloggers I'd met in twitter MH community. Now, by June 2021, I have lost touch with most of the people I did the shout-out for. Some actually had stopped blogging, retreated from social media ; others used me and I don't feel leaving a shout-out for them on my own blog anymore, as I don't accept some of their actions towards me. 

277- WorldMentalHealthDay 2017

Today's #WorldMentalHealthDay and I thought to share with you some of my renewed wish to spread awareness about mental health, today, and beyond, the rest of the year.

Indeed, like any other cause that received a day, a week or a month, mental health must be talked and discussed openly all year around. We must continue to do so, to break stigmas and taboos ; to be vehicles of societal change. 

276- Aug 21-Oct 6 exposures and CBT2017-23

It has been a super long time since my 22nd CBT session for social phobia. Indeed, it was on August 17, and our initial scheduled 23rd was postponed when my therapist was called as aid to hurricane victims in a French territorial island. 

275- A-Z's of things that make me happy or smile

Expanding on post 202 and taking inspiration of the A-Z of self-care (itself inspired by Meg's ), here's the A to Z's of things that make me happy! 

Before I get into the list, I thank my friend Beth for brain storming words for 3 letters with which I was struggling. 

274- (sorta) Brave at the doc

This morning, I was quite brave, but not fully. 

Indeed, I had an appointment with the dermatologist, to check a mole which had turned color and grown 2 points which worried me a bit. I had seen the GP almost 2 weeks ago, who looked at it and was also concerned at the rapid changes I described, so he wrote a referral letter for my dermatologist and said to make a faster appointment than one initially set for November 23.