Useless

They had a nutritionist over here today, because I told them I was losing weight.
She was stunned that I was only spending $100/month on food. She suggested Meals on Wheels, but what Father Lindsay called cheap amounts to $25 for seven meals and I will still have to come up with 1000 calories a day.
She noticed I had cats and said "They're expensive."
She left by saying that I was hiding the fact that I was in physical pain very well.

I'm NOT giving up my cats just so I can have a few more calories per day. That goes for anything else that anyone on their high horse considers a frill for me (ie Internet access).
In case anyone hasn't been listening, I'm not gainfully employed, I'm in agony and I'm alone. Because of my disabilities, I'm going to stay that way until I die, staring at my four walls in despair and misery. I have so few joys in life, I can't do what I want in life and what I treasure is being stripped from me a piece at a time.

Why the h#ll is Doug filling me with hope? "Great things are coming," he says.

Like what? A cure for this damn disease? Winning the lottery? I don't see anything like that happening, ever. What can possibly fill me with joy after all that's happened? What can fill the black void in my soul? I'm alone. I'm crying inside. No one can fix that.

If giving up my cats or video games means a few extra cans of tuna to keep me alive, forget it. I hate my life. I hate living and my life isn't going to change. Getting sick and dying would be an act of mercy for me.

I'm going to phone Doug's answering machine and leave a message. Just two verses of that hymn. He won't know how much pain I'm in, of course. So much the better. He'd probably just "rock me" some more and that would be too much to bear.

There is a thing more crippling than cerebral palsy: the prison of your own mind.

Hey hamstergirl:
I wouldn't give up my cats
I wouldn't give up the video games
I wouldn't give up the internet connection

they are your support system!

Who ever suggested that is an idiot ( pardon me! )

besides, we would miss you too much!

gab

Hey (((((((((((((((((((((((Hamstergirl))))))))))))))))))))))...

I totally get that a lot of the things that your are going thrul/challenges that you have are extremely difficult, but...instead of me telling you again how sorry I am that that all has happened/is happening, let me take more of a risk, and throw a few ideas at you...

Can we help you to start challenging some of the negative 'forever and always' type statements that you are saying to yourself like on an internal tape recorder?

Some things, yes, will probably always be true, but not all of the things = you can't know that you will 'always' be miserable, for example. That's predicting too far into the future, and it just feeds the negative self talk loop that plays for you over and over.

That's tormenting yourself unnecessarily from what I see, and you deserve better than that.

Will you look up 'cognitive behavioral therapy' on yahoo or google and see what you think, then maybe we could discuss what it says...

A lot of us here have found it really helpful as a way to change what we call our 'stinkin' thinkin'.

We can't necessarily control the things that happen to us, but we do have quite a bit of control over how we respond to the things that happen to us.

Sending you hugs...

Warmly, Peanut

<font color=blue>HI FROM PEANUT</font color=blue>

I agree with Gloria, whoever suggested that is a total dweeb

btw I am not a great fan of the medical profession myself, although there are some that care, so I have heard In fact some of my friends in the USA (some of whom have quite severe chronic physical conditions) have good doctors ... I just haven't found one yet I live in the UK in case you haven't read my posts

Sorry if this isn't much help, as I mentioned in chat on Tuesday, I don't think my advice is the greatest, but .... hmm

I agree with Peanut, challenging the noxious thinking is a great idea. "We all" could do with doing that, IMO ...

Bearhugs if ok,
Fuzzy

Hey Hamster girl,

I was told i'm not getting 1000 calories a day either, but i'm not loosing weight wish that i was even though i'm at a good healthy weight now.

Don't give up the cats , i could never get rid of my animals, they are great!

Hang in there hamstergirl, I doubt you will be that way for the rest of your life, take care of yourself, and keep posting here. We are all here for you.

<font color=red>~Sundance~</font color=red>

<font color=blue>"Never react emotionally to criticism. Analyze yourself to determine whether it is justified. If it is, correct yourself. Otherwise, go on about your business."</font color=blue>

<font color=black>Norman Vincent Peale</font color=black>

Give up your cats... sheesh.

Maybe the only way to excuse that comment is to consider that as a nutritionist, she is only looking at the "food" point of view and not seeing the whole picture.

It is true that we sometimes have to make sacrifices for practical purposes but that doesn't mean the "obvious" choices are the right ones. I think anyone involved in more generalized health care would recognize the benefit of your cats, even hospitals bring pets in now because even the medical profession is starting to recognize how important our state-of-mind is to our physical health and how much animals can have a very positive effect on that. I would consider your cats a very very important part of maintaining your health, as important as medicine and therapy maybe. We can't always have everything we need because of practical matters... we certainly couldn't go without ANY food for example, but the right thing to do always involves seeing the bigger picture for ourselves.

I know you haven't asked if keeping your cats is the right decision... it seems that you understand how important keeping a balance of helpful things in your life is. But I just wanted to reinforce what a positive factor pets in particular can be and given how important they are to you you have done the right thing.

I wish I had a cat to help me through this difficult time in my life. I haven't gotten one because I am very worried about my ability to take care of it properly... because of my depression but also because of my current physical ailments. Even thinking about having to bend down to feed it or clean the litterbox is a pretty traumatizing thought for me right now. Hopefully in the future I will be in better shape to consider it.

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--http://www.idexter.com