Couch 249: The Self Care Couch

You're more than welcome.

I feel that many sleep remedies will relax my body but do nothing for the mind.

Kalms take effect within minutes and tame the mind enough so I can rest.

I’m glad it works so well for you. Honestly years ago I was so medicated with pharmaceuticals. I was on really high doses of everything I was on and although calm and not depressed, I was a robot. I felt nothing. Like when I was on that stuff-I even stopped feeling love for people in my life that I loved. I remember getting fired from a job when I was on the medications and just shrugging my shoulders as if it was no big deal when I didn’t have any actual money to pay my bills. I needed to stop taking that stuff.

I think staying away from big pharma is always good if you can manage it. Honesty if magnesium or any of the other things had worked - I would have kept using them instead of cannabis. I know that the non-prescribed stuff is not harmless =Melatonin, for example, makes me sick as a dog and it took awhile (almost a year) to figure out that it was the melatonin doing it.

I agree. And the prescription stuff was still so expensive even with insurance and the generic brands didn’t knock much off the price. Not to mention paying the psychiatrist every 3 months so she would refill them.

i need to see this every now and then so here y'all go.

Artie! i did not recall the full skit at all! Comedians obviously make the best therapists! Thanks for this!

Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening everyone. We are back to Monday. Almost 7:30am here as of this post and getting ready to go to work. Hope you all have a good day. The heat broke here. It’s only about 70 right now and getting up to 83 today with no humidity. Back to higher temps and more humidity tomorrow.

ETF tapping for the anxiety? Brad Yates has a channel with videos on Youtube.

Splash cold water on your face.

Weighted blankets for when it’s cooler?

Can you spend more time outdoors too?

Also be more Mindful of what you’re watching/ listening to, I can feel it more after watching the news.

Also track your menstrual cycle if you don’t already, some women do feel it worse 10 days before.

We should pay so much more attention to our menstrual cycles and menopause experiences than we currently do. It is such a source of rich information about ourselves and our cyclical way of being, but it's rarely acknowledged, let alone prioritised, outside of particular female centred circles.

Sigh...Dr. T had to push back our session today (just to later this afternoon) due to a last-minute "unavoidable" meeting at his new office building. I had a feeling this would happen, but was afraid he'd have to cancel entirely. Hoping he'll have an update on the move today. I just want it over with at this point. We'll be meeting in the old office I've already said good-bye to, but I'd rather meet in person than virtually (especially as D will be home--she wouldn't have been had we met at the original time, which was then pushed later, and now later again...).

He was originally supposed to be in the new office today (though I was going to meet virtually to sort of get used to it from a distance and avoid likely new paint fumes). He briefly thought he could be moving this week instead, but as of when we last met, Thursday, he thought it would be at least the following week. He's also off one Friday in there, and he'll have to take off two days for the move (it's in 2 parts) whenever that happens. I just hate the lack of knowing what's happening. The frame is supposed to be important in therapy, and there's a lack of one right now on multiple levels.

I agree. There does seem to be more attention lately to perimenopause and menopause, at least in the U.S., so that's something.

Like a new nonhormonal medication that's specifically for hot flashes (it has some weird name that I can't recall). I can't take hormone replacement because I get migraines with aura, and I've been having lots of hot flashes lately. If I had a regular gyno that I liked, I'd ask her about it, but it seems all the ones I like end up leaving to different areas. Of course, the med probably has crazy side effects, and I don't care so much during the day, but it's been disruptive to my sleep.

Yes - it was pleasant here yesterday and is again today but tomorrow we plunge back into summer.

Veozuh?

when i went through menopause i remember i bought a cheap bag of frozen vegetables and put that on top of my head and would just refreeze it after it thawed. my hair's so thick, the cold didn't bother my scalp but it sure helped with the hot flashes.

I think that's it! Or something like that, where it sounds sort of like someone clearing their throat.


Hm, I have a migraine hat that I keep in the fridge that's cold. I suppose I could repurpose that for hot flashes.

For now, I'm in my bedroom/office, I'll just turn the fan on blasting me. And I sleep with the window AC unit set cooler in here. I tend to be sensitive to heat anyway, so I already dress in fairly lightweight clothing. I had a handheld battery-powered fan in my purse--might need to put that back in.

Oh, maybe I could do an ad campaign for them.

"I'm having hot flash issues."

"Veozah."

"Oh, were you just clearing your throat there? Allergies?"

"No, suggesting a new med. Veozah."

Are unpronounceable medications par for the course over there?

Medicines that sound like spells...there's a concept I could get behind.

There's a migraine one that's Qulipta. No, I didn't miss a vowel after the "Qu". And lots of just random ones. It feels like they just string letters together. I guess it has to be unique so they can patent it?

Are copywriting interns involved in that process?

My team is helping on calls again today and it's been kinda brutal. Not bad calls, per se, everyone's been fine, it's just, they NEVER stop. As soon as one hangs up the next one's in your ear. Thank goodness for breaks. H went to get Taco Bell for lunch. I'll have to use personal or after call work to sneak bites in between calls. or put people on hold. ha! i'm already at 48 calls today and still have 2 more hours after break. Boo. My fitbit thing keeps telling me it's indicating stress. hahahahahahahahahaa

Yikes, Artie.

I hope the next couple of hours slow down a bit.