A peer support community, independent and not for sale. Since February 2024.
A year on and it is a Tuesday chore Writing it down partly to work out what I actually think.
Squeamish subject, so I am going to be plain about it and get it over with.
What I would find most useful is not advice. It is somebody describing what their version of this was, and how long it went on for.
I have written down what has actually happened, in order, because I find that more useful than my summary of it.
Thanks all. Genuinely.
83
Please do not read the comments under news articles about this. I lost a fortnight to that.
6
Noticing out loud that this conversation has drifted into comparison. That happens without anyone intending it and it does not help anyone. Let us come back to the person who asked.
20
the reply above — yes, and the bit that took me longest to accept was the next part.
My experience was very boring, which I offer as data. Some of us just get a dull time of it.
16me too 1
What helped was lowering my own expectations of the week rather than trying to hold the week together.
12
Gently disagreeing with the reply above, or rather adding the other half of it.
Coming back to this a fortnight later to say it settled. Leaving the update because I hate reading threads that stop.
15
I am the person who had the frightening version of this. I went in, it was investigated, and it was not what anyone feared. Going in is the whole of my advice.
10
It got worse before it got better for me, which I wish someone had said. About ten days of worse.
13
What the reply above described happened to me too, in a slightly different order.
Practical, boring answer: write the three questions down before you go in. I have never once remembered them otherwise.
11me too 4
Gently disagreeing with the reply above, or rather adding the other half of it.
Different experience here, for balance. Mine did not improve and in the end I stopped, and that was the right call for me. Both outcomes exist.
8me too 7
The phrase that unlocked my appointment was asking what specifically she wanted me to watch for. It moved us from reassurance to a plan in about thirty seconds.
13
What the reply above described happened to me too, in a slightly different order.
My pharmacist was more use than anyone. Ten minutes at the counter, no appointment, no charge.
10
Can I gently push back on one thing? Not the substance, just the framing — you have written twice that you should be coping better. Who told you that?
14
Yes to the burping. It is real, it is unbeautiful, and it does settle.
12
I am about four months behind you and I have been dreading exactly this, so thank you for writing it down before I got there.
6
No advice, just recognition. That sounds exhausting and I am sorry you are in it.
11
Gently disagreeing with the reply above, or rather adding the other half of it.
I keep a two-line diary and it is the only reason I could answer this question about myself. Worth starting even now.
11
Building on what the reply above wrote rather than answering the original question.
For what it is worth, the trial data on this is thinner than the confidence of the internet would suggest. Worth knowing when you read the posts.
8me too 1
Have you got anyone who can be with you when you do it? It made an enormous difference to me and I felt silly asking.
13
Before anyone offers a remedy: what has been described here is on the list of things that need a clinician today rather than a thread. I am going to be firm about that, kindly.
28
I did exactly the same and felt terrible about it. You have not done anything wrong.
11