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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 22 of 22. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by floatingbridge on September 18, 2011, at 11:57:05
It's been so quiet. I realize that there was a golden age of babble that occurred before I ever joined. This is not a babble is dead post. Really. It's a babble is quiet post. There are people I miss from three years ago. Two years ago. Of course, new people have joined whom I appreciate very much. I always miss what has left though. It's my nature or something.
Maybe this post is coming from my new, improved, less excitable mood base (no real sarcasm intended).
I enjoy listening/reading the different voices, even if I don't always post.
Posted by Phillipa on September 18, 2011, at 17:37:53
In reply to I miss the babble I joined 3.5 years ago, posted by floatingbridge on September 18, 2011, at 11:57:05
FB yes but seems like they don't stay like the old days of babble but for a hard core few of us? Love Phillipa
Posted by emmanuel98 on September 18, 2011, at 18:03:21
In reply to Re: I miss the babble I joined 3.5 years ago » floatingbridge, posted by Phillipa on September 18, 2011, at 17:37:53
It seems to me that many people come to babble in crisis and then, when the crisis resolves or they don't get help with the crisis, they leave. I recall Delna, an Indian woman who posted constantly then disappeared. Annabelle, who posted constantly on psychology then stopped. Others. I guess I have been following babble for about three years.
Posted by floatingbridge on September 19, 2011, at 0:18:27
In reply to Re: I miss the babble I joined 3.5 years ago, posted by emmanuel98 on September 18, 2011, at 18:03:21
e, you arrived around the same time as I did!
I remember Delna too. I was just wondering if she was doing o.k. the other day. I rarely commented in here threads.
Well, this has been one long crisis for me, I guess.
But why do I like this place and feel attached to the people, even the ones I find annoying?
Posted by floatingbridge on September 19, 2011, at 0:47:02
In reply to Re: I miss the babble I joined 3.5 years ago » floatingbridge, posted by Phillipa on September 18, 2011, at 17:37:53
Phillipa, this is my only posting place. I get lonely sometimes in my life and tend to isolate. Email is easier for me. I get attached to people. Think about them. I need so much quiet irl, but enjoy good conversation.
Oh well.
I am working on not being the only person in my life drugged to the gills or who might have wept that day. I've started going to DBSA meetings. People there understand black humor.
I don't really know.
Posted by Phillipa on September 19, 2011, at 20:14:37
In reply to Re: I miss the babble I joined 3.5 years ago » Phillipa, posted by floatingbridge on September 19, 2011, at 0:47:02
I also remember Delna was it really 3.5 years ago if so time sure flies. What kind of meeting are they? And the same easy conversation. Phillipa
Posted by emmanuel98 on September 19, 2011, at 21:03:28
In reply to Re: I miss the babble I joined 3.5 years ago » Phillipa, posted by floatingbridge on September 19, 2011, at 0:47:02
What's DBSA, fb?
Posted by floatingbridge on September 19, 2011, at 21:17:30
In reply to Re: I miss the babble I joined 3.5 years ago » floatingbridge, posted by Phillipa on September 19, 2011, at 20:14:37
Depression and bipolar support alliance. The conversation is pretty easy, but gets intense, too. I practice my breathing when some things are shared.
All in all, it's upbeat, actually. We all laugh about getting out of the house for the meeting, dx's, sx's, and withdrawals. Talk about stupid doctors and the ones who stepped up to the plate and really helped.
I can talk about meds where I am not being told to abstain from my AD or benzodiazaphines. Everyone seems been there done that too many times to make judgements. Very helpful peer support for whatever one wants to do wisely, meds, herbs, supplements.
I find the people to be genuine, even in adversity. And we don't need to start the meeting by saying, hi my name is joan (or whatever) and I am a _________. I mean you can if you want to. No knocks to AA, NA. When I go to an local AA meeting (I am not an alcoholic) no one makes me say that either. But the AA meeting I go to is a women's meeting, and half of them are on antidepressants or something, so it's a very accepting group. I have friends that go. That's why I go. Besides, most there talk about self-medicating their mental health issues before getting treatment.
Whew. Wrote a lot.
Posted by Christ_empowered on September 20, 2011, at 12:27:11
In reply to Re: I miss the babble I joined 3.5 years ago » Phillipa, posted by floatingbridge on September 19, 2011, at 21:17:30
After all this time on Babble, I'm only now beginning to appreciate it. The struggles against society and self, the pills, the voice of the silent Other--the mental patient--piping up on an anonymous web board run by...wait for it...a psychiatrist.
I like Babble now more than I did back in the day, when I was a young pill head diving head-first into oblivion. Now I actually learn from it.
I am sometimes disturbed by the fact that our moderator is a shrink. Have you ever read that Joyce Carol Oates short story, "The Collector of Hearts" ? I barely remember it, and I don't want to ruin it for anyone who hasn't read it, but what freaked me out was how a person could seize someone's essence, their being, and then add it to their collection--effectively reducing a human to a trophy, an object, a topic of discussion.
Sometimes I feel like all shrinks (possibly all therapists, too) are "Collectors of Hearts," or possibly souls; we tell them our stories, and we are turned into patient X, with symptoms Y, and appropriate treament Z, and its off to the next patient/heart. I shudder to think that when I'm gone, my psychiatric records might be the only remaining record of me, and it will be a story thoroughly de-clawed and neutered by a "disinterest professional." Good bye pathos; hello pathology.
Sorry to rant.
Posted by floatingbridge on September 20, 2011, at 14:43:47
In reply to Re: I miss the babble I joined 3.5 years ago, posted by Christ_empowered on September 20, 2011, at 12:27:11
CE,
F*ck those records and some of the heart collector's that wrote them. There is more to you or any of us and what we do each day and what we will leave behind then some shrink's records filed in a stack somewhere. I keep trying to wake myself up to what's here, and remember that paper is biodegradable. Maybe some of my hard, sad memories are, too. As are the multi-layers of dx's I have endured.
(Excuse my bitter bluntness. I am a little reactive because my ex-pdoc will not release my records to me. Wtf, so I am getting the help of an advocacy group.)
Some doctors, all stripes, really stink. Others really step up to the plate for those in their care.
After I wrote my post, I reflected that I was in a sad mood when I wrote it, missing some people who had left. I still miss the activity, the bustle of that time. But I wouldn't trade today's board and the folks I post with. Like you. I don't know if you were here then, and your posts are memorable to
me.How funny. I am listening to that Ray Lamontange (sp) song, Be Here Now as I write....
Posted by floatingbridge on September 20, 2011, at 14:57:34
In reply to Re: I miss the babble I joined 3.5 years ago, posted by Christ_empowered on September 20, 2011, at 12:27:11
Can you tell? Sorry I just blurted out like that, CE.
Coffee is not good for my nervous system. But darn, tea doesn't seem to really cut it. I took dexedrine for a good reason....
Self-medicating with coffee....I've experimented the past few days :-/. Oh well....
Posted by sigismund on September 20, 2011, at 16:07:51
In reply to I drank some espresso today » Christ_empowered, posted by floatingbridge on September 20, 2011, at 14:57:34
>Coffee is not good for my nervous system.
Stay out of Starbucks
>But darn, tea doesn't seem to really cut it.
In The Quiet American the narrator referred to tea as 'that bitter trivial beveridge', but hell, he had opium. Opium and green tea, that would be OK with me.
>I took dexedrine for a good reason....
Quite
Posted by sigismund on September 20, 2011, at 17:13:54
In reply to Opium and green tea » floatingbridge, posted by sigismund on September 20, 2011, at 16:07:51
Anyway, not having opium because of deplorable modernity, I have had 3 big cups of rather nice organic orange pekoe, no milk or sugar of course. Then I thought I'd check out the old pu-erh tea, but it was years old, and anyway has no caffeine to begin with.
So I am wondering what to do?
I think my wife may be defaulting to coffee. Evidently someone is doing something because the kettle is on, but perhaps that was me. There could be some cognitive impairment.
Any advice? More tea? Japanese green?
Posted by floatingbridge on September 21, 2011, at 0:07:56
In reply to Re: Opium and green tea, posted by sigismund on September 20, 2011, at 17:13:54
Cocoa leaves?
I have tried matte. Too much.
I used to drink green tea. In would steep it for a long time. At least 1/2 an hour. That's a thought. How do you prepare yours?
I know I am going to try half a cup of just coffee tomorrow, just to think awhile. We'll see.
What did you end up brewing yesterday?
Posted by sigismund on September 21, 2011, at 1:30:33
In reply to Re: Opium and green tea » sigismund, posted by floatingbridge on September 21, 2011, at 0:07:56
I drank a pot of matte. Naturally I didn't sleep that night. Not *particularly* euphoric.
Coca leaves, perhaps like opium itself, are choc full of antioxidants. And it makes, I heard once, a 'happy cup of tea' and isn't that what we need? The Bolivian Minister for Health has said that coca leaves are so good and safe they should be delivered free to school children. This seemed reasonable to me. Better, I have to say, than the kind of things I hear from health ministers in the Anglosphere.
They say to use water at 80C for green tea, which I might approximate, but not half an hour.
Posted by sigismund on September 21, 2011, at 4:27:02
In reply to Re: Opium and green tea » sigismund, posted by floatingbridge on September 21, 2011, at 0:07:56
You might be interested in a landscape photo.
It is majestic here. Leura in the Blue Mountains on fire.
Posted by floatingbridge on September 21, 2011, at 7:16:00
In reply to Re: Opium and green tea » floatingbridge, posted by sigismund on September 21, 2011, at 1:30:33
> I drank a pot of matte. Naturally I didn't sleep that night. Not *particularly* euphoric.
>
> Coca leaves, perhaps like opium itself, are choc full of antioxidants. And it makes, I heard once, a 'happy cup of tea' and isn't that what we need? The Bolivian Minister for Health has said that coca leaves are so good and safe they should be delivered free to school children. This seemed reasonable to me. Better, I have to say, than the kind of things I hear from health ministers in the Anglosphere.
>
> They say to use water at 80C for green tea, which I might approximate, but not half an hour.How long do you allow it to steep? I used to let it steep until it was tepid.
The pics are nice. It's fire season there? Do you have a rainy season? It's our fire season as well right now. Quiet though. In CA that is.
Posted by floatingbridge on September 21, 2011, at 14:21:37
In reply to Re: Opium and green tea, posted by floatingbridge on September 21, 2011, at 7:16:00
Posted by sigismund on September 21, 2011, at 15:13:16
In reply to Well half a cup was not good, either. (nm), posted by floatingbridge on September 21, 2011, at 14:21:37
Well, I'm not surprised that coffee was a dead loss.
How much tea do you drink when you drink that?
I read in "One River" that the Indians would make up this stuff that was the equivalent of 20 cups of coffee, then they'd have a slug of hard liquor and go hiking for plants in the forest.
We must be wusses.
Posted by Phillipa on September 21, 2011, at 19:50:31
In reply to Re: Well half a cup was not good, either. » floatingbridge, posted by sigismund on September 21, 2011, at 15:13:16
Upper and downer creates euphoria? Phillipa
Posted by sigismund on September 24, 2011, at 2:57:53
In reply to Re: Well half a cup was not good, either. » sigismund, posted by Phillipa on September 21, 2011, at 19:50:31
>Upper and downer creates euphoria? Phillipa
Not the ones we get these days.
We need to face reality.
And we need to believe that western civilisation is the highest one there is.
It's so tiring.
Posted by Phillipa on September 24, 2011, at 19:54:19
In reply to Re: Well half a cup was not good, either. » Phillipa, posted by sigismund on September 24, 2011, at 2:57:53
Sweet Sigi Pjxx
This is the end of the thread.
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