This is the mindset I have to keep myself in while working in medicine. I can’t save every patient. Some of them will die in my care, but that won’t stop me from trying to help the next one.

These are incredibly important reports to publish and spread awareness of…but I kind of wish I hadn’t read them today.

That’s why it’s a disagreement. I’m not necessarily saying their opinions are factually incorrect, just that they are devoid of empathy, morally reprehensible, and antithetical to the teachings of the religious figure that they are statistically likely to claim to be faithful to. A lack of empathy should not be rewarded.

Typically, the things I disagree with are the things like bad faith arguments, lies, rudeness, or bigoted ideals that purport that not all humans deserve equal rights, etc.

Usually, when I disagree with something, it is because it is incorrect, lying, or particularly mean-spirited. I disagree with people that do not think that every human deserves the same rights. I disagree with people that push for ideologies that would strip other humans of their rights, or that would inflict needless suffering. I don’t downvote people when I disagree with what media they think is good or something. I downvote those that express ideas that are antithetical to what I see as basic human decency or that are factually incorrect.

Personally, I use downvotes to say “I disagree with this and/or it is a stupid/bad/bigoted/etc take, but I do not wish to spend the time and effort to respond and get dragged into a text-based mudfight with someone who is unlikely to speak to me politely, no matter how polite I try to be in my rebuttal.”

I like having a way to say “no, bad, stop that” without having to spend time trying to explain things or engage with someone who I think is beyond convincing anyways.

I was following along with some of your other comments and whatnot, but this diatribe tells me a lot about your intentions behind this post.

I have ADHD, and I’m a medical student. I suppose in your mind that makes me one of the “dumbest motherfuckers” in training, but I will speak from the education and authority that I do have. There are many health conditions and comorbidities that can make stimulants a bigger risk than they’re worth. Personally, I have idiopathic sinus tachycardia, so my psychiatrist had me get a consultation with Cardiology before she would prescribe a stimulant because one of the major risks of stimulant medications is Sudden Cardiac Death Syndrome (which is exactly what it sounds like) and if you have a high heart rate or other cardiac or electrophysiological abnormalities, it drastically increases your risk.

I get that getting by without medication is extremely difficult for some people. I had to do my first semester of medical school on hard mode while I got my official diagnosis and medical clearance for treatment sorted out. Healthcare access, particularly mental healthcare access in America (and pretty much everywhere else for mental health) is criminally abysmal, but that is not an excuse to encourage people to ignore medical advice and consensus regarding medication safety.

(And as a side note: Surgeons are really good…at anatomy. Most of the surgeons I have worked with would really prefer it if the primary care/family med/internal med/literally-anyone-else doctors did the pre- and post-op medication management. Anesthesiologists are the ones that are intimately acquainted with pharmacology when considering physicians in the OR)

I’m repeating my reply to someone else in the thread so hopefully more people can see it:

I looked it up and read through the NIH paper that did a review of available information about it. It’s essentially a recreational drug that can be formed in your body when you take methylphenidate and alcohol at the same time.

I will put out this caution though: there were a lot of reports of bad trips, worsened focus/cognition, dangerous side effects like increased heart rate and body temperature, and there was a very high rate of addictive responses. So it may sound like fun, but you’re running the risk of causing yourself a lot of problems and using Ethylphenidate (or methylphenidate plus alcohol) may make your regular ADHD meds less effective and lead into addiction problems.

TL;DR: This is a dangerous, bad idea and as a medical student with a decent understanding of pharmacology, I do NOT recommend doing this.

I looked it up and read through the NIH paper that did a review of available information about it. It’s essentially a recreational drug that can be formed in your body when you take methylphenidate and alcohol at the same time.

I will put out this caution though: there were a lot of reports of bad trips, worsened focus/cognition, dangerous side effects like increased heart rate and body temperature, and there was a very high rate of addictive responses. So it may sound like fun, but you’re running the risk of causing yourself a lot of problems and using Ethylphenidate (or methylphenidate plus alcohol) may make your regular ADHD meds less effective and lead into addiction problems.

While Russia is fascist as heck, it is still substantially easier to emigrate from Russia than it is to emigrate from North Korea. Also, while there is a powerful state media in Russia, they do not have complete (or near complete) control over every line of communication in and out of the country as is the case in North Korea. There’s also the matter of relative wealth and ability to defy/evade government control by way of travel/media consumption/emigration.

Mine does that sometimes, but there’s plenty of times when it’s just being a glitchy pile of garbage. I’ve got a fully updated pixel 8 pro and a 2021 Subaru Crosstrek, but sometimes they just don’t like to talk to each other correctly. It’ll also do this fun thing where it just fails to turn on the mic for phone calls until I reboot the phone and the car before reconnecting them.

If Android Auto is active, it blocks me from opening Google Maps on my phone and I have to mess with the touchscreen interface a bunch before it offers to let me use my phone’s keyboard while stopped. It would be less annoying if the voice search option and the search interface on the car’s touchscreen was less bad.

Yes! I fucking love buttons and dials! And maybe Android Auto can just heckin’ let me use my phone keyboard when I’m stopped.

Bullets are a lot more expensive than bandages most of the time.

(Edit: that is not to say that this is a reasonable allocation of resources in this situation. The appropriate ratio would be zero bullets and a couple dozen new, fully equipped hospitals and several hundred well-stocked kitchens.)

A social hobby that gets her out of the house might be the ticket here. Maybe look into your local community centers and whatnot to see if there’s something like a couples dance class that you could do together or yoga classes. Having ways to socialize that are not food-centric goes a long ways towards building better habits.

I grew up in a mostly (75% or so) Hispanic neighborhood and I don’t think I’ve ever heard the word “gringo” in a non-derogatory tone of voice or context. And perhaps sympathy was not the correct word to have used there. I think “empathy” might better convey what I meant as it is my assumption that you are trying to convince people to see the situation from your point of view. Asking someone to empathize and/or agree with your viewpoint does take some diplomacy in many cases, and demanding evidence that is likely not in a language the commenter speaks is not going to be very helpful. While Mexico is an important country with a large population and substantial global economic impact, any news about Mexico that reaches the US in English is unlikely to present the internal politics of the country in a nuanced or detailed way.

That is something that has the possibility of being immensely helpful, provided the cooperation of a substantial portion of the Indian population and the entirety of the Indian government. I truly wish there was something that could be done about from where I stand, but the problem is extremely ingrained and, in some ways, endemic to that culture.

I’m very disappointed that this person deleted all of their comments because I am quite curious to know what bizarre arguments they were trying to make based on your responses.

I took a look at your previous comments and noticed that you seemed to largely be arguing about points of opinion rather than fact. Also, my Spanish isn’t great, but referring to people you disagree with as “gringos” and complaining about political discussions is not going to win you a whole lot of sympathy for your position.

Sometimes working on one’s mental health can go a long way towards improving aspects of physical health like weight issues. I’m almost positive that there will be a lot of places with the same problems, but there might be mental health/meditation retreats in safer areas. I’m pretty sure there’s at least a few that will take their patrons out to the Redwood forests in California and plop them down in the nice environment with some solitude for self-contemplation. (I attended such a thing a decade and a half ago, but I don’t know if it’s still there.)