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Content Note: This post delves into mental health diagnoses, but also child abuse, childhood sexual violence, rape, abandonment, and more in great detail. An important piece of my mental health journey has been to embrace the different diagnoses. I have bipolar disorder Type I, I have severe anxiety, and I have complex trauma or cPTSD. […]
I’ve chalked up my recent symptoms to allergies as one does in the spring. I noticed yesterday that I couldn’t taste very well, but also again seemed to be allergies. I was very sick all night and all day, low grade fever, muscle aches, headache, etc. So, I called my PCP who ordered me to […]
In October 2023, I began writing about two specific trauma experiences arising from my experiences the previous August – police interactions and riding in cars. Since then I’ve been working to process both. This post is about the car trauma. How I realized I had car trauma Back then I wrote “Then we layer in […]
‘No Kings’ Means ‘Yes, Due Process’ Right? Local government in Allegheny County might not agree. I think it is important you know that Allegheny County and UPMC are denying they have certain due process obligations in the involuntary civil commitment process. Allegheny County government is denying that they have certain due process obligations. Scroll to […]
Overall, I think I’ve been a good citizen/resident of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Imperfect, but I do fight the good fight. Still being declared totally and permanently disabled at age 40 was hard. Like many of you, I’ve internalized the belief that being productive aka working AND earning money sets the bar for being a good citizen, […]
Over the past 20 years of blogging, my understanding of my mental health has deepened considerably. I share more and more often because I am always learning and because I know that one of the biggest threats to my mental health is stigma. Every time I post here or on my social media about my […]
Today, I had a disturbing thought, wondering if my friends were tiring of hearing me talk about my current struggle with depression? Revisiting recent conversations, looking for subtext, listening for nuance – all to convince myself that I was indeed disturbing them. And that’s the deadly moment where many of us who won’t want to […]
I am one of 9+ million Americans deemed totally and permanently disabled by the Social Security Administration. I was 40 years old at my date of disability. I am 54 years old. Today, I receive a monthly allotment of $1500 after I paid for mandatory Medicare. I had/have full health insurance coverage through my spouse. […]
For the past 16 months, I have been unable to ride in a vehicle driven by a stranger – especially in the back seat. This is a trauma reaction to the time I was put in handcuffs, put in the backseat of a police car, fastened, and taken away from my home under the pretext […]
I met Elisa Rae Shupe, known then as Jamie, here in Pittsburgh. She had moved here with her wife for trans affirming health care. We met through the local LGBTQ Community Center when I was seeking donations from veterans groups to support trans and queer youth. Note: while Elisa is well known for winning a […]
