im on a journey to take my mental health more seriously and i would love to see some hcs of ponyboy starting medication for his depression/anxiety and all those other issues he's got and the awkwardness that causes with his family and the gang (esp with darry because i know he's probably skeptical about medication all out of a place of worry for his brother) and maybe pony having a hard time getting a good mix of medications and experiencing some of the rougher side effects? i could def see him having an adverse reaction and ending up in the er late at night 😭
honestly, great for u anon!!! my mental health loowwwkkeeyyyy took a hugggeeee dip so i AM envious of u🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄ill get like u,,,,one day,,,,,but yes!! i will do this
•ponys anxiety is baddddd and mainly from school related stuff, his depression has to do w family problems, there is noooooo escape for this guy. at first he was losing it before getting those meds. he ended up w those meds bc soda cracked and told darry what was wrong and pony didnt hate soda, he never could, but he did not wanna look at his face for a bit (like 20 mins lol)
•the pills lead to a lack of appetite for pony so an upside to the pills is that they will make or buy pony whatever pony wants to eat as long as he EATS IT!!! darry and soda want him to eat mainly before taking the pills so hes not on an empty stomach and they dont care WHAT he eats as long as its food (hopefully not junk food but whatever he can eat works)
•pony would make the mistake of thinking he was getting better and not take his meds only to crash HARD not too long after. he would stop taking his meds for a bunch of reasons rlly ESPECIALLY if the meds “messed up” how he looked, call him shallow he dont gaf
•pony very much prefers if it was kept under lock and key which means ONLY darry and soda can know. cant put the pill bottles in the medicine cabinet bc everyone one WILL find it, cant put it in his room bc they MIGHT find it, so pony wants to hide the meds in darrys room which really works in darrys favor!! darry doesnt want pony to abuse em or anything and darrys room is the one place in the house the guys 100% dont go in unless someones dying or the place is on fire
•in the beginning, pony rlly just wants to feel normal, so occasionally soda would just try to smash the pills into a powder and mix it in ponys food so he doesnt have to take the pills normally (dont worry, soda privately asked the doctor if he could do that, he can, pony is safe and fine). leads to mixed emotions from pony but hey it does make him feel normal in a way so its fine
•figuring out what pills and dosage would be good for pony is the main time darry became worried for pony. there were moments where the dosage wasnt enough for pony and pony became super irritable over it not working so they’d have to up the dosage and darry was scared he’d become addicted to the meds and take it at any sign of trouble in his life to calm down instead of dealing w it
•BUT WHAT ALSO CAME W THE HIGHER DOSAGE was ponys sexual drive just completely vanishing on him. saying it outloud maybe its not that serious, but that was one of the things that made pony feel normal and related to others around him even if it was small, so to have that go out on him makes him feel more isolated, these meds r not working in his favor at all for a while. even MORE worse cause he doesnt know if he just break things off w curly over this, the meds make it feel like its just a phase and theyre suppose to help him feel better but HE doesnt feel like its a phase and wants to stay together!! even if he does wanna break it off how can he, he didnt tell curly about the meds so he cant say the truth, nor can he just say “i wanna break up” and not explain he feels messed up for that, soooo for now hanging w curly as much as he loves em feels like a chore NOT BC OF CURLY but all bc of ponys own issues
•ponys w serotonin syndrome???? WOW that was embarrassing the first time it happened. pony took the pills the first time after a dosage change and he was fine, day after that took those pills and he was fine for a couple hours until his eyes went wide, he starting shivering, got a migrane, and sweating a lot. 3 or more symptoms came after they got to the hospital, that bathroom in the waiting room was ponys best friend at that moment. FROM THEN ON☝🏽☝🏽☝🏽pony was petrified to start a new dose
•the pills gave pony insomnia, he is taking an increased dosage of melatonin. one of the gang points out the melatonin is finishing quick and darry and soda say theyve been taking some lately too for pony not to get questioned then and there by everyone (which is true they have been taking some, not THAT much however) but uuuu knowwww they had a talk about it. now soda watches pony taking his necessary meds to make sure theres no funny business goin on. HE DOESNT MAKE IT FEEL LIKE HES WATCHING PONY bless his soul for that but pony knows y soda randomly pops up when hes in the kitchen around his scheduled time to take the pills
•sleeping in the same bed (or the couch) w soda AND darry did tremendous work to make pony feel better, he’d still feel uneasy but safe. when the gang finds them in the morning
•the day pony finds pills good for him?? he will feel like he can take the world and skips school to bask in his positive vibes, he hasnt felt this good in MONTHS. when he picks up his hobbies again?? what a rush for this guy he feels like a new person, he’ll even pick up new ones like painting
•the pills r in those like pill day organizers for old ppl and darry and soda tease him for it cause ponys also taking some vitamins w it, its like he IS an old man rn
•pony would eventually find the right pills and dosage for him and thats when he feels comfortable enough to b more open about it w ppl hes close to
•when the gang finds out they wouldnt b upset at all, thats ponys business, they suspected something but figured whatever it is will come out eventually and it seemed like darry and soda already knew too so no need to pry. that being said they would all laugh at the times pony was nearly caught and came up w a dumb excuse on what was happening to him, ponys in on it too dw