The Unfinished Library

Always striving to be better. Random personal stuff, reblogs, interests go here. Queer, bisexual, ace, genderqueer, non-binary, they/them. New! Redbubble shop: TheBookewyrme.redbubble.com

[devilsskettle]

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

[devilsskettle]

[devilsskettle]

[bedbugbiting]

My face is having uncontrollable spasms. Great. It hurts really, really, really bad.

I think part of why I have trouble explaining pain to the doctor is when they ask about the pain scale I always think “Well, if someone threw me down a flight of stairs right now or punched me a few times, it would definitely hurt a lot more” so I end up saying a low number. I was reading an article that said that “10” is the most commonly reported number and that is baffling to me. When I woke up from surgery with an 8" incision in my body and I could hardly even speak, I was in the most horrific pain of my life but I said “6” because I thought “Well, if you hit me in the stomach, it would be worse.”

[bomberqueen17]

I searched and searched for the post this graphic was from, and the OP deactivated, but I kept the graphic, because my BFF does the same thing, uses her imagination to come up with the worst pain she can imagine and pegs her “10″ there, and so is like, well, I’m conscious, so this must be a 5, and then the doctors don’t take her seriously. (And she then does things like driving herself to the hospital while in the process of giving birth. Probably should have called an ambulance for that one!)

So I found this and sent it to her. Because this is what they want to know: how badly is this pain affecting you? Not on a scale of “nothing” to “how I’d imagine it’d feel if bears were eating my still-living guts while I was on fire”. 

I hate reposting stuff, but I’ll never find that post again and OP is deactivated, so, here’s a repost. I can delete this later, i just wanted to get it to you and I can’t embed images in a chat or an ask. 

[derryderrydown]

This is possibly why it took several weeks to diagnose my fractured spine.

[petralemaitre]

Pain Scale transcription:

10 - I am in bed and I can’t move due to my pain. I need someone to take me to the emergency room because of my pain.

9 - My pain is all that I can think about. I can barely move or talk because of my pain.

8 - My pain is so severe that it is difficult to think of anything else. Talking and listening are difficult.

7 - I am in pain all the time. It keeps me from doing most activities.

6 - I think about my pain all of the time. I give up many activities because of my pain.

5 - I think about my pain most of the time. I cannot do some of the activities I need to do each day because of the pain.

4 - I am constantly aware of my pain but can continue most activities.

3 - My pain bothers me but I can ignore it most of the time.

2 - I have a low level of pain. I am aware of my pain only when I pay attention to it.

1 - My pain is hardly noticeable.

0 - I have no pain.

[airagorncharda]

It’s also really important to get this kind of scale to people who have chronic pain, because chronic pain drastically lowers your perception of how “bad” any kind of pain actually is, and yet something like this pain scale is extremely user friendly. 

For example, if someone asked me how much pain I’m in at any given time, I’d say hardly any, and yet I’m apparently at a chronic 2.5, and it only goes up from there depending on the day. 

There’s also a similarly useful “Fatigue Scale”

[jedijenkins]

I haven’t been below a 5 on this scale for 4 years 

[nerdgasrnz]

Here’s the fatigue scale

[sunny-day-sky]

Fatigue scale image desc:

10: can barely move; can’t talk

9: can barely move; can talk

8: can move, but can’t do much more than watch TV

7: can watch TV and play a game on my phone simultaneously

6: can do work on my computer lying in bed

5: can get around the house, but definitely couldn’t go out

4: can run a light errand

3: can get in my 10,000 steps, making my fitbit happy

2: can do three or more activities in a single day

1: going clubbing!

[eruvadhril]

See also the Mental Health Pain Scale by Graceful Patient:

Mental Health Pain Scale transcription:

MILD

1 - Everything is a-okay! There is absolutely nothing wrong. You’re probably cuddling a fluffy kitten right now. Enjoy!

2 - You’re a bit frustrated or disappointed, but you’re easily distracted and cheered up with a little effort.

3 - Things are bothering you, but you’re coping. You might be overtired or hungry. The emotional equivalent of a headache.

MODERATE

4 - Today is a bad day (or a few bad days). You still have the skills to get through it, but be gentle with yourself. Use self-care strategies.

5 - Your mental health is starting to impact on your everyday life. Easy things are becoming difficult. You should talk to your doctor.

6 - You can’t do things the way you usually do them due to your mental health. Impulsive and compulsive thoughts may be hard to cope with.

SEVERE

7 - You’re avoiding things that make you more distressed, but that will make it worse. You should definitely seek help. This is serious.

8 - You can’t hide your struggles any more. You may have issues sleeping, eating, having fun, socialising, and work/study. Your mental health is affecting almost all parts of your life.

9 - You’re at a critical point. You aren’t functioning any more. You need urgent help. You may be a risk to yourself or others if left untreated.

10 - The worst mental and emotional distress possible. You can no longer care for yourself. You can’t imagine things getting any worse. Contact a crisis line immediately.

[kingspadedying]

These are so important! SO SO IMPORTANT SHARE THIS AND SAVE IT TO SHOW YOUR DOCTORS!

[mrswhozeewhatsis]

This is the first time I’ve seen the fatigue scale, and HOLY MOLY that’s a revelation!!! These should be on all hospital and doctor office walls.

[thesaltofcarthage]

I’ve never seen the mental health one! or the fatigue one! I printed out the pain one and gave it to my GP. 

[kittycargo]

Mmmm sorry but I need to cancel all my plans for today. My little cat wants to be held and loved.

[directactionforhope]

Every time you catch yourself going, "Fuck, are humans just inherently evil and naturally inclined to selfishness and harm???" you HAVE to remember that that's literally a core ideal of Christianity.

So if it feels inescapable and like evidence of it is everywhere, whether at times or always, that might just because you're in a Western country where you're surrounded by Christians who believe that, fundamentally, in their worldview. And also they talk and make art about it all the time and run the vast majority of news outlets. And spent over a thousand years burning any art or texts that disagreed with them. Etc. etc.

If you're gonna come to as drastic and painful a conclusion as that, at least take the time first to make sure you're not working with biased evidence (surrounded by too many people and cultural products that believe original sin is real)

And if it turns out the feeling WAS partly the result of cultural Christianity, then hey, that's great news, because it means there's that much (and it really is SO MUCH) less evidence that humans inherently suck. Which is good, because we don't

[anarchistmemedistro]

you also have to remember that the ruling class has been using christianity as an ideological tool to justify themselves for more a millennium and a half. the broader term for this ideology is ‘veneer theory’, ie that ‘civilization’ is a thin veneer (the church, the state, etc) keeping us from giving in to our true, savage, nature. the idea that people are brutish selfish and cruel is a myth that is deeply baked into every aspect of western society. it is used to justify the state, the rich, police, wars, slavery, inequality, and just about every other cruelty you can imagine. but the evil you witness or perceive is a result of those systems, not a natural or inevitable state of affairs.

[mymidwestheart]

Well, that made me happy. 😌🎠❄️

[rainbowbarnacle]

[alexaloraetheris]

Didn't realize it was a barn at first so I thought by Belgians she meant. People.

[elodieunderglass]

No same I was excited

[hellenhighwater]

Rainy afternoon slap fights with the darling idiots

The squeaky crying is coming from grown man Vice and not bitty baby Mayhem, by the way.

[hellenhighwater]

this is Vice:

[4waystreet]

the idea that predators and abusers are an ontological category of person, rather than everyone having the capacity to be predatory and abusive, leads to people having no regard for boundaries because they think that predation only comes from evil people ™

[renthony]

As a nonbinary intersex person, I feel like I'm always trying to balance on the knife's edge between "I believe that anyone should get whatever hormones and surgery they want, no questions asked, with no shitty barriers" and "...but some of y'all are really edging into truscum/transmedicalist territory, I really need people to stop equating the term 'transition' with 'HRT, surgery, and nothing else,' and I am begging other trans people to do way more work in deconstructing their binary view of gender, because if one more trans person says something exorsexist and/or intersexist to me about my body, I AM going to fucking snap. Stop gendering my body and trying to dictate what transition should mean for anyone who isn't your own damn self."

[renthony]

I really wish it was easier to say, "hey, transmedicalists have put a shitty amount of pressure on me and several of my other nonbinary friends to transition in a way that doesn't suit us, and the emphasis a lot of trans spaces put on HRT and surgery can be super uncomfortable as an intersex person who has had doctors try to tell me I should get hormone treatments to 'fix' my body."

But people get touchy and reactive about that conversation, because of how many bigots are doing the "omg trans people are FORCING their DIRTY HORMONES on our CHILDREN!" narrative.

I never want to accidentally contribute to that moral panic. But at the same time, as a nonbinary intersex person, some trans people really fucking do pull the "oh my god you have to get HRT and surgery in order to be VALID and REAL like ME!" shit.

And it's hard to navigate sometimes, y'know?

[renthony]

These thoughts are on my mind today because I'm reading an anthology of trans-focused comics. A significant number of them are "how I got my surgery/HRT and started feeling like a Real Trans Person" narratives.

The authors haven't done anything shitty in telling their stories. These stories are important to share. But it's hard not to notice that I've yet to see a story like mine, where the journey of self-love comes through learning that body parts have no gender, that my body does not determine my identity, and that I don't have to alter it in order to fit binarist, truscum, intersexist ideas of what I should look like. My body can just exist without intervention. I don't need to do anything to it unless I want to, and the fact that I don't want to does not make me any less trans, nonbinary, or intersex.

It just gets kind of exhausting and alienating to see endless "trans empowerment is through SURGERY and HORMONES!!!!" stories, without much variation.

I wasn't born in the wrong body. I don't feel trapped in my body. My body is already nonbinary, because I am nonbinary.

[tightjeansjavi]

also, google is free, but pick up a textbook every once in awhile. Find articles written by POC and keep up to date with how you can be a better ally. I took a black feminist theory class in college…taught by two white women.

You heard me right. Two. White. Women.

Which is fucking insane in itself, but on the first day of class one of the professors was reading an article, written by a black woman…and decided that it was completely acceptable and appropriate to drop the n-word (hard r) and every single person in class was fucking MORTIFIED. Even in the context of education, there was no reason for a white professor to so casually and subtly use that word. (They were called out for it immediately after and profusely apologized)

My point is that covert racism is still racism, and unfortunately it is alive and well.

I also have all of the articles and works saved from this class if anyone would like to do some heavy and necessary reading! I have hard copies, but I’m sure I can find the links for the articles as well.

Just after doing a little research on google, I found these articles to be incredibly helpful on breaking down covert racism, racism, white privilege, etc.

covert racism

systematic racism

racism and health

becoming trustworthy white allies

what is white privilege

books on systematic racism, racial justice, and anti-racism

race equity tools

Bottom line, white people have no excuse to not stand up for BIPOC. There is no excuse for racism. There is no tolerance, and we have to do better. I firmly believe that the first step in becoming a better ally is to educate yourself.

[d6b-onion]

this video has been going around for a while but the English subtitles didn't match the energy of the spoken French at all. i had to fix it.

reblog to spread this version

[dragon-in-a-fez]

said this as part of a larger point in a reblog but I'm gonna make it its own post:

humans have the right to do things that are mildly bad for us sometimes.

[dragon-in-a-fez]

you have the right to eat way too many pierogi and make yourself a little sick. you have the right to go skydiving. you have the right to pull an all-nighter building the Imperial City of Tamriel in Minecraft. you have the right to get drunk in your living room watching football.

life is not about making the safest most logically correct choice at all times. you're a blob of salty meat piloting a flesh mech and you get to act like it.

[problemnyatic]

This is called dignity of risk and it's a big topic in disability rights spaces. id elaborate but im fuckin wiped

[fedorahead]

it's always funny how people will advocate for bodily autonomy when it comes to certain things but then shy away from anything they personally wouldn't do to their own body. like yeah, that's why it's your body buddy. i can do what i want with mine.

[girldraki]

kind of harmonically beautiful

[funky-insanitear]

[possuminnit]

cant do the mutual first memory rb game because i genuinely cant remember anything. i dont know you were all my mutuals at birth. we were joined by the stars and by blogging

[possuminnit]

m,y first memory is that I Loved You and do still

[sycamorality]

[doll-face-andyeahboy]

JUNKO??????

[ancient-rome-au]

new frontiers in horse girl [laudatory] [source]

[curseofmeatthawsmoth]

Three types of anarchist literature:

- "Make America grate again! A history of the 1926 cheese workers strike"

- "Poisonous tendrils: becoming invisible through creepy opacity"

- "An easy guide to making your own soap :) "

[skels-pixel-art]

please wait while he travels across your dash, he's on a very important mission

[secondbeatsongs]

did you wait for the train to go all the way across before scrolling down?

yes, of course

no, I did not

secret third option (explain in the notes)

Remaining time: 1 day 2 hours