Monday Bunny Blogging

Blogging Against Disablism Day

Please participate on May 1 to raise awareness about disability issues and the impact of disablism/ableism.

Clicking on the banner will take you to Goldfish’s blog. She started Blogging Against Disablism Day last year, and I’m grateful she’s continuing such a great idea. Guidelines for participating are available on her site.

My personal request: I hope that more able-bodied people will participate this year. There’s a lot of great work being done by disability activists, but really, who should be involved in addressing and attacking disablism more than those with able-bodied privilege? I promise we don’t bite-it’s a very friendly group.

Withdrawal’s not over, but neither am I

I cannot get my temperature stabilized!*

Today is the official end of my withdrawal. My body seems to have missed the memo. The substitute doctor (when I freaked out and called my shrink last Friday-”I can’t take this anymore!”, he was on vacation! You know, he’s the moron who told me to quit Cymbalta cold turkey. Isn’t that perfect-on vacation!) Substitute doc got my message and she called me back. I nearly dropped the phone when I realized there was a psychiatrist on the other end. A planet where doctors speak to patients who are suffering?!

Anyway, she said withdrawal lasts from one to two weeks. [PLEASE: no helpful comments about withdrawal that went on for 1-2 years, or that was permanent. I know the horror stories, and this will not help me.] So during these two weeks, I’ve had that to focus on: an end point for all of this. Not sure how I’m going to cope once I’m beyond that end point. Two weeks is way too long given the misery, but I did it. Coping for an unknown period of time is something else.

Helpful doc did push going back on the Cymbalta so I could taper off in tiny doses. Her voice was like a drug as she said “Going back on even a tiny dose will make all these symptoms stop immediately”. Oh, how I want that. But when asked directly, she confirmed that, yes, going back on even a tiny dose of Cymbalta could lead to all of these symptoms starting from scratch when I quit the drug for good. I will not relive the past two weeks.

So, I’ve made a little progress, but not too much. I catch myself bargaining like I did as a child: If the nausea will stop, I won’t complain about anything else. Oh, and I’ll be “good” too! I’m trying to avoid too much interaction with people as I only have two reactions: a weepy, emotional mess, and rage. Yes, in fact, this is different from my “normal”.

Here’s my big, weepy, make-you-uncomfortable self: thank you so much to all of you for your kind thoughts and your research. Knowing so many people give a rat’s ass really does help. Um, the impact is greater in person-I’d sob and soak the shoulder of your shirt in no time.

*I wasted three years of my life studying the autonomic nervous system. No one believes me when I say that my temperature regulation problems are withdrawal symptoms. Cymbalta functions in part by stabilizing the parasympathetic nervous system. So please, science geeks, explain to me why withdrawing from this drug wouldn’t explain why my temperature has fluctuated wildly for the last two weeks, ranging from a low of 96 degrees and a high of 98.7 degrees. That’s not an infectious process. Either it’s the withdrawal doing this to me, or I have a whole new health problem. Need I say the damage a rampaging elephant can do when she gets SOMETHING ELSE? Comfort me by lying to me if necessary. Many thanks!

Cymbalta Sucks Ass; Eli Lilly Executives Are Asses!

Dear Executives at Eli Lilly:

Your product, Cymbalta, sucks ass and should not be promoted for human consumption. You know which product I’m referring to, don’t you? The same drug that you’re pushing off-label as an effective remedy for pain? You really shouldn’t be doing that when you have no credible evidence to support your argument.

I know there are people who have been helped by Cymbalta. For a month or two, I was helped by Cymbalta-it actually reduced the muscle pain of fibromyalgia. But then it stopped working, like antidepressants often do. I’m sure you will point out that some people manage to discontinue Cymbalta without withdrawal symptoms. Guess what? Some people jump from very high places and survive! These people are in the minority, and do not make an effective argument for your wonderfully harmful medication. Don’t just don’t even try it.

Remember how you tried to use legal measures to prevent doctors from warning their patients of the dangers and risks of Cymbalta? Remember how you’ve pushed your other drugs, Prozac, Zyprexa, and that other one I’m too foggy-headed to remember, in the same greedy way? Your only concern has ever been for making as much money as possible, while not caring how many people are harmed or killed by your drugs. Oh, you must laugh over those great memories!

I apologize that I’m not including tons of references* to back up my claims, as your lack of regard for clinical evidence is one of the things I despise most about you. But you see, I am very, very dizzy today, and the computer screen doesn’t seem to be holding still! Each page change makes the dizziness worse, so I’m not wanting to (gulp) surf the web today. Given that I’m nauseated, I also don’t want to up the fun by adding vomiting to my list of withdrawal symptoms, you dogshit pusbags.

The good news is that decreasing and stopping Cymbalta has caused my blood pressure to return to levels compatible with human life. My doctors NEVER warned me about the risk of high blood pressure when I started Cymbalta. Now, I wonder why that could be? Especially since they insisted on taking my blood pressure every time I went to see them. Oh, well, I’m sure high blood pressure couldn’t cause any health problems!

Your friend,
spotted elephant

*For more information on Cymbalta, Eli Lilly, and evil pharmaceutical companies, see Philip’s site Furious Seasons and Cl Psych’s blog, a site of a much longer name, but I need to lie down. Anyway, by not including them in the letter, I’m hoping that Eli Lilly lawyers will only come after me.

Doesn’t lying down make dizziness worse? Anyone have home remedies for dizziness?

Poverty and Homelessness: Cockroaches 1, Humans 0

Over a year ago, a fascinating study was released about how cockroaches share available shelters:

Researchers offered 50 cockroach larvae their choice of three shelters that could each house more than 50 cockroaches. All 50 tended to crowd into the same shelter.

When the shelters were swapped with smaller versions that could hold just 40 cockroaches, the group would typically split into two groups of about 25, leaving one house unoccupied.

“It’s better, in terms of group benefits, to have a 50/50 split instead of one important, large group and one that’s less robust,” said study coauthor Jose Halloy of the Universite libre de Bruxelles in Belgium.

emphasis mine

Roaches have decided that every roach matters. This study is fascinating, and exciting, and damning for human society.

Before any concern trolls inform me that cockroaches are “designed” to live communally and humans aren’t, I’ll remind you that adaptation is all about what works in the current environment. Roaches have figured out what works, while humans are failing miserably.

Roaches, even immature roaches, understand that everyone does better when everyone does better. Humans can’t seem to grasp this simple fact.

The Great Medication Purge

I’m banishing as many meds from my life as I can. From a lifetime high of 12 or 13 medications, I was down to taking “only” nine medications every day of my life. I hate taking meds. Every medication has side effects. Every medication can cause long-term harm. Medications are expensive. When it started looking like I was going to have to cancel my health insurance, I sat down and calculated the retail cost of my drugs. I only got through 5 of the 9 meds, because I started hyperventilating when I saw that five of my medications costs $622 a month. Those 5 drugs didn’t include the cost of the one medication that literally keeps me alive.

The current drug I’m eliminating is Cymbalta, an antidepressant used both in mood disorders and for treating pain in fibromyalgia. Stopping psychiatric drugs can be a nightmare. Those innocent antidepressants that doctors hand out to everyone aren’t so easy to discontinue. The withdrawal symptoms vary in type, intensity, and duration. Check out an excellent site if you want to look up potential side effects for psychiatric drugs.

I feel really crappy, and I’m concerned I won’t be able to quit Cymbalta. What if my mood crashes, or my muscles seize up? But I draw strength from the ineptness of my doctors. Before quitting any meds, I begged for help with my constant nausea (and sometime vomiting). The doctors concurred: any one of my medications could be causing the nausea, or it could be any one of my several health problems/conditions/illnesses. They just looked so helpless. So I decided to kick Cymbalta’s ass!

Saturday will be my first antidepressant-free day since sometime in 1998.

Monday Bunny Blogging

(whispered) We catch up with Bumble just as he’s caught his prey. He appears to be biting a tender spot on the prey to overpower it.

With astonishing speed, Bumble delivers the killing blow!


What was that?! Bumble tenses, perhaps hearing rivals. Are there other rabbits coming to steal his kill?

With no time to lose, Bumble places his massive forepaw on the prey to gain leverage as he prepares to feed.

Bumble uses his large jaw muscles to tear large strips from the prey. A selective predator, he will only consume highly desirable portions of the prey, leaving the rest for scavengers.

We are very fortunate today! The gruesome killing style of Oryctolagus cuniculus has never been caught on film before!

That Good Ol’ Everyday Racism

I was sorting my mail tonight, and came across a catalog full of cheap tacky stuff. The catalog was clearly aimed at white people. Every model in the catalog appeared to be a nonthreatening middle-class white woman, and besides, who else would buy this stuff besides white people?

There are problems with manufacturing cheap stuff than nobody needs. The production of this garbage harms workers who are exposed to toxic materials and toxic wages, and there are costs to the environment.

But there are other problems. That catalog contained this:

Cactus Planter Couple

What’s wrong with this picture? Well, white people owning figurines of people we* committed genocide against should make your stomach heave. The very idea of owning resin Native Americans should make you feel extremely hot and as though the room was spinning.

In case you didn’t notice it, there’s a problem with the representation of sexuality in these figures**. The context here involves making “jokes” about people of color. White people have treated people of color as less than human, and we’ve tried to control their sexuality as well. Women of color are usually represented as having high sex drives and willingly having sex with anyone. These supposed traits make them fair game for white men in America, and frankly, I can’t bring myself to imagine what the cacti as breasts really represent. No, it isn’t just harmless fun. Men of color are either demonized as a threat to all white women due to their raging, animalistic*** sexuality, or they’re mocked as impotent. This planter encourages people to keep that tradition alive.

One final thing: when you see racist items like these cactus planters displayed in a friend’s or relative’s home, or when they’re for sale in a store or online, PLEASE SPEAK UP. Lots of white Americans think there’s no problem with items like these. Maybe you see things like this and you cringe inwardly, but you don’t speak up. You don’t want to hurt your aunt’s feelings, or your best friend is “just like that”. That’s no excuse.

How far does someone have to go before you speak out?

UPDATE: Contact information for this company
By Mail:
Collections Etc.
Customer Service
P.O. Box 7985
Elk Grove Village, IL 60009-7985

By Phone: 1-620-584-8000
7 days a week, 6 AM – Midnight CST

By email: Use their form

Thanks for the suggestion, AD!

*Yes, I’m aware that you’ve only been alive for the last _____ years. Get over it, and get busy reading some books.
**Think a cactus for a penis is the funniest thing ever? Great! Please, put a large cactus down your pants. Be sure to take a picture of your wounds, and send it to me, because I need a laugh.
***Word deliberately chosen to reflect standard treatment of people of color.

Monday Bunny Blogging

Today is A Very Special Edition of Monday Bunny Blogging. Sunday is Easter, and Easter is a disaster for rabbits. People buy cute baby bunnies as Easter presents, thinking rabbits are easy to take care of.

RABBITS ARE NOT LOW MAINTENANCE PETS!

They are mischievous and you never know what they’ll get into next.

Rabbits require constant access to hay for optimal health. Once you bring hay inside, your home (and you) will never be clean again. Trust me on this. If you don’t mind looking down and seeing hay on your ankle when you’re at a job interview, you might be a good candidate for a rabbit.

People also object to the fact that rabbits are required to eat one type of poop they produce. They catch it right from the anus! Aren’t you glad I didn’t provide a picture of this?

So, for these and other reasons (unaltered young rabbits are holy terrors), a few weeks or months after Easter, countless rabbits get abandoned. A “lucky” few get taken to an animal shelter, where they will ultimately be euthanized due to lack of room. Many people dump their rabbit outside, claiming they’re doing the rabbit a favor by setting it “free”.

What happens to abandoned rabbits? The get killed by birds, cats, dogs, teenagers, cars, or starvation. Domestic rabbits do not do well running loose outside. Setting a domestic rabbit free means finally giving her access to the living room, not pretending you have a wild rabbit on your hands.

Enough preaching and scolding. Rabbits can obviously make wonderful pets (hence, Monday Bunny Blogging). The single hardest thing for me is that most rabbits HATE being picked up. One of the cuddliest-looking and cuddliest-acting animals can’t be picked up and hugged? You can get around this by lying on the floor next to them and hugging them there. You might even be rewarded with a loud, contented tooth-purr. So please, if you’ve carefully thought about it, by all means adopt a needy rabbit (or two!). But please don’t buy the kids a rabbit for Easter the same way you’d buy their Easter basket.

For Easter, please consider buying plush rabbits, and of course, chocolate rabbits!