Hey tumblr, I’m Wren. I’m a millennial who works outdoors. Sometimes I post pictures of the animals that I get to work with. I also post art, comics, and weird dreams. Here’s some FAQ.
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art, bird, bug, cat, caves, cheese bird, cockatiel, comic, crow, dog, dragon, dreams, isopod, me, music, nature center, painting, park ranger, poll, printable, puppet, rabbit, ripley parrot, snake, story time, summer camp, the fair folk, video, vulture
by the way. it never is too late to decide you want to be happy. the woman who helped me get hormones didnt start hers until she was 70, and i met her at 73, beautiful and smiling - and told me that the last three years of her life had been her favorite. your favorites might be ahead of you too. why not hang around and find out?
afaintcloudyhaze asked:
Apologies if this isn't useful at all, but I always make a point to mention this when people are talking about trying to avoid nightmares, because it helps me so, so much - I use a supplement, Mucuna Pruriens extract powder, and make it into a hot drink every night. It's a natural source of L-dopa, which is a precursor to dopamine. I get absolutely traumatizing CPTSD nightmares, and this somehow reduces the frequency, but even more important for me tbh, when I do get nightmares they are 90% less bad and intense. It's like it affects the 'mood' of dreams to make them more positive. When I don't have it, the nightmares genuinely ruin the entire next day for me, they stick in my mind so badly, but if I'm having my Mucuna Pruriens I can just wake up, let them go, and forget them pretty quick.
It's obviously an unregulated supplement so ymmv. It makes some people feel a bit sick. Just thought it could be something to look into maybe! Nightmares suck a lot, I'm sorry you gotta deal with that.
I’m curious to see how to compares to the stuff melatonin did to me. That stuff sent me to the fish dimension.
applebeesbarandgrillmenu-archive asked:
I'm someone on prazosin for severe nightmares and I can attest that it Works Real Good. It also, to my knowledge, has basically no interactions which is super nice. It does stop basically ALL dreams though so if you like your good ones it might be sad. Good luck on your med journey, I hope it flows as easy as these things can.
draconym answered:
Yeah, therein lies my reservation with it: my dreams are really important to me and I usually remember a lot of them. I keep a dream journal and I use it for inspiration in my art. I took a class in college called Psychology of Dreaming because I wanted to learn more about why I have the dreams I do. And I even value my frequent and vivid nightmares; my first tattoo was based on a nightmare I had.
So that’s a hard decision! When the nightmares are really bad I have said “I would give up dreaming altogether just to get rid of these,” but now that the monkey’s paw has curled I’m scared to follow through.
I actually just woke up from a really vivid nightmare about attending a high school reunion in a Chinese city undergoing a catastrophic drought, in which people were dying en masse, and also during which the fabulously wealthy city government had arranged for my American high school reunion to have a watergun fight followed by a pool party. I tried to convince my high school classmates to conserve water, to no avail. It ended with the hotel in which we were staying having its water cut off by the people of the city, who then stormed the building and killed us all. Overall a really interesting story even if it did interrupt my sleep–hence my reluctance to give up even my nightmares.
(I'm the same person who sent in the ask)
Valuing your dreams does make that decision tricky- if you have any kind of "sense" about if you'll have nightmares, Prazosin is a one-night-effect kind of thing. No weaning off, just take as needed and it works for that night. I've found myself with a sort of 6th sense on what nights I'll have nightmares or not, so it's worked for me, but guesswork on stress might also be able to?
Best of luck either way; medicine is a demanding mistress sometimes.
Oh shit really? I will absolutely be scheduling an appointment about it, then. I had assumed acclimating to and weaning off Prazosin would be more similar to SSRIs (difficult). I simultaneously love and fear altering my neurochemistry.
Oh hey, I'm on prazosin too. Prazosin acts on your blood pressure (lowers it), not neurotransmitters directly like an SSRI. For me, it does not fully get rid of my nightmares. It helps the anxiety/panic attack/PTSD flashback in my sleep issues, but I do still dream/have nightmares. It is partly a dosage thing, so I don't know if a higher dose would fully get rid of the nightmares
Ah okay that sucks for me specifically because I have somewhat low blood pressure and have been instructed to “eat as much salt as I want” to compensate for it. So I think my primary care physician would probably regard Prazosin as a bad idea, considering I’m also prone to dizzy spells and fatigue. Nerts.
applebeesbarandgrillmenu-archive asked:
I'm someone on prazosin for severe nightmares and I can attest that it Works Real Good. It also, to my knowledge, has basically no interactions which is super nice. It does stop basically ALL dreams though so if you like your good ones it might be sad. Good luck on your med journey, I hope it flows as easy as these things can.
draconym answered:
Yeah, therein lies my reservation with it: my dreams are really important to me and I usually remember a lot of them. I keep a dream journal and I use it for inspiration in my art. I took a class in college called Psychology of Dreaming because I wanted to learn more about why I have the dreams I do. And I even value my frequent and vivid nightmares; my first tattoo was based on a nightmare I had.
So that’s a hard decision! When the nightmares are really bad I have said “I would give up dreaming altogether just to get rid of these,” but now that the monkey’s paw has curled I’m scared to follow through.
I actually just woke up from a really vivid nightmare about attending a high school reunion in a Chinese city undergoing a catastrophic drought, in which people were dying en masse, and also during which the fabulously wealthy city government had arranged for my American high school reunion to have a watergun fight followed by a pool party. I tried to convince my high school classmates to conserve water, to no avail. It ended with the hotel in which we were staying having its water cut off by the people of the city, who then stormed the building and killed us all. Overall a really interesting story even if it did interrupt my sleep–hence my reluctance to give up even my nightmares.
(I'm the same person who sent in the ask)
Valuing your dreams does make that decision tricky- if you have any kind of "sense" about if you'll have nightmares, Prazosin is a one-night-effect kind of thing. No weaning off, just take as needed and it works for that night. I've found myself with a sort of 6th sense on what nights I'll have nightmares or not, so it's worked for me, but guesswork on stress might also be able to?
Best of luck either way; medicine is a demanding mistress sometimes.
Oh shit really? I will absolutely be scheduling an appointment about it, then. I had assumed acclimating to and weaning off Prazosin would be more similar to SSRIs (difficult). I simultaneously love and fear altering my neurochemistry.
im currently completely losing it about the great stalacpipe organ. are you fucking kidding me they made an organ out of a CAVE???? IT TAKES UP THREE ACRES??? i legit am about to lose it
this is a comment left on a recording of moonlight sonata played on an organ that is literally made out of a cave and its making me so emotional its not even funny
[image id: a youtube comment that reads ‘wonderful…and the moon has never shone there…’ end id.]
All that and no pictures??
According to Wikipedia, it works by hidden rubber mallets on the naturally-musical stalactites that tourguides have been knocking on for over a century. The guy who made the organ may have gotten the idea when his son whacked his head on a stalactite.
Here’s a video. It is hauntingly beautiful.
applebeesbarandgrillmenu-archive asked:
I'm someone on prazosin for severe nightmares and I can attest that it Works Real Good. It also, to my knowledge, has basically no interactions which is super nice. It does stop basically ALL dreams though so if you like your good ones it might be sad. Good luck on your med journey, I hope it flows as easy as these things can.
Yeah, therein lies my reservation with it: my dreams are really important to me and I usually remember a lot of them. I keep a dream journal and I use it for inspiration in my art. I took a class in college called Psychology of Dreaming because I wanted to learn more about why I have the dreams I do. And I even value my frequent and vivid nightmares; my first tattoo was based on a nightmare I had.
So that’s a hard decision! When the nightmares are really bad I have said “I would give up dreaming altogether just to get rid of these,” but now that the monkey’s paw has curled I’m scared to follow through.
I actually just woke up from a really vivid nightmare about attending a high school reunion in a Chinese city undergoing a catastrophic drought, in which people were dying en masse, and also during which the fabulously wealthy city government had arranged for my American high school reunion to have a watergun fight followed by a pool party. I tried to convince my high school classmates to conserve water, to no avail. It ended with the hotel in which we were staying having its water cut off by the people of the city, who then stormed the building and killed us all. Overall a really interesting story even if it did interrupt my sleep–hence my reluctance to give up even my nightmares.
silvermarmoset asked:
hey! I hope this isn't a crazy demand for TMI and if it is, please please ignore me. I was reading your post about how taking medications has helped you, and I was intrigued by the bit where you said taking meds for PTSD and major depression has helped your bloodwork. Would you mind expanding on this? I am pretty sure I have (complex) PTSD, and at the same time a bunch of weird blood test results have started popping up for me—but nobody's connected the two for me. I'd be open to going onto PTSD meds if they would help with the blood stuff. Again, sorry if this is way over the line! Just looking for some lived experiences with PTSD + blood issues being related. Thank you.
Hey, no worries. I have garden variety non-complex PTSD and when it flares I lose my ability to keep food down. So for a while I was deficient in a bunch of nutrients like iron but particularly B12, which tanks pretty easily if you are vegan and chronically stressed (I’ve also since resumed eating eggs and cheese. It’s interesting to have basically gotten a doctor’s order to Eat Cheese).
So being really stressed all the time can definitely affect your bloodwork. Taking escitalopram was a huge help to quelling the anxiety that made me constantly freak out and throw up and sweat out all my precious vitamins. It also eventually allowed me to sleep again, since I was getting maybe 3 hours of sleep a night prior to taking it, which is also really bad for you. Apparently not sleeping will kill you or something.
I’m currently awake and answering your ask at 5am because I’m adjusting my dosage and docs are considering switching me to prazosin, which apparently helps with nightmares. But–it turns out that Lacking The Vitamin is real and can happen to you, and a drug that helps you eat and sleep can be good for you. I hope you can figure out if something similar would help you.
ALTI bothered Cheese a little too much while he was on my desk and he decided to take some personal space. Good job enforcing your boundaries Cheese.
People pretend that seeing the bad things in life is the smarter, more clear-eyed position, but really, people who refuse to notice the good things are just as blind as the people who refuse to notice the bad things, plus they're more miserable.
Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don’t learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us. Cynics always say no. But saying yes begins things. Saying yes is how things grow. Saying yes leads to knowledge. Yes is for young people. So for as long as you have the strength to, say yes.
Stephen Colbert
sunflowerface asked:
is it safe for you to speak up against this?
draconym answered:
I did immediately but because the bird guy is a friend of the event organizer and what he was doing wasn’t illegal, everyone just started ignoring me for killing the mood. 🙃
I had already established myself as a killjoy by complaining about the doves. Fuck me for having animal welfare standards I guess!
sunflowerface asked:
is it safe for you to speak up against this?
I did immediately but because the bird guy is a friend of the event organizer and what he was doing wasn’t illegal, everyone just started ignoring me for killing the mood. 🙃
Mannnnn why is this festival I'm at planning to release doves today when it is predicted to be 96° with a heat index of 111°.
I think dove releases are pointless and mean to the doves even under the best of circumstances, but this is straight up animal cruelty and these things are gonna drop dead from heat exhaustion. What the fuck.
Even under "ideal" circumstances a dove release is just driving a domesticated animal a few dozen miles away from its home and making it fly back, exposing it to hazards like weather, cars, windows, and predators. They're not native birds, they're pets, and if they're white they have zero camouflage. I have found several injured white pigeons over the years that I suspect were "dove releases."
What do people think is supposed to happen to the birds in a dove release. I'm gonna drive you ten miles away and make you walk home during a heat wave because it's so beautiful and inspirational to me
These poor white pigeons are flying from Dundalk to Virginia during a heat and wildlife smoke advisory. An osprey immediately came out of the trees while they were circling the river and started following them. They are gonna have a rough day of flying home, if they make it at all. ugh.
Now the dove guy is letting the festival children pet his harris hawk 🚬 I feel like such a killjoy but as someone who's worked in wildlife rehab and handled raptors for educational programs, the "this is my pet" vibes are rancid to me.
Man okay I just had to leave my station and go sit down outside the event. He just handed his hawk to a festival goer he gave a glove to and told her to throw him in the air so that the hawk flies back to him. He literally said "I don't know if this is going to work" as I was leaving. This feels so wildly irresponsible!!!!
It sucks because nothing this guy is doing is in any way illegal if he has an up-to-date falconry license. You can be wildly irresponsible with animals you legally own. It just sucks of him.
Mannnnn why is this festival I'm at planning to release doves today when it is predicted to be 96° with a heat index of 111°.
I think dove releases are pointless and mean to the doves even under the best of circumstances, but this is straight up animal cruelty and these things are gonna drop dead from heat exhaustion. What the fuck.
Even under "ideal" circumstances a dove release is just driving a domesticated animal a few dozen miles away from its home and making it fly back, exposing it to hazards like weather, cars, windows, and predators. They're not native birds, they're pets, and if they're white they have zero camouflage. I have found several injured white pigeons over the years that I suspect were "dove releases."
What do people think is supposed to happen to the birds in a dove release. I'm gonna drive you ten miles away and make you walk home during a heat wave because it's so beautiful and inspirational to me
These poor white pigeons are flying from Dundalk to Virginia during a heat and wildlife smoke advisory. An osprey immediately came out of the trees while they were circling the river and started following them. They are gonna have a rough day of flying home, if they make it at all. ugh.
Now the dove guy is letting the festival children pet his harris hawk 🚬 I feel like such a killjoy but as someone who's worked in wildlife rehab and handled raptors for educational programs, the "this is my pet" vibes are rancid to me.
Man okay I just had to leave my station and go sit down outside the event. He just handed his hawk to a festival goer he gave a glove to and told her to throw him in the air so that the hawk flies back to him. He literally said “I don’t know if this is going to work” as I was leaving. This feels so wildly irresponsible!!!!
