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36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Depression, a feeling of true fear and emptiness at the same time. You don’t want to die, you don’t want to live. It’s weird

Furtip , Engin Akyurt / pexels Report

Final score:

359points

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Kariali 7 months ago

And still most people who have never experienced it think that it's just "being sad". Nope. I wish I would have felt anything like being sad when I was clinically depressed... at least it would have been something else than this emptiness... I was more brokkoli than human.

127points

Minimum-Inspector-38 , Sora Shimazaki / pexels Report

To get a better understanding of how people can relate to each other better, we contacted Barbara Jaffe, who is an emeritus English professor and a current fellow in UCLA's Department of Education.

"Empathy is one of the most important qualities a person can possess," Jaffe, author of 'When will I be good enough?', told Bored Panda. "Empathy allows us to understand others on a deeper level. It is also not necessary to have had the same experience as another person in order to feel empathy."

"For example, seeing an unhoused (homeless) person can immediately make us feel sad about that person's situation. If we feel sorry for that person, it sets up an uneven relationship whereby we are looking at the other person, grateful for not being in their position and in a sense, feeling better than that person on some level. However, feeling empathy allows us to understand at a basic emotional level that this other person is feeling pain and perhaps suffering, and we can understand both of those emotions no matter our circumstances, for all of us have had pain and suffering. Therefore, empathy enables us to understand each other and connect in a way that allows us to share our feelings with others."

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Period cramps. Half the population will never fully understand how most women carry on like nothing is wrong even though they are in serious physical pain.

Final score:

328points

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Karl 7 months ago

When I first met my wife I was seriously alarmed at the pain she went through every month. Never realised it could be so crippling. I almost called an ambulance on one occasion.

120points

Repeat_after_me__ , KATRIN BOLOVTSOVA / pexels Report

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Adhd - executive dysfunction

When you really want to do something but pathetically, literally, cannot.

Then suffer guilt from this.

Final score:

267points

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CK 7 months ago

This is sometimes referred to as "ADHD paralysis" which may not be a perfect term but is easier for neurotypicals to understand.

94points

wantstolearnhowto , cottonbro studio / pexels Report

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood The absolute indifference towards everything in depression.

Final score:

242points

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Kariali 7 months ago

Yeah, one of the worst part of depression is that you don't even feel love for your most loved ones anymore. You know you love them, but you don't feel anything but emptiness.

93points

V_is4vulva , Andrea Piacquadio / pexels Report

However, this isn't always effortless for us. "A lack of effective communication can certainly limit our empathizing," Jaffe said. "When we aren't listening carefully to another (or tuning someone out), it is easy for us to also 'unplug' our emotions and not care very much about them. Listening allows us to hear what the person is experiencing and enables us to appreciate at least what that person is going through."

As she pointed out, the more self-absorbed we become and believe that what's happening to us is all that matters, the more we limit our ability to empathize with others. "When we realize that others are going through hard times and they might need someone to talk to, we can accept that we aren’t the only ones who have issues. This mutual understanding of each other’s hardships allows for empathy."

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Sneezing out a huge clot on your period.

Final score:

231points

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Kombatbunni 7 months ago

Oh eww, I know that feeling. Or you stand up and it happens, it’s so ick 😣

149points

UnicornVoodooDoll , David Garrison / pexels Report

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Misophonia

SO much more than just "not liking loud noises." There are some noises that are legitimately rage-inducing and make me want to commit violence to make it stop. Other noises make me feel like I'm suddenly going to vomit.

But the really **loud** noises are the worst, because they are *physically painful*. It's really hard to explain to someone what it's like to have a sound hurt your brain, but it's brutal.

Final score:

215points

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Matthew Thompson 7 months ago

And it can be loud to you while no one else hears it. I don't want to be triggered by lip-smacking and it is certainly far beyond a little annoyance. Not something I can 'just ignore.'

78points

SeriesBusiness9098 , Anna Shvets / pexels Report

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood General anesthesia. You’re not asleep-it’s nothing like that, you’re not dreaming, you’re nothing… and there is no nothing and you aren’t aware that there’s no nothing.

Final score:

210points

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Green Tree 7 months ago

I've been under a couple times and it is not like sleeping at all. When sleeping you have a sense of time, with anesthesia you go out and then you come back in what feels like it could be a blink even though it was hours - absolutely no sense of time.

205points

randypriest , Karolina Grabowska / pexels Report

Research suggests that women could be better at empathizing with others than men. For example, when The Pew Research Center asked Americans about their thoughts and feelings regarding human suffering in light of the pandemic and other recent tragedies, two-thirds of women (66%) said that in the past year, they have personally thought "a lot" or "some" about big questions such as the meaning of life, whether there is any purpose to suffering and why terrible things happen to people, compared with 55% of men who reported the same.

"There are those who are naturally born with empathy, an innate understanding and feeling for what others are experiencing," Jaffe added. "Some people are empathic souls, yet all of us can learn how to appreciate the emotions of others even if we have never had the same experiences. It is a process that begins internally when we can learn to accept ourselves, one day at a time."

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Extreme back pain where you can't move and even struggle to breathe.

Final score:

208points

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Brocken Blue 7 months ago (edited)

Oh hello other me! I think the weirdest part of this type of pain is how insidious it can be. When the back pain and breathing problems are chronic like mine, you start to acclimate to the pain. But there really is no acclimating to not breathing enough. It just steals your brain from you.

46points

Accomplished_Eye_824 , William Fortunato / pexels Report

#10

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Hearing your baby giggle uncontrollably for the first time. Truly unreal. You do everything you can to get them to laugh like that again.

If you don’t want to have children that’s fine and I support your choice!

Final score:

207points

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Penguin Panda Pop 7 months ago

I don't have or want children, but the pure joy in a young child's laughter is something else.

124points

topshot14 , RDNE Stock project / pexels Report

#11

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood That actual physical pain because of a heartbreak.

Final score:

199points

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Multa Nocte 7 months ago

Horrible, traumatic losses are like this. There are times I wish there was some sort of physical sign you would get so that others could understand how bad things are, but I guess that is evolution keeping our enemies from knowing how vulnerable we are at the moment.

35points

NoParty1969 , RDNE Stock project / pexels Report

For those who want to get better at empathizing with others, Barbara Jaffe recommends three things:

Be kind to yourself. "We must learn to be gentle and patient with ourselves. We must first learn to be empathic with ourselves, to give ourselves a break, to be understanding about our own lives before we can begin to have empathy for others," she said.

Learn to listen — really listen — to others when they are sharing their thoughts and feelings. According to Jaffe, it isn't easy to listen, and our ‘me-centric’ culture isn't helping us develop the habit. But, if we actively try to make eye contact and hear what the other person is sharing, we will get closer to their true emotions.

Share our thoughts with those we trust. "Even if we are a little hesitant to do so, we will experience empathy not only for others but for ourselves. Take a ‘safe risk’ with someone who will listen to us and understand."

#12

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood The moment your stomach drops after finding out you’ve been cheated on.

Final score:

197points

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nomnomborkbork 7 months ago

The amalgamation of hurt, rage, and betrayal is overwhelming.

71points

#13

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood I'm gonna get hella esoteric here, but when I retired from programming to be a full-time singer and musician in 2018, I decided if I really wanted to be good at my job, I should start training to sing opera.

It turns out that building a professional operatic sound is bizarre and involves a lot of very fine motor control and the relaxing/engaging of muscles I didn't even know I had. When everything lines up, though, it's insane.

I've just recently started to make some good, professional quality sounds, and the sensation is like nothing in this world. A rumbling in the chest on low notes, a tingling in the "mask" on high notes, and when things are working *really* well, the bizarre sensation like the voice isn't even coming from you. Your body is a perfectly coordinated bellows and the sound just enters the world and carries, like a portal to another dimension of pure sound opened up a couple of inches in front of your face. This is the sound that allows normal people to project unamplified to a house of 2000 people and still be heard over an orchestra.

So yeah, I'm going to say "good operatic singing."

MarvinLazer , Thirdman / pexels Report

Final score:

196points

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Auntriarch 7 months ago

I'm just a bathroom and car singer, but I do love the feeling of it

61points

#14

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Losing a child. I'm not a parent but I can see for myself how painful it is to lose a child. When my childhood friend died when she was 17, that was the only time I've ever seen a man cry so hard.

rxssri , Pavel Danilyuk / pexels Report

Final score:

195points

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Nitka Tsar 7 months ago

Oh heavens at 17? That must have been extremely devastating! I‘ve lost my first child shortly before her due date and I think I will forever be gratefull, that she died like that and has not lived to be any age within her childhood or teen years. That would have broken me.

71points

Hellisdigital- , Pavel Danilyuk / pexels Report

#15

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood The loss of a parent. It's like you're part of a really s****y club that you have to be in to fully understand.

Final score:

179points

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Lydsylou (she/her) 7 months ago

And the other way round with loss of a child. No parent should outlive their child

62points

Kvothetheraven603 , MART PRODUCTION / pexels Report

#16

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Panic attack

Sleep paralysis

Final score:

179points

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Auntriarch 7 months ago

I had sleep paralysis and it truly terrified me. Not long after I watched a programme about it, now I just think oh it's that again.

38points

doomblackdeath , Sarah Chai / pexels Report

#17

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Fear for your child.

Final score:

170points

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similarly 7 months ago

And it doesn't go away just because they grow up either.

75points

homme_chauve_souris , Polina Tankilevitch / pexels Report

#18

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Latching on that monster booger that's been haunting your nasal cavity for the past 24 hours and slowly getting it out, then being able to breathe through that nostril.

Final score:

165points

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BluKatTheBlueCat (BluKat) 7 months ago

eughhh *shudders* that feeling when it's coming out though it feels like getting that one spaghetti in the back of your throat when you ate too much 🤢

39points

#19

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Trying to revive a dying person while their wife stands next to you screaming for them. And you’re covered in his vomit and he’s turning blue and you’re 16 and panicking and there’s a dozen people watching you desperately attempt CPR and you don’t even know what happened to him you just know nobody else can help.

mir_ols , Raven Domingo / pexels Report

Final score:

162points

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Daya Meyer 7 months ago

But I am sure you did your very best!

85points

TriplePattyMelt , cottonbro studio / pexels Report

#20

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Brain zaps for some when coming off of certain anti-depressants. It can be completely disorienting and borderline torturous.

Final score:

139points

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SueG 7 months ago

I experienced these for the first time a few days ago, after my pharmacy screwed up my Rx and I ran out prematurely. Good thing I knew what they knew what they are. Mine lasted maybe five seconds each, but that five seconds is weird and disconcerting.

37points

DoodleStrude , cottonbro studio / pexels Report

#21

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Hate. Like, *real* hate.

I've just recently felt real hate for the first time. Not spur-of-the-moment anger or rage, but persistent hate. I want terrible things to happen to this person. I hope they lose their job. I hope they end up broke and can't move out of their POS dad's house. I hope their friends shun them. I hope they fail at everything they want to succeed in. I hope they get mugged. I hope their new car gets totalled. I hope they suffer. I hope they feel nothing but despair. They were one of my best friends for over a decade, and now, if they died tomorrow, I wouldn't go to their funeral.

This is the most nasty, disgusting thing I've ever felt. It's like a fire in my chest that turns everything it touches black. I'm ashamed to feel the way I do. I *hate* hate. I hate that I feel this way about another person. But I do

Final score:

136points

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Neffla 7 months ago

It' sounds like a terrible feeling. Try talking it through with a therapist? May be a lot of hurt and pain mixed in there.

30points

Dutch Swimmer Goes Viral For Super Revealing Trunks During 2024 Olympics: “Is This Legal?”

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#22

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood That adreneline from walking onto a stage. Then that moment where you overcome whatever hardship that was presented on that stage and the croud roars and cheers you on. That is a high that I chase non stop. And it never gets old.

MouseKingMan , Monica Silvestre / pexels Report

Final score:

125points

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Auntriarch 7 months ago

It might be because I've just read the pie post, but that curtain doesn't half look like rhubarb

33points

ThundernLightning308 , Uriel Mont / pexels Report

#23

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Pure and unconditional love. That way it sitting on your heart, the warm feeling it spreads across your chest. The infinite happiness when you are with them. The unspoken words between each other that both fully understand. And knowing that, that person is the first and last face you see.

On the other hand, the sudden loss of one of the most important people in your life. That empty void that was once positive emotions, now dark negative emotions or no emotions at all. The coldness you feel towards life and towards the world. Like a piece of your own soul was also lost that day, a piece that will never come back.

Final score:

125points

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I AM A LOLLY SNEK (she/her) 7 months ago

Why am i crying?

27points

Woman Put A Water Fountain With A Camera In Her Yard, Here Are 24 Photos Of Regular Visitors (New Pics)

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#24

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Loneliness. I wouldn't wish it upon my worst enemy.

slav_squat_98 , MART PRODUCTION / pexels Report

Final score:

119points

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El Dee 7 months ago

You can be alone but not lonely and you can be with people and feel lonely..

70points

fishinglife777 , Lisa Fotios / pexels Report

#25

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Completely blocking out events in your life and suddenly remembering them.

Final score:

113points

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Nitka Tsar 7 months ago

Memories you get if you smell some particular smell.

73points

#26

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Being pregnant.

lm5169 , Amina Filkins / pexels Report

Final score:

111points

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Kariali 7 months ago

It's crazy. It's amazing. It's scary. It's wonderful. It's painful. It's exhausting. It's life changing. (Currently pregnant for the third time. 8th month. I still try to process all the feelings every day)

60points

Total_Mushroom2865 , Alex Green / pexels Report

#27

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Borderline Personality Disorder. It feels... awful. You cannot trust your brain (I also have bipolarity), you overshare, overthink, over attach to ANYONE. Fighting those feelings is draining. You are a prisoner of your own brain.

Final score:

107points

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Birb 7 months ago

Yup. Borderline Personality Disorder here. I hate it

36points

RebelliousRoomba , Artem Podrez / pexels Report

#28

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Standing on stage and singing lyrics you wrote into a microphone while a crowd sings them back at you.

Incredible. It’s a high I’ve never replicated in the years since I stopped making music as a serious endeavor.

Final score:

92points

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nomnomborkbork 7 months ago

That's got to be incredible, and so affirming. Hard to duplicate that with self-affirmation.

29points

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#29

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Hypoglycemia. I am type one diabetic and although i have very tight control thanks to low carb, occasionally low glucose events can still happen. Very scary feeling, shaky with a sense of horrific doom. Hard to explain to my husband and its weird to me that he will never know what i mean when i tell him about it. Only happens a few times a year thankfully!

CurvePuzzleheaded361 , Pavel Danilyuk / pexels Report

Final score:

85points

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PhilosophicalPanda 7 months ago

Firstly, well done!! To keep working through this is so incredibly draining, you're doing amazingly! I feel this! It's a very hard one to explain, I've suffered with hypoglycemia for years to the point of blacking out, the only way I can describe it is like a dream state world where you're detached from everything but still there with the feeling of being very drunk movement, speech and brain functionality wise but not. Feeling trapped by it all. Unfortunately this is a daily/weekly occurrence my end and the feeling never changes. My heart goes out there to all you other type 1's! ❤️

28points

Waffle_God49 , Kindel Media / pexels Report

#30

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Dissociation

Final score:

83points

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Friendly Neighbourhood Hermit 7 months ago

Literally my default state. It's like an out of body experience, you feel disconnected from everything and function like you're on autopilot, your vision goes hazy, there's emotional numbness and memory lapses. That mixed with depression. It's not a great feeling.

39points

Wide-Review-2417 , RDNE Stock project / pexels Report

#31

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Coma. I had the privilege of falling into a coma. Can't describe it to anyone, and everyone who's heard of it asked how it felt

Final score:

81points

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Graham Chapman (He/He) 7 months ago

True story- I was in a coma nearly twenty years ago ( got badly beaten up outside a nightclub) and from what I remember was that I thought i was on a ship- like a roman ship where you have to row, and that the ship was rocking.... I later found out when i recovered, that the reason I thought I was on a ship, was in fact, the intensive care bed where I was laying, had air cushions that rocked you, to prevent bed sores....

98points

#32

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood When a hair gets caught behind your prosthetic eye and you pull it out and feel it sliiiiiiiiiiide through your remaining eye bits.

Jabez77 , J E Theriot / flickr Report

Final score:

81points

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Overloaded ball of anxiety 7 months ago

ok i hope I will never ever ever ever have to experience this

108points

Woman Moves Out Of Parents' Home After They Asked Her To Give Her Space To Brother, They Freak Out

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#33

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Going through a psychosis

zoooosh , Andre Moura / pexels Report

Final score:

62points

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9 animals and counting 7 months ago

The same goes for the people who have to watch you do it. My ex-husband lost his mind right in front of me and the person that emerged from that took over from my actual husband and killed him. I can't even describe how traumatic that was.

62points

God_Of_Puddings , Tom Fisk / pexels Report

#34

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Skydiving. 1 minute of freefall from 15000ft... total system overload!!

Final score:

61points

POST

Penguin Panda Pop 7 months ago

System overload is the right wording for this. For the first second or two, your brain cannot deal with what is happening to your body. It braces for an impact that is thousands of metres below. Everything is scrambled. Thankfully, rational brain takes over and you can start to enjoy the view and the sensations.

31points

AdWonderful5920 , jasonesbain / wikipedia Report

#35

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Getting tased. Words don't really capture what happens. It isn't exactly pain, but it's not good either.

Final score:

56points

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Clown fish 7 months ago

Yes it's not pleasant

12points

Bertensgrad , Andrea Piacquadio / pexels Report

#36

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Phantom pain of your body trying to pull up a testicle that have been removed and how it feels like it was sucking on air and then it freaking out and making it ache where it’s no longer there.

Final score:

47points

POST

Helena 7 months ago

Heard of phantom limb, never phantom ball.

76points

Rokas is a writer at Bored Panda with a BA in Communication. After working for a sculptor, he fell in love with visual storytelling and enjoys covering everything from TV shows (any Sopranos fans out there?) to photography. Throughout his years in Bored Panda, over 300 million people have read the posts he's written, which is probably more than he could count to.

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I'm a visual editor here at Bored Panda and I enjoy a good laugh. My work ranges from serious topics related to toxic work environments and relationship difficulties to humorous articles about online shopping fails and introvert memes. When I'm not at my work desk, checking if every single pixel is in the right place, I usually spend my free time playing board games, taking pictures, and watching documentaries

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What do you think ?

POST

Papa 7 months ago

Having a migraine is one that wasn't mentioned above. The kind of pain that when you're walking feels like you're being hit on the head with a hammer every time your foot hits the ground, or feels like the inside of your skull has spikes on it that are poking into your brain, or make a grown man go to the emergency room crying like a baby.

39points

Thomas Hunt, Jr. 7 months ago (edited)

Having chronic and deabilitating migraines is really bad. Longest migraine I've had lasted 5 months straight. Lost over 30 pounds. Vertigo, extreme nausea, hallucinating, passing out. You never get used to these things with a migraine. I've been dealing with migraines like this the last 34 years.

19points

Nadine Debard 7 months ago

I have these migraines and also some rare, atypical ones, not hurting a lot but messing with your senses. My neurologist appreciates, I'm the funny patient with weird migraine crises. The feeling of walking on a trampoline, losing balance, the feeling of having too short arms (yes, yes), or not recognizing a person you're supposed to know even if somebody tells you who they are (ID card found, doesn't match the face in front of you). Had MRI scans and other tests done, it's 'just' migraine.

4points

Glitcher 7 months ago

Kiddo has auditory migraines. Which is when the aura isn't the zigzag lights, it's hearing your name called repeatedly. Or a phone ringing. First one age 14. Kiddo thought she was going insane. Glad we had a good doctor.

2points

Ken Beattie 7 months ago

I get cluster migraines and I've asked people more than once does my face look swollen. Because it seriously feels like the whole left side of my head is going to explode from the inside. If they'd said "yeah your eye is bulging out like a pug" I wouldn't have been surprised. but apparently it's not, just look "a little pale and sweaty".

2points

John Harrison 7 months ago

For those who have never had a migraine: Imagine someone, a casual friend maybe, slowly squeezing the last knuckle of your finger with a pair of pliers. Like, you're just messing around, to see how much pain you can take before you "cry uncle." They go harder and harder until you say, "Okay, that's enough." They keep on going, to the point where you shout and say, "I said that's e-f*cking nough!" They go one more notch and you — without thinking, just on pure reflex — raise your fist, ready to deck them, even though they're you're friend, because you've absolutely got to stop the pain. Now crank it up two more notches and keep it there for about two to three hours. That's a migraine.

2points

Giraffy Window 7 months ago (edited)

Like something is ripping down through your eye socket to violently grip your stomach.

0points

HI, I'M A SHOUTY MAN 7 months ago

I mentioned this on another post a moment ago, but the feeling of when someone who you genuinely thought cared about you (platonically), just wanted to sleep with you. It's this feeling of betrayal, worthlessness, pointlessness, just feeling like you've wasted whatever you put into that relationship.

34points

CanadianDimes 7 months ago

And it just feels gross - like physically gross. I'm not saying the other person is physically gross, of course! I've had this happen to me and I found my reaction was both emotional and physical, like I was repulsed.

17points

SBocker78 7 months ago

The isolation, powerless and hopelessness that is abuse. When someone who is supposed to care about you spends every day tearing you down, manipulating you, isolating you and destroying any means of escape. Losing all hope or faith as you watch your abuser being praised and congratulated for how wonderful they are for putting up with you. Nobody believing that you are being abused. Knowing your only way out is one of you dying. I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

20points

Glitcher 7 months ago

I wish it on the abuser

2points

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POST

Papa 7 months ago

39points

Thomas Hunt, Jr. 7 months ago (edited)

19points

Nadine Debard 7 months ago

4points

Glitcher 7 months ago

2points

Ken Beattie 7 months ago

2points

John Harrison 7 months ago

2points

Giraffy Window 7 months ago (edited)

Like something is ripping down through your eye socket to violently grip your stomach.

0points

HI, I'M A SHOUTY MAN 7 months ago

34points

CanadianDimes 7 months ago

17points