Thanks! I should’ve done that directly, apologies.

Herring gulls are smart, they know if you are looking at them (and usually avoid stealing your food when you do) ^^ Herring gulls respond to human gaze direction | Biology Letters https://share.google/Sdg1k9aoyRVzoiiSi

Merci ! Je vais contacter urgence Palestine pour voir s’ils ont une pétition/ des trucs en ligne pour mobiliser à une plus large échelle géographique.

Exactly, I didn’t want to amend their paper myself, I just wanted to tell them which parts were inaccurate so they could change it. It blatantly shows that they don’t care about sharing valid information and that they don’t give a shit about our work or the people they “inform”. And I’m talking about massive media’s like the discovery channel for instance. Ironically, one of the few who did a good job was a tiny web journal. They took my feedback into account and it was the best article about my work that was published that year.

Je suis malheureusement trop loin pour me joindre à vous. Est-ce qu’il y a une pétition ou des visuels à faire tourner sur nos réseaux militants pour donner de la visibilité à la situation d’Omar ?

I’ve been a researcher for over a decade and I literally started declining all media contacts because of my terrible experience with so-called “journalists”. Most of the journalists I interacted with did clearly not give a single shit about sharing my actual findings. All they want is a cool headline even if it means completely disrespecting years of work as well as their audience. I’ve seen journalists, who committed to take my feedback about whether they reported the theory or findings correctly, publish complete bullshit without checking with me. Others cited my paper while giving a summary of the findings of another paper and some literally and blatantly lied in a documentary. They still publish bullshit but at least they don’t waste my time anymore and I no longer read “scientific” papers available to the general public knowing what’s behind the scene.

I miss my granpa’s cooking. His “daube de boeuf” (a dish where beef morsels are slowly cooked in a red wine based sauce) was delicious and he would always make that simple but lovely dessert for me with a fresh fruit salad and gâteau de semoule. I miss him !

Hi, I’m french and, while I would genuinely love for my country to be a safe space for trans people, I feel like I should warn you: things here are not as bad as in the US but the far right is progressing real fast and I’m quite afraid that they’ll pass in 2027. We (the leftists) are fighting the best we can but the media and our government are definitely inclined towards the far right already. Feel free to save my handle to get in touch if you move to France, I’ll be happy to help and share some info and advice. Best of luck

Thanks :) yeah it was great! Have a great summer ^^

Ah that’s great, itb is a good combo of molecules for bipolars (provided the person tolerates the lamotrigigine). Fair enough, only you and the health professionals helping you can say what may be your condition. It is true that psychological conditions come with a lot of stigma. I now speak freely of depression because I think it is important to open the discussions on that topic, which actually concerns quite a lot of people suffering in silence but I rarely mention being bipolar because I don’t want to face extra negative consequences.

I don’t think it’s weird to ask about a specific medication, what may cross the line os to ask for it but I regularly ask my psychiatrist about complements or molecules I heard about to have his opinion or to understand why he made the decision he made about my treatment. I think it’s ok to be curious about those matters, it is our health and we are entitled to understanding what we take and why.

Yeah, I hear that. I make notes of my feelings (either on paper of the appointments are far appart or at least mental notes if there are less than 6 weeks between appointements) focussing both on my mood and feelings and on the first “symptoms” signalling an upcoming mood swing (e.g. how much I sleep, whether I feel tired or not etc).

Sorry for the delay, I was abroad on holiday and things got fairly busy!

I don’t mind at all and I’m glad you ask, if I can help someone going through this I’m thrilled! :)

Turns out I’m bipolar (although several doctors told me I wasn’t, I’m not a psychiatrist and I’m absolutely not trying to diagnose you but I wouldn’t take one doctor’s opinion for granted). Exactly as you did I first showed an improvement with Escitalopram but then it kinda faded (I wonder if it doesn’t modify the dopaminergic system because after the first phase of improvement I started craving for pleasures, and started eating, drinking and smoking a lot of weed…i.e. gaining a lot of weight). In the end and after several years (Escitalopram was the first treatment I tried) I finally found a good psychiatrist who decided to try a bipolatoty-oriented treatment, which worked and confirmed the diagnosis. I now have a two-molecule system: lamotrigigine every day (acts as a “floor” for my mood preventing depression) and aripiprazol as a “ceiling” which I adjust (0, 1, 5 or 10mg in the morning) depending on my mood to avoid manic phases. It’s worth noting that I too had a couple of relatives with likely (but undiagnosed) thymic disorders (whether bipolar or cyclothymia, it’s unclear). Together with regular sessions with a psychologists and a good hygiene (regular sleep schedule, limiting stress as much as possible and fighting my addictions) it does the trick and I’m no longer suicidal or clinically depressed most of the time.

Don’t worry about the long message, these things deserve to be discussed at length. If you ever wanna talk to someone who knows what you go through, I’m available btw, some internet anon had been there for me when I needed it, I am happy to help if you’d like.

Sertraline didn’t do the trick for me…neither did mirtazapine, or Escitalopram, or Quetiapine. Psychiatric drugs are life savers but finding the one that’ll actually save your life can be a freaking pain (if anyone reading this is in that “still looking” stage, don’t give up though, once you find one that suits you it’s a game changer, life can have colours again).

Thanks, that’s incredibly kind of you ! I have a good support network and I’m doing everything I can to stay safe in spite of a chronical disease but I still have a plan in case one day the pain becomes unbearable and the disease wins. I agree with you, such laws could save so many people from so much suffering. I don’t know if this is needed but know that you can also reach out to me if you ever need to, I am a good listener according to my friends. ^^

F*ck, there goes my plan. Thanks for sharing the info, I’ll be careful and make sure to pick some non-diluted helium if/when it comes down to this, you may have just saved me from a very bad outcome!

As we say in France…cheh !

I was actually joining the chat to write that things are not that different in biology. I have a PhD and 7 years of postdocs behind me. Over the years I have :

• been denied a management position because “the team was only men, who wouldn’t listen to me” (spoiler alert, they put an incompetent guy in charge who screwed up massively and I ended up taking over, successfully).
• had a boss who systematically doubted my opinion (while he was not a specialist of the topic) but listened to the very same argument from a male colleague
• had male Masters students who could speak uninterrupted during meetings when I couldn’t
• got denied a tenure position for a guy with the same profile (literally the same topic and same labs) but much less experience than mine (like 5 years younger) This last one broke me, I ended up quitting academia

My pleasure! I’m sure it will come back and if you’re in Paris you should be fine even if it doesn’t. :) Enjoy France (in spite of what the world says, we’re not all jerks, I swear!).

Just in case it’s your first time in France : say “bonjour” when entering a store/ restaurant or when passing someone in an elevator or a staircase. Say “s’il vous plaît” and “merci” every time you ask for or get something respectively. This will save you a lot of nasty stares and displeased reactions. Actually that’s one of the reasons French people have a mean / rude reputation…we are VERY keen on politeness and when someone fails to respect these basic rules, we consider them rude and act rude in return (this analysis is not mine, it’s from a foreigner who lived in France for several years but, as a native french, I think it makes a lot of sense to explain the french mindset)

Lol, that must have been really fun ! Are you sure it wasn’t “putain de cOnnard” (I.e. f*cking *sshole) though? That sure does sound French !

The equivalent to tabernacle may be " Bordel" (brothel) but I’m not sure (I’m French and we never use tabernacle). Overall our swears tend to lean towards sexuality more than religion e.g. “putain de bordel de merde ça me casse les couilles” (i.e. shitty brothel’s whore, this breaks my balls).