okay, perfect.

• Who am I? Certainly nobody qualified enough to talk about any of the stuff i’m going to talk about regardless. I’m a graduate from USF that studied biomedical research and who has only 5 years of absolute tears, PTSD from professors, hours of volunteer work, and crippling anxiety from submitting assignments with 7 minutes to spare to back me up. My path of coursework has led me to learn, research and publish findings about how the human body functions (or how its supposed to), why the brain does stuff and how to react to it (or how we’re supposed to) and how to balance a caffeine overdose during finals week. I’m a 25 year old who has tried growing up during one of the worst economic and political epoch known to man (and woman). And the amount of times I said “okay, perfect.” after one mishap after the next was sickening- which is why this is called okay, perfect. Because what else could go wrong.? *nervous chuckle.*

I developed depression, severe anxiety (although that came from mommy issues during childhood) and some ADHD (that just came from the hospitality industry) and have yet to be treated. Why?

Maybe its the fact that my pharmacist said my antidepressants were going to cost more than my car payment and I was literally just going to be working to stay alive. 

So the next alternative was what everyone does in Tampa to cope- rage, man. That didn’t work either, and when I hit rock bottom struggling to make it all make sense is when I gave up. Please don’t grippy sock me, but it wasn’t until the start of the year that I really learned what life was and what it was about. And it wasn’t about treating, but yet  not understanding my depression and anxiety or where it came from.

Which leads me to explain what the fuck i’m doing here- as much as it sounds like i’m telling you to ditch your meds, that’s not what i’m saying. What i’m saying is that since COVID-19, depression has rose almost 33% and affects every 1 out of 3 Americans ¹, and suicide skyrocketed ²,³. I think that everyone suffered a traumatic change in life when COVID-19 erupted and nobody has returned to what “normal” was before 2020. But what I don’t think is that the trauma we suffered as a result of the pandemic (the anxiety from not knowing if we were to be evicted from our apartments and homes, where our next paycheck was coming from or when we could find another toilet paper roll and the depression from losing our jobs, not being able to find a job, losing a loved one during this time or friends or hobbies) is enough to be labeled as “a prescribed patient” and not treating these triggers or symptoms as they should be: through time and work on our habits that we developed over this time. Through someone actually listening and wanting to hear us instead of increasing the deductible on our insurance for medications that was prescribed to help “balance” your feelings of hopelessness and loneliness. 

This is simply where I break down what is in your medications, what they’re neurological effect is, and what other products these ingredients are in. I can finally say that i’m using my degree that I paid over $30k for and I’m excited to be able to share this passion with you all. I also hope to share some personal triggers and treatment methods i’ve learned through therapy (hi Danielle) and lots of books and work. 

Thank you for having me! 🙂 

1. Boston University. (2021, October 7). Depression Rates in US Tripled When the Pandemic First Hit—Now, They’re Even Worse. BU. https://www.bu.edu/articles/2021/depression-rates-tripled-when-pandemic-first-hit/#:~:text=New%20research%20from%20Boston%20University,every%203%20American%20adults.
2. Tandon, R. (2021, June 6). COVID-19 and suicide: Just the facts. Key learnings and guidance for action. NIH. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8110323/
3. Bendix, A. (2022, April 25). Teen Suicides. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/teen-suicides-increased-many-states-pandemic-rcna25825.