They cut all skin cancers out from your skin (well… barring some exceptions for very unusual types of cases). It’s just that melanoma often spread to other parts of your body quickly, which is why it is so deadly. But it still is standard practice to excise the portion that is visible on the skin surface.

One thing to note is that even the report you get after surgery says that all of the tumor was excised properly, it does NOT mean all of the cancer is necessarily gone, just that the one tumor was removed from that one area of your skin. You can have suspected or unsuspected spread elsewhere.

Idk if that makes any sense. I get these cases as part of my job which is both interesting and also terrifying at how readily they spread. But idk that I can explain well.

I will give you that. I definitely am on board with that. People love to link pop sci articles with dramatic headlines, but the reality often isn’t as dramatic. Pop sci articles definitely are one of my pet peeves. People will be like “cure for cancer found!” when in reality it’s just some sort of in vitro testing that destroyed cells. Cancer cells are also killed by bleach and fire, but those aren’t helpful for its treatment in humans lol.

So I get it lol. I guess I was just playing devil’s advocate for a moment.

Generally, surgery for melanoma is not very hardcore. Since we’re talking about the skin, they just cut out the area. It’s not a complicated procedure and is the standard treatment for melanoma.

Cancer treatments often gave multiple components to them. Ex: someone gets chemo and then surgery as part of a standard for certain types of cancers at certain stages.

It wouldn’t make any sense for someone to get this vaccine and for them to leave the cancer on the patient.

This is huge news, contrary to what you say. Melanoma has a crazy mortality rate. Cutting it in half is a huge success.

Is it affordable yet? Clearly not. But that doesn’t mean that it can’t get there eventually.

Hey, man, you’re trying and giving yourself grace. I think accepting yourself really goes a long way, whether you think so or not. Think about how much worse off you’d be if you didn’t.

I haven’t worked my way “out” yet either, but I do try to do some nice things for myself when I get that way, like you do. They haven’t solved things, but they add little niceties to my day. Honestly it’s almost as if we should treat ourselves like having recurring illnesses. What do you do if you have the flu? Do you try to do a zillion errands and run a marathon? No. You relax and let household chores slip a bit and get yourself some comfort items.

Unfortunately, calling out of work that often isn’t really feasible, so maintaining the ability to work is one thing that’s really unavoidable though.

If only I knew. I notice and catch myself heading towards a decline when it happens nowadays. I try to throw the therapy techniques at it that I’ve been taught, but I still can’t manage to lessen the spiral once I’ve started to enter it. It’s frustrating that I see it early too and my efforts feel for naught.

Where are you at in terms of therapy techniques you’ve learned?

I’ve honestly thought the same thing for a number of years. If you look into the research, antidepressants are consistently only marginally better than placebo. Moods change over time in general and with different environmental factors. So obviously at some point your mood improves, aided by placebo.

Despite me not really believing in them, psych meds are have been part of my journey. I hate that people think that I am not trying things and giving them a fair shot. I desperately am and continue to do so. It’s just that my life hasn’t really changed in a positive way. I really, sincerely try. Like with my therapy, I take extensive notes and do my best to utilize the techniques they give me. I even had the opportunity to use some successfully this past Friday! But it only seems to help sometimes despite me trying so hard.

I will say that I don’t think psych meds are totally bunk in certain specific scenarios. People with severe biological/organic derangements like schizophrenia and bipolar 1 disorder do massively benefit from psychiatric medications.

But the difference is that with these conditions, we are giving very high dosages of very powerful antipsychotic medications. Outside of that, the human mind doesn’t seem to operate that way. The previous thought about depression caused by chemical deficiency in serotonin has been disproven.

My issues are episodic and intermittent, making a lot of this stuff harder to tackle and “treat”.

Thanks for ignoring what I have to say and invalidating me, friend. I hope others treat you with the same kindness you have shown to me.

I spoke at length about how I tried very hard for a very long time at the “well known cure”. You ignored me and continued to say that that was the cure all when I literally said that it did not work for me.

I am offended because you completely dismissed this and just re-stated your original post. I am offended because it looks like you didn’t even read my response.

Here is a reduced format of what this sounds like.

You: X is the cure all

Me: I tried X and did not see a benefit. Here is my experience with it.

You: Cool story, bro but X is the cure all

If you can’t see how this is unhelpful and offensive, I don’t know what to do tell you.

Thanks for ignoring and dismissing my lived experience and inensive, sustained, consistent efforts. Not sure why age matters. I’m in my 30s.

No professional has diagnosed me, but from looking at things online, I seem to have traits of BPD and CPTSD.

While I appreciate the time you took to sit here and think of a response to things, I just want to say that I honestly find this sort of “exercise cures you” stuff offensive. Again, I understand you are well meaning and not intending to hurt me. I understand that it worked for you. That’s great!

I listened to the people that said exercise improves your mental health. I gave it a shot. I didn’t just give it a shot. I fully committed.

Several years back I started running. I was surprised at how consistent I managed to be for so long. I ran every other day or every third day. I was consistent for 1.5 years somehow. I never managed to commit to something that long.

But I never saw the benefit of “improved mood”. People on the internet would say “you’re just not running fast enough” or “you’re just not running hard enough”. So I did. I ran faster and faster and farther and farther. Before I ended up dropping the whole thing, I was consistently running 8 miles every other day. The longest I ran was 10 miles a few times.

I kept going further and further and harder and harder hoping I would find the magic distance or speed that would improve my life. It never did.

Running actually did impact my emotions, but in an unhelpful way. What running actually did was magnify my current emotions. You can see how this is a problem for someone who’s issue is suffering from extreme emotions. I didn’t want them to be more extreme. The happy parts were fun, but the lows would get so much worse.

I tried so hard for so long consistently and it never helped me.

Again, I appreciate your time to read and post here. But I really don’t like when people tout it as something that helps everyone when it doesn’t. Does it help some and is worth trying? Sure! But it’s not the cure all you think it is.

Thank you, friend. All the back and forth, med changing, etc. has been pretty exhausting this past year. I get frustrated for a bit and then I try again. Hoping they get the GeneSight test to me soon so I can take it, even though it is of dubious utility.

Antidepressants are one that I’ve tried, but I’ve been in different classes now.

I don’t need something to “make me happy”. I’m pretty good at that when I’m not having a rough go!

When I’m having a rough go, it feels so incredibly intense and painful, like someone is boring a hole through my body with a hot iron. I want it to help with these lows because it feels so incredibly intense and painful. When I am having a hard time, I’ll either physically have a hard time walking or I’ll do the opposite where I’m amped and trying not to jump into traffic.

I just want the intensity to be lowered a bit. It hasn’t been.

Where my mind has been at in all of this is that most psych meds seem to be little more than placebo. That is…UNLESS you have a severe “derangement” in brain function as with something like schizophrenia or bipolar 1, where very high doses of psychiatric medication are needed to have a strong effect.

But for the population outside of these said conditions, I just am not “getting it”.

My providers know all of this stuff about me. This is what I tell them. I am not hiding anything or not communicating.

One was honest with me straight up said “I’m sorry but I and your therapist seem to be unable to give you sufficient care”.

I have tried different providers. It has the same result. I explain the nature of my “symptoms” to them and keep logs.

Occasionally a friend will remark that I am “doing better”, but then I go right back to where I was before. Other times when people remark that I am “doing better”, it’s simply that I am better at hiding it from others for a period of time.

My issues are very episodic in nature which my providers are very aware of.

I have a crack in my windshield and I feel this energy right now

Yeah I have seen this picture repeatedly on the internet.

If this truly is the same person, would you really not be posting a more recent photo after all of these years?

I got an oil paint, brush, canvas, and easel set and used it once lmao

These are amazing. Where did they end up going?

I work a physical/tactile job in healthcare. My job won’t be in danger until robotics dramatically advance and cheapen. AI could conceptually do my job, but the physicality is missing. A lot of healthcare careers are this way. Not all of them are though, so be wise in your choice!

I do 100% feel this and do know that it often holds true.

But I’ve been dealing with a major episode of social rejection and abandonment from those who I felt fairly close to during a major life event. Happened over a span of several months last year culminating in the “climax” in early October before abruptly “ending”.

But I still struggle to move past it. I am even still friends with the people this happened with. We have a lot of good times, but things happen where it resurfaces and then it’s hard to get out of. :(

I’ve been in an intensive DBT program and while I have found it to be massively helpful for a lot of my base negative emotions, it doesn’t really touch this one much.

I’m honestly at a loss of how to begin to resolve this one. Does this part need a different type of therapy after my DBT program is done?

Really taking in and focusing on the sensations of a hot cup of coffee can do it for me. The smell, the taste, the warmth both from holding the mug and also when drinking it.