Introduce Yourself- Part 3

[WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?]

Welcome, @Godless Slūt! Welcome, @SaintSeya! I look forward to "seeing" you around.  (If I ever catch up. I'm so far behind on my FJ reading.)

[Jellybean]

Delighted to have you both (echoing the lovely @WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?)! 

@Godless Slūt it’s nice to have seen you around posting in the JillRod threads, though like WWJCD, I’m so behind on so many threads! I need about a week to just read my way through, without commenting, until I catch up! I also have severe asthma and a type of immune disorder (actually, two types, now that I think about it - I have an IgG4 deficiency, which puts me at higher risk of infection from gram-negative bacteria, and a mast cell activation disorder, in which my mast cells - that contain histamine and serotonin and other inflammatory chemicals - are unstable and can be triggered by lots of things, causing anaphylactic reactions). There are more of us here in the FJ community, and I’m sure you’ll find others who are open about their neurodiversity, mental illness, physical illness, etc. As I’m sure you’ve already discovered, this is a wonderful place, filled with wonderful people.

@SaintSeya - congratulations on your courage in finally signing up here! Welcome! There are lots of people here who speak English as a second (or third, or fourth) language. Don’t worry about any mistakes - people are forgiving, and will read your posts for your meaning, not to criticise. Be brave!

[Godless Slūt]

Thank you for the warm welcome!@WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo? & @Jellybean 

@Jellybean I have an IgG4 deficiency also and up until now a mystery other issue that leads to severe reactions and anaphylactic shock. Going to phone my asthma doctor in the morning and have her look into mast cell problems. So far they’ve just called it Severe persistent atypical brittle asthma.

I’m allergic/intolerant to long-acting beta agonists so the meds that doctors were prescribing were making me much sicker instead of helping and they thought it was something I was doing wrong. My latest doctor is much younger and she’s the one that figured out what was going on and she found the IgG4 deficiency as well. I had so many blood draws the first few months under her care the lab people were getting upset because I looked like I’d been beat up (bleeding disorder) and I didn’t have any more ‘good’ veins so it was a challenge every time. 

My mother had Munchausen syndrome by proxy with me being the proxy. It was fairly easy for her to keep me constantly at death’s door. It’s taken decades to sort out the damage. I haven’t had access to medical care for long periods of time either and that ceratainly hasn’t helped. I’m finally starting to get somewhat stabilized though. Hooray! Thanks Obama!

On a totally different topic. I saw a picture of you in your wedding dress and you looked SOOO beautiful! Your dress was perfection! And you looked radiantly happy too! I think Mr Jellybean was in the photo as I vaguely remember a nice-looking gentleman in a good suit. Although that may have been a different photo. Just wanted to let you know that you set the standard for wedding dresses for me from now on! (Not that I plan on ever marrying again, I just mean while looking at others’ dresses...) 

 

Edited April 24, 2018 by Godless Slūt
Fixed some Aspieisms

[Jellybean]

I’m so sorry about your mother. I had different problems in that my mother was determined that god was the only answer, and would remove me from hospital, even from intensive care, but thankfully adulthood! 

I agree that asking your doctor about MCAD/MCAS would be a good plan. Dr Afrin is one of the leading authorities in the US, I believe (I’m in the UK).

IgG4 deficiency and MCAS, along with easy bruising and bleeding, are often linked to Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. It’s only relatively recently that they’ve understood some of the many complicated conditions associated with EDS, so there’s not a huge amount of information out there, but there is some...

[Godless Slūt]

Yes thank goodness for adulthood! I turned 18 and I was outta there. I’m so glad you were able to get away too! Ugh mothers... yours was taking you out of intensive care when you needed to be there and mine was putting me into intensive care and I wouldn’t have had to be there if not for her. Gah just there are no words... 

That’s strange that you mention Ehlers-danlos syndrome. I just had a Facebook ad about it and I’d never heard of it before. The FB AI/algorithm is spooky sometimes! 

Thank you for the information! 

[Jellybean]

How funny! I agree that the FB ads can seem quite creepy. 

This is quite a good summary of EDS. It may also be worth looking at histamine intolerance (lots of people with EDS have a diamine oxidase deficiency, so they can’t get rid of natural histamine that is contained in the foods they eat) and foods that can trigger mast cells. I’m very happy to pm about any of this if you’d like that.

 

[SaintSeya]

Thank you @WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo? and @Jellybean!

I'm just deciding which thread is going to be the one for my premiere... Thanks for the encouragement!

Edited April 26, 2018 by SaintSeya
Don't know how this work...^^U

[ORNurse]

My name is Shannon. I’m a nurse, mom, girlfriend. 

I was around here YEARS ago...through the rapture. Can’t remember the year...want to say 2009 maybe...when I joined. Can’t remember my user name. Life got busy...my dad had ALS, I was in RN school, just a string of back freaking luck. 

I was raised a JW...stopped that nonsense 8 years ago. Got divorced, live with my BF. 

Not much else I can think of right now...

 

[Jellybean]

Delighted to meet you @ORNurse! I’m a former medical student and now ‘professional patient’ - thank you for what you do!

I'm so sorry about your dad. ALS is such a cruel condition, isn’t it?

Congratulations on getting free from the JW machine. I left fundie-lite Christianity aroundi the same time. It’s both a relief and a feeling of loss for me; I don’t know if you feel the same way. 

I look forward to seeing you around. You’ve probably seen it already, but there’s a thread on JWs and disfellowshipping in Quiverful of Snark. It’s gone a bit quiet, but I recommend reading back over the Brother Gary Hawkins threads (also in QF of Snark). There are about five of them, and they’re hilarious! I read back over them when I need a giggle!

[Pecansforeveryone]

On 4/29/2018 at 7:41 AM, Jellybean said:

Delighted to meet you @ORNurse! I’m a former medical student and now ‘professional patient’ - thank you for what you do!

I'm so sorry about your dad. ALS is such a cruel condition, isn’t it?

Congratulations on getting free from the JW machine. I left fundie-lite Christianity aroundi the same time. It’s both a relief and a feeling of loss for me; I don’t know if you feel the same way. 

I look forward to seeing you around. You’ve probably seen it already, but there’s a thread on JWs and disfellowshipping in Quiverful of Snark. It’s gone a bit quiet, but I recommend reading back over the Brother Gary Hawkins threads (also in QF of Snark). There are about five of them, and they’re hilarious! I read back over them when I need a giggle!

I left fundie lite Christianity about 3 years ago.  It's both a relief and a feeling of loss for me. 

[Jellybean]

I can understand that feeling. There’s something comforting about the ‘certainty’ of an afterlife, the feeling of understanding how and why things are the way they are, the community... I had my head so firmly stuck in the sand that I believed almost all of it throughout everything. It was too uncomfortable to consider the dissonance between some of my beliefs, so I worked hard to listen to Christian teachings that offered an explanation. 

When everything collapsed, it collapsed hard and fast, and I was left feeling quite shocked, and as though my world had fallen apart around me. 

I can’t offer any solutions to you - only sympathy. It’s horrible, but it’s real. That’s my best consolation.

What do you find most difficult/miss most?

[Pecansforeveryone]

On 5/3/2018 at 1:02 PM, Jellybean said:

I can understand that feeling. There’s something comforting about the ‘certainty’ of an afterlife, the feeling of understanding how and why things are the way they are, the community... I had my head so firmly stuck in the sand that I believed almost all of it throughout everything. It was too uncomfortable to consider the dissonance between some of my beliefs, so I worked hard to listen to Christian teachings that offered an explanation. 

When everything collapsed, it collapsed hard and fast, and I was left feeling quite shocked, and as though my world had fallen apart around me. 

I can’t offer any solutions to you - only sympathy. It’s horrible, but it’s real. That’s my best consolation.

What do you find most difficult/miss most?

I am an introvert so I miss the socialization the most. Most of my friends were/are friends from church or the Christian business where I worked.  It's gotten a lot better since I was stationed across the country and met and married my wonderful husband. Thank you for your kind thoughts. 

[dizzying]

Hello I have been a reader here for awhile. After reading the stuff on why the naugler stuff is on lockdown it has prompted me to start interacting with y'all! Looking forward to reading more and slipping and falling down a deep dark hole.. I'm in Canada, have 6 kids total all over the age map. Live on a farm. Yup just livin the life ... Lol. Can't wait to meet some of u!

[Carm_88]

@dizzying Welcome!  We're happy to have you join us! 

[WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?]

Hello, @dizzying and welcome!

It's been interesting to see how many people have been reading in the Naugler threads. I hope the temporary lockdown gives you all a chance to poke around and find other good reading material, and maybe a reason to post a bit.  My personal habit is to jump in on fun thread drifts when I'm new to a topic. Or ask a few questions. Most members are nice about answering questions, or at least pointing in the right direction. Some areas, like the Duggars, Bates, and Maxwells have a general summary of the family. Those are handy. 

Edited May 11, 2018 by WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?
added a thought

[Palimpsest]

16 hours ago, dizzying said:

After reading the stuff on why the naugler stuff is on lockdown it has prompted me to start interacting with y'all!

Aw, welcome, and thanks for delurking.  We have quite a few Canadians here. 

As @WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?, says some of the forums have useful summaries of the families.  We also have this https://www.freejinger.org/forum/223-whos-who-fundamentalist-family-and-organization-summaries/ but it badly needs updating.  We depend on volunteers for all that stuff.

There's always good thread drifts on the Jill Rodrigues threads if you want to ease in gently.

 

[Lisafer]

Hi! This is my first post here, and I'm so nervous, lol! I have literally been lurking since Yuku! What is that, 7 or 8 years? I have an anxiety disorder and some other fun mental issues, so actually introducing myself and posting scares me to death! I've been reading here so long, and I've seen the good, bad and ugly for sure. 

A little about myself: I was raised dyed-in-the-wool fundie. Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA). No instruments in worship, acapella and exclusive Psalmody. Women were not allowed to hold office or speak in worship services. Homeschooled, long hair, long skirts, young-earth creationism. No IFB, because we looked down on Baptists (!), but we got the Vision Forum catalog from Doug Phillips and the Credenda/Agenda magazine from Doug Wilson.

I started to have questions in my late teens. I've written one article for Homeschoolers Anonymous (Alia's Story, 12/18/17). I went from fundie to moderate to liberal Christian to (in the last year) accepting that I no longer consider myself a Christian. Spiritually, I'd call myself a practicing Witch, but I'm quite new to recognizing that part of myself.

Anyway, I'm really excited to be here and I'm open to trying to answer questions about the fundie lifestyle I lived, if people are curious. 

[Violette]

Hi all, I've been here for awhile just reading. I made my first 2 posts today. I love documentaries, true crime and knitting! I used to be Catholic, now I'm something else. Still figuring that out. Anyhoo, I'm the 7th of 10 children. My parents followed the "no birth control" rule. I do read on a lot of the fundie families. Although we were a large family, we were just regular folk. We pretty much only talked God on a Sunday! Monday thru Saturday we caused trouble! Thanks for listening. I'm learning how to navigate here. It will take me a while.

 

Edited May 11, 2018 by VaSportsMom
Removed signature

[Palimpsest]

And  @Lisafer and @Violette.  I'm so glad you joined and decloaked, respectively.

Lisafer, I think many people will want to ask about your journey out of Fundyism, but I'll try not to rush you.  I think I've read Alia's Story, but will go and refresh my memory.  Homeschoolers Anonymous is an excellent resource, I think.  We have people here who identify as Pagan and practicing Witch too.   I'm just a failure of a missionary kid who is now an atheist. 

Violette, Mr. P identifies as Catholic in recovery, agnostic, with a bit of Buddhism.  I'd be very interested in your story too.  We have a very diverse crowd here from all religions and walks of life.

It takes a while to learn to navigate this site because we are huge.  Also I'm a total tech dinosaur, but someone else will come along soon if you need help in getting rid of your tapatalk signature line on posts.  They mess with our system or something. 

 

[Lisafer]

@PalimpsestThank you! I have a knack for writing--I do some self-publishing on Amazon and other sites. I noticed there's a blog feature on FJ. I was thinking maybe I could use that to write articles on different aspects of the religion I grew up in. Do I have to have a certain post count or anything to set up a blog?

[WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?]

6 minutes ago, Lisafer said:

Do I have to have a certain post count or anything to set up a blog?

I believe any member can start a blog right away. I think I started mine when my post count was pretty low and I had only been a member for a month or so. (If I'm wrong, please let me know.  )

[Palimpsest]

6 minutes ago, Lisafer said:

Do I have to have a certain post count or anything to set up a blog?

Nope, I don't think so.  You are all set with your membership.  Here are the instructions for setting up a blog:  https://www.freejinger.org/faq/6-blog-related-questions/#elQuestion-30

And I look forward to reading it.

 

[dizzying]

Awe thanks for the welcome all! 

[may]

Hi! I’m May and I’m a senior in high school. I’ve been following the Duggars and researching their beliefs since I was in junior high. I just find the whole dynamic super interesting and entertaining so I’m here for the discussion. Personally I’m agnostic and I don’t share any of their beliefs, but I went to a Christian fundie elementary/middle school so I have my stories and experiences with them lmao. Found this forum through the reddit r/DuggarSnark. :’)

[WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?]

Hi, @may! Welcome to FJ.  We have a pretty diverse group of posters here, with folks from 18 up to their 80s. (As far as I know. No one has mentioned being in their 90s, afaik.)  It's always great to hear from people who have first hand experience dealing with fundies. 

We also have discussion threads about many different families and topics. If/when you get a bit tired of the Duggars, come check out some other threads, too! If you ever want to find a new rabbit hole to spend time in, just ask people for a recommendation. You'll have more to read than you can imagine!