Overdose

Putting this here for reference.  Because I've had an intolerance to MSG/aspartame/glutamate for years and this is the second time I've been caught out in the last few months.  Note for anyone finding this via Google: these are my symptoms; others' may vary.

Classic MSG symptom: extreme skin soreness, especially on upper arms.  Oversensitive teeth.

Classic glutamate toxicity: flushing (to the point of feeling like sunburn), headache, palpitations, throbbing teeth.

It now appears there may be other glutamate toxicity symptoms: pins and needles, muscle twitches, potentially visual disturbances.

Treatment: orange juice (contains high free glutamate but other chemicals in there protect against it), Andrews salts, Epsom salts.  Epsom salts are said to be the most effective treatment.  Also taurine (Red Bull) but as that can cause health problems I don't fancy trying it.

Testing Epsom salts today - the muscle twitches have stopped and the palpitations seem much reduced.

Have previously tried orange juice and Andrews salts, that took a 2-3 day attack down to 3 hours.

Possible natural causes: do NOT eat these multiple days running, or in combination:

Cheese
Mushrooms
Slow-cooked (or repeatedly re-heated) red meat - think a pot of chilli, for example
Grapes
Tomatoes
Peas
Nori (the seaweed covering on sushi rolls)

Twitter: doesn't play well with others

I went back to Twitter a while ago.  I do like it, there are some people I only ever see on there, and it's very, very good for certain types of information, and staying in touch fast.  There's also the mental challenge of getting what you want to say into 140 characters, if possible.

However.  There's a lot that's a pain in the arse about Twitter as well.  When I revisited it this last time, I decided that 1) I'd use it for work, if I decided to go in that direction, and 2) it had to be fun.  That hasn't quite worked out.

It has been really useful for getting some types of info that I wouldn't have come across otherwise.  Unfortunately, it all started hitting the fan again and I wasn't sure why.  (It was also taking up a shed-load of time.)  I uninstalled Twidere from my phone and stayed off for a few days, and had a think.

I'm fairly introverted. (This may qualify for the understatement of 2015.) I can be, and am, social, but it has to be with smaller groups, of the right people: I don't need agreement but I do need good faith; I can do small talk but really don't see the point; I would rather spend my time with people who think about stuff.  In "real life", so-called, I employ filters pretty rigorously, carefully control how much time I spend in groups, police boundaries and ensure recovery time.  Even good groups and fun times can lead to overload (and illness) surprisingly quickly.

What occurred to me was that, regarding Twitter, I'd pretty much abandoned all of that, relying on the "distanced" nature of textual communication to provide the necessary filters and barriers.  Of course, it doesn't work like that; it's a recipe for rapid overload.

So I've gone back, unfollowed a few people there was no point following, put about 95% of people I follow on one list or another, and muted pretty much everyone who isn't humourous, interesting, or a personal friend.  Some of those lists require more mental/emotional energy than others; at least this way I can dip into them as and when I feel able, and limit my exposure.  The signal-to-noise on the main feed should improve, which means I shouldn't miss the posts I actually want to read, and the people I want to interact with.

I've also realised that "armchair activism" is perilously close to no bloody activism at all - especially when it's linked to Twitter's tendency to preach to the choir (as most people tend to follow those of a similar belief set).  This was re-inforced by a friend who said, pretty much - yes, it's shit and you need to do something about it, but you need to choose where to put your energy.  Get out there and make the changes - and that doesn't have to be activism per se, just working out where your energy is best put to use, i.e. work from the ground up.  So I shall try that, I think, and try to make a real small difference where it's safer to do so.  Which isn't to say I won't be active online, but I'll be trying to order my online life far more like my offline one.  If I go quiet, you can always send me an e-mail.