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Taking Care of Yourself During the holidays (or big events): post #4 (co-written)

Welcome to the holiday season, from Co-writers @health_and_unwellness and @chronically.undiagnosed92 . It’s a time that should fill people with joy, but when you already have to cope with the day to day effort of living with chronic illness, even when things are going well, and the holidays roll around it can feel overwhelming. You may feel that you’re already pushing yourself to your limits, and now many of us will find ourselves responsible for arranging elaborate gatherings and celebrations. I, for one feel a little intimidated. For me the holidays mean a massive build up of many things, and unfortunately, stress is a major one of those things.  In Australia, our main holiday celebrated is Christmas Day. And for me that’s one day where I’ve become responsible for arranging the gathering of my family. For me that means, that there is a large Christmas tree to be assembled and decorated, masses of different foods to be prepared and served at the table that needs to be set up an
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GUEST POST #2: still sick

Hi my name is Claire, or @ chronically_claireann on insta. The beginning of this rant was written by Coffee Spoonie @coffeesponnie on Twitter. And the rest I wrote. She inspired me to get something’s off my chest about how it’s difficult when people see me happy and then think I’m cured and don’t believe me when I am not doing well, unhappy, and still sick.  As a person with many chronic illness I am constantly worried about people using my good days against me. MY GOOD DAYS are NOT my standard. They are the EXCEPTION. They don’t give you permission to raise the bar on what you expect from me and to then act disappointed because I don’t meet that standard of “HEALTH” you’ve set the next day and the day after (@coffeespoonie). Just because I was able to do it yesterday but cannot today DOES NOT MEAN that I am choosing not to, do not want to, or am being lazy. Just because I was feeling better for 4 days DOES NOT MEAN I am cured. Just because my blood values have gotten better DO
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Self-care for spoonies: mental health for spoonies #3

Follow up post #3 This is a mini-series on mental health when you have a chronic illness or physical disability. The goal is to raise awareness for how high the chance of suicide is, and the fact that mental illness when you have a chronic condition is inevitable. And, also very importantly, to give coping skills to and visibility to those who need it. TW: talk of mental illness and suicide I would like to start this blog by saying I'm not an anomaly. 20,000 people with chronic pain commit suicide annually, which is higher than the government's number of opiate overdoses. There is a clear connection between chronic pain and chronic illness (people with a lower quality of life due to a health condition) with depression, anxiety, medical PTSD, and suicide. There's a substantial risk of suicide for people with 2 or more conditions- and most chronic conditions have comorbidities. People with CRPS, the most painful condition, have many risk factors of suicide such as depressi
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Adapting coping skills for people with physical conditions: mental health for spoonies #2

Co-writers @health_and_unwellness and @chronically.undiagnosed92 follow up from my previous post. This is a mini-series on mental health when you have a chronic illness or physical disability. The goal is to raise awareness for how high the chance of suicide is, and the fact that mental illness when you have a chronic condition is inevitable. And, also very importantly, to give coping skills to and visibility to those who need it. TW: talk of mental illness and suicide I would like to start this blog by saying I'm not an anomaly. 20,000 people with chronic pain commit suicide annually, which is higher than the government's number of opiate overdoses. There is a clear connection between chronic pain and chronic illness (people with a lower quality of life due to a health condition) with depression, anxiety, medical PTSD, and suicide. There's a substantial risk of suicide for people with 2 or more conditions- and most chronic conditions have comorbidities. People with
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Mental illness and physical health conditions: mental health for spoonies #1

This blog is dedicated to every person who has a physical and mental health diagnosis. This is a mini-series on mental health when you have a chronic illness or physical disability. The goal is to raise awareness for how high the chance of suicide is, and the fact that mental illness when you have a chronic condition is inevitable. And, also very importantly, to give coping skills to and visibility to those who need it. While everybody reading this blog knows, chronic conditions usually come with a mental health diagnosis, and that's normal- but when your symptoms are so severe they have taken over every part of your life and drained your quality of life, it's easy to see how you would have suicidal thoughts. The sad thing, is it never has to get that bad, but the medical system will make you wait until you are ready to end it all. My pain could have [relatively] easily been stopped, but all the doctors that denied care made my life impossible. When my 9/10 back pain was just
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GUEST POST #1: Being undiagnosed, and trying to live despite an undiagnosed chronic illness

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Guest post by: Hannah, my friend from Instagram, she's a kind selfless person and we met basically by her giving me a free cute little stuffed lamb she made my hand! Go and show her some love on instagram @chronically.undiagnosed92 “We don’t know what is wrong with you.” You hear this type of statement time and time again, and slowly you lose hope that there will ever be a different answer. Still, each and every day you get up and do everything in your power to function as normally as possible even when your body and mind are fighting you every step of the way. Living with an undiagnosed chronic illness is a roller coaster of emotional and physical highs, lows and gut-wrenching turns. For me, I had already lived in the medical system for quite a while before what I consider to be my chronic illness’s development. Back in August of 2015 I had a gastric sleeve bariatric surgery, which left me with devastating complications. Those complications have caused my oesophagus (the
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