I’m always very open and honest about my chronic illnesses (or at least I try to be) but there’s still sides of my condition that not everyone is aware of. Why? Because my health makes me quite vulnerable and only people that live with me see me at my worst. At the moment I live…
I’ve dealt with costochondritis for about sixteen years. When it first happened I thought something was seriously wrong. The pain was awful, so I went to see my GP immediately. Was I having a heart attack? Had I cracked a rib? What the hell was going on inside my chest? Costochondritis is caused by an…
Last month I wrote a letter to myself on the day I was diagnosed, I mentioned that the date has been burned into my memory, and today is that date ten years on. 06/06/06Six six six Ten years. Ten whole years since someone told me the strangest words I’d ever heard. Since, I didn’t have…
Today is Rare Disease Day and I thought I’d share some things I hate about having a chronic illness. I’ve suffered with chronic pain for sixteen years, and here’s a few things that are shitty about it. The actual illness and comorbidities are crap, painful, stressful etc. Constantly cancelling/rearranging plans Inability to be spontaneous Never…
For as long as I’ve been living the Spoonie life (16 years), I’ve had these weird little bouts of fogginess. The combination of chronic pain, fatigue and lack of sleep take a huge toll on the brain and sometimes it’s really difficult to say words, let alone form sentences.When it comes to brain fog, I’m…
Are you ever in so much pain that you can’t even begin to comprehend what to do to help yourself? I know I get to the point where the pain is so consuming that my brain simply won’t work and I have no answers to pull out of my bag. Where do I start? What do…
It’s nearing the end of Invisible Illness Awareness Week 2015 and when I saw that Rachel over at Happy Little Syllables had posted this meme about living with an invisible illness, I had to share my story too. Invisible Illness Awareness week started on the 28th September and ends October 4th.Many of you know that…
Suffering the Silence is an online community for people living with chronic illnesses to share their stories. They are an amazing movement that are breaking the silence by giving sufferers a voice and a platform to tell others what it is like to live with their condition/s.As soon as I read about #SufferingTheSilence here, I…
How do you do it? How do you tell someone that you’re disabled? Is it as easy as just blurting it out?Do you not bother?Do you go into detail? I used to avoid it, I never said I was disabled, I didn’t identify as a disabled person; I was (and am) disabled but if I…
I’ve lived with my boyfriend for over a year. We lived with my parents in a town just outside of Liverpool but recently moved to Northants. It’s a three hour drive away but it’s where my boyfriend is originally from and all of his family live here. It’s a massive change, we live in a…
