In recent memory, as the saying goes, my experience has been higher than usual levels of chronic fatigue associated with my Sjogren’s. In the early years of my illness, I believed I successfully pushed through these times, and just disregarded the 3-hour naps aka crashes that would happen after a
One of the most difficult things I have encountered recently is not the challenges caused by life situations, or the challenges associated with health problems. The challenges that rock my world are more fundamental ones: ones that don’t require a chronic illness to understand, but ones that may be part
I have mentally begun this post for weeks, but a chronically ill life has a way of shaking loose any idea of control over one’s destiny. Anyone who has been ill for a while will understand what I mean when I say I’m suffering a bad case of doctor fatigue.
I’m taking part in WEGO Health’s Health Activist Writer’s Month Challenge Day 14 #HAWMC – Thank a few of your fellow Health Activists for what they have done. Call them out by name or twitter handle. Share your love. I concur with many of my fellow health activists, and as I
I’m taking part in WEGO Health’s Health Activist Writer’s Month Challenge Day 10 #HAWMC – It’s often hard to like pictures of ourselves – post your favourite picture of yourself. Though today is technically “Wordless Wednesday,” tell us why it’s your favourite and what it means to you. Being wordless is
As strange as it may sound, approaching my 23rd anniversary of being a sick person (I remember it well – the food poisoning, giardia or whatever it was that triggered the whole thing and led to me spending most of my 24th birthday puking), I think one of my best
From Jane: I apologize for the lapse in time between posts. On March 1st, 2013, my wife’s mother died. It was 18 years to the day of my father’s death in the antipodes, so many miles and years away. In the following week, my wife and I helped her stepfather
Day 22 – Write about change In a recent post, I talked about invisible illness and the process of subtraction: how illness whittles away at one’s health, work life, family, relationships/connections, and more. However, not all changes related to invisible illness are bad. I’m going to highlight some of the
Yesterday morning I felt grounded. I observed that I had moved to give up my fear of falling. I had taken a step toward mastering the shifting ground of my past. By the evening, the world had fallen down. Pain and self-doubt arose – the nagging fear that something was
I was fortunate to be able to spend some time meditating in a small group this morning. Surrounded by loved ones and safe friends, I felt it grounded me and brought my mind to stillness – freeing me of the “monkey mind” that seemed to accompany yesterday’s pain. I became