When you have chronic illness, you often find that you don’t have as much energy as you’d like to have and you have to start making choices about how and when you are going to use that energy. One challenge that I frequently hear people with chronic illness talking about is having enough energy to get their house work done. There is no perfect equation that will make this achievable for everyone, but there are things that you can do to make reaching this goal more possible.
Continue reading “House Work with Chronic Illness”Month: May 2021
Relationship with Food
There are many things in our lives that can effect the relationship that we have with food. Our culture, our up bringing, food insecurity, trauma, media exposure and our chronic illness. We often don’t think about the ways that chronic illness effects our relationship with food. But it can have significant impact and is worth consideration. But for some reason, this isn’t something that I generally hear being talked about in either the medical community or the chronic illness community. I’m not sure why, but the mental health impact on the way that food can damage our bodies is often over looked. So, I want to take some time to talk about the way that chronic illness can impact our relationship with food.
Continue reading “Relationship with Food”Ramen
I always thought making my own recipe for ramen would be hard, but it was surprisingly straight forward. I watched a series about ramen and then a tried my hand at it. I think my first recipe came out well!
Continue reading “Ramen”Do No Harm VS Personal Autonomy
The ethical idea of “do no harm” is one most of us have heard and attribute to the Hippocratic Oath. Medical providers don’t actually abide by this at all, rather something more along the line of “let the benifits always out weight the risks.” Because the truth is that medical providers cause their patients harm all the time. There is no course of treatment (even choosing not to treat) that does not come with some level of risk for a negative out come. It becomes the job of the medical provider to help the patient to weigh the risk vs benefits for various treatment options.
Continue reading “Do No Harm VS Personal Autonomy”Language Has Power
The way that we talk about things matters. The language that we use effects the way that we think about and engage with a topic. When we choose to use positive language, we are more likely to think about and engage with the topic in a positive way. Like wise, negative language is more likely to evoke a negative response in us. This is important because our minds and bodies are connected. Our expectations can influence the outcomes. This is why the placebo effect exists. When we believe that we are getting treatment and are going to get better, we have a better chance of improving our physical well being; even if we aren’t getting treatment. This does not mean that we can magically cure ourselves of all ills with will power, positive thoughts or good vibes. But what it does mean, is that we can help our bodies foster an enivornment for healing.
Continue reading “Language Has Power”042213-1111
Return thee to the Earth
and know the eternal joy of Now.
Take pleasure with in the flower’s scent
and the coolness of the waters.
From these simple things,
you will know the Greater Divine.
Self-Honesty
When you have chronic illness, it becomes important to carefully self-evaluate and self-regulate. No one else can tell you if you should be resting or if you should be moving. No one else can really know if you are offering up excuses or if you are really having a bad pain day. But the truth is that it can be hard to tell the difference for ourselves at times. Why is this so hard? The answer comes down to self-honesty. Most of us tell ourselves lies without realizing that’s what we’re doing. We buy into the stereotypes or the stigma or the story about ourselves that we grew up with.
Continue reading “Self-Honesty”Resilience
Ability to recover readily from illness, depression, adversity, or the like. -Dictionary.com
RESELIENCE
The elusive creature that every mental health provider tells their patient that they should strive to achieve. But what is it? Feels a little bit like a unicorn. Something of a myth that people imagine and hope could improve their lives but don’t ever seem to lay their hands upon. But here’s the thing, this is a unicorn that each of us already have within us. Because the truth is that it’s not a unicorn at all. It’s a tree. And like a tree, if you water it, give it light and take good care of it: it will grow. But how? Well, let’s consider this little sapling.
Continue reading “Resilience”No Reason
I find it frustrating when people expect there to be a rational reason behind my compulsions. If it was rational it wouldn’t be OCD. I do it because my brain says so. And I pick my battles. If it isn’t something that gets in the way, I let it be. It doesn’t matter that I tap light switches or turn spoons down or change my socks several times a day or check the clock a hundred times a day (yes, literally). These things don’t impair my day to day function. So, I let them be. There is no point investing energy in fighting these compulsions when they cause no harm and don’t get in the way of anything.
Continue reading “No Reason”Discovering My Zebra Stripes
May is EDS awareness month and they have asked us to share our diagnosis story. So, this is mine.
I’ve had symptoms all my life that I reported to my parents as a child and then to doctors as an adult. I kept being told nothing was wrong with me. I knew that I was different then others. I knew that I was always in pain. I knew that I was always vomiting. I knew that something was wrong, but I didn’t have a diagnosis.
Continue reading “Discovering My Zebra Stripes”
Zebra Pig 