Who am I now? Losing your identity to chronic illness

Chronically ill people are often criticised as "making their whole identity about their illness." Whether or not this is true, it's an unfair criticism, because so much of our identity gets stolen when we become sick. When I was healthy and able bodied, and even when I was sick but still working full time, I …

Advertisement

Life, Death, and Library Books

It feels like I write about death a lot. I suppose it's because a Lorem Ipsum Life is a bit like dying. I lost everything and everyone I was when I got sick. Dealing with the grief of that 'death' is an important part of continuing to live. This morning I took a wee girl …

Tips, tricks, and life hacks for living with ME/CFS

I did a talk for my local support group. Here's a video of it. CW: discussion of suicide risk towards the end of the video. There may be other sensitive topics too, but I don't remember what I covered at the moment. I did a talk on tips, tricks, and life hacks for people with …

I have Hipster Long Covid (I was doing it before it was cool), here’s my advice on how to avoid becoming like me

In March 2020 the scientist of the ME community predicted that Covid-19 would cause ME, a lifelong post-viral fatiguing illness, in a portion of those who recovered from infection. They estimated roughly 5-10%, based on SARS1, would struggle to return to pre-infection energy levels, and that many of these would never recover. It didn't take …

Heads it wins, tails I lose

Am I depressed or flaring? I'm tired and can't get the energy to do anything. I feel sick. I have a headache. My stomach hurts. My mood is low and I'm having panic attacks and anxiety. I can't get to sleep but when I do I can't wake up. I want to cry but can't. …

CFS vs ME, or something else entirely, or why names matter.

There is a lot of debate around the place about the naming of this condition from which I suffer and what is should be called. There is general agreement that Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is an inappropriate and misleading name. Other names have been suggested by various groups, but there is yet to be an …

Mobility parking – it’s not there for your (in)convenience

Today I went to the craft supply shop for sewing machine needles. On arriving, I found a truck parked in the disability parks, no permit displayed. The driver was coming out of a new bed shop that was being set up. I asked him where his permit was... he didn't have one, he was just …

Not a good day

I woke up craving a sweet, syrupy raspberry flavour with a very particular mouthfeel and sort of tingling on the lips... the liquid paracetamol I used to have as a child. I guess that means my body is hurting. I've been doing so well lately, my covid vaccination giving me a good 8 weeks of …

Reading for pleasure again: thank you, Chris, John, and Arthur.

As a child, I loved reading. I remember my first chapter book, received as a birthday or Christmas gift and read on busses to and from school, The Secret of Nym. I followed it up with Animal Farm, because it was about animals. I remember reserving The Neverending Story at the library and waiting months …

Why would you willingly risk becoming like me?

I'm so baffled by vaccine reluctance, especially in populations old enough to remember polio. Covid causes long term damage and disability in a devastatingly high proportion of the infected. Severe-acute-respiratory-syndrome-Coronavirus-disease-2019, aka SARS-COV-2, AKA Covid-19 attacks the organs, blood vessels, and nerves. It's not just a respiratory infection, it's a systemic disease. We are seeing data …