chronic illness Archives - Page 9 of 10

The Link Between Having a Disability and Parenting a Child with a Disability

10 Jul

Sunday night, in a small town in Montana, I met a really incredible woman. She’s the cousin of another friend I made in this town, and when he introduced us, and she asked what I do for work, she immediately...
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Start, Drive, and Be Done

19 Jun

I’m still visiting my friends in San Dimas, California. One of the little things I do to try to be a good guest is wash dishes. My girl made a killer risotto Milanese last night, which, in addition to the...
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Save the Best for Now

14 Jun

On my epic road trip with my furry best friend, I’ve arrived at the presumed goal destination: my friends’ house in San Dimas, California. Last night, on the way to Andrew’s mother’s house for taco night, I was telling Andrew...
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Christina and Amica’s Chronic Adventure

28 May

Amica is my best friend, a senior retriever-chowchow-shepherd-rottweiler-otherstuff mix whom I’ve been with for eleven years, and in case you missed it, we’re on an epic cross-country journey. On Instagram, I’ve been using #ChristinaandAmicasChronicAdventure to tag it, because that’s what...
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Treatment Shaming is a Thing … That We Need to Stop

27 May

I take a lot of vitamins and supplements to help with my various ailments. It’s my pro-active way of doing everything I can do be my best me for me, and for you. Ironically, there have been some “you”s in...
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What’s in the Wash: Chronic Illness and Showering

23 May

So I’m on this grand cross-country adventure with my dog. It’s something people dream about. It’s something I had dreamed about, and I actually get to do. If I complain about any bit of it, I’m a jerk. Yesterday, I...
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7 Things to Be Aware of Regarding Fibro and CFS

16 May

May is fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue awareness month. I have both these diagnoses and here are a few things I’d like to make people “aware” about them: Fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome are real. Fibromyalgia is way more than just...
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5 Ground Rules for Offering Ideas to People with Hidden Disabilities

2 May

I have hidden disabilities, and I talk about them. It’s a little thing I do towards normalizing a conversation that is too-often shamed into silence. When I share on social media, though, there’s something I always brace myself for: the...
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What My Aging Dog Just Taught Me About “No Going Back”

2 May

I’m a writer. I was six or seven years old when I started writing poetry and short stories. My greatest grief with my fibromyalgia is being robbed of time to be a writer because of fatigue and/or brain fog. What...
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How to Help Me Learn to Say “Yes” Again

26 Apr

I recently caught myself doing something terrible … in my brain. My default answer to invitations for social events, whether intimate or large, has become “no.” I have fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome, osteoarthritis, degenerative disc disease, and...
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