Posts tagged “Chronic Illness”
It hurts so much I can’t breathe, but it’s not a problem
My stomach and back hurt so much right now that I’m having a bit of trouble breathing. But not only am I standing at my desk writing code (and blog posts), I’m feeling cheerful about how well I feel. Migraines have seriously skewed how I respond to and rank pain and disability. I classify my […]
Finding a place to live with limited barometric pressure changes AND cool weather
Barometric pressure changes are bad for my migraines. Not only does a storm system moving in or out make me sick, but getting on an airplane or driving up a mountain does, too. It’s hard to tell exactly what’s going on though – I’m not sure how much pressure change is too much, the time […]
Who would I be if I were not sick?
We like to think of ourselves as separate from our illness. We like to blame an outside source, whether it’s evil spirits or microbes, anything foreign, anything outside ourselves. We love to pinpoint the cause, to point to that tumor, that gene, that trauma, and say, Aha! There’s your problem! It’s comforting, because it reminds […]
Hard lessons I learned from a chronic illness, or why libertarians are young, white, healthy, male
As a younger woman, my vision of equality was shaped in good part by the liberal feminist concept of emancipation through independence. I recognised my privilege in being able to access to many of the civil rights made possible through the feminist movement and didn’t expect to experience any significant barriers to achieving equality with […]
The destruction of life and identity is the unbearable part of disease
And the funny part is, I’m not the least bit frightened of the cancer itself—even if it turns out to be a death sentence. It’s just what it’ll do to my life.” Source: The Sororal Death – The New Inquiry
A surprisingly awful thing about triptans
I’ve found doctors tend to brush off most complaints about side effects, despite how unpleasant they can be all on their own. Even many innocuous side effects are very difficult when combined with the symptoms of illness or a particular lifestyle. For example, many triptans have a strong diuretic effect. For me, this kicks in […]
Except that it is.
I told a friend that I couldn’t get together because of a health crisis. This scared her. When I said it wasn’t life-threatening, she responded that she was glad it wasn’t serious. Except that it is.