Life Experiences and Advice for Living with chronically Ridiculous illnesses
In the 19th century, doctors were likely to write off most symptoms women suffered as hysteria, “exaggerated emotion or excitement.” Less has changed from those days than you might think. Sexism of our society still profoundly influences how women with chronic illness are treated by their doctors and their friends, family, and colleagues. My…
Resentment poisons relationships. It grows and grows until everyone has been hurt. Communication and honesty are the antidotes.
Even if you are receiving help, you deserve to be treated kindly. Don’t fall into the trap in thinking that you owe it to people who are helping you to be purposefully hurt, abused, degraded, humiliated, or mistreated in any form.
Know your limits of what you can give. You aren’t being brave or saintly for pushing past these.
Often the chronically ill person feels like the caretaker is doing them such a huge favor that they could never complain about how they are treated.
But anyone can fall into an abusive relationship, especially when they feel like they don’t bring much to the table (like many of us with chronic illnesses).
After all, I felt like a burden to all my loved ones anyway. He was just confirming what I already thought. In my mind, this messed up relationship was exactly what I deserved.
The Dysautonomia International Conference was in July in Washington DC. I was able to attend this year and it was a really impressive and informative conference. I flew to Dulles, Virginia a day early from Denver because I have never been to Washington DC and wanted a day to recover from traveling. Friday my parents…