A Year Ago Today

Last year, to the day, I crossed the threshold into my childhood home in California, with all my possessions from Colorado waiting patiently to be unpacked in the rented yellow Penske truck in our driveway. My dog was howling happily as she reacquainted herself with our other two dogs and my parents were bringing in …

May Linkup

A while ago, I found the blog called "A Chronic Voice." I loved the articles the page shared on Facebook and after looking into the website further, I found these Linkup Parties, where chronic illness bloggers write about certain prompts each month. This will be my first time participating in a Linkup, and I'm excited …

Illness Doesn’t Have To Be A Scapegoat

Sometimes I find myself blaming all the problems in my life on my illnesses. However, there are things in my life that are just parts of life, parts of post-grad life, parts unrelated to my chronic illness, and yet complicated by it at the same time. But throwing all these problems into the bucket of …

But You Look Fine

Fairly recently, I had this weird experience where a person with a chronic illness threw the “but you look fine!” line on me. I am pretty certain I didn’t respond. In fact, I don’t really recall what happened afterwards because I was in shock. Isn’t it chronic illness code that we don’t say that to …

I’ll Be Fine

I've been more active lately, as in I've been more social. I'm doing things. Things after work instead of lying on the couch, fatigued and in pain. I've been hanging out with friends. Plus, thrift shopping last week and to the dog park this week. And the poppies last weekend. I've been experiencing much fuller …

What’s Working For Me Right Now (March 2019)

Last March I wrote a post about the medications, supplements, and treatments that were working for me at the time. A year later, I feel much more knowledgeable about what living with these illnesses look like for me and how I want to manage/treat them. Since May 2018, I've moved back home to Southern California, …

Medications, Supplements, & Treatments: What’s Working For Me Right Now (March 2018)

I have been having some good luck with medications and treatments lately, so I wanted to share what is working for me right now to hopefully help others find things that work for them. (Please remember that just because people have the same illness, the symptoms and severity is different based on each person.  Health …

Alcohol No More: Life As a Series of Exercises in Self-Discipline

Many of us know the ill effects alcohol has on the body.  It's not great for the liver, weakens your immune system, increases levels of cortisol (the "stress hormone")... the list could go on, but the biggie is that it causes inflammation. Now, for many people this isn't much of a problem (moderation is key).  …