A Chronic Voice

Don't forget to check out the revamped #website, and visit our #AboutPage for more info and resources. My aim is and always will be to raise #awareness about lifelong #illnesses from VARIOUS #perspectives. Context matters. 👉 buff.ly/TKHRkRo #ChronicIllness #disability #ChronicPain #MedSky #spoonie

“Severe, life-threatening reactions from a condition called #MastCellActivationSyndrome. I have reactions to perfumes, colognes, strong laundry detergents, smoke, chemical cleaners, airborne foods & more. – hospitalprncss.”: buff.ly/7Uv5Ntk #ChronicIllness #MCAS #NEisVoid #ChronicPain #awareness

"Managing a #ChronicIllness is not something u figure out once & then know how to do. The conditions change. Your #body changes. The strategies that worked last year stop working, or only work sometimes, or work until something shifts.": buff.ly/nEa5gfc by @thethrivingspoonie.com #ChronicPain

"I was in a #health collapse, and #financial collapse as a result. Even if I wanted to engage a program or #treatment, all of it was beyond my means. Where I came from, it’s easy to get lost & nearly impossible to find the trailhead.": buff.ly/suEc4zU by @stillrollingoutdoors.com #healthcare

"I know quite a few #spoonies who have some pretty cool #WalkingCanes. You can do a search online for something that suits your style. Just don’t sacrifice stability and functionality.": buff.ly/VKptSNX #ChronicPain #physiotherapy #surgery #KneeSurgery #mobility #disabled

"As a #DisabledPerson, I find it a little #insulting when people demand that I need to #pray for the #healing of my #disability because it implies that there is something wrong with me that needs to be fixed.": buff.ly/WA44uq1 by sarahlynn358 #NEisVoid #communication #prayer #ChronicIllness

"For personal #conversations, use #LiveCaptioning apps, text services & video-relay services. Perhaps the most #empowering step u can take is to learn a #SignLanguage – there are many online videos & dictionaries to help u.": buff.ly/Fn5X8Hi via @psyche.co #disability #HearingLoss #deaf #hearing

" #xylitol does occur naturally..But this particular #sugar alcohol usually appears in commercial products at levels 1,000 times higher than it would naturally be found in our bodies or in #fruits.": buff.ly/NNLr3Ir via @discovermag.bsky.social #ArtificialSweeteners #HealthyEating #sweeteners

"Many people may be able to learn more & empathise, but full #appreciation for what it’s like to live with prob isn’t fully possible unless you’ve been there yrslf in some capacity. Even then, the experience is unique to the individual.": buff.ly/iRrcMKl by invisiblyme #ChronicIllness #ChronicPain

"in a #society that reinforces constant shifting of #attention & distractibility, the satisfaction of sustaining yr attention on 1 thing can contribute to the #experience being autotelic – that is, highly enjoyable & intrinsically #motivating.": buff.ly/VtE21R7 #flow #MentalHealth #distractions

"My original intention for this post was more of a show & tell session..But it turns out that we all mostly want the same thing no matter where we are in the world - some good old #PainRelief. Even for just a day.": buff.ly/LKYocwm #MondayBlogs #ChronicPain #wishlist #ChronicIllness #DreamComeTrue

"Language has occupied a central place in #brain #science since the discovery of #aphasia ..Yet scientists still disagree about exactly which areas support #language & how those areas divide diff #linguistic functions.": buff.ly/m1igyRV via thebrighterside #BrainHealth #psycholinguistics #TBI

"Societal norms typically dictate that #men should be strong and be viewed as providers..‘ #Masculine ’ traits such as leadership, #emotional detachment & financial #success have been drilled into us since we were little boys.": buff.ly/DTc9Ehi #MensHealth #MondayBlogs #ChronicIllness #fibromyalgia

"I name #spiders in my home. There have been a lot but I still remember Fierce Freda who lived in the corner of my bathroom for ages & kept all the summer flies away. Sadly she disappeared 1 day & I found her in a heap on the floor.": buff.ly/FKlmzrv by @RaisieBay.bsky.social #spoonie #ChronicLife

"It is a silly & #ViciousCycle, because it isn’t my #fault & beating myself up about it is only going to turn the #BadDay into a worse one. It also sets up the framework of how I will be approaching the rest of my day..": buff.ly/vrEtVhQ #MondayBlogs #ChronicPain #PositiveMindset #positivity

"Yr #morning..starts with info gathering. What hurts, what’s stiff, what kind of day yr body seems to be handing u..It’s a diff starting point & #routine advice that skips it isn’t wrong so much as it’s talking abt a diff kind of morning than the 1 u hv.": buff.ly/ouR98jJ by @thethrivingspoonie.com

"I usually try to pick loose-fitting #clothing like dresses, but my outfit choice depends on what type of #surgery I am having because what I wear after an #abdominal surgery may be different than what I’d wear after a #shunt surgery.": buff.ly/hYKS0gC by sarahlynn358 #ChronicIllness #HospitalBag

"The researchers found that.. #TaxiDrivers had measurably more #GrayMatter in the posterior #hippocampus, a brain area tied to storing large-scale #spatial maps..The longer someone had driven, the larger that part of the #brain.": buff.ly/S6lyI7R via @theconversation.com #Alzheimers #BrainHealth

"Because I’ve found more #peace with all of this #pain, I realize that the abundance of baking, decorating & cleaning have to be toned way down..My #family ..definitely don't want me to spend days in pain.": buff.ly/C3dXOAz by ehrmanlisa1 #ChronicPain #WritingPrompts #disability #ChronicIllness

"When we mention #VitaminD, we tend to think of sunshine & milk. When we mention #VitaminK ..people often go, ‘what does that #vitamin do again?’..here's how they work together synergistically for optimal #health & #wellbeing.": buff.ly/IueoBiZ for SpectraSpray #MondayBlogs #supplements #Healthy

" #Patients may take several #medications that contribute to #dryness. They may also use #antihistamines, decongestants, or over-the-counter sleep aids without mentioning them during a routine #medication review.": buff.ly/yQ3oE9e via kevinmd #DryMouth #MedSky #OralHealth #DentalHealth #ChronicPain

"That voice telling u that you just might be wasting your only life, and that you are #failing at everything. That vicious little voice that’s born out of #ableism and societal pressure to ‘hustle’. – Gwen": buff.ly/dsbUeNj #HustleCulture #MondayBlogs #ChronicPain #NEisVoid #disabled #spoonie

"For #physicians, understanding & managing #pain is 1 of the hardest parts of caring for #patients ..self-reported pain has a fragile foundation. 2 people can receive the same stimulus & give very different answers to their #PainLevel.": buff.ly/Q8aaAPJ via @psychologytoday.com #ChronicPain #MedSky

"Rather than directly instructing participants to sit in a particular way, the team altered the environment so that #posture changed without the participants knowing why..helped address a major criticism of earlier " #PowerPose " #research.": buff.ly/ThlER5H via sciencedaily #sitting #Mental

Things to Do On Bed Rest: Education #Advocacy & Volunteering ~ @achronicvoice.com "Even if you aren’t a blogger, you can help. Reading & resharing blog posts from other #ChronicIllness & #disabled bloggers helps raise awareness." 🔗 buff.ly/3OGUdPd #StrongerTogether #BloggingCommunity

"I only found out that a number of my #colleagues & #friends also live with #ChronicIllness only after I started my blog! It’s surprising how we can become invisible even amongst ourselves, despite the daily pains.": buff.ly/CzUrCvx #ChronicPain #InvisibleIllness #disability #singapore #spoonies

"The #ego, or #mind, is very uncomfortable with #waiting. This is the part of u that..screams, “Do something! Anything is better than nothing!” & because we are a very ego-driven #society, you’ll find plenty of external voices that back up that message.": buff.ly/YMTpa5k via tinybuddha #SelfAware

"So u try harder. U set the alarm earlier, add the tracker, tell a friend for #accountability ..For a while it works, which is the cruelest part, because it teaches u that #effort is the answer & that the collapse was a #character prob.": buff.ly/mZa95D9 via lifehackorg #discipline #productivity

" #Kids learn [ #ExecutiveFunctioning ] thru modeling, co-regulation & guided repetition [from parents]. Pausing before reacting & focusing on the outcome instead of the immediate frustration is 1 of the most powerful EF #habits #parents can build.": buff.ly/UDTQhdg via @additudemag.bsky.social

"Disrupting this [gut] balance is a prob called #dysbiosis. It can cause the intestinal barrier to weaken even further, contributing to increased permeability. This condition is often called " #LeakyGut," tho it isn’t an official #medical #diagnosis.": buff.ly/stBlMHa via @UPMC.com #GutHealth

"But something doesn’t have to be about a specific condition to touch a chord re: the boredom, the fight, the #loneliness ..This post is going to be an ongoing home for #poems that manage to put #MentalHealth & #ChronicIllness into #words.": buff.ly/1iX9Chs via janetkjay #ChronicPain #poetry

"How much #sleep someone needs varies widely from person to person. Some #healthy #adults feel fine on around 6h, others need closer to 9..U need more sleep when unwell or start training hard at the gym. Sleep shifts with the #seasons.": buff.ly/UrSny55 via @theconversation.com #health #SleepDebt

"The #doctor then proceeded to tell me, “Madam, you’re #allergic to the entire plant kingdom. As long as u refrain from touching, breathing, or eating..you’ll be alright.” I found his attitude to be #unprofessional &..histrionic.": buff.ly/GdQVXNo Featuring: sararussellntp #healthcare #italy

"Have u presented a poster at a #scientific #conference?..what’s the worst question anybody asked? Also, do they give out little chairs for people to sit on or are u supposed to stand..for hrs?": buff.ly/FbyLDaK by SarahSisbot #ChronicPain #ACR #DisabledPeople #spoonie

" #Bacteria that cause #GumDisease may do more than damage yr #teeth ..research suggests they could also contribute to the buildup of #calcium in the heart's #AorticValve, potentially leading to calcific aortic valve stenosis.": buff.ly/7u1rEgx via sciencedaily #HeartHealth #HeartValve #cardiology

"Even when yr loved 1 needs #support, they r still an #adult. Infantilising – thru baby talk, exaggerated praise or speaking dramatically slower than u normally would – can feel #disrespectful & provoke resistance or #shame.": buff.ly/XAdhGOs via @psyche.co #dementia #MentalHealth #communication

"From the outside, it looks like u sat in a chair & talked for 20 mins. From the inside, it can feel like u ran a..high-stakes negotiation while also being examined. The crash afterward..is the bill for #work that never gets counted as work.": buff.ly/AsKJu9w by @thethrivingspoonie.com #ChronicPain

"There are #colors that I want to show u, but I can’t. They exist in the #RealWorld. U probably saw some of them today..[but] unless you have specialized equipment, they are entirely absent from the #digital world.": buff.ly/rKL9Ly8 by @moultano.bsky.social #color #nature #cyan #filters #chromacity

"None of my #doctors have a clue & have been passing the baton around..Whilst my #neurologist doesn’t think that these symptoms have anything to do with my latest #seizure, my partner noted that the behavioural changes began only after.": buff.ly/DokzYDu #depression #NEisVoid #InvisibleIllness

"I think it is so impt for #families to #accept a #disability because if u can’t accept my disability, then why should I? #DisabledPeople get a sense of how their loved ones feel..& the worst thing u can do is focus on only the negatives.": buff.ly/xnN1boP by sarahlynn358 #ChronicIllness #parent

"Stronger #muscles equals more stable #joints. More stable joints can result in less pain. A strong core can reduce #BackPain. Better strength & more stable joints may improve balance and make doing daily activities easier.": buff.ly/OIb3riT #ChronicIllness #ChronicPain #PainManagement #disability

"While #SlashAndBurn #farming is illegal in #Indonesia, enforcement of a ban has long proven tricky.. #Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has called for tougher sanctions..describing the practice as "#ecological terrorism".": buff.ly/UQT9Jaz BBCNews #pollution #environment #haze #SouthEastAsia

"Lachman helps us to reframe this black-and-white way of #thinking about #cognition through the lifespan by reminding us there are 2 components of #intelligence, fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence": buff.ly/bYt5oUA via @greatergoodedu.bsky.social #human #LifeJourney #aging #midlife

"If there’s 1 small problem I have with them, it’s that I also suffer from #TMD due to #bruxism. I often have problems opening my mouth too wide, so sometimes it takes me a while to stick the #OralSpray into my mouth.": buff.ly/HylObpf for SpectraSpray #supplements #vitamins #ChronicPain #disabled

"You don’t get to stop the flare, necessarily. Or the crash. Or whatever your #body does when it’s been pushed past where it was trying to tell you it was going. But u get more #information. And info, even partial, gives u #options.": buff.ly/z5cced7 by @thethrivingspoonie.com #ChronicPain #pacing

"#HR has used my #ChronicIllnesses as an excuse to exclude me from company events or delay my pay for months. Other bosses have used them to fire me on short notice, or humiliate me when I’m struggling to cope": buff.ly/sPe8bHX #career #ChronicIllness #awareness

"Ian left me to wander abt those market stalls [online] while he disappeared..to make dinner. Before I knew it, I could smell garlic & herbs..My house smelled like a genuine #Italian restaurant…a #GlutenFree one!": buff.ly/mBPo2t9 by @DespitePain.bsky.social #ChronicIllness #adaptation #travel