I write about choosing to find wholeness in the midst of the brokenness of chronic illness and about managing chronic illness to optimize wholeness. I have lived with pain for long enough I no longer recall what it feels like to be pain-free. I chose early on that pain was not going to control me or my life. Rather, I’d live life fully in spite of pain, illness, and limitations. I refuse to just survive, but rather seek to thrive. I am working on managing/balancing multiple invisible chronic illnesses: Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS), Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) and insulin resistance, migraine and other headaches, pain, fatigue, GI issues, joint issues and surgeries. The only predictable thing about this life, is that it will be unpredictable. Life is certainly never boring! I may not be able to change my circumstances, but I can change my attitude and perspective. It is my choice whether to focus on the numerous illnesses and difficulties and feel miserable, or to choose to find what is going right, what is positive in what may at first glance appear chaos, and feel grateful.
One of the goals I have is to offer support to others with chronic invisible illness. Living with chronic illness can be isolating, lonely. Sometimes, online support is all that a person may have.
Another goal is raising awareness for invisible illnesses, rare conditions. I had heard of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome prior to it being suspected with me, but many never have. I had never heard of mast cell activation syndrome. I had not ever heard of hip impingement, femoral acetabular impingement (FAI), hip labral tears, until right before diagnosis. I had heard of rotator cuff tears, knew shoulders had labrums after learning about hip labral tears, so when diagnosed with those issues, had an idea of what they were. However, I had never heard of os acromiale until first shoulder was diagnosed. I had not known what cluster headaches were. I learned about glycogen storage diseases, methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) mutations, cytochrome P450 mutations, etc. I started to see patterns, explore connections, overlap, clustering, interactions, associations between multiple chronic conditions. I am still learning. I view all as a learning opportunity, consider learning to be lifelong.
Chronic Wholeness
Pursuing wholeness in brokenness, strength in weakness, health in illness.
- chronicwholeness@gmail.com
- https://chronicwholeness.blogspot.com/
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- https://www.facebook.com/
groups/ChronicWholeness/ - https://www.pinterest.com/chronicwholeness/
- https://twitter.com/ChronicWholenes
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