Treatment fatigue is the basically a “treatment-induced burnout” that many Spoonies experience after years of medical testing, procedures, and most notably, pills.
Author: That Silver Spoonie
Hi, I'm a 25 year old Spoonie who's been diagnosed with a whole lot of conditioners: POTS, MCS, M.E./CFS, Lyme disease, fibromyalgia, chronic migraine, and possible MCAS and EDS to top it off. I graduated from college in 2016 with a bachelor's degree in Health Science but I'm currently home-bound, living with family. So, I'm using my background in science combined with my life experiences as a foundation to build this blog on. If you have questions, you can send me a message from the "contact" page. Happy reading!
Getting Better: Anxiety vs. Hope
“Healthy people have many dreams for the future, but sick people only have one dream…to be healthy.”
–Unknown
“Healthy” doesn’t mean what you think it means
“Health is a crown that the healthy wear but only the sick can see.”
–Unknown
Continue reading ““Healthy” doesn’t mean what you think it means”
Emily’s Declassified Holiday Survival Guide (for Spoonies!)
I think we can all agree that preparing for the holidays can be pretty stressful…
You have to scavenge Pinterest for decorating ideas, find a Christmas tree, fight off other shoppers at the mall, buy the right presents, nab the perfect dress, stress about your waistline, mentally prepare to deal with your extended family, and make sure your outside Christmas light show gives the Jones’ down the street a run for their money.
You have to do all this and work a job and take care of the little rugrats and maintain your own sanity. It’s a lot of work.
But now imagine that you have to do all these things but you have no energy, you’re in pain, and you’re (most likely) broke as a joke.
Continue reading “Emily’s Declassified Holiday Survival Guide (for Spoonies!)”
5 Ways Chronic Pain differs from “Regular” Pain
There are so many chronic pain conditions out there that I can’t even name half of them.
From MS to Lupus, cancer, chronic migraine, fibromyalgia, arthritis, CPRS, EDS, neuropathy, trigeminal neuralgia, lung diseases, ankylosing spondylitis, Lyme disease, ulcerative colitis, IBS, pelvic pain syndromes, and the list goes on.
Continue reading “5 Ways Chronic Pain differs from “Regular” Pain”
What is Dysautonomia? (living with a wonky nervous system)
Are you yearnin’ for some learnin’ about another invisible illness? If so, grab yourself a a Gatorade and a packet of salt and let’s dive right into this!
Note: If that snack doesn’t sound appetizing to you then you probably aren’t familiar dysautonomia, but keep reading if you want in on the scoop…
What is dysautonomia?
Continue reading “What is Dysautonomia? (living with a wonky nervous system)”
Are doctors sexist? (Exploring the phenomenon of the young, sick female)
Before I launch into this post, I’d like to thank all the gracious, intelligent, and hard-working practitioners who have helped me over the years. You have not gone unnoticed or unappreciated!
Have you ever cringed at one of those “Lyrica” commercials that make fibromyalgia look like a total joke? You can just see it now…the sad music plays in the background as some pitiful-looking middle aged lady rubs her arm in mild pain and gently sighs.
That poor commercial-lady has come down with a bad case of “bored housewife syndrome.” Or at least that’s what they make it look like.
Terms like “chronic fatigue syndrome” translates to a lot of people (including doctors) as “lazy person syndrome.” When in reality, misunderstood and poorly-named conditions like chronic fatigue can be life changing and downright disabling in many cases.
When was the last time you heard of a man being diagnosed with one of these dinky conditions like “chronic fatigue syndrome” or “fibromyalgia”? Women have got to be making this stuff up, right? Or at least exaggerating their symptoms…right?!
This is absolutely not to shame or overlook men with these types of chronic diseases (in truth, I feel great empathy for chronically ill guys who feel weak and emasculated because of it).
But the point is: women are disproportionately struck by the more under-researched chronic illnesses and our medical system is not equipped to deal with them. The result? Women getting shamed, blamed, and shrugged off at the doctor’s office.
As a young woman who grew up with several chronic, mystery illnesses, I’ve had my fair share of doctors look down their noses at me in disbelief as I rattled of a 3-page list of symptoms. Over the years I’ve noticed that young females, in particular, tend to have their health problems chalked up to one of several specific issues: eating disorders, stress, anxiety, and “women’s issues” (aka. periods and pregnancy). And if their health struggles don’t fall into one of those categories then they are often told that their symptoms are psychiatric or somatic in nature.
Continue reading “Are doctors sexist? (Exploring the phenomenon of the young, sick female)”
