Tag Archives: potsie

The Difficulty of Chronics vs Being Sick

Since I got diagnosed with all my Chronics (see the sidebar for the list), it is very difficult to determine when I’m sick. Why? Well, let’s break that down, shall we?

First, the symptoms of the common cold (source: Mayo Clinic):

  • Runny or stuffy noseflu2
  • Itchy or sore throat
  • Cough
  • Congestion
  • Slight body aches or a mild headache
  • Sneezing
  • Watery eyes
  • Low-grade fever
  • Mild fatigue

And the symptoms of the flu (source: Mayo Clinic):

  • Fever over 100 F (38 C)20100902155255-1_0
  • Aching muscles, especially in your back, arms and legs
  • Chills and sweats
  • Headache
  • Dry, persistent cough
  • Fatigue and weakness
  • Nasal congestion
  • Sore throat

Those seem pretty straight forward, don’t they? Well, unfortunately, my Chronics make it anything but.

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So I took a ton of photos at Zion National Park. Here are a few of my favorites:

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Zion National Park Photos

Suddenly, the Weekend Attacked

This weekend was insane, and I’m definitely feeling it pretty badly. It really sucks when you don’t do anything social for an extremely long time, and then everyone wants to do stuff the same weekend! But while it physically sucks, it was still a ton of fun.

Life is Hectic

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Chronic Living – Buzzfeed

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Living With A Health Problem | Buzzfeed

Here’s a collection of good quotes about living as a young adult with chronic health issues.

When we were in California, we did a lot. One of the little things we did in San Luis Obispo was visit Bubblegum Alley. It’s just as disgusting as it sounds, but it’s a “you have to see it once” type of thing. So, since I’d already seen it, I took Dan. Here are some pictures 🙂

This is Bubblegum Alley, all of the spots are pieces of gum.
Of course, I made Dan put gum on the wall!
He is absolutely disgusted.
I did it too!
The smell is horrid, so I started to feel sick.

I took so many pictures in Cali they’re going to take multiple posts, and forever to edit. But I thought these were fun.

Fun Time in San Luis Obispo

New-ish Diagnoses

These diagnoses aren’t new, actually, but I just found out about them. These two new-ish diagnoses are joint hypermobility syndrome (I will often shorten it to JHS) and inappropriate sinus tachycardia (IST).

Joint hypermobility syndrome, which I wrote a little about in the Writing 101 assignment Why Do I Write?. I have always been very flexible, but for some reason having a name makes things make more sense. Dr Spencer thinks it is possible I might have Ehler-Danlos, but the genetic testing is expensive and it wouldn’t change any of my treatments anyway. JHS is a congenital condition that just makes all of my joints extra loose.

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It’s Giving Tuesday

I hadn’t even heard of Giving Tuesday until today… apparently, I’ve been living under a rock? I think I just have difficulty keeping track of which “named” days get added onto this specific part of the season…

Anyway, Giving Tuesday makes me feel much better about the world than the others. One invisible illness blogger I read regularly, Let’s Feel Better by Ilana, also works for the Global Genes Project. She wrote about the work they do and some of the non-profits they work with!

Check out Ilana’s Giving Tuesday post!

Featured in Ilana’s post: Dysautonomia International, Jeffery Modell Foundation, EB Research Partner (EB is the “butterfly” condition)

Defining Disabled from Indisposed and Undiagnosed

Defining Disabled – Indisposed and Undiagnosed

I’m just going to leave this here. I’ve been thinking along the same lines, and she articulated these thoughts perfectly!

 

First Road Trip With POTS – Short Thoughts

This has been my first road trip since my POTS diagnosis, and it has been a learning experience. I’ll write more about it later, but here are some quick points.

  • You will be too hot and too cold… Sometimes at the same time.
  • You are going to get crazy dizzy because road trips are dehydrating
  • Clothing is obnoxious
  • Fast food and soda are simultaneously awesome and evil
  • Bladders are tiny
  • There is no such thing as being over prepared

In September, while my mom was here, we went driving to look at some fall color! We ended up on Mt Evans. Both Dan and I were quite impressed that my mom could get out of the car and walk around up there!!! There are people who live in Denver (5280 ft above sea level), and have their whole life, that cannot walk around at 14,000 feet above sea level. My mom is from only 1700 feet elevation, AND has adult onset asthma! Go Mom! Here are some fun pictures from there:

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Mt Evans – from September