#chronic pain rep

[naturegirl555]

I can’t help but tear up everytime I read a chronic pain buck fic because it is just so close to me. Like I love with chronic pain and sometimes it makes me feel like maybe I’ll get what they have one day. Someone who doesn’t think of it as a time consuming exhausting thing. I know that they are fictional but a girl can hope!!!

[ozs-twink-boytoy]

Untitled Batman and Robin (2023) rewrite

Soon to be avalaible on my Ao3

Summary: Bruce and Damian are getting used to their new house in downtown Gotham.

The yell of bloody murder coming from his son’s room echoed through the walls of the home. Surely the man of the house would be getting some noise complaints by the witchy landlady next morning. But that did not matter right now.

Bruce Wayne jolted on bed and sat up straight. His first instinct was to grab the bat-a-rang under his pillow and yell Damian’s name. But he stopped a millisecond before that. Breath caught in his throat. Because if Damian was in physical danger, he wouldn’t be screaming.

The single father sighed, and immediately felt bad upon doing it. How could you even entertain the idea of going back to bed? He self-deprecated. Damian is suffering. He is in pain. And it’s because of you. His body and mind were begging him to curl back into bed. His back in particular was shooting pain down his spine like a tazer. But he could not come back to bed for the life of his life. Not when his son kept screaming for Alfred to come back.

So Bruce took a deep breath as the screams on the room next to him subsided and turned into inaudible sobs (for the untrained ear at least), grabbed and swallowed the painkillers on his nightstand, reached for the cane next to his bed and got up into action.

Even though it would qualify as an emergency, and therefore lack of pleasantries could be excused, the father knocked on Damian’s bedroom door with the hook of his cane. He waited three seconds for each knock, as to give his son time to put on a mask of indifference. Both for his sake and Damian’s. Bruce hated seeing him like that and the boy was not eager to be perceived either.

To Bruce’s surprise, Damian stayed put. So he had to open the door on his own.

The Former Batman was met with the vision of his son sitting on bed with his legs pressed to his chest by his arms, covering the logo of Bruce’s old Pink Floyd t-shirt. The man could see his boy’s toes wiggling in anxiety from under the sleeves of his oversized black pants.

But what caught Bruce’s attention the most, was the fact that Damian seemed to be whispering to himself.

“A fireplace to the left, an old red rug all over the floor— The boy kept his stare fixed into a point into the void of the beige wallpaper of his small room.

“Damian?” Bruce raised an eyebrow, knuckles tightly wrapped around his cane in concern. “What are you doing?”

The boy kept repeating seemingly random words while taking slow steady breaths. Inhale, 5 seconds of holding and then exhale. He repeated this for about 30 seconds as Bruce stood still trying to process what Damian was trying to do.

“A small bed with a cubical pillow, my violin standing in the left corner…”

Bruce was about to reach out and take his hand to shake him out of the trance he was seemingly in… when he connected the dots.

It was a grounding technique.

He was recounting the old items in his bedroom back at Wayne Manor. As a way to calm himself. Bruce had read about that technique; but it never occurred to him that Damian could be using them for his night terrors. That was… quite clever of the boy to think of.

The Former Batman blinked and took a seat at the foot of Damian’s bed.

“What else is there?” Bruce asked, encouraging him to go on with his description of his room back at the manor.

Damian kept inhaling and exhaling. “Two swords hanging on the north wall, forming an X above grandmother’s old wardrobe…”

Bruce gritted his teeth at the mention of his mother but put his feelings aside for a moment due to the circumstances. He kept asking Damian for details about his own old room. How it smelled, the color of the walls and even how the fire from the hearth looked after it died down during cold winter nights.

After a few minutes of back and forth, Damian’s toes stopped wiggling, his breathing stabilized and his pupils returned to their normal size.

As the boy came back from the confines of his own mind, Bruce could not help but stare at him; Damian's eyes were of a light honey, brownish color and his hair was jet black and curly. But that was where the physical similarities with his father ended. The rest of his appearance snitched on him as a raw, bonafide Al-Ghul; those monolid shaped eyes, the brown skin with warm undertones and the slender build made it so that fact was irrefutable. Even more so now that he had let his hair grow until it reached his shoulders. Just like his mother…

The boy did not usually look people in the eye, and this was no exception. He usually focused on some type of quirk of a person’s face and went from there, as to simulate neurotypicality. For his father, that quirk was a small brown mole in his nose.

“I’m fine…” Damian pronounced with a believable conviction, voice cracking notwithstanding— he was fourteen after all.— and immediately started stimming nervously with Talia’s golden necklace; by passing his fingers around the chain. The one Bruce told him to take off for sleeping due to being a possible choking hazard.

Bruce sighed loudly with his arms extended in front of him, both hands gripping into his walking cane. A bit of pain shot up his spine, but it was manageable. He wanted to say something comforting.

“They’ll end up kicking us out if this keeps happening…” He blurted out without thinking. Damian did not seem phased, but Bruce was mentally kicking himself.

He was still figuring out how to be an actual father.

Damian let out a big sigh. “It’s the walls…”

Bruce blinked in confusion. “The… walls?”

“They’re all colored in this weird… beige color. They make me feel trapped, ” Damian explained. Shuddering a bit. “It drives me insane…”

Bruce nodded slowly in understanding. The boy did seem to be overly sensitive to muted colors.

“I see, “ He said. “Would it help if we did a re-paint job?”

“Depends, is it on…. The Budget?” Damian pondered.

Bruce grimaced a bit before sighing. Money had been significantly tighter ever since Vandal Savage bought out Wayne Manor and the Joker hacked into his bank account. Plus, Damian’s antipsychotic medications, Bruce’s painkillers, and the food they both needed to keep themselves in peak condition were not that cheap. Not to mention that he kept donating most of Wayne Enterprises money to fighting inequality (mostly educational) in Gotham City. Something the stubborn head of the Wayne household would not budge on. No matter how detrimental to his own self interest.

Hence, the invention of The Budget.

“We can manage…” Bruce finally said after a while. Damian stared at him. Unimpressed. He sighed again.

Damian looked away. He bit his lip. It was not often that he metaphorically bit his tongue. He had no problem with saying what was on his mind. At any given point. And yet he struggled to get his thoughts out until the fateful question practically exploded out of his mouth.

“Wouldn’t it be easier for me to go live with the Teen Titans?”

Bruce’s heart skipped a beat upon hearing that, even though it was the most logical question… Why couldn't Bruce live on his own until things went back to normal?

The man shifted at the foot of the bed. A bit of a pain shooting up his back. He could not answer that question without sounding so… vulnerable. Which he was still workshopping to be in front of his youngest.

How do you explain to your son that you merely want his company?

Luckily for him. Damian caught his drift and decided to drop the subject.

“In any case,” he coughed into his fist casually. “I will get used to the walls sooner or later…”

“Yeah,” Bruce sighed again as he used his cane to get up. “Try to get some sleep. We'll talk some more in the morning.”

Damian nodded in silence. and places his weighted blanket on top of him. He positioned himself perfectly still with his back against the mattress, as he closed his eyes.

Bruce took a moment to look at him from his spot under the doorframe. How can someone be growing up so fast yet still look so young?

Since Damian was yet to be enrolled in a schooling program. The boy slept until past 11am. Bruce did not seem to mind as he took advantage of the solitude to walk around the house as recommended by his physician. Hand always gripping out to his cane for support.

The man eventually reached his father's old couch in the living room. He plopped down into it and left out a huge amount of air out of his mouth. He looked around the room. His son was right, the beige wallpaper was sort of suffocating.

Bruce had not really allowed himself to grieve his old home properly. Even though he had managed to rescue a lot of trinkets from it; His mother's spinet piano, his father's old stethoscope and a bunch of important legal documents and sentimental photos.

However, not all of them could be exposed around the house. They were playing a part.

Oracle had forged them both new identities in the wake of the loss of their home. As they could not risk being caught. People could start asking questions when Batman stopped being seen at the same time Bruce Wayne “eloped with his francé to the Caribbean.”

No, it was better this way.

Bruce felt the light as air steps of his son coming down the halls. He quickly put on his best neutral expression and turned around to face him.

“Morning… Rashid.” Bruce still struggled with his pronunciation.

“Morning baba.” Damian said flawlessly, as if he had been practicing the charade in front of the mirror.

Bruce allowed his facial features to relax upon seeing his son ready to start off the day. He was wearing a plain gray t-shirt, a black sports jacket with two yellow stripes down his arms, ripped jeans and his signature mid calf green boots.

Bruce stood up slowly and followed his son on the way to the kitchen. He had not made him breakfast as Damian had very particular needs in that department. Plus, he liked appearing self-sufficient.

The man watched how his son made his own tea and prepared his wontons and went over to the fridge to pick up the last latke. Not even Bruce could help but smile at seeing his son eating the food. He was not even mad it was the last one.

As Damian prepared the meal. Bruce leaned a bit closer on the counter, entertaining himself by watching his son and listening to the faint sound of music that came out of his headphones.

Some folks are born made to wave the flag

Hoo, they're red, white and blue

And when the band plays "Hail to the chief"

Ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord

It ain't me, it ain't me

I ain't no senator's son, son

It ain't me, it ain't me

I ain't no fortunate one, no

“I see you've been spending time with Jon again…” Bruce commented with a chuckle.

Not that Damian could not find classic songs on his own. Ra's Al Ghul was at goddamn Woodstock after all. But one couldn't help but wonder how much being the pseudo-younger brother of Jonathan Samuel Kent, the son of Superman and a known anti war activist, could influence the boy's taste in media.

Damian took off his headphones and looked at Bruce. “Huh?”

Bruce chuckled again. “Nothing.”

The man smiled and was about to say something else when a terrible thumping pain shoot through spine. He grimaced and gritted his teeth as his hands quickly went over to his lower back.

Damian quickly and swiftly went over to his side and offered his father the seat next to him.

“Breath.” He instructed.“I'll go get your vicodin.”

“No!” Bruce said slightly louder than he intended. He reached out to his son's shoulder and gripped it. Causing Damian to look at him curiously. “Just… just…” He struggled to get his thoughts out.

“Just don't go.” Damian's eyes widened in surprise.

Bruce insisted as he gripped in harder. “It's a spasm… it'll pass…”

It was true. But Bruce knew how much Damian hated seeing him in physical pain. And how skeptical he was of Bruce's words when it came to his medical status. After all, only one of them had finished college medicine courses, and it wasn't him.

However, Damian stayed put. He slowly reached out for Bruce’s hand on his shoulder and started to massage it gently as he took a seat next to his father.

“Breath…” He repeated as he kept drawing perfect circles on the vacuum of his hand with his thumb.

Bruce inhaled and exhaled Slowly as the pain subsided. Suddenly feeling embarrassed for being so emotionally vulnerable a few moments ago. He stole one glance at Damian, as if to confirm he was not uncomfortable with his sudden display of human emotion.

They both stayed like that for a while until Bruce’s pain completely passed. Only leaving an aura of discomfort in his mid-back. The man sighed in relief, and Damian took that as a sign to let go of his hand.

An awkward pause made itself present before Damian spoke.

“How's the pain? Scale from one to ten…” He asked in a clinical manner.

Bruce smirked. “About a two point five, ” He said. “Nothing your old man cannot handle.”

Damian rolled his eyes at hilow Bruce called himself. He remembered to play the part, even when they were alone at their new house.

“I'm glad, baba.” Damian answered sincerely.

The Former Batman nodded.

Damian stood up from his seat. “My tutor should be here at any minute now…”

“Right, right.” Bruce said as he slowly stood up with the help of his cane. “And I have a few things to do at the office…”

He was technically allowed to work from home due to his newly developed “Ski injury” but he wanted to give Damian a space to be where he could express himself in private.

His son nodded. “I've prepared you a sack lunch bag…” He said. “It's in the fridge…” and with that he left to prepare for his arts and music lesson with Carrie Kelly.

Bruce looked at him curiously. But went over to the fridge anyway. There he saw the sack lunchbox, it was of considerable size. He took it and took a peek at it.

There was one banana, a carefully constructed salad with lettuce, red onions, chickpeas and blue cheese. A juice box and… the actual last latke.

Bruce allowed himself to chuckle softly.

[gemini-sensei]

hcs about miguel x gn!reader who gets frequent migraines?

i'm dying rn my head hurts so bad

Miguel x Reader with Chronic Migraines

GN!Reader ○ they/them used ○ no body discriptors used

As someone who suffers from chronic migraines, I feel this so much 😭 I hope you feel better soon 💕

Miguel absolutely hates seeing his partner in any pain. It hurts him all the way down to his soul 💔

He wants to be as helpful as possible and becomes the most caring and nurturing boyfriend ever. He's so attentive and listens to their needs. Offers to go to the store to get them anything they want or need.

Always makes sure they're drinking enough water, that they have fresh and cool water, maybe a snack on standby if they're feeling up to eat. He even helps them by holding the glass so they can drink from it if he has to.

When I get a really bad migraine, it is debilitating, and if Miguel's partner is ever stuck in bed, he is always nearby. If he has to leave, he keeps the ringer on his phone on no matter what.

He makes sure their surroundings are safe for them. No bright light if they're light sensitive, no loud noise if their sound sensitive. He's in protection mode. He'd fight the sun for his partner if he had to.

Even with all he does to help and make things better/easier on them, he still feels like he's not doing enough. He won't feel good until they are better. It makes him so upset, but he keeps a smile on his face in hopes of brightening their mood. At least a little bit.

If they want him to, he'll lay with them and cuddle, hide their face in his shirt or neck as they please. He's so gentle with them because he doesn't want to accidentally cause anymore pain than what they're already going through.

Kisses their forehead lightly. It's sweet and shows how much he cares, though he secretly wishes it were the magical cure for their migraines.

[qbdatabase]

In South Africa, the future looks promising. Personal robots are making life easier for the working class. The government is harnessing renewable energy to provide infrastructure for the poor. And in the bustling coastal town of Port Elizabeth, the economy is booming thanks to the genetic engineering industry which has found a welcome home there. Yes–the days to come are looking very good for South Africans. That is, if they can survive the present challenges:

A new hallucinogenic drug sweeping the country . . .

An emerging AI uprising . . .

And an ancient demigoddess hellbent on regaining her former status by preying on the blood and sweat (but mostly blood) of every human she encounters.

It’s up to a young Zulu girl powerful enough to destroy her entire township, a queer teen plagued with the ability to control minds, a pop diva with serious daddy issues, and a politician with even more serious mommy issues to band together to ensure there’s a future left to worry about.

[mythos05reviews]

2.8/5 stars

🔷THERE CAN BE TRIGGERING CONTENT IN THIS BOOK. INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO RACISM< BLOOD, & DEATH🔷

Update I didn't love this. It felt like it was unfinished. It felt to me as if the character arcs weren't necessarily complete. I loved the MCs and their potential as a couple, but we don't really get to see their dynamics and how they shift once they get together. In the end, I was more focused on how the world around them was being built than on their character development. The depiction of chronic pain is more accurate and well-represented in this novel than most depictions I have encountered before, as they tend to have it more as a plot device.

SPOILERS AHEAD: This book felt more focused on Indira than Fawn. I think this was to justify her actions and attitude towards Fawn. Although I found it to be one of the more interesting parts of the book, I felt it was slightly overdone. By doing so, it felt as if the parts where it was focused on Fawn were rushed, which ended up leaving more questions unanswered in terms of her past. The random black pages that included headlines definitely threw me off, leaving me confused as to why they were even added. It felt unnecessary and distracting even if they tried to explain Indira's backstory, with the cause of the accident being that the developers of the AI system were racist and deemed them less important.

[awritingcaitlin]

That Zebra Mood (chronic pain)

“How are you feeling this morning?” Mama Cass asked.

Lelia paused, never entirely sure how to answer that question. Something always hurt, and if she thought about it, she could always find another thing that was uncomfortable. The way her left shoulder was hurting had her thinking she’d need to check if one of her ribs had subluxed.

Mama Cass seemed to sense her consternation. “Well, food rarely hurts,” she said, saving Lelia from answering with anything definitive.

[youngchronicpain]

Don't mind me I'm just crying because I'm reading a fantasy novel with a main character that is an ambulatory wheelchair user (who also uses a prosthetic leg) with chronic pain. This is the first time I've read something like this outside of my own stories.

"In truth, Kissen's leg still ached, it always ached, but it was better than when they arrived. The wheelchair was a blessing. She wasn't used to it and kept wanting to jump up. But it was a relief to be able to rest her hips."

- Hannah Kaner, Godkiller

[raekiez]

why did it take make so long to realize the reason they made snakes nipples always hard in mgs4 was because he's wearing a compression shirt for chronic pain

[royalarchivist]

Phil: I know from my sister, she has chronic pain. But I don't see it as that severe, if that makes sense? Like, my sister has fibromyalgia, right, so I know all about chronic pain and like, how it can like, vary and how bad it can be, how it's like completely like, dishabilitating, you can't fckin' move some days, and if you go outside and do anything sort of just like, "normal" you can be out of commission for like, weeks.

Phil: So I don't really consider it as that bad, I'm trying to equate it more towards like, "Oh, I really hurt myself, and now it hurts a bit, and it's going to get better," kind of, you know. That's why I didn't want to make that kind of direct comparison. But... yeah, I can see why you would think it would be just like that though, yeah. But it's not that severe– in my head, anyways, I don't consider it as severe as actual chronic pain.

–

Phil explains why he doesn't consider q!Phil having chronic pain, despite the damage the Ender King did to his wings.

[skys-archive]

If Max isn't in a wheelchair or some form of mobility aid in st 5 I might commit a violent crime.

We need the representation. We need to see flashbacks of her struggling to learn how to move around again and we need the present of her continuing to struggle but knowing what she's doing now.

We need disabled Max Mayfield

[fancyfade]

Thinking about the representation of characters with chronic pain and... part of why I don't believe that any writer besides the batgirls writers was ACTUALLY trying to represent invisible disabilities with babs is because being an invisibly disabled person with chronic pain does not mean that you do everything an able bodied person does, but with one line that things hurt or you have to be careful.

Like now I use a wheelchair, but I used to do karate when I was still getting fibro. There was a bit where we all had to run for conditioning, and I had to sit out . Not "oh no this will feel in my knees". If I ran I would be able to do nothing else bc how much pain there would be. I still could do kata and stuff and sparring (probably unwisely) with a bunch of braces on every joint (ankles, knees, wrists, elbows), because that was low impact and hurt less. And I was completely wiped out after practices and lessons.

But my point is - being an active person with chronic pain does not mean looking like an able bodied person. Obviously it changes based on severity, and each person's individual experience, but I'm like... really babs has chronic pain and potential risk of reinjury and she's keeping up with the other batfam members on the rooftops in fear state? She's frantically lifting rubble and not immediately collapsing the instant she hears the people she was trying to rescue are safe? She pretty much just does everything an able bodied person does, but since the author said she had a back brace were supposed to pretend its reprentation and not CYA for ableism?

Like. Should note - I don't want babs to be a part time wheelchair user with chronic pain. I'm fine not being represented in this way, because she originally had another disability that was erased. But it's baffling to me when people act like dc actually intended her to be representation for people with invisible disabilities. I mention batgirls being an exveption bc that was what inspired this post - I was so surprised to see babs mention not getting up because her back hurt that I was like "wait literally no other writer of this era has done that amd acted like her disability might affect what she does'

[naturegirl555]

As a chronically ill person with chronic pain I love when fanfic writers add that to dean’s character. Like it just makes sense to me. And I feel so seen.

[boabel]

is it bad that i think house is the most accurate autistic representation ive gotten

[aster-is-confused]

if i had a nickel for every time the dragon prince had a plotline of "character becomes physically disabled as a sacrifice to save someone, but then gets 'fixed' by magic in less than an episode," i'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice

[qbdatabase]

Hiii, do you know of any books with chronically physically disabled main characters? And books with housebound disabled characters?

For the previous ask, I would prefer if the disabled characters were also bi but it's fine if there aren't any books like that. I'm fine with queer in general too

--

I'm not sure what you personally would consider *chronically* disabled (arthritis? amputee? deaf? HIV+?) but the QBDatabase actually has 411 books with disabled Main Characters or Love Interests! To try to narrow it down, I filtered for either chronic pain or chronic illness + bisexual (or pan / queer)

Full Disclosure by Garrett, Camryn: HIV+ black bisexual female

Sick Kids in Love by Moskowitz, Hannah: female MC with arthritis x bisexual male LI with Gaucher disease

Architects of Memory by Osborne, Karen: terminally ill bisexual female MC

Two Rogues Make a Right by Sebasian Cat: chronically ill demisexual male x bisexual male

Sorrowland by Solomon, Rivers: black albino bisexual intersex MC who is partially blind and has chronic pain

The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Sebastian, Cat: mga disabled male with chronic pain who uses a cane x gay male

City of Shattered Light by Winn, Claire: chronically ill bisexual female MC

Tripping Arcadia by Mayquist, Kit: chronically ill bisexual male prominent SC

Fight + Flight by Machias, Jules: pansexual female MC with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome

The Unbroken by Clark, C. L.: bisexual female MC who uses a cane and has chronic pain in her legs

Cruel Seduction by Robert, Katee: polyamorous bisexual male MC with chronic pain from a knee injury (FFMM bi4bi poly-pairing)

Eight Kinky Nights by West, Xan: FF pairing, pansexual x greysexual, one has arthritis but I don't know which one

The Friendship Study by Barrett, Ruby: bisexual male MC with chronic pain who uses a cane

If there's any other type of disability you're looking for, you can filter by 20 physical disabilities while also filtering for mga (bi, pan, omni, etc) identities!

[sonofapunk]

Really in need of some physical disability rep in film and books, especially casual rep. Can anyone recommend?