#chronic stuff

[mcnutcase]

Today can fuck all the way off. Woke up with the big toe on my left foot dislocated, which is so common that I just buddy splinted it and got on with the day (including the walk to school with my kid).

Now the toe on my right foot has dislocated, and I am having trouble dealing with that because fuck's sake, I'm doing my best over here. Can I get a break?

[mcnutcase]

These are basically the same thing as power tools. I've been working on a woodworking project recently, and I was starting out with only hand tools. And while I was able to make progress, it was slow and difficult for me. I kept running out of ability to Do. And then, having finally decided one what battery tool ecosystem to move into given that my old battery drill was done for, I found a starter set of those tools for a steep discount, and then I had an actual good drill, and a little circular saw, and I suddenly was able, in one work session, to do what had until then taken me a week to do. I wound up covered in sawdust, but I had way more progress than I could do without the technology.

That's how you should think about disability aids. Useful things that let anyone do more for themselves.

the future is now

[cryptozoologyujustmightexist]

My gp didn’t know what the beighton scale is my ass is NOT getting diagnosed 😭

[disabled-bug]

I’m so proud of people living with chronic health conditions. That shit is HARD. Idk who needs to hear this, but if no one else has said it: I’m proud of you. You’re sticking it out through so much pain and grief. That’s no small feat.

Every small thing you do for yourself health adds up. The grief is heavy and it comes from a place of love. The grief knows the pain is wronging you.

I’m proud of you. I hope on the good days you can be proud of yourself.

Keep going.

[mcnutcase]

I have frequently made the analogy that pain is the body's check engine light. For most people with chronic pain conditions, said light has been on for so long that the bulb burned out, but that doesn't mean it's not trying to light up.

[zyx]

vernon commented on this instagram reel😭

[s-ccaam-era-crepe]

i think everyone who's ever had migraines should be financially compensated forever btw

[mcnutcase]

I really dislike how conflated "migraine" and "really bad headache" have become. Because here's the thing: severe headache pain is the most common symptom of migraine, but it doesn't always occur in every migraine attack. I get somewhat common optical migraines, which basically include all my classical migraine symptoms except for the headache. (A side note on terminology: "classical migraine" is a technical term for a specific manifestation of migraine that's more commonly referred to nowadays as "migraine with aura", I'm just an Old who got used to the old term; it contrasts with old-style "simple migraine", latterly "migraine without aura").

Things which are commonly part of a migraine attack for me, but any one of them could be absent from any given event: headache, nausea, dizziness, clumsiness, confusion, muscle twitches, visual disturbances, extreme fatigue, photosensitivity. And I get all three types of migraine; optical is when I don't get the headache, classical is when the extra bullshit shows up enough before the headache that I have time to take my medication before the pain kicks in, simple is when it all shows up at once. For a while I was getting alternating hemiplegic migraines with aura on one side but not the other, but lately they've all been bilateral with unpredictable aura. (Hemiplegic: with the pain mostly on one side of the head, a fairly common but not universal thing with migraines).

Migraine is 100% a disability, it has kept me from working, and for several years I had a cat who'd decided that she was my service cat, because she could spot my migraines before I did, and she would bug the hell out of me until I took my medication and went to lie down because that shit knocks me out; she'd enforce rest by laying on me and cranking her mass up to immovable levels. She passed more than two years ago now, and I still miss her and have difficulty spotting my migraines coming because I got so reliant on her rather than my own perception of my state, because all the other health shit I have going on masks a lot of the symptoms until I'm already past the point at which the drugs are most effective.

But anyway. My point is, if your body does some bullshit which stops you from being able to do things, that's a disability. And that includes your brain being a bucket full of crabs or whatever. You deserve support for dealing with whatever keeps you down, and it's bullshit how little American society is willing to provide that support.

Always feel bad when I see someone say something like "I don't have a disability but I have [something that is a disability but society doesn't treat like one]"

Migraines. Food allergies. GERD. Vision problems. Skin problems. For people that menstruate, conditions that cause irregular and painful cycles. Those are all disabling. Anything that impairs you from functioning or completing a basic life task without accommodation is a disability. Anything that makes you spend days in bed during a flare up is a disability! Not everyone experiences your symptoms and you're not being weak or whiny.

Mental illnesses that people treat as "mainstream" these days like anxiety, depression, or ADHD are still disabilities. Overcoming a massive struggle just to get out of bed, slow down your thoughts, or focus on what you need/want to do is disabling. Starting the day with less mental energy than most people is disabling.

For the migraine people: yes, everyone gets headaches, but no not everyone gets migraines. It's a condition that can be inherited in which our nerves are literally wired differently and more sensitive than someone who doesn't get migraines.

For the food allergy and digestive disorder people: if you eat something your body can't tolerate, you become sick. Doesn't matter if it's a trip to the ER or skin irritation for a few hours, that's a negative response in your body. Going hungry at social events because you can't eat anything, that's not something you just have to grin and bear. Prohibitively expensive or hard-to-find accessible food. Most people have the privilege of not worrying about eating.

For people with abnormal menstrual cycles: you don't have to suck it up because "lots of people get periods, no one likes them, but they all deal with it." Majority of people who get periods don't spend days in bed with debilitating pain or nausea. Your heightened struggle is real. Going months between cycles can increase your risk of health conditions down the line, and it's good to speak to a gynecologist if you have access to one.

If you are feeling discomfort on a regular basis in any part of your body, or if you usually feel unwell after eating, that isn't normal and you deserve medical attention and support

[mcnutcase]

Gods, I love living in the sort of dystopia where I'm scared to try and find medical equipment I need because I feel like every time I've even thought about it in the past all it's done is summon a fucking army of shitty spambots using Microsoft Sam to yammer on about register for your free one today and doctors are amazed and one weird trick. But yeah. I'm having trouble, so I'm seeking help from more experienced disabled people now (and just so we're clear, that's "people with more experience of being disabled", I don't care how old you are). What I'm trying to find is knee supports and ankle supports, because my knees and ankles have always been worse than most, and those are the shittiest joints in the human body. For the knees, we're talking actual hinged support rods, because my knees will hyperextend if I lose concentration, and that leads to more pain, which disrupts concentration, and you know the way this works. Shit being broken makes it more likely that shit will continue to be broken.

So. What I want is a good source for durable knee and ankle supports, which (and here's the important part) are not made of fucking neoprene, because I live in California and while during the winter I can sort of get away with it, neoprene will lead to massive overheating, huge amounts of sweating, and ultimately skin irritation and open sores. Bulk is not a huge consideration here; I wear my clothes loose, because I'm "cannot stand tight clothing" neurospicy. I have no fucks to give about whether they show through clothing, I will cheerfully wear them with cargo shorts. What matters to me is function. So, if you have good info, please help me deal with my shitty knees?

[schizoaffectively]

You are well within your right to be angry about the help you didn't get and should have gotten.

You are well within your right to be angry about having your needs neglected.

You are well within your right to be angry.

[druid-for-hire]

[images ID: three images of a comic titled "one must imagine sisyphus happy" by druid-for-hire. it is a visual narrative beginning with someone with wrist pain (depicted by bright orange nerves) working at a drafting table. the reader is shown the same wrist as the person uses it for many everyday tasks such as carrying a grocery basket, pushing elevator buttons, typing, and doing dishes, until the pain dissolves all the panels into chaos. the person then performs several physical therapy exercises until the pain subsides. they sit back down at a desk with their laptop, sigh, and begin typing. a small spark of pain reappears. end id]

a fun little piece i made during the semester and submitted into our school comic anthology! (which you can buy at the Static Fish table at MoCCAFest in NYC ;] ). it's about artists and injury

[mcnutcase]

Thinking about it, what really radicalized me was getting hospitalized for psychiatric treatment. Completely changed my perspective, and I would argue for the better. It pushed me towards radical empathy.

[doomedfromthewombfr]

I’m so tired of holding myself together when all I really want is to fall apart

[cryptozoologyujustmightexist]

House bound tip

Watch amazingphil lockdown videos and pretend it’s just 2020 and no one can leave the house

This is not sad shut hp

[tumble-tv]

SAY IT WITH ME: MEDICAL GASLIGHTING IS MALPRACTICE

[mcnutcase]

So there's a good reason to show the electric opener doing its thing on a pop-top can: pop-tops are great if you have the hand strength for them, which is not all that likely if you're buying an electric can opener because leverage makes modern turn-the-handle wheel-type manual can openers about the minimum force necessary for opening a can. I have arthritic hands, and let me tell you, I notice that pulling off a pop-top can's pop top takes more effort than turning the handle on my Swing-A-Way. So they took the product photo with a pop-top so that even if you don't notice the text on the box saying that it works on them, you can be sure it will do that.

"I don't need a shopping list; with effort, I will remember that I need this item"

Okay but will you be able to remember that you already bought it? Because apparently I can't.