#medication fatigue

[dinosaurcharcuterie]

Went to a different pharmacist for my vitamin D3 supplements because I was short on time but still value my bone density. They only had the gel caps from the slightly more expensive brand, and they took ages to find. I vaguely remembered not liking them, but couldn't recall why. Well, I didn't have to divide them and I'd survived taking them last time, so fuck it, gel cap me up.

As I was paying, the second pharmacist comes out laughing and shows she also found them as gummies. Gummy vitamins aren't a thing here, and they didn't remember why they got ordered. I shrug and say probably someone who struggles to swallow pills.

Do I want them instead of my gel caps?

I eyed the massive jar of gummies, remembered my overflowing desk and politely declined.

To get to the point:

The Vigantolvit gel caps are a fucking pain to get out of their deep and tiny blister packs. Literally. They cut under your fingernails if you try and press them out without pre-piercing the overly sturdy foil on the other end. They roll. Everywhere. Off the table, on the table into partitions of your medibox that you definitely didn't place it in. And they're smaller than mini m&ms, which, yeah, sure, make them easy to swallow, but which also means they're nigh impossible to pick up if your fine motor skills are not fully online for the day.

Tl;dr: I should have taken the fucking vitamin gummies.

[blistexenthusiast]

symptom journal quilt by Nicole Jones Studio

[medical-angel]

Plot twist for all the "I'd kill myself if I was as disabled as you" crowd:

If you were in my position, you wouldn't BE spending all day in bed. You'd be abusing your body by forcing yourself to work a job and just "tough it out" when you make yourself sicker. If you had to put up with the level of medical abuse that I do, you'd just swear off the medical field entirely and claim "big pharma" is good for nothing and only wants your money and to keep people sick.

No one actually tells you to stay in bed and rest when you're disabled. Overcoming internalized ableism comes in many phases, one of which is making the radical decision to stay in bed and rest if you're disabled.

You wouldn't kill yourself if you were me, because with your attitude, you could never BE me, and that's really fucking pathetic.

[tumble-tv]

SAY IT WITH ME: MEDICAL GASLIGHTING IS MALPRACTICE

[fanon-and-canon]

"you always have something wrong with you"

well yea, no shit. its like im chronically ill or something

[stellaltumi]

my chronically ill best friend just said "I feel like the side effects part of a medication commercial" SO FUCKING TRUE BABE

[wolfchanw]

Off my usual topic, I want to talk about idiopathic hypersomnia for a minute.

I have been tired for YEARS. I sleep and sleep and sleep and I can still fall asleep at the drop of a hat. I have followed alllll the sleep hygeine advice, regular physical activity, giving up caffeine. I went to the doctor and got my iron levels up, started using a CPAP.

I was sleeping 10 hours a night, napping two hours in the afternoon, and I was still exhausted and crabby all. the. time.

I was convinced that this was something I was doing wrong. I wasn’t cut out for motherhood, I wasn’t following the advice correctly, I needed to…I don’t know, something.

I finally asked my doctor for a referral to a sleep specialist. She talked to me at length, but it at one point she looked at my CPAP data and I saw her eyes get huge. “Is this ACCURATE?!” she asked me “You sleep a LOT!”

So. With a hypersomnia diagnosis she got me started on a stimulant medication to help me stay awake during the day. This was two weeks ago and I am MIND BLOWN. I was worried that I might feel…amped up, but I just feel like myself for the first time in years.

I don’t need a nap. I can play with my kid, I can push the swing. I can walk the dog. I CAN GO OUT TO DINNER. My well of patience is so much deeper because I’m not fighting to stay awake after 2pm.

We’re still pursuing more diagnostics, including a 24 hour sleep study to see if I have a form of narcolepsy and some more blood work. But. I feel like I’ve gotten a fresh start.

So please. If you’ve got something weird going on physically or mentally and you KNOW it’s not right, keep pushing for more diagnostics, ask for referrals, get to the bottom of it!

[starrienights-returns]

shout out to disabled people who can't access aids

shout out to disabled people who have to fight to be believed

shout out to disabled people who can't get diagnosed for any reason

shout out to self-diagnosed disabled people

shout out to disabled people who have experienced medical neglect

shout out to disabled people with unsupportive/abusive family

shout out to disabled people who are forced to push themselves beyond their limits

i love you

[chronicallyillandcoping]

Im really tired of medical professionals not realising that their behaviour and their colleagues behaviour literally traumatises people.

[lupusbaby]

Sorry to rant again but my mom keeps going on about how the meds I have to be on to be able to walk are “so addictive” and I “really need to be careful with that stuff” and can we please stop making people feel guilty for taking medications?

Before I got my diagnosis it was, “well if it is autoimmune, you can’t take the meds because they give you cancer”. Guess what?? My diagnosis ended up meaning that if I DON’T take those medications I will live in excruciating pain and die early.

Do you think I really like taking all these meds? The ones that increase my risk of developing all kinds of harmful secondary conditions? The ones that make it so I could potentially die from a usually harmless infection because I’m immunocompromised?

It’s between being “addicted” to Gabapentin or being able to walk, Mom.

[discordant-daydreams]

Having a lot of feelings about being disabled and hearing over and over that while you feel like you’re dying your labs don’t show that you’re dying so great news!!! You’re as healthy as can be!!!

[blistexenthusiast]

symptom journal quilt by Nicole Jones Studio

[dizzy1ife]

when the effects of a medical condition are also the triggers for that medical condition

[chronicillnesshumor]

[matchakuracat]

fuck medical gaslighting all my homies hate medical gaslighting

[buried-in-autumn-leaves]

Not to be chronically ill on main but if I get one more doctor tell me the tests came back normal again as if its GOOD news Im gonna make it everyones problem.