#meds which have improved things 1085858282x truly incredible

[hopecomesbacktolife]

one thing strange about being chronically ill, with fluctuating ability, and growing up poor, and then being slightly less poor as an adult, is that like. growing up, you kind of learned how to just, deal with your chronic pain, right? maybe you took some tums and some ibuprofen or acetaminophen when it got bad, or you found out that a heating pad helped, but that was about the extent of it.

and then, as an adult, you found yourself with a job that let you afford to get that $14 pillow for between your knees when you sleep on your side. or, you let yourself buy that knee brace, the brand name one, too, because the off brand one didn’t have specialized pressure points and you hoped the extra $3 for the brand name would be worth it, maybe the specialized pain needs specialized aid, right?

you also, over time, invest in a couple forms of mobility aids, telling yourself it’s okay, that even though you don’t need them every day, that on the days you do, it’ll feel better to have help— and you find that they’re invaluably useful on the days that you need them, making tasks that before, were just straight up not an option during the severe flares, something you now can still have the option of doing. it’s still not easy, per say, but doable is a huge difference.

maybe you even see a doctor for your chronic illness, and it turns out that while there’s no daily treatment or remedy, there’s actually a medication you can take during the more severe flare ups that helps bring you closer to your baseline again!!

and like. suddenly these aches and pains, these radiating discomforts have these mitigating measures that you hadn’t even known existed— through no fault of your parents! just that as an adult with more money than you had as a child and with the power of agency to self-advocate that your adult self has, suddenly there’s Options TM for dealing with the pains. everything isn’t fixed but having mitigation measures is still wonderful!!!?!?!

anyways all of this to say, this isn’t even anything life threatening or requiring intensive care but it’s amazing what having a few more $ can do in terms of providing your body with comfort and tools to help you navigate your ongoing pains. and all this to say especially that this is one of 1047583939919483 reasons why medical care and medical aids need to be free, because tools to lessen the pain someone experiences in life shouldn’t be on a pay-to-play basis, my teen body was no less deserving or in need of assistance than my adult body, both of them deserve to have the access that adult me has, and people in every economic situation deserve to be able to lessen their pain and find tools to provide relief for chronic illnesses. this stuff should be accessible to everyone.