I apologize first and foremost because I am going through mental HELL right now and I am in a lot of pain. I have been crying for the better part of now nearly 36 hours and I am so beyond tired and so beyond fed up with it all that I (also very literally) cannot … Continue reading Physical Involvement
Author: Beth Poste
I have been living with chronic illness since I was 2 months old. My first "formal" chronic illness diagnosis was Behçet's Disease - I was 17 at the time. I was later diagnosed with Common Variable Immune Deficiency (I more or less led the doctors to that diagnosis - that story is for another time!) and those have been my "primary" two illnesses. I have many other "secondary" diagnoses such as seronegative Rheumatoid Arthritis, Chiari 1 Malformation (a result, I believe, of the Behçet's causing aseptic meningitis time and again since it had never appeared in brain scans before I was about 24-25), osteoporosis, compression fractures of the thoracic spine, and many others. I know what it is like to feel as if you have lost years of your life that you can never recover from illness and the many restrictions it places upon you in your everyday life. I just want you to know that I know what it is like and I have been there through every period of my life - you are NOT ALONE! Please do not hesitate to contact me if you ever need someone to talk with or someone just to listen to you - I am always here! Thank you for taking the time to read this and my other posts and I hope you are having a happy and healthy day no matter where you are in the world! Take care.
An Anecdote
My mom had a terrible childhood; I will not say too much about that because I am currently working on an interview "series" with her to hear her whole story and get it in writing. But to make a VERY long story short, she was adopted as a baby when her biological mother became pregnant … Continue reading An Anecdote
“Oh, The Places YOU Will Go …”
This one is breaking my heart a little bit. I sat down with my leg up and started watching a random film on Netflix which takes place in Great Britain ... and I swear I have been to some of the places in some scenes of the film. That summer was one of the best … Continue reading “Oh, The Places YOU Will Go …”
Plagiarism
So I have recently encountered a very troubling problem - the content from this site is being plagiarized by others with one of the disease I have and said "person" is using the content as if it were that person's content and that person's story. This has been extraordinarily upsetting to put it mildly.At any … Continue reading Plagiarism
Life and Death
I really am going to try my best to make this a short post - I really just wanted to get this idea down before it flew off into the vault of Beth. I think those of us who have severe chronic illness have a very strange relationship with death - I think that relationship … Continue reading Life and Death
How Many Years …
I am sure I will write at least another post with this title. Maybe a book. But for now, all I will say is HOW MANY YEARS WILL IT TAKE TO FORGET YOU??I don't know. I'm not there yet. I wonder if I will ever be. *And all the obvious "you"s that could mean are … Continue reading How Many Years …
We Are VERY Fragile.
I really cannot say much about this topic right now because I am in the middle of trying to deal with this very thing but I wanted to bring it up because it is incredibly important. I think we find that the floor of the base need for "security" falls out from under us again … Continue reading We Are VERY Fragile.
An Interesting Paradox
I was just watching a "Spendaholics" video in which a 21-year-old college student's "overspending" is vastly increased by her frequent trips to and from London to visit her boyfriend there. I won't delve too deeply into my own college experiences (for the large part, I look back on that part of my life with a … Continue reading An Interesting Paradox
All The Small Things …
I am not in my "writer mode" at the moment, but I thought this was an important thing to get down. As I mentioned in my last post, I have realized this year how incredibly "screwed up" I am beneath the surface. Spending so many years not even being able to count on your body … Continue reading All The Small Things …
THIS IS A SHORT POST!
How is it that people manage to write one-line comments regarding very complex social issues and injustices? Actually, regarding just about anything, how do people manage just to write one line? I have an extensive vocabulary and I try to make sure I am learning new words in English as well as in other languages; … Continue reading THIS IS A SHORT POST!
Living with Chronic Illness - Thoughts on Life and Life Advice from a Spoonie's Perspective 