health Archives – Page 4 of 4

In Chronic Illness

HAWMC Day 6: Health Haiku

April 6, 2012 No Comments

It’s Good Friday, so I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter. I’s the 6th of April, so that means it’s the sixth post in the WEGO Health Activist Writer’s Month Challenge. Here is today’s prompt:

Health Haiku…Write a haiku about your health focus. 5 syllables/7 syllables/5 syllables. Write as many as you like!

I have to say, I was pretty nervous when I read the prompt. While I used to love to write poetry as a child, I haven’t done so in some years, and what’s more is I have never written a haiku before!! But I signed up to the Challenge promising myself I will write something everyday. So here it goes…

Image: http://happyhaiku.blogspot.co.uk/2000/07/theory-5-7-5.html

I may look normal

But I am not invisible

Cannot see what is wrong

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Silent deep and hides

Within my brain lies a lesion

Dizzy, weak legs and falls

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Are now part of my life

Feeling all alone in the world

Nobody understands

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Room is spinning fast

Legs weak buckling beneath me – fall!

Pick myself up…again!

Although there are 4 separate Haikus I written them so that they all link together, creating a story about my condition.

I hope you enjoyed them…

In Chronic Illness

HAWMC Day 4: I Write About My Health Because…

April 4, 2012 No Comments

Hey Everyone,

I hope everyone is well today, I myself didn’t have a great night – legs were trembling really badly throughout the night which left me unable to sleep. Anyway, today’s a brand new day – which means Day 4 of the WEGO Health Activist Writer’s Month Challenge, and today’s prompt says the following:

I write about my health because… Reflect on why you write about you health for 15-20 minutes without stopping

Okay, so why do I write about my health condition? Well, my blog only started in January so I am still pretty new in the blogging community.

One of the main reasons why I started my blog as I wanted to educate people on my particular condition – long-standing brain stem lesion and spastic paraparesis. I thought it was important to write about the condition as it seems to be very rare, and thought it may be of use to educate people on the condition.

I also thought it would be a good way to reach out to the ‘health community’ in order to gain support, friendship and knowledge from others that may be going through similar experiences. In my life, I often feel lonely – being stuck in the house, especially when I’m on my own and thought starting a blog would be something that could occupy my time, giving me a ‘little project’ to help with the boredom and monotony in my life.

The idea of starting a blog was first suggested by a counsellor, writing a journal as a way of expressing my emotions and feelings, and the idea grew from there. I decided to make my journey public.

I suppose I also want to educate people on disabilities – and that not all disabilities are visible, I have heard great many stories of people with ‘invisible’ conditions having abuse thrown at them when using disabled parking – even though they had the necessary permits and had a legitimate excuse for using the disabled parking spaces.

Another story I read, concerned a gentleman who suffered with Ménière’s Disease, a vestibular condition which produces similar symptoms which I suffer from – dizziness, poor balance and co-ordination, and who was arrested for driving under the influence for alcohol after he was unable to walk in a straight line when asked to perform a sobriety test. Therefore, it is important for those, like me suffering from a chronic and life-long condition to stand up and speak out and to make people understand that just because a person may look fine and ‘normal’ does not mean to say they are – their disability or illness may be hidden underneath what we may be able to see. Reminds me of the times of when I have gone out or mean to the doctor’s for an appointment, and I have had my crutch with me and having a few people stare at me, as if they were judging me and wondering why on earth I was using such an aid as I didn’t have a broken leg and I looked perfectly healthy.

So, that’s my post for today, I hope you enjoyed reading. Please leave a comment or message and let me know your thoughts or experiences.

Do you have your own blog or website? What are the reasons for why you write?

In Chronic Illness

The Debate of Invisible Illnesses….

March 20, 2012 No Comments

I had an interesting conversation the other day regarding my diagnoses and the problems associated with ‘invisible illnesses’. I remember the days before I received the definitive diagnosis and going from doctor to doctor, desperately trying to find an answer…and reading the body language and expressions, of doctors and of people I knew who clearly thought I was making up my symptoms and the problem instead “was all in my head.”

I am sure many of you reading this out there can relate to that, and unfortunately it is often the case that as soon as you are labelled by doctors as being a ‘hypochondriac’ or the problem caused by a psychiatric problem, it is extremely difficult to get them to take you seriously or even to look beyond that train of thought. I know it is often the case for people living ‘Chronic Fatigue Syndrome’ (ME) to find a doctor willing to listen and to take their problems seriously, especially as there is still a lot of debate whether the condition even exists which must be so frustrating.

That is the problem with today’s society – just because a person does not look sick then they cannot possibly be ‘sick’ – whatever happened to the proverb “just because you cannot see something, it doesn’t mean it’s not there”.

Then we came to the discussion about whether my illness can be still considered invisible – considering, that when I am out and about I use a crutch and hanging onto one of my parents to stop me from falling. Recently, I took a taxi, the driver of which I have not seen for some time, and he asked me what I had done to my leg. Even, with the crutch, people may assume I may have hurt my leg in some way, and may not be permanent. And even when I do use my crutch, I do get the occasional stares, as if they are questioning why I need to use one. As my legs are very stiff at times, it obviously makes walking difficult and often walk with some limp, or often will stumble or fall due to many different reasons – weakness in the legs, dizziness and my problems with balance.

Therefore, can be illness can still be described as being ‘invisible’ taking into account the crutch, and the other problems that I experience?

Please feel free to comment below on the post and any comments, share your experiences and what you feel about regarding ‘invisible illnesses’….

In Chronic Illness

Mobility or Fashion?? Or Can We Have Both??

January 18, 2012 No Comments

Well, finally time for another post!

So far, have had a good week – my Mum has the week off, so we went together into our local town to do some shopping. In fact, wanted some new make-up as am so fed up of people commenting “you look unwell, are you OK?”. Off to Boots I went, and now just have a couple of products to now give me a ‘healthy glow.’

The shopping trip would have gotten a lot better though had my legs hadn’t kept on giving way on me, so consequently had a few falls. One thing I haven’t mentioned before is I currently use a crutch – I had previously used a walking stick, but found as my legs became worse, the stick did not give me the support that I now need. I started using crutches provided by the NHS via my physiotherapist…

Then I came across a site by a great friend, called Cool Crutches. They are a British based company who offer an alternative to the boring and dull grey hospital crutches and instead give several different options of colours and patterns. They are also so much more comfortable to use, and the crutch even comes with a removable and washable neoprene squidgy grip, which moulds to left and right hands so does not leave the users’ hands sore as what usually happens with ‘hospital crutches’. And they seem to be more lightweight than the NHS crutches that I started with but are still solid and robust. Although even they are robust still found my legs still giving way and as a result having several falls in the middle of several stores! Ouch!!

I think anyone will agree these are a fantastic alternative to the grey and lifeless crutches. They are cool and funky, and look more of a fashion accessory than a ‘mobility aid’. Anyone who does use any sort of mobility device know that even though they are practical and make life much easier – they don’t always look fashionable!! But these are, and am sure they are other sites and stores out there that are offering something similar. I mean, we may be disabled – but it doesn’t mean we have to look and feel disabled.

If any of you have any stories of cool, bright and funky mobility aids, please get in touch!!

Image: Courtesey of @CoolCrutches