Shit That Helps

Wow look! I've even posted a 2nd post! I am on a roll!

Thank you folks for the comments on the <first evor post> :) an unexpected pleasure.

I have a lot of ideas and plans swurling around in my head for post ideas, so what I think I will do is start a bunch of drafts and see how it goes. I want to have some dedicated posts about various subjects, but also some generalised ones like this!

It's time for a list! Woooo!

This will be a +list+ (as in positive :P ), there will probably be plenty of -list-s as well ;)

In terms of Shit That Helps, what the shit is helping is all kinds of stuff: pains, brain (stuff), and drains (on energy? I needed a rhyme!).

Shit That Helps

•  Puppies! - Our family's two Chihuahuas soul purpose is basically to make us feel better, and they are damn good at it.
   
•  Murder Mysteries - With a preference for British mysteries with a few exceptions of Nero Wolf and the divine Miss Fisher ;) Watching these shows with my mum, drinking tea, and knitting/crafting is probably one of the best things in life!
• Ice/Cold - In regards to foot pain, the cold is the only thing I have found that helps.
• The Goodies - Another TV Show related one, has to be said that other comedy shows (tv and radio) are a vital part of survival. I may need a dedicated post about shows actually..hmmmm
• Brother Beast - My brother is a pretty spiffy chap, and we often hang out and play computer games or watching stuff together. When I am able to go out shopping, he is often there with me to help us look totally ridiculous in public and help me with my..
• Wheelchair - Was it clear that that lead on from the last dot point? I sure hope so...Anyway, Mother God came up with this idea a few months ago and it has been such a help. Going out shopping is now possible instead of impossible. Special thanks to our friend who is lending us one right now ( you know who you are ;) )
• Tea - this one needs no explanation.
• Naps/Sleep - It is tricky to come by, but when I can, it is bliss. Rest may not always replenish me but at least I can be unconscious while my body aches so I don't have to deal with it ;)
• Good Food - is another bit of bliss in life. I enjoy cooking and eating nommy things. They make me happy even if they have full cream milk in them.
• Dragonvale - What?? It's a really fun game....
• Computer Games - This is a big one, will warrant a dedicated post about gaming and chronic illness, but in short games allow me to do amazing things during times when I cannot even walk to the shops. They also keep me connected with some friends (most of whom I don't get to see often) and most importantly games are FUN!
• Kink - This will be explained later in more (but not too much more) detail. It's a lifestyle I find very accepting and forgiving of chronic illness. And another one of those FUN things, which is so important to sanity!
• Art/Crafts - If I am lucky enough to have the ergs to draw or sew or whatnot, it is totally freaking awesome to accomplish things and make stuff and and....yep another one of the FUN things!
• Effexor - This anti-anxiety medication has been the first ever anti-anything medication to have a truly positive affect. I am so glad I have it on my side to help me out with everyday living, I just wish I was on it much earlier. It helps, but I do not rely on it. That leads onto
• My Shrink - I say shrink mainly because I know how to spell it ;) The thing about chronic illness is that it is, well, chronic. Having a professional there to help me keep my brain happenings healthy is so vital. For anyone reading this also with chronic illness, having mental health support is something I urge you all to have!
• Laptop - Some days I am unable to get out of bed, but at the very least I can do some stuff on my lappy! Even if all that is is watching Jonathan Creek. It does help keep me sane.
• Clean Hair - I cannot stand having greasy hair! Having freshly cleaned hair is really relaxing and refreshing for me.
• Mum & Dad - These two are so important to me and my day-to-day survival, words cannot even express. Well maybe they could, but I wouldn't know how to spell them. My family are the main people I know I can always count on to help me, understand me, "get it", make me laugh, and support me. I don't know if I can ever thank them enough <3

Well that just about does it for this brain session. I have my usual background cramps and need to try sleep past it. I will just quickly add that some things not mentioned in this list were not for modesties sake ( I am talking about SEX here), but more because some things cause more trouble than they are worth ;)

Good Night! And only 25 points for this post - because everyone knows people like to read lists so it was easy.

Let the Sick Shit begin!

I have been thinking about starting to blog some of my rants/whines/reflections/thoughts lately but now that I am here typing something I don’t know what to say.

 I have had a vague post about ‘Hope’ stewing but seems weird to have as a first post…Then there are whole essays in my head about other people and living with chronic illness (and ho in general they don’t ‘get it’).  Maybe a background post would be more appropriate?

 I started to get very sick when I was around 11 or 12, before that I was your typical ADHD kid with way too much energy to contain. I think it was a virus around the time I was involved in a youth theatre production “King Jack” and I had pushed myself to continue going to rehearsals despite not really recovering. The year after that was my first year of high school which i would rather pretend never happened. I won’t go into details here but at least once event triggered PTSD which still has some impacts on me today.

 The trauma of many events that year probably didn’t help much and I started to become very sick. After moving high school and going up a grade (which helped socially for about a year), it was hard with recovery from the year before but also it was more than that. Fatigue and joint pain none of my doctors could really explain. My periods (which started at 11yo and were pretty regular from the get go) suddenly started to become very painful. GP put me on the pill to help try ease the pain and sent us to see a specialist on suspicion of endomitriosis. She just said i didn’t know how to use tampons properly and was very dismissive and condescending about my age etc. Jokes on her but more of that a few years later ;)


 In year 10 I started to attend school part time, which put me behind in a lot of areas and with people, but thanks to some awesomely understanding teachers i managed to graduate. That year I also started to use a walking stick regularly just to help out with getting around. Some of the jerky year 9 kids used to steel it now and then, and there wasn’t much I could do about it :P


 Around the end of year 10 I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes when they found sugar in a urine test for something else….this was a shock to the system but I studiously started to do my regular blood tests, and eating a Low GI diet. The doctors were confused about it still, by all rights I shouldn’t have had T2 as I wasn’t overweight or elderly etc etc. But that all gets explained later.


 Approaching college we knew I would need to go part time and it would probably be a three year thing instead of two years. It was hard, but I had such an awesome IT teacher that helped me get through, and find my absolute passion for computing. Beforehand I had been planning on going to the school of art but after college I wanted to learn how to programme. During the first year of college my blood sugars sky rocketed and wouldn't stay down and I was diagnoses with type 1 diabetes around my 16th birthday. I was on insulin pen for a while then went to pump and have had many adventured with pumps and pens since. Now currently on a medtronic and loving it. While at college I managed to contract TB from someone who came to school with active TB! Luckily it never became active but because of my health issues they were keen to put me on a course of medications to severely lessen the likelihood of it ever becoming active. Those drugs were pretty heavy and made me very sick for a good 6 - 8 months. I will now always test positive for TB with the skin prick test…blah!

//EDIT// some where here, I think it was in my 2nd year of college, I had the lovely experence of having pancreatitus and spending 5 nights in hospital. No one really wanted to say what they thought it was but reading up about lupus now there is prenatally a link between lupus and pancreatitus. Why didn't i get a Dx then? Who knows! //

 I went on to study an advanced diploma of professional games development in programming at AIE (academy of interactive entertainment) which took two years. First year was tricky but fun! I even got to move out with my teacher for a while which was even more fun. I was nominated for a Matthew marsh award at the end of the year which is an award for people struggling with illness but still kicking butt at studying at AIE. To my huge surprise I actually got awarded it! First programmer to get it I believe and there is a plaque and everything <3


 Second year started out well, but an operation to finally removed endomitriosis (which they did manage to find some and remove) early in the year seemed to have triggered massive illness. Looking back i know what it did was trigger a Lupus flareup and it put me seriously out of the game for the rest of the year. It’s amazing i didn’t drop out between the sickness and the bullieing i started to get from fellow classmates. But i graduated and i have the paper to prove it which makes me proud :)

 So I graduated last year at the time of writing this in 2012. The plan was to go back to AIE this year to study the 3D modelling side of the Avd. Dip. But it quickly became clear i was not up to it. I had to move back home with my family because I was not doing well mentally or physically. Most of thus year i have spend working on my head space, and pushing for a diagnosis of my Lupus which i finally got about 6 months ago. I have not been well enough to study, or work part time. And it’s not looking good for next year either.

 I’ll write more about recent crap in later posts but this is a short bio/medical history/intro i guess. It probably covers enough ;)

Sorry about terrible grammar, spelling, or structure…I am in no way a good writer, but feel this would be a good thing for me to do :)

 If anyone read this whole thing they get +50 points! </ br>