One morning last week, the day after exchanging some typo-ridden, slightly feverish texts with a covidy mum, I got an email with this blog post attached. This post is her reflections on my near-miss with covid, her experience of covid, and her thoughts on my chronic illness. So enjoy! As a parent – and certainly… More Mum, Covid and Chronic Illness, a Post by Mum!
At some point last year I wrote that I wanted to read more books with disabled or chronically ill characters in them, and I posted a preliminary post with five different books. Since then, I have read several more and thought it was about time I shared them with you. So here are four disabled… More 4 chronically ill & disabled books you should read
About three weeks ago my good friend, and fellow disabled person, Alicia Shearsby, contacted me and asked if I wanted to be involved in a project with her. As a sensible person, who knows when they have too much going on, I obviously said yes despite being very busy. For the next week we both… More Branwen and the Hare Moon
I don’t think I ever really understood how detrimental loneliness and isolation can be, until I got ME/CFS and POTs. Being chronically ill can be an incredibly isolating and lonely experience, and it can feel as if there is nothing you can do about it; as if for as long as you are sick, you… More Chronically ill and isolated
Care giving relationships (particularly unpaid) when caring for disabled people can be difficult to manage for both people in the relationship. For the disabled care receiver it requires a trust and a vulnerability to allow yourself to receive care, and for the care giver it can feel as if you have too much responsibility. Having… More Care giving relationships can be tricky
“Yoga might cure you?” “You should try a vegan diet” “Have you tried meditating when you have a panic attack?” When you are chronically ill or disabled, people often try and give you helpful advice or tips on how to get better or how to deal with certain symptoms. A lot of this advice is… More Unsolicited advice can be hurtful
Over the years, when I have told people in my life that I am in a non-monogamous relationship, I have been asked many questions. Being in an open relationship, although increasingly common, is still quite an unusual relationship choice, and not an option that many people even think about. So I thought I would take a moment… More Common questions about polyamory answered
This year has been a big year, in a lot of ways. It’s been very difficult, think corona, and I have also had more than my fair share of rubbish this year. But I have also had a lot of realisations and grown a lot this year, and in that way it has been very… More Coming out as queer the year I married a man
I spent this morning talking through my finances with my partner. And it’s not pretty. Having a chronic illness is incredibly expensive – and having a chronic illness that stops you from being able to work doesn’t really help matters. Whilst there are some available safety nets to help those who are unable to work,… More Money, money, money – chronic illness is expensive!
When looking through my bookshelves recently, I realised that I had read very few books about people with disabilities, and even less about people with chronic illnesses. I grew up reading books like What Katy Did, and The Secret Garden, where chronic illness is usually treated euphemistically or else there is a miracle cure –… More Chronic illness book recommendations