Chronic Conditions Are A Pain. Literally.

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Living with a chronic condition is a pain. Literally.

To meme or not to meme?

If you are following along my blogger journey, you know that I recently commented on social media not being all bad. I do believe that. But (I have learned you are never supposed to say but because it discredits everything you just said) BUT I should have added a foot note. Don’t tell my husband what I’m about to share, there can be too much social media! At least there can be when you have a chronic condition. Why, you ask? It’s just like spending too much time on WebMD. Before too long, you have diagnosed yourself as a person with stage 4 cancer who likely had a heart attack last week, suffers from osteoporosis and needs a hip AND knee replacement after researching your symptoms which include watery eyes only. 

I love memes. Like REALLY love them. I love to laugh at things that poke fun and are cynical. We take everything too seriously. I could spend hours looking at old Joe Biden and Barack Obama memes. I actually have. We are in the midst of an epidemic with coronavirus but I couldn’t stop sharing memes about it. Don’t get me wrong, I work in healthcare and I know it’s serious. But I deal with a lot through humor. It’s how my brain is wired so you can thank my parents for that. Karma got me though as we were supposed to go to Mexico next week and the trip was canceled because of coronavirus. Now that I have personally assaulted by it, I have stopped sharing the memes with my co-workers. They were probably sick of me anyway. 

I follow a few chronic illness accounts on Instagram. I figure any advice anyone has to share for free I might as well follow along. What I have come to realize though is that anything not done in moderation can make you fall into a trap. Do you feel like I just turned the tables on you and I’m now talking about diet?! Stick with me. Too much of anything can begin to shift your thinking in a way that may not be best for your state of mind at the time. I just googled fibro blogs and memes before I started writing this. I found a link to the 10 best fibro blogs of 2019. I went through and read the synopsis of each. There was talk about being real, being a mom with fibro, self-care, promoting positive living and on and on. You get the point. Blog: I’m a WARRIOR! Meme: If everything didn’t hurt when I wake up in the morning I wouldn’t know I was alive! Pick your poison.

I can easily go to either extreme depending on my mood. And my mood often directs me to cynicism. I can be upbeat. I can be your biggest cheerleader if you’re going through something. I can have a TON of faith. But I am also a realist. I trust my gut. A friend’s father was recently in the hospital in a very dire situation. I rallied more faith and had more talks with God than I can remember. I chalk that up to fibro fog. I was scared, really scared. But my gut told me he was going to recover and go home. My gut was right. Trust your instincts and what your body tells you!

I recently felt really crappy. I woke up in the middle of the night and my back and muscles were so sore I had to get all of the cats off me so I could stretch. I went to the other end of the house where my husband has his home office and an area rug under his chair. I couldn’t even get myself together to put out my yoga mat and figured, eh, the rug was clean enough. I stretched out my back, hips and legs. One by one each cat came in to check on me and keep me company.

I probably stayed there about 30 minutes trying work out the tension. The next morning I felt better but still didn’t feel good. I text my boss that I would not be in.

I walked around the house for an hour second guessing myself, AS I ALWAYS DO, wondering if I was really in pain. Finally, about two hours later as I was sitting on the floor on my yoga mat I concentrated and thought, yes, stop it, this is pain. It’s so easy to say trust your body but it takes me a while every time it comes to ME. I don’t want to let anyone down (my co-workers) or be a PIA (to my husband) or have anyone second guess what I’m feeling (the world). So I kinda fight it as long as I can before I finally have to give in and realize it’s not in my head.

So again I say, trust your gut and what your body is trying to tell you. If you have questions check the internet or ask a friend with the same issues or someone you trust with your feelings (better) or your doctor (best). And if you need a laugh look at some memes. But maybe stick to Delaware Joe (Biden not Flacco) and not ones that will cause you to sink further into a black hole about your condition.