How Chronic Illness impacts my life and how I adapt

Living with Chronic Illnesses, both physical and mental, is exhausting. I am in constant pain. Have you ever gone to the doctor because you tore a muscle or broken a bone, and they ask on a scale of 1-10, how bad is the pain? Well I am constantly at a 5.

Let me say that again, on a "good day" I am at a normal person's 5. That is my baseline. I will probably never feel better than that.

Once of the things that sucks about CONSTANT pain is that you sort of get used to it. And I don't mean I don't notice it and it goes back to a 1. I mean that I have been forced to work through my pain, because life doesn't stop.

Chronic pain is difficult to manage, especially when it comes to things like Fibromyalgia, back pain, nerve pain...you know, all the things I have. I am constantly taking ibuprofin because doctors don't want to prescribe anything stronger than that. While I can understand the risks of addiction, this isn't a little pain for a week like when I got my wisdom teeth removed. Unless something changes in the medical community, I will be in pain the rest of my life. I will no doubt get worse.

And this is just my physical illness. I haven't even mentioned my anxiety, depression, and insomnia!

So how do I manage?

I take things one day at a time. That is all I can do. While I know that some activities will cause my pain to spike, it's still a guess how I will feel each morning. Sometimes an activity that is "safe" won't be. Sometimes I have to do a task that usually causes me to flare-up, but I feel relatively good (as opposed to how I usually feel when doing the task).

I have started to make accomodations for myself. On days when my back is acting up, and I know sitting at my desk will hurt, I write from bed. My husband bought a switch for the computer so I can switch between my monitors or our TV. My mouse and keyboard are bluetooth and I have a lap desk.

I batch create/upload. I use a social media manager called publer to help me schedule posts. On low energy days (I'm not able to function enough to write but I can still half-ass function) I will get onto canva and make marketing graphics; engagement, aesthics, quotes, tropes, etc. I will also go through canva's templates and customize them. It's tedious work, and takes time to make an entire month's worth of posts. But then I can use publer to schedule a month at a time. With the exception of random posts, everything is set up, and I don't have to stress about marketing, at least for a little while.

I have other accomodations around my house, like my shower chair, and things like that, but those aren't author/book related.

Living with chronic illnesses really sucks. My battery is never more than 50% charged now-a-days, even when I try to "rest and recharge" I will never have a full battery again. It's taken me a long while to accept that, and I still struggle with my new limitations and internal ableism.

So next time your friend says something about their chronic pain, listen. They are telling you how they feel CONSTANTLY. They are sharing with you, something that can be extremely personal, because a lot of people don't like to open up, especially after they've lost friends over their conditions.

Be patient. Be kind. Be understanding. That's all we ask.