Living

It’s been a long bumpy and extremely tiring ride. I been off work on sick leave, for the past 2 and a half years. To be honest I still feel...

One of the most frustrating things about having an invisible illness is knowing that other people can’t see the pain I’m in. Although I talk and write about it often...

We, as humans, are creatures of habit. Sometimes if we are not careful, we can get lost in the daily hustle and bustle of our lives and the schedules and...

Living with the chronic pain of AxSpA can make you exhausted, sometimes to the point of depression. It can even make you anxious when you aren’t able to complete tasks...

I have always wanted to be a writer. Secretly. Secretly, because the world I grew up in didn’t have writers in it. Or writers didn’t come from, or inhabit, my...

Gluten-free, paleo, dairy-free, nightshade-free, starch-free, GAPS...if there’s a diet recommended for AS, I’ve probably tried it. Soon after diagnosis I set off down the dietary modification track in search of...

When it comes to diseases that include a lot of inflammation, we often see a lot of co-existing illnesses. My struggles started at 18 when my menstrual cycle suddenly took over...

Being chronically ill means that doctor’s appointments are routine and frequent. It also likely means you have several different types of doctors you see. Finding and building a care team...

The all or nothing approach. This seems to be how I live my life. Even before I got sick. I seem to have always had an all or nothing approach...

I’ve always tried to be someone you can count on when the chips are down. It brings me joy to offer help and support to others, whether it’s dropping off...

On days where the emotional baggage that comes with living with a chronic illness pours down on us, sometimes it feels like there is no getting out of it. That...

I’d had the same family doctor for 12 years. She was great to me for a long time, but as I wrote about recently, she gaslit me about my fatigue...

I have always thought I was a confident person. I have insecurities about certain things, as most people do, but I feel lucky to have always believed in my self-worth...

The holidays are just around the corner. I can just feel it. The Christmas music already playing on the radio and the beautiful decorated lights, around the neighborhood, are already...

One thing I’ve learned through coming out of remission and adopting other symptoms the last two years is this: people are obsessed with productivity. Many people hold such high standards...

I think this pandemic has been useful in terms of revising what works and doesn’t work for me in terms of managing AxSpa. Being at home a lot, sitting too...

I’ve been thinking about some of the things I do to relax. Not just relaxing my bones or my body, but relaxing my mind – de-stressing my overactive brain. I...

When I first started taking biologics, first Humira and now Amgevita, multiple people encouraged me by telling me that many people “get back to living a normal life.” It was...

I’ve been figure skating for much longer than I’ve been chronically ill. To me, nothing is more freeing than gliding across the ice, carving grooves with my blades, and feeling...

My second birthday being sick was thankfully a lot better than my first. I made a plan of what I wanted to do. I planned to rest in between so I could...