Chronic Illness Memes

“You get used to it” true but misleading because someday your back problems are gonna inexplicably cause stomach problems. And then you get used to the stomach problems but your thumbs start hurting because you had to do so much work on your phone lying in weird positions while waiting for the stomach problems to go away. And there are way more distractions on your phone too so while you always had adhd this just makes it more annoying/prevalent-

i put them on my front door and anytime it opens they ring. that way if i think someone has broken in or i see someone who isn’t there i can think back to if the bells have rung, and if they haven’t i can assure myself it’s not real. obviously it’s not fool proof, like if you are prone to auditory hallucinations, but it has really helped me calm down in time to avoid major psychotic breaks. it’s a real lifesaver

if there's a task, especially a recurring one, that you find difficult to do and that you keep avoiding, check whether you're in pain or physical discomfort.

For a long time I would avoid doing tasks like showering because they nebulously made me feel 'bad' or i just instinctively felt like avoiding them. It wasn't until I got a shower chair that I realised standing to shower was causing me pain. My bodymind knew that on some level but didn't tell the conscious me.

Similarly with sensory aversions (things you don't like). Before I got kitchen gloves, I did the dishes but it took me a long time and I never wanted to. Afterward, it got a lot easier to motivate myself.

"But how can you not know you're in pain/uncomfortabke?" Extremely easily if your brain is wired a specific way or if you were taught, intentionally or not, to downplay your own experiences or distance yourself from your body.

I am good at coming up with workarounds for accessibility issues by identifying some type of existing product that may help fit the required niche. And I get a kick out of it.

So I would like to offer this service to you, dear readers. Here are my terms:

'Accessibility need' is defined in the loosest sense possible. You do not need to consider yourself disabled to send a request. If you find something challenging in your everyday life that you think could be solved with tools, but you don't know what, you're invited to ask.

You may submit your accessibility need via ask, anon or not. DMs are not available for this as I would like people other than the asker to have the opportunity to benefit from my research.

No response guaranteed, and definitely not timely response. I will work on this at my own pace, so submit time sensitive needs at your own risk. I will answer based on my energy levels and ability to address the need, though I may also prioritize by how major the impact of solving it could be.

Payment accepted in the form of pictures of anything interesting you saw in nature, anecdotes regarding same, or a different type of funny story you would like to tell me. No one turned away for lack of these things - send the ask anyway.

Providing as many specific details as you can of your need and any parameters around it will improve the likelihood that my response will fit your situation. For instance, if you have low grip strength or unreliable vision or a specific budget ceiling to solve this particular problem, or anything else that may be relevant to whether a given solution will work for you, in particular. I'm not trying to solve a general need here, I'm trying to match your particular situation.

In that vein, I may ask follow up questions to clarify if I have understood the requirements correctly, or if more information would help. You may decide not to answer them if you don't want to disclose more information. This may affect whether I am able to successfully find the right thing for you.

So, may I recommend:

Here's his actual website which I feel is easier to navigate than the YouTube channel on its own and organizes things in a way that's easy to understand. He explains everything you need to know about the routine and each individual exercise has both a text description and a video tutorial

I don’t see much about conditions effecting the urinary tract so i thought i’d make my own.

The basics: neurogenic bladder (aka; neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction) is a broad term for bladder and lower urinary tract dysfunction caused by neurological disorders

Types: there is 3 types of neurogenic bladder; overactive, under active, and mixed type

Overactive: a hyper active bladder, it will have involuntary contractions

Under active: a bladder that is not active enough and doesn’t contract enough and when needed

Mixed type: a mix of symptoms and features of both under active and over active bladder

Symptoms (not a full list)

Overactive bladder

Urinary hesitancy (difficulty urinating)

Urinary incontinence

Frequency

Urgency

Under-active bladder

Urinary retention

Urinary hesitancy

Overflow incontinence

Not being able to tell you have a full bladder

Causes: neurological disorders (a few examples; spina bifidia, stroke, CNS tumors, Parkinson’s, and much more)

Treatment (not a full list, it also depends on the symptoms and underlying cause)

Urine schedule

Medicine

Sacral nerve stimulation

Catheters

Certain surgeries

Stigma: theres a lot of stigma around urinary disorders and disabilities. Many with them are scared to talk about them. It’s often seen as “gross” and “unsanitary”. Those of us with urinary issues often get shut down in conversations even in disability spaces because people think our disorders and symptoms are taboo and shouldn’t be talked about. All of this not only makes it hard to live with by constantly hearing part of your daily life called gross and unsanitary, but it makes people afraid to talk about it, including to doctors, when they really need to.

Sources

https://www.urologyhealth.org/urology-a-z/n/neurogenic-bladder