Monday, April 4, 2011

The Absurdity of MS and RA

Word of the day: Ludicrous (thanks to Amanda of Wegohealth)
Aspects of living with chronic illness can be absurd or ridiculous.  There have been times where I looked at the boxes (yes plural) of medication and vitamin pill bottles that I have stored and thought to myself - “how in the world did I get here?” 

How did I accumulate a larger collection of medications than I remember my grandmother having?  She kept a large box of medications on top of her refrigerator.  (Mine are kept next to my bed.)  I know that she had heart disease and diabetes.  She also had cancer.  I don’t know what else she might have been going through medically....as if that’s not enough.

So although I am personally taking fewer medications than I was a one point, I would say that the potentially large medicine box which we accumulate as patients can become ludicrous.

What’s the most ludicrous thing you can think of related to living with your disease(s)?

#HAWMC (Health Activist Writer’s Month Challenge) Day Four

10 comments:

  1. Hmmmmm...for me it's the fact that some days I can feel almost "normal" (physically) and literally the next day, hour or minute, I feel so ill, that I want to curl up in my sock drawer and die.

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  2. it is the normal feeling and then the - well Karen said it better - sock drawer - i never knew LOL but yeah the never knowing.

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  3. The 25-plus pairs of shoes in my closet that I cannot wear (those were even tough to balance on pre-MS...) but refuse to get rid of...

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  4. I love all the above responses! What's ludicrous to me? Three years ago, on spring days like today, I was driving a convertible with the top down. Today, I struggle getting into the passennger seat of the sedan! MS has hampered my lifestyle!
    Peace,
    Muff

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  5. For me, it is the variety of devices: four canes, one rollator, one scooter, one plastic ankle-foot orthosis, one other strap device thing that goes around my ankle etc.

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  6. For me it is the reactions of others that can be so insensitive and/or condescending that it drives me nuts. Especially when I hear "well you don't look sick". That is the most ludicrous of all statements.

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  7. The MOST ludicrous thing about my MS is having lost bladder control, then (finally, after trying all the meds) getting a SP catheter which actually makes me feel normal, then out of the blue I wet my pants. Could be summed up in a word: Depends(r).

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  8. I like all the above responses but for me it is how much I have in common with my grandparents also. My Grandmother got around much better than I do when she was 85...
    kim

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  9. Great contributions! thank you for sharing. :)

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  10. Wow, great blog & great comments. I am diagnosed RA, 15 years now and am afraid I'm developing MS too.

    I get "attacks" in different parts of my body (ankle, knee, foot, wrist) that feel like someone has shoved a hot ice pick into me. It lasts 18-24 hours and is gone. I've just started to realize that sometimes I stretch and it lessens the pain.

    It's not the joint swelling I get with an RA flare up - this pain is sometimes in places where there isn't a joint or at least not close to one.

    Thanks for any ideas, hints, etc. Sue :)

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