I Can’t Fix Myself But I’m Supposed To

Sunflower Punk’s guest article covers her life-long struggle with chronic pain, living 6 years with an untreated broken ankle, doctors blaming her health problems on her weight, inaccessible housing, and juggling all of those while also raising a kid as a single mom. It’s worth a read as is her follow up post today.

Could It Be My Birth Control?: The Intrauterine Diaries

Today’s guest post is for anyone who has struggled with unpleasant symptoms and body changes and wondered to themselves, could it be my birth control? This post is even more for you if this question was met with dismissal and doubts when brought to medical professionals, which is unfortunately too common of a pattern. 

What’s Living with Celiac Disease Like?

Though I’ve never been formally diagnosed, my symptoms match the condition of celiac disease so well that it’s the easiest way to communicate my level of gluten-sensitivity to a stranger. But of course, my experiences living with celiac disease didn’t start when I cut out gluten. They started when I was a child with no idea what was making me sick.

Windows: Snippets from a Mind Struggling with PTSD, Anxiety, and Depression

I spent more than a year searching for the reason that despite multiple skilled therapists and a wonderful social support system, I was still struggling with PTSD to the point that it was debilitating. I wrote this piece prior to my diagnosis of Dissociative Identity Disorder, but now it reads like a textbook list of the symptoms.

How Did You Meet Your Abusive Partner?

Most abusive relationship stories lie in the story of how you left: How did you get out? What was the final straw? How awful did things have to get before you finally had enough? When it comes to abusive relationships, no one ever asks, How did you two get together? How did you meet your abusive partner?

The Blue Book: The First Time I Learned About Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome

When my physical therapist gave me a book about ehlers danlos syndrome, I thought I would be reading about joint instability but this book wasn’t just about my pain problems. The book contained a list of every serious health problem I had ever had in my life, and potentially, a reason why they were connected.