We’ve been vocal about how grateful we are to be out as a DID system so it should come as no surprise that our life after our DID diagnosis was significantly improved.
Tag: invisible illness
Say Goodbye to the Version of Me You Knew: A Letter to Friends & Family of Chronically Ill People
For years I’ve heard stories from my chronically ill friends of loved ones who abandoned them or who refused to believe that their illness was real. So, I wanted to write a letter to the friends & family of chronically ill people.
10 Harmful Beliefs About Dissociative Identity Disorder
One of the reasons we wanted to start writing about Dissociative Identity Disorder after we received our diagnosis is the massive amount of misinformation out there. Having this diagnosis is highly stigmatized and many doctors and even mental health professionals still perpetuate these harmful beliefs about dissociative identity disorder.
A Guide to Social Etiquette When Interacting with My DID System
A frequent request we’ve encountered is to create a guide to interacting with Dissociative Identity Disorder systems. We’re offering a list of our own preferences around social interactions and a list of questions to help you get to know the specific preferences of the system(s) you know.
Video: Introducing Dissociative Identity Disorder on Youtube
Back in September, I received a facebook message from a high school friend of mine. We hadn’t spoken in a number of years so it was a pleasant surprise to see a message from him in my inbox. He told me that his wife was a teacher and she was running an activity about neurodivergence for her students, who were between the ages of 13-16. He said she was collecting videos from individuals who experienced …Read More
Poetry & Trauma: It Is Hard to Write with a Broken Heart
This week my debut poetry book, “Pet: the Journey from Abuse to Recovery” comes out. The poetry sequence takes you through my experiences in an abusive relationship, my attempts to heal, my retrospective reflections on the relationship, and the larger-scale insights that came with long-term healing. To introduce it, I wanted to share with you this piece about what it took to write that book in the first place. CN: extensive and detailed discussion of …Read More
Celebrating Disability Pride Month
Disability is a framework that teaches you to prioritize the needs of your mind and body over the expectations of society. Check out these articles to dive deeper into the experience of disability and chronic illness.
How Mast Cell Activation Disorder Changed My Life
CN: extensive and detailed discussion of chronic illness symptoms such as nausea, brain fog, and difficulty eating; discussion of weight loss One day, after taking a short walk, I had a strange health episode. I was incredibly exhausted, totally disproportionate to the amount of walking I had done. I sat down in the chair in the kitchen as soon as I got in, too tired to go all the way to my bedroom, and then …Read More
Why I Stopped Taking Gabapentin
I am updating and republishing some of my early articles from this blog. Please enjoy this article, originally published under the title “Color” in March of 2017, about the early days of my chronic pain journey. CN: extensive discussion of the experience of anxiety, chronic pain, medication side effects, and medical neglect. Duloxetine was the first pain medication my doctor ever prescribed me, an anti-depressant that can sometimes help with pain. A year after I …Read More
9 Things That Blocked My Access to Medical Treatment
This is a new version of an article that was originally published as “26,” about the early attempts to diagnose the cause of my chronic pain and other symptoms, and the many ways my access to medical treatment was blocked for years prior.