chronicillnessawareness

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😬Our ‘Public Persona’😬

This is exactly what I, and countless others, do everyday - we put up a ‘public persona’ to hide what we’re truly going through. We pretend that we aren’t: in #AGONY or #depressed or #exhausted or #anxious . We pretend because we are #scared of how others would treat us if they really know what we were going through. The thing is though, by pretending we are something we’re not, we are giving ourselves more #Stress but also denying someone the opportunity to help us deal with the things that are really going on in our lives.
#itsokaynottobeokay #itsoktoneedhelp #ChronicIllness #chronicillnessawareness #ChronicPain #chronicpainawareness #mentalhealthmatters #MentalHealth #MensMentalHealth #CollegeMentalHealth #MentalHealthAwareness #Disability #IntellectualDisability #DevelopmentalDisability #InvisibleDisability #disabilityawareness #invisibleillnessawareness #FunctionalNeurologicalDisorder #FND #FNDAwareness #JointHypermobilitySyndrome #ChronicMigraineSyndrome #ChronicVestibularMigraine #HemiplegicMigraine #Migraine #BipolarDepression #ChronicDepression #Depression #ChronicFatigue #Anxiety #SensoryProcessingDisorder #BrainFog #PanicAttacks #PanicDisorder #notalone #BeYourself

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Chronic Pain Is Not "Just Pain"

It's frustration, sadness, anxiety, depression, worry, emptiness, and anger.

It's wondering if it will really be forever. It's asking yourself how you'll be able to keep paying bills, medication, and food.

It's missing the past, barely floating in the present, and dreading the future.

It's feeling different every moment of your life. It's feeling dependent on so many things - dependent on medicines, people, circumstances, and sometimes on sheer luck.

It's withstanding mockery, blame, and criticism.

Surviving chronic pain means getting up in the morning and facing another day of uncertainty and doing it with a smile or at least with as few tears as possible.

And while we continue to take the fight towards invisible illnesses like CRPS, the real reason we get up every day is to be there for our family, our friends, and, yes, perhaps even ourselves. Although living with these challenges is hard, we all do the best we can.

For us, survival is all about embracing the unknown, accepting the unthinkable, and never... never... never... giving up on ourselves. It's only then that we feel like victors, not victims of this devastating illness.

I know it's hard for you to understand truly, and sadly you may never really grasp its magnitude unless you get it yourself. Although for your sake, I hope you never do.

So why am I sharing this now after seven long years in silence? It's not for your sympathy or pity, but rather to give a voice to the voiceless. To remind the millions of us who have and continue to struggle in silence that you are not alone.

Keep putting one foot in front of the other, for everyone matters to someone, and you are loved whether you know it or not. While, yes, we can't predict the trials and triumphs we'll face in life, I can tell you it's unquestionably a better place with you in it.

Know, as I have, that all you need to overcome all you encounter already lives within you, everything! So when life gives you a reason not to smile, smile anyway.

Your spiritual gangster,

~ Charlie Cryder

#ChronicIllness #Fibromyalgia #ChronicPain #ChronicFatigue #Dysautonomia #potssyndrome #MECFS #CRPS #Healing #chronicillnessawareness #fibromyalgiaawareness #MentalHealthAwareness #InvisibleIllness #InvisibleDisability #ChronicIllness #Fibromyalgia #ComplexRegionalPainSyndrome

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I’m back!! 👋🏻

Hi everyone, sorry I’ve not posted anything for a few weeks - I haven’t been very well lately. Thankfully it’s not Covid related, I have been battling severe Tonsillitis and it’s been really draining all my energy. It’s hard enough living with chronic illness without having to battle extra health issues on top of it all. The main thing is that I am back on The Mighty, I’ve missed you all! 💝🥰
#CheckInWithMe #MightyMinute #52SmallThings #CheerMeOn #MightyTogether #MentalHealth #Anxiety #Depression #Stress #Asthma #Disability #FunctionalNeurologicalDisorder #FND #FNDAwareness #fndwarrior #JointHypermobilitySyndrome #JHSAwareness #JHSWarrior #ChronicIllness #chronicillnessawareness #chronicillnesswarrior #ChronicPain #chronicpainawareness #Chronicpainwarrior #SpoonTheory #spooniewarrior

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My Personal Reminder!

A while back, I recognised that I was starting to slip back into the same dark place that I had needed the help of a Psychologist to get out of in the past. The thought that I could end up “back a square one” (as the saying goes) scared me because I didn’t want to ever end up in that dark place again, not if I could help it. I started to realise that the feelings that I was experiencing were similar to the feelings of grief I had when my mum passed away. That’s when I realised that I was grieving, but this time it wasn’t because of death - I was grieving for my “old” self, the one who could do all those things that I still wanted to do but no longer could. That’s when I decided I needed to do something, so I took a photo of my “old” self, laughing, doing something fun, being happy, and I added “STAY STRONG I’LL BE BACK!!” Then I made this updated photo the lock-screen on my phone so that every time I picked my phone up I saw that reminder, from myself, to myself, that things won’t always be difficult and that I could be happy again. Some days I kept picking up my phone just to see that reminder and slowly it started to help me - I no longer feel myself slipping into that dark place again, if anything, I actually feel like I am slowly climbing back out of the darkest. I might not have made it to where I want to be yet but I’m not where I was before and that’s good enough for me.
#CheckInWithMe #MightyMinute #52SmallThings #CheerMeOn #MightyTogether #MentalHealth #Anxiety #Depression #Stress #Disability #FunctionalNeurologicalDisorder #FND #FNDAwareness #fndwarrior #JointHypermobilitySyndrome #JHS #JHSAwareness #JHSWarrior #ChronicIllness #chronicillnessawareness #chronicillnesswarrior #ChronicPain #chronicpainawareness #Chronicpainwarrior #creativity #EnjoyTheLittleThings

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Taking It One Day At A Time #chronicillnesswarrior

Today my battle has gotten more difficult. However I am a fighter and I am strong. I will face my trials with hope and bravery. With God by my side; I will not fail. I am blessed to be alive and breathing. No matter the circumstances- I am grateful. I am a fighter; I can and I will. I thank God for this life He has given me. My path may be more difficult than others, however I am a child of the mist high God. I am an overcomer! #Overcomer #childofgod #SystemicLupusErythematosus #LupusNephritis #ChronicIllness #InvisibleIllness #Lupus #AutoimmuneDisease #Chronicpainwarrior ##lupusawareness #chronicillnessawareness #nevergiveuphope #jesusismyrock ##mylupielife1987 #infiniteangel161 #miss8understood #icanandiwill #OPTIMIST #idealist #lonerwolf #lioness

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I think I’m in shock!!

I have just found out that my story - my first ever submission - to The Mighty has just been published!! I am beyond stunned and I don’t think that it’s actually set in yet, I can’t believe it! 😳🥳 I really hope that my story helps other people who might be facing the same struggles, and feeling the way that I used to. 🤞🏻🙏🏻💝 themighty.com/2021/03/functional-neurological-disorder-diagn...
#FunctionalNeurologicalDisorder #FND #FNDAwareness #fndwarrior #ChronicIllness #chronicillnesswarrior #ChronicPain #chronicpainawareness #chronicillnessawareness #Disability #JointHypermobilitySyndrome #SpoonTheory #Spoonies #MightyTogether #fndhope #MightyMinute #CheerMeOn #CheckInWithMe #52SmallThings #MentalHealth #Depression #Anxiety

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How To Support Someone With a Chronic Illness ✨💕

#ChronicIllness #chronicillnessawareness #chronicillnesswarrior #ehlersdanlossyndrome #ehlersdanlos #eds #potssyndrome #pots #dysautonomia #mcad #pcos #fibromyalgia #cfs #Depression #anxiety #heds #invisibleillness #zebra #zebrastrong #god #selflove #selfcare #staystrong #invisibleillness #quote #motivational #aesthetic #inspiration #trauma dailylifewithmads.com/how-to-support-someone-with-a-chronic-illness

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#ChronicIllness #ChronicPain

Pain overshadows every thought I have, every emotion I feel, and every move I make. It's exhausting enough alone, then you add everything else to it? It's debilitating. Not only physically, but mentally. Chronic pain eats at your soul little by little, destroying your hope, and robbing you of your dreams. Anyone living with chronic pain should have the option of having that pain controlled to the furthest extent that modern medicine can. For more, visit the link in my profile #ChronicIllness #ChronicPain #Fibromyalgia #chronicillnessawareness #chronicpainawareness