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30 Signs You're a Chronic Illness Warrior

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1. Your calendar is filled with twice as many doctor and specialist appointments as social outings.

2. You have more pajamas than you do daytime clothes.

3. The moment you walk in the door you immediately get into your pajamas or comfy clothes.

4. You have an unnatural affection for your heat bag or hot water bottle.

5. You can’t make plans for Friday night because just surviving the week has drained you.

6. After a night out it takes you a whole week to recover.

7. You have a polite yet firm response ready to say to those who ask, “Have you tried yoga/gluten-free diet/sleeping more?”

8. You avoid people with a cold like the plague, because if you catch it you’ll be sick for weeks and end up in a flare.

9. You get cranky with people coughing anywhere near you.

10. Some days just getting out of bed and onto the couch is all you can achieve.

11. You spend an ungodly amount of money on medications each month.

12. When waiting three hours for a specialist appointment that lasts five minutes makes you feel stabby, even though you’ve been doing it for years.

13. If you saved all the money you’ve spent on hospital parking you’d probably have a house deposit.

14. When your condition is so complex you have to explain it to any new medical professionals you see as they’ve never heard of it before.

15. When you’ve cancelled so much on your friends they slowly stop inviting you.

16. When fluffy slippers and a good pair of flannelette pajamas sound like a great gift.

17. When you wake up more tired than when you went to sleep.

18. When you fight anxiety and depression daily so that you can cope with your condition, or anxiety and depression are your condition.

19. When you’re so fatigued you could sleep for a week, but your body also hurts too much to let you fall asleep.

20. When your partner’s version of romance is cleaning the house a little and letting you sleep in. And that’s totally OK with you!

21. When brain fog hits you mid-sentence on a regular occasion.

22. When finding the energy for a small social outing wipes you out for days.

23. If you regularly feel guilty about not being there enough for your family and friends.

24. If you don’t tell people how bad your health really is because you don’t want to sound like you’re constantly whining.

25. If you have that one amazing friend who you can be honest with about how unwell you’ve been.

26. When someone says, “but you don’t look sick,” it makes you next level ragey.

27. When you meet another chronic illness warrior and you immediately click because they just “get it.”

28. You spend too much time thinking you’re not doing a good job at being a parent, when in reality you’re teaching your children about compassion and the importance of looking after their health.

29. When you’re on a first name basis with the pharmacist at your local chemist.

30. When you’re a member of the “Chronic illness warriors and essential oil enthusiasts” support group.

Getty Image by traveliving

Originally published: April 23, 2018
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