'Good' vs 'bad' day mindset
I'm curious to see how other people experience and deal with this:
Whenever I feel a bit better or do something and it's not as worse an impact on my health than I thought, I start feeling so incredibly guilty and hateful, and it feels like the bad days I can remember are just because I let my anxiety and self-indulgence get the better of me.
Inversely, when I have a bad day or crash, I feel absolutely awful and think that there's no way I'm faking anything and I just want whatever pain/fatigue/symptoms I'm experiencing to ease up. It's gotten to the point where I keep fantasizing about having a wheelchair so I can do things without having to push through immense discomfort and whatever pain.
In either moment I'm SO confident in what I'm thinking/feeling, and the whiplash of going back and forth is emotionally exhausting and confusing. I'm constantly trying to analyze and compare, but I've had various health problems for so many years that even though I instinctively intensely monitor the physical symptoms I'm feeling, I have a hard time remembering severity and frequency unless I'm actively experiencing it.
I think I've hit my threshold on dealing with this seesaw, and the ensuing guilt and feeling like a hypochondriac. When the pain is bad, it's bad. Ultimately these feelings are getting in the way of how I feel about myself and interact with others, and how comfortable I feel asking for help or accommodations.
This is such a long post, thanks for being here if you're still reading.
Right now I'm sorting through desperately wanting some sort of mobility aid, and everywhere online screams at you to not get more than you need or you'll mess everything up, but even crutches or a rollator sound painful/inflammatory and exhausting.
Most of my illnesses are invisible and have been since I was a kid, and it took me years to fight my way through doctors and to treatment finally in my 20s, something I'm sure a lot of people unfortunately experience. Because of this, I think part of me has an aching desire for visible illness and support. So I'm terrified and ashamed that that's what's driving my want for mobility aids.
Again, this is the seesaw because I'm feeling not awful right now....in a few hours I'm sure I'd say that the pain and exhaustion is absolutely bad enough to need a more advanced aid.
Let me know how you cope with this if you experience anything similar, and I wouldn't mind advice/tips as well as just experience or a "me too" 💛. Thanks for reading
