Pessimistic Walrus

Hello people, I hope you are alright and had a decent day. If you didn't and/or don't feel good right now, I hope you'll feel better soon. Many people with a chronic illness are used to lots of symptoms that would terrify those who don't have a chronic illness, but sometimes even we get terrified by our symptoms, maybe they got worse or we are experiencing something new. Since I'm going through a set of new symptoms and got really scared for a bit, I thought I'd share some advice on how to cope during such times-whether you have a chronic illness or not. 1) Don't use these online symptom checkers-because they'll always tell you something bad, even if you just have a cold. If you do use them, then please be aware that you shouldn't take the results too seriously. 2) Talk. Talk to your family, the person you love, your cat/dog/other pet. Because keeping it all to yourself won't help your worries. 3) If you feel like you can't talk (don...

I heard this sentence too many times. Hearing it one time is one time too many already. I think I've been told this by doctors at least 3 times. If I remember correctly, the first time when I was 11 years old. ELEVEN. Let that sink in. I had been admitted to hospital because I didn't tolerate physical activity very well, I kept fainting during PE class or after climbing too many stairs at school (didn't have to at home as we lived on the ground floor). I was constantly out of breath, I had fevers on and off, my blood pressure was pretty low and I felt like absolute crap. The hospital made me stay for a week, running a few different tests only for a young doctor fresh from university to tell me "maybe it's all in your head". My mom later told me I looked at the doctor as if I wanted to kill her. Well, my symptoms continued for some more time until my mother decided to get me seen by a lung specialist and tadaaaa, turns out I have asthma (and a nasty infection a...