I noticed on one of the previous blog posts that there are a couple of comments from people who were sharing their diagnosis and wanting to connect with others. With that in mind, let's start a blog round robin to post about how autoimmunity affects us. I'll add instructions on how to do that at the bottom of the post.
Autoimmunity affects every part of my life. The autoimmune clotting disorder (APS) I have has caused several strokes; I have difficulty walking and staying upright, weakness and disfunction on my left side, fatigue and short term memory loss. The connective tissue disease I have causes joint pain,fatigue and a host of other things we don't talk about, yet. I lose words here and there and still have transient ischemic attacks, but those are rarer and rarer. I think the biggest obstacle I have is fatigue, which I get from two different sources. Luuuuuuuuucky!
With all of that said, I don't think my life is completely subverted by autoimmunity. I still work, see friends, read, etc. I am limited in the ways I go about things and the inability to do riskier things (like travel) by myself. My life is full and enjoyable, even though I do miss certain things about life before the autoimmune explosion. Even though autoimmunity is present in everything I do it has not taken over my life; I think that's the difference I was trying to get to: it's a part of my life but not the totality of it. I realize that I'm lucky in that I am still able to work and live with purpose and sovereignty. I don't look forward to the day when that is no longer true. It's coming, but I am content to assume it is years away. It better be!
Next!
To post a blog post if you are in the group (everyone is welcome):
- Go to "view profile" at the top right of the page.
- Click on the "My groups" page.
- Click "add blog entry" under Autoimmunity.
- Add your entry!
