abchronic

[abchronic]

Deadpool & Wolverine dir. Shawn Levy | 2024

[abchronic]

it should be illegal to take a nap and still have a headache when you wake up. like no i shut it off and back on again why are you still here

[abchronic]

having chronic pain is like *adjusts sitting position* *adjusts sitting position* *adjusts sitting position* *adj

[abchronic]

why isn't there much info about coathanger pain with POTS?? or at least why is this not more common knowledge? i don't think i've ever seen anyone talking about this. every time i've asked about it (+other POTS symptoms it comes with in my case) in chronic illness spaces people have suggested everything from fibro, MCAS, a CFS leak, a herniated disc, CCI, etc. but nobody ever said "coathanger pain."

but dysautonomia international posted a silly little graphic on their instagram and now i have my answers to why i was having a ton of symptoms that did suggest a herniated disc but there were no signs of disc herniation upon getting an MRI and for some reason it was triggered by working morning shift/having to be upright for a long time in the mornings. i would get excruciating, searing pain that feels pike a knife has been shoved into the base of my neck and the whole of my upper back would have this icy burning sensation. accompanied by me losing the ability to think straight, losing my coordination, and slurring my speech. i left work crying one morning because of how much pain i was in before i eventually came to the conclusion i couldn't do morning shifts.

that's coathanger pain. my spine is okay (i think...for now, anyway.) according to The Stuff they don't know what causes coathanger pain necessarily but they theorize it has to do with reduced blood flow to those areas of the body (which would track since POTS tends to involve blood pooling in the extremities and such.) it's also not exclusive to POTS and is associated with dysautonomia or orthostatic intolerance in general i think.

One example of the power of obtaining the autonomic history is the Coat Hanger Phenomenon. In people who have neurogenic orthostatic hypotension or orthostatic intolerance, they can complain of pain, or like a charley horse kind of sensation, in the back of the neck and shoulder areas in the distribution that’s like a coat hanger. And it goes away when the person is lying down. That’s an important symptom. And the way I explain it is that the muscles that control your head are tonically active, otherwise your head be falling down all the time. Tonically active. That means they’re using up oxygenated blood all the time. Well suppose you’re in a critical situation where there’s a drop in blood flow at the delivery of oxygenated blood to the head. In that situation these muscles are not getting enough oxygenated blood. They’re tonically active, so they’re producing lactic acid and you get a charley horse, just like you’d have a cramp anywhere else. It’s a skeletal muscle thing. So, I think when somebody complains of Coat Hanger Phenomenon, that’s a very important sign or symptom. And that is not invented. That’s a real phenomenon. It points to ischemia to the skeletal muscle holding your head up.

(Dr. Goldstein, The Dysautonomia Project)

worsening cognitive dysfunction, slurred speech, and worsening coordination because blood's not getting to my brain. bordering on emergency-room-level pain in my upper back and neck because not enough blood is getting to those parts of my body. got it.

anyway, i legit have NEVER seen this discussed until recently and i thought i should share.

[abchronic]

[abchronic]

it's always interesting finding out how my body's going to react when I eat something I'm not supposed to

occasionally I pass undetected like a thief in the night

other times 24 hours pass and then I get a note from management that they are not surprised, just disappointed

and then finally there's defcon 1, immediate purge mode

[abchronic]

A doctor saying "Good news! Your labs look great" is like if you were watching a cop show and the chief walked in like "Great news, everybody! The best news! The killer is still at large and we have no leads."

[abchronic]

i feel like every human should max out at one disability or chronic illness. like when i hit adolescence and my brain chemistry went “bipolar time now?” the response should have been an error message like sorry! this slot can only contain one (1) item and has been filled with childhood asthma. i would even allow the possibility that you can overwrite previous disorders like “you have equipped chronic migraines and so no will no longer display symptoms of bipolar disorder.” i just think it should work that way.

[abchronic]

Low-level nausea is a miserable kind of sick. Like yes I’m barely inconvenienced but also no I can’t do anything at all.

[abchronic]

I think it's cool if a cis woman goes on testosterone, or gets top surgery for aesthetic/affirmation reasons, or even gets phalloplasty.

I also think it's cool if a cis man goes on estrogen, or gets breast augmentation for aesthetic/affirmation reasons, or even gets a vaginoplasty.

It is my belief that bodily autonomy doesn't depend on identity. You have the fundamental right to alter your body as the want or need arises, because when you don't own your body absolutely, you own nothing.

[abchronic]

Healthy people who say stuff like “they’re still doing things so they can’t be in THAT much pain” need to understand that after a certain point pain becomes boring. No, you never get used to the pain, but you do gradually become bored. After months or years of mindless suffering in bed eventually you learn how to watch TV, do a light hobby, etc., even while in extreme pain, simply because chronic pain is incredibly dull and humans need entertainment.

[abchronic]

it's all fun and games until you take a little too long to swallow your medication and you start tasting it

[abchronic]

Hate going to the doctor like hey doc I've got symptoms and they're like "good news! we've got a treatment for symptoms. unfortunately though it's gonna give you symptoms" and you're like ah fuck not more symptoms

[abchronic]

DYING at this 😂

[abchronic]

Singin’ in the Rain (1952) dir. Gene Kelly & Stanley Donen

[abchronic]

i would be so normal if it wasn't for the fucking symptoms

[abchronic]

ANZ LIKES TO PRETEND SHE’S SANTA/CHRISTMAS REQUESTS WEEK

@crossroadsdirt​ asked: anything sam/rowena 

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