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i think im funny.

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the human stress response seems so maladaptive!

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I’ve forgotten whether i forgot to take my meds

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Doing chores with brainfog...

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When someone asks what my spiritual beliefs are...

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currently cozy, though may progress to further stages of comf. I’d keep an eye on it

How to blanket!

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Let’s get this fucking bread and then EAT IT because we deserve it

‪It’s Tuesday!‬

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me: fam we’re on the same team

my body: aaaaaaaaaahhhh

Tfw you’ve got autoimmune issues

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as ur friendly Neighborhood Nursing Student™ i feel somewhat compelled to remind everyone with the hot weather:

every liquid except sea water and alcohol hydrates you. It’s not CHUG WATER OR DIE. in fact, gatorade and the like are designed to hydrate you efficiently.

yeah, this includes coffee and tea and soda. the diuretic is not enough to cancel out the liquid. juices and milk have solids in them, sure, but they’re also mostly liquid! it counts. 

your body can only absorb so much water at a time, so chugging 64 oz of water at noon and calling it good will do a wonderful job of flushing your kidneys, but not so much of hydrating your tissues. it’s more important that you’re getting consistent fluid throughout the day. 

there’s a lot of fancy ways to determine How Much Water (Liquid) I Should Drink but honestly? 8 oz (1 cup) every other hour on cool days and 8 oz every hour on hot days should be fine (assuming you sleep for a normal amount of time per day…. i’m assuming ur awake 16 hours a day.)

figure out how many oz each of ur favorite cups is. it’ll help your guesstimation. 

if ur urine is darker than light yellow, you’re dehydrated. 

if u pinch the skin on the back of ur hand for a couple seconds and it takes more than a second or two go to back to normal then ur dehydrated. 

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Broke: I need to take my medications in order to function normally

Woke: My medications give me superpowers, such as the ability to concentrate and walk around

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Limited spoons small ideas:

-toothpaste with flip cap

-crockpot liners

-disposable dishes for use at least part of the time

-chargers that stay in your primary locations around the house, with long cords

-auto feeder/waters for animals

-fake potty area for balconies, so you can leave the door open and let them go out when they need to, instead of maybe walking them all the way down any stairs or to a grassy area

-rice cooker (why didn’t I get one sooner)

-stool/seat for cooking & dishes (and don’t be afraid of shower chairs either)

-foldable wagon for groceries so you only make one loading/unloading trip to the house (I still haven’t gotten one)

-lots of small trash cans around the house helps keep the place a bit tidier without needing to get up and throw things away

I’ll add more as I think of them, and feel free to add your own.

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How to Build a Chronic Pain First Aid Kit

Disclaimers: This is what’s in my kit, what I need for my condition. You need to do what’s right for you.

I have severe fibromyalgia, asthma, autism, vision impairment, anxiety, OCD, depression, BPD. The first three are what the kit is for.

Now, I’ve done this before but now that I’m flying out of the country soon, I had to rework my kit. It showed me that my flare box (which lives at home) and my backpack kit need to be the same thing because I can’t be swapping items all the time. If I have a meltdown or flare outside, it does me no good if my best products are in my home-flare box.

When I go out it fits in my little backpack alongside water, umbrella, wheelchair gloves, wallet, and emergency external battery for my phone.

At home the kit lives in my walker alongside emergency food and water, flare medications, ereader, 7 day pill wallet, and noise cancelling headphones.

I used to prep for “pack enough to get me home safely.” Now its, “Pack so I can stay out longer and enjoy myself more.”

Okay let’s get started.

What You’ll Need

1. Small travel cosmetics bag

I say ‘travel’ because they’re more compact with more storage space. (Available on eBay, most drug stores/chemists) 

This is mine, I got it on eBay for $10. It folds out, has lots of compartments, and a handle on the other side.

2. Invisible hair elastics (the kind for tiny braids) for packing/containing

3. Tiny sauce portion cups (or zip lock sandwich bags)

What to Pack

Here’s what’s in mine that helps me: 

(from top to bottom) 

Instant heat pack (has a little chemical compartment in the centre that bursts under pressure and turns it hot.) 

Physio band for stretching aching joints - this is especially helpful if you have to be sitting for long periods, wheelchair, planes, class etc. Use invisible hair elastic to keep it rolled up

Disposable vomit bag 

Baby wipes - sweating, vomit

Compression gloves for when my joints start to ache and my hands tremble

Tissues

Bandaids (learning to push a wheelchair will shred your fingers when you’re starting out) 

Roll on oil for headaches and anxiety

Spare batteries for TENS machine

TENS machine - gently shocks my muscles to make my back let go of my ribcage

Deep Heat for aching legs

Anti inflammatory gel for shoulders and hands

Emergency medication - nausea, pain, nerve blockers, migraines

Mars Bar for low blood sugar

Squishy stim toy for meltdowns and anxiety

Ear plugs (set) for serious sensory overload - don’t use dirty ear plugs, you can get infections. I have noise cancelling headphones as well but they aren’t as good as ear plugs in emergencies. 

Listerine breath strips - in case I puke, also some meds taste vile. 

Inhalers (steroid and ventolin) 

All packed up, this is what my kit looks like: 

I would be really grateful if people could reblog this to help other spoonies. If you have other ideas, I would love to hear them! 

Please reblog with your condition and what helps you. Spoonies need to look out for each other.

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Me: wow I feel pretty good today, maybe I should do some dishes and take a shower.

My dumbass: *proceeds to over do it*

Me by 3pm:

Me remembering I have clean dishes:

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Me after pushing myself too hard on a good day:

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Living with chronic pain be like