How self-advocacy has helped me improve chronic pain and fatigue. This is the first in a series I’m sharing as I consider the last 14 years on my healing journey.
In this series, The Key Things That Took My Symptoms From Moderate to Mild, I’m sharing the nine key things that have helped take me from the struggling young lady to the thriving mama of four. For the past 14 years I’ve been working on my health and have slowly made progress to where I am now. Let’s all remember here that “mild” chronic pain, fatigue and associated symptoms are still life altering. I’m not saying I’m cured!
You can get the whole eBook of The Key Things That Took My Symptoms from Moderate to Mild, including links to extra resources for each area, for free here.
Self-Advocacy
It took many years to receive appropriate diagnosis. And I can tell you know, the right information is important. Some of us, like me, do well with a lot of information and the more scientific the better. Others of us need the bare bones explanation – but we all need to know what’s happening in our body.
Until we are taken seriously by our medical professionals, it’s hard to take ourselves seriously. I still harbor internalized ableism. I was gaslit and undertreated for so long that it’s been a hard journey to learn to take better care of myself. It’s only just now become habit to think “how can I adapt this?”
I now know I can improve my symptoms and I must continually do those things.
Taking the reigns
It all started with a glimmer I harbored. Back in 2010, or likely prior, I had this feeling that if I could work slightly less then I could figure out some things that might help. I also thought that if I spent less time on the computer, I would hurt less. I was right.
At the time my doctor had nothing for me and discouraged me from reducing my work hours because she believed I’d still be in pain, just with less money.
Thankfully I followed my gut and that is the beginning of my journey to better wellness.
Over the past 14 years I have relentlessly pursued the correct diagnoses and treatments. I have put together a whole treatment plan that has helped me to reduce my symptoms from moderate/severe to mostly mild.
That’s what I’ve been sharing on this blog for many years.
This year I am so excited to share the key things I’ve learnt over these years.
You can get the whole eBook of The Key Things That Took My Symptoms from Moderate to Mild, including links to extra resources for each area, for free here.
Summary
The moral of the story is that taking control of my own healing journey and learning to advocate for myself has been crucial to getting to where I am. It’s how I got treated for endometriosis (after many years being fobbed off about the traumatic periods) and it’s how I finally got the hypermobility diagnosis.
It is also how I managed, over a long period of time, to put together a good treatment protocol.
I hope you’ll join me on this journey. I’ll be sharing the other nine parts in blog posts across the year. And I’m making a special section of the Going Our Own Pace Membership to go in depth in each area. You’re more than welcome to join us there.
