Friday, September 14, 2018

Letting Go of Your Guilt When You Have a Chronic Illness

This post contains referral links which means that if you purchase from one of my links, I will receive a small percentage of the sale.  Don't worry, this won't cost you any extra!

Guilt.

Just seeing that word makes you feel guilty, doesn't it?

My particular brand of guilt includes things such as feeling guilty for:
  • Working or resting instead of spending time with my kids.
  • Not being able to keep the house cleaner because of a lack of spoons.
  • Making sandwiches for supper for the third time in a week because I'm too exhausted to cook.
  • Not being on top of everything all the time.
  • Feeling like I'm not doing enough.
  • Losing my patience and yelling at the kids.
  • Forgetting to take pictures or video at one of my kids' special events.
  • Passing my crappy genes onto my kids.
  • Not being able to go outside and play with my kids (thanks heat intolerance and POTS!)
  • Not being able to work more.
I even feel guilty for having guilt.  And don't even get me started about Mom Guilt.

Letting go of your guilt when you have a chronic illness

My guilt is compounded by the fact that my body seems to be working against me (during the times when it works at all).  Having chronic disorders such as Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and POTS comes with an extra heaping helping of guilt because, thanks to today's emphasis on perfection and being productive, I often feel like I'm not good enough or worth anything.

But what it really boils down to is that I feel guilty for not measuring up to the world's standards. 

Monday, September 3, 2018

10+ Books About Ehlers Danlos Syndrome

This post contains referral links which means that if you purchase from one of my links, I will receive a small percentage of the sale.  Don't worry, this won't cost you any extra!

When it comes to information on the Ehlers Danlos syndromes or EDS, the selections are pretty slim.  As the disorder is still classified as rare (although it's NOT rare, it's just rarely diagnosed), there just aren't a lot of books about it out there.  However, as awareness is increasing, the number of books has been slowly increasing as well.  I put together a list of the best books to learn more about living with and loving someone with one of the Ehlers Danlos syndromes.