We’re expecting a second little Meena in June 2021! This first trimester has been quite different compared to my previous pregnancy – and not just because I’m taking care of a two-year-old while pregnant. My medical care has gone a bit differently and I’ve had more varied and intense symptoms. Thankfully, my lupus hasn’t been as intense – so far – and I have a lot of help. In this post, I’m going to detail what it’s been like to […]
Category: Chronic Illness
Life with lupus:
Diagnosis Number Three: Lupus.
In the Depths of My Sickness with Lupus (and Learning to Put My Health First).
10 Things I Didn’t Realize Would Happen After I Was Diagnosed with Lupus.
A Day in the Life with Lupus.
The ABC’s of Lupus.
Signs That You Need a New Rheumatologist.
Read all my posts about lupus here.
Life with chronic illness:
100+ Relatable Signs of Chronic Illness.
My 2018 Healthcare Costs with a Chronic Illness in the USA.
How Am I Supposed to Get Better When It Seems Like I’m Always Sick?
What I’d Like to Say to My Medications.
Please Stop Telling Me to Take an Antidepressant for My Autoimmune Disease.
My Pain Needs Privacy.
Pregnancy & Parenthood:
My Lupus Pregnancy: The First Trimester.
The Second Trimester of Being Pregnant with Lupus.
Lupus and Pregnancy in the Third Trimester.
Birth and Lupus: Baby Meena’s Birth Story.
A Lupus Flare and a Teething Baby.
Tips for living with chronic illness:
Tips for Cooking with Chronic Pain.
Using Hemp Based CBD Oil for Chronic Pain (Product Review).
Tablift – the Versatile and Comfortable Tablet Holder (Product Review).
The positive side of chronic illness:
On Being Thankful for My Spouse as a Chronic Illness Sufferer.
What Chronic Illness Has Given Me.
The negative side of chronic illness:
When Your Doctor Quits Unexpectedly.
The Dangers of High Blood Pressure.
When Your Spouse Is Also Your Caregiver (+ Tips for Easing the Burden).
The Chronic Disappointment of Chronic Illness.
The Unfortunate Realities of Life with Chronic Illness(es).
What You Don’t See in My Travel Photos.
The Mental Strain of a Chronic Illness.
Me vs. Medication.
Blog Roll:
2020 Yearly Digest.
This year was not one I have been eager to reflect on. I had to force myself to start the process of reviewing 2020 for my annual digest. But, once I got started I was rather surprised to remember how many positive things did happen this year. Writing this digest is always a therapeutic process. There’s not a big trip to share, but we did find smaller ways to travel and enjoy time together. So much time together. It was […]
My Experiences Going to the Doctor During COVID-19.
When my city’s stay-at-home order when into effect on March 25, I was nervous about more than just COVID-19. As a chronically ill person, I was worried about the potential loss of medical care during the shutdown. My concern was heightened by the flurry of phone calls I received – two days before things closed – rescheduling all my upcoming appointments. During the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic, I had one telehealth appointment and 12 in-office appointments. The […]
What I’m Struggling With During COVID-19 and Why I’m Thankful Anyway.
This isn’t exactly a well put together blog post where I convey a wealth of information. Those are my favorite kind to share, but I’ve been struggling to write one since March. Like many people during the time of COVID-19, I’m not in a great place mentally, physically, or emotionally. This post is more a catalog of what I’ve been struggling with over the past few months, with a few positives thrown in. I am trying to be thankful for […]
What I’d Like to Say to My Medications.
I am so tired of medications. I have taken hundreds of pills since my lupus diagnosis in 2017 and I’m sick of it. The sheer number of pills overwhelms me. They take up an entire drawer in my nightstand and fill up a good-sized box in my closet. I take 15 pills a day as a baseline – that number easily jumps into the 20s if I have a lupus flare or a high pain day. These medications have put […]
How Am I Supposed to Get Better When It Seems Like I’m Always Sick?
Trying to get better with a chronic illness is a long road filled with massive roadblocks. The symptoms of being sick are standing in the way of trying to recover. If you have a chronic illness or an autoimmune disease then you’ve likely wondered how on earth you’ll overcome the daunting obstacle of trying to get better when you feel miserable. And while we may be filled with hope and perseverance at the beginning of our journey, the years wear […]
Tablift – the Versatile and Comfortable Tablet Holder (Product Review).
How often do you find yourself uncomfortable while holding your tablet or another electronic device? Have you tried to precariously balance it on something while you rest? I struggled with these issues daily until I started using the Tablift – a bendy, adjustable tablet holder that was designed to help people use their electronic devices more easily and ergonomically. This nifty product may look a little bizarre with its spider like legs, but being able to adjust each leg independently […]
When Your Doctor Quits Unexpectedly.
I spent a week debating whether or not to send my rheumatologist a message about my increasing joint pain. While my finger and knee joints were aching badly, there wasn’t likely anything we could do about it via message. Ultimately, I decided to take prednisone a tad more liberally than usual to cope until my next appointment so I could discuss it in person with my doctor. A few days later, at the end of a particularly stressful weekend filled […]
Birth and Lupus: Baby Meena’s Birth Story.
Today Baby Meena is one year old. Yes, it has taken me a year to finish writing his birth story. I wrote down many details in the first two weeks, intending to get the story out much sooner, but I was somewhat traumatized from giving birth and had to stop reliving it in my mind for a while. Life was also really hard with a newborn as a parent with lupus. I have struggled mightily in all areas of my life […]
My 2018 Healthcare Costs with a Chronic Illness in the USA.
Healthcare costs in the USA are out of control – it’s something our nation discusses constantly – and I am joining the conversation by sharing real figures from my annual medical charges as a chronically ill person. And I’m starting with an outrageous one. My family’s total healthcare cost in 2018 was $73,123. Our portion of that bill was $20,018. The total cost is much higher than the median US salary (which sits around $44,500). It’s approximately half the cost of […]