Spoonie Adventures with Maddie

Hi! My name's Maddie. I've been struggling with chronic daily headaches, chronic migraines, chronic fatigue syndrom, and other chronic symptoms since I was 11. I'm starting this blog to help me with these struggles and to hopefully help others.

[whatsupcassidy]

B R E A T H E

if you’re having an anxious moment, breathe along to this gif.

inhale as it expands, exhale as it shrinks, and remind yourself to keep breathing.

[the-suicide-effect]

[spoonie-adventures]

Have you ever been so messed up you hide your real thoughts and feelings from your therapist?

[n6mcv]

Do u ever sit back and realize ur not anybody’s favorite person, ur just kinda there and then you get the sudden urge to distance urself from everyone and chill alone

[spoonie-adventures]

TW:

I had the worst panic attack of my life today...over a school assignment. The website malfunctioned and my assignment didn’t get submitted although it said it had been submitted. My professor emailed me that my assignment was missing and I didn’t see it until past two hours past thedeadline. I had had trouble submitting an assignment earlier in the semester and she said that she wouldn’t accept this excuse again. Did I react like a normal person when I found out that I missed the deadline? No. Instead I fell to the floor, crying uncontrollably and screaming from anxiety, panic, and fear. Fear that I would get a zero on the assignment. Because, with my irrational thinking, I would rather die than fail at school. And if I miss this assignment, then certainly I’ve failed at school. This intense state lasted around five to ten minutes. After that, I was still crying, but softly now, and I found it difficult to breathe for around thirty to forty minutes. This is not normal. I’m not sure if it was a severe panic attack or something else but I never want to experience that again.

[impotsiblelife]

Don’t beat yourself up if you’re chronically ill and can’t exercise as frequently as you’d like to. 

Exercise is often recommended as a treatment for chronic fatigue and pain, but those symptoms make it difficult to exercise. A lot of people with chronic pain and fatigue, myself included, experience an increase in symptoms during and after physical activity. It can be hard to find the time for exercise if you know you’ll need a few hours to recover afterwards, and it’s difficult to motivate yourself to do something you know will leave you in even more pain. 

Doctors and mostly healthy people often don’t understand these challenges, but don’t let anyone make you feel guilty about how much you do or don’t exercise. Try your best and don’t stress. 

[afewregretsmaybe]

me: talks about my intense symptoms that most people would find extremely concerning

my friends:

me:

[cyclicallysick]

when im nauseated but manage not to puke

[spoonielols]

[spoonielols]

[chronicallyjessica]

“Who could have that many conditions”

[ID: Gif of a man smiling slightly shaking his hands]

[lymeprincess]

Chronic illness be like: *gets dizzy while scrolling through tumblr*

[anxious-and-in-pain]

Thinking you have enough spoons to do something and then two seconds into it realizing I was wrong:

[ID: photo of an old computer error message saying “Spoon shortage. Unable to fulfill request. Please try again later.” With Teo buttons reading “lie on floor” and “cry”. End ID]

[spoonielols]

[clinically-chronically]

Me: Hmm.. My joints hurt more today and in general I'm not feeling too great.

Weather: *Starts storming and raining*

Me: Oh.

[spoonies4ever]

when i’m in a flare but insist on plowing through anyway…

[crapchronicles]

Me: *trying to accomplish basic tasks*

My body: *banging pots and pans together* Something is wrONG!!!!