A post we've had sitting in our drafts for a while now is about something we call "sick-switching". We haven't really been sure how to do this, if people want this, how people want this, so just attempting a shortish few point post about what it is, and how it affects us :)
As a mixed origin system, what is or isn't trauma related or autism related or whatever else can get a bit confusing, so if you are endogenic please let us know if you experience this too, we would really like to hear how other systems (if other systems) experience this.
Sick-switches are something we have often due to chronic illness, making getting sick, incredibly easy. It becomes very fuzzy between fronters but different to dissociative blur, and often, people just slip around front, as if there's no real ability to grip on, and only one person stays out. It can be exhausting, confusing, painful, and can be really bad physically/internally and mentally on headmates who handle being sick worse. It also tends to cause short periods of front stuck, so whoever sick-switches in is unable to leave until the next switch. There is no real cue for a switch, not like when we cough or sneeze, and then BOOM new headmate is out (although this can happen). Sometimes people can come back to front, sometimes people can't come back, it really depends on the headmate, the sickness at the time, and in other cases the system. Though obviously this doesn't apply to us, as we're just our system.
How do we know if we're sick-switching?
It's a little bit hard to tell, as sometimes front can just be slippy, but there are a few ways we can tell.
Is the headmate around for a reason? Like a headmate in our partner system, a media source, a food, a role purpose? (protector, caretaker, etc.)
Is the headmate around due to another headmate? Some of our system have very closely tied fronts, Ashe and Moira, Scarlet and Winter, Alice, Cheshire, and Jinx, Blanket and Crowley, etc. So sometimes, when one headmate is out, another headmate who fronts around them often can come out or slip out.
Is there a reason the headmate shouldn't be out? This one is a bit more obvious. Physically weaker headmates struggle with the side effects of being sick more, and so when something is physically wrong with the body, they tend not to front.
If there's no external or internal reason for a headmate to be out, and reasons why a headmate definitely wouldn't or shouldn't front, and it happens a couple of times, we're definitely sick-switching. It's not really a defined art, just something that we have learned to work with and know how to identify early on after dealing with it so much. Also known scientifically as guesswork.
How does sick-switching affect certain headmates?
Another more personal and not universal part of this post, is all of our headmates react to being sick, and sick-switching differently.
Some headmates numb external physical pain, but cannot numb internal pain, and so they become distressed, can exhaust the body by trying to numb and not achieving it, and headmates who numb tend to have higher energy needs, which being sick simply cannot give them.
Trauma holders tend to be one of the worst kinds of headmates to handle sick, because they are often more prone to being unwell normally and so can sometimes worsen our symptoms, while also not being able to numb or be physically abled enough to do things we need to when sick.
Caretakers ironically tend to be very bad at being sick, as most of our caretakers see their role as needing to help others, rather than being looked after themselves.
In our system, we try to put everybodies strengths and weaknesses into groups on simplyplural. This helps us know who can and can't do what, and one of these groups is good and bad sleepers. Bad sleepers are notorious for not getting enough rest, to properly heal while sick, and so just stay sick for longer and can make being sick worse in the long run.
Generally we try to have headmates who don't numb, who are more vulnerable to being sick, who have notably poor sleep, and those who typically act in a caretaker of others aspect, out while sick. They (unintentionally) make it worse for themselves and the system, and we all really hate being sick.
Unfortunately, sick-switches don't always give us that opportunity, which leads to our final point.
How do we handle sick-switching?
Thankfully, our partner system (everyone knows @guardianssystem say hi) who also helps us edit our dissociative dyslexia posts, is unfortunately used to dealing with us being sick. He knows how to handle sick switches and how to deal with a situation where a less than ideal headmate is front stuck. We're very lucky to have someone who has a similar system, and can help us and bounce ideas around with us on how to deal with things in the future.
Unfortunately, sometimes there is nothing we can do. If there's headmates out who are more vulnerable to being sick, making sure we rest, and do less than other headmates is best. If there's headmates who get sick from things like medication, we have to limit how much we can take at a time and prioritize the most essential things. If there are physically weaker headmates, Guardians can help them with mobility and doing small tasks that would exert more energy that they normally should. If there is a headmate who is calmer around certain people from Guardians, we can have them front, or if there is a headmate who has a close fronting pattern with someone else inside (Ashe & Moira, etc.) sometimes they can switch to the other headmate, that might handle being sick better. Sometimes, we just have to bunker down and wait it all out.
Is sick-switching trauma based?
All of our headmates, including our endogenic ones, are affected by our DID. The endo headmates are typically less affected and, in general, mentally healthier, but they are not magically exempt, sadly.
Dissociative periods can make us sick or feel sick and cause various other issues like slipping around front. So whether sick-switching is a traumagenic/CDD only thing, we don't know, because we've never heard any other system (except Guardians who we live with, and see first hand) discuss it.
We can see the resembles when we sick-switch to severe dissociative periods, and know how our dissociation can make being sick worse, and so we have no definitive answer is or is it not trauma and dissociative based, or if any/all systems experience the same thing.
We want to hear from other systems, not in a new, "only traumagenics can have this" discourse, but just so we can better understand ourself, and plurality in general :)
We hope this was digestable, somewhat interesting, even mildly amusing at times, and have a few other topics (like system resets eta whenever Moira is back out) and want to try doing more personal experiences with plurality posts, and general positive information that can help people, rather than just arguing with stupid people who will likely not change their stances, no matter what anyone says.
Crimson (@guardianssystem) would like us to say we're hot. Queue joke about Angral saying he will post tits if we get famous - Like and reblog for tits and come say hi on Twitch we're playing video games soon
