Sep 12, 2025
Me, who's been dealing with chronic illness for 25 years: Ugh, I feel like getting a cold, but I'm not really sick?
My brain: Well, silly, that's called a flare up now, isn't it.
Me: Ah, yes.
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Me, who's been dealing with chronic illness for 25 years: Ugh, I feel like getting a cold, but I'm not really sick?
My brain: Well, silly, that's called a flare up now, isn't it.
Me: Ah, yes.
Sicktember 2024 Prompt-Based Resources to Help You Get Started! 💚
**Sicktember 2023 prompt-based resources can be found [Here]
Hangovers
What is a hangover [niaaa.nih.gov]
15 hangover horror stories [buzzfeed.com]
7 ways to cure your hangover [health.harvard.edu]
How to Write a Drunk Character [allwritealright.com]
Over Indulgence
Dealing with Food hangovers [health.usnews.com]
4 Ways to Stop Digestive Discomfort [michiganmedicine.org]
I Ate Too Much. Now What Do I Do? [osfhealthcare.org]
Is It Possible… Stomach Explode? [popsci.com]
Campus/Con Crud
Crushing the Campus Crud [hercampus.com]
So What is Con Crud [granitcon.com]
Coming Down With the Crud [bmhsc.org]
PSA: If you had Epstein-Barr at any point in your life, and a Covid-19 infection later on, pay attention to the state of your daily spoons, energy, and attentive capabilities 3 months later.
I had Epstein-Barr 9 years ago, and Covid at the end of May. It is now mid-August and I am exhausted, confused, in a constant daze, brain-fogged, and my ADHD symptoms, especially executive dysfunction, are worse than ever.
Covid can reactivate Epstein-Barr viruses, and the viral load is well-measurable 3 months post-Covid, as far as I have gathered from a German source.
I'm going to ask to get tested for my current Epstein-Barr viral load.
Stay safe, everyone. I got that fuck-ass shit Covid virus in May 2024, when everyone was confidently parroting how "Covid is over". And that despite routinely washing my hands and masking in public transport.
I am 99,9% sure that I am dealing with Long Covid here.
I hate everything right now.
Get boostered if you can.
It feels like I’m dyingh 🦠👾🪫👽🪫👾🦠
The great imitator
when i was twelve, i got bitten by a tick. i didn’t even know. just a weird rash on my neck that i brushed off as a heat allergy. months later it still showed up in my blood — oh, it’s Lyme disease, surprise surprise. antibiotics, done, you’ll be fine.
nobody tells you that lyme isn’t like a cold — it doesn’t just go away. it lingers. it hides. it waits. No one told me atleast. chronic fatigue that made me feel lazy, joint pain that made me feel old before I was ever young, weight gain that made me miss plans, depression that made me miss myself.
when i was seventeen, everything fell apart. mono. lyme's fav cousin. — epstein-barr — and it wrecked me.
my immune system was already shot. i was so tired i’d fall asleep doing my homework, wake up hours later with a puddle of drool and the same unfinished sentence.
my grades tanked. teachers thought i was slacking. my parents thought I was lazy — I thought maybe i was just stupid. not smart enough to keep up. not disciplined enough. not good enough. Just too insecure about nothing fitting in at school.but it was lyme.
the Great Imitator.
it makes you think your body is broken in a thousand different ways — when it’s really one root cause that no one sees. joint pain, gut problems, IBS, lymphedema, lipedema, weight gain, depression, anxiety, chronic fatigue, insomnia, migraines, brain fog, autoimmune flare-ups.
one disease, wearing every mask.
doctors lined up to stamp their prejudices on my chart — lazy, dramatic, attention-seeking. A young girl can't be sick. Take this pill, try this diet, it’s all in your head, get some sleep, lose some weight. you’re probably just stressed. When that didn't help the doctors kept giving me new labels like party favors.
each one felt like a life sentence.
and the worst of all no one told me lyme could mess with your brain chemistry. no one said it could make you feel suicidal. not in the dramatic, cinematic way — but in the slow, numb, slipping-away kind of way. when every day feels like a weighted blanket of static. when you cry over nothing, then feel nothing at all. when you start to wonder if maybe you really are just broken beyond fixing.
how am I supposed to build a future like this? It's not normal to feel this depressed about living the "normal 9 to 5 life" is it?
sometimes i’d ask myself: am i autistic? am i borderline? am i just dramatic? am i just fat?should i exercise more? eat less? sleep more? try harder?
but how do you lose the weight of a ghost living in your blood? your life slips through your fingers & no one cares because it’s not theirs. it’s yours.
you wake up one day & realise decades are gone because one tick bit you under the summer sun.
one bite. a lifetime.
lyme is not just one thing — it’s a root system that branches into every organ, every cell, every moment you thought you were just weak. turns out you were just fighting an invisible monster the whole time. The Great Imitator.
it’s tick season.
please, please check yourself.
check your kids.
check your pets.
check behind your knees, in your hairline, under your clothes, everywhere.
one tiny bite can steal years from you & you won’t even know until it’s too late.
i don’t have a neat ending.
i’m still here, untangling the web this tick spun in me when i was twelve.
if you see yourself in this — i see you too. you’re not lazy. you’re not crazy. you’re not making it up. you’re just tired & fighting a war no one sees.
yes mono sucked, but at least it made me lose enough weight to fit into my favourite jeans😛😛
Three weeks in and mono is officially the most annoying illness I've ever had. I have pissed blood and had a better recovery than this. It attacked my liver and is unlocking Cool New Side Effects like Constantly Fucking Itchy With No Cure so im getting like 4 hours of sleep a night. Went to the dermatologist today and paid for them to repeat the same "yep its because Mono, sorry no cure just wait it out and drink water <3" with the added bonus of no more taking melatonin to help me sleep because its processed in the liver and may be making things worse. Anyway- *muffled screaming*
Guess who's a ✨Medical Anomaly✨
It's me! I have contracted Mono (commonly known as kissing disease 💋) for the SECOND time in my life! It is supposed to be something you can only get once but GUESS WHAT??? In incredibly rare cases, some people can get it multiple times! The doctor came back with my results and literally said; "Are you sure you've had momo before? ... Yea. You have it. I've literally never heard of someone getting it twice... but you're definitely positive."