by Jody Smith The ME/CFS community is all too familiar with the realities of invisible disabilities. As a matter of fact we are rife with them. For this reason, we’re happy to make some noise for Invisible Disabilities Week. If you have an invisible disability, you’re living with one or more physical, mental or neurological challenges that other people might
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by Jody Smith There just aren’t enough hours in the day for the person with ME/CFS. At least, it’s been like this for me. It’s not that I’m so terribly busy. Indeed, I am not. Not like I used to be busy, before illness. The complicating factor and really, the only factor I have any control over, is the
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August 8th, 2019: Understanding and Remembrance Day for Severe ME by Jody Smith We in the ME/CFS community mark August 8th, 2019, on our calendars and in our hearts. On Understanding & Remembrance Day for Severe Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, we seek to increase awareness about what our most severely ill endure. And we remember and honour those who have passed
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by Jody Smith One of the things that can strike fear into the heart of a person with ME/CFS is the prospect of going to the doctor. Worse yet is the ordeal of having to travel a long distance for such an appointment. An hour or two traveling is bad enough but sometimes it’s necessary to be on the move
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by Jody Smith International ME/CFS and FM Awareness Day 2019 has grown from an idea conceived by Thomas Hennessy, Jr. back in 1992. He chose the date of May 12 because it was the birthday of army nurse and Red Cross founder Florence Nightingale, who lived with an unidentified chronic illness for the last 50 years of her life. This
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by Jody Smith On good days, I mostly operate on cruise control, with the occasional moment of brilliance and quite a bit of vegetative regeneration. I can handle most things especially if they are routine and familiar. Bring in something new, though, or something I haven’t dealt with for awhile and it’s a whole new ball game. One I don’t
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by Jody Smith Oh, how I love music! This magic can lift our spirits and calm our weary minds. Maybe it can even help us heal. Goodness knows, we who live with ME/CFS need these things. We’re probably not getting much of this elsewhere. So if music is so good for us, why is it so hard to have it
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by Jody Smith Don’t look now! The holiday season is on its way. I’ve lived through decades of them with ME/CFS. So have many of you in our chronically ill community. That’s beyond sad for all of us. But at least we have some idea what we’re contending with, and have learned our ways of handling it … or not.
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The advent of autumn can hit Jody Smith pretty hard. She’s learned a few ways to lessen the damage every year. How do you handle the change of seasons? Summer is my best season, hands down. Fewer ME/CFS symptoms get in my way. After a while, I tend to forget that this is a summer hiatus … but I am reminded around the
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Have you heard of our Severe Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Day of Understanding and Remembrance? Please join Jody Smith in observing this day and honoring the 25% of those with ME/CFS who are most severely ill. Can you read these words I’ve written on this page? Good. Then you know that I am NOT an example of the extremely ill with ME/CFS.
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by Jody Smith Thomas Hennessy, Jr., selected May 12th to be our international awareness day back in 1992. He knew that May 12th had also been the birthday of Florence Nightingale. She was the English army nurse who helped to found the Red Cross as well as the first school of nursing in the world. It is a lesser known
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by Jody Smith The holiday season just doesn’t live up to the hype, especially for the chronically ill and their caregivers. You people with ME/CFS know all too well what I’m talking about. I am one of the lucky ones, and I know it. My symptoms are generally mild and while they keep my life small, I’m able to do
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