Day 29!!!
I cope with it by reading a lot, it helps to keep my mind off things. I also like to cook and eat cookies, sugar helps too.
Day 30!!!!
My legs are affected by the demoniacal sciatica that bothers me every day. Immune system is trying but coming short every time. Digestive system is also rioting and making me regret every time I have a burger or an ice cream. But, even though my body is complaining it keeps going alright and allows me to enjoy my family until the end. I like that about my body.
@joha87 Well done for getting to day 30!
@KarenWhitakerDipSW thank you!
Late start, but I'm still going for it!
Day 1: Introduce yourself. What illnesses do you have? How long have you had them?
I have Exploding Head Syndrome (EHS), Clinical Depression, Anxiety disorders, and Endometriosis. It's hard to say how long I've had them because I've been misdiagnosed for the last three, and EHS is so rare that I never knew I was experiencing an abnormal thing until recently. I've had the isssues with it for as long as I can remember, but no one had ever said anything about it. I brought it up in just a casual conversation with my friend, and he found it to be bizarre, so I looked some things up and discussed it with a doctor. Whoopsies!
Day 21 Networks and Websites
I randomly Google stuff sometimes its helpful, sometimes not. And I love the Spoonie community on Tumblr
@KarenWhitakerDipSW Hey, I'm actually part of the Tumblr spoonie community! Interesting to know others doing this challenge are also a part of it. 
Day 26
Growing up, being sick definately impacted those around me but we didn't know what was going on. Now, there's some guilt related to that.
With my husband, it just makes things harder. He's been great through all of this, but there are times when he doesn't want to be doing more than half of the physical chores or wants to be doing things with me when I'm feeling well, etc. He doesn't think about it often, but I do know this condition scares him at times too. That he might lose me suddenly.
DAY 1
I am Introvert73, I am 24 years old. I was diagnosed with COPD when I was 23. So I've been dealing with this for a year and a half.
Day 22 How I've been treated by the medical system
Dismissively in large part. One doctor discharged me because I wasn't 'deaf enough' so there was 'nothing' they could do. And years of seeking help with chronic fatigue got me labelled attention seeking, anorexic, needs more exercise (which I took to mean lazy, they had no idea how hard I was trying), depressed etc.
However. In the past few years things have vastly improved. I have great hearing aids. Treatment for the IBS and reflux associated with my JHS. Treatment for the depression which constant fatigue has caused. And finally a physiotherapist who is helping me to addess the physical weakness which underlay most of my problems.
Hurray for progress! And, a message to everyone to 'never give up'.
Can't believe it's taken so long for me to get in on this amazing thread!
Day 1: What illnesses do you have? How long have you had them?
When I was 13, I came down with a bout of the 'flu. After the initial horriblness had worn off, I enjoyed a couple of days spent lounging on the sofa and watching Dancing With The Stars, but that after flu wooziness and tiredness and stupidness didn't wear off. Nor the week after, nor the week after... I spent around 6 months unable to get out of bed, not even able to read or sit up. Eventually, I got my diagnosis of CFS (that's Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or myalgic encephalomyelitis), and it's been intermittent ever since! I battle with very low energy levels, poor concentration, extreme tiredness, headaches - and worst of all, dizziness. It comes and goes in about nine month cycles, and I'm just fighting off another bout that's been with me since January, and it's been a pig, but I'll get there.
I want to tag in @Rozie <3
Can really empathise with you @Lyra and understand how ME/CFS is affecting you... know the dread and denial when the symptoms begin to appear again. Yes think I have lived with ME since 7 years of age, when like you i didn't recover from a bout of flu...,can remember getting to the end of the road and coming home crying saying I couldn't walk to school. My legs ached so much. Subsequently my unwellness which involved ongoing relapses was diagnosed as tonsilitis, and it continued. Finally at 36 years of age, a supportive doctor diagnosed it as ME and told me that although there was no cure, he would support me to get well again and resume my teaching career. So reading everything about the mind-body connection in health and illness, and putting this into practice..the key seemed to be having a strong immune system... I seemed to have recovered 18 months later. But 3 weeks back into work, i knew that was not so, and had to resign. It was devasating. But recovery slowly came and I had the opportunity to train as a family therapist and then enjoyed a second career. However another relapse brought this to an end too.
Now I have learned to live with this...the fatigue, muscle pain, depression, "scrambled words" .. and although this illness has limited my life, It has also opened up other opportunities, and I have met so many wonderful and brave people who live with chronic illness. Wishing you wellness again.
Tagging @magicallySmiles50
@rozie Normally I don't "traverse" the forums. Its complicated for me. I've been dyslexic my whole life, and have had active celiac disease for about 20 years. I wasn't diagnosed until I was 47 by that time a lot of damage was done. My neurologist feels that the neuropathy in my legs comes from years of undiagnosed celiac. I also have Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome and Fibromyalgia along with Costochondritis. So that's it... I think :)
@magicallySmiles50 Day 2... How have these illnesses affected my life. Well like most people with celiac, POTS syndrome, Fibromyaliga, there are a whole host of symptoms which effect everything from what I eat to how I take a shower. But I'm like Rozie, I've found ways to contribute to people's lives and have a business niche. So my diseases do not have me.
@magicallySmiles50 Hello as someone else with POTS!
@rozie Day 3... Several diagnoses. Celiac: I have a genetic test POTS syndrome: Many tests at the Cleveland Clinic main Campus where I go every 6 months and Fibromyalgia I have to find a new Rheumatologist.
@rozie Days 4 & 5... My friends and family have been a mixed bag. I have no friends who visit me. My family all live HOURS away.
Being Chronically ill right at the moment makes me feel like I want to fight back. I'm just now getting to the part of my "mourning my old" life where I feel like I want to take my life back
@rozie If I could have told myself something when I first felt my POTSIE symptoms arising... I probably would have gone to get counseling for panic attacks. Because thats what pots feels like
Biggest realization. Being 50 and chronically ill isn't a picnic but I've found its helped me to learn to stay focused and to help people from a position of strength not just a position of general knowledge
@magicallySmiles50 Day 8 & 9 I hope in 5 years I'll be much more familiar with my illness and be able to really focus on how I can better enjoy my life with family. Its a process though, I realize that.
Alternate therapies. Yes I use herbal medicine, meditation and I eat mostly vegetarian food.
@magicallySmiles50 Days 10, 11, 12
10: Rehydration fluid
11: I think predisposition is why I have this illness but I am able to help others with this same condition and other long term health issues so I am happy to share what I've learned.
12: Imagine running a marathon. Now imagine what its like to feel like you have run a marathon everytime you try to stand up from a seated position. Imagine what its like to run a hill in a full sprint. Now imagine what its like to feel that way simply going shopping for a couple of items. Even having to ask for a place to sit down because you have such a headache from your blood pressure changing. You now know what its like to have Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia syndrome (it would take far too long to describe what its like to also have celiac and fibromyalgia.
Day 2
COPD has effected my life in almost every area.. As I said I'm 24 with two baby boys, last year I was hospitalized 3x for a week each because my oxygen dropped so low the hospital couldn't let me even leave my bed! I can't walk around the block with my family, I get so worn out when playing with my boys but they are 3 and 18 months so they don't understand.. I have to use a nebulizer 5 times a day, no oxygen yet.. And my doctor told me if I don't make a change in 5 years I'll go to the hospital and won't be coming out, he said I'll be dead in less then 10 years...
DAY 3
I was diagnosed the second time I was admitted into the hospital. My Blood Oxygen level was 89. They told me 98-100 is normal and anything below 94 I need to go to the ER to get oxygen.. I was there for a week at first the kept saying they didn't know what was wrong, the ran tons of tests, X-ray, cat scan, blood drawn, and I was on bed rest.. Finally the 6th day I was there, they told me I have COPD