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A comment about judging people
So people with chronic fatigue syndrome are a minority in society. People with vaguely similar chronic illnesses and disabilities are less of a minority, I have no idea how much less.
But I still get very annoyed when people assume that anyone who does *blah thing to save energy* must be lazy. Yes, in the old days we didn't have labour saving devices etc. And in the old days, being chronically ill or disabled really sucked. (It still does, but not as much)
Pre-prepared food, remotes, scooters, whatever.
I mean I can understand saying "Surely not EVERYONE who uses this actually needs it, so the overall popular trend is bad even if some uses are valid" but you can't judge any given person without knowing their circumstances.
Even if they're overweight, especially since mobility issues tend, oddly enough, to lead to weight gain. Sometimes people's ill health is either unrelated to, or the cause of their weight issues, and we have just as much right to do unhealthy things like eating junk food as anyone else. Sick and disabled people do not fit into neat little boxes of "lovable perfect victim who never complains" and "entitled whiner who brought it on themselves".
Not aimed at anyone in particular, inspired by hearing about examples of overweight people with similar symptoms to mine (shortness of breath, low blood sugar meaning I need to eat often, slow ungainly gait etc) being judged for "making themselves sick by not losing weight", and thinking dark thoughts about my future since I can't see how I can not gain weight with my current level of immobility. Also this post, which has the added fibre of classism!
Oh, and that woman at the station who said to the man awkwardly carrying his crutch off the train before putting it back on "You obviously don't need that, haha"
Phew! I feel better now.
But I still get very annoyed when people assume that anyone who does *blah thing to save energy* must be lazy. Yes, in the old days we didn't have labour saving devices etc. And in the old days, being chronically ill or disabled really sucked. (It still does, but not as much)
Pre-prepared food, remotes, scooters, whatever.
I mean I can understand saying "Surely not EVERYONE who uses this actually needs it, so the overall popular trend is bad even if some uses are valid" but you can't judge any given person without knowing their circumstances.
Even if they're overweight, especially since mobility issues tend, oddly enough, to lead to weight gain. Sometimes people's ill health is either unrelated to, or the cause of their weight issues, and we have just as much right to do unhealthy things like eating junk food as anyone else. Sick and disabled people do not fit into neat little boxes of "lovable perfect victim who never complains" and "entitled whiner who brought it on themselves".
Not aimed at anyone in particular, inspired by hearing about examples of overweight people with similar symptoms to mine (shortness of breath, low blood sugar meaning I need to eat often, slow ungainly gait etc) being judged for "making themselves sick by not losing weight", and thinking dark thoughts about my future since I can't see how I can not gain weight with my current level of immobility. Also this post, which has the added fibre of classism!
Oh, and that woman at the station who said to the man awkwardly carrying his crutch off the train before putting it back on "You obviously don't need that, haha"
Phew! I feel better now.
no subject
The thing is, I spent eight years being told and believing (my doctors, friends, family, supervisors, etc) that I was lazy because I was "tired all the time and tests came back fine". Any time I tried exercising more I felt terrible because exercise exacerbates chronic fatigue. Any time I tried eating less (I eat a *lot*) I felt terrible for various reasons to do with my stomach and blood sugar etc. I upped my vegetable content just so doctors would stop bugging me about it and actually pay attention to me, and sure enough the main difference it made was being able to say "Why yes, I do eat lots of vegetables. So that's not the problem". I was told by doctors that it was very important for me to lose weight, so I pushed through and exercised even though I didn't feel like it and am now so sick I can barely move.
Also: My cfs doctor told me to try going off gluten and cut down on my carbs and I felt terrible. I really don't function well without large amounts of high fibre wheat/oats, even after several months I still never felt right and felt MUCH better after going back on gluten. Luckily his response was to say "Oh well, it was worth a shot, lets try something else".
A lot of my friends have had similar experiences, and I spend a fair amount of time talking to other people with cfs who have often also had years of everyone telling them they were "lazy", in many cases they still struggle with it. With cfs this can literally kill you.
So if someone says they feel tired all the time and can't fix it? I believe them. No skin off my nose.
I mean there have been changes I made under sufferance which genuinely helped. Eating more vegetables didn't help with my fatigue but did make everything a bit less fuzzy. Eating more fibre was very helpful with my indigestion. Cutting down on my refined sugars helped even me out. And I had heard those suggestions for years before and it took me ages to get around to trying them, but life is short and busy and full of contradictory advice.
So I tell people what worked for me, and it's their choice whether or not to follow it. I feel no certainty it will work for them.
I mean I probably do give people more benefit of the doubt than they deserve, but I can't bring myself to care. It might be different if I was a medical doctor etc. I don't even get that fussed when people say "I think I might have chronic fatigue but I don't know.." since I was in that boat for ages, though I do tend to say "Well that could be very serious you should get some tests done and if it is cfs learn about it's treatment or you'll make yourself sicker", and if they were being hyperbolic that shuts them up :)