The Return To Innocence

BTW, I'm officially on MediCare Part B (retroactive as of November) and earlier my Part C Aetna Medicare ID Card arrived, which won't be active until January 2014. It is all good. It will still save over a hundred dollars a month between all insurance and drug coverage. All my doctors are covered, all my drugs will be cheaper, and I have carefully read, re-read, and examined all the paperwork with a magnifying glass (no, really). So December's SSDI check will be less two months' insurance payments, and then January's check will also be less the Part C payment, but it is all good, because it is still cheaper than what I am paying under MHIP Carefirst in general. I feel... well, I don't know if "lucky" is the best word. But it is not as bad as it could have been. I mean, I also ride Metro and local bus transit for free thanks to being disabled and a member of Metro Access paratransit system.

Some fully able-bodied people like to scold me for feeling grateful that I am disabled enough to qualify. It's not about that 'grateful' feeling or that whole "skip to the front of the line" thing. It's not about any of that. It's... I dunno. It's about taking whatever disordered damage you have and turning it into a personal individual advantage that works in your favor. It's about accepting and embracing the awful pained cracked parts of life and seeing that they have been opening all these shiny doors, after slamming closed other doors so furiously that the whole building shakes and walls crumble. You may never be able to walk through those slammed locked bolted doors that most able-bodied people get to glide through easily, but you have all these other doors opening just for you, ready to lead you to places where you, personally, will feel more comfortable, accepted, embraced, and understood on a level secure with your disordered damage. It's not your fault, and the places these doors lead you are fully aware and have already set up a spot for you. You are always safe in those spaces in between.

Like... having mild disabilities. For example: Having mild cerebral palsy is like being in interstitial places constantly - interstice being a small space that lies between things; a space that intervenes between things. Neither completely here nor there. A space in between. A crack in the continuity. Mild autism in that nobody believes me until they spend a few word-filled hours trying to decipher my brain languages. Mild ADD and mild OCD and mild/moderate but fierce migraines and headaches and mild/moderate but fierce epileptic complex partial seizures and mild/moderate but fierce chronic pains and mild inflammations and and this and that. Mild mild mild. Haunting and interstitial. Never bad enough to cause me to be rushed to a hospital, never simple enough to merely pass by with a handwave. I am those spaces in between, as are many, many, many people with certain neurologies. We are in those cracks. Oh, they say, it's all right, they're not too bad, they could be worse, they say. And then what?

Any fellow disabled folk and people who understand want to chime in? Am I making enough sense here? I feel like I am.

This has been running around my head for a few weeks and I've been wanting to get it just right, so other people with disabilities and chronic illnesses can know that they're not alone and that if they're afraid, we can be afraid together.


To quote a friend:

"I’m not very functional. If you see me out and about, I’m either doing well, or I’m going to pay dearly for it later. Probably both."

What this means is that on the surface I might appear perfectly fine and normal in every aspect almost all the time. What this means is that as time goes on, I'm going to be worn down, exhausted, and unable to properly, correctly finish all the things I was doing well.

What this means is that if I have been able to recite entire poems, paragraphs, television dialogue, and instruction lists, I will be unable to do so when I go into a fog. I have been accused several times of lying about my memory disintegration, because if I can remember specific things constantly it must mean I have a perfect memory for everything. Here is the thing about the human brain and memory: Memory is insane. It is fickle. It lies all the time. It writes fanfiction of your life. Just because you can quote everything said by a character in a television show does not mean you have a good memory. It just means that when your brain is in a good place, you can quote everything said by a character in a television show - although these days I cheat by looking it up on Google because I actually can't recall everything. It just looks like I can. That's the trick. I seem so normal.
The point is, when someone is diagnosed with brain disorders such as memory disintegration, it means that it is happening now. Everything is happening now, has been happening for years, and will happen until death.

I have been accused several times of lying about my level of physical disability, because if I can walk and run without a cane for a few hours it must mean I don't actually need the cane or any sort of assistance. I have been accused several times of deliberately wanting my symptoms to get worse, of living inside my disorders so that I don't have to face reality, which aggravates and irritates me, since it is the exact opposite of what I actually do - reality is happening no matter what I believe, and my reality is that I am permanently disabled and I am not getting better. The thing about cerebral palsy is that patients as young as twenty-five will begin to feel physically aged due to wear and tear on their muscles, joints, bones, and nerves. This is called Post Impairment Syndrome.To quote: Post impairment syndrome is a combination of symptoms that affect adults with cerebral palsy. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, this combination includes fatigue, pain, arthritis and weakness that is often a part of daily life. This symptom is due to the muscle abnormalities and bony changes that happen as you age with cerebral palsy. You can use three to five times more energy each day than an able-bodied person just to complete your daily living activities. This extra expenditure of energy combined with the spasticity and extra wear on the joints is a hallmark symptom of adults who suffer from cerebral palsy.

What this means is that when I say that I feel sixty at age thirty, I really mean it. I am not exaggerating or subconsciously causing it. What this means is that no amount of positive magical thinking and no amount of disbelieving my conditions will make me better; I might feel better for a while after psychically insisting that I don't hurt too badly, but eventually that will stop working and the symptoms will strike even harder, especially if I have been highly active from my positive magical thinking and my belief that I was not in pain. What this means is that I can decide my symptoms are gone and my bodily systems will just laugh; for someone like me, there is no power to make myself not have symptoms. What this means is that my problems are not temporary inconveniences that I can massage, medicate, meditate, and wish away... when I explain that I feel decades older, I really mean it, and I cannot slowly heal myself just by forcing myself to feel better.

Having a permanent physical disability means that I cannot just recover easily. Having a chronic pain disorder means that I cannot just force pain to disappear. What this means is that no matter what, I will be living alongside my medical issues.What this means is that I am never the same from one minute to the next.

What this means is that I really need to quit talking about my health conditions with people who don't want to know. I make too many assumptions when acquaintances and random people ask about my conditions. I have to remind myself that they don't want to hear about it. I have to remind myself that people will start thinking that I do want to live inside my medical conditions if I talk about them in so much detail. I have to remind myself to simply say things like, "I am reasonable" and "I'm disabled with cerebral palsy" and to expand only if asked. When I get scolded, snapped at, accused, and told that nobody wants to know about my medical issues, I often don't understand what is really happening. I need to remind myself that social interaction means holding back. And this is why most social interaction makes me want to curl up and hug a book, because books don't scold me for trying to talk about myself. Also, cats. Cats just want me to pet them.

****
Long quote, which I am quoting because many people I have met over the past few months literally do not believe that my health is declining on its own, and they literally believe that I could just make myself feel better with magical thinking, ie positive thinking, law of attraction. This is also why I've joined support groups. Being told "You're making your disability worse on your own" is starting to chip away at my optimism. I'm making this public so those new acquaintances can read and come to their own conclusions.

All Americans are living longer than people did years ago, and people who have cerebral palsy (CP) are no exception. For people with disabilities, however, living to an old age is a new phenomenon. We are just now learning what it means to grow older with a disability.

Although much of the information we are gathering on the topic is discouraging, there are strategies to make aging with a disability a more successful experience. “I have seen many advances in diagnoses and treatments since I was young,” said Bonnie Witt, an adult who has cerebral palsy. “People with disabilities are living longer, more productive lives. Doctors who treat adults with disabilities are navigating uncharted territory. This is a fairly new area of medicine, so—in a small way—we are pioneers.”

Symptoms of Aging Appear Earlier

People without disabilities reach the peak of their physical function between ages 18 and 25. After that, their abilities decline about 1 percent per year. At age 70, therefore, people without disabilities are likely to have about 50 percent of their top lung function, 50 percent of their peak kidney function and so on.

Even before their abilities begin to decline, however, people who have disabilities typically don’t reach the same highest points of physical function that people without disabilities do. And when the decline begins, it might be steeper in people who have disabilities. Author and Professor Bryan Kemp reported that people with disabilities show a decline of 1.5 to 5 percent per year after reaching their highest level of physical function.

In addition, people with disabilities experience aging-related changes years earlier than their non-disabled peers do. Although study results vary, aging-related changes generally occur 20 to 30 years after the onset of a disability. For people who have CP, such changes can occur in the 20s, 30s or 40s.

Pain Is Common

Pain is the most common initial problem for adults with CP. Studies show that most of the older adults who have CP report daily pain. One-third report constant pain.

The hip, knee, back and neck are the most common sites of pain. Medication is the most common treatment for pain. Studies show that 92 percent of people with CP report that exercise helps their pain symptoms, but only 49 percent report that they exercise even infrequently. People with disabilities use other methods of pain treatment, such as biofeedback or counseling, less frequently than people who don’t have disabilities do.

People with CP who walk have the most problems with pain, because their gait and movement patterns cause abnormal wear and tear on their bodies. That leads to arthritis. Twenty-five percent of people with CP who walk as children lose that ability as teens or adults. Others stop ambulating in their 40s because of pain. For all people with CP who continue to walk, distance is compromised—in other words, they can’t walk as far as they used to.

Additional Issues

People who are in pain typically experience more fatigue than other people do, so they tend to do less and rest more. When people are less active, they lose strength and endurance. Less strength means less ability to perform necessary or enjoyable activities, and it results in a decreased ability to care for oneself. That, in turn, can lead to depression, a need to ask more from family members or a need to hire more assistance. The effect on relationships and the corresponding financial consequences are obvious.

Falls are very common in adults with CP. Reports show that 40 percent of adults with CP fall at least once each month, and 75 percent fall every two months. In fact, falling is so common that most people do not even think of reporting the falls to their doctors.

Because the risk of breaking a bone increases with age, it’s important to improve strength and to plan movements, as much as possible, to reduce the incidence of falls. Other problems that occur in people who are aging with CP include increased bowel and bladder problems and more joint contractures.
***

At this point in my life, I've started shrugging it off and doing everything I can to be everything I can, if that makes sense. I can't deny any of this. I can't wish it away with whatever that magical positive thinking is supposed to do... something about asking the universe to help out? Something about deciding to change overnight and then magically changing just with determination and willpower? I don't know. I think someone wrote a book about it.
However, I'm not going to just fall down and let it take over. That's pointless. I don't plan on sitting back and hurting. I'm going to plan on standing up, running around, and hurting because hurting will happen anyway. I have life to live and things to do. In fact, some of the medicine I've been taking has been helping me remember stuff I keep forgetting, sometimes. Good times, if I can remember them. I need to keep writing everything down. I'm not even worried, upset, or frightened. I was born this way. I can't make it go away, but I can make it better one step at a time. Especially with qi gong. Screw yoga, qi gong is awesome for me.

Quoting:
Post-impairment syndrome is a combination of symptoms that affect adults with cerebral palsy. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, this combination includes fatigue, pain, arthritis and weakness that is often a part of daily life. This symptom is due to the muscle abnormalities and bony changes that happen as you age with cerebral palsy. You can use three to five times more energy each day than an able-bodied person just to complete your daily living activities. This extra expenditure of energy combined with the spasticity and extra wear on the joints is a hallmark symptom of adults who suffer from cerebral palsy.

Links!
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Cerebral-palsy/Pages/Complications.aspx
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/cerebral_palsy/detail_cerebral_palsy.htm
http://www.cpirf.org/stories/465
http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/health-challenges.shtml
http://www.accesspress.org/2009/01/growing-older-with-cerebral-palsy/
http://www.caregiverslibrary.org/caregivers-resources/grp-diseases/hsgrp-cerebral-palsy/cerebral-palsy-and-aging-article.aspx
http://www.cerebralpalsytherapy.net/cerebral-palsy-and-fatigue.html

I already know a lot of this stuff... but so many people don't. And that's where the misinformation happens. The denial, the scolding, the disbelief, the insistence that people with cerebral palsy can concentrate all the pain away, the accusations that people with cerebral palsy deliberate seek to be crippled and debilitated. No matter how well a person thinks they know you, they don't have your condition. And that's where it gets tricky. Because they believe that you can overcome the whole thing. And that is where education and information come in.

Day after seizure with migraine:
Still working through recovery from seizure and migraine.
Allergies and fibromyalgia flare not helping.
I shall go read books and watch cartoons!

Reposted from FB:

http://tinygracenotes.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-person-is-not-function.html
*tilts head back and forth*
So many, many times, I just don't feel like talking. It depends completely on how I am feeling at any given time. There are very few people with whom I would want to talk and talk and laugh and laugh for hours, and not notice the hours for the laughing. It can and will energize me bit by bit, even if I am exhausted. That whole 'drained introvert thing' still happens, but the energy levels keep rising. Because of what we are talking about, because of why were are talking, because a lot of things.
But somehow, if I don't feel like talking even if I had just been vivaciously howling with laughter, I often get scolded. You know. Oh, you were just doing that earlier, so why can't you do it now? That kind of retort, the kind that says more about the other people than about me. Sometimes I just run out of everything. Sometimes, gray things happen. That's okay. That's okay, right?
*
Migraine migraine migraine. Codeine codeine codeine. I'm one of those chronic pain patients who cannot imagine ever abusing a pain drug because, well, pain. It's my pain. I don't necessarily want to have to take a drug like codeine for this kind of pain. I don't want anyone to see me as a drug seeker because my gods no.
But yeah, the drugs may provide some desperate relief - but I never want to need more than I have already.
Migraine plus spasticity plus deep fatigue plus neurological twitching is evil. I had pain in my dreams. Just. No.
*
Dear Complainers of 2013: The Complainers of 1871 called. They want to write you lots of long letters. Lots of them.
http://xkcd.com/1227/
*
Damn it, I still feel like shite. This has become ridiculous. I can barely breathe now. Aargh, life.
*
DISCLAIMER. WARNING: DISCLAIMER.
If you do not want the flu shot because your immune system is awesome, yay for you. Seriously. Rock on. I will not ever insist that everyone get shots. I learned my lesson last time when people screamed at me so hard I lost my head. (and also now I have that song "Shots" by LMFAO running through my head. "Shots shots shots shots shots shots shots, everybody!" "I hate flu season.") Please do not assume I am jumping on you. If you do not think you need the flu shot, then don't get it. As long as you're not telling me that 'vacciness cause autism!', we're fine (because hi, autistic person here, and that's like saying autism is worse than diphtheria, and have you seen how diphtheria kills people and have you seen how autism doesn't kill people at all?) and I won't say a word. If you don't want to click and read, that's fine too. Just please please please don't jump on me. (Also, if you do wind up getting the flu, I cannot be anywhere near you, because I am an at risk person and I might, like, die.)
And remember, if you do get the flu after you get a shot, just remember that it takes time for your body to build up defenses - it was not the vaccine that caused your flu, but the flu itself because it sneaked in before your body could activate proper antibodies. That is how it works. The flu shot cannot cause the flu. Only the flu can cause the flu. The flu shot does not work against all strains of flu, but it can help against most. Just... be informed. Be properly informed. Okay? Okay?
IN CONCLUSION: DISCLAIMER.
http://www.redwineandapplesauce.com/2013/10/28/setting-the-record-straight-dubunking-all-the-flu-vaccine-myths/
*
"We are what the gods have made us. We can go consenting through the world." -New Model Army, "Seven Times"

Because I can never recall the actual daily Pain and pain relieving supplements off the top of my head that I personally take:
MSM, Pau D'Arco, Sangre de Drago, Sea Buckthorn, Vinpocetine, Nymphaea Caerulea, Serrapeptase, Noni extract, Mangosteen extract, Cayenne extract, Kava extract, Passionflower, Ashwagandha, L-Tyrosine.
There we go!

(Disclaimer: My body is not your body. My pain is not your pain. My chemistry is not your chemistry. My neurology is not your neurology. Your mileage may vary.
If you choose to research these supplements, and especially if you choose to take any of these supplements be reasonable, rational, and cautious. These supplements may not work for you the way they work for me. They may not work at all.
If you wish to purchase and test any of these supplements, I suggest the following websites: SwansonVitamins.com, Vitacost.com, PuritansPride.com, which all make quality products that I trust. I am not responsible for anything except what I type and say.
Please do not ask me simple questions that Google can answer, such as "What does this/that supplement do and how and why?" If you are unable to do a Google search, tell me why and I shall provide links. However, I am not a medical practitioner and I only study holistic medicine as a hobby. I do not know everything. It is your responsibility to do your own research and make your own decisions. However, I am happy to answer questions about how these supplements have worked with me, why, how, etc. Please holistically drug yourself responsibly.)

Because it is too important to not keep reading over and over. Also, spears.
http://internal-acceptance-movement.tumblr.com/post/61136577036

I really must post more here.
I've been in a depressive episode, one that now includes a postitctal state.
Feeling truly alive and worthy can be difficult.
Bah.
I'll work through it and past it. I always do.
Everything hurts. Pain is concentrated in my skull, my face, and my neck. It is hard to lie still with my eyes closed.
Luckily I have many different treatments, yay.
Maybe tomorrow I can really start the second novel as more than outlines. I still need a title. The title "Glass Lotus" is still among the top choices. I still need to research paranormal contemporary nontraditional urban fantasy novels featuring LGBTQU characters with disabilities and superpowers. (Good luck, Jo.)
At least I am eating.

So, this entire week was spent in a hideous, horrid, horrific, vicious fog of pain and histamines and fatigue and weakness and etc. But right now it is slightly better. I finally managed to get some headway on the Amber/Clara story that will turn into a novel. I got officially rejected by TOR themselves. Hee. I've sent the main novel to other editors in the meantime. I will be changing the title, since Adam informed me that a new video game has that title. /shrug.

It's those things you don't ever give up on, no matter how much you want to, until you breathe and meditate and take Klonopin.

Lammas was lovely, and now it is raining once again. August is going to be weird.

You know it is a bad day when...

A Cerebral Palsy induced fall against carpeted stairs leads to a Complex Partial Seizure which leads to a Panic Attack with wild animal sobbing so intense your partner comes up and worries to death over you and carefully leads you to a couch and gives you water and holds you.

"It's just stairs," you tell yourself over and over. "You can maneuver them. It's just stairs." And at the top, exhausted by victory, you lay on the floor, weak as a new kitten, heart and head pounding to near bursting, crying until it sounds like laughing. And maybe all you can do in that horrific posictal state is laugh. On the inside. Because Epilepsy is a monster and has no qualms about gaining allies.
Now it is time for Fibromyalgia to have its turn. Burn body burn.

I am so tired. I have no more synonyms for exhausted, fatigued, beaten, weakened. I am done.
But I will never stop. If I cannot be myself I will be a dragon.

For those who know my Healthy Multiplicity: indeed, Alicia and Amara were like drill sergeants in my mind. They were the only things that kept me climbing those mountainous stairs. I love my human coping mechanisms.
Typing doesn't make me tired ever. And this must be written.



So... *cough*
I am okay. But I am not okay at all. So many painful things are inside my brain and my body.
It is okay to talk about that, right? To be not okay? To try to pretend to be okay?
See, that is why I love online friendships. Because if I cannot speak without bursting into stuttering wild sobbing, I can type slowly and people will understand. Right? Oh, my everything hurts.
I could say I have a muscle pain, or a joint pain, or a migraine... but I have everything pain everywhere. And I don't know how to explain it without it coming across as "My pain is worse than yours!" and I don't want to do that. Because all pain is horrible. My pain is no worse than yours. Pain is pain is pain.
I don't know what to say. My brain is so everywhere. I feel so split open and raw and drifting. I think some of the things keeping me together are my fictional characters, who still demand their stories.
I want to sob and scream and howl until I am so raw that I cannot speak. Is that okay? I can do that, right? Nobody will bitch at me for complaining, right? I just don't know. I don't know what to do. I don't know how to feel. Fear is something that feels flat but understandable. Like am emotion I am aware of but unable to truly experience in a deep true way. Like crying. It is a thing that is happening. I just feel confused. Why do I feel?
You know?

Oh, yes. The seizure. Oh, Alicia. She appeared to me so quickly, so fiercely, I had no choice but to grab her outstretched hand and run with her. She yelled, "Come with me now! You need to get through the looking glass! There is no time! Amara is waiting! Serena is waiting! Go, go, go!" and she almost shoved me through the portal, and all I remember is Amara catching me in her arms... Amara with her truly calico hair and her stormy eyes of deep purple and darkest blue and pure gold, her short slim muscled hourglass body that held me in an iron grip, my mouth against her olive-colored neck, and our tumble to a cavern floor that was lit with sunlight and moonlight, so I could see her properly, how she was only a few inches taller than me, her mouth pouty and full, her oval face the dream of every American woman in a plastic surgeon's office, her straight teeth bared in strain. She got to her feet gracefully and looked down at me and said in the voice of temple bells, "Rest now. Serena will be here soon. I've never fully introduced myself, but that can wait. We have so much time."
I shook my head. "Alicia said there was no time--"
Amara smiled and entranced me. "Only in her dimension. Here, there is every time. I am everlasting, after all. I love and guard your entire mind and brain, remember? I work with my sister, Amber, who encases everything in your varied forms of spirit and soul and energy and power. Alicia and Serena are limited. Amber and I are unlimited. We shall be with you until the end of everything. You hurt badly. I sense it. Serena will be here in a moment. I will stay with you."
I stared at her. "I've never known you until now. I love you."
"Yes. You were meant to. I am the culmination of your neurology, your neurochemistry, your biochemistry, the stuff in your head that help make you the things that are you. A Self. A Mind. A Brain. I change as you need to change. I will always be here."
Amara my immortal began to slowly fade, and Serena came running. She gathered me in her arms and murmured soothing words, and suddenly I felt as calm and as safe as I ever could.
And then I awoke, and I was a person climbing the stairs.
And I climbed the stairs, sobbing and forcing myself, and at the top of the stairs I lay crying, and then my husband found me and helped me to my work couch and gave me water, and I couldn't talk about my girls, but it was all right. I would be all right.