Learning to slow down

~ Helen White ~ Leave a comment

Letting a day of nothing in particular be an accomplishment, even more so than a day of “productivity”, is a necessary mind re-program I am steadily adopting for my health. Allowing myself to feel equally good about myself and, most importantly, relaxed because I managed to go slow today rather than ticking things off a list is a crucial reinvention of myself on the way towards, somewhere down the line, reaping a far healthier nervous system than I ever had in my life. I’m playing the long game now, the fruits of my labours no longer some transient thrill gained from fighting down another dragon but the slow and steady harvest gained from peaceful seeds planted in the ground on some equally slow and steady day and all the intervening patience I had to watch them grow. 

A need for more (positive) stimulation

~ Helen White ~ Leave a comment

Positive stimulation is just so important to a person's recovery out of the cycle of chronic illness. Life has taught me that through experience this year...you have to be almost brazen in your courage and willingness to be positively stimulated to break out of the snake eating its own tail effect of assuming that all you need is quiet, routine and rest.

Environmental illness: the living tragedy of a sensitive response to places altered beyond recognition

~ Helen White ~ Leave a comment

When you have come to know a place so well it seems to have become part of you and yet that place is subjected to an onslaught of negative environmental effects that alter it beyond recognition, why wouldn't the effects be physical and utterly dire as regards your own health?

Studying yourself under pressure as an exercise in enhanced self-awareness

~ Helen White ~ 4 Comments

How do you shape-sort your life, what unusual things motivate you, where do you get your particular kicks, how and with whom (not!) do you like to work; conversely, what gets your back up, scrambles your processes or burns you out? There's nothing like noticing your behaviour under pressure to learn about your particular version of neurodiversity, all the better to work to your unique strengths in future!

On oxalates, emotions, self-protection, autism and releasing: a hypothesis

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Exploring the idea that certain chronically painful bodies have formed the habit of storing oxalates (toxic anti-nutrients) from common food sources in order to protect us when, really, this only does great harm...and how to get out of the subconscious mindset of vulnerability in order to heal.

Big emotions at the root of “chronic”

~ Helen White ~ 2 Comments

If TMS is behind your chronic condition then, until you accept this and take the necessary action, you’re unlikely to move on. You have to believe in it, commit to doing the work and garner the faith that you can and will get well again. You have to let go of any negative feelings that arise from the realisation you’ve been caught in your own mind-trap all these years because it really wasn’t your fault as you had no idea and the brain is extremely good at doing this thing that it does to distract you from intense emotions with symptoms (and utterly convinced it is doing the right thing; that your very survival depends on it, thus it gives it everything it’s got). That’s a huge amount to contend with; the odds were stacked against you all along, but not anymore, now you know and can learn the tools for healing.

Differences in communication style: when culture adds its weight to neurology

~ Helen White ~ Leave a comment

What best defines that place we call "home"? Could it be the place where our neuro-style just seems to fit the best, where our particular communication style mostly blends in without trying so hard, where inclusiveness means we get to be accepted just as we are, even with our neurodiversities laid out on the table for all to see?

Don’t underestimate B12 deficiency, ever!

~ Helen White ~ 2 Comments

Its a message I ingrained into myself years ago, when I read a book on the topic cover-to-cover in an afternoon and heard all the numerous, often subtle, frequently devastating symptoms of B12 deficiency and yet, though I pursued a vegetarian and vegan diet for many years, and continued to present with a multitude of … Continue reading Don’t underestimate B12 deficiency, ever!

“You’re looking really well”: The curse of the invisible disability

~ Helen White ~ 2 Comments

The way human society is devised, the very foundation stones of its connectivity networks, is based on us all having relatable, sharable situations and people being able to recognise when another person is in strife. When you have chronic conditions that not only isolate you from other people due to an equally chronic lack of spoons, also causing you to be misunderstood by other people (as people tend to assume you are making up lame excuses when they can’t see the energy deficits you are having to work with!) then having the additional pitfall of nobody being able to recognise that you are ill, because your disabilities are hidden from sight, even when you finally come out of the woodwork, is the final sting in the tail.