The etiquette of unlawful discrimination

I'm a telemarketer. I do cold calls. It's not glamorous. It's not chill. It's not perfect. It's certainly not a career move. It is, however, a job where my employer is happy for me to work a single weekly shift and sit down the entire time. It is also the job I managed to land …

Fury

Over the last two days, I've overdone it. And by overdone it, I mean doing a single load of laundry, doing the dishes, wiping down the bench, taking measurements to hang some artwork, and putting out some rubbish. Two. Days. My body is on fire, I cannot sleep, I'm now couch-ridden, and I am angry. …

The downside of adrenaline

A couple of months ago I was beginning to wonder with increasing frequency if I was "really" sick. Off the back of eighteen months of high stress, I was coping surprisingly well. Sure, I was tired - but don't we all get tired when faced with stressor after stressor with no respite in between? My …

Perceptions.

I grew up in a highly academic family. Both of my parents and one of my siblings are doctors: it was MS and Parkinson's, diabetes and cancer that were discussed around the dinner table. It's therefore not much of a surprise that I internalised a lot of the medical community's attitudes toward misunderstood illnesses like CFS/FM. One …

I still have a lot to learn.

I'm 23. I fell ill when I was 18 - five years of my life learning to deal with this illness. Over that period I have faced a thousand other battles, and this meant for much of that time my CFS/FM was quite literally the least of my problems. Because of this, a lot of the experiences …

Help! I’ve just been diagnosed!

The moment of diagnosis can feel like a victory. Countless doctors appointments, trips to the ER, and moments when you wondered if you were going crazy later, you've heard the somewhat less-than-magical words come out of your medical professional's mouth: "Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome [or insert disability here]." While there's a moment of relief as …