1. Thou shall not miss a medication dose.
2. Thou shall research all potential medical providers.
3. Thou shall express thou gratitude to those who help to ensure they know that thou art grateful.
4. Thou shall stand up to medical providers when necessary.
5. Thou shall follow your medical provider’s instructions.
6. Thou shall include prescriptions and medical appointments in thou budget.
7. Thou shall kindly and patiently answer questions or educate people around you.
8. Thou shall put people in their place when they ask stupid questions or say something insulting.
9. Thou shall take time to enjoy the good days and try to keep good spirits during the bad days.
10. Thou shall cut thouself some slack and remind thouself that thou art doing the best thou can.
var linkwithin_site_id = 1800999;
Kate Mitchell is a blogger, chronic illness patient, and advocate who helps people understand chronic illness and helps chronic illness patients live their best lives.
Those are awesome! I definitely am on the "be your own advocate" kick because I spent a week at the Mayo Clinic looking for answers. The answer was in a a SINGLE blood test result that the very last doctor I was going to see overlooked. She discounted it, but when taken with some of the other things that the pharmacist said, plus things I knew from other doctors, it was the key to "the puzzle." I brought it back to doctors at home and they were astounded. While the neurological problems will never go away, one little birth control pill has been making all these other pills (plus maybe an underlying hormonal imbalance) not work, so they've been medicating side effect like they were symptoms, which only gave me more neurological side effects.
So yes, these are awesome. I would say follow what your doctor says, but also learn about your own conditions, how they work together, and don't be afraid of second opinions if something seems off. (Like when the blood tests show you are in menopause, but the doctor is like ehhhh.)
In the anti-racist community there's talk about how we (I'm black) shouldn't have to educate people. People should educate themselves and not burden us with their lack of knowledge. Or at least we shouldn't feel like we have to educate people all the time and we shouldn't have to feel like we have to answer people's questions when we're not really feeling like it because it can be taxing to repeatedly field questions even if they're well intentioned and not stupid or insulting. But I know different people have different thoughts about this topic.
This is great! I did a deep search of medical providers for my diabetes. At a point, I didn’t have insurance and I could barely afford any medicines and test strips. But after looking and talking to different providers I found one that covers most of my expenses!