Yesterday was ME/CFS awareness day. It shows really hope much this condition is a spectrum. Some people are mild can work etc, some are moderate can do little things but crash often, others are severe can’t even get out of bed at all.
It’s sad to see and a lot of posts can be relatable. But for me I can’t let myself sit in the sadness. I’m not going to be an advocate for chronic fatigue/ ME. I don’t want to give that much attention and stress to tell people about my condition.
Ever since Covid there’s so many more people who are getting ME/CFS and or POTS. Which is good for research and treatment…bad for those people. You have to be REALLY strong to handle this. I know. And you need God.
Here’s some symptoms
I’m done with that. If I’m using a mobility aid, I’m not going to explain to the person what my conditions are. I’m just going to enjoy my day.
I have some friends that focus on advocacy and I swear the stress and fear surrounding those conversations makes them more exhausted especially mentally.
I’m focusing on me. My health. My mind. My peace. Giving it to God. Letting go letting God.
As Rick’s cousin says “you need to stop collecting conditions like they are Pokemon to catch.”
This is so very true! So I have many complex chronic illnesses. I have POTS, CFS/ME, Vestibular Migraine, Small fiber neuropathy, CRPS, anxiety, depression…I wonder why?, EDS/Hyper-mobility, and which used to be the newest Pokémon I caught.
Which cause my joints shoulders, hips, neck, knees, and ankles to “go out of the socket sometimes with the least amount of movement, it hurts.
Ohh nope that’s not my newest condition. The other day I had my blood sugar tested just cause I’m in the Medi-Cal system new primary appointment. And my A1C was 8.3 so APPARENTLY I’m a diabetic now. The doctor thought maybe type 2 but that wasn’t even confirmed. So what’s Teresa’s fears? Hmm doctors, hospitals, needles….OH WAIT. Needles need to be used to test my blood. So now I have to test my blood. I haven’t got the hang of doing it myself yet causes me a lot of anxiety to do the poke but it’s only been a day.
So if I wasn’t already scared enough for listening to my body and making sure nothings an emergency. I sure am now. It’s insane how much these symptoms over lap with my other conditions.
According to ChatGPT yes I’m using this!
🔄 Symptoms high glucose and your conditions have in common
1. Exhaustion / fatigue
High glucose: cells aren’t using sugar properly → low usable energy
POTS: blood pooling, heart rate changes 👉 Can feel almost identical
3. Nausea / stomach upset
High glucose: slows digestion and irritates the gut
Your conditions: autonomic dysfunction can also affect digestion 👉 Nausea, bloating, or even diarrhea
4. Headaches / migraines
High glucose: inflammation + fluid shifts
You already asked about migraines → big overlap 👉 Can trigger or worsen headaches
5. Brain fog / confusion
High glucose: affects how your brain uses energy
Your baseline: fatigue + meds can already cause fog 👉 Hard to tell apart sometimes
6. Rapid heart rate / “off” feeling
High glucose: dehydration → heart works harder
POTS: heart rate spikes with position changes 👉 Feels like your system is “out of whack”
7. Weakness / shaky feeling
High glucose swings (especially if dropping from high): 👉 can feel like a crash, even if not true low blood sugar
🚨 The tricky part
Because there’s so much overlap, it’s easy to assume:
“This is just my normal condition acting up”
…but sometimes it’s actually:
blood sugar being too high
So now I’m like how many times when I was so nauseous in bed was it POTS or high blood sugar?
It kinda feels like what do I believe. Okay I blackout from POTS. Yes that true. And I have eye issues with vestibular migraine. And I’m obviously exhausted with chronic fatigue but also that can be diabetes.
My niece has type 1 diabetes she’s only 5 years old. But now it’s all she knows. I think if she can do it I can do it. But she doesn’t have the over thinking side of it. The trying to stay away from sugar and it causes more depression, the fear of needles, ALL the other conditions I have.
Lately well for a while now, I’ve been using to use something to be able to sit up or go to something like out to dinner with hubby. I would need alcohol or soda. But now either are options!??? Am I going back to those 5 years where I could barely leave the house cause I couldn’t be upright for long enough to do anything!?
NO, I refuse to go back to those times.
Now that I’ve gotten a lot of emotions out let’s do what Teresa does best find the positives.
My dad texted this “I have been praying hard for you and maybe this latest challenge is an insight towards healing? Maybe the sensor needed to collect data needed to move the needle in the right direction and it will fix something. I still have hope.”
My mom texted
There is HOPE cause there’s one stationary belief that I have and that’s having God fight these battles with me.
I hear this song Battle Belongs.
“When all I see is the battle, You see my victory When all I see is the mountain, You see a mountain moved And as I walk through the shadow, Your love surrounds me There’s nothing to fear now for I am safe with You
So when I fight, I’ll fight on my knees With my hands lifted high Oh God, the battle belongs to You And every fear I lay at Your feet I’ll sing through the night Oh God, the battle belongs to You”
One thing I noticed today was sometimes diabetes awareness has a butterfly and a butterfly 🦋 has always been my own sign of HOPE.
So for now let’s take deep breaths, keep praying and hoping.
You hear this saying a lot during this new year time. New year new me? But what does this really mean? Have we made it through the whole year just to change some things in your life since it’s a new year.
Or is it an arbitrary saying created by people who didn’t just survive last year but actually thrived?
I personally feel like you don’t need to start this new habits in January, you can start them whenever you’d like. I wanted to get back into the Word and really focus on my spiritual practices. But I didn’t wait til January, I actually started in December.
I’m proud that I did that. I started a devotional on the Youversion app that was called “New Testament in a Year.” This plan chooses a month and you start.
I’ve also liked sitting outside, listening to worship music while I read the devotional. That’s been a wonderful addition to my routine.
My husband was laid of end of October, and he’s been filling out so many applications. Praying this month he finds something.
I’m ready for 2026! This will be a great year full of good energy, health, fun events, and enjoying every single moment.
Today, both my parents came down with the flu, and my husband has a really bad cold. Since I’m on antivirals, I seem to have gotten a little bit of the cold, just runny nose and slight cough.
But for some reason, I have an EXTREME amount of energy right now. I didn’t wanna just sit around today since I was gonna be alone. So I put on an audiobook on Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yaros and decided to clean up clutter, dust surfaces, and blinds. I like to keep our space clean, specially, for the healthy mindset that it gives me.
After I did that I ate lunch and then I decided to re-organize my books in our space. I re-organize them to rainbow shelves and dusted it all.
I took Bookstagram pics and put those away.
Shelves done
The amount of energy that it takes me to do one task let alone I did four is insane.
For some reason when I have a little cold have so much energy. This makes me happy, but it’s also bittersweet because I know as soon as I start to feel better the chronic fatigue and stuff chimes in.
I had a glimpse today of Teresa healthy. Having the energy I would need throughout the day having the want in ambition and ability to do things feeling productive and what I did and accomplished on how much I did.
I would be unstoppable if I wasn’t sick. I could do anything I wanted I could go anywhere I wanted I could fly again I go to concerts or events or just go to church easier.
It’s really hard sitting in this moment of having energy and seeing how life could be.
We are working very hard trying to just find something that can help me. Maybe ChatGPT has an answer. Keep praying and hoping I just wanna be healthy again. Maybe one day I will be!
Unstoppable
Song by Sia
“All smiles, I know what it takes to fool this town I’ll do it ’til the sun goes down And all through the nighttime Oh, yeah Oh, yeah, I’ll tell you what you wanna hear Leave my sunglasses on while I shed a tear It’s never the right time Yeah, yeah
I put my armor on, show you how strong I am I put my armor on, I’ll show you that I am
I’m unstoppable I’m a Porsche with no brakes I’m invincible Yeah, I win every single game I’m so powerful I don’t need batteries to play I’m so confident Yeah, I’m unstoppable today.”
I’ve been having so much swelling lately, every day it’s worse and worse. We don’t know what to do…
My legs are ridiculous…so heavy and nothing fits.
Can’t even wear my up sized wedding ring due to the swelling
The swelling is possibly due my lymphatic system not draining. Since even having my legs elevated the swelling doesn’t go down.
Okay seriously 😒 it’s already that I’m chronically ill, ya I get that I understand how I can still find joy in little things in life. But lately it’s been so extremely HARD to do much of anything. I’m so exhausted every day. I have burning hands and feet in the mornings sometimes.
Plus in 1 year I’ve gained 50 pounds due to this swelling. My Parin Technique doctor said “anymore swelling and it will be more and more taxing on my body.” Which is terrifying!!
Ohh also now I have Mast Cell Activation
Mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS) is a condition that causes intense episodes of swelling, shortness of breath, hives, diarrhea, vomiting and other symptoms. In severe cases, it may lead to life-threatening anaphylaxis. It’s caused by mast cells (mistakenly) alerting your immune system that there’s something harmful in your body.
Add that fun new diagnosis and we have a big bowl of not good things. anything can trigger that so add some anxiety why don’t we.
Today was a hard day I was scheduled for a Lymphoscintigraphy
Lymphoscintigraphy is a nuclear medicine imaging procedure that helps visualize and assess the lymphatic system. It uses a small amount of radioactive material (tracer) to highlight the lymph nodes and lymphatic vessels.
We went to UCSF for this test in the morning. I thought it was going to get all done today but I guess that wasn’t the plan.
First, I’m extremely happy my mom got to go in and stay with me the whole time.
Step 1: they didn’t know I needed to lay down (even though I told them) so after 40 mins all together, I started to get POTS sick…dizzy, heart palpitations, nausea.
Step 2: they found a gurney for me!!!!
Step 3: rolled me into a room, had another guy come in to hold me down while they injected me with isotopes radioactive material. It was a HUGE poke and then it BURNED soooo incredibly BAD. I swore, then sorry and cried a lot.
If you didn’t think it was that bad they injected me in between the webs of my fingers, and it burned for minutes after.
Oh also 2 in each hand separately…so I knew the pain was coming then and I still was in so much pain, it makes your body shake.
Step 4: I had to be in the hallway at least my mom was there. I dozed in and out since I was so overwhelmed with the pain before.
Step 5: FINALLY the scan. Which umm they make this huge machine come to your face almost smashing your nose so then I get claustrophobic…but couldn’t move.
20 minutes and 40 second scan
3 minutes and 30 second scan
Finally done! Oh and TMI I peed like bio hazard green after don’t worry I don’t have a pic. lol
Keep praying for good results please!!!
Ohhh that was only the upper part of the body might have to do lower part that would be something I’m not looking forward to especially since I have neuropathy in my feet.
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