Tag: Healthcare

Guest Blog: The Challenges of Being a Teenager with a Chronic Illness, by Olivia Cyr

Published on by DreamingPanda2 Comments

Today, I’m thrilled to have a guest blogger, Olivia Cyr. She is seventeen and lives with a few chronic conditions including dysautonomia, OCD, and anxiety. Olivia has been featured on The Mighty, and her perspective as a teenager dealing with these issues is important.

Being a teenager is hard. I don’t think that many would dispute that fact. Between boy/girl drama, friendship struggles, school, teachers, homework, a job for some, and more, teens often don’t get the credit they deserve for juggling all they have. 

Continue reading “Guest Blog: The Challenges of Being a Teenager with a Chronic Illness, by Olivia Cyr” →

When Good Memories Torment You

Published on by DreamingPanda4 Comments

The other night, a horrifying realization jolted me awake: I haven’t rode my bike in over two years.

Suddenly, the memories came rushing back, and I imagined myself biking like I once did. I remembered how, in college, I would bike to errands and class. I remembered zipping around town with the wind in my hair. I remembered the long rides in the bike lanes and on the greenway, and my riding buddy’s incredulousness when I’d already run ten miles that morning and still was hard to catch.

Continue reading “When Good Memories Torment You” →

Guest Blog: The Missing Piece of the Puzzle

Published on by DreamingPanda3 Comments

This week, I’m honored to have my first guest blogger ever, Mary McManus, MSW, the mother of 32 year-old Ruth Anne who has PANS. This story is an important one for raising awareness of PANS in adults because so many others, like Ruth Anne, have spent years pursuing psychiatric interventions to little avail, unaware they have a treatable medical condition…

The Missing Piece of the Puzzle

Mary McManus, MSW 

What is more challenging than watching your adult daughter’s life fall apart before your very eyes? It was having been a social worker for 25 years and not being able to help her using “traditional methods” of intervention.

Continue reading “Guest Blog: The Missing Piece of the Puzzle” →

Why These Myths About Suicide Are So Harmful

Published on by DreamingPanda6 Comments

[Trigger warning: this post contains discussions of personal experiences with suicidal thoughts and misconceptions. If you’re in an emergency, please call the National Suicide Lifeline at 800-273-8255 or dial 911.]

 

No one needs to know, I told myself as I sat frozen, staring at my phone. I don’t need to call him, I tried to convince myself. I remembered how I promised I would if the thoughts came back, yet as soon as I pulled up my doctor’s number, I set my phone back down and started talking myself out of the call once more. Continue reading “Why These Myths About Suicide Are So Harmful” →

These 3 Myths about PANS Are Ruining Lives: A Response to Misguided Medicine

Published on by DreamingPanda13 Comments

Brain MRI

In 2012, when I developed an extreme case of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder overnight, all I wanted was to get better—not to spend the next six years fighting to get treatment for a “controversial” disease.  However, when conventional therapies failed, and I rapidly declined after Strep and mono two years later, only steroids were able to help my severe psychiatric symptoms.  It was then that I realized the truth wasn’t always easy to accept: Continue reading “These 3 Myths about PANS Are Ruining Lives: A Response to Misguided Medicine” →

11 Lyme Facts I Wish I’d Known Sooner…

Published on by DreamingPanda10 Comments

When I was a kid, I never quite fit in at school, but the outdoors were my refuge—every day, I came home and found peace and quiet in our woods.  Little did I know, nature was about to stab me in the back worse than anything the other kids might’ve said.

Continue reading “11 Lyme Facts I Wish I’d Known Sooner…” →

Why PANS/PANDAS Awareness Matters: An Open Letter to Legislators

Published on by DreamingPanda2 Comments

This week, legislators in Wisconsin have the opportunity to save hundreds of lives and millions of taxpayer dollars: a bill to establish an advisory educational council on PANS/PANDAS is under review.  New York is also considering similar policies, and several others including Virginia have successfully implemented them.

Continue reading “Why PANS/PANDAS Awareness Matters: An Open Letter to Legislators” →

I Graduated College with PANS, Lyme, and…. Highest Honors!

Published on by DreamingPanda36 Comments

This weekend, I’ve defied all odds; I’ve done what never should’ve been possible…

I graduated from college, Summa Cum Laude… While in a long-standing battle with PANS and Lyme Disease!

When I was first diagnosed, it felt like my life was a tragedy, and PANS was the ending.  I was sure that it had completely ruined me, and pursuing my dreams seemed inconceivable…

Continue reading “I Graduated College with PANS, Lyme, and…. Highest Honors!” →

Why I Almost Quit Lyme Treatment

Published on by DreamingPanda19 Comments

 

On Thursday morning, I woke up and immediately knew something was very wrong. My whole body ached. I had an awful headache. I was dizzy. I was too nauseous to even think about food or water. It was that familiar set of symptoms that meant one thing: I was in for a terrible Lyme herx.

Continue reading “Why I Almost Quit Lyme Treatment” →

Lyme Disease: A Still, Silent Battle

Published on by DreamingPanda31 Comments
2 antibiotics, 3 medications, and 6 supplements: my weapons of choice against Lyme disease
2 antibiotics, 3 other meds, and 8 supplements: my weapons of choice against Lyme

“It’s Lyme disease.”

They were three words that shattered all of my expectations for recovery from PANS… Three words that I still struggle to accept… Three words that are going to change my life…

Continue reading “Lyme Disease: A Still, Silent Battle” →