The Best Laid Plans…

Well life has a way of laughing at our plans and diverting them. First of all I had to abandon NaNoWriMo by the second day because my old laptop had a fatal failure and couldn't be fixed any time soon. My husband managed to get me a newer (borrowed) one but by the time that …

How bad science misled chronic fatigue syndrome patients

I get all my medical news from twitter, and I haven't been on for a while (because typing on an android screen keyboard is too much like hard work when your hands and wrists have no strength), so I missed the news that Wellesley's team had been forced by court order to release the data …

Postnatal Depletion—Even 10 Years Later

This is a really interesting article, and I can't help but notice the similarity between the symptoms of what the author calls 'post-natal depletion' and ME/ CFS/ Fibromyalgia - doctors and scientists and article writers are constantly coming up with new theories,  but given that I got ill right after giving birth in 2003 (and …

Progress

I have a new phone - an android,  a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 to be precise. It's groovy because it has a stylus but I am missing the Blackberry keyboard a lot. I'm finding the new phone far less practical in terms of usability for somebody with weakness in my hands and wrists. It's too …

Dreams of the Good Life

I had a really good run of about 8-10 weeks of feeling much better physically at the beginning of this year. I can't explain it - there seems to be no obvious correlation between my physical health and my state of mind, and no clear connection with my dietary habits or lifestyle. I wasn't eating …

Disturbing Dreams

Warning for possibly inappropriate content, depending on your sensibilities... I had two dreams last night, both of which included disturbing content, but on reflection I think I will share them anyway. In the first dream, I was visiting with a family that I knew in childhood. There were three boys, all much older than me, …

Wilderness Experience

I have a confession to make. I try not to let this blog get too personal - I prefer to keep it 'on topic', just talking mainly about cooking and housework and crafts. But here is the thing. I am really, really struggling. I know that we are blessed in many ways. After our landlord …

Budget Healthcare

I know that we are supremely blessed out of all the world to have a publicly funded healthcare system. I am extremely grateful for it. In the case of my son, it saved his life... but only after almost taking it through misdiagnosis and negligence (see the page above on Type 1 Diabetes). I don't …

Pawn of Prophecy

The ME/cfs Book club challenged us to read a book we already read, so I just read this again after 20-ish years, and it's still good! I love David Eddings' style and the way he weaves all the strands together. But I'm surprised I didn't go on to read the rest of the series, as …

Book Review: The Guernsey Literary Society and Potato Peel Pie Society

The Guernsey Literary Society and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows “That's what I love about reading: one tiny thing will interest you in a book, and that tiny thing will lead you to another book, and another bit there will lead you onto a third book. It's geometrically progressive …