blu dream MARCH/APRIL
h e a l t h
MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS
2021
| ISSUE
NO.2
c o l l e c t i v e
| RECOVERY |
SELF-CARE | CHRONIC ILLNESS
Blu Dream Health Collective
What's Inside?
Where is Wicket?
02 03 05 08 09 11 12
Magazine
03
09
11 19
The Publisher's Note Rise to Strive: Fonda White Publishing a Book: ImagineWe Garden of Blu Anemia & New Goals: Jenna Z Chronic Glow by Amy Escaping Narcissism
21
14 15 17 19 21
MS Advocate and Author: Julie Stamm The OCDopus Royal UK Miss Finalist: Jessica 5 Years Clean by Red Sophie Shine
bludreamhealth.com
LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER BLOOM We are entering into a new season that promotes growth and new blooms. Last year was difficult for many of us but the start of 2021 wasn’t much different. With spring just around the corner, it seems as though the sunshine will blanket us in comfort and new beginnings. It never hurts to thing that way, right? I challenge you to say out loud: I am worthy. I am enough. I am beautiful. I will bloom. I challenge you to think of three things that you are grateful for, no matter how hard it may seem on some days. Mental health is just as important as physical health, and usually one affects the other. Make sure to subscribe to the blog at bludreamhealth.com so you don’t miss out on new magazine issues, podcast episodes, and other exciting content. If you’re interested in being a contributor or know someone who might be interested, please email me at: bludreamhealth.com, subject line: “Contributor.”
Producer/Creator: Misti Blu Day McDermott @mistibluday Contributors: Joy Larkin @livenarcfree Elise Petronzio @theocdopus Sophie Shine @sophieatypicalzbd Jenna Ziegler @thecomicalcolon Jessica Mary @jessicarrrmary Jessica Cassick @imaginewepublishers Amy @chronicglow Julie Stamm @iamstamm Fonda White @rise2strive Red @redcampitelli Cover Art: Photo by @mistibluday Photo of Red @redcampitelli
Connect With BDHC
Here’s to continuing to build a world together with education, compassion, and equality. Best Wishes, Misti Blu
On The Cover: 5 Years Sober Page 19
bludreamhealth.com
@bludreamhealth
Blu Dream Health Collective
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Rise to
Strive
Magazine
Fonda White Mental Health Coach
“Hi my name is Fonda White I am a certified mental health life coach also a motivational speaker. My mission is to bring back hope into the mental health community. By doing so, I help people with mental issues have better relationships within themselves, in love, and also overall in life. My journey started in 2014 coming home from college after playing college football and minor professional football. My depression flared up at the age of 25. I was confused and depressed about life. In 2017 I was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder (bipolar and schizophrenia combined).
"I went through a series of different medications and doctors, but what I found out through my dark times was there’d was something else on the others side of my darkness. It may not sound so simple, but definitely trust the process knowing that you will get through your dark times. Now the journey was not easy, but I definitely turned my pain into purpose. I have done speaking engagements in Los Angles and my home town in San Antonio, sharing my story.
I will continue to inspire as many people with mental health issues as I can, weather it be podcasts, music, fitness, or my life coaching....”Remember there is always a light at the end of the tunnel, even if the tunnel seem long and far. Keep going, keep striving to be the best you, and the light God has for you will shine”
@rise2strive
Blu Dream Health Collective
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Magazine
Mission:
To address health stigmas, medical bias, healthcare inequality, mental health, and other important topics with health advocates, authors, activists, and healthcare providers.
Podcast - Publication - Community @bludreamhealth bludreamhealth.com
"Traditional Publishing" Does it really make sense?
By Jessica Cassick - CEO and Publisher at ImagineWe Publishers Many people think that they need to spend hours, weeks, months, and years to write their book, then weeks and months waiting for their editor to bring their book to tip-top shape, then they will find a literary agent who thinks their book will be a sell. So then they take the manuscript to publishers to pitch it, and this can take months and years to finally find a publisher willing to bet on authors, and sometimes even longer if this is a first-time author, with little to no track record of sales. So then the publisher will look over the book, and they will decide how much they like it and how much they want to bet on this book. They then give the author a book advance, which in plain terms means that you are being paid ahead of time for your book to sell. This number is a lump sum and can be anywhere between about 5000 to mayyybe 10-15000 if you're lucky, have a huge following and this isn’t your first book, but for the most part, you are on the smaller advance side if you are a firsttime author. They then own the rights to publish your work, and they go to town for the marketing and promoting your book to their network, and lining up a few events, then if your book is selling pretty well, you might get a book tour to increase sales and location of purchases and demographics. But the thing people neglect to really think about at this point is, are they going to get paid again for their book? An aspiring author wants to believe and hope that if they can just get the attention of a publisher, and get traditionally published, that this will make their dreams come true, and they can quit their job, and become a full-time writer.
@imaginewepublishers imaginewellc.com
Maybe they think with this lifestyle that then they can just travel and write, and publish and travel and write and publish. This is the dream life, eh? But...then what? With traditional publishing, an author will have a publisher bet on them, and it will feel nice. You'll get that advance, and you might feel accomplished, but the part we don’t stop and wonder about is when or if that next payment is coming. When a traditional publisher pays an author for the rights to publish, a publisher is assuming the liability for that book. They are throwing money into advertising and promotions for that book, and the author will only get paid again AFTER the advance that they were paid is earned back by the sales of your book to the publisher. THEN an author will receive anywhere from about 6.5% to 15% depending on the medium that your book was purchased by the customer in, such as softcover, hardcover, audio, etc, and 25% at the highest percentage for ebooks, with a potential for predictions in this industry to raise that number over the next few years as technology continues to spike. So if the retail price of your book is $9.99 (using this example because this is the most common price used for books by my company) after the advance is earned back, you will receive a royalty of about $0.75 at the height of your book if you’ve published before and the sales were good, and about $0.65 per retail book sold if you are a firsttime author. This can then raise on a royalty schedule of about 1-2 percent per 5000 or so books sold, but ending at about 10% unless it is a hardcover, and in that case, the height would be about 15% after the first 10000 or so books sold. Continued...
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So I think it is important to note that from my perspective, depending on the mission an author was setting out to accomplish, there are definitely some pros to this kind of publishing, and the main one being the number of people who hold your book in their hand. If your dream is to get your book out there far and wide, at all costs, and time frames, then this would be a pretty cool deal, but let’s look at the losses here because if time, energy, and money were all expenses, and joy, sales, and quantity were income, I feel like the income would be shortlived. It would be a thrill for a little while, maybe a year or two before your book was then discounted in bookstores. But the raw fact of the matter is the expenses are a lot too. The sheer time spent creating the book you think is just right, then the money to pay for editing and illustrating, and design, and formatting to get the book publishable, or really to get it readable for a select target group of people. As well as the energy spent on writing, and waiting, and hoping. That is a lot for hope, but then again a person might spend their entire life hoping, waiting, dreaming, and aspiring to pursue this goal while being let down so many times. After doing all of this research, I soon realized that the media, and tv shows, and movies are disproportionately skewing the author experience for people for... Forever now. The media is selling becoming an author like they sell spray tans, Botox, and airbrushing images in magazines. If a person isn’t famous, the publishing industry makes them out to be worth less than someone who is, and this props celebrities up on a pedestal and essentially creates the entire tabloid industry to catch them just being regular humans like this makes them worth less, like us, too in our image, and that sucks! It sucks feeling that repeated failure, and rejection. It sucks that there are people out there building rejection calluses on their dreams and self-esteem to just have their story and voice heard in life. Why would it be okay to make a person walk through fire to share their story? Why should this industry torment and torture a person’s dreams to make them live on hope like it was oxygen...next to the flame of low self-esteem that comes from being turned away from the people who potentially give your dream validation and that one to two years of time where you can tell yourself that the “income” gained in your experience is worth it. I was only 15 when I started riding that roller coaster. I come from generations upon generations of Domestic Violence, poverty, trauma, depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem. I grew up from a young age being told my pain didn’t hurt because it was less than the family that was above me had endured. I grew up watching the kids on my school bus get off the bus, and run to their normal picket fence houses with blacktop on their driveway, a basketball net, and trampolines2and pools in their yards, and I came home to holes that were kicked into walls, and muddy yards from flooding and a stressed-out AF single-mother mom who was riding her chronic pain from multiple car accidents like it were the only thing keeping her alive. And she raged out like a literal fire because she grew up thinking SHE was less than and wanted so bad to have a better life for her kids, but we came from poverty, and she was disabled so she could only physically DO so much towards that dream. We come from a world where we think that our worth is determined by so many factors around us. We aren’t taught about self-value, and self-esteem in schools. Instead, I am teaching my son at home remotely how to take one number from another number that is too small to subtract it from. And I am not saying that this should be changed, the question I am asking; however, is why are self-love, esteem, and value not just as important as subtraction, addition, and multiplication. Why is our personality traits, and our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities threats, our learning styles, what makes us happy, what makes us mad, how to process that anger, or the sadness we might feel; why is all of that (the hardcore stuff that builds our selfidentity) why is that not being taught as well. Continued....
This is the foundation of the thought process that launched ImagineWe, LLC. A thought process that was developed around raising awareness about ourselves, and our communities. A thought process that was created from the rubble, and low selfesteem. A process that came from a fire in my soul, and passion in the very pits of my heart to shine a light on the fact that we all have a freaking voice, and we have the ability (especially in today’s digital era) to share that voice, and our story far and wide and not just from rooftops, but from the Eiffel towers of Instagram followers, and Great Walls of Twitter tweets, and every smartphone that is capable of downloading an app. ImagineWe Publishers was born from my last straw waiting to find my worth in a book deal. Its first cry and breath were on the day that an author I had never met came to me for publishing services only two or three months after I launched the company. Its toddler years was learning to walk and find confidence in my craft and research, and the teenage years...well that shit was COVID; the point at which you wonder if your child is about to turn against you, and if all of the time, effort and “expenses” of raising a child will turn out the way you hope, pray, and send out cosmic vibes to protect and nurture, until the point when it is time to let your baby...your bird fly, and hope that when they fall out of the nest, they find that stability, confidence, and grace that you worked so hard to instill in them. This year in 2021, my company is slowly being pushed out of the nest. Page 7
We have launched not one, but now TWO divisions in Florida and South Carolina. I am so thankful that these two amazing women and Division Presidents, Misti Blu Day McDermott, and Cheyanne Perry Suarez, are willing to work with me to teach this business to drive and to get it road ready, to3head out there on its own one day soon as I watch it begin the starting stages of organically growing its own legs, and branching out into more exciting opportunities. Together we will join our competition in traditional publishing, but we will do it while building up the backs of the stories we are here to help share, and we will do it while teaching about causes, and amazing things to our children that they don’t learn in school like how to say “how are you?” in ASL or why the student in our class walks with crutches or uses a wheelchair. We strive to bridge the gap of knowledge in the classroom to bring understanding where a natural level of outcasting might happen because kids are taught everywhere around them that difference is abnormal, and abnormal is unpopular, and unpopular is worth less than the people with blacktop drive aways, and trampolines and basketball nets. A company built on inclusion and diversity, storytelling for all voices; loud and silent, and selfvalue. We are ImagineWe Publishers and our mission is to educate all people worldwide, initiate diversity and inclusion while inspiring self-agency and self-esteem across the world...and we’re starting with the East Coast!
Jessica Cassick
Garden
of Blu A book written by Misti Blu Day McDermott, sharing her life with chronic illness and trauma. "Some flowers bloom in the dark. " Available August 2021 Subscribe to mistibludream.com for updates. Published by ImagineWe Publishers
Wildling Apothecary
Use promo code: BLUDREAMHEALTH to save 10% at checkout! mistibludream.com/shop @WildlingApothecaryUS
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How My Anemia Diagnosis Helped Me Set 2021 Self-Care Goals and Appreciate My Body in a New Way by Jenna Ziegler
@thecomicalcolon
Two of my favorite forms of self-care are walking around the neighborhood and lifting weights. This time to myself allows me to reflect and appreciate my body. It’s a reminder to be grateful for the winter wind on my face, for fresh air, for movement. Unfortunately, during the last few months of 2020, I could hardly walk up a flight of stairs without my vision clouding over like TV static and my heartbeat pounding hard in my temples. Throughout the day, I also experienced extreme headrush, dizziness, and strange heart flutters that felt like a dozen butterflies were beating their wings inside my chest. At first, I pegged it on my chronic fatigue. But then, one night in October, I stood up from my bed and my headrush was so intense that I nearly collapsed to the floor, barely catching myself against the doorframe. That’s when I knew this was not my fatigue. I also live with ulcerative colitis, arthritis, and a rare, autoimmune liver disease called primary sclerosing cholangitis, but I had never dealt with anything like this before. Suspecting it could be anemia, I advocated for myself and asked my gastroenterologist to order me an iron panel. He did, and when I received my results, not a single test result was within normal limits. Everything was two to three times higher or lower than it should have been! Continue....
www.thecomicalcolon.com
That’s when I learned that iron-deficiency anemia limits the amount of oxygen your blood can carry, which explains why walking left me winded, dizzy, and in pain. My doctor ordered me iron pills, and at the time I’m writing this, I’ve been taking them for one month. I’m thankful that already my symptoms have decreased and I’m able to tolerate walks and weight-lifting again! My anemia diagnosis has inspired me to make these activities my 2021 self-care goals. I never want to take my body for granted, and these near-daily workouts remind me to be thankful for what my body can do each day. I recognize that I may not always have this strength and there might be times in the future when I can’t do these exercises. Living with chronic illness is unpredictable in this way. So, until then, I will prioritize this self-care, thank my body, and appreciate this life-changing lesson that my anemia taught me.
Jenna Ziegler
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Chronic Glow with Amy @chronicglow Podcast The Chronic Glow Show (on Spotify and Apple). I’m Amy and I’m located in York, UK. I was diagnosed with ME/CFS in 2014, following Glandular Fever in 2012. I have also been diagnosed with PCOS in 2018. It took my just over two years between getting Glandular Fever and then being diagnosed with ME/CFS. For about 9-12 months in-between I was doing ‘ok’ with minimal symptoms/flare ups but eventually it got to a point where I was missing a lot of school, struggling to get out of bed and live a ‘normal’ life for a teenager. It took a panic attack and severe pain during an A Level exam for the doctor to take me seriously and refer me to a specialist. My main symptoms are fatigue, brain fog and chronic/pelvic pain. I can usually manage the symptoms now but still get flare ups from time to time which just wipes me out! A common misconception related to invisible illness is that you’re “”just tired”. People often think they can relate and say “Oh I get it, I felt exhausted last night!” when fatigue is a whole other level to just being tired after a day at work. During flare ups I often suffer from anxiety and can feel very low. To help with this I do a lot of journaling, including gratitude journaling, meditation and talking to your loved ones can really help. I balance my time and plan a lot of rest into my day/week, more when my symptoms are worse and less when I’m doing ok. I also try to do gentle movement 3-4 times a week, such as stretching or a walk to help my chronic pain. Other things that have helped are setting boundaries both online and offline, journaling, meditation and reading. My advice for others who have been recently diagnosed: Open up, whether that be talking to your family or friends, or writing in your journal. Try not to bottle up how you’re feeling, both physically and emotionally. It’s important to process and acknowledge how you feel without suppressing or ignoring it.
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Overcoming Narcissistic Abuse by Joy Larkin
Hi my name is Joy Larkin. I am a life coach and I help people overcome narcissistic abuse. I have been dealing with a narcissist since 2010 and since 2016. I have been helping people overcome ‘narc abuse’. ree f c r a n @live cfree.com ar liven
My Aunt, whom I lived with for 5 years in Los Angeles, was a narcissist. A guy I dated for 4 years was a narcissist as well. It took me a while to finally stand up for myself and go no contact. Once I did, I realized how better off my life was.
When you are dealing with narcissistic abuse, you can experience things like silent treatment, crazy making, gaslighting, triangulation, stonewalling, love bombing, devaluing, discard, and a lot of emotional abuse. This can really change a person after dealing with a narcissist long-term. It can make you not want to trust people, and you can feel like you never want to date anymore. Sometimes it may be really hard to tell if you are dealing with a narcissist. I would say you should see if a person is self absorbed, selfish, controlling, always playing the victim, never take accountability for their mistakes, need constant attention/admiration from others, believe they are superior, and will exploit people at their own expenses with no regret or remorse. If that sounds familiar, you are most likely dealing with a narcissist. Narcissists are very clever so you really have to make sure you get to know a person before you can begin to trust people. When you realize that the person you could be dealing with is a narcissist, whether it is family or friends, you must now make a plan to escape and never go back. If you go back you will regret it and they will make you pay. You want to make an escape plan on how to move away and move on with your life. Start saving money, move with friends, get a divorce, and get full custody of the kids to make sure you are safe. Don't be afraid to ask for help. You may want to write down the reasoning as to why you are leaving the narcissist, this way you stay focused. The narc will stop at nothing to sabotage your efforts to leave them. They want to see you suffer and live in misery. Don't look back after you leave them. Keep moving forward. Understand there is a better life waiting for you after life with the narcissist.
@chronicallychicboutique
Brandon Mouw
T1D 31 Years Pancreas Transplant 2018 INSTAGRAM: @BRANDONMOUWOFFICIAL FACEBOOK: @BRANDONMOUWOFFICIAL TIKTOK: @BRANDONMOUWOFFICIAL WEBSITE: BRANDONMOUW.COM
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Mother and Author of children's book, "Somedays We..."
Julie Stamm
My name is Julie Stamm and January 2021 marked my 14-year Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis. While a majority of my symptoms are ‘invisible’ the toll they have taken on my life is very far from it. It has always been challenging for others to empathize with what was going on because my symptoms are unable to be seen. While it is a blessing to be able to conceal the pain, loss of vision, weakness, etc., it is difficult for people to appreciate my limitations because I fight daily to not let them affect the way I am seen or treated. This disease has changed me in so many ways. I used to say that in some ways, I’m a shell of the woman I once was and the woman I dreamed I would be, but I am changing that. I am not a shell of anything, but rather I disregarded the cacoon and transformed into someone I am truly proud to be. We all face obstacles that we need to overcome. My goal, for now, is to find the best care, stop progression, raise awareness, and live this life. It has been 14 years of learning, adjusting, and battling but most importantly evolving. Life evolves for all of us. We all want more for our families. I have made it my mission to educate, advocate, and support others battling this disease. I will continue to work tirelessly to help lessen the burden each patient has to bear. After the birth of my son in 2016, I shifted my focus to supporting the children of parents with a chronic illness. My children’s book entitled “Some Days” was created to normalize differing abilities and amplify how each of us can thrive in spite of the challenges. I am committed to changing the apologetic tone and transform the child and parent’s experiences into uplifting stories that highlight the patient’s resilience.
@iamstamm
Julie Stamm
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etsy.com/shop/theocdopus
by Elise Petronzio
@theocdopus
My name is Elise, I live with OCD, dysautonomia, and a host of other things. I grew up thinking I had anxiety, but as I talked to other people with diagnosed anxiety disorders, they didn’t struggle in the same way I did. I realized this when I got into mental health advocacy around six years ago while I was in college. I got into specifically OCD advocacy after being formally diagnosed at age 20, even though I had had it since I was at least 6. It’s very common to be diagnosed with OCD at least 14 years after onset, unfortunately.
As I said, I also live with dysautonomia. People fumble over the word ‘dysautonomia’, and then ask me what that is. Even pharmacists have admitted they didn’t know what I was talking about. This gives me a clean slate to explain what I go through. With OCD, my experience is very different. The public thinks they have this one figured out. They already know, so they don’t need to ask, and they don’t consider they may have it wrong. That’s where the advocacy work comes in. We have to change the existing narrative. Erasing what is already on the slate (color coding, cleaning, organization) and rewriting it with the truth. Our world does not always reflect the things people with OCD learn in treatment. I always used to be terrified when I saw “You are what you think”. We both better hope that I am not what I think. I think some absurd things. . Continue...
I opened the ocdopus in 2020. It’s an OCD recovery and advocacy shop. We make merch that motivates people to reach for recovery, educates the public on what OCD really is and what OCD treatment really is like. We also raise funds for other organizations that focus on OCD & related disorders. Our jewelry line even raises funds for OCD therapy scholarships! I really wanted people whose lives are affected by OCD to feel seen, and to do so in a way I hadn’t seen before. And besides, it’s a great conversation starter for advocacy when someone asks why you’re wearing a ‘maybe’ necklace!
You can find us on Etsy at www.etsy.com/shop/theocdopus! Follow along on our journey at @theocdopus on Instagram and Facebook, or send us a message at @theocdopus@gmail.com!
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Royal UK Miss Finalist: Jessica Logan @jessicarrrmary
Losing my good health suddenly at the age of 25 has been a challenge. I had a successful career, loved the gym, I was a home owner, engaged, and I was planning to start trying for children the following year. That's all changed (some good). I'm now unable to work or exercise, I'm still a home owner (thanks to my critical illness cover), I'm married and we've had to agree that having children right now isn't right for them. I was extremely independent, always having to do things myself and focused on my on my life achievements. I've had to learn to accept help and that's been so hard. I feel like a burden on numerous people and hate that they now have this extra responsibility but it's out of my control. I'm extremely thankful for the support I've got from those around me and I appreciate how hard it is on them too.
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Having a health condition doesn't just impact you, it effects your loved ones too. What's been hard to adjust to is the amount of judgement I get on a daily basis. Even those that know me well can do it without even realising. One day I can seem fine and the next I'll be unable to do anything. This is something they can struggle to understand but I can crash after doing the simplest task. This is why I've created projects to help raise awareness of invisible illnesses and disabilities: to educate others on what they can't see. Sometimes I can seem fine but I'm actually fighting against my health. It's easy to mask with a smile. Sometimes adrenaline can help push me through but I have to pay for it weeks after. 80% of disabilities in the UK are invisible so why do we only see disabilities represented by a wheelchair or walking stick? This is why I created my awareness images to highlight different illnesses / disabilities that are their but can't be seen. A lot of people need to see something to really 'see' that it's real. Maybe it's how their brain works? Although sometimes it's just ignorance because they don't want to understand it as it doesn't impact them. I worked in the mortgage industry and I always had the same ignorance with life insurance hearing things like 'it won't happen to me', but look where we are now. Who ever imagined we would have a global pandemic in our lifetime? I have plans to provide education in workplaces and schools when it's safe to do so but for now I'm continuing with my other projects. These can be seen at www.makingtheinvisiblevisible.org.uk Remember to be kind and understanding.
http://www.makingtheinvisiblevisible.org.uk/
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5 Years Sober
by Red Campitelli
I will be sober 5 years on March 7th, 2021. I got sober at 30 years old. I appreciate my life and try to live to my fullest potential. I'm always striving and pushing myself to learn new things so that I may continue to grow as a person. My life and story while using isn't much different than most other people. The issues, emotions, and negative self image that I refused to look in the mirror and deal with, were the root cause of my addiction. I had to fix the issues that were causing me to use, and through that I found happiness and self-love. When I was sitting by myself looking around at my reality, in my shitty apartment that I shared with my drug dealer, I realized it was time to ask for help or I was going to die. Getting myself to ask for help was extremely hard for me because I denied using for years to my family and friends. In my mind, nobody knew a thing, really everybody knew. Since becoming sober, one of the hardest things is dealing with daily life struggles and emotions that I would suppress with drugs. Every recovery of addiction began with one hour sober. Never be afraid to take the first step and ask for help. If something isn't working for you then don't be afraid to try something else, just dont pick up, and keep moving forward.
When I first got clean, it was working the 12 step program, utilizing the tools I learned in Rehab, and family support that was directly responsible for my daily sobriety. Over the years, I have learned to focus on different things that make me happy and improve my life. Those things now help me stay sober and keep a positive outlook. Today I focus on a healthy lifestyle with my fiance. Eating healthy, working out, training Mixed Martial Arts MMA, playing on kickball and softball leagues together gives me a peace and happiness I've never had before. Also being in nature, hiking, and going to the mountains. All these things I enjoy I combine and balance and let them shape my life to what it is today: Sober, Grateful, Thankful, Healthy and Happy.
"Never be afraid to take the first step and ask for help." Red @redcampitelli
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Sophie Shine
I am Sophie Shine, from North Norfolk, UK. I was diagnosed with a Haemorrhagic Pituitary Adenoma in February 2019, previously missed on an MRI in 2015. It is suspect it’s been there, slow growing since I was a child. A Haemorrhagic Pituitary Adenoma is a slow-growing tumour, at the base of the brain. Mine is pushing up into my brain and its nerves, it can bleed or haemorrhage at any point; extremely dangerous, even fatal. My body no longer regulates its body temperature or heart rate properly; I suffer with hypothermia when unwell, whereas others get a high temperature. I also suffer with severe migraines and vision problems. When people hear the word ‘Pituitary Tumour’, they think it isn’t a brain tumour, because it doesn’t have the word brain in it. The Pituitary Gland is connected to the base of your brain; therefore, the tumour is on your brain and it affects your brain just like any other brain tumour. Confirmed by my endo. Although I try my best to not let my brain tumour affect my life, it does get the better of me. Most evenings when it hits 4pm I start to slow down, my body feels drained, my vision gets blurrier, I struggle to stay awake. It makes me feel weaker than others. I feel defeated. My mental health is damaged, I cannot keep up with friends/family, I forget to reply to messages. I must remember, there are no expectations of me, no guidelines/rules.
"that’s their problem for not understanding and not supporting me, not mine."
@sophieatypicalzbd
If somebody cannot understand why I can’t take two seconds to do something when I may not even remember the date or may be struggling with my vision, then that’s their problem for not understanding and not supporting me, not mine. Every time I hit my head, I need emergency CT scans in A&E so they can check for a haemorrhage. Last year I had around 3/4 in the space of 2 months. I am always on alert of tripping over, hitting my head or things flying towards my head because of this. I am Cypriot. Only 4’11, full of beans! I love meeting new, interesting people. I’ve been told I come across blunt, to the point, I blame it on my autism!I’m a very kind person, would give everything I have to help. Despite all my disabilities, I love my life and I try live it to the fullest and motivate others to do the same. I’d like others to know that, although you can’t see my tumour, I can feel it and the pain it causes me. On days when I’m a bit slower, please be more considerate, remember I have a tumour. It’s pushing into my brain, it hurts. It hurts my whole body, my heart, it hurts to know I can’t do more or be enough. So please try be considerate and remember.
Sophie Shine
@flareaudio flareaudio.com
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