As I mentioned, this is going to be a really long series, because we spoonies deserve a LOT of medals. š
Positive thinking is fine, but not the sort of toxic positivity that invalidates our real, painful experience. There are always those people so obsessed with being positive that they lose their capacity for empathy. I canāt āthink positiveā about a bad situation until Iāve cried, bitched and moaned, gone through all the stages of grief first, and filtered the whole thing through humor. Also, people should try having an illness like Lyme, ME, MCAS, fibromyalgia, or MCS before they judge.
How many times have you had variations of the following conversation? Iāve definitely run across this type of person, now that I am in the āyou-donāt-look-sickā phase of my illness (when I was bedbound around 2010, I just got told to do vigorous exercise, which was kind of difficult as I Ā couldnāt leave the bed).
In honor of Lyme Awareness Month, I just wanted to share an old cartoon depicting the weirdest misdiagnosis I ever got. I was diagnosed with Lyme in 2014, but between 2008 and 2014 I got a lot of things like this:
So, I didnāt go back to that doctor. š
And here is an old cat cartoon. Sadly, veterinarians do have a much better understanding of Lyme and coinfections. This is a very big problem for humans, although cats may think itās just fine.
Hereās Part One of these Spoonie Awards and there will be more. Ā I keep thinking of new ones every time someone says something ignorant or insensitive about chronic illness, so there will be, er, quite a few…
I am working on a few new series, and also plan to have some spoonie artist guest posts soon. Hopefully the Evil Tendinitis and remnants of the Evil Carpal Tunnel (I had surgery a while ago) will allow me to finish everything. IĀ have been putting straight CBD oil on my arm (I am allergic to the ingredients in most CBD creams) , and itās been helpful. Also, I discovered the Armaid, which is a trigger point massager for your arms. At some point, I plan to do a review of all my arm and neck pain gadgets.
Wishing everyone a low-symptoms, low-pain day! š
Miss Diagnoses 
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