Happy Girl Winter: How to Overcome Seasonal Depressive Disorder
‘I Felt Ashamed and Unworthy of Love’: My HPV Diagnosis and Overcoming Internalised Misogyny and STI Stigma
My gynaecologist was shocked: she had never experienced anyone so young developing cancer so quickly. I was also shocked. I felt like my womb had failed me. I felt incredibly disconnected from my body, in constant stress and fear of having to endure heavier procedures. I felt dirty, ashamed, and unworthy of love and happiness…
‘Grief Comes with Any Long-Term Chronic Illness’: Learning to Slow Down and Live with Autoimmune Disease
I started referring to my time in London as ‘B.C’: before colitis and ‘A.D’: after diagnosis. I mourned for my new life. It was a double-edged sword; I realised that despite my intentions, I practised ableism by default as I’d never had to consider life through the lens of someone chronically ill. I also felt like I didn’t have a right to complain because my invisible illness didn’t totally inhibit my ability to work, socialise and retain my autonomy. I was still deemed ‘productive’ under our capitalist regime…
‘Women are More Likely to get Thyroid Disease, Is that Why it’s Overlooked?’ My Experience of Primary Care Mismanagement
Surely above all else, the question should be: what price is too high for women to be able to function at optimum health? Do we not have a right to expect to thrive, to live long healthy lives? Would it not in the long term serve both our National Health Service as well as ourselves to be able to do so?
‘Nobody Deserves To Be Convinced Into Silencing Their Body’s Pain’: My Endometriosis Story
My periods were hot red pokers when I was 16. Until I went on the pill for acne, as my doctor recommended, and it all went away: the pain, the symptoms and the bleeding. I was twenty-three when I decided to come off the pill. The first period after I did was a grasping-the-toilet, puddle-on-the-floor, call-my-mum …mess. I suppose that was the beginning. The first sign. But it was just period pain. Right?
‘My Adolescence was Dictated by Epilepsy’: Looking Back at My Illness and Learning to Face My Fears as an Adult
It definitely didn’t make me popular when I got to university. Even now, it’s hard having to justify to people the reasons why I don’t drink. It’s not anyone’s business but that doesn’t stop them from prying. My medication doesn’t recommend drinking, to which someone will always pipe up and say, ‘I know someone who knows someone who is epileptic and drinks.’ That’s great, thanks for your unnecessary input, but funnily enough we’re not all the same…
‘I Thought Recovery was Supposed to be Permanent’: Mental Health Is Not Binary, Fixed or Linear
There’s still a stigma around mental health. I had no idea how much until I became aware of how I was relating to myself. Somewhere along the way, I decided that if I ever struggled or needed anyone again, I had failed. I thought that recovery was meant to be permanent and that I should be self-sufficient, that I didn’t deserve any more help or love than I’d already had…
Body, Mind and Soul: Meditations on Authentic Alignment for a Lighter Life
Re-centring the Self with its physical and energetic body brings the mind a sense of presence. It is a reminder not to lose time spent on anything outside of your control. What has (or hasn’t) happened will never be the present moment and all you can control is yourself; living in alignment means living with and in your unique presence. It means living consciously, not on autopilot…
‘Multiple Evanescent White Dot Syndrome, or MEWDS for Short’: My Story of Being Diagnosed with a Rare Eye Disease
The disease develops spontaneously and mostly in young, healthy adult women. It can sometimes be caused by a virus or an autoimmune disease, but for me the cause is unknown. I had about ten vials of blood taken that day and the results were all normal…
