Chronic Illness and Guilt

I spend a lot of time feeling guilty about the consequences of my various illnesses. My boyfriend and I quarrel a lot lately–there’s tension because I need a lot of help and I’m bitter about it, I’m very moody because of the pain and not easy to be around. I feel like a financial burden to my family. I miss a lot of work, sporadically. It’s difficult to plan events with friends and family when I’m having flares, and I never know if a migraine will arise. My boyfriend and I can’t travel much together because of my limitations, nor can we engage in activities that might be tremendous fun if not for my body… like rock climbing. People around me see me suffering and I can see it hurts them. This might be the worst causes of guilt and I don’t think there’s anything that can be done about it. But if you’re loved–and we should all be so lucky–there’s no way around this.

None of this is my “fault” exactly, but it is. It is my fault, I’m the one causing all of it somehow. Right? This is the guilt I believe every person who’s chronically ill is tormented by to some extent. If you have good support from people around you, I think it is survivable guilt. I’m lucky; my boyfriend often tells me he’s happy to help me and understands none of this is my fault, and I can tell he actually means it. My parents always offer “any help” they “possibly can” and never blame me. But I still feel guilty. What do I do with all of the guilt?

Step 1: Acknowledge it: I feel guilty. I feel really, really guilty because I’m sick and it has all these consequences, and I don’t like them. I feel like a monster!

Step 2: Feel it: UUUUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHh

Step 3: Distraction/comforts when necessary: Netflix binging, going out to the movies, pizza, work, games, teasing the cats with their favorite rainbow wand

Step 4: Rationalization: Okay, I’m sick. None of this is actually on me. I didn’t purposefully make myself sick, or do anything to get sick. And I’m only seeing ONE MILLION doctors and taking meds, I lost weight because my doctor told me to, I’m seeing a therapist to work on stress management, blah blah blah. I’m trying to be my own best friend here (ew). I’m not perfect but damn it, I’m doing a pretty good job. I’m even still working, which isn’t easy. So I might feel guilty but I don’t deserve to feel guilty.

Step 5: Continue to feel guilty: Wait, what? DAMN it. I’ll try again tomorrow.

Neverending Story

When the Rasuvo (methotrexate) injections began working maybe a year and a half ago, some naive part of me decided I was “done” with having to deal with medicating rheumatoid arthritis. Well THAT was very stupid.

I am feeling pretty fucking depressed right now. I’m trying to allow myself to fully feel it so I can move through it and not be bitter or feel pity. The methotrexate isn’t working much anymore and I’m probably going to have to try another medication for the RA soon, presumably a biologic. Many other RA people would say, “DUH, GENIUS! That’s common!” but I really thought I’d hit the jackpot with methotrexate. It was working so well for me. I was feeling pretty good… good enough to work full time and almost function as if I were a 70-year-old in amazing shape for her age (I’m 33). Instead of this crap. C’mon. I feel really dumb right now for not realizing that luck runs out for everybody. I’m not special! Now I’m scared about trying new meds, the side effects…. Biologics aren’t fucking around. But neither is my immune system right now. It’s pretty angry at me.

So my body hurts a lot, everywhere, it’s difficult to deal with the pain emotionally. It’s just like… I can’t get away from it and I would never hurt myself, but when people with severe chronic pain hurt themselves, I understand it. And I think that’s the key to empathy. Don’t be afraid to face these hard feelings and say them out loud. This kind of pain will make you crazy if you’re not careful–who could be blamed?! I think I’ve only retained some shred of sanity because the sun came out a couple times (I adore the sun… warmth on my skin is like an elixir on me), and I had a couple hours here and there of lower levels of pain. But then last night I started getting a severely sore throat. It seems I have some kind of upper respiratory infection. Are you KIDDING me right now?! So I had to take off work. That makes me feel like an asshole. I keep feeling guilty for being sick. Not helpful. A few days ago I had to take a day off work because I got FOOD poisoning. It’s like some bad-health demon is following me around lately… get away from me!!!! All my chronic health problems are ENOUGH.

It is painful to type. This is a bummer because writing and keeping connected both help. I live through social media much of the time since I never know if I will be able to go out when I’m sick. My forearms are really shitty lately. I need this space.

WELL. I guess here marks a new chapter, and when I start on whatever new shit drug I’m taking I’ll document what that’s like. Hopefully it’ll be of some help to somebody, if not to myself.