Tag: support

When You’re Chronically Ill and You’ve Never Met Your Best Friends in Person

~ Sephira ~ Leave a comment

stomach-vs-heart:

creativeronica:

invisibleillnessweek:

When your best friends or people you have never met… Yep, I think that describes quite a few of us. Do you have friends online who you would call TRUE friends? Share about how you met, how often you connect. We would love to hear your experience! #InvisibleIllness #ThisIsChronicIllness

I haven’t read this article yet, but I think it will definitely apply to me.
My best friends communicate with me via Facebook and Tumblr, with the occasional email. 🙂

I find the greatest comfort from my chronic illness friends online ❤

When You’re Chronically Ill and You’ve Never Met Your Best Friends in Person

‘I just feel less alone’: how Tumblr became a source for mental health care

~ Sephira ~ Leave a comment

a-tmblr-book:

More on Tumblr’s importance for community/self-care from the
Guardian, this story in relation to mental health support and information.
Interesting that the Guardian notices, while U.S.-based mainstream papers
largely don’t.

‘I just feel less alone’: how Tumblr became a source for mental health care

What advice do you have for spoonies who want to commit suicide because of their conditions?

~ Sephira ~ Leave a comment

deadly-voo:

chronicillnessmemes:

First link to post with suicide hotlines: http://chronicillnessmemes.tumblr.com/post/129468786066/slenbee-stay-strong-everyone-if-you-need

Second, trigger warnings: suicide, death mention, suicide ideation

Third, this is going to be honest instead of positive, so please consider carefully if you think anything is going to trigger you and don’t read below the cut.  

Keep reading

I pop into r/chronicpain from time to time and it can be a really gloomy place. There are a lot of people who are really desperate. I wouldn’t call them depressed, I don’t know that they are, they’re just…. they’re in a lot of pain and they want it to stop, some of them are in a place where they could lose access to their medication, and they can’t do it any more.

This post is really good. So many tips for bad days ❤

In the aftermath of Orlando,  you can get free mental health services from United — even if you don’t have insurance

~ Sephira ~ Leave a comment

winecat:

gaywrites:

UnitedHealth Group is offering free mental health services to anyone in the country who was emotionally affected by the shooting at Pulse in Orlando – even if you don’t have health insurance.

Optum will operate a 24/7 helpline, and users can speak to a trained mental health professional for as long as they need. Individuals can call toll-free at 866-342-6892. The company is also providing access to their benefits site, which contains mental health information like professional tips on how to manage anxiety.

“The helpline can be an easy, accessible way for people to reach out,” William Bonfield, chief medical officer of OptumHealth Behavioral Solutions, told The Huffington Post. “It can provide support, an opportunity to talk and help a person decide if mental health treatment may be helpful.”

Please please please take advantage of this if you need it! Mental healthcare is so important but can be so freaking expensive, and processing Pulse might take a lot out of you. That’s okay – help is out there. And if you’re looking for someone LGBTQ-specific to talk to, the Trevor Project and Trans Lifeline are available for you too. 

There’s also SAMHSA’s Disaster Distress Helpline! The Disaster Distress Helpline is a national hotline dedicated to providing year-round immediate crisis counseling for people who are experiencing emotional distress related to any natural or human-caused disaster. 

This toll-free, multilingual, and confidential crisis support service is available to all residents in the United States and its territories. Stress, anxiety, and other depression-like symptoms are common reactions after a disaster. Call 1-800-985-5990 or text TalkWithUs to 66746 to connect with a trained crisis counselor.

Services are also available in Spanish and are accessible for the deaf/hard of hearing: http://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/disaster-distress-helpline

In the aftermath of Orlando,  you can get free mental health services from United — even if you don’t have insurance

Magnum Opus

~ Sephira ~ Leave a comment

ofcourseitsmyhead:

Kristen Bell is one of the most recent stars to push past stigma and declare her depression and anxiety worth talking about.

And for that, I am thrilled.

It means that once again, there is another person, who seems so ‘normal,’ finally showcasing that, HELLO THERE, this is a real thing. And it knows no boundaries.

“Here’s the thing: For me, depression is not sadness. It’s not having a bad day and needing a hug. It gave me a complete and utter sense of isolation and loneliness. Its debilitation was all-consuming, and it shut down my mental circuit board. I felt worthless, like I had nothing to offer, like I was a failure. Now, after seeking help, I can see that those thoughts, of course, couldn’t have been more wrong. It’s important for me to be candid about this so people in a similar situation can realize that they are not worthless and that they do have something to offer. We all do.”

As a person who has had mental health issues for quite some time, diagnosed or not, I can basically agree 100% with this. And I wish, I wish, with all my might, that between her efforts and mine, and the efforts of all those other anxious or depressed souls out there, we can finally feel alive.

I want the anxious Plain Janes with no ‘big’ accomplishments to stand up with me, and say ‘I’m still here despite it all.’

I want the hard-working and depressed people to stand up with us, and declare ‘This isn’t shameful.’

I want my bipolar friends who fight internal demons to rally and shout ‘We’re people, too.’

I want my schizophrenic sisters and brothers to get together and yell from the rooftops that ‘We’re MORE than medication.’

Because we are.

We are MORE than this. We are MORE than medication, therapy, and doctor’s visits.

If you know a person in your life with a mental illness (I guarantee you do,) I want you to challenge yourself. Don’t get overwhelmed, but spend some time with them. Get to know their demons, and what they fight with every day. The things that make them struggle. The thoughts they have against their own selves.

I know from personal experience that just going to a counsellor doesn’t cut it. I need time to process my feelings, work through them, and count my victories. Sometimes that means someone points them out for me. Sometimes that means someone has to tell me over a dozen times a day that I am special. That I am okay. That I am loved, wanted, insert-positive-adjective-here. Sometimes that means that I need to just tell someone, anyone, that despite it all, it’s hard to live. I feel lonely. I feel afraid. I feel weak.

I can’t even hold back the tears coming down my face anymore. I’m so scared. But I’m doing this anyway, like I’ve done for the past year or more. (When did I start this, again?)

I am done hiding. I don’t want to hide anymore. If you still need space, though, take it. I’ll be a sounding board for anyone who’s struggling, because I’ve been there. I might not know how your story is going, but I will be a post to lean on if you need me.

We’re in this together, no matter how alone we feel.

If I ask

~ Sephira ~ Leave a comment

ofcourseitsmyhead:

If I ask you to validate something, it’s not because I’m fishing for anything superficial.

It’s going to be because I’m sitting in the middle of my own thoughts, and they’re telling me everything and anything to the contrary in order to make it seem like I shouldn’t be wasting anyone’s time. It’s going to be because I cannot make myself think it on a level that tells those thoughts to stop.

Those thoughts are monsters. They revel in the idea that somewhere, someone might think I’m being an attention-grabby person who just wants to feel validated. They love the thought that people will judge me and think me insecure.

But damnit, I AM insecure. I’m insecure because I have been fighting against internal and external forces my.entire.life that have been telling me I’m worth absolutely nothing. No matter what I do. No matter how hard I try. No matter if I break myself in the process.

If I ask you whether or not I am anything positive, it is because right now I feel anything but, and I’m losing.

On the days where I just cannot move, because I’m either in pain or my mind is off in a field somewhere picking daisies and setting them on fire, I NEED to feel like I’m still worth some kind of good thing in someone’s eyes. And those days happen a lot. Because I am still finding pieces of myself that I forgot went missing.

If you’re in the same boat, and a support network person isn’t up to the task of reminding you you’re worthwhile, do your best to ignore them and find someone who can help you. It is SO hard to see the good things you’re worth in an era that’s full of over-achievers and people talking about how MUCH they’ve been able to do in x amount of time. And it’s awesome that those people could do that. But we all need to take a step back and realise what we’re capable of, because for some, if it’s all you can do to feed yourself, keep clean, run an errand, or clean the house, BRAVO!!! I have days where I can’t even do any of that.

You’re worthwhile.

~ Sephira ~ Leave a comment

sephiraallen:

Help Larissa Beat Terminal Cancer

Some of you know Larissa, some of you don’t. For those of you who don’t, what you need to know is that this world needs her. This is her story and why she needs your help.

Larissa is a young, charismatic, adoring, extraordinary, and very younique single mother of Violet. She is no stranger to hardship, pain and disease. In fact, Larissa has had and beat cancer twice. She is and has always been a fighter.
Just as Larissa cusped adulthood, she would begin her career as a fighter. Not the kind who wins belts, sees her name in the paper or faces an adversary of equal weight and size; but a fighter who learned quickly, the value of life and each inherent breath. At age 19, Larissa began her 2 year battle with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. With unfettered tenacity and courage, she brawled and beat it. But this wouldn’t be her final or easiest fight
15 years later, as a new mother, Larissa would find a lump in her breast. With the support of her family (former husband, stepkids, and Violet) she would endure several rounds of chemotherapy and radiation, but the battle would wage on and on. After many rounds of chemotherapy and radiation, Larissa bravely opted for a double masectomy, more radiation, underwent almost a dozen reconstructive surgeries, and watched as the foundation of her family began to crumble around her.
In the next years, she recovered as her marriage fell apart, she healed from her radiation burns, multiple surgeries and chemo treatments. Attempting to embrace life alone with her sweet Violet, she actively worked toward strengthening her ravaged body by taking up Krav Maga, finding financial footing, and establishing mental peace in her new life.
Five or six months ago, Larissa started becoming concerned that she was feeling overly tired again. She began experiencing unexplained pain in her body. She seemed to not be able to keep up at her Krav Maga classes like she used to. Blood tests revealed little, however, a trip to the ER this past Thursday 11-19-15, revealed that Larissa isn’t just fighting breast cancer again. Her oncologist is 95% sure that this is Terminal Mestatic Breast Cancer.
When the medical community says that cancer is TERMINAL, it means they do not have effective, approved medical answers to fight or cure a disease, but it does not mean that there are no other means by which to fight. Larissa is not ready to give up. She is not willing to die and leave Violet alone. Neither insurance, nor her meager income will allow for her to afford a nonconventional medical fight for her life. We, her friends and family, are asking for your help to give her a chance to beat this, to fight for life, for time with Violet.
We are asking for support so that Larissa can receive nonconventional medical treatment and not have to stress about making ends meet while she battles to survive. Most of all, we are asking for peace of mind and a quality of life for her during this time. Thank you for your help, love, support and many prayers.

Update: Larissa is currently in the hospital with fluid on her lungs.  The need for help is emergent