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The Price of Being Completely Understood

As humans we long to have someone relate to what we’re going through, to be accepted and understood. For a very long time I didn’t have to work very hard to achieve this feeling. Nowadays, it’s something I want desperately, but I know that to have it…

Finding Good Support Is Essential

Lupus stinks! It consumes your life. It takes over so many aspects of your life. I can tell you that when I initially got my diagnosis, I really thought I could deal with it on my own. How bad could it be to deal with being sick?…

The Next Step in the Grieving Process: Healing

My diagnosis of lupus was a lot of things. It was a shock to the entire system. It was an introduction to a new world that was completely unknown to me. It was the catalyst to the greatest internal struggle I’ve ever experienced. But more than anything else,…

My Family and the Stages of Grief

When you go through a major loss of someone close to you, well-documented stages of grief occur. These stages happen with death, divorce, and a major illness. I never realized that a diagnosis could cause grief. For me, it was not only a new revelation, but…

Lupus and the Beauty of Hindsight

Though it took me some time to realize, there were certain things that I lost in the instant I was diagnosed with lupus. The saying goes that we never know what we have until it’s gone, and for me that couldn’t be truer. There’s a whole other…

Time for New Priorities, So Vanity, Step Aside

Once upon a time, I had two rooms full of shoes. One room had high heels, the other had wedges. I rarely wore anything that was closer to the ground than four inches. I was, after all, the Hurricane in Heels, so flats were not in my vocabulary.

Learning, Hard Way, Not to Quickly Judge Others

When I was diagnosed with lupus I lived alone, and I still live alone. Because of this I still need to do things like get groceries, even if I have just been released from the hospital with inflamed organs. Some of us “look great,” despite the handicapped placards…

How I Explain Lupus Fatigue: Imagine Never-ending Jet Lag

If you’ve traveled far from home, it’s likely you’ve felt jet lag. There’s nothing quite like the euphoria of knowing you’ve got nothing but work-free, relaxing days ahead of you. But there’s also no other phenomenon like jet lag ― unless you live with lupus fatigue. When I…