“I’ve lost so much weight recently and can’t seem to gain it back, no matter what I do.”
“Wow, I wish I had that problem!”
I’ve been experiencing some pretty unexpected, prolonged, and horrible gut issues for over 4 months now and I’ve had more conversations like the above than I’d like to admit. Continue reading “I want you to know why complimenting my weight loss hurts me”
Content warning: post-traumatic stress disorder
It’s Mental Health Awareness Week in New Zealand, and what better time to have a good old-fashioned PTSD relapse than the Sunday night leading into it.
Well, at least it makes for good blog material!
So I have a mental illness called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and I know you look at me and go – but Charlie… you hate war! How the hell did you get PTSD?! Continue reading “My PTSD is ugly and scary, but it’s ok”
Going through life’s ups and downs is really ridiculously hard and it takes some real work to get through hard times and come out the other side with a smile on your face.
I know that through personal experience and I have a few tried and true methods to get a quick happy hit when things aren’t going as I’d like. Continue reading “How to make yourself feel better when you can’t do much”
This article was originally posted as a private post on my Facebook account on September 8, 2016.
Ok so… After a really tough couple of months, and a very tough week last week, I want to open up and be honest about possibly my biggest secret.
People will know me as a happy, optimistic (and hilariously funny) person. People regularly tell me that they “couldn’t do what I do” in terms of taking huge, rare diagnoses and difficult treatments in my stride and pushing myself to still do what I can with a smile on my face. Continue reading “I hate my chronic illness (and that’s ok)”
I was diagnosed in July 2015 with a Primary Immunodeficiency (PID) called Common Variable Immunodeficiency (CVID) (we’re all about the acronyms here), and I did what any 27 year old would do and jumped on to Google.
It was terrifying.
Both because of the super medical sites full of intimidating jargon, and the personal blogs by people who were incredibly ill who I didn’t relate to. Continue reading “What is Common Variable Immunodeficiency (CVID)?”
