“My body is none of your damn business.”

“My body is none of your damn business.”

Anyone who’s battled chronic pain or invisible illnesses knows the chorus too well: “But you don’t look sick!,” or “But you look so healthy!” The way people look and the way people feel can be vastly different. And none of us should ever feel that it’s appropriate for us to comment upon, criticize, and judge the conduct of others based on outward appearances.

Read More

Surviving a Flight with a Stressed-Out Bladder

Surviving a Flight with a Stressed-Out Bladder

Missy Lavender, CEO of Below Your Belt, has shared with us this primer on plane travel with a stressed-out bladder.  Enjoy, and #flydry!

As a bladder health patient - part urge/part stress - I am on a constant 'bladder alert'.  Yes, I know all the "to do's" and "not to do's" and, in general, I feel like I am winning the battle of the bladder. But then there is THE PLANE RIDE......(cue Star Wars theme, "dum de Dum, dum de Dum....")! How do you handle a one, two or in my case this morning, a three hour teeny tiny cylinder in the air, plane ride?

Read More

Encounters with the Disability Police: my illness, emotional support animal, and "be nice" mandate

Encounters with the Disability Police: my illness, emotional support animal, and "be nice" mandate

Others’ judgment and treatment of me transformed my own beliefs about the legitimacy of my illness. I unintentionally invalidated my own body’s experience of pain, and I’d allowed those who chastised me for “taking advantage” to usurp my right to be treated decently outside the confines of my own home.  In letting people like this dictate how I would care for myself while enduring unspeakable pain, I somehow lost ownership of my experience.

Read More