Lyme Disease.
Nightstand Contents
1. Lamp.
2. Glass of Water.
3. Candle- For when me and my boyfriend are feeling romantic...yes I do normal-person things as well as sick-person things.
4. Rock-Picked off the beach by my 4 year old niece. I use this as a focus for meditation sometimes as an alternative to focusing on breath.
5. Thermometer. I track my temperature as part of natural fertility awareness. I pray for the day it tells me I've ovulated.
6. Weekly Pill Organizer. The best illness-related purchase I've ever made! Keeps my nightstand tidy and helps me remember what to take and when.
7. Medications and supplements for the week.
8. Notebook.
9. Alarm Clock-Natural light alarm clock. I wake up feeling groggy and kind of hungover most days. I find this helps a little although I must invest in a better one as it has so many buttons, I can never work out how to turn it off!
10. Bottle-Oestrogen (the bottle on top of the pill-box, and also patches underneath the bottle). My hormones have been totally messed up over the years, I'm not sure if a result or a cause of Lyme, or just a coincidence. I take bio-identical hormone replacement which helps with my symptoms.
11. 2 Books-Books & kindle. I'm normally reading something health-related. Currently I have How do I get better by Richard Horowitz, and The Wahls Protocol by Terry Wahls, both are fab are very informative. I like to read fiction too to prevent getting totally consumed by Lyme disease. Currently I'm reading Jodi Picoult for some escapism.
How Can I Get Better, by Dr. Richard Horowitz.
The Wahls Protocol, by Terry Wahls.
12. Headphones- (the black thing on the shelf). Sometimes I listen to binaural beats or meditation music at night and these are great because they're much more comfy than normal headphones, and I can fall asleep listening to music.
13. Diary- I've recently started keeping a journal of symptoms, medication, food, activities, and general thoughts and feelings. I'm finding this very therapeutic as well as good for keeping track of symptoms. As per Terry Wahl's advice, I end each entry on a positive note.
14. Behind the door...the cupboard at the bottom is my junk cupboard (everyone has one of those, don't they?) It contains everything from hairclips to earplugs to my passport!
Bio
Katie is a PHD student at the University of Exeter Medical School. Her experiences navigating Lyme disease within the UK medical system are the focus of her blog, Chronic Warrior. You can read more about her unique perspectives into this complex illness here