Title reads My chronic illness Story, How it all started and how you can help, by Chronically Hopeful, Picture of Char lying in bed under blankets, shes in an ME flare wearing sunglasses and headphones

My Chronic Illness Story: How I Became Housebound With Severe M.E.

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​May is ME Awareness Month and once again I am participating in the ​virtual campaigns online to help raise awareness of this life-destroying illness called Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. Today I’m sharing my story. How did I become so terribly ill and housebound? When did it happen? And how long did I have to wait for a diagnosis? Here’s my ME story: I had a very busy and active life, teaching, going to church and Bible studies, tutoring and babysitting after hours…

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Title reads Health and fitness the week I fell ill with severe ME. Photo of Char and friends walking in a park wearing pink fluffy bunny ears and carrying green balloons. By Chronically Hopeful

Health And Fitness: A Week Before I Fell Ill With Severe Chronic Illness

​Ironically my life was super busy and active during the weeks and months ​before the onset of what lead to my Chronic Fatigue Syndrome diagnosis. There seems to be the general belief that we are tired or lazy or that we have some sort of unhealthy aversion or fear of exercise, but nothing could be further from the truth! As we move towards ME Awareness Month (May), ​I wanted to share some of my health and fitness memories from the…

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4 empty deck chairs on a pebbled beach, facing teh water. seagulls flying above.

The SIPB Summer Blog Tag: My Summertime Favourites

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One of my favourite things about the blogging community are the seasonal tagging events. These blog tags are like a game of “20 Questions” and “Tag – You’re It!” rolled into one. You generally answer a bunch of themed questions or write a post based on a theme or prompt and then tag a few people to take part. It’s a wonderful way to get to know each other better and a fun escape from the usual topics we write…

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Celebrating My Rebirth-day BLOG

Baptism: Celebrating My Rebirth-day

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April is a very special month for me. Many of my great life changes seem to have happened in April. This particular celebration is very special to me: on 7 April 2012 I was baptised in the sea at Brighton beach in the UK! I was 30 years old at the time. Baptism was something I had been thinking about doing for years, but I never really understood what living a life in Christ really meant and how baptism fit…

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A messy bed. Title reads: Imagine... a day in the life of M.E. Have you ever wondered what chronically ill people do all day?

Imagine… A Day in The Life of ME

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It might surprise you how often people with chronic illness are asked what they do with all the free time they have at home. I think many healthy people have no idea how difficult it is to deal with unrelenting symptoms on a daily basis. I hope to shed some light on this by sharing with you what a day in the life of Severe ME is like. This post was originally written as a first person account of my…

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Needing a wheelchair at 35, ChronicallyHopeful

Thoughts On Needing A Wheelchair At Age 35

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A year ago today I got my wheelchair! I was almost completely bedridden at the time. Walking just a few steps every hour or two just to keep circulation and muscles alive was a chore. As a family we were house-sitting in the Lake District at the time. It was a long term arrangement, so was kind of our home away from home, but I had been confined to an upstairs bedroom and was unable to get out to see…

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Blogmas 2017 Christmas Tag

Blogmas 2017 Christmas Tag!

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One of the things I love about blogging are all the community events. Things like monthly challenges, link-ups and interviews. Holiday link-ups are always fun! I stumbled upon this fun Christmas link-up on the first of December after I’d already started writing my gift guide and my brain was thoroughly fried, so I have decided to take my time with it and just post it whenever I’m done. More… It’s kind of like the game of “Tag! You’re it!”. You…

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Moving to a foreign country, homecoming BLOG

When moving to a foreign country feels like coming home

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It was an icy November evening in 2010, exactly 7 years ago today, when my best friend and I hopped on a plane to London from Milan. I had spent the past ten years living in Northern Italy, literally all of my adult life, and this was the beginning of a new chapter. We landed shortly before midnight. We both had been unhappy in our jobs for various reasons for quite some time, so when we lost our jobs, which…

Read MoreWhen moving to a foreign country feels like coming home
a 6-year-old Char sitting on the rocks at the beach, her dad is seated behind her

My Life Story In 20 Sentences, For The #20FunFacts Challenge

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I write a lot about my experience with chronic illness, my diet and my faith, but there are many things about me that you probably don’t know. This is a fun post I wrote over on Instagram, but I wanted to share it with my readers here too. You might be familiar with the #20FunFacts tag that’s been going around on social media – this is my response to that. My Life Story In 20 Sentences 1. I was born…

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Feet in a bath tub, water moving. Title reads Shakes and Tremors with ME/CFS. Myalgic Encephalomyeitis causes visible body tremors.
Shaking And Trembling With ME/CFS
Char's bare leg full of itchy bumps. Title reads: How I'm managing histamine intolerance. Eliminating the itching, rashes and hives.
Histamine Intolerance: Reducing The Itching, Rashes And Hives
Woman with her hands in her hair, she looks frustrated. Title reads: Our house is infested with teeny, tiny white bugs. TIny mites that look like specks of dust moving around.
What Are These Teeny, Tiny White Bugs All Over My House And How To Get Rid Of These Little Mites?
A lady with bed head, looking exhausted. Tital reads, Are you a chargie or a spoonie? Both analogies for chronic exhaustion explained.
Are You an Unchargeable or a Spoonie?