Ow

[cleolinda]

As I just said on Twitter, I keep forgetting that chronic health issues are chronic and that I can't just wait them out. "Oh, I feel like shit today, I'll post/work/exercise once the aches and/or pains and/or anxieties have let up." And then they just... don't, and another four weeks have slipped by. In fact, I'm typing this straight into the "new

Comments

[losodioatodos]

Won't medicinal marijuana help you with the pain?

[cleolinda]

That tends to be illegal here in Alabama.

[losodioatodos]

welp

[mysticowl]

Not sure how to start a comment, because the default empathetic "I'm sorry" is, I think, not applicable here. I am sorry for the unending suck of chronic pain, but I'm not "sorry" about you exploring a diagnosis for a condition you may have, both because you say that it has been a largely positive experience and because you're you and having you in my life has been positive for me.

I am also sorry because as soon as I read "Let Me Slideshow You My Brain", I immediately got an image of Sylar from Heroes doing the "I'd like to see your brain (and put my fingers all over it, like, ew, did you even wash your hands)" thing.

[cleolinda]

Awww. Yeah, sometimes I just want to be like, "Well! That is certainly a thing going on with you! You just keep on thinging that thing! Unless you don't want to! Thing."

[annlarimer]

LOVE!

[cleolinda]

<3

(do we do emojis now? I'm old)

[annlarimer]

I have no idea. Do they even work here?

[cleolinda]

🤔

[music_mama]

I have missed you. Sorry you are going thru all this. High-functioning is a thing and I don't think the term is offensive. It makes much more sense than "mild." I didn't know Asperger only studied boys. Girls and women are certainly overlooked on the spectrum. A couple years ago they (DSM) looped Aspergers and PDD-NOS (Pervasive Development Disorder- No Other Symptoms) into ASD and I think it was unfortunate. Nuances of Aspergers and PDD-NOS still hold true. Best wishes in your journey.
Peace,
Denise

[cleolinda]

Thank you! Yeah, as with a lot of communities, there seems to be some internal disagreement and/or evolution of terminology. I'm kind of trying to tiptoe until I get a better feel for it. I thought I'd read about the DSM-V (?) changing precisely how all that was classified, but wasn't entirely sure.

[keristars]

I think most of the pushback against "high-functioning" is that there are so many autism nodes that you can be high-functioning in one and absolutely not at all functioning in another, so where does that label fit? Someone who is nonverbal may be excellent with emotional awareness, and vice versa, you know

[cleolinda]

You know, that's a really good point--I had heard it framed as a divide between "high-functioning" and "low-functioning" that created resentment, so I hadn't even thought of it in terms of "level of functioning is not necessarily quantifiable."

I had no idea I had any stims because they were very common signs of impatience or "thoughtfulness"--tapping my pencil, bouncing my knee, tapping my foot. I cannot stand still. I'm always sort of shifting from foot to foot back and forth, and it is REALLY difficult to stop doing that, even when I concentrate on that. And I had no idea why, except that maybe I wanted to shift my weight back and forth because I'm heavy, but that didn't quite sound right. All the things that turned out to be related to autism, I had always thought of other, not-really-convincing explanations for.

I overexplain myself a lot, too--a friend of mine actually called me out on that years ago and I was like BUT I WANT TO MAKE SURE I AM UNDERSTOOD.

[litlover12]

A (male) colleague of mine is high-functioning. Brilliant, highly verbal, empathetic -- yep, yep, yep. All of the above. So yeah, that could be it. Hoping and praying for less pain for you, and a doctor's visit in the near future.

[cleolinda]

Aw, thanks. If I can just make myself go out and get a new desk chair, that might hold me until the doctor's appointment.