What ever does Imposter Syndrome have to do with my connective tissue disorders and autism, Jan? Well… possibly a lot. First off, what is Imposter Syndrome? Well, at its heart, it’s a feeling that one doesn’t belong in a given community, or at the level they are operating in a given community. Whether as an
I had absolutely NO idea when I fell down the Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes rabbit-hole back in 2012 suddenly landing in a wheelchair that I would end up falling down several other massively long rabbit-holes with yet other rabbit-holes attached, ack! Much less that I would stop walking for a year, and end up using crutches and
CW: Discussion of bullying, childhood emotional abuse, neglect and the larger charities and voices promoting prevention and fear of autism and curebie culture. June, 2022: I originally intended to get this out during April 2022, for Autism Acceptance Month, but alas, life conspired to delay me again. Good news – I dodged what we thought
This isn’t going to be a post on how specifically to diagnose the Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (EDS) or Hypermobility Spectrum Disorders (HSD) per se, as that’s already been covered here. Rather, I want to draw attention to the many “red herrings” or false leads that we and our doctors often identify and manage to recognize and
I’m doing a lot of warning lately, aren’t I? “Beware of Hammer Syndrome” last month. And now, “Beware of Gatekeeping” this month. Hey, it’s October 2018 as I’m hatching this post, so it sort of fits with the Halloween mood, right? (Beware of Ghosts! Boo!) Editors note: This post was first made available in early
April is widely known as “Autism Awareness Month“. However, since following several actually autistic writers and bloggers on Twitter and elsewhere, I’ve come to understand how even calling it that may be “ableist”. (Google the hashtags #ActuallyAutistic and #RedInstead for some samples.) How is that you well ask? What is ableism? Great question! And why
I know, you came here originally to learn about a connective tissue disorder called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. I originally came here to write about a connective tissue disorder called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome after experiencing a massive onset “cascade” or storm of symptoms that got me diagnosed finally at 45 in 2012. But like Alice down the rabbit hole encountering
Fasten your seatbelts and settle in with a snack (again), you’re in for a bit of a long ride, smile. I’ll try not to make it too bumpy! (Last updated February 25, 2023.) Hopefully you’ve heard of “The Trifecta” by now – that is, the relatively common trio of issues we find comorbid in the
I really need to include anxiety in this post as well, as the two – depression and anxiety – seem to go very hand-in-hand for a large number of us. No surprise, this is true for the commonly comorbid autism spectrum as well, coincidentally. Maybe we’re finally onto some of the underlying organic causes of
Birds of a feather flock together. And although we like to call ourselves medical “zebras”, for the purposes of this discussion I’m calling us birds to honor the age-old adage. Because we definitely flock and hang together whether we realize it or not, diagnosed or not from what I can see. I keep finding increasing
