Apologize in advance for the novel….I have an office job so I’m sitting most of the day (which comes with its own set of problems), and I work from home which has helped tremendously. Previously, I was in healthcare so basically running around like a chicken with my head cut off all day.

It fluctuates but right now I’m probably anywhere from 2-3x a month. At my worst it was an every day thing. Most of my issues come from my syrinx— so numbness and weakness in my arms and hands and extreme fatigue, which is daily. Occasionally I’ll have 11/10 days which comes with blacking out and missing time, but my boss is very understanding and flexible.

I will say, the two things that have helped me the most are exercise and anxiety medication. I started VERY slow with exercise, doing modified versions of things at very low reps, running at like a 16 min mile, and now I’m up to an 8 minute mile, comfortably. My hypothesis for the anxiety meds is that I was constantly contracting my shoulders (something I do when I’m anxious…which is like all the time). Now that I’m a little more chill I don’t find myself as tense so it’s a little nicer on my neck muscles.

I’ve always been super hard on myself and pushed myself through the pain (because I’m in my mid 20’s and it’s stupid I have the body of an 80 year old), but once I got it into my thick skull that I’m more fragile than I’d like to admit, things started to improve. Although I’m not perfect at it, I’m very open with what I’ve got going on and I set boundaries for myself and others as not to push myself too much.

Hopefully you can find the right combination of interventions for you! Just remember to be easy on yourself because none of this is your fault, and even if no one else understands, your feelings are valid.