Yesterday was World MS Day

Posted on May 31, 2018 by Positively Alyssa

So World MS day was yesterday on May 30th and I did not make any posts about this. I did not ignore World MS Day because I do support the research, but MS is something that plagues my life everyday and it takes so much out of me. My energy level has been pretty low lately and I have been dealing with a lot of fatigue and PAIN! I only want to share information when I can put my heart and soul into writing, but unfortunately yesterday just was not the day! I am trying my best to make up for this today!

Y’all know that I have battled MS for almost 18 years without ever giving into the illness. I made myself a promise when I was diagnosed that I would never allow this to control my life and that someday I would win the fight! I am a strong believer that positive thoughts brings positive things into our lives, but you also know sometimes that is easier said than done! MS adds so many different issues to everyone’s life and none of these fun difficulties are the same for anyone! We all experience this illness in similar, but also different ways. I guess maybe that is the reason it has been so difficult for the doctor’s to figure out a cure, but someday I must believe it will happen for us!

My journey with MS started when I had lost vision in my left eye, but thankfully the vision came back after a few days of steroids. Y’all already know that steroids are never any fun, but I have definitely had my fair share of this not so pleasant and I guess helpful drug. Over my years with MS, I have experienced so much pain at times and numbness at others, it has been absolutely miserable! But I still refuse to give in and keep fighting a good fight!

I hope y’all have had a good Friday Eve and hope you are looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend! I really hope y’all are feeling well and of course staying as positive as you possibly can! We all must stay strong to fight through this illness until the wonderful day of a cure. Please never lose hope for this because I do believe it is going to happen for us! Your comments are really appreciated and I love to read them. I do my very best to respond as quickly as I can! I will continue to always send you LOTS of love and comfort!

Always, Alyssa

Does pain cause you to be angry?

Posted on May 30, 2018 by Positively Alyssa

Good morning y’all and happy Wednesday! Thank goodness we are half way until the weekend is back! Are you having a good short week? When my office is closed on Monday, don’t get me wrong I love the day off, but I end up confusing the rest of the days of the week and being a day behind! Heck Tuesday morning I thought it was Monday, but I was thrilled to find out when I got to work it was Tuesday! I guess that is one of lives many pleasures! During a normal week, my mind is always a day ahead of time, so usually disappointed!

Anger, pain and depression are three negative experiences that are bonded so closely together it can almost be impossible to know when one of these feelings ends and another begins. Pain can impact our emotions so deeply, producing a wide range of emotions from sadness, to anger to possibly rage! The feelings of anger are so often misinterpreted as hostility because others may not understand what we are dealing with at any given time.

Anger can actually be a motivating force to put things into action, instead of just being all talk and complaints. For instances, when we are dealing with an insurance company and all the many hurdles to get through, just to get a needed procedure. Or even when trying to get our doctor to listen to our requests and not just pushing our needs to the side so they can move onto their next patient.

There are numerous physiological effects we can have from anger. Anger can be felt in our chest, head and the entire body! This could mean that the anger we feel increases the pain already felt, which makes so much sense to me. I started writing this because I have been dealing with SO much pain lately in my legs, back, arms and head and that pain is causing me so much frustration which quickly changes to ANGER! Logically, I know that being angry with my pain is not going to solve anything, but it just keeps happening without fail! I am typically a very calm and caring person, but lately I feel like I am losing my temper so much faster and a lot easier! Today I had a co-worker, who let me just say has already made some really negative comments about me in the past, stop me to ask if I was okay because I seemed to not be walking as she thought would be “normal”. Considering my legs have been in a lot of pain lately, I do walk a little slower and refrain from using my right leg when I can, but pointing that out was not necessary. Could she have been being caring? Probably not! But I was hateful with my response when I said “I am fine!”! She had to push the issue a little further causing me to say once again, “I am FINE”, with a lot more force before walking away. Was I wrong in my reaction? Or was it the pain and frustration talking? Who can really say? But I do not feel like I was wrong and I do think it was the pain and frustration talking!

Do you personally find when you are in pain you have less patience for dealing with others? If so, how do you control your emotions and remain pleasant to others? I know I sometimes am shorter with my poor husband and he does not deserves that at all, but he also knows that is not me and I do not mean to be short with him. However, I still will feel bad about my less than sweet attitude! I guess the vows are hold true, but maybe we should have added, with attitude and not as well!

Thank y’all for taking the time to visit my site today! I always appreciate you taking the time to read my posts and I really love to read your comments, which I will always respond to as quickly as I can! I hope you have a great day pain-free day! Please never forget that I am sending y’all LOTS of love and comfort always!

Always, Alyssa

What I have overcome that has made me stronger!

Posted on May 29, 2018 by Positively Alyssa

Good morning Y’all! I hope your long weekend was full of nothing but happiness and you are feeling great starting this short week at work! I can say that the majority of my weekend was dedicated to resting to get myself feeling better and hopefully making my pain issues just go away! I guess we will see now that the week has started!

When I was first diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis almost 18 years ago, I honestly viewed this as a punishment of something I must have done wrong during my life. I could not for the life of me understand what I could have done so wrong to deserve a battle like this to live with. It took me so many years to accept the diagnosis and find ways to live a happy life not allowing an illness to EVER alter or control my life in any way! I wanted to be the one to continue controlling my life because I did not feel it was fair for an illness to be in control of MY life!

The sad truth is we are not able to choose the way our life is going to play out before we are here to actually live it. Once we are born we just need to live the life we were given the best way we can and not ever give up when things get too difficult. Life is not all about sunshine, butterflies, rainbows and waltzing through the days easily, hard times fall on every one of us and we must learn to alter life when it is required.

I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and even if we do not like it or agree with what is happening, it is just the way it is! Any obstacles that we are given are not intended to be a punishment in any way, it is just what was meant for our life and all of these obstacles make us even stronger than we were before! All the hurdles along our journeys are put in place so we can just learn to sore over them with grace and strength! These frustrating impediments are all a learning experience for us to grow further!

Let me just say that I think overcoming the complete shock of my diagnosis in some crazy ways made me a stronger person. Yes, I have my bad days when I feel absolutely terrible, but in time I get back to my “normal” self or maybe it is better to say my “new normal” self. It sounds so crazy to say that an incurable and sometimes debilitating illness made me stronger, but it really has! This illness gave me so many reasons to keep fighting for my own health and it has empowered me with determination that does not waver.

Thank you so much for visiting my site today! I always appreciate you taking the time to read my thoughts and LOVE to read your fantastic comments. I hope you have a great day and I really hope you are feeling well. Please always remember that I am sending you LOTS of love and comfort!

Always, Alyssa

Happy Memorial Day 2018!

Posted on May 28, 2018 by Positively Alyssa

Do you know why Memorial Day really is meant to be celebrated? Or is this just a day businesses are closed giving us a long weekend? Or is Memorial Day when fashion rules say that you can wear white again? There is so much more behind this solemn occasion that should remember. There are so many veterans that have died while servicing in the country’s armed forces. These brave men and women gave their lives for our freedom and should be honored.

Many people get Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day confused, so please allow me to clarify these two holidays. As I already have stated, Memorial Day is meant to remember the men and women that died while serving their country. Veteran’s Day celebrates the service of all United States Military Veterans, which is also very important.

For Memorial Day, which is observed on the last Monday of May, flags across the country are lowered to a half-staff position only until noon and then they will be raised to a full-staff position for the remainder of the day. This is a way to show respect for the veteran’s bravery and selflessness and of course honor their memory!

I hope you have had a lovely and safe holiday weekend! At least this Monday was not a day to dread by going back to work, but a Monday we can acknowledge those that gave their lives for our life and freedom.

Thank you for visiting my site today. I hope the little information I have provided was not only interesting but great to read! I hope you have a wonderful Tuesday and you are feeling great after the long weekend! Of course I always appreciate your amazing comments and will respond to all of them just as quickly as I can! Please never forget that I am always sending you LOTS of love and comfort!

Always, Alyssa

My Letter to Multiple Sclerosis

Posted on May 27, 2018 by Positively Alyssa

Good morning Y’all! I hope you are having a great weekend so far and you will be able to enjoy your Sunday! After all the topics I have been able to address, I managed to forget one of the most important topics. While reading several different blogging forums, I thought it would be a good idea to address the thing that brought me to blogging in the first place, my Multiple Sclerosis. So today I am going to share with you the letter I would love to send to this illness. This might be a little longer and full of emotions, but it is also very real! I hope you enjoy this! Maybe this could be something for you to try, write a letter to your illness!

Dear my not so loving friend Multiple Sclerosis,

You invaded my body about 18 years ago and just stuck with me without fail. We have been through many relapses together over the years; all the while you tried to defeat me. But let’s face it, I will not surrender to your persistent bad behaviors and will not allow you to keep me down for too long.

In the beginning of our “so-called friendship”, you tried to take my vision from me, which let me just say was not a good way to become the lifelong friends we were forced to be!! Of course it took a little help from the not so exciting steroids, but my vision thankfully returned to normal! You have tried over and over again throughout the years to take control of my legs by causing me so much pain and numbness, but I am still able to walk without the assistance of what I think you were aiming for. You have caused me so much pain and suffering for way too many years, but I still continue to fight back with all my might because I never plan to give up and allow you to control my life! The truth is, you are the one losing our constant battle and I am shockingly enough the one winning the war!

Let us not forget the fact that you have chosen to take up to residence in my brain causing many other issues for me! There are the several times a week debiting headaches which normally end to severe nausea. The headaches you decided to inflict me with make it nearly impossible to do anything at all! It was also decided by YOU to cause some brain fog and dizziness, making me feel confused and frustrated. The horrible back, neck and leg pain is more than enough for me to live with, don’t you think? Please get out of my brain because you are being EVICTED IMMEDIATELY!

I bet you thought you were being clever by giving me hugs every now and then! Well I do not like or appreciate your unwelcome hugs! So in the future, please do not do that! Just in case you did not already know, your hugs are very painful!

I guess during the 18 years we have spent together, you have become the friend that I never asked for or wanted and you just will not go way to give me a break. You are pretty much worse than the most obnoxious uninvited guest that will NOT LEAVE no matter how many hints you are given! The only thing I can do now is just embrace the fact that you are just here for the long haul and will surface whenever you please without so much as a warning which let’s face it is really inconsiderate!

Oh and what about all those different medications you want me to take? Do you not realize just how much some of these medications can and do affect a person’s body or do you just not care? Why must you be so complicated that the smartest minds of the world can’t seem to find a way to make you vanish? They sure can create so many drugs to “slow” the progression of the illness down but not make the illness stay in a remission state FOREVER! I am starting to think that you, the malicious drug companies and the not so compassionate greedy insurance companies are working closely together to do nothing more but make LOTS OF MONEY yourselves!

So my dear not so sweet friend MS, now that you have heard a little from me about how you make me feel, when are you going to move out of my body allowing me to be free of you? I think it is long since time to depart from each other!

Thank y’all for visiting my site today! I really hope you enjoyed reading the letter I would love to be able to send off to Multiple Sclerosis. Of course I would love to read your thoughts on this, so please let a comment for me and I will respond as quickly as I can. I really hope you are feeling well today and can enjoy your Sunday! As always remember that I am sending you LOTS of love and comfort!

Always, Alyssa

6 Possibly Shocking Pain Triggers!

Posted on May 26, 2018 by Positively Alyssa

Good morning Y’all! I hope you have a great day! Do you already know what your pain triggers are? If you do you are ahead of the game, but if you do not it is okay, we are all always learning every day! I am going to share with you some pain triggers that may actually surprise you, but they are so incredibly common for all of us.

Anger:

Holding onto your anger can actually cause back pain. The more tight-lipped we are when something causes us to feel angry; the more tension is felt throughout our spine causing unnecessary pain. Whether you have ongoing back pain or even aches from lifting too much, holding onto anger will without a doubt increase your pain. My goodness does this explain a lot for me because I am one that hates confrontation and will avoid it like it is the plague! Sometimes I will just sit there and brew over something, but never share with anyone that I am angry with them or another situation, which is a very unhealthy trait of mine. Either talking to others about the anger we feel or even just writing out the emotions will help tremendously.

Your Trusty Smartphone:

Who would have thought that this easy and convenient device could actually add to the pain we feel? Our smartphones make it so easy to stay connected to family and friends and also to surf the web anywhere we may be. But think about it, how do you hold your phone while you are chatting? We all tend to be on our phones while multi-tasking to take care of other need to-dos. During our amazing multi-tasking abilities, we have a tendency to hold our phone between our neck and shoulder, which can easily cause tightness and pain in the strained areas. Also, think about how you hold your phone while web browsing and or texting! Being in a hunched over position for an extended period of time can cause a great amount of pain.

Here are some easy ways to use your smart phone that will cause you less pain:

If you know you will be chatting for longer than a few minutes, which we all are probably guilty of, try using a headset or Bluetooth. This can make it so you can enjoy your phone call and not be forced to cradle the phone with your shoulder causing yourself unnecessary pain!
When browsing the web or texting, hold your phone at eye level so you are not straining your neck by looking down.
Thinking the Worst

Catastrophizing is an irrational thought that some of us have, which is believing something is much worse than it really is. Honestly, I am very guilty of this most of the time. Andrew Bertognoli, PhD, is a San Francisco based psychologist with the Spine Care Medical Group says “Emotion and pain are processed in the same area of the brain, so if you’re anxious and stressed, it’s natural to feel physical pain. That’s not to say your pain is emotional, it’s just that there’s an intersection of the mind and body.” What an incredibly true statement! I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt, whenever I am stressed or angry my pain drastically increases.

Skimping on Sleep:

Most of us have so many things on our to-do lists that we want to get done, from going to the grocery shopping to finishing the laundry to cleaning our house, but we often put sleep at the very bottom of our list. Putting sleep at the bottom of our to-do list is in all reality causing us to suffer even more. There have already been numerous studies about how much sleep an adult should get every night, but each individual is equipped so differently and have different needs and probably none of us actually get an adequate amount of sleep every night.

During sleep our bodies makes human growth hormones, which is needed for tissues repair to ease our pain. Those that suffer from chronic insomnia have nearly three times the risk of chronic pain. If you suffer from lack of sleep, a few possible ways to sleep better are:

Get more sun in the morning. The morning sun exposure helps recalibrate our internal circadian sleep clocks.
Daytime exercise. Some mild exercises can work as a stress reliever and eliminate additional thoughts built up in our minds.
Turn down the thermostat in your bedroom. Sometimes cooler temperatures while sleeping, can allow you to be more comfortable. Whereas if you are too warm, you can’t get comfortable enough to sleep and then toss and turn.
Try sleeping with a white noise machine. White noise machines have been proven to be a great sleep aid, so it is worth a try!

Your Work Area:

Most people do not think sitting at a desk can actually be a major pain risk because it is not strenuous, but it is painful! Your posture at your desk and the way your work area is arranged can and does cause people so much pain! Most workplaces do now offer ergonomic desk configuration services. So if you start to notice you are in more pain while at work, contact your Human Resources Department so they can give you directions on what needs to be done to have your work area more ergonomically suitable. This may work wonders for you and make your work day far less painful!

For the computer you use while at home, there is something you can do to decrease any pain it may cause! You should always make sure the top of your monitor is at or slightly below eye level, so you are not straining your neck by looking upward at the monitor.

Loneliness:

Whether we want to be or not, we are social creatures by nature. Loneliness can lead to depression and in turn depression can cause pain. I am of course not saying you should not be choosy about people to confide in because it is important to be comfortable with whom you choose to share your life with. If you are already in a committed relationship, share your feelings with that person.

Thank you for visiting my site today and I really hope this information was helpful to you! It always amazes me what can actually cause the pain we already live with to be even more intense. Reducing the pain we have is a wonderful thing and maybe even possible or at least for some of it! I do try my best to correct the issues that I recognize, but I am only human and just can not work miracles! I encourage your fantastic comments and I promise to respond as quickly as I can. Please remember that I am always sending you LOTS of love and comfort!

Always, Alyssa

Happy Long Weekend!

Posted on May 25, 2018 by Positively Alyssa

Happy Friday Y’all! I hope you had a great week and are looking forward to the much deserved long weekend! Don’t you think if we had these long weekends more often, maybe even once a month that would be absolutely wonderful? I think it is the anticipation of the long weekend that makes the week just drag by or maybe it was also because of all the extremely frustrating pain I was dealing with. Who knows, but I am leaving that in the past and just looking forward to a relaxing and enjoyable long weekend not dwelling on work or my pain issues! Thinking nothing but positive thoughts that next week will be much better after 3 entire days of rest!!

Do y’all have any exciting plans for the long weekend? I am literally over the moon excited that I will not hear the piercing sound of my alarm clock at that absolutely awful hour of 5:30 am!! I still think that is a pretty inhumane time for anything to make such rude and obnoxious sound, but if my alarm went off to music I would probably ignore it, unless it was a terrible song and that would just make me terribly mad! So, I guess it is really a no win situation for that poor pitiful alarm!

If there is anything that I do over this long and glorious weekend it will not only rest my poor achy body, but spend time with family! It is so important to cherish our families as sadly, they will not be around forever! Enjoying special and memorable moments can be so good for the heart and soul! I have a very small family, which makes it a little easier to be able to see everyone and not have to drive long distances. Unfortunately, my mother does work the weekends, but maybe we can get together for lunch on Monday, considering I will not be at work!!!

I hope you have a wonderful and not busy Friday! I always appreciate you taking a moment to visit my site and I love reading your comments! The absolute best thing about this Friday is that I am not already dreading Monday!! As always, I am sending you LOTS of love and comfort!

Always, Alyssa

Liebster Award!

Posted on May 24, 2018 by Positively Alyssa

I would like to sincerely thank Kranti for nominating me for this amazing award! I feel so honored to be nominated by a fellow blogger that is as phenomenal as she is! I absolutely LOVE being able to follow her blog as she is so incredibly positive and inspiring! She always puts out great articles with so much emotion and they never fail to make me smile! Anyone that is reading this and has not yet had the chance to view Kranti’s site, please check her out as you will never be disappointed with her posts, https://sparkklingthoughts.wordpress.com/. Thank you again Kranti, I really appreciate you nominating me for this award and also thank you for putting out so many fantastic and fabulous posts!

This version of the Liebster Award comes with six rules. They are:

Thank the blogger who nominated you.
Share 11 facts about yourself.
Answer the 11 questions the blogger gave you.
Nominate 11 bloggers who deserve the award.
Create 11 original questions for the nominees to answer.
Let them know they’ve been nominated.

11 Possibly Fun Facts about me Are:

I have been with my wonderful husband almost 14 years and married 7 of those years!
I technically grew up most of my young life in the north, but I am definitely a southern and beach girl at heart!
I really want to travel the world someday. There are so many beautiful places that I would love to visit first hand instead of dreaming about them.
I have two of the best cats in the entire world!
I have always been a very emotional and sensitive person, almost to a fault!
Positive people give me hope and encouragement, whereas all the negative in the world is extremely draining!
I believe that having hope is a magical and wonderful thing in life and so important to hold onto!
The only place out of the US I have been able to travel to was Jamaica on my honeymoon!
I always wanted to be able to swim with the dolphins as I find them to be so incredible and I was finally able to do this on my honeymoon!!
I have am completely and totally obsessed with butterflies! I think butterflies have a certain magic to them and I just LOVE them!
I love to read a good book and also to write as much as possible!

Answers to Kranti’s Fantastic questions

One dream you are chasing to fulfill?

My biggest dream in life that I will always be chasing is to write a book someday!!!

Beach or Mountain?

I absolutely LOVE the beach

What is the inspiration behind your blogging?

My inspiration behind blogging is that I really want to help others overcome any issues they may be facing with living with a Chronic Illness. Living life with a chronic illness is NOT easy and it helps to have others around you that truly understand! It is great to be able to reach out to another person that can relate and even offer advice on what we are dealing with at any moment. I know that 18 years ago when the doctor told me that I had Multiple Sclerosis, I was so young and completely shell-shocked. I wish there was blogs back then that I actually knew about because it would have been SO helpful to help me process the diagnosis. I want to be able to be that person others can rely on in dealing with issues like this.

What is your biggest fear?

If I am being totally honest, I would say my biggest fear is the unknown of MS. It is not really knowing if I am going to lose the ability to do all the things I can do now and possibly be confined to a wheelchair. I am so stubborn and like to do everything for myself and my family, so losing the ability to walk would scare the hell out of me!

One thing you admire in yourself?

I think what I actually admire most about myself is my determination. This can be a good thing and a bad thing, but I do admire my determination to never give up on my life!

One thing you wish you can change in yourself regarding your behavior?

The thing I really wish I could change about myself is my inability to stop stressing and worrying about everyone and everything in life. I know it is not healthy, but after 36 years of it I can not seem to stop that quality about myself!

What would you love to watch night sky or waves in the ocean?

This is a fantastic question! I would love to watch the ocean waves over the night sky! It is a beautiful image and site to see!

Which Kind of movie would you prefer to watch horror, romantic or action?

Funny question with a funny answer! Considering I am a girly girl to the tee, I would actually prefer an action movie! Romantic movies tend to make me cry and horror movies honestly make me laugh because they are too much the same!

Anything which makes you happy when you are sad and nervous?

My cats playing with each other always can make me smile. Those two babies have such an amusing love hate relationship!

Your favorite month and color?

My favorite month is October because most of the time it is just the right temperature! My favorite color is purple, which is probably obvious to anyone that reads my posts!!

What would you prefer street food or fine dining?

I am a pretty low-key kind of girl, so I would say street food is what I would prefer. Fine dining is a little too uptight for me!

My 11 Fabulous Nominees Are:

First let me say, I do not want you to feel any kind of obligation to participate with this award. I know we are all very busy and the last thing I want to do is add any extra stress to your life. I have nominated you simply because I think y’all are outstanding people who I felt strongly deserved recognition for how amazing each of you are! If you choose to participate, I look forward to reading your answers, but if you opt to not participate, I completely understand!!! Just please know, no matter how you choose to move forward, y’all are out of this world amazing!!!!

https://thepagesofpaige.com/ Paige

http://bethybrightanddark.com/ Bethy

https://itsalifestylethingblog.wordpress.com/ DMC

https://painwarriorcode.wordpress.com/ Tasha

https://painpalsblog.wordpress.com/ Claire

https://lookingforthelight.blog/ Melinda

https://relationshiprhythms.com/ Amy

https://miraculoussmile.wordpress.com/ Christy

https://welcomelionheart.wordpress.com/ Krysta

http://invisiblyme.com/ Caz

https://msmommy.blog/

My Questions for my amazing Nominees are:

Do you prefer cats or dogs?
What is your favorite color?
What is the most amazing place you have been able to visit?
If you could go anywhere in the entire world, where would you go?
What has been the best day of your life?
Even though I already think you are amazing, if you could change one thing about yourself, what would that be?
Who is your biggest inspiration in life?
We all have bad days in life, how do you make it through those days?
What is your biggest pet peeve?
What type of book do you prefer to read and who is your favorite author, if you have one?
What was your absolute favorite movie that you can never get enough of?

Thank y’all for visiting my site today! I appreciate all of your support and encouragement more than I can even begin to describe! I have met so many astonishing bloggers along my journey and I am so honored that I have had the opportunity to get to know each of you! Of course I always love to read your comments and you already know that I respond to each one as quickly as I possibly can! I hope you had an amazing Friday Eve and are as ready as I am for the long holiday weekend! If only we could have long weekends more often! I wish y’all a nice and relaxing evening. I am always sending y’all LOTS of love and comfort!

Always, Alyssa

Disability or NOT?

Posted on May 23, 2018 by Positively Alyssa

There are many people out there that qualify and truly need to be put on disability and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. When someone makes the decision that they are not able to work any longer and their doctor agrees with them, then you just know it is the right time for taking that route in life. Do some people actually take advantage of this? Absolutely and that is just really sad and an insult to those that do need disability! No one can really be pushed or forced to file for disability as it is a very involved process and does require a lot!

Disability does not have to be permanent, but you must be totally disabled as is defined by the Social Security Administration. The Social Security Administration (SSR) actually anticipates that the condition can improve at any point in time! Aren’t they thoughtful and optimistic? Therefore this requires those that were awarded benefits to participate in a process called Continuing Disability Review (CDR). The reason for CDR is to determine if there have been any improvements in the claimant’s medical or financial circumstances. All approved claims are subject to “diary review dates” after one, three and seven years. Now this does depend on the condition the disability was awarded for and the probability for improvement. All that is required to avoid interruption in disability benefits is medical documentation that the claimant still suffers from the impairment the disability was originally awarded for and that there have not been any improvements.

The SSR tries to make this process a little easier for those filing, so their list of impairments are broken down by bodily systems or functions:

Musculoskeletal Problems:
- Back conditions and other dysfunctions of the joints and bones
Senses and Speech Issues:
- Vision and hearing loss
Cardiovascular Conditions:
- Chronic Heart Failure
- Coronary Artery Disease
Digestive Trace Problems:
- Liver Disease
- Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBS)
Neurological Disorders:
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Cerebral Palsy
- Parkinson’s Disease
- Epilepsy
Blood Disorders:
- Sickle Cell Disease
- Hemophilia
Mental Disorders:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Schizophrenia
- Autism
- Intellectual Disability

The medical evidence that needs to be shown must be recent and encompass the time period when the disability started to present is:

Physical Examination
Treatment notes or reports
MRI (depending on illness)
CAT Scan (depending on illness)
X-ray (depending on illness)
Mental Health Notes
Blood work notes

If I am being realistic and logical, I know that living with a chronic illness disability may be involved in my life at some point. I mean heck, I know the Multiple Sclerosis is not going to magically disappear, but I do not have to own this until it is absolutely necessary, which is not right now!! I believe if I continue living my life in the best way possible, control my stress (which we all know I am really bad at), and take the medication that is best for my body chemistry, I am doing all I am able to control the progression of this illness! I am only 36 years old and have been living with this illness for almost 18 years, besides the constant pain I deal with; I think I am doing rather well! As you can probably tell it really bothers me when people make the suggestion I go on disability. It has happened way too many times just because people know what I live with, but they really do not know how it affects me. I do my very best to hide my feelings of pain, however people make assumptions! I do not disagree with anyone that is on disability, but I am so darn stubborn and even if my body might be ready, I am not emotionally ready to take that step.

I really want to thank y’all for reading my rant today! This was suggested to me today and as you can tell it did not sit well with me! I am not going to say that I will not ever file for disability, but at this point in my life I am not ready as I feel I am still able to work, even if I am not working full-time right now. My working pretty much part-time hours is just the right now, in a few more weeks or months even I might be fully capable of doing those long full-time hours again.

I hope y’all had a good day! Thank goodness we are half way through the week and the weekend is coming!! Of course I appreciate and even encourage your comments as I promise to respond as quickly as I can! I hope y’all have a wonderful and relaxing evening. As always I am sending y’all LOTS of love and comfort!

Always, Alyssa

When bad days seem to outweigh the good days

Posted on May 22, 2018 by Positively Alyssa

We all have our good days when we feel border line normal, which is absolutely fantastic and treasured! Then we also have those bad days when we feel anything but normal and maybe even disconsolate. So what do you do when it seems as though the bad days are taking over those precious good days? I guess there is no use crying over spilled milk and we just continue our journey of life the best was can.

Y’all already know that I am typically a very optimistic and positive person, but then you also know how much pain can influence our attitudes. Pain and muscle spasms have been making me absolutely and totally miserable, but I was still attempting to fight through how I was feeling because I do not want to allow my illness to win our war. Last night was the tip of the ice burg for me. Between my back hurting fiercely and from my knees to my tip toes achy and burning viciously, I could not get comfortable AT ALL. All I was trying to do was go to sleep so I could go into work today, but it was absolutely impossible! The combination of frustration, pain and being over tired I lashed out and was being very difficult towards my poor husband, who was only trying to help me. Finally at about 2 am, even after my hateful attitude my sweet husband helped surround my feet with ice packs to ease the horrible burning sensation I was experiencing. Given my miserable night, I ended up missing work today to try to rest and with the help of my husband hopefully start to feel a little more “normal” or as normal as I can be!

I am hopeful that tomorrow will be a better day and I will not be suffering in this much pain! I obviously do not like hurting, but I really hate when my attitude changes and I am just mean or at least I think I am mean. I am truly thankful for how understanding, supportive and loving my husband is. We understand each other as we both live our lives with pain. I promise I am normally a lot more kind and helpful towards him, but last night was just a horrible night and thankfully he has forgiven my terrible attitude! Normally I do not do more than one post a day, but with being at home in excruciating pain it is helpful to let out those feelings knowing that y’all understand fully!

I appreciate you visiting my site today and really look forward to reading your amazing comments. I hope y’all had a great day today and I hope you are feeling well. As always, I am sending y’all LOTS of love and comfort!

Always, Alyssa