Anyone out there with any medical problems?

[SandraMJ]

I've got an extremely weak body and my elbows get contracturated all the time, so drawing is very painful. My eyes are also extremely sensitive to light, so staring at the screen hurts them quickly

Sorry to hear about your case though, that sounds painful .

[EiraQueenofSnow]

Awe that doesn't sound fun either. Especially the eye part (so many things are done on computers now.)
Do you have any good coping methods for pain? I try to stretch my wrists out but sometimes it's hard to move them =.=;;;;

[Amirai]

I don't know what's wrong with my hands though I suspect it's some sort of tendon injury that never healed right that causes an intense burning pain. I can only manage at best an hour and a half of art per day (currently it's about 45 minutes a day). It drives me crazy, I have to stop right when I'm starting to warm up and find my groove, and requires me to rush so the quality of my work suffers.

[winglesscomic]

Well I have a spine disease where I can't sit upright in chairs. That makes it annoying to sit in chairs drawing for certain periods of time.

[Strontium]

I've got chronic tendonitis in my wrists and generally lack strong muscles especially in my arms. And my extremely bony elbows are always hitting things and causing damage to my ulcer nerve. So I have to really map out my time working on comics and do a lot of rest with ice packs.

[Cielle]

I have type 1 diabetes aka juvenile diabetes. It doesn't interfere with drawing per se, but sometimes I forget to eat which makes my blood sugar drop and that's bad. the good news is that hospitals have outlets so even when hospitalized, I can keep drawing haha. ha. =﹏=

[SandraMJ]

I try to rest my hands as much as possible, and I also switch my mouse between hands (perks of being ambidextrous!). As for the eyes, if it gets too bad I use something like Clear Eyes, but Spanish ^^

[sarahrebecca58]

Well I'm told my aunt I sound like an old person. I'm twenty-five, just to give an idea. The insomnia portion is getting better of course.

[MechanicalPenguin]

Without insurance, it would cost upwards of 5k a month for me to be able to barely walk. I have had juvenile RA since 20. It took 4 years to be diagnosed and by that time I had so much damage and could not walk without assistance or even straighten my knees/arms past 90 degrees. I take steroids every day.

Mine is a chronic, aggressive version. You can talk to me any time. I've taken all the treatments and medications available.

[GlanceReviver]

I have some kind of thing, haven't been formally diagnosed. My insurance is sort of in limbo since I'm on medicaid, and there is always some red tape problem.

There's weeks at a time where I have depression ranging in seriousness from a general "life sucks" feelings, to full on suicidal thoughts and tendencies. It also causes me a lot of physical manifestations of depression like fatigue and soreness. And maybe TMI but my lady cramps are CRAZY BAD and come out of nowhere. I am incapacitated for days at a time. I have to call out to work a lot and tell them I have a flu or something because they won't believe it's really that bad.

This interferes with me making comics since being emotionally all over the place and also physically in pain for at least 25% the time isn't productive.

[CPY]

I feel depressed a lot too ...
But I am not clinically diagnosed with depression.
But I am clinically diagnosed with panic attacks.

"I have depression ranging in seriousness from a general "life sucks" feelings, to full on suicidal thoughts and tendencies"

I know how that feels tho I am not to the suicidal thoughts yet. I do however have times that I thought it's ok that I just die soon.
I self-harm tho or maybe its just bad emotion management? When I don't do well in something (esp things I care about) or when bad memories 'replayed', I'll start swearing at myself verbally (loud enough) and sometimes I will hurt myself - like punching the wall and hitting myself. Never once did I tried to cut myself tho.

And due to that, I had a finger that will kinda hurts out of nowhere ... it's the last 'tiny' finger so it doesn't really affects that much ... but it becomes a problem when I need to hold the mouse for a long time.

But oh well, we still get things done ... no matter how slow or fast

[rainbowolfe]

I've had tonisillitis for 6 years >_> Everytime I go to the doctors, the symptoms dissapear so they can't diagnose me.

I also have really messed up ribs! They wiggle more than they should, get stuck going inwards(making them poke my lungs), and occasionally just pop out of place. It's the worst, but makes for a great conversation starter at dinners.

[EiraQueenofSnow]

It relieves me a little to know that some others are having issues as well.... not that it's a good thing

@Amirai: Ouch that's pretty bad, what do you do when it starts to hurt badly? I mostly find myself trying to stretch out my wrists but sometimes that makes things way worse. >_<;
@winglesscomic: What's the disease called? Also that's no fun at all spinal troubles are serious i remember when one of my friends was found out to have scoliosis she went to the doctor like every day for a month. (but who needs siting up straight right? i hear standing is better for you and lying down is better for some organs.....or maybe I made that up XD;;;;; )
@Strontium:THat actually sounds like a good idea, I tend to just jump right in and then when I get pain I try to power through it to finish....Does ice really help?
@Cielle: And the staff is usually nice enough as well. >////< Can I ask how much diabetes affects your life? (I've never known anyone personally with it so I wonder.)
@SandraMJ: THat's a good idea, I'm only like partially ambutexterous.....maybe I sould work on that to give my hands resting periods.
@sarahrebecca58: haha I sound like an old person half the time now. Horay for the club of twenty somethings sounding too old for their age! XD;
@MechanicalPenguin: It took me two years, and a lot of tests from doctors hoping it was something else. Ouch I do know what that's like I mean I don't have enough damage in my feet or knees for it to impeed my capabilities of walking but I remember on terrible days i couldn't get up because it hurt so bad to move a little....Right now my doctors have me on steroids and they seem to help a lot but I'm still always in pain and I just wonder how to cope with that. How do you cope with RA besides assistance from others? (also I'm so sorry that your joints got so damaged. >.<)
@GlanceReviver: Oh my god that sounds exactly like what my sister has...or not exactly but alot like my sister. She once had her period nonstop for like two months and the doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong.....She even went through lots of bouts of depression. She has endometriosis but it took them over a year to diagnos her. If you ever feel depressed you can talk to me. I've had periods of extreme depressiveness as well and talking sometimes helps. >///<
@CPY : Oh man I know the boat you're in I've gone through bouts of getting seriously depressed just like that. I never cut either but I do remember doing things on purpose because I knew it would hurt me and I felt I deserved it or something like that. Actually when I was first diagnosed with RA I fell back into really dark thoughts....Like if I died the pain would end type thoughts. So you know if you ever feel really dark or depressive you can toalk to me. I may have terrible advise but sometimes talking or having a pity party together makes things feel better right? o.o?
@rainbowolfe: Omg that is totally what happens. With my RA the first like 4 times I went to the doctor the swellling miraculously went down so I couldn't show them my pain. XD;;; that does absolutely terrible but it's good to know you get a little bit of lemonade out of a really sour lemon >.<

[winglesscomic]

it's called cervical degenerative disc disease. basically the discs between my vertebrae are deteriorating and I can't put pressure on my neck (i.e. sitting upwards) without pain. so most of the time I just slouch.

sometimes though the pain in my neck gets really bad and even if I'm in the middle of something I have to stop and lay down in bed and do nothing until it goes away. sucks ass

I think it's interesting how it made me have to change my life to accommodate it. Diseases are like asshole bosses that make you work overtime otherwise you get fired.

[Strontium]

@EiraQueenofSnow yes the ice helps a ton! Wrap it around the problem area and keep it still for 10-20 minutes.

[purrlpankras]

currently...? WIND PROBLEMS.

No but seriously, nothing major but... I have severe dry eczema... I have to put cream on it twice a day or IT SPREADS...

[EiraQueenofSnow]

@purrlpankras7: haha wind problems I think I have that problem sometimes XD. Where is the eczema located? God that must suck, I sometimes have trouble remembering to tie my shoes i can only imagine how frustrating it would be to forget to put on the cream.

@Strontium: I'll try that I hope it helps >.<

[Damon]

joins the pain party

I've had joint pain since I was 15 and only got in to the doctor the past year. (I'm 23 now) I got tests done to check for arthritis and they found... nothing. Nothing in my blood tests to suggest any damage to my joints, yet my knee will regularly go out while I'm walking about. My primary doctor told me I've basically got fibromyalgia and I'm hoping to get in to see a rheumatologist to confirm and be like, yeah sorry that's what cha got kid. The pain hasn't impeded my ability to draw, though sculpting is too tough on my wrists and finger joints anymore.

On top of that, there's chronic depression, high levels of anxiety that prevents me from making phone calls or going new places that I'm trying to learn how to cope with, hypoglycemia, heartburn and regular stomach pains. Basically my body is a train wreck.

[VermillionWorks]

No serious medical problems on my end, but does mild lactose intolerance, acid reflux and chronic headaches count? XD The headaches in particular can leave me stuck lying in bed all day at their worst.

I also have a messed up arm from drawing too much, which I honestly haven't had properly diagnosed. ^^; Kind of going on the assumption it's tennis elbow or something like that.

[Cielle]

@EiraQueenofSnow well, it's hard for me to say how much it affects my life, to be honest. It's definitely something I have to think about (on the back burner) most of the day, but I've had it since I was four, so it's kind of just second nature at this point. In general, it doesn't stop me from doing anything, I just have to plan a bit more for it. For example, I have my scuba diving licence, but I had to learn how to drink a juice box underwater in case I get low blood sugar. Mostly I just have to think about all the things that might go wrong and plan for them. I've only had to go to the hospital once for diabetes specifically because my blood sugar dropped too low and I passed out/had a mini seizure. I don't really remember what happened though, so I think it was worse for my family who had to watch it happen. As long as you stay on top of the condition, it's manageable, but it can be scary sometimes with all the needles and stuff >.< One of my best friends has JRA though and we bond over having auto-immune disorders. The worst thing is when people don't know how to react and treat you like you're made of out fragile glass, try to manage your condition for you, etc, etc. I don't know how many times people have reacted to me having diabetes by saying "Oh, so you can't eat sugar, right?" or "are you sure you should be eating that?!" I know they mean well, but sometimes it gets old. We're all just people, too, like anyone else! Different, but not less.