definatalie.com » health

Links across the bloggiverse

Natalie — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 00:15:06 +0000

I haven’t done a links post in ~forever~ but there are a few things on the internet that are REALLY REALLY AWESOME and I want to share them with you.

THE US SURGEON GENERAL SAYS YOU CAN BE FIT AND HEALTHY AT ANY WEIGHT! Like Nick just said on Twitter, how has this been out since January and I’ve only just seen it in October?!

Two Piece Swimsuit, Two Middle Fingers
Frances’ fantastic response to Natasha Hughes’ deeply body shaming column in The Sydney Morning Herald. Or, as I like to call it, The Shaking My Head (SMH) Daily.

trying to be thin what done her in
Lisa writes about her relationship with her body and food and how she’s had no peace for 31 years. I’m always astounded when weight loss surgery patients admit that the surgery they’ve had on their bodies hasn’t met their expectations, and has actually let them and their health down. As Lisa says, “When I first got the gastric band in 1988 I weighed exactly what I do right now. I’ve come full circle.”

ABC Family Cancels ‘Huge’
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO :( This TV show had bodies like mine, it had characters that challenged stereotypes and it actually discussed love, gender, sexuality and bodies with nuance I’d never seen on TV before. I’d be squirming in my seat every episode because the awkwardness was so palpable, but most of that could be attributed to the terrible daylight for twilight camera filter they used all the time and I’D TAKE IT ALL BACK if ABC Family brought back Huge. Writer Savannah Dooley has stated on Facebook that ABC Family can not be persuaded but if you feel like trying, here’s a Facebook group and there’s a petition on Jezebel.

Critical Questions to Ask Before You Buy Pink
It’s really important to investigate who you’re donating money to before you hand your hard earned over… it mightn’t be going towards breast cancer research at all and in all actuality might be used to fund companies that manufacture products that are linked to cancer!

As a fat person, I reject the definition of fat tainted by slurs, but not on the basis that I am not fat: instead, I reject that I am more lazy, less beautiful, less healthy, less worthwhile because I am fat. Its application as a slur is a demonizing misapplication by the arbitrary tastes and forces of the kyriarchy. Its sting makes it all the more powerful a word to apply to my own body with confidence and pride.

Why I use that word that I use: Fat on Deeply Problematic

show me your hair!
This is a cool post on the fatshionista LiveJournal community where lots of people shared photos of their hairstyles. If you like to share or you want some inspiration, do check it out.

Finally some uncredited images from Tumblr:

If you want to share good stuff you’ve read recently in the comments, do go for it. We all love good stuff!

My radio debut on 612 ABC Brisbane

Natalie — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 12:06:52 +0000

This morning I had a chat with Chris O’Brien on 612 ABC Brisbane and we talked about fat acceptance and the burgeoning movement within Australia. I’m still really sick so I sound all sultry and crook, so I invited Nick to come with me because I was worried I’d pass out or trail off into a cold and flu medication inspired delirium. Also he’s very good at dealing with media stuff! He’s been on MTR, Today Tonight and a few other things – Nick’s certainly the media fatty in our household.

I speak a little bit about the Fat Studies Conference which is happening this Friday and Saturday in Sydney! Finally, it’s here! I’m still putting the finishing touches on my presentation and I’m really nervous. Further jangling my nerves: the doctor put a potential damper on my conference plans when he told me that I had an ear infection that put me at risk of a ruptured drum if I flew before it cleared up. ARGH! I’m adamant that I will still fly, because so many of YOU donated towards getting me to the conference, and if I was let down at the last minute by my stupid infected ear and sinuses I would be really angry at myself and wouldn’t be surprised if you guys were too.

I’m confident my ear will be ok. I have an arsenal of potions, sprays, and tablets and the will of an angry fat lady.

Anyhoo – go here to listen to the audio of the interview.

Transcript courtesy of @nanoraptor:

CHRIS: Thank you for coming in. We’re told that being overweight is very bad for our health, would you disagree with that, Natalie?

NATALIE: Generally for most people you can only take this on an individual basis, and most of the studies done are on statistical population basis, and so you get things like the BMI saying that it’s very very bad to be overweight towards morbidly obese.

CHRIS: That’s the body mass…

NATALIE: The Body Mass Index. But that’s been soundly thrown out by lots of people including doctors and universities, and we think that health should be viewed on an individual level, and so you find that a lot of overweight and morbidly obese people can be perfectly healthy and while the media, other individuals, think they totally can’t be because they are fat.

CHRIS: So did you say that there is doctor’s and scientific agreement with that theory?

NATALIE: Yes, absolutely, and it’s coming out more and more

CHRIS: Does that mean therefore that even the term morbidly obese is not correct?

NATALIE: It’s a classifier, people still stick with it, it’s sort of a hangover, and doctors still actually use it. A lot of fat acceptance advocates actually use it in a sort of tongue in cheek way, so some of us call ourselves ‘death fatties’ it’s… they’re trying to phase it out because they think it’s too easy to make fun of, but yeah, people are owning it and taking on the label.

CHRIS: So explain to me then the scientific reasoning, the doctor’s reasoning, what we’ve always been taught is that your weight can affect issues like cholesterol and heart, and so on, so where is that theory wrong?

NATALIE: It’s not wrong, it’s just that the research they’ve done is on a population level of thousands and thousands of people, and a lot of the studies that were done are actually biased, and they’re taken out by weight loss product companies and gastric banding manufacturers, and a lot of the research done that fat acceptance people refer to is actually biased in that way, and the doctors are actually paid out by these companies, so the stuff that gets to the media is often not checked out.

NICK: And it’s also important to note that a lot of studies that are done these days are, I don’t know the correct term, but they’re done after the fact, so they’re sort of a meta-study, where they go back and they look at studies that have been done over the last ten-fifteen years, and they ask, they pose questions like “OK, what trends can we find within the statistics that we have?” and quite often it can be looking for a trend rather than actually doing a study from scratch and using the gold standard double blind tests and actually looking to see what the outcome is, so instead of proposing a study where you say “Let’s look at these morbidly obese people and find out what health issues they’ve got” it can be “Let’s look back at these studies of people and find out whether they’ve got high cholesterol” and they can say “OK well they have got high cholesterol” because that’s what they’re looking for.

CHRIS: It’s a quarter to ten on 612 ABC Brisbane, I’m speaking with Natalie Perkins who’s going to be addressing the first Australian Fat Studies Conference. What’s that about?

NATALIE: The Fat Studies Conference has been organised to get in people from around Australia and overseas to talk about fatness and health and all the issues around it, the social issues, because it’s never been done before, and it seems like everything when it’s done in the media about the obesity epidemic, which is totally not there, people talk about fat people not to fat people, so I think this conference is organised to get fat people to speak for themselves on their own behalves.

CHRIS: And what sort of issues will they be talking about?

NATALIE: Well, you know you’ve got things like health, you’ve got sexuality, you’ve got exercise and movement, you’ve also got health preventions, like gastric banding and things like that, and you’ve got doctors, you’ve got bloggers like me, and activists from around the world.

CHRIS: And you’re not afraid of the word fat?

NATALIE: No, absolutely not, I’ve got a necklace on right now that says fat!

NICK: Yes, and I mean it’s all about trying to own the word ‘fat’, because for a long time now it’s been used as a pejorative rather than as a descriptive word…

CHRIS: An insult…

NICK: Yeah, and realistically it should be in the same class as ‘tall’ and ‘short’. It’s not an insult to say that I’m a fat person, it’s just a descriptive word, it’s like saying that someone’s a skinny person – I don’t think that’s an insult to anyone, it’s just that they’re a skinny person, so where’s the sense in calling fat, using fat, as an offensive word, I guess.

CHRIS: Alright I’m going to happily embrace that for the rest of this interview. I’ve been skinny all my life, have you guys been fat all your lives? Has it been an issue that’s been something you’ve had to grow up with?

NICK: Well I’ve been fat all my life, I was always a big boy, my mother reminds me that I was probably four when she couldn’t pick me up any more, I mean I was born as a very large baby and I’ve always been a very large man, and I don’t think I’d ever go back, I don’t think there is a way I could ever go back. People often say to me well why don’t you just become thin, or why don’t you just become a normal weight? and I say to them well I don’t choose to be fat, it’s not a choice that anyone really makes, it’s just the way that my body is, now I don’t choose to be discriminated against, I mean if it was as easy as pie to lose weigh, you would because the discrimination goes away…

CHRIS: OK, I’ll just jump in there, you’ve been saying that you don’t worry about the fact that you are fat, but you said you would lose weight if you could?

NICK: No, if it was as easy as people say it is…

NATALIE: Because people treat skinnier people much better

NICK: Yeah

NATALIE: You know, there’s a whole industry based around making people feel bad for being fat, and if you could lose weight to fit in more, to buy better clothes, why wouldn’t you? that’s what most people think.

NICK: Yeah, it’s not a desire I have to be a thin person, it’s just that I guess anyone who is discriminated against might dream that it would be so much easier to live my life if I just changed myself to be out of that group that’s discriminated against, but I’ve come to accept that that isn’t going to happen and that I have to live with this discrimination, work against it, and try and fight it.

NATALIE: And there’s actually health risks involved in crash dieting and dieting over and over again.

CHRIS: So, just recapping then, it’s difficult to maintain a healthy self esteem is it, when you’re bombarded with the images in the media and from the general public?

NATALIE: Absolutely, and even people who could be classified as slender, and skinny, they’re bombarded with exactly the same messages, and they go through the same things, they go and consume all the weight loss products because they have this fear of fat, it’s a social fear rather than a health fear I think.

CHRIS: 1300 222 612 is my number, 1300 222 612, or you can SMS 199 22 612 and don’t forget to tweet on @612brisbane, just having a bit of a problem remembering the name of the city I live in…

NICK: That’s alright!

CHRIS: I have a tremendously high IQ, but it just goes out the window when I’m behind the microphone!

NICK: It’s that whole twitterverse thing, I understand!

CHRIS: The conference, Natalie, will that look at ways to change these perceptions? Obviously it’s difficult to completely change the world in five minutes, but is that one of the things the conference will look at?

NATALIE: Yes, well I think the whole thing just getting a bunch of people together, talking about being fat, will start to get a sense of community together, and get a dialogue actually happening, you know there might be presenters who actually looking at ways to advocate for fat people for health, and other things. But I think the whole thing will help start the dialogue happening in a much healthier way.

CHRIS: And it’s the first, it’s never happened before? in Australia or anywhere?

NATALIE: In australia I don’t think it’s been done before, in the states they’ve got quite a big fat acceptance movement, starting with NAAFA in the seventies I think. National Advancement Action something Fat Acceptance. I can’t remember!

CHRIS: Well there’s the NAACP, which was the group set up for african americans, so that’s interesting. So OK, so it’s been done in the states

NATALIE: Yes

CHRIS: And this is the first time in australia, what sort of things can be directed at fat people on a day to day basis that maybe I wouldn’t have noticed?

NATALIE: Well you know, it’s environmental, it’s everywhere, you go on a bus and you’ll find that someone will give you the side-eyes as if you’re taking up too much space, it’s an issue for women in particular because we’re always taught to minimise ourselves and be small and feminine, so you do get that, and you get on planes and you get people looking at you funny because your elbows reach over the sides

NICK: And then there was yesterday I was walking through the CBD on my lunch break, and I was crossing the traffic lights and some guy in the car decided to let me know just what he thought of me and my weight, which I thought was just wonderful to have on my lunchbreak.

CHRIS: hat is not good

NICK: No

NATALIE: But it’s not just that kind of stuff either, you get the polite kind of conversation bombardment with the weight loss talk in the lunch room, everything is directed towards this fear of fat, even if you’re not fat

CHRIS: Yes, so I can see where you’re coming from, you’re saying you’d be tremendously happy to embrace it and get on with life and be happy about it…

NATALIE: That”s what I’m trying to do!

CHRIS: …and people aren’t helping.

NATALIE: No, no but I don’t think it’s an intentional thing at all, this is just our society, and it’s just what’s been happening through our health policies and the media, and things like that, it all helps to encourage this… the fear of fat.

CHRIS: Do you see any role for legislation in terms of discrimination, I mean there are so many laws about discrimination in other areas of life, discriminating on the basis of gender, discriminating on the basis of race etcetera?

NATALIE: It’s been brought in in one state actually in America, I think it’d be good to have legislation in terms of employment, and things like that, but

CHRIS: Have you either had job problems because…

NATALIE: Yes

NICK: I haven’t myself, but I used to work in the public service, so that was very much not an issue for that sort of industry, but I know in the private sector it can be, it’s just purely because of perceptions by employers that you’re a lazy person if you’re overweight, you don’t pull your weight which is funny if you think about it.

CHRIS: Yes if you pulled you weight, you’d be giving…

NICK: I’d be giving more than everyone else wouldn’t I! But it’s just a perception, and I guess if you think about it, fifty to sixty years ago there were so many perceptions within Australia that if we had those now it would be so inappropriate, and it’s just a matter of educating people over time that you know, opinions need to change and the way we think about people has to change, and we’ve changed so many things, so why not this one as well?

CHRIS: Did you Natalie say you have had job…

NATALIE: Yes, I had an employer who wouldn’t let a few days go by without saying something about, you know, running’s the best way to lose weight. Actually running is a high impact sport, and runners often have more health problems than fat people!

CHRIS: You klnow your stuff!

NATALIE: Yeah, well, comments about when I was buying a new chair – “Make sure you get the wide one to fit your arse in it” so I was like hmm thanks, that’s not actually appropriate.

NICK: It might be nice advice, but I mean, it’s something that you don’t talk about

NATALIE: It was completely inappropriate

NICK: It was inappropriate for workplace, yes

CHRIS: So the conference is on in Sydney next week, I hope we get some media coverage of it, and we can see how it went for you.

NATALIE: I hope it goes really well.

CHRIS: Well thank you for coming in.

NATALIE: Thanks for having us

CHRIS: It was great to meet you

NICK: great to talk to you

CHRIS: Natalie Perkins and Nick at 612 ABC Brisbane.

My Couch to 5k: the beginnening

Natalie — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 13:10:39 +0000

If you’ve read my blog for a little while, you’ll have learnt that I am pro body acceptance and anti body negativity. Body acceptance, for me, involves honouring one’s body and loving it for what it can do and not treating it too poorly because it doesn’t look like other people’s (amongst other things). Body negativity covers dieting, negative self talk and shaming other people’s bodies to make yourself feel better (amongst other things).

One of the things I always wanted to do, but worried that I couldn’t, is run. Last year, in my year of being awesome to myself, I started to believe I could run! Sure, running in public as a fat person is scary and fraught with anxiety, but it was an issue I had to confront if I wanted to achieve my goal. I started by meeting a personal trainer and telling her about Health At Every Size and encouraging her to incorporate HAES principles into her ethos. Then I bought a pair of skins and walked the Bridge to Brisbane in a tutu! I’d heard of Couch to 5k a couple of years ago but instantly dismissed it because I didn’t know what my body could do, and then I forgot all about it until I was looking for iPhone apps late one night a few weeks ago. I came across the C25k app and it was decided – I would achieve my goal to run.

In the last year, even though I had a great foundation of self esteem, I became more comfortable with my visibility as a fat person. Running challenges how comfortable I am as a fat person making herself visible, because fat people are not perceived as being able to run or being interested in their health (I know this to be untrue, but do you?) I want to run down a busy main road and not worry about cat calls or abuse, because I am running for me. It’s important to mention that I’m not doing this for weight loss. Running has always been something that has intrigued me, and when I see people jogging along the road I feel pangs of envy. I enjoy moving my body – yep, even working up a sweat – but I am not interested in competitive sports, so activities like walking and swimming have always appealed to me. But running… running involves pushing through mental barriers, physical stamina, breathing correctly, and best of all… moving swiftly!

If you’re not familiar with the Couch to 5k concept, it is a nine week programme that has three sessions per week. You start with a five minute walking warm up and then do a 60 second jog followed by a 90 second walk. The jogging interval is repeated for 20 minutes, and concluded with a five minute cool down walk. Every week the intervals are stepped up until you hit Week 7 when you’re running for 25 minutes. In the final three weeks you work up to running the whole 5k!

I started the first week of the Couch to 5k programme last week and probably got a bit too ambitious – I did two sessions in two days without giving my body a chance to rest. So I left the third session of the first week until today. Upon reflection, it’s been quite amazing to see the improvement in my body: my bones are getting stronger and I have more stamina! I am aiming to repeat Week 1 again, just to make sure I am physically and mentally prepared for the next week’s challenge.

I am hoping to blog about my Couch to 5k programme weekly – to reflect and encourage myself, and maybe a little bit because I want you to hold me to my commitment! If you want to join me in the C25k there are a heap of resources on c25k.com where you can download an iPhone or iPod app or find a podcast. There’s also heaps of tips and support at Cool Runnings too!

My tips for starting Week 1 of the Couch to 5k:

Wear skins – lycra tights that allow your thighs to glide past each other. You will regret the epic chafing if you don’t wear lycra! Mine are from Target, I found them in the men’s section!
If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch (I think) you can download the C2Ck app; if you have an mp3 player you can download any number of podcasts that have music playing between the intervals; and if you don’t have either, go buy a stop watch with a countdown timer.
If you’re using the Apple app – don’t lock your screen. It’s a pain in the arse but apparently Apple won’t let programs run in the background. I learnt this the hard way and pretty much walked my whole first session wondering when I’d have to run!
Take it easy, and jog at your own pace. Even if that pace is slow.
If you can’t push through a tough jogging interval, walk through it. Just keep moving.
BREATHE! Even if you have to breathe loudly. It’s your right as a human being.
High five yourself when you’re finished each session!

30 Things About My Invisible Illness You May Not Know

Natalie — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 02:15:24 +0000

Illness by sctag1015

This week is National Invisible Chronic Awareness Week in America, and even though I’m international I thought this questionaire would be helpful not only for myself, but for readers of my blog!

1. The illness(es) I live with are:
Type 1 diabetes (T1D), depression and anxiety with a little tendinitis (and arm cysts!) thrown in

2. I was diagnosed with it/them in the year:
T1D – 1998
Depression and anxiety – 2001
Tendinitis/ RSI – 2007

3. But I had symptoms since:
T1D – a few months before being diagnosed (generally you don’t let that shit slide or else you get dead!)
Depression and anxiety – since 1995
Tendinitis – since about 2005

4. The biggest adjustment I’ve had to make is:
Having to interrupt my day to jab myself and eat on a schedule, being a slave to doctors (currently my beef is that they will only give me 1 repeat of insulin so I have to keep going back!)

My depression isn’t as severe as it used to be, I think learning coping mechanisms has helped me a lot in my day to day life. Surprisingly, my anxiety has been largely ignored by the doctors and shrinks so I’m still doing unproductive things like not answering calls from numbers I don’t recognise, putting my phone on silent for weeks on end, having trouble going outside by myself, etc.

I have to wear a wrist brace when I’m working, and if I really aggravate my arm I can’t work for days on end. It interrupts my workflow, and affects my ability to consistently earn money. It also makes me feel pathetic and useless when the pain is at its worst.

5. Most people assume:
I’m fat because I have type 2 diabetes. No. I’m probably fat because I give myself too much insulin, which results in fabulous to low Hb1ac levels (the coating of sugar on my blood cells) and weight gain. T1D sufferers who are very skinny (as a result of rapid weight loss, not natural body weight) likely have very high Hb1ac levels, which leads to diabetes complications like blindness and kidney disease. I will likely meet my end with a stroke or heart disease, maybe even an amputated limb.

People assume that I’m useless and aloof because of many of my anxiety symptoms. When I was a child and teen, people used to get so frustrated with my avoidance tactics and would reprimand me because I would refuse to call places when they asked me to, or because I was socially awkward.

When I wear a wrist brace out in public people are generally nicer and more helpful. Which is surprising considering when I had a bung foot going to Melbourne in December, I had to use a walking stick and some people were rude and inconsiderate. On the flight down, many of the families with children waiting to board encouraged me to get on the plane first but I was nearly bowled over by some impatient special snowflake who didn’t have any trouble walking, nor did he have children!

6. The hardest part about mornings is:
Having to wake up at a timely hour to have my insulin. If I don’t stick to a schedule, everything gets screwed around a bit.

7. My favorite medical TV show is:
I don’t really like watching the real life shows, but I like Scrubs.

8. A gadget I couldn’t live without is:
Insulin pens :D

9. The hardest part about nights is:
Having hypos at 3am and having to get up and force carbs into my face when I don’t want to eat.

10. Each day I take [?] pills & vitamins.
I’m really bad with taking pills and/ or vitamins!! I’m lucky in that pills aren’t really a part of my health care regimen, even though a multi-vitamin probably wouldn’t hurt!

11. Regarding alternative treatments, I:
Certain people have tried to convince me that my diabetes can be cured with homeopathy and a raw vegan diet. Righteo!! If there was a bona-fide cure I’m sure I’d have a mailbox stuffed with excited proclamations from Diabetes Australia/ Queensland!

I want to get hypnotised and see if it helps my anxiety. I’m very curious about it because I have a few people close to me who have been helped by it.

I’ve tried a course of acupuncture for my tendinitis and while it provided short term relief for a matter of hours, it really wasn’t the relief I was looking for (IE: LONGTERM!)

12. If I had to choose between an invisible illness and a visible one, I would choose:
I really have no experience having a visible illness, besides wearing a brace in public occasionally. I can’t conceive of a life without diabetes – sometimes when I have dinner with friends I find it strange that they don’t whip out their insulin pens and jab themselves when I do. Most of the time, people don’t even notice when I inject myself!

So yeh, short answer: I can’t choose, and I don’t know differently.

13. Regarding working and career:
Having hypos in the workplace can be very embarrassing sometimes, because a low blood sugar attack can make one look quite drunk and disoriented. Many workplaces I’ve been in I’ve had to simply wait until I could excuse myself to get sugar – which is completely unfair, I know.

Having an anxiety disorder and working has been challenging, but generally it has helped me confront things that I would have put in the “too hard” basket.

14. People would be surprised to know:
That I would be dead if insulin wasn’t on the PBS. It’s expensive as it is, but it’d be 20 times more expensive if it wasn’t subsidised by the government.

15. The hardest thing to accept about my new reality is:
I’m going to die younger than Nick and my friends.

16. Something I never thought I could do with my illness was:
Go overseas. I’m still not sure how I would manage it, with the time zone changes and what not… it’d royally screw up my insulin regimen.

17. The commercials about my illness:
There are very few commercials about T1D. Usually it’s scare tactics about T2D (which means that people assume I have T2D).

18. Something I really miss doing since I was diagnosed:
I miss not giving a shit about when I eat or what I eat.
I miss the strength I used to have in my wrist.

19. It was really hard to give up:
Smoking. I’m still weening myself off them and I’m not the type to get all sanctimonious about it. I actually really enjoyed smoking as a way to alleviate some of my anxiety!

20. A new hobby I’ve taken up since my diagnosis is:
I’m trying to do new things in my creative practice that don’t involve such intensive use of my wrist. Right now I’m making rosettes out of ties.

21. If I could have one day of feeling normal again, I would:
Go traveling and eating.

22. My illness has taught me:
How to be a control freak.

23. Want to know a secret? One thing people say (about my illness) that gets under my skin is:
- XXXXX CURES DIABETES
- CAN YOU EAT THAT?

24. But I love it when people:
Look after me when I’ve had a hypo or panic attack. It makes me feel like less of a freak.

25. My favorite motto, scripture, quote that gets me through tough times is:
I usually just say to myself that tomorrow will come like yesterday came, and pretty soon it’ll be next month. It really helps me feel like there will be a future when I think the world is going to end.

26. When someone is diagnosed I like to tell them:
Ask me anything.

27. Something that has surprised me about living with an illness is:
How little some medical professionals know. Like, when I’m in hospital getting hourly obs – THE NURSES ALWAYS COME IN AND PRICK THE TIP OF THE SAME DAMNED FINGER.

a) Don’t stick the tip or the pad of my fingers. There are helpful nerves in them! Lance the side of my fingers where there aren’t as many nerves to damage.
b) DIDN’T YOU DO ANATOMY AS PART OF YOUR TRAINING?
c) OW! That hurts! Rotate those injection sites.

28. The nicest thing someone did for me when I wasn’t feeling well was:
Get me orange juice or something similarly sugary. There’s no one time, it’s not a standalone occurrence, but my friends and loved ones always know what to do!

29. I’m involved with Invisible Illness Week because:
I never really considered that I have invisible illnesses, but I do. I always like to imagine I’m a normal person, but I’m not. That’s a delusion that healthy people don’t have to suffer.

30. The fact that you read this list makes me feel:
Thankful and a little weirded out, considering this blog is so public! But I think it’s important to talk about our health, especially about depression and anxiety.

Disclaimer of sorts: This awareness week was started by a Christian ministry, and while I am an atheist I think it’s important to make people aware of chronic invisible illnesses. I also think it’s important to treat them with medical science, not just prayer – like in the case of the diabetic 11 year old who died because her Christian parents refused her medical treatment, preferring to pray for her healing rather than providing her treatment.
/controversy