Hello, and welcome!
I’m Siobhan – a 20-something living in country Australia with her family/carers. I’m a tea-drinking, clothes-making, quick-knitting, cat-loving, serial angry letter writer.*
In 2010, I was diagnosed with ME/CFS (myalgic encephalomyelitis / chronic fatigue syndrome), an event which has shaped the rest of my life. I had to give up my studies in psychology and haven’t been able to work or study since. My 20s have been spent mostly bedbound or housebound.
In this blog, I intend to document my adventures with ME/CFS and my various other illnesses (dysautonomia and anxiety). Along the way, I’ll share my sewing and knitting creations. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about ME/CFS, or if you just want to chat, at: chronicallysiobhan at gmail dot com.
You can read more about my experiences with severe ME/CFS in my very first blog post. I’ve detailed my period of hospitalisation and abuse by the medical profession in my post about gaslighting. And if you wish to know more about my day-to-day living, check out a day in the life (with an update on the relapse I suffered since writing that piece). (Follow along with the personal health tag for more updated information.)
For those new to ME/CFS and wondering what it’s all about, I’ve published a five-part Dummies’ Guide to ME/CFS on my blog, which covers everything from statistics, to treatment, severe ME and the trouble with its name.
*Check the letters section of The Age for proof.
Some popular posts
- Indie Pattern Companies or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Big 4, Part I & Part II
- A Dalek Outfit, and 10 Things I Hate About Spoonflower (a Spoonflower fabric review)
- Under pressure – compression garments & POTS
- Mean Girlzzz: How dissenting women are silenced in the online sewing community
- Electrolyte Drink Mega-Review
- Free vintage lingerie patterns
- Disability and gaslighting: when being disabled makes you crazy
- How to sew a mitred v-neck with bias facing & an easier bias facing method (more tutorials here)
- Inspiration porn, cripple punk and why I refuse to be grateful for my chronic illness
My writing elsewhere
What I Need People to Understand About Severe Chronic Fatigue Syndrome – The Mighty
4 Downsides (and Bright Sides) of My Illness – The Mighty
Why I Refuse to be a ‘Good Disabled’ Person – The Mighty
Warrnambool’s Siobhan Simper calls for better disabled access in the CBD – opinion piece in my local paper, The Warrnambool Standard
We Cannot Continue to Let Doctors ‘Gaslight’ Chronic Illness Patients – The Mighty
The Trauma of Not Being Seen: Invisible Disability and Modern Day Hysteria – Adios Barbie
Dysautonomia Awareness Month 2016 Guest Post: The Need for Increased Telehealth Options for Rural Dysautonomia Patients – Living With Bob
Why I Think ‘Chronic Fatigue Syndrome’ Needs a Name Change – The Mighty
What I Wish For Most This Christmas as Someone With Severe Myalgic Encephalomyelitis – The Mighty
Shaving My Head Helped My Take Control of My Life When an Illness Took Away My Independence – xoJane
The wink wink, nudge nudge guide to parliamentary entitlements – Independent Australia
The Ongoing Process of Grief When You Have a Chronic Illness – The Mighty
Seven things you probably don’t know about chronic fatigue syndrome – Mamamia
What the ‘female’ traffic light response reveals about how society views women – Independent Australia
Héritier Lumumba and the AFL’s problem with race – Independent Australia
Unrest review: an intimate journey – AIM Network
Horse racing kicks sand in the face of Levy’s Beach – Independent Australia
