My (Faulty) Human Suit

Alright, alright. Originally there was a very, very, very--honestly just way too long--post here about me and my health and my history and all of this business but it was too much.

It involved the following gifs:

And it involved lots of feelings. And, not that there's anything with several thousand words about my feelings but, honestly, it really was too much. I've copied that text out and moved it to a document where only I can be tortured by its rambling, potentially incoherent length.

Here is the essence of the post:
I've had a lot of weird, unexplained health problems for a long time. I happened across a lightbulb-inducing article about a medical condition called Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and suddenly all kinds of things in my life started to click together. I went to the doctor and asked her about it and she, having another patient with EDS, said, "Yep. You got it." And referred me to a specialist (I have yet to visit) regarding an official diagnosis.

I am currently dealing with the emotional and physical implications of this preliminary (but, let's be honest, everything--everything--fits too well for it to not be this) diagnosis. If you're interested you can read about Ehlers Danlos on the EDNF site or in this Buzzfeed post which, if I'm honest, I don't like the tone of but the information is condensed and arranged for easier digestion. And here's a nice, well-organized rundown about it from a blogger in the UK. Ehlers Danlos presents in all kinds of different ways and, while my body is a ridiculous mishmash of weirdness, I don't seem to have this to any really serious or severe degree and that's good news. Basically this diagnosis (there's no cure) means that I understand my body, my history, my limitations, and my potential better than I did before and, in the end, that's a good thing.