0 to 70 in Less Than 60 Seconds

Imagine walking into a local cafe, you order your meal and sit at a table waiting for the server to bring you your lunch. As your waiting you overhear a conversation of two woman at the next table.

Gurtie: "Agnes, how are you feeling today?"

Agnes: "Oh Gurtie, just getting out of bed is a chore."

Gurtie: "I know what you mean. When I finally get enough energy to pull myself out of bed, I have to use the wall to balance myself to keep from falling."

Agnes: "That's awful Gurtie, I have the same problem every morning, my dogs
actually make a run for it when I head down the hall."

Gurtie: "It's so frustrating, I tried to take a shower without my shower chair today and almost passed out! I can't even take a shower without a shower chair!"

Agnes: "I'm so glad I don't need one of those yet, though bathing is still a huge challenge, my biggest fear is someone finding me passed out in my birthday suit on the shower floor."

Gurtie: "So, what did you order for lunch?"

Agnes: "Not much, just soup. Never sure what my stomach can handle. Nausea every day gets old Gurtie."

Gurtie:" I hear ya, I've always boasted of having a stomach like a steel trap, now I'm gluten free, lactose intolerant and veggies send my system to a tail spin."

Agnes: "How'd that shopping trip go with your daughter last week, I know you were a bit worried about it?"

Gurtie: "Took the wheelchair, didn't run into too many people. But it is hard not to always be able to get at what you want. It was nice to go shopping
without getting too pooped out!"

Agnes: "Yeah the last shopping trip I made took days to recover."

Gurtie: "How are the migraines, any relief?"

Agnes: "A bit better since the doctor prescribed um.....um....."

Gurtie: "So frustrating when you can't remember the next word, happens to me all the time."

Agnes: Yawn...."Getting tired, should head for home and take a nap."

Gurtie: "Yup, pretty tired myself a nap sounds great!"

Both ladies get up, one grabs the table to steady herself and they both head slowly out the door.

You might be thinking that this conversation is coming from a couple sweet retired ladies struggling with the plagues of old age. But this could easily come from a pair of ladies suffering with dysautonomia. Switch the names to Amy, Ashley, Bethani, Carol, Cathy, Cyndi, Donna, Geney, Kristen, Lyla, Marilyn, Michele, Miranda, Stacy, Tracy or Vi. Instead of the pains of a 70 year old, it could be the pains of twenty, thirty, forty or fifty year old. Way too early for these kinds of problems.

Dysautonomia makes me feel like I'm seventy. When I was younger I promised myself "when I get old I'm never going to be one of "those people" who sit around complaining about their ailments". I'm realizing that when you wake up feeling awful 24/7 and feeling bad plagues every minute of the day, sometimes you just can't get away from it. Feeling ill in the foreground of your thoughts sometimes makes you speak of your illness more than you'd like too. It takes a quite bit to not complain. I'm getting better at giving the pat answer of "I'm fine" to those who are just going through the motions of social etiquette, and being honest with those who really care and want to know.

Feeling like Gurtie with Michele on the inside.

2 Cor. 12:10
Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.