Last week I wrote a post that discussed my personal experience of how my anxiety affects my autoimmune disease. News Ltd asked to share (an extended version) on their site, too.
I have written about autoimmune disease – as well as my anxiety – regularly for four years. I write such posts with a lot of care, and mindfulness, and from a place of vulnerability. I’m aware of the vulnerable position others with the same disease are in, because I’m usually in that exact position when I write the posts.
I write when I feel stuff. I write autoimmune posts when I’m in pain.
I try very hard to not engage in online nastiness nor arguments where the protagonist and/or line is one I don’t respect. I write about this often, too.
But I do feel an obligation to make things clear to readers here on this blog who’ve become confused – or are hurt and defensive – from online blowouts that implicate me.
There was one such blowout over the weekend, which I will now respond to with care and vulnerability.
1. I do not claim to know why (all) women get sick. I was accused of this over the weekend by one blogger writing on Mamamia.com. I posed the question (in my headline): Could female self-hatred be the real cause of autoimmune disease? I then wrote about my personal experience with this phenomenon.
2. I did not speak out on all illness. My post was about autoimmune disease very specifically. I refer to my take on the theory espoused in the very clear context of Hashimotos, the disease I suffer from.
3. It’s always good to read the original post. I invite anyone inclined to opine on this subject to please read what I