I'm not sure if ITP/Thrombocytopenia officially counts as a chronic illness, but I've had it for years.

Since I'm diagnosed with low platelet count I can't participate in fitness activities that can give me bruises, I have to stay away from people that smoke (which can be hard living in a town with lots of smokers), and I'm not allowed to take certain kinds of medicine.

i myself have chronic upper respiratory infections, asthma, possible chronic laryngitis, anxiety, PTSD, mild depression... oh and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome... im a bundle of messes lol

Hoi - what's been going on with the hormones? ive got a hormonal condition myself, and i gotta be on birth control to lol

Honestly not sure. If I'm not on birth control, I start having two periods a month that are really severe and painful, to where it's actually concerning because I could get anemic. It usually stays under control for a couple months after I go off whatever hormonal pills I was on and then comes back eventually. Then most recently I started getting migraines before, during and after them, so for about 2.5 weeks out of the month I was unable to function, and that's when I had to see a new doctor for it.

She actually tested my hormone levels. Her first thought was that I could have higher testosterone than normal and she also thought I could have PCOS, but when we got the results back, everything was normal except my testosterone being slightly above average--just barely. I only went after the first time I had a second period though so maybe it just didn't have time to get as badly out of control?

But whatever's going on, my current birth control is awesome! I got on the implant that goes in your arm, Nexplanon, and it's been amazing. I always feel weird and not myself on most estrogen pills (probably because of the elevated testosterone), and now with a certain type of migraines I have those aren't safe. Nexplanon doesn't have estrogen, so it's safe for me and doesn't do that. It stopped the hormonal migraines too. Having it put in wasn't bad at all, haven't had side effects except a little bit of nausea the second day, and I don't have to deal with taking an extra pill every day. I actually completely forget it's there sometimes.

I had similar results with nexplanon, actually :p but i switched over to a new kind after mine "expired" lol.

My periods would go months on end, and did lead me to be anemic. They were also extremely painful and sucked, cause i ruined a lot of clothing.

My options are either one specific pill, an IUD or nexplanon, so unless it starts causing me problems I'm probably going to stick with it. Migraines with aura really messes up which ones I can safely use.

Yeah, it's awful! I would have cramps so bad that one time I literally fell to my knees from the pain. Wish I could have gotten an official diagnosis, but not getting any answers is a recurring theme for me. Dealing with it for months sounds terrible. How are you doing now?

Right now i am mostly dealing with a lot of weight issues. it fluxuates a lot, which is frustrating. I have problems with my liver due to my weight, and i am also at risk for diabetes.

Oh gosh. I know a lot of people who've had weight gain or loss because of meds or illnesses, it's difficult. Mine doesn't usually change too much, but it's dropping a bit now from not eating enough because I don't feel too great.

I'm currently looking at potential knee surgery, so that's stressful. Hopefully I can find out if my doctors picked someone to evaluate me when I go to an appointment Wednesday, and hopefully they actually do their job right unlike the 4 doctors I've seen so far.

Im looking at bariatric surgery at this point. everything ive tried has failed, and my weight is still climbing.

That sucks, I hope it goes okay if things end up going that way. I'm at a spot where surgery would be hellish but I also just want this to stop and it's my only hope left. I can't really function with joints coming out of place 10+ times a day.