00:00Hi! My name is Alisha and if this is your first time visiting my channel, welcome!
00:19So for this video, it is inspired by Jenna Reese and how to advocate for yourself as a patient.
00:30I've been having chronic illnesses for many, many years and I've only been saying things
00:57about it recently because I figured, hey, at the 17 year mark, it's safe for me to start
01:02speaking on what's been going on with me because I'm not one of those people that like to get
01:07on Facebook and, hey, I feel sick and I threw up six times and I had to go in the hospital
01:12and I had to have this treatment or that surgery or this or that or this or that. I kind of
01:17just keep it to myself. And when I saw Daily Blast Live and saw Jenna Reese, I'm like, hmm,
01:28I want to make my own video because I think it was really cool. And sometimes when you're
01:33young like me, they're like, oh, there's nothing wrong with you. You look young. No, I have
01:37stuff going on. I just don't always talk about it. Hey, y'all, I'm going to go ahead and edit
01:42this part in. I probably should have said for the most part, I keep it quiet because I do.
01:50But every once in a while, I do run it by a trusted group of people because sometimes some
01:56of these surgeries have me feeling some kind of way. Like I know for my last surgery, I only had
02:01two days to prepare. Car. Anyways, I only had two days to prepare and I had no content scheduled
02:14out. I was freaking. And so I was a little bit nervous about that. I do run it by trusted
02:21people every once in a while because as these illnesses progress, I'm not getting any younger
02:27right. And so as time goes on, I do want to let some trusted people know, hey, this is
02:31what's going on with me. So if something happens, at least somebody will know what what's going
02:37on. So just to keep that in mind, I probably should have said for the most part, I don't
02:44tell people sometimes every once in a while. I do a trusted people though. So there's here's
02:52some of her notes that she talked about in her little segment that I really relate to. Number
02:58one, being a reliable historian of your body. Like if you're experiencing pain when you're
03:05walking up the stairs or if day to day life makes you more tired, make sure you have notes
03:12on what you're feeling. Anywho, be specific about what patterns. Notice that your body is going
03:27through different things like what food sets you off. What makes it worse? Because when you're
03:34vague, it's hard to pinpoint what direction to go in. Let me repeat all that just in case
03:40because I saw a text. Be specific about patterns. Figure out what food sets you off. What food
03:48makes it worse? Because when you're vague, it's hard to pinpoint what direction to go in.
03:54So she also says in her interview that at first, she didn't have this type of fatigue before.
04:00But now, for many months, you're having it. So if you all of a sudden go from like really
04:06energetic and also you're tired a lot, that's something to jot down. And the more certain
04:15and sure of what you're feeling, the better the outcome. I know she said in her interview
04:20that if a patient or somebody is having some of the experiences that she had, she'll definitely
04:27advocate for that quicker. I think in my life, like if I have a friend, there's a lot of airplanes
04:33that goes on every time I've been filming lately. Just do a little fancy dance until it goes away.
04:53Anyway, how do you like the way you hear? The noise is gone. But anyhow, how do you like this?
04:58Okay, so anyways, in her case, she said that if a patient experiences some of the similar symptoms
05:08she has, she going to advocate for it quicker. I'm the same way. Like if you're experiencing
05:13something I've had, I'll just say, hey, is it endometriosis? Is it arthritis? Is it fibromyalgia?
05:19Is it lupus? What could it be? Because they won't know until they do the test or until they really like pinpoint what it is.
05:27So I think that's how I could be an advocate for friends and family and people. Like if they're
05:33experiencing similar things, hey, maybe have them check for this or have them check for that or have
05:37them check for this. Because for many years, like, but for many years I wasn't believed and I was told
05:45that it was in my head, you're full of shit, you know, you're young, sleep it off, suck it up,
05:51toughen up. And the worst part is just being on being in all that pain and not being believed.
05:57No worries, but we're just going to go with it.
06:01Going through all those pains and not being believed. I remember when I was 15, I had the worst pain I've ever had in my life.
06:13And I felt a really bad stabbing pain and I felt it for many years and just didn't say anything. And so what
06:21I've been doing is investing in more products and more foods that I think can make it better and more
06:27supplements. And there's no cure, but I've been doing all these different things and make it better.
06:32I've been doing all these things and I've been doing all these things and I've been doing all these things.
07:00There's no cures for these chronic illnesses. Like I said, I'm going to edit this part in too.
07:07I've even tried going vegan for 30, 60, and 90 days just to see what that does.
07:11Because I'm always trying to find all kinds of ways to improve my quality of life.
07:17And there's even times where I have to stop working out and I love working out. You know, I have a fitness channel.
07:39Like I have to like maintain my channel. I have to maintain my physique. You know, that's my goal.
07:44Like I love fitness. I love working out. I love challenging my body. So sometimes these chronic illnesses even interferes with that.
07:51So I'm always trying to find ways to improve my quality of life and maintain my fitness regimen.
07:59And so I'm like, shoot, let me try vegan. Let me try, you know, this for 30 days, 60 days, 90 days to see what that does.
08:06And trust me, I'm the biggest meat eater in the world. I love me some meat, but I've been trying a bunch of different things to see what that does.
08:16So this is note number two.
08:25Okay. So some personal advice that I'll share. I have an excellent team of doctors now, but I wasn't always believed.
08:33And for many, many years I was just dismissed and called stupid, crazy, delusional, idiot.
08:40And you just have to sometimes keep switching doctors until you find someone that believes you.
08:45And also I'll say too, you'll get a lot of family and friends judging you.
08:50Oh, you look good on the outside, but they have no idea what's going on on the inside.
08:54And you have to probably join a chronic illness community or some group or have a group of friends that really understand what's going on.
09:03Because you can lose friendships over this because when you live with chronic pain and chronic illnesses, you'll miss events.
09:12And sometimes this pain will come on unexpectedly. And it's definitely affecting my day to day life at times.
09:21There's times where I've had to miss stuff and people get angry, pissed off and take it personally.
09:27And number three, I guess like my next point is surround yourself with people that can understand.
09:37Anyways, I'm going to go ahead and bounce off of here because I need to get going.
09:43Thank you for watching. Bye!
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