Dear Readers,
I've been meaning to write a post like this for a while giving you all an update about this blog and why I love writing it. As you can see by my old posts Snippet of my life - Part 1 and Snippet of my life - Part 2 (which I wrote back in 2011 around the time when I set this blog up - so please don't judge them) the part 3 update is well over due! So for that I apologise.
I started this blog back in 2011 at the age of 16 after
being diagnosed with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome type 3. For those of you that don't
know, EDS is currently an incurable hereditary condition in which
the collagen in the body is too stretchy resulting in loose ligaments in the
joints. This causes a great deal of pain as well as subluxations and
dislocations of the joints. But for many sufferers such as myself, EDS is a
physically invisible condition and so we look "normal".
I found it hard to comprehend how it could take 16 years for
me to be diagnosed with a condition that I was born with and had pretty much
always shown symptoms of. But finally after numerous misdiagnosis' and trips
back and forth to various specialists I was relieved when I finally received
the correct diagnosis.
I realised that it took this long as EDS is not only a rare
condition but also an invisible one. Therefore many people with the condition,
including myself appear completely fine. So, on one quiet Sunday evening back in
2011, I thought i'd set up a blog about EDS and other invisible conditions to
help raise awareness, offer support to sufferers and educate others!
So here we are now - 3 years down the line. Showcasing a variety
of posts from interviews, to helpful websites, video links to event pages and I've received almost 50,000 web page hits from you guys across the world, which for such a small blog about such a specific thing is crazy.
We're also on other social media including a Twitter page which has just
reached over 1,000 followers.
I cannot thank you guys enough for your contributions,
feedback and your interest in what I write about. This blog is going from
strength to strength and I've learnt a lot along the way and there is still so
much more content to come.
So in a nutshell, for me this blog is about sharing useful
tips, links and helping someone else other than ourselves. There is always
someone worse off. But I will try to give you more updates like this from time
to
time.
Abi x
For more info about my story, please check out my new website!