**Warning: contains strong language and references to the female reproductive system** Chestnuts not roasting on an open firefor fear I may incinerate myself Yuletide carols being sung by a choir trigger my auditory startle response.Everybody knows cold turkey without meds can bea recipe for disaster timebut the drugs don’t work for me right now you seeso I’ll… Continue Reading →
Invisible illnesses. If you have one, you stand a high chance of having spent a large portion of your life being misdiagnosed, misunderstood and doubted, both by medical professionals and the world at large. It is so difficult to live with this kind of gaslighting, and yet for many people (myself included) this is a… Continue Reading →
Those of you who have been following this site for a while may be aware I suffer from a chronic health condition known as PMDD. I haven’t written a PMDD post in some time, because I realise it may not be relevant to most of my readers. Nevertheless, I believe it is important to raise… Continue Reading →
Issue V of Free Verse Revolution’s literary magazine is out today, and is entitled ‘Cassandra: Prophecy and Deceit.’ I am honoured to be included amongst the list of contributors. For this issue, I submitted a poem about PMDD, a pre-menstrual disorder which affects up to 1 in 20 women of reproductive age, most of whom… Continue Reading →
I don’t mean to complainabout my ruthless uterus but all the same(though I hate to make a fuss)periodically it drives mealmost insane. Ok it’s not reallythe uterus, butthe hormones triggeredby its cycles and not even really thatbut the actions of these hormones on the brain. Why is it always ‘the’ brain anyway?as if to say we… Continue Reading →
Today, I would like to share one of my poems from Wounds I Healed, which, as I write, is still No.1 New Release in Poetry Anthologies on Amazon.com! I am blown away by the amount of support and good wishes we have received from the many wonderful people who have contributed to the anthology, or… Continue Reading →
Waiting for happy newsto come across the radiowaves, I’m stuck home with the blueswaiting for happy news. Waiting for happy newswhich might come in an email:‘Well done! You’ve won! We loveyour work.’ Instead, insideit’s dark, I wait for happy news. Waiting for happy news:the cure! So simpleand a medical profession who recognisethere are millions like… Continue Reading →
I am honoured to have my poem, ‘For Hilary, Elizabeth, the 1-in-20’ included in the stunning Truthtellers anthology from Free Verse Revolution, which is available now from the Lulu Bookstore. The book is a showcase of some of the best work from the 2022 issues of the literary magazine. The subject of the poem, my… Continue Reading →
I haven’t written about PMDD for a while, because I’ve been trying out a new approach for dealing with my symptoms. I wanted to make sure this was working before reporting back and sharing my experience with fellow sufferers. It is important to note that this is not medical advice, I am most certainly not… Continue Reading →
This is a PMDD post. I write these from time to time, mainly to help other sufferers, and to raise awareness of the condition. Also out of sheer exhaustion and exasperation at trying to find some kind of treatment that works. What is PMDD? PMDD is Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder. It is often described as ‘a… Continue Reading →
