Anyone with disabilities?

[Furik 832]

I am trying to make this as serious as possible, no trolling or joking.

 

Any members have any physical or mental disabilities that they are comfortable with sharing or talking about?

 

The reason I post this is because earlier last week I was diagnosed SSD (single sided deafness). It was sudden. For the past two to three weeks I could not hear out of my left ear. It was bothering me. I went along with it for a while but finally decided to make doctor appointments. They flushed out both of my ears maybe due to blockage but everything was normal. Finally, I talked to an audiologist and they tested both of my ears. They diagnosed me as a case of sudden single ear deafness. I have a few more appointments next month to go over other options.

[saishuu 3220]

I'm a stutterer, if that counts. Most of my family from my father's side has it, and I got unlucky in the hereditary process I guess. I started to develop it when I was 6, and it's been bothering and making my life a little bit more challenging since then. I'm 24 now and dealing with it hasn't got much easier.

[BrenGun 2261]

Dyslexia => dysortography.

I'm never able to learn a language perfect. Not even my mother language.

Also highly difficulty with learning any new language.

I still keep my finger crossed for ever be able to write Japanese...

I'm better in to understand/reading a language. Still takes hella much time and much headage.

And look at my English it still sucks, its still horrible. Even after so many years.

[beni 2149]

I'm also dyslexic (funny that it's such an awkward word to spell itself xD). My handwriting is really embarrassing, but I guess it can be quite humorous that it can pass as a doctor's typical writing, aha. It's improved over the years since I used to study hard in my English classes as a child, so it's not too obvious I'm dyslexic unless you see my handwriting.

[BrenGun 2261]

I'm also dyslexic (funny that it's such an awkward word to spell itself xD). My handwriting is really embarrassing, but I guess it can be quite humorous that it can pass as a doctor's typical writing, aha. It's improved over the years since I used to study hard in my English classes as a child, so it's not too obvious I'm dyslexic unless you see my handwriting.

 

It has nothing to do with handwriting... my brother has it too and his handwriting is very readable.

[CAT5 9075]

It has nothing to do with handwriting... my brother has it too and his handwriting is very readable.

Some people with dyslexia also show signs of dysgraphia, which affects handwriting and recognizing forms in letters, etc. That's good for your brother, but it's not the case for everyone.

[doombox 4421]

Backing what @CAT5 said. My brother suffers from dyslexia and dysgraphia (the two often go hand in hand), and the only way we ever noticed it when he was a child was due to his trouble with writing (letters being upside-down, backwards, him taking an exceedingly long time to write basically anything), then later his struggle with reading in general was much more obvious.

[Pandabear 414]

I am trying to make this as serious as possible, no trolling or joking.

 

Any members have any physical or mental disabilities that they are comfortable with sharing or talking about?

 

The reason I post this is because earlier last week I was diagnosed SSD (single sided deafness). It was sudden. For the past two to three weeks I could not hear out of my left ear. It was bothering me. I went along with it for a while but finally decided to make doctor appointments. They flushed out both of my ears maybe due to blockage but everything was normal. Finally, I talked to an audiologist and they tested both of my ears. They diagnosed me as a case of sudden single ear deafness. I have a few more appointments next month to go over other options.

 

I don't have any, but I sort of went through something similar this year and the year before with my hearing. I was suffering from hearing problems. Part of it started because I was going to way too many concerts and standing right in front of speakers. The goods news was that I didn't take any permanent damage and eventually my hearing recovered. I think even before then, I was having trouble with my ears, I had ear aches and didn't know why, I think they were due to blockage but that cleared up too. Then this year I had a sinus infection for the first time and it had me bed ridden for like 2 weeks. The worst part was it spread to my right ear and I suffered hearing loss in that ear as well as started to have balance issues.  It took about 6 to 8 weeks before my hearing fully recovered. 

 

The whole situation was scary because I didn't know what I had at first, didn't know if it was permanent, and because I do audio production and rely heavily on my ears to mix. I was pretty bummed i would probably have to give up on mixing which i spent years practicing, or spend another couple of years relearning how to do it to compensate for having only 1 fully functioning ear. That and the fact I would never be able fully enjoy music the same way i had before. Thankfully I recovered. Now I never take my hearing for granted. I always wear hearing protection when I"m at concerts or very loud environments.

 

I have never heard of SSD before, but I hope things turn out better for you and it's something you can recover from. 

[Pretsy 1343]

Damn Furik, hope you will find ways to recover from that : |

 

I have the limb/feet-only version of Greig syndrome (NOT the one with mental effects - the full name is too mouthful/a lot to write, sorry), which includes e.g. webbed toes (partially webbed fingers too but they are in norm now after a couple of surgeries) and skewfoot (the latter is only intermediate-ish so far - as long as I keep doing proper foot exercises). 

 

 

As a kid I had some difficulties to walk seeing as long-ish strolls ended up being total disasters ridden with severe pain and blisters - but now my walking ventures have become less nightmarish and I REALLY hope my feet won't get much more skew in the near future.

 

Not exactly that kind of disability like much more serious cases mentioned above, but I thought of making some revelations anyway - what would I even lose  after that? I already coped up with the fact that I am a bit freakier MH member, lol.

 

*platypus growls* 

[Furik 832]

Some other minor troubles:

I was diagnosed anemic in August. I have an iron and Vitamin D deficiency which is probably due to my vegetarian diet over the past years. It's manageable with supplements.

I was also "diagnosed" color blind at a young age in elementary. It's not that troublesome as I've become accustomed to the colors I see daily and obviously the colors I do not. Now a days its a joke with friends when I pick something up thinking its the color I see and its not. All humor asaide, I'd like to see the world the way its intended so maybe in the future I will.

As for my deafness in my left ear, I'm not sure if its permanent or not - judging from the doctors evaluations. Only time will tell. My next appointment is October. It's bothersome because I have to hear music and the world around me in mono.

Thank you all for sharing so far. It's really nice to see members here also are not "average" so to say and its very warming and welcoming hearing your stories.

Pretsy, I hope you don't take offense to this but I have a question for you. I am glad to hear you are doing so well! But if syndrome worsens (which judging by your post doesn't look possible), what would happen? Would you have to use a cane or a wheelchair of some sort?

For the members with dyslexia, its always intrigued me (not in a weird way, just curiosity). What keeps you from learning a new language? Is it with concentration? Or attempting to decipher different letters? I am not that knowledgeable with dyslexia.

[Nyasagi 259]

I was born with a shorter leg (currently 3cm shorter), my foot in that leg is smaller and I have 4 toes. I have osteoarthritis of the ankle, which may be painful when I walk too much or stand for too long. It affects my daily life, because it's difficult to get a job (I have to sit all the time, so it greatly limits my possibilities) and I always have to include to have a place to rest in my plans. Because of that I became anti-social, it's stressful to meet people, they don't understand... when I met a group of online friends, they walked so much and it was painful to follow them, they kept leaving me behind. That's why I don't feel comfortable meeting more than one person at a time. People are extremely ableist. Going to concerts is also tiring, because I have to stand all the time. Sometimes, if I'm lucky, I find a place in the back to sit on, if it's high enough to allow me to see anything.

[leafwork 814]

On the mental side, I've struggled with severe anxiety and depression since my early teens. I ultimately had to drop out of high school halfway through my freshman year when I started having severe panic attacks. It took a decade (and eventually medication) for me to even start putting my life back together.

[Senedjem 510]

Similar story to leafwork, severe depression / anxiety, left highschool and am now trying really hard to relearn how to be a person. As well as being diagnosed high-functioning autistic in my early teens.

[freesia 714]

I have scoliosis since early teen due to hurting my backbone while trying to do a bridge exercise exceeding my limits during PE exam. I lost lots of confidence because of that and didn't dare to show my neck and back to others (except family and doctor), but I got over it now so I could go swimming or get a short haircut without feeling inferior.

[Pretsy 1343]

Some other minor troubles:

I was diagnosed anemic in August. I have an iron and Vitamin D deficiency which is probably due to my vegetarian diet over the past years. It's manageable with supplements.

I was also "diagnosed" color blind at a young age in elementary. It's not that troublesome as I've become accustomed to the colors I see daily and obviously the colors I do not. Now a days its a joke with friends when I pick something up thinking its the color I see and its not. All humor asaide, I'd like to see the world the way its intended so maybe in the future I will.

As for my deafness in my left ear, I'm not sure if its permanent or not - judging from the doctors evaluations. Only time will tell. My next appointment is October. It's bothersome because I have to hear music and the world around me in mono.

Thank you all for sharing so far. It's really nice to see members here also are not "average" so to say and its very warming and welcoming hearing your stories.

Pretsy, I hope you don't take offense to this but I have a question for you. I am glad to hear you are doing so well! But if syndrome worsens (which judging by your post doesn't look possible), what would happen? Would you have to use a cane or a wheelchair of some sort?

For the members with dyslexia, its always intrigued me (not in a weird way, just curiosity). What keeps you from learning a new language? Is it with concentration? Or attempting to decipher different letters? I am not that knowledgeable with dyslexia.

I would be stuck with a cane in case the worst case scenario happened (depends on bone development/growth in case it's even possible for a 22 y.o. person like me)

[kyoselflove 2680]

I've also struggled with depression and anxiety, when I was 16 I dropped out of school (eventually went back a year later), they put me on Prozac which only worsened my condition, it got to the point where I was really bad and my only way of saving myself was moving to another state to my father who I barely knew. Which gave me a clean slate but was scary as hell for the most part.

 

I have such bad anxiety that usually going to the grocery store freaks me out and I really hate when the cashiers try to make small talk, it makes me panic.  I basically hate all human contact hah. Most of the time I stay at home, have no friends(except online) and occasionally my brother or sister will visit me or vice versa.  I haven't been to a doctor for awhile and refuse to take medication because it in my mind always makes it worse. But my sister has been suffering through the same conditions and is medicated and she says it works, but meh.  

 

VK is the best kind of medicine. 

[saishuu 3220]

Well, since everyone seems to be telling their stories, I might as well add some more to mine.

 

As far as mental illness/disabilty goes, I'm also another one who struggles with depression and anxiety. Since I started stuttering as a young kid, I wasn't able to develop many social skills as I'd rather stay at home quiet on my own than deal with people and the fear of being rejected and laughed at, even though things like those almost never happened to me (different from other people who stutter). It only got worse as I got fat and found out I was gay. I was never diagnosed or even went to see a specialist, but I'm fairly sure that qualifies as social anxiety. Until like a few months ago, I was literally scared of enrolling in pretty much any social activity and suffering from mild panic attacks was a common thing. I'd skip school constantly, almost never went out with friends; missed the whole "teenage" experience to say so.

 

Thankfully, with tons of experience and responsibilities required in college, as well as a lot of self control and help from people close to me, I've been doing a lot better these days when it comes to all things related to social anxiety. Most importantly, as cliche as it may sound, I had to break most of my defense mechanisms in order to be in a relationship with a guy I felt was worth doing it for, which involved not being so much into my head all the time in regards to all of this, so I'd say that is definitely paying off in life as a whole.

 

Depression, however, is a lot trickier. Anxiety itself plays a big role in it, but it's something bigger that always finds a way to crawl back somehow. Living in a mentally abusive household takes its toll, I guess.

[nick 10212]

I have had tinnitus ringing in my right ear not so long ago. I thought it was because of hearing loss, but my ENT checked it and told me I was too stressed.

I think I can still hope it's not permanent according to what caused it. Imagine your ears ringing for the rest of your lifetime though.

[Ikna 1225]

^have tinnitus as well, but since childhood. And it's likely not going away. But so far it's not that loud, so most of the times the environment noise is loud enough to overshadow it. Only in quiet places and at night it can be annoying.

 

Plus I have been diagnosed recently with an autoimmune disease that affects the thyroids, but had it much longer (it was discovered while making tests for something else). I am still in the process of adjusting the dosage for my thyroid hormones and it's hell. Sometiimes I have symptoms of a hypothyreosis, sometimes of a hyperthyreosis and I don't seem to get better at all. I also have stomach cramps, but I am not 100% sure it's from my illness. And I am afraid that it could be something bad (or another shit to deal with)

[Furik 832]

I've never heard of tinnitus before until about a week or two ago. I wonder how much different the disorder is compared to normal ringing? The ringing you hear when you concentrate and are really quiet and you hear the ringing?

[nick 10212]

Could be both. Mine started to get worse/louder lately. It's like hearing a never ending high-pitched beep inside of your ear.

However, it sounds differently sometimes, I don't know why though. At least it's still in an acceptable range for me.

I can still live my life normally even though I feel its existence without having to be in a quiet place.

[MaikoMizu 167]

Depression runs in the family. 

 

Anxiety was a big problem growing up due to mainly being in a family of people with intense anger management issues but through the years, thanks to friends and some counseling I've become better and still working to at it.  I've became more social and self confident too, versus the younger me that was pretty anti-social and full of doubts. 

[Chi 2624]

depression, social anxiety and all that jazz that comes along with those. it's pretty hard to leave my comfort zone and it's especially hard at university but i've been trying my best.

 

sometimes my ears start ringing a lot louder than normal but i don't think its anything serious

[DESTINYGUY0316 363]

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common childhood disorders and can continue through adolescence and adulthood. Symptoms include difficulty staying focused and paying attention, difficulty controlling behavior, and hyperactivity (over-activity).

I think that why I am so crazy .... ★

[CELESTIAL CIEL 985]

Neurosis transformed into depression, 4 or 5 years, but I started my therapy only this autumn after one accident... suicide attempts, etc. (the first was when I was 16 years old)
My parents never thought this all is so serious and now it's quite hard to solve all this problems... I started having problems with memory. I'm studying english and japanese in the uni, and as you see both are bad just because I can't learn new stuff, doesn't matter how hard my tries are.

Also eyesight is bad as hell (+ astigmatism, which make it worse and worse)