Men have really gone down hill. They don't give you actually hot stock tips just for letting them buy you dinner anymore.

(Me reflecting on the difference between my life and my badass great aunts')

31 Days of EDS & HSD – Day 31: Thank You For Raising Awareness

Thanks for letting me blather. This month I am participating in 31 Days of EDS and HSD social media challenge and the Walk and Roll challenge to raise money for the Ehlers-Danlos Society. You can donate on Fundraise or Facebook. You can read all my posts on this topic here. #MyEDSChallenge

https://competentgirl.wordpress.com/2025/05/31/myedschallenge31/

31 Days of EDS & HSD – Day 30: The Moment I Felt Seen

Today's prompt is "A time when someone truly understood your condition, whether a doctor, friend, family member, or stranger." This prompt really highlights some of my frustrations with both these prompts and the messaging from the Ehlers-Danlos Society in general. I'm currently taking a chronic conditions course through e Centre Clinic. They "conduct research developing and evaluating online treatment courses for…

https://competentgirl.wordpress.com/2025/05/30/myedschallenge30/

31 Days of EDS & HSD – Day 29: Celebrate The Community

Today's prompt is to "tag a fellow zebra who inspires you." First, I really hate the way the Ehlers-Danlos Society has encouraged the EDS community in taking over "Zebra" from the larger rare disease community. And it's particularly egregious when we've been finding out that hEDS, in particular, is "not rare, just rarely diagnosed." All the rare diseases deserve attention. That said, the first two folks who came to…

https://competentgirl.wordpress.com/2025/05/29/myedschallenge29/

31 Days of EDS & HSD – Day 28: My Biggest EDS Learning Moment

Today's question is "What’s something that changed how you manage your condition?" I try to change and adapt all the time, but I think the biggest change was when a physiatrist used ultrasound to look at my hip joint and was able to see evidence of a lifetime of injured, poorly healed and reinjured tendons. I had been told so many times that there was nothing wrong or that the path to getting rid of pain was…

https://competentgirl.wordpress.com/2025/05/28/myedschallenge28/

31 Days of EDS & HSD – Day 27: The future of EDS and HSD

The prompt for today is "what do I hope will change in the next 10 years?" I hope that the HSD disappears as a diagnosis, because there is no useful distinction. People with hEDS and HSD have the same range of troublesome symptoms. Some people with HSD have higher symptom burden and more disability than some people who meet the criteria for hEDS.

https://competentgirl.wordpress.com/2025/05/27/myedschallenge27/

31 Days of EDS & HSD – Day 26: Words To My Younger Self

"Don't Z-sit." "Yes, you are really injured." This month I am participating in 31 Days of EDS and HSD social media challenge and the Walk and Roll challenge to raise money for the Ehlers-Danlos Society. You can donate on Fundraise or Facebook. You can read all my posts on this topic here. #MyEDSChallenge

https://competentgirl.wordpress.com/2025/05/26/myedschallenge26/

31 Days of EDS & HSD – Day 25: The Best Advice I’ve Received

Honestly, I think the best advice I've received about EDS is that if you've seen one EDS patient you've seen one EDS patient. And I mostly say that because some of the worst advice I've seen has been from other hEDS patients who assume that I am just like them. As an EDS patient who does not have POTS or a mast cell disorder, I get very tired of being told I must have POTS and MCAS.

https://competentgirl.wordpress.com/2025/05/25/myedschallenge25/