Aug 7, 2022·edited Aug 7, 2022Liked by Lachrista Greco
Reading "The Solace, Despair, and Disinformation of Long Covid Internet Communities", specifically the line "They’re turning to these online groups for advice, but because these groups are full of people that also don’t know what they’re doing, it is a hotbed for misinformation and the propagation of snake oil and sometimes risky behaviors. But these people have nowhere else to turn" reminded me of my mum.
She struggled for the better part of a decade and went through multiple misdiagnoses before finally being diagnosed with lupus. During this time she was so desperate for answers, and medical professionals were so uncaring and often flat-out negligent, that she turned to all sorts of alternative treatments that were just snake oils. The people selling them capitalised off her desperation, and nothing ever worked. I hate to think what would have happened if she'd had access to social media in those days, because the amount of bullshit she would have been exposed to would have been so much higher. These long Covid groups must be just swimming in bogus cures.
I used to watch my mum unable to cut her own dinner at night because her hands were so sore and scream in pain in the mornings while my 11-year-old self tried to get hold of my nana on the phone to come and take my 6-year-old brother and I to school, and then watch these snake oil salespeople tell her that shit like collodial silver would fix all her problems. It makes me rage to this day. Desperate people in pain, and all those "natural remedy" people would see were dollar signs. Disgusting. But what else could she do? She couldn't just sit in her pain and do nothing. Anything was better than nothing.
we have a hummingbird feeder right outside our kitchen window. i love to watch them as i’m tending to the mundane but magical tasks of caring for my self & family. i find the birds both beautiful and completely improbable! how can they even exist? they are magical beings. 💖
Hummingbirds seem to be a good cure for many ailments., don't they? I wonder why that is?
We have at least two nesting pairs eating from our feeder outside our kitchen window. The way the flit and hover and zip entralls me every time. Calming and peaceful, in the moment.
Wishing you that same peace for you and your hummingbird.
Reading "The Solace, Despair, and Disinformation of Long Covid Internet Communities", specifically the line "They’re turning to these online groups for advice, but because these groups are full of people that also don’t know what they’re doing, it is a hotbed for misinformation and the propagation of snake oil and sometimes risky behaviors. But these people have nowhere else to turn" reminded me of my mum.
She struggled for the better part of a decade and went through multiple misdiagnoses before finally being diagnosed with lupus. During this time she was so desperate for answers, and medical professionals were so uncaring and often flat-out negligent, that she turned to all sorts of alternative treatments that were just snake oils. The people selling them capitalised off her desperation, and nothing ever worked. I hate to think what would have happened if she'd had access to social media in those days, because the amount of bullshit she would have been exposed to would have been so much higher. These long Covid groups must be just swimming in bogus cures.
I used to watch my mum unable to cut her own dinner at night because her hands were so sore and scream in pain in the mornings while my 11-year-old self tried to get hold of my nana on the phone to come and take my 6-year-old brother and I to school, and then watch these snake oil salespeople tell her that shit like collodial silver would fix all her problems. It makes me rage to this day. Desperate people in pain, and all those "natural remedy" people would see were dollar signs. Disgusting. But what else could she do? She couldn't just sit in her pain and do nothing. Anything was better than nothing.
we have a hummingbird feeder right outside our kitchen window. i love to watch them as i’m tending to the mundane but magical tasks of caring for my self & family. i find the birds both beautiful and completely improbable! how can they even exist? they are magical beings. 💖
Hummingbirds seem to be a good cure for many ailments., don't they? I wonder why that is?
We have at least two nesting pairs eating from our feeder outside our kitchen window. The way the flit and hover and zip entralls me every time. Calming and peaceful, in the moment.
Wishing you that same peace for you and your hummingbird.
~Graham
I learned this decades ago ... Grow where you are planted ... Then sprout your wings and fly!