Spoon Theory: A Day With Chronic Illness
“Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always.”
~Brad Meltzer
Spoon Theory is based on the idea that people with a Chronic Illness have a certain number of “spoons” each day and when they run out their body is done. They can borrow spoons but it will catch up with them and their body will suffer for it. Everything is about managing your spoons and your energy level, it’s a constant juggling act. You want to live a full life and it’s important to remain socially engaged but you also don’t want to overdo it, finding that balance is really difficult to accomplish.
To give you an idea of what I’m talking about I’ll go over a regular day in my life and the symptoms that I’m experiencing. Imagine that I have 10 spoons for the day.
- I wake up in the morning and my whole body hurts. Imagine waking up with flu like body aches every morning. I might have ringing in my ears, a headache or a fever as well. I get up, get dressed, have coffee, and get ready to go to work. I don’t take a shower because the heat will make me to tired. All of this requires 2 spoons.
- Physical activity in the morning is hard so making the walk from my car into work is exhausting and takes half a spoon.
- Work takes 3 spoons. My golden hours are from 11 am- 3 pm, this is the time period where I typically feel the best. As the day progresses my back will start to hurt to the point of my eyes watering when I sit down after standing. My feet and hands will swell and turn bright red or get cold and turn purple/super white. My neck and shoulders will start to ache worse than when I first got up. If I don’t wake up with a headache I usually get one about 3:30 in the afternoon.
- I leave work, go home, let the dogs out, and figure out what to have for dinner. This takes 1 & 1/2 spoons. I will be worn out and possible have a fever by this point. My headache usually gets worse in the evening and may or may not turn into a migraine.
- I try to take my dog for a walk each evening. That’s another 2 spoons and is only possible if I haven’t developed a migraine and if I’m not to worn out.
- Getting ready for bed and taking a shower requires another spoon.
- At this point I’m at 10 spoons. If I wanted to go out with friends, do chores (dishes, trash, vacuuming, etc), or go to the store that would require another 1-3 spoons which would mean shuffling my spoon usage earlier in the day or risking overdoing it.
- As I try to go to sleep my eczema might be itching so much that it prevents sleep, my joints may be so painful I can’t find a way to lay that doesn’t hurt, or I might have a fever that makes my sleep fitful and broken up.
- The next morning I wake up and do it all again.
Other symptoms I might be dealing with:
- Dizziness or trouble with depth perception
- Mouth sores
- Floaters in my vision
- Chest pain, panic attacks, or general anxiety
- Feeling hopeless or depressed
- Splotchy red patches across my chest, neck, and arms
- Heartburn or stomach up set
- Foggy thinking
- Shakiness
- Weakness in my hands and wrists
- Shooting pains that run from my back down my legs
*Exhaustion is usually a given on top of all my other symptoms
I don’t share this because I want you to feel bad for me, rather I just want people to be aware that you can look fine on the outside and be facing a lot of mental or physical challenges on the inside. If you see someone who looks young and healthy but their using a handicap sticker don’t assume it’s fake. If you hear someone who looks fine say they are in pain believe them. You never know what a person is dealing with, please don’t add guilt and shame to an already difficult situation.
I’ve got a graphic below that is helpful if you are suffering from a chronic condition and you want to help your loved ones understand the Spoon Theory
Just This Moment 
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