I wish they taught a class on what being a normal human is like
Like, the normal amount of pain is zero. The normal amount of wishing you weren’t ever born is zero. Food isn’t supposed to itch or hurt*. Going numb (any time outside sitting in one position too long) isn’t normal. Passing out isn’t normal. Normal people take like 10-20 minutes to fall asleep, and sleep like 6-9 hours. You’re supposed to get one period a month, which is manageable with a few tampons or pads a day and lasts 3-6 days.
These are all things I had to find out later, like a moron.
(fibromyalgia, depression, allergies, cataplexy, narcolepsy, PCOS and endometriosis)
*spicy food is supposed to hurt?
Sneezing when you see bright light? Normal.
Sneezing hurting your ribs so bad it makes breathing hard? Not normal.
It’s normal to hear a fluttering in your ears when you yawn. It’s not normal for your ears to hurt so much your teeth hurt too.
It’s normal to sleep badly and wake up sore every now and then. It’s not normal to lay awake because pain is keeping you up.
It’s normal to be nervous to see a doctor. It’s not normal to put off care because of your anxitey
So many times I’ve realized something about my body is super messed up when I’m like “you know how when X, Y?” And all my friends are like…no. I don’t experience X.
A couple good additions from the notes:
(image description: screenshot of a reply to this post from fiddlysticks that says “Took me up until very recently to learn headaches aren’t supposed to feel heavy and fuzzy, make you extra sensitive to light and sound, be debilitating, and last about 3 days lol)
(image description: screenshot of a reply to this post from raw-squid that says “Also like period cramps arent supposed to literally wake you up, even with the strongest over the counter painkillers :) )
Some additions from my own experience:
-Crunchy foods like toast or pizza are apparently not supposed to cut up the inside of your mouth and make you bleed- that’s unusually fragile skin and might indicate a connective tissue disorder
-Wearing jeans or bulky jackets isn’t supposed to make you feel like you’re dying- that’s a sensory processing difference, more specifically tactile defensiveness
-Ribs are not supposed to dislocate when you laugh too hard (connective tissue disorder again)
-Waking up exhausted every single day isn’t supposed to happen- could be any number of underlying conditions
-Standing up is not supposed to cause your heart rate to skyrocket and you to get super dizzy- that’s dysautonomia, anemia, or something similar
-Constantly sitting like a pretzel as a teen or adult mean nothing, but if other people are baffled by how you’re comfortable in those positions, you might be hypermobile or neurodivergent or both!
-The normal amount of seeing double is almost none! And even if you’ve seen double your whole life, the eye doctor can still prescribe you glasses that fix it
-Have a few “floaters” in your vision is normal, having constant showers of them that interfere with your vision is not
Basically, just because everyone in your family experiences something doesn’t mean it’s normal, it might mean there’s something genetic going on and you should ask a “control group” friend
• Food isn’t supposed to make your mouth itch. That’s an allergy
• Coffee isn’t supposed to put you to sleep
• Your period is not supposed to be more painful than labor (found that out with child #2)
• Your friends do not hate you. Yes, even when they’re too busy to answer your text. That’s RSD
• 100 and 1000 are not the same number. Most people don’t transpose numbers regularly. Most people do not find Algebra easier than arithmetic because variables mean less numbers to accidentally mix up. That’s dyscalculia
• Lights in the distance should be round. If they stretch like stars have your eyes checked for astigmatism
Everyone always talked about halos and I didn’t realize until I saw a picture of normal vs astigmatism to realize how much it affects me. The points take up my whole field of vision, top to bottom.
most people cant hear the buzz/hum of large household appliances or lights being on, thats autism
if it takes you an hour or more to fall asleep on average thats probably either autism or adhd, but could be other stuff, if meds dont improve it go to a sleep specialist to see
some people simply do not have 24 hour circadian rhythms. if you find the time you are asleep vs awake every day slowly crawls forward until for some periods you are nocturnal and then after another while you are diurnal again, this is probably you
spicy food causes your mouth to be more sensitive to heat, so if youre feeling pain/discomfort thats not heat related while eating it youre probably allergic to something in the meal
if you find yourself wishing you could be a different gender you can just try that to see if you like it
most people can just do things. if you feel completely unable to do something even if you want/need to and have to trick yourself into it, thats executive dysfunction. could be adhd could be some other mental illness
if caffeine puts you to sleep thats also adhd
if you regularly completely forget the plots things you saw/read/played a year or more ago/have similar memory loss issues with other things in your life, that too is almost definitely adhd (but if your memory loss is more extensive there could be other factors too)
The normal odds of making it through any given meal without vomiting immediately afterwards are 100%.
If your sinuses are always partly blocked, whether or not there’s anything in there, it’s hayfever, even if it’s year round (@past me). And if your sinuses are always swollen, you’re more likely to have mucus blocking them too. You don’t necessarily have a cold.
Also, if you have year-round hayfever, go read up about Histamine Intolerance and Mast Cell Activation Syndrome. ESPECIALLY if you also have things like ME/CFS and fibromyalgia, because they seem to often be comorbid. The Swiss Interest Group for Histamine Intolerance (SIGHI) has info on their website, including the long list of other symptoms that can be caused by high histamine. Histamine is a signalling chemical, and annoyingly turns up pretty much everywhere in the body.
You might find changing your diet settles more than your hayfever. I found that my recent and inexplicable reflux suddenly stopped after I dropped my histamine levels. (Also the bioflavonoid quercetin was more effective at letting me breathe properly than every other over the counter antihistamine I’ve tried 🥲)
This is a chart that explains poop that is normal and poop that is not. It is not normal to bleed when you defecate, it is not normal to take more than a few minutes to move your bowels, it is not normal to defecate only once or twice a week. It is also not normal for stool to be primarily liquid, or to need to defecate more than a couple times a day. If you are experiencing abnormal defecation for a long period of time talk to your doctor about gastrointestinal issues like IBS, Crohn’s, and Celiac.
