March Shell Exchange
Short and Sweet!
Welcome to the March Shell Exchange!
Midway through each month, I drop a list of recommended reads. I try to feature winning hermit crab essays (🦀) when possible. But those charming crabbies aren’t always easy to find. So I also make it a point to share pieces on invisible illness.
If you come across an essay or article I haven’t mentioned that you feel warrants attention, drop the link in the comments, and I’ll add it to the rotation next month.
1. “What Happens When We Stop Remembering?” by Heidi Lasher from Orion Magazine
“He carries on, constructing a sense-making story as he speaks, wherein he is the only sane person in a deranged world. In his version, the doctor morphs into a fast-talking youngster who can’t read sophisticated brain scans, relying instead on grade-school paper tests for his diagnosis. When Dad runs out of steam, he falls back on his usual refrain, signaling the end of the conversation.”
2. “Life After Caregiving” by Anastasia Jill from Open Secrets
“Caregiving for a sick relative is an indescribable experience. There aren’t words to encompass the nix of optimism, goodwill, and, underneath it all, hopelessness. This person isn’t getting better. They’re going to die and you’re just maintaining them until their body shuts down. It’s as depressing as it is arduous, but I wasn’t supposed to be sad or angry.”
No, this isn’t (technically) on invisible illness. But it’s important to remember there’s another side to the things we battle.
3. “Long Covid ‘brain fog’ may be due to leaky blood-brain barrier, study finds” by Nicola Davis from The Guardian
“Campbell said the results were not a surprise as disruptions to proteins involved in clotting could go hand in hand with disruption to cells that lined blood vessels. ‘The whole concept that a lot of these neurological conditions, including brain fog, could be treated by simply regulating the integrity of the blood-brain barrier is really exciting,’ he said.”
4. “The Mind Crack’d” by Judy Bolton-Fasman from Dorothy Parker’s Ashes
“Your mother takes you to her ancient internist— the only doctor she will allow you to see. The doctor’s hands shake as he listens to your heart and inexplicably shines a light in your eyes. You try to convince him that this is the worst moment of your life. It has to be a breakdown, right? It must be a breakdown. You are shaking and certain you will never occupy your right and familiar mind again. Your life is divided into before and after. ‘Nervous like the mother,’ the doctor mutters.”
5. “‘Brain fog’ is one of Covid-19’s most daunting symptoms. A new study measures its impact” by Elizabeth Cooney from STAT
“‘What our study shows is that brain fog can correlate with objectively measurable deficits in a person’s actual memory and executive task performance,’ lead study author Adam Hampshire, professor of restorative neurosciences at Imperial College London, said Wednesday on a call with reporters.”
6. “I Had a Miscarriage And It’s Time To Tell That Story” by Kirby Chen Mages from Electric Lit
“The cost of the appointment was $150. Earlier that week, Ryan and I had to scrounge up the $500 for the abortion—and by scrounge up, I mean we paid off enough of our credit card debt to make room for another charge on the card. This additional $150 would put us over our limit and ruin everything.”
7. “Covid-19 increases risk of developing autoimmune disease, but vaccination helps, large study shows” by Isabella Cueto from STAT
“In both the South Korean and Japanese cohorts, the researchers found a heightened risk of autoimmune disease up to one year after Covid infection. Compared to the general population, the Covid group had about a 25% higher risk of AIRD. When compared to the group with influenza, the risk was about 30% higher in those who’d had Covid.”
8. “It’s time to stop treating menopause like a disease, researchers argue in series of Lancet articles” by Annalisa Merelli from STAT
“But that framing is unfair to women, Hickey said. ‘We preach the message that every woman at a certain age is going to get a particular disease all the way around the world. Is that actually, first of all, accurate? And, secondly, is that the right thing to do for women?’”
9. “Here’s what many digital tools for chronic pain are doing wrong” by Benjamin Lipp from Nature
“Although digital therapies that use a single approach, such as online physical therapy, can benefit some people, they can promote a view of pain as easily fixable and ignore co-occurring conditions that require other solutions. Chronic pain is complex and often involves several overlapping pain conditions, depression, anxiety, sleep disorders and social factors.”
10. “A New $16,000 Postpartum Depression Drug Is Here. How Will Insurers Handle It?” by April Dembosky, KQED from KFF Health News
“The lack of guidance could limit use of the drug, which is both novel — it targets hormone function to relieve symptoms instead of the brain’s serotonin system, as typical antidepressants do — and expensive, at $15,900 for the 14-day pill regimen.”