Hi pals

I’ve been doing this a while now (likeee more than a decade now) and I’ve had numerous and varied symptoms in that time and tried many products that were supposed to help me be less symptomatic. I wanted to share those with you.

This blog post includes affiliate links

CBD Drinks

I dip in and out of using CBD drinks and I’ve tried a few brands available in the UK. My personal brand preference is Little Rick CBD drinks. They are higher dose, zero calories is that matters to you, and tastes like juice. Plus they come in nicer flavours. You can build your own box bundle now which is amazing as I’ve personally never been interested in trying the mint and lime flavour. You can get 5 different flavours. Cola | Raspberry Coconut | Mint and Lime | Raspberry Lemonade | Pina. You can also place an order for a pre-set multi-flavour bundle.

Small update: You can use my own code now on any of your orders! Use code: ARTIECARDEN at check out for 10% off your entire order

Little Rick CBD drink affiliate links:

build your own box

random mixed flavour pack

raspberry coconut

cola (caffeinated)

mint and lime

raspberry lemonade

pina

Electrolytes

I vary with how I consume my electrolytes. Cucumber and watermelon have a lot of electrolytes. If you’re in the UK the water flavouring squash have elements of electrolytes by having two types of sodium and a potassium, so this is my main go-to. I also use the flavoured tablets like OBS which honestly are gross by themselves but bearable mixed with squash. I mostly use those in peak summer heat especially if I’m out and about for the day. I’m still looking for the perfect electrolyte for me.

Raspberry flavour

Magnesium

There are different types of magnesium which supposedly have different benefits. I am still yet to actually dabble in the different types but I plan to do that soon. However, I have taken a generic magnesium supplement on and off for years in hopes it would help me sleep and with my pain.

Magnesium

Numbing Cream

I think I recommended this in my video giving tips on how to make blood tests easier. Especially when you’ve had a lot of blood tests or cannulations over the years, you likely have some scarring which can make it harder for many phlebotomists to access a vein successfully but also make it more painful for you. So I use this on the veins I know work best for blood tests but have surrounding scar tissue. I don’t seem to need to cover the numbing cream with clingfilm when it has been applied to my arm, but it’s something to keep in mind you may need to do, which genuinely I had no idea was something I was meant to do!

Numbing cream available in the US

Pill Cutter

My pill cutter has been a required tool for me coming off steroids. I’d never be able to taper the way I was told to. But they come in handy for plenty of other instances, occasionally there are meds that cannot be dispensed in smaller pill doses. This was the case when I was taking mercaptopurine. I was on 25mg a day for years, but they only made 50mg tablets. The 10mg ones were prescribed through the hospital directly and that way only. They are usually pretty cheap, you can usually find one in a decent colour, you can decorate them with stickers, but they can be super helpful in a pinch.

blue pill cutter

Kinesiology Tape

As a slippy joint bitch, k tape is one of my biggest staples. I recently experienced my first adult, fully-conscious dislocation. I left it alone for a couple of days, but found it was sore in the direction the joint popped out towards and as it was my shoulder, I was finding it hard sitting up without a lot of support for my arm. I then decided it was worth trying to tape my shoulder, at least in the early days, to see if it would help my shoulder rest, support it and prevent it from slipping out again. You can get a bunch of different colours, I prefer black but I’ve seen you can also get really cute colours. Usually the most readily available colours are beige, black, blue, pink. There are also other colours but they are less common to see like green or purple.

Choose from a selection of colours

Self-Adhesive Bandages

This is another one for blood tests but they can be used for so many other things too. I’m allergic to adhesives, so using this bandage for after my blood tests, it wraps around my arm, sticks to itself and stays there! You can also cut them into small strips and wrap them around your finger joints for additional support, but I’ve never found a way of doing that which didn’t just sever the circulation of blood going through my fingers. It can also be really useful in making other items you own more accessible. One example is wrapping it around your razor if you struggle to keep hold of the handle as it adds texture and has a rubbery finish. You can also get these in a range of thicknesses (I prefer the thicker ones) and in a range of colours. I recently bought Blue and Black, you can also get a fun selection pack with varied colour options.

bandage pack available in the US

Cute Masks

Finding a mask thats a little cuter (whatever that means to you) makes all the difference to how you feel in a mask and how others perceive mask wearing (particularly important if you’re trying to encourage people to mask again or more) I personally prefer black masks (wow a surprise I know) but there are also cute pink ones out there. I’m not keen on white, blue or green as they all still feel very clinical.

Cold Packs

These are one of my major migraine management tools. Slap one on the back of my neck and another on the back of my head, sometimes forehead, and just lay there until the suffering stops. I like these really big blue gel ones as the texture is nice, they are really cushiony, and they stay cool for longer. But there are fun ones designed for kids but you can definitely still buy these as an adult. I’m partial to a frog myself.

Arnica Gel or Cream

Another one of my tips in my blood test video! If you find you bruise badly, whether its due to blood tests or just general bumps, arnica gel or cream will help a bruise heal and disappear much faster than if you left it alone. If I have a bad one I really want to get rid of, I often apply it multiple times a day. Otherwise, just once a day is fine too.

Arnica Cream I use

Dosset Box

Everyone needs a daily meds box. I’ve used cheapy or secondhand ones in the past but they often broke or I often struggled to open them and threw my meds all over the place when I finally did get it open, and a lot of them are a little small when you have a decent number of pills to take every day. It’s all down to personal preference but you can find them in different colours, number of days or times slots per day, and sizes. Plus it’s another good product you can decorate with stickers!

this is a fun box with ‘chill pills’ on the lid

multi-coloured, multi-compartment weekly set

weekly multi-coloured

one month, daily pills

Foam House Sandals or Clogs

Since buying these sandals on holiday in Lanzarote last year, I’d not been able to look my birkenstocks in the eye again. They are light weight, give you a little extra height, and are so bouncy and supportive on your feet I can never turn back on my new house and pool sandals. The one issues with the pair I have and my own skin is that if I wear them a lot or for long periods, I still find they rub my bog toes which sucks! But besides that, I can’t fault them at all! Some people prefer clogs, which you can also get. The sizing can be off, but there’s usually a selection of colours too.

black clogs

light pink clogs

Fitbit

It doesn’t have to be a fitbit it can be an apple watch, whatever other brand of smartwatch that is out there, or even visible which is a specific tracker for chronic illness symptoms. But I find having a fitbit is useful for tracking my heart rate, my sleep, my stress levels, and to be honest it helps that if I have left my phone in another room or on charge somewhere and I get a call, my watch alerts me but also gives me the option to hang up! Here’s one model of fitbit using my affiliate link.

Anti-fog Spray/Wipes

I am still yet to find one that works well enough for my glasses with a mask specifically and haven’t tried the ones I have with other fog (like walking into a shop, or using it on my car windows coz apparently you can use it for that too) but finding a good anti-fog spray or wipe for glasses is super ideal for cold weather and when masking coz it is so annoying if you wear glasses for any reason but then can’t see anything due to them being fogged up! Try this one.

Biofreeze

I personally cannot tolerate deep heat spray, it brings me out in super painful hives! But biofreeze? Biofreeze is my best friend! I love biofreeze, the stronger the better. Amazing for my headaches, neck ache, back or hip pain. If I could, I’d bathe in it because everything hurts! This is the brand I swear by and are available through my affiliate scheme.

Cute Plasters

I personally mainly use plasters to cover my injection area every week when I have to self inject Adalimumab, as it tends to hurt when rubbing against my clothes and sometimes bleeds. I also use them for when my cuticles and generally skin around my fingernails are all torn up and causing me hell. In an ideal world, I’d get to use fun and cute plasters! So why don’t you?

Hypoallergenic Moisturiser

You know me, an allergic girlie. Everything sets my face off I swear, and even things that I wasn’t allergic to for years, I might suddenly become allergic! So I always stick with the brands specifically made for sensitive skin and with hypoallergenic ingredients in mind. I have made a few videos giving my recommendations for products I have used or been using which you can find on my channel. But my main product recommendation is almost always Aveeno products, you can grab an aveeno bottle through my affiliate links too.

Foam Roller

I don’t use foam rollers in a traditional sense! I don’t roll out my muscles (very often) and I definitely prefer the flat foam rollers. I mostly use these as a means of stretching out my back. I still don’t do this often, but it’s the one item of the right consistency or shape to stretch out my pectoral muscles and my mid and upper back. My foam roller is secondhand from a jumble sale! But you can buy one using my affiliate link if you want to support me as a creator.

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I know we all side-eye affiliate links and paid promotional type of posting, but I do genuinely recommend the products I’m talking about. Though I may not have bought these exact items, the majority of them meet a certain standard required of medical equipment, or can be easily swapped in and out with other brands. Using my affiliate links helps support me as a disabled creator on the internet, you don’t have to use these links by any means, but if you so choose you would be helping me continue to make content I love and making recommendation posts and gift ideas for chronically ill people. These are items I have found helpful in managing symptoms, pain, and my medications.

I hope this post could help someone out there, and please don’t forget to share my post with other people who you think will benefit from it or who could get some good sick person gift ideas for their friends from the post.

~ Artie

they/them

give my videos on youtube a watch too!