The Forgotten Gift Guide: Painy Days
Surprise! I made an additional gift guide with gift ideas for spoonies. It didn't feel like it fit too well with the other three guides, so I left it out of the Offiial Gift Guide Extravaganza, but I still think these are great products, all of which I use and love in my daily, chronically ill life. Whether you consider these as gifts for a spoonie in your life, or you treat your own sick butt to them with some extra holiday cash (do it!), these are all top notch picks for making the sick life a little bit easier.
1. KT Tape Original Cotton Kinesiology Therapeutic Tape $10
I thought KT Tape was only for Olympic athletes, becuase the only people I ever saw using it were Olympic athletes. Turns out, anyone can use it. They sell it at Target! I get terrible knee pain that cannot be helped by anything, but I tried KT Tape and it was like a miracle. I can't even begin to tell you how life changing it was. I couldn't even think because of this pain, and heat, ice, painkillers, stretches, nothing would help. Then I taped my knee (sometimes knees, plural) and it was the perfect support I needed. (For reference, I did the outer knee for IT band issues.) (Related: Dude, fuck IT bands.)
2. Pogo BPA-Free Plastic Water Bottle with Chug Lid $9
I'm super picky with water bottles, but I like having a big ol' bottle of water by my bed so I can stay hydrated and won't have to get out of bed unless I really have to. When you get in a good position, you don't want to mess that up unless it's for a very, very good reason. This bottle is great because it doesn't have a straw (gross) and it's easy to clean.
3. Ugg Ansley Water-Resistant Slipper $100
I've recommended these slippers before, and I'll keep recommending them forever, or until I find something better, which may never happen. I, and a lot of spoonies, have Raynaud's Disease, which leaves your hands and feet freezing cold and numb. My feet are icicles most of the time, so slippers are essential. These Ugg slippers are my favorite, and have been for years.
4. Yoga Tune Up Massage Therapy Balls $16 and 18" LuxFit Premium High Density Foam Roller $13
These are two essential tools for loosening up muscles, and they both are the type of tools that hurt while they help, so I grouped them together. The massage balls I actually got from my physical therapist, and I like them because you can use them up against the wall on your back on on the floor on the bottoms of your feet, but they also have some grip to them, so you can grab them in your hands and use them to knead into a particularly tough spot. A foam roller is a critical torture device, particularly if you have a pesky IT band like I do. There are a million exercises you can do with a foam roller, and they're cheap and readily available. (If you're not sure what to do with your foam roller, check out YouTube for some tutorials!)
5. Sunbeam Xpress Heat Microplush Heating Pad for Quick Pain Relief $34
This is the best heating pad I have ever found, and it is worth spending twice as much money as you would on another, lesser heating pad that you'll end up replacing in a few months. Here's a post I wrote about my obsession with this heating pad.
6. HBO Now $15 per month,Hulu Plus $12 per month,Netflix $10 per month
When you're chronically ill, you're spending a lot of time on the couch, or in bed, or wherever your comfy spot is, and you're watching TV. How am I so caught up on television? By being chronically ill, that's how. It's also how I read so many books! Secret's out! A great gift you can give someone who's going to be horizontal for hours and hours is a subscription to a video streaming service. For the amount they'll use it, it's an extremely minimal investment. That goes for spoonies spending on themselves too! I have all three of these services, plus I have Starz added on to my Amazon Prime subscription - All worth it.
