Marina D. Story 
You are sitting in a quiet meeting, a library, or on a first date and your stomach decides to announce itself with a loud gurgle, rumble, or growl that everyone in the room can hear. It is embarrassing, it is unpredictable, and no matter how much you ate before you left the house, the stomach
One moment you feel completely fine and the next your hands are trembling, your legs feel like they might give out, and a wave of weakness has come over you that feels alarming and out of nowhere. Feeling weak and shaky all of a sudden is one of those symptoms that stops people in their
You apply lip balm constantly, drink plenty of water, and your lips are still dry, cracked, and peeling no matter what you do. Maybe they are so dry that they hurt when you smile or eat. Maybe they crack at the corners or peel in layers that never seem to fully heal. If you keep
You wake up and try to make a fist, but your fingers feel stiff, swollen, and reluctant to bend. Maybe it takes five minutes to get them working normally, maybe it takes thirty. Maybe the stiffness is mild enough that you barely notice it after your first cup of coffee, or maybe it lingers long
Your alarm is set for 7am. You wake up at 6:15. Every single morning. Sometimes it is 5:50, sometimes 6:30, but it is always before the alarm and always earlier than you want to be awake. You lie there trying to fall back asleep, watching the minutes tick by, and eventually give up. If you
You are sitting at your desk, relaxing on the couch, or lying in bed about to fall asleep when suddenly a muscle somewhere in your body jumps on its own. Your eyelid flutters for a few seconds. Your calf twitches out of nowhere. A muscle in your thigh pulses repeatedly without any input from you.
That persistent heaviness behind your eyes that makes them want to close even when you have slept enough. Maybe your eyelids feel weighted down, or your eyes feel tired and strained in a way that makes focusing difficult. You blink more than usual, your vision feels slightly blurry, and you look in the mirror and
Your nose feels dry, tight, and uncomfortable on the inside. Maybe you are constantly aware of it, or maybe it only becomes obvious when you breathe in and that dried out feeling hits you right away. You might notice crusting, occasional nosebleeds, or a persistent irritation that makes blowing your nose uncomfortable. If you keep
You swing your legs over the side of the bed and immediately notice that your feet feel completely dead. Tingling, pins and needles, or a deadened sensation that makes it feel like your feet do not quite belong to you yet. You stand up carefully and wait for the feeling to return, which it does
That strange tingling, deadened sensation on your lips that feels like a mild version of the numbness after a dental injection, except nothing happened to cause it. Maybe it came on suddenly. Maybe it has been lingering for hours or days. If you keep asking yourself why do my lips feel numb and you cannot