You know those YouTube videos where girls get guys to define what girl products are? They can be hilarious. Well, I decided to put my own spin on it and ask some of my healthy friends to define common chronic illness terms that most chronic illness warriors would know.

The results definitely surprised me, and it went even better than expected.

Spoonie

“Is it when you’re too tired to chew so you eat soup?” -Roxie

I mean, she’s not wrong.

“One who brings a clean spoon everywhere to measure correct amounts of medicine.” -Dave

“The little spoon when you cuddle.” -Demi

That is one of the most common ones I’ve seen in my years as a chronic illness warrior.

“People with spoons.” -Kristy

(You’ll notice Kristy got almost all of these correct. She’s impressive that way.)

Spoon Theory

“The difference between big spoons and little spoons for dessert. What’s with all the spoons? Or it could be the big spoon or little spoon of cuddling.” -Roxie

“Spoon theory: the concept of growing accustomed to taking prescriptions over a long period of time.” -Dave

“The idea that spoons are the superior utensil.” -Demi

Are they though?

“Spoon theory is used in the mental health community as well, it describes the finite resources we have to cope with our stressors and navigate our days. When we have used our last spoon, it’s difficult to continue/finish the day strong.” -Kristy

Yeah, Kristy pretty much nailed it, but it’s definitely worth reading the whole original piece if you have a moment.

Chronic

“I feel like I should know this one but hmmm I think it has something to do with (I know this is wrong) bones?” -Roxie

Not quite.

“Always or never ending.” -Dave

“Weed.” -Demi

Apparently, but that’s not the way I meant.

“Habitual/continual impact on life and functioning.” -Kristy

Dave and Kristy got it.

Acute

“Really sensitive to something?” -Roxie

“Penny. Jk. Difficult or severe. Come to think of it she can be difficult.” -Dave

This is Penny.

“Not bad or minor.” -Demi

Yes, but the opposite.

“Severe or intense, describes the level of impact on life and functioning.” -Kristy

IBS

“Irritable bowel syndrome” -Roxie

Yep.

“Intestinal breakdown symptoms” -Demi

Pretty close.

“irritable bowel syndrome” -Kristy

CFS

“Confusing face syndrome” -Roxie

(It’s an inside joke . . . Roxie makes the best confusing faces.)

“Child & family solutions” -Dave 

“Chronic fissure syndrome” -Demi

“Chronic fatigue syndrome.” -Kristy

And Kristy told me she wasn’t sure, but as usual, she got it right.

Flare

“When you react to something badly? I feel like I’ve heard this one before but for the life of me I can’t think of it.” -Roxie

“When A quiet and sneaky issue that lies dormant decides to attack.” -Dave 

I like this description.

“Burning. On fire.” -Demi

“A sudden and acute onset” -Kristy

Yep.

Herxing 

“When she decides to leave. Her x ing haha get it haha.” -Roxie

Did I mention how much I love Roxie?

“Laughing at a dog so hard your stomach muscles starting to contract involuntarily.” -Dave

“Something about a hernia I don’t know LOL” -Demi

It’s the most logical guess.

“No idea, don’t even have an idea, sounds like witchcraft.” -Kristy

Herxing is named after the Herxhiemer reaction, which can sometimes be used interchangeably with the word “flare.”

Normal people sick

“When a regular person has a cold.” -Roxie

“Having a serious Non-chronic illness but feeling much better than chronic.” -Dave 

“Not very sick.” -Demi

“What it looks like when the average person is sick with typical symptoms – able to recover, not chronic.” -Kristy

I think they all got close, but not quite. “Normal people sick” is most commonly used to refer to when someone with a chronic illness has a generic  cold or flu on top of everything else.

BF

“Best friend there’s so many things this could be” -Roxie

“Blue flu. Bio fluctuations. ” -Dave 

“Big fart.” -Demi

“Bodily function?” -Kristy

Brain fog. 😉

Leaky gut

“When your stomach doesn’t like what your eating” -Roxie

Trueish.

“When your gut releases toxins” -Dave

“Also farts.” -Demi

“A gut that leaks in all the wrong ways, due to leaks in the gut.” -Kristy

Leaky gut, also known as permeable gut, is when the lining of your intestines has been eaten away by too much of one thing, making your body unable to tolerate that food anymore without it leaking through into places it shouldn’t be in your body when it wasn’t properly digested.

But every time I used the term leaky gut, for a while, everyone would assume I meant diarrhea.

Autoimmune 

“When your immune system is compromised?” -Roxie

“When our body’s national guard sleeps all day and lets any virus or pathologin illegally immigrate.” -Dave

Oh Dave.

“Doesn’t get sick from cars.” -Demi

Creative, I like it.

“A set of disorders including but not limited to Lupus, wherein the immune system turns evil and the cells begin working adversely/attacking themselves… but even if WebMD categorizes your symptoms as Lupus, it is rarely Lupus…”

Yep.

Well that was fun. What other terms should I get them to define?