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Digestive disorders. You want 'em, we got 'em.
I have Crohn's Disease, as many of you know. It means I get all the fun things that tippler and ngdawg mentioned, and then some. Bad gas -- we're talking weapons grade here. Having to use the bathroom at inconvenient times? Check. I've gotten into the habit of making a mental note to myself on where the nearest bathroom is when I enter an unfamiliar place for the first time. Not having one handy makes me nervous. I can't eat prior to important events, because eating carries the inherent risk of causing an attack. I have trigger foods that I avoid (I haven't had a steak or raw carrot in over a decade) but even with the strictest diet sometimes it just happens.
This is adult life with inflammatory bowel disease.
Under normal circumstances I'm not a very sweaty man, but when I'm on steroids the whole situation changes. You want to see your body betray you in ways you didn't know were possible, try messing with your hormone levels. Height of summer, if I'm on pred I can't leave the house without two shirts on -- guarantee I'll soak through one.
It also causes acne. And not just the regular face-pimples either. I get pimples in places I didn't know it was possible. Ever had a zit on your taint? Cuz I have. Let me tell you boy, that made sitting down rather uncomfortable.
I have stretch marks everywhere. Arms, legs, back, groin.
Drugs are bad.
Less disgusting but no less embarrassing is the arthritic knee. When the weather gets bad it gets all wonky. I've fallen down stairs on two separate occasions because of it. There's something about your fifty year old mother treating your twenty-five year old self as if you're old and frail that's just... humiliating.
As an aside, I think I'm in love with this thread. It's so damn honest.
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I wake up in the morning more tired than before I slept
I get through cryin' and I'm sadder than before I wept
I get through thinkin' now, and the thoughts have left my head
I get through speakin' and I can't remember, not a word that I said
- Ben Harper, Show Me A Little Shame
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