I’m 50 and have severe IBS. That, combined with a hernia I didn’t know I had, almost killed me.

I spent a decade back living with my parents in my 30s trying to figure it out, get healthy, and rebuild my life again.

Then my job became taking care of my mom while she died.

I kept myself sane with gaming, and did a favor for a local on the game Kingdom of Loathing. Didn’t know he was a local at the time, but as thanks he gifted me some pot plants.

That gave me a stake. My dad and I raised and sold those and pulled ourselves away from financial ruin.

At the same time a woman on that game took an interest in me and it got very serious very fast… because I was desperate and she was insane.

Once I pulled myself away from that I looked to dating sites and met my now wife.

As her sister has IBS, she was able to recognize that my condition was worse than just IBS alone. Because I was on public assistance at that time I was able to get the surgery and start recovering.

Problem is that I’d spent a decade training myself to panic when I needed to shit. And I’ve largely dialed that back, helping my other anxieties in the process.

We’ve been married a decade. I have a crappy corporate job that’s WFH so I love that. My own toilet and food makes my daily anxieties easier to cope with, and I hang out with my pets all day.