Place: Capital-city Australia
My deuteragonist is a seventeen-year-old girl with some kind of chronic and occasionally debilitating illness. Most of the time she feels relatively normal (very little pain, etc), but she has episodes where her symptoms get much worse and she's temporarily incapacitated.
The main symptoms are pain (particularly a stabbing kind), nausea, and a general feeling of weakness. She's short, very skinny, and pale, which may or may not be related. She can also have issues with walking and focusing during her flareups.
I'd like it if this was something that could have been diagnosed in childhood or early adolescence and thus have hung over her for years. I would prefer it to not currently be a progressive disorder, but something with a chance of becoming progressive later is fine. A shortened lifespan is also great for the impending-doom factor.
I have looked into...
- chronic migraines
- fibromyalgia
- Crohn's
- multiple sclerosis
- cystic fibrosis
Thanks in advance!
