Isabel Kaplan
@isabelkaplan.bsky.social
Novelist (NSFW) battling Long Covid. Saying/writing/drawing the quiet parts out loud & on the page. Substack: isabelkaplan.substack.com
what’s in a name? everything. we need a better name and acronym than ME/CFS. As a writer w an English degree & MFA, i think about word choice a lot. this one a lot over the past year, trying to describe my situation to friends, strangers, and medical professionals.
December 3, 2025 at 7:56 PM
what’s in a name? everything. we need a better name and acronym than ME/CFS. As a writer w an English degree & MFA, i think about word choice a lot. this one a lot over the past year, trying to describe my situation to friends, strangers, and medical professionals.
Reposted by Isabel Kaplan
I've been seeing a lot of fuss over oxaloacetate for ME/CFS recently, a supplement that didn't work for me and caused severe heartburn, and honestly I think Fig. 4 about sums it up www.frontiersin.org/journals/neu...
December 3, 2025 at 6:55 PM
I've been seeing a lot of fuss over oxaloacetate for ME/CFS recently, a supplement that didn't work for me and caused severe heartburn, and honestly I think Fig. 4 about sums it up www.frontiersin.org/journals/neu...
because we have to keep saying it: representation matters. the first step towards empathy is understanding; the first step to understanding is encountering.
Here's a list of protagonists or major characters who use wheelchairs.
Novels/novellas
Borderline by Mishell Baker
Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor
At the Speed of Lies, Cindy Otis
By Winged Chair by Kendra Merritt
The Gray House by Mariam Petrosyan
Casting Nasturtiums by Celia Lake
Novels/novellas
Borderline by Mishell Baker
Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor
At the Speed of Lies, Cindy Otis
By Winged Chair by Kendra Merritt
The Gray House by Mariam Petrosyan
Casting Nasturtiums by Celia Lake
December 3, 2025 at 7:43 PM
because we have to keep saying it: representation matters. the first step towards empathy is understanding; the first step to understanding is encountering.
today’s PEM brought to you (me) courtesy of yesterday’s this.
November 16, 2025 at 10:21 PM
today’s PEM brought to you (me) courtesy of yesterday’s this.
Reposted by Isabel Kaplan
went to urgent care yesterday w/ severe back & abdominal pain, at my therapist’s insistence, and after hearing that I have post-viral illnesses from COVID, the Dr asked, “have you tried EMDR?”
🤦♀️🤦♀️ #longcovid
🤦♀️🤦♀️ #longcovid
November 16, 2025 at 3:31 PM
went to urgent care yesterday w/ severe back & abdominal pain, at my therapist’s insistence, and after hearing that I have post-viral illnesses from COVID, the Dr asked, “have you tried EMDR?”
🤦♀️🤦♀️ #longcovid
🤦♀️🤦♀️ #longcovid
recent scribbles, inspired by a meeting w a dysautonomia specialist for which i waited 5 months. had to turn the lemons into something if not sweeter at least brighter.
#pots #dysautonomia #graphicmedicine
#longcovid
#pots #dysautonomia #graphicmedicine
#longcovid
November 15, 2025 at 6:51 AM
recent scribbles, inspired by a meeting w a dysautonomia specialist for which i waited 5 months. had to turn the lemons into something if not sweeter at least brighter.
#pots #dysautonomia #graphicmedicine
#longcovid
#pots #dysautonomia #graphicmedicine
#longcovid
it’s almost like Long Covid is a physiological illness that can’t be healed by “retraining your brain” 🤦♀️🤦♀️
🧠 RECOVER-NEURO clinical trial found that “cognitive rehabilitation” failed in treating Long COVID
🩸 Scientists are revealing more about microclots and Long COVID
🍳 A study about ME was retracted by the journal Food Science and Nutrition
#LongCOVID research updates: bit.ly/47F2xc7
🩸 Scientists are revealing more about microclots and Long COVID
🍳 A study about ME was retracted by the journal Food Science and Nutrition
#LongCOVID research updates: bit.ly/47F2xc7
November 13, 2025 at 4:11 PM
it’s almost like Long Covid is a physiological illness that can’t be healed by “retraining your brain” 🤦♀️🤦♀️
reminds me of when in 2022 British Vogue asked me to write an essay about how Hollywood had changed in the 5 years since #MeToo, pegged to the pub of my novel NSFW, about complicity in Hollywood.
I said, “I can’t, but how about an essay on how things have NOT changed?”
I said, “I can’t, but how about an essay on how things have NOT changed?”
Today is a good day to remember, and to say, that the #MeToo movement was right, and was righteous, and has been vindicated over and over again. There was no overreach. There was no excess. There was no they-went-too-far.
So much work remains to be done.
So much work remains to be done.
November 13, 2025 at 4:10 PM
reminds me of when in 2022 British Vogue asked me to write an essay about how Hollywood had changed in the 5 years since #MeToo, pegged to the pub of my novel NSFW, about complicity in Hollywood.
I said, “I can’t, but how about an essay on how things have NOT changed?”
I said, “I can’t, but how about an essay on how things have NOT changed?”
we never learn.
“Me Too went too far because [shit that absolutely fucking did not happen]” is a recurring goddamned theme in our culture.
November 13, 2025 at 4:07 PM
we never learn.
My first ProCreate experiment was an attempt to answer my nerve block doctor’s question about whether the “fatigue” part of my ME/CFS was similar to the way his body felt during a recent bout of 24 hr food poisoning. (Yeah. Really.) I came up with this.
#longcovid #mecfs #procreate
#longcovid #mecfs #procreate
November 13, 2025 at 4:00 PM
My first ProCreate experiment was an attempt to answer my nerve block doctor’s question about whether the “fatigue” part of my ME/CFS was similar to the way his body felt during a recent bout of 24 hr food poisoning. (Yeah. Really.) I came up with this.
#longcovid #mecfs #procreate
#longcovid #mecfs #procreate
I used to write full novel drafts by hand. Long Covid has severely limited my capacity to read or write by hand. So I turned to a different form of markmaking and began learning to draw. After the nerve blocks, I began struggling more with drawing, esp with perspective and depth.
November 12, 2025 at 1:50 AM
I used to write full novel drafts by hand. Long Covid has severely limited my capacity to read or write by hand. So I turned to a different form of markmaking and began learning to draw. After the nerve blocks, I began struggling more with drawing, esp with perspective and depth.
over 13 days, i had: 14 #stellateganglionblocks , 4 thoracic sympathetic blocks, 1 celiac plexus block, and 2 lumbar blocks. I entered PEM on day 3, after 2 bilateral SGBs in a row, and developed noise sensitivity (never a problem before). But things went REALLY WRONG around day 9/blocks 16 & 17.
November 11, 2025 at 7:18 PM
over 13 days, i had: 14 #stellateganglionblocks , 4 thoracic sympathetic blocks, 1 celiac plexus block, and 2 lumbar blocks. I entered PEM on day 3, after 2 bilateral SGBs in a row, and developed noise sensitivity (never a problem before). But things went REALLY WRONG around day 9/blocks 16 & 17.
hi. I’ve had an insane few months. I had 21 (!!) sympathetic nerve blocks over 13 days to treat long Covid/pots/MECFS. (this is a LOT. most people have 1 or 2 total.) I traveled thousands of miles to be treated by the leading expert, who said I needed this protocol. It went horribly wrong.
November 11, 2025 at 5:04 PM
hi. I’ve had an insane few months. I had 21 (!!) sympathetic nerve blocks over 13 days to treat long Covid/pots/MECFS. (this is a LOT. most people have 1 or 2 total.) I traveled thousands of miles to be treated by the leading expert, who said I needed this protocol. It went horribly wrong.
just tried on thigh-high compression stockings for the first time and…they’re basically a push-up bra for my ass? what even is this? ( ab compression is too uncomfortable; knee high makes no difference. I’m goldilocks, i know.
August 14, 2025 at 1:04 AM
just tried on thigh-high compression stockings for the first time and…they’re basically a push-up bra for my ass? what even is this? ( ab compression is too uncomfortable; knee high makes no difference. I’m goldilocks, i know.
is this thing on? are people still on here? i have an insane amount of updates and knowledge acquired about long covid, pots, hEDS, cutting edge treatments and warning stories…if i can somehow find an audience of people on here who are seeking that?
August 13, 2025 at 2:47 PM
is this thing on? are people still on here? i have an insane amount of updates and knowledge acquired about long covid, pots, hEDS, cutting edge treatments and warning stories…if i can somehow find an audience of people on here who are seeking that?
Reposted by Isabel Kaplan
@whitneydafoe.bsky.social is able to eat again after 11 years!
Fellow ME/CFS folks, this is a big deal. How wonderful to see improvement in quality of life in one of our own!
Happy Monday!
Fellow ME/CFS folks, this is a big deal. How wonderful to see improvement in quality of life in one of our own!
Happy Monday!
I Started Eating Food Again in 2024...What Will 2025 Bring?
I started eating real food again in 2024!...I have now stopped the Peptamen food formula completely, and get all my calories from real food!...It has come time that I feel stable enough with this new ...
www.whitneydafoe.com
February 17, 2025 at 4:12 PM
@whitneydafoe.bsky.social is able to eat again after 11 years!
Fellow ME/CFS folks, this is a big deal. How wonderful to see improvement in quality of life in one of our own!
Happy Monday!
Fellow ME/CFS folks, this is a big deal. How wonderful to see improvement in quality of life in one of our own!
Happy Monday!
the only republican to vote against RFK Jr was Mitch McConnell…a POLIO survivor.
February 13, 2025 at 5:49 PM
the only republican to vote against RFK Jr was Mitch McConnell…a POLIO survivor.
the LA Fire Department just accidentally issued an emergency evacuation warning to the ENTIRE county.
January 10, 2025 at 12:31 AM
the LA Fire Department just accidentally issued an emergency evacuation warning to the ENTIRE county.
to people unfamiliar with LA - i can’t emphasize enough how unprecedented this is
January 8, 2025 at 5:23 AM
to people unfamiliar with LA - i can’t emphasize enough how unprecedented this is
listening to a reporter explain that the question of which houses on a block catch fire and which don’t can come down to whether the palm tree in front of the house catches fire or not. These fires are terrifying
January 8, 2025 at 5:21 AM
listening to a reporter explain that the question of which houses on a block catch fire and which don’t can come down to whether the palm tree in front of the house catches fire or not. These fires are terrifying
successfully navigated a Warby Parker outing with energy to spare, so now I’m thinking, next step, New York trip? - today in #longcovid life
January 7, 2025 at 1:49 AM
successfully navigated a Warby Parker outing with energy to spare, so now I’m thinking, next step, New York trip? - today in #longcovid life
I spent NYE in the ER. I left 10 hrs later more dehydrated than I arrived (did you know there’s a fluids shortage?). It was brutal, but I’m okay, and I made an erasure poem out of my medication guide.
text in comments if image is hard to read
text in comments if image is hard to read
January 5, 2025 at 9:10 PM
I spent NYE in the ER. I left 10 hrs later more dehydrated than I arrived (did you know there’s a fluids shortage?). It was brutal, but I’m okay, and I made an erasure poem out of my medication guide.
text in comments if image is hard to read
text in comments if image is hard to read
sippin my saturday night pedialyte, wyd?
January 5, 2025 at 3:47 AM
sippin my saturday night pedialyte, wyd?
Some thoughts on brain fog and close reading Luigi Mangione’s game of Monopoly
isabelkaplan.substack.com/p/the-art-of...
isabelkaplan.substack.com/p/the-art-of...
The Art of Losing and Playing Monopoly with Luigi Mangione
with a guest appearance by my photogenic heart
isabelkaplan.substack.com
December 19, 2024 at 9:09 PM
Some thoughts on brain fog and close reading Luigi Mangione’s game of Monopoly
isabelkaplan.substack.com/p/the-art-of...
isabelkaplan.substack.com/p/the-art-of...