At the ripe age of 33, I decided to do dating sites (with a lot of help from my sister). I mostly went on for two things: 1) the gratification when someone likes me and b) maybe make some friends? So far only #1 has worked — #2 has been harder. There are so many rules, and people get tired easily, or give up on you if you don’t respond in 24 hours. (People have lives; why are people on a time limit if their bio says “only friendship”?)

Trying to shove info about myself without seeming unappealing — and let’s face it, nobody with chronic-anything sounds appealing — but also try to be proud of myself despite my ailments. Picking the right photos is another nightmare, especially if you take selfies with your face most of the time.

I propose something: a dating app for chronically ill and/or chronically painful folks. I have no intention or desire to create it, but maybe someone else will. Even something like PMDD can impact someone’s life, and none of us should have to try this hard on these kinds of sites to make friends, much less anything else.