Spring in my garden is a riot of color. I caught the above pic of my poppies just past their peak after deciding to replace them and wanting to document the process. Because uprooting a cheery, bright colored perennial that makes me happy in order to take the chance that something else might do an ...
ACREs (Adverse Childhood Relationship Experiences)
Chrillog #4: Laila’s Chronic Lyme Story (I Am Happier, Physically Stronger, and More Stable Than Before Getting Sick)
This is Laila's Chronic Lyme Story. I call her story a #Chrillog, which stands for “chronic illness weblogs,” in which we look at our journeys through a nervous system and trauma lens. Laila's Chronic Lyme Story highlights the commonly overlooked yet important role of adverse childhood relationship ...
ACREs III: Chronic Illness Flares, Triggers and Shame (My ME/CFS Story)
I don't really "want" to write about shame and other difficult emotions because it means having to feel into these feelings. And as many of you know, shame, in particular, can feel annihilating. But the origins of shame are sneaky and we tend to think it's because something is wrong with US. The ...
Chrillog #1: Marit’s Asthma & Parkinson’s Story
This is Marit's Parkinson's Story and Asthma Story. I call her story a #Chrillog, which stands for "chronic illness weblogs," in which we look at our journeys through a nervous system and trauma lens. Introduction My name is Marit, I am 58 years old and I live in Norway. I worked as a nurse ...
Chronic Illness Books for Healing Trauma (That Will Help Your Symptoms) + Free Resources List
The chronic illness books listed here support recovery through stories and by highlighting the new science. The research is discovering that risk for diseases of all kinds is affected by adverse life experiences and other sources of threat and overwhelm. Because these change our body's natural ...
Type 2 Diabetes and Trauma: 8 Categories of Adversity Increase Risk (+Tips, Fact Sheet and Why It’s Not Your Fault)
Get the Free Fact Sheet & Post The forms will appear momentarily Chapters Preface A New Model The New Model: Weight is Not the Cause There is a profound and deeply shaming stigma assigned to larger bodies or having type 2 diabetes (T2D) in our culture. T2D is ...
Planting Seeds for Healing 8 Categories of Adversity (and Chronic Illness)
There are empowering, encouraging things about understanding the role of adversity and trauma as risk factors for chronic illness. Among the most important are that it provides opportunities. Opportunities for making sense of symptoms. Opportunities for removing blame. And opportunities for planting ...
ACREs II: How I Overcame Years of Severe Food Intolerances in 5 Days (+20 years healing complex PTSD)
On my return from time with my parents for my annual summer visit in the early 2000s I finally connected the dots to realize that my unquenchable thirst and dry mouth were not solely from living at 5000 feet in the arid climate near the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Eating desserts and vinegary ...
Trauma and Chronic Illness: 19 Characteristics that Can Make Sense of Symptoms (Summary of the Science)
There are a lot of unanswered questions about chronic illness. Why do so many of us develop our diseases after periods of stress, for example? Why are we then unable to recover by addressing, removing or reducing the stress in our lives? Why do some people with type 1 diabetes, or chronic ...