Chronic Illness Trauma Studies
How Adversity Shapes Health & Why It's Not In Your Head
This was a moving podcast for me. One the Ven. Sucandra's questions took me to a vulnerable place I haven't shared in public before and I cried as I felt the grief of a caregiving experience I'm having this year (starts at 29:06 minutes). You can download the transcript for this podcast at the ...
A question I've held for over 20 years is whether biological states that cause disease, and which are seen as abnormal - such as lack of insulin and high blood sugar levels in type 1 diabetes; high blood sugar levels, elevated insulin and insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes, and exhaustion in ...
I'm excited to share my first podcast since I took a break from blogging for a few years. This episode is hosted by Kristen Boice, a LIcensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) who incorporates the role of trauma into her work and the importance of doing our own healing work. Kristen invited me to ...
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 ...
Even though I'm a doctor myself, I felt anxiety when my primary care doctor retired and I had to find someone new. By that point I was 15 years into my illness, had consulted dozens of health care professionals in all kinds of specialties who were well respected in their fields but whose ways of ...
This is Harper’s chronic fatigue syndrome story, also known as CFS, myalgic encephalomyelitis or "ME", ME/CFS, and CFIDS (chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome). I call her personal story a #Chrillog, which stands for “chronic illness weblogs,” in which we look at our journeys through a ...
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 ...
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 ...
Are you a WOMI (a woman with a mysterious illness)? Or a MOMI (a man with a mysterious illness)? A person of any orientation with an autoimmune disease? Or chronic fatigue syndrome (which research is beginning to suggest may also be an autoimmune illness)? Or who is not responding to treatment, or ...
