The Chronic Connection Podcast: Helping Women Live Well with Chronic Illness

Have you ever wondered, "Why me?", "Will I ever be happy again?" or "My life is over"? If you have, Natalie Kelly is here to help. As Nat says, with chronic illness, thought patterns of fear, doom, anxiety, self-consciousness, and self-hatred are common (and valid), but they don't have to be your forever. If you are ready to learn how to reframe those thoughts and learn mindset tools to help you find happiness, confidence, and joy again, then this is the conversation for you! 

First, we touch on Nat’s personal journey with chronic illness and how she came to be a chronic illness mindset and lifestyle coach. We then delve into some specifics about what mindset work is, how she helps people get comfortable with acceptance, and what it means to control our emotions.

More on Nat:

 Natalie is the CEO and founder of Plenty and Well where she is a full-time chronic illness blogger, podcaster, and mindset and lifestyle coach. Nat, who has been living and thriving with Ulcerative Colitis (UC), is passionate about helping you find acceptance, confidence, inner growth, and self-compassion on your chronic illness journey. You can find her @plentyandwellwithnat on Instagram and her website plentyandwell.com

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Do you struggle to manage your mental health when living with chronic pain? 

This episode centers on the intersection of mental health (i.e., depression) and nociplatic-pain disorders (i.e., Fibromyalgia and migraine), including lessons learned from talk therapy and Curable Health.

Allison Martinez has been living with chronic pain for several years managing irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMJ), and fibromyalgia. Her passage through the belly of the medical system exemplifies grit, strength, and determination. She is an inspiration for self-education, personal advocacy, and radical acceptance.

Despite having divergent diagnoses, I deeply related to all that Alison had endured and overcome.

You can find her @chronicalli_ on Instagram

Imagine being seized by pain after laughing, sneezing, and even talking. Imagine having to avoid funny people, loud places, and singing in the car.

For Christie Griffith, this has become reality after being diagnosed with Chiari malformation, a birth defect that affects 1 in 1000 individuals. Her symptoms rapidly progressed after sustaining a concussion while snowboarding in early 2021.

Today’s we step into Christie's world of living with Chiari malformation. We swim through events of the past year and arrive at the apogee of her journey, decompression surgery that was just a few weeks away at the time of this recording.

This conversation is about bringing awareness to chiari malformations and what it’s like to live with the condition. It features an inspiring look into how Christi has managed to balance her debilitating symptoms with her full-time job and, perhaps most importantly, being there for her family and her 9-year-old daughter.

Christie is not one to come front and center, but she is on a mission to raise awareness and build a community of people who understand the realities of living with a chiari malformation.

Do you have pelvic pain? Have you struggled to have medical practitioners take your symptoms seriously?

If yes, then you are in the right place. 

 Cassandra Earle, Her Uterus founder, is an outspoken, bold, and passionate women's health advocate who is working to change the social narrative around endometriosis, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), and other pelvic disorders. 

Today’s conversation plunges into the depths of Cassandra's difficult journey of getting accurately diagnosed with endometriosis and PCOS. We examine the challenges that those with endometriosis, PCOS, and pelvic pain are often faced with including medical gaslighting, stigma, and shame. Finally, we discuss how members of the community can help shift the narrative around these pelvic disorders so that we can help the millions of people living with these conditions feel empowered. 

Do you struggle with GI symptoms - bloating, fatigue, abdominal pain, diarrhea, gas, or constipation? Have you had these symptoms be dismissed by medical professionals?

This episode will help you start to see your symptoms for what they truly are - real, worthy of treatment, and unable to be dismissed.

In today's conversation, Kirsten and I talk about the current research and science behind IBS onset, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatments (including food sensitivity tests and more). Kirsten debunks the misconceptions around the low FODMAP “diet”, which really should be called a temporary diagnostic tool. Finally, Kirsten offers advice for those who experience mealtime anxiety.

More on Kirsten: 

Megan Donelly has been living with migraine for several years. The pivotal moment in her story came when in just a handful of months her migraine snowballed from episodic attacks into a chronic, debilitating condition.

Today’s conversation weaves through Megan’s journey of chronic intractable migraine, her search for effective treatments, and her experience with protracted hospital stays. But perhaps of even greater value, this conversation traces Megan’s emotional and mental growth that has served as the foundation for her healing journey. Megan made a few fundamental changes to her perception, thought patterns, and self-talk that enabled her to better manage her symptoms.

This conversation is sprinkled with seemingly small actions that anyone can take to help them escape the fear-pain cycle and cultivate optimism in the face of health challenges.

A journey that so closely parallels my own, I have exceptional respect for Megan and for all that she has endured with her journey. I deeply admire Megan’s willingness to bare-all when it comes to fear, pain, and hope for the future.

Imagine a life where you work for yourself. You can set your own schedule, take a break when you need it, budget your time so you don’t surpass your limits and yet, still make a living and have adequate health insurance and benefits. Sounds too good to be true, right? Wrong.

Tatiana Skomski is a passionate entrepreneur, former mindset coach, and current chronic illness business coach. She is living proof that you can leave your competitive corporate job and build a business that will allow you to take better care of your health and will very likely leave you even more fulfilled, motivated, and engaged than ever before.

Today we cover an in-depth discussion on who should start their own business and the key questions you should have answers to before deciding if this is the right path for you. Finally, we conclude with how someone who is chronically ill can leave their corporate job and find affordable and adequate health benefits.

If you allow it, this conversation can serve as the launching point from which you can develop a more fulfilling and sustainable career with chronic illness.

Please enjoy my conversation with Tatianna Skomski.

Who should see a registered dietitian? What supplement brands should we trust? What is the difference between a trigger food, a food sensitivity, and an allergy? What supplements should you try if you have migraine? How does your gut health impact your brain?

If you are looking for science-backed, professional insight into all of these questions, then you are in the right place. 

About The Migraine Dietitian: 

Kelli Yates is a private practice Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) specializing in migraine and gut health. She was inspired to pursue natural interventions for migraine after dealing with her own diagnosis for over two decades and knowing medications could not be the only solution. Kelli is passionate about promoting a personalized approach for migraine care, empowering people living with migraine. She promotes evidence-based information and makes gut health interesting, accessible, and fun.

Rest. Re-root. Redefine - three words that encapsulate Alicia’s journey starting as a successful luxury brand designer, through devastating health challenges with chronic vestibular migraine, and finally, stepping into a new persona known as The Dizzy Cook. Alicia Wolf is a mom, businesswoman, chronic vestibular migraine patient, and author of the stunning cookbook, “The Dizzy Cook”. 

If you find yourself in the midst of health struggles, mental or physical, and are debating about taking time away from your career or current life path, if you are thinking of stepping off the tantalizing treadmill of success and achievement, then you are in the right place to listen to and learn from someone who was in your shoes not long ago. 

Furthermore, if you have considered trying an elimination and reintroduction diet for migraine or vestibular disorder symptoms, but have found the diet to feel overwhelming, difficult, and restrictive, then Alicia is here for you. Alicia makes the elimination diet sustainable and easy to follow, helping you embrace your inner home cook, and giving you the best shot at seeing symptom reduction.

Alicia’s new cookbook will be out in October of 2022 (just in time for Christmas!), listen in to hear more, and be sure to mark your calendars! 

1 in 3 individuals lives with a chronic health condition, and yet despite this nearly universal struggle, many people living with chronic illness feel isolated, forgotten, and misunderstood. I know because I felt the same way when chronic illness dismantled life as I knew it.

My name is Morgan Fitzgerald. I am a neuroscience researcher and I have been a chronic illness patient for more than 10 years. Once confined to my childhood bedroom and unable to find anyone living well with my diagnosis, I felt alone for a number of years. However, we are never alone.

The truth is that if you look beyond the name of a diagnosis, you will see that we are all inextricably intertwined – united in the search for how to live well with chronic illness.

Our journeys may not match each other in the exact conditions that we have to manage but they certainly reflect each other in the types of challenges we must overcome.

This podcast is for YOU, featuring people just like you – individuals living with chronic illness.

Listen to inspiring stories of struggle and triumph, sickness and healing, breakdown and recovery. Hear how pain and struggle can be an engine for growth, how having your health crumble can serve as a catalyst for self-reinvention. These conversations are here to inspire your belief in a better tomorrow.

Thanks for being here, and welcome to the Chronic Connection Community

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Are you frustrated with the healthcare system? No system is perfect, we know that, but just because perfection may be out of reach it doesn't mean that we should still strive for progress.

If you are frustrated with the healthcare system, whether your frustration stems from insurance policies or the healthcare system structure itself, there is one direct way to enact change - policy. It takes direct interaction with our policy leaders and representatives both at the state and federal level to create enough motivation for them to vote on, propose and support healthcare reform legislation. 

You might think, this doesn't apply to me. I don't have the time, money, or energy to help. However, it doesn't take big action or big effort. It can be incredibly small actions. Even just sending an email can create ripples that together create waves of change. 

If you don't believe me, take the word of today’s guest - Terry Wilcox. A change maker and patient advocate for over 17 years. She is the co-founder and Executive Director of Patients Rising which is a non-profit patient education and advocacy organization that helps patients get access to essential diagnostics and the treatments they need. 

Today’s conversation touches on 4 action items you can take to help enact change in healthcare with minimal resources, How we can make insurance policies be more patient-forward, and the Top resources to stay up to date on  U.S. healthcare news.

We hope enjoy this episode!

Want to be on the pod? Let us know!

Changing your mindset can change your life. Are you ready?

Leann Stickel is an MS patient turned life coach. Gifted with genetic optimism, Leann is guiding people on how to live well with chronic illness from mourning your pre-illness life to finding your daily dose of frosting.

Today’s conversation traverses Leann’s chronic illness story, from grief and depression to cultivating optimism and gratitude. 

We discuss the balancing act of mourning your past life and welcoming the waves of grief while not allowing yourself to drown in your own pity party.

We examine how she manages to encourage and uplift without rejecting or deriding someone's pain.

Finally, we talk about the power of movement and the importance of finding your ‘why’.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Leann's Website: 

Have you struggled to balance your career and your health? Have you wondered if mindfulness and meditation could help you stay grounded? Then you are listening to the right episode. 

Today’s guest is Grace Adams, an Australian native, who has been managing chronic migraine, chronic fatigue, and orthostatic intolerance for a number of years. She is the founder of innovation migraine, a migraine patient advocate, and a champion of the power of mindfulness.

This conversation traverses Grace’s journey from the difficult turning point at which she had to step back from her career to her decision to start Innovation Migraine, which promotes the innovation taking place in migraine and advocates for governments, institutions, and companies to take migraine seriously. We discuss the factors that played into her decision to stop working full-time. We review the work that she has already completed under innovation migraine and the hopes that she has for the project moving forward. We touch on the realities of receiving migraine care in Australia and compare the resources that are available to those in the US. Finally, we round out the episode with an examination of mindfulness and meditation practices and how Grace uses these tools to stay afloat through the waves of chronic illness.

Find Grace:

When modern medicine doesn't cure chronic pain, what comes next?'

In today's episode, we first catch up with Sabrina on managing life with IBS while in college.

Then we discuss the recent article by David Leonhardt for the New York Times, 'When modern medicine doesn't cure chronic pain, what comes next?' and examine the pros and cons of western medicine that David artfully highlights.

Finally, we round it out with an argument for the revision of many cliché “inspirational” sayings (e.g., “If you’re tired, do it tired; and no pain, no gain!”) because we feel that they promote the misguided prioritization of your achievements over your own well being.

We hope enjoy this episode!

Want to be on the pod? Let us know!

Today’s guest is Monica Feakes - a phenomenal human, dog mom, plant lover, avid reader, and yoga teacher, and in addition to all of that, she also experiences undiagnosed chronic pelvic pain and has migraine.

Monica has been deeply immersed in healthcare from a professional perspective due to her work, but after seeking medical care for her own chronic health issues for the last ten years, she also knows what it is like to be a female patient in the current system.

Today’s conversation is an open and honest discussion about the intersection of chronic illness and mental health and the challenges that females face in the current healthcare system. From chronic pain and symptom dismissal to panic attacks and anxiety medication, she knows firsthand what it’s like to juggle mental and physical health.

Monica and I have been friends for several years now and she is one of the most authentic and compassionate people I have had the pleasure of calling my friend. She showed up for this conversation wholeheartedly and I wanted to give her this platform the share her experience because I know her insights can help so many others. 

There are golden nuggets dropped all throughout this episode so whether you struggle with mental or physical health or a little of both, I think it is one of those warm-hearted but realistic episodes that will help you through whatever you may be tackling. 

Please enjoy today's episode! 

Books mentioned: 

Registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN), Kacie Ferguson, joins us for an informative and insightful conversation about trigger foods, elimination diets, and nutrition for migraine

For years Kacie experienced debilitating, chronic migraine attacks. Her quality of life was minimal, and as she states, she was only scraping by. 

Today’s conversation touches on Kacie’s journey with migraine, why she became a dietitian and how she took back her life through the food and lifestyle strategies featured in her MEND program. We dig into the emotionally charged topics of trigger foods, elimination diets, and diets that are paraded around like migraine miracles and cure-alls. We also talk about the migraine threshold theory and how diet and lifestyle can help you raise your migraine threshold.

 If you are struggling with debilitating migraine attacks or if chronic illness is severely impacting your quality of life and you have never been guided by a professional through the diet and lifestyle factors that are so critical to your overall health, then this episode is one for you. If you’re looking for more guidance than what is offered in this episode, I hope you will reach out to Kacie. 

A powerhouse of patient advocacy and empowerment. Tori Ford is the founder and executive director of the award-winning nonprofit, Medical Herstory.

Tori is on a mission to eliminate sexism, shame, and stigma from health experiences, and she is an outspoken sexual health advocate whose work has been featured by UNWomen.

She holds a BA from McGill University in Gender Studies, a master's from the University of Cambridge in Health, Medicine, and Society, and as if that wasn’t enough she is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Primary Health Care at the University of Oxford.

Her work on advancing gender health equity has been recognized by the McGill Scarlet Key Award and the University of Cambridge Vice-Chancellor Social Impact Award.

Today’s conversation centers around Tori’s experience with chronic yeast infections and how years of being dismissed and not receiving adequate treatment led her to founding medical herstory to empower patients, educate doctors and enact change in healthcare. We also discuss the challenges of the current medical systems and the value of educating medical school students on how to remove sexism, stigma, and shame from medical care.

Female pelvic pain is one of the most dismissed and trivialized symptoms and conditions in the world. 

Maddy Niziolek has been a passionate patient advocate for herself and other women with chronic pelvic pain since she started dealing with Endometriosis at the age of 12. Her symptoms went underdiagnosed and trivialized for years before she finally secured an endometriosis diagnosis in high school. In this episode, Maddy walks us through her journey with endometriosis including her experiences of medical gaslighting. She shares her frustration around the lack of awareness, recognition, and treatment of female-specific pain.  

Her experience with the healthcare system launched her into a career of social involvement becoming a Planned Parenthood teen council member, a leader in the Sexual Health and Healthy Relationships task force, and the community action chair for Voices for Choices at her university. She has her bachelor of arts in political science and is finishing up her master's of public administration. 

Maddy will inspire you to advocate for yourself as much as she will inspire you to get involved in healthcare policy reform. Together we can make a difference for women's health! 

We hope enjoy this episode!

Want to be on the pod? Let us know!

If you want to hear firsthand from a medical school student and soon-to-be practicing doctor, be sure to listen in!

In this episode, Daria shares her experience within the medical education system and we discuss the gaps in the current curriculum including a lack of education about systemic barriers that constrain doctor's real-world medical decision-making (e.g. insurance protocols). This conversation also features an examination of the differences between a doctor of medicine (an M.D.) and a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (a D.O.), and how these two different types of doctors might differ in terms of patient care so that you can find the right doctor for you!

*We discuss a website called 'uptodate.com'. Please know that it does require a monthly fee. 

We hope enjoy this episode!

Want to be on the pod? Let us know!

Can you imagine experiencing chronic pain from the age of four? Erin can.

Erin shares her topsy turvy journey to getting accurately diagnosed with  Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, POTS, Endometriosis & Migraine.

Experiencing chronic pain in childhood and lacking the tools necessary to adequately convey her pain to adults, Erin facilitates a discussion on the importance of empowering and educating children so that they have the tools necessary to communicate difficult and uncomfortable experiences.

Today's episode also features a unique strategy that Erin deployed to tell people about her chronic illnesses. Stay tuned to learn a new communication tool!

Erin’s story is so important because exemplifies the importance of early, adequate treatment and how the antiquated theory that children will always “grow out of it” needs to be dismantled.

We hope enjoy this episode!

Want to be on the pod? Let us know!