Blog Articles by Month: December 2016

Practicing Self-Care with Chronic Illness

“I’ve always been really bad at taking care of myself. My body might have had opinions about limits, but I was firmly of the belief that transcending them was just a matter of applying some elbow grease and willpower. Perhaps not surprisingly, my body regularly took revenge. I lost track of how many times it…

Read More

Chronic Christmas Review on The Original Dragon Mother

Chronic Christmas continues its Australian blog tour! Today it appears on The Original Dragon Mother: “The book had its beginnings in blog posts from The Seated View, where Lene wrote a series of posts about dealing with the additional pressures of special holidays like Christmas, and the ways they can impact on people with a…

Read More

How to Make a Danish Orange with Cloves Decoration

In Denmark, it’s tradition to hang oranges studded with cloves and tied with red silk ribbons in the windows of every room during the Christmas season. It smells wonderful and looks so warm and inviting. This is an excellent craft to do with your kids. The emphasis is very decidedly not on perfection and it…

Read More

Chronic Christmas Goes Down Under!

Chronic Christmas has been a little North America-focused. Until now, that is. Thank you so much to Arthritic Chick for my first Australian review! “Lene Andersen describes her new book ‘Chronic Christmas : Surviving the Holidays with a Chronic Illness’ as “an Advent calendar full of self-care tips to help people with chronic illness savour…

Read More

Photo Friday: Santa in the Woods

Read More

Medical PTSD and Long-Term Effects of Ventilator and Tracheostomy

Updated April, 2020 Rheumatologist: “how are you feeling? ICU PTSD can happen after such an experience.” Me: “I’m fine.” This conversation occurred two weeks after I’d been discharged from the hospital after my medical adventure. And the very next day, my GP brandished a pneumonia vaccine and I burst into tears, terrified that it would…

Read More

Chronic Illness Advocacy and the Holidays — #ChronicChristmas on WEGO Health

Once an advocate, always an advocate… Creating awareness for and about chronic illness is a year-round job. In my new guest post for WEGO Health, I share tips for how you can include some subtle advocacy for your condition during the holiday season: “Advocating for chronic illness is a year-round job, one we do with…

Read More

Greatness in the Ordinary: The Self-Care of Movement

This summer, I went to  The Self-Care Mvmt Summit in Toronto. It was an inspiring event where, among other things, I got to listen to Margaret Trudeau talk about her journey with bipolar disorder. It was my first exposure to Self-Care Catalysts, a company that has a unique approach to helping people with health conditions…

Read More

How to Enjoy the Holidays with Chronic Illness — #ChronicChristmas on CreakyJoints

I used to contribute posts to CreakyJoints and was very happy to be part of the community. Alas, when my workload increased, something had to give. I’ve missed that community, which is why I was thrilled when they asked me to write a guest post about the holidays and chronic illness (and perhaps mention Chronic…

Read More

How Hygge Can Help You Cope with the Stress of Chronic Illness

To help you and your family hygge this season, take a look at The Danish Way of Parenting’s hygge oath.    

Read More

Tips on How to Afford Alternative Therapies

Have you ever thought of trying alternative therapies for chronic illness and pain? And if post for HealthCentral, I looked into ways of making them affordable: “Managing the symptoms of chronic illness involves a battery of techniques and many of us include alternative therapies in our treatment regimen. This can include acupuncture, chiropractic care, naturopathy,…

Read More

Chronic Christmas Giveaway on A Rheumful of Tips

Marianna a.k.a. the genius behind A Rheumful of Tips has kindly written a review of Chronic Christmas: Surviving the Holidays with a Chronic Illness: “Chronic Christmas: Surviving the Holidays with a Chronic Illness by Lene Andersen is an advent calendar-style book that is brimming with common-sense and humour, and is also infused with personal stories…

Read More