Foods To Trigger RA, Foods to Help RA
When you live with a chronic illness, you try a lot of different things to chip away at the symptoms. What foods can help and heard RA has been a topic for probably as long as the disease has been around, but it seems to be even more prevalent at present. In my new slideshow…
Should My Partner Have Sex with Someone Else Because I Have a Chronic Illness?
When you live with chronic illness and disability, pain and mobility limitations can make sex difficult. But does that mean your partner should find someone else with whom to have sex? I see this fairly often, mostly late at night on private Facebook groups where it’s safe to bare what’s deep inside. I’ve been there…
What You Need to Know about Biosimilars
Biosimilars are becoming a real player in RA treatment and is important to know the facts as you make decisions about whether to use them. In my new slideshow for RAHealthCentral, I look at what they are, what they do, and the pros and cons: What are biosimilars? Most drugs are created by chemicals using…
In Which I Face Forward
Mariah Leach has a fantastic feature on her blog. It’s called Facing Forward and in it, people from the chronic illness community tell the stories. I just told mine: Name: Lene Location: Toronto, Canada Diagnoses: Juvenile arthritis, fibromyalgia, migraines Age at Diagnosis: I was 4 when my juvenile arthritis started, but wasn’t diagnosed until I was 9…
Chronic Christmas on Fashionably Ill
I was thrilled when Jessica Gimeno of Fashionably Ill asked me for an interview. We talked about my story, Chronic Christmas, and I shared three tips to survive the holidays with “Today, I am interviewing Lene Andersen, author of Chronic Christmas: Surviving the Holidays with a Chronic Illness (paperback and kindle versions available). The holidays…
Lucy the Leopard
There comes a time in every woman’s life when she has an undeniable urge to wear leopard print. Earlier this week, that urge came to Lucy. The Internet argues that wearing leopard print shows a woman is adventurous and likes to show off, that it’s about power and confidence, and that it turns you into…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…