How Someone Who Can’t Have Children Feels About Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day is almost here and even in a pandemic, we’ll find way to celebrate. but what about the women who aren’t mothers? In my new column for HealthCentral, I share my story of how rheumatoid arthritis blocked my dreams of being a mother (and what I’m doing instead): “Somewhere in a parallel reality, I…
Patterns are Key with Chronic Illness Or The Mushrooms Did It
Updated April 14, 2021 When you live with an unpredictable chronic illness such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), fibromyalgia, migraines, or any of a multitude of conditions that play havoc with you every day, figuring out triggers — things that make your symptoms worse — can be an important part of improving your life. Also feel…
How to Pace Yourself with Chronic Illness
How do you learn to pace yourself with chronic illness? It’s more complicated than just deciding to do things more slowly — there are a lot of emotional aspects to this process, as well as learning a whole new way of leading your life. One of the most frustrating aspects of chronic illness is that…
6 Tips for Setting (and Working Towards) Goals Despite the Unpredictability of Chronic Illness
“That’s why you should never make plans,” she said. “You never know what might happen.” I used to be in that place. It’s a place where you are afraid of planning anything, because of the unpredictability of chronic illness. If you never know how you’ll feel tomorrow, even in an hour from now, forcing you…
When Bodies Break: New Book from the Chronic Illness Community
I am proud to bursting of being a contributor to the exciting new book, When Bodies Break: How we survive and thrive with illness and disability. In it, thirty-two inspiring and resilient chronic illness warriors share their stories of struggle, strength and survival. When Bodies Break is the brainchild of Cam B. Auxer, the woman…
12 Must-Reads if You Have Rheumatoid Arthritis
It’s no secret that I’m a complete book nerd. I learned from books, I love the adventure of books… Essentially, books make me happy. Books can also be a great way of learning more about rheumatoid arthritis and when written by people who live with RA, even better. In my new slideshow for HealthCentral, I’ve…
#ChronicChristmas Gift Guide Day 11: A Colourful Life
Image description: Colourful it pencils are arranged to create a heart surrounded by the business end of the pencils.. Image has the number 11 is a heart placed in the middle and the hashtag #ChronicChristmas This is my daily Advent calendar of gift ideas for people with chronic illness, running from December 1-25. Some entries…
#ChronicChristmas Gift Guide Day 5: A Healing Smell
Description: a few flowers in the foreground, with incense burners and essential oil bottles at rear. Image has the number 5 in a flower and the hashtag #ChronicChristmas This is my daily Advent calendar of gift ideas for people with chronic illness, running from December 1-25. Some entries will contain affiliate links. Scents and aromas…
#Chronic Christmas Celebration on FUMS Podcast
FUMS is a terrific podcast addressing issues related to living with multiple sclerosis. The host, Kathy Young, is absolutely wonderful, incredibly well-prepared, and easy to talk to. I know this because I was recently a guest on FUMS (episode 027), talking about preparing and getting through the holidays with a chronic illness, and, naturally, my…
#ChronicChristmas Gift Guide Day 4: Tell Me a Story
Description: two shelves of books inside a cloud shape, headphone attached. Image has the number 4 in a square and the hashtag #ChronicChristmas This is my daily Advent calendar of gift ideas for people with chronic illness, running from December 1-25. Some entries will contain affiliate links. When you have a chronic illness, you are…
Masking RA: How to Stop Pretending We’re Fine
Do you pretend to be better than you are? Do you hide your pain, your fatigue, maybe you illness itself? In my new article for HealthCentral, I write about the damage pretending with do to us and our relationships and share tips for taking off the mask: “We all do it — pretend that everything…
Facebook Live: Guilt and Chronic Illness
So many of us feel so much guilt. As you know, I wrote a post about guilt — particularly writer guilt — a little while ago, but I couldn’t get it out of my head. So I took at the Facebook. In this month’s #AskLene, we talked about guilt, chronic illness, and how to let…