A Story of the Unseen Struggle with Chronic Illness

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Everyone has a story and every story deserves to be told, heard, and honored. Your host, Julie Marty-Pearson, shares her story of chronic illness and the lessons learned through pain and resilience. 

When my own health journey compelled me to seek answers to the strange dental issues that haunted my twenties, I never expected the lessons it would teach me about resilience and self-advocacy. Now I'm bringing story of autoimmune diseases, specifically Fibromyalgia and Sjogren's Syndrome, to this podcast in hopes of connecting with others who navigate similar paths. 

Join me as I lay out the unspoken challenges and discuss the real costs—emotional, physical, and financial—of living with these diagnoses. I am creating a space where honesty shines, stigmas are dismantled, and the voices of experience resonate with hope and understanding. No matter your journey, the story of how you got to where you are today matters.

About your host: Julie Marty-Pearson, PsyD is a Podcaster and Coach for New & Aspiring Podcasters, who is passionate about helping others share their stories through podcasting. She has her doctorate in Organizational Psychology and worked for 15 years in accreditation, assessment, and institutional research in higher education. Julie started her own business in 2019 to help other women going through career transitions and find professional paths they were passionate about. Now she supports others by starting their own podcasts just like she did with The Story of My Pet Podcast. Julie believes that everyone, especially women and non-binary people, have a story to tell and every story deserves to be heard. Podcasting is the fastest way to share your story with the world and she helps others create and launch their podcast. Julie started her second podcast, Podcast Your Story Now, to share her experience as a podcaster, give tips and tricks for new and aspiring podcasters, and interview other female podcasters about their journeys.

Support the Podcast by buying cute merch! Check out the Your Story Matters Official Store with items supporting both Podcast Your Story Now & The Story of My Pet Podcast.
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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hello, my friend.
Welcome to the Podcast.
Your Story Now podcast.
I am your host, Julie MartyPearson, podcaster and coach for
new and aspiring podcasters.
I am so excited to have youhere to listen to this new
episode.
I hope this story inspires youand gets you motivated to
podcast your story now.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Hello and welcome to the first episode of Podcast
your Story.
Now I am your host, julie MartyPearson, podcaster and coach
for new and aspiring podcasters.
I started my first podcast in2022 to talk about the stories

(00:49):
of my pets, past and present.
I sat down with a friend and wetalked all about our childhood
pets.
From there, the story of my petwas born.
I have loved the process ofcreating and growing that
podcast.
I have learned so much myself.
I started volunteering at mylocal shelter, I became a kitten

(01:13):
foster mom and it all led tothe podcast becoming a platform
to advocate and educate aroundanimal rescue, fostering and
adoption around animal rescue,fostering and adoption.
Since the start of my journey inpodcasting, I have learned so
much, not just about podcasting,but also about myself.

(01:36):
So I decided to start thispodcast to share some of my own
personal stories, my journey asa podcaster, and help others
looking to start their ownpodcast.
I will be interviewing some ofmy friends and fellow podcasters
who I've met along the way,many of whom I have learned a

(01:58):
great deal from and haveinspired me to keep going and
keep podcasting.
In this first episode, I wantedto share a part of my story I
have never spoken about publiclybefore.
I know that makes it sound verydramatic and it's not, but it
is something so personal to me Ihave always had a difficult

(02:21):
time talking about, even withfriends, and it's a part of my
lifelong health journey dealingwith autoimmune diseases,
something which I know so many,especially women, battle alone
and without support every day.
I hope my story will shed somelight on what people with these

(02:45):
disorders go through and alsohelp others to feel a little
less alone.
I was diagnosed withfibromyalgia and Sjogren's
syndrome at 25 years old, butthis story started a few years
prior to that.
I have never been one to haveperfect teeth.
I have never been one to haveperfect teeth.
I've always had a few cavitiesas a kid and as a teenager I

(03:08):
wore braces.
I actually had my upper jawwidened before I had braces
because my mouth was so smalland my bite was so narrow.
So I've had my fair share ofdentist visits and mouth-related
pain.
But one day, while eating, oneof my bottom front teeth chipped
out of nowhere.

(03:28):
I was about 22 or 23 at thetime.
This unfortunately started along road of issues of chipping
and fractures in various teeth.
I saw several dentists who allgave me the same speech that I
needed to brush my teeth, morefloss and stop drinking soda.

(03:49):
Good luck.
As it got worse, I began tothink what's wrong with me?
Why can't I keep my teethbetter than this?
It even got to the point whereI just dealt with the pain and
tried to ignore it.
Once I was diagnosed withSjogren's syndrome, it all
started to make sense.

(04:10):
The main symptoms of thisdisease are dry eyes, dry mouth,
fatigue and joint pain.
It can also cover a wide rangeof other organ-related diseases,
from neurological issues todigestive issues, to lymphoma,
but for me it was the dry mouth.

(04:32):
That was a huge aha moment.
Finally, I had a reason for thegradual decline in my teeth in
my 20s.
Now, when I told the dentist mydiagnosis, it was met with more
understanding than prior, butit was also met with news I
wasn't ready to hear.
The last dentist I saw, beforeanother period of long avoidance

(04:56):
, told me he had had severalprevious patients with Sjogren's
and they all eventually losttheir teeth.
He said it was inevitable andthe only option was full
implants with a sticker price ofabout $40,000.
As you can imagine, I wasshocked, as now I was 27 and

(05:24):
told I was going to lose all ofmy teeth sooner than later and
my only option came with a bigprice tag I had no way of
affording to deal with.
Several years passed and muchmore pain and suffering followed
.
It wasn't until I was about 32,and in constant pain, I could

(05:48):
barely eat and only a few of myteeth were fully intact, so I
had to chew only soft food andvery small bites in order to eat
.
I ate a lot of yogurt, icecream and smoothies.
I hated eating in front ofother people.
I hid my mouth as much aspossible and smiled even less.

(06:10):
None of this was easy, becauseat the time I was a college
teacher and in school finishingmy doctorate.
Then one day it all camecrashing down.
I had been going to a lot ofevents leading up to my sister's
wedding.
I made it through everything,including the wedding ceremony

(06:35):
and reception, but the next daymy body shut down.
It started with the worstmigraine I've ever had and by
the next day I couldn't get outof bed.
After talking with my doctor, weagreed it was time for me to
deal with my mouth.
Luckily, I had a friend who hadrecently had an implant put in

(06:59):
and she loved her dentist somuch so the next day I called
him and made an appointment.
For the first time ever, I meta dentist who saw me as a person
and not as a dollar sign.
He held my hand, looked into myeyes and said I don't know how

(07:19):
you've been suffering like this.
You must be in so much pain andI'm sorry.
It is time to fix it.
We have to get your teeth outof your mouth so that your body
can start healing.
He also told me that, eventhough implants were the best
option, it was okay for us to dothe lower cost option and start

(07:39):
with dentures.
That moment changed my life.
Next stop was an oral surgeonwho was also very understanding,
telling me he would do anythinghe could to help me with the
cost and if I wanted to, hewould work me.
In the next day he was ready tohelp me as well.
Next day he was ready to helpme as well.

(08:05):
Several weeks later, afterleaving my job on disability and
taking the summer session offfrom school, I had what is
called a full mouth extraction.
Every tooth, or what was leftof most of mine, was removed,
along with the roots.
My bones were cleaned out fromthe infection in my mouth and
filed down to the right shape.

(08:26):
I immediately went to thedentist from the surgeon's
office to have my denturesplaced.
The pressure from the dentureswould help my blood clotting and
help me to heal faster.
All in all, the surgery wentsmoothly and I felt okay.
Afterwards I was alreadyadmiring my new smile.

(08:49):
A day or so later I wasn't sohappy.
Once all the meds wore off, Iwas in the most intense pain I
had ever felt and, trust me, Iquestioned if I had done the
right thing.
My entire mouth and headthrobbed from the surgery.
My mouth was healing from yearsof pain and infection.
It took several weeks for thepain to lessen and I had to go

(09:16):
every few days for adjustments.
As the swelling went down, mydentures had to be adjusted to
fit.
I was lucky, though, as I hadlittle to no facial swelling or
bruising, so most people had noidea I had had a surgery, and I
liked it that way.
I started to become moreconfident again, smiling more

(09:39):
openly and enjoying many foods Ihadn't in years.
You had no idea the joy I hadin just being able to bite into
a granola bar again or taking abite out of a nice big sandwich.
It's crazy what we allowourselves to deal with pain and
suffering, all to avoidsomething that is too much for

(10:02):
us to face head on.
As I became more comfortableand open and told more people
what I had been through, theywould tell me things they had
noticed about me, like how Ialways covered my mouth when I
spoke, or how they alwaysthought I had gum in my mouth,
but it was really paste that Iused to cover up my broken teeth

(10:24):
.
I say this because when youlook at someone physically, you
never know what they are goingthrough.
Please be kind.
Recently I was listening to afriend's podcast about her
journey as a widow and cancerpatient two things I had no
experience with, but I waslistening nonetheless.

(10:45):
She began speaking about herexperience with eye cancer and
having to lose one of her eyesand now wearing a prosthetic.
She talked about the grief shewent through losing that eye,
losing her sense of self, theway she looked before and how
she was forever changed,physically and emotionally.

(11:07):
Hearing her talk about it mademe realize that I had gone
through a grieving processmyself with my teeth, and now I
knew it was okay how I felt Iwas grieving a part of my body
that was leaving me forever.
I was grieving a person I waswith my natural teeth in place

(11:30):
and getting used to a personthat I would forever be with
fake teeth, whether it be mydentures, which I still have
some 12 years later, or implantsthat I still hope to get one
day.
It made me realize that a lot ofmy fear, anxiety and just being

(11:53):
scared of the unknown when Iwas first diagnosed with
Sjogren's Syndrome, I never knewwhere to place it, I didn't
know how to process it, I didn'tknow it was okay.
I didn't know anyone else whohad gone through what I was
going through.
I also realized it was okay forme to be scared, it was okay

(12:14):
for me to be pissed off that Iwas having to lose my teeth so
young, and that her sharing herstory made me realize that and
maybe by me sharing my story, Ican help someone else.
So by sharing this story, Ihope that not only will it help

(12:34):
me move through the trauma Iwent through, but it might help
someone out there feel lessalone.
Stories like this, like myfriends, like my own, is why I
decided to start this podcast.
I knew this story was the one Ineeded to tell in the first
episode.

(12:55):
I want everyone to know nomatter what you have gone
through or are going through,you are not alone.
It's okay to talk about it,it's okay to be mad, it's okay
to be sad and it's okay togrieve who you used to be, even
though who you are now is evenbetter.

(13:16):
Thank you so much for listeningto this episode.

Speaker 1 (13:20):
It means so much to me to have you here.
Make sure you don't miss anynew episodes of the podcast.
Hit, subscribe wherever you arelistening right now and new
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If you enjoyed this episode,please share it with friends and
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are listening.
That will help the podcast togrow.

(13:42):
Come on over to Instagram atpodcast your story now to keep
up with me and the podcast sothat you can be ready to podcast
your story now.