The Chronic Spoonful

What do you actually know about Lyme Disease? Yes, it comes from a tick bite. Yes, it can make you very ill. And yes, it's a long-term chronic illness that can be extremely debilitating. 

Jean Marie Hatton joins us on this episode to talk about her experience with Lyme and how it has impacted her life. We learn about how easy it is to get, and how many times you can miss the signs (hint: only a small percentage of people get the te...

Not all chronic illness diagnoses are straightforward. In fact, most of our roads to diagnosis are uphill, winding, and treacherous. Nikki Fordey joins us on this episode to discuss her own path to being diagnosed as well as how her EDS has impacted her overall life--something any Spoonie can relate to.

And like always, we enjoy your feedback, so jump on into our group discussions on our Facebook page. It's a place where you can al...

Narcolepsy is a chronic disorder that is highly misunderstood by most people. It's not just people dropping off and falling asleep at a moment's notice. There are many other nuances to the disease, and on this episode we speak with Morgan Berliner about Narcolepsy, how she was diagnosed, and how the chronic illness affects her life.

And like always, we enjoy your feedback, so jump on into our group discussions on our Facebook pag...

We are joined by a special guest, Madison Corley, from The Endo Resistance Project and The Sour Collective Magazine to discuss something that affects millions of women around the world: Endometriosis.

Often misunderstood and underdiagnosed, Endometriosis is a painful disease that Madison has struggled with most of her life. It is a full-body disease that too many medical professionals write off as something else like anxiety or jus...

The Arthritis Dietician, Cristina Montoya, is back to discuss with us how our diet can have a significant effect on how we feel. We talk about different foods, and how even if we think something might be anti-inflammatory, it may or may not be for each of us on an individual level.

Cristina also tells us about her new program, that she just finished Beta testing, and how it can benefit those with chronic illness--offering them a be...

You wanted a holiday episode full of brightness and so much cheerfulness? This is a chronic illness podcast, after all! We bring the real to you, and the real deal is that the holiday season is tough stuff, especially for Spoonies. So this week we're talking about how it's okay to not be okay with the holidays. 

Yes, it's okay to cringe at Christmas caroling. It's okay to dread the dreidel. It's okay to go to sleep before that midn...

Diet culture has always been around, but it seems to be hitting new highs as of late. In the Spoonie community, we don't have a stronger armor against the bombardment of diet culture. Actually, with our doctors and health professionals always telling us to be healthier about what we eat, how we exercise, etc., we can often succumb to these fad diets or "quick fixes" more easily.

This week we discuss why diet culture is actually tox...

Chronic illnesses aren't just made up of diseases of the body, but also disorders of the mind. Somehow we forget to include mental illness in our list of chronic illnesses from time to time. Well, not today. On this episode we get the privilege of talking to special guest, Peyton Garland, the author of Not So By Myself, and a fellow Spoonie living with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder--or OCD.

We get the opportunity to explore the ins...

Here's the gist of this very special episode...yes, we talk abortion on this episode. No, we don't debate abortion on this episode. How is that? Well, as you know by now, we respect everyone's opinions here. This podcast is a NO JUDGEMENT ZONE. So when we decided to do an episode to talk about how the Texas abortion law would impact Spoonies, we knew we had to not debate the right or wrong of abortion itself. We are just going to t...

It's amazing to us how many people don't know that they have certain rights when they walk into the door of a medical facility. We shouldn't be shocked. It's not like anyone went out of their way to make sure you or any of the rest of us knew we had them. They didn't. We think there may have been some blips on the news about the Patients' Bill of Rights, but that's about it. 

However, these rights are essential for Spoonies to know...

Try doing a Google search for Best Places to live when you have a chronic illness, and you'll get a bevy of articles listing out where to live. Top ten lists, top five...even top 100. All of them outlining why their list is best, and they know what's right for you. But when it comes to best places to live for Spoonies, there's only a few things that matter--and a lot of the time those things are highly individual.

On this episode, ...

When we say hobbies, what's the first thing that comes to mind? Yep, we knew it! That lady crafting away, right? But not all hobbies are craft related, and there is one out there for you! Hobbies can be an important part of a Spoonie's life, because they help reduce stress and keep us engaged. Yes, that sounds so cheerful of us, but studies do show they do the body good, and on this episode, we discuss why Spoonies need hobbies, wh...

We know it seems weird that we're doing an episode on hygiene, but truthfully it's one of the most draining things on our daily spoons count that we could think of. Hygiene and chronic illness are two things that clash constantly in our daily lives, and we just take that clash for granted all the time--so we decided to talk about it.

After all, what does hygiene mean to you? In today's germaphobic world, the first thing that comes ...

What's the last movie you saw where you said, "Wow! They totally portrayed that chronic illness right?" Okay, now...name a movie that isn't a documentary. Yeah, you have to really think, right? Chronic illness in entertainment is a thorn in most Spoonie's side, because we just don't always see ourselves portrayed properly on screen or on the page.

On this week's episode we talk about how we've been portrayed in entertainment over t...

This week we talk about something we underestimate in our chronic illness lives - pets. We tend to focus on meds, therapies, cannabis, herbs...and anything we can put in or do to our bodies. However, studies after studies are coming out showing the benefits of pets for chronic illness patients.

So we're covering a wide range of topics when it comes to pets for chronic illness patients from service and support animals to our regular...

This week we are so excited to have Suset Rosario on the show. Suset has Multiple Sclerosis and Fibromyalgia--quite the combo of chronic illnesses, right? But she doesn't let that get in the way of living her life as much as she can, and she doesn't let that get in the way of helping other Spoonies live their lives as best as they can, either.

We talk with Suset this week not just about her MS diagnosis and what MS is, but about th...