The Chronic Canyon; Strength Through Illness

So sometimes you don’t realize what you need to hear until you say it to someone else. At least, that’s how it works with me a lot. When I am dealing with other peoples’ problems, I actually do pretty well and can think pretty clearly… but I am completely helpless at solving my own problems. And yes, they can be the same problems.

Continue reading

Let’s Shake the Gratitude Tree and See What Falls Out

Not having the best day mentally/emotionally. I woke up with my depression flaring up, and I have no idea why. Well, I keep hearing how therapeutic a gratitude journal is, and while I’ve never done well with consistently keeping a journal, I thought I would at least make a gratitude post. Maybe listing things I’m grateful for will help me out of this funk.


I’m thankful for:

my husband, Dan – he is the love of my life, my soul mate, and he is my rock. He is always here for me, takes care of me when I’m ill, and loves me for all that I am. My life would be so different if he wasn’t in it, Continue reading

The Pilates Morning Conundrum

I absolutely love Pilates and my studio! As I mentioned in “Things That Make Me Smile,” my studio does both physical therapy (PT) and Pilates, which is a great combination. The PT is much more focused on a whole body approach to treat the issue, and the Pilates is done with an emphasis on proper form and tailoring to your specific needs. Some of the instructors are both PTs and Pilates trained, others are just Pilates trained. All of the instructors have undergone 500 hours of Pilates instructor training… which is crazy, but really good for the students.

I’ve been working with one PT, Joleen, there since January. My body has so many issues that it’s just significantly easier to stay with a single instructor for now. Once my body starts working kind of like a “normal” person’s body, then I’ll be comfortable trying other instructors. I’m getting WAY better though.

I'm on the MOTR, a relatively new Pilates device. It's extremely versatile. This was during an open house at my studio.

I’m on the MOTR, a relatively new Pilates device. It’s extremely versatile. This was during an open house at my studio.

Continue reading

My Chronic Illnesses (part 1)

I suffer from several invisible, chronic illnesses: asthma, allergies, irritable bowel syndrome, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression, most likely misophonia, insomnia, migraines, plantar fasciitis, fibromyalgia, temporal mandibular joint dysfunction, eosinophilic esophagitis, lactose intolerance/sensitivity, and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome. The purpose of this post series is to explain these conditions further and when I was diagnosed. I, unfortunately, have so many conditions that this would be far too long for a single post, so I’ll be talking about them in the rough order of diagnosis (or onset if it was obvious enough to determine the exact start). If you want to know more about me as a person, please read my About Me section.

This post will cover: asthma, allergies, irritable bowel syndrome, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression, most likely misophonia, and insomnia.

Continue reading