Chronic Wellness

Chronic Wellness

By Annette LeonardHealth & Fitness
Download on the App Store

Chronic Wellness episodes

  • Episode 144: What Are My New Year;s Intentions? Mind Part 1
    How can I stay present moment focused?
    How can I spend more time here and now -- not looking back or forward?
    How is my pain worse when I'm not focused on now?
    One of the things that supports this is contemplative practice. For me guided meditation is what works.
    I also find value in doing a mental scans throughout the day.
    These are the thoughts I'm examining on today's episode.
    4 min
  • Episode 143: What Are My New Year's Intentions? Body Part 3
    How can I treat my body with care and kindness?
    Why is it so easy to focus on what's wrong with my body?
    What's going right with my body?
    It's easy to see the thing that don't function properly but there are a lot of things that do.
    When I'm not feeling my best, how can I take better care of myself through diet, stretching, or rest?
    Part of the reason I feel so lousy is that my body is fighting so hard on my behalf. Thank you, body!
    How can I speak to my body with care and kindness?
    6 min
  • Episode 142: What Are My New Year's Intentions? Body Part 2
    What be my priorities for the new year?
    How can I find pleasure in my body this year?
    Chronic illness often brings so much pain, fatigue, and frustration.
    Our bodies can feel like prisons. However, our bodies are pleasure centers.
    How can I remember and reconnect to that fact?
    These are some of the questions I'm contemplating on today's episode.
    4 min
  • Episode 141: What Are My New Year's Intentions? Body Part 1
    Nope, you didn't read that wrong, Episode 141. In an effort to get my Podcast synced up with my YouTube broadcasts, I'm skipping episodes 102-140. You can watch them on my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwrjgn46frZM56hXmCgJIiQ
    Perhaps I'll load them here eventually as bonus episodes.
    Why do I make intentions instead of resolutions?
    When making decisions how do these intentions help?
    How can I stay connected better to my body?
    I spent much of my life outside of my own lived experience.
    Setting an alarm several times a day to check in about what's happening for me so I can make adjustments.
    There are things I would otherwise tune out or not notice without connecting to my body more frequently.
    These are some of the things I talk about on today's episode.
    6 min
  • Episode 101: Sex And Chronic Illness, The Impacts
    What are the impacts of having sex, and of not having it?
    Social, emotional, psychological, and physical, there are impacts and consequences to our choices around sex.
    What are the impacts on me, the person with the chronic illnesses and on my partner?
    These are some of the topics I address in today's conversation about Chronic Wellness.
    4 min
  • Episode 100: Sex And Chronic Illness, How Do You Initiate Sex
    As the person with the chronic illness, is it more often up to us to initiate sex on the days we feel potentially "up for it?"
    What about the fact that my lowest pain often happens in the early parts of the day when it is inconvenient and unsexy?
    With all of the medical considerations necessary to make sex possible -- how do we build and stay in the mood?
    Even with the best communication and on the days when my body feels good enough, how do we manage good enough sex?
    These are some of the questions I'm considering on today's episode.
    4 min
  • Episode 099: Sex And Chronic Illness, Redefining The Goal
    In the lineup of things we give up or that are greatly diminished by chronic illness -- sex is definitely in my top ten.
    Having been sick for the better part of a decade now, how have my goals changed?
    How can I redefine what the desired goal or outcome might now?
    Are these new definitions born only of necessity or any bit out of joyful desire?
    What does it mean to grieve losses around my sex life and sex potential?
    What's true for you?
    These are a few of the questions I broach in today's episode.
    4 min
  • Episode 098: Sex And Chronic Illness, The Accelerator And The Brakes
    Where can we talk about the intersection sex and chronic illness?
    What are the things that are our accelerators?
    What are the things that are the brakes?
    In addition to trying to figure out how to enhance the accelerators, focusing on how to reduce items on the brakes can enhance the days we feel well enough for sex.
    These are a few of the things I'm talking about on today's episode.
    4 min
  • Episode 097: Chronic Illness And Sex, Desire
    How does desire factor in to the questions of sex with chronic illness?
    Is my desire impacted truly less or has my psyche protected me by just cutting me off from my desire?
    How can I reconnect to my desire as a person with chronic illness?
    These are a few of the questions I'm examining as I look at the question of managing a sex life with chronic illness.
    3 min

About Chronic Wellness

From the publisher's feed

Are you one of the millions living with a chronic illness or pain? Our diseases may be very different, but we have many of the same experiences, obstacles and frustrations. We are all working for a better quality of life knowing that pain and limitations will be our traveling companions. My name is Annette and I'm the host of Chronic Wellness, a brief, weekly, podcast where we talk about it all: sex, self-care, mental heath, loss of identity, anger, how to navigate health care and have less days that suck so hard.