Chronic Wellness

Chronic illness doesn't exempt me from other opportunistic illnesses. I’m Annette Leonard of https://www.annetteleonard.com find me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/theannetteleonard

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I didn't record Chronic Wellness last week. Two weeks ago I went to Seattle to meet with my specialists. While up there I contracted a virus. With a fever up around 104, I had fever dreams. When I first started to get sick -- I turned on myself. "What did I miss???" The litany of self-criticism is a habit I could stand to change.

I suspect it's difficult for those in our lives to understand how additional illness impacts those of us with chronic illness. While I'm still not back to "myself" I'm grateful to be getting out of bed and for the few hours I do have. It helps me not take this for granted.

Getting sick can lead me to the fear of "what if this is my new normal?" These are additional opportunities to grow and learn how to be present with myself and what is arising.

Have you remained healthy during this flu/COVID/cold season? What thoughts, fears, realizations have occurred to you?

This Thursday 2/8 at 12 PST I'll be hosting Alexis Hawes of the Instagram WhyIEatPlants about holistic wellness and plant-based eating. Please join us.

This is the Chronic Wellness Podcast. I'm Annette Leonard, speaker, coach, and sick person who believes that my illnesses do not define me. If health is the absence of disease and wellness is the presence of wholeness, then no matter what your disease status, we can work toward your wellness, your wholeness.

Whether or not you are ever "healthy" on paper, you can be well. Join me and others on the path back to wholeness at AnnetteLeonard.com. Whether you are a person experiencing chronic illness or are someone who loves or serves people with chronic illness I have great resources here on this channel or on my website for you.

Is there an antidote to chronic pain? I’m Annette Leonard of https://www.annetteleonard.com find me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/theannetteleonard

If you suffer daily from chronic pain, I know that you, like me wish that there were ways to resolve that pain. We've talked about novel ways to try and resolve pain. What if there were other solutions? This one takes a page out of lateral thinking. Hungarian born psychologist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, coined the term "flow," to talk about the state of heightened engagement. Whether that's when you're engaged in a great book, lost in good conversation, or doing an activity you really love, if you've lost track of time, you've probably experienced flow.

When we are in the state of flow, we can't feel as much pain. The same neurons that experience pain are engaged in that activity. It begs the question, how can we get into flow more often to get out of our pain?

It is so strange that while we have a localized experience of pain (in our hip, arm, joints) the pain signal is in our brain. So if we can override the signal in our brain, we have a reduced experience of pain. So take yourself on a trip back to childhood, remember the things activities you used to loose yourself in and find ways to inject more of that in your life.

This isn't foolproof -- it doesn't take my pain to zero. But there are ways that spending time with others can help distract me from my pain. I can also become engrossed with my creative outlets as a way to reduce my pain. I can also use creative outlets as a way to distract from my pain. What gets you in a state of flow?

This is the Chronic Wellness Podcast. I'm Annette Leonard, speaker, coach, and sick person who believes that my illnesses do not define me. If health is the absence of disease and wellness is the presence of wholeness, then no matter what your disease status, we can work toward your wellness, your wholeness.

Whether or not you are ever "healthy" on paper, you can be well. Join me and others on the path back to wholeness at AnnetteLeonard.com. Whether you are a person experiencing chronic illness or are someone who loves or serves people with chronic illness I have great resources here on this channel or on my website for you.

Could micro-disciplines be the key to transformation? I’m Annette Leonard of https://www.annetteleonard.com find me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/theannetteleonard

With the start of the calendar year the allure of resolutions and making sweeping changes is real. However, when I try to make big changes, I am often setting myself up for failure.

The notion of "micro-discipline" came from one of my favorite poets, David Whyte. Rather than making big, sweeping changes, how can I make miniature, infinitesimal changes? We are the culmination of our actions and decisions while also being creatures of habit. It is really difficult to change our habits. Therefore, micro-disciplines is valuable.

Some examples: rather than starting a new mindfulness practice, I'll set my alarm to go off once a day and when it does I do a body scan. Rather than attempting a whole new diet overnight, I menu plan for one meal that week with that diet in mind. Thinking about what boundaries I want to have and try practicing those boundaries first with someone who feels lower stakes.

By setting small accomplishable tasks, having a win, and building our wins, and then deciding whether or not the task is worth continuing, I'm setting myself up for success. Often, research shows, the things we THINK will make us happy, are not the things that DO.

The way massive ships change direction are in part by a small mechanism called "trim tabs." These devices dip into the water creating drag and slowing the boat on one side so it can turn. I like to think of these mini habits like "trim tabs." Creating a little bit of change that might change the course of my life.

What micro-discipline might you start with?

What have you tried?

What is an area where you could put your attention and create a bit of change?

This is the Chronic Wellness Podcast. I'm Annette Leonard, speaker, coach, and sick person who believes that my illnesses do not define me. If health is the absence of disease and wellness is the presence of wholeness, then no matter what your disease status, we can work toward your wellness, your wholeness.

Whether or not you are ever "healthy" on paper, you can be well. Join me and others on the path back to wholeness at AnnetteLeonard.com. Whether you are a person experiencing chronic illness or are someone who loves or serves people with chronic illness I have great resources here on this channel or on my website for you.

400 Episodes! I’m Annette Leonard of https://www.annetteleonard.com find me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/theannetteleonard

It's 2024 and this is my 400th episode. I've been absent for a couple of weeks. Part of what's been happening is my tech has been hinky but also with the 400th episode looming I wanted to have something profound to say for my 400th episode. How do we self-sabotage and bock the things we most desire?

For those of us living smaller lives because of our chronic conditions we MUST get out of our own way. When our "healthy" counterparts are expanding their possibilities in ways that may not be accessible to those of us who are chronically sick. Nonetheless, it is incumbent upon us to find ways to put life, joy, and meaning into our days. The life of a professional patient is demoralizing so finding the things that light you up and spell JOY in your heart must be cultivated.

We don't have to wait for the start of a New Year, we are offered a fresh start each morning. I was inspired by the portrayal of Diana Nyad in the recent Netflix of her swim from Cuba to Florida. What devotion to a singular cause! What could we accomplish if we put our mind to it? How can you see your progress and the accumulation of benchmarks.

I'm continuing my Chronic Wellness Conversations on Instagram join me as I interview Amanda Chay, author of The Girlfriend's Guide to Lupus on Jan 4th at 11am PST

Thank you for being on this ride with me.

This is the Chronic Wellness Podcast. I'm Annette Leonard, speaker, coach, and sick person who believes that my illnesses do not define me. If health is the absence of disease and wellness is the presence of wholeness, then no matter what your disease status, we can work toward your wellness, your wholeness.

Whether or not you are ever "healthy" on paper, you can be well. Join me and others on the path back to wholeness at AnnetteLeonard.com. Whether you are a person experiencing chronic illness or are someone who loves or serves people with chronic illness I have great resources here on this channel or on my website for you.

I’m Annette Leonard of https://www.annetteleonard.com find me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/theannetteleonard

Today I'm wrapping up my series on empathy and compassion. These words are not synonyms. Once I feel empathy - identifying with someone's experience, I can behave compassionately - take action on those feelings.

Empathy's shortcoming: if I don't see myself in someone else, I might not feel empathy. However, compassionate action means that I can lend myself to a cause just because I see that cause as right and good. An example: I believe in housing justice even if I can't identify with the plight of a refugee who is benefiting from that work.

Empathy and compassion can be external but they can also be internal. I can also be reflective and be empathetic about my own experience and take compassionate action. It seems ideal to consider this during the holidays. Whether it's the shorter days, the expectations of the holidays, the grief or a myriad of other reasons. With chronic pain and illness, we need to take care to think about what we need or want from the season and set boundaries for ourselves.

How can you be compassionate towards yourself in ways that will leave you feeling better at the end of December than you did if you just went along with what others wanted. Connection is an important part of our well-being. What connecting can you do over the holidays that will fill your cup. With long-term illness it's easy to recede. How can compassion towards yourself include connection?

Pema Chodron introduced me to the practice of tonglen. A way to experience compassionate action through mindfulness.

This is the Chronic Wellness Podcast. I'm Annette Leonard, speaker, coach, and sick person who believes that my illnesses do not define me. If health is the absence of disease and wellness is the presence of wholeness, then no matter what your disease status, we can work toward your wellness, your wholeness.

Whether or not you are ever "healthy" on paper, you can be well. Join me and others on the path back to wholeness at AnnetteLeonard.com. Whether you are a person experiencing chronic illness or are someone who loves or serves people with chronic illness I have great resources here on this channel or on my website for you.

What's the difference between compassion and empathy? I’m Annette Leonard of https://www.annetteleonard.com find me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/theannetteleonard

Last week I talked about whether we could feel another's pain. Taking a step back from that I'm deconstructing what compassion and empathy means. I identify as an empath -- in seeing one's pain I feel and identify with that pain.

Mattieu Ricard, a Buddhist monk from France has studied the neurobiology of empathy and compassion. He emphasized that empathy is feeling another's pain. Ex: your child is afraid of the thunderstorm and in empathy you also feel that pain and fear.

He contrasts that experience with compassion: compassion leads to action (vs empathy which leads to feeling). Compassion leads to think of interventions, contributions, help and solutions. This leads towards kindness and desire to help. Empathy is required to lead to compassion. Compassion allows a layer of distance that empathy does not.

The neuroscience has demonstrated that the areas of the brain lit up during empathy were areas that lead to stress, anxiety and burnout. Whereas, the compassion areas of the brain were not in stress but problem-solving and sustainable.

Do these experiences contribute to our experience of pain?

As we head into the holidays. I have empathy and compassion and I hope you are extending compassion for yourselves. If you want tips and techniques for managing your illnesses and holidays (alone or with others!) check out my Holidays Playlist or go view videos 118, 117, 116, 115, 114, 291, 292, 367.

This is the Chronic Wellness Podcast. I'm Annette Leonard, speaker, coach, and sick person who believes that my illnesses do not define me. If health is the absence of disease and wellness is the presence of wholeness, then no matter what your disease status, we can work toward your wellness, your wholeness.

Whether or not you are ever "healthy" on paper, you can be well. Join me and others on the path back to wholeness at AnnetteLeonard.com. Whether you are a person experiencing chronic illness or are someone who loves or serves people with chronic illness I have great resources here on this channel or on my website for you.

I’m Annette Leonard of https://www.annetteleonard.com find me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/theannetteleonard

I'm listening to the podcast "The Retrievals." In which a fertility clinic at Yale had a nurse who was swapping out fentanyl for saline. The women who describe their pain go into great detail. They were systematically denied, told they had the maximum dose, suggested alternate stories to try make sense of the pain, and numerous other examples of how the doctors, nurses, spouses and the women themselves were conditioned out of believing their own experiences.

It's so disheartening that in the 2020s were still doing to women what we were doing in the time of Hypocrites. When women were called "hysterical" due to free-floating uteruses. Thoroughly documented in the book "Unwell Women," how women's pain is radically under-acknowledged, untreated, dismissed. Does the explanation matter -- unless it's to help solve the problem?

Why do we discredit women's pain. This becomes particularly difficult, as women, when we try to get our pain believed. Do I try to become cerebral, emotional, loud, demonstrative? Each method has it's consequences.

The first time I had meningitis. I was experiencing new realities of pain. I didn't have a frame of reference for how much pain I was in. A doctor asked me about my pain on a scale of 1-10. While trying to avoid light, sound, touch, and trying not to vomit, I told him, "it's at least a nine." He said, "it's hard to believe you when you say that with a smile on your face." And my partner started to unpack the reasons I might be smiling. Not everyone has that kind of advocate who knows them that well. Thankfully, I got a spinal tap that led to me getting treatment -- but he could have given me a spinal tap and sent me home.

Are you believed when you report your pain? Is your pain being addressed? Are you getting the pain-care you need?

"But you don't look sick." I’m Annette Leonard of https://www.annetteleonard.com find me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/theannetteleonard

Learning how to respond to, "but you don't look sick," without getting frustrated is a difficult thing. Maybe I don't -- and yet, I am. I often try to look fierce, because I don't feel good.

Last week was Hidden Disabilities Awareness Week (Oct 15-21). Don't let the fact that we're a week late, stop you from disclosing. For those who are able-bodied, the only way to gain awareness is to learn from the experience of others.

Often I shut myself down by thinking some version of, "they've heard it," "they're tired of hearing about it," "I don't want to complain," etc." We have a range of people in our lives from close to distant and there are a range of ways we might introduce this topic. Even folks with obvious disabilities also have hidden disabilities they might not talk about.

For me, most of my close friends know that I'm living with chronic migraines, but they may not know the affects of this like: when I go to your house for dinner -- that low music you play for ambiance, erodes my ability to think, participate, and engage as I try to manage my pain.

We are often discouraged from discussing our disabilities and illness because of adages like "if you don't have something nice to say..." Therefore, these awareness days offer us opportunities, if we chose to take them, to disclose our experiences in ways we might otherwise not.

Watching two truckers signal each other with their lights recently made me think about hidden illness and disability. I wish we had covert ways of signaling one another so that we could notice each other out in the world. Knowing we are not alone relieves some of the burden. We have a deeply human desire to be understood and to be included. Telling others about my hidden disabilities allows others to do a better job of that.

So the next time someone says "but you don't look sick," could this be an opportunity to disclose and invite someone to know you a bit better rather than leaving the interaction feeling diminished by the comment.

This list compiled by Charity Watch

Doctors Without Borders (http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/)/MSF is donating medical supplies to hospitals/health facilities in Gaza responding to medical needs. MSF does not run medical programs in Israel, which has strong emergency and health services. MSF has been running medical programs in Gaza for more than 20 years, supporting a health care system that urgently lacks both medical personnel and supplies. Their teams work in three hospitals and several outpatient clinics, offering comprehensive care for people suffering from burns and trauma. Since 2018, MSF has been running a reconstructive surgery program in northern Gaza. They also operate several medical programs in the West Bank.

Anera (http://www.anera.org/), has no political or religious affiliation, works on the ground with partners in Palestine mobilizing immediate emergency relief. Anera has already delivered 12,000 bags of IV solutions to Gaza’s largest hospital. In the coming days they will distribute food parcels, water, and hygiene kits to displaced families.

Muslim Aid USA (http://www.mausa.org/) is actively responding to this humanitarian crisis, working alongside their partners on the ground; delivering essential medical aid and equipment to the main hospitals in Gaza. They are also providing food packages and vital non-food items such as hygiene kits and other necessities to those who are in need.

The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (http://www.jdc.org/) has activated their emergency response across Israel. In the south of the country, they have widespread, existing operations and programs providing support to those directly impacted by the conflict, including elderly, people with disabilities, children and families at risk.

Hadassah (http://www.hadassah.org/) hospitals in Israel and its medical teams are currently providing crisis medicine and trauma-care to those impacted by the on-going conflict.

Zakat Foundation of America (https://www.zakat.org/) has been in this volatile area for over 20 years. Alongside local partners they provide both long-and short-term aid. Zakat has stated that it is supplying emergency relief, including: medical supplies, hygiene kits, food, warm blankets and clothing.

HIAS (http://www.hias.org/) has been operating in Israel since 1950. Within 24 hours of the initial conflict, HIAS activated its Emergency Response protocols to provide life-saving support to those displaced. Their core emergency capabilities include hygiene supplies, blankets, dignity kits, mental health and psychological support, and child protection.

Mercy Corps (http://www.mercycorps.org/) has operated in the West Bank and Gaza since 1986, providing humanitarian support including access to water, working with children and young people, and connecting people to economic opportunities. Mercy Corps currently has people on the ground assessing the needs of those impacted by the conflict and will resume their lifesaving programs when it is safe to do so.

Oxfam-America (https://www.oxfamamerica.org/) has been working in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel since the 1950s and established its only country office in the area in the 1980s. In total they work with 28 partner organizations to offer lifesaving support including: rebuilding water and sanitation infrastructure, hygiene kits, distributing cash, food and bedding. Oxfam is in discussion with partners on how to begin their humanitarian response once it is safe to do so.

See the full list: https://www.charitywatch.org/charity-donating-articles/gaza-israel-conflict-top-rated-charities-providing-aid

Can this supplement improve long COVID? I’m Annette Leonard of https://www.annetteleonard.com find me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/theannetteleonard

My journey into chronic illness started with mono. My start of mono was Epstein Barr Virus. At the 6 month mark, I still wasn't better. When my doctor told me that meant I qualified for being under the umbrella of chronic fatigue syndrome, I burst into tears.

CFS, later called ME or myalgic encephalomyelitis, is now called Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome and includes long-COVID. Last month (9/23) in the journal Nutrition and Food Science, in a double-blind, 6 month study, it was found that creatine supplement helped. It improved memory, brain function, muscle function, taste, smell and a couple other functions. Creatine is a common supplement.

The study dose was 4 grams/day. That would cost $15/month. It's exciting to imagine that this could make a difference in people's lives. ****If you're thinking about making changes to your diet or health care talk to your doctor or health care provider. ****