Chronic Wellness

Thrush -- what is it? Who gets it? What's it all about? May you never have to experience it.

Thrush impacts people with compromised immune systems: people on chemotherapy, babies, the elderly. Thrush is an overgrowth of candida: yeast. It is a yeast infection of the mouth. This yeast is present all the time in our mouth, intestine, on our skin. However, when it is out of balance it can cause thrush. Antibiotics can cause this.

For me, my first symptom is a film or coating on my tongue that causes me to crave sweets and cold creamy things. Then I start craving acidic and carbonated things that seem like they would take away the coating on my tongue. As thrush progresses it causes a white growth on your tongue, tonsils, potentially on your throat and inside your cheeks. Then the remedy is prescription meds. The most common is lozenges or rinses that are used multiple times a day for 10-14 days. Alternately there are meds that treat yeast systemically.

The symptoms can range from mild and aggravating to irritating and painful. It can be difficult to figure out what to eat and it can be uncomfortable to eat. If you've recently recovered from thrush, get a new toothbrush. Generally, thrush is not easily contageous.

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, 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.

Sorry for my absence, my last video on YouTube was taken down.

I received monoclonal antibodies.

These are not the same as the antibodies given to people to treat COVID, but for COVID prevention.

Monoclonal antibodies are given to folks for whom standard vaccines won't work or who are severely immune compromised.

You may remember that on my last trip to Seattle I learned that while I have had 4 COVID vaccines/boosters -- I had almost no protection.

My chemotherapy agent, Rituxan, keeps B cells from replicating/maturing.

My community, Eugene/Springfield is about 235,000 people. We have one place administering these treatments and my wait was about a month to receive the treatment.

Ours is being offered at a Hospital Infusion Center.

I was given 4, 1.5ml vials of the Evusheld treatment in two injections, given in the rump.

While it was quick to administer, I was kept for more than an hour to make sure that I didn't have any injection reaction, anaphylaxis, rash, etc. Not only did I not, in the coming days, I didn't even have the difficulties I've had with the vaccine -- like tenderness at the injection site, fever, flu-like symptoms, etc.

The protection is similar to the vaccines in that it prevents the worst of disease and death but not great protection against the newest variants. Also, similarly, it needs to be readministered after 6 months.

Are you eligible for monoclonal antibodies? Have you had them? What is your experience?

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.

Prior to working with Dr. Stracks, he didn't recognize the fact that he was a worried, anxious, stressed-out person. When Dr. Stracks said, “You may need to take it easy on yourself," he thought he meant physically. With a great house, family, an active life, Mike thought he had the game beat. Now it’s obvious him he was anxious his whole life.

He has no desire to blame his parents, they were acting out of their pain, while it’s difficult to discuss, his father (who had a really hard childhood) had a bad temper. Mike feels that by sharing his story he's releasing his dad of his burden. There is no blame. This is not physical violence or sexual abuse but simple benign everyday trauma.

Thinking about how trauma forms us and gets passed down through the generations, he now sees the triggers and behaviors related to emotional repression. Through the simple act of talking about it, the pain releases.

Whereas he used to become angry and withdrawn at times, now he can feel it happening early and take some deep breaths and shift those patterns and the subsequent pain.

He says acceptance is not giving up but to “consent to the world as it exists… align with the reality of the world” Things are cyclical, if this is a difficult moment this moment will pass. He proclaims "It’s amazing how much better it is to live this way!"

When asked about the role of western medicine in his and his family's life now, he talks about encouraging his daughter to treat some recent pain with meditation and tracking her emotions. He often ponders when/whether to see a doctor. He thinks he’ll know when the time is right. For now, he embraces the mind-body connection and wellness based on that – and he still gets a physical every year.

He acknowledges that four years ago, he couldn’t have spoken like this. His journey has been a gift. His purpose in life is to share it. We all have false beliefs of ourselves, when we remove the armor it's a much better way to live.

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.

WIN A COPY OF MIKE'S BOOK Here's how to enter:

1) Leave me a rating or review on whatever audio podcast platform you listen to.

2) Let me know you've done that by emailing me at [email protected] or leaving me a comment about it on YouTube so that you can be entered in to the drawing. If you have a preference about which book you'd like, let me know in your comment or email. (I’m also giving away a copy of Arlene Faulk's "Walking on Pins and Needles.")

3) If you'd like to be entered multiple times you can also post about one (or both of the books) and tag me on Instagram @theAnnetteLeonard including tag of either #mypainbodysolution or @arlenefaulk for up to two additional entries. The drawing is planned for Mike's book is on 7/5 (Arlene's will be on 6/30).

Mike found a physician who works with TMS (tension myositis syndrome) patients and began learning about repressed emotions and the role they’ve played in his life.

Working with Dr. Stracks and a therapist, he isn't seeing a shift in your pain. If he were mentoring someone, he would tell them it isn’t a straight path, you have to be patient. He was being asked to notice spikes in pain. All sensations were incredibly threatening. That led to fear and increased pain. He was encouraged to notice what he was feeling before there was a spike in pain. With months of meditation, he noticed his pain threshold dropping. Then he was able to witness a spike in pain.

Now he can go back and see how he repressed his emotions and his body could take no more. He hid behind a veneer of success – thinking money can buy happiness. Money definitely makes life easier, but it doesn’t eliminate suffering.

Being able to be with his pain rather than being consumed by his pain was a total shift. Pain was such a threat to his way of life. It was shocking to learn that he could be in pain but still find some peace. Being able to calm myself down he could face what needed to be faced.

Meditation has changed his life in powerful ways. But it is something that takes time and practice. It took time to take hold but now he’s now less judgmental, more open.

Tune in tomorrow for the conclusion of my interview with Mike,

We’ll discuss the way his emotions ran under the surface of his experience throughout his life without his conscious awareness of their power.

Also Mike will talk a bit about his father, and the way ancestral trauma formed him and created emotional triggers related to his repressed emotions.

And how the simple act of talking about emotions releases some of the pain.

You won’t want to miss the conclusion of my interview

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.

WIN A COPY OF MIKE'S BOOK Here's how to enter:

1) Leave me a rating or review on whatever audio podcast platform you listen to.

2) Let me know you've done that by emailing me at [email protected] or leaving me a comment about it on YouTube so that you can be entered in to the drawing. If you have a preference about which book you'd like, let me know in your comment or email. (I’m also giving away a copy of Arlene Faulk's "Walking on Pins and Needles.")

3) If you'd like to be entered multiple times you can also post about one (or both of the books) and tag me on Instagram @theAnnetteLeonard including tag of either #mypainbodysolution or @arlenefaulk for up to two additional entries. The drawing is planned for Mike's book is on 7/5 (Arlene's will be on 6/30).

An avid outdoorsman, Mike’s ski season kicked off with a blister, soon after, he developed a hamstring pull and later a shoulder pain. His anxiety was mounting and his emotions were running high. In rapid succession, he was told he needed several surgeries.

With so much of his identity wound up in athleticism, his world drew into sharp relief.

Relatively healthy prior to this, he can now look back and see a pattern of emotional connections to his pain, even some resulting in prior surgeries.

“I didn’t believe that I deserved to be happy until I was pain free.”

After consulting with more than 17 physicians and a daunting list of medical conditions and consumed with thoughts of pain, a neurologist told him that anxiety can cause pain. He began to read John Sarno’s "Healing Back Pain."

Having his body fail was more threatening than the idea that his emotions were the root of his pain.

Tune in for the continuation of my interview tomorrow where we'll discuss Mike's introduction to therapy, how he began to link his pain to repressed emotions and the role of meditation in his life.

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.

WIN A COPY OF MIKE'S BOOK Here's how to enter:

1) Leave me a rating or review on whatever audio podcast platform you listen to.

2) Let me know you've done that by emailing me at [email protected] or leaving me a comment about it on YouTube so that you can be entered in to the drawing. If you have a preference about which book you'd like, let me know in your comment or email. (I’m also giving away a copy of Arlene Faulk's "Walking on Pins and Needles.")

3) If you'd like to be entered multiple times you can also post about one (or both of the books) and tag me on Instagram @theAnnetteLeonard including tag of either #mypainbodysolution or @arlenefaulk for up to two additional entries. The drawing is planned for Mike's book is on 7/5 (Arlene's will be on 6/30).

Having seen my expert pulmonary team recently up in Seattle, my doctor and I do not see eye to eye.

I'm so fortunate, as a person with such a rare disease to have such a competent doctor, who is well-suited to treat me.

With this recent visit it was made plain to me that my most life-threatening disease will always be prioritized. This was a new perspective for me.

I take Rituxan (a chemotherapy agent) to suppress my immune system and keep my autoimmune diseases in check. However, it suppresses me so thoroughly that I get sick from being around others who aren't even sick.

Therefore, I've been reducing the frequency of my Rituxan treatments to try and balance the effects.

My dose is based on research done on RA patients more than 25 years ago.

My tests in Seattle showed that there was a slight change in my lungs - a bit more scarring. My doctor's response was to insist that I return to my original dose of Rituxan.

It seems plain to me that the new scars in my lungs are due to my recent bout of pneumonia. I don't have the sense that my lung disease is reignited.

Here's a time when I really disagree. It's my body, not his, and I must weigh the cost benefit analysis. Is it worth it to increase my dose again? What if my lung disease IS starting to kick up again?

I am not giving YOU medical advice -- I'm not qualified to do so.

However, for me, I'm not sure I'll follow doctor's orders.

We have these opportunities as patients to consider whether our quality of life is worth the extra quantity a treatment may give us.

What if going against doctor's orders costs us dearly?

Have you ever disobeyed doctor's orders?

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.

WIN A COPY OF ARLENE’S BOOK Here's how to enter:

1) Leave me a rating or review on whatever audio podcast platform you listen to.

2) Let me know you've done that by emailing me at [email protected] or leaving me a comment about it on YouTube so that you can be entered in to the drawing. If you have a preference about which book you'd like, let me know in your comment or email. (I’m also giving away a copy of Michael Murray’s My Pain Body Solution)

3) If you'd like to be entered multiple times you can also post about one (or both of the books) and tag me on Instagram @theAnnetteLeonard including tag of either @arlenefaulk or #mypainbodysolution, for up to two additional entries. The drawing is planned for 6/30

To see Arlene’s tai chi:

https://www.youtube.com/user/faulktaichi

To visit Arlene’s website:

https://arlenefaulk.com/

If you’re in the Chicago area and want to take classes:

https://faulktaichi.com/arlene-faulk/

Thanks for joining me for this final installment of my conversation with teacher and author Arlene Faulk.

As she began to do tai chi she found that she didn’t recover, but started to feel “less” of something. She documented that process. In so doing she found that recovery can be subtractive rather than additive.

With a father and brother who are both physicians, Arlene, did have some reluctance about meeting with a practitioner of Chinese medicine. However, a friend recommended her highly and eventually, she went on to meet with Nancy, a healer who changed the course of her life. In this case, she took a leap of faith.

Arlene talks about how tai chi has benefitted her MS and how stillness can help transform our thoughts. She also discusses how, as a teacher, she’s seen others with arthritis, fibromyalgia, spinal stenosis, etc. shift their mobility and experience of pain. She calls tai chi “moving medication,” and it has helped her get off medications and learn how to relax. She emphasizes that this isn’t a quick-fix but the long-term benefits are well worth the effort.

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.

WIN A COPY OF ARLENE’S BOOK

Here's how to enter:

1) Leave me a rating or review on whatever audio podcast platform you listen to.

2) Let me know you've done that by emailing me at [email protected] or leaving me a comment about it on YouTube so that you can be entered in to the drawing. If you have a preference about which book you'd like, let me know in your comment or email. (I’m also giving away a copy of Michael Murray’s My Pain Body Solution)

3) If you'd like to be entered multiple times you can also post about one (or both of the books) and tag me on Instagram @theAnnetteLeonard including tag of either @arlenefaulk or #mypainbodysolution, for up to two additional entries. The drawing is planned for 6/30

To see Arlene’s tai chi:

https://www.youtube.com/user/faulktaichi

To visit Arlene’s website:

https://arlenefaulk.com/

If you’re in the Chicago area and want to take classes:

https://faulktaichi.com/arlene-faulk/

Welcome back to the third installment of my conversation with writer and teacher Arlene Faulk.

What was it like having a chronic illness at work before the ADA or insurance portability/insurance for preexisting conditions? As her symptoms worsened, she contacted an insurance company for a quote about what it would cost to privately cover herself. She was told she was uninsurable. If she could find insurance (it was the late 80s) she was told it would cost $10-15k/month. There was no coverage for preexisting conditions.

She felt stuck – unable to be honest about her health at work. If she was to tell someone, they might to theorize about your “fitness” for work every time you’re out for a day.

Eight years later, new and worsening symptoms led to another hospital stay and then her parents came to visit, but yet she still didn’t tell them what was happening with your health. Again, not wanting them to worry. We often believe we’re protecting others by not saying what’s true for us.

Realizing that things have changed dramatically and for the worse, she is at the point of needing to accept her MS diagnosis. What advice would does she have for someone struggling with this reality? She asserts that our fear of failure often keeps us from acceptance.

She talks about making the break from work, and what it felt like to leave that world and apply for Social Security benefits. Join us tomorrow for the conclusion of this interview.

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.

WIN A COPY OF ARLENE’S BOOK

Here's how to enter:

1) Leave me a rating or review on whatever audio podcast platform you listen to.

2) Let me know you've done that by emailing me at [email protected] or leaving me a comment about it on YouTube so that you can be entered in to the drawing. If you have a preference about which book you'd like, let me know in your comment or email. (I’m also giving away a copy of Michael Murray’s My Pain Body Solution)

3) If you'd like to be entered multiple times you can also post about one (or both of the books) and tag me on Instagram @theAnnetteLeonard including tag of either @arlenefaulk or #mypainbodysolution, for up to two additional entries. The drawing is planned for 6/30

To see Arlene’s tai chi:

https://www.youtube.com/user/faulktaichi

To visit Arlene’s website:

https://arlenefaulk.com/

If you’re in the Chicago area and want to take classes:

https://faulktaichi.com/arlene-faulk/

Welcome back to part two of my conversation with tai chi teacher Arlene Faulk as we discuss her most recent book, Walking on Pins and needles about her journey with MS. Rejoining our interview, Arlene was living in New York City, in her late 20s, and realizing that her family’s pattern of not asking for help might not be serving her. What was it like to ask for help?

Living with daily pain she talks about how that impacted her ability to be close to others and, specifically, how it affected intimacy.

Also, during this time, she had to buy her first assistive device, a cane. What was it like to admit that she needed that assistance and begin to start using it in daily life? What did she shop for in her first cane?

Join us tomorrow for part three of this interview.

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.

WIN A COPY OF ARLENE’S BOOK

Here's how to enter:

1) Leave me a rating or review on whatever audio podcast platform you listen to.

2) Let me know you've done that by emailing me at [email protected] or leaving me a comment about it on YouTube so that you can be entered in to the drawing. If you have a preference about which book you'd like, let me know in your comment or email. (I’m also giving away a copy of Michael Murray’s My Pain Body Solution)

3) If you'd like to be entered multiple times you can also post about one (or both of the books) and tag me on Instagram @theAnnetteLeonard including tag of either @arlenefaulk or #mypainbodysolution, for up to two additional entries. The drawing is planned for 6/30