Sandra was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis at the age of eight. Today, she also lives with osteoarthritis.

Follow her on Instagram and connect with her @ChronicallyDriven

September is chronic pain awareness month, and we welcome back Darren to talk more about his story living with chronic pain. Darren talks about living in chronic pain and how most painkillers don't actually work! He talks about the ups and downs of living with chronic pain, and his medical story! Connect with him by sending him an email [email protected] check out his book here:  https://www.amazon.com/Deceived-Within-Living-APS-Lupus/dp/1663222932 

Celiac disease runs all over in Deanna's family, starting with her father-in-law, then to her brother-in-law, her daughter and son. Her daughter was six years old when she was diagnosed, she looked very unhealthy and had major gut problems but now she is very healthy - 10 years later, thriving as a 16-year-old! Strangely enough, her daughter decided to do a science project on Celiac disease and found out that her brother also had celiac! 

Deanna's Journey with her family has certainly had its ups and downs, and they now have a great system in place to make sure that no one is harmed by their disease. She is excited that there are so many more options out there to consume for her kids, and her family for as well as so many different resources available. 

She is a part of different blogs to learn more about the disease and the different products available for her family. If you have any comments or questions or want to get in touch with Deanna feel free to send her an email at [email protected]. And check out these awesome links www.celiac.ca 

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/canadianceliacassociation 

This is Julie, she has lived with Lyme disease, she was diagnosed in 2016 after 6 years of misdiagnosis. After her trip to Asia, she quickly became sick, dealing with so many different physical symptoms, as well as major mental health struggles as well. She lived with depression and anxiety for years, and it wasn't until she worked with a naturopath that helped her get her diagnosis with lyme, who then helped her get in touch with a Lyme literate doctor. Indicating that she had Lyme and malaria, parasites and Epstein bar. So she started a 10 month protocol, a very expensive out of pocket protocol at that! This protocol was constantly changing her physical health and mental wellbeing. The Herxing effect was immense that caused so many severe psychological effects, she mentions that the words depression and anxiety don't even describe the effects that she was living with, feeling bouts of manic and psychosis - a complete roller coaster. She lives day to day, good days and bad days but continues to stay strong for herself and advocating for others.

ATTENTION: Some explicit content, at 14mins with his story and how he passed away. 

I don't normally talk about his story, for whatever reason, but mental health, especially in the chronic community is so important! My brother passed away of suicide back in 2008, he was 19. I'm so grateful that I was able to spend 18 years of my own life with him, growing up with a brother even though today it is quite sad. I do go over what it's like experiencing suicide, living with him and without him, so many emotions and feelings that I have gone through after experiencing suicide. I also do talk about very specifically how he passed away so if you are having a great day, maybe listen to this podcast on another day.

I appreciate everyone's support and thank you so much for listening to my story and following this podcast.

Follow me @CureChronic and if you have a story to tell check out my website www.CureChronic.com

 It took 5 years for someone to just listen to him. He was finally diagnosed with APS and lupus, he struggled for years with being misdiagnosed, given medications that weren’t helping plus being manipulated by specialist, once he found out his true diagnosis he was finally able to take some control over his life and his health. He nows lives on disability, which was a struggle on its own to acheive, and as he says it’s not all what its cracked out to be. But he was able to write a book about his story and all of the troubles he went through.

Connect with Darren and send him an email at  [email protected]

Check out his APS and Lupus Fighter Logo merchandise: https://www.cafepress.com/apsfoundation/17161390

Be sure to follow his blog: apsandlupusfighter.blogspot.com

Lastly check our his book! 

Amazon: Deceived from Within: Living with APS and Lupus: Radke, Darren: 9781663222930: Amazon.com: Books

Barnes & Noble:  Deceived from Within: Living with Aps and Lupus by Darren Radke, Paperback | Barnes & Noble® (barnesandnoble.com)

iUniverse: Deceived from Within By Darren Radke (iuniverse.com)

After 6 years, she was finally diagnosed with  Endometriosis. Doubled over in pain every month with her periods, she was always told that “it will get better as you get older”. Her pain was so traumatic it caused more than just problems with her uterus, she experienced vomiting, bowel problems and more. She dealt with trial and error drugs, and felt like no one cared about her pain and what she was experiencing. After years she would fight with doctors, because of their ignorance towards Endo, she felt like the doctors wanted to just mask the symptoms, with no action of what they are going to do about the problem. She started feeling crazy, like she was making up her symptoms. She had to stand up and tell these people that she knows her body best! Listen to her story, and be sure to connect with Dee on Instagram @endowarrior_x

Lauren has Lyme, POTS and EDS plus she is allergic to everything! Living with both diseases, she lived with a huge sense of loss and not being able to live the life she used to live, not being able to eat the foods she wants to eat - she has had to completely alter everything in her life! Her silver lining is discovering her new passions in life, after being diagnosed. Her love for nutrition and cooking, being creative in the kitchen and how she can make the foods she eats tolerable for her but tasty! Plus connecting with so many amazing new people, that understand what she is going through! She does PT and pilates to help her EDS and she tries to incorporate and manage her lyme through diet and supplementation, using an infrared sauna really helps her as well. Be sure to connect with her on insta @lesswithlaur or send her an email: [email protected]

It is so important to have a self care regime, especially to keep up healthy when we are healthy. If there is a way we can prevent illness, prevent hospital visits and flare-ups then that is what we need to do. Be sure to follow Sandra @ChronicallyDriven and check out her podcast Chronically Driven! 

Alex has been living with endometriosis and thoracic disease since she was 14. Although her mother dealt with the same disease, it still took the doctors 5 1/2 years to diagnose Alex. Unfortunately she dealt with gaslighting, not being believed or being told lies about the disease causing her to suffer for 5 1/2 years with symptoms, without a diagnosis and without any type of treatment. On average, globally, it takes 7 to 10 years to get a diagnosis for endometriosis and approximately 1 in every 10 women have endo. However, because of the time it takes to get a diagnosis  Alex believes that that statistic about endometriosis is much higher. Especially due to the fact that 40 to 50% of infertile women actually have endometriosis.

 Alex started the endometriosis foundation of Canada in order to start advocating for women in Canada but also all over the world to help reduce this lengthy diagnosis time and help women all over the world with this medical condition! 

Check out Endo Canada: www.endometriosiscanada.com

Follow Alex On Facebook and Instagram - yellowbowsxo