I Am Not My Pain with Melissa Adams

Continuing our conversation with warrior, Andy Kottmeier Moar as she offers more self-management tools for the chronically ill.

Meet warrior, Andrea (Andy) Kottmeier Moar. Andy is diagnosed with Cushing’s disease, kidney disease, neuropathy, type 1 diabetes, vitiligo, and more. Andy taught a six-week chronic disease self-management course called, “Better Choices, Better Health” in Alberta, Canada. Tune in to Andy share her story and what important self-management tools we can use when living day-to-day with chronic conditions.

Meet warrior, Kris McElroy. Kris is a 37-year-old autistic biracial black transgender man with multiple disabilities and chronic illnesses such as rheumatoid arthritis and Complex Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia. Kris is a passionate artist, advocate, freelance writer, and most importantly, a dad to a beautiful 2-year-old-daughter. Kris will be the first to say he was both afraid and elated to be a dad. Listen to Kris explain how he manages parenting while chronically sick including the ability to be flexible, dad guilt and the importance of communication with his wife. To learn more about Kris, go to his website at https://sites.google.com/view/krismcelroysite/home.

Meet warrior, CJ. CJ manages latent autoimmune diabetes. Highly focused on her diet, CJ developed an eating disorder and became malnourished. Education and support from the diabetes community opened the door for CJ to seek help for her eating disorder, break her own misconceptions and fears about diabetes, and fuel her passion to advocate for herself and others. Tune in to hear CJ’s journey and how her advocacy is breaking down barriers for a better tomorrow! Follow CJ’s journey and advocacy work @thegeneticdiabeticblog on Instagram and The Genetic Diabetic on Facebook. Her children’s book, My Diabetic Mama, is for sale now on Amazon.

Meet warrior, Jae Cobb. Diagnosed with lupus, fibromyalgia, CRPS and several other conditions, Jae juggles a lot of symptoms while working a full-time job. Listen as Jae discusses how she manages working with her chronic conditions and how finding her passion motivates her to overcome her pain daily. Follow Jae’s journey on Facebook and Instagram @chronicallyillandstrong or find her blog on Tumblr at https://simplelittlebrowngirljae.tumblr.com/?fbclid=IwAR18TzZQFS6vYLBtQ7qsiu68lO0Pg8HV6CWoxNLPmbdMyBlj2IXFgz9kcoQ.

Resuming our discussion with warrior, Courtney as she continues to be bombarded with dismissiveness, gaslighting and judgements from her doctors and even from her closest friends. Listen to her story.

Meet warrior, Courtney. Courtney manages multiple, rare conditions such as POTS and Ehlers-Danlos as well as struggles with unexplained symptoms. Seeking treatment in her small area is far from easy as she continuously confronts dismissiveness, gaslighting and judgments from the medical community and even from her friends. Tune in as Courtney shares her heartbreaking story that is all too common for the chronically ill.

Meet warrior, Melissa Wardlaw. Melissa is diagnosed with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome type 2 as a result of a non-paralyzing injury. Melissa learned early the value of being her own advocate. But she also realized the tremendous gap in support which is why this fierce warrior spends her time providing free peer counseling and advocating for CRPS and chronic illness awareness. Listen to Melissa share incredible insight into CRPS as well as offer valuable advice for living with chronic illness. If you are interested in online peer counseling with Melissa or if you live in the Metro Atlanta area and want to attend her in-person empowerment group for CRPS/RSD, chronic illness and pain, contact Melissa at [email protected].

Meet warrior, Mindy. Mindy is among one and five Americans who experience mental illness. Living with varying levels of depression and anxiety for most of her life, Mindy knows her conditions and symptoms well. Therefore, when her widespread chronic pain started, she sought help right away only to have her pain be automatically dismissed as part of her mental illnesses. Listen to Mindy explain how her doctors’ dismissive behavior has affected her search for answers and her mental health.

Meet warrior, Leanne Million. Leanne’s identity was one of drama teacher, actress and all around go getter until she experienced a concussion in a car accident. Managing her physical pain and issues with her neurological function from post-concussion syndrome, Leanne had to leave her job and felt huge pieces of her identity slip away, a common occurrence in the lives of the chronically ill. Tune in as we hear Leanne reveal how she began the process of shifting her mindset on her identity and how she was able to recreate purpose and meaning in her life. If you are interested in Leanne’s services as a Certified Life, Relationship and Sexuality Coach, EFT or Reiki Practitioner, visit leannemillion.com or @leannemillion on Instagram.