Today's guest is Dr. Parina Aggarwal. Dr. Aggarwal is a practicing sleep medicine physician. We talk about what sleep is, and why we need it. Then we go into detail about the 4 stages of sleep. We next move into information that relates directly to patients with scleroderma, we talk about what features of scleroderma may cause greater sleep disruption and are there certain sleep disorders that may be more prevalent in scleroderma. We also talk about ways to sleep better and medications and supplements.

Today's guest is Dr. Todd Brennan. Dr. Brennan is a podiatry specialist from Florida. Today we discuss issues with feet due to scleroderma, some complications that happen to the feet, medications, and what a scleroderma warrior can do to help with those feet issues. There is a lot of practical advice. 

Today's guest is Cosette Wu. Cosette is the founder of Scleroderma United. Their mission is connecting and empowering scleroderma warriors around the world. Cosette started the organization in high school after her grandfather died of scleroderma. It's a wonderful story!

Today's guest is scleroderma warrior Erion Moore. I was lucky enough to meet Erion at a leadership conference in New Orleans this October. He and I, unbeknownst to either of us, are on the same committee. It was so much fun to meet him in person. Erion is as witty and funny in person as he is as a guest. 

Today's guest is film producer Christy McCaffrey. Christy's mom passed away from scleroderma. After the loss, she created a non-profit called Project Scleroderma. In our conversation, we talk about her mom's short journey with scleroderma, her mission with Project Scleroderma, and the films she has produced. 

Today’s guest is Elaine Furst. Elaine is a retired nurse and a nurse-educator. Our topic today is scleroderma and sexuality. We spend some time talking about the definitions of sensuality and sexuality and the importance of both. Our conversation transitions to how to deal with chronic illness and sexuality.

Today’s guest is my rheumatologist Dr. Jerry Molitor. Dr. Molitor, acting chief of Rheumatology at the VA Hospital-Minneapolis  and is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Rheumatic and Autoimmune Diseases at the University of Minnesota Medical School. We had a wonderful conversation and started our discussion on the CONQUER Registry (an acronym for Collaborative National Quality and Efficacy Registry), which is a National Scleroderma Patient Registry. We also discussed the Clinical Study Consortium and ideas on how to get involved with trial studies. 

Today's guest is a scleroderma warrior, her name is Melanie Gornick. We begin our conversation with her journey with scleroderma. One part of our discussion is focused on the ups and downs of her career and how she started a non profit, Scleroderma Warriors, with a settlement from her former employer.  Let‘s listen to her journey and what her foundation's mission is all about.

Today’s guest is Jameela Goudarzi.  She is a family nurse practitioner specializing in primary care and family medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina. The topic today is self care, during our conversation we talk about what self care is and some basic needs we all have. We then talk about ideas of what we can all do to meet those basic needs. Next we talk about self management classes that are offered. Finally two stories of how people with chronic illnesses took the ideas of basic needs and used them in their lives.

Today is a returning guest, Dr. Michael Hughes. In our discussion we talk about 2 topics. One is on the kidneys and how it affects scleroderma patients and the 2nd topic is on neurological problems and neuromuscular manifestations associated with scleroderma. It was another great conversation and I learned so much. For more background information on Dr. Hughes, you can either go back to episode 39 or go to my website.