https://youtu.be/dxiXjt0yD3k

When you think about it, we talk about everything else. We talk about our families, our jobs, our vacations. But when it comes to chronic illness, we clam up. Why is that? Over 157 million people in the US have 1 or more chronic illnesses and yet we don't talk about them. Maybe it's because we are afraid of being judged? Maybe we think people won't want to be around us if they know we have a chronic illness? Whatever the reason, this needs to change. We need to be able to talk freely and safely about our chronic illness journey.

We all know someone who has a chronic illness, whether it's a family member, friend, or co-worker. But even though it's so common, we don't talk about it. Why is that? Maybe it's because we think people with chronic illnesses are somehow different from us and that they must be treated differently. Or maybe we're just afraid of saying the wrong thing and making them feel uncomfortable.

Chronic Illness Definition

A chronic illness is a long-term conditions, lasting a year or longer, that can't be cured but can be managed with treatment. Chronic illnesses can include diseases like cancer, diabetes, and heart disease, as well as conditions like arthritis and asthma. One in two Americans has a chronic illness, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If you're one of the millions of Americans living with a chronic illness, you know that it's not always easy to manage your condition. But with the right treatment and support, you can live a full and productive life.

List of Common Chronic Illnesses

Chronic Illnesses can be common like multiple sclerosis or COPD, or can be a rare disease. MedlinePlus provides the following as a list of common chronic illnesses:

Alzheimer disease and dementiaArthritisAsthmaCancerCOPDCrohn diseaseCystic fibrosisDiabetesEpilepsyHeart diseaseHIV/AIDSMood disorders (bipolar, cyclothymic, and depression)Multiple sclerosisParkinson disease

The Importance of Communication

If we can talk about our chronic illnesses, then we can start to break down the barriers that keep us from living our best lives. We deserve to live life to the fullest! And we are here to support you on your journey. So come talk to us, we're listening!

Communication about chronic illness is the key. We need to talk about it so that we can understand it better. And by talking about it, we can help break the stigma that surrounds chronic illness. So let's start the conversation today. At Situation Positive, we are changing the conversation about chronic illness. We have created an inclusive community to share chronic illness stories. We believe that by sharing our stories, we can help others feel less alone on their chronic illness journey. Join us today and be a part of the change!

At Situation Positive, we are changing the conversation about chronic illness. We have created an inclusive community to share chronic illness stories. So come on over and join the conversation! Let's talk about chronic illness!

Please visit: situationpositive.org for more information or to join our community! Thank you for reading :) #chronicillnessawareness #endthestigma #situationpositive

Follow Us on Social Media

For more content about living your best life with chronic illness, please follow us on social media. We are a nonprofit community for people living with chronic illness. Your follow helps our community grow. We thank you for your support!

https://youtu.be/zMPAqhrKlc8

Dennis Hurley is an actor, advocate, and albino. He has been living with albinism since birth and has spoken about his experiences in the media. Dennis will be participating at the upcoming N.O.A.H. conference July in Orlando, Florida. In this Situation Positive podcast interview, Dennis talks about about his life with albinism and how it's affected his ability to find work in the entertainment industry.

Below is the transcript of our interview. You can also click on the video above to watch the interview, or listen on one of our podcast channels by scrolling to the bottom of the page.

Dennis Hurley Interview

[00:00:00] Matt: You may know him from sitcoms, like Superstore,

[00:00:10] Dennis: Rats gave birth in nacho cheese. Cooked themselves to death. Yeah.

[00:00:22] Matt: Or, Justin Timberlake's can't fight the feeling video. We have actor and comedian, Dennis Hurley on our show, Dennis, welcome to the show.

[00:00:47] Dennis: Thank you, Matt. It's great to be back. It's been about five years. I'm so glad to be back on your podcast.

[00:00:54] Matt: Yeah. You know, and since then we've launched the new podcast Situation Positive. And we're excited that you could join us on this journey. I know you wanted to be here today to talk about a conference you're attending, is that correct?

[00:01:09] Dennis: Yes. Yes. This would be my fourth conference with NOAH. NOAH's the national organization for albinism and hypopigmentation, they're a non-for-profit charity. And their goal is to spread awareness and help people with this specific condition of albinism gain information and also fellowship within the community.

[00:01:38] Matt: I think community is important that sense of fellowship, that sense of knowing that you're not going through it alone is so important. You know, not to get back to Justin Timberlake, but is NOAH going to make you dress like a happy grocery store guy and dance?

[00:01:57] Dennis: I, I think they need to do something different. Cause the last conference was at after we spoke last, it was 2018 and it was in Kansas City, Kansas, and yeah, Matt, you probably seen the video of me dancing with the kids on stage at the hotel in Kansas. But you know, it's, it's, it's been a while since maybe they'll have me do it again, but. They might try to one-up it. I don't know. We'll see.

[00:02:25] Matt: So where is the gathering this year?

[00:02:28] Dennis: The gathering kind of ironically is in Orlando, Florida. You know, w because a bunch of people with very pale skin, it's, you don't think of Florida being the place to go, but, but, you know, Disney World is there and a kid kids love Disney. So yeah, it's going to be mid-July. At a hotel in Orlando and I'm looking forward to it.

[00:02:57] Matt: And are we doing any special performances this year at the conference.

[00:03:01] Dennis: Oh, that's, that's interesting because as you mentioned, the last conference in 2018 the 2020 conference was obviously online because of COVID, but in 2018, I ran a workshop for kids doing improv.

I don't really teach that much, but I was happy to teach the kids some just basic you know, improv games back then. And as you said, I did the Timberlake video at the beginning to open the conference or we re-danced to it this year. It's going to be a little different. There are still going to be lots of fun activities for kids, but they want to expand it.

You know, adults with, with albinism too. So we're, we're actually doing a comedy night and they've hire...

https://youtu.be/vgRRFJ1a2nw

Urination is an important function of the body, but as men age it can become more difficult, time consuming, and frustrating. Urination may be painful, difficult, or impossible for men due to various causes such as an enlarged prostate due to Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Men tend to suffer in silence with urination problems.

A man may be unable to urinate due to an enlarged prostate, a spinal cord injury, medical condition or even a stroke. If the muscles of the bladder and urethra are weak, then urination may be difficult for men. Some men have trouble emptying their bladder leading to an increased urge or frequency to urinate.

Waking up during the night to pee several times is a reality for many men. What men may not know is that this could be a sign of an enlarged prostate. In this article, we are going to focus specifically on the problems an enlarged prostate can cause, and how to find relief.

What is a Urologist

A urologist is a medical doctor who specializes in diagnosing and treating disorders of the urinary system and the male reproductive organs. Urologists may also provide general medical care for men. Some of the most common problems that urologists treat include urinary tract infections, bladder cancer, kidney stones, and prostate enlargement.

What is a Prostate Gland

The prostate is a male reproductive gland located just below the bladder and in front of the rectum. It surrounds the urethra, the tube that carries urine from the bladder to outside the body. The prostate helps produce semen by mixing its fluids with sperm produced by the testicles.

For men who are twenty five or older, the prostate begins to grow. The prostate is the largest gland in the body. It can be up to 3 inches (8 cm) long and 2 inches (5 cm) wide. When the prostate is healthy, the gland produces a milky-white substance called prostatic fluid. This fluid drains from the urethra and joins with semen to create semen­containing fluids. A man's prostate grows in size as he ages.

What is Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia or BPH

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a common condition in older men that results from an overgrowth of prostate tissue. The prostate is a walnut-sized gland located just below the bladder that helps produce semen. As men age, the prostate may grow larger and press on the urethra (the tube that carries urine and semen out of the body). This can cause difficulty in urinating, such as a weak urine stream or the need to urinate frequently, especially at night. BPH is not cancer, but it can lead to other problems such as urinary tract infection or bladder stones.

Image from: https://dinerroboticurology.com/blog/prostate/bph-diagnosis/

This condition is common in men over 50 years old, but the prostate commonly starts to at about 25 years old. BPH can cause problems with urination. Men who have problems urinating experience symptoms such as trouble starting or stopping the stream of urine, a weak urinary stream, and a feeling that the bladder has not been emptied completely after urination. 

A urologist can diagnose BPH by doing a physical exam and by ordering blood and urine tests. The urologist may also order an ultrasound or a CT scan of the prostate. A urologist may also or urodynamic testing to diagnose BPH. Urodynamics can also help determine the cause of BPH and its progression.

Image from: https://www.dralicewhittaker.com.au/pdfs/urodynamic-testing.pdf

Common Treatments for Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia

There are several treatments available for BPH,

https://youtu.be/MMYJZaRkQIg

Hey everybody. It's Matt Cavallo from Situation Positive. I want to talk to you today about putting together the pieces of your chronic illness, where it might've come from. How did it get diagnosed? Why was it you who ended up with the condition that you had? I was diagnosed with MS in 2005. And that's been a question I've been trying to answer for myself for a long time.

The short answer is that you almost never know why you got something. There could be pieces of something that give you some evidence along the way, but you know, to be able to pinpoint the exact cause time, place, and event that caused you to go on to have a chronic illness. The likelihood is very small, but you can put together a pretty good idea based on things like familial history.

Did you have it in your family? Environmental exposures, you know, did you live in an area that. You know, is common for this disease. And was there something in that area that you may have been exposed to unwittingly? Those are some of the factors, but I read an interesting study a little while back.

And for those of you who read some of the magazine articles, I write I published this at the MS Foundation the MS Focus magazine last month. Late last year, there was a Swedish study that was a cohort population study of over 2 million people. And what they found was in the absence of any kind of other factors, like familial and some of the other ones we just talked about if you had

https://www.msfocusmagazine.org/Magazine/Magazine-Items/Exclusive-Content/2022/MS-and-the-Kissing-Disease%E2%80%9D-Mononucleosis?fbclid=IwAR0g7ttx3y2OGA2alYJo74bLzZzxQ9C9ysfyJXzsBhpffRwsMPCYq190v24

the Epstein Barr virus as a kid or an adolescent, you were more likely to develop MS as an adult. And for those of you who don't know what Epstein Barr is one of the things that Epstein Barr can do is give you mononucleosis. Or mono. You know, many of us know it as the kissing disease.

Right? A lot of maybe your friends got it in high school from kissing, you know, I, I don't think I was that lucky. So but I thought, cause I definitely didn't have it as an adolescent, but I kind of remembered mono for some reason. So I wanted to call my mom and find out. Why do I feel like I had mono?

And so I called her up, I was like, ma did I ever have mono growing up? And she paused. And she was like, why do you want to know? And I said, you know, I read the study out of Sweden that people had mono as a kid or an adolescent went on to have MS a lot of the time, like a good percentage of the time.

And she was like, I don't know if it was the end of preschool or the end of kindergarten, but you did have mononucleosis. And she specifically remembered that during that summer, I must've got at the end of the year, because during that summer I was a little, you know, small kid. I had no energy and I slept a lot.

And we didn't really get invited to many family cookouts that year because everybody was afraid of mono. I know I just called mono the kissing disease, but it's actually a disease that's easy to transmit. You know, if you take a sip of a glass of somebody who had mono. You could get mono if you shared a fork or you know, a spoon or took a bite of somebody else's dish and they had mono, you could easily contract mono.

You know, for me, I wish I had some juicy story about how I got it kissing, but I probably got it from sharing a juice box at recess.

So now I have this disease. And the pieces of the puzzle start to come together a little bit more closely. So I had mono as a, as a real young child. My aunt Loretta had MS.

https://youtu.be/6APzLI9wskc

Introduction: The high cost of prescription drugs

Prescription drug prices have been increasing at alarming rates in recent years, leaving many people struggling to afford the medications they need. The high cost of prescription drugs can have a devastating impact on patients’ health and finances, leading some people to forgo treatment or to ration their medication. In addition, the cost of prescription drugs is placing a growing burden on our healthcare system.

There are several factors that contribute to the high cost of prescription drugs. One reason is that the pharmaceutical industry is highly profitable and able to charge high prices for their products. Drug companies also spend billions of dollars on marketing and advertising, which drives up the cost of medications. And while the federal government has taken some steps to reduce drug costs, such as allowing imports from Canada, much more needs to be done.

We need to take action to reduce the high cost of prescription drugs. The average American spends more than $1,000 a year on prescription drugs. Still, those costs are expected to rise by 40 percent over the next decade. The good news is that there are programs available to help with the cost burden.Many people are unaware of how to save money on prescription drug costs, and pharmaceutical companies want you to remain in the dark. Many people believe that they need to spend a high amount of money on prescriptions in order to maintain good health, but this is not always the case. In fact, there are many ways to save money on prescription drug costs without sacrificing your health.

To begin with, make sure you are familiar with your prescription drug benefits. Many insurance companies offer discounts on medications if they are bi-weekly or monthly prescriptions. You can also save money on prescription drugs by taking a generic drug. Generic medications are the same as their brand name counterparts, but they cost less because they are manufactured by a different company. Some generic drug manufacturers even offer the same exact medication at a lower price than the brand name.

The problem with pharmaceutical companies and drug costs

Pharmaceutical companies are often criticized for the high cost of prescription drugs. Drug prices have been increasing at a rate much higher than the rate of inflation, and this is putting a strain on both consumers and healthcare providers. The problem is that pharmaceutical companies can charge whatever they want for their drugs, because there is no real competition in the market.

There are a few reasons for this. First, the government has granted pharmaceutical companies exclusive rights to manufacture certain drugs. Second, it can be very expensive to develop new drugs, so pharmaceutical companies need to charge high prices in order to recover their costs. Finally, there is little regulation of drug prices, so pharmaceutical companies can get away with charging whatever they want. This is why people are often shocked to find out that pharmaceutical companies can charge exorbitant prices for their drugs. For example, the drug EpiPen was originally sold for $150 per shot, but as of 2022, it is now being sold for over $650 to $700 per dose.

Ways to save money on prescription drug costs

Prescription drug costs can be expensive, especially if you are taking multiple medications. However, there are ways to save money on your prescription drug costs. To begin with, make sure you are familiar with your prescription drug benefits. Many insurance companies offer discounts on medications if they are bi-weekly or monthly prescriptions. Become familiar with your formulary,

https://youtu.be/tJfe-4kYrz4

Hey everybody, it's Matt from Situation Positive and I'm not a t-shirt model, but I've been getting a lot of comments lately about the t-shirts I wear in my videos. And at Situation Positive, we developed a line of t-shirts. So that way, you know, you could share positive messages with those around you. If anybody has been following my weight loss videos, you've seen me in this t-shirt it says positive vibes only.

And it has my dog Barry and my dog Jasper on it. A lot of people love the puppies T-shirt. One Barry in Jasper t-shirt you might not have seen is the simply positive shirt where they're riding with a friend in the back of a truck. If dogs aren't your thing. We also have keep it positive in a gray t-shirt.

We also have keep it positive in a black hoodie as well. These are just some of the t-shirts we have available @situationpositive.org. We'll share the link to our shop in the description, but you can find these and other great t-shirts and any t-shirt you purchase. Goes to help our nonprofit, but more so it spreads a message of positivity.

And you'll be surprised if you wear a shirt like this, how many people will stop you and say, yeah, we need some positivity at this time. My name is Matt Cavallo. Thank you so much for watching, please like, and subscribe to our videos. Much like this t-shirt, it helps our community grow and remember, no matter your situation, you can turn it positive.

https://youtu.be/DjEGWJcXma4

Hey everybody. It is Matt Cavallo and I'm checking in with you on my weight loss journey. Now last week ended our medical weight loss journey. That was the first month of the program. Where we were eating certain foods and we were also having medication to help aid us to get the weight loss started. Just to recap, in week one, I started at 243 pounds by BMI and body fat percentage standards. I was obese. I had a problem area, which was belly fat. Belly fat’s a dangerous fat because it can cause all kinds of serious health problems like heart disease. Week two, I started to show some progress. Week three I reached a major milestone. Week four saw even more progress. I even shared the Skilly, or skinny Philly, a diet dish my wife and I created. You can see these videos and more on our YouTube channel.

We finished the medication. It's been a week since I last checked in but my wife and I decided to continue. The weight loss. So I started at 243 pounds in 30 days, I got down to 215 pounds. And that was still about 20 pounds away from my goal weight. And you know, my wife and I just kept talking about how good we were feeling by eating clean by not having processed foods by not having carbohydrates, sugars, or starches.

We were really starting to, in addition to the weight loss, we were just really starting to feel better. So we wanted to keep it going. We, we added back some healthy fats, like avocados and nuts and that kind of stuff. Some hummus, but we're still not eating carbs or sugars or starches. So without further ado, let's see how I did with one week off of the medication and just eating clean.

210.2 pounds. Wow. So lost another five pounds. And now I'm medication-free I really got that jumpstart I wanted. Cause you know, really what was happening was I felt like I was in a rut. I felt like I got to a place where I wasn't feeling great and my weight ballooned to a point it had never been. And I just felt like I couldn't sustain.

I couldn't, I couldn't do anything to change that. So participating in a program that was monitored by a doctor and had a little bit of a boost to start made a huge difference. But what happened along the way was. We started to build some great habits. We started to feel good and we knew that feeling good, had to do with eliminating certain things from our diet.

So I've been in this shirt every time we've weighed in. And you see, my stomach is really getting flat. Like I am not sucking this in at all. You know, my shirt fits me a lot better. And thank you to some of you on social media, who've been commenting on my shirt. So, this is my dog Barry, and this is Jasper.

I have two Havanese twin puppies. So you know, I like showing them off whenever I can, even if it's on a t-shirt. And now, thankfully, my shirt finally is starting to fit me better and all my clothes are fitting me better. And I feel great. I feel like when I look in the mirror, it's the person that I used to know.

You know, I really feel like I've lost a lot of weight around my face and I'm seeing really a lot of definition in my face and I'm feeling, and I'm looking younger. And so that has been what it's meant to me. You know, it was a lot of sacrifices. It was a hard journey to get going. And I missed all of the foods I knew and loved, but I had a goal of being able to.

I just feel more comfortable in my own skin. You know, I had a lot of health problems that were happening as a result of my weight, the acid reflux, the hip bursitis you know, a lot of weakness in my right side. So I was walking with a limp. Now, all of that stuff is starting to subside. I haven't needed my acid reflux medicine in a couple of weeks.

You know,

https://youtu.be/OUV3751nbGI

I remember it like it was yesterday. It was May 2005. My wife just woke me up because she was going to work. She was a school counselor and she would leave a lot earlier than I did. So she would wake me up before she left to say goodbye. I had to get up. I was a real estate developer working in Boston at the time, and I had to get up and get ready and start my day.

Plus I really had to use the bathroom. So I, as I tried to sit up in bed and swing my legs over and put my feet on the ground, I noticed that my legs are really heavy. And as my feet touched the ground, we have tile floor and tile is usually cold in the morning. But I couldn't feel the cold. Not only that I had these pins and needles in my, my feet.

Like I had slept on them wrong, but that had happened before it usually resolves in a minute or two. So I kinda pushed myself up out of bed. And as I did, I noticed that my legs were numb all the way up. I'd never had anything like that happen before. So I'd had like pins and needles in my feet, but never all the way up in my legs, let alone both legs and both feet.

So I was like, this is interesting. And I started thinking, I went to the gym the night before, so maybe I had pinched a nerve in my back or something. But I still really had to go to the bathroom. And even though it was interesting nature calls, so I tried to walk, but it was like I was stuck in glue. I couldn't move at all.

So I would have to push myself off the wall and then kind of waddle and push from wall to wall to get down the hall to the bathroom. And when I got to the bathroom, the plumbing wasn't working. And I don't mean the toilet. As soon as I realized that I couldn't go to the bathroom on my own. I knew that there was something seriously wrong and I needed to seek medical attention.

The problem was that my wife was already at work and being a school counselor. It's very hard to reach her during the day. So I knew I was going to have to get to my primary care physician on my own. And so even though I could barely walk and I couldn't feel my feet, I did what a big dumb guy would do.

And I got myself down to my truck. I pulled myself up into it and I use my legs to press down on the gas. And I got over to my primary care office. It was 2005. They didn't have Uber at the time. So I, I did the best I could with what I got and all of a sudden, I'm in my physician's office and it was a new physician.

I had never seen this guy before. And he had a kind of a nervous mannerism to him. And I could tell right away that he had never seen something like this before. Here I am. I'm thinking it's a pinched nerve. But he would say things like Matt, wait right there. I going to make a phone call and he'd leave the room and come back and do some tests, then he'd be like, I need to go make another phone call.

You go, come back, make another test. And each time he was like, just nervous with his mannerisms. One of the times he even did that. A one-finger white glove test. I didn't think I would get until I was like in my fifties. And then he left again. He finally comes back. And at this point I'm scared. I'm like, I don't understand why he's coming and going.

I don't understand why he's nervous. And he's like, Matt, I need you to see a neurologist. And I'm in real estate development at the time. So I knew that neurology was the study of the brain, but I had no idea how my brain was connected to my numb feet and legs. So I got myself home. And it wasn't safe. I wish I had never done that, but I did.

And when I got home, I pulled myself up into the house and onto a couch and I called the neurologist number that he gave me and the schedu...

https://youtu.be/BibMDvd_cuA

Hey everybody. It's Matt from Situation Positive, and I want to wish you all a Happy Rare Diseases Day! Did you know that across the world, there are more than 300 million people living with a rare disease? And unlike MS, which I have and is the most common neurological disorder, a lot of people living with rare diseases don't have the same kind of opportunities that diseases like MS have that have such a large population base.

From https://www.rarediseaseday.org/

They don't have the strength in numbers, the strength in organization, or even the research dollars to carry forward their mission and try to get closer to treatments and cures. So I want to take this time and say that everyone with a rare disease, we are here for you.

From https://www.firstpost.com/world/rare-disease-day-2022-find-history-significance-and-how-the-day-will-be-marked-10410501.html

Situation Positive is a nonprofit community for all the people living with chronic illness, whether you have a rare disease,or like I do something like MS, you are welcome, you are included in our community and we're happy you're here. My name's Matt Cavallo. This has been Situation Positive. Please like, and subscribe to our channel.

From https://www.fda.gov/industry/orphan-products-development-events/rare-disease-day-2020

It helps us grow and it helps get the word out to some of those people living with rare diseases. And if you're one of those rare disease members come on and join us. We welcome you to our community. Remember, no matter your situation, you can turn it positive.

https://youtu.be/q75X1V6e3A0

Hey everybody, it's Matt from Situation Positive. If you're living with a chronic illness, like I am, you know, that stress is the enemy. So what are some of the ways you could combat stress? One of the ways, and the way that I want to focus on in this video is to anticipate a stressful event so that way you can plan to minimize the stress.

So what do, I mean? Let's say you're going on a vacation. Prior to going on vacation, I would say about 24 hours before departure, your stress level is going to slowly creep up till it hits 10. Right? And around the time, a couple of hours before you have to go to the airport. Your stress has got to be at an all-time high.

Now, why is that? It's because you're thinking about what did I not do? What did I not pack? What am I forgetting? Who did I forget to tell? Did I make all the right lists? I mean, just a million different things about leaving your home to go on a relaxing vacation. Can conjure up an extremely high amount of stress.

So what can you do to avoid that? So to avoid stress for an event that you can predict, like traveling, one of the things you should do is start early. Okay. So I'm going on a trip next week. So I've got about seven days to get everything I need to be done. So I have arranged the dog sitter way in advance, so I don't have to worry about my dogs.

I have we're going to international. So I've called my phone company. So I'm not going to expect any kind of roaming or those kinds of charges. You know, we identify all of the clothes that we're going to wear. Not only for me and my wife but the kids. So it's a week out and we already know what to pack and we've actually started packing because we know what we want to bring down there.

We're able to set that stuff aside and get the bags packed way early. We spent this weekend getting all this stuff we need, we're going to an island. We're going to an island in the Caribbean. And we got plenty of stuff we need down there. And we're talking about, you know, suntan lotion after sun lotion you know, all of our toiletries you know, any kind of.

Medicine for headaches or stuff like that, you know we're making sure that all that stuff gets done. And we started with the checklist. What we did was put everything on this checklist. So as we get through each thing, we check it off, check it off, check it off and you know, what's happening.

We're not stressed about next week. We know that the plane is going to take off at a certain time. We're going to be there and we're prepared. And that feeling of preparedness, we're able to anticipate a stressful moment and minimize it. It's that kind of thing. And you know what it's hard to do, especially you got kids, you got a busy life.

A lot of times we late wait till the last moment with everything right. But if you know, it's going to be an event that could trigger stress you could plan for it ahead of time. I know we did. And you know, to quote the great Bob Marley, we're not worried about a thing cause we know everything's going to be all right.

And we're prepared for it. My name's Matt Cavallo. This has been Situation Positive. Remember, no matter your situation, you can turn it positive.