Chronic Wellness

In this episode, I'm continuing to talk about how I got a Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) diagnosis. After visiting with the infectious disease specialist and learning that I had chronic Epstein Bar, I was now in the territory of CFS. I was really resistant to the diagnosis. It felt invalidating as a label. Aren't we all tired? Have you felt like you needed to explain your diagnosis? I had the grea...

In today's episode I talk about what happened after six-months of limping along. With CFS, and other diagnoses of exclusion, it's tricky to find physicians with experience and willingness to treat us. I was fortunate enough to land one of these doctors as my primary care physicians. She referred me to an infectious disease specialist who dug into my medical history and ran comprehensive screening...

In today's episode I talk about trying to push through the mono I'd contracted. Barely able to function, unable to get refreshing sleep, clearing my evenings so that I could just fall into bed after work, taking a couple of days off every couple of weeks to just sleep, I was working with my doctor to address symptoms. As I rounded on the six-month mark of illness I was feeling desperate and unable...

In today's episode I talk about the origins of my Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Many years ago I got mono. Here's what happened when I found out I was sick.

It can be so difficult to feed ourselves when we are sick. The challenge of getting and preparing food is real and ongoing. Have you done food elimination diets to know what works and doesn't work for your body? Do you ever find yourself without fresh food in the house? In these times, what are the staples -- the convenience foods, I keep when making a meal is impossible and when all else fails.

It can be so difficult to feed ourselves when we are sick. The challenge of getting and preparing food is real and ongoing. Today I talk about food delivery. While it does require money and access, it can answer part of the question about how I get myself fed. How often do you use these services? Are they available in your town?

It can be so difficult to feed ourselves when we are sick. The challenge of getting and preparing food is real and ongoing. What friend of family member do you know who cooks? Can you or someone in your household cook once a week or so? How can you increase the available food options without increasing the workload? What barriers to getting good food in my house can I remove? In this episode I'm d...

It can be so difficult to feed ourselves when we are sick. The challenge of getting and preparing food is real and ongoing. Having meal prep kits can be part of the solution -- pre-proportioned, prepared ingredients, and recipes delivered to your home. Do you have someone in your home who could manage 15-30 minutes of cooking to make 2-4 servings of food? When looking to remove barriers to healthy...

It can be so difficult to feed ourselves when we are sick. The challenge of getting and preparing food is real and ongoing. What barriers to getting good food in my house can I remove? If I can afford the fee, what does is available in my town for grocery pick-up or delivery? Without the stamina to be able to grocery shop, these services are revolutionizing what's possible for me with chronic illn...

On the many days when I'm not well enough to shop for and prepare food for myself, it becomes an even higher stakes resource. Relying on others becomes a necessary part of how I meet this basic need. How do/can I rely on others? Being clear and specific about what I need, helps others help me. What's easiest on my loved ones, also turns out to also be easiest on me - here's how. Given what short s...

Often living with chronic illness includes solitude. In these times when we are feeling physically broken and tremendously isolated, it is hard to remember that we are not alone. How can you connect with others dealing with the same things you are? What if you don't yet have a diagnosis? What do you stand to learn or gain from forums or chat rooms shared by others managing similar circumstances? R...

One thing I cannot downplay about makes my life possible is my marriage. My wife gives me support, help, and love, and makes many more things available to me that wouldn't be if I lived alone or were having to navigate this journey without a partner. One of the things that she enables is having dogs. How does having dogs help with my body and spirit? What do animals have to offer to those of us wi...

Regardless of whether you were an introvert or extrovert prior to getting sick, you likely have more solitude now that you are sick. How do you manage the isolation of chronic illness? How does breaking my day into units help make the day more feasible? When thinking about how to maximize my time and energy, why are units helpful? What is practical about chunking out my time this way? Particularly...

This may seem like a departure, but bear with me. You'll notice that I try to get dressed for these videos each day. I operate from the belief that I try to dress for the way that I WANT to feel (not necessarily the way I DO feel that day). For this reason, I have a capsule wardrobe. How does a very limited wardrobe help with brain fog? By limiting decision fatigue, how am I making my day easier?...

As brain fog gums up the works, what are some tools to help manage? How can I pair different habits? What does pairing do to help me compensate for my faulty memory? In this video I give practical ideas for how to pair things we must do every day, like take our meds, with things we mean to do each day.

Wouldn't it be great if we had a fog horn that could cut through brain fog? With 10 years of experiencing managing and compensating for my own brain fog, I've acquired some tricks and tools. For the past 18 months I've been using a journal. How can a journal help with health tracking? Having an index is what makes this journal a powerful tool. This low-tech system has become a great device for mak...

Brain fog, persistent pernicious, eats away at our capacity to function. One of the ways I compensate for brain fog is by engaging subscription services. How can subscriptions help with brain fog? What things can be ordered by subscription? Setting these deliveries up ahead of time and dialing in what's needed is a way to save my time, energy, and resources. This is a way I contribute to our house...

Chronic illness so often goes hand in glove with brain fog. Having tools for handling brain fog is imperative. How is brain fog similar to alpine clouds? Does your brain fog track with your pain or disease flares? What can our phone's voice recorder be used for? In this episode I discuss how I'm using technology, and specifically, the voice recording tool, to compensate for my brain fog and help m...

Chronic illness so often goes hand in glove with brain fog. Having tools for handling brain fog is imperative. How can smart home devices be useful? What things can do I use them for in my daily life? How can they help compensate for some of the functions I'm lacking in my daily life? In this episode I discuss my experience with brain fog and the ways I use my Alexa devices to make my life a bit m...

In this episode I'm talking about these questions: What brings you true comfort? What are the things that light you up and bring you joy? When you are the lowest, what nourishes your spirit? We can take the opportunity that guilt offers to reach for the things that offer us true comfort. You can see a picture of my comfort collage @theAnnetteLeonard -- check it out and tag me when you show me your...

In this episode I'm examining the ways I manage living with the guilt that is inherent in living with chronic illness. How can writing help expel our guilt? What does being uncensored do for helping me to examine or reveal my feelings? What rituals might further add to to the ability to surrender or release some of this guilt? These are some of the questions I'm exploring.

How is guilt like a hollow point bullet? If I can acknowledge that it doesn't benefit me or those I'm feeling it for/about, what can I do about the guilt I feel? What happens if I sit with the discomfort of my guilt? What benefits can come when I get quiet and try to be with the guilt? These are some of the questions I'm exploring in this episode in this series on how to manage the guilt that acco...

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Who benefits from me feeling guilty? How can I change my practices? Do I benefit from feeling guilty? Do the people I'm feeling guilty for? These are the questions I'm examining in today's episode.

Outliving predicted expiration dates and others who have illnesses in common with me but have not as lucky, I have the typical survivor's guilt. But then I have another shade of guilt -- one that tells me if I would have died, I wouldn't be burdening my wife by living. What are the varieties of guilt that accompany survival? How does my continued existence impact my family and friends? This video...