Clinical Misfits

Why does pain sometimes continue long after an injury has healed — and why can chronic pain be such a significant part of neurodivergent life? In this episode of Clinical Misfits , Dr. Mary explores chronic pain and its relationship with the neurodivergent nervous system. She breaks down different types of pain, from superficial and deep pain to visceral and nerve pain, and considers the role of i...

What happens when you're experiencing very real neurological symptoms, but medicine can't explain what's causing them? In this episode of Clinical Misfits , Dr Mary explores functional neurological disorder (FND), a term used to describe neurological symptoms that can include changes in sensation, speech and movement, paralysis and seizure-like episodes. She questions the language historically use...

For many neurodivergent people with complex chronic illness, the barriers they experience at school or work aren't only neurological or psychological. So why are accommodations so often approached as though they are? In this episode of Clinical Misfits , Dr Mary explores the relationship between dysautonomia, neurodivergence and the need for school and workplace accommodations. She questions wheth...

Clinical Misfits returns for Season Two with a deeper, more conversational approach to the connections between neurodivergence and complex chronic illness. In this episode, Dr Mary revisits ideas explored in Season One before turning her attention to hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS), dysautonomia and their relationship with neurodivergence. She explores the potential role of chondroitin s...

In the final episode of Clinical Misfits, Dr Mary discusses some genetic conditions that account for a lot of the physical, mental, psychological and behavioural characteristics, present in varying degrees in the majority of neurodivergent people. These are largely due to defects in collagen! Collagen is a major structural protein throughout the body and nervous system. In the majority of cases, t...

In Episode Three of Clinical Misfits, Dr Mary explains about how the autonomic nervous system and the immune system provide a protective net over the entire person.  As with the endocrine system, discussed in the last episode, coordination of activity has to be very tight to pull this off. If either system is dysregulated, both are and the body is left vulnerable. Worse, the immune system may...

In Episode Two of Clinical Misfits, Dr. Mary describes each of the major endocrine (hormone) systems of the body and the myriad ways that dysregulation of the autonomic nervous system can affect their function, and vice versa. She explains how the communications among a person's thoughts, senses, emotions and experiences affect and are affected by a person's hormonal balance at any time. When the...

Dr Mary Sims is an AuDHD (autistic with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and some overlap with obsessive compulsive disorder) who has both dealt with neurodivergent patients in crisis and been one herself. In Episode One of Clinical Misfits, Dr Mary describes in detail a unique way to identify neurodivergent people who are approaching or in the middle of burnout, who she calls Clinical Mi...

What if healthcare understood neurodivergence differently? Welcome to Clinical Misfits, a podcast exploring neurodivergent health, medicine, and clinical understanding through an autistic cultural lens. Part of the Autistic Culture Podcast Network. Hosted by Dr Mary Sims, a neurodivergent neurologist who is AuDHD herself, the series combines lived experience and medical expertise to explore the ph...