The Chronic Truth

Is it normal forgetfulness or an Alzheimer’s warning sign? How do you talk to a defensive parent about their declining memory? Gerontology expert Janice Goldmintz , who cared for both parents with Alzheimer’s, provides a compassionate, step-by-step guide for overwhelmed families.    In this episode, Kim and Janice discuss: 🔴 The “Fruit & Orange” Analogy: Simply understand dementia v...

What if everything we think about boys and emotions is backwards?  Dr. Gloria Vanderhorst, a pioneering psychologist with 50 years of experience, will pull back the curtain on the emotional suppression of men in our culture.      In this enlightening and thought-provoking episode, Gloria reveals: ​🔴 The Shocking Research: Boys enter the world with a wider emotional range than...

What if a circular saw blade could revolutionize kitchen safety for millions? After learning knife smithing but being unable to use traditional knives during a severe flare-up, Doug created the Nulu: a groundbreaking adaptive kitchen knife that aligns with your musculoskeletal structure, eliminates grip strain, and puts the blade exactly where your hand knows it is. But this episode goes far beyon...

As 2025 comes to a close, this brief but powerful message reminds us why The Chronic Truth exists: to ensure no one fighting a serious health condition feels alone. In this heartfelt bonus episode, Kim pauses to reflect on an incredible year of storytelling, connection, and community building. As we enter the new year, share one Chronic Truth episode with someone who needs to hear they're not figh...

Men are dying of loneliness. The statistics on male suicide, isolation, and preventable chronic disease are staggering—yet most men wait until they're broken before seeking help. Stretch Rayner knows this firsthand. After climbing the corporate ladder, quitting to become a personal trainer, and building a thriving London gym, he hit complete burnout. This week , Kim sits down with our featured gue...

After breaking his neck at 12 and being told he'd be "fragile and crippled for life," Dr. Alan Weisser refused to accept that diagnosis. Today, he's a clinical psychologist with nearly 40 years of experience helping chronic pain patients move from suffering to mastery. In this powerful episode, Dr. Weisser reveals why chronic pain isn't just a medical problem—it's an existential challenge with up...

What if pharmaceutical companies actually listened to patients before launching treatments?  This week, Kim welcomes  Wes Michael, president and founder of Rare Patient Voice, who's spent over 25 years proving that patient perspectives aren't just nice to have—they're essential to developing treatments that actually work.      In this empowering episode, Wes reveals: ​🔴 $...

 What happens when your voice fails while your husband battles cancer?  This week, Kim   Eileen Meehan, a longtime special education teacher and lifelong choir member, whose voice began failing just as her husband faced serious cancer surgery. While learning to give injections and manage tube feedings—wearing a mask in 2021—hospital staff thought she was crying when her voice cracke...

What happens when caregivers never put themselves first?   This week, Kim welcomes Jenny Lytle , a hospice and end-of-life care nurse with over 30 years of experience, who learned the cost of neglecting self-care through devastating loss. After burning out so badly she left her job and went through an identity crisis, Jenny's mother died from a ruptured brain aneurysm—an aneurysm she knew abo...

 What if everything mothers tell daughters about period pain is wrong?   This week, Kim welcomes back Michele Forsberg , pelvic physical therapist and endometriosis expert, to address the flood of listener questions from their first conversation. Michele delivers a powerful message that will change how mothers respond to their daughters: debilitating period cramps are NOT normal, even if...

What happens when surgery or GLP-1 medications work, then stop working?      This week, Kim welcomes Dr. Pavi Kundhal , a general surgeon and diplomat of the American Board of Obesity Medicine, who spent 16 of his 17 years in practice watching a devastating pattern. After performing high-volume bariatric surgeries, Dr. Kundhal noticed the patients with lasting success weren't the on...

 What happens when a healthcare professional doesn't recognize her own brain injury?     This week, Kim welcomes  Kelly Tuttle , a neurology nurse practitioner who became a traumatic brain injury survivor after a car accident—and whose brain injury was so hidden that even she didn't recognize the danger signs. After being cleared to return to work in two weeks, Kelly pushed thr...

What happens when compassionate doctors are crushed by corporate medicine?     This week, Kim welcomes Dr. Joe Sherman , a pediatrician who experienced something that would shock his colleagues: complete burnout requiring him to quit medicine altogether. After 35 years practicing across the US, Uganda, and Bolivia, Dr. Sherman went from a vibrant community-engaged physician to someone su...

What happens when you're diagnosed with guaranteed cancer at eight years old?     This week, Kim welcomes Jenny Jones , author and advocate living with familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP)—a hereditary colon cancer syndrome that guarantees colon removal at some point in life. Diagnosed at eight years old and having her colon removed at nine when polyps started turning cancerous, Jenny sp...

What happens when you find a lump at 37 with an 18-month-old and 11 year old sons?    This week, Kim welcomes her cousin Stephanie Adler for a raw, personal conversation about surviving stage 3 breast cancer at just 37 years old with an 18-month-old and 11 year old sons.  When a simple shower discovery led to finding cancer in her lymph nodes, Stephanie made the controversial decisi...

 What if most dementia aggression isn't the disease, it's us?  This week, Kim welcomes Kathi Miracle , a dementia expert with over 30 years of experience who learned everything the hard way by being thrown into a wall, having her ribs broken, and getting kicked, punched, and scratched as a 22-year-old CNA with zero proper training. From those brutal early days in the 1990s, Kathi built a...

What if trying to sit up straight is making your back pain worse? This week, Kim welcomes Ben O'Loghlin , who spent his early twenties battling chronic back, neck, and shoulder pain that nothing could fix, not doctors, chiropractors, massage, or medication. After waking up 30 minutes early just to stretch enough to face college exams, Ben discovered the Alexander Technique, a 100-year-old cognitiv...

What happens when routine surgery becomes a cancer diagnosis mid-operation? This week, Kim sits down with Phantom from Phantom Electric Ghost Podcast , a musician, software engineer, and podcasting veteran with nearly 1,300 episodes under his belt. What started as a routine cyst removal at 27 became a terrifying discovery when Phantom could hear his surgeons realize mid-operation that he had stage...

What if everything you know about endometriosis is wrong? This week, Kim sits down with Michele Forsberg , a pelvic physical therapist who's been living with undiagnosed endometriosis for decades while watching her daughter face the same debilitating reality. From a family doctor's devastating dismissal to discovering endometriosis isn't actually the endometrium, Michele exposes the shocking medic...

What happens when you're part of an epidemic but invisible in the conversation? This week, Kim sits down with Derek "D-Rex" Canas, a 40-year-long-term survivor whose story begins with infant heart surgery and a blood transfusion that would change everything. Diagnosed with HIV at just 16, Derek discovered something shocking: there was virtually no support for heterosexual men living with HIV. For...

What happens when a therapist needs therapy? Kim welcomes and sits down with Kesley Rogers , a 27-year-old licensed mental health counselor who's demolishing misconceptions about therapy one conversation at a time. From her private practice in Tennessee, Kesley shares the shocking reality that therapists aren't "all put together"—they see therapists too. Navigating her own journey with ADHD, anxie...

Kim welcomes Dr. Elizabeth George , a seasoned family physician who transformed her practice after witnessing the explosion of chronic disease in the mid-90s and 2000s. Frustrated by patients climbing to "five medicines, seven medicines" without improvement, Dr. George discovered that whole food, plant-based nutrition could reverse conditions doctors typically manage with lifetime prescriptions. I...

Kim reunites with Tonya Henry (The Chronically Ill Soldier) to pull back the curtain on gastroparesis, a condition where the stomach is partially or fully paralyzed. Diagnosed after 20 years of unexplained nausea and vomiting, Tonya reveals why "just eat something" is dangerous advice, how a gastric stimulator (like a pacemaker for the stomach) failed her twice, and why patient communiti...

Kim sits down with Andrea Jensen, a certified asthma educator, public health professional, and founder of Asthma Hub LLC, to expose the life-threatening gaps in asthma care. Andrea shares her family’s harrowing journey (12 hospitalizations, 2 ICU stays) and how a torn magazine article became the key to her son’s diagnosis after years of dismissal. In this episode, Andrea reveals: ​🔴 Medical gasli...

Kim sits down with Dr. Shanea Clancy , a powerhouse executive coach, trauma recovery expert, and 7-time international bestselling author , to unpack how she transformed her health, losing 85 pounds in 12 months while building a global consulting empire. Dr. Shanea Clancy’s body was screaming, so she listened: ​🔴 Mediterranean diet secret : Why she fired her scale before losing a pound. ​🟢 "Close...