chronic illness

Sophie’s IBS Story: Unprecedented Honesty on a Gross Topic

By AmyT on February 7, 2012

Sophie Lee has an obsession with toilets – not because it’s some kind of fetish, but because all of her adult life, she’s never known when she’s going to urgently need one nearby, or suffer the consequences.  It’s a pretty icky topic, I know, but Sophie’s new narrative describing her 20-year struggle with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is one of the best-written “empowered patient” testimonials I’ve read.
Sophie grew up in the UK and went…

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Ask D’Mine: What to Do When You’ve Got No Insurance, No Money

By WilD on December 17, 2011

Got diabetes and need some help? You’ve come to the right place.
Every week, we take reader questions and do our very best to be informative and helpful (and make you smile a little) here at our diabetes advice column, Ask D’Mine, hosted by veteran type 1, diabetes author and community educator Wil Dubois.
Send us your queries related to life with diabetes — nothing is off-limits here! (except of course specific medical instructions for…

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How Do We Do It? Invisible Illness Awareness Week

By AllisonN on September 15, 2011

Diabetes has never felt like an “invisible illness” to me. I can see the teeny-tiny puncture wounds on my fingers, the juice box that weighs down my purse, the stray test strip on the bedroom floor. The presence of diabetes is very apparent to me. But because my hair doesn’t fall out, my skin doesn’t change color, and I can walk and talk without impairment, most people don’t know that there is anything wrong with…

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Snappy Comebacks for Parents of Diabetic Kids (Or…)

By AmyT on January 7, 2011

We’ve all heard them at one time or another — those insensitive comments that just make you cringe. But what do you say back? We might wish we could share the snarky comeback on the tip of our tongues, but that isn’t always a good idea, especially if this is someone you’ll have to see again (a family member, friend, etc.).  A few weeks ago, D-mom blogger Joanne was inspired by a “D-wit” post from…

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Coping Skills: Tapping into Your Brain’s “Nooks & Crannies”

By AmyT on July 28, 2010

Ginger Vieira kind of blows me away.  She has lived with Type 1 diabetes and Celiac disease for over 11 years. And she holds 14 national, drug-tested powerlifting records and the Vermont state record for the female bench press. She’s recently established herself as a cognitive Health & Chronic Illness Life Coach at her new company, Living In Progress.
There Ginger works with people (individuals and families) on how their thinking impacts the way they…

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