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I wake up around 7:30 a.m. to the sound of my alarms. I snooze them one, two, three times. I turn off the humidifier that sits by my bed to counter the dryness that’s been leaving me with bleeding lips and peeling skin. I finally drag myself out of bed…

Cushing’s is a fickle disease. There are days when I can walk without my wheelchair, grab dinner with a friend, and make my way home safely without a problem. There are also days when I can’t move 5 feet without my wheelchair, have night blindness, and need…

I’ve been a social worker since 2018. Throughout this journey, I’ve found that working with a therapist was imperative for me. The social work field is both turbulent and relentless at times, and therapy helped me prevent burnout in both my personal and professional life. Yet I don’t think…

It’s happening again. I’m at a social event, and I start to feel it. My head hurts. My vision blurs. I begin to dissociate, feeling myself falling away from where I am. I try so hard to focus, to pay attention to the blurring swirls in front of me telling…

Having a chronic illness is hard in so many ways. It’s hard on your body, it’s hard on your psyche, it’s hard on your life, and it’s hard on your caregiver. As much as I respect, trust, and love my caregiver for all he’s done for me, I have…

Much of my journey with Cushing’s disease has involved sharing my treatment options and choices with others in the community. This is largely because I had so much difficulty deciding on a treatment path. Thoughts swirled in my mind constantly. What if I chose the wrong option…

I’m not sure if this is a universal sentiment in the chronically ill community, but it seems like every time I have a doctor appointment, it consumes my entire day. I’ll sit at the computer, waiting for the virtual appointment to start, knowing that it won’t come for several more…

As social media has grown over the years, more users have started working as influencers — people who build a following based on their purported level of knowledge and expertise in a specific field. This includes health. Phrases like “weight loss supplements,” “balance your hormones,” and even “lower your cortisol”…

Cortisol: It’s one of the hormones involved in the body’s fight-or-flight response. Feeling anxious about a test? You might be able to thank cortisol for that. Think everyone hates you? Perhaps it’s cortisol. Most people don’t know that cortisol can also make you depressed, like on those…

I remember the day I realized something was wrong with me. Until that point, I’d been able to explain away my symptoms. Buffalo hump on my back? Bad posture. Periods stopped? I’d been stressed out. Acne? It happens! Then I gained 70 pounds in a month and a half.