chronic illness

Outside Blues: Chronically Ill People Face an Old New Post-Pandemic World

Now the end of the pandemic is near in the United States and friends will ask chronically ill people to meet in crowded, loud buildings again.

Brain Loop: Redefining the Invisible Battle Against Chronic Migraines

Women are three times more likely to suffer from the invisible illness than men. Read more »

“What Doesn’t Kill You” Tells the Gut-Churning Truth about Chronic Illness

Crohn’s disease is unpredictable, cruel, and gross. There’s no way around that. Read more »

Patient Perspective: Lara Parker, a Wise Friend for Those with Vagina Problems

In order to get help from doctors and be taken seriously, people with endometriosis have to be really vulnerable. Read more »

Come as You Are: Orgasms Prioritize Pleasure in the Midst of Pain

Orgasms can be restorative for pelvic-pain patients because orgasming helps them experience a “healing trust” that reconnects them with their need for sexual pleasure and intimacy. Read more »

Fake It Off: Reddit’s r/Illnessfakers Community and the Politics of Disbelief

The continued tracking of alleged over-the-top chronically ill influencers is part of an established cultural history of believing that chronically ill people, particularly women, are exaggerating or faking their illnesses for profit. Read more »

Cover the Coronavirus without Being an Ableist Asshole

Our current discourse reinforces the reality that some of our lives are more deserving of being fraught with worry and risk, but warding off coronavirus is on all of us. Read more »

The Intimate Act of Performing Pain

There’s an acute and near-indescribable vulnerability that comes with admitting to being in pain in real time. Read more »

Memorializing Survival: Piercing the Chronic Pain Away

Our tolerance for pain allows us to turn life’s horrors into something beautiful. Read more »

30 Years Ago, “The Golden Girls” Treated Sick Women like We Matter

Three decades later, “Sick and Tired” remains a cultural touchstone for people with chronic illnesses. Read more »

Survival Jean: “If You Look Good, You Feel Good” Is More Than a Mantra for the Chronically Ill

When you are diagnosed with a chronic illness, everything in your life becomes incidental. Read more »

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