Ep. 9 | Chronic Illness Coach and Advocate Alyssa Truelove Shares Her Story of Living with Endometriosis and Fibromyalgia

en-usMarch 11, 2023

Sick and Seeking

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What was the main topic of the podcast episode?

Summarise the key points discussed in the episode?

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Which popular books were mentioned in this episode?

Were there any points particularly controversial or thought-provoking discussed in the episode?

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About this Episode

On this episode of the Sick and Seeking Podcast I speak with coach and advocate Alyssa Truelove about what it’s like living with two chronic conditions: endometriosis and fibromyalgia.

We speak about:

Alyssa’s diagnosis story and the shocking news she received at 19 years old that she has endometriosis.
The importance of understanding that what you are feeling in your body is valid, even if your illness is invisible and others can’t see it

Connect with Alyssa Truelove (Founder & CEO of the Chronically Ill Society):
Email: support@chronicallyillsociety.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chronicallyillsociety/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@chronicallyillsociety
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Chronically-Ill-Society/100090535946726/
Website: https://chronicallyillsociety.com/

🌟 Connect with Leslie and Sick and Seeking Community: 🌟
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Recent Episodes from Sick and Seeking

E8 S2 | Somatic Practitioner Emma Gordon Shares How Regulating the Nervous System is the Key to Healing Trauma Held in the Body

Welcome to Episode 8, Season 2 of the Sick and Seeking Podcast

On this episode I speak with somatic practitioner Emma Gordon, of Body As Compass.

Conversation Highlights:

Emma’s personal journey healing a traumatic past
The body is always operating from a place of wisdom and what’s best for survival
A starting place to befriend the body: self-compassion
Getting the mind and body to work together instead of against one another
Healing trauma from a place of safety, so finding safety in the outside environment before connecting to the body
What is the nervous system, why it matters, and how it can become dysregulated
How neuroaffective touch is an approach that can help people who have trauma patterns stuck in their body
Human touch is essential to people’s overall wellbeing
The negative feedback loops that occur with trauma
Stepping into joy and pleasure to heal the body and build resilience

Quote:

"You know, you can't think your way through trauma, and you can't think your way into regulating your nervous system. And so I think there's a lot of shame for people around being traumatized, and trauma in and of itself creates shame, and then people have shame around having shame, and it becomes this terrible feedback loop for people. But it's not a conscious decision. We can't choose for our nervous system to be in a different place." - Emma Gordon

Connect with Emma:
Website | Instagram

Sick and Seeking

en-usFebruary 23, 2024

E7 S2 | Breaking Down the Barriers to Eating Well So Bodies Can Heal - Kristina Evans Functional Nutritionist Counselor

Welcome to Episode 7, Season 2 of the Sick and Seeking Podcast

On this episode I speak with Kristina Evans, Functional Nutritionist Counselor at Annyssa Wellness.

Connected to my health and overall wellness, looking at my diet was the last place I’ve ever wanted to go. And if you can believe it, for a few months now I have personally been working with Kristina to make changes around what I’m eating. I’m here to tell you that making these shifts to improve your gut health and overall health has been worth it.

For me it was key to have the support and guidance of this wonderful woman, Kristina. She has a knack for meeting you where you are, without judgment, and holding you with delicate compassion and care on your journey with food.

Conversation Highlights:

What it’s like to work with a functional nutritionist counselor
Kristina’s role in helping people break down the barriers so that they can eat well and heal their bodies
Inflammation in the body and how the gut often plays a central role
Gut health and its impact on health conditions
A description of digestion, the role each part plays in the process, and what happens when a part breakdowns or is not functioning optimally
Creating a healthy microbiome by eating the greatest variety of food that is high in soluble fiber and doesn't upset your system
The gut to brain messaging system, and the importance of reconnecting the mind with the body
Long term health conditions often take long term healing, and having a support along the way is key
Kristina’s 80/20 rule in guiding clients how to think about food

Quote:

“We don't talk about it. Why would I be excited about it? Because I have seen healing occur. If you can get the gut working correctly, then you will heal. You will be able to dare I say, go into remission from a lot of conditions. You will calm them down. The distance between flares will extend and the severity of flares will decrease. That's the beauty of working in the gut.” - Kristina Evans

Connect with Kristina:
Website | Instagram | Facebook

Sick and Seeking

en-usFebruary 02, 2024

E6 S2 | Difficult to Diagnose: Holistic Endometriosis and Hormone Expert Dr. LJ Johnson Shares What You May Not Know or Understand About Endometriosis

Welcome to Episode 6, Season 2 of the Sick and Seeking Podcast

On this episode I speak with Dr. LJ Johnson, Holistic Endometriosis and Hormone Expert. Her passion is to empower, motivate and educate women so they too can have quality of life despite their symptoms or diagnosis.

Takeaways:

LJ’s 16 year personal experience of chasing down her own endo diagnosis and being told by her doctors that there aren’t many options available to ease her symptoms.
LJ’s realization that conventional medicine wasn’t providing what she and others needed, and retrained in functional medicine and holistic health
Endometriosis is uterine-like tissue found outside of the uterus. The endo lesions inflame and the surrounding tissue can inflame as well
Endometriosis has stage one, two, three and four and they do not equate to the level of pain, discomfort and inflammation you will have in your body.
Symptoms of having endo is different for everyone, with many people having GI and digestion issues
Endo is often difficult to diagnose, and it can often be a process of exclusion to make the diagnosis
Lj shares that the best way to confirm if it’s endo is to work with a endometriosis excision surgeon
Ablation versus excision surgery to treat endo.
Finding and doctor and surgeon you can trust; not just the first person that could get you in
Lifestyle changes that can support your body to feel better, such as learning your trigger foods that set off inflammation, bloating, loose stool etc. and logging this information
How functional medicine can help you look for the root cause of the issue you’re having in your body

Quote:

“ I really and honestly turned my pain into my passion. It took me 16 years to be properly diagnosed with endometriosis, yes, 16. So that was 16 years of blaming myself, blaming my doctors, hating my body, hating my doctors, doctors being very dismissive of me, you know, begging, bleeding, literally bleeding out of every orifice of my body, and begging to be heard, pleading for help.” - Dr. LJ Johnson

Connect with Dr. LJ:
Website | Instagram | Facebook

Sick and Seeking

en-usJanuary 19, 2024

#period #hormonalimbalance #guthealth #cortisol #periodproblems #hormoneimbalance #heavyperiods #periodhealth #birthcontrol #birthcontrolproblems #periodproblems #hormonehealth #hormonalhealthtips #hormonalhealthandhealing #endo #endowarrior #endoconquere

E5 S2 | Movement Teacher Amber Ryan of The 360 Emergence Shares the Shifts That Happen When Practicing Embodied Movement, and How Dance Can Assist with Moving People Away from Numbness and Back into Connection With Their Body

On this episode I speak with movement teacher and mentor Amber Ryan, co-founder of The 360 Emergence, an embodiment, free-form, spirit-driven movement practice.

“And numbing is also one of those vibrations that the movement practice can help assist moving people away from. Because numbing comes in for different reasons, whether it's we're stuffing something down, or I just can't even anymore. I've gone on overload. It's too much. Lots of different reasons for how numbing can come in… And so through the movement practice, we can start to warm that freeze, or we can start to draw and bring people back into the body.” - Amber Ryan

Takeaways:

Energy can become stagnant in the body and movement can shift the energy into flow and vitality
Using breathe as a way for people to come into better presence and awareness with themselves
How Gabrielle Wroth’s 5 Rhythms ecstatic dance method helped Amber re-pattern into healthier ways in support of her body
The powerful changes that can happen from a full, deep breath into the body
The shift that can happen when participating in embodied movement: feeling freer, awake, connected to life’s goodness, lighter, additional vitality, greater sense of aliveness, rejuvenated, tension and stress release, surrender and letting go
How dance gives space for people to be in the raw, real expression of emotion and allows this energy to move
Movement can provide a sense of support and community for those experiencing illness or chronic pain
Tears and crying as a healing release that softens us
Numbing in the body and how through a movement practice, the body can warm that freeze and draw people back into their body

Connect with Amber:
Website | Instagram | Facebook

Resources:
The 360 Emergence: Remember Center (Free!)
Calm Your Nervous System
Amber’s Sound Cloud Music and Mixes That Inspire Movement

Sick and Seeking

en-usDecember 15, 2023

E4 S2 | Be in the Richness of Life as it Arises Through Your Body: Holly Wodetzki Shares How Her Embodied Dance Methodology Helps Women Come Back to Intense Aliveness in the Body

On this episode I speak with Holly Wodetzki of Sensual Embodied Dance about the richness of life that can arise in the body through dance. Using her signature dance methodology, Holly helps women come back to intense aliveness in their bodies.

Topics Discussed:

Holly’s decision to shift her personal daily practice from yoga to free-form dance
Noticing the tightly held places in women’s body become more pronounced when you ask them to move towards pleasure and sexuality in using movement
Exploring the erotic and sexuality in the body, and what that means as a pulse of life
Using a practice like dance to dissolve boundaries and feel the unity and interconnection with life and nature
Sensitizing and becoming intimate with feelings in the body to allow life and emotions to move through you
Using dance as an opportunities for women to let go, release, unfold and unravel tension in the body so they can be more open to embodying the full spectrum of life
Many women feel disconnected from their lower body and have chronic pelvis tension
Embodiment and dissociation, and pendulating in-between these states
How music can invoke different emotional states and open their body to new ways of moving

Quotes:

“But when we have that capacity to let life move through us, then things don't get stuck. We don't get the residue of unexpressed experiences and emotions stuck in our body…” - Holly Wodetzki

“But the question is always, will you dance with this too? And I think for people who are sick and or have loved ones that are sick or going through very difficult things, the question is still, can I dance with this too? Even when it is so painful, would I also dance with this too? but in the biggest sense of, this being part of my story that doesn't define who I am, but this is part of this moment. And can I dance even when it's so hard and I'm in pain?” - Holly Wodetzki

Connect with Holly:

Website | Instagram | Facebook

Sick and Seeking

en-usNovember 30, 2023

E3 S2 | Functional Medical Health Coach Dawn Karwoski Shares How Connecting to Her Roots, Reigniting her Faith, Finding Community and Regulating Her Nervous System Paved the Path to Remission

On this episode I speak with Functional Medical Health Coach Dawn Karwoski of the Well Rooted Life about managing various health issues and mystery illnesses before a full blown health crisis in 2017.

Over the years Dawn sought out dozens of Doctors, Specialists, and Practitioners, and after much trial and error, she found true healing by connecting to her roots, reigniting her faith, and finding community. Dawn has reached a place where all of her chronic conditions are currently in remission

Topics Discussed:

The recurring health issues in her 20s and 30s that led her to floating in and out of the traditional medical system and seeing various functional medical doctors and collecting diagnoses
Her health crash in 2017 from a rare condition called hashitoxicosi
Foodie Dawn’s journey with food: elimination diets, healing protocols, and finding her way back to a healthy relationship and love of food.
The learning curve in gaining confidence in the ability to be an expert of your body
How medical diagnoses come in twins and triplets, meaning, if you have one condition, there’s a high likelihood you will have multiple follow
Often it’s a culmination of a variety of factors that lead to a health crisis, and your body does something extreme for you to take notice
The power of intuition and and advocating for yourself in a medical setting
Dawn’s journey back to her faith and regulating her nervous system

Quotes:

"I started doing nervous system regulation…so that coupled with my functional medicine practice really got me to a healthy place so I was able to kind of bounce back from that major health crash and within a couple of years went off all my medication." - Dawn

“And just because a doctor tells me to do something doesn't mean I have to, you know, really trying to reframe that like that's a recommendation. Like, I don't have to follow blindly, whatever they're telling me. - Dawn

Connect with Dawn:
Website | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook

Resources:
Dawn’s Favorit

Sick and Seeking

en-usNovember 17, 2023

E2 S2 | Bringing a Historical and Personal Lens to Medicine and Healing: Author and Professor Ed Cohen Discusses What Medicine Doesn’t Know in His Book Titled On Learning to Heal

Sick and Seeking Episode 2 of Season 2 features author and professor Ed Cohen who shares all about his new book: On Learning to Heal - What Medicine Doesn’t Know.

At thirteen, Ed Cohen was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease—a chronic, incurable condition that nearly killed him in his early twenties. At his diagnosis, his doctors told him that the best he could hope for would be periods of remission. Unfortunately, doctors never mentioned healing as a possibility.

In On Learning to Heal, Cohen draws on fifty years of living with Crohn’s to consider how Western medicine’s turn from an “art of healing” toward a “science of medicine” deeply affects both medical practitioners and their patients. He demonstrates that although medicine can now offer many seemingly miraculous therapies, medicine is not and has never been the only way to enhance healing. Exploring his own path to healing, he argues that learning to heal requires us to desire and value healing as a vital possibility. With this book, Cohen advocates reviving healing’s role for all those whose lives are touched by illness.

Topics Discussed:

Ed’s Crohn's Disease diagnoses over 50 years ago at the age of 13
His self-proclaimed “adolescence on steroids” when he was treated with high doses of prednisone
His life-changing healing trances that spontaneously occurred while severely sick and recovering in hospital
Ed’s 40 year quest to understand why medicine knows a lot about being sick, but not a lot about getting better and healing
How healing is our birthright, and in our culture we don’t give healing the respect that it’s due
How we are made into an ‘anybody’ for medical purposes when really each disease is particular and specific to each person
The idea that medicine is a fee-for-service enterprise, and it sells itself to us as being the best treatment by using diagnosis and prognosis
How medicine was first considered an art of healing, and one way this was practiced was through Asclepion Temple Healing

“And then when I finally got out of the hospital, I had an exit interview with my surgeon and he said this thing that just seared itself into my brain. He said: You were the sickest person I've operated on in five years who's still alive and I have no idea how you got better so quickly.” - Ed Cohen

Connect with Ed:

Sick and Seeking

en-usNovember 03, 2023

E1 S2 | Naturopath Debra Lee (she’s back!) Shares the Essential Elements and Nutrients We Need to Function Properly and Create a Healthy Self-Healing and Self-Regulating Environment in Our Bodies

Welcome to Season 2 of the Sick and Seeking Podcast!

For this season’s first episode I decided to bring back Naturopath Debra Lee who I interviewed on Episode 7 of Season 1 where she shared all about the toxins we may be exposed to in our daily lives. She was quite the fan favorite (meaning, tons of downloads!) so I had to have her back on to share more of her naturopathic wisdom.

This time Debra and I spoke about the the Essential Elements and Nutrients We Need to Function Properly and Create a Healthy Self-Healing and Self-Regulating Environment in Our Bodies and those things are: clean water, good salts, minerals, probiotics, and clean produce.

We speak about:

How 80% of your health is lifestyle - not genetics!
There are essential elements and nutrients that we need for our body to function properly and for it to create a healthy self-healing and self-regulating environment and that is: clean water, good salts, minerals, probiotics, and clean produce.
Water: how much to drink, when to drink it, what type we should be drinking and why
Sodium Fluoride vs Calcium Fluoride: what’s the difference and why it matters
The importance of minerals in our diet and the fact that our bodies can manufacture some vitamins, but they cannot manufacture minerals so must get them from your diet or supplements.
There are approximately 102 minerals that our bodies need and one of the ways we can get many of them is through Celtic Sea Salt
Calcium, Magnesium, Iron, Chloride, Iodine: their function in our bodies, and a description of what it might look or feel like if we have a deficiency:
Prebiotic, probiotic, and postbiotics and their connection to a healthy gut
Why you should be buying from your local farmer or farmer’s market, and not just because of the environmental footprint

Connect with Debra: Website

Resources

Hannah’s Herb Shop: Purchase Trace Mineral Tablets (no affiliation)
Premier Labs - They offer a client portal where you can set up and maintain your own account (For 20% off use this code when ordering: 20%_EDDB17_4W ; this is an affiliate link)

Sick and Seeking

en-usOctober 20, 2023

Ep. 14 | Wrapping Season 1 and Exciting Things to Come on Sick and Seeking and Beyond!

Hello Sick and Seeing Listeners!

I know it’s been few weeks…I ’ve been humming and hawing over how to close out my first season, and if you don’t know this about me, let me tell you that I’m the queen of over complicating things, hence the delay! I wanted to do this big, storytelling moment where I told you my chronic illness story and what it’s like living in my body. But honestly, it all felt a bit too much. Behind the scenes I’ve been working on completing a couple of certifications (more on that later) so that I can gather women in connection and movement. I’ve decided to keep this episode simple and first do a bit of a reflection on season 1 before I chat about what’s coming next for me and the Sick and Seeking Podcast.

Now, one of my mentor’s Sheri Rosenthal often says that heart-based entrepreneurs have a hard time asking their community for things, and I totally identify with this.

So as I close Season 1, I do have a few asks:

1. Head to my website and sign-up to my newsletter to be alerted when I release a new podcast episode or open Wild Women’s Way Circles, Unstructured Movement Classes, and Transformational Wellness Retreats

2. Rate and review the Sick and Seeking Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. This is a huge help and helps my podcast get discovered by more listeners.

3. Follow and like Sick and Seeking Social Media Accounts

➡️ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sickandseeking/

➡️ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sickandseeking/

➡️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@sickandseeking

➡️ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sick-and-seeking/

4. Share my podcast with friends or people in your network who may enjoy listening.

5. And join the Sick and Seeking Community group on Facebook so that I can keep you informed on things I’m doing connected to the podcast, unstructured movement and transformational retreats

Podcasting can feel like a lonely pursuit, so please do reach out via social channels or email me at Leslie@sickandseeking.com as I’d love to know why you listen, what you'd love to hear more or, or

Sick and Seeking

en-usJune 30, 2023

Ep. 13 | Honoring Emotion as the Sacred Informer - Erin Pace Shares How Unstructured Movement Can Help Escort Emotion Out Of Our Bodies (Pt. 2)

This is my second conversation with somatic therapist, embodiment guide, intuitive body reader, soul coach, and meditation facilitator, Erin Pace.

If you haven’t already listened to episode 12 titled, “The Body is a Realm of Wild Discovery”, I recommend you go back after this episode and take a listen.

Embodied, sensual movement is a deep passion of mine as I know first-hand, in my body, mind and soul, how supportive and healing it can be. I’m thrilled to have had these conversations with Erin in order to spread awareness about the positive impact this type of movement can provide, especially for women who are lacking trust and connection to their bodies.

We speak about:

Honoring the depth of emotion women hold in their bodies, and embracing the experience of emotion in the body
Feeling emotions requires a commitment to connection to yourself and embracing what is happening within you
Emotion is held in the body until we escort it away
How we desensitize as a way of survival and how our sensitivity in our bodies is a genius
Honoring, forgiving and allowing our bodies when they ask for rest
How inviting ease can make space for more energy in the body
Being with the intelligence of the body and what may show up when you check-in and visit
The remembrance of connecting with the divine and the sacredness of all
When women awaken to aliveness and wholeness in their bodies, there may be another quest inside of them to connect that to their eroticism
Women’s inability to receive
Using Erin’s A.L.I.V.E acronym as a daily touchstone or affirmation practice, starting with the phrases “I am” or “Am I?” – Aware, Listening, Intentional (or Inspired), Valid, Evolving

Quotes:

“Emotion can feel like a scary foe, and I invite that is should be a sacred informer” - Erin Pace

Connect with Erin:
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Linkedin

en-usMay 27, 2023

Ask this episode Anything

What was the main topic of the podcast episode?

Summarise the key points discussed in the episode?

Were there any notable quotes or insights from the speakers?

Which popular books were mentioned in this episode?

Were there any points particularly controversial or thought-provoking discussed in the episode?

Were any current events or trending topics addressed in the episode?