Living Well

Living Well

How to Play the Game: Disability and Insurance Edition

You can't always control the hand you're dealt when you're diagnosed with a chronic illness. Here are our favorite disability and insurance tips.

Living Well

Put the Joy Back in Cooking with these Accessibility Tips

Knowing what your specific challenges are can help you create a more accessible kitchen and have more success with cooking. Learn more here.

Living Well

Learning to Forgive Our Illnesses and Our Bodies

My relationship with my body and my illnesses is still a work in progress, but I’m learning to accept what is. Experts weigh in on why this may help.

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Silver Spoonie Linings: The Role of Gratitude in Chronic Illness

Gratitude journaling can feel like forced positivity, but with the right mindset and approach, it becomes a powerful tool for genuine healing and perspective.

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Progressive Relaxation: A Quick Guide to This Free and Easy Stress Reduction Tool

Looking for a way to reduce stress, improve sleep, and address anxiety without leaving your house or spending any money? This one is worth a try!

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Could Your IBS Actually Be IBD?

IBD and IBS share similar names and symptoms, but they’re different. Getting the right diagnosis is key to understanding what's going on and getting treatment.

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How to Explain Invisible Symptoms to Others

It can be difficult for loved ones to understand the impact of symptoms they can't see. Using relatable analogies, being vulnerable, and other strategies can help make such symptoms more real for them.

Living Well

Time to Drop the Mask: I’m Ready, Are You?

Masking — acting as if we're healthy and symptom-free when we're not — can be useful for avoiding intrusive questions or judgmental beliefs about our inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). But it can prevent us from living authentically. Here's how to remove your mask, and show your true self.

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How to Chill Before a Medical Procedure

If you’re feeling anxious or stressed about an upcoming appointment or procedure, try these tips.

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The Power of Learning to Accept Our Labels

Being able to label your symptoms can help you to get the care that you need, both for your physical and mental well being.

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How Pets Help Us Cope with IBD Life

We asked readers to weigh in on whether pets make life with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) easier or harder. Here's what they had to say.

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It’s My Pity Party, and I Can Cry, Scream, or Throw Things If I Want To

When the effects of my chronic illness feel particularly overwhelming, I throw myself a pity party. I take 20 minutes to cry, scream, and wallow. And then I move on. Here’s how they might help you, too.

Living Well

Finding Warmth in Cold Months: Overcoming Isolation with Chronic Illness

When we're struggling with a chronic illness or a flare-up, it can be tempting to stay inside our homes and inside ourselves, especially as the weather turns colder outside. But isolation can often make things even worse. Try one of these strategies for staying connected, even if you’re not quite ready to venture outdoors.

Living Well

My A+ Plan for College with a Chronic Condition

From choosing a school and aligning with allies to using a planner and accessing accommodations, these tips helped me manage my chronic conditions and college successfully.

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9 Ways Connecting to the Senses Can Make Life More Meaningful with Chronic Illness

Connecting to the present moment through the senses can make life richer, even in difficult circumstances.

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My Top 10 IBD Resolutions for the New Year

They're not about eating better or avoiding triggers. My resolutions focus on honoring my truth, releasing shame, prioritizing my own needs, and even telling a few poop jokes.

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How Honoring Your Limits Can Help You Do More

If chronic illness fatigue and lack of energy mean you often feel like you can't get things done, try these energy conservation strategies to make the most of the energy you do have.

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How I Reclaimed Eating with Joy

When mealtime started to become a painful event, I avoided eating as much as I could, until I had full-blown food anxiety. Learning to track my triggers, eat more mindfully, and cook IBD-friendly foods has restored my love of food.

Living Well

7 Books That Everyone with IBD Should Read

Inflammatory bowel disease and other chronic illnesses can make life challenging. These books offer wisdom, inspiration, and practical advice, along with recipes for getting through it.

Living Well

Patience, Perseverance, and Luck: Ardra’s Entrepreneurship Story

While medically retired, Ardra Shephard blogged about multiple sclerosis like it was her full-time job. Here's how it led her to a podcast, TV show, and book deal.

Living Well

Job Satisfaction Beyond Health: Finding the Right Workplace Fit with a Chronic Illness

In this Patients Getting Paid column, Kathy Reagan Young unpacks why workplace culture matters for your health and shares tips for finding a company that fits.

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My 7 Favorite Gentle Waistband Pants for Flare-Ups

Tight, compressive waistbands can make wearing pants miserable during a flare with inflammatory bowel disease. These pants offer gentle, virtually no-waistband alternatives.

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Convenient Thanksgiving Meals to Help You Enjoy the Holiday with Less Stress

Planning a feast can be exhausting, especially when living with a chronic condition. From convenient meal options to simple hosting tips, discover ways to make holiday gatherings more manageable and stress-free.

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How I Stay Resilient Under Holiday Stress

Tempting foods, holiday hecticness, family dynamics, and more can all amp up our stress levels — and lead to flares of inflammatory bowel disease. Here are my strategies for avoiding the worst of it.

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How Practicing Non-Attachment Helps Me Let Go and Be Present

Letting go of my attachment to expectations and outcomes helps me accept chronic illness and find the beauty in what I can do.

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Finding Balance: Working and Resting with Chronic Fatigue and Brain Fog 

Fatigue and brain fog from chronic illnesses can put a serious damper on your productivity. Whether you're trying to tackle work, personal projects, or just have a social life, it can sometimes be difficult to get through everything. With a little flexibility and adaptation, though, I've found the following hacks help.

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Celebrating Life’s Milestones with Chronic Illness: How to Avoid the Overwhelm

Planning a wedding, a coming-of-age party, or any other big social function can take a toll on anyone's energy. Here's how to do that with a chronic illness like multiple sclerosis — without exacerbating symptoms.

Living Well

Culinary Medicine: 10 Herbs and Spices That Help Reduce Inflammation

Herbs and spices like garlic, turmeric, and ginger may help reduce inflammation, among other whole-body health benefits. Here's how to use them in the kitchen.

Living Well

Supporting Employees with Chronic Illness: Quick Guide to Employee Assistance Programs

Many large companies offer counseling services and health resources to employees. If you're self-insured, your insurance company may offer a similar program.

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Don’t Let Chronic Illness Scare Away the Fun: Alternatives to Trick-or-Treating

Some years, I can’t take my kids trick or treating due to weakness or fatigue. But we have lots of other tricks up our sleeves to make the holiday spooktacular.

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Pregnancy and Parenting with Ulcerative Colitis

People with UC may experience flares during pregnancy, but can otherwise plan on a relatively normal, healthy pregnancy. Once the baby arrives, we need to continue to care for ourselves, even though we want to prioritize our little one.

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What Is Emotional Competence, and How Can It Help You Manage Chronic Illness?

Emotional competence, or feeling, expressing, and coping with emotions effectively, can make managing chronic illness easier. Here's how to get there.

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Using the Power of My Mind to Tame My IBD

I've learned to use techniques like meditation, breathwork, and shifting my perspective to help me tamp down stress and reduce the symptoms of my inflammatory bowel disease.

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Therapy Helped Free Me from the Mental Toll of IBD

Shame and depression made it so much more exhausting to manage my inflammatory bowel disease.

Living Well

How to Build a Better Workday

Here’s how Bezzy MS guide Kathy Reagan Young pursues her health and professional goals at the same time.

Living Well

The Decision Fatigue of Living with Chronic Illness — and How to Manage It

Adults make thousands of decisions each day. Multiple sclerosis and other chronic illnesses add even more to the burden. Here's how simplify the process.

Living Well

10 Steps to Mindfully Manage Grief and Loss

Mindfulness can help you accept and navigate what you feel with kindness toward yourself.

Living Well

Navigating Accessibility: A Review of the Friendly Like Me App

This app can help you find the accommodations you need at local restaurants, events, and more.

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How Finding Your Flow with Immersive Activities Can Help You Live with Chronic Illness

Activities that improve health, well-being, and a sense of meaning can help you find meaning during chronic illness.

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Balancing Act: Tips for Managing Time and Stress with a Chronic Illness

Bezzy MS guide Kathy Reagan Young shares her tips and tools for balancing time and stress when working with a chronic illness.

Living Well

Finding Empowerment: How I Moved Beyond ‘Why Me?’ After My IBD Diagnosis

I learned that I wasn't responsible for my IBD, and that I was much happier and healthier when I focused on factors that were within my control.

Living Well

How Much Water Do I Really Need to Drink?

Registered dietitian Christine Byrne explains why drinking water is important and how to figure out your daily hydration needs.

Living Well

How Ecstatic Dance Helps Me Manage Chronic Illness

Ecstatic dance has broadened my community and given me a unique hobby I can access anywhere in the world.

Living Well

How Emotional Repression Impacts Chronic Illness, Plus How to Make Peace with Powerful Feelings

Being mindful of negative emotions can grant you the freedom to choose how you respond to chronic illness and life. 

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8 Steps to Accept the Things You Can’t Fix About Chronic Illness

Accepting the things you can’t fix can help you go from surviving to thriving when living with a chronic illness. 

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How to Manage Sleep Anxiety So You Can Rest Well and Prevent Flare-Ups

Getting a good night's sleep can mean the difference between a flare-up or not. Here's how to get one.

Living Well

Navigating the Workplace with Chronic Illness: How to Advocate for Yourself and Others 

In this column, Kathy Reagan Young shares advice on how to raise awareness about chronic conditions and advocate for accommodations in the workplace.

Living Well

How One Book Became My Beacon for Living Authentically

Bezzy IBD guide Alexa shares how "The Four Agreements" taught her to handle conflicts better and stop overthinking.

Living Well

Resisting the Lure of Toxic Positivity While Chronically Ill

It’s easy to fall prey to toxic positivity, refusing to acknowledge your true feelings. While toxic positivity may be well-meaning, finding coping mechanisms that work for you may look a little different.

Living Well

Just Your Average Day with IBD

Ever wonder what life looks like for someone with IBD? The guide for BezzyIBD forums shares her day — from nutrition tips to recreation and stress management.

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Supporting Your Emotional Health During an IBD Flare

IBD flares can affect your emotions, in addition to the physical distress they cause. Here’s how to handle the emotional fallout.

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My On-the-Go IBD Essentials

I keep some things on hand to thwart or relieve GI emergencies; other supplies are simply for pleasure.

Living Well

How Entrepreneurship Empowers a Nutritionist to Support Her Health with MS

Alene Brennan shares why she started her own nutrition coaching business and how it allows her to take care of her health with multiple sclerosis.

Living Well

Don’t Let IBD Disrupt Your Spring Travel

It’s possible to have worry-free trip even when you live with IBD. Planning and communication make it much easier!

Living Well

The Benefits of Self-Compassion When You Live with Chronic Illness, Plus 13 Tips to Practice It

Being kind to yourself can reduce stress and potentially inflammation too. Here's how to start.

Living Well

This Silly Thing My Primary School Science Teacher Taught Me Helps Me Get Through Hard Days

A simple change in perspective can go a long way.

Living Well

6 Tips for Navigating the Job Search with Chronic Illness

In this column, Kathy Reagan shares advice and resources for finding employment when you live with a chronic condition.

Living Well

Don’t Just Wait Around: How to Live Well While Waiting for an IBD Diagnosis

Some people wait months or years until a diagnosis of Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis is confirmed. But you can take affirming, empowering steps to feel better even before you get the relief of a diagnosis and medical treatment plan.

Living Well

How Art Reflects Life with IBD

Life with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis can be funny, gross, inspirational, and more. Artists from all walks of life produce works that help reflect those realities.

Living Well

How Music Can Level Up Your Next Walk

Listening to music can boost your mood and make walking feel easier. Check our feel-good song recommendations for your next walk around the block.

Living Well

Can I Work While Receiving Social Security Disability Benefits?

You can still earn income while receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). In this column, Kathy Reagan explains SSDI work incentive policies.

Living Well

The Link Between Situational Depression and Chronic Illness

Learn about the difference between clinical and situational depression among people with chronic illnesses like COPD.

Living Well

How Rejecting the Hollywood Ending Has Helped Me Cope With MS

I used to be annoyed by movies with sappy, happily-ever-after endings. Then, I discovered the wisdom and realism in indie films and older flicks and found they had a lot to teach me about coping with a chronic illness.

Living Well

What Self-Care Means When You Live with a Chronic Condition

It can be hard to prioritize your own needs when it feels like your body has let you down. But self-care is important for those living chronic conditions.  

Living Well

How Chronic Illness Led Allison to Entrepreneurship

Allison Ratkovich shares how multiple sclerosis led her to entrepreneurship and how starting a business allows her to prioritize her health.

Living Well

10 Ways I Plan to Improve My Well-Being Without Making New Year’s Resolutions

New Year’s resolutions are overrated. Besides, many of us with chronic illnesses have already done the hard work of making healthy lifestyle adjustments. Here are some nonresolutions that just might make us feel happier in the new year.

Living Well

Living My Faith: How Spirituality Helps Me Cope with Chronic Illness

MS has helped me find a new connection to God, and with it, new purpose, community, gratitude, and more.

Living Well

Working for Yourself: Pros and Cons of Being Your Own Boss

Kathy Reagan describes the challenges and benefits of working for yourself when you live with a chronic illness.

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Workplace Stress Worsened My Chronic Illness

My Crohn's disease came out of remission after 10 years, and I believe workplace stress played a major role. Here's how I handled it.

Living Well

My IBD Wish List: 12 Things I’d Buy Myself This Holiday Season

The items on my list will all make life with IBD a bit better, whether through improved adulting, self-care, or just plain fun!

Living Well

How to Find Meaning After Grieving the Former You

After my diagnosis, it took time to accept my new life. But I still struggled to understand its meaning. The sixth stage of grief helped me find meaning.

Living Well

13 Side Hustles for Earning Money If You Live with Chronic Illness

Kathy Reagan shares advice and resources for earning extra income and avoiding scams in this Patients Getting Paid column.

Living Well

5 Yoga Practices to Consider If You Live with a Chronic Condition

Yoga is an accessible way to get your body moving that can provide a range of health benefits. Here's how to get started.

Living Well

8 Tips to Find Lower Cost Therapy

Mental health treatment is expensive. Read on to learn about more affordable options that might help you get the support you need.

Living Well

I’m a Patient Getting Paid — and You Can Be Too

In this column, Kathy Reagan shares advice, resources, and stories to help others navigate the world of work while living with a chronic illness.

Living Well

17 Great Chronically Ill and Disabled Content Creators to Follow

There are countless chronic condition and disability advocates on social media committed to spreading awareness and breaking down stigma. Here are 17 who are making an incredible impact.

Living Well

How Movement Became My Medicine

I was only 4 years old when I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Slowly but surely I started to understand the consequences of missing playtime and not moving my body.

Living Well

Gardening Is My Mindfulness Practice of Choice — Here’s Why

Watching my plants grow and bloom, as well as the benefits of grounding, are just some of the ways gardening teaches me to be more mindful for my chronic illness.

Living Well

A Public Health Crisis: Preventing Loneliness in Chronic Illness

Loneliness is more prevalent than ever in the U.S. — and people with chronic illness are likely familiar with it. Here's how to stay socially connected even when symptoms or flare-ups get in your way.

Living Well

How ASMR Can Benefit People with Chronic Illness

If you live with a chronic illness, ASMR may help you feel relaxed, comforted, or even relieved from chronic pain. But triggers aren't the same for everyone.

Living Well

Should You Disclose Your Diagnosis at Work?

The decision of whether or not to share your chronic condition diagnosis with an employer or potential employer is personal. Here's my story and some things to consider as you make the choice.

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If You Experience Health Anxiety, You’re Not Alone

Health anxiety is common in people living with chronic conditions — and your fears are real and understandable. Learn tips for reducing anxiety and how to get help if needed.

Living Well

Consistency Is Overrated

Consistency helps us feel safe and reduces anxiety. But it also can create unreasonable expectations. Here’s how to redefine consistency (and success) so you’re OK with the ebbs and flows of life.

Living Well

How to Go Green When You Live with IBD

Even though folks with Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis may use more of certain resources (like toilet paper) than the average person, you can still take steps to reduce your environmental impact.

Living Well

The Mindflight Journal: A Journal for Chronic Illness

Meet Nicole and Aisley, the mom and daughter partnership behind the Mindflight Journal. Building from their own experiences, they've designed a journal for those living with chronic illnesses. Trust me, it's a game-changer.

Living Well

The 5 Best Things About Having Crohn’s

I'd happily give up the pain, expense, and inconvenience of life with Crohn's. But I wouldn't trade its life lessons.

Living Well

What I Learned While Applying for Disability Insurance to Manage Life with Crohn’s

I wish I'd applied for disability the minute I was eligible. I also wish I didn't try to do it all on my own the first time.

Living Well

The Importance of Being a Hustle Culture Dropout When You’re Chronically Ill

The constant pressure to go-go-go took a toll on both my physical and mental health. Then I realized I could opt out.

Living Well

Crohn’s Didn’t Stop Me from Having the Wedding of My Dreams

I had to consider my dress, the food we served, and numerous other details in addition to the normal stressful wedding decisions, but it worked out wonderfully.

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How My Fitness Routine Helps Me Better Understand My Crohn's Disease

Working out has helped me understand my body's signals better, and in turn, better manage my IBD.

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How Solo Travel Helped Me After a Crohn's Flare

I had the freedom to follow my own desires — and diet! — as well as the chance to reconnect with myself.

Living Well

How the Spoon Theory Helps Me Explain My Health

It can be hard to explain the way that a chronic condition impacts your daily energy. The spoon theory is a clever way to help get the point across.

Living Well

Realistic Approaches to Setting Resolutions When You Live with a Chronic Condition

Living with a chronic condition often means working within your body’s parameters, which can mean editing your expectations. Always give yourself grace and remember that your New Year’s resolutions — if you choose to set them — don’t have to “match” anyone else’s. They only have to feel helpful to you.

Living Well

6 Journal Prompts to Promote Mindfulness with IBD

Journaling helps us process experiences and emotions as they happen, keeping us in the moment and out of the anxiety spirals. Here are the journal prompts I use.

Living Well

Planning an Event? Here Are 6 Reasons It Really Needs to Be Accessible

Not only is it the law, but planning an ADA-compliant event shows you care about people living with disabilities.

Living Well

Mindset Matters: Moving Through the Strange Feeling of Grieving Your Old Life

Grieving your old self is a little different than grieving a loved one who's passed. Here's how I moved forward.

Living Well

Surviving Holiday Stress with IBD

With all the events focused on food and alcohol, plus the general busyness of the season, it's easy to feel stressed and fatigued. Here are some strategies to make the holidays feel special again.

Living Well

How I Transformed My Mindset About Life with IBD

I learned to use the power of my mind to feel hope, gratitude, and even joy instead of spiraling into darkness.

Living Well

How to Stop Making a Mountain Out of a Molehill with Chronic Illness

Worry and anxiety are common among people with chronic illnesses. These tips can help you slow down and understand your emotions to both improve your mood and your quality of life.

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9 Ways to Prepare for the Holidays When You’re Living with IBD

Increased stress and indulgent meals can make the holidays tough when you're living with IBD. A writer living with ulcerative colitis shares her best holiday tips.

Living Well

We Need to Talk About Chronic Pain and Suicide

People with chronic pain are at a higher risk of mental health conditions, which can lead to suicidal ideation and suicide. Several factors can heighten this risk, which is why it's important to speak up about it.

Living Well

Your Holiday Gift Guide for Spoonies, by Spoonies

These gift ideas, from seven small businesses run by people living with chronic conditions, will help make this holiday season even more festive.

Living Well

Mindset Matters: Mindfulness and Chronic Illness: How to Focus on the Present When the Present Is Full of Pain

Staying grounded in the present might seem awful when you’re in pain. But if you do it with mindfulness, it can keep you from spiraling out.

Living Well

How to Create Holiday Boundaries When You Have a Chronic Condition

When you're living with a chronic condition, understanding and communicating your needs is imperative. These boundaries can be especially important during the busy holiday season.

Living Well

Mindset Matters: 5 Reasons Acceptance of Your Chronic Illness Isn’t Synonymous with ‘Giving In’

Truly accepting your chronic illness can feel scary, but it can also open up new ways of living. Here are 5 ways acceptance can benefit your life and how to get started.

Living Well

How I Navigate Professional Life While Living with a Chronic Illness

When I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), I was terrified that my career was over. These tips helped me adapt my work life so that I could excel.

Living Well

How to Set and Achieve Your Goals with Chronic Illness

Managing your chronic illness on top of life's everyday tasks can be overwhelming. These tips can help you find the motivation and inspiration you need to reach your goals.

Living Well

The Pain-Energy Cycle and How to Pace Yourself with Chronic Illness

It can be hard to resist the urge to do everything at once when you have energy between flare-ups. But it’s important to remember to rest.

Living Well

When You Don’t Live with a Chronic Condition, You Don’t See the Full Picture

Some of the most difficult parts of living with chronic illness are the aspects that others don't see.

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Mindset Matters: How to Gently Stop the Mental Spirals That Accompany Chronic Illness

It's easy to spiral into negative thought patterns with chronic illness. But with a little self-awareness and reframing, you can start to get your thoughts under control.

Living Well

35 Date Ideas That Don’t Involve Food

Dating is hard enough without worrying about experiencing symptoms when out and about. Try one of these fun ideas for a less stressful date.

Living Well

Mindset Matters: Fostering Self-Love and Rediscovering Yourself Post-Diagnosis

Mindset Matters is led by Nat Kelley, a certified life and mindset coach. This month, she focuses on ways to practice self-love and find the "new you" after a diagnosis.

Living Well

7 Tips for Making Yourself Comfortable During an IBD Flare

When my IBD kicks in, I rely on these seven habits to feel less pain and stress.

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How I Exercise with Ulcerative Colitis — In and Out of Remission

IBD symptoms can make you want to do anything but exercise. Here's why — and how — to keep moving your body.

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Top 7 Yoga Poses for IBD Relief

These slow, gentle movements can help even absolute beginners ease some of their IBD-related discomfort.

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Mindset Matters: Who Am I with Chronic Illness? Acceptance and Letting Go

Mindset Matters is a space to learn about the mental and emotional aspects of living with chronic illness. Nat Kelley, a certified life and mindset coach, shares how coming to terms with her ulcerative colitis diagnosis was hard, but it allowed her to build a more compassionate relationship with herself.

Living Well

How I Manage Summer Travel with IBD

Planning might be the least fun part, but it means I get to enjoy my vacation more and stress less.

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7 Tips That Help Me Stay Hydrated in Warm Weather with IBD

Try these flavorful options instead of guzzling massive amounts of H2O.

Living Well

How Nature-Based Therapy Can Improve Your Mental Health

Medication isn’t the only way to treat your mental health when you live with a chronic condition. You might be surprised by all the benefits you can find right in the world around you.

Living Well

5 Tips for Safe Backcountry Adventures When You’re Living with a Chronic Condition

Wherever you're starting out on your outdoor recreation journey, these five tips from experienced, outdoorsy chronic illness warriors will help you find your way.

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10 Ways to Celebrate World IBD Day

Show your body some love, raise awareness (and money!) for the cause, and connect with fellow IBD warriors.

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Confronting Isolation and Self-Doubt When You Live with an Invisible Chronic Condition

Living with a chronic condition comes with a lot of emotions. It’s incredibly isolating, frustrating, and sometimes leaves you questioning your own body and its experiences.

Living Well

Uncover These 3 Superpowers to Reduce Pandemic Stress

We can't control the ongoing pandemic, but we can control how we react to the stress it's creating in our lives.

Living Well

How Modeling Empathy to My Toddler Helps Me Navigate Chronic Pain

Learning to practice self-compassion when pain or emotional triggers arise can be a beautiful teaching moment for children.

Living Well

How Chronic Illness Helped Me Cultivate Better Reading Habits

Through bibliotherapy I've learned that books can offer greater insight and healing than I ever imagined, as long as I pay attention.

Living Well

What Moving to South Korea Taught Me About Managing Life and Health with IBD

Through new habits and high quality healthcare, I discovered what it’s like to feel strong and confident in my body.

Living Well

7 Self-Care Tips for Surviving the Holidays with IBD

Putting your needs first and being kind to yourself can help you enjoy this festive season.

Living Well

Living with a Chronic Illness Can Be Isolating — These Tips Can Help

Even when it feels hard to reach out, taking small actions can help us feel more connected to others.

Living Well

7 Tips for Navigating the Stages of Grief After a New Diagnosis

Grieving a new diagnosis is complex. Hearing from others who have been there can help.

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8 Tips for Coping with ‘Reopening Anxiety’ When You’re Living with a Chronic Condition

Ready or not, the world is reopening around us. Here's how to reengage on your own terms.

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The Value of Pursuing Hobbies When You’re Living with a Chronic Illness

Finding activities that you’re passionate about and can enjoy despite your condition can lead to a richer life.

Living Well

How to Be Your Own Best Advocate When You’re Living with a Chronic Illness

Good self-advocacy in medical settings requires a complicated balance of confidence and humility.

Living Well

What Living with Crohn’s Disease Has Taught Me About Trusting My Body

There are always factors within your control, whether you’re aware of them right now or not.

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How to Live in the Moment When You’re in IBD Remission

Living with inflammatory bowel disease can be unpredictable, but you shouldn't let that stop you from enjoying the good moments while they're here.

Living Well

5 Reasons Everyone with IBD Should Be Offered Therapy

Therapy helped me process the life changing reality of being diagnosed with Crohn's disease, and I think it should be a standard offering for everyone with IBD.

Living Well

How Embracing the Inevitability of Suffering Can Help You Thrive with Chronic Pain

While some things help, for many chronic illness diagnoses, nothing fixes. This is where changing your mindset may help more than changing your treatment.

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How I Created Joy Through Chronic Pain and a Pandemic

This past year taught me that there is a resilience inside me that circumstances, including chronic migraine and the COVID-19 pandemic, cannot touch.

Living Well

The Benefits of Gratitude When You’re Living with a Chronic Illness

Shifting to an attitude of gratitude can be the difference between surviving and truly thriving.

Living Well

9 Ways to Make Long-Haul Quarantine More Sustainable

These tips may help add some ease to your quarantined days.

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How I Rebuilt Strength at Home After a UC Flare-Up

Before a year-long ulcerative colitis flare-up, I was in the best shape of my life. Here’s how I got it back.

Living Well

7 Tips for Learning to Love Your Body After an IBD Diagnosis

There is no right way to come to terms with learning you have inflammatory bowel disease, but there are some strategies that might help you do so — and learn to love your body along the way.

Living Well

Having a Chronic Illness Helped Me Prepare for the Uncertainty of the Pandemic

Managing ulcerative colitis means accepting the unpredictability of life. That skill has become invaluable during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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How to Reimagine What Fulfillment Means to You When Life Doesn’t Go as Planned

Life’s uninvited challenges, like illness and loss, can help us find deeper fulfillment in the present moment.

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How I Created Flexible, Remote Work While Living with a Chronic Illness

I was productive, I had purpose, and I was bringing in an income, all while taking good care of myself.

Living Well

Why I Choose Positivity in the Face of Chronic Illness

My mantra, 'living a positive life while chronically ill,' feels more necessary now than it ever has.

Living Well

Are Stress and Routine Changes Aggravating Your IBD Symptoms? Here’s How to Deal

It can be tricky to create and stick to a new routine, but there are ways to create a sense of calm amid chaos.

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9 Products Everyone with Inflammatory Bowel Disease Absolutely Needs

Even the little things can make a big difference when you're living with IBD.

Living Well

Which Exercise Is Best for People with Crohn’s?

Learn about the benefits of aerobic activity, resistance training, yoga, and tai chi for people living with Crohn's.