Ep. 1 | Jessica Gillespie on Living with Rheumatoid Arthritis and How Therapy Can Support People Who Want to Find Their Way Back to Connection

 In today’s episode I speak with Jessica Gillespie about what it’s like to live with the auto-immune and inflammatory disease called rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Jessica is a Marriage and Family Therapist and she also happens to be my best friend. Much to our surprise, we were both diagnosed with major medical conditions right around the same time. I hope you enjoy listening to her story while getting a sneak peek into our very long, weird and silly friendship.

In this episode we speak about:

• The frustration of knowing that something is off in the body, not having words or familiarity with it, and potentially second guessing  yourself and your inner knowing.
• How over time certain sensations in your body become normal for you, and you may not remember or recall what it feels like to not be in this state.
• Invisible disease
• The shame, anger, resentment and that can come with having an illness/disease.
• The fear of a future RA flare-up.
• How your relationship with a disease can change moment to moment.
• The potential for long-term negative effects on your body when taking prescription RA medications.
• Quantity vs quality of life questions that can arise with managing an auto-immune disorder like RA, and how traumatizing this is. 
• How trauma and emotional pain can be connected to arthritic flare-ups.
• The need for tough moments on your medical journey to be addressed, witnessed, or soothed and how a therapist can be supportive in these moments.
• The struggle with not being present with your body, the intolerance with being in your body, and the risks of this disconnection.
• Everything we feel emotionally is also felt physically
• How therapy can support people who want to find their way back to connection. 
• Validating and recognizing the state of how our body is feeling versus rejecting and pushing this reality away. 
• How resting and relaxing can feel like a rebellion against what greater society says is acceptable. 

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