Amy and Brittany stand against a stone wall. Amy is looking at Brittany, who is staring towards the camera. Amy is wearing a striped blue sweater, and Brittany is wearing a gray blouse. Both are smiling
Amy and Brittany stand back to back looking in opposite directions. Amy is wearing a striped blue sweater, and Brittany is wearing a gray blouse.

Who are we? How did we meet?

Amy from the chest up. She is a white woman with olive skin, brown eyes and black hair. She is wearing a green top with thin straps, and long dangling earrings that have a green stone in them.

Para leerlo en español, clic aquí.

Amy (she/her)

Content Creator and Show Host

Hi! I’m Amy. I love doing art, walking my cats outside, and camping. I have endometriosis, fibromyalgia, interstitial cystitis, SIBO, and mast cell activation syndrome.

I can’t believe where I’m at today, especially compared to where I started. In 2002, I began having diarrhea 25x a day, chronic pelvic pain, relentless leg pain that NEVER EVER stopped. A decade lost to pain; dreams put on hold/given up; feelings of isolation, desperation, despair.

I remember years of mouth ulcers, swollen lymph nodes, rashes from lying down all day, eyes closing from fatigue mid-conversation, nausea, passing out, wanting to crawl out of my own skin.

I had shingles, 9 kidney stones, a ruptured eardrum after vomiting violently during my period. I’ve collapsed on sidewalks in pain; pooed, peed, or vomited on myself in public. 3 surgeries, 2 cancer scares, 6 diagnoses.

For 20 years, I’ve been sick, but I’ve also been working on healing, both physically and emotionally. Healing is the hardest thing I do every single day. My symptoms from multiple conditions are more under control now (but still challenging on many days), but what I’m most proud of is the emotional healing I’m doing.

I’ve learned and am still learning:

  • to feel my feelings, to let go, to be where I am right now.

  • that there can be joy and meaning in my life even among pain; and with patience and accommodations I can still accomplish many of my dreams.

  • that healing isn’t linear, to stop comparing myself to others and even to past “versions” of myself.

  • to trust myself again, to stop criticizing myself and thinking I’m a burden, to believe in what I’m capable of, to prioritize myself and needs without feeling ashamed of them: MY INHERENT WORTH.

  • to stop catastrophizing and living from fear, but instead to live from openness, curiosity, and a knowing that I CAN handle whatever comes my way.

I’ll probably be sick for the rest of my life, but I’m finding peace with that. And I’m excited, truly excited, at the idea of continuing to heal emotionally, to keep growing, changing, and understanding my patterns, conditioning, and trauma response, and how that shapes my life.

We talk about all of these topics and the self-growth we’ve had in many episodes of our podcast!

Brittany (she/they)

Show Co-host

Hi, I’m Brittany! I love spending time with my family, baking, and watching my dog play. I have PCOS, gastritis, Celiac disease, and generalized anxiety disorder.

Like Amy, I’ve also come a long way from where I’ve started. I remember having anxiety since I was 8 years old, missing school because of it, and having a constant stomachache. Over the years, I learned self-managing techniques and saw improvements, but my anxiety has still been a dominant and negative force in my life.

Recently, my anxiety became so severe that it took even further effects on my physical body than usual: I had over a month of menstrual bleeding as well as gastritis. I had to take 2 months off of work, working with a gynecologist, gastroenterologist, mental health professional, and the Curable App (a pain psychology app that I’ve been using for my anxiety and the physical symptoms they cause on my body) to get a hold back on both my physical and mental health.

I’ve been learning how to pause and take a step back from my feelings, relating to them instead of being consumed by them. I’m checking in with myself more, to have awareness of when my anxiety is rising up so I can use mitigating techniques to bring it down, or if not, ride the anxiety wave non-judgmentally and without shaming myself or panicking about it. With my therapist, I’ve been examining and letting go of long held “truths” that I’ve lived by, such as my perfectionism and many of my irrational fears, which are actually just mistaken beliefs that I hold which are hurting me, and not truths at all.

It’s a slow and often emotionally painful process to crack open who I thought I was and discover who I really am underneath it, but it’s also a beautiful process and I truly love who I am becoming. Most importantly, I’m practicing meeting all of myself with acceptance, even the parts of me that I’d like to change or see personal growth in.

Endometriosis Podcast About ImageHow We Met

Told by Amy:

Brittany and I met at work some years ago and instantly clicked. We have so much in common: we are both gluten free, from the Northeast, and have a great sense of humor.

Within the first few weeks of friendship, I called her work extension to come rescue me from an endoflare. Once someone sees you trapped in the bathroom stall, sobbing uncontrollably from pain and curled up on the floor puking in the toilet, it either makes your relationship really uncomfortable or even stronger. We became best friends, and Brittany also became my “emergency driver” at work.

In Brittany, I have found so much support in facing my health challenges, and Brittany says I have given her inspiration in hers. Both of us are trying to feel as best we can, and ultimately be happy with who we are and the lives we have.

When I decided to start this podcast, it was obvious that I needed Brittany and her hilarious jokes, practical tips, and life perspective on the show. Brittany has played such a huge role in my life since I met her, and I know you will learn as much from her as I have!